Michigan may have held Ohio State to 64 rushing yards on 30 attempts (2.1 yards per carry), but that doesn't make what Mazi Smith saw on film perfect. He met with the media and talked about fixing the little things even when it appears a unit had a successful outing, as well as the challenge ahead in Iowa and Outland Trophy nominee Tyler Linderbaum. For everything Smith said, read on:
On whether he was surprised at how well the defense did against Ohio State’s run game
No. That’s what we aim to do every game. When it happens it’s what you’re supposed to do.
On Iowa center Tyler Linderbaum
Yeah, their center’s real athletic. Serious athlete, man. Tough guy, and he just knows the game. You can tell that he’s comfortable out there. He’s comfortable snapping and blocking. He’s comfortable doing everything that they ask him to do over there. He does a great job.
On the moments that defined the program this season (OSU excluded)
Every close game that we came out on top of. Sometimes in the past we faltered and you can’t do that.
On whether the Ohio State game creates a baseline for energy and performance
Always keep doing. I don’t think I’ve scratched the surface. I don’t think we’ve scratched the surface. Only person that’s probably scratched the surface with what they do is Aidan. I just think we can keep getting better every game and more dominant.
On how the team has responded early in the week turning the page to Iowa
It wasn’t the end of the season. A lot of times in the past that’s been the last game that we’ve played. We’ve got another one, and now it’s we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do to beat Iowa.
On what it says about the team that they haven’t scratched the surface yet
Sky’s the limit for all of us. We’ve all got a lot of talent and we’re all working hard to hone in on what we’ve got to do better every day. All the tape, we haven’t played perfectly. The last game, that was the closest that we’ve played to perfect but it still wasn’t perfect. There was a lot to clean up. So that’s what we’re striving for: perfection.
On whether it’s exciting that they haven’t met their potential
It’s exciting because we won a lot of games but we ain’t played as clean as we’re supposed to be yet, so we’re still striving to put it all together.
On the players-only meeting post-Michigan State and whether it helped the team refocus
Me personally, being a part of a loss is always (inaudible) and I think that players’ meeting helped a lot of us but at the end of the day we had to go beat up on somebody else and realized that we had to go beat up on somebody else to realize that we could still do what we had to do, and we did that.
On what has led to his success this season
Just working hard, man, no matter what. Adversity, you play not your best game; it’s all about how you respond. Just the biggest thing is how you respond to the little hiccups, the things that get in your way, how you pull yourself back up off the mat. I think to play defensive line well it’s all about your backbone. It’s all about how much will you have, because you get into a fight every play. The more you play the game, the more you do it right, the less you’re willing to surrender because of somebody getting in your way.
On the pressure on the front seven from playing two high safeties and what they did to be successful as a front seven
Playing with intensity and violence. Playing how defense is supposed to be played. We always talk about stopping the run with six people and not needing a seventh person, and taking pride in that, that front, because every good front can stop the run. You play primary, secondary, the d-linemen are making all the tackles. Shouldn’t even need the linebackers.
On how much credit he gives Mike Macdonald for the defense’s success
He’s done a ton. I don’t know that we’d be where we are without him--I know we wouldn’t. I give him credit in the way that he gave us the ability to take the reins of the defense. In our first meeting he said ‘This is your defense. We’re only going to go as far as you want to go. I’m telling you how to get it done, but it’s up to y’all to go out there and get it done.’
On whether Macdonald opened lines of communication more
We’re not coaches, but you’ve got to take ownership and take pride in being a part of a defensive unit. It ain’t coach Mac’s defense but it is, but we all have got to take ownership and pride in what we do within his scheme. I think that’s what he was trying to get at.
On what one thing has been the biggest key to the defense surprising people this season
Just new technique, using the personnel you’ve got to the best of their abilities to maximize everybody in the front. You all see we’ve got a lot of packages. We’ve got third-down packages, we’ve got first and second down packages, we’ve got everything! And every d-lineman has played, so it’s using you personnel and making the best out of what you’ve got, and I think coach Mac has done a spectacular job doing that.
On how emotional it was for David Ojabo to have his parents there Saturday
Ojabo, he was saying ‘If it’s the last thing we do, we’re going to beat Ohio State’ because there’s too much riding on it, there’s too many people in the crowd that you care about. You’ve got to out there and play your best game and Ojabo was the one hammering that home. He said, ‘You don’t have to do more, you don’t have to do less. Just do what you’re asked to do to the best of your ability and you’re gonna look up and you’re going to be happy with the outcome.
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