Opening Statement

First, I wanted to give a shoutout to the fans. That environment that we had just now was electric. All the fans, I can't say how much I love you, the stripe out was awesome. I didn't really see the stripe out because I was kind of blacked out half the game. The noise, the atmosphere, it was elite. Just have to make sure we keep that going.

On the way the team got the win

We felt like we needed to possess the ball, we needed to be successful in the run game and keep their offense off the field. Lincoln, I have so much respect for him and what he's done on that side of the ball with that program. We knew we could generate some yards on the ground and wanted to control the clock and keep our defense off the field as much as possible. I think our guys executed. There was a little lull in the third quarter, they made some really good adjustments and we had to adjust so there was a chess match there in the run game. Obviously, Kalel, man, 17 carries, 159 yards, averaged 9 yards a carry, 2 touchdowns. Incredible job by him and the offensive line so very proud to see it.

On the confidence in the run game on the last drive

Yeah we talk about situational football, when you have four minutes on the clock, there's no need to be in a hurry. Especially when you're trying to keep the ball and possess the ball. There was a lot of situational football, we work at it every week. We work some kind of situational football throughout the week and, for us, we wanted to sustain drives and keep it out of their hands. Guys did a good job, Kalel did a heckuva good job on the run. Guy tackles him, drags him off and runs for 60 yards, his longest of the season. Before that, his longes of the season was a 50-something yarder. Just an incredible job by our kids.

On what the locker room was like after the game and what a win like that does for the team

It was insane. It was fun. They were throwing me around. I'm not a small dude, they were throwing me around and it took a lot of force and power. I'm a little sore right now but it was incredible. The best thing about our team is we've got a team. Whether you run it, whether you throw it, they say you should throw it more, we won and we beat a good team. For us, that's what it's all about.

On Will Johnson

He came back and he could've went back in but we held him. He's in a good place. I thought those guys did an outstanding job.

On Josaiah Stewart

Josaiah, the tackles for loss, three of them, he had two sacks, the D-line had four sacks and I think a lot of those sacks were on four-man rushes. I thought coach Wink Martindale did an outstanding job, gave him the game ball in the locker room, in the mix of coverages, the mix of blitz, the mix of looks, twists, gains all kind of things that kept that guy guessing. Kept 7 guessing because Miller Moss is a good player and we hit him a lot. Those guys took a lot of pride in their four-man rushes. It was a great job, great gameplan by the defense and proud of them.

On the Mullings' big run and the game-winning touchdown

A will to not give in, a will to want it more than them, want more than the man who was trying to tackle them. On that big play for Kalel, the guy is on top of him dragging him and he just runs and he just breaks another tackle and another tackle and he's gone. The fourth and one, to win the game, just challenged the O-line. It's on you. It's fourth and one, game's on the line, what are you going to do and that's the situation that we have in practice, throughout camp I'm proud of them.

On the OL

Myles, Dom, Priebe was on that side. Gentry was the extra lineman there so we had an extra lineman to kind of cave that whole side. Didn't see the whole play but knew there was a lot of movement and enough to get the touchdown.

On Mullings and his emergence

Right now, I think he's averaging 8 yards a carry on the season. He can take us the distance he's showing, he can run you over, he's just done everything for us. He's a great pass protector, he's been incredible. Last year he averaged six yards a carry so it's not a surprise with how good he is and what he's done. To see him take the next step and really make those explosive plays. When the game is on the line, he wants the ball in his hands and he made plays happen. He's a star, he's a game breaker.

On winning a game when little pass production and running the ball

I love it. I loved every minute of it. It's my dream to see it and, yeah, want to throw the ball but when you can run the ball effectively, it breaks you down a little bit. For us, our guys, the look in their eyes, how they prepared and how they practiced, we adjusted some things in practice to make it a little bit more competitive and more physical, the guys responded and they loved. They loved it. They really took it to heart. The O-line, I'm so proud of them because I'm so hard on them. So proud of what they did and how they played today. Shout out to them.

On the conversation on the headset before the fourth down play

I just said, 'What's your best fourth down play right here? What's the best goal line play?' Grant was like, boom, knew exactly what the play was. When somebody responds with that assertiveness and confidence, OK, let's do it. You look at the boys and the boys knew it, so we knew we were in great shape.

On whether he takes it to heart when the program is written off

Uh, I could answer that in so many ways. Really, the way we look at it, we're just trying to be 1-0 each week, we're not going to worry about what people say about us. People write about us when you win, there's always a criticism when you lose and criticisms. For us, how do the guys in the building, how do we feel about each other? How are we going to work to get better? How are we going to be 1-0 that week? That's it. That's what we're worried about. We're a family, I love these kids like they're my own and we're just going to work to get better every day.

On Will Johnson's pick-six

It's funny, two drives before that Wink is like, he's going to get one. They're going to test him and he's going to get one. All I saw was Will like a missile. Shoot and pick it off and then he was gone. He's an incredible player, he is who he is. He's the same every day, he works his tail off, doesn't say very much and wants to be the best. He did what he did. Helped win us the game. So proud of him.

On his range of emotions and the two fumble play

Up and down, up and down. Adversity strikes, what are you going to do? So many things that go in this game of football. It's exciting, it's crazy, get you all over the place. Our players never flinch, that's something to be really proud of, the way the players responded in those situations in defense, offense, special teams. Just happy for our players.

On whether this win will give the program a bit more juice

We had the privilege of having Carol Hutchins and Lloyd Carr being our honorary captains. Carol talked about how she's the winningest coach in college history. She mentioned to our team how there's no such thing as a big game because every game is a big game. There's no such thing as a game that's the biggest, it's a game. For us, that's a mentality that we really have to approach everything with and we are approaching it with. They're a really good football team. I know we beat a really good football team so that's how we're going to react and we're going to fix what we need to fix and move on to the next game.

On how much he believes he's found the identity of SMASH and whether it can carry on throughout the season

I think it was a pretty good set to what we want to be and what we wanna do. Obviously, we've got to have different things to help us and wrinkles in games because people are going to adjust. I think our guys did an unbelievable job of just going and executing the plan and winning the game. We said every game is a one game season, every game, and that's all we're trying to do is win that game. Guys did an outstanding job executing the plan.

On whether he makes Mullings the lead back

Donovan, before the fumble, he had an electric 46 yard run. We're going to need both of those guys, we're going to need more guys, it's just how it is in college football, especially how long the season goes. Kalel, obviously, played a heckuva game and we'll keep using him how we need to. Kalel showed, obviously, he could be the — he should be the number one guy. We'll use both of them, they'll both play a tremendous amount but Kalel obviously had a heckuva game.

On the offensive players demeanor during the lull in the third quarter

The demeanor of the players, they never really flinched. They were just trying to find what is going to help them be successful and we coached them the same way. I probably gotta calm down a little bit because I got a little hyped up with the players because I tend to do that, especially with the O-line. Those guys did an outstanding job, proud of them. What they did in that final drive, that really tests you as a player, the adversity that you can hit and to see them push right through it and not blink or not flinch that tells who we are as a team.

On Orji's command of the huddle during the lull

It was awesome. He just has that presence about him and he looked at me and he said we're about to go score. He just has 'it'. Just so happy for him.

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