Brady Hoke

Press Conference

from file

Opening remarks: “We’re really proud of our kids and how they played on Saturday, how they went out there as a team. I think we really complemented each other as a football team in a lot of ways. Offensively, taking the ball down on the first possession and scoring always helps you from a mindset and your enthusiasm when you play the game. Defensively, I thought our defense played awfully well. Played together. We had a fourth and 26 that was completed on us that we don’t like at all, and we needed to play better on the one drive in the fourth quarter. Matt Wile did a tremendous job on kickoffs, especially into the wind. Jeremy Gallon did a nice job in the punt return department. The thing I want to mention is those guys on the team really did a nice job, so that was a big plus when you look at the hidden yardage that’s always important in a football game. But I’m proud of the kids, how they bounced back, how they reacted, how they stayed together, how they complemented each other.

“Obviously we’ve turned the page after yesterday. We have a very good opponent in Nebraska, one of the traditional football powers in this country, and we’ll have our work cut out for us.”

Is this defense exceeding your preseason expectations? “We always have high expectations. I think the part of it that you like is -- and this is probably more what a coach would see than you may -- but when they come off the field, whether it’s good or bad, how they band together, stay together, [and] they listen. I think Greg and the staff on defense do a tremendous job of making the adjustments that need to be made, and the tremendous job the guys do of keeping each other on that edge -- that’s part of it. I thought they did a nice job staying together no matter what happened.”

Illinois had negative rush yards at the half, and they got 37 total. How did that change their offensive plan? “Obviously when you can get a team to be one-dimensional, if you can do that, and we were able to. The interior of the defense really shut down some of the zones and what they wanted to run. When you can get them in those down and distance situations that are advantages for you, we were able to do that and we were able to get some pressure. I thought the back end did a nice job of keeping the ball inside and in front, which is a big part of it. The capacity for big plays weren’t there as much.”

(more after the jump)

How do you get them to carry over the good things they did on Saturday into the final weeks of the season? “I think our guys have done a tremendous job of wanting to improve every week. We went out last night and had a tremendous 25-minute fundamental and technique practice. The intensity of it, the focus -- I think they’re mature enough and the leadership of the senior class has done a really nice job of moving to the next team, and [asking], ‘What can we do better as a team and how can we do it better?’ They understand, for our seniors, they have two more opporutnities to play in this great stadium, and they all understand the expectations are to go out and play better every week.”

With the exception of the fourth and 26 completion, was there anything else you saw that you didn’t like? “You know, the whole last drive. You don’t want anybody to score. Their last drive down the field, I think it served some purpose a little bit eating up the clock, but I’d rather have the ball with us eating up the clock. There were some third downs in there that we needed to do a better job with as far as our conversions.”

Is Denard going to be limited this week? “No. He threw the ball very well last night. He’s fine, he just had a little sprain on his wrist. He’s in good shape.” Thoughts on how Devin played? “Devin did a good job managing the game. Al did a nice job, I think, in calling the game. It was conservative. It was for us, the way our defense was playing, to play to your defense, and then I thought the kicking game did a nice job for us.”

How much of the defense is Mattison? Also, is this one of the better jobs you’ve seen him do over the years? “Oh I don’t know. I think, whatever we do, it’s the kids executing it. We haven’t gone out and played one snap. We haven’t taken on a block. We haven’t done any of that. It’s the kids and their sense of pride and their sense of knowing the expectations being at Michigan. I think the entire staff does a good job of teaching fundamentals and techniques, and that’s where it starts. I think as a team, our mentality of how we want to play football is an important part of it on both sides of the ball.”

Was there a point you thought to yourself that this could actually be a good defense? “Oh I don’t know. We have two pretty good opponents left. Nebraska is a good fotoball team. I don’t think we’re in any position to think that we’re the Chicago Bears of ’86. Is that the year?” ’85. “ ’85. I was close.”

Denard hasn’t had a big issue with fumbles this year until the last couple of games. Did you see anything on film that played into that? “Well the first one, I mean there was a lot of pulling and scratching and all that kind of stuff. The play itself seemed to last forever. The guy hits the ball right and you’re trying to get some extra yards or you’re trying to make a play and you lapse a little bit in your ball security, but no. He’s been good that way. I think you have to give them a little credit because they’re trying to strip it and do those things, but he’s got to do a better job as far as ball security issues.”

Linebacking and edge play have been a weakness for this defense. You have Nebraska coming in with a whole lot of option football. How much do you need to prepare your linebackers and defensive ends for that? “We’ll stress that a ton because of what they like to do. We’ll prepare for it and they’ll have a wrinkle formationally or something different that you maybe haven’t seen. Trying to take advantage of leverage. It will be one of those things that we’ve got to be highly discipline whenever you’re playing option football teams. You’ve got to do your job. That’s an expectation. That’s an important part of it.”

