CFP NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP: WASHINGTON VS MICHIGAN

January 6, 2024

Ryan Grubb

NRG Stadium

Washington Huskies

Press Conference

Q. So quick turnaround. Just take us inside the preparation and how this week -- frantic or frenetic, and have you been finding some sort of rhythm?

RYAN GRUBB: As you can see, my personal grooming I think matches the state of rest that we've had. We've been rolling. We've been rolling.

I think just feeding off the kids and the coaching staff feeding off each other and the energy that it's created thinking about what's coming to us, and also keeping balance and understanding that the same type of preparation and process that we had to get here needs to hold true.

The guys have done fantastic with that. They don't -- situations like this all year, they don't flinch. Big stage, got to move, got to travel, got to do all these things. They just keep going, man. That's a testament to the kind of kids they are.

Q. So from outside, your receivers (off microphone)?

RYAN GRUBB: I think it's going to be a great battle. 2 for Michigan is a really, really talented corner. Saw him in the Ohio State game just matching up with Marvin Harrison Jr. and following him around the field. You just know the type of confidence that they have as a defense in him.

I think they have some good length in the secondary at safety. Guys that are rangy, can make plays on the football, and strike people. You can just tell they're aggressive and they play hard. Well-coached. They're going to be in the right spot. Tough to get them out of position because they know exactly where they need to be.

Yeah, I think it's going to be an amazing test.

Q. (Off microphone)?

RYAN GRUBB: They're unified. I would say unified. I think their purpose matches what our team's purpose and culture is. So I think that that is sometimes rare in a receiver room. I realize the ball is getting spread around. Everybody is getting a little bit of love, but I do think there can be an element where jealousy and things like that can set in a little bit where it's hard to get guys out there when they're not satisfied with their type of incorporation into a game plan.

For our guys they're unified. They play together. They feed off of each other. They celebrate each other's success. I think that goes a long way with our football team. You see star receivers that don't mind crack-blocking for a running back. That's something that to me is different than a lot of places where a guy maybe doesn't want to do that, but you see Rome Odunze, he is dying to be on special teams, he is dying to make a block to spring Dillon Johnson.

I think they're unified and selfless.

Q. (Off microphone)?

RYAN GRUBB: No, I was talking about receivers. That's my point right there.

Q. The offensive line, the impression this year and how have they gelled, the way they've played. Just how good have they been?

RYAN GRUBB: I think that when you look at the success of our season, that's one of the key components, obviously, offensively is that they have gelled. They've overcome some injuries. Our starting center, Matteo Mele, was hurt early in the season. We lost three starters on the inside from a good line last year.

So I just think their ability to grow and get better and believe that they can get better, I think that sometimes players, and especially offensive line units, settle into just a sense of complacency that we've been productive, we don't need to do these things. They believe they still haven't played their best game. They're hoping to against Michigan on Monday night.

Q. (Off microphone)?

RYAN GRUBB: Communication. Communication. I think that's the key. I know that's not sexy, and it's not like this really wild football term, but I think that the guys being able to communicate and be on the same page. I think that's typically where interior problems happen, especially in the A and B gap, when you're not on the same page and one side of the line is going one way and the other is going the other way, to oversimplify it and all of a sudden there's an A gap open and Michael has somebody running down into his face.

Those are the things we have to minimize. They do a great job. Coach Minter definitely dials it up with a lot of different looks had. We have to make sure our guys are all on the same page.

Q. (Off microphone)?

RYAN GRUBB: Mike? One thing. I think he has this underlying desire to be the best. I think that he felt like what happened last year wasn't a fluke. In his mind he always felt like he was that quarterback. So to come out and prove that he was even better than what he did last year and that he is the best quarterback in the country, I think that he's a very driven young man. Underneath it all, his competitive nature drives him to be the best all the time.

He really is a guy that just likes to kind of be the underdog and people keep telling him he's not the Heisman Trophy winner. We're not supposed to be here as a football team. He just keeps showing up and doing it on the biggest stage.

