The Sun Also Rises

(HT: Mike DeSimone)

Michigan 40, Ohio 34

The ball came and he went up for it like a whirling gyre amidst the chaos. He came down with it, assessed the situation, and said "I will go there." And he did. The sun shone as he reached that place once again, that place he once knew but had for a time forgotten, like a soldier in a faraway land holding a grainy picture of a girl or a dilapidated home that maintained only a tenuous mental existence, like a dream instantly forgotten upon awaking. He crossed the line and remembered it all. The obstacles around him twisted and stumbled and fell as he came through, unable to reconcile the reality with their worldviews that it disrupted the laws of physics as they knew it for a brief moment. Everything collapsed around him but each step forward ushered in a new civilization, a new idea, a new hope. Each step to that end was a tacit affirmation of everything that was good but hadn't been for so long. 

It was the first salvo of many in the second half, but Michigan never trailed again after that point. It was a tacit understanding that this was the end; this wasn't last time, or the other time or the other time. It was a time unto itself, flourishing in the culture of its newness. 

When the last pass fell into the arms of Courtney Avery like he was welcoming someone's long-awaited return, he sat on the sidelines and smiled. The sun seemed to have risen, like the rows upon rows of Michigan Stadium before a third down play. It was strong but not malevolent. It shone pure lucidity, a clarity that made all actions obvious so that the intermediaries of thought to action were obviated by the circumstances. Run to the student section. And they went. He jumped up for the last time and the world was upon him. Hands and faces and shouts: happiness. He held onto the moment because it would be the last time.

The streak is over but on this particular day the streak doesn't mean a thing. It was about Michigan and Michigan alone. It was their day in the sun, and they took it. When the adrenaline had subsided, the fans had left the stadium, and helmets were off and held in hand, only one thought remained, only one could rightly be had: Michigan had won. It was ironclad. 

They sang The Victors. The noise that rang out bellowed, each syllable pounded into the air like a fist. It could be heard from far away. I think I hear it now. Eyes all searched for something to say we won to, and the air was charged with something that carried the scent of momentum, a latent buildup of something. Plans were laid and a bridge was built. All that's left to do is marvel. The room buzzed and they marveled. 

The Offense

Like RVB said in the post-game presser, this probably wasn't Denard's "best" game if numbers alone are the determining factor, especially with the 2010 ND game in the not too distant past. With that said, as far as virtuoso quarterback performances go, this game reminded me of Chad Henne's Rose Bowl against Texas, Tom Brady against Alabama, Henne against the Gators, &c. For the first time this year, Denard looked like a complete quarterback, like a guy who truly could beat you with his arm the minute you thought it was okay to cheat on the run. That's not to say that past iterations of Denard weren't great, but I think this might be my favorite Denard performance of all time, and yes, that includes last year's ND game. 

His throws had zip and were on target, and although he didn't have as prolific a day as the aforementioned guys with respect to pure yardage, it was as efficient a day as you could have wanted. Denard was 14/17 for 167 yards and 3 TDs through the air, and he of course added 170 yards and 2 TDs on the ground just for fun. You could say that this was an example of a Denard-Borges offense at the height of its powers, except, you know, we get one more year of this. This was just a preview. 

At this point, any complaints about Borges are so minor as to be downright irrelevant if not absurd. Sure, you have to take into account subpar performances against MSU and Iowa, but if you survey the season on a macroscopic level it is astoundingly clear that this offense is much more dangerous than it was back in September, when the offense consisted of jump balls and a run offense that was 2010-esque in its inability to find production from anybody not named Denard Robinson. Denard's command of the offense and Borges's command of the circumstances have improved by leaps and bounds; there's a lot to be excited about for next year, not to mention the fact that the fires of an offseason QB "controversy" have been effectively extinguished. 

The numbers themselves don't even do the performance justice. The types of throws Denard made on Saturday were good throws for any quarterback, and plays that evinced the types of attributes that a good quarterback would have, let alone a spread quarterback trying to do something new. The touch pass to Koger up the middle, the 28-yarder to Dileo, the Hemingway touchdown, the patience on the Odoms touchdown: these are the manifestations of Denard's progression as a passer. I don't want to hear the word "regression" anymore. Life isn't a series of unflinching black and white. Bad and good things happen but that doesn't necessarily indicate a trend or even a trend that is doomed to stick if it's a bad one. 

Oh, and he was sort of alright running the ball too. Rich Rodriguez must've been watching those veer plays thinking "Really? COME ON." It was downright scary how reminiscent of White & Slaton some of those plays looked, but I guess the sledding gets much less tough when you have a talented back like Toussaint to pair up with Denard. On Twitter Brian noted that Denard needed to start keeping, and, as if on cue, he did just that. Perhaps most encouragingly--more than the actual output itself---is that he ran like 2010 Denard again. He looked as fast as he always was after leaving me wondering at various points this year if he had lost a half step. He was aggressive and his movements were purposeful: read and GO, and maybe embarrass some people in the process:

If Etienne Sabino is a Beatles fan, "Hello Goodbye" was probably playing in his head at that very moment in time. There are many more runs like that one. The fumble and the almost lost fumble were the only real blemishes on an otherwise tremendous day on the ground and through the air.

Elsewhere, Toussaint did what he does. Another year of Toussaint and Denard plus a group of solid wideouts (and a legitimate deep threat in Stonum) and an OL that returns more than enough folks should provide for a fun 2012 season on offense.

How perfect was it that seniors like Odoms, Hemingway, and Koger all scored touchdowns in their final games in the Big House? It was a perfect end to a trio of careers that had their fair share of setbacks, frustrations, and moments of doubt. It's hard to play favorites with any of these guys, but Steve Breaston: RBUAS::Odoms: me. I'm sad to see him go and it's hard to believe that this was his last game in the Big House. Listening to this past week's MGoPodcast's discussion about Odoms re: the weather during the '08 Northwestern game gave me laugh and then got me to thinking how quickly time can pass without your approval. I'm not sure what lies ahead for Odoms et al, but if this season is any indication then I'm sure it will only be the best of things.

And if you needed one more thing to smile about, I give you Denard, post-game: "I'm glad I stayed."

The Defense

Thomas Gordon breaks it down as others do things

Well, that didn't quite go as expected. The Buckeyes put up a number of big plays and 34 points on a Michigan defense that had risen meteorically from last year's level of unadulterated futility. The secondary breakdown on the long TD last week against Nebraska was an indicator that despite the improvement, this defense wasn't exactly immune to giving up the big play, but nobody thought that a Bollman offense could have come into Ann Arbor and performed like that. Yes, Michigan escaped with the win and that is definitively all that matters. Michigan's defensive renaissance isn't to be casually dismissed on the heels of one bad game, but it is a subtle (okay, not so subtle) reminder that scheme and coaching go a long way, but talent and experience need to be there as well. Michigan has the former set in spades, but the latter (i.e. talent, experience, and depth) still needs some work to say the least. 


With that said, credit is due to Ohio State, namely Braxton Miller, for coming into The Game with an aggressive gameplan as opposed to prior games where there was seemingly no gameplan at all. It was hard not to watch and have visions of 2004 Troy Smith run through your head but we got the win so those will be set aside until next year. I had a feeling that OSU would definitely do better than they had throughout the season because it's The Game fergosakes, but still...I don't think anybody expected to give up that many points or big plays. 


It seemed to me that, even late, Mattison wasn't really respecting Miller's ability to go downfield and it almost burned us there. Countess got his lunch taken a few times, and so did Floyd on the Miller overthrow in the last drive. The later was a little discouraging given the situation in the game as well as the fact that Floyd has defended moves like that before, particularly against AJ Jenkins of Illinois. 


The numbers are actually not that bad. Michigan gave up 372 total yards (with my mind still sort of expecting RR era results, less then 400 yards=GOLD JERRY GOLD), and the Buckeyes racked up only 137 rushing yards on 31 carries, good for 4.4 ypc. That's not terrible. Michigan held Dan Herron to 43 yards on 15 carries, and he is pretty good even if OSU's 2011 OL hasn't been the best in recent memory. Of course, where Michigan got beat was when Braxton Miller decided to turn into a jazz musician in cleats and improvise all over the place. There's a reason he was a highly-touted recruit; the guy can play. He's not there yet, but given Michigan's lack of defensive speed and relative inexperience in spots, it's not hard to see why Miller had the game that he did, even if other lesser teams held him in check. Did I expect it? No, but I'm not exactly surprised. In any case, despite the points, Michigan notched 7 TFLs, including 4 sacks. Even when Michigan is getting 34 dropped on them, they're still doing some good things. That, and Demens and Morgan lead the team in tackles with 10 and 8 respectively. That's what you want. 


