What Jeff Brohm Said After Purdue’s Loss to Michigan in Big Ten Championship
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Purdue football coach Jeff Brohm took to the podium following the Boilermakers’ 43-22 loss to Michigan in the Big Ten championship. Read his full transcript, or just watch the attached video of the full press conference.
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. —On Saturday, the Purdue Boilermakers fell to Michigan 43-22 in the Big Ten championship held in Lucas Oil Stadium.
Purdue coach Jeff Brohm addressed media following the matchup. Read his full transcript, or just watch the attached video of the full press conference.
Opening statement…
BROHM: “Really proud of our football team. They’ve done a great job this year. They’ve battled through a lot, like other teams do, but some ups and downs, and they continue to play hard and work hard. They found a way to get in a championship-level game, like we did today, which is tremendous.
We had a great atmosphere. Our fans really turned out, as well as Michigan’s. We hung in there. We had our chances. I thought we played hard. I thought we competed. Unfortunately, the other team came out in the second half and exposed their will on us a little bit and got after us.
We couldn’t answer the bell. So credit to Michigan. A really good football team. They’re well-coached, but I’m thankful for the effort our players gave. Once again, I’m really thankful for our fans. It was tremendous to see them out there. It really motivates our players to work hard, and even the ones that watch on TV. Our fans have been great all year.”
On issues in the red zone…
BROHM: “I think probably the main one is that’s a really, really good football team. Once you get inside the 20, it’s tough to run the ball in the first place on them; and then, secondly, they tighten up the coverage. And they did a good job. We couldn’t score touchdowns, and we tried.
So they stopped us, and, unfortunately, it for sure hurt us. Field goals aren’t going to be good enough to win in those type of games. Those are things that you have to look at and figure out what maybe we could have done different, but I’m going to have to give them a lot of credit.
That’s a good football team. We found a way to move the ball up and down the field a little bit, but they stiffened up once we got inside the 20, and they did a good job. I give them a lot of credit.”
On what makes Michigan a difficult team to play…
BROHM: “I think when you look at Michigan, they’re very talented, so they have the players at all the positions, the size you’ll want, the speed, the athleticism. You combine that with really good coaching, where they’re going to win with their running game and great defense and try to force you into making turnovers.
They didn’t panic when the game was close in the third quarter. They came out and established their will and ran the ball right at us and created some big plays and extended the lead. So they’re just a really talented football team.
They played a lot of good football all year long. It’s hard to go 13-0, and they did, so you have to give them a lot of credit. Of course, now they have a chance to do something even more special.”
On how the championship can fuel future seasons…
BROHM: “Well, it’s great for our program to reach this point, the championship level game. Our fans to experience it. Doesn’t mean it’s going to happen again. Every year is new, and you’ve got to continue to find ways to improve the next team and go out and compete.
Now hopefully some of your guys get the feeling of what it was like to play in this type of game because it was awesome. It was awesome for our guys. They love competing. They love practicing this week. They wanted to come out here and try to put on a good show.
So sometimes that motivates guys to want to work harder, and you hope that happens. So, you know, we’ll see what the future holds. I know our team is built on hard work and grinding to get better, and we’re not scared to take on anybody, and we’re able to take some hits in the chin and punches in the gut and get back up and keep competing. So I hope that our team — that’s what it takes to win.
On a side note, these two guys next to me, Aidan and Charlie, in my opinion exemplify what college football is all about. Both those guys started at the bottom, and they worked their way up, and look where they’re at now. You have Aidan O’Connell who put on a tremendous passing performance, and he has since he has gotten here and just continues to work and get better.
He is a great teammate and hangs in there and makes throws and competes to the end. Of course, Charlie was fearless. Not only how he plays, but also taking chances, going from one school to the other just to go out and prove what exactly what he can do. He came here, and he has been a great teammate.
Our players love him. He competes every day. He has been injured quite a bit of the year and not able to practice as much as you like, but he comes out here and works. Just really great people that exemplify what a Boilermaker is, and we couldn’t be prouder of these young men.”
On Aidan O’Connell…
BROHM: “Well, with myself I knew what Aidan was all about. He has always had strong faith. He has always been a hard worker. He has always been able to figure out what was right and how to handle it.
Of course, when something like that happens, we just want to be there for him. There’s not a whole lot we can do other than just try to support him because it’s tough. It’s tough. No one wants to see that happen to anybody, but we knew what Aidan was all about, and I’m glad the whole country does now. Because he is a terrific young man.
He does everything right off the field. I can’t think of anything bad to say whatsoever. He competes on the field. He is a great teammate, and I know he has a bright future.”
On if he ever thought about going for it on fourth down…
BROHM: “Yeah, we did. I think a lot of them were third or fourth and longs. Unfortunately, from, like, the 10 or the 12 or even farther. So those chances aren’t very good. Then we looked at kind of the points and trying to measure how many touchdowns or points we needed since.
So, yeah, we could take a lot of things back. I just think we do not convert down in there. They got up on us. They guarded us. They got pressure. You couldn’t hold it too long. We weren’t really being real efficient running the ball in that area either, so it’s just they did a good job.
So, unfortunately, I knew at some point it was going to cost us, and, of course, in the second half it cost us because they turned it on offense and really picked up the intensity on defense as well.”
On Michigan turning a corner in the second half…
BROHM: “Well, they do a great job of playing smash-mouth football, running the football, running it at you, wearing you out, playing really good defense with it. They came out in the second half, and they just ran a simple play right off the edge. We had a corner right there. He missed the tackle and went a long ways, but they put a lot of tight ends in, and they make your secondary tackle.
You know, we didn’t tackle a couple of times. I thought in the first half we did a pretty good job keeping them in check for the most part. They also got a quarterback who can run around and make some plays, which he did. So I just think they have a really good combination on offense of big, physical linemen, great running backs, a lot of really good tight ends.
Now a dynamic quarterback. They can score points when they want to. They’re going to wear out and pound the running game and let their defense help them win as well. I just think it’s good complementary football and a good recipe for a lot of wins, and they’re 13-0 now.”