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!