00:00Hello, sports fans. Welcome to Coffee with the Coach with Wolverines head coach, Kyle Whittingham.
00:05Coach K, picking up Michigan's fifth victory of the season on Halloween.
00:11Ty, nice road trip. Way to go.
00:14Thank you. Appreciate that. And it was really good to see the offense play their best football of the season.
00:21You know, the most complete game. We could have run it a little bit better.
00:25But as far as the balance and the game that Tommy Carr put together and and, you know, no turnovers
00:32and great on third down.
00:33His completion percentage was over 80 percent. We threw the ball for 266, had 420 something total.
00:41I mean, there's a lot of good things going on in that game. And that was that was good to
00:44see that we needed that to happen.
00:46It's hard to pick just one. But what was your ESPN highlight of the game Saturday?
00:53Oh, man. So, Leslie Mola catch that he turned into a 40, 50 yard gain.
00:58I can't remember exactly how far it was. That was that was a nice job.
01:02The two runs that Tommy had a couple of real key runs for us scrambling from the pocket that really
01:07was as impactful in the game as any other plays were.
01:12Now, there were some stretches where the offense looked a lot better this week.
01:16Now, how much of that was adjustments that you made, a better execution or that you just capitalized on Rutgers
01:24team mistakes?
01:25I think all the above. I think we had a good plan going in.
01:29Tommy took a big step forward from from his first game, full game as a starter.
01:34Offensive line played better.
01:37Receivers only had one drop in the game.
01:39Otherwise, they cut every ball that was thrown to him, took care of the football, were outstanding on third down,
01:47what, 75 percent on third down conversions, which is, you know, it's off the charts.
01:52Good. And like I said, it was just a complete game and the best game from an offensive production wise
01:59of the season.
01:59We also probably should have had 34 points.
02:02You know, we missed a couple of field goals that would have boosted up the scoring a little bit more
02:06and would have made the game not quite as tight.
02:09But that's what we're known for this year.
02:11Every single game but one has been a one score game.
02:12So we're used to it.
02:14Now, is there any worries about our kicking game there?
02:18Absolutely concerns.
02:19Yep, absolutely.
02:20And we're going to have a kicking competition this week and open it back up and and may the best
02:25man win.
02:25And we've got to get that straightened out because I think we've missed four of our last five kicks, if
02:31my memory serves me correct.
02:32And that can't happen.
02:34You've got to be 80 percent or better in college football.
02:37And we're not there right now.
02:39And it's, you know, going to be something that we've got to get fixed.
02:45Now, who do you think has stepped up more, J.J. Buchanan, Andrew Marsh or Tommy Carr?
02:51Wow.
02:51I wouldn't have to say Tommy Carr.
02:53You know, J.J. and Andrew have been doing it all year long for us.
02:57But the progress that Tommy made between his first full start last week and this full start this week, full
03:04game, was really impressive.
03:07And, you know, he's now got two and a half games under his belt.
03:11And if you take his QBR, which is the quarterback rating that ESPN puts out, which, in my opinion, is
03:17the best barometer of how your quarterback's playing.
03:20And if he were to play every game of the season like he played last game, he'd be number one
03:23in the country right now with QBR.
03:25And so that's how that's how proficient he was and how efficient he was.
03:29And, you know, if we can continue to get that type of numbers out of Tommy, those type of numbers,
03:35then the rest of the season looks pretty good.
03:37Well, something we haven't mentioned in a while is I believe this is the first time the defense really had
03:43some struggles at some times after basically carrying the team all season.
03:48What do you attribute that to?
03:51Well, it's simple.
03:52I gave up big plays.
03:53We gave up three big plays, an 80-yard throw, a 50-something-yard run, and another 30-something-yard
03:58throw.
03:59If you take those out, they have less than 100 yards.
04:01Those three plays alone were over half their yardage.
04:05But you can't take them away.
04:06You've got to live with them.
04:07But that was the difference.
04:08You know, if you want to see what was the difference is we had not let those plays get out
04:11of the gate on us earlier in the season.
04:13And this game, for whatever reason, we were susceptible to the big play three times, and that was what really
04:19kept Rutgers in the game.
04:20Because if we can eliminate those, it's no contest.
04:23I mean, we wouldn't go in a way.
04:24But we didn't.
04:25And so we've got to, you know, continue to work and try to get better.
04:29Now there's one play that definitely just baffles the mind, and I'm pretty sure you agree.
04:36Michigan called for, quote-unquote, kicker-catch interference.
