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UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN MEDIA CONFERENCESeptember 1, 2008Rich RodriguezQ. Are they still thinking too much -- COACH RODRIGUEZ: I think a little bit but there also comes a point in time where it's that guy and me, and the collision is about to happen and you're either going to be the hammer or the nail. Q. What did you think about the offensive line? COACH RODRIGUEZ: Lower average. I think those guys tried hard but didn't play with -- got into some bad habits and techniques -- and those plays, kind of seem to have -- inaudible -- we have to have more sixes and seconds and eights, as opposed to 16s. That had a part to do with why we didn't learn as much probably. Q. Will Nick start Saturday? COACH RODRIGUEZ: I don't know. Right now, Steve probably got a little more positive things. They both did some good things and both did some bad things, and Steve probably came out of that game graded probably a little bit higher and took the edge a little bit there, and we'll see how they execute this week in practice. It's much the same thing where Nick had a little bit of an edge coming in the last game, and this game, the way they played, Steve kind of equalled those things out, we'll see how they compete tomorrow. Tom is a big practice day for them and Wednesday a little bit, as well. Q. What are the things that bothered you the most -- COACH RODRIGUEZ: Yeah, I don't want to go ahead and talk about it. Everybody is going to break down the quarterback position and every other position from a negative standpoint. There was plays we would take back and some plays they did okay. And they both at times played like first-time players, and that's to be expected and other times, they made some good decisions in the game. There's a lot on our quarterbacks' plate. In this offense, these quarterbacks make a lot of decisions, not just in the passing game. So there are some negatives we need to work on. The disappointing part is some things we thought we corrected in practice and they reverted back to in the game, and you should expect that at some point. But if we are coaching them the right way, they become creatures of habit, and the good things, the habits, the good habits override the bad habits. Q. Difference Between the first half and second half with the defense? COACH RODRIGUEZ: We got a few more three and outs, and didn't get the long drives where we got a little bit winded I think. The defensive staff made some good adjustments and we tackled better got to the ball. It was an awful in the first half. They controlled the game with their offense, but the second half was a little bit better. Guys got some emotional intensity, but if you want to play championship football, you come and compete to win every snap, not just when things are going good and you get a few breaks you way. I told y'all before, we're not good enough to play bad and win. I don't care who it is we play; we play bad, we ain't going to win. That's where we are at right now. We are what you see. It's pretty simple as coaches. That's where we're at. Right now we are a program that's got to play well and execute well to win a game. It's as simple as that. We can't go out there and mess around as coaches and athletes. I had a feeling that's what it was and where we're at, that's where we are at. If it looks like a rose and tastes like a rose, it's probably a rose; if it's just the opposite, you know what I mean. Q. (Inaudible). COACH RODRIGUEZ: Not sure. I think he'll be available. He banged up his shoulder a little bit in the game with limited action. We hope that he's healthy to deal with the plays well. Greg Matthews is day-to-day, and Ryan Van Bergen is day-to-day, those are the two new guys. The rest of the guys should be okay. Q. The other two running backs? COACH RODRIGUEZ: No, I don't know how Dave is. I don't know how anybody -- looking at the depth chart, it's amazing -- I don't know how to tell you all, because I don't know yet how they are going to rotate. But I don't really consider there's a whole lot of separation between Minor, Shaw and McGuffie. All three are going to play. I think they probably played about equal reps, maybe not to have as many equal carries. It's really those three kind of in a different rotation with the first group, and all three of them take reps with the first group during practice this week. Q. The Juniors, are they -- COACH RODRIGUEZ: I think they will be okay. Junior got nicked a little bit, but sure it will just be precautionary. If the guy can't play by Wednesday, they won't play in the game. Q. What did you see from Jonas? COACH RODRIGUEZ: Jonas played some plays. He got out there and ran around a little bit. At times the linebacker play was very good and at times it wasn't very good. When Jonas, when he got in there he had a little spark and made some plays. He's an athletic guy in space, and that's kind of what we need a little bit. So Jonas is going to continue to get more reps and Coach Hobson is moving some guys around to try to find the best combination of guys to put out there. Q. Van Bergen, what's his -- COACH RODRIGUEZ: He's got an ankle. Q. Is Obinna's game as good as it