Everything Michigan OC Chip Lindsey said during his pre-Central Michigan press conference

On what he’s made of Bryce Underwood’s start to the year

Yeah, I think he’s off to a good start overall. The first game, we got him into a good rhythm, and I think that’s what didn’t happen the other night when you talk about offense and rhythm and all those things. And I think there’s a lot of ways that affect rhythm, sometimes it’s penalties, sometimes it’s either way, it’s negative plays. We didn’t have a ton of penalties the other night, but we did have some missed opportunities because we just didn’t get some things communicated. And that happens sometimes against a good opponent on the road. But I like where Bryce is. One of the things we talked about was taking care of the football. He’s done that. He’s been very, very good with his hands, keeping two hands on it in the pocket, not throwing it into a lot of traffic. So that’s good. But lots to build off of out of that game and hopefully a lot to learn from.

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On why he thinks the offense wasn’t able to find a rhythm against Oklahoma

Yeah, I think it’s, first of all, you got to give some credibility to Oklahoma. They had good defense. They do a good job. They’ve improved their defense, and they were really good last year. So I think that starts with that. But I also think going into that game, we were like, hey, we need to win the time possession. We need to not turn the ball over. And to win the time possession, you have to be good on third downs, and we weren’t. And I think that’s the story of the game. When you’re not – our goal is to be 50 percent on third downs. We weren’t that. And therefore, we didn’t get to stay on the field. Therefore, their offense plays more plays. I mean, everything kind of ties together. So for us, we didn’t play to our standard, that’s for sure. The standard I expect us to play here at Michigan, and the standard that I have set for our offense. So I think you got to look, first of all, internally and go back and say, okay, you know, we had a good week of practice. We thought we had a great plan. And then looking back, we just didn’t get it done. And I think any time you do that, you self-reflect. And our guys have really responded this week and worked real hard at improving in that area, for sure.

On whether he felt the gameplan on Saturday was conservative

Yeah, I mean, I think there was definitely a philosophy of, hey, to win this game as a team. I think everything starts with how do we win the game. That’s what we’re about here. And really, I think to do that, again, it goes back to possessing the ball. And really, if we execute on third downs a little better and stay on the field, I think things play out a little different for us. And we didn’t get that done. But there was definitely a concerted effort to make sure that we tried to possess the ball and do a good job at it. And obviously, we didn’t do it good enough.

On his thoughts on the run game

Yeah, I think first game, what, we had four explosive runs? And last week we had one. And some of us, the opponent, they’re better. I get that, too. But we need more explosive runs. We need to create more opportunities for that. Hopefully we’ll continue to do that. I was really pleased with the first game. We didn’t have two- and three-yard runs. We had six- to eight-yard runs and then a couple of explosives or a few. So, definitely an area we’ve got to improve on for sure.

On his philosophy on running the quarterback

I think quarterback runs are in our game plan every week. In fact, last week, I think three that I know of, we had to give the ball just based on what the defense was doing. Another was a designed keep run that we didn’t block correctly. So, we’ll continue to have that opportunity. It’s definitely something we want to showcase when possible and when it makes sense. And Bryce is very capable of doing a great job with that.

On what simplifying an offense looks like to him

I think simplifying means doing what we’ve proven in practice, probably that we’re good at. Each year is different. So, I think really focusing on getting back to the fundamentals and basics of what we’re able to execute. Because a lot of plays are good. They look good on paper, right? And then you get out there and you’re trying to — you don’t want to ask your guys to do things maybe we’re not real good at. And I think in some ways you don’t know that until you’ve played a game or two and played some games. In practice, we go against our defense every day, and then you get a feel of what they do and how they get a feel of what we do and vice versa. But I think for us it’s getting back to the basics and fundamentals. I think that’s what you do any time you don’t play well. You go back to the basics and you say, hey, we’re going to be good at these things. We know we can execute these things at a high level, no matter what the defense does. And I think that’s kind of been our focus.

