What they said: UConn's Jim Mora talks game against Michigan
UConn head coach Jim Mora met with the media on Tuesday to preview the Huskies' game against Michigan.
Below is everything Mora had to say about the Wolverines.
On Michigan
Great opportunity to play against one of the premier teams in college football. Team that played in the College Football Playoff last year and, to me, looks better than ever. They're extremely well-coached. They're big, they're fast, they're extremely skilled. They have their sights set on a national championship, as they should be. They're certainly worthy of that goal and expectation when you look at their film. This is a team with zero holes. As you look at them, they do not have a weakness. It's going to be a great challenge for our young men. We're going to try and go up there and fight and compete like crazy and try to win the game against a very good team. We're not going up there for any other reason other than to give our best effort to win the game. I think this is a fantastic, fantastic opportunity and challenge for our guys and I think they relish this opportunity.
On playing Michigan from a financial standpoint
We get a chance to go compete against the best and any chance you have to compete against the best is an opportunity to get better. The financial aspect, I don't live in a financial world. I live in a football world. Like I said, it's a chance to play against a team that played in the College Football Playoff last year. Our guys are excited to go compete. It'll be a great opportunity to grow as a team.
On knowing Jim Harbaugh
I know him from a distance. I don't believe that we have ever competed against each other. I have great respect for him. I think he's one of the premier head coaches in all of football. I think he's proven that by the records he's been able to put up in the NFL and at Michigan. I have great respect for the way he weathered that storm a couple of years ago. Hung in there and built this thing the way he wanted to build it. I'm sure it wasn't easy on him to be criticized the way he was, given the skins that he's put on the wall. I have a tremendous amount of respect for him. I think he's a guy with an incredible amount of integrity. I've met him and we've talked but we don't have a personal relationship.
On the large spread for the game
I don't know what the spread is. I can't answer that question. I don't look at that. It doesn't matter to me. I've never looked at spreads. I've been made aware of spreads. I don't care. I just want to go out there and compete and compete as hard as we can to win. We're not going to talk about those types of things. We're going to talk about being our best on every single play we play and line up and be better than X play. That's what I think that people that have success, that's what they do.
On Michigan's defense
They're structurally different. Syracuse did a lot more in terms of trying to penetrate. Michigan, I said to start this thing, they're big, they're fast, they're physical. They run to the ball and hit you. They have great confidence in what they do. They sit on routes because they know they can because they've got the speed to go deep with people. They're very violent with their hands when they disengage. When you watch their film, you're not going to see guys loafing, you're not going to see guys on the ground. They just try to pound you into oblivion. They get off the field on third down, they stop the run, they get off the field on third down. They're fun to watch on defense now unless you're getting ready to play them. I appreciate great defense. So I appreciate the way they play.
On playing at the Big House
I've talked to them about it but I'm not going to talk to them about it this week. We talk about everything in camp. We talk about all these things. Our objective is to go into any place we go and shut out the noise and concentrate on the things that we can control. That's what is happening in front of us on the field, not what is happening around us in the stands. Not the noise, not our opponent. It's to control what we can control. We can control our focus and ability during the game on what's happening on that green grass with the white lines on it. I think it's a distraction if you talk about other things. That's our mindset. I will tell you what we do, we always go to the stadium the day before the game. We do that so they can walk into the stadium and see it, feel it and understand where the locker room is and how they get to the field and where the play clocks are, where the scoreboard is, what the turf is life. I think that helps them adjust rather just running out there on the field on a Saturday. In terms of talking about it, we talk about it back there. Now, we talk about just playing good football.