Reduce Reuse Recycle Recap

Finally a win.  A win that MSU closed out.  That was nice to see.  I thought the MSU offense played well enough.  Obviously, it was not a great offensive show, but they were able to move the ball at times before ultimately doing something boneheaded.  Joe Rexode touches on that with his Monday Mail Bag.

 -I watched a good portion of the PSU/OSU game.  PSU played a solid game, but seemed to abandon the run game.  I think that ultimately did them in.  Not sure if Belton was injured or what.  Braxton was impressive in tearing apart a very good PSU defense.  That just might show how good the MSU defense actually is more than any other stat.

-From there, it was time to watch the um/Nebraska game.  I got to tell Pat about Denard's injury over the phone, that was about the most gratifying thing I have got to do this football season. Without Robinson, um was punchless.  The game wasn't really interesting outside of a few drives and seeing what um could do without Denard.  um fans will be pleased to know that Robinson will be the starter this weekend.

-To close out the game, Maxwell made one great pass after another and Bell was able to bounce around for 4-6 yard gains.  I think that our receivers may have finally turned a corner.  There was no Burbridge in this game, but that's OK.  Fowler is the man, and he showed it at times in this game.  Also, Lippet showed why I have been so high on him, from his sky high grab to his juke to the one yard line.  Personally, I really enjoyed seeing Thomas get some open field to run in.  A fumble certainly wasn't pleasant, but man, I would not want to tackle him.  The defense was really stout in this game as well.  MSU was able to hold Wisconsin to 19 yards rushing (net) and 190 yards total.  Gholston finally had a game that MSU has needed all year with 4.5 tackles for loss and a sack.  Along with that, one hit knocked Wisconsin quarterback Joel Stave out of for the season with a broken clavicle.

This play below, I remember seeing and screaming at the T.V.  It did not get called.

(mary langenfeld, uspresswire. via twitter of chris vannini)

I still don't think that the Wisconsin defense is that great.  One play in particular stuck out in my head on a pass deflection to a mostly wide open Bell.  Other than that, I think MSU mostly killed their own drives.  Don't get me wrong, they are a good defense, but the B1G features a handful of better defense's.

Next week MSU has Nebraska at home.  A game I will be at.  Maybe I can get some pictures from the game and any sort of EL related activities I do on here.  Sound good?

Weekend Recap

So I didn't watch as much college football as I normally would with the Tigers playoff game against the Yankees.  I did catch all of the Spartan game and did watch a portion of the UM game, until you know, it was apparent that game wasn't turning around for the Illini

- The Wolverines certainly appear to be the team to beat in Legends division.  The offense is firing on all cylinders at this point after games against Purdue and Illinois.  Even though those are not the strongest teams in the conference, these are the games you need to put points up in and get all the mojo going.  Those previous two weeks were the perfect games leading up to the MSU game.  Toussaint finally got going along with Robinson the pass game game looked solid enough and the confidence could not be higher for the Wolverines. 

- On the other end of the spectrum are my Spartans.  In a rain soaked game the Spartans managed a measly  16 points against an exceptionally mediocre, though leading the Legends division, Iowa Hawkeye team (back handed compliment of the week).  I don't really have a lot to say but I will.  Early on, Bell got moving pretty well, the defense looked like they were ready to play and the Spartan's appeared to be on their way to rolling the Hawkeyes.  Unfortunately, that did not happen.  Maxwell missed a few passes, one in particular was sailed over Burbridge in the endzone.  Burbridge maybe could have done more to wiggle open, but without a doubt, had Maxwell thrown that ball into his body, that was a touchdown.  Of course, there was the end of the first half botched field goal.  After a couple nice plays to get the ball into FG range, all things brokw down.  Players were running on the field, some were running off, Bell tried to clock the ball, then the half was over.  In a way, that play has summarized the Spartans play so far this year.  Some great plays, followed by a mess, and then hoping Bell can carry us.

Getting to a bowl game at this point looks like it will be a struggle.  I have to imagine the MSU team is very deflated coming into UM and there is no doubt that the Wolverines are ready.  Right now, that looks like it will end up being an ugly game. I said we should go 4-2 for the secong half, already we are are 0-1.  We need this win against UM.

 

(Just because its hate week.  Bite me.)

