Notes from Rich Rodriguez's Monday meeting with the press.

Injuries

Denard - "I talked to the trainers." He has a bruised knee, he'll be limited today but should be able to do everything tomorrow. You expect him to play? "Yes."

Fitzgerald Toussaint screwed up his shoulder, they're trying to determine the exact nature of the injury.

Rodriguez is optimistic Carvin Johnson should be able to play. Brandon Herron has been out with an ankle injury, but he should be able to play this week. Mike Williams is still out with (multiple) concussions. [Ed.: would not be surprised if that's it for Williams and he goes on a medical scholarship.]

Michael Shaw sprained his knee against BGSU. "He's kinda day-to-day," but should hopefully be full-go tomorrow.

Tate - "There's nothing wrong with his knee." He took a helmet shot to the quad.

Personnel

"Denard is special. He's got the ability to break every play himself." The other guys are capable. "This is a physical game. Quarterbacks get hit." Runners or passers can both get hit. Run the same plays with all three QBs. They limit Denard's reps in practice by having him run plays that don't get him beat up in practice. He won't run as much. "Just blow a quicker whistle so he doesn't keep running 20 or 30 yards downfield."

Backup situation still the same? "Maybe. We'll see how they practice this week." Devin and Tate are both #2 guys to Denard. Within the next couple years, they'll have enough QB experience to do everything they want.

RBs - "Maybe the reason Denard had so many yards running is defenses were paying attention to the running backs." They've been running well since camp. A few nagging injuries have prevented RBs from being as productive as they can be. None of them are as explosive as Denard. RB rotation "We're probably gonna have to" for the rest of the year. Need to have 3 or 4 capable guys if they stay healthy. Toussaint probably doesn't get caught from behind without the knee brace. "He's faster than that." Wanted to play Toussaint more. "He's gotta be able to practice to get some confidence in him."

"Taylor [Lewan] played pretty well." A few mistakes, but good job for his first start. "Perry's playing really well." He has a toe sprain. Huyge gives flexibility there. Huyge is the first guy in at both tackle spots. They've been wanting to get Ricky Barnum into the game - he's the first guard in. Addressed Molk's penalty with him - didn't see it on coaches' film.

"Because we had the front coming back, not just the offensive line but the tight ends..." more receiver experience, QBs running it well has added another dimension. "I've been probably as pleased with what we've done in the passing game." QBs good decisions.

DL has gotten some pressure. RVB has been good, Greg Banks solid. "We're not really pleased that we're having as much depth as we'd like." Have lots of different packages to create a bit of pressure.

"Mike [Martin] has been one of the most consistent players we've had." He's been playing more than your average nose guard. "Mike's been dominant." He gets a lot of attention from opponents, but still lots of pressure.

Craig Roh is solid, and they've been able to do a lot of different things with him. "Jonas Mouton didn't have a good game against Umass, but he's played really well in all of our other games. Outstanding."

Pleasant surprises on D? "All those young DBs, playing so early." About 13 true frosh have played - most of them on D. Sometimes they're playing like true freshmen, sometimes they step up.

Hope the young defenders get some experience as the year goes on. Want to get/stay healthy there. Can play well and have success - doesn't mean they'll dominate people every game. "We expect our defense to play at a very high level, and they've got a lot of pride in doing that." Avery and Christian - "That was the most they've both played. Courtney will play a lot on special teams, too."

The Team

Does he remind players of last year? "I don't. It's in the past. Didn't you see the movie the Lion King, right?"

Michigan is sometimes a read-option team, sometimes a QB-iso team. "There's a lot more of our offense that'd we'd like to do, and are probably gonna have to do coming up."

"There's a lot of things that's cyclical in football... There's no patents on schemes, we know that." Might pick up things on opponent film that their previous opponents used against them successfully.

Gotten 8 turnovers this year, gave 2 right back. Will have to be more aggressive going forward. Played more aggressively than against UMass. "We didn't play great, but we played better." They have a physical day on Tuesdays, but in games they need to point out technique flaws to fix them. "It's hard to work [tackling] a lot during the week because you don't want to get your own guys banged up in practice."

Every year is different. "Not that we don't have some issues, because we do." Team is on the upswing, but not where they want to be yet. Will still have issues and problems, hopefully will stay healthy. "I think this year's team is executing pretty well, and playing pretty good at times. We know we have to play better."

Experienced receivers - "When you're inexperienced, it shows in certain facets, but the biggest thing it probably shows is in game adjustments." Players can help make those adjustments when they know those things.

"We had two #9s. We - I screwed that up." Officials didn't notice, but BGSU's coaches pointed it out. "Courtney's gonna, I believe, be #5. I think that number's open."

Tay Odoms penalty - "We've had quite a few discussions on a cut block" He can't go back toward the ball, seen other people not get flagged for it. "That's a clarification, and we're trying to get a couple other ones."

"We're trying to get those guys experience getting a first down in the red zone." on the last Gardner TD, when they went for it on fourth down.

"I usually defer. This is my 18th year as a head coach, and I would say except on a few rare on occasions, but I've almost always deferred." Defensive guys will be able to go out there and stop them.

New PR formation - "They were a team that had showed a lot of roll punting." Wanted to try to catch a low punt. Dileo did a nice job. Upset with ST penalties. Have to be on your toes on returns for various punt formations.

Saban mentioned MICH-Alabama "Nick knows more than I do." Both schools talking, nothing signed or delivered "Pretty interesting though, isn't it? Yeah, it's interesting."

IU

Hoosiers only played 3 games, probably one of the healthiest teams in the Big Ten. "They probably had their best game last weekend." Added excitement going into the Big Ten for coaches and players. "Everything's gotta get cranked up a notch" in preparation.

Pistol - "It's a system. It's the same as any offense - if they execute it well, they're gonna have their moments." Last year, 1 or 2 big plays hurt MICH.

Can't blitz all the time without exposing yourself to 1-on-1s. Chappell is a veteran, need to use different methods to confuse him. Don't blow assignments to give him the cheap one. Make tackles on the short completions.

IU receivers - one of the strengths of their team. Big, athletic. MICH's young DBs - four true freshmen played. "We're gonna have to have a great week in preparing for their passing game and for those wideouts." Tandon Doss - they get the ball to him running, returning, and receiving.

IU hasn't seen a similar offense to MICH this year. They've changed defense a bit schematically. Lots of guesswork about how they'll handle our spread.

Seen some B10 games on TV. "This may be the strongest the Big Ten has been in years. For a long long time, for all 11 teams." League is tough and physical, the veterans know what league play is going to be like.

Younger guys have already played on the road - "That was the one good thing about going to Notre Dame." They've got a bit of road experience. They'll see that environment on the road for the rest of the year. Rich has never coached in Bloomington.