[Upchurch/MGoBlog]

They had 79 yards and scored a touchdown on that opening drive. Didn’t score the rest of the game and you guys held them to I think less than 75 yards. What did you guys do differently?

Chris Wormley: “I think just the mentality you have to have as a defense. After they scored on that first drive we kind of settled in and know the tendencies that they’re doing.”

Can you comment on your offensive line and how they opened up the holes for you, and the amount of holes and yardage you got out of them that was significant?

De’Veon Smith: “You know, shout out to my offensive line. They did a great job today. They made some huge holes. Holes that buses could drive through, so they did a great job pushing and pass blocking- I mean, run blocking and pass blocking so I’m proud of them.”

DeVeon, it seemed like you got a little stronger as the game went on. How did you feel as time wore on? It seemed like you started tackles. Did you feel like you guys started to break them a little bit?

DS: “Yeah, I feel like the offense wore down the defense a lot. We started pounding it, so if you have a big back [or] more than one big back they’re going to start getting tired. They’re going to just start getting tired of tackling a big guy.”

Chris, week one defensive line had the lulls in the second half. This looked like a complete four quarters. Can you just detail what you saw out of the line, specifically what you did to shut the Beavers down?

CW: “That’s the thing, we just came in this week and decided we were going to play as hard as we can as long as we can. Guys rotated in. I think that was the biggest thing was coming together as a D-line and saying this wasn’t going to happen again, this is what we’re going to do, and that’s what we did. We stopped the run, we got pressure on the quarterback and that was all four quarters and I’m proud of the D-line for that.”

[More after THE JUMP]

They scored on that first drive. Did that strike you guys as nervous or that you had to buckle down a little bit? I guess what was going through you guys’ minds?

CW: “I think you have to have the mentality of it’s not going to happen again. We talked about it a little bit. We settled in to our first home game in the Big House. Nerves are always jumping and what not, but after that you guys saw what happened with the defense: we shut them down. I’m proud of the whole defense for that.”

Win number one; what did you guys see that makes you confident the victories can continue to come as the seasons roll along?

CW: “I think you see when you put up 35 points on offense and are able to run the ball like they did with DeVeon and Ty and Drake and Derrick I think it gives the defense a great amount of confidence that we can stop them. We only put up seven points that first drive. When you have that working for both offense and defense and then you see the special teams producing as well it just gives you that confidence to keep going and fighting and get the win every week.”

DeVeon, can you talk about the decision to go for it on fourth-and-5 and how you and Jake worked that play? Was it a delay route?

DS: “No, it’s not a delay route. It’s just I had to read my progression. I’m happy I caught the ball this time. That was one thing I was trying to work on was catching the ball, looking the ball in.”

Were you the first option on that play?

DS: “No, I think I’m the last option on that play.”

DeVeon, you seem like the kind of power back that Jim Harbaugh likes. How would you describe your running style, and how much was Harbaugh in your ear after last week’s game where you thought your vision wasn’t maybe what it could have been?

DS: “Coach Harbaugh wasn’t really in my ear. It was more so coach Wheatley making sure I understood what I could have done better. He said I have to be more patient with reading the holes and, like, helping my vision out because he knows I have great vision and he said you’ve just got to be more patient and it will come.”

And how would you describe your running style?

DS: “Uh, power. Power back.”

This is the reputation of Jim Harbaugh’s previous teams, power running and a strong defensive performance. Is this what you expected when you were going through camp and since he first got here? Is this what you thought you guys would be?

CW: “Yeah, coach Harbaugh’s had the mentality since even spring ball of toughness, run it down your throat. The hard-nosed defense coach Durkin has instilled in us is just what we expected from week one to week twelve, so that’s what we expected and that’s what we came to do and that’s what we’re doing.”

Chris, what must the mindset be for Michigan football from this point forward, and how much of that did we see today?

CW: “I think the mindset is score points on offense, stop them on defense. You know, that’s the name of the game and I think once you do that the wins will come and you’ll see the progress and the success that each team can have. That’s what you strive for.”

DeVeon, you said you give a shout out to your offensive linemen. How much  do they hear the chatter during the week that they played poorly? Coach Harbaugh singled out the offensive line on Monday in his press conference. How much do they hear that, and how much did you see that aggression today that they wanted to take it out on the other team?

DS: “Coach Drevno definitely got- really yelled at them a lot during the week to make sure they had the right keys, had the right assignments, had the right blocking assignments. We actually went in there with them, with the linemen, and [inaudible] because it’s not all their faults because the runner makes the blocks good. Yeah, we all made mistakes in that game last week but we had to come out this week and really show we made a great statement to the world today.”

What’s the feeling like when you know a defense is wearing down you’re controlling them toward the end of the game?

DS: “You want the ball more. Give me the ball more. If you can tell a defense is wearing down you want the ball even more because I feel like for me personally my strongest quarter is the fourth quarter.”

Chris, one of the knocks on the defense last year was lack of generating turnovers. How important was that exchange of turnovers today where Taco forces the fumble and Bolden recovers it?

CW: “Yeah, it was huge. They were on maybe the 30-yard line or something like that and then we got that fumble, so that was huge. Sudden change for the offense to go out there and do what they had to do. Coach Durkin’s emphasized that since he got here during spring ball. I think we had like 90-some turnovers in camp. We charted that, so that was a big emphasis during camp and I think that’s what you’ve got to accomplish is get turnovers and get the ball back for your offense.”

DeVeon, going back to the offensive line it looked like Braden had a pretty good game. Is there anything you noticed specifically that maybe you didn’t see last week against Utah as far as what the offensive line was able to do?

DS: “Uh, not really. I could tell by their pad level they were coming off the ball a little bit harder, a little bit stronger so I could really see…there were huge holes.”

Was there any guy that you could see or a side where you were like ‘Hey, I’m going to go run that way?’

DS: “No.”

Any extra emphasis with this being coach Harbaugh’s first home game and did he kind of deemphasize it? Were there any signs this was his first home game?

CW: “I don’t think so. I think any home opener, as a team you’re excited. There are 110,000 thousand fans behind you to support you and that just gives us that extra boost to show what we could have done better last week and what we can do now, and I think that’s what we did as a team.”

To have that 109,000+ and to have that energy in there, how did you feed off that?

CW: “Oh, it was great. When we made big plays, offense or defense, the crowd was crazy, so that just gives us that extra momentum, that extra boost you need as a football team.”

Chris, the light seems to have come on for you this year. What do you attribute that to?

CW: “I think just hard work. Getting in the weight room after last season. You know, building that confidence in yourself and as a D-line as a whole. I mean, it’s not just me out there having the success. It’s the nose tackle and the other end out there putting in just as much work as I am watching film. I just trust the D-line as a whole.”