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 20^th in the nation after this Saturday going into conference play.