It will be interesting to see how Michigan responds in the bowl game, particularly if they face a team like Houston that will throw and throw and throw some more. Despite the defensive turnaround by the numbers, I would caution people to not get too excited just yet. I know, thanks Cornelious Buzzkillington...but it's true. Giving up plays of 36, 43, and 54 yards does not bode well if we are to face a team like Houston, unless we can get pressure with the front four (and I think it's a reasonable assumption to say that we will). I won't lie and say that the defensive performance wasn't a little disappointing, but (WE) BEAT OHIO. Michigan will spend the next month or so getting some invaluable coaching; guys like Morgan, Ryan, and Countess will basically have a second fall camp to get ALL THE MATTISON COACHING. 



Special Teams

Gibbons?

Gibbons has quietly put together a fine season (10/14 on the year and 48/48 on extra points), and has become, dare I say it, "reliable." That 43-yarder was about as clutch as you can get without being a straight up "if you don't make this we lose" situation. Hagerup had his derp moment (I'd put it here but you've all seen it already). I like that Hoke always dismisses these occurrences as a product of "probability." It's: a) true and b) serves to not completely destroy a kid's confidence. I like it.

Otherwise, Hagerup did well with his other 2 punts, returns were average as usual, and OSU's returns teams were generally a non-factor save for one 31-yard kick return from Jordan Hall. 2011 special teams, I love you so much.

Miscellaneous Minutiae 

• Make no mistake about it, OSU will be back. That team has talent--quite frankly, the talent gap is still pretty wide--and all it will take is some coaching. OSU will have the offensive side covered; if Urban can make a good DC hire then the Buckeyes will likely get back to being pretty good on defense again. Injuries didn't help and some guys (Travis Howard) turned out to be nowhere near as good as anybody expected, but they will be fine next year. 

• Michigan went undefeated at home for the first time since 2006. Clearly Pop Evil is having some sort of adverse effects on our opponents as well. 

• I wonder how many wins in a row it will take for OSU fans to stop talking about the 7-game streak? It seems like talk of Michigan's ownage of PSU pretty much came to an end last year. I'd say two more and we're good.

• Brady Hoke unleashed his inner 7 year old by utilizing the word "funner" post-game. Brady, if you keep winning you can continue to pepper your coachspeak with non-words as much as you please. 

• Martavious Odoms doubled his previous career TD output throughout the last three games, scoring one in each game. PAHOKEE UBER ALLES. 

• MGoBlue.com Notes, always full of interesting trivia that you may or may not want to know. Did you know that Brady Hoke is the fifth Big Ten coach ever to win 10+ in his first season? Well, now you do. 

• Michigan is now 58-44-6 against Ohio. I bid you adieu, 57.

Sweet Homecoming

Best adjective for Al Borges's physique...lumpy? Wave field-esque? Buxom?
(HT: Mike DeSimone)

Michigan 36, Purdue 14

Michigan has seven wins in hand having played two less games than they did at the seven win mark last season (coincidentally, both wins against Purdue). At this point, Michigan is grabbing wins like items at an Old Country Buffet; these things might not be of high quality, but this is America and MORE is better than anything else. Yes, I am comparing the quality of Big Ten competition to the lukewarm comestibles of a buffet chain. 

There's not much to say other than that this one was vaguely reminiscent of conference blowouts of old. Despite beating Illinois (which, at this point, might not even have been an "upset") last weekend in the friendly confines of Ross-Ade, I didn't have that sinking feeling about this game that I had before Northwestern. Michigan is a decidedly better team than Purdue and Saturday bore that out from start to finish, a small blip at the onset notwithstanding. It was a cool and comfortable victory, and maybe this is more a commentary on the state of football at Purdue but the entire thing felt like it occupied a level of hype just a touch above that of your average non-conference game. If you looked at the relative emptiness of the student section at any point, you would've almost imagined that maybe Eastern Michigan or Delaware State was standing on the sidelines across the way. 

But, even things like that can't really bother you when Michigan is 7-1 and additional wins are not exactly difficult to rationally assimilate into your worldview. Despite not being "home" for Homecoming, what I saw on TV this past Saturday left me in a decidedly familiar and comfortable place. 

The Offense

After an abysmal showing in East Lansing, the offense came to play this weekend at home. Michigan put up a healthy 36 points but if things had ever gotten serious they easily could've put up more. A lot of people should come in for praise this weekend: Denard, Borges, Toussaint, the offensive line. Denard looked sharp throwing the ball on a number of intermediate routes, even zinging a few that would be considered nice tosses for a true pro-style guy (e.g., the the 10-yard completion to Hemingway on the first drive). This is encouraging. While I don't think that the MSU game was necessarily an outlier, Denard can throw the ball adequately once he builds up some confidence early in games. He has the arm, and anybody who says otherwise is clueless. Backed up near our own goal line to start the second quarter, Denard launched one that wasn't quite Vick-esque (in that Vick probably wouldn't have had Roundtree pull up much at all) but was still supremely impressive because he felt the Purdue lineman and stepped back into a nice pocket where he set his feet and threw. This might be expected or an ordinary series of events for most quarterbacks, but for Denard it was an encouraging development. 

Otherwise, the one interception from Denard was what it was. If Denard can limit himself to one turnover a game then I think most people would be pretty happy. Devin's pick looked like a case of miscommunication, and I guess you can afford to take these kinds of things when you're blowing out Purdue. 

Other than Denard's solid bounceback performance, the running game was obviously superb and the number one thing to feel good about. Here's a kind of terrifying statistic: Fitz's 20 carries made him the first non-Denard back to get 20+ carries in a game since Carlos Brown in 2009 against Illinois (yes, that game). That is truly unbelievable (it really shouldn't be given the dependence on Denard in the running game, but for some reason it's still really surprising). Now, Fitz probably won't find that much room against Nebraska and Ohio State (and probably not even Iowa or Illinois), but it was nice to see someone other than Denard carrying the load. This is how it should be. Denard carried 15 times (for 63 yards), which is more than I thought he did but isn't exactly horrible. The failure on 4th and goal was probably the only thing you can complain about re: the ground game...as money as that play is, it was bound to get stopped eventually (especially with our relatively small line). 

Having watched a lot of Auburn in the Malzahn Era, I've always sort of been jealous of a running game that is creative in the ways it sets plays up, from pre-snap motion to who is carrying to the ball to ways of delivering the ball to the ball carrier. While we haven't quite gotten to that level of creativity yet, we're getting there. The dual-QB formation is starting to figure itself out. I think that Denard is still good for an effective jet sweep about once or twice a game, but I think it's clear that Borges will make his money by playing off of Denard in that set-up. It did of course help that Purdue is just not that good, but either way I'd have to say that this was probably my favorite game thus far from a play-calling perspective. Then again, everything looks nice when it works.

After the game Purdue LB Joe Holland said (emphasis mine):

They ran a couple of things that we hadn't seen them run all year and they had two weeks to prepare an offensive game plan.

Well, isn't that nice. So is this:

Purdue's backers completely overrun this but Fitz exploits this like a good back should; when you force relatively untalented players to defend in space, this is what happens. This wrinkle has the potential to do, well...what it did. After giving it to Denard on the jet once or twice, Fitz will have acres of green to work with on the other side. Obviously this won't always go for a TD, but it's just another example of many "smoke and mirrors" type plays that we will need to get the running game going in the absence of the ability to run traditional power plays (other than Denard Power).

The Defense 

After hearing rumors of a knee injury to the Bringer of Light/Competency that is Jordan Kovacs (and then confirmation of said rumors), I was a little worried that Michigan would immediately revert to the sieve-like state it had held since time immemorial. After that initial Purdue touchdown, I'm sure every Michigan fan was all: 

NO KOVACS AND NO COMPETENT SAFETY PLAY MAKE MICHIGAN FAN GO CRAZY. 

