Miscellaneous Minutiae, 8/28/2012

Just so y'all know where I'm at right now: yesterday, I went through my Insanity workout and only had to stop for a breather 2 or 3 times. Adrenaline level=HIGH. 

Funny, I too think Denard is pretty great

The Roundtree is fully operational. Good news: Roy Roundtree is 100%, according to Roy Roundtree. Either the arthroscopic surgery he had on his left knee August 10th was as "minor" as is being said, or Roy Roundtree has in fact become a robot.

He knew when he took his first hit, and didn't feel a thing in the knee, that he would be good to go.

Also, displays a stoic, dare I say it robotic lack of emotion:

It was scary. My parents were really worried. I was like, ''Y'all don't have to come up here. I'm a big boy.''

 This is an interesting strategy, becoming a robot. However, if there was a time to do it, it's now, as I'm convinced that Nick Saban has a secret T-1000 lab somewhere in Tuscaloosa where he produces space eating linemen and pass-rushing linebacker bots. Fair is fair.

Of course, given that the theme of the week is brinkmanship: if Robotree was in fact not 100%, I highly doubt he would be advertising that fact. Anyway, since he has apparently made the transformation, somebody should tell Brandon to get Roundtree that special "beating press coverage" system upgrade.*

*JUST KIDDING HURR BRANDON IS CHEAP DURR

Advanced stats and 2011 Alabama. I am admittedly somewhat behind the curve when it comes to advanced stats in college football (I'm a little more comfortable dealing with them in college basketball), so I'm not yet at a point where a lot of different stats mean much to me. With that said, even as someone without much of a statistical background, I know many people, especially in the Michigan fanbase, are all about that sort of thing. I'm not sure if this made the rounds a few weeks ago, but Brian Fremeau did an extensive FEI Profile of Alabama's 2011 team, producing lots of fancy charts and graphs for you to parse and marvel at how dominant last year's Alabama team was.** Seriously, take a look.

Near the end, there's a Michigan is advanced stats'd in the PFEI section ("program rating"...technical explanation included therein). Check it out. I'm pretty sure if you just stare at the screen long enough, you'll absorb the information contained therein via osmosis (pretty sure that's how that works). 

**Also, be happy that Michigan is not facing that team, and no Alabama fan, your defense is not going to be "as good if not better" than last year's defense (people are actually saying this). Stop it. 

HE AIN'T RESPECTIN' US PAWWLLLLL. This is why Brady Hoke is awesome. On whether or not he perceives Michigan to be the underdog, said "no" and then expanded a bit on that answer (and I truly mean "a bit"):

“I like Michigan,” Hoke said. There was a brief silence at the roundtable, and reporters quickly realized there was no further explanation coming, so they changed the subject.

One of these days I would really love for Hoke to say this sort of thing, detach the microphone from the podium--behind which he awkwardly yet authoritatively stands like a grizzly bear in a polo shirt--and just drop that thing. Could you imagine? No, no you can't, because it would just be too much for one brain to handle.

Actual underdogs. Matt Hinton comes in with his first non-introductory (reintroductory, I guess) post, talking about the state of the "underdog" in the current landscape of college football. It is as detailed and well-written as you'd expect, and is food for the college football fan's soul. I'm not talking like "bro I watched 3 straight hours of SportsCenter last night wanna debate and trade sports takes?" kind of "hardcore" fan, the kind that takes the team to learn Generic Small School With An Insane Economic and Traditional Disadvantage's QB's name, and the offensive coordinator's, and said team's 2011 record, and so on. In the middle of this post, however, is a pretty cool little detail:

The best candidate to break through: SMU defensive end Margus Hunt, a former Estonian discus champion who was offered a scholarship by June Jones before Hunt had ever played a down of organized football, based on a workout after plans to revive the Mustangs' men's track-and-field team fell through.

Estonian discus champion. Need I say more?

Alabama depth chart speculatin'. It doesn't seem that Alabama has released an official depth chart yet, and won't until who knows when (it was supposed to have been yesterday, but that didn't happen). As such, everybody is left to their speculative devices. Andrew Gribble of al.com takes a stab at naming the Tide's 22 starters. No real surprises there, although I have to question Deandrew White starting opposite Kevin Norwood. I think either Kenny Bell or Christion Jones get the starting nod, but in the end it really doesn't matter. All of these guys will play, especially since it seems like Alabama doesn't have a prototypical H-back to replace Brad Smelley's production (an underrated presence in Alabama's 2011 offense).

The same goes for the defense, obviously. Quinton Dial might start, but expect to see a lot of Ed Stinson at that end position (a guy who formerly played the "Jack" LB position). At linebacker, CJ Mosley might not be a starter but he'll be in there as Alabama's speedster, passing down 'backer; I get the feeling that Denard and Mosley might become close friends by the end of the night.

In case you were wondering, here's another update on the Alabama scout team guys wearing Michigan players' numbers thing: three guys have taken up the numbers 44, 25, and 90. The more you know.

AJ McCarron on Michigan. The Alabama signal caller has been doing his homework on Michigan:

"Summer, I broke everybody down. I kind of work with one of our GAs, Jeff Norrid. He helps me a bunch. He knows everything there is about defense," McCarron said. "Through the summer, we broke each opponent down week by week but probably in the past two, two-and-a-half weeks, we've watched ton of film on (Michigan). Me and him are up here at least 3 1/2, four hours a day. We'll come an hour or so before practice and then the rest after. So we've done a tremendous amount of breaking them down."

