[Fuller]

News bullets and other items:

• Harbaugh mandated they make an adjustment on special teams so that Jabrill could be in position to catch and run after Colorado punted to the same spot a few times in a row
• According to Harbaugh, Peppers was “…by far the best guy out there in all phases.”
• Harbaugh was really happy with the improvement in perimeter blocking.
• Tom Brady’s pregame message went through each position group and told them what was expected of them in order to play like some of the best to wear the uniform.
• Brady and Harbaugh played catch before the game and yes, it was a competition. Harbaugh said he wished he hadn’t given Brady the wind.
• The kicking game was off and they’ll have to check the tape to figure it out; Harbaugh attributed part of it to an overadjustment to high snaps in pregame warmups.

Coach, can you describe your team’s mental state when they get down early in this game? Where were they at early in the first quarter, and how do you build off of a deficit of that nature?

“They—it was fight. They knew it was a fight, because I heard them talking about it. So, I think that’s where their mindset was. I really look at all these—every football game that’s ever been played, that probably ever will be played, it’s a battle of the best players, of seeing who the best players are in a football game.

“Colorado has some outstanding players, and the utmost respect for Sefo Liufau and the game that he played and the player that he is. He’s set 70 records at Colorado, and that first post route he threw, you can not throw it any better. Could we cover it better? Yeah, we should have. Next play he threw the ball on a fade route. I mean, cannot throw the ball any better than he did. He was really effective all game. Then he got that ankle injury. That looked pretty serious, and he hops up and kind of drifts out to his right and throws a post route that  is as good a post route as you can possibly throw. So in a game of really good players all over the field on both sides, their corner #4, outstanding player, defensive line was outstanding, and above it all, Jabrill Peppers proved that he was the best player today, in today’s game.

“We don’t win that game without Jabrill Peppers. And also a great team effort. As you were talking about, fighting back and making enough—enough good players making enough good plays. The field position Jabrill got us on special teams. Again, that’s a team effort, but wow. He was making the difference; return for a touchdown and then the field position he was giving us.

“Blocked punts; our special teams unit was our finest unit out there today. Accounted for 14 points plus the blocked punt field position and the punt return field position. It was good. It was really good. The best part of playing football’s competing. I thought both teams did an outstanding job of competing at a very high level today.”

[More after THE JUMP]

Talk about the team’s mental toughness when they’re not playing their best football. Like Wilton and some of the guys, they may no have played as clean as they’d want to but just talk about how they fought through that and still put up 45 points today.

“There are teams and players that are frontrunners and that’s the only time that they play well is when they’re out in front and it’s clean and it’s easy. There are other guys that kind of like getting down in the mud and fighting in a football fight type of way, and enjoy that test and that kind of competitive environment.

“Yeah, wasn’t as clean as the quarterback would have liked today, but I thought that really the best things he did was hit the crossing routes in stride where they could catch the football and run with it—I think Jake had another seven catches or so—[and] the way he moved out of the pocket a few times. Hit Grant, bought time, scrambled a little bit and then hit Grant Perry on the run. Big gain there was outstanding. Fourth quarter, kept the chains moving with a nice scramble [and] dump-off to Jake Butt. De’Veon; such an effective runner inside the tackles, and he was again today. I think he was averaging, I don’t know, good, productive, winning runs, and then he got on the perimeter and hit the home run today, so that was really good to see.

“Back to Jabrill, the way he played on defense was really outstanding. Really outstanding. Really showed his toughness, his athleticism. Some hits that are momentum-changing hits in this football game. Must have accounted for 200 yards of total offense. Doing the quick math here, but he was outstanding. A lot of guys were.”

Khalid [Hill] seems to have really embrace the lead blocker role. Can you talk about how he’s evolved and how he helps them?

“Yeah, he’s done great. Made a couple great catches, too, today. Seven, eight yard twisting, contorting the body to pick up a first down. He’s doing a great job. He’s got that athletic tight end catching ability to go along with the right size to be a fullback and just the right courage and toughness to go in there and block. Yeah, he’s an ascending player playing probably this third game. We talk about Wilton Speight playing his third game as starting quarterback; Khalid’s in there with his third game as starting fullback.”

From your perspective, watching Jabrill on that 54-yard punt return, just kind of walk us through that. What’s going through your mind when you see a line drive about to be kicked right to him? Kind of walk us through what you saw, and was there a point where you knew he was gone?

“We were—they kept punting it kind of the same way [to] the same spot. We had let two or three hit the ground previous, so had a pretty good idea where this punt’s going. Let’s play for that spot and see if we can’t catch it clean and get out and run. I thought our special teams coaches did a nice job making that adjustment. They were mandated to make that adjustment, but yeah, feel great with the ball in his hands. He is a dynamic player, Jabrill Peppers, with the ball in his hands. He made the difference. A lot of players played really great football today, but I think Jabrill was by far the best guy out there in all phases. He was outstanding.

