News bullets and other items:

• There were no injury updates, because we aren’t going to talk about guys that didn’t play. Essentially, the word “injury” has been scrubbed from Hoke’s vocabulary.
• Matt Wile will be your short yardage punter, essentially because Will Hagerup kicks too hard.
• Ryan Glasgow had one of the best practice weeks Hoke has had from a nose tackle in a long time last week.
• Derrick Green had his best practice week last week.
• Jake Butt was held to a predetermined play count last week.

Opening remarks:

“Thanks for coming out. Saturday it was good to get back on the field and compete. It was good to win. The effort was very good from our team. We certainly always have things that we have to do better and we will do better but the hard-working aspect of it – thought some guys who stepped in to some critical spots gained some valuable experience and confidence. Excited for what they did.

“We had five minutes in the second quarter that would be five minutes we wouldn't like to have but I think coming through the adversity, coming out in the second half [the] defense shut them out. Offensively, I think we rushed for 7.9 yards per carry in the second half which is something that you want to do. I think from playing at home and the crowd, in the beginning of the fourth quarter their series that they had, it really had an impact. They had to call timeout. It's a fourth-down situation. They come back out, they false start, and then on the fourth-down play we get good get-off from our guys up front and get pressure and the ball is thrown out of bounds. But I think you can attribute that to the impact that it got a little louder. I'm on the field and I know you all aren’t and you could hear it so it was good and it made an impact.
”We've got Utah coming in this weekend. They are undefeated. Bye week last week. I think their second in the country in scoring offense. I think they average 309 throwing the ball, 268 running the football. Second or first in the country in tackles for loss and similar there in sacks. I think they have 11 in two games.

“I would say one thing we have to do a better job with in coaching it and executing it is the turnovers. We had a chance on Saturday to come up with three turnovers defensively. We got the one interception. We started fast as a team. First two drives on offense scored. First time defense was out on the field we got the interception but we had two other opportunities we need to capitalize on and then obviously communication on the pop kick. We need to do a better job from a standpoint of coaching it, the little things. Justice told me that he yelled ‘mine, mine, mine’ and Wyatt it just didn't hear him on that and that's something we've got to keep emphasizing as coaches. When you look at Devin’s interception, the ball was tipped at the line of scrimmage and that made it flow a little higher so it was outs of Jehu’s reach and then obviously Darboh makes a great catch, gets the first down and as he is putting the ball away and trying to secure it the guy knocks the ball out. But those three turnovers in a quick period of time you don't want to have but I think the way the kids and the team handled it was very positive. That's probably the longest opening statement in the history of college football right there."

A lot of people who focus just on the offensive line think that your guys are targeting better this year. Can you talk about that and just what you've seen?
"Yeah, I think that's one way of putting it. There were a couple plays where we didn't target as well that could have been huge plays. That's one thing, watching the film with the offensive staff and Doug and talking about it, I think the target areas are better. I think the leverage is more consistent. Not where we want it when you talk about pad level and then on a couple of the outside zone plays we for some reason a couple times targeted them as inside zone. Now, you get your MIKE counts, you get a lot of things going on and either the communication didn't come all the way out or we just had bad target areas."

[More after THE JUMP]

Your thoughts about how Jabrill played on the outside and is there a chance he returns punts in the future again?
"I think number one, there's a chance that that will happen. I think him and Dennis and Darboh have been the three guys that we've used most of the time. Obviously we went to the two return guys because of the rugby punts. One short and one a little deeper. Really having Fleet as the guy in control and having an experienced guy short, I thought it was important. I know Darboh hasn't had a lot of experience but he's been on the field, he's been in big games. We thought that was important to do. I thought Jabrill held up pretty well. I think it's a learning process every time he goes out, from leverage or playing bump or playing off or you’re playing middle third, whatever it might be. I think every time he plays he'll get better. He's very instinctive, which I think is a plus."

MGoQuestion: Jabrill was listed as a starter on the video board before the game but he didn't enter until the second quarter. Was there a reason that he didn't play in the first quarter?
"Well, depth charts are what they are, to be honest with you. We compete and challenge all the way through. He's had a great week. It's just the way how things went."

