KIRK FERENTZ: I'm never discouraged by our players. I thought the effort was there. I thought we had a good week of preparation and practice. I thought the guys were wired in, and we knew what we were up against, what we had to do today to be successful.
Credit our opponent; they did a good job of setting the tone and made it difficult for us in offensive and defensive phases, special teams maybe not as much, but they did a good job there.
As crazy as it may sound, from where I stood, I thought our guys played hard and I saw some growth in our football team.
Time will tell. We'll go from there. We'll look at the tape tomorrow. We'll go back and lick our wounds a little bit, hopefully learn and grow. We'll move forward on Monday, and that's our plan right now.
We have a bye week coming up after this, and we've known that, and our request to our players is be focused on these six weeks, the six-week block, and we'll figure things out afterward, and that's our plan, and I'll open it up for questions.
Q. What challenges did Michigan's rushing attack, especially Blake Corum, pose for you guys?
KIRK FERENTZ: He's an outstanding back, first and foremost. Really good football player. That didn't surprise us. You look at film, you can see that. And then they're good up front. Those guys last year and this year are really blocking well. They have good tight ends that block well.
The other part of the equation is they threaten you outside. They have really good receivers and a quarterback that can get it out to them.
You have to choose your poison a little bit defensively, and if you load up too much in one area, you're going to be vulnerable in another spot.
Q. How encouraging is Luke Lachey's emergence?
KIRK FERENTZ: Really good. I can't say we're surprised. We've been watching him grow and develop.
I don't know what his age was actual age was when we recruited him, but he looked like he was 16, like a young-looking guy. But a tremendous guy with a great work ethic and good ability. It's been fun to watch him grow. He's playing really well.
Right now we have a chance to have a pretty good tandem with him and Sam out there. But to make those big plays today gave us a spark, and it was great to see. That'll help him and help our football team moving forward.
Q. You called a time-out on that clipping penalty. Did you get a valid explanation?
KIRK FERENTZ: Yeah, you always get a valid explanation. Flash back to 1994 or '95, we were playing in Kansas City and it got distracting, and it didn't help our cause at all. So I try not to get distracted by things.
But today to say it didn't impact the game a little bit, the way things went, I think that would probably be naïve. The two things we've been pretty good at -- even if we don't have a real good team -- we're usually pretty good at ball security and takeaway margin typically we do a good job, '09 being an exception there.
Typically we're in the upper third penalty-wise, and I think we're somewhere in that neighborhood right now.
To have six major penalties, that's kind of uncharacteristic. Maybe we were overwhelmed talent-wise or maybe our guys are that sloppy. It didn't feel that way from the sideline.
It is what it is. But it impacted the game, and we weren't good enough to overcome that.
But I've had a problem with college football's interpretation of cut blocking for probably a decade now, and I don't see that getting any better. The good news is they'll probably eliminate it from football next year, so we won't have to worry about it.
Q. If an offensive lineman has his helmet across the far side knee?
KIRK FERENTZ: It's an illegal block.
Q. It is an illegal block?
KIRK FERENTZ: That's what you saw. I'm cosigning, I'm not saying it.
Q. As far as Logan Jones' blocking too long, too hard during the play --
KIRK FERENTZ: You can't be too aggressive out there on that field. You can't do that, with a play that's still going on. You all have seen Linderbaum do that a lot on the other side of the line of scrimmage. This happened to be where the defender was, and he's finishing the play, and that's something we really emphasize and teach.
I'm a little perplexed by that one, and I don't know when you're supposed to know when to stop if your opponent is still going. It's a little confusing.
Q. If you look at the offense, the passing game especially, third quarter into the fourth quarter seemed to get some rhythm and some movement. Maybe for the first time this year it looked like it was really in concert for multiple possessions. Are you encouraged by that or do you feel like that's something you guys can build on?
KIRK FERENTZ: I am. For a couple things, reasons. I talked about Sam and Luke. I think we have a chance now to have a pretty good tight end combination.
Looks like Nico is back pretty close to full speed, which is helpful to have a veteran player out there. Arland is doing some good things, and we'll keep moving him along, and hopefully Brody is benefitting from every rep he gets, so I am -- and then the other component, I thought up until that I guess it was last possession, next-to-last possession, we pass blocked better today, against a group that's pretty good. They have some guys.