“And I was also pleased with our team, too, in this way; we’ve been talking about the Colorado team [and] that’s a veteran team. Guys in their senior year, guys in their fourth or fifth year—20 starters [returning], I believe. That’s a veteran team, and we’ve got young players that are out there and playing in their second and third game. Quite a few guys like that, young to college football, and I thought they acquitted themselves very well.”

What did you take away from Tom Brady’s message to the team, and what was it like to play catch with him?

“Ah, two great thrills. Two great thrills. When I look back at my career playing catch with different people, that was right there with my dad, playing catch with my dad. And his pregame talk was outstanding. Very good, very from the heart. Went through each position and told them what they were expected to play like from the guys that have worn that uniform and played those positions before at the highest level. It was great.

“And then, um, Tom’s got a good arm, by the way. He can rip it. He can throw it well. Wish I wouldn’t have given him the wind. A big thrill.”

Were you competing with him?

“Ah, of course. [laughs] ‘Hey, let’s play a little catch, Tom.’ He throws a good ball. That ball almost catches itself, the way he throws it. Heck of a ball he throws.”

What was the best part of Tom Brady’s message to the players this weekend?

“That message I just said. Went through the position groups and told them what was expected of them to play like the best players at their position had through the years, running backs, quarterbacks like Tom Brady, defensive backs like Charles Woodson, like Biakabutuka at running back. It was a great message.”

Jim, you said you don’t win this game without Jabrill Peppers, which I think most of us would agree with that. That’s a positive, but is there a concern that Wilton struggled, that the running game, that there were some sloppy errors and the like?

“As always, yeah. We talked about it after our second game last week and after our first game the week before. We’re always concerned. Where can we get better? Where can we get a mile an hour faster? How can we improve? We’re chasing—I mean, ‘concerned’? You want to use the word ‘concerned’? Yeah, we’re concerned to get better. We’re striving to get better, and whatever word you choose to say, it’s important to us. It’s fundamentally important to us to improve as much as we can as fast as we can do it.”

How important is it to have a guy like Grant Perry? He’s not making all the headlines, but he made some big plays today.

“Big plays today. Amara Darboh makes a huge play. It was a game of big plays, really. When you look at how they were getting their points, it was big plays, really. Long passes on the post and so were ours. Ours were 50-yard wide receiver screen to Amara Darboh. Grant Perry has a tremendous, tremendous block. You’ve got the long run by De’Veon Smith; I mean, our guys were—watch how blockers out in front of De’Veon were running. I thought that was a huge improvement for us, our perimeter blocking, today. Thought we really got better, [got] good, really good in that area. That set up that long run and the scramble and throw to Grant Perry.

“There were a lot of guys who made plays. It wasn’t just one. It was a team effort. I believe the one, when we talk about Jabrill Peppers, it was special. That was special, a special game by a special player. And the defensive line, there was some tremendous play on our part as well; sacks, pressure on the quarterback. Really good on third down. Thought we were—we got hit by some big plays again, but on third down, I think they converted one third down in the game. That was huge, getting the ball back for our offense, and ultimately led to some of those punt returns and led to the field position being [inaudible] punt returns.

“I’m not saying it was one guy. It was a good team effort, and I’m saying both sides, too. The Colorado team, really got to say much respect to their football team and the talent on their team and the way they were prepared. They had some good plays, some well executed plays. Defensively, I thought Jim Leavitt did a heck of a good job. Good called game. Defense was prepared [and] flying around. It was a good ballgame. Great competition.”

Jake [Butt] was in here and he said he didn’t think you guys had the best week of practice, that it was sloppy or lazy, I guess, in practice. Did you sense that? After a couple blowout wins, does a team need a quarter like the first quarter as kind of a wakeup call?

“Um, no. Our week of practice was really good. Wednesday, the first half of Wednesday practice I thought was…it looked like they were in the second week of school. It looked like things had ramped up in the classroom. Looked like they were at that point where there was a lot being installed up on campus. That was…these guys, they take good classes. They’re getting legitimate degrees and majors and so I want them doing that. [And] making sure that we’re getting the sleep we need, too, at night. So I think that kind of caused a little bit there midweek. I think I answered your question, right?”

The missed field goals, was it technique or timing? What did you see?

“Ah, we were off. We were off. Go back and look at it, but our operation with the snap, hold, and the kick has been as good as any in college football. The snap’s been over the spot, laces at six o’clock, ball through the middle of the upright on the kick.

“Today it was off. Snaps were low, laces were at 12 [o’clock], Kenny [Allen] was hot and cold a little bit on kicks—kickoffs and punts, and the kicks. Go back and adjust and refit and retool there. Figure out what was going on. Pregame I think some of the snaps were high, and I think Scott [Sypniewski] was a little worried about the high snap and was overadjusting, going safer and lower which was causing the operation to be different. Go back and work. Work to get better at it.”