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 !