Everything Michigan HC Sherrone Moore said during his pre-Washington press conference

On Justice Haynes and his status for this weekend

Good, he was better yesterday, so we’ll see as the week goes. But feel good about it.

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On Mikey Keene’s status and whether he will push for QB2 reps

Yeah, he’s healthy, he feels really good, so we’ll see how that goes throughout the year and what we want to do in that situation.

On the tackling issues and how they will be addressed

You go back to last week, thought tackling was outstanding, and one of the things we really hit on at the beginning of the week was speed and space, and tackling their speed and space. We didn’t do a good job of that, and that really comes down to angles, the angles that we take, the pursuit angles that we take, and trusting those angles. There’s so many examples as we go through it, and as we’ve gone through the tape, been through it many times, of how we got to fix it, and players have been in numerous times already to look at it and fix it. Those are the big things we’ll continue to attack as we go through the week.

On whether there’s a bigger message to the team after the USC loss

I mean, I think the message is pretty simple. The guys understand what happened. They understand it’s a loss, and nobody’s hurt more for a loss than the players and us as coaches. So those guys are, they’ve been in here, they’ve been grinding, trying to get better. They’re trying to fix all the problems and make sure it doesn’t happen again. So the message really is simple.

We got to go back to work. That’s the reason I got the blue-collar jacket on today. It’s we got to go back to work right now. There’s no pouting. There’s no worry about it. There’s no making excuses for it. That’s all we got to do. And that’s all I know. And that’s what we’re going to do right now.

On what he’s thinking about the most about the team after the loss

Yeah, I think defensively, exactly what I said, tackling. It was just, you know, we’re much better than we played. We’re much better than we are. But credit to them, like I said, no excuses. They played good. They executed.

Then offensively, finishing drives, you have the first drive was three and out. And then the second drive, you go 12 plays and you don’t score. Against a team like that, you got to go score. You can’t get in third and four and then get a penalty and push it back in third and long and have a sack. So it’s just the big moments. You got to execute the little details. And that’s that’s what that’s what those big games come down to.

On the defense struggling on opening drives

Yeah, just got to continue to execute those little things in those moments.

On the biggest changes on the offensive line coming out of the USC loss

I think the biggest thing is continue to look at what you’re doing, how you’re doing. I thought we did a good job of putting people in position, moving guys around. But we got to continue to do that, continue to challenge the O-line, continue to challenge everybody in the rooms.

It’s not just one position, right? It’s everybody. So we’ll all do it together and fix it.

On not having the tight end position be as involved in the offense this year

I think that was kind of how the game went. Wasn’t really on purpose. Obviously, Andrew Marsh played a big role, and McCulley had a big touchdown.

So those things happened, and obviously with the running back. So we’ll continue to get those guys involved as we go through the season.

On areas he’s liked the most from Bryce Underwood and areas of improvement

Yeah, poise, his playmaking ability. You see that flash. You continue to see him get better and better. Put a little bit more on him this week in terms of RPOs and things that he was doing. And he did a good job making those decisions, and he’ll continue to do that. Just those little decisions, like even on that third down and nine, don’t take the sack.

It keeps you in field goal range, and the interception is just an ill-advised throw he doesn’t need to make. So those things will come. And again, there’s a sixth game, but we’ll continue to help him and push him. And he’ll continue to push himself to make it better.

On how Mikey Keene has handled the season

He’s been great. I mean, he’s like a coach around here. So he’s been outstanding. Love having Mikey around, love his attitude, love the way he works. I mean, he goes on scout team, and he just does his part. He controls the offense. He does everything he can to help the team. So he’s been outstanding.

On the concern level with Demond Williams and Washington’s offense

When you’re facing a team like that, you just got to be ready. He’s dangerous. He’s dangerous running the ball. He’s dangerous throwing the ball. He’s dangerous when it’s a scrambled play. So we got to do a great job containing him and making him uncomfortable in whatever facet we decide to do that in.

That’s going to be the key to stopping — winning the game, and then obviously stopping the run with the running back because he’s dangerous and he can make you miss. He can run you over. So it’s going to be a concerted effort to hone those two in to win the game.

On whether the team hears about its goals still being in front of them

Yeah, they have. I mean, right after the game, the biggest thing is, you look at everybody in their eyes and they’re looking right at you. They’re focused. Everybody’s disappointed in a loss. That’s what happens. You’re disappointed about what happened.

So our job now is to not worry about every other thing in front of us. It’s really just to worry about today and then tomorrow, because you look at college football, you never know what’s going to happen. There’s wins, there’s losses. You don’t know. So you can’t predict it. So all we got to do is just get better today and then figure out how to win this game and then move on from there.

