00:00Hello, sports fans. I'm Screaming Scott. Welcome to another edition of Coffee with the Coach
00:04with Wolverines head coach, Kyle Whittingham. I'm starting to think I'm your good luck charm.
00:09You're 2-0 now. You could be. We'll find out as the year goes on.
00:13What an amazing, see what I'm using, amazing game. The big maze out at the big house,
00:20and now you're 2-0. Congratulations. Appreciate that. We needed that game,
00:25and the players, to their credit, they showed up with passion and energy and great effort,
00:33and that's how you need to play the game. I mean, that's how football is to be played,
00:36and if you show up flat on any given Saturday, you get a chance to get beat. I mean, look
00:41what
00:41happened to Oregon. I'm not saying they were flat, but anybody can beat anybody on any given Saturday
00:46if the conditions are right. Now, do you get a chance to relax at least a little bit on a
00:53Sunday?
00:54A touch, yeah, for a couple hours, and that's about it. Sunday morning is pretty stress-free,
01:00and then you get in the office and dive right back into the, you know, first of all,
01:05the game film from the previous game, and then your next opponent, and so there's not a lot of
01:09downtime, but there is a few moments here during the week where you can decompress a little bit.
01:13Now, you said the game wasn't perfect, but again, a win is a win, but I've got to say,
01:18hats off to the defense. What a display, and at times, you made John Matei, the QB for Oklahoma,
01:27look a little lost out there. Kudos to the defense.
01:30Defense has played exceptionally well in the first two ballgames, have only given up one touchdown in
01:35eight quarters, which is outstanding. Teams are yet to score a red zone touchdown on our guys. We're
01:41100% in the red zone as far as denying touchdowns. We got a couple takeaways on Saturday. In fact,
01:48the play of the game was Suge Hill's interception to set the offense up on the six-yard line. That
01:53was something that was missing in game one, is we never gave the offense a short field and didn't
01:58turn the ball over, but got a couple in game two, and hopefully we'll continue to do that.
02:03And it's good to see Bryce Underwood stepped up his game, especially with another week with another
02:0938-yard TD return. That was awesome. Yeah, yeah, and Bryce's, you know, the rushing yards and the
02:16production he gave us in the run game was probably the most, the biggest factor in our offensive
02:22production was his ability to run the football like he did. Now, just in my observation, he looked
02:28a little more comfortable this week, not only with first looks, but had enough time to really think
02:33and for those second looks to find a receiver down the field. Good job. I agree. Yeah, I agree with
02:38you 100%. And I think Jason Beck, our coordinator, did a really good job this week of tailoring things
02:43even more towards Bryce's skill set and comfort level. And it showed up in his play. Now we know we
02:49got to become more productive and efficient throwing the football because at some point, you know,
02:54we're going to need to. And right now that, that is lagging a little bit. And so that's something
02:59that we've got to make a concerted effort to, to get more production there. But, but Bryce,
03:04to your point, yeah, he looked much more comfortable and in his element on Saturday.
03:09Three of 13 on third down, you held Oklahoma. That's, that is awesome.
03:16Yeah, that was, that was an important stat, you know, getting the ball back to your offense. And that's,
03:21that occurs on third down, either take it away or, or win third down. And
03:24and we won a bunch of third downs on Saturday. And, and another, you know, we talked about the run
03:30game that that's someone told me, I didn't research this, but Oklahoma is a stingy run defense. They
03:34hadn't given up that much yardage running the football with their defense since Navy game of
03:392024. So, so that was a pretty good accomplishment. And that speaks to the old line, you know, I want
03:43to,
03:43you know, the old line played so much more efficiently on Saturday than we did in week one.
03:47And now we still got some pesky, stupid penalties.
03:51Sure do. Absolutely.
03:53Jalen Hills taking off the head of the Oklahoma receiver. But he did read, I got, I got to give
04:03him credit. He did redeem himself with that critical fourth down interception setup. Did you have time
04:10to give, uh, uh, Mr. Hill and talking to a little bit about taking the heads off of receivers?
04:17We did. And you're exactly right. We've had far too many penalties in the first two games. It's a,
04:23I think it was 80 or 90 yards in both games, which is double what we should have. I mean,
04:27that's,
04:27it's excessive and the players got to understand there's consequences with penalties. I mean,
04:33if you're on offense and you commit those foolish penalties, they're drive killers. And on defense,
04:37it's their drive extenders for the opponent and on special teams, they, they crush your field
04:41position situation. So we have got to get that, uh, more, uh, you know, do a better job of being
04:49more emphatic about avoiding those thoughtless, ignorant penalties. And you're never going to be
04:53completely penalty free. I mean, that's, that's a rarity, but, uh, you know, we can live with,
04:58you know, under 50 yards of penalties, but when you start getting 80, 90 yards of penalties,
05:02that's, that's too, that's excessive. I want your kicker Brown with that
05:07magically punch to the one yard line. That, that was key.
05:10What a weapon he's turned out to be. And he's punted the ball exceptionally well through two games
05:14and really has a knack to, to pooch that ball. And, you know, when we're in the sky territory,
05:19uh, when we're approaching or beyond midfield and pin the opponent, uh, in their own territory,
05:24he's got a great knack for that. Uh, he also has got a strong leg, you know, he hit some,
05:28you know, if he hit a 51 yarder and I think a 40 something yarder, but, uh, he has proven
05:33to be
05:33a weapon and, uh, he does a good job getting the ball out quickly. And, you know, it really discourages
05:38teams from trying to block punts because he, he gets it out so quick. And it was great to see
05:42our
05:42trade Bukowski, our place kicker hit that field goal. His first opportunity he's had this year
05:46and he drilled that, you know, grid, good trajectory, uh, hit it, uh, really strong. And that was good to
05:52see him, uh, convert on that. Now, last week we talked about, uh, uh, actually you talked about,
05:58uh, uh, uh, asking more from your players. Did they check off all the boxes this week?
