Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Change better not happen

Michigan will lose their qb(poy)  and half the offensive playmakers/recruits
Michigan will only be able to recruit for a certain time to regain new players that will help out asap
Michigan defense already and only gets better because of the return of the same players coming back anyways with the addition of Wolfork and Floyd too add to a healthy roh and martin/ be awesome
The offense will look like it did a couple years ago(threet running the ball) unless Devin stays and they can recruit people around him
Michigan  has the easiest schedule in many years ahead that this team michigan has now can win 9 games easily
the defense goes to a 4 down lineman situation will add defensive pressure(need defensive change)
The defense lost a ton of top talented players(according to recruiting databases)  the last couple of years they finally have players that are staying, especially with the players who redshirted
And rich rod can recruit like crazy and add players like Jibreel, and Dorsey(didnt pan out ), so this year should be much better with Walls, and others that arent on the board yet
The offensive recruiting is awesome, with dee and justice and maybe rawls !! Oregon eat your heart out
10 offensive starters come back
9 defensive starters gained starting experiance
No way if changes happen they can be 9-3 , 10-2. 11-1 or better like they would be if changes happen
Some people may hate, some people can wish, but when will we win again ????? I sure think we could next year

Iowa won 7 games and they wont make changes, Notre Dame won 7 games and wont make changes, UCONN won the big east and we owned them !!!!!!

Friday, November 19, 2010

Michigan Football Weekly Updates: Purdue Recap, Wisconsin Preview

Michigan Football Weekly Updates: Purdue Recap, Wisconsin Preview: " The Michigan Wolverines settle for a sloppy victory in sloppy conditions beating Purdue 27-16. It snapped a two game winning str..."

Purdue Recap, Wisconsin Preview

            The Michigan Wolverines settle for a sloppy victory in sloppy conditions beating Purdue 27-16. It snapped a two game winning streak that Purdue had against Michigan, the first time such a thing happened since the 60’s when Purdue was led by Bob Griese, so that was nice to get stopped. Other than the Penn State game this year, this was the worst I had seen the Wolverines play. The turnover bug showed up again with Michigan committing 5 turnovers once again this week bringing the total to 20 in the last 4 games. That is way too many for this team. Luckily they got to play one of the worst teams in the Big 10 in Purdue. Purdue played 3 quarterbacks play all who looked evenly bad as each other and only seemed to score off of bad Michigan turnovers. But, as every Nebraska fan says after their boring wins, a win is a win. I guess I’ll take that saying this week, a win is a win. Guess I finally agree with them, which is kind of weird. This win should be another small step forward and only helps the team keep going in the right direction. It will really help their chances of going to a better mediocre bowl game, and gives the defense the much needed confidence going into the two hardest games of the year.
            The defense played very well limiting Purdue to mostly field goals and giving the offense a chance to get a comfortable lead. That comfortable lead didn’t happen to come till the final two minutes though. The defense forced 5 turnovers and even scored a touchdown as true freshman Cam Gordon returned a 58 yard fumble for the games opening touchdown. Too bad the offense did the same thing, giving up a score, and 5 turnovers. The defense was without two of there top performers on defense as linebacker Jonas Mouton rested an injured chest muscle and defensive tackle Mike Martin took the week off due to a lingering ankle injury. Both got to rest their injuries in preparation for the next game they will be more needed in then this game against Purdue. Senior James Rogers had his best game of his career as he had both interceptions, so that was good to see ex wide receiver catch some passes again. Hopefully with the way the Illinois game ended and now how the defense played today it was a big confidence booster to them.
            The offense looked awful in the rain, and I put a lot of the blame on the offensive line who couldn’t establish anytime of movement all game. The offensive line looked like they were stuck in the mud, and especially at the tackle spot just letting the Purdue ends run right by them. Then when Michigan did move the ball it seemed like a holding, or chop block would be called negating the play. Denard was then forced to try and make plays and it seemed like it always helped Purdue. Michigan got down to the two yard line and a holding play brought it back to a 3 and 12 and an interception that would be returned 98 yards for a touchdown. Plays like that seemed to let Purdue stay within 4 points most of the game. Instead of being up 21 to 6 it was 14 to 13 at halftime. Tate Forcier even got a chance to come in and he also struggled getting the team to do anything. I thought the game plan was thrown out the window early due to the line sucking, and the staff just prayed for a score.
The weather made sure with the kicking woes already this season that it was even going to be a struggle to make and extra point, so I am pretty sure nobody actually thought they would make that field goal they tried. As for the special teams, they are literally pretty “special” this year. The one bright spot on the whole offense was running back Vincent Smith who rushed for 99 yards on 18 carries, and Roy Roundtree who once again took a catch to the house for a touchdown. I bet the Purdue fans just cringe when Roundtree or Shaw touched the ball as both of them were guaranteed going there until they changed their minds at noon on signing day. That would be a tough pill to swallow
I hope this was the weather that held this offense back, because it was hands down awful to watch. They did score 4 touchdowns, but the turnovers and couple bad passes made this hard to watch. This game really should have been a blow out from the start. Guess they just like to keep it interesting.
            The Wolverines will now head back home for senior night to host the Wisconsin Badgers, who many people are saying are the best one loss team in the country. It could be a very scary game or it could be a shocking upset, it is never certain with this Wolverines team. I am hoping playing at home for the last time and honoring the few seniors that stuck around get sent off the right way. The Badgers are coming off a crazy 80 point performance against Indiana as they scored every possession. That will not happen this week I can guarantee you that, but how many times will Michigan stop them is the big question. The line came out and Michigan was only 4 point underdogs and I was stopped in my tracks. I personally don’t agree as even I think this game was one that Michigan would lose. They have been playing better on defense and with that offense they have a chance to put up 40 anytime. Now can they get to 40 and win? If Michigan doesn’t turnover the ball and the special teams isn’t awful then yes, this game will be a good one. If they do turn the ball over it could get out of reach like when they played Iowa. With that said, I think the coach with the Hawkeye tattoo is victorious and his team wins 41 – 31. I sure hope I am wrong.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Late Illinois recap

