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.

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 4^th 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 3^rd 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 6^th 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 25^th 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.

Michigan Football Weekly Updates: Michigan Season Preview and Season Predictions

Michigan Football Weekly Updates: Michigan Season Preview and Season Predictions: "2010 Michigan football preview The Michigan Wolverines football team returns to its 131st year of football with more people looking on and..."

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 6^th 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.

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..."

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.