With the emergence of Fitz and the defense, how does Denard’s role change on this team? Is he more of a game manager? “I don’t know if it changes. I think it’s kept him healthy for a lot of the year. Healthier than he’s been. I think it’s another option. If we’re going to block at the line of scrimmage and do a good job there, I think it really comes down to how well we’re blocking at the line of scrimmage, how well the backs -- Fitz, Mike Shaw, or Vince -- how they’re seeing the holes and their bounce and burst through them. It’s different every week how people want to defend because of Denard. He’s part of the formula for Fitz even though he didn’t throw one block in the game.”

Can you talk about the opportunity this team has to make this a special season with the last two games? “We always start with our seniors, and that’s what we talk about. When you sit down and they can’t believe how quickly their four or five years have gone by and that they’re at their last two games -- they have an opportunity the last two games at home to wear that winged helmet. That means something. For us, we just have to keep trying to improve in everything we do on a daily basis so that we can be the best Michigan team that we can be.”

Can you talk about Nebraska and the threat they pose? “Nebraska’s always been a very physical football team. For numbers of years. They take great pride in their football. Taylor Martinez has done a tremendous job of executing when you look at what they’re doing offensively. Burkhead is a guy that’s a good running back. You look at the statistical information between both teams, which I’m not real big into, but there’s a lot of similarities in their rushing offense and scoring and defensively -- they’re a team that’s going to play with great passion. I think Bo does a nice job. The Blackshirts defense, the physicalness that they want to play with -- it’s going to be one of those games.”

What did you take away from your ability/inability to defend Northwestern’s option offense? “Well I think it all starts with the type of option that you’re going to see. There’s varying degrees. There’s some speed option you’ll see. There’s some zone read option -- parts of it that you’ll find out, but it’s a discipline of what your job is. If you’re guy who’s got the quarterback, then you’ve got to make sure there’s always a pitch key for every option. You’ve got to do a great job of doing your job there. If you’re the pitch player, which, if they’re loading it or arcing it or whatever -- how you get off blocks and flow to the ball. I mean, your inside-out flow to the football has to be a big part of it.”

Roundtable

from file

Odoms has been working his way back into the lineup. How good was it to see him score that touchdown? “Tay has done a tremendous job, and he probably would have made more progress earlier if he wouldn’t have gotten beat up in fall camp. He had a forearm that was a break -- but I forget what they call those -- yeah it was fractured, but it was one of those hairline kind of deals, but it affected him. He had a cast on it. Hard to catch the ball, especially when they moved it on his hand. The one thing Tay’s done, like most of these seniors, is he’s come to work everyday. He’s done a nice job of leading and he’s done a nice job of coming to work and competing.”

On JT’s interception, was he coached to do that or was it his own read to make the play? “Well, believe me, that was him doing a nice job of what he did all week -- preparing to play the game. Receivers, there’s splits that tip you a couple different things. There are break points in routes. And one thing JT’s done is he’s done a nice job really working at being a corner from the preparation and film study and those things.”

Roundtree’s production has really dropped off this year. Does he have any health issues … ? “He’s fine. He’s fine. He’s doing what we want him to do.” Which is? “Go out there and block when we need to block and run good routes.”

How key is it to know that you have two quarterbacks who can manage the game and make plays? “Well I mean I think it’s always nice to have depth at every position. We’ve been pretty fortunate because we’re not deep at some of them. I think both quarterbacks have done a nice job. I think they’re learning in a process and a system. I think they both get better every time they take the field.”

Rotating Gordon and Woolfolk? “It seemed to work out. I think it seemed to work out pretty well Saturday. It still comes down to how they practice.” How is Troy after he hurt his leg? “He’s okay. He gets banged up a little bit here and there, but he’s fine. He did everything last night.”

If you win Saturday, you’ll help Michigan State win the division. “Doesn’t matter. We care about winning.”

How do you coach decision-making on punt returns? “The one rule they always have, is if they don’t feel comfortable about trying to field the ball, then get away from it. First and foremost, they have to know that. At the same time, you’re telling htem to catch every ball. With the wind and how that was affecting some things, I think Jeremy was more on the side of cautious because there were two other ones I thought at the time that I thought he could have fielded, but after looking at it on tape, there was probably one that he could have fielded. But I’m not going to second-guess that too much, because he wants to do the right thing for his team.”

What are your impressions from Will Hagerup lately, and what do you need to see from him? “Well I think he’s made some progress at times. He had a pretty good punt and then he had a couple that weren’t as good for Will. I think it’s just being consistent. What happens, and I don’t know if anybody golfs around here, and I try not to, but you hit it into the wind and you think you have to swing harder. It’s the worst thing you can do. I’m a 35 handicap, so I’m giving you golf lessons, but my point is, he’s so competitive that sometimes he overkicks. That’s something that he and I talk about everyday when he’s not talking to Angelique about how to punt.”

We didn’t see the Deuce formation. Is that something you decided on during the week? “Al didn’t think it was where we wanted to go this week. Part of it is we were very conservative in how, once we saw how our defense was playing, we went very conservative with trying to keep things going in the right direction.”