The Michigan Wolverines would become bowl eligible for the first time in the Rich Rodriguez era with a triple overtime classic against the Illinois Fighting Illini 67-65. Never in 131 years have so many points been scored in a Michigan game. And rarely has a victory against Illinois meant so much to the Wolverines now making them bowl eligible for the first time in three years. This was hands down one of the top 5 most exciting games I have watched in a long time. It was even better watching it with an Illinois fan, who I still really don’t feel sorry for after this game was over. Also Michigan would now of snapped a three game losing streek that saw them play some bad football.
Going into this game I figured both teams would easily score over thirty, but surely didn’t think they would double that. This game seemed like a track meet up and down the field with all sorts of fireworks. Thanks to the defense, yes the defense, which stepped up and made the final stop on a two point conversion in the third overtime and actually had some stops early in the game preventing touchdowns and only giving up field goals after Michigan turnovers. The 5 Michigan turnovers put the defense on there heals most of the game, but they forced field goals and a big turnover in the red zone early in the game. You wouldn’t think that this would be possible at any other place in the country for a defense to be actually excited after giving up 65 points anywhere else except for in Ann Arbor this year.
            The fireworks started early for the Michigan Wolverines as on the very first play of scrimmage Denard Robinson found Roy Roundtree for a 75 yard touchdown pass the longest completion of his career as of this time and the longest touchdown pass of his career. This would soon be bettered when he completed a 77 yard pass to Junior Hemingway later in the game. Illinois got the ball back and marched right up the field before the defense forced a field goal and within 6 minutes both teams were already on the board. The rest of the quarter saw Denard throw two interceptions, one of them leading to another Illinois field goal. This quarter was a good quarter for the Michigan defense forcing two three and outs and holding Illinois too a pair of field goals.
            The second quarter was the start of the scoring frenzy. Michigan would score on 4 of their 5 drives with there only non-scoring drive ending on a 4th and 6 at the Illinois 30. Illinois would start the scoring in the first 20 seconds of the quarter and successfully get the two point conversion, but Michigan would respond with another Roy Roundtree touchdown on what would be a career day for Roundtree in one of the best days in history for a Michigan wide receiver. Both teams would go back and forth scoring with each team only making a few stops. A field goal by Illinois at the end of half would send both teams would go into the locker room with 31 points. Michigan would also have made a field goal this quarter something that is as rare as a lunar eclipse.
            The third quarter would see both teams missing a field goal and only one touchdown. Luckily for Michigan fans, Michigan was the team to score that touchdown as Michael Shaw would score on an 18 yard scamper. This quarter was another confidence booster on the roller coaster day for the defense. The bad news of the quarter for the Wolverines being Denard Robinson would be knocked out of the game and he would not return. Denard finished the day with 300 yards throwing and 66 yards rushing with all 3 touchdowns by the air along with a couple interceptions. Other then a couple bad reads Denard had played very well, 366 yards in just three quarters was amazing. This would lead to Tate Forcier taking over at quarterback and the blunt of the rushes put on the shoulders of the 3 backs, Vincent Smith, Michael Shaw, and true frosh Stephen Hopkins
            Now the fourth quarter, which we would see things unravel fast for the Wolverines. Illinois scored right away to tie the game at 38-38. Tate Forcier would come off the bench and his first snap of the game he fumbled and gave the ball back to the Fighting Illini with great field position. At this point in the game I started to get nervous as you could feel the momentum quickly switch over into Illinois favor. Illinois would only need 3 minutes to punch in another score and take there first lead of the game with 10 minutes to go in the game. 45-38. The next drive saw Michigan cross mid field and have to punt forcing the defense to have to make a big play. After the Penn State game I had lost about all confidence this was possible and with Mike Martin on the bench I was for sure Illinois would seal the game. But, to my surprise Michigan would stop Illinois giving Tate a chance for some late game heroics. Tate would lead them down on an 80 yard drive and find Darryl Stonum in the end zone with 1:40 on the clock. Yes, The Wolverines are back in it as I jumped around the house carefully not spilling my adult drink. The defense would make a few more stops and this game was going to overtime.
            The first two overtimes would only see 17 plays and both teams scoring touchdowns. The most amazing play would happen for the Wolverines in the second overtime on 3rd down as Tate would hit the back of a Illinois defensive back and see the ball go up into the air and Junior Hemingway going up and getting it for a touchdown to secure this game would go to a third overtime. In the third overtime Michael Shaw would run in his second touchdown in the 3 overtimes. Now it was going to get interesting with teams having to go for two. Tate would again find Hemingway to give the Wolverines the 8 point lead. Now could they make a stop? The season was going to make or break at this moment. Illinois would score easily and now have to go for two. For the first time in many weeks Michigan would actually blitz knocking Scheelhasse down and batting the ball away coming away with there 6th victory of the year.
            This would mean Michigan will be bowl eligible at 6-3 going into a very winnable game on the road against Purdue. This would be a fantasy football lovers dream as Michigan would throw for 419 yards and rush for another 257. Roy Roundtree would set a Michigan receiving record with 246 yards and Junior Hemingway would also have over 100 yards receiving.  This was all done with 5 turnovers. I could only imagine what would happen when they play an error free game and are clicking. At this time Illinois was the 25th overall defense in the nation and had played the likes of Mizzou and Ohio State. Then can you believe it would be the defense making the stops to win, this game was just awesome. Great win for Rich Rodriguez and the staff and great for the guys to not give up when Denard went out and to keep playing hard.
            It had been a while since Michigan had a win so it's now its time for the guys to keep rolling and go beat Purdue and be 7-3!
             I also would like to appologize to everyone in the midwest that would see this game and then have to watch there team play as it would make those games look like the t.v was messed up and everything was in slow motion.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Finally Michigan is Bowl Eligible Again !

The Michigan Wolverines are finally bowl eligible for the first time in the Rich Rodriguez era. It has been a long couple of years after seemingly always being in a bowl game. The Wolverines most likely won’t be going to a major bowl game in January, but any bowl game is finally a start in the right direction that the Wolverines needed to take.  I don’t think a lot of people understand how big of a deal it is for the program to be bowl eligible. This is a huge step forward for the future of this program. Now that the team has won there 6th game and hopefully will end up with more by the end of the season, the team can really get better. This is such a young team with only one senior that plays on offense and two that start on defense. This will mean that all these youngsters get the much added extra practices they need to improve. Can you imagine seeing these playmakers with another 6 weeks of practice? The growth should be amazing.
These 6 extra weeks of practices are huge for the players to be able to improve and get better. With them playing so many true freshmen and sophomores these practices and workouts will make a big difference for them getting better, faster, and stronger. Many players are being forced to play and haven’t had the practice time they needed, whether it is because they graduated last year late and only practiced a few weeks in the spring or some guys were behind people on the depth chart and now are playing due to departures and injuries. Now that they know they will have these extra practices the coaches have started to make some small changes with some of the youngsters who don’t start by switching them to another position and having a few of them play two defensive positions such as safety and the spur linebacker position. This will mean by next year they should be ready to hit the ground running when spring practice starts and will limit the early season mistakes. All the key offensive players will be returning and now each week they can add something to the playbook. Coach Rodriguez has mentioned this offense that already has been moving the ball very well this season has just started to scratch the surface of the playbook.
            This also means a huge relief off the back of Coach Rodriguez, now he can breathe a little easier. He should be assured of his job the next season and with a couple more victories could even get an extension. He will still hear it from some of the fans that will never like him, but the rest will have to buy in and be supportive. With the NCAA finding him being in compliance of the major rules, he will lose some of that negativity that follows him. This job at Michigan will never be easy, but when people are supportive and the negativity stops it will only make things easier for Coach Rodriguez to improve this program. I don’t think people understand how there negativity is then seen; by everyone like recruits and the players on the team and gets them to start second guessing the coach and future school they might attend.
Other then the added practices the biggest help will be with recruiting. The top recruits want to play in bowl games and be on national television at the end of the season playing for winning teams. This bowl game will be played in a southern location and the recruits will be able to watch Michigan play in their home state, and can see that in the future friends and family can have the chance to be watching them in person in a bowl game. This will really help an already great recruiter. It is very hard to bring many of the athletes in the winter after the season and before signing day and just have them tour the school and not let them enjoy watching the bowl practices. This is the time many of these big time recruits who are still on the edge and making trips to make up for not traveling in the fall during there own season and are now deciding were they are going. When they go to other colleges and they get to see the teams practicing for the bowl games compared to going to Ann Arbor and dealing with the cold and no football is a huge difference. Now the recruits can see the new indoor practice facility being used and the athletes being in a great mood. Rich Rodriguez is known for his late signee magic and now with more time to show off his program will be even better for him. This so called “Snake Oil” he uses can be used even better now to haul in the top recruits.
So being bowl eligible used to be a common occurrence for Michigan that everyone took for granted and after seeing how it negatively affects the team in so many aspects for the next season it is huge that they are back and playing in a bowl game gain.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Michigan Football Weekly Updates: NCAA Commitee Responds to Infractions, Rich Rod Cl...

Michigan Football Weekly Updates: NCAA Commitee Responds to Infractions, Rich Rod Cl...: "Finally, some good news for Rich Rodriguez this year. The NCAA has officially came down with their findings regarding the rule infractions a..."

