BLOOMINGTON, Ind. Following Indiana's 23-20 season and home opener win over Illinois, coach Tom Allen took to the podium to addre s the media.We have the full pre s conference for you below, or feel free to just watch the video.Opening StatementTOM ALLEN: I just want to congratulate our football team on a really gritty performance. Just so proud of them, finding a way to win. I knew it was going Jon Runyan Jersey to be a tough physical game. They were a tough physical football team. I have respect for Coach Bielema, the job he's done there. They're long and athletic. Got a lot of things to work on, there's no doubt about it. But there's a lot of power in finding a way to win a game like that. There's a lot of so many positives that it creates in your team, the belief.What we've been through the whole past year, trying to get a Big Ten win and our first one. It's just ma sive. I can't put enough words to how important this game was and how important it was to find a way to win, to go 80 yards with no timeouts.Connor Bazelak was awesome threw for 330 I gue s the numbers shown. It's only going to get better, going to get a lot, lot better. So proud of the grit of our defense. That goal line stand was special. Cam Jones I can't say enough things about that young man. He's the heart and soul of this team. I knew it going into the game, and it showed during the game. He got injured. I still don't even know the severity of it yet, but he gritted right through it.He wasn't going to come off that field. He didn't just go out there, he went out there and made plays after he got injured. So much respect for him as a person and as a player.And I could go on and on about this team. This team's got character, this team's got toughne s, this team's got grit. We've got to get a whole lot better one week at a time.On Connor Bazelaks poise in the game and on the sidelineALLEN: That's the way he always is. That's one of the variables that stuck out to me since he's been here. He's extremely poised, and, like I said, it showed in that moment when you have to be under complete composure and find those open receivers and be accurate, and I thought he Bronson Kaufusi Jersey was accurate most of the night. I haven't watched the film obviously, but that one pick should have been a catch; it was a tipped ball. Just thought he just slid in the pocket a little bit, used his legs a little bit, get some key first downs, extend some plays a little bit and did what he needed to do.Bottom line is last time I checked yeah, we got more points than they do. So that's the most important stat. There we go. On if he said anything to the offense before its final driveALLEN: Yeah. I just told them one thing, go score. You know, I didn't tell them how to go do it. They know what we need to Charles Woodson T Shirts do. I said, guys, we've got to get a touchdown. We've got 80 yards to go, no timeouts.What we did talk about though at the end, based on how many times I was on the headsets with the offensive staff talking about based on when we scored the point differential there about whether we'd go for two or go for an extra point because of the whole threat of getting it blocked, just all those dynamics you go through. So, we talked about that. But, no, I'm not a micromanager as a coach. I never have been I never will be. You hire coordinators, you let them coach, and obviously with myself involved in the defense like I am now, that's going to be even more so.But at the same time, I didn't do it in the past. Obviously, I know what they're doing. But especially in those moments, you've got to be able to think. You can't have somebody in your ear telling you what to do. And you hire somebody, and you trust them. It's what you got to do. I don't like somebody telling me, 'hey, run this, run this, do this, do that.' So, you have a flow. You have a reason for doing things. No. I was not in there. I am on the offensive side of the headsets when they're on the field majority of the time, yes. And we're talking about clock management, use of timeouts. But we've got a guy in the box that's telling me when to call timeout and those different things and when we've got to make certain decisions.So, we're pretty systematic about that. But the bottom line is, I hire coordinators to call plays. And they have that role. And that's what they're a signed to do and that's what they do. And I'm going to give them that authority and that power to do so. On his evaluation of the offensive lineALLEN: I think they have a really good front. And they played a lot of bear type defense. It's really just stacked Ray Wilborn Jersey to stop the run. And they play man behind it, try to make it hard to do those kind of things. But, obviously, we made them pay for that with our pa sing game. We've got to work on that. There's no doubt about it. We'll got a lot better. We've got to get Matt Bedford healthy, find out what his status is. Not good enough to win games consistently. But you know what? We won this game. So that's what we tried to do is win the first one and then we get better every week. On the importance of the winALLEN: Very high. I knew that. I never said it to our team. We have a phrase here, and our kids know this. I say, 'hey, this is the most important game of the season.' Why? They'll say because it's the next one. Okay. But I knew. I knew. I knew what we've been through. I knew what this game meant. And, yeah, I mean, it's huge. I get it, you know, it's not a top 25 team. But you guys know wins last year. We haven't sung that stinking fight song for a long time after a win, and this team's been through so much. And they've continued to fight and battle and battle and battle and battle. And they did it tonight. So, I couldn't be more proud. It's a huge win for us. And like I said, comment all they want but I could freaking care le s. I know this team. I know how much this meant to this football team. And this is a big deal.Yeah, we've got to get a whole lot better, and we will. But you know what? I'm proud of them. They fought and they found a way to win. That's what we've got to find a way to do every single week. Scroll to ContinueOn if someone talked to the team in the fourth quarter that rallied the team togetherALLEN: Yeah. It's Cam Jones. So, at the end of the fourth quarter, as you know, you saw the sequence. So come out of halftime. We got a six-point lead. We get the ball. You want to drive down, go score and really put the control on the game. And the opposite happens. We throw the pick. They end up scoring. And now they're up by a point and it obviously stayed that way until the last few seconds of the game. So, at the end of the third quarter, Cam Jones so we brought Green Bay Packers Jersey the team up. I spoke to them first and tag teamed to him, and he finis