Is This Real Life, Is This Just Fantasy

via JeepinBen

via Leon Halip/Getty Images

I waited outside the the entrance to one of the student sections with a Diet Coke and a pretzel about an hour before kickoff. As excited as I was for the game, I was surprisingly calm at that moment, and you might even say I wasn't thinking much at tall. The ice in the drink had already started to melt and the drink had become diluted and deprived of its cold, crisp pop. The pretzel was ridiculously salty but I wanted to have something, anything, in my stomach before getting to my seat. The air was heavy but the sun was beginning to go away. It was probably 7:10, 7:15 at that moment. I waited and waited with bated breath for the person who was going to assist me in Operation Get Into The Student Section, which, I'm assuming, everybody has executed at one point or another. I started to get nervous that it wouldn't work out and I'd be stuck sitting with a bunch of random old people in Section 38.

As I stood there chasing the entirely too salty sting of the pretzel with the warm diluted Coke, a lady walked up to me and asked me if I could take her picture. I said sure, and I reached out for her phone while giving her the standard "what button do I push" motion. She pointed it out and then her phone turned off or something so I had to go back to her so she could put her password in to unlock it. As I pulled back again, in my peripheral vision (which, as you will see, shouldn't have been too peripheral at all), I saw something tremendous. That's right. Lloyd Carr. Of course Lloyd Carr was standing right there in front of me, the guy whose tenure as Michigan's head football coach caused me to feel the following emotions in various mixtures and a number of different sequential manifestations between 1995 and 2007: sadness, happiness, elation, frustration, disillusionment, pride, respect, depression, hope, grief, dissatisfaction, anger, admiration, nostalgia, and a number of slight variants of all of the aforementioned and an additional list of emotions and pseudo-worldviews that is too long too list and probably a little bit ridiculous.

I realized that it was in fact Lloyd Carr, standing there smiling with those glasses on and that would have made  him look like he should've been standing in front of a group of undergrads in an Angell Hall auditorium, lecturing them about Kipling. The wrinkles in his forehead were there still, as prominent as ever, as if they had been etched into his being forever, a facial feature that, accompanied with his own special brand of communicating with everyone, became intertwined. Bo chewed his gum violently and talked about accountability, chewing so hard that it seemed like he wouldn't to crush it out of this world as if to prove the pure candor and viability of his ideology. Lloyd talked about tremendous things, and his forehead was always the same, furrowed and divided into little segments that seemed to become more pronounced over time.

I'm thinking all these things now, but at that moment I completely froze. Of course I would meet Lloyd Carr while I was standing there like a complete idiot with a drink and a pretzel in my hand. I took the picture and handed it to the lady, seceretly jealous of her accomplishment because I knew I wouldn't ask Lloyd for a picture because I didn't want to stop him from going wherever it was he was going to go. I tried to think of something to say to him before he walked away; the last time I was this close to Lloyd was two years ago in Angell Hall between classes in the corridor where all the auditoriums were located, and I wasn't sure when the next time I'd be this close to a person like him would ever come again. It was crunch time, it was time for me to say something. Naturally, my brain fizzled and turned into a fried egg on a Blimpy burger. The entirety of a childhood and adolescence's worth of watching Michigan football--with Lloyd as its leader--flashed through my head. I was eight years old when Michigan beat Washington State and I remember it like it was yesterday. Everything, from the Pac Ten Road Games of Death to the 2003 Ohio State game to the 2006 Ohio State game to "What kind of stupid question is that?" to the Florida game flashed through my head in a single moment. I had to say something meaningful, and each tenth and hundredth of a second that passed made it less and less likely that I would say anything good enough to encapsulate everything that was running through my head at a million miles an hour.

The lady said thank you but I barely acknowledged it; Lloyd began to walk away and I said two words in the last moment that he was looking at me: Go Blue. He smiled and waved goodbye without saying anything and he didn't even have to. He walked away into the mass of people roaming about the concourse, by himself, as if he was just another guy and not the guy who won a national championship when I was eight. Like that he was gone, and I was left wondering if that had really happened, a moment so bizarrely real and coincidental--for instance, why did I choose to stand at that spot on the concourse, as opposed to any other where I would not have been approached by the woman and Lloyd?--that it's hyper-reality caused me to stop for a second and assess what had just happened. It had happened, but I wasn't sure if it was real.

