September 1st, 2013 at 12:09 AM ^
August 31st, 2013 at 7:59 PM ^
Watching the delivery of Morris was pretty incredible. The dude has a lightning fast delivery.
August 31st, 2013 at 7:22 PM ^
August 31st, 2013 at 7:26 PM ^
August 31st, 2013 at 7:29 PM ^
"Slightly more competent offense" than Sparty? Just slightly?
August 31st, 2013 at 7:53 PM ^
I liked the performance, but Devin's throws were off and there were a lot that I think would have been batted down or intercepted by better secondaries. Offensive line got a decent push but it's not like they were dominating.
On the whole I don't see what was so ridiculous about the assertion.
August 31st, 2013 at 8:16 PM ^
To say that our O still has room for improvement is reasonable enough, but to say that it is comparable to MSU's is trying way too hard to be "objective". MSU punted 11 times last night. They averaged three yards per pass attempt! Half their points were scored on defense. Unless WMU turns out to be some kind of Alabama-like defensive machine, they've got major problems. Our offense looks good with the potential to be great. What else can you say about a unit that scored 52 points while substituting liberally?
August 31st, 2013 at 8:18 PM ^
Fair enough, I'm more than happy to eat crow after the Notre Dame game if they work past the execution issues.
August 31st, 2013 at 8:52 PM ^
August 31st, 2013 at 8:38 PM ^
Um.
Sparty scored one offensive TD. We scored... (get's out calculator)... seven.
7 >>>>>> 1
August 31st, 2013 at 7:29 PM ^
I think you're selling our offense short
August 31st, 2013 at 7:41 PM ^
August 31st, 2013 at 8:20 PM ^
Our offense was better than Sparty's when we were in the locker room at halftime....
August 31st, 2013 at 8:50 PM ^
August 31st, 2013 at 7:24 PM ^
I hope Borges isn't one of those coaches who overcoaches and makes the player worse.
Glen Mason got a little creepy near the end. Talking about thighs and bodies.
Norfleet is awesome.
August 31st, 2013 at 7:27 PM ^
A few years ago our depth was awful, heck we didn't even have good starters. We had to play Avery and Talbott as true freshman. Now we have Countess and Taylor starting, and then Stribling, Lewis and Hollowell coming off the bench. All five played solid today. Best part is none of them are seniors, so they will all be back.
August 31st, 2013 at 7:28 PM ^
One thing that did bug me, though, was the soft coverage the corners were playing. It was Central FFS. Why weren't they pressing? That was a big reason the D-Line couldn't get to the QB early. Short routes were open and Central had their timing down and M did nothing to throw it off.
/Rant
August 31st, 2013 at 8:44 PM ^
September 1st, 2013 at 12:48 AM ^
August 31st, 2013 at 7:36 PM ^
August 31st, 2013 at 7:42 PM ^
I didn't see them play, but looking at the box score it looks like both teams moved the ball a lot - ND had 543 yards to Temple's 362. Temple had 25 first downs! Not sure why it was so low-scoring.
http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/boxscore?gameId=332430087
August 31st, 2013 at 8:43 PM ^
September 1st, 2013 at 12:59 AM ^
August 31st, 2013 at 7:43 PM ^
Really impressed by Green. I had a nagging thought that he might just be another Kevin Grady but he destroyed that notion immediately - dude can run. It's also pretty cool to have a guy who looks like Ron Dayne.
Also, the announcer mentioned that we have 81!!! first and second year players on the roster. That is terrifying and exciting at the same time.
August 31st, 2013 at 7:42 PM ^
This is was the perfect Week 1 win in my opinion. We got the satisfying blowout we all wanted but there's still a lot of things we can improve on. Can't wait for UTL. Bring on the Irish!
August 31st, 2013 at 7:44 PM ^
Offense:
-Gardner was too excited at the start. He just needs to settle down and he will be fine.
-Interior line was improved, still some busted assignments but I think they will be fine.
-Passing game was a concern. Other than Gallon and Dileo didn't seem like anyone was getting open Gardner took off a lot.
