Brady Hoke in “Everyone’s reaction to this game”
Opening remarks
“Number one, it was great to play back at home, first and foremost. It was great to win the football game. We needed to come back and move forward and it’s always better to move with a win. I think from an offensive standpoint we did some very good things. I think the second half, obviously we took care of the football and didn’t turn the ball over and then completed some drives that we had. I think the running game is where-- we wanted to run the ball the whole game but I think the second half we stayed away from some negative plays that put you in bad situations and we were able to run the ball. I thought Derrick [Green] and DeVeon [Smith] both did a nice job. The offensive line worked very hard. I think the guys on the perimeter did a nice job.
“I think defensively holding them to 2-of-12 from a third down perspective is [good for] getting your defense off the field and more opportunities for our offense. The rush for the second week-- looking at our defense we played that very well, the front seven did or if we were in nickel situations the nickel did when he was involved so those were the positives of it.
“We only got the one pick as far as a turnover. We’ve got to do a better job there. I thought we harassed the quarterback and I think Brennen Beyer on the one sack made just a great play because he finished the play, and how he finished it. It was good to be at home, like I said. We’ve got to go to work. Utah’s a good football team. They’re a tough football team. That’s what-- they’ve had that M.O. for a long time and I think Kyle [Whittingham], coaching against him in the Mountain West and coaching against his team, they’re always a physical group. We’ll have our hands full.”
Is that about what you wanted to see, aside from a five minute stretch in the second quarter?
“Number one, I wanted to see—our guys came out with energy. That was something, and I think part of that was the crowd when the game started. I think part of it is they’re a very close team in a lot of ways and so them coming out and playing hard…would we have liked to have had a better first half in taking care of the football? Yeah.”
Devin Gardner and his receivers: what kind of versatility and depth did you see from that wide receiving core in the absence of Devin Funchess?
“I think the addition of Jake Butt helps, getting him back and getting him healthy and we kind of picked our spots with using him in some way. But Darboh and Chesson are both very talented. Norfleet gives you a great spark. Freddy Canteen is starting to get back to where he kind of was last spring, so having some depth there helps. Obviously Devin Funchess can be a difference maker because of his size and athleticism but I think the other guys did a nice job.”
Do you expect Devin back next week?
“Well, we’ll see.”
[More after THE JUMP, including player comments]
Can you talk about the job or the role Glasgow at the nose has played in limiting the run?
“Well, I think Ryan, and I said this to Ryan before the game, I thought he had the best week of practice, his best week of football I’ve seen from him in all areas. He played that way. I think between Mone, Pipkins, him and Maurice Hurst, which all four of them played in there, it’s a good group. It’s a growing group and so it’s a good group to be around.”
How concerned are you about the slow start to the running game? It looks like it’s on the verge of getting there and then it’s two steps forward and another step back. Are you concerned about that at all or do you think it will come in time?
“I think you’re always concerned about it. Would we like to have run the ball better in the first half? No question [at the] start of the game. But at the same time if you go through, and it’ll be interesting to watch the tape, the first series of the game and some of the things we wanted to try and establish from a formation standpoint—you’re trying to get your feet wet a little bit to see how people are going to defend you as a team but we need to run it better and that will be a main focus this week.”
Devin throws that pick there in the first half and then looks nervous the rest of the way. How did you asses how Devin played and are you concerned with…
“Maybe you thought he was nervous. I didn’t. I didn’t think he was, and I think the ball he threw—it’ll be interesting, again, you only see it once [but] to me it was a little high but it was on target. I don’t know if Jehu got a good chance to go get it either.”
Thoughts on the cornerback play, particularly Lewis coming back with an interception and Peppers defending out there on the corner.
“Well, I think the guys who we played, you know we rotated Blake and Jabrill and also Jourdan, they played tighter coverage. Did a few things different with the blitz things as far as we played some zero coverage, which we didn’t play a lot of but thought we could play it lining up at the sticks and those kinds of things. I think, and we’ll watch the tape, but I thought they all did a nice job.”
You talked about being able to use the crowd to bounce back from last weekend. It helped early, you said, but I’m sure you heard some of the boos at halftime. What’s your level of concern with your team having to deal with that and kind of some outside…
“Well, you know what, we’ve got great fans. They’ve got high expectations like we do. As far as the players, they know that they can only control what they can control and that’s playing the best Michigan football we can.”
