On Iowa’s style of play
“Iowa does what they do. Over the last couple of days I’ve watched when I was back at Penn State playing Iowa, I watched when I was at Minnesota playing Iowa, I watched us play at Iowa last year, and the only thing that changes are the names on the back of the jerseys. In terms of how they play, I legitimately went and watched the 2010 Minnesota versus Iowa game last night and essentially they’re going to line up, they’re going to run the run plays that they run out of the formations that they run them out of, they’re going to know how to block every front that you put out there, and it just comes down to the point that Matt (Rhule) just made to the players that this is a game that comes down to their players versus our players. We’re not going to be overly complicated on defense; not to say that we really were. We might have been a little too complicated last week just to try and stop the run, but we’re going to line up and know that the run is coming and get off blocks and try to make tackles; not try, we are going to do that and put our best foot forward.”

On what is going wrong on edge runs
“We’re losing the edge. That’s what happens. The big run I think the third of fourth play of the game where they got over the edge to our boundary we had a couple guys cut off one the front side, and then the DBs that were supposed to be the edge players there was a big crease in the middle so they lagged back, and then (Kaytron) Allen is good enough to press the gap and then take the edge. I know there were some references to some execution errors in the game and a couple of them were the same play. We’re slanting the line to where they’re running the football and they’re cutting us off and if you have have to blitz to stop the run you’re either going to make a play in the backfield or there is a chance there is going to be a big play for them, so that is ultimately what happened on that play.”

On emotions on senior day
“The fact of the matter is there is going to be emotions out there because everybody dreams to play in the National Football League, but the practicality of that is maybe one percent or two percent of our roster will, so thankfully we have qualified for a bowl game, but this is their last time in that stadium, this is their last time playing in the sequence of a season, and for some of them this might be the last time they play. You have to try and eliminate the emotions, but it’s also why the games at this time of the year are so tightly contested because everybody knows this is the last one for a while and there is nothing holding them back. There is no what’s next. It’s about this play, the next play, playing your tail off, and playing like it is. You try and get the players to plate very play like it’s their last and that’s just a quote, but they clearly are in games like this. That’s why all these games come down to the wire and you see some teams that are supposed to win by 20 points get upset because everybody is playing like it is their last time out there, and the level of intensity, and the level of urgency is just a little higher.”