And that is what Saturday night was like.


The Offense


So, that game. As unbelievable as the game was in every aspect, it brought several issues to the forefront that were concerns merely bubbling in the subconscious of Michigan fans everywhere but are now legitimate, out-in-the-open things to fret about. The first half was just plain frustrating to watch. Other than the 43-yard Hemingway touchdown, Michigan was going nowhere, and it's clear that Borges is still trying to feel out what he can and can't do with Denard. At this point, I think it's pretty obvious. There are certain throws that he definitely should not be making, but, at the same time, Denard still has some work to do on knowing when it's a good time to throw it and when it isn't. I realize that it may be anti-productive re: Denard's development as a pro-style/West Coast/non purely spread quarterback, but there were times where I just had to think that Denard should have taken off. At the same time, I like that we're two games in and Denard isn't broken, so that's good.

Other than Borges's playcalling, the offensive line was just manhandled b Notre Dame's front. I admittedly have not had a chance to watch the game again, and maybe ND was just loading up on the run, but we could get nothing going on the ground for quite some time...which brings me to my next concern: the running backs. At this point, I think Michigan's situation is basically going to constantly be like the 2004 season before the San Diego State game (which, if you'll remember, is when Mike Hart officially become The Man), unless Toussaint can stay healthy, which, good luck with that. I'm still not sure what his deal was, but I'm assuming he was injured, which is frustrating but expected, sadly. However, I will say this (and again, being in the stadium it was hard to notice a lot of things): after looking at the box score, I had no idea that the backs had so few carries. Not only that, but Hopkins getting the most out of any of the backs is kind of absurd. I've been really excited to see what Hopkins can do, especially going forward with his ostensible skills being the logical fit for the offense of the future that they are, but that hype train has completely derailed. Hopkins with 5 and Smith and Shaw with 1 and 2, respectively, is ridiculous and just won't do going forward. Not that Shaw is lighting the world on fire, and not that Smith can really realistically be expected to carry the ball more than a maybe 5-7 times a game, but Hopkins has shown absolutely nothing thus far, while also showcasing a bad case of fumbleitis. Luckily for him, Denard was there for the scoop and score, but it won't work out so nicely the next time that happens. Shaw and Smith can both do what he does (i.e., plow into the line with no vision), but at least they can either take one to the distance if the hole is there (Shaw) or make somebody miss (Smith). Hopkins's only "skill" right now is being big. In short, he needs to not get too many more meaningful snaps, and he definitely shouldn't lead the backs in carries in any game the rest of this season.

The running game is going to hurt us, because Denard is not going to go 11/24 for 338 yards (!) every game. We can only hope that Toussaint gets well soon. Obviously no game is a gimme these days, but we shouldn't need him for a few weeks. Let's hope he's ready by NU or it might have to be Denard left and Denard right once again.

As for the receivers, it was a pretty up and down affair. A few drops from Hemingway and Roundtree were plays that just need to be made, but the big plays of course made up for them in the end. To say that Denard and the wideouts have the ole underthrow the deep ball maneuver down pat would be an understatement. With only 11 receptions spread among seven different guys, it's hard to say anybody had a great game but they made the plays when it counted. Hemingway needs to continue to post up and get the ball going forward...the guy is just a master at that. Also, Jeremy Gallon looked like a player. I'm not so sure about the whole "throwing jump balls to a tiny guy" strategy, but who knows. As sad as I am for the apparent disappearance of Martavious Odoms from the face of the earth, it appears that Gallon passed him up on the depth chart for a reason.

The Defense


It's all relative, I guess. Just putting it out there, but Michael Floyd is pretty good. He consistently made out defensive backs look silly, as he was just bigger, faster, stronger, and better than any of them. Anybody who expected us to shut him down like we did last year was a little naive.