Q. Is there any moment you can point to this season that you saw maybe (indiscernible) it's where you have done something different with him?

RYAN GRUBB: I think his response in the middle of the season when things got harder and people continued to give us different looks, that Mike didn't get complacent. He actually went the other way.

He really dug in. I think that there's a really defining moment for great players where things get a little bit tough, people start to question you. You know, you play the Wazzu game and we're just not clicking, we don't look that great on offense, and you roll into the Pac-12 Championship game and everybody has basically wrote you off, their offense really isn't that good, Mike is not doing that great anymore, and he comes out and shows out in the Pac-12 Championship.

I think those moments, though little lulls that you hit and how people show up and prepare and things like that, and I just don't think Mike ever flinched. He was the same guy, showed up, just wanted to make sure he found ways to have answers for his teammates.

Q. Outside of the schematics, what is the (off microphone)?

RYAN GRUBB: You kind of touched on it a little bit in that I think when you care about each other as people and you talk about having -- you're raising kids, you are having those kind of conversations, figuring out how to run four verts against a coverage is pretty simple. For us it's always been that, that there's a chemistry there because of like-minded people. Our values align. Our work ethic aligns.

I think when you align with people like that in a cultural sense, then it's easy to be a professional with someone like that.

Q. You talk about being aligned and the chemistry together. Is there more to the story, though, how you guys became such cohesive play callers and game managers? You guys have done some stuff that year that some people would say, man, that took some guts?

RYAN GRUBB: I can't really speak for Kalen, but I would say that for me I've always coached our guys, and I think Kalen would align with this somewhat, that I just don't think you should coach guys to not lose. To me being offensive is just that. We should be the ones on the attack.

I think when you are the one that knows the play, you know the alignment, you know when the ball is being snapped, all those advantages have to be incorporated with your mindset as well.

When you think about ways that you want to attack people, you don't think about sitting back on your heels. Now, there's a time and a place where you have to make the right decisions, hold on to the football, do all those things that it takes good teams to do. Shoot, the three of our best games we had the football for over 36 minutes, and that took good decision-making.

The timing piece and incorporating those shots and staying aggressive at the right moments I think is key, but yeah, it's always been my philosophy.

Q. It seems like the stakes of the game changes the way you make decisions.

RYAN GRUBB: It can't. I just think it can't. As soon as you do that, you become predictable. Like, they won't respect you, I guess.

I give a couple of examples throughout the year, but there are times where we've had opportunities to take shots and do things on short yardage plays and we don't, and we get soft coverage or something like that and get an easy first down because people get concerned about what you're going to do.

Q. (Off microphone)?

RYAN GRUBB: Very important. The last seven, eight years I've been on the West Coast, and just seeing all the great teams and coaches and players that have come through just in my short time, I think there's certainly an emotional tie to what this conference is.

I'm just really proud of -- I think we're at the forefront of all this right now, but there are so many good football teams in the Pac-12 this year. I know it wasn't always represented in bowl games, but teams like what Jonathan Smith did at Oregon State, and you could go on down the line. Those are really good, tough football teams.

I think that we were starting to do it in a new age of NIL, transfer portal. We had kind of already went through that and still had come out on top, so to speak, where we were able to compete with the best teams in conferences in the country.

Q. This is going to be Dylan Morris's last game. What does it mean to you?

RYAN GRUBB: I love D-Mo. I know everybody on the team does. There's been a lot of questions surrounding, wow, the guy is transferring, he is going to do this, how can you roll into a game with him as a backup? And I can't imagine any other way. Dylan is one of the most loyal, honest, toughest, hardest working. He is a fantastic kid and a fantastic quarterback.

For me I'm just really proud to see the type of leadership that he's provided even in these tough moments and these moments of transition where he's still the first guy in the building every day. His preparation is second to nobody.

That I think takes a really special type of man.