Also, a moderately interesting point (i.e. not completely sanitized coachspeak) from the head coach himself:

UA coach Nick Saban said the Wolverines' third down defense is what he called "pro style."

Of course, as Spielman's pleading near the end of the Ohio State game goes to show you, going with a "pro style" (i.e. more complex) scheme is not always the best idea. Still, things worked out pretty well last year, and Michigan is looking at a serious upgrade in overall talent and athleticism across the board, making those pro style schemes even more effective than they were last season.

In any case, it will be interesting to see what Mattison's gameplan for this Alabama offense will be. How much Okie will we see, for instance? Aggressiveness is an inherent part of his defensive mindset, and with the strength of Alabama's offensive line, it might be "sell out [on the run] or get out." But, I'll leave my probably uninformed opinions on the game itself for the preview post on Friday.

More? Hinton on the Toussaint "will he or won't he" thing. Not going to read the comments, not going to read the comments, not going to read the comments. Roll Bama Roll Hate Week thread with the hurr and the durr. I wonder if Michigan fans know that they all worship Kid Rock.

Basketball coverage will sadly go back to being very minimal here for a few months, but here are some notes on Michigan's finally updated roster from UMHoops. A couple height/weight points of interest there.

Alabama Link Roundup

(HT: Mike DeSimone) 

Here are some Alabama centric-links for you to mindlessly consume before trudging through the final Michigan football-less weekend for quite some time:

• Winter is coming. Alabama prepares for Michigan. There is a picture of Nick Saban smiling therein. I'm not sure whether to be happy or terrified. 
• Youngsters makin' plays and such. Chris Low gives you three instant impact guys for each SEC West team. A receiver, a corner, and a tailback for Alabama. 
• Watch Eddie Lacy run through the pad forest one time. Here's a short video of Eddie Lacy running around a bit. That left ankle is fairly heavily taped, but, there's no reason to assume that he'll be hindered or won't play on 9/1. Either way, like I said before...an arthritic turtle could run for 100+ yards behind that offensive line. 
• BOILERPLATEEEEE. Standard issue stuff re: Alabama defensive players on Denard. He is a playmaker and must be stopped, says the Alabama defense while twirling its handlebar mustache nefariously. 
• WHY DO I READ COMMENT SECTIONS ON THE INTERNET. Bama fan in the comments thinks that Hoke is "writing off" the Alabama game based on his "we've got to move forward after that and play those next 11" comment from his Mike & Mike appearance this morning. Facepalm. Why do I do this this to myself. 
• Yes, Alabama indeed has wide receivers. Although passing the ball is not something that the average Alabamian has much taste for, Roll Bama Roll takes a look at the Crimson Tide's wide receivers. I've previewed them before myself, FWIW (HINT HINT READ IT MAYBE). Anyway, the Tide do have to replace Marquis Maze and Darius Hanks (in addition to H-back Brad Smelley), but there is plenty of talent coming back. Some of it isn't that experienced or game-tested, but there's talent nonetheless. 
• Ersatz Denard. Some practice notes from today. Not much at all in there, but here's a moderately interesting note: it looks like Alabama hasn't selected somebody to be the Denard simulating scout team guy. I wonder who that'll be? It does look like someone has taken Roundtree's role, though. I hope that guy has his Donald Duck impression ready to go.
• One more time. Here are all of my preview posts on each Alabama position group from earlier this summer, all in one place for your convenience. Again, a few things are dated due to transfers/injuries, but they are otherwise still accurate. 

Miscellaneous Minutiae, 6/14/2012

I know that it's the middle of June, but I've decided to continue my newly minted policy of not discussing realignment, playoff scenarios, etc. It's for the best. As long as you understand that it all boils down to each entity looking out solely for its own interests, it all becomes transparently not worth expressing much righteous indignation over. The fact is, we are destined to have some sort of playoff...and it will probably be a stupid one. So it goes. 
---

Michigan fans take to the streets to express their displeasure over the coaching staff's extension of a scholarship offer to a long snapper...definitely not soccer hooligans in Poland.

On the importance of long snappers. Now, I don't mean to set the precedent that because Nick Saban is doing something, that something is inherently good or valid, but...regarding the mini-uproar over Hoke's scholarship offer to long snapper Scott Syniewski, here's this on Saban's recruitment of long snapper Cole Mazza:

According to BamaOnline, Saban did something at last week's special teams camp in Tuscaloosa that he's never done in his 17-year career -- offered a scholarship to a long snapper.

But but oversigning! Okay yes, whatever, guy. Still, I'm going to go ahead and say that the staff knows more about what Michigan needs than various recruiting obsessees on the Internet. Classes are not only a collection of players that provide certain talents and skill sets, they fill specific needs, ranging from "need a big wide receiver" to something as hyper-specialized as "need guy to snap the ball really far every once in a while." In the end, nobody will remember whether or not this class was #1 or #5 or #842 in four years, just as long as the guy brought in to snap can snap, the receivers catch, the linemen block, the linebackers tackle, the quarterbacks complete passes, and so on and so forth.

In short: trust the coaches, over-anxious star-gazer.

