On what makes Michigan the No. 1 scoring defense

It is a unique challenge. Obviously, you’re this deep into the season, 10 games into it, and you’ve done what they’ve done statistically and it’s pretty phenomenal. It’s pretty impressive. You turn the film on and they back it up. They play fast and physical. They’re very, very multiple in the back end. I think it’s been well-documented it’s a pro-style defense that came from the Ravens' tree. You’d look at it and say it’s very complicated, to a large degree. Not complicated. It’s complex, which is the same, I guess. There’s rhyme and reason to it. It’s not chaos. You can’t play as good as defense as they play without it being detailed, organized and their players are very sure of what they’re doing and they’ve got really good players. All those are ingredients to have an outstanding defense like they do and we’ll have to put our best foot forward, have a great week of prep, show our guys what they’re going to see, some of the unique challenges they’re going to face on Saturday and then to be able to put our best foot forward, we’re going to have to grow. We’re going to have to be able to use the disappointment and the pain from the last couple weeks to propel us forward when it comes to Saturday.

On what the running back rotation would look like if Chase Brown is out

A lot of it is still TBD to a large degree. This is the time of year in college football and this type of conference where you’ve got a ‘next man up’ mentality at all positions. Those guys who are running backs, Reggie (Love), Chase (Hayden) and even some of the young guys, they’ve got to be ready to roll. They have been. We’ve been priming them and getting them ready for opportunities. Just kind of how you go about this time of year. You just deal with whatever is next and have the next man up mentality.

On Michigan in the second half

We were looking at the stats today and maybe it was Iowa that held them to their season low of 160-something yards on the ground. We all know what type of defense they play. It’s because they’ve got a really good scheme and they’ve got really good players. They’re (No. 3) in the country for a reason. Up front they’re big, they’re physical, they play really, really well together. Very athletic. They do a good job of mixing in zone and gap schemes to both three- and four-down fronts. They use their personnel very creatively, especially out of 12-personnel. They give you a bunch of different pictures, different surface areas. Blake Corum is as talented as there is in college football. I think both of them. Corum and Donovan Edwards, those guys do a good job of being patient and waiting for their blocks to develop. The offensive line does a good job of climbing to the second level and getting their hands on linebackers and DBs. If there’s a guy who is in the whole and unaccounted for, those backs are talented enough to make you miss. If you miss, they’re fast enough to take it the distance. Got to do a great job of team football, playing to the rock, being physical, being gap sound and assignment sound, which we’ve done for the better part of this season. Our guys are looking forward to the challenge and looking forward to getting on the practice field to get our preparation started.

On J.J. McCarthy

Very athletic. He can extend plays with his legs. They will use him at times in the run game. Not a feature there, obviously, because they’ve got a really talented back and a really, really good offensive line. He throws a nice, tight spiral, a really catchable ball. He’s accurate. They do a good job of asking him to do things within the framework of what he’s comfortable with right now. That doesn’t mean he won’t stretch you vertically because he will. They will take advantage of some of their play-action game in advantageous spots on the field and depending on down and distance. He’s a good quarterback. He’s really good. He’s talented. I know he’s young, but he doesn’t really put the ball in jeopardy, doesn’t make a ton of mistakes and manages the game very well.

On if there's a feel that Michigan hasn't faced adversity this season

I’m not in the locker room. Obviously, you look at the scores of the games and they’ve done a really good job this season. I think we have to go play our game. Our style of play defensively is unique to this conference. Really, it’s unique to college football. Our good players have to be good players on Saturday. Luckily we’ve got a lot of them and we’ve got a lot of them at every different level. Guys have to do their job on a consistent basis and go put the ball down, go play and have fun while we’re doing so and consistently doing it together for four quarters. We can’t just have stretches where we’re really good or plays where we’re really good. Every play has to have its own lifespan and you’ve got to hit the reset button as soon as that whistle is blown and the ball is snapped.