Season wrap: Michigan football: The season in quotes

July 27 “If we’re not in a bowl game we’re all going to be ticked. If we’re not competing better in every game, we’re all going to be upset. … If we’re at least not competing for (the Big Ten championship) and being more competitive in certain situations than I don’t think we’ve made the progress we wanted to,” Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez at Big Ten media day on what will make for an acceptable season.

July 28 “We’re not going to be a finished product as far as what I envision the program being this year, but we’ll be a lot further along than we were a year ago,” Rodriguez, on Day 2 of media day, on how his team’s struggles in 2008 should help in 2009.

Aug. 14 “It’s weird, I never see the kid crumble. Once in a while you’ll see a quarterback and they’ll start to get kind of shaky, but he’s pretty solid,” center David Molk on his early impressions of quarterback Tate Forcier.

Aug. 23 “The only thing I have more apprehension is because of youth. The big jump we had whatever it was at West Virginia and then a couple other places whether I was a coordinator or head coach, we didn’t have as much youth maybe in key roles as we do now,” Rodriguez, at Michigan media day, on whether he sees signs of a Year 2 turnaround like he had at West Virginia.

Aug. 31 “We know the rules, we go by the rules,” Rodriguez denying allegations that he and his staff violated NCAA rules concerning excessive practice time during an emotional press conference.

“From a player aspect, I know what we do on and off the field and I see none of that as illegal,” left tackle Mark Ortmann defending Michigan’s workout regiment.

Sept. 5 “It was emotional. The signs and all of that stuff for Rich, it was emotional. I’m glad I had on shades,” offensive coordinator Calvin Magee on the support fans showed Rodriguez and the Wolverines in their season-opening win over Western Michigan.

Sept. 12 “Well, that was fun,” Rodriguez, opening his post-game press conference after Michigan’s thrilling 38-34 upset of Notre Dame.

“Everybody kept saying a freshman can’t do it. I did it,” Forcier on leading the come-from-behind win, which culminated with a touchdown pass to Greg Mathews with 11 seconds to play.

Sept. 16 “I didn’t see anybody throw a punch or anything like that,” Rodriguez denying linebacker Jonas Mouton struck Notre Dame’s Eric Olsen. The Big Ten suspended Mouton a day later for one game.

Sept. 26 “The kid’s got something about him. He knows how to win ballgames,” quarterbacks coach Rod Smith on Forcier, who led another late game-winning drive to beat Indiana.

Oct. 3 “I take complete blame for that. That’s something I told myself I wasn’t going to do is make a freshman mistake and I did,” Forcier, on his overtime interception in Michigan’s 26-20 loss to Michigan State.

Oct. 10 “I put Denard in to get a spark. And we got a spark. And that spark was still lit. And we made a couple plays and we moved the ball, got a first down or so, and just threw a pick at the end. That’s - the head coach, I can do that. We can decide what we want to do,” Rodriguez on his ill-fated decision to play Denard Robinson at the end of 30-28 loss to Iowa. Robinson was intercepted on Michigan’s final drive.

Oct. 24 “No. Cause it’s all about where you finish. People are not going to remember this right now, they’re going to remember how you finish,” defensive end Brandon Graham on whether he was concerned about the direction of Michigan’s season after a convincing 35-10 loss to Penn State.

Oct. 31 “We were trying to step on their throat and extend the lead. Once that didn’t happen, people just started worrying and stuff and we just let it get to us and the momentum changed down on the 1-yard line,” defensive back Troy Woolfolk on what precipitated Michigan’s second-half meltdown at Illinois.

Nov. 7 "Our heads ain't down. We're not like no 12-year-old boys, we're in college. We can handle this mentally. I don't think none of us need to see Dr. Phil or Oprah,” running back Brandon Minor after Michigan collapsed mentally for the second straight week, this time after Purdue recovered a surprise on-side kick to spark a 38-36 win.

Nov. 9 “The main thing that I would want for our seniors is No. 1 to beat Ohio State, which will result into going to a bowl game. … I mean, Wisconsin, we want to beat them, too, but we haven’t beat Ohio State in five years and I just think that would be a good accomplishment. And as bad as the season’s going, I think it will be redeemed after we beat Ohio State,” Woolfolk, on how to save a season spiraling out of control.

Nov. 14 “Reaching. I think they’re really, defensively, really reaching to find an answer to try to stop them,” Rodriguez, on changes his defensive staff made to try and stop Wisconsin. The moves didn’t work. Michigan lost its sixth straight Big Ten game, 45-24.

Nov. 17 “We saw this coming … It’s been several years since we’ve had the type of defensive talent that it takes to win championships,” Rodriguez, on a Columbus, Ohio, radio station talking about his team’s defensive shortcomings.

Nov. 18 “This is not going to be a situation that we have to go through, I don’t believe, in the future. I’m talking about battling in the last game of the year for a bowl bid. … Progress is being made. It’s a lot slower than anybody wants, but we’re going to be there and we’re going to be there where everybody wants us to be at some point in time,” Rodriguez, admitting the season will be a disappointment if Michigan doesn’t make a bowl.

Nov. 21 “I lost that game,” Forcier, in a text message to The Associated Press, after committing five turnovers in a 21-10 loss to Ohio State.

“How much does a man got to get humbled? Got humbled last year, been humbled before and will be humbled again. When you get in this profession there’s enough humility to go around for everybody. I’m tired of being humbled,” Rodriguez, 8-16 in two seasons as Michigan coach, on his second consecutive losing season.

“Everybody wants instant gratification, they all want to win right now. But I think you have to look at really what the true issues are and what we’re trying to do in this program. The last three Februaries or four Februaries have hurt us a little bit. The next two or three Februaries, first Wednesdays in February are going to be very, very critical to our program. That’s where it starts,” more Rodriguez from post-Ohio State.

“It probably hid a few of the warts that we still had. But again it’s our job to get a few more wins out of it. I think our team stayed hungry after that. We lost a couple close ballgames right after that. Our team’s focus the last 12 weeks, really the last 16 weeks, has been really good. We just have made a few critical mistakes in certain games and we are not good enough this year to overcome that,” Rodriguez, on whether Michigan’s 4-0 start led to unreasonable expectations.

Dave Birkett covers University of Michigan football for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached by phone at 734-623-2552 or by e-mail at davidbirkett@annarbor.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.