Big Ten wide receiving talent...not so great. In spite of the popular notion that the Big Ten is some slow, plodding conference that still gets a print newspaper delivered every week and receives its milk via milk man, the conference has put out its fair share of wide receiving talent over the years. However, this does not appear to be one of those years, as the position group across the entire league seems to be a glaring weakness.

ESPN's Big Ten blog asks who the best B1G's receiver is, with the options being: Keenan Davis, Jared Abbrederis, Roy Roundtree and Justin Brown. No offense to any of those guys, but that is a pretty uninspiring list. I'm not that old, but I can't remember the last time the talent on the perimeter was this weak in the conference.

With AJ Jenkins, Junior Hemingway (and Stonum, I guess), DeVier Posey, Derek Moye, Marvin McNutt, Jeremy Ebert, Nick Toon, and Damarlo Belcher all having moved on for one reason or another, the conference will be sorely lacking in proven talent at WR. I would imagine that this will translate to less big plays in 2012 than there were in 2011.

Michigan will need Roy Roundtree to return to form and at least one of Jerald Robinson, Darboh, and Chesson to step up. Ohio State needs guys like Evan Spencer, Devin Smith, and Verlon Reed to step up, and early enrollee Michael Thomas is also probably in the mix there as well. Northwestern is hoping to get USC transfer Kyle Prater eligible to play this season. Keenan Davis and Justin Brown look to take over for McNutt and Moye as the #1 receiving options at Iowa and PSU, respectively.

It's going to be an interesting year on offense, and by "interesting" I mean "probably conforming to the aforementioned B1G stereotypes." Let's hope the newspaper doesn't land right on that puddle over there.

Think about the kids, fergodsakes. Okay, so I'm sort of breaking the "no playoff talk" rule here, but I just wanted to note this in order to add...

"Whatever happens, here’s the only thing I hope: I hope they think about the kids, and the families of those kids who are out there on the field, because how many games do we want to play?" Hoke said this week during a meeting with the Michigan Associated Press Sports Editors at Weber’s Inn in Ann Arbor.

"These are not professional athletes. They are student-athletes. They have classes."

...that Hoke is one of a tiny clique of folks in college football that can invoke "the kids" without me completely rolling my eyes. That is all.

Nebraska fans at Ryan Field. Northwestern blog Lake the Posts discusses Nebraska's upcoming visit to Ryan Field this season and what can be done to limit their numbers. If for nothing else, it's worth clicking through to watch video of the famous 2000 Nebraska-Notre Dame game in which Husker fans made Notre Dame Stadium look like this:

Of course, as we all know, the problem of fans selling their tickets to opposing fans is not one that is limited to Northwestern. Yes, I'm referring to Michigan and Michigan fans. The amount of green at the 2008 Michigan State game and the amount of scarlet at the 2009 Ohio State game were, to be quite honest, fairly embarrassing. I will never understand how people can willingly give their tickets away to a fan of a rival team like that. I get that times are tough and all, but come on.

So, reading the linked LTP's impassioned plea for NU fans to get out to Ryan Field, I started to wonder whether or not this sort of thing would stop happening in Ann Arbor. It happens far less often and on a far lesser scale, proportionally, than it does in Evanston. However, there is no excuse for the number of Spartan and Buckeye fans that have invaded the Big House in recent years.

We won't truly find out until 2013's home slate, but this year's Michigan State game will prove to be a solid litmus test in this regard, especially if Michigan happens to roll into this game with 2 losses (Alabama and ND). We all know that Spartan fans will be dying to show up to the Big House en masse this year given that MSU has the chance to win its 5th in a row, and a 2-loss Michigan team will definitely test the resolve of lesser Michigan fans (unfortunately, there are more of this type of fan than you'd think). You'd think that the success of an 11-win season would be enough to keep even the bandwagoniest fans from selling their tickets to someone wearing green, but you never know. I guess we'll find out on October 20th.


MnB's Zach Travis interviews BHGP's Patrick Vint. An all-around excellent interview at Maize n Brew, one that gives a pretty excellent picture of where Iowa football is at right now. The apex was of course the 2002-2004 run of top 10 finishes, but since then Iowa has been fairly up and down, showing brief flashes of that old brilliance (2009). Vint on the Tao of Ferentz, which sounds a lot like Lloydball except instead of slowly bleeding away a somewhat comfortable lead all the way to an excruciating loss, Kirk seems to do pretty well:

The other thing to remember is that the 2008 and 2009 teams really didn't play that many close games. What those teams played, for the most part, were two-possession games where the opponent got a late score to make it close. Iowa is deadly in those situations; Ferentz has only lost two games in thirteen years where he had a two-possession lead with 8:00 to play. Give Iowa a chance to make you drive the field, milk some clock between the tackles, and then make you drive the field again, and Ferentz will beat you. But put him in a situation where he has to tactically beat you for 8:00 and Iowa loses nearly 2 of 3 (since 2005).

Well, that sounds familiar (i.e. this past year's game at Kinnick). Note to self (Cc: Brady Hoke): don't let Kirk Ferentz be up by two scores with around 8 or so minutes left in the game.

