Offensive Coordinator Walt Bell
Opening Statement:
“Coming off of last week, we’re disappointed in the end result, but there were some positives. We had some long extended drives, we moved the ball relatively well, we ran the ball well, we were 10-of-19 on conversion downs, 7 –of-16 on third, 3-of-3 for fourth, but at the end of the day, our goal is to be the best team on the field on Saturday. If they score 44, we have to score 45. The shame of it is that there was a lot of offense left on the field. At the end of the day, especially at the quarterback position, you have two or three wide open guys on the defense. If we can just get one or two of those of the five that we missed, it’s a completely different game. We missed a couple big plays, but we can continue to get better each week and continue to progress. This week with Michigan, everyone statistically can see that they’re quite possibly the best pass defense statistically in the last 10 or 15 years on defense, so they’re pretty stout. For those guys, it really starts up front. Even when you get into third downs, and they’re leading the country in third-down defense, they’re not really doing anything exotic, which is a little atypical of Coach [Don] Brown. He’s known for the pressures and plus packages, especially in the mixed downs. They’re really not doing as much as you’d think. They’re so good up front right now that they’re creating a lot of issues just with four and five-man rushes. We’ve got a great challenge in front of us, but you can’t make any memories and can’t be great without great opportunities. We’re excited to go and have had a great week of practice so far, getting ready for Michigan.”
On Perry Hills missing a few deep balls at Indiana:
“That’s the performance aspect of people training their whole lives for 30, 60 or 90 seconds in the Olympics and people have bad days. They’ve hit that routine a million times, and we hit all of those throws in practice and it just so happened that we didn’t hit them on game day when it counted. Number one, that’s part of life. Hard work doesn’t guarantee anything. It just guarantees you a chance. For everyone involved on our offense, it’s a great learning opportunity: the ability to come back and still work hard and see the value in doing things the right way. In terms of Perry, that’s part of what makes Perry special. There’s nobody harder on himself, almost to a fault, with Perry. That was a great lesson for him and one that I wish we had a couple more years with him to learn together. When you miss the first one, it’s okay, go hit the next one. He’s a mentally tough kid. He’ll bounce back. He always does. He’ll be ready to go on Saturday.
On if the wind attributed to Perry Hills’ performance:
“In terms of all that, it’s hard to comment on because you spend your whole life reducing variables. We don’t care if it’s windy, we don’t care how the ball feels, if he snaps a watermelon we need to be able to find a way to get that completion. We don’t care about that stuff. I’ll attribute it to this: we missed. I can go back and show Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday plays and that throw being perfect, but it is what it is. We were going into the wind on the one that he overthrew so it happens. At the end of the day, the most important thing is that we need to rally back and start focusing on the next one.”
On the double-flicker play:
“That one goes back a way, just the whole reverse pass. We’ve scored on it in different formations, different setups, different ways. Nobody ever really calls back-to-back trick plays. They did a good job. They stayed home and played with good hand-eye discipline and covered it up. That’s part of the deception. You’re counting on those guys kind of taking the bait a little bit and they didn’t, so hats off to them, but we were able to finish the end of that drive in the end zone so it works.”
On challenges facing Michigan’s defense:
“Number one, it’s a huge challenge. That’s what makes it fun, to be the guy and the group to overcome it. You can’t do anything special without a special opportunity. More than anything else, I think it’s a compliment to Coach [Don] Brown, the coaching staff at Michigan, their kids and the high level at which they’re playing. They’re probably doing less on defense than Coach Brown is known for, but they’re doing it at a very high level, they’re technically sound, they tackle well and tackle well in space, so they’re playing really well. In the Colorado game, they scored some early points and Michigan got back playing better, made a couple of adjustments and played a little more man so that they didn’t give up access throws, and really tightened down on top of them. In the Central Florida game, they had some explosive runs and they’re a little like us in the run game, so you hope there’s some carry over there. To me, what makes their defense special is their d-line. They create consistent pass rush, and I think that part of the reason everyone thinks of pass defense is because of the small guys on the back end. Up front is where they’re creating incompletions and sacks and poor throws. Up front, not only do they have good players but they have good depth. The rotating players are young guys, older guys and a nice mix of talent. I think the big challenge will be not necessarily holding them out, but trying to create as much of an advantage as you can.”
On Perry Hill’s hurdle into the end zone against Indiana:
“When you get into those situations, you’re really worried about one thing: ball security. When he takes off, puts his foot in the ground and runs, we have to get in, especially in the place we were at in the game. We have to find a way into the end zone. Now, did I think that Perry [Hills] himself would jump over somebody and find a way to actually land on his feet and not embarrass himself in the end zone? Absolutely not. The biggest thing is when those guys launch in the air, is if the ball is taken care of because that’s what this game is about. If we turn it over, it’s a bad play. That’s your biggest fear when guys go over the top or dive for the pile on and extend the ball. He did a great job, took care of the ball and got into the end zone. It gave us a chance to extend the game.”
