‘Paying dividends for them’: Washington head coach Jedd Fisch preaches culture shift that changed Indiana football

Indiana football faces Washington on Saturday looking to go to 8-0 in front of a second-straight sellout crowd and ESPN’s College GameDay.

Washington is 4-3 overall and is coming off of a bye week last week. The last time out, the Huskies lost 40-16 at Iowa.

Earlier this week, Huskies head coach Jedd Fisch talked about the Indiana football program, the success the Hoosiers have had to start the season and some key parts of Saturday’s matchup.

Below are some key quotes from Fisch’s press conference.

On Indiana’s QB situation: “I don’t know. I saw the guy that went in (Tayven Jackson) was 8-of-9, threw two touchdown passes. If I was going off that small sample, I would say they don’t have to do too much different. I would guess they’ll make some adjustments. He did play last year, and then (Kurtis) Rourke came in. I think Rourke and Will Rogers had almost identical numbers at this point in time of the season. Obviously it’s unfortunate when anybody gets hurt, and it didn’t look good when I saw it, so it didn’t surprise me that he wasn’t able to play in our game. A throwing thumb is a tough one. We’re going to have to see what they’re going to do on offense. They will probably have some change but they certainly didn’t have to make any big changes in that game and they were able to continue running the offense that they have done extremely well with.”

Indiana’s culture change: “I think the biggest difference, (Curt Cignetti) got hired November 30th, so the transfer portal and the guys he brought in were there all spring. I think he brought in 13 starters from JMU. I think he did a really, really, really good job of bringing in productive players. I think his quote was that he was looking for production over potential when he was building that roster up. And that December, January — that’s the portal that you want to build your team off of, that winter portal if you’re going to go build it in the portal. I thought they did a great job of that. They found a great quarterback. They have a really good scheme. He has a staff that’s been together, his defensive coordinator has been with him 14 years. Offensive Coordinator was with him at JMU. And the guys they brought with him, they were able to go from JMU to Indiana, and most people are going to want to make that jump. So they were able to get really everybody he wanted to bring, he brought. And you can see how that’s paying dividends for them.”

On Indiana’s run defense: “I think the biggest thing against Indiana has been they’ve never trailed, so they’re playing with a lead every single game and when you play with a lead there’s like play-caller anxiety that when you’re an offensive play-caller that you’re sitting there if you always feel like you’re behind you have more of a tendency to want to call pass. Or if it’s an either/or in your brain you lean pass, and I think that’s what I think has been going on with Indiana. They’ve been getting up on teams 7-0, 14-0, quickly. I think Maryland did a good job of balancing both. I think it was 28-all going into the fourth quarter. Northwestern — they had a situation where it was 14-10 at halftime or something to that effect. Then all of a sudden it’s 21-10 and the run game slows down a bit.

The key for us is to be able to run the ball. We have to be able to run the ball. That’s how we’re building this team … That’s who we are. So, we need to run the football if we’re going to be successful.”

Below is the full video Q&A.

SEE ALSO: ‘He’s got an opportunity. He’s got to take it and run with it.’: All eyes on Tayven Jackson as Indiana football has ‘100 percent confidence’ with him under center

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