Week 5 Re-Cap

Well another week has gone by.  And there are some truths this week out of college football.  Truth one, Michigan had a bye week. Truth two, I wish the NHL wasn't locked out. 

-I watched the Penn State game at a Penn State bar here.  The Penn State defense looks solid enough.  They had no problem locking down Nathan Scheelhaase. Mike Mauti is the best defender in the B1G. He is a game changing line backer, able to stop the run, track down scrambling quarterbacks, and cover receivers.  Along with that, Allen Robinson is the type of receiver every B1G team wishes they had.  He can get up and grab the ball in the air - once he has it, Robinson has no problem making defenders miss in the open.  I have watched a lot of Penn State this year they look solid. 

-For the Wisconsin/Nebraska game, I was not really sure what to make of that.  Montee Ball had 90 yards and 3 touchdowns but it took 32 carries to achieve that.  The defense as a whole for Wisconsin looked really poor.  Does that mean that the Nebraska offense is really potent?  They are no slouches that's for sure.  Martinez out rushed Ball and Burkhead had 86 yards on only 18 carries.

-Finally, MSU vs. OSU.  There were some positives to take away from this game.  The first is that the defense played really, they got some takeaways from a very good team.  They were hold Ohio State to long spurts with little offense.  The passing game made some strides as well.  Lippett did not look totally lost, Maxwell did not turn the ball over and Kings could be developing into a stud receiver. Of course there were some real negatives as well.  The running game was non existent.  With that, the offensive line looks really weak as well.  Travis Jackson broke his leg and will miss the remaining of the season.   Coupled with the fact that Fou Fonoti is also gone for what should be most or all of the year and suddenly the offensive line is our weakest part of the team. With the pass game making some strides, they also continued to drop really easy passes.  Fowler is not getting it done, the drops appear to be in his head.

I was a bit disappointed that we lost this game.  There was no reason to lose it. As my preview pinted out, we just need to score points. 16 wont win you a lot of games.  Of course there was also the Miller fumble that looked like a sure fumble recovery to touchdown. Instead of getting 7 points, we settled for 3.  What a game changer that was.

I know a lot of people think my previous post was over reacting but when you take our season so far, you can't really count any game at this point as a sure win.  Even if our two losses were against ranked teams.  More on that tomorrow.

 

Recap and Quick Hits Week 2

A day late on this one,  I went to the Tigers Sox game in Chicago on Monday.  The game stunk but the people watching was spectacular.  I did not watch as much football as I did in the first week but I did manage to catch a few.

-OSU still did not really impress me, but Braxton continues to dominate.  The defense looks like it wants to give  up big plays at least once a game coupled with that is that no other player on offense is playing at near the level as Braxton.  Pat sent me an interesting email.  If OSU beats MSU this year, do they go undefeated? 

-How about them Beavers?  How about Wisconsin?  They are really showing how different they are at QB with O'Brien vs. Wilson.  Wilson's athleticism really opened up lanes for both Ball and and the Wisconsin receivers.  Plus now they have let go of their offensive line coach. 

-I saw a bits and pieces of the UCLA v. Nebraska game.  If I were to root for a team that was not MSU, it would be UCLA.  the Nebraska defense did not look from what I could see.  Why did I see so little of this game?  Well I was at Musky Fest and had a few barley pops. 

-The Michigan game I did manage to watch quite a bit of.  I have to admit I found myself cheering for Freedom.  I mean, who can't cheer for Freedom?  So what do I think about UM?  Well their defense looks really porous.  Both, lines, offensive and defensive are not playing as good as they did last year.  Funchess looks pretty legit.  Those runs from Robinson would have been useful against Alabama.  In hindsight, this was a trap game, but I think UM should have put this game to bed by the third quarter. And allowing over 400 yards of offense to Air Force has to be alarming.  I imagine their next game should serve as a big lift, especially when you look at what Indiana managed against UMass

-MSU played a pretty weak MAC team.  Though CMU did show some sings of life.  Their line, both defensive and offensive, played pretty well.  The CMU left? tackle looks like he could be an NFLer.  At the same time, MSU should not have let their lines look good.  Maxwell finished with no turnovers and spread the ball all over the field.  Bell had 17 carries and two touchdowns.  There is not a lot to say about this game other than it was needed before the game against Notre Dame.  Big confidence booster.  Especially for the wide receivers.. Fowler finished with 99 yards, Sims had a rumbling touch down and Arnett looks like he belongs while only having one catch. 

