On how much of the passing game was saved for Ohio State

We had a lot of great stuff ready to go. We were ready for everything. For overtime, for a two-point shootout, whatever came up. As it turned out, the big plays made it so we didn't have to use a lot of the stuff we had saved up that was ready. A lot of the big plays we hit was with base, day one of training camp stuff. The first big play to CJ was a check by JJ, he's so smart and so well-prepared, we were able to put most of the checks on him. Most college teams kind of look to the sidelines but he correctly identified that was a zero blitz, did the check that we had discussed and made a great play to drift away from the free rusher and throw a hitch. CJ did the rest. Really basic stuff.

On whether he was surprised on how open the receivers were

I wouldn't say I was surprised. We were a little surprised with the way they played initially in the game. Certainly, going into the game, they had shown more access a little more off-coverage on tape. I don't know if that was something they planned to do all along for us or if it was something they saw. Illinois played a lot of man, not as much press as Ohio State did. They saw that and decided to do it. Whatever the reason, played us a little bit different. We quickly adjusted and, like I said, it was really basic stuff when they made the plays.

On the quarterback run game

It's definitely a weapon that we can go to at any time. Just the threat of being able to go to it at any time forces people to play you a little bit different, which opens you up more in the passing game more than the run game. It's something we use when we feel like we need it. In the second half, we felt like we needed it and we did, certainly, more than we had done. It was great. It was productive. When J.J. was running through three guys on the sideline, I think that fires up the team to see your quarterback do that. In many ways it was helpful for us.

On the big plays being so successful

I'd say two things, one is just the way that they had played us. No one had really tried to do that, there's very few teams that just came up and played with no depth with the defense, sold out to stop the run, it's not something that we had seen. The way that they played created a little bit of an opportunity. I'd say more than that, nobody was surprised in this building when we connected on the deep balls just because we see it every day in practice. Some of that is limited opportunities in games, very few deep passing attempts in the games that we've played. Some of it is limited opportunities, small sample. At the same time, I would say JJ is getting better. All year in the quarterback room, any time something bad happens, we always look at it and say, man, that was good. It was great because you know a special player like him doesn't make the same mistake twice. The fact that it happened when we're winning all these games, you know it's not going to happen again. You look back to Rutgers, Andrel Anthony is wide open down the field, JJ throws a really pretty good throw but tried to make the perfect throw and it was just off his fingertips and we miss it. It would've been an 80-yard touchdown if he hit it. We just looked at it and we say, hey, that's good that it happened because we learned a lesson. If a guy is wide open it doesn't have to be the perfect pass. Fast-forward to Ohio State, CJ runs a beautiful route and he's wide open and JJ puts the perfect amount of air under it, lets CJ run under it and isn't necessarily going to hit him full speed in stride and we made the play. It was great to see. Great to see that. Proud of JJ, proud of everybody. It was an epic team win. So many things to take away from it. The way the guys just played with joy. Our guys had fun playing that game. Not just in the fourth quarter when the game was over. When the game was on the line, you look down our sideline during timeouts or whatever, there's guys dancing on the sideline, you've got Trevor Keegan playing the air guitar on a critical third down during a timeout as they're playing AC/DC. That's how it's supposed to be. You've gotta seize the moment, had a great time. Played like grown men playing a kid's game and that's the way football should be played. Played smart, let the other team get the emotional penalties like in all these big games and then played unselfishly, just like we have all year. A bunch of guys that play for each other, a bunch of guys that play for the block M. Really just embodied what Michigan football is all about. I think it's a huge credit to Jim, the culture he's built here. The team that he's built here. It's probably unrivaled in terms of team. Certainly, there's other teams out there that maybe have a little bit more talent, we're pretty talented, too. I would say it's unmatched in terms of team, in terms of culture. That showed up in that game, for sure.

