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Jay LaPrete | AP

What they are saying...

Rutgers coach Chris Ash, defensive coordinator Jay Niemann and offensive coordinator Drew Mehringer meet the media every Monday to wrap up last week's game and look forward to this week's game.

Here's what they said about facing Ohio State, preparing for Michigan, the problems with the passing attack and the atmosphere for a primetime home game.

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Jamie Sabau | Getty Images

Rebounding from Ohio State

Is it more difficult to bounce back from a 58-0 shellacking like Ohio State handed out or from a 14-7 missed opportunity like the loss to Iowa?

The best insight might be that Ash gave his team a break from the practice field -- meetings and film review still was part of the day -- Sunday to clear their heads.

"We had meetings (Sunday) and obviously it's a somber feeling when you go through a game like that," Ash said. "Any time you lose it's tough when you've invested a lot. When we lost the Iowa game it was a very quiet Sunday in here because guys had worked really hard and felt like we had a chance to win that game. (Sunday) was no different. The guys are disappointed. They are down."

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Jamie Sabau | Getty Images

Greg Jones update

The scary collision that sent Rutgers linebacker Greg Jones to the hospital might keep him out a little longer, but he is "fine" in the bigger picture, according to Ash.

"They are doing some evaluations on him," Ash said. "Not sure of his availability for this week or when he'll be back, but he's fine and will be back at some point. Hopefully it's this week but not sure on that today."

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Jamie Sabau | Getty Images

Tylin Oden not ready for more

True freshman quarterback Tylin Oden played most of the second half against Ohio State and attempted his first four collegiate passes. All fell incomplete, proving that his passing ability has a long way to go to catch up with his scrambling ability.

"You guys saw him out there Saturday," Ash said. "It's obvious he's not ready. If he was, he would be out there full-time. He's not. He's got a long way to go. We're trying to bring him along, but he's got a long way to go."

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No depth chart changes

Rutgers depth chart against Michigan is the same across the board as it was against Ohio State.

Ash has shown that he will pull players within games to light a spark or create competition, but at the end of the day Rutgers is playing its best players.

"We've had a long time to evaluate our personnel, all the way back from last spring through the summer and training camp," Ash said, "and we have a pretty good feel of who gives us the best chance to go out and have success and that's who we are playing with right now."

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Stripe The Birthplace

Instead of the traditional Blackout for a primetime game, Rutgers asking fans sitting in even-numbered sections to wear red and fans sitting in odd-numbered sections to wear black to "Stripe The Birthplace" of college football.

"Hopefully it's a great atmosphere and a lot of fans show up," Ash said. "It will be cool if we 'Stripe the Birthplace' the way we want it to be done. The administration has worked hard to make this a really cool atmosphere, and I'm excited to see what turns out."

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Keith Sargeant | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

Recruiting rivals? Not yet

Michigan is Rutgers' chief in-state competition for top recruits right now but Ash won't call it a rivalry until Rutgers is on more solid ground.

"They do an outstanding job of recruiting nationwide," Ash said. "The university always has. Like Ohio State, they are two of the premier universities in college football and they recruit outstanding every year.

"Since Coach Harbaugh as been there, he's taken it to another level. He's very creative, thinks outside the box. Finds new ways to get his brand out there and give him a lot of credit. He's done an outstanding job.

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Prepping for Peppers

More than anything, Michigan star Jabrill Peppers is dominant on defense. Special teams, too.

But the Paramus Catholic product can break a game open on offense with a few snaps, too.

“You have to have a plan for him," Niemann said. "I’m sure he’ll be in the backfield, I’m sure he’ll be out in the slot. He may even be the Wildcat quarterback. There’s just a lot of different things they can use him for. You have to practice on it and you have to plan for it. But it can’t dominate your game plan because there are lots of other things that obviously you have to prepare for."

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'Comedy of mistakes'

Do you just burn the tape of a 58-0 loss or are there any positives to take away?

“It was," Niemann said, pausing as he searched for the right words, "a comedy of mistakes. Alignment mistakes, fundamental mistakes, guys just not communicating well in the defense."

And yet...

"There were some plays -- which you have to look for because there were some bad ones -- that were good ones in there too where our guys can gain confidence," Niemann said. "Even against an offense as good as Ohio State’s, if you line up right, you see the right keys, you take the right steps, you do the right assignments, you get the right communication, when things are working the way they are supposed to we can be a good defense.”

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Jamie Sabau | Getty Images

Case of the drops

While Ash pointed to the struggles of Rutgers wide receivers to gain separation against press coverage, Mehringer identified another problem derailing the passing attack.

"I think the bigger issue for us in the passing game so far is we’ve had too many drops," he said. "We had five drops in the game. It’s really to complete passes and move the ball outside of the run game if you’ve got drops.

"We had some accuracy issues that I think have gotten a lot better. There were a couple throws in there that weren’t great but (Chris Laviano) threw the ball much better in this game than he had in the past."

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Michigan's defense

Rutgers just faced the No. 1-ranked defense in the Big Ten. Now, it's No. 2.

Where Ohio State is more of a big-play defense, Michigan will hit opponents in the mouth.

“They are a big, good-looking group," Mehringer said. "They play very aggressive. They want to be up the field. They are an attacking style defense. They are not going to sit back and let you try to take 2-3 yard gains. They are going to try to tackle you in the backfield. They are going to bring a lot of pressure and play a lot of man coverage. From that standpoint, they are a very talented defense. We’ve got our work cut out for us.”

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NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

LISTEN: Ep. 4 of Rutgers football podcast

There’s a new rival in town, and his name is Jim Harbaugh. The University of Michigan coach continues to pluck the best New Jersey high school football talent from Rutgers’ backyard, and Chris Ash is no longer letting it happen without a fight. We take you inside the battle between Rutgers and Michigan, played out in the intense world of high school football recruiting.

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