i have no idea what's going on

CLICK HERE for Game Recap from Kristy McNeil and other pertinent information and HERE for current Pairwise Rankings.

What just happened (TL;DR): LOL. I can’t even. Michigan dominated 47 minutes of the game, holding a 4-1 lead. They then proceeded to give up 3 straight goals, score another at the end to take the lead, and finally cede one last time in the dying minutes to head to overtime. Seamus Casey opened and closed the scoring, garnering two goals and an assist on the evening. Gavin Brindley had two goals and two assists. Noah West had two of the best periods of his life, followed by one of the worst. In the end, Michigan wins in overtime a game they should have won (and maybe lost?) in regulation. I guess that’s progress?

FINAL CORSI NUMBERS (www.collegehockeynews.com)

Forward Notes.

-After looking lifeless at even strength on Friday night, Michigan came out on fire and dominated the first period, followed by most of the rest of the game. They pressed Minnesota from the drop, then back-checked well after obtaining a lead, and even added on in the third AND fought back to take the lead late. The Wolverines scored four even strength goals in different ways and pressured both Minnesota goalies all night.

-Gavin Brindley played with Dylan Duke and Rutger McGroarty. Brindley finished off a 3v3 rush after two deft passes from Dylan and Rutger to double Michigan’s lead early. He also scissored with Seamus Casey, popping out the opposite side, and firing a shot inside the far post from the slot. That was such a timely goal, as Michigan had given up a goal early in the third and the Gophers were building momentum and chances. Michigan needed a response from a star, and Gavin Brindley answered the call.

-Rutger McGroarty had himself quite a two minute stretch at the end of the third period. He grabbed a rebound off of a great shot by Jacob Truscott and lifted it over a down Nathan Airey to give Michigan a 5-4 lead with just 1:39 to go. Then, he fell asleep in the slot, allowing Luke Mittelstadt to sneak behind him for the second game-tying goal, robbing Michigan of a much needed regulation win. That has got to be the most extreme swing of emotion for one player in that short of a timespan all season. Rutger has been great for Michigan all year. That two minute stretch pretty much exemplifies the ride this season has been.

-TJ Hughes took maybe the silliest penalty all year for the Wolverines. Up 3-0 in the middle of the second period with the Gophers and their fans having zero life or jump, he cross-checked a guy from behind into the boards, earning himself an early trip to the showers and his team the only (seemingly, ha) way Minnesota was going to get back in the game…a major power play. Luckily, his teammates stepped up and bailed him out, but the question does wonder how the third plays out if Michigan has the services of one of their top two centers. That is just the situational awareness that the team in general has lacked. Regardless of if that play should have been a penalty, it was completely unnecessary.

-Mark Estapa has quietly been having himself an improved season. He got on the scoreboard, thanks to a goofy decision by normally sound Minnesota goal Justen Close. Close came out to play the puck and fired it straight to Kienan Draper. Draper sent the puck into the crease and Mark Estapa tallied, giving Michigan an not so insurmountable 3-0 lead.

Defense Notes.

-Honestly, Michigan’s defense was really, really good all night. They only allowed five shots on goal in the first period, just seventeen through two periods, and could not really be primarily faulted with any of the five (!) goals. Obviously, there are always things that could have been done better or plays anyone would want back, but Michigan pretty much kept their House and zone clean. While the third period got out of hand, this may have been the first time that I wasn’t complaining about really any defenseman’s play consistently.

-In 2010, Bryan Hogan got hurt in net, as Michigan season was falling apart around them. Walk-on Shawn Hunwick entered the net. Michigan’s team basically had a Come to Jesus moment, saying “EVERYONE…is defending HARD, tonight.” And…they did. They shut down Notre Dame, and won the game…followed by many more that season to preserve the Tournament Streak by winning the CCHA Tournament and even an NCAA Tournament game. It sorta felt like that tonight. Michigan’s skaters knew their starter was not available, and after last night’s lackluster performance, everyone to a man needed to up the ante and get the team to the finish line. And weirdly, even after checking the final scoreboard, they did…sans one forward on one play at the end of the game.

-Seamus Casey is ALIVE! After scoring in 22 of Michigan’s first 25 game, Casey has registered one point (a meaningless secondary assist) in his last eight games…until Saturday night. Casey looked much more like himself, skating, creating, and just pivoting away from guys, keeping the puck moving. He also hit the net twice on the power play and set up Gavin Brindley for his sweet snipe. This is the Seamus Casey Michigan will need for every game for the rest of the season.

-Jacob Truscott was very good on Saturday. Steve Holtz played fine. Luca Fantilli, Tyler Duke, and Marshall Warren all made plays and played very good defense. That is a very weird thing to say about a team that gave up five goals, but here we are!

ACCIDENTALLY APROPOS ERROR NOTES: Since the NCAA decided to replace their stat pages with much worse stat pages I've been using ESPN's items—still worse than the thing the NCAA just replaced but better. Their drive pages have been consistently erroneous all year, but my irritation just evaporated thanks to this magically accurate error in re: Michigan's drive immediately following Taylor's interception:

CORRECT, intern or robot or whoever. Correct. Except that drive started at the MSU 41, but we forgive all transgressions for spiritual correctness. The best kind of correctness.

FORMATION NOTES: So I just called MSU's stuff 4-3 over but I should point out that everyone is within ten yards of the LOS on damn near every snap. This is M's opener.

