Michigan Wolverines football got the monkey off their back in Piscataway last Saturday, beating Rutgers in triple-overtime after losing three-straight coming in.

The Wolverines are looking to use the momentum they picked up against the Scarlet Knights to their advantage this week against an 0-5 Penn State team. Since Michigan is 2-3 and out of the Big Ten title race, the team has been harping on the mantra of "winning the week," as head coach Jim Harbaugh put it at his Monday press conference.

"It was a huge relief off of our shoulders," redshirt sophomore cornerback Vincent Gray said of the Rutgers win. "We’ve been approaching these coming weeks as like a '1-0' mentality, so not thinking about the future, not thinking about the past, just thinking about the week ahead of us.

"I think that mentality has helped us greatly. So this week ahead of us, we’re trying to go 1-0 again and just look up in the end and see where we’re at."

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Gray and the pass defense, which ranks 103rd in the country while giving up 274 yards per game through the air, have struggled so far this season. Gray was one of those having the roughest goes at it early on, but has since raised his level of play. After posting below-average PFF grades in the first three games, Gray has checked in at 69.8 and 70.4 the last two weeks against Wisconsin and Rutgers, respectively (64.0 is considered average).

"I'm being more emotionally invested and just taking everything personal, pretty much," Gray said of his elevated play. "Just kinda being a little bit more gritty on the field and not letting anybody getting anything — that’s kind of the mindset I’m trying to go into every game with moving forward."

The redshirt sophomore also credited his preparation for the recent results, and said that the entire secondary is playing the ball better than in weeks past.

"I would say just better preparation and focus during the practice week," Gray said of what's allowed him to play better. "Better focus and preparation during meetings while we’re honing in on what the opposing team does in the throw game. We’ve been taking all the criticisms that our coaches have given us very seriously, and have been using that to help our game."

Gray said the coaches have strongly been emphasizing "using our hands better at the line of scrimmage and not using our hands down the field to help with body control as we play the route down the field.

"That’s been helping a lot, helping us stay in control of the receiver and be able to get our eyes back and play the ball," he added.

Through the entire season, Michigan's secondary has gone up against several top-tier receivers, and this week will be no different, with the Nittany Lions touting junior wideout Jahan Dotson, who has 31 catches for 527 yards and six touchdowns receiving this season.

"He’s been doing very good this season," Gray said. "He’s very crafty, very smooth. I like this matchup, I think this will be a great challenge for us overall.

"I think the keys to stopping him would just be getting our hands on him at the line of scrimmage. I think we can run with him very well, so just making sure that we are patient and we’re not, like I said before, overly physical with our hands downfield and we’re just matching his routes."

Penn State's offense has been prone to turnovers, giving the ball away 13 times already this season and having the fourth-worst turnover margin per game in the country (-1.80). On the flip side, Michigan's defense has only forced three total turnovers, which is 106th nationally (out of 127). Gray revealed that it's been an emphasis in practice this week for the Wolverines to take the ball away from the opposing offense.

"That’s pretty much been our biggest focus, to be honest," Gray explained. "Making sure that we’re able to get our eyes back and get our hands on the ball, that’s been our biggest focus — just making plays and taking the ball away from the other team."

• Gray spoke about redshirt freshman quarterback Cade McNamara, who came into the game late in the second half and completed 27 of 36 passes for 260 yards and scored five total touchdowns.

"From the looks of it, I think Cade is going to be starting at quarterback for us this Saturday," Gray revealed. "Either way, they’re both very talented and they both do a good job. Either way, I feel like we’ll be fine, to be honest, but I think Cade’s got the wheels turning for the offense right now, and I think they’re going to let him keep going."

The increased production from the signal-caller spot seemingly lifted Michigan's entire team and its spirits, Gray said.

"Honestly, seeing any one of the offensive players get off and have a great game and do their thing helps the defense tremendously, because we get to see their energy that they bring and them balling makes us want to ball for them," Gray said. "Seeing him execute and make the plays that he was supposed to make, it made us want to get off the field so we could continue to see hiim do what he does."

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