It's been a tough year for Brady Hoke and Michigan. (Matthew O'Haren-USA TODAY Sports)
It has been an awfully tough regrouping session for the Wolverines, who find themselves three games behind Big Ten Legends Division leader Michigan State in the standings, and miles behind the rival Spartans in terms of accomplishments on the season.
Michigan is 6-3 overall and 2-3 in the Big Ten, leaving the Wolverines in fifth place in their division with three games to play. Talk of a Big Ten championship has been shelved following the recent loss to Nebraska, so now the Wolverines are playing for a second-tier bowl game and style points.
“Obviously we’re very disappointed, we all are, in the outcome of Saturday’s game,” Michigan coach Brady Hoke said about the 17-14 loss at home to the Cornhuskers. “We all really feel that we need to make sure that we’re finishing and doing all the things we need to do. As a coaching staff, that’s always where you start and when you say that, it starts with me.”
Hoke did not want to single out any player or position group for blame concerning the recent swoon, which has seen Michigan drop three of its last four Big Ten games. He sounded like a coach determined to return to the basics as Michigan prepares to meet a struggling Northwestern team that is winless in Big Ten games.
“We’ve got to do a great job of making sure we’re repping the things that we’re going to see — which we have been — we do a good job of the details and the fine things, you make sure you go over them,” Hoke said.
“And as a team, make sure we understand each and every plan. We started this thing in January with this football team. In June, we inherited the freshmen. Their work ethic has been exceptional. We need to translate some things that we do well in practice on to the field, and we will do that.”
After blowing up the scoreboard with 63 points against Indiana, the Wolverines have scored just one touchdown in their past two Big Ten games, and only 19 total points in those losses to Nebraska and Michigan State. Hoke said there is a solution to the offensive woes, but the problems are not just based in one area.
“Everyone points to the offensive line, but it’s really all of us — it’s not just them,” Hoke said. “I don’t know if that’s fair. It’s never one guy or one thing in anything in life, unless you’re golfing. In a team sport, it’s not that way.”
Hoke said he expects his team to recover quickly from the sting of the Nebraska loss, and be ready to go on the road and face a Northwestern team that has underachieved since losing its Big Ten opener to Ohio State.
“There is no doubt that there is some adversity. We had some a week ago, and I like how our team responded,” Hoke said, alluding to the loss at Michigan State in which the Wolverines managed just two field goals.
“Again, that adversity has hit us, and we will grind, and we will work. There’s no solutions that don’t take hard work, and that’s where we’ve got to go. Part of that is every day, what we do in preparing.”
NOTES, QUOTES
PLAYERS TO WATCH:
–DB Blake Countess has started all nine games at cornerback this season and is the first Wolverine since Donovan Warren in 2009 to have at least four interceptions in a single season. Countess had two picks in the Notre Dame game.
–PK Brendan Gibbons has been perfect on extra points this season, and has a string of 137 straight in his career, a Michigan program record.
–QB Devin Gardner, despite two poor performances in a row, still leads the Big Ten in total offense, averaging 291.9 yards per game.
–WR Jeremy Gallon is second in the Big Ten in receiving yards, averaging 105.2 yards per game.
QUOTE TO NOTE: “We have gone through so much as a senior class, and we are going to try as much as we can to finish this season the right way. We are not going to let this team quit. There’s no way we are going to allow that to happen. We are going to push these guys and get them motivated.” — Michigan senior OT Michael Schofield on how the Wolverines will push to finish the 2013 season strong.