Q. Do you feel like when Power Five (indiscernible)?

RYAN GRUBB: I think it has to fit the profile. I think I've gotten that question, so I've thought about it a little bit. I think one of the things that people think Sioux Falls to Washington, but I think -- and I don't mean that we weren't ready to do this right in Sioux Falls, but I think that there's a part that people are skipping, that there was a growth process for both Kalen and myself between all those years, between Sioux Falls and Washington, growth that was had that for Kalen at Southern Illinois or myself at South Dakota State and Eastern Michigan and Fresno State. There's so much exposure to other levels of football that I think that those things happen.

I certainly think that the roots and foundation of people that have won and won consistently can surface back up when you get the opportunity to be in the right place with the right kind of people.

Q. (Off microphone)?

RYAN GRUBB: My advice to young coaches or guys that are trying to climb up is be where your feet are planted, number one. Again, I know that's cliche and it's not sexy, but it's exactly what you have to do.

I think that every time I've got an opportunity, me personally, I look back and I reflect after I've moved on that that's what I did a great job of, is being exactly where I was and absolutely selling out to whatever my role was in that position.

I think that that's the most critical component because I think far too often young coaches can start to daydream and think about being at Washington instead of being a really, really good O-line coach at Eastern Michigan. That was my focus when I was there, is making this place the best it can be. Big times where you're at.

Q. We've seen Mike handle truly becoming a superstar this year (indiscernible) NIL and everything, he is basically the face of (indiscernible).

RYAN GRUBB: How did he do it?

Q. (Off microphone)?

RYAN GRUBB: Mike is my hero. I can't imagine being 22, 23, and dealing with the humility that Mike has went through this process with. Mike continues to grow. That's one of the most impressive things to me.

I think quietly he observes, and he is so good at listening. If you don't know Mike, you can think initially he is withdrawn when really he is just listening and paying attention and he is reading what's going on in a situation. I think he does a good job of being slow to react instead of being reactionary and just jumping out at something.

For me that's one of the things that I've really just been so impressed with Mike on is just how he sits back and waits and tries to make sure he understands before he makes this big jump or statement.

I credit that to the foundation he has. He has a great family. I've said it many times that Mike Sr. and Takisha are amazing people, incredibly humble. Mike certainly is cut out of that cloth.

Q. (Off microphone)?

RYAN GRUBB: Yeah, for sure. I think as you go on, years of coaching, I think you learn that in general. Not just with star quarterbacks, but just every player in your room.

I think long gone is the days of everybody fit into this box and do exactly this. I think that you have to find the ways to get your message to resonate personally with each kid.

I'm not saying you have time to sit there and have 30-minute meetings with every kid on the team every day, but I think that you have to be observant and sit back and recognize what it is that motivates, what it is that is special or important to those kids as men. Then your job is to help develop that and cultivate all the strengths, help them with their weaknesses.

I certainly -- with Mike, that's what I did when I saw, I guess, how he just sat back and looked and learned and how he reacted to new people. I think says a lot about how mature he can be.

Q. (Indiscernible) do you feel confident that he can fill the same kind of role he has in the second half of the season?

RYAN GRUBB: Yeah, I do. I think that he's had a great week of rehab. He's able to start repping with us. I think that he's feeling a lot better. I know he's a really determined young man, so I would be shocked if he wasn't able to come out there and make an impact in the game.

Q. I wanted to ask about Rich Newton, a guy who has been in the background more (indiscernible) he played a very good role. (Indiscernible) how do you see him?

RYAN GRUBB: That's a great question. I'm glad you asked it because I think Rich is one of the best teammates on the team. Rich's role is obviously not as a starter. He's on special teams. He's a backup. He helps out in short yardage situations.

I'll give you an idea of the kind of guy he is. We were down scout team defensive backs one week. I don't remember when it was. Rich just runs over there and jumps over and starts playing safety.

After practice Mike actually was a little bit upset. He was like, Hey, Coach, we owe Rich more respect than that. He shouldn't be doing that. I was like, I told him not to. He wanted to do it.

