Postgame Quotes: #23 Michigan 36, Indiana 33
9/26/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Michigan Head Coach Rich Rodriguez
On the game ... "What are the guys doing to us? It was a tough battle, and we did not play well at times. They had something to do with that. They have a good team, and they played pretty well. We had a lot of unforced errors too, but we got the win. I'm proud of the guys. We've talked all year that we're going to have to play every game for 60 minutes. We have to get out and battle, and we did that. We got a nice win, and we got a lot of things to work on."
On Indiana ... "They had a nice plan, and they did a good job executing. It was concerning for us that they would come downhill. We might have been misaligned at some times and maybe gave up a few things alignment-wise defensively that we'll have to fix. They went a little up-tempo that we have not seen them do, but we should be ready for it because we see it every day in practice."
On the see-saw fashion of the game ... "We don't have a big senior class, but I think we got great leadership there on offense and defense. There's no panic. I think a lot of times with young guys they don't panic as much. Sometimes an upperclassman will think, 'Uh oh, what's going on?' But the young guys go out and play a little bit. Tate [Forcier] wasn't sharp all the time, but he made some plays at the end. We know we can play a lot better, and we have to next week."
On the defense's play... "We had to force some field goals. It was disappointing that they got a couple big plays especially that one at the end. They kept fighting. We forced some field goals when our offense was struggling to keep us in the game. It was like the Wisconsin game last year. If those had been touchdowns, it would have been tough. But they kept it close, and we pulled it out at the end."
Indiana Head Coach Bill Lynch
On the game ... "It was a great football game. I feel bad for our guys in the locker room because they played their hearts out, and we came up a play short somehow. There were so many plays in the game that it's hard to put your finger on it and say THAT was the key play. They came here to win a football game and they competed that way the entire game and I'm very proud of them."
On the Donovan Warren interception ... "I couldn't see. Obviously, where I'm standing on the sidelines it looked like they both had it. That's as far as I could go."
On rallying from a 14-7 deficit ... "It is indicative of this football team. It's a resilient group that believes in one another. A football game is a long game and they just have to keep playing the next [play]. I thought on both sides of the ball we did that throughout the afternoon. Then when we fell behind again late we came right back and scored again, too. I think that is what this football team is about."
On running back Darius Willis ... "Well, I think it shows what kind of football player he is. We've been saying all along that he's a guy that we feel like is going to have a break out game. He's a very good player and he's finally healthy. He's been healthy for a couple weeks. He made some nice runs but the long one certainly showed his ability to break the big one, too."
