11:47 a.m. Offensive lineman Steve Schilling, on forecasting Michigan's Rose Bowl chances, after teammate Stevie Brown brought up the topic earlier this morning:

"I think we all know the situation, with Iowa being the only undefeated team left," Schilling said. "We need some help, but all we can do is worry about ourselves, win our games and hopefully get some help along the way."

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11:40 a.m.: Rich Rodriguez, a former walk-on himself, can only marvel at the quick progress Michigan walk-on Jordan Kovacs, a redshirt freshman, has made at Michigan.

"His rise up the depth chart was amazing," Rodriguez said. "To go from where he went at a student-body tryout to not even being on special teams to being a starter happened very quickly. ... Jordan has truly earned his way up. It was his performance.

"He's made the most of it and proven to us that he can play. And I hope we have a Jordan Kovacs story every year. We hope to have that kind of walk-on program." 

11:24 a.m.: Rich Rodriguez, on the status of cornerback Boubacar Cissoko, who has missed the past two games after being indefinitely suspended.

"Well, just about every day I've caught him in the office, and will do so again today," Rodriguez said. "His is a day-to-day thing. It's up to him as to when he comes back. All I do is enforce the decisions he makes."

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11:16 a.m.: Rich Rodriguez noted that Minnesota only ran 44 offensive plays against Penn State last week. 

When it comes to getting more, the coach said he's not concerned so much with time of possessions as he is with number of drives or total plays.

"Minnesota had 44 plays and eight meaningful possessions, and you want to have 12 or 13," Rodriguez said. "... If you are limited in your possessions, you are obviously limited in your opportunities to score. The challenge is to make them play defense for a larger number of plays than 44."

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11:10 a.m.: Rich Rodriguez was just asked about Stevie Browns' optimism when it comes to a Rose Bowl possibility. Here's what Rodriguez said about the team's bowl aspirations:

 "There's a lot of things that can happen and we've got to stick together," Rodriguez said. "You see every weekend, not just in the Big Ten, but across the country, that crazy things can happen. 

"There are a lot of ways we can control our own fate as far as bowl games and Big Ten championships. ... This isn't going to play out until the end, and we just hope we're in it."

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11:05 a.m. Center David Molk has been cleared for practice. He'll practice in full pads tomorrow for the first time since suffering a foot injury four weeks ago.

If he can play Saturday, David Moosman would switch back to right guard, and either Mark Huyge or Perry Dorrestein would start at right tackle. 

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10:49 a.m.: Tight end Kevin Koger, on vying for playing time with Martell Webb in an offense not known for featuring the tight end:

"Me and Martell are great friends," Koger said. "Whoever the coaches put it, it doesn't matter. Like you've seen earlier in the year, and he'll switch us in and out. When he scored, I was trying to be the first one down there to congratulate him."

Webb caught his first career touchdown pass Saturday against Delaware State, a 28-yarder from Denard Robinson.

Koger has 12 receptions, including two touchdowns so far this season. Webb has two catches, including Saturday's TD. But what the pair are most focused on, after being challenged by Rich Rodriguez, is improving their blocking.

"We have to protect our edges on the line, and on blocking the DBs and the little guys downfield, and stuff like that," Koger said. "I think we've risen to that."

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10:39 a.m.: Stevie Brown now talking about the wide-open Big Ten.

"I have this feeling - I don’t know if anyone else has it - but if we can win out, we can make it to the Rose Bowl this year," Brown said.

He wants to go back to Pasadena.

"I got to experience it as a freshman, and I want to experience it again as a senior," he said. "It was so much fun, just how intense and big of a game it was. I mean, the Rose Bowl might not be as big as the Big House, but it's still loud and a great place to be in.

"Even though we did lose that game, and it was a great game to be a part of, and I want to go back and be a part of it again."
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10:30 a.m.: Jordan Kovacs' father, Louis, was also a walk-on at Michigan from 1982 to 1984, who ultimately saw nothing more than a few minutes of playing time.

His son, now Michigan's starting safety, expected the same experience.

"When I first tried out, I had the goal over the course of four years, of kind of making special teams or something," the younger Kovacs said. "My dad walked on and played three minutes in the Purdue game in scrub time, so I guess this is definitely more than I ever expected."
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10:25 a.m.: Jordan Kovacs revealed he didn't have any Division I-A scholarship offers coming out of high school. He had a handful of Division II offers, and a chance to be a preferred walk-on at Toledo.

He's now Michigan's starting safety.

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10:22 a.m.: Safety Jordan Kovacs is first on the podium, talking about how people have an increased level of respect for him since he's gone from an unknown walk-on to the starting lineup:

"Coach Robinson said that he didn't even know my name before fall camp this year," Kovacs said. "I guess he knows it now."