NCAA Commitee Responds to Infractions, Rich Rod Cleared of being the Bad Man everyone wanted him to be

Finally, some good news for Rich Rodriguez this year. The NCAA has officially came down with their findings regarding the rule infractions and Rich Rodriguez   This is huge step forward for his future at Michigan regarding the NCAA case and rule infractions against him. It looks like he was truthful and really didn’t try to do anything out of the ordinary. He also didn’t harm anyone or made players work out every minute of the day like ESPN and other networks would have made it seem to be. This whole debacle was started by lazy players who transferred and the reporting of some idiots like DREW SHARP of the Detroit Free Press who fooled some incoming players with tricky questions about practicing who didn’t know what they were really answering. This super sleuth Drew Sharp and his reporter cronies should feel good today that the NCAA cleared Rich Rod as being the bad man they made him out to be. This is great news for the Michigan football team. Issues like this made it hard for him to recruit and to bring in such players as Demar Dorsey as all the old folks get nervous that Rodriguez is turning Ann Arbor into Trenton, NJ.
The Basic Implications that Michigan thought would happen:
The NCAA has concluded that Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez did not fail to promote an atmosphere of compliance, a previous allegation that the school challenged, a source close to the situation said Wednesday night.
The NCAA will reveal its finding as early as Thursday evening, the source said. The NCAA will also announce if Michigan's self-imposed penalties for admitted excessive football-related hours and excessive coaches were acceptable.
While the source did not reveal specifics of those findings, the person said the results were "positive news for Michigan football."
The NCAA accused Michigan of five major rules violations related to exceeding practice and workout time in the wake of a Detroit Free Press report last year. The report led to investigations by both the school and the NCAA.
The school accepted responsibility for four of the allegations, but Michigan vigorously challenged a charge that Coach Rich Rodriguez failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance with NCAA rules during an August hearing in Seattle.
Michigan announced in May that its self-imposed sanctions included probation for two years and reducing training time by 130 hours over two years -- doubling the amount of time the Wolverines exceeded NCAA rules. This was because Michigan didn’t properly count their minutes stretching as part of practice so each day they went over by 4 minutes. This 4 minutes was all the NCAA found for the over practicing that was brought up by the Detroit Free Press, and the lazy players that left like Colorado receiver Toney Clemons and Ohio State lineman that I don’t even want to mention. Both these players made up elaborate stories about how hard it was, and now seems to be just a worthless wide receiver who wasn’t going to play and an over weight lineman who came to conclusion that he wasn’t the next Jake Long.
The school also reprimanded seven people including Coach Rodriguez, the school even firing one who didn’t send in the proper paperwork he was supposed to about the workouts instead told the NCAA one thing and Rich Rod that he had sent them in. Now that problem is working elsewhere.
            The Basic Results announced Thursday:
NCAA Committee on Infractions Teleconference - the Michigan Results
1. Public reprimand
2. 3 years of probation starting today ... (U-M self-imposed two)  The third year was added because Michigan at the time was still on probation for the Chris Weber deal, yes that happened in 1994, but the NCAA didn’t put Michigan on probation until 2002.
3. Reduction of 130 hours for allowed hours - June 1, 2010 thru 2011 academic year - (this was U-M self-imposed.
3. Rich Rodriguez coach must attend an NCAA Rules Seminar (Something he already does)

So now that the slap on the wrist has came down by the NCAA, it is time to look forward, clear up all the bad publicity this has brought and WIN some football games and get back on track ! This was a huge distraction and a huge hurdle and is something everyone in Ann Arbor will be happy to put in the rear view. I also don’t expect this to be talked about as much now compared to when it was brought up now that it wasn’t that big of a deal.

Michigan Football Weekly Updates: Penn State Recap, Illinois Preview

Michigan Football Weekly Updates: Penn State Recap, Illinois Preview: "So, the Michigan Wolverines kept there losing streek going with another horrible performance on the road against the Penn State Nittany Lion..."

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Michigan Football Weekly Updates: Penn State Recap, Illinois Preview

Michigan Football Weekly Updates: Penn State Recap, Illinois Preview: "So, the Michigan Wolverines kept the losing slide going with another horrible performance against the Penn State Nittany Lions. I have a har..."

Penn State Recap, Illinois Preview

So, the Michigan Wolverines kept there losing streek going with another horrible performance on the road against the Penn State Nittany Lions. I have a hard time understanding why the offense was so slow out of the gate yet again this week just like the last few weeks before seemingly scoring whenever they want in the second half of the games. This week’s defensive performance and game plan by defensive coordinator Greg Robinson finally made me say out loud he should be fired. There is absolutely no reason he should be on this staff anymore. He doesn’t even go out and recruit and from what it looks like is that time spent staying at home isn’t going into setting up a better game plan on Saturdays. I give him the benefit of the doubt that he has had a huge turnover the last couple of years with players leaving and getting injured, but that doesn’t let him off the hook for the 3-3-5 getting beat by some walk on quarterback that nobody in the stadium even heard of until then. To have no pressure all game in the backfield and having the best player on the field Craig Roh playing outside linebacker dropping back in coverage all night is the dumbest thing I have ever seen before. Coach Robinson please go back to 4 down lineman with Roh on the edge and maybe blitz a few more times, instead of leaving the 4 true freshman naked in the secondary and a quarterback all the time in the world to finally find somebody open. This game was just an embarrassment for the Michigan faithful to watch.
            I have been pretty patient and thought it was the right thing to do bringing this staff back for another year. It will be very hard to convince me that if they lose the next two ballgames and don’t make it to a bowl game. Things won’t be any easier on defense with the only experienced corner J.T. Floyd out for the season with an injury to his ankle that he sustained at practice. It is just another bump in the road Rich Road explained, as they haven’t even been tackling in practice. The player in front of J.T falls during drill and J.T. falls over him and gets injured. That is a great example of how the last few weeks have been going. They also need to get Mike Shaw back being part of the offense and a healthy Mike Martin who has only played a few series the last two weeks. The season still can be salvaged and so can the coaches jobs, but this is starting to even wear on me and look grim for a few people on the staffs future.
            I will briefly go over the game or at least until I can’t stomach thinking about it anymore. Going into this game I thought for sure that Michigan would win on the road after what Illinois did to Penn State the week before. Denard once again played great running for 190 and passing for 190, only 20 yards away from being the only quarterback ever to run for 200 and pass for 200, three times in a season. Denard started a little slow and got knocked out of the game again that led to Tate not moving the ball. A big penalty slowed a drive that only netted a field goal, even though it was nice to see them able to kick a field goal. The first half was just awful to watch, Michigan couldn’t score while Penn State wasn’t having any problem with Royster running the ball all over the place. Penn State seemed to pick up about every third down and the defense couldn’t get off the field. This Penn State team was the worst third down team in the conference and the Michigan defense made them look like Peyton Manning was on the other team. The game seemed to come down to at the end of the half Jeremy Gallon having the ball bounce off his head and go out of bounds at the 2, leading to Michigan being conservative and having to punt, and Penn State being able to score and go up by 18 points at the end of the half. So, with the penalty on second down at the 4 yard line and settling for a field goal and not tying it up at 14 -14 was the start of the slip and then giving up two touchdowns at the end of the half in the final 3 minutes was just too much for the Wolverines to come back from.
Michigan made a great second half run after giving up a field goal and being down by 21 points at the beginning of the second half. The offense seemed to be more aggressive and let Denard do more things with the ball then they did in the first. Just being down by 21 they didn’t have the time to come back with. The Wolverines made it a 7 point game with 9 minutes to go and of course couldn’t catch a break. On the kick off a horrible late hit call was made giving Penn State the ball at the 50. So after only picking up 1 first down they were already in field goal range to close the game out.
            This was an awful game to lose going back home to play a better then expected Illinois team. Illinois seems to have a very good team with a much better defense then what was expected. I thought this Illinois team was a couple years away from being as good going into the season this year, but after watching their games against OSU, Mizzou, and Purdue they seem to be in the spot Michigan wanted to be. This looks to be one of Illinois last difficult games with their schedule being fairly easy to close out the season. Their young quarterback has played very well for a true frosh and the defense has been much better then anyone could have expected. I for one have been getting really pissed losing to Illinois, since I have a hard time figuring they have as much talent as Michigan does on the field, and I have a hard time thinking the Zooker is a better coach then Rich Rod ( even though Zook has been to more Rose Bowls then Rich and even the highest paid coach in the conference Ferentz).
            Illinois has a speedy quarterback Nate Scheelhaase that Michigan will have to put pressure on to keep this game winnable otherwise people will be thinking that Scheelhaase is the next Steve Young. The Illini will give most of their carries to the workhorse Mikel Leshoure; he seems to be a back that has his one or two big runs that Michigan will need to limit. They have a couple good receivers in A.J. Jenkins and Florida transfer Fayson. Illinois has the speed and talent to break any play deep. Pressure and contain will be the most important to stopping this from happening. Illinois isn’t having the best year throwing the ball, but the Michigan defense is the perfect cure for that since Michigan will be starting 4 true freshmen in the secondary and will play up to 8 on defense. They do run the ball very well with Scheelhaase and Leshoure and that is where the game will be decided. If Michigan limits the big plays and can force Illinois to limit the third down pick ups Michigan has a very good chance.
This game comes down to Michigan being able to score early and in the red zone, one of the huge Illinois defensive strengths is their red zone defense. If so I expect Michigan to win 35-31 at home, if not another 10 point loss since that seems to be what has been happening lately. Yes, I do understand I have picked Michigan to win every week, with the offense they have they should never be out of a game and that is why I think they can get back on track this week. This is a very big game for moral going into a winnable game at Purdue. Its time to be bowl eligible again and for my soon to be ex friend Butter Crunch Bruning to leave me alone, I cant take anymore of the House Juice Williams anymore after he ran all over Michigan a couple years ago in the Big House. It’s now Denard Robinson’s time to retain that title.
           