Overall, as the previous post mentions, the B1G does not look good right now.  A win against ND for the Spartans will help with the national media.  So will some dominating performances in the other games. 

Montana

Montana is nice.  Makes it hard to post anything though. Clearly my counterpart has nothing to say.  After MSU wins in bball and hockey.  I keep saying that I will try to get a post up but then I end up drinking like 9 beers at 8,000 feet.  Tonight, I have no plans in preparation for a day of snowboarding in Bridger Bowl.  So tonight, I will try to recap some things. 

Nice win against OSU, eh?  What say you!

Round Up

So I have been lacking lately.  Let me catch up and follow up.  Firstly, huge win for the program. As MSU beat an SEC team in the South.  Georgia is a very good team - a team that is built similarly to MSU.  With the victory, MSU could end up with a post season top 10.  That would be pretty amazing.  We have come a long way in 5 years.  The first half of the game saw MSU sputter on offense.  Georgia came prepared for our speed on the edge, and the first play from scrimmage resulted in a safety.  It is a good thing we have Pat Narduzzi (more on that later) because our defense came to play.  The first half resulted in a 16-0 deficit and things looked bad for MSU.  The second half, offensively, all the bubble screens MSU attempted in the first half worked in our favor as MSU used the more fakes off the screen.  The MSU offense got rolling a little bit, the defense stood up and from there. MSU got the 3OT victory.  

The basketball team beat Wisconsin for the first time at Wisconsin in a decade.  That was pretty impressive.  The game was a grinder.  Both teams bricked shots.  Both teams played good defense.  Dawson had some impressive cuts to the basket, showing his athleticism.  Payne and Nix played well and Green collected the quietest double double in history.  As The final buzzer sounded and the game ended in "controversy" MSU won and earned a hard fought victory. This team continues to impress me.  After 14? straight wins, I wonder when well slip up.  Gotta lose again sometime.

Back in the football world.  Jerel Worthy went pro.  This wasn't a huge surprise.  I thought he played really well against Georgia.  Showed a lot of jump off the ball and finished out his All American season with a bowl victory.  What is pretty surprising is that Edwin Baker has stated he is going pro.  Though he hasn't hired an agent as I write this.  He has stated going pro is his next move.  Edwin had a great sophomore season and appeared to take a step back, or, not get the same opportunities as a season ago.  The start of the season featured an offensive line that wasn't fully clicking and as the season wore on. If Baker was in the game, teams pretty much knew we were gonna run so they were able to stack the box.  I think that Baker can make a solid pro.  He has a lot of speed and is strong.  I don't know if this is right move, that all depends on where he is drafted.  There have been rumors of Johnny Adams wanting to turn pro.  Though he has the talent.  A good senior season would almost assure him of a first round draft.  Adams turning pro would be a big mistake in my mind. 

After the bowl win and after the win in Wisconsin.  It was said that Narduzzi was looking at taking the DC position at Texas A&M.  A&M is a new SEC team and a sqaud that seems to always under perform.  The real next step for Narduzzi is a head coaching spot (not another DC position) and I am not sure if a rebuilding team in a league like the SEC would have been a good move.  Though the money that was reportedly offered was certainly worth Narduzzi taking a tour of the facilities.  Thankfully, Coach Dantonio was able to ear mark extra money for all of his assistants effective this February.  This future pay increase coupled with a feeling of unfinished business (think Rose Bowl)  lead to Narduzzi staying on at MSU.  Losing Pat would have been a huge loss.  He has been with Dantonio for 9 years.  His scheme is solid given the right talent (remember when we couldn't stop a 5 yard pass?) but more than that he has a great personality for recruiting and firing up the team.  The loss of Narduzzi would have been a lot greater than when Treadwell left last year.  Hopefully we can keep Narduzzi for a long long time.  Or at least until we get the perfect replacement.

Ed Note: Pat can you link up that video of Narduzzi breaking down his run stop?  

Here you are sir:
http://search.espn.go.com/pat-narduzzi/video/6
Sorry, no embed. 

Now that there is less stuff going on all at once, I should have some more bball coverage especially as a looming MSU UM showdown gets closer.   In the meantime. Go Lions, Go Red Wings!

