Down By The Old Mill Stream Comment Count

Brian

11/12/2011 – Michigan 31, Illinois 14 – 8-2, 4-2 Big Ten

ih40[1]

IlliniHQ.com

In a distant place a long time ago they played a football game in a dark and remote land. The opposing team's coach was a confused person who thought he had a pretty good team. Michigan scored a couple touchdowns but couldn't put the game away; at some point during the second half the confused coach's confused offense finally put together a touchdown drive to narrow the game, and I felt… irritated. Annoyed. Peeved.

This was a strange feeling to have about a suddenly close football game Michigan should have put away already, because every damn game Michigan lost against teams not named Ohio State could be described as "a suddenly close football game Michigan should have put away already." Despite this I was not casting about for pearls to clutch or pre-perforating my garments for easy rending when the time came. I was worried about the stats. This was odd.

What followed:

Then: near interception, four-yard out, incomplete, incomplete, ballgame. Instead of a roar there was but a flat, damp squeak as Michigan landed the final clubbing blows and emerged from the lion's den with a rug in tow. There are no arguments about this game. No two seconds, no questionable heels or holding calls or other fantasies about if this or that. There is no "if". Michigan has still not been threatened this year. No opponent has moved the ball except when fortunate or permitted to. Its dominance is unquestioned by the foes it leaves battered in its wake. Sometimes -- and I know this is hard to believe -- seven points is a very large lead indeed.

Yeah, that game.

Flattened[1]

Of all the magical things that Greg Mattison has done since arriving in Ann Arbor for a second tour of duty, making me think about the 2006 Michigan defense a year after… that is hard to top.

2006 happened a century ago. I looked it up. The top songs were "I Want A Girl (Just Like The Girl Who Married Dear Old Dad)" and "Down By The Old Mill Stream." Long-distance communication was conducted by banging rocks together and hoping to startle a pigeon in a way that communicated "happy birthday" instead of "everyone is dead of typhoid again lol." Football games were played between competing sawmills and textile factories; a strict limit of two cattle per offensive line was still controversial. People in Alabama were accused of over-bovining. Craggy men who remembered the invention of writing like Joe Paterno, Jim Tressel, and Lloyd Carr roamed the sidelines. People did not reflexively talk about real good times.

2006 was a long time ago. The ten-volume history of the intervening century is a narrative of relentless, soul-crushing decline on defense.

----------------------------

This summer the UM Club of Greater Detroit invited me to their kickoff dinner. There I sat on a roundtable with Greg Dooley of MVictors and Angelique Chengelis of the Detroit News as various guys with nametags peppered us with questions.

These things always have a pattern: I start out nervous because I'm just this guy, really, and there's a chance someone asks "why should we listen to you?" Since my response is necessarily "I have this blog… it's on the internet!" it's not a question I look forward to. These concerns are a little more pressing when the room is full of people who look like they still get newspapers home-delivered.

But the questions remain hypothetical because I start talking about these things and it turns out that doing what I do on a weekly basis fills your head with esoteric knowledge about all things. Denard Robinson was 84th of 100 qualifying quarterbacks last year in interception percentage. That sort of thing is just in my head, ready to  be dispensed. After my head pops open and I start depositing THE KNOWLEDGE like the world's least appetizing Pez dispenser, there is a groove of confidence.

I mention it because there was one question from an elderly gentleman with a pleading edge I still remember. It was about the defense and why anyone would think it would get better. I was already on the record that this was an eight or nine win team; Dooley and Chengelis were pessimists. They cocked their heads and passed the mic.

I said that if you had only watched every play from the last three years over and over you would know. You would not know but feel the mass incoherence, the week-to-week changes, the insane personnel decisions (Demens, Roh as a LB, moving Woolfolk to corner in 2009, Cam Gordon as FS). That if you felt this thing having a guy the Ravens had coordinating their defense could only result in instant, massive improvement. At the very least they would have a plan*.

Though I believed it, as I was saying it it seemed like a reckless thing to tell people. If…that, or anything like it, happens again people will remember someone told them it was going to be all right, and then it wasn't. I hoped I wasn't telling them about the rabbits.

----------------------------

This was the point last year where everyone wrote off JT Floyd. It was the logical thing to do.

death6.2[1]

Twelve months later Floyd is holding AJ Jenkins to five yards a target and jumping a short route for a shoulda-been pick six for the first time since… God. A century ago. Time is working funny again. Greg Mattison has a phonebooth time machine he sent the secondary back to Charles Woodson's childhood in; they have emerged with ZZ Top beards, children, and skills.

