Wolverines stick 'together' in wake of ugly rivalry loss

Michigan linebacker Khaleke Hudson said it was a team loss to Michigan State and the defensive players would not blame the offense, which turned the ball over five times against the Spartans.

“We’re together,” Hudson said Tuesday. “We’re not going to tell them to move out the way because of what happened. It’s a team loss. It’s not an offense or defensive loss. It’s a team loss. Everything is on the team. We’re not going to treat no man differently because ultimately we’re together.”

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Running back Chris Evans said quarterback John O’Korn, who threw three interceptions in the second half, has remained positive.

“I know he’s getting a lot of heat, but we’re always staying with him,” Evans said. “Everybody on the team, we just make sure we stay together. (Receiver Eddie) McDoom (who dropped a pass) is going through it. We’re making sure that everybody is together no matter what. If somebody is going to talk about the offense, you’ve got to talk about us as a whole, not single people out.”

Evans said the players simply tune out social media and the outside noise.

“How life is, when you’re winning, they’re with you, and when you’re not, they’re not with you,” Evans said. “They want to talk to you then and they say, ‘Go Michigan, Go Blue,’ and as soon as you lose, you find out who’s real and who’s fake. As soon as you win, you get text messages (from people) you probably don’t even know or people you used to talk to. When you lose, you’ve only got your Day 1 people who text you, ‘Y’all good, y’all good, just shake it off.’ And we’ve got people in this building, we’re all together. It just shows you who’s real, who’s not.”

The players said their focus is Indiana now.

“We lost, but now we put it behind us and we’ll move on to the next game, the next week, and we’re going to try to bounce back and get the win,” Hudson said.

Hometown crowd

Evans is from Indianapolis, so this will be his second trip with the Wolverines to Indiana this season. They already played at Purdue, and will play at Indiana on Saturday.

“That’s my crowd, in a sense,” Evans said, adding he will know a lot of people at the game. “A whole bunch. The student section, I’m probably going to know a lot of people. At the Purdue game I went out before warmups, it was like a homecoming for me. Got to see some of my old friends.”

achengelis@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @chengelis