football

Here is Tom's weekly recruiting talk with Brad Galli from WXYZ 7.

Topics include Wilton Speight, Da'Shawn Hand, 2014/15 recruiting and the UConn game.

http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/sports/college_sports/fourth-and-one-michigan-re...

(Previously, on Moving Picture Pages: http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/moving-picture-pages-goofballs-crime-and-punishment)

Video companion to http://mgoblog.com/content/picture-pages-nose-penetration-allowed

Full YouTubeage here

Hey folks, I just checked the future schedule for the game on the DTV guide, I get the NYC ABC affiliate and it finally shows our game listed at that time slot.

I also checked the San Diego affiliate for ABC and it was showing KSU v TX earlier but now indicates a TBD, I wouldn't doubt if Mich. game is shown, luckily, I get the NYC channel, yay for me!

Both "The Ozone" and "Eleven Warriors" have their take on the Akron game up respectively attheir websites. Here are the links:

http://theozone.net/football/2013/MichiganMondays/WeekThree_Akron.html  (The Ozone)

Sun & Bluesday (Eleven Warriors)

Here are a few choice quotes.

Re: Devin Gardner

When he's dialed in, he's very good. When he's not, you don't know know he's not until he makes a mistake that should never have been made.

Gardner almost single-handedly lost the game for Michigan . . . his decision making under duress remains terrible.

Gardner threw three interceptions to an Akron defense that gave up 310 yards passing and three touchdowns to James Madison. One of those interceptions was a terrible pick six on a screen pass where Gardner never saw the defender in relation to his receiver. He has now thrown six interceptions on the season. That's as many interceptions as Braxton Miller threw all season last year.

Toussaint:

Toussaint struggled again, as 15 of his 19 carries went for four yards or less. It gets worse from there, however, as 12 of his 19 carries went for two yards or less and eight of his 19 carries went for no gain or less. In other words, his eighth-longest carry of the day went for no gain.

Fitz Toussaint will never create for himself, ever. If the hole is there, he'll hit it and do okay. If it isn't, automatic two yard loss.

O Line:

Center Jack Miller was pushed around like a shopping cart by Akron's defensive line, and he wasn't the only one. At one point, the BTN sideline reporter was talking to former Wolverine offensive lineman Steve Hutchinson about left tackle Taylor Lewan, and at that same moment, Lewan was being pushed into the backfield right to where the ball was for a loss of a couple of yards.

Akron's defensive line was just good enough to wreck havoc on a generally really bad Michigan offensive line, and that led to problems all over the field on the offensive side.

Secondary:

Last week I talked a bit about how open the middle of the field was against Notre Dame, and it was exploited again this past week by the Zips. 

Defensively the secondary is a mess. Akron should not be throwing for 300 plus yards on anyone (they didn't even get that against James Madison), but the middle of the field is almost always open in Michigan's defense when teams feel like exploiting it. Countess has been opportunistic, but aside from him there's really no one to fear too much in the backfield at this point.

Defensive Line

Speaking of Mattison, he didn't seem all that happy on Saturday. His defense was getting pushed around. There was very little pass rush and there was no penetration. Michigan's starting defensive tackles Quinton Washington and Jibreel Black failed to record any tackles. They were too easily blocked in this game.

The lack of a pass rush is a concern. James Madison sacked Akron four times, which is four more times than Michigan sacked the Zips. Defensive end Mario Ojemudia continues to be the only Michigan defensive lineman with a sack. Frank Clark came in with big expectations, but to this point has just one tackle for loss.

Overall:

Michigan has a ton of gigantic, glaring holes in their team that need to be addressed ASAP or Big Ten season will be very difficult for them.

I'm waiting for the UFR's from Brian, but I'm feeling a bit glum about what this season portends. There are a few reasons I still have some hope.

• The schedule. We have six weeks (four games plus two byes, one before Big 10 and one before MSU.) This will allow our extremely young team time to learn, and in the case of the lines, to gel. Hopefully Chesson gets more of a rhythm.
• Jake Ryan. Whether he plays on the line as an end, or as a LB, he has to improve what the defensive line is doing, and the soft middle.
• Courtney Avery. Now we know why he was moved. We need Avery in the secondary, to allow Countess to always play corner.
• Williams. While having Williams in the game telegraphs "run," that's ok. Butt has promise, but we need a TE who can help block, and Williams appears to be option A, B, & C.

AP FOOTBALL POLL CHECK - HOW WE’RE DOING WITH AP VOTERS

Granted, we’re only four polls into the season, but it might be a nice time to take a brief look at how we are doing and how the voters have reacted to Michigan thus far.

You’ll see this in the charts below, but in summary, the CMU game did not move the AP voters very deeply. The Notre Dame win impressed them enough that our average ranking was 4.65 spots higher than the previous week. The Akron win erased much of that momentum, but as you know, there are still nine games left.

SUMMARY DATA:

The distribution of those votes will be below, but as you will note, it is a decent spread. The distribution is skewed somewhat, but a fair number of the votes do stack up around certain ranks at this juncture. It has been noted on the boards, but the only voter to have us unranked more than once (there were a few of these in the preseason poll) is Drew Sharp. It is entirely possible, however, that he simply has an issue with turning in his ballots in a timely fashion, sort of like the guy in the basketball polls that literally never voted. Then again, maybe that’s how he feels.

For those of you who remember the basketball version of this, the votes have literally been cut and pasted into a copy of that very spreadsheet to create this distribution, so by my figuring, this is by far the easiest diary to create for me. It simply dawned on me that, if I can do this for one sport, I can do it for another.

WEEKLY DISTRIBUTION:

CUMULATIVE DISTRIBUTION:

WEEKLY AVERAGE:

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Honor a true Michigan Man. After 40 years on the Michigan team, Equipment Manager and Keeper of the Little Brown Jug Jon Falk will retire at the end of this season. There's a Kickstarter campaign to throw him a little party, but also to produce some cool LBJ swag. You can even take home a replica of The Jug that is closer to the real thing than you'll ever find again...or be able to produce on your own (without direct access to the original).

The project is just a few backers away from reaching the funding goal (it's an all-or-nothing deal and it's...oh, so close). A whopping 37% of curent backers came from the MGoBlog site. If you haven't seen it yet, maybe you'll help out with a $4 contribution to get your name on Jon's thank-you card. Or you can get a Red Wing Pottery (makers of the original LBJ) one or two gallon commemorative beehive and produce a Little Brown Jug for your own Michigan collection.

Please help the project finish strong!