Postgame Presser Notes: BGSU Comment Count

Tim

Quotes from after the game. Will update with photos when they're ready.

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Rich Rodriguez

Injuries: "Denard seems to be fine, I know that's the first thing you're gonna ask." He'll get treatment and be fine after some rest and ice. No x-rays needed. He was moving around on it. Michael Shaw is "pretty much the same as Denard. Just a little bit sore." Perry Dorrestein is fine, just got "a hangnail or something on his toe."

Today was a good win, the team got better in all three phases. Defense was a little more aggressive than last week, offense controlled the game with the run. "Last week, we did not play well." Improved this week on defense and special teams especially. It was nice to get lots of guys in there, especially seniors.

Team is deeper on offense than last year. "Defensively, we're younger." Completely different years. "I think there's enough positive things that we can grow from and enough negative things that we can fix." The first goal is the B10 championship, everyone is 0-0 in the conference.

Offense didn't have to do a whole lot in order to move the ball, ddn't have to show a lot. Executed well.

All three QBs did well. Didn't think about putting Denard back in at half. "We were moving the ball whoever the quarterback was in there." Needed to just get a couple stops. "I wish he woulda stepped out before he got hit." Needs to scoot out when the touchdown isn't going to happen. "I thought all 3 quarterbacks were very efficient." Devin not as ready as Denard or Tate because he's a year behind. These guys are getting it. "All three of those guys have not hit their ceiling yet. Not even close." It's a tough deal because only one can play at a time. Denard and Tate both more comfortable seeing the field than last year. Seeing things like coaches see them, why a play did or didn't work. Tate maturity - "I'm impressed with a lot of our guys' maturity. There's a lot of progress."

RBs - "It started up front. I thought our line and our tight ends did a good job blocking." Made a couple mistakes, but it was nice to get lots of RBs experience.

Guys come in boys, leave 4-5 years later as "a man, a Michigan Man."

Could tackle better, hit a couple screens on us. Missed opportunities to make tackles. Played more aggressivley, not on their heels like last week.

A couple special teams penalties were frustrating. Would FG kicker have been Broekhuizen? "Maybe." Depending on length and hash.

Team knows Indiana is very good, they can't mail it in and win.

Roy Roundtree

After last week, the players wanted to just return to playing good Michigan football. Different year than last year. "Everybody's playing for somebody." They play their hardest every Saturday.

Offensive skill guys didn't have any trouble with the rotating QBs, because it happens in practice. When Tate came in, he was shocked everyone was yelling his name. Denard - "I'm pretty sure he'll be back this week coming up - get some treatment on it." Roy is very confident whoever QB is. "Minus the MAs [missed assignments] and the penalties, we just keep rollin'."

Defense showed up today. "Wasn't like the slackin' last week." In practice, it was 11 hats to the ball, they did it today.

RVB

RVB is not really amazed at the offense's performance. They've been going toward that for the past year. Expecting to see them make plays.

"Absolutely" more focused than last week. Might have been reading too many press clippings coming into last week. "Circled the wagons and prepared this week like it was a bowl game."

The team used a little more 4-man rush to get to the QB this week. "Persistent, and keep coming after the Quarterback." Had pressures, finally turning them into sacks. As long as the QB is moving his feet, the throws become inaccurate. "If you sack him, it's prettier but you don't necessarily need it."

Better team chemistry this year. Team united, want to play for each other.

"Michigan is noted as a powerhouse in the Big Ten, and we have not lived up to that the past two years." Hungry to be successful in-conference this year.

Tate Forcier

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"A lot of people say I'm not staying here, but I'm still here... I love Michigan, I love everything about it... I love Coach Rod, I love these fans, I love everything about Michigan football."

Felt good to be out there competing again. "Coach Rod just told me to be patient and stay ready." He was ready when his number was called. Coach Rod told him to be ready, he knew he would get in this week. Never know when your number's gonna get called, have to be ready to come in. "Coach Rod's the coach. I'm gonna let them make the decisions, and if they go with him, I'm gonna be right there, ready."

Felt almost ilke a first start again. Thanks the crowd and coaches. How can you not notice that the crowd was supporting him. "Crowd always motivates me. Because you just want to keep hearing that." Michigan has the best crowd in the country, and the team has to to keep them happy.

His injury isn't serious. "I got hit. I got a little dead leg." He'll be fine within a day or so. "I'm healthy, and as long as Denard gets healthy, I'll be happy still." Never 100% as a football player, have to play through a bit of pain.

Hard to wait when you played last year "Denard got the same question last year when I was the guy." Everyone is good enough to play, he'll let the coaches make a decision. No rust. Studied lots of film this week "It was easy out there." Had something to prove when he went out there. "That's what I heard." that he set a completion percentage record. Could have improved a couple things.

Treat every team like a threat. Cites App State. "Treat every game just like you're playing against Ohio State." hould be able to play this well every week. Should be able to have a lot of success this year.

Indiana gave the team a good game last year. Fun to go into away stadiums and have everyone against you.

Vincent Smith

Team executed better today. Did a lot of studying with good focus this week. Made sure they were focused to take advantage of opportunities.

"We just come out and just execute and make plays." Don't worry about what the opponent's doing.

Denard's injury made him think of his own knee injury, even though it didn't end up being as serious.

The offensive line: "They had a awesome game. Just the same, they're very consistent and always do their job up front." Lewan - "He's doing an excellent job. I was telling him that on a couple of runs."

"We have a lot of talent in the backfield, no doubt." Everybody does their part when their number is called. "We all look at it from... if one man falls down, the next man steps up."