On how much Bryce Underwood film he watched when constructing the offense

Yeah, I mean, definitely did. You know, a little bit of a different style of offense they had there, but you could see things that highlight his ability. I think any time you’re recruiting a guy, which I wasn’t here during that process, you’re saying, okay, he’s really good at these things. He can scramble and make plays. I think, too, when you watch football like the Sunday night game, right, those guys, I mean, those two quarterbacks are obviously probably the best in the world right now, Buffalo and the Ravens. And what you see is they make a lot of plays off-schedule. Bryce is very capable of doing that. It’s something that I think he did the other night a couple times. You saw that, I think the one throw to McCulley and then one of the balls to the back. So I think definitely – but I think we probably lean more on what we’ve seen him do here than there, but it’s definitely a starting point for us for sure.

On the play on the offensive line and the impact of potentially losing Gio El-Hadi

Yeah, well, Gio’s a really good player. I want to say that first. He’s a veteran that’s played a lot, very steady guy. I think our guys that stepped in did a solid job filling in for him. That was encouraging seeing that happen. But we did have a couple things in there that need to clean up that you feel like Gio maybe gets right. But at the end of the day, it’s next man up. We didn’t have Marlin the other night either. It’s the next man up mentality. That’s kind of the way our program is wired. And those guys will get back as soon as they can.

On balancing keeping a mobile QB healthy vs. using his strengths

I think the hardest thing coming from high school is learning that. The guys are bigger, they’re faster. You’ve got to learn to take care of yourself, understand when the play’s over, go down or go out of bounds. Bryce is making a lot of strides in that area. You saw him scramble the other night and get down on the ground, which was really good. You saw him scramble the other night and make a good throw to Donaven. But I think it’s just a matter of playing, getting him some reps and like I said, again, getting in the rhythm of a game. Everything was moving a little faster the other night. I go back to watching, I think we had J.J.’s game on. You saw him early on, just the rhythm of their offense. It was struggling there at the beginning. Chicago was playing really good on defense. And then, boom, you saw in the fourth quarter they got hot. I think that’s kind of what we’re hoping that we do as well. The more he plays, the more he sees it, the more comfortable he gets. And then the guys around him as well. I think that’s what the key is to playing good offense, making plays off-schedule.

On more missed assignments than usual against Oklahoma

Yeah, definitely more than we want, for sure. We don’t want any. But I think a couple things, you know, it was a loud environment, which I thought we prepped really good for that. I think Sherrone does a great job of, as the head coach, your job is to create the best atmosphere to prepare your team for what you’re going to see. He did that. We did that. But at the end of the day, I think it’s a combination of maybe that as well as just being young in some areas that we need to make sure we tie up. It was a great test for us to go on the road in that atmosphere. We play a little better. We have a chance to win the game. We were right there driving in a one-score game and didn’t execute on a ball that we thought we had a great shot to throw down the sideline. But at the end of the day, a good learning experience for us. We’ll take what we can from it and move on. And what I like is they’ve responded this week. It’s been a great week so far, and we need to finish. Today’s a big day for us as well. But I love the attitude of this team. These guys are warriors. They’re competitors, and they like to practice, and I know they’re motivated this week.

On how much of OL play was missed assignments vs. getting beat

I think more sometimes just getting beat. I don’t think there were a ton of missed assignments. But in every run scheme, there’s a way to block it. And then, okay, they’re giving this look, here’s our adjustment. Everybody’s got to be on the same page with that. So it might have been a couple of those. And losing a guy like Gio, I think, a veteran guy who can help with some of that. Crip does a great job. But some of that’s growing pains you go through, I think, when you’ve got some young guys in young spots. But no excuse. We’ve got to get it done. We’ve got to make sure as coaches we get it done with them and put them in the best position possible.

On the gameplan of throwing short of the sticks on third down

Yeah, no, I think you’re right. I think you’ve got to be better in first and second downs so you’ll be better – so you’ll have shorter third downs. I think that’s a great point, which means, like, just speaking to our runs, we did have the explosive run, but some of our runs were one- and two-yard runs or a TFL. So we’ve got to get in better manageable third downs. I do think there’s some times when you’re facing man coverage teams, there’s some run-and-catch first-down opportunities that we were hunting there. And then I think a couple times we got fooled on the coverage. I think each week you’re trying to build the best plan you can that catches everything, everything you might see. You know, looking back, probably need to do a better – I need to do a better job of giving them better opportunities for that.