This is a foundation for the future. Wrapping this motley crew of walk-ons, freshmen, people who were totally incompetent last year, Mike Martin, and Ryan Van Bergen into a top 20 defense is a QED achievement no matter the quality of the opposition. The level of coaching required to go from that to this is a constant Michigan can build its program on.

Last year the quality of the opposition didn't matter. Matt McGloin had the above to throw at, and he did. This year Michigan has been average at worst after Mattison figured out he didn't have Ed Reed. Some days they stroll off the field and if you squint you can just convince yourself the last century never happened. You can envision a future where Michigan isn't wondering about its place in the world.

----------

*[Then I told everybody that Denard Robinson's turnover rate would drop like a stone. One out of two isn't bad. ]

Media

There's also the Illinois POV. In their world Illinois wins 14-0 in a thrilling game lasting exactly 1:30. Parkinggod highlights miss the first drive thanks to ESPN sticking with the PSU press conference, but prove that Michigan's everything-is-wonderful POV still goes ten minutes.

Meanwhile, Desmond Morgan is fabulous.

AeGiwpWCEAARHHL[1]

via the Daily's Marissa McClain and a mysterious man named Adam Glanzman

Melanie Maxwell has the usual photogallery at AnnArbor.com as well. DetNews gallery.

Bullets

Borgeswatch. 95% thumbs up. As it transpired I was frustrated with the lack of play-action after Illinois started selling out on the run game, but I forgot about the wind. I much prefer that to being reminded about it every 40 seconds like we were against Michigan State. I wonder if Scheehaase's propensity to wing it wide on Jenkins out cuts was due to the wind. While he's not the most accurate guy in the world he seemed particularly off Saturday.

It may have taken two harsh wakeup calls but at least Borges got the message. Run/pass breakdowns in the three windtastic road games against teams with secondaries:

  • MSU: 39 passes, 28 runs
  • Iowa: 21 passes, 28 runs*
  • Illinois: 16 passes, 47 runs

The Gardner package also went away after its momentum-killing outing last week.

A large chunk of getting that play distribution was getting the running game to work. I don't know all of how or why that happened yet, but giving Toussaint the ball 27 times instead of two is part of it; using enough outside runs to get creases on the inside zone is part of it; making Denard a threat is part of it.

While Denard only managed 3.5 YPC on his 11 attempts it's hard to imagine what turned the #15 rush defense** into Swiss cheese if it wasn't Illinois paying too much attention to 16. This was clear on the first drive of the game. Watch the free safety who would be tackling Toussaint after ten yards but for one Denard Robinson:

By the time that dude realizes Denard does not have the ball Toussaint is gone. A similar screwup does not happen if Michigan is operating from under center.

Since I'm usually at games I'm not often able to participate in the internet zeitgeist to the extent I was the past couple weeks. Last week I was in line with everyone being real mad. This week I was surprised by the amount of heat Borges was taking for stuff that wasn't his fault at all. When Denard fumbles and Michigan misses a field goal or Huyge gets destroyed by Mercilus and Denard doesn't see the guy coming right at him, that's not on the OC. The reasons Michigan didn't score touchdowns in this game seemed to be out of Borges's hands.

*[Not counting the final three drives. I did move the two sacks, the fumble, and one Gardner scramble. I made similar adjustment to the other two games; they may be off by one or two but you get the idea.]

**[15-ish. Illinois's sacks distort that. Still a very good unit.]

Fourth and one. The 5% thumbs down, very down, was the fourth and one from the Illinois one yard line. If you're not willing to throw it when you spread them out and they don't spread out…

image

…I don't think you can do the wacky thing. Those guys to the top of the screen are late arriving and have no idea what they're doing. If you're going to swinging-gate them like this you've got to be able to take advantage of what they give you.

That fourth and one continues a couple trends: speed option and Borges getting cute. I wouldn't have minded it if they had lined up in one of those massive Tebow sets and tried something like this, but going without so much as a tight end in this spot is asking for trouble. The snap didn't help but I don't think it mattered much.

The immediate aftermath. Hoke calmly pointed his defense onto the field:

image

"Meat. Thataway."

You are experiencing an unusually calm sensation. Which reminds me:

brady-hoke-epic-double-pointEPIC HOKE DOUBLE POINT OF THE WEEK. I'm terribly sorry that I inaugurated this thing and then immediately forgot about it. It returns this week because of one man being so ridiculous I thought I should have some sort of special award… oh wait I do.

Your Illinois winner: JT Floyd. AJ Jenkins may have gotten his requisite eight catches for 100 yards but Scheelhaase had to work for it. At one point they showed some Jenkins stats and noted that he had five catches… and fourteen targets. According to Adam Jacobi he ended with eight on 20. That's 5 YPA throwing to a guy who may be the best WR in the Big Ten.