I was wondering if you could talk about Jeremy Clark and how you've seen him progress from the day he's got here to where he is now.
"You look at Jeremy's progress from his freshman year and he's always been blessed pretty well with physical attributes and I think his football knowledge continues to grow and that's what you need at that position back there. In high school some of those guys, they can kind of line up where they want and not because they’re undisciplined or anything like that but because they can make a lot of plays because they have ability and I think the competition that we play against week in and week out, adjusting defenses, going from one coverage to another coverage on a motion, all those things are things that I think he's really worked hard on."

Was Funchess able to practice yesterday?
"We won't talk about any of those guys who didn't play."
Why not?
"Because I don't feel like it.”

Derrick Green had the majority of the carries on Saturday. He was demanding the ball. Should we expect to see more of him as a featured back going forward?
"We'd like to have one guy be featured but having a guy like DeVeon to go to is a big plus, and so we'll keep rotating guys through. He got the majority of the reps and you never know where that could change where DeVeon gets the majority of them."

You mentioned the turnovers. You’ve had two flurries [of them] in your past two games. Is there a pattern you’ve identified there at all or is there something you do to avoid those kinds of pockets [of turnovers] in games?
"I think… coincidence, I don't know. But on Devin’s, the guy tips the ball and just tips it enough to change the trajectory a little bit. Amara [was] trying to get the first down, trying to get more yardage but you've got to tuck the ball away. Probably the one on the kicking is the one where we've got to do a good job coaching through it but are we concerned about it? Yeah. We want to hold onto the ball and get more turnovers on defense."

Talk about Jake's [Butt] game on Saturday. Is he further along than you thought he would be at this point and what does he add to the offense and what can you do differently when he is fully healthy?
"Well, I think Jake gives you the best of both. He's a guy who can play the Y truly on the line of scrimmage and block and protect. He also can play some H-back because he can run well enough. We had him on a little bit of a play count, to be honest with you, and he played about what we thought we wanted him to and as he feels more comfortable – you know, he tells you he's fine so we'll see."

Jack Miller – what's the difference? Last year he had the job for four games and he lost it. What's the difference this year?
"I think as much as anything it's maturity. I think his maturity, how he's developed. I think the responsibility within this offense – I'm not going to say it's greater but I think there's more emphasis on that and I think that's helped him grow as a leader but also from a football intelligence [and] instinct part of it. I think that's as big a difference. He's finishing things more. He played well the other day. Didn't play perfect. Did some things that we would like for him to do better. There’s some things that he would like to do better."

You said on the radio on Wednesday with Brandstatter that if Glasgow is at center then Kalis is at right guard, so Jack does not flip out to the guard?
"We haven't [done that]. He has before, I'll put it that way, but we've not done that probably since camp a little bit."

You had Wile punt the last punt. Was that a decision based on how Will had punted before?
"Well, as much as anything if you remember Wile took all of the pooch punts a year ago and we tried to back up Will a little bit but Will’s got an awfully strong leg and it's one of the things that Matt was doing better were the pooches, and so at the end of the half we tried to move him back a little bit and still he had too much leg. I think some of that was a fundamental flaw in the punt itself."

When it comes to matching up with a high-scoring offense like this and some of the troubles you've had with generating turnovers and tackles for loss and things like that. Is that something you have to do against a team like that?
"Well, I think it helps. Turnover margins is one of the biggest indicators in the game of football either at the National Football League level or the college level in how you end up the season so I think all those things with Utah and the explosiveness they have offensively- that's always going to be a factor but I think it's a big factor in this game. I also really believe that special teams will be a big factor in this game.”

When you look back at the few games that you’ve played, is there something that you put your finger on as far as why there haven’t been especially tackles for losses?

“Yeah, and I’m not real down on that part of it. We had eight last week, tackles for losses, which is the most we’ve had in a year. I don’t think that’s been as much of a negative as, you know- you can look at last week and we had one sack but we had nine hurries. I’m sorry, nine hits on the quarterback and four hurries where he had to run around and throw the ball away or he lets the ball go and somebody got him to the ground, so we’re getting closer. Is it where we want to be? No.”

The tackles for losses with Utah: why are they getting so many? Is it just in their defensive front or are they blitzing a lot?

“Yeah, they’re a little bit of both. In the first two games probably haven’t blitzed as much as they would like to for one reason or another. I think we’ll see more of that. You know, when you get behind the sticks on third downs you know you’re going to get it. But I just think he’s [Kyle Whittingham] always been an aggressive coach. He’s a defensive coach. We played them twice at San Diego State and got embarrassed at their place one year, then played well the next year. But always physical and always aggressive.”