On how Jim Harbaugh develops coaches

Jim, he's always been a great coach. Obviously, I have a little bit of an interesting perspective because I was with him for 13 years and left and came back. He's always been a great coach from all the success he's had. I wouldn't say he's changed because he's probably one of the most genuine people you could ever meet, that's what a lot of people love about him. That's what draws a lot of people to him, that's why he's great with recruiting. What you see is him. There's no hidden agendas, there's no filter. What you see is what you get and sometimes he'll say something that surprises people or is a little bit different, but that's him and it's awesome. People love that about him. I would say it's just like anybody else. Always a great coach, all the experience he's had. He's at the point now and it's just masterful. You watch him coach this team, build this team and it's masterful. From experience, he's obviously a talented coach, too, but everything the team needs, he provides. Whether that's his leadership style, he confronts everything but not anyone. Anything he sees that needs to be fixed or doesn't meet his vision, he's going to confront it. It's never in a personal way, never offends anyone doing it. He's honest. Just a great football coach that knows what the team needs. So many great lessons throughout the year where he's pulled the team aside and talked to the team. Talked to the team in team meetings and his message. He's really just built something that's really special.

On whether he would like to see the Big Ten get rid of divisions

It's not something I've thought about. I definitely understand where a lot of people say you don't want an Ohio State-Michigan game to be meaningless. Where both teams are already locked into a conference championship potentially where it becomes like a Week 17 in the NFL, a team that doesn't have anything to play for and you're going to rest your starters and play for the one to knock somebody out and win the championship. I don't think anybody wants to see that, certainly. I'm not sure what the best format would be. I kind of like the relegation format where you have two divisions and the top ones in the bottom conference go up to the top and everyone in the top conference has to play each other so the scheduling is fair and you play two from the bottom and keep the rivalry games. You can assume certain teams are always going to be in the top conference and you wouldn't have that problem. That's a question for somebody smarter than me.

On Colston Loveland

Colston, can't say enough good things about him. He's a team guy, does everything that he's asked and gives great effort. Really, really talented as we all saw. Again, going back to what we said before with the passing game, nobody was surprised by what he did in the game. We've seen it in practice for weeks. He's just scraping the surface of what he's going to be. He has the chance to be one of the best tight ends in Michigan history. I don't say that lightly because we've had some good ones.

On Loveland's touchdown

That was a planned double move. The receiver got knocked down and we ended up with a one-man route. He won, so, it's all good.

On how hard the decision was to start JJ and whether it played out as expected

I think that it was a really hard decision in training camp and the way that it played out. I think it's another credit to Jim, the way he handled the whole situation. With Cade, too, the guy is a Michigan legend and I don't say that lightly. He's 12-2 as a starter here. He's in the top 10 in every single season quarterback record. Was voted All-Big Ten by the coaches, voted captain by his players. Won the Big Ten, beat Ohio State, he's a Michigan legend. We're just really grateful for everything he did here. I know JJ, he was out here the other day and said he wouldn't be where he is without Cade. I think that's true. The thing I would add to that, we wouldn't be where we are as a team right now without Cade. Wish him nothing but success. His story is still being written. Wish him nothing but success. Hopefully we don't have to play him. He's a great player and he's got a great future ahead of him. Everyone is indebted for last season and everything else he did to help us build in '22.

On how much is the offense based on execution vs. playcalling

That's been critical to our success, points per drive, we're one of the top teams in the country. Turnovers, we're one of the top teams in the country. If you don't turn it over and you score every time you get the ball, you're pretty hard to beat. It's been key to our success. I think it's a credit to our players, every guy that touches the football, taking care of the football, that's what it comes down to in terms of fumbles. In terms of interceptions, guys catching the ball. The receivers, tight ends and the running backs. Also, JJ obviously, being a big part of that. We've just built a great foundation for him of knowing where to go with the ball, being smart, knowing what to do. It's what I said, a foundation. Hopefully, everything expands from there and grows from there. Sometimes people forget he's 19 years old in the first year as a starter. Where he is, we're just thrilled with him. He's an incredible player with a bright future. It's a credit to him how hard we works. It's like Alex Orji said when we're talking in the quarterback room, he walks around with a confidence like he's 7 feet tall but he prepares and treats everyone like he's 5 feet tall. I think that was well said and we're just blessed to have him. It's scary to think how good he could be. There's not too many 19-year-olds playing in the college football playoffs. I think Trevor Lawrence did it. It's scary to think how good he'll be when he's 22.

