Michigan Wolverines Football-Brown Still 'Couldn't Care Less' About Critics

Michigan junior linebacker Khaleke Hudson will miss his second straight first half Saturday at Northwestern due to a targeting call in the second half of a win over Nebraska. Defensive coordinator Don Brown said on 97.1 The Ticket he was having a hard time coming to grips with the inconsistency of the rule.

“I’m glad I’m at the end of it, to be quite honest with you,” Brown said. “It’s a very difficult, fine line. We had a big debate on this in staff. Things happen like this. You snap your fingers, that play is made one way or the other. Obviously, it’s an adjustment we have to go through, but I don’t think it’s an easy adjustment.”

It won’t change the way he coaches, he insisted.

“You know how we play the game, now. We’re an in-your-face, guns-a-blazin’, we’re going to play the game in your backfield. That’s the whole mantra, whatever that is,” he said. “I think it’s an issue moving forward, and I think you’re going to see it across the country be an issue, and it already is. It’ not an easy task, that’s for sure.”

Michigan is currently ranked third nationally in total defense, allowing 240.3 yards per game. That’s still not good enough for a portion of the fan base, and there’s been criticism that the Wolverines haven’t done it against the better teams on the schedule.

“I don’t think it’s fair, but that’s the reality,” Brown said. “Of course when you play good teams, you’re going to be challenged. That’s why they’re good teams. Somebody singled out Wisconsin a year ago. We gave up 17 points to Wisconsin a year ago, okay? They’re pretty damn good. I don’t know what the answer is, but I think at times the expectations are so high for our guys, it’s a difficult process to make everybody happy. And to be honest with you, I [couldn't] care less. We’re just trying to fight for our life every Saturday afternoon, prepare as hard as we can. We have a philosophy we believe in and we live with.

“Somebody just gave us a stat complaining about pass defense – we just had our 10th game of giving up less than 100 yards passing since I’ve been here. The last one we did was Western Michigan and then the question becomes, ‘Oh, well, they’re not very good.’ Well, they had 380 yards throwing against Syracuse, and we played them the following week and held them to 80-something, so, you know, whatever. I just think sometimes reality and what’s really occurring is a difficult balance.”

The goal, he said, is to shut teams down no matter who is on the field.

“I said this Monday in the meeting — we put guys in the game at the end of the game, they’re at Michigan. Your job is to know your assignments, go in there and execute at a high level,” he said. “We don’t hand out playing time here, so – I’ve got to calm down – that’s the expectation.

"We’re shooting for it every week. It’s a hard one. It’s a hard one to achieve, but if you’re shooting for that and you land in the vicinity, you know, we have a goal on our goal board, 17 points or less. That’s our goal. If you do that, I think you’re going to win a lot of football games. Some you won’t, but at the end of the day I think if you’re in that stratosphere of trying to be below that, you’re going to win a lot of football games, period.”

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