[Upchurch/MGoBlog]
“Glad Jake Rudock set a record. Trying to set as many of those as we can, and we’re happy for his success there and Jake Butt going over 1,000 yards was another great milestone, and a great win. You know, the amount of our players that contributed to this win was very high. Maybe the highest of the season when you look at the way the offensive line played, protection that we had, the entire defensive line, defensive stops in the red zone, kickoff return, the offense. Just a lot of guys sucking it up and playing really good football.”
Seems like your team, when it’s on the road, just keeps on getting things done, and they credited practice during the week as one of the reasons they’re effective on the road. Talk about why you think your team has been so effective in road games.
“Well, it always comes down to the players. Good players, you know, they play good on the road or at home.”
Is it just digging down deeper in the environment, or is there any one thing you notice?
“I think the number one factor is just, you know, being good. If you play good…”
Your predecessors when I grew up- talking about Bo and Woody- used to talk about how you can’t be up every week and I would have thought if there was any week where you’d have an emotional valley considering what you went through last week and what’s ahead it would have been this. Have you laid an egg all year, because I can’t discern one where you emotionally weren’t quite ready.
“I never heard Woody or Bo say that.”
Well, Woody said that. I grew up near Columbus, and so you always worry about how sometimes you can’t be up for every game completely.
“Heh. I don’t know about-”
You don’t believe in that anyway, so-
“Nah. I’ve read a lot about Woody Hayes. I don’t remember him ever saying that, and the egg analogy doesn’t resonate with me either. I don’t really like comparing humans to chickens or any other type of animal.” [Going to guess he wasn't a fan of my interview with Graham Glasgow last week -A.]
[/laughs really lightly under his breath]
[Hit THE JUMP for more on the game and some cool stuff about Bo]
Can you talk about Amara’s yards after the catch and how big those were and the flags and then the big play at the end along the sideline that kept the drive alive?
“Uh, we had a lot of big plays along the sideline to keep drives alive. Yeah, and I think that was a good part of the offense today. We were effective. When they were in off coverage we were able to hit some of those quick passes, wide receiver-type of screens, and we blocked and got good yardage off of those. And in the press coverage we were able to hit the fade route a few times. So, a lot of- that was a good fastball-curveball for us today, but yeah, Amara, I mean, just every week. He gets up for every game.”
You guys seem like you’re really relying on man coverage and press coverage and tight coverage. Is there stuff that got flagged today that didn’t get flagged in other games? You got a lot of interference calls.
“Yeah, these- it was pretty lopsided, so you’d be anxious to look at them and see what it was.”
You’ve had ups and downs this season. This game you had a lot of penalties and fourth quarter stops near the goal line or in the red zone. What is it about this team that you brought to the team that enables it to deal with this adversity throughout the season?
“I don’t know. The thing about this team is we win as a team. Everybody does a little and it adds up to a lot.”
Tomorrow marks the 29th anniversary of you guaranteeing a win over Ohio State back in your playing days. I’m just curious what you remember about that, and if you could ever even remotely see your self doing something like that again?
“That was such a long time ago.”
You don’t remember anything about it?
“That was a long, long time ago. In my youth. In my youth.”
You talked earlier about this team fighting through adversity. When you got this team in January or February and started to learn about this team what did you find out about it its heart or what it had to gut through games like this on the road. You guys are 4-0 in the Big Ten on the road, I think. What did you find out about this team that enables them really to power through whatever comes their way?
“It’s just a process of getting to know them. I can’t say I knew what I know now in January or February by any means. That was heavy-lifting time, and the great thing about our team is that’s been it the whole time. It’s just been…you know, they’ve been relentless in the same kind of demanding, punishing pace. It hasn’t stopped, and so we’ll enjoy this one and then we’ll move on to the next one.”
This week was the anniversary of the passing of Bo. Just wondering, do you have any special memories going into today’s game or special emotions you might have felt prior to or after?
“You know, that’s really been a daily thing. When I go to Schembechler Hall and drive past his house and sit in the office and have the same position that he had as my coach, it’s daily. Somebody says, ‘Hey, you going over to Schembechler?’ It’s not just a hall. It’s a person, it’s my coach, it’s somebody I draw daily inspiration from, as we all do, all of us who played for him or coached with him or were associated with him.
“I can give you a great example. We’re flying here yesterday and Jim Breaugh, a quarterback who played at Michigan, no. 8 in the late 70s, was flying our plane. He’s one of the top pilots at Delta now and we were talking, going back and forth, and like I told him before we took, I said, ‘You know what Bo would tell you right now?’ He goes, ‘What’s that?’ ‘Don’t screw it up!’ So it’s just, it’s daily. It really is, how he inspires us.”
Going back to the penalties, you seemed upset by some of the defensive ones, but on the offensive side, how much did the fan noise and crowd [inaudible] offensive line [inaudible]?
“I thought it was fantastic. Whenever you win a road game you’re not just overcoming the other team, you’re overcoming the other team’s fans. You’re overcoming teams that are out there, so that really makes you feel like a man when you do that. And nobody was more manly or mighty than our offensive line today. I thought the way they run blocked- pass protection in particular was very good, very physical. They played a complete game up front with our offensive line.”
Heading into this last week of the regular season I think everything’s still there for you to get what you want. Talk a little bit about that.
“Yeah, you just move on with humble hearts when you win a game like this and get ready for the preparation next week, but we’re right where we want to be. We’re gonna play for the championship.”
You touched on earlier how your team has really responded to adversity. Can you describe how they’re able to? Last week against Indiana it was on offense and defense both- when your team needs a play, they get it.
“Yeah, and it’s particularly been so good in the red zone. Forcing again three field goals today; I mean, you start adding up all those points, it’s been remarkable the way our defense has played and in that facet I can’t imagine anybody’s playing any better. Maybe somebody’s playing as good in terms of red zone football, but it’s a real strength for us.
“The amount of guys that stepped up for us- I mean, there was a lot. Wilson makes a big tackle at the goal line; Clark defending the fade; Jabrill; the defensive line we talked about; thought Joe Bolden again had another good game; James Ross; Ben Gedeon stepped up with a big tackle for loss; and it was, again, Delano Hill was in some good coverage situations and made some open field tackles. It was a lot of guys. Maybe as much as any game we’ve played in this year with the amount of guys stepping up and contributing. Really happy about that.”
At what point in the season did you realize that this team was good enough to put yourself in position in the last week to possibly win the Big Ten East?
“Well, it’s been a good five, six weeks we’ve been playing with this playoff-type mentality, and it’s a lot of fun. It’s fun to be in this environment and this position. It’s fun to be in the playoffs; we’ve been in it for weeks in our minds and in our preparation and that’s a lot of fun. We’re just having at it.”
You mentioned the defensive line. We talked about it last week, having to do it without Ryan [Glasgow]. We asked you on Monday if they were tired and you said you didn’t think they were. Their response overall from a rough one last week.
“Yeah, I’m trying to single one guy out but I can’t because it was multiple. And yeah, there was talk- and Ryan’s a heck of a good player, really good, one of our best. Our guys, talk to them. Maybe they took it as a challenge that somebody had to step up and grab that share of glory that’s there to be had. From my perspective today, there’s probably four or five guys who were grabbin’ at it. It’s okay to chase glory.”
Thank you to Isaiah Hole for providing the audio I used to transcribe this.