Two for One

First off, I gotta say my Iowa MSU  prediction was pretty solid.  Though MSU jumped out to an early lead, 31-7, Iowa clawed its way back and made the final score a lot closer.  And yes, at a few points I was worried we might lose this one. I did not see that game scoring so many points.

The finer points:  Kirk Cousins got some sweet sweet redemption.  No turnovers, and touchdowns to boot.  Touchdowns  you say? Did you see the pass and catch from Kirk to BJ for their second td hookup?  That was an NFL cactch.  BJ is very good.  Also, helluva catch by Edwin Baker for the TD.   The running game got going again with over 150 yards.  And we held Coker to his lowest total of the year with 57 yards.  Our rush defense is very good.  Our pass defense is very solid.  More than that though, our defense makes stops when they need to.  This is an excellent unit. 


Part two is all basketball.  MSU lost and lost big to UNC.  However there were many high points.  First and foremost, MSU's ability to crash to boards was something I have not seen in since 2008!  We dominated the boards in that game.  Unfortunately, UNC dominated the scoring.  Along with that great surprise is Branden Dawson.  Dawson looked very good.  He showed great work on defense, outstanding work on the boards, had he knocked down some jumpers, it would have been a complete game. 

Moving forward, we have MSU playing Duke in Madison Square Garden Tuesday night.  Duke is currently ranked 6th in the country and look to be another great Duke team.  No surprise there.  However, MSU can win this game.  And it comes down the rebounding the ball even more.  For as much as MSU crashed the boards in the carrier classic, they need to do double that in MSG.  MSU is not a good field goal shooting team right now, so getting easy put backs will be necessary.  Byrd did not play very much in the Carrier Classic, but should get more minutes as the season wears on, this will help the FG%.  Also, Appling needs to stop with the offensive fouls.  I fully expect a Duke team to be stepping into the lanes and trying to get charge calls.  So fundamentally sound.  However, Izzo knows this, so look for Appling to continue to cut the lane, only this time dish it for the easy layup or the open jumper.  I also expect Wood to take more of a scorers role in this game.  We need it.  Without Wood scoring, this will be a long long season.  Outside of that, MSU will need to limit the outside scoring of Duke.   Should Mike Krzyzysksi get this win it will be the most victories in NCAA history.  If I know Izzo, he will want none of that record.  Look for MSU to win this game in a hard nosed game. (why couldnt this have been played in the midwest!!)  well call it 67-60 MSU. 

The story of MSU's season will be if they can hit shots, especially the three pointer.  Look for them to quiet that, a little bit, in this game. 

GO GREEN

Re-Crap

I did not see that game going the way it did.  However, a win is a win and I will take it.

Some high lights?  Kirk Cousins, no picks, two touchdowns.  He did have some ill advised throws but nothing that hurt the team too bad.  And did you see how fired up he was on the sideline?  Love that.

William Gholston had 14 tackles a sack and 1.5 tackles for loss.  He is good.

Trenton Robinson had two interceptions, a pass break up and in general was good everywhere on the field.

Keyshawn Martin had a heck of a game with a career high in receptions.

Some low lights?  The running game.  We barely eeked over 100 yards.  Baker fumbled early and finished with only 8 carries total.  While Bell was the more effective back he finished with 96 yards rushing and two touchdowns.  He showed some shiftyness he hasn't this year. 

Minneosta put up way too many points on us.  This is mostly a low light because there's no reason for Minny to put up that much.  However, Gray is a good QB and  learning the role more and more.  Jerry Kill will have them as a solid team.

Final low light.  The student section.  MSU students.  YOU SUCK.  I would expect that kind of crowd turnout if we were a 5 win team.  But we are not and we very well could win the B1G and go to the Rose Bowl.  The entire upper half of the student section was empty.  Yes, it was cold, yes it wasn't a marquee game, but you cannot do that and then rub our recent football success in others faces.  Because you yourself, student body are a giant failure.  The crowd in general seemed loud at times.  It is hard to tell on tv.  Maybe someone who was there can comment on that in the comments.  I sold my tickets to my cousin.  Again, student section, you SUCK.

MSU plays at Iowa next week at noon.  HOW THE HELL IS UM THE 2:30 GAME???? NO WONDER THEIR EGOS ARE SO LARGE, THEY KEEP GETTING FED.  Regardless, this Iowa game now looms large after Northwestern's upset of Nebraska. 

Look for a post tomorrow on MSU's most recent commitment on the football side, he was not on my top ten.