How much did your gameplans offensively without Funchess and defensively without a lot of guy, how much were they limited or adjusted without those guys?

“You know, I think to some degree. Defensively I don’t know how much it was an impact just because we got Jabrill back, which helped. Blake [Countess], I thought the way he practiced all week and even how he played in the game, it was how you like to see Blake play. He had a big third-down knock down on a slant. From that standpoint I don’t think it was limited.

“From an offensive standpoint Devin can be a mismatch. He’s a big target. I think some of the things we tried to do with Darboh and tried to do and did do with Darboh and Chesson were things that he normally does so you got a chance to teach some other guys a little bit more in the package. I think the one thing about what Doug does- you know, Joe Kerridge is your outside receiver when we went to some empty stuff so there’s a lot of different spots and a lot of creativity in what you’re trying to get from a defense.”

On Derrick Green, what do you think benefitted him more? Was it the weight loss or it seems like he’s seeing the field a little bit better…

“Well, I think again, he was a freshman a year ago. A true freshman. Came in not in good shape. Hurt his ankle, lost a bunch of reps, started to come around at the end of last year- I think him and DeVeon both. I’ll put them both in there. Really did a nice job in the weight room and spring football and winter conditioning. He’s gotten more reps, [he’s] seeing things better. I think it’s a combination and I think it’s also a little bit of a combination [because] the guys up front are creating some space.

Jake Butt gave an injury up on [Khalid] Hill after the game. Said he had a hamstring…

“Did he have a hamstring?”

Well, that’s what Jake said.

“Well that’s…” /stares

Can you at least give an idea when Desmond Morgan might come back from his injury?

“No.” /smirks

You mentioned earlier that you coached against Kyle at San Diego State. We know the scores of those games but what do you remember about how they played. Is it the same?

“They’re a physical group. They’ve always had talent on the offense. Receivers, backs, quarterbacks were always pretty skillful. Big up front, the linemen. On defense [they’re] very active, very…pressured us a bunch at San Diego State.”

Do you expect more of the same?

“I do. I do. He’s got a new coordinator in Dave Christensen. Dave was the head coach at Wyoming so played him for two years. From an offensive concept, they’ve got some really good offensive coaches when you look at Dennis Erickson’s on that staff, Dave Christensen. There’s some guys who’ve coached a lot of ball.”

We saw a lot of Blake Countess on the inside receiver and Jabrill outside. Are you getting confident enough in what Peppers can do to continue that look?

“Yeah. It depends on some looks that we have. It depends some on if he’s playing the nickel or [if] he’s playing corner. We did more of that with Blake playing the nickel, trying to get Jabrill squared away at the corner position a little bit. Trying to help him out.”

You’re leading the Big Ten in total defense so far, though it’s a small sample size. Particularly against the run, how have you seen that group develop over the past three games and since fall camp?

“You’re right, it’s a very small sample group. I would say the compete and challenge that we talk about daily, those guys from the inside because of the depth that we’ve been able to recruit to, they know that every practice they’re fighting for time and they’re competing for time. I think that helps, that competition part of it. Ryan Glasgow practiced as well as I’ve had a nose practice in a long time last week and he played that way. And that group is a really tight group, which is neat to see.”

Being 2-1 you haven’t really put together a complete game yet. Does that give you a feeling of optimism for when this team does finally get going? Second, we talked about Notre Dame being a test game. Utah with their high powered offense- how do you look at this game?

“Well, I think you’re playing a team, number one, from the Pac 12 that obviously the Big Ten has had a great relationship with and we’ve played a lot of those teams in the past. They’re a football team that’s scored a lot of points [and] hasn’t given up many points. They’ve got good football players in skill positions. For us it’s about every day working hard and getting better. Whatever it is. If I’m a defensive lineman on a slant move or whatever it is, getting better at whatever it is. We’ve got to keep going to work every day and pushing each other and competing.”

With Utah I’m sure a lot of people still think of them as a Mountain West team because we’re in the midwest and what not. Can you describe where that program is in terms of the move to the Pac 12?

“You know, I can’t do that. I don’t know what they’ve had to go through, what they’re doing. Shoot, I better know what we’re doing at Michigan. As far as what kind of teams they’ve had, they’ve been very good football teams. They’ve been very physical football teams and very skilled football teams. I can tell you that part.”

“Thank guys. And gals.”