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Michigan Football Weekly Updates: Penn State Preview

Michigan Football Weekly Updates: Penn State Preview: "After a couple weeks of very bad football the Michigan Wolverines got a much needed bye week last week. This bye week was huge for a struggl..."

Michigan Football Weekly Updates: Indiana game leading into Michigan State

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Michigan Football Weekly Updates: Pollspeak.com

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Michigan Football Weekly Updates: Michigan Football Weekly Updates: Pollspeak.com

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Michigan Football Weekly Updates: Iowa game

Michigan Football Weekly Updates: Iowa game: "Stanzi was the Manzi in Ann Arbor on Saturday leading the Iowa Hawkeyes to a 38-28 rolling of the Wolverines. With penalties and turnovers d..."

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Penn State Preview

After a couple weeks of very bad football the Michigan Wolverines got a much needed bye week last week. This bye week was huge for a struggling team to get back on track and have some players get rested up. The three best players on the team all left the Iowa game early due to injury so they got all of last week off. Denard should be back and ready to lead the offense at close to full strength. David Molk will be back at the Center spot letting Michigan get back to normal and solidifying the line and Mike Martin should be back after his ankle was tweaked to position himself at the Defensive Tackle spot putting pressure on Penn State. These guys have to be healthy for a winning season this year.
            This week in practice Rich Rod jacked up the intensity and had the teams working hard getting prepared for a Penn State team on the ropes wanting to be knocked out. He made a change that really got some of the fans talking moving Big Will Campbell to the offensive side of the ball and Quentin Washington to the defensive tackle position to try to get both lines a jump start. Will has had a hard time finding the ball after the snap and a lot of people have blamed that on a coaching staff, not understanding the kid should have redshirted but he thought he was a sure lock NFL star, then got a rude awakening ever since on campus. The coaches also moved around some of the freshman safeties to the spur position to give them the chance of playing two positions and getting more playing time the rest of the season. The last couple weeks also really helped Terrance Talbott who was sidelined the first three weeks due to clearinghouse issues and started his second week he was eligible, the more reps this kid gets the better. Hopefully they will be a little more comfortable on the field now.
The last couple of weeks also were a good time to find out what side of the fence people were on regarding this team. The many closet Rich Rod haters got to come out and talk about how he doesn’t care about rivalries and big games. It also got the pro Tate Forcier supporters talking about a quarterback change that is needed. These fans are the embarrassing scum of the earth that just drive me crazy. You are telling me that you can’t even support a player who is being heralded as a Heisman contender. That is just ridiculous. These people need to find something better to do with the air they breathe. If you’re not 100 percent ALL IN FOR MICHIGAN, then get out!! Luckily this team isn’t last years team as many of the current players have said. It is ridiculous these youngsters have to be reminded about last year’s team. I think this team is a way different team made up of better leaders and players.
            Now to the Penn State game. It will be a white out at night like usual when the Wolverines play Penn State this year. This game is going to be huge for the rest of the season, I almost think it is the biggest game yet. Penn State is a team on the ropes with about as many injuries as the Wolverines have been dealing with this year. Being on the ropes could also be said about this Michigan team who people are just waiting to go 5-2 and not win again like they did last year. This game is going to be very interesting how the guys do; many of them there first big night game on national television. It wont help them prepare any that they will have no clue what quarterback will be playing for Penn State, with Bolden injured, Newsome struggling, and a walk on who played his first game last week. Bolden grew up in the state of Michigan and wasn’t heavily recruited by the Michigan staff and Newsome was supposed to be a Michigan man two years ago until he decommited at the end of the year. That could mean both of those guys are going to want to go show off against Michigan. Lucky for whoever it is they always have Royster to give the ball off to against a bad defense should help take the weight off.
            The Michigan offense should once again determine by themselves how many points they score. That is not being said cocky one bit, this offense has determined when they stop and don’t score most of the time. If Iowa can’t hold them under 500 yards I really don’t see Penn State doing it. The offense has to limit themselves to 1 turnover or less to make this game comfortable. It would be really nice to see the special teams show up and maybe make a field goal and kick the ball off in bounds. Either way I still think this week that the Wolverines take a huge step forward and get bowl eligible and beat Penn State 38-28. GO BLUE!!
           

Monday, October 18, 2010

Iowa game

Stanzi was the Manzi in Ann Arbor on Saturday leading the Iowa Hawkeyes to a 38-28 rolling of the Wolverines. With penalties and turnovers dooming the first half for the Wolverines preventing them to get anything on the scoreboard early was too much for the youngsters. Taylor Lewan was the first half drive killer as he had 3 penalties on 3 different drives that moved them backwards and stopped all momentum. You can’t have those mental errors when you are playing a better team and putting the defense out on the field with a short field to protect. Iowa proved that with a steady game plan and experience they will take those mistakes and turn them to a positive for them. Every time Michigan screwed up, Iowa turned that into points. Michigan did rally late and another turnover inside the 15 was huge and halted another scoring possession. After going the first five games with only 1 turnover and now having 7 in the last two games just shows what can’t go on if they expect to win. I don’t have a lot to say this week as too everyone that watched the game knows how it went down and what Michigan did wrong for the second straight game against a better opponent.
            Michigan proved that they can move the ball against anyone gaining over 500 yards against a tough Iowa defense, most of that came when they opened up the offense with Tate Forcier. After center David Molk went out of the game with an injury they put Denard behind center and totally changed up the play calling and that isn’t Denard’s style of game. Denard later would be knocked out of the game and Tate did a decent job at trying a late rally. I still am not a Forcier fan due to the debacle that went on this summer. Yes, he proved he can still play quarterback fairly well, but it led to the burning of Devin Gardner’s redshirt and on the last pass of the game showed with the lack of time with the receivers he isn’t on the same page as Roundtree cut off the route and Tate threw his second interception. I still hope Devin redshirts next year as he has the best tools of all the quarterbacks and is the future. I found it nice that the crowd supported Tate when he came in, but also a little nervous that so many people want him in the game after Denard had played really well so far. Tate is the best throwing weapon on the team, but he is still in my doghouse. The offense seemed to limit Denard for some reason, and when Tate came in they let it go.
            I have never in my life seen special teams as special as what Michigan has now. It is worse then any junior high team in the country. There has to be a player that can kick the ball. To look clueless every time they kick a field goal knowing there is no chance of it going in or being able to keep a kick in bounds is ridiculous for a Big 10 program. Two times in a row the Michigan kicker kicked the ball out of bounds at the end of the game giving Iowa the ball at the 40. These free yards isn’t at all good for the defense, they have enough trouble stopping somebody for going 80 yards. Then on the field goal, to have it blocked and everyone except Tyler Sash stand around confused is just embarrassing. I really think I am going to practice and walk on before the next game, I surely can kick the ball in bounds anyways, and field goals can’t look any worse.
            I can say the one and about only positive thing I saw was that this team unlike last years team showed no giving up. They tried to turn it into a game again and came close to doing so. This shows me that this team will show up and try hard the remainder of the season. With a bye week coming up hopefully they can clear their heads and heal their bodies. It sounds like Rich Rod had a come to Jesus meeting with the team as he made them have a full practice on Sunday to go over the mental mistakes. The team does get Monday off from football activities and will start things back up on Tuesday. This should help iron out any of the issues and I can promise you that this team will come back playing hard after their bye week this weekend. I expected Michigan to lose some of these games against better opponents when the schedule came out and I am still very pleased to be 5-2 and on path for a bowl game. For a report from the Iowa side of the ball your man J-Call should help get you get that fix.
           