It's obvious that Michigan just can't create any sort of pressure without blitzing, and as I'm sure Brian's UFR will show, blitzing has its costs. On the bright side, the defense really hunkered down and did what it had to do in the second half. Oh the wonders of second half adjustments! Yes, Mr. Mattison, Greg Robinson is interested in what you have to say and would like to subscribe to your newsletter. Other than the complete breakdown on the final ND touchdown, it's hard to be anything but proud about how the defense showed up in the second half. Maybe the Irish are just not good at taking care of the ball (10 turnovers in two games), but you have to credit the defense some.

ND was killing us in yardage in the first half but in the end it didn't matter. Third down defense is of course still an enormous issue, as it has been for pretty much the last eleventy billion years of Michigan football. ND's 8/14 is not what you want to say the least, and that absolutely needs to improve, whether through pressure from the front four (paging Craig Roh) or more zone blitzing from the mind of Coach Mattison, but something needs to change. You have to give ND credit, though; despite the disappointing start to their season, I think you can safely say that that offensive is straight up good and knows how to move the ball. If they can figure out that whole things called "ball security" then they can still somewhat salvage this season. ND will continue to put up yards and points on a lot of people this season, so I don't feel too badly. Rees is plainly a better quarterback than Crist, so they'll at least have continuity at that position barring injury. Floyd is ridiculously good and Cierre Wood looked fast and shifty and quite honestly better than anything we've been trotting out there in the backfield. Even Jonas Gray looked good. ND has some serious talent on offense, and the way that Michigan was able to make some stops and collect some turnovers was encouraging. Baby steps.


Special Teams


Once again, this was nothing to write home about. Wile had a decent but not spectacular day, with five punts good for 38.6 per and a long of 47. Gibbons didn't attempt a field goal for the second week in a row, a thing which is both good and bad. I really hope he gets to kick a few in the coming weeks just for the sake of getting out there and getting some confidence. Eventually, we're going to need him to kick one, as much as we don't want to have to think about it.

The return game was just average again: Smith had five returns for an average of 19.6 per return (a long of 24), and Gallon returned one punt for 15 yards. On the flip side, Theo Riddick had a similar average on kick returns for ND (19.8 per) but he did have a long of 34. Michigan needs to continue to work on this; the defense is simply not good enough to try and stop people playing a short field.