To me that's encouraging. We had a meltdown on that last series -- I think we were two scores down, and I've been there before as a line coach. It's not that much fun. So it's not like that's the first time I've seen that. We'll grow through that and work through that.
I saw a lot of things I thought that were better, but that's not going to get it done for us unless we really keep pushing this thing forward and squeezing some things down.
Q. The guys have talked about they see the improvement, it's just not quickly enough. Would you agree with that, and how do you speed that up?
KIRK FERENTZ: Yeah, when you come up short -- but again, we knew what we were up against today, what we had to do. Really we couldn't force -- only one bad play I think on their part, the quarterback's part. He had that one down to the right of our bench, which we were hoping maybe we could get a little bit more going there. But to his credit, he played a really good game.
Yeah, I think we're growing. I do think that. Campbell has been playing at a pretty good level. He, by the way, got tackled it looked like to me. You guys probably saw that one, right? Looked like he was in a hole and some outside hands snatched him down. But he played through that.
I think we're not -- I'm not discouraged, but I am disappointed.
Q. That Campbell play, why do you think that wasn't a flag?
KIRK FERENTZ: Why wasn't it? They didn't call it. It's real easy.
It was only at the point of attack, but other than that -- and pretty obvious. It looked pretty flagrant.
They obviously didn't see it. I'm not questioning anybody's integrity. I'm not going down that road. The guys are working hard -- it's hard; they've got a really hard job, really hard job.
Q. Did it feel like you guys defensively couldn't get any traction early in the game? They went I think 11 plays, 13 plays, 13 plays. You guys couldn't get off the field.
KIRK FERENTZ: We couldn't get off the field, and if you can't stop the run, it's tough. It's easy to call plays when you can run the ball, and not minimizing what they were doing, but again, the pressure they put on you from my vantage point, you see both those receivers last week running by DBs, so if you match up on them one-on-one, you're living dangerously there with a guy who can throw it.
It's a lot of cat-and-mouse, and it's tough, but they did a really good job, and it looked like they were executing very well, too.
Credit our opponent; they did a good job of setting the tone and made it difficult for us in offensive and defensive phases, special teams maybe not as much, but they did a good job there.
As crazy as it may sound, from where I stood, I thought our guys played hard and I saw some growth in our football team.
Time will tell. We'll go from there. We'll look at the tape tomorrow. We'll go back and lick our wounds a little bit, hopefully learn and grow. We'll move forward on Monday, and that's our plan right now.
We have a bye week coming up after this, and we've known that, and our request to our players is be focused on these six weeks, the six-week block, and we'll figure things out afterward, and that's our plan, and I'll open it up for questions.
Q. What challenges did Michigan's rushing attack, especially Blake Corum, pose for you guys?
KIRK FERENTZ: He's an outstanding back, first and foremost. Really good football player. That didn't surprise us. You look at film, you can see that. And then they're good up front. Those guys last year and this year are really blocking well. They have good tight ends that block well.
The other part of the equation is they threaten you outside. They have really good receivers and a quarterback that can get it out to them.
You have to choose your poison a little bit defensively, and if you load up too much in one area, you're going to be vulnerable in another spot.
Q. How encouraging is Luke Lachey's emergence?
KIRK FERENTZ: Really good. I can't say we're surprised. We've been watching him grow and develop.
I don't know what his age was actual age was when we recruited him, but he looked like he was 16, like a young-looking guy. But a tremendous guy with a great work ethic and good ability. It's been fun to watch him grow. He's playing really well.
Right now we have a chance to have a pretty good tandem with him and Sam out there. But to make those big plays today gave us a spark, and it was great to see. That'll help him and help our football team moving forward.
Q. You called a time-out on that clipping penalty. Did you get a valid explanation?
KIRK FERENTZ: Yeah, you always get a valid explanation. Flash back to 1994 or '95, we were playing in Kansas City and it got distracting, and it didn't help our cause at all. So I try not to get distracted by things.