On whether they’ve found their best 11 on defense and balancing rotation vs. best 11

Yeah, I think we have. I think there’s a good depth when the 11th becomes 12 and 13. You get guys like Rod Moore back, and you’re moving Jaishawn around, and you’re putting Jimmy Rolder because Cole Sullivan’s one of those with Ernie.

So there’s a good balance to moving everybody around and putting them in. But I think we’ve got a good plan hfor ow to handle that going forward.

On fixing the punting game

It’s just been a little inconsistent. And we’ve got to continue to challenge Hudson because in practice, it’s 50-yarders, four or five hangs, four or nine hangs. And then the games has just been inconsistent. So continue to challenge him just like we do any other position.

On whether the coaches self-scout to find things to fix about themselves

Oh, yeah, we self-scout every week. So whether it’s alignments, pressures, whatever it is, everything self self-scouted every week. So we make sure that whether you have a tendency, whether you want to keep creating it, or you play into that tendency, there’s something that we do every week to make sure we self-scout that. So we’ll continue to do that as we go through the season.

On whether he feels like the team is too aggressive defensively

I mean, you could say that, but then you look at the week before, we’re pretty stout. And I think there’s not, I mean, you could say that, but then you go back to games like Alabama, I think it was the same pressure percentage that we had against them against the quarterback. That’s pretty dangerous.

So it’s really all about doing your job, right angles, and then the good mesh of both. So I don’t think that was really the case. I think we just got to execute.

On where he’s seen the offense grow and where he thinks it can go from here

I think, obviously, you’ve seen some playmakers evolve. I think you’ve seen some guys really step up that you hadn’t seen at the beginning of the year. Donaven McCulley’s really stepped up.

Andrew Marsh obviously is a true freshman, making plays, and we’ve seen what Justice Haynes can do. So I think just continue to put guys in position to make plays and then involving the tight ends like we’re going to, to keep everybody off balance and continue to make the offense better.

On Jordan Marshall’s performance on Saturday

Yeah, he did good. I thought he ran hard, ran physical, made plays when they were needed, did a great job in pass protection. So continue to just take the next load and be the next guy up.

On in-game adjustments and whether you can do it in real-time

Yeah, you can. I think the ability to use the iPads now is something that you have that we didn’t have before that you can use. So I think, yeah, you can adjust in real time, but you got to adjust, and then they adjust, and you adjust and they adjust.

So it’s a constant chess match of adjusting throughout the game. So we’ve got to continue to do that and do that within the game and do that before the game.

On his thoughts on how Underwood handles a pocket that’s not clean

I think overall pretty well. You know, even though he took the sack, the sacks are always better than throwing a turnover. So I think there’s times where you want him to step up with the pocket, make those plays.

But he’s also made some really, really good plays in the pocket and moved around and made some plays down the field that you didn’t think he would make. So I thought he’s done a good job with that, and we’ll just keep progressing with it.

On diagnosing Underwood’s inaccurate passes

Yeah, usually accuracy starts from the ground up, starts with your footwork. So, I mean, really, in football in general, it all starts with your feet, and no difference with the quarterback. So it’s all about his footwork.

On whether USC’s first touchdown was an OPI and whether there was a DPI on Underwood’s interception

I’m not going to sit here and make excuses for stuff that wasn’t called or should be called. Those decisions, I have my words on the field with the referees you probably saw. But the calls were made or they weren’t made, and that’s the game of football.

It’s happened where we probably get a call, but things like that happen, and we got to do a good job of going to execute the plays when they’re there, and I’m not going to sit here and make excuses and do anything of that nature. So we just got to go make the plays.

On what Andrew Marsh has shown during the bye week onward to earn more snaps

Yeah, just consistency. It started in the bye week. He just continued to make plays, kind of like he was doing in fall camp, but did it more consistent, aligned exactly in the right place, knew where to go, was able to make those competitive plays through the bye week, and has obviously done that as we’ve gone through these past couple games.

So he’ll continue to get the chance to do that.

On whether there are times moving forward where they would want the ball first if they win the coin toss

Yeah, possibly, but most times we defer.

On whether he believes Jaishawn Barham has picked up the edge role well and whether there’s any thought of moving him back to linebacker

Yeah, I think he has. Just got to continue like everybody else to continue to do your part and I think the whole defense, continually to make sure we’re doing our job in every situation, that will help us tremendously. But, yeah, absolutely.

I think he’s been a game wrecker and a game changer in that position. We’ve got to continue to evolve him just like any other position.

On the vibes in the building right now and avoiding a collapse like last year

Yeah, I mean, the vibes today, the guys are disappointed. But 24 hours from the game, we’ll attack the problems, not the people. We’ll fix it, and we’ll move on because we can’t let this game beat us twice.

We’ve got to go play a really good football team. So we’ve got to fix those problems and move on ASAP to go win this game on Saturday.