Miscellaneous Minutiae

• Here's where I talk about the event itself: unbelievable. I still can't talk. I've been to football games at Auburn, Ohio State, and Penn State, and the Big House was definitely as loud and probably louder than all three. It was surreal, and while there were still your fair share of students just standing there not making noise or doing much of anything on some plays, the student section was loud, as was the rest of the stadium. Home field advantage may or may not be overrated but you can't tell me that it didn't help and that it didn't affect ND (in addition to energizing the Wolverine players as well). 
• Music: I was once completely against piped-in music, but its pretty undeniable that its a net positive, if not a significant one. Other than Pop Evil, which needs to just go away forever, the piped-in music did its job. Sometimes you just have to make a compromise in an attempt to reach out to certain groups of fans (i.e., students, the casual fan, the not-old-and-grumpy adult fan, etc.), and quite frankly it was a huge success. As ubiquitous as Seven Nation Army has become, even the most die-hard traditionalist would have to admit that the moments after they played it the first time were just plain awesome. Obviously, we've got to watch what we play (Thunderstruck, Welcome to the Jungle, SNA, and maybe a couple of others, are on a short list of piped-in music that shouldn't make you upset) and when we play it going forward, but this Saturday was a perfect mix of band and piped-in music in my humble opinion. If we could just get rid of Pop Evil and Sweet Caroline then it would pretty much be perfect.
• The pom-poms--also known as "shakers" in SEC country--were awesome and an aesthetic victory whether you were in the stadium or watching from home. To the people that complain about them, just watch any old Michigan games and you'll find Michigan fans with said pom-poms (for example, the 1998 Rose Bowl). This isn't a "new" thing, so Down In Front guy needs to chill out and decry something else. 
• Maybe I'm just imagining things, but the amplification of the band sounded a lot better than it did last season: am I imagining this? I don't even know anymore. 
• This should easily and without question happen once a year. Sure, night games in the future will never measure up this one, but other schools have them all the time...why not us? The fact that people have treated the concept of a night game as some ridiculous foreign concept that has come down to Earth from Mars or something has been fairly amusing. Traditions have to start somewhere, and I think this could be another one in an already extensive list of Michigan traditions. 
• Jake Ryan! Again, Jake Ryan showed some promise. 
• BOOM BRANDIN HAWTHORNE OUTTA NOWHERE. Man, Hawthorne looked like he could be a factor this year. He looked fast and aggressive and overall like a guy you'd want out there on defense that I could imagine being one of those mean, kind of undersized SEC linebackers. I'm excited to see what he does the rest of this season. I'm sure he made some mistakes, but this was an enormous step forward for him: going from an anonymous afterthought to a legitimate contender to start is no small feat. 
• Desmond Morgan is just not ready to be a starter let alone a frequent participant. Maybe in a year or two, but not now. 
• In perhaps one of the most encouraging developments of the game, Will Campbell showed some signs of improvement. I can't remember what point in the game it was but he absolutely demolished some poor lineman on one play, and was involved in a number of others as well. He's still not starter material, but if Campbell can become a reliable run-stopping rotation guy then that would be an enormous asset. I'm sure the way his career has gone has been infinitely more frustrating for him than every Michigan fan combined, so it was nice to see him dancing around and getting hyped up there in the fourth quarter. I am legitimately happy for him and I hope he can continue to improve. 
• Craig Roh...man. I'm not sure what the deal is, but he just has not been a factor at all this season. I honestly don't have anything to say because I have no idea what's going on; Jibreel Black has been a bigger factor than Roh this year. 
• It looks like 2009 Vincent Smith is officially back. He looked quick on that screen pass after a year or so of not looking like nearly the quick little guy he was pre-knee injury. I don't think he's a guy that should get too many carries on a regular basis, but he's still an invaluable part of this offense. 
• It was great to be back in the Big House again...to all the current students out there, enjoy it while it lasts. 
• I know I saw Odoms out there at least once...he came in only to go back out after Michigan called a timeout. I just feel terrible for the guy. I really hope we can get him involved at some point; despite Gallon's emergence, Odoms still brings a lot of things to the table. 
• Denard is the man. Seriously, has there ever been a more likable Michigan athlete? "THE GAME IS OVER!" 
• All I have to say is that I'm glad we've got Eastern this week. 

A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall

via The Detroit News

Michigan 34, Western Michigan 10 

"It was kind of wild," Hoke said. "Wet and wild."

As the rain fell and Brady Hoke patrolled the field as if he'd been around for a while already, as if it was undeniably his field and his program and not one that had just been handed to him only 8 months ago, it was hard not to come away with certain vague feelings of goodness, that something that was more good than bad had just transpired, a feeling of warmth that may or may not be ephemeral. The Era of Good Feelings continues. James Monroe's got nothing on Brady Hoke. 

Every bit of criticism and praise should me measured and cut with reason; however, this is college football we're talking about here, and reason is a mirage in a desert of hyperbolic assertions and chaos. Honestly, I'm okay with a little misguided confidence right now. After the last three years (four if you're willing to lump in Lloyd's "relatively" successful valediction), it's just fine to think that maybe things are different now. Maybe our fundamental flaws have improved to the point that we don't have to watch with our hands covering our eyes, peeking between our fingers. Maybe they haven't yet; in fact, they certainly haven't yet, and the coaches will tell you as much. I do know that, after an agonizing first drive on defense, the game was fun to watch. I saw Alex Carder's helmet come off and roll around on the turf, and smiled.

Then again, Western in 2009 and UCONN last season were fun too. Maybe we just played Western Michigan and did what we were supposed to, which we had done already two seasons ago just as impressively. Regardless, what went into the box was uncertainty, and what came out was a little less uncertainty, and even some reasons for optimism, if you're that sort of person. 

