jordan kovacs

the first-half high point was a high point [ESPN screencap]

Previously: Krushed By Stauskas (Illinois 2014), Introducing #ChaosTeam (Indiana 2009), Revenge is Terrifying (Colorado 1996), Four Games In September I (Boston College 1991), Four Games In September II (Boston College 1994), Four Games In September III (Boston College 1995), Four Games In September IV (Boston College 1996), Pac Ten After Dark Parts One and Two (UCLA 1989), Harbaugh's Grand Return Parts One and Two (Notre Dame 1985), Deceptive Speed Parts One and Two (Purdue 1999)

Week One: 1993 Washington Part One, Part Two, 2002 Washington Twitch stream

This Game: Condensed game, WH highlights, box score, MGoPreview, Denard After Dentist, Offense UFR, Defense UFR, a Notre Dame fan's live blog

Lineup Cards! Brought to you by Seth. Click the images to embiggen.

Michigan offense vs. Notre Dame defense:

Michigan defense vs. Notre Dame offense:

Michigan-Notre Dame is a sight to behold.

Yes, the rivalry has lost its national luster. The Irish's season-opening loss to USF ensures this is the third time in five games both teams enter the contest unranked; that hadn't happened in the history of the rivalry until 2007. Notre Dame is in year two under Brian Kelly after the program bottomed out under Charlie Weis. Michigan is in year one under Brady Hoke (and offensive coordinator Al Borges) after Rich Rodriguez could only field half of a good team.

The rivalry itself is still healthy, however. Despite being, well, not very good, the Wolverines have taken the last two games in the series, both last-minute triumphs featuring star-turning performances by Michigan quarterbacks—Tate Forcier in 2009 and Denard Robinson in 2010. Meanwhile, the two teams are playing in Michigan Stadium's first-ever night game.

As per usual with this game, nobody has a clue what to expect. Notre Dame turned the ball over five times in its season opener but only lost by three points. Michigan looked good against an overmatched Western Michigan squad but didn't even complete three quarters before the game was called due to lightning. How little did we know? This was in Brian's preview:

The only thing we can take from the USF game is that Notre Dame has trouble defending bubble screens. The Bulls consistently racked up 5-10 yards despite the wholesale suck of Daniels. Chalk up some free yards on the outside.

Chalk is easily erased, thankfully.

As you'd expect from a game with a name—Under The Lights—there's a lot of pregame fanfare. Michigan unveils the Legends Jersey program by honoring Desmond Howard.

[After THE JUMP: #FreeDenard]

Cam McGrone shared a police stop on twitter [Paul Sherman]

Sponsor note. You are probably aware that marijuana is legal in Michigan now, but did you know that you can now buy it from some sort of spaceship church? No, I have not partaken. Look at this thing:

image (25)information_entropy-edit-5

This is the cleanest building I have ever seen or contemplated. Naturally it is named INFORMATION ENTROPY. Sometimes I put little jokes in these. This is not one of them. This spaceship church where you can get recreational marijuana is literally named "Information Entropy." I feel the previous item pretty much covers it, but: they grow and process their own product locally.

They're at 1115 Broadway in Ann Arbor, open from 10 AM to 7 PM daily. Parking is ample. 21+, please.

Cam McGrone's personal experience. Scary:

I thought Jordan Kovacs's statement on the general situation was a good one:

[After THE JUMP: large person amongst small persons]

Cloning was the answer. [Bryan Fuller]

Our ongoing series covering Michigan's 2010s. Previously: Our Favorite Blocks, QBs, RBs, and WRs, TEs, FBs, and OL, Defensive Line, Linebacker, The 2000s.

Methodology: Going by individual years but only one per player can be nominated. We discussed them and decided together, then split the writeups. There will be a special teams and then we're taking requests on offbeat editions to fill the long offseason.

SAFETY: Jordan Kovacs (2011)

Blessed Order of St. Kovacs

Today, even after Michigan has exhausted the eligibility of an entire generation of Glasgows, we call the walk-ons who emerge into draftable players members of the "Blessed Order of St. Kovacs." Secondaries of the rest of the decade would be filled with top-100 types whose natural abilities contributed to top-five defenses. But to get there first Michigan had to survive Never Forget plus three years of Rich Rod and Tony Gibson.

In 2009 I made a sad depth chart to introduce a series—The Decimated Defense—about the recruiting and attrition that led us to the program's defensive back nadir. On said depth chart, all walk-ons, including a redshirt freshman student body one that then-DC Greg Robinson had recently mistook for Matt Cavanaugh, were represented by suicidal cats.

Corner Safety Safety Corner
NFL-ready junior guy (Donovan Warren)

(Jordan_Kovacs)

Current Infinite Safety Disaster, who is worse than the walk-on (Michael Williams) Legacy who is halfway decent and was our FS until a few weeks ago (Troy Woolfolk)
Dust mite true freshman who was a running back until a few weeks ago (Teric Jones)

(Floyd_Simmons)

True freshman recovering from knee surgery who can't be that great if he hasn't seen the field (Vladimir Emilien) Redshirt freshman with clear talent deficiency to be serviceable (JT Floyd)

Cats were all the rage on the internet back then, as was abject failure in Michigan's secondary. Many players who might have helped plug the holes abandoned Michigan. We even had a banner.

image

But then a funny thing happened that we did not expect. In 2011 Michigan was suddenly getting impact safety play from the unlikeliest of creatures: a Hobbit.

And then there's Kovacs. That is a record-shattering performance for a member of Michigan's secondary and it is absolutely deserved. Kovacs led the team in tackles, only half-missing a couple of those. He led ballcarriers into other defenders, which is why Western had to go on long marches—they couldn't bust it past Kovacs. He annihilated Carder on two sacks, one of which produced a game-sealing fumble. While Mattison got him those runs at the QB, his execution was flawless. On the first, he had the agility to slash back inside of Herron and the technique to put his helmet directly on the ball. And he added two PBUs for good measure.

His Kovacsian limitations made him not the guy you want carrying a future NFL slot receiver down the seam—particularly in 2012 when they slapped a Legends jersey on him to honor three historic linemen and Mattison tried to get away with some Ed Reed crap. But even in 2010 Kovacs thrived as a two-high box safety who could come down and play a Viper-like role, and in 2011's patchwork secondary those edge blitzes were a feature.

Also a feature: busts in the front seven that never, ever, ever, ever led to a gain of 40 yards. Remember this was a defense playing high-risk up front because the serviceable depth chart was guys Lloyd Carr recruited and Jake Ryan. After the afore mentioned WMU game Mattison was asked if having a guy like Kovacs allowed him to do more with the defense. Answer: "Well… he allows you to call it without wincing."

This was the Kovacs you had to be a bit of a wonk to fully appreciate, but over the course of 2011 the Kovacs who was ALWAYS THERE when that guy was supposed to arrive was the main thing giving viewers a sense of peace they hadn't felt since the days of…Jamar Adams? Marcus Ray? Tripp? When an option pitch went outside the last defender on the screen, it was Kovacs who appeared, already at top speed, at the perfect angle to end it at the sideline. When a linebacker went the wrong direction on a stretch run and you braced for a long chase, Kovacs came. He was our binky.

We could go with 2011 or 2012; we chose '11 only because there was more Alex Carder annihilation, and because that's the year, at the moment everything was about to fall apart, it didn't, because Kovacs was always there.

-Seth

[After THE JUMP: The Old, the Boring, and the Cat-like]