Even that undersells Floyd's day. The deep ball that took Jenkins's stats from mediocre to decent was zone coverage in the middle of the field Floyd was not directly responsible for (and it came after Scheelhaase was given all day). When involved Floyd was all over double moves and jumped a third and short pass for the interception that sealed the game with a little help from Gardner and Odoms.

Even Magnus thought he was "okay for once." WHAT MORE CAN ONE MAN DO?

Honorable mentions go to Al Borges (for his gameplan and getting in on the pointing his ownself), David Molk, and Fitzgerald Toussaint.

RETROACTIVE EPIC HOKE DOUBLE POINTS.

  • Michigan State: Ryan Van Bergen, for being the only person to have a good day. HM: None.
  • Purdue: Fitzgerald Toussaint, for making the tailback spot a plus for the first time in forever. HM: Mike Martin.
  • Iowa: Mike Martin, for being GET IN THE CAR Mike Martin. HM: David Molk.

EPIC DOUBLE POINT STANDINGS.

2: Denard Robinson (Notre Dame, Eastern Michigan), Brady Hoke (San Diego State, Northwestern)

1: Jordan Kovacs (Western Michigan), David Molk (Minnesota), Ryan Van Bergen (MSU), Fitzgerald Toussaint (Purdue), Mike Martin (Iowa), JT Floyd(Illinois).

Weekly bubble bitchin'. Only Ron Zook could send his team out with two deep safeties and three guys tight over WRs against a team that hasn't run a bubble all year:

That's nuts. That's one reason you have that play in the playbook. If they take it away by alignment they've opened something else up. Usually not by putting five guys in the box—that's a Zook special.

What I really meant by posting "We Are ND" after Hoke hiring. I meant that we'd ride a soft schedule to an iffy BCS berth and get our faces crushed. If Michigan wins out—obviously a big if—that could happen. A 10-2 Michigan team will be second in the Big Ten pecking order since everyone other than the champ will have three losses.

Michigan will then be in competition with…

  1. Boise/Houston. Houston's 11th in the BCS standings and will get an autobid if they remain in the top 12.  Boise's actually a spot in front of the Cougars still. One or the other will get a bid. All they have to do is finish in the top 16 since the Big East winner is going to be below them.
  2. Alabama/LSU/Arkansas. The SEC will get a second bid.
  3. Stanford/Oregon. If those two win out Stanford will probably get a bid.
  4. ACC runner-up: a two-loss Clemson or Virginia Tech.
  5. Oklahoma or Oklahoma State.

Michigan's a lock to beat out a team coming off an ACC championship loss, but one-loss versions of Stanford or Oklahoma State would be tough—Jerry Palm has an all-at-large matchup of those two teams right now. If OU loses Bedlam that would also be tight.

Not making it would be just as well. I'd be happy playing Georgia in one of the infinite Big Ten/SEC matchups. I like nine wins and I cannot lie.

Special teams: actually a positive. FEI's not the only advanced stat rankings system purveyed by Football Outsiders; there's also one called F+. Last week F+ integrated special teams data for the first time; Michigan dropped from 17th to 25th. The special teams… eh… not so good.

This week they were. Matt Wile put five kickoffs in the endzone, Jeremy Gallon averaged 15 yards on four actual punt returns, and the missed field goal was off by about a foot. The only downer is Will Hagerup's persistent mediocrity. He averaged under 35 yards a kick and Michigan is now 112th in net punting. Even if you exclude all the coffin corner stuff from the MSU game he's averaging just 37.7 yards a kick. Wile was doing significantly better during Hagerup's suspension.

Unfortunately, it's likely Gallon's momentary renaissance and the Wile bombing are effects of the opponent and the wind. Illinois's punting is also in the triple digits. 

Derp du jour. Seeing some revival of the "we can't run Denard because he won't last through the season" meme, which… like… guh. He's missed a series last week and the last quarter and a half this week because he banged his hand on a pass-rusher's helmet. Twice. The first time he was back in after a series. The second time he could have come back in if necessary. Cancel the spread offense.

Denard's lasted through the bulk of the Big Ten season and with Nebraska and Ohio State left on the schedule, restricting his carries in case he gets hurt is nuts. What are you saving him for?

BONUS: Devin Gardner did two things and Michigan's offense went from racking up yards (and shooting itself in the foot) to not doing the former (and getting short fields). There is no QB controversy. If Michigan makes a 39 yard field goal and Borges doesn't get too cute on the goal line it's 24-0 at halftime and we aren't having this conversation.

Ace got so incensed at various people proclaiming a Gardner revival he broke down the YPP for each quarterback. Denard: 6.2. Devin: 5.4. Devin without the two garbage time Toussaint runs: 3.6.

