Rich Rodriguez: Saturday's game isn't about reclaiming the state, other Big Ten teleconference notes

Still, Ezeh said Saturday's game is a chance to silence that notion.

"You don't want to add fuel to the fire," he said. "You just want to give them that win last year, you don't want to give them two in a row."

Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez said Tuesday he doesn’t plan to address the Wolverines' standing in the state with his team, other than to suggest a state championship is on the line.

"I think there’s a natural inclination to talk about reclaiming the state, but I think that goes over time,” Rodriguez said on the Big Ten coaches teleconference. “I don’t think one year or two years or even three years do you stake a claim to that.

“We’re happy the progress we’re making. We think we’re on track to get the program where we want it to. I don’t think we’re close to where we’re going to be, but I think we’re on the right path.”

Other notes from Tuesday’s teleconference:

• Rodriguez said he hadn’t seen quarterback Tate Forcier as of noon Tuesday, but that Forcier remains on track to play against Michigan State.

“The trainer thinks he progressed well yesterday,” Rodriguez said. “How much he’ll be able to do in practice today I’ll know here in a couple of hours.”

• Rodriguez on how the Michigan-MSU rivalry compares to the West Virginia-Pitt rivalry he was part of as a player and coach: “I think it has the same intensity. … It’s two schools that are close to each other that run into each other quite a bit in recruiting circles sometimes, the fact that we’re in the same league. So I think that is very, very similar in that regard. And the intensity every year, irregardless of what one team or the other team is doing record-wise, is always going to be an all-time high.”

• Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio was complimentary of a Michigan offense that leads the Big Ten in points, touchdowns and rushing yards.

“They’re outstanding conceptually, what they do and how they do it,” Dantonio said. “Coach Rodriguez has had great success doing that. It’s very well thought out schematically, very well drawn out as well, and the quarterback is executing. Forcier’s executing very well.”

• If Indiana coach Bill Lynch is still upset about the controversial interception that ended last week’s loss to Michigan, when Donovan Warren outwrestled Demarlo Belcher for the ball, he didn’t show it Tuesday.

"I've been in football long enough that there’s a lot of calls like that,” Lynch said. "It's over, you move on and from the time you really - we bussed to Michigan, by the time we bussed back, our thoughts were on (this week's game against) Ohio State and what we have to do to get better and get prepared. That's part of the game and we’ve all been through those kind of situations."

• Rodriguez on his biggest concern going on the road for the first time this year: "Just keeping our poise and be able to overcome adversity because we know it's going to happen. We're going to have adversity early and late and throughout, so we just got to be able to keep our poise and try to block out the noise and just concentrate on execution."

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.