On pepper spray possibly being used after the game

Those were the officers that were around, so they were just trying to control everything. The security was trying to control everything. They got both sides of guys trying to make sure that we took care of them. We gotta do a better job handling that as a group. I'll address it in the locker room, we'll address it again. But that's both sides.

On what the postgame scuffles means about the rivalry

It's a heated rivalry. It's one that we all talk about. They talk about it, we talk about it. It's in my office. I walk in and the first thing I see is Ohio State. What are we doing to beat Ohio State today? It's something you think about. 365. We're excited we won the game. We're excited we won the game and I'm proud of our guys.

On the play of the defense

I think our defense played outstanding. They held a high-powered offense. Again, another week to 10 points. 77 rushing yards. This game has been won, I think, the last 20 years in the rushing battle. We had 172, they had 77. That's usually the story of the game. Our guys played great, especially the D-line. The O-line played great when they needed to. They got some real good push and we kind of hammered them. The wind was a factor going towards the locker room and away from the locker room. You couldn't throw as much and be effective in throw games. You definitely have to have a good run plan. I thought our guys did a good job.

On Kalel Mullings' big run

It's like the USC run all over again. You've got people tackling him in the backfield. He's hard to bring down. He runs angry, he runs physical. I'm so proud of him. Career high, 32 carries, 116 yards. Just all you can ask for.

On the importance of maintaining emotional composure in the game

We talk about playing with discipline and not emotion. There's a couple times, and it happens in these rivalry games, especially this one every year. There's always some talk, some extra things going on, and you've got to control that. It's all about the emotions in the game. You can talk about it. You can do that in practice, but it's completely different when you get in the arena with your opponents. We've got to do a better job of doing that, and so do they.

On the importance of losing gracefully

Yeah, I'm not. We didn't lose, so we won.

On getting his first win as head coach against Ohio State

It means everything, but it really is all about the players. Like I said in the postgame, the Mason Grahams, the Kenneth Grants, the Josiahs, the Derricks, the TJ guys, the Myles Hintons, Josh Priebe, Greg Crippins, Gio, Evan Link, those guys up front. We talked about it all week. It's going to start up front, and the trenches win the game. It's not really about scheme. It's not really about techniques. It's really about the will and the will to want to put your man in the backfield or put him across the line of scrimmage, and that's what we preached all week, and that's what those guys did.

On having trust in Dominic Zvada

He's the man.He's an absolute animal. Just a great kicker, great dude. He's been a great addition to the team. I hope I can keep him for another year. He might go to the NFL. But he's really good. But we just have complete trust in him. It never fades him. In practice, we put him in the worst situations, and he just drills it and he just looks at you like, yeah, that's what I'm supposed to do. The guy's amazing. He's awesome. Great teammate, great kid.

On whether there was a moment where the team believed it had a shot

We just kind of went about our process of what we thought. We got it up in the fourth quarter, and I told everybody to listen, listen to the sounds, and there was nothing. So we knew at 10-10, we had them, and that was the goal. We wanted to just keep on the ropes, keep fighting, and our guys did that. But it wasn't really about what anybody else thought. We didn't talk about belief. We just talked about trust, trusting each other, trusting yourself, trusting what you can do, and then go win the game.

On not letting the OSU touchdown at the end of the half impact momentum

Play the next play, FIDO. They've got really good players too. So we always talk about FIDO, forget it and drive on. Big plays are going to happen. They're a good team, so that's what we do.

On what the week was like in practice

I mean, this week is always pretty intense. Every week's intense, but I think there's just a level of focus, a level of detail, of concentration that everybody knows what's at stake for this week, and those signs of what are you doing to beat Ohio State today get even bigger in your mind, the whole process. The process of what we did wasn't the same. It wasn't different. It was the same as we usually are.

On whether the psychological edge in the rivalry have an impact

I don't know. I can't tell you what they think. I just know that our guys knew what we could do and wasn't really worried about what they thought.

On what the win does for the program and for the season

Well, for us, like I said before, we don't really care what other people think. It's about what our players in the building think and what everybody around us think. We're just happy we beat Ohio State. That was the most important thing today, and that's what we're riding with.

On whether he drills into his players heads to not lose his game

Yeah, I don't think we ever say just do not lose. We just talk about how to win and what we need to do to win. Never put the losing factor in your mind. Our guys never had the losing thought in their mind. They walked in the meeting room on Monday, and they were as excited as anything. It was just like we were 11-0 because they knew the importance of the week and what it took. We worked 365 for this game, and that's how we're going to continue approaching it. We're never going to stop thinking about this game. We're going to play, and that's no disrespect to the other players, but this game is the most important game of the year and always will be.

