​[Upchurch]

What did you like out of Nico Collins in Saturday’s game?

“Well, I loved the big play. Thought he did a great job of running his route, using speed. Great job tracking the ball and he made a fantastic catch. He blocked well and consistently ran good routes the whole game. So, there’s others. Donovan (Peoples-Jones) caught the ball — all our receivers did a great job catching the ball. Quarterback was really accurate throughout the game. Good to see Oliver Martin step up and make a great play in the game. … Grant Perry also had a pretty good game, so it was good to see. I definitely thought our receivers improved, and there’s something to build on there.”

Jim, you guys were 4-of-8 receiving, tight ends, against Notre Dame. What did you see out of the tight ends, (Sean) McKeon in particular, and is there a concerted effort to get them the ball more?

“Yeah, we really like our tight ends, and I thought there was an opportunity to get McKeon the ball on the play where Shea (Patterson) threw the post to Nico. Sean had a good route there. There was a heck of a play, that Notre Dame made. 42 made a great play and forced Shea to throw off his back foot cause he had pressure. That was another example of — then there was some third down conversions where he had tight ends. So, blocked extremely well. That’s another positive.”

Was Devin Bush just cramps?

“Yeah, I think, limited amount of plays in the second half.”

He’s ok?

“Yeah, I think so.”

And then with the pass-pro stuff, I know we talked about it in the offseason, again on Saturday. Did you watch it again and did you see what went wrong at times, and why was there pressure?

“Yeah, I thought it was improved. We look at it and there was probably a few boxes that you check and say, ‘Hey, this is improved.’ That was another area I think was improved and we continue to get better in that area, but I think it was one of the areas that I think we’re improving on.”

Coach, as you reviewed it, how did Shea do in terms of navigating the pocket, knowing when to stay with it, knowing when to get out?

“Really good. The thing that popped the most was his accuracy, location of the balls. There was — accurate all game. Tight windows, some throws, some really good throws. Thought he managed the game extremely well, there was no penalties offensively. We had the one delay of game at the start of the second half, but no other pre-snap penalties or formation penalties by the offense. I thought that was real positive, something we were better at in this ballgame than we’ve been, and another good thing to build on. But the first time in a game situation, I thought he ran that extremely well.”

Jim, what is it in Dylan McCaffrey’s makeup that allows him to come in in that setting, about as much pressure as a guy could make his debut in, and just show the moxie, as you said?

“I just — he was seeing things good. As for his makeup, he’s got that ability. He — to be cool about it, cool under pressure, and threw the ball accurately as well from the pocket and on the run. Managed the pocket, stepped up nicely in the pocket, pulled a zone read, was able to get a few yards that way. Took care of the football, also was able to run the offense without any missed calls or formation issues. So, I thought it was good. Asked him how he was doing, and said he was enjoying it. Said he was having fun, so that part of his makeup is really good.”

That’s a good sign right there. ‘I’m enjoying it.’

“Right.”

What’s been the attitude of the team that you’ve seen, in the last 36 hours inside the locker room?

“Loss hurts. It kinda hurts your body. But, getting that — getting our bodies back. Guys that played a lot of plays, very physical game, came out well from a physical standpoint. Last 24-48 hours, get yourself back to full-speed and continue the process. Emotionally, mentally, that’s — a lot of losses, it hurts.”

Jim, do you feel like you’re set with this offensive line, or do you see maybe trying different personnel this week?

“Yeah, we’ll — I think the way we played in this game is where we’ll play the next game as far as the offensive line.”

Jim, what did you like out of Karan Higdon, and we didn’t see much of Chris Evans in the first half, (why was that)?

“Yeah, Karan was running well. I mean, he — especially in the first half, when we were kinda riding him. He was seeing the holes, very good in pass protection, had a couple really nice blocks. And then we were able to come to Chris in the second half. They’re both equally as good, equally like to get the ball to ‘em throughout the course of the game. Throughout the game, they’ll both get the exact amount of touches, per quarter, per half or per game, and we’re very confident in both our backs.”