Let's stop talking about this.

A permanent feature. Hoke on his decision to go from the one:

Michigan reached the Illinois 1-yard line in the second quarter and went for it on fourth down. Robinson lost 4 yards on the play.

Hoke was asked if going for it in that situation will be the norm. "Pretty much," he said. "And the defense bailed me out."

Woot.

Desmond Morgan decleater. Don't hate me but I thought that was a missed cut by the RB, who had a lane outside the block. /ducks

Here

dnak puts the defensive performance in a graph (graph):

defense_2003-2011[1]

Left axis is as a percentage of historical worst—ie, last year. That's right: Michigan's scoring defense is brushing up against '06.

Inside the Box Score on Martin going uber:

Mike Martin lead us with 9 tackles. That’s right, an interior defensive lineman lead us with NINE tackles. I’m going to miss that guy. He also got half a sack and 2 QHs. Roh also had 2 QHs. We were QH’ing Scheelhaase all game long.

That's three straight games he's crushed the opponent. Moving towards what we all thought he'd be this year. Too bad it will be tough to crack the All Big Ten team with Short, Still, and Worthy also tearing up offensive lines.

Hoke for Tomorrow brings yet another reason to laugh at Ron Zook:

Ron Zook is a bad coach, this is known.  It is remarkable how bad he is though, when looking at his record after bye weeks.  Over the past 4 seasons (2008-2011) Illinois has had 6(!) bye weeks, with two in both 2009 and 2010.  Their record following these bye weeks?  0-6:

2008: Lost to Penn St 38-24

2009: Lost to OSU 30-0, Lost to Cincinnati 49-36

2010: Lost to OSU 24-13, Lost to Fresno St 25-23

2011: Lost to Michigan (woot!)  31-14

That is epic fail.  Ron Zook should be fired.

Bye weeks aren't actually helpful, but come on.

CollegeFootball13 throws together some stats; he's too generous to the special teams (C+) but just look at that shiny justified A- next to the defense. Commenter Vasav brings up the year-to-year FEI:

2010:: Total: 8, Scoring: 25, FEI: 2

2011:: Total: 40, Scoring: 37, FEI: 17

Our youthful inexperience has been replaced by transitional inexperience - so we still are inconsistent and turnover-ridden.

The FEI is most indicative I think - we went from an O with the potential to be great (if we had any kind of ST and D) to one that is just very good. I think after Borges was hired, this is sort of where we expected to be offensively - a step back, but not disastrously.

Defense

2010:: Total: 110, Scoring: 107, FEI: 108

2011:: Total: 16, Scoring: 5, FEI: 17

Mattison == Awesome. Last year, I said that I thought our D played worse than the personnel. Nevertheless, even if they were being outcoached by say, twenty teams in FEI, and the extra year of experience is good for another twenty teams - Mattison still improved the baseline by about 50 ranks. The defense is now as good as the offense.

Keep in mind that FEI adjusts for schedule strength so a realistic benchmark for an average BCS offense is not 60th. I just chopped out all the non-BCS teams and an average offense is 48th. That's actually lower than I would have guessed. Unfortunately for Michigan, their lack of success has been highly concentrated.

Elsewhere

Unwashed blog masses. Via Adam Jacobi, Junior Hemingway scored an imaginary touchdown:

hemingway-what

Ron Zook can probably make this happen.

Illini blog A Lion Eye has a habit of taping himself when things are actually going on. This seems like a bad idea in general and for an Illinois fan in particular, but it is entertaining. A partial transcript:

So there's two twenty-four left. We just got the ball back down… what is it… 31-14? And I… I really have… I'm like "oh, what's my emotion? What am I going to record?"

Uhhhhm… dead inside? That doesn't sound right. But it's kind of a… I don't know. I guess the only way to describe it is—oh, and a sack.

I recommend the whole thing not necessarily for the schadenfreude (of which there is plenty) but because it's reassuring that we're not jaded. You may think you're jaded after the last century, but you have no idea. I mean: "I'm just normal right now."

The HSR decides to quote F. Scott Fitzgerald a lot:

"Life is essentially a cheat and its conditions are those of defeat; the redeeming things are not happiness and pleasure but the deeper satisfactions that come out of struggle."

I think we can all agree that yesterday's game was a classic example of "left wanting".  Though Michigan had a two score lead, on the road, against a team that considers Michigan its arch-rival*, it still felt like all of the missed red zone opportunities were going to come back to haunt Michigan, because we're taught that when you don't put the boot on the throat, it will cost you.  Except, it didn't.