That's just how he is. Rich celebrates everything. I think Rich has known what it's like to be in that spotlight and how special it is, and all he wants to do is celebrate his teammates and this team.

He's a special kid.

Q. Michigan's defensive line rotates a lot of guys. Have you seen that from a different team this season, and how do you prepare for a team that rotates so many guys in each game?

RYAN GRUBB: Really there aren't many defensive lines that we've played that don't do that. I didn't feel like their rotational scheme was any more significant than most of the teams we played. Some people hang harder on their ones, they'll certainly rotate their four D-tackles quite a bit.

But, no, they have great depth. They do a great job at utilizing that for sure and rotating those guys in and out.

No, I didn't feel like it was an issue as far as breaking it down.

Q. Kalen was talking about when you guys took the first look at the offensive line, like, whoa, these guys are very athletic, they're good. What were your first impressions, and what's made them such a cohesive group?

RYAN GRUBB: Two parts to that. Number one, I totally agree with Kalen's sentiment on that that one of the things that both when we watched workouts and when we watch film, I felt the best probably about the offensive line unit. That they had a ton of potential, and I could go over my notes over and over of what I thought when I got there.

I think also, part two, speaks to exactly why we kept Scott Huff. When I came in there, I was like, What happened in 2021? These guys are great. They're all back. Like, what in the world? With the exception of their center, Luke Wattenberg. I was just really surprised that there wasn't more production.

I went back and watched a ton of film on Coach Huff's work years prior to that and just what a great job he did and how good his unit performed. Just took the time to sit down and get to know Scott a little bit.

We knew some of the same people. He actually played college football with our running back coach, Lee Marks. There was a lot of commonality with Scott. I just felt like once we sat back and started really recognizing the level of talent that Coach Huff had recruited -- because if you look at the last two years, all of our starters, all of our players on the offensive line were guys that Coach Huff recruited. There are no transfers. Those guys are all homegrown. I think that speaks a lot to the type of room that Huffy has put together.

Q. Going off that, a lot has been made over what you did last week. Is it fair to say that this is a different test than you've seen all season?

RYAN GRUBB: I think collectively, I think Texas's front and what they did was really good. I think potentially scheme-wise there's more challenges that Michigan will present than maybe Texas as far as just volume of scheme. There's a little bit more there.

They're a really good unit. They play really hard. I thought as far as physicality, them and Texas are very close. I thought maybe the interior of Texas and Michigan is very comparable. Really, really good players.

Q. What stands out most about Michael Penix's leadership on and off the field, and what stands out about him most as a coach?

RYAN GRUBB: I think as a person, number one I would say, and it parlays into his leadership, is Mike's humility. I think there would be a lot of guys that would be in Mike's situation that you would struggle to relate to them in a meeting room or they're on such a big stage that it's hard for them to relate to teammates, but that's exactly the opposite.

Mike is the guy that can still joke around with the scout team guy or just is a very personable, relatable guy. I think that's what makes him a great teammate.

When Mike -- last year when it was fall camp, and he won the starting quarterback job, because he didn't get named starting quarterback until about a week and a half, two weeks before the first game, and we took a vote, a captain's vote, and Mike got, like, 105 out of 110 votes.

I think that just speaks to when Mike got there in the winter, he didn't try to stand out front. He tried to lead. He tried to -- this is who I'm going to be, be that same guy consistently. And I think that that is what he has done, and that's allowed him to really create genuine relationships with his teammates.

Q. (Off microphone)?

RYAN GRUBB: No.

Q. (Off microphone)?

RYAN GRUBB: I want to officially make sure I take that label off. We are not an air raid offense. We lead the country in passing, but we are not an air raid offense.

I hear that, and I don't know necessarily where that comes from because if you are watching our scheme, I think you're seeing different complexities. The number of wrinkles and pass progressions that our quarterbacks have to go through are very different than what an air raid quarterback would have to do. I'm passionate about that one. I'm sorry.

