What surprised you from Michigan's week one performance?

3 man front and McKeon at TE

The way the young Tight Ends stepped up and the complete lack of Ian Bunting. were what suprised me most. 

Lawrence Marshall hustling from his dt position to chase the play and recover the fumble by felipe Franks. You could tell he was gassed and thought about not pursuing, but he kept chasing and was rewarded with a fumble recovery. So awesome to see him reap some rewards.

I've heard some calling it a 3-4, but it looked like a 3-3-5 to me. Formation aside, with the speed and aggression, that looked like an ideal Don Brown defense. 

2) Bush and Metellus exceeded expectations and were a joy to watch.

3) Ty Isaac, a real weapon if he can keep that up.

4) DPJ did not field punts like a freshman.

5) Nick Eubanks - I expected McKeon to get almost all the 3rd TE snaps.

 

Negative surprises

I'll not try to overthink them and just enjoy the win.

I thought the RBs vision was a vast improvement compared to last year.

The Turf Monster that got Evans on the first drive surprised me. I thought they were extinct! Prob was a touchdown had that not got him.

I was surprised Harbaugh didn't lose his shit on the ineligible man down field call that took a touchdown off the board. Expected a GIF opportunity there.

.

1. LBs are way better this year.  Bush is a significant upgrade from Gedeon in terms of speed and getting to the ball quickly, taking good angles, and being aggressive.

2. O-line is better, still not great.

3. Speight is still a big question mark and continues to be a rollercoaster ride.

4. WRs are young and still need some time to develop, but clearly have talent.  Right now having a reliable guy like Perry is nice.

5. We have a lot of talented TEs, none are ready to be as impactful as Butt.

6. Starting d-line is just as good as last year.

7. CB is still a question mark, but looks capable, albeit inexperienced.

8. Winning close games against quality opponents will be the same requirement as last year.  O-line will need to be able to open holes in the running game and the QB will have to be more consistent.  

I was hoping to see more throws to DPJ but it might have been what Florida was giving

Conservatively, I think we have the best defence to ever step foot on Earth.

Harbaugh seemed somewhat....calm

Bush is everything his potential said he might be as far as being a heat-seeking missle to the ball.

Lawrence does not look athletic out there. Shockingly slow. I can't imagine it will be long until Solomon or someone else moves him out.

The OL gave up a few sacks, mainly coming from right tackle.  But they performed better than I thought.  We were able to run the ball with some consistency against a good defensive front...FINALLY!  Onwenu and Bredeson will be All B1G, potentially All America, at some points in their careers.  I believe this OL will be the positive difference makers in more than one big game this season.

A little worried that Speight is still making poor throws resulting in ugly INT's.  I wish O'Korn had better pocket presence because he throws a pretty ball.

I was surprised by Ty Isaac...that was the best I've ever observed him.

I was really impressed by Bush. I was also impressed by the kicker's leg.

the way the game played out with the players performing as their coaches fully expected they would. Sometimes you go into the first game and the coaches commentary on player readiness seems hyped or motivating in a way that's aimed at hopefulness rather than anticipation of what they know to be actually true. Those guys were flying all over the field creating chaos. It was a beautiful thing to behold.

In this case, however, Don Brown and Tim Drevno and all the rest were quite correct in saying their guys were extremely focused and excited to play, and they demonstrated it gamelong. Of course, there were mistakes. Primarily on offense which split its time scoring most of the points for both teams. Michigan can only defend the opposition when it makes correctable errors. 

But Michigan just cleared one of its first major win hurdles and they did it on the road, albeit at a neutral site, so all the young guys got a taste of going to a foreign venue to play a big game.

In three weeks they'll travel to that ill-defined place in Indiana, West Lafayette, one of two stops in the Hoosier state this season, for a meeting with the Boilermakers. Michigan will not face another ranked opponent until late October.  There are only three more left on the schedule.

Meantime, can you imagine what this young, fast and maturing defense might do in the intervening weeks sharpening its claws against the likes of the Cincinatti Bearcats which barely beat Austin Peay and were outgained by them in their mighty win against that tough Division 2 opponent.

In just a few weeks hence MSU comes a calling to Ann Arbor. The Spartans and their wobegotten offense made a first good impression with a win despite a defensive secondary that allowed Bowling Green's wideouts repeatedly to beat them like a deep base drum yesterday only to survive it  mostly because Bowling Green is bad at football. Luckily for the 74th rated Spartans they were playing the 92nd ranked school in FBS, so the defense looked stout while Brian Lewerke looked like, well, Lewerke, all run and throw only when it seems like the last desperate option of a dropback pass call. Still he ran wild. Their running backs had less good fortune.

I am salivating at the thought of what this defense might be capable of in the coming weeks. Don't want to get a big head or too far ahead of schedule but if Saturday's performance is a trailer for the coming attractions, beware Michigan. Speed kills. And Don Brown's defense kills with an agression unknown to football kind. So much for being young and inexperienced. Keep telling us these guys can't cover or run sideline to sideline. Our guys love being underrated.

That game could've and probably should've finished about 44-10.  I'll give UF one pick six.  The second was a Speight brain fart.  And we left two easy TD's on the field.

Too many penalties.

in spite of two pick 6's.  

I didn't expect a 3-man DL against an OL that UF thinks is the best they'e had in years.  Nor did I expect Devin Gill to get so much PT!  Overall, the defense was faster and more aggressive than I thought they'd be.  Offensively, McKeon and Eubanks come to mind.  But Isaac was a revelation!  Where has that version of him been??

Was surprised McElwain's teeth weren't as yellow as Michigan's jerseys.

Must be getting tooth advice from a significant other.

....was what stood out to me the most.

This is a talented Florida DL with good-to-great quickness.

Michigan's front and blocking backs did well enough and held their own.

The sacks were either due to UF coverage on young WRs or Speight going SpeightIowa and hanging onto the ball to damn long.

To gain 200+ yards rushing on Florida with this new OL, no, I did not expect that.

Florida may be really bad at football, but that data suggests they are SEC East champion material this year with possibly Georgia and S. Carolina the other two contenders.

Second biggest surprise was Sean McKeon. The UFR is going to show the kid making some nice grabs.  But it was his blocking that opened up some very nice runs.  That surprised me for a tall, lanky dude.

...at RG (pun intended)!!

Broaden the question to what surprised me for week one of CFB?

I was amazed at how tough the Big Ten looked across the board. Some games (MSU, PSU, Iowa) played out without any real surprises considering the opponents.

But...

Maryland?! Wow!

Purdue?! Nearly beat a top 10 Louisville team. All the way to the end they were in the game. Really surprised me.

Michigan dominated.

Indiana looked very impressive while the game still showed how rich osu will be.

Wisconsin started slow, but they came back to show dominance as expected.

All in all, first week shows the Big Ten is easily the toughest conference so far.

I was excited to see him out there, but verything I saw pre-season had Nate Johnson projected for punt returns.  Does anyone know the story?

3 man front. I expected speight to still be bad, the OL to still be mediocre, and the defense to still be good.

9 of those 11 carries were bigger holes than anything Evans or Higdon had. He'll settle back down to #3 RB as the season goes on because Higdon is better...in pretty much every way.

The defense surprised me. I fully expected them to be fast, fly around and hit hard. But I also expect guys out of position and missing assignments. Last year they had gash plays early in the year that lead to long tds because someone would blow an assignment while getting used to browns very aggressive, and often pretty complex, scheme. We did not see that yesterday. This team is also extremely good at not allowing miss tackles. The only ones I remember had the RB or Wr almost instantly tackled by the next guy or guys swarming the ball