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News bullets and other items:

• They have a plan for what they want to do at quarterback, and it won’t be revealed until the game.
• Same goes for any other personnel changes.

Opening remarks:

“We ready? Alright. The team- we had a great practice yesterday. Came out and had a good day of work. It’s exciting to move forward, as you all would expect. We get to start the Big Ten season. The Brown Jug is a very big deal to us and keeping the Brown Jug here. We’ve talked about it as a team. We read the history of the Brown Jug and it’s something that has another part, not just being a Big Ten game but being a game that’s the oldest trophy game in Division I college football, so we’re excited about that. Obviously getting to conference play is exciting and we have to have another great day today, another great day on Thursday and Friday in our preparation and we will do that.”

Brady, any further developments on the quarterback situation?

“Well, you know, we’ll wait until game time with it. We’ve got an idea of what we want to do but for what’s best for us and the program and what we’re trying to get done, and that’d be the same at any other position.”

Coach, is Brad Berlin capable of being keeper of that little Brown Jug?

“Yeah, Brad does a great job and obviously some of you don’t know [but] Brad is our new equipment manager and he has big shoes to fit himself into [since] we’ve had Jon Falk for 40 years, but Brad on Sunday came up and said, ‘Okay, what do we do with the Jug’ so I had to educate him a little bit but he’s done a great job.”

What have you told the kids about the history of the Jug?

“Well, the inception of it and the games that have been those games that have been very exciting and down to the end. I think one of the messages is you don’t want them to come over and take the Jug off the sidelines. We want to keep it stored away here.”

[After THE JUMP: all the quarterback talk that’s fit to (electronically) print]

Brady, you said you you’re not going to tell us who the quarterback is but you had a plan. Are reps being shared at this point?

“Yeah, I think we practiced the way we need to practice so that we’re in a place where what we want to do we can do.”

So you’d say one guy is getting the bulk of the reps?

“Well, I don’t know if one guy- you know, we’re fortunate here. We’ve got two very good quarterbacks. We’ve got two guys who we’re very excited about so we’ll just see on Saturday.”

Minnesota’s kind of got its own quarterback issues. Their quarterback only went 1-for-7 passing last week against San Jose State. Is there going to be an extra emphasis on defending against the run? They’ve still got one of the leading rushers in the Big Ten.

“Well, I think whenever you play a Jerry Kill team- and I don’t know if Minnesota has issues. They’ve got a guy who was hurt, and they played the game to win the game and did what they needed to do but with a Jerry Kill team you’re going to have a physical football team you’re going to play. It’s in his DNA to run the football. Their running back, Cobb, is a guy who I think he’s averaging 126 yards a game or something in that area. He’s very downhill, very physical. Streveler, the young man who played the quarterback against San Jose, had a very good day rushing the football. Really a zone read kind of quarterback, so it will be a challenge for us. We’ve played pretty good defense so far against the running game but this is a unique and different challenge and one that we’ve got to play our best.”

Brady, since we know what Devin…how he is as a starter, what makes you confident if Shane is your starter? What makes you confident in his ability to go into this game and start?

“Well, like I said, we’ve got two very good quarterbacks. I think the improvement that they both have made in the course of a year in a new system obviously hasn’t been perfect the way we all want it to be but I think both of those guys we’ve got a lot of confidence in.”

And are you completely ruling out playing both as a plan?

“We won’t play both unless we feel we need to.”

Brady, Derrick Green saw the bulk of the carries last week. Got 14 compared to DeVeon, who got 4. Are you kind of using him as a feature back now seeing as you gave him more carries than DeVeon?

“Well, I think Derrick, when you look at carries over the course of the year, Derrick’s averaging 6.1 yards per carry, which tells you a little something but DeVeon’s averaging 6.9. I think we have two very capable backs. Now, has Derrick been the guy who’s been featured? He’s got more snaps, so I’d say so.”

Obviously Devin Funchess is limited because of his injury. He told us yesterday he’s going to have to deal with it all year, possibly. How limited is he, and do you guys have to adjust to his limitations?

“You know what, not really. I think Devin’s probably been a little bit more candid. We’ve got a lot of guys who’ve got bumps and bruises that are a part of playing the game of football. It’s a long season. It’s a grind, and those things happen. Guys end up playing with them. I think he took a couple good shots the other night, but when you watch practice and you watch how he competes and challenges he’s been doing everything.”