Q. (Off microphone)?

RYAN GRUBB: I think you learn those things over time as a play caller. Yes, of course, it is. But there's no 14-point plays, and I think you have to remember that sometimes those plays happen because of your patience and your diligence to a game plan.

Always seems, probably, on those really good games, super easy to people watching the game; but there's a lot of thought and process and planning into when those plays happen and what you have to see defensively from a schematic piece that starts to present to people and you're seeing, okay, this has happened, now I can do this.

So sometimes it takes longer in games than other times.

Q. To follow up, how do you see it, and how does it continue to (indiscernible)?

RYAN GRUBB: The offense? When you say see it, are you saying what's the style or --

Q. Yes.

RYAN GRUBB: I would say if you are going to label it, I would probably say a pro-style spread. When you think of terms of quarterback play, that's where I always start, is that our guys have to be in a position to truly be comfortable in pro-style progressions.

So complex reads. One through five on the progression, all the way through, things like that. Not just flood shots on deep balls and things like that or not just quick game, tempo plays.

I also think that our ability to move in and out of tempo and the shifts in motions are one of the things that make us unique and one of the things we pride ourselves on. I think that even in the last six to seven years is for defensive play callers, they're picture callers, right, they're seeing pictures, the best we can do to change those pictures for them and the kids makes them a little bit tougher on them.

Sometimes you have to remember you're playing the kids, not the coordinator. If that picture changes for them, it will make it a lot harder for them to make the call that they've been given.

Q. How common is that to see the straight line (indiscernible)? It's like a philosophy.

RYAN GRUBB: I think everybody has some form of trying to stretch the field vertically. I think one of the complexities or what I think that we do a good job of as far as when I talk quarterback play and thinking about how guys work is that you want to be in a situation where you have to absolutely tell the guys we have to find ways to stay on the field and, at the same time, stay wildly aggressive.

I think that the elite part of an offense when you are really humming is you're living somewhere right in that gray area. You have the ability to make the right decisions, the right reads, the right calls to stay on the field and keep yourself viable while at the same time getting the ball down the field. Because there's an inefficiency that goes with those shot plays and things like that, just as far as the number that you're going to complete.

I think that when we're playing our best, you look at the Texas game, and you're holding the football for almost 36 minutes, and your quarterback is throwing for 430 yards, and you start thinking about that. Your leading rusher is only 21 carries for 49 yards, but somehow you had the ball for 36 minutes.

There's a piece to that that I think is really hard to replicate, and there's a discipline that goes with that.

Q. (Off microphone)?

RYAN GRUBB: Well, back when Kalen and I were together in '07 and '08 -- excuse me, '08 and '09, when we won back-to-back national championships, our quarterback was Lorenzo Brown.

Lorenzo Brown was a true dual-threat guy. I think he threw for 40 touchdowns and ran for another 20. He was bananas. He was a really, really good player. If he was 5'11", he might have been somewhere else, but he wasn't even that.

That's one of the things people have asked me, what are some of the benefits to being at a smaller school and things like that. Being at a place like Sioux Falls helps you build with what you have and make the best out of what you have, and the creativity can come out of that.

There was still a lot of vertical passing game for sure, but we still had some quarterback runs that I don't really do with Michael because I'm not trying to get him hit. But that part, I think that there's certainly some of the aspects that you see from our offense now were relevant back then as well.

Q. (Off microphone) was that you or was that --

RYAN GRUBB: Yeah, that was the first day of fall camp. I put a slide up, and the slide was our vision as an offense or a team, but our vision was a National Championship.

So the stressing points there that I had made to the offensive unit was far too often I think you get scared as a coach or just even as a person to think about what's possible. People talk more in terms of what's probable.

So I think it was very probable for us to compete or maybe even win a Pac-12 Championship, but what was possible, the vision, was National Championship. Every meeting it was the same slide, it was the National Championship Trophy. The first day of camp when I put that slide up -- I showed it to them the other day -- it said "161 Days to Houston." Can you have yourself built for that? Now we're at, whatever, a couple days, and here we are in Houston.