After that, things calmed down and Michigan finished with another solid performance, relinquishing the aforementioned 7 points and then another TD in garbage time when dudes like Beyer and Clark were on the field. Purdue couldn't do much on the ground, rushing for a mere 89 yards on 29 attempts (3.1 YPC) and passed for 222 yards on 27 attempts, with 48 yards coming on the aforementioned breakdown and 48 more coming in the last drive with under two minutes to go. So, while Michigan is obviously no Alabama or LSU, I think we can safely say that we have a good defense. Every time I think about some of the things that might be wrong with this defense, I think of last year in Bloomington, where I was present as we made Ben Chappell look like Peyton Manning. It's a pretty easy transition from the aforementioned to "man, Greg Mattison is the smartest person of all time next to Greg Robinson" given the results thus far. We'll see how Mattison does without Martin and RVB next year, but that's a worry for another day. 

Mike Martin was his usual Hulk self, consistently blowing up double teams and notching two sacks along the way. The lack of a consistent space-clogging nose to free him up will continue to be frustrating, but Martin should still be able to make hay against the remaining lines on the schedule. Countess continues to be the precocious freshman that he is (although not without mistakes), and Woolfolk's return to safety was not completely disastrous. Hoke saying that he would like Troy to be more physical at times is pretty valid and not just Hokespeak. On the long TD, both Countess and Woolfolk allowed themselves to get slowed down by pathetic, flailing blocks (Countess by the slot and Woolfolk by a clumsy OL), giving Bush the chance to turn what should've been maybe a 10-15 yard gain at most into a long touchdown. Given the nature of the play itself, I can't decide whether to be more or less upset than I am (which is not that upset anyway, FWIW);  it was a screen that is ostensibly pretty easy to diagnose from Woolfolk's position on the field. Okay, so Countess gets sort of slowed up and then whiffs at the ball carrier's feet. It's a mistake but I can live with that so long as the help shows up as it should. Unfortunately, Woolfolk is very un-physical here, as the big guy blocking him does the standard big guy blocking a small guy act (also known as "engage for about a second and then do a Lunogoesque flop") but still manages to slow Troy enough. Another unfortunate aspect of the play is the fact that Floyd isn't quite able to track Bush down from the backside despite seeming to have the angle for a second. I guess that's just something we'll have to live with with him on the field (otherwise he's been about as good as you can expect him to be). 

Special Teams 

So, special teams were kind of good in general this week, in perhaps one of the best all-around performances of the season. First of all, though...Gibbons? 

Gibbons was 2/2 on the day, knocking in 22 and 37-yarders. I still admittedly don't have enormous confidence in him making a field goal in a tight situation on the road but you could probably say that about 80% of college kickers anyway. Elsewhere, Hagerup had a quiet but solid day, booting two for an average of 40.5 (and a long of 49). 


However, the kick return game was probably the most notable development in this phase, with Odoms returning three for a total of 81 yards, including a long of 33 that was very close to getting broken for much more. I'm not sure if  we'll see this type of production consistently but you've got to think that we'll break a meaningful return at some point this season, and what better time to do it than now as we enter the stretch run. 


Speaking of Odoms on returns against Purdue, doesn't that TD in 2008 feel like it happened ages ago? Time flies. 

Miscellaneous Minutiae 

• I don't think Shaw is anything more than a niche player at this point but he was surprisingly effective this week. With Devin at quarterback and Shaw, Denard, and even Gallon all being threats to carry the ball at any given time, I'd have to think this forces teams to be overly edge-conscious, maybe leaving things open for an attack of the middle? Either way, 5 for 56 yards and a TD is not bad for your #3 ball carrier in a given game. 
• Again, Michigan stifled the opposing offense on third down: Purdue converted a paltry 3/13 on third down. This puts Michigan barely in the top 40 at #39 in third down prevention percentage (36.21%), putting us a couple of spots behind Notre Dame, six behind PSU, and 21 behind MSU (Illinois and Ohio State are also in the top 25 in this department). This is easily the most endearing quantifiable aspect of the defensive turnaround (other than points allowed, obviously). It's hard not to be excited given that we're doing all of this without great depth or even talent at most positions. 
• Toussaint...Hart with speed? HART WITH SPEED. But seriously, Toussaint is the #1 guy despite Hoke's non-commital Hokespeak on the matter. 
• Lewan has been: 1) WWE-style arm-barred 2) punched in the face and 3) dinged up in general as a result of the last two games, yet he keeps coming back for more. I think it's fair to say that Lewan is playing with mansome TOUGHNESS. 
• I just have to, but man...really guy who is in charge of playing piped-in music? At the risk of sounding all ND Nationy, but Seven Nation Army does not need to be played a million times a game. The more indistinguishable the Michigan gameday experience gets vis a vis your average college venue, the sadder I get. I'm not against piped-in music at all (other than certain songs which are terrible coughSweetCarolinecough) but there has to be a certain aspect of moderation to the whole thing. This is of course not even mentioning the fact that it seems like literally everybody else in the conference does it now (I mean, even the Lions did it fergodsakes). 
• Mike Martin notched Michigan's first safety since the 2003 Houston game...good times. The only thing I really remember about that game is that we destroyed them and the students chanted "Houston's better" after the annihilation of ND the next week. 
• Michigan's been pretty lucky thus far re: the injury bug, but with Kovacs looking like he's out for at least one more and both Barnum and Lewan looking like they're at least definitely not 100%, Michigan will have to dip into the shallow talent pool for reinforcements. Michigan should be okay without Barnum if necessary (Schofield seems to have been about as good) but Lewan would be an irreplaceable loss. 

People In America Excited About A Book, 10/25/2011

I'd like to do some more generic daily news/links type posts from this point forward--like I did occasionally over the summer--but I never had a uniform name for them, like MGoBlog's Unverified Voracity or EDSBS's Curious Index...eventually I'll think of a somewhat witty name for this thing that nobody will read (the old school Conan-esque self-deprecation is strong here, y'all). I haven't really been able to keep up with the schedule I outlined before the season started but the weekly game recap, rankings opinions, and Friday feature are still there, so I'm looking to fill out the middle part of the week with something. So, here goes.

Three and Out: As everybody is aware, John Bacon's "Three and Out" is officially out there for the hoi polloi, and AnnArbor.com states the obvious in noting that Bacon probably isn't winning him some friends with this one:

John Bacon didn't make any new friends and might've lost some old ones with his book, "Three and Out," that looks at the Rich Rodriguez era in Michigan football.

"The main figures have made their displeasure with the book and author clear," Bacon said.

I won't be getting my copy until probably early next week, but coverage of the book thus far has already been pretty extensive, a fact that should lessen the brunt of some of the book's more surprising revelations. I'm looking forward to reading it (and not looking forward to it at the same time), but once I get through it I plan on posting a general review here (as will everybody else, I'm sure). As a general preface, I will say that anybody who plans on reading it should stray away from making ridiculous black and white assertions about any of the key figures described in the book, but that should be common sense. People are often more complex figures than anyone can imagine, and I'm sure this book will be a testament to that. 

At the same time, as a 22 year-old who grew up with Michigan football under Lloyd Carr (and as a freshman at Michigan in 2007 who saw Lloyd's final season unfold), it will be hard not to come away a little bit disillusioned...but, you probably already know that if you're reading this. 

Even Spencer Hall of EDSBS fame is weighing in on the book that is raining cash on Bacon like Seth Poege passes over Oklahoma's hapless secondary:

The other prevailing impressions from the book thus far: Bill Stewart keeping Casteel was disastrous and like the most Bill Stewart thing to do ever, the coach at West Virginia faces some of the weirdest political currents ever, and Denard Robinson fucking rules.

The New Guys: Going back to the same source, Kyle Meinke talks about the bye week with respect to several freshmen expected to see increased roles going forward, namely Frank Clark, Brennen Beyer, Thomas Rawls, Blake Countess, and Raymon Taylor. We've already seen all five of them to some extent, with Countess obviously receiving the most playing time, often looking like Michigan's best corner as a freshman. 

