Illinois: the Good, the Bad, the Ugly and the Immensely Gratifying
The Good
1. The defense. Though they slipped a bit by the end of the 3rd quarter, and though we're not quite Alabama yet, this was still one of the better performances by a Michigan defense in years. It felt...right. Like order has been restored to the universe. Mattison even had the front 7 pulling some NFL-style disguised coverages...and doing it right too!
2. Fitz’s first half. Another stellar half game for one of our tailbacks…unfortunately it didn’t last. It was still good enough to power those first two touchdowns, and then he got his mojo back at the end. Good stuff, though I wish he hadn't been stopped for all those losses in-between.
3. JT Floyd’s MASSIVE interception and Gardner’s HUGE touchdown pass. I’ve been down on Gardner for several weeks, but that was a game-saving throw…set up by Floyd’s monster grab. Hope his injury isn’t serious.
The Bad
1. Our offense from midway through the second quarter on. They went from F1 racecar to Trabant in a hurry. The lack of adjustments to defensive adjustments by good Big 10 defenses is now a trend, and one that goes back to 2009. It's not as bad as it was then, but it may be worse than it was in 2010. We're lucky that we have a defense to count on now, but this feels correctable, and the inability to do so is frustrating. It's what stands between us and really taking it to the next level.
2. Going backwards on offense. We did this much too often today.
2. More stupid turnovers. Self-explanatory.
The Ugly
1. Injuries. Denard’s apparent injury being the worst. He might be in a second-year starter’s slump (think Henne 2005), but he’s still Denard. We need him. Ditto van Bergen and Floyd. All the best to all three.
2. Leaving too many points on the field. Twice denied in the red zone, we should have put this one away, but instead allowed Illinois to hang around. Having started the season uber-efficient in the red zone, we seem to have regressed lately. This is another frustrating phenomenon from the RR era that looked dead and buried, only to return in all its ugliness.
The Immensely Gratifying
1. We finally know, for sure, that we are better than we were last year. Though the offense hasn't been as good as we've hoped, the defense has been better than we could have dreamed. So it’s time to admit this to ourselves: we are better. We. Are. Better. Sure, we are still, as of this moment, only one game better, but we have reached 8 wins for the first time since 2007. Time to break out the cheap bubbly (the good stuff can wait until after we beat Ohio).
November 12th, 2011 at 7:09 PM ^
JT Floyd, he was goooood.
November 12th, 2011 at 7:10 PM ^
That was the quietest, most insignificant 100-yard game I think I've ever seen from a WR.
November 12th, 2011 at 7:12 PM ^
yea cause they threw to Jenkins 20+ times and he only caught like 8 or 9 passes.. ILL WR core is pathetic outside jenkins..
i knew floyd was gonna jump a pass eventually
November 12th, 2011 at 7:14 PM ^
Jenkins was thrown at 20(!) times and only caught 8. 40% Completion rate when throwing to an All-Big Ten reciever is pretty good.
November 12th, 2011 at 7:11 PM ^
was coming. as much as they challenged him i thought he would for sure cut @ least one off. go blue!
November 12th, 2011 at 7:15 PM ^
And those last couple of series were so telegraphed that you knew Floyd was going to have chances. Jenkins will probably get a shot at the NFL, but he couldn't make some pretty standard plays out there.
November 12th, 2011 at 7:10 PM ^
Are fine and will
<br>Play next week
November 12th, 2011 at 7:12 PM ^
November 12th, 2011 at 7:49 PM ^
On our first 3rd and short stop, I turned to my dad and said "what else would happen?" We do shut shit down. I, too, would like to see some analysis on this.
November 12th, 2011 at 7:12 PM ^
Word.
November 12th, 2011 at 7:13 PM ^
This isnt Sydney Deans world ... looking bad and winning is still better than looking good and losing .... WE GOIN SIZZLA
November 12th, 2011 at 9:18 PM ^
Bend up the bill of my cap?
November 13th, 2011 at 5:17 AM ^
November 12th, 2011 at 7:14 PM ^
November 12th, 2011 at 10:25 PM ^
I honestly hadn't thought one bit about the coaches contracts, but it's really interesting to think of. I don't think we should give Hoke an extension yet, but I do think a BCS bowl could earn Mattison a "Michigan DC for life" contract like Dantonio and Izzo have at MSU. We could make a big show of it and promise him an AD position when he retires.
Given some concern about his age, I think it might provide a good oppertunity for everyone to show that he's on board, and he'll be on board even after he's done coaching.
November 12th, 2011 at 7:15 PM ^
Mattison and the D have been fantastic. If we can win one of the next two, it will be a successfull year.
November 12th, 2011 at 10:10 PM ^
November 12th, 2011 at 7:14 PM ^
Really impressed with the defensive performance. Best game we've seen from that unit in a long time. Gang tackling on almost every play.
<br>
<br>Really liking the way D Morgan is playing as a freshman. Him and Countess have come up big for us this year.