How important is it to kinda reiterate, ‘Hey, we got three home games coming up, we can get back on a roll here.’ Has that sorta been a message, that one loss isn’t gonna kill a season?

“Yeah, I think everybody inside of our team believes in each other and believes in the team, believes in each other. And stressing the importance of going from one week, to Week 1 to Week 2, never more important than with this ballclub. So looking to make all the strides you can in this one week, and focusing on that. We’re focusing on this game, never a more important game than the one we’ll go down the tunnel to play this week.”

Why was it taking so long to snap the ball in the 2-minute drill?

“Yeah, that’s something that we can improve. We’re addressing that.”

Is that a systemic thing there or is that in terms of call coming one place and then said at the line of scrimmage?

“Yeah, we were in a — we were in a crowd noise situation. We were on the road and we had a way of getting the ball snapped. I think sideline cadence. And we didn’t wanna have more than one way, first game. So, yeah, we’ll — first-time center, first-time quarterback, new system. We kept it more simple, but we’ll get used to that … getting the ball snapped faster in a 2-minute situation.”

Coach, what were your thoughts on your interior defensive line play after watching film?

“It was good. It was another box we checked. We see improvement, experienced players and then veteran players do a really good job. Really impressed with the front and how they played.”

Jim, when you mentioned earlier, keeping it simple, first-time center, first-time quarterback, all of those things. When you’re going in, you’re calling a game and you’re down 14-0, is it hard to not deviate from keeping it simple, knowing that it’s Shea’s first start or is that —

“Well, I was just referring to the cadence.”

Whole offense, when you’re calling everything, I would assume — am I wrong in saying you tried to keep it as safe as you could with a new quarterback?

“No, yeah, there was — it wasn’t — I was just referring specifically to the cadence variation in this particular ballgame, that we’ll add layers to. But, no, we got — we were two scores down, went to the no-huddle, 2-minute type of tempo. That can be sped up. I thought the entire offense had — was not a simple game plan. Wasn’t — it just wasn’t. I was just speaking specifically about that cadence variation.”

Jim, how do you respond — constructive criticism is one thing. How do you respond when a player, former member of the program, kind of an expletive-laced, malicious tweet, rather than, I guess a higher road. How do you respond to that? What goes through your mind when you’re seeing and hearing about that?

“You’re talking about the Braylon Edwards tweet?”

Yes.

“Well, number one, first of all, it’s not true. It’s not factual. There’s nobody in our program, thinks those things about any player on our team. Let alone the two players that he described. On the other level, it’s disappointing that a member of the Big Ten Network would choose to attack the character of two of our players. That’s disappointing. And, I will say, that if somebody wants to attack the character of anybody on the ballclub, come after me.”

Would you rather that constructive criticism be directed at coaches rather than calling out players?

“That’s what I just said. Absolutely. Don’t think it was right. It’s not true. And nobody in the program thinks that about any player. That’s not coming from anybody inside the program.”

Jim, what is your take on (Josh) Metellus and the targeting, did you think it was the right call?

“Yeah, I don’t know. I don’t know if it was the right call. It was close, it was one of those close plays.”

On Brandon Peters, will he be — the knee injury — will he be 100 percent?

“Yeah, shoulda said leg. Shoulda said leg. Really, wasn’t exactly — leg injury. I think it’s something we’re gonna be able to manage, address, see how it progresses.”

On Braylon, is this something you — you mentioned he was on the Big Ten Network — is this something you’d like to see the Big Ten Network do something about? Reprimand him?

“We’ll handle things within the program. That’s all.”

What have you seen out of Western (Michigan) on film, so far?

“Very aggressive. The game against Syracuse was a hard-fought game. They battled. So, that’s what we’re getting to know right now. We looked at the team in the summer. … Been impressed.”

Can you, basically, use Ambry (Thomas) in three phases of the game? … Is that something you’re considering?

“I think we could. Consider all things.”

On the table?

“Yeah, it’s always.”