7-2 (4-1)

Recap or not

just got home from work.  going to the gym then will get the post up after that.













*******************************************************************************

Ok, time for a real recap.    First of all, WOW.  Talk about a huge win for this Spartans team.  There were several amazing stats in this game.  First of all, the Spartans were penalized 0 times for 0 yards.  Now is probably a good time to drop the thuggish, or the undisciplined or the win at all costs talk.  Second, during the game, the Spartans both overcame a 14 point deficit and gave up a 14 point deficit - that's kind of weird.  Lastly, a blocked punt, a blocked field goal and a safety all in the same game?  Awesome.   

With that, this defense is pretty fantastic and without them, we are probably a 3 win team.  Wisconsin came into this game averaging 50 points per game and we allowed 31.  31 isn't too fantastic, but when the team is averaging 50 that's pretty good.  As mentioned already, this defense came up with several big plays, the ones mentioned above, along with two interceptions, and a handful of sacks.  Towards the end of the game, Jerel Worthy was barking at the offensive line, full on getting in their face, challending them to protect Kirk and get the job done.  Sure enough, the offense did.

Wisconsin came into this game averaging just under 10 points per game.  MSU scored 37 (8 of those were on defense).  Kirk Cousins was 22-31 for 290 yards and three touchdowns.  BJ Cunningham had 6 catches for 102 yards a touchdown and a 2 point conversion.  Did you see that 2 point conversion?  It was unreal.  Hell of a pass from Kirk and an amazing catch by BJ.   With the receivers, Keshawn Martin had another huge game with two touchdowns.  He has said that he was injured up until the Michigan game, and since being injury free he now has 4 touchdowns in 2 games.  I will take that.  What is nice about having Keshawn back 100% is that he has speed and it shows.  MSU was certainly the faster team on offense this past Saturday.   And sure enough, MSU used Keshawn's speed to attack the edges, both with the end around and turning the receiving touchdown to the outside-freezing the Wisconsin defenders.  On that same touchdown, Keith Nichol had a perfect downfield block.  I wont go into Keith catching the ball a whole lot since that has been written about a billion times already.  If anything, search the video.  Thank god for those biceps...

The play of the game came on the final drive.  With Wisconsin calling timeouts looking to get the ball back should MSU punt, Dan Roushar called up a shuttle pass to Keshawn who took it 11 yards for a first down.  This to me was the play of the game.  It was almost a perfect play call, I cannot imagine Wisconsin saw that coming, and that first down ruined Wisconsin's plan to leave time on the clock. 

Immediately the Nebraska game next week becomes the biggest of the year, the winner of this game will be on the fast track to the B1G championship game and will hold the tie breaker over the other.

6-1 (3-0)

Victory for MSU

We will make this both a game recap and a gloat post. If anything, Pat and I are good at predicting the outcomes of games.  Though we were slightly wrong.  Pat thought that running the football would mean it would open up the game for Kirk and Cuningham.  I have to say, I agreed with that coming into the game, boy were we wrong.  Instead, MSU just pounded it out on the ground.  Pound Green Pound, indeed.  With a 213 to 82  rushing advantage, both my goal of 150 yards and Pats prediction of averging over 5 ypc for MSU were true.  Edwin Baker looked the best he has all year.  This game was close in the first half, and could have swung in Michigan's favor if not for the stiffing defense.  Overall, Denard Robinson was 9-24 for 123 yards along with 18 rushes for 42 yards.  If any UM fan tries to say we do not have a dominate defense, you, plain and simple, should kill yourself because you're wasting Earth's resources by being alive.  Denicos Allen had a huge game, along with William Gholston.

(Gholston has beeng receving a lot of criticism from the little sisters and I would like to address that.  Reviewing the face punch, I do not see anything wrong with that.  Yes it is beyond dumb to do that, but when you're provoked, you react.  This is what you get when you grab a guy by the face, the pads and unnecessarily bring him to the ground.  On the head twist, I did not see any replays of that and will have to watch the tape later in the week to see.  Apparently, Gholston got a little over zealous on Denard and twisted his head in the pile.  That is just not acceptable, and I can see him being suspended if that is true.)

(Future All-American)

 
Overall, the MSU defensive line abused Michigans offensive line.  There was no answer for our blitzes and for our athleticism off the edge.  I heard child services was called into the Michigan locker room because of the abuse.