Perhaps most newsworthy is the fact that Jake Ryan has officially supplanted Cam Gordon as the starter on the strong side. I'm not exactly sure how I feel about this, but it is what it is. Gordon got in on special teams against State but didn't do anything else, so maybe Hoke and Mattison believe that it's just too late to expect him to jump back in and be the guy he was supposed to be. It's unfortunate, really...as much as I've lamented the disappearance of Martavious Odoms after his offseason injury issues, Cam's demotion is equally sad. 


Either way, I hope that Gordon will get some time going forward. While Ryan has been pretty good for a freshman, he's been an outright liability at times; that is to be expected, of course, but that doesn't mean that Cam can't potentially work his way back in in time. As the coaches seem to understand, this is the perfect time to work some of these guys in, as these week should hopefully serve as a sort of tryout for a lot of these guys. 

Other than that, Taylor is a guy who intrigues me athletically. He saw some time as the nickel earlier on in the season, and while I don't think he should get tons of time, his above average speed leads me to believe that he could be useful as a Brandon Harrison-type blitz monger. As for Rawls...shoot, it can't hurt to try him? Either way, we can't run the ball as few times as we did against State and expect Toussaint and Smith to get going. I expect us to come out and run the ball a lot in this game...if we can't do it successfully then we are in major trouble. How the line accounts for Kawann Short will be a major factor in getting this done. 

Optimism Abounds: WolverineNation collects the opinions of the various Michigan folks on why "this time it's different." So, that's nice. Former MGoBlog recruting guru TomVH says that Michigan is "doing very well in California," which hopefully means that a Payton commitment is forthcoming. I'm not a recruiting expert by any means so I don't really know what to make of the delay in his announcement after visiting South Bend this past weekend, but for now it seems that our chances are just as good as anybody else's. Either way, Michigan going back to the old recruiting formula of recruiting Michigan and Ohio (and Pennsylvania), and pulling skill guys from California is hard to argue against, as exciting as the brief Florida connection was. 

Redemption Song: Yeah yeah we only talk about guys that play for Michigan (is that still something we say?), but it's nice to see former recruit Demar Dorsey hopefully getting back to Division I ball. It's easy to be a cynic these days, and while he will never play for Michigan I hope that he continues to turn his life around. You can say that his academics weren't up to par and that he shouldn't have been recruited in the first place (that's a different issue entirely), but you can't fault him for trying when so many others like him have entered the somewhat ignominious structure of JUCO-level ball only to never resurface. 

Submitted Without Comment:

More? Big 12 "voices desire" for Mizzou to stay put, also translated to "PLEASE DON'T GO." Some not good news for OSU tailback Jaamal Berry...probably won't have much of an on-the-field impact but there it is. Ramzy of ElevenWarriors touches on the upcoming "Oversigning Bowl"...as great as the game will be, it's a  shame that this undercurrent has to exist.Can't wait for the game against NFC South contender Alabama next year! Oregon looking like it will continue without the services of Cliff Harris...somehow I think they'll be alright. Also, this is a thing. 

Punch Drunk

(HT: Mike DeSimone)

Michigan 14, Brahs 28

As Michigan left the fittingly trash-laden Spartan Stadium on Saturday, my immediate reaction was obviously one of disappointment. It's not that I felt so sure that we were going to win (I pretty much convinced myself of every possible score being possible in the days leading up to the game), but once they start playing you convince yourself that the bad things you hoped wouldn't happen actually wouldn't end up happening. You thought that maybe Denard wouldn't come out throwing passes into the sun for once, or maybe the running game via Fitz or Smith would be good for a decent gain here and there, that maybe the defense wouldn't get gashed by an ostensibly mediocre offensive line. Unfortunately, all of those things happened. It was like flipping over what looked like a perfectly stable, solid log only to find hordes of termites crawling all over the place. This thing is flawed, and a 6-0 start consisting of wins against Notre Dame and five other mediocre to downright horrid teams didn't change that. 

Last week I gave Mark Dantonio some flak (more on that in a bit), but I will say this: I never said he was a bad coach (I never even said MSU was a bad team). He is good at getting his team up for the Michigan game (obviously), and while the jury's still out on whether or not seasons like 2010 can happen on a regular or semi-regular basis, he is a good coach, period. His teams are bland by the standards of the modern landscape of college football--Cover 2 4-3s and a pro-style, downhill running game with a pocket passer--but that's not necessarily a bad thing, especially if you do the things that you do well (after all, the two best teams in the currently are basically MSU with much better talent). He's capable of sprinkling in some panache here and there when necessary (e.g., Little Giants) like good coaches do (this year's ND game is the exception). As a football tactician and motivator, he's just about as good of a guy as MSU could've expected to have post-JLS. 

Normally I spend the time in the beginning of these recaps to talk about the game in a more general sense, like what it means going forward and whether certain trends are being corroborated or destroyed by the newest data point. What does this game mean for Michigan? Well, it depends on what your expectations were to begin with. I think 8 wins is certainly still in reach, but if you were expecting 10--either before the season or after the Northwestern game--then you might be a little bit disappointed. Otherwise, this isn't an entirely unexpected outcome. I'm sure this would be different if I was in Michigan right now, but I'm more upset at how we lost than the fact that we lost to Michigan State. In these types of games, you just have to tip your hat to the guy across the sidelines and say "well done, you win." This game isn't Michigan's season, and there is still a chance to do something of significance this season. Of course,we know how the last couple seasons have gone after that first loss.

Normally, I would do this. I want to say that MSU just straight up beat us, with no qualifiers. We didn't help ourselves at all, but, at the end of the day, we weren't playing against air. They played a solid game (admittedly not a great one), but more importantly, they played a better game than we did. The refs made some questionable calls, but they didn't force our lines to get handled for most of the contest.

I say I would normally do this only to emphasize that I'm not doing it now. I'm sure MSU fans will somehow find this and be all HURR DURR Y U NO RESPECT but honestly, if you can watch that game and condone some of the things that were going on out there then, to quote Rooster Cogburn, "I ain't do nothin' for ya son." I mean, really? Gholston's play was absolutely despicable, and to see guys like him get talked to by the head coach, only to be out there on the next play, drive, in the game again at all...says a lot. To see Marcus Rush get an obvious personal foul penalty then pace up and down the sidelines cussing up a storm as if he didn't do anything wrong, getting high-fived, even, was classic. I don't need to run through each one; we all saw it. As a Michigan fan--if the script was flipped--would you feel okay about this game? Sure, you'd have the win, but is that really all that matters? The answer is a definitive and resounding no. No no a million times no. I was furious when Greg Mathews kicked that Oregon DB and Mouton gave that ND offensive lineman a little upper cut, as were most other Michigan fans. This is why I do not respect Mark Dantonio, and probably never will. It's not like those penalties were the "defender leaves his feet and can't pull up" variety; they were intentional, dirty plays. That type of stuff comes from somewhere.

That's what we try to do. Sixty minutes of unnecessary roughness. 

That's MSU DC Pat Narduzzi. It's not even covert.

If there was ever a more "this is why we're not them" moment, it was the Gholston punch. It would almost be funny if it wasn't so ridiculous. Lewan almost appeared to be helping Gholston up, only to get socked in the face in the middle of what was supposedly a football game*. How was this spotted by the refs and given a flag but no ejection? How is this even possible? The fact that that happened and Gholston was in on the next drive tells me all I need to know about Mark Dantonio.

If there's anything to be truly frustrated about, it's that we lost to a team that plays like this, to a coach that silently condones this type of behavior on and off the field. Of course, it should be made clear that we did not lose because of these penalties. So, then, what happened, exactly?


*I can imagine thousands of Sparty brahs trying to wallpaper their places with pictures of Gholston's Falcon Punch, and I can't even begin to imagine the number of message board signatures that will inevitably feature this picture. SICK SIG BRAH.

The Offense


We all came in with the understanding that MSU's defense was good, and obviously we weren't going to move the ball like we did against Northwestern. How good was the question, and while I vacillated between "pretty darn good but a touch stat-padded" and "solid but somewhat paper tigerish," it was obvious that Michigan State is fielding a pretty good defense, which is especially remarkable given the youth at the end positions and what was lost at linebacker. Even the secondary wasn't the generic medley of mediocrity that MSU has put out there in the past.