But today to say it didn't impact the game a little bit, the way things went, I think that would probably be naïve. The two things we've been pretty good at -- even if we don't have a real good team -- we're usually pretty good at ball security and takeaway margin typically we do a good job, '09 being an exception there.
Typically we're in the upper third penalty-wise, and I think we're somewhere in that neighborhood right now.
To have six major penalties, that's kind of uncharacteristic. Maybe we were overwhelmed talent-wise or maybe our guys are that sloppy. It didn't feel that way from the sideline.
It is what it is. But it impacted the game, and we weren't good enough to overcome that.
But I've had a problem with college football's interpretation of cut blocking for probably a decade now, and I don't see that getting any better. The good news is they'll probably eliminate it from football next year, so we won't have to worry about it.
Q. If an offensive lineman has his helmet across the far side knee?
KIRK FERENTZ: It's an illegal block.
Q. It is an illegal block?
KIRK FERENTZ: That's what you saw. I'm cosigning, I'm not saying it.
Q. As far as Logan Jones' blocking too long, too hard during the play --
KIRK FERENTZ: You can't be too aggressive out there on that field. You can't do that, with a play that's still going on. You all have seen Linderbaum do that a lot on the other side of the line of scrimmage. This happened to be where the defender was, and he's finishing the play, and that's something we really emphasize and teach.
I'm a little perplexed by that one, and I don't know when you're supposed to know when to stop if your opponent is still going. It's a little confusing.
Q. If you look at the offense, the passing game especially, third quarter into the fourth quarter seemed to get some rhythm and some movement. Maybe for the first time this year it looked like it was really in concert for multiple possessions. Are you encouraged by that or do you feel like that's something you guys can build on?
KIRK FERENTZ: I am. For a couple things, reasons. I talked about Sam and Luke. I think we have a chance now to have a pretty good tight end combination.
Looks like Nico is back pretty close to full speed, which is helpful to have a veteran player out there. Arland is doing some good things, and we'll keep moving him along, and hopefully Brody is benefitting from every rep he gets, so I am -- and then the other component, I thought up until that I guess it was last possession, next-to-last possession, we pass blocked better today, against a group that's pretty good. They have some guys.
To me that's encouraging. We had a meltdown on that last series -- I think we were two scores down, and I've been there before as a line coach. It's not that much fun. So it's not like that's the first time I've seen that. We'll grow through that and work through that.
I saw a lot of things I thought that were better, but that's not going to get it done for us unless we really keep pushing this thing forward and squeezing some things down.
Q. The guys have talked about they see the improvement, it's just not quickly enough. Would you agree with that, and how do you speed that up?
KIRK FERENTZ: Yeah, when you come up short -- but again, we knew what we were up against today, what we had to do. Really we couldn't force -- only one bad play I think on their part, the quarterback's part. He had that one down to the right of our bench, which we were hoping maybe we could get a little bit more going there. But to his credit, he played a really good game.
Yeah, I think we're growing. I do think that. Campbell has been playing at a pretty good level. He, by the way, got tackled it looked like to me. You guys probably saw that one, right? Looked like he was in a hole and some outside hands snatched him down. But he played through that.
I think we're not -- I'm not discouraged, but I am disappointed.
Q. That Campbell play, why do you think that wasn't a flag?
KIRK FERENTZ: Why wasn't it? They didn't call it. It's real easy.
It was only at the point of attack, but other than that -- and pretty obvious. It looked pretty flagrant.
They obviously didn't see it. I'm not questioning anybody's integrity. I'm not going down that road. The guys are working hard -- it's hard; they've got a really hard job, really hard job.
Q. Did it feel like you guys defensively couldn't get any traction early in the game? They went I think 11 plays, 13 plays, 13 plays. You guys couldn't get off the field.
KIRK FERENTZ: We couldn't get off the field, and if you can't stop the run, it's tough. It's easy to call plays when you can run the ball, and not minimizing what they were doing, but again, the pressure they put on you from my vantage point, you see both those receivers last week running by DBs, so if you match up on them one-on-one, you're living dangerously there with a guy who can throw it.
It's a lot of cat-and-mouse, and it's tough, but they did a really good job, and it looked like they were executing very well, too.