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Michigan Football Weekly Updates: Pollspeak.com

Michigan Football Weekly Updates: Pollspeak.com: "Ever since Michigan jumped up a 1 spot in the polls a couple weeks ago, because of a late corrected ballot I have been keeping an entertaini..."

Pollspeak.com

Ever since Michigan jumped up a 1 spot in the polls a couple weeks ago, because of a late corrected ballot I have been keeping an entertaining eye on how certain people vote each week in the college football polls. Pollspeak.com is a great way to compare how voters rate each team so differently and how certain ballots look to have a funny regional favorite or theme to them. I have enjoyed being able to keep a watchful eye over the process the last few weeks now. I agree that early in a season it doesn’t really matter were a team is rated and most likely it won’t be changed or looked at until the last few weeks. Like when TCU was dropped a spot by the human poll last year so they wouldn’t have a chance to make the National Championship. This made me wonder how a team could all of a sudden not be looked at as a top team compared to the weeks before, or was it a way of the voters showing they didn’t want to take the heat for a TCU vs. Alabama national championship. Now with pollspeak it is a great tool to realize who these people are that will always vote the Big Ten down many spots compared to the SEC or the people who still love Texas and USC so much they have them in the top 15 even a couple losses.
            I give the AP voters some credit knowing their polls are going to be public and most likely that means their inbox each week will be full of emails complaining about their ballot. The Harris poll and USA today coaching poll I also think should become available to the public for scrutiny, since we all know that 75 percent of the coaches have an assistant or somebody on the staff fill out their poll. This system is very flawed and this weekly availability of the AP Poll really shows it. I think people would complain anyways in a playoff, even though I would love to see a playoff just so I would find out if Boise State would be able to actually win more then just 1 game to win the national championships, but who is to say voters don’t move them down or a certain team to 9th place so they get replaced by an Ohio State, Michigan, or Southern Cal. This would cause the same uproar as them getting voted out of the national championship in the system that is in place now.
Yes, don’t you guy's worry I also always seem to be that guy that sends a couple emails to a voter just wondering what they were thinking. This week I had three lucky winners that I sent emails to, one was a voter that had Alabama still third and the likes of Oklahoma, Nebraska and Boise State behind, also another voter that had Alabama 3 spots above Oklahoma. How can you really say after last week that Alabama is still deserving to be 3rd in the Nation is my question? I am not even an Oklahoma, Nebraska, or Boise State fan I just feel they are getting unfairly voted down at this point and time. Or are these people not watching the games, like one voter who at least admitted he didn’t watch the Iowa game and had no idea why he had them rated like he did. At least he is honest, because I am certain half these voters don’t watch any of the games. It would be like me talking to you about the Colorado State game, I would have no idea as I didn’t watch it. Another is a guy who constantly votes the Big 10 teams down, he has Ohio State 7th, and Michigan State finally rated this week at 23rd. You have got to be kidding me. He usually gets an email each week from me that he doesn’t respond to. Then finally the lovely lady from little brother Sparties hometown, she hadn’t had Michigan rated once this year and still has Texas in her top 25. Only thing I can muster up to think about that is from the great words of OchoCinco, “CHILD PLEASE”.
No system in the world will ever be perfect to everyone, but thanks to pollspeak.com and other people who constantly monitor the voters, it’s one of the best tools out their for us to keep an eye on the voters. Maybe it will finally make voters more conscious of their efforts, and will have them at least explain their reasoning. That is what we all deserve is just an explanation about why people voted for who and why. Let’s start holding voters more accountable for their actions and pay better attention to them. I will keep an eye on this an talk about it more as the year goes bye.
           

Monday, October 11, 2010

Michigan Football Weekly Updates: Little Brother Fights Back

Michigan Football Weekly Updates: Little Brother Fights Back: "Little Brother fights back once again this year. After preventing an early opportunity to be blown out, Michigan State puts it together on 5..."

Little Brother Fights Back

Little Brother fights back once again this year. After preventing an early opportunity to be blown out, Michigan State puts it together on 5 straight offensive possessions to win the game. Missed opportunities came early and often as Michigan proved when they can’t score that it means the defense still can’t give up the points. Those two early interceptions and missing a wide open receiver prevented them from being ahead early 21 to 0. Instead they led 3 to 0. Those interceptions were the ball game, and add that to a team that struggles kicking the ball, touchdown need to be mandatory. Michigan State did a good job holding the ball on offensive and keeping it out of the hands of Denard in the third quarter. The defense did make some early stops and too not have gotten a better lead and more points out of the offense was a blow that the Wolverines didn’t seem to be able to withstand. This will all have to change for continued success.
This was the third year in a row that Michigan State has won, and for some reason on this Saturday during the game I took the loss with ease knowing since Michigan plays in a real conference that they will have a chance to bounce back, and bounce back fast with homecoming against Iowa. I expect this team to have a few hiccups and so should everyone that cheers for them. My moral was intact all of Saturday to be shattered when Carson Palmer totally ruined it on Sunday. But, that is beyond the point.
            This game went from a potential blow out early for Michigan to a good win for Sparty. State seemed to have a well led team that stayed calm and weathered the storm. This loss could also be a good thing for Michigan, and I think if they rebound next week it will prove to be a good thing. The media who we all love so dearly had taken 1 player and forgot about the team. As Denard said, “After the game this is a team game and there is no I or Denard in Team”. Denard is a very humble player and always is smiling, which I kind of like and dislike all in 1. I like how he never takes things too serious and lets the bad things bring him down; I just also hate that smile after an interception. This loss will get the Heisman talk slowed down a little hopefully and get Michigan back to being were they should be in the lower part of the rankings. This team was never going to win them all, I really would think an 8 win season would be great, as this is a super young team and has a lot to keep building on as they progress. I think with the team being so young and most of them it will be the start of the rivalry for them and will also mean they will bounce back well against Iowa.
 I can’t blame the media for talking Heisman since that is what they are paid to do and are allotted so much time to talk about it, and then others who don’t know anything about the team, just make things up as they talk about the stats. I will never talk about Heisman until after the Ohio State game, since that is the game that almost matters the most as molding your future and career while at Michigan. My favorite is a writer who predicted Michigan would only be winning 3 games for the whole season and then after 5 games he talked about them running the table and winning the conference, as the great Mike Ditka would say to him “ C’MON Man. This loss could get the team back to reality and take the team to taking it one game at a time and be a very good thing.
The game against Sparty showed how the defense is going to be exploited when the offense can’t score when they are needed to do so. Not that Michigan State really stopped them yardage wise just the miscues inside the 10 yard line and dropped passes. The team just didnt' look sharpe. Denard had his usual 300 yards and will always have a lot of yards after each game it’s just that he can’t be turning it over so many times. Turnovers will cripple this team. In the previous 5 wins he had only 1 interception and since I think that every game will be close, 3 turnovers proved to be impossible to overcome. The wide receivers missed some easy catches, as 1 easy drop at the 2 yard line was followed by one of the red zone interceptions. We all know the defense will give up big numbers and still need to limit the water intake into the boat. A couple of injuries will hurt the team in the future as Tay Odoms and James Rogers were injured and Odoms looked to have broken his foot. Hopefully Junior Hemingway is getting healthy and will take over the lead wide receiver roll. It would also be nice to have a field goal kicker that could come through. At the end of the half the Wolverines had a chance to get 3 points and didn’t. This would have been a little bit of a momentum push for the Wolverines, instead they got nothing. If you watch even the extra points are a rodeo, with high snaps and missed kicks. This has to be taken a closer look at and fixed.
This week’s upcoming game is a huge game to get the ball rolling forward again, as it could make for a big impact on how the season goes. This will be homecoming and played in front of another sell out at home. Last year the offense wasn’t as close to the being at the same place they are at now and still had a close outcome against the Hawkeyes. Denard will now be the fulltime quarterback against the Hawkeyes scary defense as he only had a couple minutes at the end to do anything last year. Denard did look good and that was before he could throw the ball at all. I am excited to go to this game and watch in person and see the new renovations. I will of course have the cell phone at the hotel room for sure while this game goes on. This game will come down to the offense limiting its turnovers and scoring points. Iowa has an experienced team and will play the same style of football Michigan State did this past week. The key to the game is will Iowa keep the ball on the ground and keep its offense vanilla like they sometimes do, if so it will be another great opportunity for the Wolverines. This game will be different then last weeks and last years as Michigan will be victorious 38- 31. Go Blue !