It pains me to say this, but this game was eerily reminiscent of the Mississippi State game. MSU wasn't quite as blitz-mad as Diaz's insane defense, but Narduzzi brought the heat all day from various points on the field. They brought the corner blitz (most notably on the infamous 4th & derp), they crashed the backers up the middle, and generally did everything they could to send more guys than we could block. I mean, if you were trying to defend Denard, wouldn't you? Obviously you run the risk of Denard slipping out and running for large chunks of yardage, but that didn't happen for a number of reasons. For some reason, Denard continues to not run on passing plays when it seems clear that he probably should. I understand the desire to make him be a little more patient, but this is something that needs to change. The mental process that goes with deciding whether to run or pass on a given play for a talent like Denard is admittedly pretty delicate; that is, once you starting running once or twice then the offense risks becoming one-read-and-go. Not only does Denard not run, but he takes too long to recognize when pressure is coming/when he should get rid of it if need be. On top of this, when he did throw while being chased by blitzers, he was generally wildly erratic throwing the ball. If I'm an opposing DC, I watch both MSU (Bulldogs and Spartans) games for tape of how to completely stop this offense. The blueprint should be pretty obvious at this point.

Like the Mississippi State game, Michigan came out with a nice initial punch. The only problem is that once MSU started punching back, we had no answer. Despite this showing, I still have a general confidence in Borges's ability to call an offense, but it's hard for even the most trustworthy of fans to say that their confidence meter didn't tick down a notch or two. Trust the coaches and whatnot, but as far as I could tell we very rarely (if at all), checked out of any plays in which a blitz was clearly imminent. Honestly, as a Bears fan, it kind of reminded me of the Lions game last Monday; you knew the pressure was coming and that nothing would be done to impede the progress of at least one rusher. I'd have to watch the game again to notice (I'll probably have to pass on this one), but not having a back in to play--particularly one with Smith's blocking prowess--on a number of occasions was frankly a little curious. The 4th&1 was obviously just a dreadful call in general, but Moore was blocking a nice patch of air while a MSU corner zoomed behind him, and on the interception that ended it, a blitzer came straight up the middle untouched. The second play I have to fault Smith somewhat for not being aware of the hot route situation. Either way, you're not in a good situation as a quarterback when you have to get the snap and fling it almost immediately when you don't really want to.

In general, though, we were pushed around. As reductive as it is, games are won and lost in the trenches, and we seemed to lose that battle much more often than we won it. We ran Smith up the middle time and time again out of the shotgun only to get anywhere from a loss of a a couple to maybe two yards (after the initial drive). We kept plowing into the line and I kept hoping that maybe this was a set-up for something else, that maybe some sort of counter was coming (kind of like the play in the first half where Michigan ran to the opposite side from the shuffling fullback, which isn't so much a counter as it is breaking a historical tendency). It never came, and even that ridiculously awesome pull on the fourth down that Michigan converted wasn't a counter but a simple case of just making the right read.

Obviously, MSU has a good defense, but they were supposedly a 4-3 cover 2 that didn't blitz much (i.e., Iowa); of course, that was not the case. As good as they were, there is always a counterpunch to be had, and failing to find that counterpunch can either be the fault of a lack of execution or poor playcalling. Unfortunately, I think we had a bad case of both. Denard is not a great passer (or even a good one), but he can be good enough to get the job done if used correctly. There's nothing Borges can do about Denard zinging passes way over open receiver's heads (e.g., that one pass to Roundtree in the middle after which Denard looked strangely upset at Roundtree for some reason), but there has to be something to get Denard in a rhythm. This isn't anything new. Where were the screens? Running back screens, tight end screens, wide receiver screens, hitches, slants, curls, something. Why does it seem like everything is deep? I raised this question earlier this year about us throwing deep way too much and came to the conclusion that sometimes that's just what the defense is giving you, and if that means going deep then you do it and hope you connect on one to back them off. That's just not working.

This is not an easy fix. If Denard continues to be wildly inaccurate on passes that even your fairly average D1 college football then, really, what can we do? We can't run the ball at all, and for an offensive line that we all had some hopes for despite the change in schemes (from the spread to a hodgepodge of random incoherent nothingness), they are looking pretty bad. They didn't look great against Northwestern either, but I forgave that because the Wildcats were obviously selling out pretty heavily on the run. Notre Dame, the only other team of note on Michigan's schedule thus far, also completely owned the LOS when Michigan had the ball. This is a disturbing trend that probably won't change because we're stuck with the personnel we're stuck with. Lewan had his usual game (as far as I could tell) and seemed to generally control Gholston except for when he was getting punched in the face, but Schofield and Huyge are just average, and Molk and Omameh just can't seem to get enough push against the bigger guys. It might not be until 2014 until we see what a Brady Hoke offensive line is supposed to look like, all the way from the type of personnel to scheme.

Even with the lack of scheme-specific talent and execution, this one was just bad in every way for Borges. I figured the 2-QB formation would be used a decent amount, but I never thought Denard would be off the field completely in so many different situations. As bad as Denard was, there's no reason to do that unless he's injured. Despite it all, we were right there in the end until the derpiest 4th&1 call of all time. I know every OC dreams of making that amazing call, but this was just pure foolishness, particularly if you go back and look at the space available for Denard to sneak through. Just...why? That phrase should be the lasting memory of the offensive gameplan for this game: Just, why?



The Defense


At the beginning of the game I kept saying how I was actually more worried about the offense. I was right, but it left a hollow sense correctness given the circumstances. In my preview of the game I did express some concern that we were relying on MSU's OL not being very good a little too much, and that I had a feeling that stopping them wouldn't be as easy as we thought it would be. How many times have we been torn up by mediocre at best players in the past? Exhibit A: Ben Chappell. BEN CHAPPELL. That right there should be enough to never take any part of any team lightly for the rest of time.

Let's be honest, our defensive line has some talent on it, but at the end of the day is still pretty average. Craig Roh began to show some signs of life the last few weeks against weak competition, but he was once again pretty much a non-factor it seemed. RVB was around some plays--including a couple QB hurries--doing well to chase and make some tackles down the field that a lot of linemen wouldn't be able to make (e.g., the tracking down of Hillman--and fumble--in the SDSU game), but he has trouble holding up at times. Again, I'd have to watch the game again to notice but Mike Martin didn't seem to have any obvious impact. However, I always hate criticizing Martin in any way because it seems like he's getting doubled all the time and nobody else is really beating their single blocking with any sort of regularity, if at all (looking at you, Heininger*). I don't know if the reality on the ground is that simple, but I suspect that it is.

The Spartans got at least four yards per carry without fail, ending up with an average of 5.5 ypc. That's bad. Baker had the hot hand for MSU today, as the Spartans rode him for 26 carries and 167 yards. Michigan held Bell in check pretty well but given Baker's numbers it obviously didn't matter. The first drive in particular was just another reminder (as if we needed any more after last year's Wisconsin game) that Michigan is still a long way to go from being anywhere close to being able to stop power rushing attacks like this. Somehow, though, Michigan held MSU to 7 in the first half, and MSU only scored 14 more offensive points in the second. Despite getting mauled for much of the game, that's actually pretty good. Michigan's defense still has some glaring deficiencies that no number of Mattison adjustments will be able to fix, and I think that as the Big Ten schedule goes on some of those will continue to rear their ugly heads. The 6-0 start was nice, sure, but it didn't change the fact that this defense is still very talent-deficient, not very deep, not particularly athletic at certain spots, and lacking defensive speed in general. Like the offensive line, this will only ameliorate with time, coaching, and recruiting.

Michigan didn't really get close to Cousins very often, but MSU only passed 24 times, and a number of those were pretty quick releases. MSU didn't even need to pass to move the ball, but when they did Cousins generally wasn't all that impressive to be honest. On more than one occasion a play unfolded in which Cousins just needed to make a fairly reasonable play in the face of some slight pressure and he just didn't do it. Drops didn't help him though, and there were two pretty egregious ones by Cunningham and the other one early on that would've been a touchdown (was that Martin?). So, Cousins was 13/24 for 120 yards and 2 TDs. Nobody really killed us, and both Martin touchdowns featured some atrocious tackling.

Here and there we were reacquainted with the good ol' 10-yard cushion on 3rd&6, but overall the secondary wasn't noticeably terrible except for Woolfolk. I hate to say it, but it's pretty obvious that all the "wait till we get Woolfolk" chatter was just a touch misguided. Woolfolk is just not that good; Floyd and Countess are clearly our two best corners. It's good that Countess has shown the ability to get on the field as a true freshman, but, you know, it's also kind of bad.

