What did opposing coaches say about Michigan football last season? We rounded up significant quotes from several of U-M's opponents on the year from their postgame press conferences.
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Alabama's Nick Saban: "They were hurting us running the ball mostly when they were in two tight ends and two receivers, which we tried to play regular.
"In the second half, we just decided to play nickel which gives us more multiples of things that we can do. We’re a little smaller on the field when we do that, but it’s easier to adjust. And, the players did a really good job of it, and we were able to pressure more, which helped us stop the run"
Illinois' Lovie Smith: "Naturally, when you have a team like Michigan coming in with as much tradition as they have, you’re excited about playing."
Indiana's Tom Allen: "Credit to Michigan, they're a good football team. They played well. [I’m] disappointed; we got beat on both sides of the football and didn’t play well, didn’t play like I expected us to and wanted us to.
"Well, a lot of it was their d-line was dominant, I thought. They gave us a lot of trouble, didn’t allow us to get things the way we wanted to get them done. In terms of time to throw, they were very disruptive. I think that was probably a bigger variable than anything.
"One of my concerns was their receivers versus our secondary, just the matchup. We play a fair amount of man and those guys have to win those one-on-ones and we didn’t win very many of those. That was my biggest frustration. You got to win those. They’re going to win some, but we got to win some. We didn’t win enough of those.
"They got some big guys. The size is a big variable and a lot of speed to go along with that length."
Iowa's Kirk Ferentz: “We knew coming into the game we were going to have to execute basically on every play to give ourselves the best opportunity. We came up short in that regard.
"I don’t think there was anything that we hadn’t seen before. It was a matter of us not being able to match their tempo. I’m a career line coach, I’ve been in those games. It’s not fun once it starts rolling the other way … They started to get momentum and it seems like they come harder when that happens. It’s hard to put the brakes on that sometimes.
"They’ve had a pretty good blitz package since the defensive coordinator has gotten there. They’re an aggressive group. It’s more about the guys doing it. They’ve got some guys that at least in my mind played as well as they have. I don’t want to grade their team but my guess is that’s probably the best defensive game they’ve played.”
Michigan State's Mark Dantonio: "Obviously, we came to Michigan to play and it’s a big game for us. We approached it that way and we always will approach it that way.
"Credit Michigan. They played extremely well on defense and offense. I talked about them having shock. We had to come out and play with that same type of shock and explosiveness. They got after the quarterback, pressured the quarterback. We were not able to run the ball well enough at all. I thought we hung in there a little bit there and went forward.
"Defensively, we have to stay on our feet and play the bubble screens, the RPOs. Too many third down opportunities where we have the opportunity to get off the field that we do not. Credit to them and some discredit to us in terms of coverage played or whatever."
Ohio State's Ryan Day: "I think that their defensive staff does an excellent job, but you have to be aggressive against them. You have to set the tone. They have really good players and a really good scheme, but you just have to stay aggressive and keep your foot on the pedal.
"They’re a very talented defense. A lot of people have a hard time moving the ball. At the end of the day, a game like this comes down to the players, not plays, and these guys willed themselves to make plays.
On U-M's offense: "They do a great job. They have some really good receivers, Shea Patterson is really talented and their offensive line did a good job protecting, I thought.
"They had a good plan, but I thought at halftime, our defensive staff made some really good adjustments. I think he was 4-of-22 in the second half, so we held him to that. That’s a really good passing offense and some of the best receivers in the country, so hats off to our defensive staff."
Penn State's James Franklin: "It really comes back to explosive plays against that defense. You've got to hit explosive plays.
"[They're] going to overload you in the box and put [the] DBs on islands and you have to win. We missed some tonight, but we won enough of them, and I think that was really the difference in the game.
"I thought they had a good plan and they're talented."
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