QB: Michigan (Big)
RB: Push
WR/TE: Tbone says Push, Pat says Michigan
OL: Tbone says Push, Pat says Michigan
2011 Statistics:
Total Offense:
MSU: 56th, 390 ypg
UM: 42nd, 405 ypg
Scoring Offense:
MSU:37th, 31 ppg
UM: 26th, 33 ppg
Returning Starters:
MSU: 5? (The lose at least 5 in Cousins, Cunningham, Martin, Nichol, Linthicum...and maybe one Oline guy?)
UM: 7
The Better O in 2012?
 | ||
| Denard finds that question funny |
Michigan should be spectacular on offense in 2012. They may have trouble with Alabama but shouldn't be slowed down too much again until they play MSU, Nebraska and OSU. After trying some square peg, round hole type things with Denard early in the season last year, Al Borges was able to tinker and tailor his system to better suit the skills of Shoelace. They will be held back statistically by playing ball control as well as a lack of a dynamic big play receiver on the outside, but Michigan will be a top 15-20 offense this season.
My comparisons:
ReplyDeleteQB- Agree here the big edge goes to UM. But, I think Maxwell could narrow that margin by the time conference play rolls around. Or he could get hurt and then I predict doom.
RB- I said I could agree with a push, though I stand by my previous comment that I think Bell is a little better overall back then Toussaint. Maybe I'm a homer.
WR/TE- Agree with pat and disagree with tbone. UM has the edge. Though it's not like they are trotting out stars at wideout yet either so it's not a giant edge.
OL- We debated this greatly. For the season opener I guess UM has the edge. Their starters are slightly better. But it's not like MSU is weak here. I guess we'll have to see how the injury bug treats each team. If there's a major injury on the O-line we'll have to come back and see if Pat wants to reconsider his position.
Overall, UM is probably going to put up a lot more yards and points than MSU. Some of that is scheme related. But UM probably has the edge in personnel on Offense. That said there's plenty of potential for MSU's offense to do everything they need it to. Control the ball, make some big plays in play action, and avoid mistakes.
The season can't get here fast enough. Bring on Boise tomorrow.
For arguments sake, say Boise is able to score easily on MSU. Are you confident that the Spartans offense can compete in a shootout?
DeleteI agree the offense at MSU this year will do "what they need it to" as you say but if you had a bad defense (you don't) I'm not sure the MSU offense is a unit that could win many games.
I assume you mean "easily" in that they are running pretty vanilla stuff and moving/ scoring on us. That would make me very nervous. Especially if they were running the ball.
DeleteI am actually quite nervous that Boise could put up some points and big plays because of how good Peterson is. Not necessarily talking abotu "trick" plays, just well conceived misdirection and other things like that. That will be concerning but not as much as if they somehow just came out and moved the ball up and down the field.
I actually think MSU's offense might overperform a little in this game. On paper it looks like a good matchup. Boise's returning experience is mostly in the secondary. Hopefully we can really pound the ball.
Might be a little more high scoring than people suspect.
I might give you a prediction if I think about it a little longer.
I was just trying to reiterate the point that MSU is going to rely on defense all season. They aren't going to win games the way Wisconsin did last season or anything. It's going to be pound it on the run and let the defense give you field position and another opportunity.
Delete