*Looking at the box score, Heininger apparently notched a pair of TFLs, so at least he did something. I don't remember these plays at all because the game is now a monolithic depression-inducing blur, but the mgoblue.com box score says it happened.

Special Teams


Gibbons?

No Gibbons this week so no Swanson. Should Michigan have kicked a field goal instead of going for it on that fourth down? No, no they shouldn't have.

Otherwise, not much of note here. Hagerup had plenty of opportunities to work on his somewhat mediocre numbers since his return and he did manage to pin MSU deep more than once. Not going to lie, the straight line rocket punt into the stands was kind of hilarious. Michigan won the field position game most of the time but unfortunately was not able to do anything with it in the first half.

Michigan continues to be completely unimpressive in the return game. Of course, everybody but us can get to the 30 with ease. We are really missing Stonum in the kickoff return department. As long as we continue to hold on to the ball, though, this will continue to be a phase of the game that doesn't help or hurt us, which is an improvement from recent years.

Miscellaneous Minutiae

• Never has a dirty stadium been so apropos. 
• The spot on the reception right before the 4th & derp absolutely deserved to be looked at...it certainly was close enough to merit a second look. 
• Maybe I'm imagining this, but right before they cut away from the game a bunch of Spartan players gave somebody a Gatorade shower...only thing is, I'm pretty sure it wasn't Dantonio, because the guy definitely turned around and looked at them with an amusingly confused look. Not only is a Gatorade shower for a game that really doesn't determine anything completely a Sparty thing to do, but they couldn't even get the right guy. Did anybody else see this or am I just imagining it?
• In the game preview I said that something would have to give re: Michigan's sterling third down conversion rate and MSU's equally impressive third down prevention percentage...and boy did it. Michigan went 3/15 on third down. Seven punts in a row after the opening drive=absolutely no offensive rhythm. 
• On the plus side, the defense continued the 2011 Turnover Collection Tour, adding two more recovered fumbles to the already impressive body of work. 
• Gardner looked slightly better than Denard throwing the ball, which honestly doesn't speak to Devin's game too much given how Denard played. Devin will be a good player for us, but the time is not now. Denard should be the starter for Purdue without question unless he is seriously injured. However, I am starting to get more open to the idea of seeing Devin on the field. How this will be done is the tricky part. 
• I haven't heard an explanation yet for the Lewis pick 6 taunting no-call. I'm not saying it would have mattered in the end, but after a week in which the rule was actually used (in the LSU game last week), you'd think the refs would be aware and ready to call it. It's not like it wasn't an obvious taunt or anything. Speaking of the refs, what about the backwards pass? What about the review on the Denard TD but not the Martin TD (Martin's TD was in fact a TD, but still...consistency, please). What about the play where Martin just barely stepped out but the play was confirmed after review? Am I crazy or did he not definitely step out? What about all the missed holding calls in the first quarter? None of these really directly contributed to the loss, but they're all still pretty irritating. 
• Michigan did go to the option a couple times but I wish they'd gone to it a little more. I wish they'd try to do something different in the running game from time to time. While it didn't really work, at least it gets Denard in space and gives you the opportunity to do something other than pointlessly bash tiny Vincent Smith into a wall of enormous human beings for an at best 2-yard gain when the middle of the defensive line obviously isn't going anywhere. 
• This kind of goes without saying but the uniforms were awful. So much for tradition, Dave. Soon we'll have t-shirt cannons and FREEEE PIZZAAAAA in the Big House. 
• I'm glad I'm done writing this. It's time to move on and worry about Purdue. Enjoy the bye week. 

Winning Ugly

(HT: Mike DeSimone)

It was halftime and I couldn't help but start to imagine all the things I would do if Michigan had lost. All week, I told myself (and others) that this would be a close game, even taking into account a hobbled Persa and an out of commission Trumpy. It was good while it lasted, I thought. After the last three years--games like last year's Penn State and Michigan State games, and, of course, many others--I'd grown accustomed to a Michigan that always did the opposite of what you wanted. There was a time when you could believe that Michigan would make a comeback and it wouldn't be a ridiculous notion, you truly believed it would happen each and every time. History bore that out time and time again, but the last three years have eroded that ocean of faith and turned us all into Eeyorish cynics. 

This win, the first on the road in the Brady Hoke Era, was the second drop in the bucket of faith (with ND being the first, obviously). Northwestern is not a great team, but they're a dangerous team with a very good quarterback, and it's not hard to imagine Michigan losing this game if this was 2010 or 2009. 

This game was more than just a win, it was an affirmation of some things we've begun to believe in but aren't quite ready to commit to as a part of our reality and/or understanding of this team. This team's resilience, the halftime adjustments, the not collapsing after being 5-0. I'm glad that Michigan is 6-0, but, in the long run, the aforementioned things mean so much more. Almost every single postgame interview mentioned something along the lines of "Michigan football not being played" in the first half; if the second half was Michigan football then this is going to be a fun second half of the season. 

The Offense 

I haven't had a chance to rewatch the game in its entirety just yet but I will say that I'm not as worried about Denard as some might be.Were those interceptions reminiscent of some of Denard's more Jacory Harris-esque throws in the past? Yes, and I won't like when I say that it's frustrating. It's frustrating because Denard clearly has the ability to be a good college passer--whether in RR's spread or Borges's buffet style little-bit-of-everything system--and he makes some throws that are honest to goodness great throws for any quarterback. Throws that would be nice throws for Chad Hene, Drew Henson, etc. Obviously Denard is not and will never be that type of passer, he can make a lot of the throws those guys did, just not on a consistent basis. Thankfully for Denard, we don't need to do that because we have Sonic the Hedgehog playing quarterback. A couple throws in particular that I thought to be fairly praise-worthy: 

And this one:

The first one looks a lot better in the replay: Denard fit that one in between a triangle of Northwestern defensive backs and the sideline after rolling to his right and setting his feet. The second throw later in the game was equally impressive, with Denard buying some time off play action (PA on 3rd&9 no less...hilarious). Those are nice throws, period. When opposing fans call this a "jump ball offense" I just have to roll my eyes because it is anything but that. 

Which brings me to another point: the "jump ball." Two more big ones--one to Hemingway and one to Roundtree--in this one, both in single coverage down the middle of the field against a hapless DB who had no intention of turning around. Why is the jump ball considered a "cheap" or an entirely irreproducible mode of moving the ball? First of all, if you do it a few times a game then it's by definition not a huge part of  your offense (even if a large percentage of your big plays come from that particular thing), and so calling this a "jump ball offense" is incredibly reductive and any person that does this probably thinks that movies like "Real Steel" are really awesome. 

From a competition standpoint, this is college football, not the NFL; more often that not, we should be able to  complete these types of single coverage plays as long as Denard gives our guy any sort of a shot, especially against a team like Northwestern and their troupe of anonymous defensive backs. Other than Ohio State and Nebraska, there aren't really any teams on our schedule with exceptional cache vis-a-vis secondary quality. If it keeps working and people can't stop it, why not keep trying it a few times a game? The people who disparage Michigan for "depending" on the jump ball are probably the same people who thought Shaquille O'Neal was a completely unfair basketball entity that wasn't skilled so much as he was just way bigger and way stronger than everyone that tried to check him (obviously those people are misguided). 

In short, breathe easy...for now. The interceptions are still a legitimate concern, but all three of them coming in the first half continues to lend credence to the "Denard gets too excited in the first half" theory. In any case, shield your eyes from the ominous glow coming from the "3 INTs" on Denard's stat line and you'll see 17/26 for 337 yards and 2 TDs. 

Otherwise, the only other concern is the running game as whole; this will be an issue next week. Toussaint, Smith, and Shaw (who seems to be reappearing after a brief absence) really had nowhere to go. I'm sure this week's Offensive UFR at MGBlog will reveal a lot of stunts and run blitzes kind of messing things up for us, but either way this is not good and will hurt us at some point. 

Otherwise, this offense is GOLD JERRY GOLD. Can you imagine this offense with Darryl Stonum on the field? I know. Regardless, Roundtree and Hemingway are starting to pick things up a bit as Denard does the same. Let's hope this continues. 