MVictors:

Refs.  They obviously made a decision to only call holding if the offensive lineman actually removed the jersey of rusher.  And on the play where Avery picked up the ball and scored the touchdown, they made three bad mistakes on a single play.  The unholy trinity:  1.  It wasn’t a fumble in the first place, that’s somewhat forgivable.  2.  If it was a fumble, Avery was clearly on the ground (and thus down) when he picked it up, but they gave him a touchdown.  3. They didn’t adjust the clock after the play was reversed, should have been 19 or 20 seconds left instead of 14.

Hoke even complained about #3 and got nowhere. That is almost inevitably a call the refs give coaches.

Holdin' the Rope:

My first impression was one of doom and gloom, but, the more I think about it, maybe it's not so bad. Michigan put up 31 against a formidable defense, more than any other Illinois opponent save Northwestern (qualifier: yeah, those are some bad offenses on their schedule, but it's all relative at this point). This is of course not even mentioning the inopportune turnovers and the Illini's general inability to move the ball, additional reasons to not feel so bad about things. Obviously you can't just take turnovers out, but Michigan could have very easily scored in the 40s, on the road, against a pretty good defense.

There was a lot of the doom and gloom on the internets, which I don't get. Michigan failed to put up 24 in the first half on the #6 defense in the country by shooting itself in the foot. While that's frustrating, it is so much worse to have a performance like Iowa where the offense is neither scoring nor moving the ball. Sometimes bad things happen. Michigan outperformed Illinois's yardage average by 80 despite playing in adverse conditions.

BWS is eeee Mattison:

Mattison is installing this defense a lot like Rodriguez or Borges installed their offense. Week by week, Mattison introduces a new formation or coverage scheme to the defense--usually only one. Early in the season, it was a basic stunt move intended to overwhelm one side of the offensive line. Against MSU, he debuted an A-gap zone blitz. Purdue: nickel blitz. Iowa: crowding the line of scrimmage. Michigan's base defense is a 4-3 under, man-coverage look that Mattison can slowly and effectively build upon. While he doesn't go back to the cookie jar in later weeks, the hope (and my expectation) is that when Michigan plays Ohio State, they'll have an arsenal of blitzing plays that can be deployed in unison, creating a defense that is as unpredictable and consistently effective as the constantly tweaked offense under Rodriguez.

Cheers and jeers from Big House Blog. MBNB bullets. Illinois perspective from Hail to the Orange. Sap's decals are too stingy to Floyd, Martin. /shakes fist

Mainstream media type persons. The Daily's Stephen Nesbitt gets a a slice of life from the field:

As Floyd started crossing the turf toward the tunnel to the visitor’s locker room, he saw Illinois wide receiver A.J. Jenkins approaching him. The receiver-cornerback duo had battled all game long.

Floyd pulled up at the goal line.

“Heck of a game, man,” Floyd told the All-American wideout. “I think you’re a heck of a talent.”

Jenkins, in his orange No. 8 jersey, gave a big smile and tossed the same compliment back at Floyd — Michigan’s No. 8.

“Make sure you go get the rest of the (defensive backs) and give them some trouble the rest of the season,” Floyd said as he stepped away.

Chengelis on the diverse and sundry contributions:

Senior defensive lineman Mike Martin led the team with nine tackles. Linebackers Desmond Morgan and Kenny Demens had eight and seven tackles, respectively, and senior Ryan Van Bergen had 2.5 sacks.

Safety Jordan Kovacs forced a fumble, and Thomas Gordon made the recovery, his fourth of the season, and cornerback J.T. Floyd made a pivotal interception in the fourth quarter on a third-down play at the Michigan 40-yard line. He returned it 43 yards and Michigan converted into a touchdown to make it, 24-7.

That is many contributions. Kovacs's in particular was a MAKE PLAYS moment, putting his head on the ball after Michigan had found its line creased and forcing a turnover. That fumble was forced in a way that some of the previous ones haven't been.

Daily on Mattison's reaction:

“That was a Michigan defense,” Mattison said like a proud father figure, admitting it for the first time all season. “They played as hard as they could, they did whatever they had to do. Without a doubt, that was a Michigan defense.”

The Michigan football team had just won the game on defense, holding Illinois to 30 yards, including minus-14 first-half rushing yards, before ultimately allowing 14 points and just 214 yards of offense en route to a 31-14 victory on the road.

“They’re Michigan Men,” said an emotional Mattison. “We talk about it all the time, that there’s a standard at Michigan and you’ve got to live up to that, and you're judged by it. We haven’t come to that final point where you win the game on defense, and we said, ‘This is your last away trip to do it.’ I couldn’t be more proud of this group of guys.”

Comments

DrewG32

November 14th, 2011 at 1:25 PM ^

A whole column and no mention of Craig James' brilliance? Damn.  Watching on mute, perhaps?  Was hoping we'd hear some roast of his name-dropping or incoherent babbling. 