But because he’s so valuable do you adjust his targets and try to limit [inaudible]?

“No, I think what you do is you have a plan to win the football game. And whether you’re putting him in at Z or H or wherever you can do the most as you look at your game plan to take advantage of what the defense gives you.”

Brady, we talked to Norfleet yesterday and he was pretty fired up, passionate about how he was sick and tired of people saying things about you. Said he talked to you about that. How does that make you feel?

“Well, number one, Dennis brings so much emotion to the game. He brings so much energy and emotion to our team. I think what we have here is a program that we have a lot of accountability for each other. We have a lot of respect for each other. I think we all are going to fight the fight for each other, and I think that’s Dennis and he’s turning into a valuable leader inside the locker room.”

MGoQuestion: On Monday Doug [Nussmeier] said that Devin Gardner needs to work on tying his eyes and feet together and then decision-making. What specifically has the coaching staff done to help him work on that and what-

“Well- go ahead. Go one more time, because I didn’t get it all.”

MGoHeLooksVerySkeptical: Okay. Just wondering what the coaching staff can do to help him work on that and then what he can do himself to work on that?

“Well, number one, I think your every day drills. What you’re doing every day. If you need to drill something differently, or if you need more routes on air for timing or for fundamentals of where your feet and your eyes are and what you’re looking at. I think all those things are part of it. I think film study and preparation. And if you haven’t, and you haven’t, but when you are in a Doug Nussmeier quarterback meeting there’s a lot of energy and there’s a lot of great coaching going on. [Ed. I’m available to sit in…]

Brady, I have two. You talked on the conference call yesterday about other possible personnel changes. Have you made some changes?

“Well, if we did and if we do I’m not going to say anything about it.”

Would you consider on the offensive line making some? Do you think there’s a need to tweak the offensive line?

“Well, like I said, if we did or we are I’m not going to talk about it.”

Okay. My other question is about the quarterback. Is it easier, if you make a quarterback change- is it easier to do it at home because you’re not putting somebody in that position on the road, and playing a team that plays into your defense’s hands as Minnesota does?

“You know, I think any time you’re at home and decisions that you make and those things, I think there’s a comfort level that guys have. We’ve got great fans and those people being behind that team, I think that always helps. You can go into some environments, obviously, on the road that will be pretty intense, so I think there’s no question that playing at home for everybody is more of a comfort level.”

The fact that this team sort of plays into your defense’s hands…

“Well, that’s easy for you to say.”

It is. 

“I know what they like to do. We have to play our best, so I don’t know if it’s…I don’t look at it that way. I would say we’ve just got to play our best football.”

Have Ben Braden and Mason Cole switched positions at all in practice in preparation for Shane possibly starting, or do you keep-

“No. We’ve kept exactly where we’ve been.”

Brady, they’ve allowed a little over 500 yards rushing this year. They have a pretty solid rush defense. Minnesota, that is. What do you do to maybe counteract that so you guys get your own run game going?

“Yeah. Number one, I think Tracy Claeys, their defensive coordinator, really does a nice job and being with Jerry a long time there’s a lot of familiarity. I think the kids always play hard and they’re ready for us. Obviously we want to gain the line of scrimmage better. We’ve got to make sure when we’re in our combo blocks and those type of things that we’re getting to the second level. I think the verticalness that we need to play in the running game and the directness of the running game will be very important. They don’t want you on the edges, and they’ll work like heck to have everything funneled as the run game goes. And some of it in the pass game with what they do with protections. Not protection-wise, coverage-wise.”

SID: We’ll end with Angelique.

“You’re on fire today, Angelique.”

Brady, when you have a player whose, maybe, confidence level has changed, do you find that it’s- that he has a confidence issue, perhaps. My perception, I’m not saying it’s yours. How do you deal with that, and is it easier to say, ‘Look, you need to sit back and watch what’s going on’ as you did in that game last week with Devin, and perhaps for this game. To say, ‘Sit back and see how things develop and get a different perspective’?

“I think we do that at a lot of positions sometimes. We’ve done it before in the secondary, and I think when you have a player that’s maybe not reaching what they want to be, their potential, you want them to meet their potential or be as good as we’ve all seen or know they can be. Sometimes I think for all of them it’s a chance to bring them out a little bit so they can get a feel.”