More? MAH GAWD THAT'S URBAN MEYER'S MUSIC PLAYING AT THE SOUND MIND SOUND BODY ACADEMY IN SOUTHFIELD, MI. I admittedly don't follow basketball recruiting as much as I do football recruiting, but Vitto Brown (via UMHoops) sounds like an interesting prospect, even if he doesn't end up getting offered. An athletic 6'8'' guy playing the 3/4 with shot-blocking ability? He definitely sounds like a departure from the Beilein big guy prototype, but it's been five years and a Michigan version of Pittsnogle (or even a poor man's iteration) has yet to materialize. Maybe it's time to give up the ghost and just recruit more conventional Big Ten bigs?

I was out of town so I didn't have a chance to do a Shameless Self-Promotion post, but anyway: I wrote a thing about Purdue football and another thing about Brandon Hawthorne and Antonio Poole over at Maize n Brew last week. There, now you're caught up.

Hello Darkness My Old Friend

(HT: @NicolasLeroi)

Michigan 16, Iowa 24

At a certain point in the game, my worldview shifted from one defined by wins and losses to one of practical improvements, of an intellectual inching forward toward something that could be deemed ideal or even not entirely objectionable. It's hard to be mad when you've seen this story over and over again; if you're surprised by the ending then you should probably pay a little closer attention. This is what Michigan has done for years. In the interest of putting a name to it, we'll simply call this the Ben Chappell Theorem; that is, that if Michigan plays a team with multiple glaring weaknesses/an air of general incompetency that has already failed in the face of the opposition of other inferior teams, then, it must necessarily follow, that not only will Michigan not exploit those weaknesses (or what are ostensibly weaknesses, i.e. Michigan State's offensive line) effectively (usually not for lack of some trying, though), they will make certain players look like All-Americans in the process. An enormous shadow of a mouse becomes something much worse in the shifting tectonic plates of light and dark. Just as Michigan made former Indiana QB Ben Chappell look like the greatest thing ever on one afternoon, Michigan continues to make the mediocre look exceptional.

Unfortunately, as nondescript as Iowa football is this year save for a battering ram of a tailback and a receiver with a certain NFL future, it seems that Michigan is probably just as mediocre. Yet, how could we lose to a team that just lost to Minnesota? How could we muster up less yards against Iowa's decidedly mediocre, surprisingly untalented defense than almost every one of Iowa's previous opponents?

Although I figured this would be a loss before the season, I also thought Iowa would've been somewhat decent. There are really no excuses here. At the same time, maybe it's my fault for forgetting about the Chappell Theorem, just like those who touted State's porous offensive line while forgetting that we ourselves boasted a depth-less line with very little high end talent. You could say it's a battle of preconceived notions and reality, a reality which is mostly composed of Big Ten unexceptionalism and crippling mediocrity. We are what we are, which is mostly just as bad as everybody else. If you're expecting a win against Illinois because we are better and this is how things should normally go, you are setting yourself up for failure pursuant to every single clause of the Chappell Theorem.

Even worse than who we lost to and how we lost is the fact that this was a classic Lloyd era loss. We fell behind by two scores then went into "OH CRAP IT'S SHOTGUN TIME" mode, only to advance enough to be able to fall three yards short. We've heard this story before.

The Offense 

I mean, honestly. Michigan had some success in the first half on the ground, with Fitz Toussaint bouncing left and right and bursting through holes such with grace and skill that my little sister made a Mike Hart comparison without even being at all aware of the Fred Jackson hyperbole meme (so, that was a proud moment). Overall, though, Fitz only finished with 58 yards on 16 carries, with most of the yardage coming in the first half. After that it was a series of 0 and 1-yard runs until he was eventually knocked out of the game. It seems that Michigan probably did some sort of work on the power game during the last two weeks of practice in an attempt to "normalize" the offense, and it worked in the first half mostly because Iowa's defensive line is not very big and our line was able to push somebody around for once. However, being predictable eventually nullifies that advantage, and we were predictable.

For the second time in a row, Michigan has gone on the road and Al Borges seemingly has forgotten how to call plays. I'm not quite at the point where saying that "Al Borges: Denard Robinson::Jim Tressel: Terrelle Pryor" but I'm getting close. I get that he's not a spread guy, but I thought we were past the under center experiment? I'm sure it was kind of cool for Borges and Hoke to be able to look like a real BIG TEN OFFENSE in the first half (while putting up 7 points), but man it just seemed like a sham the entire time. This is just not who we are and I don't really understand why Al keeps trying it.

There were problems with the playcalling to be sure...I still don't understand Borges's aversion to the bubble screen, and I don't really remember too many screens in general. The dual-QB set probably needs to die. If getting Gardner snaps comes at the expense of offensive continuity, or makes a winnable game less winnable by any order of magnitude, then he should not be playing. I think Devin is going to be a good player once Denard is gone, but he showed once again that he really isn't doing anything that much better than Denard is, which is worse than it sounds considering that they're both, for all intents and purposes, first year players in this kaleidoscopic invertebrate of an offense.

While there are many things to complain about, a few nice things did happen. On Michigan's first touchdown drive, Denard was doing things like going through progressions and checking down, which, you're darn right that's an improvement. It's pretty bad that your junior starting quarterback is just starting to acquire these skills but this is where we are. Even though Denard went a pretty bad 18/38, a decent number of the incompletions were either drops or hopeless long balls that shouldn't have been thrown in the first place. A good amount of the time that Denard wasn't throwing the ball right at a defensive end's hands or out of bounds 40+ yards down the field, he was looking confident and throwing a decent ball, just like last week against Purdue. Of course, this only happened when Michigan picked up the pace in the comeback effort, getting in the 'gun and running play after play while giving the Iowa defense very little time to rest, and...wait a second. This sounds familiar.

