Opening statement

"There were a lot of good things that we did, just wasn't enough obviously. I think it's a little bit too much, too soon to be able to face a team of this quality this early. Good football team. I thought we did some good things, the game was pretty much penalty-free on our side of the ball. And I was proud that Clay (Millen) took care of the ball offensively. And the most part, he had one bad read in the game, where he didn’t really see the roll of the coverage. But for a guy playing in his first game, I thought he did a lot of good things, threw for 16-of-20. And saw open receivers, delivered the ball pretty good. We got some pressure, got overpowered at times. I thought late in the game, their offensive line started leaning on us, and we got overpowered a couple of times in our line. But, overall, not discouraged about our guys at all. You know, this a good football team. They’re pretty different than everybody else on our schedule. And so I’m proud of our players, I think we’re doing a lot of good things, and a lot of things right. And if we continue to do those things, we’re going to see improvement as we go through the year.”

On Michigan's defensive pressure

"We didn’t execute on third down when we had to, to keep the chains moving and that’s what good defenses do, they did that all last year. They’re very talented, they have good players up front. We were concerned, we had a bunch of new guys playing up front, and the offensive line never played together and they made some plays on us, they sacked us a couple of times, and we got behind in the score as well. So it is what it is."

On preparing for Michigan's defensive scheme

"We prepared for the same scheme as last year. I didn’t feel like they were going to change much and they really didn’t—and why would you? They gave up 17 points a game last year, they played very well defensively. So that’s what we prepared for. We figured that with the success that they had a year ago that they would continue with that—they pretty much did. They played well. They’re a good coaching staff. I’ve known Jim a long time. They have good players and they got the makeup of a good football team again this year. But we didn’t anticipate being much different than a year ago."

On Michigan's quarterbacks

I think they are what people say they are. I’ve known McNamara a long time. He’s from Reno. No. 9 is athletic. I mean, he goes in here and runs his the zone-read and keeps the drive alive. He’s different. So, I’ll let Jimmy worry about that.

On what he took away from the loss

Obviously, they're a good football team. We knew that coming in. Obviously, we want to go into every single game and win, we want to execute. It doesn't matter who we play, we want to win, first of all. I think there's some good stuff we can take away from this, some good stuff that we can see on film. A lot of stuff to go back and learn from. Good positives from today.

On Michigan's defensive pressure

They're a really good football team so we knew they were gonna be fast and they're fast on the field. We anticipated them being a good football team. At the end of the day, we just have to execute. It doesn't matter what they do, they're a good football team and I give them credit for what they did today.

On Michigan's defense

Anytime you give up some pressure—I think our O-line did a good job, they went up against some really good guys. I think our receivers played well. I think, offensively, we put our defense in some bad situations. I'm excited about our defense and I'm excited about this team. I think, moving forward, we'll be a good team. Gotta give credit where it's due, that's a good football team we just played. Excited for the future.

On whether playing this level of team will help propel the team forward

Of course, we knew it was a challenge coming into the game I think it'll get us ready. When you get hit in the mouth like that, you come back and you swing. I think going into Monday, we'll have the right mindset and we'll learn from this game and we'll keep moving forward.

On Michigan's quarterbacks

They played well, both of them played well. They did what they were supposed to do. One of them was more of a running quarterback. Obviously, passed the ball a little bit. Congratulations and good luck to those guys going forward.