-Morris looked serviceable as a backup.
Defense:
-Fast Furious and a little reckless. Missed tackles and over pursuit. Hopefully can be fixed with some more seasoning. Has the potential to be absolutely terrifying for the opposition.
-I thought Wilson played really well. Hopefully he continues to play well.
Biggest concern I thought was the lack of discipline. Penalities turnovers and missed tackles. Overall I think this is the most balanced team in the B1G.
August 31st, 2013 at 7:45 PM ^
While I still think he has a ton of potential, he looked like the #4 option to me today. When he got yards it was because the O-line was opening gaping holes for him, and he got brought down on first contact on every one of his runs, and he usually went down right where he was hit (except for the TD, where he got a little extra push).
I liked what I saw from Smith as a runner better, although he had a bit of "Poor Damn Toussaint" syndrome going on, with guys hitting him in the backfield before he had a chance to get going. But he made some nice cuts and kept his legs driving for a few extra yards on every one of his touches.
The guy who surprised me was Rawls. He didn't touch it much, but he showed a quickness to the hole and a little bit of wiggle that had been completely absent in his game up until now. He also ran through an arm tackle or two, which is something he was always supposed to do but never seemed to get down in the past.
Drake Johnson didn't really get a chance to impress, going down with an injury right before what would have likely been his first featured drive, so maybe he deserves to be in the conversation too. But after this game, based on a very small sample size, the "feature back" depth chart looks to me like:
- Fitz
- Rawls (!)
- Smith
- Green
August 31st, 2013 at 8:04 PM ^
Agree on Rawls. I loved how he attacked the hole. He looked much quicker than last year. The arrival of the freshmen may have lit a fire under him.
August 31st, 2013 at 9:08 PM ^
Exactly! (except not quite exactly)
All this love for Green was slightly surprising to me. I thought he did well, but when he was in, the line blocked so well - except for his TD run which was all on him. He did go down immediately on first contact. Maybe he deserved some credit for reading the OL well, but hey, those holes not only looked wide, but they extended more than five yards down the field!
Smith - he impressed me. I thought he looked like the #2 to me. I thought he did more with what he was given than with what Green was given. His balance was incredible. I was watching him closely and he never went backward, never went down on first contact, and remained upright while being hit and not being able to fully brace himself for contact. Completely a D. Smith fan now. Can't wait to see more.
Rawls - agree with your thoughts, but slightly behind Smith, if for no other reason then we have seen Rawls plenty and he has not impressed. Looked good today, but I'm still gun-shy.
RB Depth holy lord.
August 31st, 2013 at 9:24 PM ^
By damn, Borges used all 6 RB's today.
August 31st, 2013 at 7:49 PM ^
- Borges, why oh why do you like to torment me by passing the ball inside your own 10?
- RUN DEVIN LESS PLZ
- Derrick Green is like a refrigerator on wheels coming down a steep hill at you.
- The Drake Johnson hype has substance
- Joe Reynolds is the other outside guy
- Yay pass rush!
- NO MOAR PENALITIES!!!@!11
- Fitz is explosive once again
- Dennis Norfleet should not return punts
- Dennis Norfleet should always return kickoffs
- Dennis Norfleet is very fast
- Wolverines will be feasting on irish chicken under the lights on 9/7.
This is the largest margin of victory in a Michigan season opener since September 30, 1905 against Ohio Wesleyan in a 65-0 victory.
Also, 10 years and one day ago on August 30, 2003, Michigan beat CMU 45-7 in the season opener. Michigan would go 10-3 that season winning the Big Ten Championship outright and going to the Rose Bowl. The 2003 offense was the best Michigan offense of the modern era
August 31st, 2013 at 9:00 PM ^
Devin didn't really run all that much. There was 1, maybe 2, zone-read plays; the rest of Devin's rushing yards came on scrambles.
August 31st, 2013 at 7:57 PM ^
August 31st, 2013 at 8:06 PM ^
doesn't look good? Christ on a bike.