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Indiana game leading into Michigan State

Another exciting game this past Saturday for the Michigan Wolverines football team as once again this weeks game came down to the final drive. Luckily for Michigan they were team with the ball and were led by the explosive Denard Robinson. Once again for the second time of the year Denard led the team down to a victory in the last minute to beat the Indiana Hoosiers 42 – 35. Denard made history as he was the first quarterback to throw for 200 yards and also rush for 200 yards, the last person to do that in their career was the great Longhorn Vince Young who Michigan fans know all too well after what he did in the Rose Bowl years ago against them. This was another great performance for Denard who looked great once again. Denard did get banged up a little again and after he came back Michigan looked a little tentative in having him push the offense like he had done in the first half and couldn’t ever stretch the lead past 7 or 14 points. I will credit the defense for making the Hoosiers punt more then they did score in the second half and keep Michigan from falling behind during that team. The defense isn’t their yet and it will be another year to they start improving with them playing 8 true freshman in the defensive rotation, but you tell Oregon that defense is that big of a deal, because that team also gives up 500 yards a game and nobody really mentions it.
The offense was without Michael Shaw who was injured with a knee injury and wanted to give him the week off before the Michigan State game so it was needed of Vincent Smith to fill in and take the majority of the plays in the backfield. This he did well running the ball 9 times for 80 yards and had a huge 56 yard touchdown in the third quarter to keep Michigan ahead. The Wolverines went to a lot of big back sets with a tight end or big true freshman Stephen Hopkins leading the way for Denard. Denard was solid through the air as he had two different receivers come through with over a hundred yards receiving. Junior Hemingway is looking like the receiver we saw two years ago before he has been riddled with injures, a lot with him is I personally think he was lazy and out of shape coming into this year and was hampered by a hammy injury due to that. He has always been talked about as being the best athlete on the team; we just haven’t seen that translated on the field very much. He is a big body that can stretch the field and with Stonum and sure handed Roy Roundtree the receivers are starting to look a lot better. The offense line did once again a great job and holding their blocks and moving to the next level against Indiana giving clear running lanes for the backs. The offense stays healthy it should find much success this year.
            I got so many texts about how they look 8 man or they have a Big 12 defense. Well all that matters is that Denard gets the ball with one minute to go and to win the game. These people I thank you for turning it to ESPNU and checking out what all the hype is about, but if you don’t have a clue what your talking about please leave me alone I don’t text you about Iowa or Oklahoma or whatever team it is you’re a fan of. I really don’t care how many points they give up or how they beat the other team by only a couple points, just as long as they win. Iowa did really well last year only beating teams by a few points as I remember.
These first 5 games have already helped with getting back in with the big name recruits and hopefully Friday Michigan will find out they landed the top all purpose running back in the nation, Floridian Dee Hart who will start day one in Ann Arbor. They are about a year away from doing really insane things and looking like Oregon is out now, except then Michigan will be able to out recruit teams like that and be scary good. But, back to this year, 1 game at a time and 1 win at a time. Things are looking good for now and that 8 wins and a Florida or bowl game in Texas is very possible. That will be great for these youngsters as it will mean more practice time and more time for recruits to see Michigan on national television.
            This weekend they might have what some people will call the biggest game in Rich Rodriguez’s coaching career at Michigan so far. I think it should be a big game, but not that much hype. Michigan State has a hard hitting defense and an experienced offense led by a solid quarterback. I don’t think its fair to compare last years game that went into overtime to what will go on this year, both programs had issues going on last year that affected their seasons. Both teams played Notre Dame closely and almost look about even with Michigan having just a few breakout athletes on their squad. I think once again this game will be all about scoring points, and I expect Michigan to score more then the little brother Spartans and win 38- 34. This would make the Wolverines bowl eligible and be a huge momentum swing upwards going into homecoming with the Hawkeyes coming to town. GO BLUE!