I'm not giving up on Al quite yet; while his move from Auburn to SDSU should've been (and is) somewhat of a red flag, I still believe that he knows enough about offense, generally, that we at the very least won't look like this once we have the types of players in there that the staff is looking for. The worry still exists that this offensive attack is nothing more than an amalgamation of plays rather than an offense, but the only other options (running the RR spread or a straight up plodding I-form based run game), are, well, non-options for obvious reasons.

With that said, while Al has failed to get Michigan going in the last two road efforts, some onus has to fall on the players. As for the last drive, I've though about it and while I was initially upset that Al didn't do this or that, in the end what he did do should have probably worked. It just didn't, and that's just a testament to the fact that even a well-laid plan can be ground to powder by the machinations of reality. The Michigan timeout before Iowa's second to last punt came back to bit us hard in this situation, as we still would have had one in hand, probably changing our entire approach to that set of downs. But, with no timeouts, a limited amount of time left, and a quarterback that often holds onto the ball way too long in the face of a rush (in a situation where a sack=death), the way Borges called it is somewhat understandable. Vanilla, maybe, but one of those attempts should have resulted in a score.

On first and goal, Denard completely misfired on that short-ish fade to Hemingway; given how lost Micah Hyde looked on the next play, if Denard had, you know, not thrown it clear out of the end zone, I'd say that Hemingway stood a good chance of reeling in the TD right then and there. But, Denard being Denard, he throw it out of the end zone and the fact that Hyde looked like he was completely lost in the woods was not taken advantage of.

On second and goal, we know what happened...again, if Denard throws this one just a little bit better, Hemingway doesn't need to make a highlight reel play and we have a shot to tie. He didn't but Hemingway still brought it in...until it was ruled incomplete. The fact that MSU's Hail Mary against Wisconsin is a TD but this wasn't...I just don't know anymore. Indisputable video evidence is often an impossibility at times and an enabler of unadulterated referee pussyfooting. Was it a catch? I hate to say it, but it was not, although I'd love for someone to tell me otherwise. In the flow of the game, though, it was understandably pretty easy to coerce yourself into believing that the ball did not in fact hit the white.

On third and goal, Denard masterfully avoided a completely unblocked blitzer coming up the middle to launch a pass to a diving Vincent Smith. It would have been a difficult play to make for Smith, but it was there and he simply didn't make it. There's nothing else to say.

It was fourth and goal, and, being the last play of the game, you could argue that a run would have been warranted (the timeout called after the Roundtree reception essentially eliminated the choice on first through third down). Honestly, would it have been a lower percentage play than a pass (if any lower at all)? Of course, we passed and Roundtree was mauled by B.J. Lowery in what was not the first uncalled pass interference of the game. The slant was there and it's a fairly high percentage play...I can't really fault any of these calls in and of themselves. In a vacuum, each one was fine, especially if any of them would have worked. You can say that we should've rolled Denard out but that risks taking a sack and/or running off enough clock to eliminate an opportunity. Fourth and goal was really the only time you could call it a running play, but let's be honest, Al wasn't going to do that.

It was an old school Michigan offensive effort in a loss...unimaginative and flailingly effective in a just short last ditch effort. For a team being led by a coordinator that "knows offense" and has spiced things up with 2-QB formations, Michigan was predictable and unimaginative when it mattered, just like the old days. Al going into full on "watch these four verts bro" mode on the last drive leading up to the last four plays didn't exactly help the situation. Iowa's defense practically inherently gives up free completions/large chunks of yardage...when was the last time Denard completed a deep ball that wasn't a jump ball?

The Defense


For all the defense's flaws, a rational person just can't be mad at it. The defense is like a puppy that has rolled around in the mud and then proceeded to jump all over you and your white shirt...OH PUPPY DEFENSE I CAN'T STAY MAD AT YOU. Although, there's something to be said (something bad) about a defense that calls to mind the image of an adorable puppy. So, there's that.

In all seriousness, Iowa's offense was who we thought they were: a team with a Dollar Tree version of Beanie Wells--by no means an insult--paired with a strong-armed quarterback capable of making you pay and a pretty good receiver in McNutt. They didn't even have that middle-of-the-field-eviscerating tight end that they normally do.

At the end of the day, giving up 24 points and only 302 total yards on the road is not bad at all. I can live with that, although the trend of Michigan coming out and looking like a complete sieve on the first drive continues. Plays were made, and perhaps the only significant knock was the inability to force a turnover, which Michigan has relied on for sustenance all year. I can't even get mad about Coker's performance against our front...it was kind of expected. Coker carried the ball 29 times for 132 yards at 4.6 ypc. That's not encouraging or anything--particularly in light of our complete inability to bring him down for no gain despite multiple defenders being draped all over him--but it's not terrible.

Martin, RVB, and Roh came through on several occasions with much-needed TFLs. Heck, even Will Heininger got in there and made a play. It's safe to say that Iowa's line isn't exactly great, but it's still nice to see Martin and Co. knifing through the line and making plays.