The UM d was solid, I will give them that.  I wont let Pat say that UM left points on the field, because for every touchdown UM left on the field, MSU left 10 points.  This is what defense is, it makes teams leave points on the field.  I think its about time the Mike Martin hype ends.


On Kirk Cousins.  His passing game was effective even with the lack luster stats.  There were three dropped passes that were in the hands of receivers.  One would have included about 30 yards after catch.  However, what Kirk did doe was attack the sides of the UM defense.  This lead to both MSU passing touchdowns.  There was little answer for Keyshawn Martin on the sideline.  In what looked like the same play on both Touchdowns, I don't think anyone saw them coming.  (all of MSU's offensive touchdowns were in front of my season tickets, whammy)

That was good game, and the father son, Michigan MSU combo sitting in front of me was enjoyable.

Four more years!

5-1 (2-0)

WIN!

WOW, what a win.  Apparently, first to 10 wins.  There were a lot of high lights a few low lights.

First, did you see that defense?  O MAN, they looked good. The front four absolutely dominated Ohio State's offensive line.  Yes, it did help having Braxton Miller in there, as he tended to run out of the pocket early.  Mixing in blitzes and coverage kept OSU's offense off balance and our defensive backs were able to keep their men in check.  I will be honest, the few replays they showed of the MSU secondary, showed OSU with wide open receivers.  However, this could have been after Braxton broke off his pass drop back and tried to run it.  The real Dennard had a monster interception and displayed athleticism I have not seen at MSU in a looong time.  Special shout out to William Gholston, who up to this point had gone unnoticed.  William was in the OSU backfield the entire game.  I think he had something to prove. (take note ohio recruits...)    MSU held OSU to 178 yards, keeping in tact the nations #1 ranked yards per game defense in the country.  O yea, we had 9 sacks. 9.

BJ Cunningham is a beast.  My counterpart here balked at the idea of MSU having the best receivers in the big ten.  Well we have the best single receiver in the big ten.  Cannot argue that.  9 catches 154 yards and the lone TD, and it was a beauty.

The running game was very solid.  The total numbers were not lofty (85) but they seemed to get yards when we needed them.  Including several 5+ yard rushes.

O hey, offensive line, that was good to see against a good defense.  No sacks allowed. 

The bad?  Kirk, you weren't so much bad as not great.  The two interceptions were thrown to the worst spots possible.  There was one throw that was about one foot away from being a  pick 6.  However, I will add that had Cousins zoomed the pass to Sims in the end-zone instead of lofting it, it was a TD.  Also, there was another pass that was about 3 feet too far and would have ended up as a BJ Cunningham TD.  Complete those passes and its blow out city.

Some more bad would be some questionable play calling, but I am not going to complain when we left with a win in a game we dominated from beginning to end, even if the score board made it look closer.

(tbone says click the image to get a larger view!)

4-1

Heading into Big Ten Play

4-0

He seems rather happy about 4-0.

For the third consecutive season Michigan sweeps their non-conference schedule. We've seen this storyline before, exciting victory over Notre Dame and wins over lesser competition get Michigan into the top 25 in September.  The last two seasons the starts have been followed by collapse in B1G play.  Will this year be any different?

Well, maybe.

3 Reasons 2011 Michigan is different than 2010 and 2009.

1) Defensive stops

Yeah I know.  This is a new phenomena after the recent history at Michigan.  There are some reasons for concern (ND still racked up yards, competition level hasn't been great) but also some reasons for optimism (young guys stepping up, the secondary doesn't look like a sieve, Greg Mattison has coherent scheme)

There are still plenty of question marks with this unit heading into Big Ten play, and they are unlikely to be world beaters, but if they can just get stops they will give Denard and the offense a shot to win every game.  So far, they have done enough.  Can they keep it up?


2) Turnovers

When you don't get them, you usually bring up statistics to show how turnover numbers from year to year usually regress to the mean.  Now that Michigan IS forcing turnovers, I would like to believe that the improvement is real and due to coaching, improvement, rather than simple regression to the mean.  Again, we will find out soon in Big Ten games.  If the defense is able to continue creating turnovers, this could be a special season.


3) Special Teams

1-2 on FG's doesn't seem spectacular, but the kicking game and the return game have both been good.  I'm actually not that concerned about FG's.  This phase of the game has gone from a glaring weakness to something of a strength.  That feels awfully weird to type, in a good way.