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Bowling Green Wrap Up

It was blow out city this past Saturday in Ann Arbor as the Michigan offense was on a roll all day no matter who was behind center winning huge over Bowling Green 65 to 21.  The Michigan offense racked up a school record 721 yards with 466 of them coming on the ground as the rushing attack went wild all day long. The offense scored on all but 2 series and never having to punt, one series ending with a dropped touchdown, followed by a touchdown called back ,then finally fumbling. The other drive they gave up the ball on 4th down inside the 30, only not scoring because they can’t seem to find a field goal kicker and would rather just test their luck on fourth down. I really think this not having a kicker will hurt them in a close loss later this year. The defense seemed to play a little better, even with Marvin Robinson playing a limited roll at the end of the game and Greg Banks and Carvin Johnson still resting to be 100 percent for the big ten season opener.
            I was lucky enough to catch the whole game on TV even being in Indianapolis for UFC 119 and it seemed the big story line of the whole game other then the horrible announcing on ESPN 2, was the over reaction of Denard Robinsons knee injury. Denard was on pace for 800 total yards and had 150 in just the first 5 minutes of the game and finished the game with 180 yards and two touchdowns in 10 minutes of playing time. It did get a little scary after he hit his knee straight to the ground on his final run of the day a 47 yard run out of bounds. This really got the idiots in the booth talking about could this injury be really serious and then on the bottom of the screen it would flash Michigan’s Denard Robinson out of game due to knee injury. The announcers left out the fact that after a little time on the sideline he put his helmet on and ran back to be in the game, but Rich Rod caught him and said no way are we putting you back in when up by 2 scores. Any other game of the year Denard would be back out their running wild.
It was good to see that Michigan has two very serviceable back ups in Devin Gardner and Tate Forcier. Devin looked great running and throwing and that was without the help of wide receiver Junior Hemingway who dropped a for sure touchdown and David Molk who the next play made a bonehead late hit after a big touchdown pass. Devin’s future is going to be amazing; he has the frame to run hard, and can throw on the money. Next was Tate Forcier who should be the back up and let Devin redshirt except he wanted to be a baby all summer and not work out very much with the team and fall to third string. Tate was on all day and broke the completion record as he went 12 for 12 for a 120 yards and a touchdown. This depth will be a good thing as the season moves forward.
            The first quarter was all Denard as he ran all over the Bowling Green team before he was taken out due to the knee precautions. Denard had amassed 130 yards rushing already and 60 yards passing. To end the quarter new quarterback Devin Gardner kept things rolling with a touchdown pass to Jeremy Gallon for his first ever touchdown reception as a Wolverine to lead 21 to 0 at the end of the stanza. This combination of Gardner and Gallon could sure be awesome to watch for the next few years.
            The second quarter saw the defense let up and the team look a little flat emotionally with a big lead and Denard being out as Bowling Green scored two quick touchdowns. 1 of those touchdowns was the usual 71 yard big pass we have seen are defense give up every game so far. This has to stop once big ten play starts. I think they get comfortable and then forget to tackle and run to the ball thinking that a linebacker is actually going to tackle in the middle of the field which everyone in the stands knows isn’t going to happen. These two scores were put out by the Michigan offense responding with a Michael Shaw touchdown run at the end of the half to keep Michigan leading 28 to 14.
            The second half would be start with Bowling Green snapping the ball through the end zone for a Michigan safety and the rest of the game would go from their as it was a Michigan clinic for the rest of the game.  Michigan would score 16 points in the third quarter and 21 in the fourth quarter and limit Bowling Green to just one. If you were a Michigan running back and remembered to have your pads on during the game you got to play. The line was making huge holes and one after another a running back was running through them. Fitzgerald Toussaint who everyone wanted to see played in his first game back from an injured hamstring and ran for 66 yards on just two carries and Mike Cox made his first carries of the year also and he recorded his first rushing touchdown of his career wearing the maize and blue helmet. The second string offensive line constructed of all redshirt freshman and sophomores looked great, this group has a lot of people talking about a great future with getting back to having great lineman again coming out of Michigan. This game was great for all the youngsters as they all would get valuable playing time and some confidence going into the big ten seasons.
            For the second time in the last two years Michigan finished their non-conference schedule 4-0 and ranked 19th in the nation. Except this year the offense is way better, with a more explosive quarterback threat and a healthy offensive line that makes all the difference in the world. The defense is also once again the question as they are about as bad as they were last year. The defense just needs to limit those huge plays and let the offense get a lead to hold onto. Michigan will open big ten play with Indiana who gave them a scare last year and can score points very fast. I still am not sure if Michigan will cover the 11 point Vegas spread, but expect to see a 38 to 31 ball game with the Wolverines being 5 and 0 going into a huge rivalry game against little brother Michigan State next weekend. GO BLUE!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Massachusetts Wrap Up

Michigan survives a so called scare after big win last weekend defeating Massachusetts 42 – 37. The game for us fans that watched it, didn’t seem all that scary until maybe the last couple of minutes. Many fans expected to watch a UMassacre but instead saw Michigan’s defense struggle in the opening and finishing quarters. The game saw UMass jump out to a 17 to 7 lead after their first 4 possessions and Michigan only having possesed it three times. I was never really worried as after that Michigan scored 35 of the next 42 points of the game. It came down to a onside kick that went out of bounds and people that saw the final score had no idea with ten minutes to go Michigan was up by 18. This was a good win for the guys as they are now 3 and 0 going into week 4.  This UMASS team showed the Michigan team what they will need to focus on going forward and that they will have to be serious the whole game and not let up with ten minutes to go anymore and will show that this week against Bowling Green. Not that it should be an excuse but the defense was without 2 starters and depth is going to be huge issue in the secondary this year. Let’s just hope this was all just an emotional let down.
Many people brought up the all so famous Appalachian State game after this, since they just saw the score was close but need to know that both those teams in that game were way better then the ones that played on this Saturday. Yes, Michigan is 3 and 0 and that is great. I almost wish they weren’t even rated, but since people like to talk Heisman so early in the season even after just the first few weeks. The media is of course going to talk about Denard Robinson and then have no clue were this defense is really at or what is going on with the rest of the team. Got to love the people who try to jump on the bandwagon after two weeks or exitement and then all of a sudden you hit a little bump in the road and they start to ask those crazy questions and start to show there true colors. These so called experts that now praise Denard didn’t even know Denard was going to start the season behind center and now want all the credit about his success. This is a team that should win 7 or 8 games, anything better then that is going to be a great success. So for all of those who listen to the guys who don’t know more then the 1 player Denard Robinson and all the talk of running the table need to slow down and take it easy. This is a very young team and remember at this point last year Michigan was 3 and 0 with Tate Forcier on the front of the Sports Illustrated, and now look at this year, he is third string and that team finished 5 and 7.
            The first quarter saw Denard make his first bad decision of the year throwing the ball on the first series for Michigan. Michigan had quickly brought the ball up to the 50 and then Denard made a bad read across the middle of the field. This error led to a UMASS touchdown and they jumped out to an early 7 to 0 lead. Michigan responded with a Michael Shaw touchdown run at the end of the quarter to tie things up at 7-7. This was a breakout game for Shaw as he ran for 126 yards on just 12 carries. It was nice to see him finally read the holes and take his time and burst threw. He had a lot of questions as to the lack of production after the first two games. I think a lot of that had to do with the quarterback read and Shaw just be handed the ball with no place to go resulting in his numbers looking so bad. His success is much needed and is funny as it results in Denard not having to run as much and not needed to pick up so many yards and people not understanding that when they ask why Denard didn’t run for 500 yards this game. The run game from Shaw was a huge positive this week.
The second quarter saw two quick UMASS scores as they jumped out to a 17-7 lead. Michigan struggled on defense on many crossing patterns and just looked plain lazy. I had started to ask myself if the linebackers were just that bad, or invisible. On one run by the quarterback Jonas Mouton looked like he didn’t even want to talk him and was hoping the quarterback was going to run out of bounds. The level of play has to be picked up from here on out. Thankfully the Michigan offense was fined tuned today and with a minute left Denard found Daryl Stonum on a 66 yard touchdown pass to make it more of a game and from this time on Michigan didn’t really look back. A UMASS fumble in the last minute would also lead to Michigan scoring with 16 seconds to regain the lead on another Stonum reception for a touchdown. This was the first time people had seen the Stonum that everyone expected the day he started as a freshman. This is a very good sign for things to come. Michigan would go into half leading 21 to 17.
The third quarter would be all Michigan as they would score twice on another Shaw touchdown and Denard Robinson scamper to the endzone. The defense started to tighten up and make the plays they needed. Without Carvin and Marvin in the secondary due to knee and shoulder injuries it was a little sketchy in the first half and was good to see them play much better in the third quarter. With this lead it also allowed Michigan to get a good look at backup redshirt freshman Taylor Lewan who looked awesome. Taylor could start at many other programs and is the first sign in a couple years that the offensive line has some depth.
The fourth quarter saw this defense that played so much better in the third quarter take a nap and relax. UMASS scored at the start of the quarter to tighten the game up to 35 to 24. Michigan would then score their last touchdown on another Shaw run to find themselves up by 18 points with 10 minutes to go. This is when the defense would start to look as bad as they had in a year with the effort and lack of knowing the assignments, it was just a sad thing to see. UMASS would score with 5 minutes ago making this game a little more interesting and then proceed to stop Michigan on a third and two. Michigan is out their to punt and the special teams who have been playing so awful this year and already missed another field goal this game would drop the snap and get it blocked giving UMASS the ball at the 25 yard line. Thomas Gordan would then intercepted his first career pass that looked liked it would seal the game and then then as he went down he fumbled the ball that would then get back into the UMASS players hands and that’s how UMASS scored the last touchdown. So, they just wouldn’t go away until finally the onside kick went out of bounds and Michigan then ran out the clock.
The last 5 minutes of not being able to close the door resulted in a closer then needed to be victory for the Wolverines. This also will be something this team can grow from and improve on to make sure they never let up again. Hopefully next week Marvin Robinson will return to the defense from injury for sure and will help solidify the secondary a bit more. The special teams also need to finally start producing points and decent punts, they cant miss field goals every week. The Victors will be at home again this week as the finish off their out of conference schedule with Bowling Green. I expect to see another 40 points scored and this time the defense will play better and only give up around 17, so expect Michigan to be 4 and 0 and around 20th in the nation after this Saturday going into conference play.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Notre Dame Game wrap up