As we already know, the depth just isn't there (and, needless to say, is overall quality of talent), and, paired with young and slow linebackers, that's just asking to get gashed. Michigan better get used to it, because there are the next three teams we face will look to run the ball again and again and again. Scheelhaase and Ford next week, then it's Martinez and Burkhead, then it's OSU's stable of talented, capable backs...it doesn't get easier.

Back to the linebackers...they are slow. That play on the first drive where Demens pulled up like he got hurt underscored a severe lack of speed and athleticism on his part, a fact only made more apparent after watching the LSU-Alabama defensive slugfest. Even Morgan, who is a clear upgrade over Hawthorne, and Ryan, who has shown some promise, just don't have enough speed to get to the ball at times. It is what it is. We just sort of have to ride with them until the incoming class of linebackers makes their way into the system.

Am I missing something or did Thomas Gordon not even play at all? I understand Woolfolk being on the field (he did a solid job moonlighting as a safety in '09) but did he really deserve to completely usurp the position from him? Unless Gordon was injured and Hoke wasn't saying anything (entirely possible) then I think the answer is no. Other than that, Countess continues to make the case that he's our best cover corner. So, that's nice.

Also, the 3rd & 1 stops on Iowa's last two drives were things of beauty. That is all.

Special Teams 


Gibbons?

Despite making his one field goal, the haunting pall of mediocrity looming over everything precludes me from anything representing happiness (e.g. dancing Swanson). Maybe next week. Oh, and there's the botched XP, which didn't really end up mattering because Michigan couldn't score at the end, but was still pretty bad.

Otherwise, Hagerup booted 5 for a total of 197 yards and an average of 39.4 per...he did have a long of 49 but that average is not very good. Hagerup reverting to his old form would be nice, as the defense will take any extra bit of help it can get in the coming weeks. Rounding out the special teams, Michigan defended returns pretty well and the return game the other way continues to not turn the ball over. Odoms did have a nice kick return for the second week in a row that I felt could have almost gone for much more.

Despite a couple slightly better than average returns, Stonum's return next year will provide an enormous boost on kick returns (not to mention his obvious effect on the offense)...I feel like I say this every week.

Miscellaneous Minutiae

• Speaking of Odoms...he finally caught his first pass of the season on Michigan's last drive, a clutch catch and run for 13 yards on 3rd and 10. So, even though this year probably hasn't turned out like he might've wanted, there is that. Good for him. 

• Apparently Delonte Hollowell got in the game f.or the first time this year, notching 1 total tackle. I don't remember when this happened, but it did. I wonder what the motivation for burning his redshirt at this point in the year might be. 

• Personal foul on Lewan...come on, man. 

• Understatement alert, but I wish Denard had the sense to know when he should run. I understand the cognitive dissonance of telling a guy "be patient" but also "RUN RUN RUN LIKE YOU'VE NEVER RUN BEFORE" (which is often), but the fact remains that he's still not taking off when it's there, just like last year. It's consistently taking what should be a gain of some amount of yards and turning it into an incompletion, a sack, or a turnover. But, this is what you get when you take an already raw player and make him start all over again. 

• Just like the State game, Michigan was right there despite looking like garbage for much of the game. The fumble (which led to an Iowa field goal) and the soul-crushing interception in the red zone could very well be the difference in the game. That, and a few questionable pass interference no-calls pushed the win Iowa's way. It always sounds so sour grapesy to complain about the refs, but come on. That last play was a pass interference, period, and to say "oh well we just didn't do enough to win blah blah blah" and entertain notions of "deserving" to win is dumb. The refs did have a negative effect on the outcome of the game. Should Michigan have just not played horrible football and won anyway? Yeah, sure, but a team shouldn't have to overcome the refs to do so, especially when two teams are so evenly matched...I've never really understood the whole "the refs don't matter just play" argument as anything other than a convenient coping mechanism for fans who don't want to think about how their team was just obviously jobbed.  

• As Brian pointed out on Twitter, Michigan put up less yards against Iowa than this list of glorious champions of football prowess: Minnesota, Indiana, Northwestern, Penn State, Pitt, Iowa State, and Louisiana-Monroe. I am now truly sad having typed that. 

• The 2-QB system needs to stop, starting this Saturday at Illinois. Gardner is not ready; here's to a great offseason for him and we'll try this thing again next year. As for now, Denard is and should be the guy. When put in the right position, he's proven that he can throw the ball well enough to lead a functioning offense. If they're going to keep doing this, Gardner needs to be on the field for entire drives, not a play here and there. 

• I'm always hesitant when it comes to saying anything negative about Denard, particularly regarding his speed, but...yeah. He's definitely slower this year. Part of it is definitely the offense, which has him hesitating with the ball in his hands when he'd simply just make people look like buoys floating in Lake Michigan in similar situations last season. I don't know if he's just banged up or if it's the added weight or what, but there's a noticeable difference. 

• FWIW, Denard moved into 9th place on Michigan's all-time leading rushers list. 