This was completely typical. For the most part, MSU did not try to match corners, they just ran their D. They would occasionally move guys down and whatnot, but mostly this was like watching magic. MSU has acquired a variety of guys big time programs didn't want and plays them more aggressively than the most athletic defense in the country, whoever that might be, and apparently no one can do anything about it. It is boggling.

MSU did on occasion flip to man press on the corners; this is designated with "press."

While it was the same personnel, when MSU shaded a guy outside the hash I called this a nickel. As always, with opponent formations I'm not trying to describe personnel.

SUBSTITUTION NOTES: Gardner until last three plays, Toussaint almost the whole way save one, maybe two snaps on which Derrick Green didn't seem any better at pass blocking.

Line was Lewan/Bosch/Glasgow/Magnuson/Schofield with some limited exceptions featuing Kalis entering as a sixth OL. Paskorz got some snaps at TE; Butt got most of the inline snaps. When Funchess was inline it is noted below; he was inline for every play on Michigan's final drive but mostly split out. No Dileo; WRs were Gallon, Chesson, and a little bit of Jackson.

[After THE JUMP: otters, so many otters]

Hey Brian,

Sometimes I make my girlfriend read me MGoblog articles while I'm doing something else.  That way, she learns a little more about football, and I get to multitask.

Today when she was reading to me the Hello: Ross Douglas post, she came up with a pretty good question. She wanted to know: does Douglas project to nickle-corner, vs. boundary or field-corner only because of his size?  Her rationale was that with gurus praising his technique and reliability, but not labeling him a star because of his lack of big play risk-taking, wouldn't it serve better to put a CB who is more of a gunslinger risk-taker in the nickel role where he has safety help at all times, and line Douglas up outside at either field or boundary corner?

Don't worry, I know I have a keeper on my hands if she was able to come up with a question like that. :)

Thanks,
Alex

Size is a suggestive but not determining factor. When we do these things we're peering at the roster and seeing where player X fits in and trying to figure out how the coaches see their players, but often the coaches are surprised when the kid shows up and they figure out what they actually have. If Douglas is the best guy to play on the outside, he'll play on the outside.

With bigger and more touted corners in the same class it would be an upset if he's the guy tasked with running down the Michael Floyds of the world. Insert mental image of Boubacar Cissoko trying to do that here. Sometimes this happens: Desmond Morgan isn't the ideal size for WLB, Craig Roh is probably going to be a little light for SDE, etc. In an ideal world it seems like Michigan wants six-foot-plus guys on the outside.

That's easier said than done. Michigan is swinging for the fences with Conley and Stribling, hoping they can be 6'2" cover corners the NFL has a riot about. If that doesn't work out, Lewis and Douglas are less risky prospects with lower upside.

In re: wanting more of a gambler underneath with the solid and unspectacular guys outside: I don't think defensive coaches think like that. They give you an assignment and they want you to execute it, and not executing it is always very bad. If player X comes to college doing this thing a coach doesn't want, the coach will try to stop it. In Douglas's case that may be taking advantage of his athleticism and being more aggressive. In hypothetical gambler's case that would be not giving up big plays. Whether a corner is on the inside or outside, I bet they prefer the former.

Hey guys,

I'm watching the a rerun of Under the Lights game on ESPN and watching some highlights of the 97 defense on my computer…

…and I can't stop thinking about what would happen in a matchup between Floyd and Woodson. Woodson has the speed and size to keep up with Floyd but then again Floyd looks so much bigger and stronger than CW. I know it's a huge hypothetical but what do you think would happen there?

And what size should we be looking for at corner to stop big receivers like Floyd in the future?

Also, I notice Mattison has a tendency to slant the DL pretty often in the 97 highlights and honestly, it's working. Is this the style of slants Mattison we should expect to see this season?

Thanks for the time and Go Blue!
- AJ, UM 2014

Woodson took on a huge, elite outside receiver in 1997: David Boston. He is 6'2" and went 8th overall in the next NFL draft. Floyd is 6'3" and went 13th overall. Boston had a body-building/roid freakout at the next level, but in college he was at Floyd's level. What happened in the 1997 game between the two was one Woodson slip and fall leading to an OSU touchdown and nothing else. Michigan won with 189 yards of offense.

Woodson's gone on to prove himself an NFL hall of famer (7 times all pro). Let's not forget how ridiculously good he was and is. Woodson probably would have fared a little worse than he did in 1997 since the personnel surrounding him wouldn't have been as good, but you can pick a college receiver in the past 20 years and I'm taking Woodson and the points.

In re: cornerback size, see above. Woodson is listed at 6'1", and Michigan is hoping to put out a steady stream of 6-foot-ish cover corners. Again, easier said than done.

In re: DL slants. Yeah, one of the advantages of the under is that you can have the line go one way, drop the WDE into coverage, and send the SLB. By doing this you've flipped your defense at the snap, and this is often confusing to opposing OL. I don't think it'll be much of a problem for Bama and its veteran, All-American-laden line; others may have a bear of a time trying to figure out exactly who they're supposed to block on any given play.

The upside of having a couple of undersized guys at the five and three is that Michigan will be much better able to play games that shoot guys into the backfield unblocked. The downside is when that doesn't work and someone gets manhandled one-on-one. The linebackers are going to have to take on a lot of blocks this year.

If only.

I spotted this graffiti on the back of a stop sign near my office in Los Angeles. Could Taco Pants be considering a transfer to USC?

cheers,

Zach

A "these are my readers" moment.

A little something I made for you guys

Made it for my dad, who lurks on your blog. Thought I would share. You can use it if you like. There are definitely bronies reading the blog.

Cheers,

-Anonymous Brony

I have no idea.