The Offense

After an offseason of Al Borges being asked time after time about what he was going to do, to the point that somebody asking him "HEY YOU KNOW YOU HAVE DENARD ROBINSON RIGHT WHY AREN'T YOU USING HIM, MAN?" wouldn't have been ridiculous but a logical, if not entirely derp-filled, jump in the offseason narrative. Of course, Borges made it known that he was planning on using Denard in a way that would take advantage of his talents without revealing his hand too much, but nobody was going to truly believe him until the Wolverines took the field. After the first play, I breathed a sigh of relief (as did many others, I'm sure):

It's like zone left if zone left had a leather interior, seat warmers, and satellite radio. In any case, it was a final, resounding note in the long, frustrating book titled "Is Al Borges An Idiot?" (Foreword by Derp McGee), and in that chapter Al Borges slayed the dragon that is the menace of Denard under center for the rest of time. So, from a philosophical perspective, that's good, and we can stop talking about it. From Coach Hoke himself:

"There's a comfort level you want him to feel good about," Hoke said. "We blocked it well, and I think he got a first down. I think we were in and out of (a spread look) enough."

I'm surprised that Hoke didn't spontaneously combust upon saying the word "spread."

Even considering the missed quarter of Michigan football that we will never get back, Michigan's offensive sample size is small. Only 36 offensive plays makes it difficult to make any sweeping generalizations or extrapolations of what may or may not come to be, especially given the absence of a starter on the offensive line, a fairly vanilla game plan, and the loss of the TOP battle, 25:18 to 18:15. Personally, I'm not a person who gives much attention to TOP; the point of the game of football is to score and score often. Yes, I know, "but the defense"...the defense's job is to get off the field as quickly as possible. While we never ran the offense with nearly the same pace that Oregon does under RR, the pace was quick, and thus the aforementioned became a legitimate concern...now, not so much. I will say that I'd be interested to know how much the time elapsed between snaps differed between Saturday's game and an average RR game. The tradeoff of pace for defensive rest is debatably beneficial but an interesting thing to follow going forward.

From a personnel standpoint, no Barnum (whether to injury or suspension), was a disappointment. I was really looking forward to a starting line of Lewan, Barnum, Molk, Omameh, and Huyge/whoever, but oh well. I'm sure Brian will do the legwork vis a vis Schofield's performance in his offensive UFR later this week, but he seemed to hold his own just fine. Generally, the offensive line looked about as good as you'd expect in this type of game. They were good at the things they were used to doing, less good at the straight up power plays, as expected. It's hard to be unhappy with the running game when Michigan ran for 190 yards on 26 carries in a shortened game and a fourth quarter that was bound to be run-heavy, but the concerns are still there about Michigan's ability to run the power plays that Hoke wants Michigan to run (whether as a part of his philosophical bent or a piece of his grand plan as media puppeteer). Michigan got stuffed more than once, but I guess that's to be expected. Additionally, as Ace noted in his WMU preview, Western did have some serious beef in the middle of their defensive line. As with everything else to be gleaned from this game, it comes with a flashing "this is a work in progress" sign. Michigan's offensive line won't become as big as LSU's or Wisconsin's any time soon, but that's okay for our purposes this season.

The passing game, additionally, merits nothing more than a grade of "incomplete," which, given the result of the game, is fairly apropos. With Denard only attempting 13 passes, we don't have much at all to work with. While it was said that Gallon had passed Odoms on the depth chart, I was skeptical the entire time. I remember reading that the other day and thinking that that wouldn't last, and that it was probably due to Odoms's cast limiting his ability to catch and/or get reps in practice. Is Gallon going to be a permanent fixture going forward? We shall see, but I will say that while I like what Gallon brings to the table (his KO return issues notwithstanding), it would be a shame to see Odoms waste away as a reserve this year after what he's endured the past three years in the form of injuries and the debilitating pall of failure he's had to stoically suffer. I'm sure that Odoms had no such expectations that all of this would fall down upon his head when he decided to come to Michigan all the way from Florida, but I hope that he can make the most of his final year at Michigan.

Otherwise, nobody really had an opportunity to impress. Koger made a nice grab on a ball that Denard forced him to take a hit for, yet another reminder that Koger is the tight end version of Braylon Edwards (which, if it must be spelled out...tough catches=easy, easy catches=tough). Hemingway had the longest play of the day with a 37-yard shot downfield, his only reception of the day. I honestly didn't remember seeing him out there before that point, although I did notice his existence after rewatching the game. I'm not sure if there's anything meaningful to be inferred from this. I picked him to have a pretty big season, so hopefully this is just the result of the rain and a conservative gameplan.