November 12th, 2011 at 7:18 PM ^
SMOKED that RB. Phenomenal play - disengaged cleanly from a block and lit that dude up.
November 12th, 2011 at 9:51 PM ^
There was also that play where Ryan just killed Scheelhaase after he pitched the ball on the option. With the young guys we have now and the quality recruits that we have lined up, this defense has some great days ahead, even with the losses on the D-line next year.
November 13th, 2011 at 10:00 AM ^
of the game. Morgan made a textbook driving tackle of the Illinois RB that will make the film room highlights. It supports my belief Morgan will be a star linebacker for this team in the future. And with the guys we have coming in next year, our defensive future looks bright.
November 12th, 2011 at 7:15 PM ^
was the same play that got burned against ND at the end of the game at UTL. Looks like they've figured it out by now.
November 12th, 2011 at 7:15 PM ^
The play of the true freshman.
Blake Countess and Desmond Morgan. Impressive and promising.
November 12th, 2011 at 7:23 PM ^
Frank Clark. While he sucked inside at that Scheelenhousen TD run, he made some nice moves on pass rush and if Im not mistaken got a sack.
November 12th, 2011 at 7:17 PM ^
I think if my count is right they only threw in his direction three times. Lil Baby Woodson.
November 12th, 2011 at 7:45 PM ^
While I agree that Countess has looked good, the reason they only threw at him 3 times wasn't to avoid throwing at him.... it was because they throw the majority of their passes to AJ Jenkins, who was being covered by Floyd.
November 12th, 2011 at 7:19 PM ^
Can we finally kill the "Fire Borges" type memes?
November 12th, 2011 at 7:31 PM ^
I don't think we need to fire Borges, but this offense is still too inconsistent for comfort. Too many negative yardage plays. Would have liked to see us put this game away by halftime, but then again Illinois does seem to have a legit D.
November 12th, 2011 at 7:51 PM ^
I don't think its bad playcalling, I think the players just are not executing.
November 12th, 2011 at 10:16 PM ^
November 12th, 2011 at 7:19 PM ^
Can't forget Gallon. He did really well returning punts today.
November 12th, 2011 at 7:21 PM ^
Coach just said on the radio broadcast "He's fine."
November 12th, 2011 at 7:47 PM ^
It must be some recurring hand soreness or something, right? I don't see what else could hold him out of some parts of games, only to have him be fine afterwards. Someone talk me out of this, but I cant help a creeping feeling that he's just not a tough guy. He takes a lot of time off for extremely minor injuries.
November 12th, 2011 at 8:03 PM ^
Last year too, he would always sit out a drive looking fine and then come back in. Even during this game, he was clapping after DG's TD pass. I hope (and think) I'm wrong, I just want to see what other people think about it.
November 12th, 2011 at 8:10 PM ^
It's not a matter of toughness, it's whether he can safely handle the ball without fumbling.
November 12th, 2011 at 7:57 PM ^
Hopefully its just a boo boo
November 12th, 2011 at 10:24 PM ^
You take the beating he does on a regular basis and see how you feel tough guy.
November 12th, 2011 at 7:21 PM ^
Denard needs to show he can win a big game. Nebraska, OSU, et.
November 12th, 2011 at 7:41 PM ^
Notre Dame?
November 12th, 2011 at 7:46 PM ^
2-0. don't those games count?
November 12th, 2011 at 8:45 PM ^
is ND good?
November 12th, 2011 at 9:12 PM ^
They're better than OSU this year so by your logic that doesn't count as a big game this year. ND is one of our 3 big rivals and counts as a big game.
November 12th, 2011 at 7:23 PM ^
after starting with 5 str8 home games, this team has now played 4 out of the last 5 on the road, going 3-2 for the middle stretch of the season. now we're back home for two HUGE home games to end the season. everybody up & out of their seats every play supporting these guys who were mighty impressive today in Champaign.
GO BLUE!
November 12th, 2011 at 7:22 PM ^
What Im really surprised is how you know what a Trabant is. I grew up in Romania and that was the car everyone had back in the day.
November 12th, 2011 at 7:42 PM ^
The Trabant was no Lada, was no Poski Fiat, and certainly was no Zastava Yugo Florida Business!
November 12th, 2011 at 8:06 PM ^
I wish this guy could explain it:
http://firepowerphilosophy.blogspot.com/2010/10/ladies-and-gentlemen-me…
November 12th, 2011 at 9:54 PM ^
I was also thinking +1 for the Trabant reference. I remember Stossel talking about them on his show once.
November 12th, 2011 at 7:23 PM ^
it was frustrating to see Hoke go into Manball mode aggressively yet not take the points on that 4th and 1. That game would have been WAY more in hand, especially after the missed fg, with those 3 points.
November 12th, 2011 at 7:31 PM ^
Well we spread them out and ran denard out of the gun, which, whenever we DONT do it, is of course unstoppable