WMU Postgame Presser Transcript: Dave Brandon and Brady Hoke

Dave Brandon

Dave Brandon wants me to terminate in-game tweeting for my own safety.

Opening remarks: "Hi everybody. If this has ever happened before, I don’t know when, and it’s been in the way, way distant past. We did have a pretty good look at the forecast coming into today, and we spent a lot of time yesterday with contigency plans, and I thought my operations staff did a terrific job of keeping their eye on the weather. We had every weatherman in southeastern Michigan helping us out. It was an unpredictable day because these cells kept popping up and dying down really fast. We were hoping we could get it in. We got through the first delay, and we actually thought we had another hour-and-a-half window before the next big front was moving through, but this time of year, with the humidity and heat that we had, we just had buildups come out of nowhere.

"In a conference situation, as I understand it, the Big Ten has some very specific rules and protocols to follow. In a non-conference game, it's a little more open-ended in terms of how this is managed. But in the conference rules, the officials and the head coaches and the home athletic director meet with the director of operations, and in our case that would be Rob Rademacher, and we would make a call.

"The choices that we had were to wait it out -- and we looked at that -- the choices that we had were to suspend the game and leave the score where it was, and there were some other options, but none of those were acceptable. We decided after a bit of discussion, and I want to compliment coach Cubit and Kathy Beauregard at Western -- they were really terrific about this. We really thought about the safety of the fans, and we thought about the safety of the players, because to make them sit what could have been an hour and 45 minutes based on some of the projections we had with the weather, and then try to go out and get warmed up again and play more football would have not been in the interest of either team. If this was a close game that was into the fourth quarter and the game was in doubt, I think we would have waited it out because -- well, we would have either waited it out because that was what the coaches wanted to do, or we would have decided that this would have gone in the books as a non-game.

"But the agreement that was reached between Western and Michigan was that the game was in hand, and that the game would stand as the final score would be indicated, so that’s kind of where we are."

Are there any stipulations about this win (in terms of stats and records)? "It’s a win for Michigan. It’s a loss for Western. And all the records and stats will go in the books as if it were a completed game. We just terminated the game for the safety of the players and the safety of the fans and the reality of the situation with the weather."

What would have happened if this had been a Big Ten game? "If this was a Big Ten game we would have been on the phone with the commissioner’s office and would have had Big Ten officials in the booth, and we probably would have been more involved with the Big Ten office in terms of managing that entire situation. We contacted the Big Ten only because we were looking for some directions in terms of -- we anticipated the possibility of a delay today, and you saw what we did. We had the messages all up on the board, we had the script written for the announcer, we were ready to put the weather map from the Weather Channel up there. We anticipated the possibility of a delay, and we got one. What we didn’t aniticpate was what happened, and that was the weather just kept rolling in and it was a danger situation."

Was it a quick decision to cancel? "Once we went in for the second time, we thought that maybe it was going to be a short delay, and then it became very apparent that we would never get the teams out before this next round. We knew it was going to be a long time, and at that point, I got a call from the head of officials, and I was over in the operations booth by where you all sit, and I ran across the field and got over here to have the conversation with the officials and the coaches, and we reached the decision that we reached."

Would it have been possible to postpone the game? I don’t even know that that’s an option. Certainly somebody said, “Is there a way we could … ” but that was cast aside right away. Certainly somebody, and I think they were wearing a different color than maize and blue said, "Well, maybe we should just terminate the game and it really never happened." And we’d be here till 3 o’clock in the morning before we were going to settle that outcome, because I’m proud of our team, and I think we had the game under control, and our team deserved the victory, and it all worked out.