As for the tailbacks, they did well with the carries they were given. Sample size caveat goes here, but the cynic in all of us is applauding the fact that Toussaint and Shaw made it through an entire game three quarters without sustaining an injury. Shaw ran through gaping holes like he's done before, displaying the elite speed we all know he has. Toussaint's performance was a confirmation of his potential, going for 80 yards on 11 carries, with this beauty the highlight of his day:

Shaw capped the drive two plays later with a gallop of his own for a touchdown. Take the aforementioned two runs out and their YPC don't look nearly as good, but the run game passed the eyeball test well enough. It's Western, and even if the holes were big enough for Will Campbell to run through, plays were made and Denard's legs were saved for a later day when they'd be needed. For our current purposes, that's a win.

The Defense 


As a prefatory note, I think that people are right to be excited about what they saw. Michigan started to look better as the game progressed. Guys were looking confused in the first quarter (which I at first thought was just standard defensive tactics i.e., confuse the offense with random spastic movement), but was borne out to be untrue when an out of place Carvin Johnson ran all the way across the field when he realized Courtney Avery was on an island on the other side...an island occupied by two receivers. If there was ever an okay time to make those mistakes, though, it was this past Saturday.

When people said that Greg Mattison would rotate guys in and out liberally, I don't think anybody envisioned the type of participation we saw on Saturday. Guys like Beyer, Ryan, Herron, Brink, Black, Ryan, and yes, Will Campell, all saw significant time in addition to the usual cast of characters (Martin, RVB, Roh, and I guess Heininger). Mike Martin showcased his power and agility on the first play of the game, getting to Carder on a bubble screen after tossing a blocker aside like a rag doll. Other than the fumble recovery, I didn't notice Van Bergen too much (he notched 1 solo tackle, 3 total), which is worrisome but not as worrisome as Craig Roh's complete and total absence. Carder was doing a good job of getting the ball out of his hands fairly quickly (at least early on before Kovacs knocked him into next week), which inevitably mitigates any pass rushing threat. However, like Hemingway, I didn't even really notice him around many plays, and at one point wondered if he was even playing at all. This is something to monitor, but I'm not worried...yet.

The linebackers looked alright, and certainly better than in the recent past. Demens was Demens...he wasn't perfect (he did allow the fullback to lock onto him on the second play of Western's second drive, which lead to a long gain by Drake), but he inspired more confidence than Ezeh ever did. I wish Ezeh well in life, and I'm not one to denigrate Michigan players or coaches who have already left the program, but Demens is clearly an upgrade and our best backer by far. As for the others, there's that Brandon Herron guy. Both of Herron's big plays were class right place at the right time moments, and I don't say that to belittle his accomplishments. In recent years, nobody would have been there to make that play, so Herron's talent level and/or his talent level's responsibility for making the play happen is not at issue here. A play is a play is a play. Simply making them is an improvement, and it's not to see a guy like Herron--who has bounced around all three linebacker positions in a by and large anonymous career--do some things out there. Herron looked lost in coverage more than once, as Carder zipped passed past him as he was still dropping into his zone. MGoBlog user Magnus brings up the valid point that Herron's technique may actually have been taught; that is, he is being instructed to run directly to his spot and only then turn around as opposed to dropping with his head on a swivel. The rationale is that the former gets you to the spot faster, which makes sense; even if you have your head turned and have the quarterback in sight, you can't make the play if you're not there yet. Of course, not everybody teaches it the same way. Maybe somebody who is more familiar with Mattison's coaching can answer this question of whether Herron was just doing what he's been coached to do or not. It would certainly make me feel a lot better to know that Herron wasn't just running around like a chicken with its head cut off as appeared to be the case watching it live.

In the secondary, Avery looked a little vulnerable, unfortunately. As much as this comparison might upset people, Woolfolk reminds me of Morgan Trent: they're both undeniably fast running in a straight line but may not be naturals at the position, and they can also lay the wood from time to time. Hopefully his ankle injury will be cleared up after a week of treatment, because 2010 is evidence enough that he is an irreplaceable piece of this secondary. JT Floyd seemed to do a little better than Avery, but only negligibly so (I still think Avery has more upside). The performance of the safeties was possibly the most encouraging part of the defense. Kovacs had one of his best, if not his best, games as a Wolverine, with some well-timed blitzes leading to Carder's helmet being dislodged, as well as a pass breakup. Thomas Gordon also had a solid effort, coming in with 8 total tackles (1 TFL). I've been a huge proponent of Carvin Johnson's game since the day he committed, but it looks like he was passed up by TG for good reason. The smaller Gordon looked fast and seems like a solid hitter, which we already knew from his brief action last season. Other than Jake Ryan, TG is probably the underclassman I'm most looking forward to watching this season.