Happy?  Yeah, but still gotta coach em up.

You can't have one without the other....

3 Reasons for Concern as Big Ten Play Begins

1) Can Denard throw?

He's a top 10 Heisman candidate, so when he's your top concern you have some good things going on, but can Denard throw the football in this offense?  He's had some accuracy issues and the offense seems to have some problems getting into a rhythm in the passing game, but they are running so effectively that the concern is lessened.  If they want to win more than half their Big Ten games, Denard needs to pick it up in the passing game.


2) Linebacker play

The defensive line is developing a rotation, making plays and improving each game.  They aren't going to be dominant but they have been and can be solid.  The secondary has played well and looks like the most improved unit on the defense.  The linebackers, however, still make too many mistakes.  The outside backers give up contain and Demens in the middle has some problems when he's not making plays downhill.  They aren't going to be a massive problem like in years past, but I'm a little worried about their mistakes being magnified by better competition.  This unit needs to play well to limit opposition running game which is essential to B1G success.


3) Depth on the Oline

It hasn't yet hurt Michigan in the way that MSU has gotten stung by injuries to a thin unit, but the threat is there.  After the SDSU game, two of Michigan's starting lineman were limping/banged up.  The depth is so thin with this unit that two injuries would result in a big drop-off on the field.  This is a wait and see situation, all we can do is hope for health.

Central - MAC Recap.

Well Michigan State won, and won convincingly.  I have had a few discussions with Pat about this, mostly that it is hard to take away anything from a blow out win.  What can I say?

First, Micajah Reynolds and Fou Fonoti both looked good at their tackle positions.  Also, Travis Jackson looked good and earned praise from both the coaching staff and players.   This is where it is hard to draw any conclusions.  CMU is not a very good team.  So I would hope that these players looked good.

Le'veon Bell looked "good".  Why the parenthesis you ask?  I will tell you why!  He just does not impress me.  His largest run of the day he literally tripped and that managed to fool the defender.  For the amount of praise he gets from other blogs and bloggers (i am looking at you TOC community)  I expect some sort of Heisman candidate talk.  Yes he ran really well against CMU.  Get back to me after next week...

Dion Sims.  Hes a man.  A real man.  Throw him the damn ball.

I  cannot lie, winning by a large margin is nice.  This blog will likely never throw numbers at you to try to turn football into some sort of moneyballesque sight. (again I am looking at you TOC).  In all cases one team is better than the other, and sometimes a team gets lucky.  On Saturday, we were plainly a better team.

And I am really looking forward to playing Ohio State which I feel is a very winnable game against a solid defense and a disconnected offense.  This game will show a lot more of what the Spartans are made of.  

3-1.  Ohio State next week in a non-division league game. 

(See what i did in the title there?)

Uhhh Worst Nightmare

Well I guess this is obvious, but my three things were three things we needed and didnt get.  To start, we didnt control the crowd.  Notre Dame scored on their first possession and we did little to quiet them after that.  Our offensive line looked every bit the worry that every blogger wrote about before the season started.  After this game, I am very worried about the rest of the season.  Our defensive line looked good.  I wish we got more contact on the quarterback.  Gholston needs to show up the rest of the season.  We need a defensive end.  Worthy a top ten pick?  Mel Kiper smokes crack. 

I am not sure why MSU didnt attack deep more often.  This is something UM did, and it paid off.  On top of that Denard is 1/4th the passer that Kirk is.  This was a HUGE mistake by the coaching staff.  HUGE.  Along those lines, I understand trying to establish the run, but when you have a player that they cannot stop (BJ Cunningham) you give him the ball more - and that means more passing. 

Fake field goal?  I understand going for it.  In face I thought we should go for it.  However, if you are going o go for it, line up the offense.  We needed two yards.  If you cant get two yards with such players as Dion Sims, BJ Cunningham and Edwin Baker, you do not deserve to win.  A fake field goal was obvious.  Just go for it next time, with a full offense. 

We looked like a 7 win team max in that game.  Our offensive line needs to show up even more with the season ending injure to Skylar Burkland.    Michigan is now ranked higher than us in the polls, though no part of me that thinks they are a better team, this happens when you win.  (and when you look like a pizza pizza bowl bound team in your loss)

2-1

Around the Country

Around the rest of the country:

(tbone will be in italics)

Auburn is bad.  I know they won, but they are going to lose a lot of games.  They'll be lucky to make a bowl game.
(auburn did not look good.  but if they were in the big east they might go undefeated.)