August 31st, 2013 at 9:07 PM ^
August 31st, 2013 at 9:54 PM ^
See, I agree with the notion that maybe the middle 3 didn't maul as much as you'd like, but the UFR will hopefully show how many good blocks the guards got on a lot of those outside runs. Getting to the second level and sealing is something that didn't happen very often last season and the fact it's already happened this season is, to me, a sign of things to come.
I thought pass protection was good as well but DG has always had a tendency to bug out when his 1 or 2 inital reads aren't there. Perhaps he didn't help the perception of the line much.
September 1st, 2013 at 1:01 AM ^
August 31st, 2013 at 8:28 PM ^
if nobody had any preconcived notions about this team, and didn't know about any players or what the team was like last year, they would say the following:
That Gardner kid has some serious game, just needs to settle down early. Nervous start.
That Norfleet guy is fast.
Their WR corps really got the job done, and didn't drop any easy catchs. That Dileo kid looks good, along with Jackson, and Reylonds, and Gallon.
These TEs look solid, especially that tall kid Funchess!
The Running Backs look sold- that Toussaint guy seems like he could be a legit 3 down workhorse back if they need it. That Green kid looks mighty good; could lower the pad level, but wow, he is going to be great! Must've been a heck of a high school player. Boy, that Rawls kid, and that Smith kid looked solid. Michigan has 4 different types of good runners they can throw at people.
The D line and linebacks looked good. Cam gordon is a beast!
The CBs looked good, but the safties were ok. not horribly bad, but could use some work.
I feel like some people have a pre-conceived notion that Green is too fat, and Furman is no good, etc etc. I think people aren't looking at this objectivly. My 2 cents.
August 31st, 2013 at 8:42 PM ^
There's an awful lot of WHARGARBL for a 59-9 pounding of a team with an actual pulse. It could have been even more skewed.
August 31st, 2013 at 8:43 PM ^
August 31st, 2013 at 8:54 PM ^
I don't think that avoiding subjectivity produces objectivity, but okay.
August 31st, 2013 at 8:38 PM ^
The defensive line was getting a great push, albeit against an inferior CMU offensive line. Problems seemed to come about when the ends and outside backers couldn't keep contain.
Overall, a promising start. When both starting safeties are on the field, we'll obviously have a better gauge on the situation.
August 31st, 2013 at 8:39 PM ^
Double post. I apologize.
August 31st, 2013 at 8:42 PM ^
Holy Jeebus; pysically, he looks like the redshirt freshman love-child of Mike Martin and Lamarr Woodley. Let's hope he develops the technique to go along with those two names. Is there any more startling new presence on Team 134 than Wormley?
August 31st, 2013 at 8:58 PM ^
What I noticed and thought was a little strange was that it seemed that Green had a majority wide runs and that Smith had a majority of runs between the tackles. I would have thought it would have been the other way around.
August 31st, 2013 at 9:12 PM ^
Green looked pretty wide himself. Ron Dayne with more speed as Coach Jackson would say.
August 31st, 2013 at 9:14 PM ^
August 31st, 2013 at 9:36 PM ^
Today's game answers the rhetorical question asked a few days ago: "Why play freshmen backups like Morris in a MAC game and burn their redshirts? Can't they get just as much experience playing scrimmages in Glick fieldhouse?"
The answer clearly is "No, you can't get real-game experience just by internal practices." Today's game illustrated that perfectly. There is no substitue for real-game experience.
Players that looked great in scrimmages looked shaky today when faced with a hostile, unpredictable opponent in front of 100,000 people. You can't emulate this with practice players and loud rock songs in Glick fieldhouse.
All the freshmen that played today will be much better off from playing in today's game in the event they have to come in and replace a starter at a key moment down the road.
So yes, if there is a player that you may need to count on down the road to replace a starter, you need to burn the redshirt.
August 31st, 2013 at 11:07 PM ^
" I can't even describe what it felt like coming out of that tunnel knowing that I was the starting quarterback at Michigan."
Love the passion.
September 1st, 2013 at 1:13 AM ^
What a guy. Graduated in three years and is a class act in every way. Pretty much the anti-Manziel.