Q. Every day?

RYAN GRUBB: Every weekend on Sunday when I would meet with the offense I would show them the slide. Seven days would tick off of there, and, again, here we are.

That's a credit to the guys who buy into that. I think a big part of that was on that slide off to the left I had some information about the 1990 Huskies team. I think they had one or two losses. They had a good team. They ended up top ten in the country. Very similar to what we did in 2022. Top ten, two losses, really good team.

A lot of the components were coming back on the '91 championship team for the Huskies. Very similar to what we were doing. I'm giving you a long story here, but I got this pin from this one donor, and it said "Hungrier Than Ever." This pin was from the '91 championship team. The thought was we have to stay hungrier than ever.

I have the picture of this pin, and it sits in front of my computer. It's been there all year. Just getting the guys fixated on truly what's possible instead of falling and kind of being conservative.

I've met with Coach Petersen, who I consider a mentor. He is just an absolute stud. It was the day before fall camp, and I was telling him, Man, I'm really leaning towards telling the guys: Let's go for a National Championship. That's what's possible.

He even said -- he was like, Ah, I don't know. You do that, and then you have to retract if you lose.

I was like, Screw it, we're going for it.

It's like fourth and one in the Apple Cup. You have to go get it; right?

Q. (Off microphone)?

RYAN GRUBB: I don't think there's been any surprise as far as what Michael was capable of. I think we all believed that he was certainly able to do those things and also believed that physically he had the tools to accomplish all those things.

I think that if there's anything that surprised me, it surprised me this hadn't happened earlier in his career, and it was really simply because of injuries and maybe just not being totally utilized like he is at Washington.

Q. (Off microphone) the stuff that you accomplished in Sioux Falls (indiscernible)?

RYAN GRUBB: Every year Kalen would do a pyramid deal of what we had to get done and what our expectations were for the season. I can't remember what those all were exactly.

I remember one year we were actually really good running the ball, and so one of our goals was going to be be plus-100 in the running game, which people probably think is crazy now with our offense.

But we did it. So that was something. We always had to beat the other -- you had to outrush the other team by 100 yards. And I think that was 2008 we were really good running the ball.

Q. (Off microphone)?

RYAN GRUBB: Yeah, yeah. Zo played forever. I think he is, like, 90 years old and still slinging it out there.

Q. When you look at the (indiscernible) how is that different than (off microphone)?

RYAN GRUBB: I think that from a preparation standpoint, your saturation point is much higher, meaning what you can input to players like that that have experience. You can push them a lot further. When you can do that, I think the game plan can be a little wider and put a little bit more pressure on the defense.

I certainly think that that has attributed to part of our success this year.

Q. (Off microphone)?

RYAN GRUBB: Absolutely. Everything is repetition. So when you think about being in those moments, it never felt too big. The guys are used to making the biggest play on the biggest moment.

Q. (Indiscernible) you mentioned the pin "Hungrier Than Ever"?

RYAN GRUBB: I think his name was Culpepper. Barry Culpepper maybe? We do a thing, it's called Dawgs in the Desert, and our donors put it on. And we go there, and we go to -- Miss Anne from Nordstrom's puts it on. This guy was handing these pins out, and he gave me, like, 40 of them. Yeah, it was pretty cool. He gave me the whole backstory. I was like, yeah, that's kind of applicable, yeah.

Q. (Off microphone)?

RYAN GRUBB: Where has he grown the most?

Q. Yeah.

RYAN GRUBB: For Mike, the most inspirational thing about Mike is his resiliency, when you know his story. When you think about how he didn't flinch through this entire process and once he got in a position that he was in in Washington and started getting the success, I think one of the things that's awesome about Mike was he didn't change.

There wasn't like this drastically different kid showing up in my meeting room. It was like, yeah, that's Mike. That's exactly who he is going to be, and he is going to wear the same crappy flip-flops and it's going to be Mike. I admire that about him.