Opening Statement:
“Coming off of last week, we’re disappointed in the end result, but there were some positives. We had some long extended drives, we moved the ball relatively well, we ran the ball well, we were 10-of-19 on conversion downs, 7 –of-16 on third, 3-of-3 for fourth, but at the end of the day, our goal is to be the best team on the field on Saturday. If they score 44, we have to score 45. The shame of it is that there was a lot of offense left on the field. At the end of the day, especially at the quarterback position, you have two or three wide open guys on the defense. If we can just get one or two of those of the five that we missed, it’s a completely different game. We missed a couple big plays, but we can continue to get better each week and continue to progress. This week with Michigan, everyone statistically can see that they’re quite possibly the best pass defense statistically in the last 10 or 15 years on defense, so they’re pretty stout. For those guys, it really starts up front. Even when you get into third downs, and they’re leading the country in third-down defense, they’re not really doing anything exotic, which is a little atypical of Coach [Don] Brown. He’s known for the pressures and plus packages, especially in the mixed downs. They’re really not doing as much as you’d think. They’re so good up front right now that they’re creating a lot of issues just with four and five-man rushes. We’ve got a great challenge in front of us, but you can’t make any memories and can’t be great without great opportunities. We’re excited to go and have had a great week of practice so far, getting ready for Michigan.”
On Perry Hills missing a few deep balls at Indiana:
“That’s the performance aspect of people training their whole lives for 30, 60 or 90 seconds in the Olympics and people have bad days. They’ve hit that routine a million times, and we hit all of those throws in practice and it just so happened that we didn’t hit them on game day when it counted. Number one, that’s part of life. Hard work doesn’t guarantee anything. It just guarantees you a chance. For everyone involved on our offense, it’s a great learning opportunity: the ability to come back and still work hard and see the value in doing things the right way. In terms of Perry, that’s part of what makes Perry special. There’s nobody harder on himself, almost to a fault, with Perry. That was a great lesson for him and one that I wish we had a couple more years with him to learn together. When you miss the first one, it’s okay, go hit the next one. He’s a mentally tough kid. He’ll bounce back. He always does. He’ll be ready to go on Saturday.
On if the wind attributed to Perry Hills’ performance:
“In terms of all that, it’s hard to comment on because you spend your whole life reducing variables. We don’t care if it’s windy, we don’t care how the ball feels, if he snaps a watermelon we need to be able to find a way to get that completion. We don’t care about that stuff. I’ll attribute it to this: we missed. I can go back and show Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday plays and that throw being perfect, but it is what it is. We were going into the wind on the one that he overthrew so it happens. At the end of the day, the most important thing is that we need to rally back and start focusing on the next one.”
On the double-flicker play:
“That one goes back a way, just the whole reverse pass. We’ve scored on it in different formations, different setups, different ways. Nobody ever really calls back-to-back trick plays. They did a good job. They stayed home and played with good hand-eye discipline and covered it up. That’s part of the deception. You’re counting on those guys kind of taking the bait a little bit and they didn’t, so hats off to them, but we were able to finish the end of that drive in the end zone so it works.”
On challenges facing Michigan’s defense:
“Number one, it’s a huge challenge. That’s what makes it fun, to be the guy and the group to overcome it. You can’t do anything special without a special opportunity. More than anything else, I think it’s a compliment to Coach [Don] Brown, the coaching staff at Michigan, their kids and the high level at which they’re playing. They’re probably doing less on defense than Coach Brown is known for, but they’re doing it at a very high level, they’re technically sound, they tackle well and tackle well in space, so they’re playing really well. In the Colorado game, they scored some early points and Michigan got back playing better, made a couple of adjustments and played a little more man so that they didn’t give up access throws, and really tightened down on top of them. In the Central Florida game, they had some explosive runs and they’re a little like us in the run game, so you hope there’s some carry over there. To me, what makes their defense special is their d-line. They create consistent pass rush, and I think that part of the reason everyone thinks of pass defense is because of the small guys on the back end. Up front is where they’re creating incompletions and sacks and poor throws. Up front, not only do they have good players but they have good depth. The rotating players are young guys, older guys and a nice mix of talent. I think the big challenge will be not necessarily holding them out, but trying to create as much of an advantage as you can.”
On Perry Hill’s hurdle into the end zone against Indiana:
“When you get into those situations, you’re really worried about one thing: ball security. When he takes off, puts his foot in the ground and runs, we have to get in, especially in the place we were at in the game. We have to find a way into the end zone. Now, did I think that Perry [Hills] himself would jump over somebody and find a way to actually land on his feet and not embarrass himself in the end zone? Absolutely not. The biggest thing is when those guys launch in the air, is if the ball is taken care of because that’s what this game is about. If we turn it over, it’s a bad play. That’s your biggest fear when guys go over the top or dive for the pile on and extend the ball. He did a great job, took care of the ball and got into the end zone. It gave us a chance to extend the game.”