I Just Felt Like Running

(HT: Mike DeSimone)

Michigan 31, Eastern Michigan 3

It's nice to be at the point where we can reasonably complain about things after a 28-point victory in which Denard Robinson racked up a whopping 198 yards, with Vincent Smith also chipping in over a hundred yards on the ground as well and the defense giving up its fewest point since the 2007 Notre Dame bonanza of hilarity. All of these sound good, and yes, there seems to be an underlying aura of improvement bubbling underneath the narrative of 2011 Michigan football. And yet, the first quarter (and even the second), may or may not be signs of things to come, kind of like that feeling you get in your stomach after eating some particularly uppity Indian food: it looks and tastes good now but there might be some, how do you say, "complications" down the road. So yeah, this game was like a plate of spicy lamb vindaloo and NO THIS WON'T TURN OUT POORLY NO SIR.

But, for now, we have the luxury of just enjoying this win despite all its flaws and the impending indigestion death by run defense that it suggests.

The Offense


It's pretty clear that when Borges said he was out of his "comfort zone" for the first time (re: using Denard's skills) he was being completely honest and not spouting Denard fluff (not that there's anything wrong with Denard fluff). There's something to be said for offensive rhythm, something that doesn't really show up in the stat sheet but is pretty crucial to an offense's ability to move the ball on a consistent basis, and unfortunately that rhythm seems to still be predicated entirely on DENARD GO GO GO. This is a work in progress, and I'm still not even close to getting ready to eliminate the "Al Borges is not dumb" tag from these parts, but man. Is it just me or does our offense look like the one that that one friend--the friend that everybody has--always runs against you in Madden/NCAA...you know the friend. He's usually the guy who says things like "watch these 4 verts bro" before throwing a bomb on first, second, and third down (he also goes for it on fourth down regardless of field position). Another hallmark of this friend's offensive strategy is a running game that involves picking a team with a fast quarterback and running outside every time that he doesn't throw deep (which is every pass). Obviously this is a little hyperbolic (Gorgeous Al would never say "bro"), but it seems that there hasn't been much of an effort to ease Denard into the passing game. As cliched as it is, give the guy a slant or two, more screens (standard RB screens, TE screens, WR screens that aren't tunnel screens, etc.), a 5-yard curl here and there. Regardless of how persistent Borges--and the shadowy influence of Hoke's general football philosophy on that persistence--is with respect to running non-spread type plays, some basic things need to change in order to get Denard anywhere close to the type of quarterback the offensive staff wants him to be.

The interception on drive numero uno is Exhibit A: Michigan came out with 5 runs in a row, followed by an incompletion and then the pick itself on 4th&5. I'd like to see Michigan come out passing right away against SDSU and Minnesota, and Northwestern (before things start to get real, beginning with the MSU game). We dont need Denard to be Peyton Manning, we just need him to make standard passes that guys like Gallon can add chunks of YAC from time to time to help him out. Throwing so many passes downfield is pretty much the perfect way to assure that Denard has no rhythm at all. To quote David Foster Wallace, it's "so stupid it practically drools." Then again, to check myself here, sometimes you make a read and go with what's there, which very well might lead to what we're seeing on offense: you don't not throw to Junior Hemingway deep when he's got one-on-one coverage just because you're worried about throwing deep too many times. I don't know...I just want to see some more intermediate routes and/or "easy" passes for Denard in the near future. Thankfully, this Rex Grossman-esque "let's go deep all the time guys" philosophy might not hurt us too often this year, as the Big Ten is generally terrible and the only teams with decent defensive backs on our schedule are Nebraska, OSU, and I guess Illinois (Terry Hawthorne).

On the positive side, yes, Denard did have a Denardian stat line, rushing-wise, by the end of the day. Part of me thinks that maybe Denard takes that 52-yarder all the way in 2010, but maybe I'm just finding things to worry about. The zone read did look quite good, although I will say that I find the fact that teams even consider crashing in on the tailback and not Denard a little bit puzzling. Notre Dame did this and so did EMU, but will other teams do the same? If Smith and Toussaint can assert themselves as above average options then the zone read will finally enter the fray in earnest. If that happens then look out. As prolific as the offense was last year, Denard never mastered the execution of the zone read (which you would've thought would be a linchpin of our offense under RR). An offense in which Denard can do this on a somewhat regular basis should terrify opposing defensive coordinators.

The offensive line still looks like it just realized that the final exam they have in a week is in Mandarin Chinese and not the esoteric Urdu dialect they've been studying all semester. It's a work in progress. We're still extremely left-handed, which is okay if you have Jake Long destroying all challengers like Bonesaw before his bout with The Amazing Spider-Man. Lewan's good but he's not quite there yet. However, despite the OL being pretty underwhelming (as was sort of expected), Vincent Smith had a great day, going for 118 yards on a mere nine carries. Smith went for 27, 5, and 14 yards on three carries in the drive to open the second half (the first two out of the gun). The good news is that he looks like he's regained the jitterbug burst that he flashed in 2009. The bad news? He's still tiny. As long as Toussaint can stay healthy--a pretty huge if--his size shouldn't be an issue, as he won't have to carry the ball more than 10-12 times a game. If he can pair with Toussaint for about 25-30 carries a game, with Denard getting anywhere between 15 and 25 depending upon the flow/circumstances (i.e., score, time left, etc.) of a given game, I'll be pretty happy. It looks like Shaw and Hopkins won't be getting too many carries this season (again, assuming Toussaint doesn't go down).

I'm not saying start Smith, but Borges needs to get him the ball, especially as a receiver. Smith is obviously not Matt Forte in build, but Forte could be a model for how we could be using Smith.