Special Teams


This was probably the only facet of Saturday's game in which Michigan was severely deficient. Kickoff coverage was downright bad. With the defense still a work in progress, Michigan cannot afford to let teams start on their own 35 or better. You'd think it would have been better given the symbolic and practical emphasis on special teams (with defensive starters like Woolfolk, Avery, and others participating), but who knows. For the record, I get what Hoke's trying to do by playing those guys on ST, but it still makes me uncomfortable. But, that's why he gets paid the big money and I don't.

Michigan was just about average on returns, with Grady averaging 19.0 per KO return. Wile looked good filling in for Hagerup, booting one for 47 yards. Gibbons had the missed extra point, which is bad. I would have liked to see him get a chance to at least try a field goal so that his first one doesn't have to come in a potentially pressure-packed environment next week against Notre Dame, but oh well. Let's hope it doesn't come down to that. Goodness gracious please don't let it come down to that.

Miscellaneous Minutiae

• Be excited about the defense's potential, but remember that Michigan's defense was just as effective against the Broncos out in 2009 (no defensive scores then, though, so there's that). Again, sample size. 
• As much as I want to see Denard smiling on national television at the Downtown Athletic Club in NYC, I'd rather see him remain in one piece come bowl season. We'll certainly have to lean on him more as the season progresses, but I really hope that the line and tailbacks continue to progress. I can live with Denard's 8 carries in this one. In an average game, 12-15 designed runs is ideal in my humble opinion. 
• How good does Brady Hoke look compared to Brian Kelly after this weekend? Wow. With the omnipresence of ND football, it's hard to see potential ND recruits not being turned off by this type of behavior. Even at RR's most rage-filled moments, he never got nearly that bad. 
• At one point in the broadcast they mentioned Gorgeous Al professing to being "out of his comfort" zone for the first time (re: Denard), noting that he recognizes Denard's considerable talents and is excited by the different things Borges will be able to do that he hasn't done before. File this in the now considerably hefty "Borges Knows What He's Doing, Y'all" folder. 
• Jake Ryan! I figured him to be Cam Gordon's backup, but he came in with a hand in the dirt artificial turf. To be honest, he looked like a natural there. Not only does he look bigger than he did in the spring when he made an impressive showing in the spring game (albeit not against the 1's), he looks quick and agile for a guy his size. His ability to get to Carder was one of the most pleasant surprises of the game. 
• I wonder if that short yardage look Michigan came out in (with the tailback lined up as a fullback on that 4th&1 on the first drive) is a permanent thing and if it says anything about the fullback situation (i.e., McColgan). 
• Craig James...still terrible. 
• Crowd noise sounded pretty solid (although it's admittedly hard to tell on TV half the time, especially with how shoddy Saturday's broadcast was), and hopefully the Big House crowd can bring that same rain-soaked tenacity into the stadium next Saturday night...yes, night. It's still weird to think about. I'll be in attendance and I couldn't be more excited to be a part of that environment. 
• No Hopkins is a bummer. I really hope he can get out of the doghouse, because Shaw and Toussaint as a one-two, Smith as a change-up/pass catcher third down back type and Hopkins as a short yardage bruiser is one well-rounded groups of backs. 
• As frustrating as it is, the decision to end the game was the right one, from a safety perspective as well as Alex Carder's (then again, those two probably overlap). This is only underscored by what happened  in Morgantown yesterday, where lightning struck the stadium, and at Notre Dame on Saturday where it was seen striking in close proximity to the stadium. Safety first then teamwork. 
• Will Campbell dropping in coverage...oddly majestic. The elusive fat guy touchdown from BWC would make me so unbelievably happy. Please make this happen Greg Mattison. 
• Dear Mother Nature...chill out.