As far as the growth part, I think everything. I think that Mike is such an aware person that he takes things in. He thinks about them. He doesn't react too quickly. That's what I've seen is just his growth and just being mature in the position that he's in.

I think it's impressive when you think about being 22 and 23 years old and being in that kind of spotlight. When I went to the Heisman Ceremony with him, it was one of the few times during the season where I didn't have that much to do. I was, like, just kind of sitting back watching Mike just talking to people. I was in awe of him, just watching him operate and just how he took everything in. Because I wouldn't say Mike is necessarily the guy trying to go be out front of everything. It's really not who he is. When he has to and there's people there, he's fantastic.

Q. When I talked to some defensive play callers, they talk about how (indiscernible) you are calling a game and how --

RYAN GRUBB: Did Minter say that? (Laughing.) I was hoping. Dang it. Yeah, you don't want to be the guy who is predictable. I think that you don't want to fight it so hard that you don't get good at the things that you want to be good at and have some DNA that you can fall back on every week in your offense.

But I certainly think there's things that you have to evaluate on a weekly based on self-scout to make sure that you're not just giving it away. Those are the balances and the concessions you have to make, is consistency and confidence in, hey, this is who we are, this is what we do, and then changing it up enough to keep the defense off balance.

Q. (Off microphone)?

RYAN GRUBB: Anywhere. Anybody that's doing something cool, we're going to find it. That's the beauty of -- we joke about it all the time about how much access we have to film. It's almost like who is scoring points, who is doing what, whether it's the Dolphins with the new motion with Tyreek Hill or whoever it might be with a good shift that we thought gained an advantage, whether it be for communication at defense or a leverage on a defender. We're constantly looking for anybody.

Q. Coach, are there any players that you guys have identified on film that (indiscernible)?

RYAN GRUBB: I think 2 is a really good player, their corner. I think he is very consistent. For a sophomore I think he plays with a lot of savvy and physicality.

78, their interior D-tackle, I think is a fantastic interior D-lineman. Athletic, powerful. Plays with good leverage, good hands.

Then 25, their inside linebacker, 6'3", 247, runs really, really well and has a ton of football savvy and experience. I think he's a really good player as well.

Q. Michigan as a team has the fewest penalties per game in the nation. How do you scheme for a team like that, and how do you make (indiscernible)?

RYAN GRUBB: Well, we've already talked to the officials, and they say they don't like Harbaugh, so I think we're in good shape -- no, I'm kidding.

I think you have to tip your hat to them. They're a very disciplined team, and they've done a great job with that. That's something that you have to really recognize when you go into it, is, hey, these guys aren't going to stub their toe and make the big mistake. They're going to be disciplined.

Really that just puts the onus back on you that you have to understand, hey, we've got to execute at a high level. We can't be giving free yards to this team.

Q. You talk about the scheme and the motion. Do you try to throw them off?

RYAN GRUBB: I sure hope so. I sure hope so.

Q. How important are your exterior playmakers?

RYAN GRUBB: Obviously I think that in more ways than one I think that those guys, when you can get the ball on the perimeter and people play a little bit more loose and they give you space, you take advantage of space. If they want to take the space away and they want to man you up and you feel like your ball skills are better than their ball skills defensively, then you can still attack them.

I think that guys like Rome Odunze and Ja'Lynn Polk and Jalen McMillan are worth they are weight in gold.

Q. (Indiscernible) way to close the gap in talent (indiscernible)?

RYAN GRUBB: I think that's a great observation. I think that even back to people talk a lot about the Sioux Falls days with Kalen and things like that, I think there was definitely times and years where we didn't have great fronts. Our offensive line wasn't that great.

So finding ways to be creative and get the ball, whether it be in space on the perimeter and one-on-one shots was something that I've coached for a long time. Just trying to find ways to spotlight good players with the football.

Q. As your season went on and you hit that offensive lull, it almost felt like you had two identities. What did you learn about your offense as you went in those types of games? Dillon was close to having revelations (indiscernible)?