The Defense 

What can you say? It seems to be the same thing every week: struggle for a certain period of time then absolutely crush all comers in the second half. Michigan will have to start to get their act together earlier in games, but for now this'll do. That 4th&1 stop on the option play was a thing of beauty; last year's Michigan would've seen that play go by them for a 20-yard gain. To make this completely nerdy, these safeties continue to remind me of the moment when Gandalf rides down to Helm's Deep, engulfing everything in a bright, shining light. That bright shining light is the competent safety play of two wizards known as Jordan Kovacs and Thomas Gordon. 

Yes, Michigan got gashed in the first half to the tune of 24 points and a lot of yards. But, I think the second half is closer to what Michigan can be as a unit. Michigan got a different look this week with the spread-based offense, and it showed. We weren't ready to combat the bubble, as a number of players--particularly Craig Roh--mentioned as a real problem for the defense in the first half. Part of that is alignment and part of that is just overall defensive speed, which sadly to say if not quite up to par. Again, though, what we've got is certainly good for now. Did anybody really think Brandin Hawthorne would become a regular fixture let alone a guy who makes play on any sort of basis? Did anybody expect much of anything from Jake Ryan, or even Will Campbell, who was supposedly passed up by walk-ons in August? Blake Countess? All of these have emerged from the land of zero expectations to become good players, or at least average contributors who pitch in a big play or two a game. I'll take that at this stage in the game. 

There's really not a whole lot to say. The first half was really bad, the second half was what Michigan used to do to teams like Northwestern. Michigan continues to hunker down when they need to, whether it's on their own side of the field or on third down in general. Michigan held Northwestern to 4/11 on third downs. Think of all the times Michigan has imploded on third down in the last three years and think of this as one big payback. 

The offense definitely did its part in the second half by keeping the D off the field. As Hoke said after the game, we play real good defense when we're on the sideline. They sure do, Brady. Michigan's defense was on the field for 2:32 in the third quarter, which is kind of ridiculous. 

Demens and Hawthorne led the way with ten and nine total tackles each, respectively, with a sack and an interception to their collective names. All the linebackers, including Demens, still need work, but these guys are getting better each week. Ryan was a little quiet in this one compared to some of his previous outings but with a lot of quick passes you'd expect the pass rush to be mitigated somewhat. I still think that Cam should be given the opportunity to get his job back, whenever he is deemed ready to go: he dressed but didn't go on Saturday. I'm not sure that this is the week to throw Cam in there to do anything but spot duty (assuming he's healthy, of course), but Purdue sounds like it would be a good thing to experiment with the lineup. 

The Special Teams

Gibbons?

No stoic Swanson face staring into your soul this week...you can't honestly expect him (or most college kickers, really) to make a 48-yarder. Michigan probably could've gone for it at that point but in retrospect it didn't turn out to mean much. 

Hagerup only punted once on the day, so the sample size remains too small, athough early returns are kind of meh verging on not good. 

The return game remains unspectacular but nothing egregious happened in kick coverage so I guess it's a wash. I will say it was nice to see Odoms return a couple, including one nice 25-yard KO return. Here's to him catching a pass at some point (I mean, if Watson can get one...). 

Miscellaneous Minutiae

• Brady definitely likes him some coachspeak, but when he said Gardner was very "quarterback-like," I nodded my head in agreement. Devin Gardner will be a really good player once Denard graduates. That bootleg was shades of Drew Henson. 
• Woolfolk continues to be banged up as often as Sick Boy is sick in Van Wilder. That's okay because, wait for it...Blake Countess!
• Once again, it was encouraging to see Koger getting involved in the passing game. Despite some pretty horrible drops in his career, he is a talented player that needs to see the ball at least three or four times a game. If anything, he can be the cure to Denard's ills by being that big target that every quarterback loves to have. I'd love to see some plays specifically for Koger in the gameplan going into East Lansing.
• That forced fumble by Gordon was a thing of beauty. That's practice, man. Practice.  
• The two-QB experiment continues, and I hope we do actually use it next week. It would be a pretty huge tease if he didn't, especially since it has been a net positive so far IMO. At least it will give Pat Narduzzi something to think about as he stays up at night all week thinking about how to contain Denard Robinson. 
• Michigan is currently tied for 15th in the country in forced turnovers with 14, the same number as LSU. To quote Peggy Hill, "ho-yeah!" They are also 39th in total defense, which, thus far, greatly exceeds my preseason hope that we'd be a top 70 defense. Who is #1, you ask? Well, you know, those guys we're playing this week. 

OHHH WE'RE A THIRD OF THE WAY THERE

(HT: Mike DeSimone)

So I'd like to take a retrospective look at the first four games of the season before we rush headlong into the murderers' row mildly challenging Big Ten slate ahead of us. I'll be doing this after the Homecoming game and then again after The Game to gauge our progress at four game increments. This will be a sort of State of the Union meets a general airing of grievances meets shameless Mattison worship. In any case, I can't believe we're already a third of the way through the regular season. I know we still have eight games and a bowl game to go but before we know it it'll be the offseason and we'll all be groveling pathetically for recruiting info.  Good times, but not really? Why can't it be football season forever?

The Numbers So Far


The most important stat, of course: 4-0. Michigan has trounced two directional schools and a dangerous albeit declawed SDSU team in addition to another win for the ages against the Irish.

Michigan is currently averaging:

• 156.0 passing yards per game (good for 110th overall)
• 250.0 rushing yards per game (good for 12th overall)
• 32.0 points per game (good for 49th overall)
• 12.8 points against (good for 11th overall...11th!)

Compared to last year (against UCONN, Notre Dame, Bowling Green, and UMASS):

• 256.8 passing yards per game ('10-11 Δ= -100.8)
• 306 rushing yards per game (Δ= -56)
• 41.3 points per game (Δ= -9.3)
• 23 points against (Δ= -10.2)

I'm not really an advanced stats guy (the above certainly does not qualify as "advanced") or anything but this pretty much confirms what we already know: the offense is worse and the defense is better. I know, the insight! All things considered, the schedule to this point was probably tougher last year with a UCONN team that went to a BCS game (basically by default, yes, but still) and a Notre Dame team that ended up being okay. This year we had a pretty decent Notre Dame team*, a complete scrub in EMU, and two teams with dangerous isolated elements (Jordan White, Ronnie Hillman) but not enough elsewhere to really challenge a talent-deficient iteration of Michigan football. So, nod goes to 2010 but this is basically splitting hairs. 

Michigan is running and passing for about 50 and 100 yards less respectively, of which the latter is probably a much larger concern at this point. In addition, the positive change in points given up has been essentially cancelled out by the negative points for delta. I'll take that every day and twice on Sunday. 

*I still think they're good for 9 wins, FWIW. Learning how to not trip over their own faces would help in reaching that benchmark. How does one go about tripping over his or her own face? Ask the Notre Dame offense, for they are skilled in this particular art. As good as Liam Neeson was at neck chopping bad guys in Taken, Notre Dame is equally good at turning the ball over.

Hoke? Mattison? Borges?

I'll say it: I love Brady Hoke. I supported Rich Rodriguez till the very end but this is turning out to be GOLD JERRY GOLD. Seriously, a lot of the stuff being said about Hoke would cause you to roll your eyes if another fan base was saying it about their guy but the man can do no wrong...that is, until he does, which he will eventually. However, there are a lot of reasons to think that won't happen any time soon. Speaking of Brady Hoke fluff, if any of you haven't seen the BTN "Step Into My Office" featuring him and have 30 minutes to kill, watch it. It's hard to find fault with very many things he's done thus far as the head honcho in Ann Arbor...can you think of any? I'm trying really hard right now and can't think of much. Not pursuing Devin Lucien in the offseason? Not wearing a headset from time to time? Using the word "rusty" instead of rustic? It's okay Brady, sometimes I get words mixed up too. 

In short, I'm really grasping at straws here. The media loves him, the fans love him, the players love him, and recruits seem to like the man. So far so good. The Era of Good Feelings is off to an auspicious start (I'd be worried if it wasn't because of the name and all). Hoke gets an A+, and the only concern is what he does after Borges and Mattison move on, but that is SO far down the road (and represents a hypothetical situation that would ostensibly be preceded by some above average level of success, i.e., Hoke wins enough to survive the past 3/4 years) that it doesn't even matter. 