04:41Yeah.
04:42That was probably the worst call I've seen in college football this year.
04:46Well, we've petitioned the league, not petitioned, but need a clearer explanation because we did give him the one full
04:55yard when he kicked, when the ball touched him, and then it started bobbling.
04:58The explanation I got in-game from one of the officials was until the ball hits the ground, he has
05:05the complete right to not be interfered with, and you've got to stay away from him.
05:09And so, essentially, if he's bobbling it 10, 15 times, you can't touch him until he's either secured it or
05:16the ball has hit the ground.
05:17That doesn't seem fair at all.
05:19It doesn't because you could just bobble it all the way to the end zone.
05:22You start juggling it or whatever.
05:23But, anyway, that's the explanation we got.
05:26We're asking for a confirmation, I guess you can say, on that.
05:30We should have an answer in the next couple days.
05:32But that was interesting because we were clearly outside the halo when the ball first touched the receiving, the puck
05:39returner.
05:39So, we'll get a better idea of exactly how to interpret that in a couple days.
05:44Okay, moving on from a great win, Saturday 28-21.
05:49Now, it's the first of two very important rivalries.
05:54It's the week.
05:56Michigan, Michigan State.
05:57What's your thoughts on this upcoming rivalry game?
06:01Yeah, well, this seems to have a lot of nastiness to it.
06:03You know, when you go back through the history, and these teams definitely don't like each other.
06:07There's no doubt about that.
06:10We've got a task this week of educating some 55 new guys on the team that have never been in
06:16this game.
06:16You know, half the team knows what it's about.
06:18The other half has no clue.
06:19And so, we're going to bring in some former players to do some educating and talking about the history of
06:25the game
06:25and the intensity of the game and the impact of the game and all that type of stuff.
06:31And so, we're cramming as much as we can into the five days of preparation that we have.
06:35Now, we don't want to overdo it because you can, you know, get negative results if you get too hyped
06:40up
06:40and let yourself do things that are not smart during the course of a game.
06:46So, you've got to temper it a little bit.
06:48But we're doing our darndest to get everyone educated and up to speed on what it's all about.
06:52Now, home field advantage for Saturday's game, but it's a game under the lights, a late-night game, 7-30.
07:00What's the perception of playing at night comparing during the day, especially for this game?
07:06Yeah, well, throughout most of my career, we've had almost exclusively night games.
07:10And so, it's nothing new to me.
07:12I mean, that's what I'm being used to now.
07:13It's not the norm here in Michigan.
07:16And the vast majority of the games are much earlier in the day.
07:20But, you know, it'll be a great environment.
07:22I'm sure our fans are going to show up strong just like they have all season long.
07:26And, you know, support this team.
07:28And we've had one or two other night games this year.
07:32I know the first one was a night game.
07:34I can't remember if there was another late kick.
07:36But, anyway, you've got to adapt and play regardless of circumstances, and we'll be ready to go.
07:42Would you be practicing at night at all?
07:44No, I don't think that's something at this point.
07:47We did do that a little bit in fall camp.
07:49And like I said, we've already had a game, at least one game at night.
07:52And I can't remember, like I said, if there was a second one.
07:56But it's not something that we believe.
08:01The disruption in your schedule and your process is not worth, you know, practicing at night because we've already had
08:07that experience.
08:08Now, Michigan State's records, 2-6.
08:10I know you are not going to take this team lightly.
08:14Absolutely not.
08:14In a rivalry game like this, you can throw the records out the window.
08:18They don't even matter.
08:19You know, both teams will show up, and you're going to get both teams' best shot.
08:22There's no doubt about it.
08:24Now, how did you enjoy your Sunday afternoon after the Saturday victory?
08:30Loved it.
08:31You know, and as coaches, it's either it's one side of the spectrum or the other.
08:35There's no middle ground as a coach.
08:36You're either very excited and elated for seven days, or you're as miserable as you can possibly be for seven
08:43days until you get that next opportunity.
08:45And so this seven days is very, very positive.
08:50Well, I'm going to ask myself to be selfish once again.
08:53I hope you don't mind, but I'm asking another personal favor of you.
08:58Next week's interview, could you bring the Paul Bunyan trophy into the office?
09:03That would be ideal.
09:05I will try to have that in tow, Scotty.
09:07I'll try to make sure that happens.
09:09Well, have a great week, Coach.
09:10I'll let you get back to work, and good luck Saturday.
09:12Thanks always so much, and go blue.
09:15Okay, go blue.