What do you think of first game of Brady Hoke era? "It’s a win. It’s a win, and I am proud of the team. I think if I remember correctly we scored defensive tocuhdowns. I think if I remember correctly we won the turnover battle by a significant margin, because I don’t think we turned it over. How many penalties did we have?" One. "One. I like that. And I thought we were pretty diversified on offense. We weren’t letting any one player get beat up, we had a lot of things happening out there, and we were getting the ball out there to a lot of people. So coach Hoke will get up here and tell you all the things we have to work on -- and boy there are a lot of them -- but I loved winning the opening game, and Brady Hoke is 1-0."

What were some of the issues concerning the heat? "We were worried about the heat a lot. The players have misters over there, and I know the coaches were working hard on rotating people in and out. But we were worrying about the heat for everybody. When members of the Western Michigan band went down before they even got out of the tunnel, that’s how they ended up stripping down to t-shirts and shorts, and I thought that was a good decision. Our band did a magnificent job, because they were in those uniforms and they were out doing their thing … we have a tough band. Tough band. But at the end of the day, it was a tough day out there, it was hot, it was humid, and that just added to the complexity of it all."

Brady Hoke

Brady Hoke thinks that my tweets lack top-end information. Accuracy, too.

Opening remarks: "For all of you that stayed dry, good for you.

"Obviously it’s an unusual circumstance to have the weather kind of stop the game when it did. I think [Western H.C.] Bill [Cubit] and myself both had concerns [about] how long we’d be stopped, how many times we would be stopped. I’ve got so much respect for Bill as a football coach and as a person -- I think both of us we worried about the kids. You go out there and you play your heart out, then you’re back in for another half hour. And you [get] a five-minute warmup, and then all of a sudden a lightning strike comes again, and then you come back in … and it didn’t look like this was going to get any better, so it ended probably not the way all of us would like it to, but as long as those kids can be healthy, and no one got needlessly hurt, then we’re all for it.

"As far as what did go on on the field, turnover margin is a statistic that’s very important in the game of football. Our offense did a tremendous job taking care of the football, and our defense created three turnovers, obviously two of them were for defensive scores, which is always fun, but I think our guys really understand that message that we sent about taking care of the football. Defensively I think some guys did a nice job up front of applying some pressure, or if you were a guy who was coming on a blitz. Kovacs did a nice job, and [so did] Jake Ryan. And they all got good push.

"The game itself, we got a lot to work on. You look at our kickoff coverage, I thought was not near what it needed to be. You look at some of the third down conversions -- and I haven’t really looked at that total number yet. I was pleased with the 190 yards rushing the football. You gotta control the line of scrimmage to do that. And I would say the other thing that I was pleased at was that we didn’t have any penatlies, and that’s an important part early in the season – all season long – but I thought our guys did a nice job for that part of it."

Did you imagine your first game happening like this? "No I don’t think so. It was kind of wild. Wet and wild."

How big was Herron's interception? "Huge. We talked all week -- offensively, they’re a very good football team. I think [Cubit] is one of the great offensive minds in college coaching, and the way he uses tempo, the way he uses personnel, and the quarterback Alex Carder, who’s as good as any guy that we may play all year. He’s got some great weapons out there. At the same time, we need to push the pocket a little more. I think also in some of the zone coverage aspect, we need to challenge a little more, be a little tighter."

What's Troy Woolfolk's status? "He sprained his ankle -- his other ankle -- if we would have needed him he was going to go back in [Ed-M: we thank you Angry Michigan Defensive Back Hating God in your mercy!] but the other guys held pretty well."

Did blitzing a lot help your defensive plan later in the game? You have a plan, and you have certain things, and you want to make sure you have enough bullets for your guys, and that was all part of it. Obviously at times when they’re in what we call 10 personnel/four wides [i.e. one back] you can outnumber them [when you come with seven]. The key to it is the guy who’s unblocked having a great path to the quarterback, and that helped us some."

Does Denard being the third-leading rusher allow him to do other things more effectively? We just had a plan, and Al had a plan that he thought would be successful against what they did defensively. Denard’s always going to have a hand in what we do. Number one he’s the quarterback, but secondly because of his ability to run with the football."