As for the coordinators...Greg Mattison might as well have fell to us on a cloud from above because having a defense is kind of awesome. Yes, I know that whole 11th in the country thing won't stand but it's still awesome to look at. Somebody should probably get a screenshot of that before it changes. Beyond the numbers, even the layman can see that things are different. There's something there now that wasn't there before that has nothing to do with talent. One offseason is certainly not enough to improve a defense through S&C or an infusion of new talent, so the only thing we could have logically done is worked with what we have (really, that was our only option). Remember when Jordan Kovacsvis a vis other dudes of his ilk (Tyler Sash, Jim Leonhard, other gritty white guys, etc.) but he's definitely not a liability, and for us that might as well mean All-American. In any case, we haven't had a dependable duo at safety since the Adams-Englemon duo of '07 (and even then, Englemon only got the position because of the pic fail that was Stevie Brown at safety). That pairing wasn't that athletic either (watching Englemon get out-angled by Northwestern's Omar Conteh in '07 was painful), but the encouraging thing is the Kovacs-Gordon pairing actually has a good bit of eligibility left. If blood=defensive competence and this here turnip=the defense than Greg Mattison has managed to squeeze every bit of blood out of this turnip as possible. Some early concerns about Craig Roh have started to dissipate, Mike Martin is doing his manbearpig thing, and we are getting a non-zero contribution from Will Campbell. The linebackers need work but there's some definite potential there with both Hawthorne and Ryan despite each being somewhat limited (Hawthorne is too small and Ryan too inexperienced), and that's not even mentioning a corps including Cam Gordon at some point in the hopefully not too distant future. At this point the most cynical folks among us can say that the absurd turnover margin and points against figure won't stand and that we haven't really played anybody yet, but it's all relative. We are not a "good" defense by any absolute, objective sense...yet. We are, though, definitely better than last year. 

Gorgeous Al's case is a little more convoluted because it is his side of the ball that has seen a statistical decline. Borges has the unenviable task of beginning the installation of a non-spread offense (pro-style, West Coast, whatever you want to call it) while also taking advantage of the elements of the offense that made Denard what he was last year...most of which do not overlap with the aforementioned "non-spread" offense. It seems that most are empathetic with Gorgeous Al's plight, and I hope that he can parlay that empathy into not looking so startled all the time.  

I stumbled upon a pretty interesting Braves & Birds post comparing Borges to Jesse Pinkman from Breaking Bad (which, if you're not watching it then you probably should posthaste). B&B writes: 

When Jesse explains this development to "Mr. White," he makes the obvious point that he knows how to run the cooking process from start to finish, but he doesn't understand the chemistry involved like White does.  He has a superficial understanding, but he doesn't know how the parts of the process fit together and therefore, would struggle to answer questions about it.

So yes, RR is Walter White (don't let Rosenberg get wind of this) and Borges is erratic Jesse Pinkman. This harkens back to an article I read in the offseason about the offensive situation at Oklahoma State re: the departure of Dana Holgorsen. I can't remember where I read it, but the general gist was that Brandon Weeden was basically teaching the offense to new offensive coordinator Todd Monken. If that sounds awkward and bound to produce less than the previous iteration, that's because it is awkward and bound to produce less. Borges is trying to run an offense that he doesn't know, that is a faithful imitation at best. Obviously Denard will still run for 200 yards out of sheer raison d'etre but there's a certain verve that's clearly missing that Al Borges probably won't ever be able to replicate completely. I remember doing an imitation exercise in English 325: we had to read a bunch of passages by several authors--Hemingway, Faulkner, Woolf, etc.--and try to imitate their style in a paragraph or so of our own. The request was inherently impossible, but even I--someone who reads and loves Hemingway and Faulkner and those types and often try to imitate them whenever I write things here and elsewhere--knew that even if I produced something similar, it was never going to be exactly the same and it definitely wouldn't be as good. The above numbers bear that out, but as we all know it isn't always about the numbers. 

It might be too small of a sample size or generally unrepresentative of the average quality of defenses we'll face this year, but going a perfect 13/13 in the red zone is to be commended. Let's keep doing that. 

How Is That Meaningless Preseason Prediction Doing?

So I had us pegged for 3-1, with a loss to Notre Dame. I will say that I did switch to the good side after ND fell to USF, for posterity's sake I'll just say I was off in my initial prediction. For what it's worth, I had us at 8-4 to end the season, with losses to ND, Iowa, Nebraska, and Illinois, which would of course mean wins against Michigan State and Ohio State. 

How do those predictions look now? Well, let's just say the MSU and OSU predictions look far less ridiculous now than they did then. MSU is like the Chicago Bears of the Big Ten (although as a Bears fan, I think I would honestly switch receiving corps with the Spartans, straight up): solid defense, solid skill players, and a ghastly offensive line. In Yost I believe they would refer to the offensive line as a "sieve." If the pre-Bryzgalov Flyers netminders all came together and performed some sort of strange voodoo to turn themselves into an offensive line, they'd become the offensive line of the Michigan State Spartans. Our defensive line is going to look the the New York Giants line when we come to East Lansing. And I'll end this here before it becomes even more mixed metaphor-y. 

Ohio State, on the other hand, is not as hopeless a cause as State is. OSU is young but still very talented on defense and at the quarterback and wide receiver positions. After seven more games worth of experience, I think the Buckeyes will be a team to be concerned about. If they played right now, Michigan would win. Unfortunately, they are not, and Posey, Herron, and Adams will be back. On that note, I've kind of slacked on the "Keep Your Enemies Closer" feature, which I'm sure all of 2 Michigan fans read. After doing the Akron and Toledo games but skipping the next two, I may or may not choose to continue it now that we're in the Big Ten schedule and we're playing for keeps. 

The Next Four?

No changes from my preseason predictions. Michigan should roll this Saturday; Minnesota is a complete mess right now. Given Minnesota's coaching situation I'm sure Hoke will call off the dogs, which hopefully means we'll see a lot of Devin Gardner. We should beat Northwestern too, Persa or no Persa. State is a team we should be able to beat, and Purdue is just a touch above Minnesota in quality. So that means...8-0? 

8-0. 

HT: Toothpaste For Dinner

Five Things to Watch For In The Next Four

• Blake Countess--Was his above average performance against SDSU a mirage, or can we expect that to continue? A NU passing attack led by a possibly still hurting Persa and an MSU attack with above average receivers but shoddy line play is about the extent of the quality our secondary will face in the next month, so we might not find out in earnest. Then again, we might not even find out all year depending on how highly you think of Iowa's James Vanderberg. 
• Jake Ryan--Can he learn how to keep contain? That would be cool. 
• Denard Robinson--Obvious, but can Borges continue to find the balance between too many carries and too few, while also getting Denard in any semblance of a rhythm throwing the ball. I mean, man...even Taylor Martinez is putting up better numbers than Denard and he throws like Tim Tebow would if Tim Tebow was making fun of the inefficiency of his own throwing motion. That needs to change. Jeff at MaizePages suggests that somewhere around 21 carries is the "sweet spot" re: Denard carrying the ball in a given game. I kind of agree but even that makes me nervous that he'll get hurt. That's another big question that I hate to even ask: can Denard stay healthy? Three of these next four games can probably be won without Denard going all roadrunner on defenses...let's save him for when it counts if possible. 
• If the under center offense continues to stumble against the likes of Minnesota and Purdue, does Borges just completely scrap it before we enter the actually somewhat tough part of our schedule? Does he even try to run from under center against State's front? 
• Can Fitzgerald Toussaint do enough with his carries to become the undisputed man? A few soft defenses lie ahead of us but Fitz will need to pitch in about 70-80 yards if we want to win in a non-ridiculous fashion for once (i.e., not like '09/'10 ND, '07 MSU, etc.). Our running backs haven't been this meh since that weird "BJ Askew as tailback" era, so it would be really nice if Fitz could break out here pretty soon. I'll even take a 100+ yard game against Minnesota as a sign; I'm not picky. 

The Music to Michigan's Season Thus Far

Okay, this is basically just Notre Dame but still...apathetic, uninspired beginnings and then a crescendo building up to the miraculous. 

The Defining Moment