 

Like I said during the Liveblog: If we play like that, I'd tolerate Craig every Saturday for the rest of time.

profitgoblue

November 14th, 2011 at 2:10 PM ^

I hate two WTF moments during the game.  The first was when I said "WTF is James talking about?" after he gave someone a shout-out.  Some guy that was watching from home for some reason.  I hate it when people do that unless its someone obvious, that everyone knows.  (The second I discuss below)

JeepinBen

November 14th, 2011 at 2:40 PM ^

She's pretty good when it comes to football. Knows good plays and bad plays, doesn't have a huge technical knowledge base (I've tried explaining how the zone read works, I dont think she gives a damn on that technical a level) but before halftime she was calling craig james an idiot every time he spoke. He's terrible. He talked about Mike Martin for like 5 minutes after he had 1 good play, and I said it was probably because (although MM was great) he was the only name that James knew. Sure enough, after like 5 minutes, craig james starting naming a bunch of people on defense, some of whom weren't even on the field. He just finally found his 2-deep and was reading names. What a dipshit.

FrankMurphy

November 14th, 2011 at 1:31 PM ^

Greg Mattison has a phonebooth time machine he sent the secondary back to Charles Woodson's childhood in; they have emerged with ZZ Top beards, children, and skills.

Nice Bill & Ted reference.

El Jeffe

November 14th, 2011 at 1:34 PM ^

Did this strike anyone else as odd?

“Heck of a game, man,” Floyd told the All-American wideout. “I think you’re a heck of a talent.”

Is J.T. Floyd secretly a 60 year old white southern man? What 22 year old black guy uses the phrase "heck of a" twice in two sentences? I call editing for profanity.

lunchboxthegoat

November 14th, 2011 at 1:42 PM ^

What was missed in the aura of the Morgan decleater was Jake Ryan's murderfacing of Scheelhaasse on the option on the very next play. M stuffed it because it was played perfectly but I seriously thought Scheelhaasse was dead after he got destroyed by Ryan. This defense certainly LOOKS and Feels throwback. Like Michigan of the mid/late nineties. I find the Jake Ryan cowboy collar to be extremely appropriate.

UMaD

November 14th, 2011 at 1:40 PM ^

Once we lost out on the conference title shot, this is not something I had considered.  A fun target.  I'd love to see us face Boise or Houston...or would I?

ChetterBear01

November 14th, 2011 at 1:49 PM ^

absolutely LOVED the way the defense played, and have to admit that it gave me flashbacks to 2006 as well.

but I can't help but still feel underwhelmed with the passing game, and would have felt complete if I had seen Denard throw for just 1 td. And I realize that it was windy, but the issues with the passing still worries me.

am I just being too pessimistic?

profitgoblue

November 14th, 2011 at 2:05 PM ^

I'll admit up front that I was not watching the Illinois defensive line closely and do not know if they got hosed on calls, but there was a point in the 3rd quarter that I went ape sh-t about all the holding penalties that Illinois was getting away with on their offensive line.  There must have been at lest 5 that I saw missed.  I was so mad that even my wife was curious and asked me to explain it to her.  Needless to say, that never happens.  Its hard to get on the refs after Michigan wins, but WTF!?!?

 

Mr. Yost

November 14th, 2011 at 2:20 PM ^

Goodness GRACIOUS.

 

Everyone needs to go back and watch the last 3 plays of Illinois' first drive of the 2nd half.

 

Textbook.

 

You seriously cannot play better football than what took place on those 3 plays.

 

...if you look at Parkinggod's highlights, go to the 4:40 mark and just get your popcorn ready and enjoy. That's a Michigan Defense.

M-Wolverine

November 14th, 2011 at 2:35 PM ^

Back when MANBALL was MANBALL-

 