Why didn’t Jarrod Wilson play?
“Uh, Jarrod…we don’t talk about injuries but…”
Is he injured?
“Well, he has something wrong with him, yes. He has something wrong with him.”
You allowed eight first downs and 33 yards rushing. Overall, how satisfied are you with this defensive performance?
“You know, we’ve played pretty good rush defense so far. Now, I think the schedule continues to get tougher. We’ll see what kind of defense we are as we go through it. Thirty-three yards, yeah you’re happy with that. How many attempts they have? Twenty four? They weren’t going to try to run it much, but I do think Chuck [Martin] tried to run it enough to keep us a little more off balance.”
If you could talk about two of Derrick Green’s runs; what you saw and what you liked about them. One being the touchdown where he sprinted left and the other being the third-and-short where his second effort really…
“Yeah. Again I’m going to say this, Ryan Glasgow had a great week [and] Derrick Green had a great week of practice. Probably as good as I’ve seen from him and I think Nuss would say the same thing just because we’ve kind of both said it together. But he really had a great week and he was finishing runs and he was coming out the other side. It will be interesting to see how he felt he played, to see if he felt he missed a read there and sometimes that happens, but I thought he played a nice football game.”
Turnovers are usually amplified in a loss and maybe less so in a game like this. What’s your concern level with seven [in three games]?
“Yeah, really concerned. Seven in three games is…one in three games you don’t want. It’s ball security issues that we’ve got to do a better job of from top to bottom.”
You got Jabrill in there in the second quarter and he spent most of the second half as one of your outside corners. Is he bringing what you expected and just thoughts on his performance in general?
“Without watching the film and watching him every play and not being able to judge fundamentals and technique I thought he played well. He’s gifted, I think we all know that. He’s got makeup speed so he can be wrong once in a while but he kind of makes up for it and he’s got an attitude that he plays with. I’d say him and Dennis [Norfleet], during fall camp they were two guys who were at each other’s throats every day. They’re so much alike that way, competitive-wise.”
Can you talk about Dennis’ impact on special teams?
“Dennis, number one, he brings so much to our team in a lot of ways. His energy, the way he goes out to practice and the way he challenges guys. I think that’s special but on the kicking game is where he makes most of his mark right now. Last week he had 33 plays that we were trying to establish and establish pretty well but he’s a guy who has a lot of energy.”
Jake Butt’s impact?
“Obviously Jake is getting healthier every game. I don’t think he’s probably where he would feel being one hundred percent yet. He’s a big target. He’s a physical guy. I think he always will have an impact.”
Can you tell us what you think Wyatt Shallman was thinking on that play where he went over?
“Here’s what happened. Justice [Hayes] was communicating, ‘Mine, mine, mine,’ and Wyatt didn’t hear him. The one thing I think we can do a better job at is making sure he understands, and we do it every Thursday, is that he can fair catch that ball. I think the way we had lined up, and we knew how we were lining up and we had Justice up enough that we were hoping he would be able to field them without a fair catch. He just didn’t hear him.”
BONUS- Player comments
Jake Ryan
MGoQuestion: Three games into the season how would you evaluate your transition to middle linebacker?
“Pretty good. First game was kind of—it was kind of a learning curve. First time at middle linebacker. I’m starting not to jump out of my gaps and stuff like that so better in the run game overall just better.”
On boos prior to halftime:
“You’ve got to block that out. That was probably a combination of the flag that they threw and us not going for it. You can’t really take that into consideration.”
Jourdan Lewis
On eliminating the bitter taste the ND game left:“I don’t think it’s cleared out until we win all our games, honestly. We have to go out and continue to roll our win streak.”
Amara Darboh
On when he knew Devin Funchess wouldn’t play:“We prepared the same way. I wasn’t sure whether he was going to play or not but we prepare the same way every week. It was just a matter of when it was game time and he wasn’t there all the receivers knew we just had to compete.”
On his touchdown catch: “The corner was pressing so I was like, ‘I need to get him off his feet.’ I knew I had time and Devin threw a nice ball to me.”