looked by the numbers? COACH RODRIGUEZ: Yeah, he made quite a few tackles. He played -- we didn't have a lot of players in the game. We had two for us, Will Johnson and Obi, those two are probably most productive and played the best for us defense. Obi is pretty solid, and that's what we've seen in practice every day out of him and Will; they seem to be pretty consistent in practice, and held that through for the games. Q. You had a feeling about what this team would be like; were you at all surprised by the poor execution in the first half? COACH RODRIGUEZ: Somewhat. I think you always feel a little more optimistic that you'll be able to execute a few things. Some of the assignments we blew were things that we probably repped the most and didn't quite execute. Again there are some young guys out there, so in a number of respects, you ought to be patient, but we are not very patient folk. Q. Carson seemed to have a little more opportunity -- COACH RODRIGUEZ: Well, I don't know, who told you that, Carson? They covered it pretty good. Carson's been working pretty hard. He's had some pretty good practices. There was a few times we had some guys open and a few misreads. As I said, the quarterback, there were a few times, some of those things, we were hitting every day in practice. But definitely it's different in game speed and at times our inexperience showed in that position. That's the toughest position, the quarterback, to see the whole field and recognize everything. Obviously we have to do a better job of getting them prepared, but I think they will correct and fix what they need to get fixed. Q. (Inaudible). COACH RODRIGUEZ: No, he's going to be red-shirted. He's not ready. Q. How well is he adjusting to a little bit different style? COACH RODRIGUEZ: He kicked well in practice. He didn't have his best day Saturday. He's bought into what we are doing. He's got to, and that's what we are going to do, depending on how people are going to play us, and we do some unconventional punting things. But he's punted the ball really outstanding in camp and it was a solid day. There were a couple times, he had the one bad punt, and then he had the one time where kicked it, waited to late to kick it and almost got a block, but other than that, he was okay. Q. Harrison good to go Saturday? COACH RODRIGUEZ: Should be fine, yeah. Q. Which of the players are red-shirted? COACH RODRIGUEZ: Oh, I don't know. The other ones are all kind of still up in the air. Most of them are freshmen. The ones that played, I think some of the true freshmen that possibly didn't play but probably could still play, Roy Roundtree comes to mind, Kevin Koger; those are two true freshmen, that are still in the mix to play. I think the rest of them that I had mentioned before, all played a little bit. Q. (Inaudible). COACH RODRIGUEZ: No, he's practicing with the team again this week. Q. The aspects of the game that troubled you on Saturday, which ones do you think will probably be the easiest to be corrected for next Saturday? COACH RODRIGUEZ: Playing faster, playing more physical. Couldn't be any more simpler than that. And if they won't play faster and won't play more physical, then they won't be playing. Q. But just to clarify, is the quarterback battle ongoing; you might tell them again Thursday like you did last time? COACH RODRIGUEZ: They will know earlier than that. I may tell them tonight -- no. I won't see them tonight. I may tell them tomorrow. Whenever I feel froggy. But they will rotate. They were supposed to last week, when Nick was taking most of the reps with ones and twos. I think I told y'all -- well, I don't know if I told you. When we practice offensively, our ones and twos get equal reps, we run four plays with the ones, four plays with the twos, and they run the same plays. Since they get the same amount of reps, and we have always done that; it will be good for them, because we will play a lot of people and to get the second group just as ready as the first group. But last week, Nick took most of the reps with the ones. This week, it will be at least equal, and so that will be the one difference in practice where Steve will take as many reps at the one as Nick but we'll see how it goes. They both did some pretty good things and both got to play better. Q. Impressions about Miami? COACH RODRIGUEZ: We just started watching film a little bit yesterday. Yesterday was a big day on self-scouting and correcting mistakes, but we did watch some film last night. We know they have nine returning stars back on defense and watching a little bit of the film against Vanderbilt, the quarterback, he's a pretty good athlete and got a lot of good runs and that was the difference in the ballgame. I'll have more of an impression of them. They are going to play hard. They were picked to repeat for the championship, so where we are at, we have got to get better ourselves if we want to win any games. But there's probably a lot of teams saying that, too. Our guys, at least in the fourth quarter, we had a chance; as poorly as we played, we still had a chance to win the game. But that's a positive, but we didn't win, so that's the negative. End of FastScripts |
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