06:05A hundred percent. And that was the mantra. I put that to him, that challenge on Monday in the team
06:09meeting that, uh, everyone needs to do more. And that's all encompassing, you know, do more with
06:15your sleep, with your nutrition, with your hydration, with your lifting, with your film study,
06:19with your practice, with all your preparation, find a way to do more. And that's not just the
06:24players, the coaches and players, everyone in the building for that matter, you know, find a way to
06:28do more. And they took it to heart and, uh, practices were very demanding last week, but they,
06:33they embraced it and rose to the occasion. And, uh, this was the result. I mean, football is such a
06:38mental game. You've got to be ready to play every week. As I said, and that's just, that's just such
06:43a
06:43big part of it. And I think this is, you know, the contrasting, uh, results in week one,
06:48as opposed to week two, I think bears that out. Hopefully they, they, they grasp that.
06:52Now for these past two games, who would you say in your mind is the most improved player?
06:58Most improved player on the entire team. Wow. It might be Troy Bowles. He's leading our team in
07:02tackles and, uh, has put together two really solid games. And to this point in his career,
07:07he has not had a lot of reps on defense. He's been a great special teams guy, but has not
07:11had a chance
07:12to play many reps on defense at all. And, and to be as productive as he's been in the first
07:17two
07:17games has been very impressive. What else is impressive? No turnovers and time of possession
07:25dramatically increased. Congrats. No doubt about that. We were minus three in game one, which is,
07:30uh, that's the recipe for disaster. And then we were plus two this game, which is where we should
07:35be. You know, we, we, you know, historically, uh, you know, our football teams have, have done a good
07:40job taking care of the ball and getting the ball away from the opposing offense. And if we're plus two
07:45and you get about a 92% chance of winning the game, if you're plus two in the turnover margin.
07:49Now in the locker room after this game, what was the, uh, pep talk to the team like
07:55as compared to week one? Didn't need to say much at all. That locker room was alive and,
08:00and, uh, exactly how it should be after a win. It was a, a stark contrast from week one. You
08:05know,
08:06it was week one that was somber and, uh, almost the feeling of a loss. And then week two,
08:12it was a one 80 from that guys were hooting and hollering and having a great time. Uh,
08:16we had a bunch of recruits in there. It was a big recruiting weekend for us. We probably had
08:1970 recruits on campus and, uh, it was how it's supposed to be after a win. And I didn't need
08:25to say much at all. Now you tap coming down, uh, hosting at the big house. Uh, now you tap
08:31got beat by Oakland, uh, Oakland or Oklahoma, uh, 51 to nothing, but they had a big bounce
08:40back game. Now, Michigan is of course the heavy favorite for this Saturday, but, uh, you're
08:47not about to ease up on the gas pedal at all this week, are you? No. Hey, if we, if
08:51we didn't
08:52learn our lesson in week one, uh, then there's something wrong with us. And so, uh, you know,
08:56all you got to do is put on that tape and realize that, that, uh, you can't just show
09:01up. If you think you're just going to show up and the other, the opponent is just going
09:03to lay down for you. That, that ain't the case. And so, um, and we'll obviously drive
09:08that point home all week long that we need to come out with the same passion, the same
09:11energy, the same effort level that we did in this past game.
09:15Now, uh, keys to the offense. What would you like to see more of this week?
09:20I think we need to become, well, I don't think, I know we need to become more efficient and
09:24more, a little more prolific throwing the ball. Now that wasn't
09:26a point of emphasis last week, but there's going to come times and games this, this
09:30season where we've got to be able to throw the ball effectively. And, and, uh, so we
09:34need to, to make a concerted effort to get the ball down the field a little bit more
09:38and get a little higher completion percentage and come away with overall a little more
09:43production. We can't, we can't become one dimensional and just think we can, you
09:47know, run over everybody every single week because you've got to be able to throw the
09:49football. Well, speaking of that, I, I really believe that Bryce is going to
09:55have an outstanding game this weekend. I second that and I hope we're both right.
10:01Well, 111,240 fans cheering on at the big house. Uh, what is your message to the
10:07fans for this weekend? Well, first of all, thank you for what you've given the first
10:12couple of weeks. I mean, the fans have been outstanding and no surprise. It's the
10:16big house. I mean, it's, uh, biggest venue in all of college football and, uh, we need
10:21more of the same, maybe even louder this week. And, you know, that it's a situation
10:25where we feed off the crowd, the crowd has an impact and, and, uh, they need to know
10:30that. And I'm sure they do understand it. One thing about Michigan fans, they're very
10:33well educated and knowledgeable about the game. They, they know when to cheer, when
10:37not to cheer and, and, uh, they're very savvy. And so the more they can do to affect
10:42the opponent, especially the opponent's offense, you know, when they're trying to get
10:45their signals called and all that, the more it will help our defense and, and affect
10:49the game. Coach K, of course, as always, I like to always leave on a positive note.
10:54Just want to remind you once again, you are undefeated. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for
11:00that. I appreciate it. Appreciate it, man. Big time. As always, go blue. Okay. Take
11:06care. Go blue.
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