(Players tomorrow.)

Brady Hoke

You downplayed the fact that this was your old team, but postgame you hugged SDSU players, etc. Talk about how this game was different. “Well, it still was Michigan playing San Diego State, so that doesn’t change. Obviously there’s some great kids on that football team and great individuals. They work hard, they play hard, and that part of it is, I guess, being a human being. There’s a love that you have for those guys that you’ve coached and you’ve been around.”

How much did you feel D-line today? “I thought the run game, from that standpoint -- I thought they were disruptive. I thought the backers were able to flow pretty decently. There was some pressure on the quarterback, some of the play action. I thought the transition from run to pass was pretty decent, especially Mike and Ryan did a nice job. And Craig Roh you could feel out there.”

The non-conference schedule is over. Can you talk about where this point is right now vs. where you want it to be? “We can’t turn the ball over four times, I can tell you that. That’s disappointing. We ended up a minus one. Defensively we caused three turnovers, and then we turn it over four times. You can’t win anything -- you can’t win your pop warner league if you turnt he ball over. WE were fortunate to get out to a decent lead in the football game, and I thought our defense kept us in the game because we tried to get it away.”

The decision to go for it on fourth down? “I just thought our defense was playing pretty good, to be honest with you. I think it gives your kids some confidence [that] they know you have confidence in them.”

For defense to come out and set the tone with three-and-out. How good was that? “It was a big deal, number one, in how we covered the kick. Kickoff coverage has been a little thorn in our side. Greg talked about with the defense before we left the hotel about that first possession, that first series how we want to play as a defense. We talk about the Michigan defense and wanting to be a Michigan defense.”

Can you assess Denard separately with his running and his passing? “I think he ran the ball pretty daggone well. He makes some things up as he goes, which I wish I could do … sometimes I do do. He really did a great job running the football. Thought he did a good job managing the offense. It’ll be interesting when I talk to Al tomorrow about some of the check plays because some of the different looks Rocky’s gonna give you, which are a lot. That’s not an easy defense -- Andy Dalton had plenty of problems with it a year ago. It’s not an easy defense to try and figure things out, but he did a good job there in the run game. I think throwing the ball -- I don’t know if one sailed on him a little bit, but I’m not sure about the route at this point, if this was run to the specifics of what it needed to be run. I think the one he tried to find a hole in there, you know, probably just made a bad decision.”

Talk about the pressure on Lindley. “I have the utmost respect for Ryan -- for how he studies the game and how he plays the game. I think it’s like all quarterbacks. You want to get as much rpessure as you can. It’s that fine line. They throw the fade down here in the fourth quarter and that’s going to be a touchdown if they hold onto it. It’s a fine line to how much zone you want to play to how much you want to try and get after him.”

What’s Troy Woolfolk status, and talk about Blake Countess? “Troy, he tweaked the ankle that he tweaked earlier in the season. I’m sure that’s day to day. If I know Troy, he’ll come out tomrrow and do everything that we’ll do. I thought Blake, he’s a young guy. He’s a talented young guy. He’s done a good job of -- he has great pride in his performance. He gets himself ready to play.”

Smith fumbled but was then in on the next series. How important was it to show confidence in him after a mistake? “Fred has a lot of confidence in him obviously, and I’ve got a lot of confidence in him. I want to see that play. I know he was fighting for an extra yard or two or whatever. I don’t know where he got loose with the ball or a hand punched it through. I don’t know. I’m glad Vincent Smith’s on Michigan’s football team.”

The turnovers gave you bad field position, but the defense only gave up seven points. Thoughts? “Well, I mean, that’s [why] those guys are on scholarship at Michigan -- to play defense. That’s what we talk about. It doesn’t matter what the offense does. I’m on my scholarship. I’m Ryan Van Bergen, defensive end, and I’m at Michigan to play defense.”

They got on your side of the field eleven times and scored only once. Are you relying on turnovers or are you just that kind of defense? “Well I think we all would like to be that kind of defense. I think we all stress turnovers -- how to get ourselves to the ball and angles and punching it out or ripping it out. But I don’t think that’s a bad thing that we’ve been able to create them. I don’t know if it’s such a good thing that the field position battle for a good [part] of this game, we were getting our tails kicked. I thought the Wile kid in the second half did a tremendous job of punting the football, and that was great to see.”

Field goal situation? “I think it’s one bad kick, and I can tell you from how he planted -- not that I’m Garo Yepremian and know much much about the kicking aspect -- but he just didn’t plant it well and kind of pushed it.”

Is there a difference between San Diego State’s physicality and Michigan’s? “No, I don’t think so. I know one thing about how those guys on that other team are coached and how they’re going to play with a physicalness on both sides of the ball. They’re going to get helmets and bodies to the ball, and they’re going to be aggressive on the line of scrimmage.”

Denard had a great first half but an interesting second half. How important is it for the offense to put together a solid four quarters? “Well, I think it’s obviously important, but it wasn’t all Denard. We had enough -- from the turnover standpoint and then [not] blocking the line of scrimmage like we’d like to. I don’t think we did it as well in the second half, and that’s disturbing because championship teams have a way of improving during the course of the game and finishing games, and we didn’t do that.”

You mentioned Denard had bad decisions throwing. What about his footwork? “I said he had a bad decision. He may have had more, but I want to see what plays he got us into, and that’s something the quarterback never gets credit for. He obviously got us into pretty good quarterback iso play depending on what they were bringing. I thought the one throw where he tried to throw it maybe into too many people with the different color jersey [was not good].”

Does his bad day passing spoil the good day he had on the ground? “No. I don’t think so. We won the game. And I’m not being sarcastic, but I think it’s something [about which] we’ll have good conversion tomorrow. We’ll point out things whether it’s his feet and those kinds of things or -- again with that one route, I don’t know if the route was totally run the way we coach it to be run.”

What were your conversations like with the SDSU players after the game? “It’s great to see them. Those conversations are personal.”

Now that it’s over, how does your mindset change for the Big Ten season? “I don’t know if it changes because you prepare to win every game. I don’t know if your mindset and how you go about your job for those kids [insert suitable verb] any differently. We’re going to be in there tomorrow and put this game to bed as coaches and players and move to Minnesota.”

Four weeks in, is there anything about this team good or bad that surprises you? “I like how they like each other. I’ve been around teams that don’t like each other. I like how they like each other -- if they like each other enough and respect each other enough, they’re going to play for each other. And that’s a powerful thing. When they play for each other and they play for Michigan, that’s a powerful thing.