Player Comments from
Weekly U-M Football Media Luncheon
11/6/2000 12:00:00 AM | Football
Junior Quarterback Drew Henson
On what he and the team are playing for at this point of the season ... "I personally play because I love to. Going out each Saturday competing in a stadium like this against the competition, it's an experience within itself and for that reason if you can't get up to play hard and prepare for it then you're at the wrong place. So each guy plays for his own thing and we still want to win each game that we begin. I'd expect nothing less from our team to come out hard and practice this week and come in Saturday with the same intensity that we've had. We have two regular-season games left. Pretty much everything is out of our control. We have to go out and try to win Saturday and we need to get a win and go from there. We can't worry about what other teams are doing. We just have to take care of what we have control over. Crazier things have happened. At this point we're not looking for this to happen. We just want to go win on Saturday."
On his thoughts on Northwestern's offensive transformation the past two years ... "I guess going from a totally different offense last year and putting in all this new stuff and being able to run it effectively basically from the beginning of the season. We caught them towards the end where they've been running it for eight games already and they're very good at what they do."
On whether Big Ten defenses will be able to adjust to the spread offense ... "I don't know. Ask me that in two years. The thing that they do best is that they execute and they have quarterbacks, both teams (Purdue and Northwestern), that give them good positions and give them a chance to win. Probably over time, just like anything in football, people make adjustments and then you have to counter-adjust off that, but they're doing a good job with it, especially this week."
On whether he said anything to Anthony Thomas ... "No, Anthony's been around the block. He was here in '97 as were some of the other offensive guys. He's been through it all. I didn't feel I needed to tell him anything. He's a great back, he's going to go down as one of the best backs we've ever had here. He had a heck of a game on Saturday and those things happen. The coaches joked he must have done something bad as a little kid for that to happen right there. He's been the workhorse back there for the past two years and I wouldn't trade him for anything. "
On Penn State's pass defense ... "They're physical and aggressive. They'll challenge our receivers, play a lot of man coverage, bump and run. It's more difficult to throw against that because there's less room for error but I think our offense is feeling pretty good from an execution standpoint. We know we're going to have a good game plan. I believe it's going to be a totally different game than what it was Saturday. I think it will me more like Michigan State or Ohio State where it goes into the fourth quarter, it's physical and the score might not be so high, but they definitely present a good challenge for us."
On why Michigan's offense was so successful at Northwestern ... "We had a lot of possessions. I'm not sure how many we had. But you have to have a lot of possessions if you're going to score that many points. We were able to execute on third down. That's a key statistic that we look at that I think we're above 50 percent for the season and that's very good. On Saturday we were a little higher to be able to keep a drive going when you get inside the 30 and the 20 to be able to score a touchdown as opposed to a field goal."
Senior Left Tackle Jeff Backus
On how it seems Michigan is now trying to salvage the season ... "The standards here are high. The last three years we haven't lost more than three games and I don't want to be the team the does. I want to go out as a senior on one of the better Michigan football teams, and the way to do that is to win these next two games and then a bowl game."
On his last game at Michigan Stadium ... "I really had not thought about it until yesterday. Coach (Lloyd) Carr had mentioned it and said we had a chance to go undefeated in our stadium this year and send the seniors out on the right note with a "W". I'm going to go in there -- it's just going to be another game -- and I'm going to play hard and there might be a little extra there but you can't get too overly emotional about the whole thing."
On what the strength of the offense is ... "Not being biased, but I think the offensive line. Any offense is going to be successful based on the offensive line. I don't think you can have a good offense without a good offensive line."
On Michigan's consistent success over the years as opposed to the recent lulls at Ohio State and Notre Dame ... "I just think we have great tradition. When Michigan teams start to slip up our coaches have been able to motivate the players and get them in the mindset that we're not going to lose any more games."
Senior Left Guard Steve Hutchinson
On there being a sense of disappointment with the three losses ... "We lost three games by a total of seven points and there's nothing we can do about that. They're over with, and the good thing is we have another couple weeks to play. We're just going to go out there and have fun, work hard and try to get better."
On his last game at Michigan Stadium this Saturday ... "I've thought about it from time to time throughout the year. I guess yesterday the coaches mentioned it a couple times and it's starting to set I guess a little bit more. I think it'd make it special if we won. If we came out with a win against a great Penn State team, that would be the most memorable it could be."
On if he said anything to Anthony Thomas and what he'll remember about the Northwestern game ... "What I'm going to remember is the 200 yards he had rushing, the tackles he was breaking, the things he was doing fighting in pass protecting. It's probably the best pass protecting performance I've seen in a while from a running back. That's what I'm going to remember. I can't speak for everyone else."
On quarterback Drew Henson ... "He's really gained experience and confidence back there. He's taking charge. He's developed into a damn good quarterback. He's going to play some more football here the next year or so. He's going to be a good quarterback for Michigan. From the beginning of this year to now he's really improved a lot. He's one of the big reasons our offense is doing well."
Senior Strong Safety DeWayne Patmon
On the Northwestern game ... "It's a bad defeat because there were times in the game where we could have won, times in the game where we could have put them away. A play here, a play there, but it didn't happen. It's a terrible loss. Any loss is a bad loss, especially this one. We really needed this win to establish ourselves in the conference. We're going to come in this week -- we've forgotten about the Northwestern game -- come in and try to beat a very talented and very good Penn State game."
On whether he was surprised with the success of Northwestern's offense ... "We weren't surprised. I don't think it's what they did. I mean, they're a very good offense but there are plays in there that we saw on film where we should have stopped them. But instead of stopping them, they went on to run for 50 or 40 more yards. I can guarantee that at least 35 percent of those runs were after someone should have been there or could have been there to maybe break up a pass or stop a run. It's not really what they did -- they're a very good offense, I'm giving them credit -- but it's more of what we did as a defense."
On what the defense needs to do to get better ... "We just need to do our assignments, do what we were taught to do, believe in ourselves, be self-motivated whether we're playing Northwestern or Penn State or Ohio State or Rice. We have to go out there and play every team like it's a championship game or like it's the most important game of the season. It's something that we have to do as far as move players around. We just have to do our job on defense. We had two shutouts and maybe that boosted our confidence a little too much, but we have to realize that each game they're coming out and trying to beat Michigan, trying to put a lot of points on the board and really test the defense, so we just have to play like we're capable of playing."
On his last game at Michigan Stadium ... "There are about 15 guys who are playing their last game in this stadium. We're going to play hard because no other time in our lives are we going to be able to run out and touch the banner or run out with the group of guys that we run out with. It's going to be an emotional game for a lot of us and I think the underclassmen are going to play for us and we're going to play for them. I think we'll come out with a great victory."
Contact: David Ablauf, Jim Schneider (734) 763-4423
