On the way the team continued to fight

Yeah, I mean, it was awesome to watch those guys in the second half, the energy, the excitement that they brought. But we got to start that way, you know, but I really thought, you know, the defense went out there, we said we're on goal for a three now, they stopped it. Offense went down, ten-play drive, score. So you felt the momentum going and defense comes back and another big stop. So you felt that momentum, but we got to finish.

On Oregon's first touchdown pass

Yeah, I mean, there's supposed to, every touchdown is supposed to be reviewed. So I think that's something we got to talk to the Big Ten about and just every touchdown is supposed to be reviewed. So that definitely should have been called and then looked at.

On the run game woes

Yeah, I mean, the biggest thing in the running game, there's not really an assessed amount of yards. You want to get enough yards to win, you know, regardless of run, pass, whatever we got to do to win that game, that's what we want to do. So there's a couple of things on some run-through backers that we got to fix up front. And, you know, I thought, you know, initially we're moving off the ball pretty well, but it really was the run-through stuff that really got us. And that's something we got to fix, but there's not a magical number of yards that we need. We just need to get, we need to have enough yards so we can go score enough points and win.

On what he'll use to motivate the team and what is left to fight for

Yeah, the motivation is that you're at Michigan, you know, that you wear a winged helmet, that you have the Block M on your chest and that you get to play really good teams, you know, the rest of the way. So these guys have a lot of pride. No one's more disappointed about the losses than these kids and these coaches. So they're going to continue to fight.

On playing Dillon Gabriel without his top two CBs

Zeke Berry, talk about a dude that has played safety, played nickel, and he played corner today and played corner all year. And he had a long ball against number seven, Evan Stewart, who was arguably one of the better receivers in the country, played it as good as anybody could. So I was really proud of him, really proud of Aamir. You know, he had some plays that he wanted to get back, but I thought overall, you know, those guys fought their tails off for being not the starters. And, you know, just the defense in general doing that and gave them some points and laid that late point because if you score in the low red zone on the offense, then it's a closer game, you know. So it's a team game. But at the end of the day, we lost. I give credit to them, Coach Lanning and their staff. They do a great job and developed a great team. But we've got to continue to fight and do the little things right.

On the fourth and 3 play call

Yeah, it was 4th and 3, I believe. And, I mean, they did a good job defending it. I think they had a zone pressure and the end dropped into the quarterback. So, yeah, you know, plays get called, and I'm not going to regret or call out the play caller or anything like that. So we just got to go execute. So it was 4th and 3, and that was the play that was called.

On what he saw defensively that didn't work

Yeah, I mean, the first, it wasn't, I don't know if it was four touchdowns, but the first drive they scored off a three and out, and then they went down and stopped them. You know, we made some adjustments at halftime to get it closer, and we were getting there, and we were almost at a one-point score, a one-point game. So we got to play complimentary football. I thought up front we got to continue to be gap-sound and do what we need to do upfront. And I thought the corners fought. I thought the DBs fought, especially the corners, those guys not beating the starters and guys getting moved around. I was proud of them, but we've got to continue to get better.

On whether there was anything that caught him off guard in the first half

No, it was stuff we knew they were going to do. They just executed well. We've got to continue to focus on the little details.

On how big to not have Will Johnson and Jyaire Hill on the field

Yeah, I mean, Will Johnson is the best corner in the country, so not having the best corner in the country is always going to be different and a challenge. But I thought those guys fought. So we always talk about next man up, but when you don't have your two starting corners, that's part of it. That's part of the game of football, and you've got to adjust. You can't make excuses. You've just got to go out and get better.

On the penalty on the punt formation

Yeah, just a different formation that we had to adjust to seeing it. So we just got to do a better job executing on the field.

On how pivotal that penalty was in the game

Yeah, I mean, the momentum was huge. It was another three and out. So it was huge for our defense to have that confidence to go in there. And, you know, you're going back, you just scored. And then go down, you've got a chance to go three and out and score again. But I thought the defense stood tall again. They held them to a field goal. So, you know, just continue to fight and get better. So it was a pivotal point in the game, and momentum could have swung the other way for sure.

On the key to starting faster on offense

Yeah, we've got to flip that around, right? We can't start slow, especially against the offense that we're about to play, another high-powered offense that scores a lot of points and got great players. So for us, we've just got to figure out the best plays that we want to start the game and continue to go from there.

On the potential of Alex Orji getting hurt on the trick play

Yeah, I mean, it's something that I definitely thought about, but don't try to think about anything too far ahead until it actually happens. So I was happy that he got up and he's healthy.

On what he will rally the team moving forward

Win. I mean, there's no other factor we want to win. You know, so that's what we're going to focus on. How do we win the next game and then win the next one and win the next one? So that's all we're worried about is just getting the W for next week.

On the decision to challenge the Colston Loveland catch

Yeah, I just thought that he caught the ball, got a knee down and then went down and then he rolled out of balance and then the ball came out. So the kids were fighting and I was going to fight. I was going to fight with them and it looked to me like it was a catch. So that's why I challenged it.

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