The Defense


It is what it is. At this point in time, I'm not looking for the Michigan defense to reach some absolute value of goodness; rather, I'd like to see Michigan get better week by week. It is but a simple request.

The first quarter was ugly, but I don't need to tell you that. Contain was not kept at all, and thinking about checking Taylor Martinez or Nathan Scheelhaase is not a pleasant thing at all. EMU turned out to be exactly what they had been in their previous two games against FCS competition: a team that can definitely move the ball on the ground but not through the air. EMU passed a total of six times in the game (six!), which shines an uncomfortably bright light on the run defense. If you're playing Eastern Michigan, and that team has very little ability or intention to pass the ball, you'd think that you could pin your ears back and stop the run...NOPE!

The Michigan defense gave up 207 yards on the day at a clip of 4.5 per carry. That average is not horrific, I guess, especially since EMU was trying its best to shorten the game at all costs by running on almost every play. In the end, though, Michigan held up when it mattered, and giving up three points is nothing to scoff at (especially after the UMASS game last year). Jibreel Black is coming into his own, and he made a nice play to force a fumble on the first drive just as EMU was approaching the red zone. On the very next drive, Michigan stonewalled Eastern on the one, a situation in which Michigan probably gives up a touchdown last year. If I was Ron English, I would've gone for it too.

Eastern got into the red zone again, but Michigan did well to force a field goal. Michigan's defense bent but didn't break, which is commendable. The numbers themselves are disappointing but only if you're expecting Michigan to be a top 40-50ish defense.

Pass rush in this game is irrelevant for obvious reasons, but we'll definitely get a better feel for whether or not the front four can do much of anything when Ryan Lindley and Sand Diego State. Craig Roh made an appearance, getting a sack in the third quarter where he flashed the agility and quicks that we saw throughout much of his freshman year. The D as a whole looked pretty excited for him. While I can't explain his underwhelming start to the season, it's good to see him get on the board. We are not very good at rushing the passing, and without Roh pitching in it gets even worse.

Other positives? Kovacs is Kovacs. The solo open field tackle is not something we've seen a whole lot of the past few years. Additionally, Thomas Gordon looks like the other half of our first--dare I say it--competent pair of safeties since 2007's tandem of Brandent Englemon and Jamar Adams. As high as my hopes were for Carvin Johnson, Thomas Gordon looks like he could be a good one for us, and that's without even mentioning that spectacular one-handed interception. It's nice to have safeties that kind of know what they're doing. Another exciting player is Brandin Hawthorne, who led the team in tackles on Saturday with 10 total (one TFL). Like Jake Ryan, he's still a work in progress, but it looks like we might have a player at the WLB position, an addition which could end up being as huge as the Ezeh-Demens switch of 2010. His TFL on Eastern's drive to start the fourth was a quintessential read and react. To be fair, he was unblocked, but he knifed through the wash and tackled the ball carrier for a loss when he just as easily done something else, like miss the tackle, overrun the play, or get distracted by the guy walking down the steps in Section 20 with a box of popcorn. I don't think the novelty of "making tackles" will ever wear off.

Special Teams


WE MADE A FIELD GOAL! WE MADE A FIELD GOAL! WE MADE A FIELD GOAL!

We made a field goal.

Kick and punt returns are pretty mediocre right now. I love Vincent Smith, but I'm not sure why he's been given kickoff return duties when there are a number of more explosive players on the roster. Holding on to the ball is certainly the prime objective here, but Smith back there is basically like Greg Mathews returning punts. This probably won't happen, but I wouldn't mind seeing Raymon Taylor get a shot back there at some point.

Wile had a pretty poor day on punts, booting three for an average of 35.0 yards and a long of 41. Hagerup can't get back into the fold soon enough.

Miscellaneous Minutiae

• Interesting to see Raymon Taylor out there as a nickelback. I'm not sure if that lasts going forward (could be a Desmond Morgan "throw him in there and see what he does" scenario), but he brings some major speed to the secondary. 
• Jake Ryan really got owned a few times in the run game. He is the consummate freshman at this point, and it's best if everybody, including myself, slows down the hype train. He's good for an impressive play or two a game and a bunch of bad ones. 
• Is it just me or has Mike Martin also been really quiet this year? I know, he's getting a lot of double teams, but still...all's quiet on the Western Michigan front (4). 
• Nice to see Koger aka Hypeman86 get involved in the passing game with the touchdown. Koger could he a huge asset in getting Denard comfortable throwing the ball early on in games, and I think Borges would be remiss to not take advantage of his [Koger's] talents. 
• Other cameos: Frank Clark and Blake Countess. We're not really in a position to be redshirting everybody, but hopefully these two don't see their redshirt burned for no reason. 
• EMU was only 4/12 on third downs, so that's an improvement. 
• Overall, Michigan did what they had to do to get through this one. Denard running the ball in the 4th quarter is not a great idea, and hopefully Borges realizes that going forward. Twenty six carries for Denard is WAY too many, especially against Eastern. On the plus side, Denard hasn't been dinged up at all this year, which is either due to the extra TOUGHNESS in the clam chowder or complete luck. He really took some licks in this one that made me cringe. This is the part of the schedule where we can afford to save him for MSU and beyond.

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.