Here are 3 things to watch for when Michigan faces off against Western Michigan on Saturday.
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| (Live up to potential, please.) |
1. Can they line it up and run the football with a tailback? Who will that guy be? My bet is on Fitzgerald Toussaint. It could be Michael Shaw, but one of the many talented RB's need to step up and show they can produce on the ground. This will also be our first glimpse at how the offensive line is going to function in a scheme that will require more drive blocking. If the coaches are able I think they will keep the scheme very vanilla in this game and keep things under wraps a bit for the night game against ND.
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| (Awesome picture, right?) |
2. Can Michigan stop the run? Alex Carder is a good quarterback and he's going to throw for some yards. If Michigan can shut down any WMU running game and then start to tee off on Carder they will win easily. If the Broncos are able to run the football, Hoke is probably going to have to turn Denard loose to win a shootout. This will also be a visible signal to give us a good idea of how the season is going to go. If Michigan can shut down WMU on the ground, things will be looking up for this year. If it goes the other way...yikes.
3. Defensive rotation. There are a lot of guys who are going to rotate in and out on defense and it will be interesting to see how the young guys play even if the game is out of hand.
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| ("You! You play for Michigan!") |
Prediction:
31-13
We see Devin Gardner in the 4th quarter where he continues the gameplan of taking snaps under center and giving the ball to running backs. Western puts up decent yardage numbers in the middle of the field as Michigan gives up a lot of dink and dunk underneath passing yardage. Things get more difficult for the Broncos as the field starts to shrink. Denard and the offense start a little slow but he makes a few big plays where the Broncos can't account for his running and the receivers downfield. The running backs have a lot of 3 yard carries but break one big run.
i think hoke is pointing out the student hot dog guy. he wants some lunch.
ReplyDeleteMichigan wins 42-7. We all smile. Except Zach. Sparty loses on Friday. We all smile. Except Zach.
ReplyDeleteI think these are 3 good things to watch for. It's all about the defense for UM tomorrow. Nobody has any doubts the offense is gonna put up points.
ReplyDeleteand robby, if MSU loses I will be crying, not just not smiling.
ReplyDeleteHot dog man is a legend.
ReplyDeleteYeah Tstuff, but I think WMU is going to have success passing. Their qb is good and they have some WR's. The play of the DL is going to be what I have my eyes on. Obviously, Michigan needs to win the battle in the trenches versus WMU.
Also, has anyone here seen the movie The Last Boyscout? That picture of Carder reminds me of the football scene in that movie...which makes no sense because int he movie it was a downpour but it's something about the lighting...
ReplyDeleteSo something we did last year on the old blog was pick all the big ten games every week. I think Zach and I will pick the UM and MSU games and then maybe we'll each pick all the Big Ten games in a post we put up together and then you can all post your predictions in the comments. Is there interest in this?
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