  • I was going to say only a woman would take a picture of Desmond Morgan like that....But then I see most of our photographers are women...so it must just be that one.
  • Heat on Borges/Speaking Engagement- Why was there so much heat? Because they've seen you take the lead on the Borges heat.  But per usual with people following a meme, they don't always get the nuance to the criticism, and just go with "ARGH it was bad, it must be Borges fault." (Not to say there aren't people, especially around here, who come to similar decisions on their own...but a lot out there  "blame BORGES for all our faults", and can't separate week to week).  There's a dozen Rich Rod memes there were nonsense, but kinda went the same way. I know you feel like "just the guy with a blog" you describe, but people follow what you say now to a much greater extent when you started this.  With Great Power comes Great Responsibility.
  • I loved going for it on 4th down. A fieldgoal and you probably put the game away. A TD, and you make them quit. I also have no problem if you have a problem with the play call. One is daring; twice might be too cute.  They kinda did what we wanted them to...just not HOW we wanted them too.  But you can justify kicking or going for it in that situation.  I like going for the kill, and if not, believing your D not only will prevent a 99 yard drive, but stuff them and get the ball back in their territory.
  • Lost JT great play- On that play where they're QB was trying to hit the corner and Ryan stayed with him and got him for a loss, JT beat his receiver's block badly and cut off the outside so the QB (not spell checking his name) had to turn back to where Ryan was.
  • Not a knock, because I know it was tongue in cheek, but the reason we still "aren't ND" is because if we go to a BCS game it'll be more a numbers thing, and we won't be getting there just because the BCS says they have to take us if we win so much, and we won't go in believing we're the cat's meow, and going to dominate Oregon State....only to have us lose by 40.  If we lose badly...no one will be surprised*.** (*Unless it's to Houston.)(**we're not going anyway)
  • Gardner shouldn't start.  But I was impressed that he's maturing. Yeah, the TD strike was a nice cherry, but I was more impressed in those situations that he kept himself from doing anything that threw the game away and put Illinois back in the game with momentum. Small favors, but he's still a true sophomore QB who's maybe had one full season of BACKUP reps, and under 2 different systems.  He should be on the bench for another year and 3 games....but I like the potential we're seeing after that, for the next (hopefully) 2 years.
  • MVictors view- yes, all 3 were defacto mistakes. No arguing.  But I'd say only the third was really unforgivable. I think the previous two are what refs are FINALLY being trained to do...let the play run, and let replay correct it.  Because if they call him down, and he's NOT down, or if they rule the return guy down before the TD, and he's NOT down, well, they've just screwed the defensive team, badly, and reply can't fix it. If they give the D the benefit of the doubt, and it should have gone the offenses way (in either case), replay can fix it, and there's really no harm, no foul.  Now, how you can sit there and watch the tape that long and not get the time fixed I have no idea. But I'd rather they let the play run, then change it,*** then stop it and say "oops, sorry." (***Assuming they don't do a MSU 2005, let the play run, then don't change it and get the wrong call)

champswest

November 14th, 2011 at 2:51 PM ^

after the Iowa game I was starting to doubt if this guy would ever be a top notch QB.  I was elated to see how well he performed (poise) against Illinois.  It gives me hope for the future.  Bye the way, I was thinking that before Illinois, Gardner had probably played less than a full game (all seasons snaps combined).

Blue in Seattle

November 14th, 2011 at 2:33 PM ^

That is many contributions. Kovacs's in particular was a MAKE PLAYS moment, putting his head on the ball after Michigan had found its line creased and forcing a turnover. That fumble was forced in a way that some of the previous ones haven't been.

except when Kovacs did it at the WMU game.

The whole point of the strong safety position is to MAKE PLAYS, because if you are, someone else didn't.  Strong Safety play is always unglamourous when it isn't a blitz, because it's tackling someone the LB's didn't.  Watching the play live I said to myself, "oh no, that's a touchdown", then the RB is on the ground and Gordon is landing on the ball.  I didn't even see Kovacs until the replay.

That kid is grittier than the tailings of a diamond mine.  I guess it's what you can accomplish when you aren't cursed with talent and have infinite spirit.  Whenever I hear about players like TP, and the whole argument of "we should pay these guys to play", I then think about players like Jordan Kovacs and wonder how much money he would have paid Michigan is it mean putting on the winged helmet and standing on that field 12 times a season?

Yep, $40k+ in tuition, training facilities that rival NFL facitilities and the chance to do what less that 5% of all high school football players can do is just not enough.

yeah, we should pay these kids a bunch of money so they don't give their autographs away for tattoos.  That would fix everything.

 

 

 

imafreak1

November 14th, 2011 at 2:36 PM ^

So.

Is some kind of Denard power run out of a shotgun, jumbo set the only kind of play that won't be deemed TOTALLY STUPIT on 4th and 1?

Borges has called that several times. It's also been stopped.

Should he limit himself to that and only that?

msoccer10

November 14th, 2011 at 3:16 PM ^

A Denard power is not the  only option. But when you spread the receivers out and do not get a response from the defense, it means you have to throw. If Denard doesn't have the ability or the authority to check into a throw with that alignment, then Borges has to call a timeout.

Mr. Flood

November 14th, 2011 at 2:39 PM ^

“They’re Michigan Men,” said an emotional Mattison. “We talk about it all the time, that there’s a standard at Michigan and you’ve got to live up to that, and you're judged by it. We haven’t come to that final point where you win the game on defense, and we said, ‘This is your last away trip to do it.’ I couldn’t be more proud of this group of guys.”