On whether Harbaugh puts more emphasis on execution vs. scheme

We do put an emphasis on fundamentals and execution, there's no doubt about that. We like to think we have good plays, too. There's an emphasis on that. To your point, I think we do that better than anyone. Guys get developed here. Guys are really well-coached here. It shows on Saturdays. We're proud of that.

On Purdue's defense

Purdue's defense is really sound. They're not gonna have any coverage busts or turn anybody loose. There's none of that on tape, they're all in the right spot. You can tell that they're well-coached. They do stay simple in terms of the coverages and stuff that they play, it helps them to be sound, not give up anything cheap. They play really hard, they're well-coached and they play hard. They're going to be, certainly, a formidable challenge. Jack Sullivan, 99, is a really good player in the front. Their corner, No. 23, is a really good corner. They have good players, too. What jumps out is how sound they are, how disciplined they are and how hard they play.

On whether the offense could be more dangerous in a dome

I think, especially these last few weeks in the Big Ten, we love the weather. We always say it's just how we like it. If it's 20 mile per hour wind, raining or snowing. We love that. We're an all-weather team and we feel like that gives us a huge advantage. We love to be in some conference where we can get somebody from Florida or something to play in the Big House in November but that's not the way it works. Even against the Big Ten teams, we have a huge advantage with the weather and we love that, we embrace that. With that being said, I think JJ and the receivers, they're fired up to play in the dome. After a few weeks of wind, rain and everything else. There's no question they're excited.

On Kalel Mullings' pass

Kalel did a great job. We have full confidence in him. Obviously, we wouldn't have called that play. Blake was the primary guy for that. Kalel's the backup. Really proud. He said that, he was supposed to move a little more to the right where he would be able to see a little bit better, he couldn't see Luke at all but he knew he was out there so he just threw it. Great play by him. A cynic would say he might've underthrew it because he was a defensive guy and he wanted us to burn more time going into the endzone, which we did, we took another 5 minutes off the clock. It was a great example, too, of we have total confidence in our players. Obviously, we still could've gone for it on fourth down if we didn't get it. It was kind of overlooked in the game, too, the first drive in the second half we went for a fourth-and-one on our own 34. We did it so quickly, nobody really took note. That was a great example of the confidence Jim has in the coaches to let us call that play. The confidence we have in the players to execute that play. Fourth-and-one at your own 34 at the start of half, there's some risk involved in that. You watch the play and you see Zak Zinter and Olu just absolutely blow their guys off the ball. Yeah, these guys got our back. Of course, you drive down the field for a touchdown to start the half and the floodgates open. That was a huge play in the game, too, just like the Kalel one. We played fearless, get guys to play fearless and you gotta coach fearless. Proud of the players, proud of the coaches. It was some big moments in the game.

On balance going tempo vs. burning clock

We have the ability to do everything which most colleges don't. We huddle predominantly for the Ohio State. Most of the time we're no-huddle and we mix in both. We have the ability to do anything. Just like the gameplan, a player or personnel group or anything else, we do whatever we think is going to help us the most in that game or in that situation. We weren't really fast on the fourth-and-one. The play before was a run with Donovan. It was a third and four and I think he got three to get us to fourth and one. It was actually a quarterback read and he gave it to Donovan. We know that if we get to fourth and one, there's a good chance that Jim has a great belief in our players, like we all do, especially with our o-line, fourth and one is in our favor. Usually, try to go for those. We've been great on fourth down all season, I think that helped us, too. We knew if we got close enough that we would be going for it.

On how to coach fearless

It's a fine line, it's a balance. Everything we do, we vet. We look at. We have great input from everybody, we have a great coaching staff. I really don't think—obviously we've made some mistakes at times, things we want to have back. I really don't think we've been reckless. It's a balance.