ATLANTA — Don Brown's put together three defenses at Michigan that have put together elite numbers on average.

But over the past two years, against the best offenses Michigan's faced, Brown's defenses have disappeared.

The latest, of course, coming by way of a 62-39 thrashing at Ohio State when the Wolverines were in chase mode against a seemingly faster, more explosive Buckeye offense. Ohio State racked up 567 yards, 8.46 per play.

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Brown spoke with reporters in Atlanta on Thursday, his first public comments since the Ohio State game. His message?

"We really had an outstanding year and a terrible week," Brown said. "If you let it linger, then it can impact performance moving forward against a really good Florida team.

"So we've got to move on. ... (It was a) tough deal. Man up. Move on."

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In terms of what went wrong, Brown pointed to several things.

Michigan went up against one of the best passers in the country in Dwayne Haskins, who had arguably the best game of his career on the biggest stage. Haskins' receivers delivered time and time again.

Ohio State's offense, designed by new head coach Ryan Day, exploited every weakness Michigan had.

And, Brown said that overall the day featured mistakes that just didn't happen in 10 previous victories. He pointed to a series of "day one" mistakes that suddenly re-appeared.

As usual, though, Brown pointed inward, telling reporters "the buck stops with me."

"I thought Haskins was as good as advertised and I thought he was really good that day. Parris Campbell, he did not play very well against us the year before. He played probably his best game, he was certainly a challenge for us," Brown said. "And then we blow the jet sweep, we blow the eagle coverage post down the pipe. Those are the things that kind of leave a bad taste in your mouth.

"But like I said, correct and move on. ... That game's not looked upon lightly. It's not like 'oh, it's OK, let's move on.' I think everybody feels it."

After getting thumped last year at Penn State in a similar fashion, giving up 502 yards and 42 points, Brown said there wasn't a day that went by over the following 12 months that he didn't think about how to repair what had happened.

He says that'll happen again with Ohio State.

But not until the Peach Bowl (noon, Saturday) vs. Florida is over.

"Yeah, starting next week," he said. "I've got a game to play. I've got to worry about Florida.

"You've got to take care of what's in front of you. Then, we'll shift gears for sure."

Michigan's defense is playing in the Peach Bowl without starting linebacker, and captain, Devin Bush Jr. and starting defensive end Rashan Gary. Both have declared for the NFL Draft and have opted not to play.

Moving into next season, Brown will have to replace senior end Chase Winovich and senior safety Tyree Kinnel. The Wolverines will also need to find more depth on the interior of the defensive line.

Overall, there are plenty of contributors back. Brown interviewed for the head coaching job at Temple earlier this month, a spot that ultimately went to Miami defensive coordinator Manny Diaz.

Brown was asked if he'd like to be a head coach again, he said he'd consider it in "the right situation," but added he's not "going out ringing somebody's doorbell." Asked if he and Michigan are working on a new contract, he said "not that I know of."

Ultimately, though, Brown is moving forward from the Ohio State game — the worst he's had at Michigan and probably the biggest overall disappointment of Jim Harbaugh's tenure at the school.

"The thing that's difficult is when things go your way for such a long period of time and, let's face it, we had 10 weeks where things kind of went our way. Maybe I shouldn't say 10 weeks, obviously, we were tested at Northwestern. But outside of that, what we prepared for is kind of what we got," he said. "There were some day one mistakes made in that game that I'm still puzzled by. Head-scratchers. But, you know, you have to be accountable for it and the buck stops with me. I take full responsibility for it. Move on and prepare and get ready for the next football game.

"I don't live in the world of negativity. You guys can. That's up to you. But I'm not going to live in the world of negativity. I've got to move a defensive group forward that, despite it all, in my opinion had a hell of a year. Disappointing in the one game scenario, I'm not discounting that at all, but we've got to move forward."

Contact Nick Baumgardner: nbaumgardn@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @NickBaumgardner.