Red zone mindset - "We gotta get in."

Craig Roh

Performed better than last week. Pretty good outside of a few plays. This defense is always hardworking, taking positive steps toward learning more. Concentrated and wanted to get everything right today.

Prepared the same as last week, maybe a couple guys watched a little more tape. "I thought our preparation was consistent."

On BGSU's QB: "You know that's in his mind where he's already kinda out of his comfort zone." Backup QB is obviously going to be nervous coming into the Big House.

Impressed with offense? "Yeah. I love our offense. It's very dynamic and explosive."

"I really feel like we have 3 very good quarterbacks coming in that can all run our offense."

Lewan - "I heard he did pretty good. I talked to him after the game, and I'm just excited to see Taylor playing." Been playing against him in practice a few years now, likes to see him develop.

"This team is just so close. Everyone is everyone's friend."

Concentrating coming into Big Ten season. "We... we're ready."

Comments

U Fer M

September 26th, 2010 at 8:40 AM ^

I wished Michigan had several years ago when we were getting shredded by the Oregons and Syracuses when they had the ridiculous team speed. Now M has the ability to do this to other teams, I just hope it carries over into the Big Ten season, and M is again a team others will fear.

clarklakeblue

September 25th, 2010 at 11:48 PM ^

The offense looked good today.The defense scares the hell out of me.I just dont see the 3-3-5 prevent defense working out in big ten play.Please switch to the 4-3 for the remainder of the season.

GoBlue4ever

September 26th, 2010 at 1:28 AM ^

Great win by the team.  

I'm a little surprised that Tate's 100% completion percentage hasn't been highlighted more. Nonetheless, am really glad all 3 of our QBs got significant time and showed that they are all capable to running our offense.

Here's to keeping the team together and bringing our 'A' game to every match-up in the Big Ten schedule. All in for Michigan. Go Blue!

Blue Durham

September 26th, 2010 at 10:02 AM ^

regardless as to which QB was in there.  This team is not near as dependent on Denard as I thought just a week ago.  Sure the plays are a bit different for each QB, but the offense was just as potent.

Importantly, through 4 games, the offense has not turned the ball over much (but the defense actually has, twice!).

Defensively, there are still a lot of problems, but I do see some improvement.  Team speed is really there, and there are a lot more guys around the ball than in the past several years.

JonSobel

September 26th, 2010 at 11:32 AM ^

but the defense looked more competent/borderline good Saturday than people are saying.  Bowling Green drove the ball twice for scores and had a flash in the pan on THIRTEEN possessions. 

On those two long drives, the defense held 1st - 3rd down at the goalline.  Yes, if the tackling was better on two plays, these drives both come away with no points.  Then again, most coaches kick the field goals there. 

The rest of the day, our defense was dominant against the run and really good against the pass when that's almost all BG was doing.

The flash in the pan was bizarre.  Looking at the replay, it would appear that Mouton was taking the perfect angle to destroy this play after a 5 yard gain.  That is, until the back ran into his own lineman who pushed him in a different direction.  This happens to every team, though.

Do I think they're great?  No.  Do I think they're as terrible as people are saying?  No.  They only need to be a middle of the road defensive team this year for us to win a LOT of games.  And I think they're well on their way to being just that.

eth2

September 26th, 2010 at 11:39 AM ^

Agree that the O was amazing with all 3 QBs yesterday, but still believe we are most potent with Denard because of his ability to score any time he touches the ball.  I think someone used the analogy that he is like a great HR hitter.   Tate and Devin, at this stage of his development, will rely moreso on distributing the ball to move it downfield.  Denard can distribute or TCB all by himself (thank you very much).   

I would reason that someone far better at math than me could break this down, but variables I would consider include average yards per play from scrimmage for each QB and number of exchanges (assuming that when the ball changes hands there is some chance something could go wrong: fumble, incompletion, interception).  

Perhaps it might shed further light on what makes Denard special.  Or perhaps it will remain inscrutable like dilithium.   

mendrygal

September 26th, 2010 at 10:41 AM ^

Hey Brian, could you change the website motto to "Get Out Of Bounds!" Couldn't be happier to see Tate out there looking sharp.  I guarantee that little playing time investment will payoff in a close conference game possible/hopefully brief Denard injury/just ran a 300 yard TD situation.  I finally got me some Hopkins, and felt great about it (until the fumble).  Still love him as a short yardage back. 

Rmilkman

September 26th, 2010 at 12:13 PM ^

I know that it was only BGSU, but for some reason you can't help but feel that this team was 10 times better than the team that played last week. It's good to see that Tate is happy at Michigan, and that we have a metric shitton of depth at nearly every offensive position. I can only hope that the next few weeks yield more of the same, but at the same time, I think that the team really turned a corner this week.

UMICH1606

September 26th, 2010 at 12:25 PM ^

What I enjoyed most yesterday was when the young kids on defense got some reps, some of them looked like they had pretty good instincts for the positions that they were playing. I realize it was just BGSU, but some of the of the instincts were impressive, which makes me hope that there isn't the DOOM that I was fearing with the D for the future.  I really liked what I saw out of Vinopal, Avery, and Demens in the small sample size that we saw, and am looking forward to seeing them get some more reps as the season goes along. Terrance Talbott seems to do ok when he gets a few reps, as does JB Fitzgerald.

Watching BWC stand straight up a lot when he was in there was a little frustrating, but hopefully more reps as the season goes will refine his technique a little bit. He seems to attack the defender well on offense in the goaline packages, I hope that aggresiveness translates to the other side of the ball soon enough.