Minnesota put up a valiant effort against USC.  Would have been a huge win for Jerry Kill.  I'm now a bit curious if this says more about Minny's improvement or USC's lack thereof.   If USC has less than 8 wins this season is Kiffin on the hot seat?
(it looks like minnesota wont be a doormat team this year, they had few mis cues and shoulda beat USC at USC. How awesome would that have been?  Even their back up QB looked good.  I dont know if USC is that bad, we will see how the pac12 plays out, but man id be happy if my UCLA Bruins beat them)

LSU's defense is really fast, like usual.  Oregon still moved the ball but mistakes cost them.
(and this is why you want 4 stars and up in your recruiting class, try telling that to the folk over at theonlycolors.com  LSU looked like the team to beat in the SEC.  maybe Oregon was overrated?)


Boise is poised to make a run at the title game.  Keep an eye on where they are ranked when the initial BCS rankings come out.  This could be the year.  Defeated an SEC team in a hostile environment will get Boise credit with the voters.  (Agree 100% here, also its good MSU gets them next year without Kellen Moore.  And MSU should be nervous.  last year they beat VTech in Washington DC i think?  THis year they beat Georgie at Georgia.  Obviously they're not intimidated. 

Looks like Indiana is the worst team in the Big Ten. (yup.)

Kudos to Northwestern, the biggest win for the Big Ten on opening weekend.  Boston College is a solid team and that win I think will look better and better as the season moves on.  I'm not sure how good BC's offense is, but Northwestern virtually shut them down.  That bodes extremely well for the Wildcats this season.  If they can stop people, they are going to make some noise in the Legends division.

(agree 100%)

And finally, Notre Dame.  A week before they take on the Wolverines, the Irish gift wrap a game to Skip Holts with 5 turnovers, 3 in the red zone.  If they don't turn it over I think they win that game easily.  It's going to be interesting to see how Brian Kelly's squad plays the next two weeks.  All the preseason optimism would be long gone if the Irish were to actually start 0-3, now an actual possibility. 

(be a very interesting game to watch next week...how does ND respond?  Can UM stop NDs defense?  Those short passes are killer....  But all in all, nothing brings me more joy than a ND loss. )

Crazy Saturday

(From the Detroit News) Look closely to find Zach Novak standing next to Mitch McGary.

I feel cheated.  I have been waiting so impatiently for the start of the football season for months on end and I don't even get to watch a full three quarters? Has anyone ever heard of a game being called like this?  I didn't even consider it a possibility until word came down that it was O-vah. 

 
So what did we learn? 

In all of five offensive possessions, Michigan scored three rushing touchdowns and punted twice on three and outs.  Western's defense is not stout, but I think the offense showed they are going to move the ball and put up points this season.

On defense, in eight Western possessions they managed a rushing touchdown, a missed field goal and a made field goal, three turnovers and two punts.  It wasn't a dominant defensive performance, but it also wasn't too bad after the first possession.  Once the pressure was dialed up Western was clearly overmatched.  It will be interesting to see if Michigan relies on blitz packages to get pressure on QB's going forward.

I liked the adjustments that were made at halftime.  I'm going to keep my eye on how Michigan performs coming out of the locker room to start the 2nd half throughout this season.

There is a lot to work on but a lot to be excited about as well.  Fitzgerald Toussaint may just be capable of being a featured back which is huge news.

I want more, can't wait for next weekend.  Go Blue!

To Re-Crap I Mean Re-Cap

I dont have much to say about this game other than I was very underwhelmed.  Maybe I just expected it to be blow out like Wiscy-UNLV style. The offensive line looked bad, the defensive line looked bad.  The linebackers looked good.  Bullough was very active.  The running game was meh. Though Baker's YPC was good, and no one was injured.

BJ Cunningham was a beast, our passing game is very good. 

The secondary looked solid.  Johnny Adams was very active.  Mitchell White had some penalties.

And penalties are the story of the game. We had a lot on both sides of the ball.  I guess that's why you play teams like YSU in the first game.  Hopefully we get it together for next week because FAU would have beat us last night.  

1-0