JEFF BROHM: I think our guys are looking forward to getting back on the practice field for this upcoming opponent. I think we had a good week of practice last week, went back to working on fundamentals and techniques and doing all the small things we need to get better at, and I think we had a good week, and it continued on Sunday, and then our players will be off today and we'll be back at it tomorrow.
As far as injuries at this point, we're trying hard to get everybody back, and we'll see towards the end of the week where we're at, but I think everyone has put in the time to get better, but it's just going to be a matter of where we're at come Thursday and Friday.
Q. Do you feel like you got what you wanted out of the open week, seeing who you wanted to see out there and just their performance in practice?
JEFF BROHM: Well, I know we've had a good week of practice. It was more physical. It was in full pads. We got a lot of good contact work. I think both sides of the ball need to get better at being more physical and trying to dominate the line of scrimmage and trying to win football games in that manner before we get into all the cute stuff that we like to run.
I think we did see some improvement. We've got to continue to see more, but we're going to make sure we continue to harp on being physical, trying to be as dominant as we can at the point of attack, and coming off the ball, striking people and making sure we're getting better each and every day. But I do think this past week was good, and we got a lot of good repetitions in, and we're going to need to do that because we've got to get better.
Q. Is Elijah (Sindelar) still in the concussion protocol?
JEFF BROHM: Well, we're still doing exactly what the doctors say. I think he's making progress. We'll see how this week goes. Really last week we thought he was making progress Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. It wasn't until Thursday where some things popped up again, and that's where we had to start the process over.
Q. You start Big Ten play Saturday, and most of the conference is getting more conference match-ups coming up. Where do you think you stack up in the Big Ten West right now going into your conference year?
JEFF BROHM: Well, right now we don't stack up where we need to be. I think there's a lot of good teams in our conference. They're playing well. There's a lot of parity. There's a lot of teams that are winning. Look at Minnesota, our upcoming opponent; they finished the year strong last year. They beat us handily, and that's being nice. They beat Wisconsin, I think, at Wisconsin. They won their bowl game, and then now they've won three in a row, and they've got some leadership on their team. They find a way to win the close games, they fight and compete to the end, and obviously they've gained experience over the last couple years, so this is going to be a tough contest for us, and we're going to have to improve a great deal in order to compete and play to win.
I do think I'm hopeful that our guys will have some fight in them and understand that we've got to do all the small things correctly and as hard as we can and give great effort and cut it loose to have a chance to win, and that includes coaches and players, as well. We have to make sure we're all doing our part, and when you start with a game against Minnesota at home, you have to try to find a way to win.
Q. Do you reference last year's game with this group, what happened and how it happened?
JEFF BROHM: I think we have. I think our players know that we're in a little bit of a rut now. We've had some games that haven't gone the way we want. Minnesota is one of them. It just shows that we have improvement to make, and I think that's why we took this past week and tried to work hard at improving ourselves before we got fully on to Minnesota and making sure that each and every day we're trying to get better on the things that we feel like we're not very good at, and I do think progress has been made, but we've got to make more. We've got to do it come game day. We've got to see more guys show up and compete and play hard and finish and want to find a way to win, and I'm hopeful that we can see improvement as we get going.
Q. Minnesota, they're 3-0, but they won by a total of 13 points. What has made the difference in your opinion why they're 3-0, why they've won those close games?
JEFF BROHM: Well, like I said before, I think they finished strong last year, they gained confidence with a lot of big wins, and I guess from putting it to us at their place to beating Wisconsin to winning their bowl game to starting off 3-0 and finding a way to win, and one of those was on the road at Fresno. When you can win the close games and you've got a group of guys that compete and find a way to win, whether it's by three points or 30, it shows you've got some leadership on the team. It shows you've got some guys that like football, that like to compete, that want to do their part.
Obviously things are going in the right direction for them. We have to find a way ourselves to step up to the plate and take on this match head-on and have some courage and toughness, go out there and compete and see if we can find a way to win.
Q. Do you have any relationship with PJ Fleck?
JEFF BROHM: Just like we have with all the other coaches. I think right now he's got his team playing at a high level and got some experience and some guys that have played and done a very good job. I know he relies on their leadership skills, and when you find a way to win close games, that means you've got a tough hard-nosed competitive football team. I think he understands that, and we have to step up to that challenge and see if our guys want to find a way to win and do some special things. You can turn at any point if you want to, so we've got to come back in front of our fans who were tremendous the last game and put out a better product, and I think when you -- if you commit to wanting to compete and play hard, that's the first step.