On the miscommunication in the passing game due to environment or Underwood being young

Yeah, I think combination of being – maybe being a young player, but really just I think the combination of, hey, is this an RPO, is this not an RPO? You know, we’ve got to make sure we all get the call on that. Sometimes that didn’t happen. And it’s part of the learning process. Not a lot of fun. I think – and then as a coach you’ve got to decide, okay, is it worth having those opportunities or not? And something we’re taking a look at for sure this week.

On whether he feels handcuffed not having insurance at QB

No, not really. I think you can’t coach hoping that doesn’t happen, you know. I think you’ve got to coach the game and play. There are opportunities for him to run that haven’t come up because I think teams expect him to run some. So, if you’re reading the defensive end and he stays in his spot, you’re not going to pull it and take the risk, you’re going to hand the ball off. That’s happened several times. But I’m very confident in the guys we have. I think Jadyn Davis has made a lot of progress. I think Jake Garcia and Mikey are all capable. Mikey’s still working through his trying to get healthy. But, no, I don’t think that’s a factor at all.

On not scoring quickly to limit time of possession

No, we’ll score as quickly as we can, as much as we can. No, I think we have to just get ourselves playing in rhythm and really give ourselves more opportunities. I think probably that’s what I took out of the game was we’ve got to get ourselves more opportunity. You know, in the first game, we weren’t clean sometimes, but we were pretty much in rhythm a lot. The ball was coming out fast. We had a lot of different things going. So, I think for us, just get back to playing good sound football, do what we do best, focus on that, and let the guys really play free and confident. I think that’s the key, and that’s something that I’m working real hard on this week.

On whether he knew Biff Poggi before coming to Michigan

I didn’t know him well, but I knew him. We played those guys when I was at Carolina. We played Biff and met him then, but didn’t really know him personally, and it’s been a joy to get to know him. The guy has a unique personality, and he loves this place. I know that. He loves Sherrone. So, when I got here and then he came soon after, it was good to connect with him and become very close. I think he’ll do a great job for us. I think also the thing that’s important is he’s got a big-picture mentality. He’s been a head coach. He can see that. He’s got a great vibe with the players. I think that’s important, and he’s got experience. So, I think we’re in good hands for the next couple weeks.

On how much authority Underwood has to change the play at the line of scrimmage

Yeah, no, he’s got authority. I mean, we’ve got some kill plays where they kill to certain things, and then we have some just how you get out of the play versus certain looks, and that is a little bit of a learning process for him from the standpoint of what do we want to get versus certain looks. That’s something any young quarterback would learn, but he’s got a lot of authority at the line of scrimmage, a lot of options. He did a great job. Changed the protection, I think, twice the other night. Got us in the right protection, which was awesome. First week he did it three times, I think. So, he’s doing a nice job with that stuff. We’ve got to keep growing in that area. That’s something I think we’ve got to improve on. We can talk to him now, which is good, right, in the headset, but at 15 seconds it cuts off. So, if you’re in the huddle and you come out, then you’re under the gun. He can’t hear you anymore. So, I think he’s really done a nice job of that stuff so far. It’s that fine line, too, about asking him to do too much or not enough, and I think we’re still in that process of figuring out, okay, what’s smart? If it’s not worth it, let’s don’t even do the play, right? Let’s run something that we know is a catch-all. But I really like the progress he’s making in that area.

On how much different the preparation and emotion will be on the sidelines without Sherrone Moore present

You know, I don’t know. I think we’ll approach it. I think our players are really motivated to really focus on what we’re trying to do. Obviously, they love Sherrone, and I don’t know if that’s going to be a factor in our preparation. But I know those guys, yesterday’s an indicator. I like the direction we’re headed. Those guys were excited to be out there in practice, and you probably have to ask them what their motivation is. But definitely the focus and the attitude, the energy, and the bi-language was there for sure.