On whether he noticed people writing off Michigan in this game

I didn't even know what people were talking about. I had zero clue about any of that. Locked in the office, in Schembechler Hall most of the time. I told them, you know, Warde told me I can't sleep there anymore, so I don't sleep there. But, no, I was completely focused on our team and our coaches. That's it. That's the only thought process I had. I wasn't thinking about anything else. So just worry about winning the game, and we're just going to go about it like that.

On Mason Graham's performance

Yeah, he's an absolute animal. I wish I could convince him to stay another year, but I know that's not going to happen. But talk about an incredible kid, incredible player, a force, and gives you everything he has on every single play he's in the game. He's going to be an outstanding pro. He's unbelievable. I love him, and I couldn't be more proud of him.

On how Michigan has asserted itself in the series

I think just our mindset of how we attack it. We started really in 21 with Coach Harbaugh, putting it all over the building. It's a constant thought process. How we practice, what we do, when we practice, thinking about this game, how we build our team, what we do. It will continue to be that way. We're going to continue to build this team, the foundation of who we are, this culture around winning this game, and that's what it's got to be about.

On having a moment with Davis Warren and what it means to him

He's talking about the pick, and I told him don't do that again. Don't talk about that again. He played so good. You talk about how much he moved our team down the field on third down. He was elite and really, really good. The one pick was low, but we've got to be in the right spots facing-wise. It's not all Davis. People try to criticize him. I'm not going to read anything, but I can tell you this. This dude put his heart out for this team and gave everything he could for this team to be the quarterback and go win here, but nobody probably gave him a chance. Nobody gave him a chance in life. Where he is now is a success in itself.

On trying to out-tough OSU

That's who we are, so we don't really need to talk about it. We're built. That's how we're built. We don't talk about toughness. We don't talk about that. How we're built in the weight room, what we do on the field, physicality, how we practice. That's just who Michigan is. We don't really need to talk about it.

On the halftime message after losing Donovan Edwards

Yeah, next man up. Hogan Hansen got the third down catch. He's a true freshman. There's nothing that bugs him, nothing that worries him. And, obviously, when you've got Kalel and it's great for Jordan Marshall going there, so we felt like we had enough guys to go compete and go win, and we did.

On Aamir Hall and Makari Paige stepped up

I mean, I think just overall, you look at their stats, their lowest output total yards all year with 252. You know, we talked about as a team they had to win the time of possession, and we did. We possessed it 33 minutes, they did 26. Defense, outstanding job. First down, third down, 16. And just out there, I mean, it started off with stopping the run. You know, they had a hard time running the football. It's hard to move KG and Mason, and Rayshaun and Trey Pierce and all those guys. You can see them in practice. So we started with that, and then, you know, zeroing in on their playmakers and do what they said to slow them down. Obviously, we're not going to completely stop them, but I thought we did a great job slowing them down.

On balancing the satisfaction of winning this game and missed opportunities in the season

Yeah, we're just going to enjoy this moment, enjoy today, enjoy this game. We understand the ramifications of this game and what it means to this program, the alumni, the university. We know we just want to win in The Horshoe today.

On whether he felt momentum happening after the Northwestern game

Yeah, I felt it throughout the game, felt it in practice. I mean, I felt it really in the buy-in week that, you know, Bredeson dubbed it the buy-in week. I just felt like the shift, the guys, they always practice hard. They always practice physical detail, which was really, really good. And I thought our coaches did a good job preparing them. But more importantly, our guys just played their tails off. It's all the credits to them, how they prepared mentally, physically, emotionally. You know, we had Thanksgiving, we had to go earlier, we had to do different things to maneuver, and those guys just did everything they could to make sure we won this game. I'm proud of them.

---

Discuss this article with our community on our premium message boards

Not a subscriber to Maize & Blue Review? Sign up today to gain access to all the latest Michigan intel M&BR has to offer

Follow our staff on Twitter: @JoshHenschke, @Berry_Seth14, @TrevorMcCue, @DennisFithian, @BrockHeilig, @JimScarcelli, @Jerry_Diorio

Subscribe to our podcasts: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify

Check out Maize & Blue Review's video content on YouTube

Follow Maize & Blue Review on social media: Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram and BlueSky