Hoke and Mattison get it.  Rodriguez and his boys never could.

JeepinBen

November 14th, 2011 at 2:43 PM ^

On Illinois' TD - why did Woolfolk stay on the field!!! They were in Hurry-up and T-Wolf got hurt, obviously, on the play that set them up 1st and goal. He was hobbling around and I was yelling at my TV "Lay Down!" then Illinois ran outside and he couldnt beat the runner to the edge, TD. I don't think he played after that, but I mean, I respect his toughness. To keep playing, have his attitude, etc. after all the BS he's gone through is remarkable. I've never met him, but I'm sure he's awesome. But at some point, it's OK to be hurt and come out of the game! I think that when he tried to play but was too injured it hurt the team.

Just my $.02, did anyone else notice this?

Also - T-Wolf, get healthy, we need you back there.

I Bleed Maize N Blue

November 14th, 2011 at 2:49 PM ^

Also from The Michigan Daily about Floyd:

 

Floyd was up late on Friday night. Inside the team hotel, he kept the reel rolling, watching Jenkins torch cornerback after cornerback. To a man, he’ll admit he’s no match for Jenkins. But he caught something in the film — a split, a tendency.

There were certain situations, depending on the score, down and spot of the ball, that Jenkins and quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase got predictable. Third down on Michigan’s 40-yard line was one of those situations.

When the pass went up, so did Floyd.

“The coaches were talking to me telling me, ‘Just trust your instincts,’ ” Floyd said. “I just read it. I seen the receiver raise up in his break, and I just went for it.”

...

So what happened? How is Michigan winning on defense?

Floyd knows the answer and doesn’t mind sharing. Twice, he credited the coaching staff for putting him in the right position to make a play. Twice more, he admitted his newfound dedication to film.

Watching - and learning from - film FTW. The coaches teaching the players with film (and how to watch it), and the players buying in and watching on their own strikes me as very important.

los barcos

November 14th, 2011 at 3:46 PM ^

This place is way more readable after wins.  Last week it was doom and gloom, the wheels are falling off, bouje is predicting 4 straight epic losses etc etc.  This week its BCS talk and sunshine.  Let this be a lesson we should all try to remain even-keel even if we go 1-1 in the next two games.

anwonadell

November 14th, 2011 at 4:26 PM ^

I love that tidbit about those two exchanging compliments at the end of the game. It's great to see the respect these atheletes have for each other, with Floyd even wishing him luck on his games the rest of the season. Gotta love the classiness of a Michigan Man there. 

Quag77

November 14th, 2011 at 4:54 PM ^

Must just be me....  Defense played GREAT and yes, JT had a pick.  He's made out to be the hero of the D on this day?!  What?!   I must have been watching a different game (and season).  The only reason Jenkins was shut down was because our D-Line was in shellhats face ALL DAY.   Most of the attempts and conversons to Jenks were very short patterns cause thats all they were gonna get.  On most long balls JT was way out matched and never knew where the ball was or enough to turn around and find the ball.  He's lucky if he's within 5 yards of any reciever when they catch it.   On the other hand...Countess is usually right there breaking up the catch.  I can't join the love affair with JT.   I'm just hoping he doen't kill us the next two games.  My pick for most overrated Wolverine.  Sorry

NateVolk

November 14th, 2011 at 10:51 PM ^

I keep wondering if there is anything to the idea that the coaches are developing certain things offensively (under center, more run plays to the tail back, more pro-style passing formations, less Denard taking a shotgun snap hurdling himself toward the line) not because it best suits our current personnel, but because future players need to feel comfortable about what they might be getting into.  If you notice, the hardest commits to come by during the recruiting bonanza continue to be 2012 rb, wr, and qb.

When you look at it, the teams we are competing against for these players are settled and running what they run, rather than transitioning. If I was a wr especially, I wouldn't be lining up to play here if I wanted to catch balls and showcase my skills.  Quarterbacks also could be confused about what they are getting into.

We've heard all the different reasons for the hybrid approach to the offense. This is one that hasn't been talked about much.

Maybe Brian could address this in a post at some point.   

Away Goal

November 15th, 2011 at 12:20 AM ^

That shanked punt by Illinois ( I believe in the first half) looked to have landed about 7 yards out of bounds, even with the Michigan 44.  So it probably actually crossed the sideline somewhere between the 45 and 50.  So of course the refs spot the ball on our 41.  It didn't end up costing Michigan but would that have been challenge-able?

My first thought on the Avery non-fumble recovery was that he was obviously down when he recovered it.  So of course the officials and announcers missed it and made no mention.  Why couldn't Avery have reacted the same way against MSU?