It’s great to be a Michigan Wolverine. Another great game for the Michigan Wolverines this week as they beat the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on the road 28- 24. This was another great win for Rich Rodriguez’s club. The win now makes them 2-0 and back in the national polls after being unranked since week 4 of last year. Denard Robinson looked amazing once again and put together another classic of a game that won him the National Player of the week honors for the second week in a row. Denard is the first player ever to win these honors two weeks in a row. The defense did enough to keep Notre Dame from winning only really making two bad decisions that hurt the team. This might not seem like a stunning victory, but it should be a big deal as this is only the 5th time Michigan has won in South Bend in 33 years. A lot of good Michigan teams have went down their and lost, so anytime you can beat Notre Dame on the road is a great thing. The game made for a great Saturday afternoon for me to cheer like crazy downstairs all by myself, while the rest of the household was busy watching some blow out in-state rivalry watching a fellow Big Ten team dominate the lesser Big 12 program.
            The game started with what looked like Tate Forcier saying he was sorry for his sideline antics last week as this week on national TV as he hugged Rich Rod to start the game. The first quarter started with a quick opening 3 play series from the offense that forced them to punt. Dayne Crist easily led Notre Dame down the field to secure the 7 – 0 lead. Michigan returned with the two touchdown drives to lead at the end of the first 14 to 7. I was started to get worried if I was going to see a blow out and if last week was just setting me up for failure as I had put my faith back in this team to win. But, No worries Denard is still behind center as the first touchdown was an awesome quarterback draw pass. The play was executed perfectly as it forced the safeties up to stop the run and Denard hit wide open Roy Roundtree for a 31 yard touchdown pass. The next of the quarter was a scoring drive that saw Denard run all over the defense again and was finished off by a Stephen Hopkins touchdown on his first career carry. What a great start to his career that was by scoring on his first carry, and if you would have read the preview you would have expected a little dose of the big bodied Hopkins.
            The second quarter saw a couple different Notre Dame quarterback due to Crist having some vision problems after his sneak into the end zone in the first quarter. This was a good thing for Michigan with Notre Dame looking rattled and two new quarterbacks that only took a third of the practice snaps this week for the golden domers. They had true freshman Rees who was intercepted by Jonas Mouton on his second career pass trying to throw on a flee flicker that fooled nobody and next to look bad was Nick Montana play, who luckily for us Michigan fans didn’t have on a pair of his dads shape ups on, because he was throwing all over the field to anyone not wearing a Notre Dame helmet. The offense did move the ball pretty effectively and saw Denard use his speed to score on an electrifying 85 yard touchdown run to end the half. The first half saw Michigan shoot out of cannon again this week and finished with the lead 21- 7.
            In the third quarter, we saw the return of Dayne Crist and with him 10 quick points by Notre Dame as the lead quickly shrunk to 21 to 17. The youngsters started to look around a little bit and the Michigan offense got stranded at mid field often and couldn’t seem to convert on a couple short third down plays that they should of. This made me start to question Rich Rod a couple times and short third downs on why the don’t just run as they would call for a 15 yd pass, it didn’t make a lot of sense to me. The defense totally blew a coverage that led to the Notre Dame so called touchdown. If you look at the video the Notre Dame receiver started to celebrate at the two yard line and toss the ball into the end zone. Notre Dame quickly sprinted out and kicked the extra point and NBC conveniently didn’t show the replay until after the TV timeout. Way to go NBC!
            The fourth quarter came down to Michigan just not wanting to put the game away. 3 times they got down inside the Notre Dame twenty and didn’t score. Redshirt Freshman Brendan Gibbons missed two field goals that should have sealed the game and the third drive saw Michigan go backwards on third down after converting the third down due to a holding call. I am pretty sure that I could have made the second missed field goal and I am not an Army Bowl All American so maybe I needed to show up for the open tryouts. These misques would have put Notre Dame away, but instead they gave Notre Dame another chance to win the game. Out of nowhere comes this rainbow as it hadn’t been raining for hours, I started to almost think Touchdown Jesus was maybe real. My friend texted me and warned me of how this rainbow would also bring nothing good to the stadium and he was sure right, as Notre Dame somehow completed a 95 yard touchdown pass on the worst coverage I have seen in a while to retain the lead. Thomas Gordon looked as if he was playing 500 and the sun got in his eyes and then got out ran by the slowest guy on the field. But, as the rainbow went away the air and stadium would turn blue again, and also I personally just think that Michigan wanted to just raise Notre Dames hopes and then crush them back down. It was now time for the man himself Denard Robinson to put together one of the best drives in Michigan history against Notre Dame and win the game. His run ability and clutch 3rd down completions sealed his fate in history as Michigan would score on Denard short scamper into the end zone and win 28-24. Notre Dame did have a chance at a late Hail Mary, but Crist thought the tuba player in row 4 was open and threw it out of the end zone.
            This was one of the greatest performances by a Michigan player in history as Denard Robinson accumulated 502 total yards. If you would have bet he would have attempted 40 passes people would have thought you would be crazy. He completed 24 of those 40 passes for 244 yards and a touchdown, and ran the ball 28 times for 258 yards. Once again if they gave away the Heisman after week two he would easily have won it. This easily goes in my personal top 5 performances I have ever seen as a Michigan fan, with the likes of what John Navarre did against Iowa, and Tim Biakabutuka did against Ohio State. It was just purely amazing. Denard was part of 94% of the Michigan offensive production, if you compare that to the best Vince Young ever had done was compile 84% of the yards at Texas. That is simply astounding. Expect to see his picture all over the place and the upcoming Sports Illustrated.
            The offense was lucky to see the surprising appearance of Roy Roundtree as he was supposed to be injured and doubtful this week. He played great taking some huge hits again and coming up with some great catches. He also rebounded well to dropping a great pass form Denard that would have been a hard catch anyway and played his heart out and never let it get him down. The offensive line played well again, but they do need to stop shooting themselves in the foot with those holding calls in big situations on the opponent’s side of the field. The defense as a whole played great, they just need to be aware of the big play and start wrapping up as they missed some open field tackles. They did force three interceptions and I haven’t seen that in a while. The defense keeps improving and should get a chance over the next few weeks to get ready for Big 10 conference play. It will also give Carvin Johnson who missed this game a chance to heal and be back at the starting spur position. Walk-on two years ago and now starting safety Jordan Kovacs who should have his own movie pretty soon had 7 tackles and an interception, as he would make Rudy look slow and non athletic.
            This game was another huge momentum factor for the young team to keep improving to the future and really helped the outlook of getting back to a bowl game. The next few weeks they should have a chance to get other players some more playing time and get tuned up for big ten play. I expect to see Hopkins get some more carries and Devin Gardner some reps at quarterback to give him some game experience. The return of Junior Hemingway is going to be huge to the outside wide receiver spot as Stonum and Odoms had to play over 80 snaps and that is too much to expect them to be fresh. It’s great to be a Michigan Wolverine going back home to play UMASS as the # 20th team in the nation. Rich Rod should really be feeling great now. Go Blue!