[Upchurch/MGoBlog]

There are portions of my audio where I couldn’t hear because of the reverberations of Iowa folks celebrating, so I pieced together what I could.

What was happening with the offense tonight? Seemed like it was misfiring.

“Not enough—we didn’t make enough plays to extend drives and get first downs. Missed some deep throws. Close. Just…you know, give Iowa credit. They tackled, they blocked, they played a very good football game. So, congratulate them and move on.”

How about your defense? They stood tall pretty much the whole game, it seemed like. Stribling had a big interception. Talk about what

“Yeah, they—I thought they played well most of the ballgame and it was a low-scoring, hard-fought football game.”

Did you think with the facemask, I didn’t see it, but did you see it from your field position?

“I didn’t see it either.”

Did you get any explanation?

“No.”

What did you tell your team after this game?

“Big things and every little thing isn’t going to go our team’s way or anybody’s way. Every little thing doesn’t always go your way, and we’ll make—to make it a win you’ve got to make it that way. We didn’t do enough to make it that way tonight.”

[After THE JUMP: more words]

Do you still feel like this team’s goal are in front of them?

“Yes.”

Did Wilton’s shoulder affect him late in the game?

“It might have a little bit. I thought he threw a good ball there to Amara, the last one, and then he threw a real good one to Jehu as well, the one that got intercepted—or got taken away. And then the last one, I thought Amara’s hand was getting held down, but every little thing doesn’t go your way. I thought he played well tonight.”

There were two Power 5 teams that went down today at home [Clemson and Washington]. How hard is it in your mind [something about going undefeated]?

“It’s difficult but not insurmountable.”

You don’t know much about this team after a loss, this season in particular. How do you think that they’ll respond?

“We’re all going to do our jobs. I mean, that’s part of my job. I’m not the only one, but a big part of my job is to make sure we respond.”

Did anything they did defensively surprise you today?

“They—there were some wrinkles. They played well. They played hard. They set the edge extremely well. They tackled well. Had good coverage.”

The Devin Bush targeting call: did you think that was targeting?

“I did not, no.”

In the running game, did you guys feel like you’d have a little more success against the running game? Especially on first down, they got some pretty big gains.

“Yeah, we would’ve liked to have more production there.”

When they lose the way they lost last week, [I can’t hear most of the question on my recording but it was about whether Michigan lost focus]?

“We just didn’t get it done tonight. We didn’t do enough to make it go our way.”