Is there a fine line to playing safe vs. playing too conservative? “I don’t think it’s a fine line. I think it really comes down to -- it’s like at halftime, we left some points on the field. The kids all knew it and they were kind of down offensively to some degree. But I reminded them we’re winning the game. We scored 14 points, they scored none. We’re winning. We just have to go back to what we normally [teach] -- make sure you’re fundamentally sound in everything you’re doing and finishing blocks if that’s the case, and correct the things we didn’t do in the red zone.”

Was there a theme to why you couldn’t score in the red zone? “No. One play this guy overshot or didn’t pick up the movement. The other play it could have been the other guy. I mean, that’s what happened because we just have to be more consistent.”

How much does the other team’s defense dictate what you do offensively? “It’s huge. Every school has a base defense. Ours is under, which is a weakside reduction. That is going to be our base. But you’re going to try and stop people and what they do because everyone has four running plays they like to hang their hat on and probably four route combinations. Those are the things you need to stop. Same things happens to us offensively. People have a base defense you may see all week, but when they get to how they feel with Denard, because the 197 yards that Fitz got, he didn’t just do on his own. He had some pretty good blocking and the threat of Denard still is a threat. I don’t even know where I’m going with this now, but everyone has a different way how they feel they want to really want to defend him. Make sense? Made sense to me.”

Desmond Morgan did good. What kind of challenge does Rex Burkhead present to him? “It’s obviously easy to challenge all eleven guys out there. coaches and everything else, because he’s a guy who runs downhill, runs hard, and he’s got enough acceleration and movement to him that he’s tough to tackle. He’s really a great slicing style of runner. Des -- there’s expectations for the position at Michigan. He’s a true freshman. He’s done a nice job, and he’ll continue to do a nice job.”

Morgan had an up and down game against Iowa. Did you say anything different to him this week? “No. I mean, the kid’s prideful. He does a nice job of staying his craft. He probably was a little better vs. Iowa than I initially felt.”

Mattison got emotional after the win. How much is this defense feeding off his emotion and passion? “I think that’s always part of it. Our seniors … with the way they go out and play and how they work and how they prepare, that’s part of it, too. I think it’s really that whole group wanting to be better every week.”

The way Fitz has played the past couple of weeks, are you moving closer and closer to pro-style? “I don’t know. Whatever fits us to win, I think that’s where we’re going.” Is that week to week? “It kind of is to some degree.”

Thoughts on having Nebraska in the B1G? “I think it’s good. It’s good for college football, it’s good for our conference. They’ve traditionally been one of the elite programs in this country. I think it’s great for us.”

How did Schofield look on film? “Michael’s learning. I think he’s getting better. With every position, but offensive line wise, you’ve got to make sure that your fundamentals are the biggest part, and that starts with your feet. I think he’s doing a good job.”

The B1G announced that they removed Paterno’s name off the B1G trophy. Reaction? “My reaction is we’d like to be playing for it.”

Did anything that Devin did give you more confidence going to him if/when Denard has turnover problems? “Yeah. I think he grows up more and more every time he goes out there.”

How do you simulate Burkhead in practice? “You know, there’s a couple guys. Mike Cox, for us, does a nice job. He’s big like that. Jihad Rasheed does a really good job even though he’s a little shorter guy, but he’s thick. There’s some guys down there. They give us fits sometimes, and that’s a good thing.”

Last week you told the offensive scout team to hold the defensive players. Do you do a lot of that during the season? “Yes. Yeah. I run the scout team. I love running the scout team because I’m with those big guys up front. The offensive linemen who are developing, and there’s some times when I think it’s important that the guys who are going to play in the game make it as hard on them as possible.” Is that because you feel like you need to challenge your defensive line more? “When we do that, and we go against our defense, we want to score because we’re competing. Whether it’s your look team or whatever, we want to win. So if it helps the look team a little bit, so be it, because we want to win.”

Brendan was 1 for 2 on field goals. “I thought he responded really well. He laid the one out there a little bit too much. He just pushed it. The mechanics of everything else, the snap hold, were all good. That’s what he said when he came off. I don’t talk to him when they first come off, because he’ll figure it out. He did a good job.”

You were concerned with his range in camp. What have you seen from him since? “I kind of want to say it’s improving, to be honest with you. I went out early to watch us punt both ways and watch us kick into the wind. He hit one -- I don’t know it was 48 yards or something like that. I was surprised, but he hit it right. He hit it right. I think I feel better about his range.”

Van Bergen’s growth this season? “I think Ryan’s done a really good job each week. I think he’s improved. I’m talking about from the technique side and the visual keys that he has, and he’s always wanting to do the extra so that he can be as good as he is, can be for his teammates.” He seems to be the team spokesman. “He’s earned the right as far as when you look at the work ethic and the offseason, because that’s where it starts. How he prepares every week, how much film he studies. Guys see that.”

Was there a lightbulb moment? “I don’t know. That happens with guys I think. I’ve been around this to know that some guys, all of a sudden they really get it. Maybe that’s what happened.”