Why did you decide to make Fitz your starting RB? "I thought he finished off fall camp real well. Thought he had a nice finish."

Can you talk about Herron’s playmaking ability? "That was good. Obviously they were timely and meant a lot to where we were in the fooball game. I think Brandon’s a guy who will continue -- as a senior for us, as he learns a little more concept-wise -- will continue to grow."

Can you address the issue of the suspended players? "I think it was addressed. We didn’t dress them."

Denard’s first series looked a lot like last year's spread. Did you plan it that way? "Al and I had talked, and he was going to start the game with the 38-39 sweep: the quarterback sweep. That was a comfort level probably -- [that] you want [Denard] to feel good about, and I think we blocked it well. I think he got a first down on it, so I think we were in and out of [the shotgun] enough. I think with Shaw’s run and on Fitz’s couple times he pounded it up with the power play, those were good also."

Are there times where you look at the defense and say that’s how I want it to look? “Well it’s never 'I', it’s 'We'. We’re a long way from any kind of defense that we want to represent Michigan with.” But just to build confidence? “Yeah I mean that’s great. And it’s really good, you know. It’s always fun to score on defense. But there’s a hundred different things in that tape that tomorrow we’ll address and correct and get better with.”

Early on, Carder was 14 for 15. But then the defense got better. How do you feel about your defense right now? "I would say not very good."

Was the physical camp rewarding? "I think there was a midnset that they understand how we’re going to play. And I think you could see it a little bit -- third quarter up front on both sides, it was going to be more physical, it was going to be more attacking, it was going to be that kind of deal. I think you can feel that. I thought there were some hard runs. I thought Fitz ran the ball up in there pretty hard, took some guys on, which you want to see out of your backs."

Did you rotate on defense as much as you had planned? "Yeah, pretty much. I think if we would have been in our base front more, we probably would have rotated just a little more. But I thought we stayed pretty fresh. It was pretty humid down there, pretty hot down there. We did have a pretty good wind there for a while, but you wanted to keep those guys fresh during the course of the game."

How long will you let yourself enjoy the win? "Well, I understand they’re on TV, right? And they’re delayed? So we’ll look at Notre Dame."

Can you comment on Fitz vs Shaw at RB? "I think number one, they both found -- had good vision, let me put it that way. Michael’s got a little more top-end speed, so he was able to get away from the safety, but if you noticed on the one long run by Fitz, he lowered himself to go through a guy, and if you watch, you’ll see Junior Hemingway launching himself to try and get a block over the top. That was exciting to me. That was good football to me."

Talk about the level of senior leadership. "The one thing I’d say -- Troy -- he got banged up there and all that, and he worked himself in the trainer’s – Paul Schmidt and his crew did a great job with that -- but he worked himself, and you could keep hearing him on the sideline encouraging on both sides."

(I think this was the question, but Dave Ablauf was talking over Angelique) Will Cam Gordon be held out for Notre Dame? Yes.

Can you talk about how special teams played? "Kickoff returns were awful. On the one [long WMU kickoff return], the defense had been on a long drive, Herron gets the pick, and he runs it back 90-whatever yards it was, and there was a celebration, which you want to see. It’s beautiful, because it’s fanaticism for the game, and all the guys -- a lot of them are on your kickoff team. I thought about taking a time-out and it would be a time we didn’t have a TV time-out, so we put some other guys in, and the other guys, to their credit -- Frank Clark was in there, and he made one hit for sure, and probably should have had another one."

What happened on the missed PAT? "We got knocked back a little bit, and we’ll correct that, and in fact the young man did correct it."

Did you treat the delay as a hafltime to do some extra coaching? "Here’s the first thing that went through my mind: We played Northern Illinois in Nuncie when I was at Ball State. We had a 45-minute delay, we were winning the game 14-7, maybe 14-0. We come back, Garrett Wolfe ran for 355 yards.

"So I wasn’t feeling really good about a delay."