RYAN GRUBB: That's a great question. I think that when you look at it every week, if you are honest and you are a little bit ego-free when you go back through a game plan and look at, man, we really left some meat on the bone right here, and we could have attacked this a little bit more and found a better way to utilize DJ, or, hey, this matchup was actually better than we thought.

Then you couple those, and you match those things up, one game at a time, all of a sudden you build a couple of packages together, and you keep learning more about the identity of your offense I think every year as you go.

For us it spoke a lot to the front. On our front we lost three starters from last year. We had multiple injuries early on, guys in and out. Once that started to settle and we recognized more of what that unit was and what they were capable of, I think that I was able to find -- we were able to find a few different ways to attack some of those things.

Q. I'm sure you've been asked this, but Dillon (indiscernible) do you feel like you will be able to use him?

RYAN GRUBB: I do. He's done a great job the last couple of days where really we were more worried about his foot initially. Now he's really feeling good.

Yesterday he was able to get out there and move around. So I think today he'll take another step at practice. I feel like -- I don't think he's going to be limited, honestly. I think he is going to be just fine.

Q. After the Texas game Rome talked about you had brought up the '90 season and building off of that. Why is it important to look back at a team and take whatever you can?

RYAN GRUBB: There is a donor that had given me this pin. We went to Dawgs in the Desert. It was an event that some of our donors put on for the coaches. He gave me a pin from the '91 National Championship team that said "Hungrier Than Ever." The pin was representing between the '90 and '91 season.

In the '90 season the Huskies were really good. I think they were top-10 team in the country. A lot of similarities between the '90 team and our 2022 team.

So I kind of just was, like, yeah, this is us going from '22 to '23. Going into the '91 season they were hungrier than ever. We talk a lot about that, that, hey, they went out with a lot of guys coming back, and they felt like national title or bust. So early on I just recognized that and went with it.

That was kind of what our vision was set at the beginning of the season right away every single time. I put the same slide up every week for the offense, and it was a countdown from 161 days to Houston. And I showed them that slide the other day from the beginning at fall camp and said, This is where it started. The process has to be the same. The practice has to be the same.

Their consistency in big games I think also comes from the consistency in their preparation and their vision and their actions matching up because for us that was something I had told a couple of other people earlier was just when we were attacking it early on, I just told the guys, just as a person, I always felt like people typically will -- they'll prepare themselves for what's probable; right?

It's probable to compete for a Pac-12 Championship and be really, really good, but what's possible is a National Championship. It's when you raise the bar up here, they'll climb higher. They just will.

That's exactly what they did.

Q. Who was in the meeting with the slide?

RYAN GRUBB: It was beginning of fall camp. I had the full offensive unit in. So every week during the season I meet with the offense. To kick off the season, I put it up, and we talk about this is the vision. For us we don't necessarily work off of goals. We talk about key objectives that have to add up every day in practice that will equate to success in games. The overlying theme, the vision of that was a National Championship.

So every week from then on afterwards I would meet with the offense. I remind them what the vision is, and then we talk about the key objectives to get to that.

Those were the things that we just zeroed in on every week, and the message never changed.

Q. Did you have a countdown slide?

RYAN GRUBB: Yeah. I told them it was six days or whatever day it was. I can't even remember that when I met with them. It was, like, hey, 161, and I actually showed them that slide and just circled the 161. I'm, like, and now it's 6. That's it.

Q. With a quarterback like that for Michigan, do you go away from him? Do you go right at him?

RYAN GRUBB: Yeah, I think you have to trust your playmakers. I think you also have to be observant thinking about the things that, hey, there is a possibility if we get our best guy on one of their other guys, that's good for us too.

At that time you just don't ever want Mike to think, man, we can't ever throw at this guy because obviously people have completed balls on him and things like that. You have to respect what kind of player he is. Just like any time you play a good player. You don't want to ignore it, but at the same time you don't want to back away from it.