Michigan 52, Appalachian State 14 Comment Count

Ace



Coverage is irrelevant. [Bryan Fuller/MGoBlog]

There was Devin Funchess, galloping through and leaping over the Appalachian State secondary. There were Derrick Green and De'Veon Smith, bursting through holes opened up by Ben Braden and Kyle Kalis. There was Devin Gardner, completing all but one pass. There was Dennis Norfleet, catching bubble screens and darting past defenders.

There was offense, making sense at last.

Sure, Michigan's 560 yards on 55 plays came against an Appalachian State team that went 4-8 as an FCS program in 2013, but the coherence and explosiveness of Doug Nussmeier's offense proved undeniable. Funchess more than earned his new #1 jersey, scoring on three of his seven receptions, including a spectacular leaping grab over two defenders in the back of the end zone. Gardner had no difficulty finding open receivers, connecting on 12/13 passes for 173 yards and those three TDs to Funchess before giving way to Shane Morris in the third quarter as the blowout continued unabated.

Green (15 carries, 170 yards, 1 TD) and Smith (8, 115, 2) became the first pair of Michigan running backs to crack the century mark in the same game since Carlos Brown and Brandon Minor accomplished the feat against a hapless Minnesota team in 2007. They found running room. This was to be expected against an undersized, overmatched ASU squad, but this was not to be expected because last year happened. The offensive line held their ground and then some, giving up just one sack and paving the way for 350 yards on 36 carries.

The production excited, but more than that it was the fashion in which Michigan got that production. Screens to Funchess and Norfleet* opened up both the running game and downfield passing. The emphasis on inside zone allowed the line to find their rhythm; after some early stuffed runs, they started opening up big creases, especially when Kalis entered the game at right guard in place of starter Joey Burzynski. Michigan got explosive plays—ten of their first 30 went for ten yards or more—and also showed that they could move the ball methodically; the first scoring drive, capped by a nine-yard touchdown to Funchess, covered 63 yards in nine plays.



De'Veon Smith displayed power and balance on his way to 115 rushing yards. [Fuller]

On the other side of the ball, the defense played up to their lofty expectations, forcing punts on each of ASU's first seven drives, including five three-and-outs. 171 of the Mountaineers' 280 total yards came on two second-half drives with the game well out of reach, as Greg Mattison liberally rotated through defenders. They came through on their promise to be more aggressive, playing lots of tight man coverage and putting ASU QB Kam Bryant under consistent pressure—Michigan's two sacks and four QB hurries don't tell the whole story.

The special teams even managed to chip in a scoring play, as Ben Gedeon caught a punt blocked by Mike McCray and managed to extend the ball just past the pylon to put U-M up 35-0 just prior to halftime.

Only two things came up as real concerns during the game. Jabrill Peppers missed the second half with an ankle injury; Brady Hoke confirmed after the game that his absence was precautionary, and he'll be back on the field next week for Notre Dame. Meanwhile, Jake Ryan looked uncomfortable at times at middle linebacker, getting overaggressive on run defense and allowing a big gain through the air when he didn't get enough depth on a zone drop. If your biggest defensive concern is Jake Ryan, however, your defense is in a very good place.

"We weren't competing against the score, we were competing against our abilities," Hoke said. At the very least, Michigan showed their ability to dominate inferior competition. They certainly drew up the blueprint for how they'd like this team to operate the rest of the year, too. Next week, we'll learn a lot more about just how far they've come.

For now, it's nice to sit back and enjoy a stress-free Saturday.

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

*Or "Little Fleetwood" as Hoke (accidentally?) called him in the postgame presser.

Comments

buckeyekiller1

August 30th, 2014 at 11:01 PM ^

We played great today. The defense looked every bit as aggressive and dominant as we would want. The offensive line opened up some big holes and were great in pass pro. Devin is playing Funchess and everyone else is playing funcheckers.

But, and it's a big but (there's a good joke there somewhere), there was one thing that was really concerning. Did Jake Ryan even play in this game? I know it was his first game at mike but he was almost non-existent out there. That means against a 4-8 FBS team from last year we hardly heard his name called. We know he can be a terror and an absolute beast on the outside. We have a very deep LB corps (not to mention a 3 year starter at mike in Morgan), so if JMFR doesn't seem to be comfortable or grasping the mike position why not move him back outside to flow free and wreak havoc?

ppToilet

August 30th, 2014 at 10:55 PM ^

Must've missed it as I was paying more attention to the new cheerleader and dance team uniforms. When I pointed them out to my wife, she shrugged and said that Brandon's got to give fans what they want.

looty

August 30th, 2014 at 11:08 PM ^

What I found most refreshing today (beside Devn laying on his back, throwing an Int and having more than 1.2 seconds for the play to develop) was Nuss being on the sideline after the play talking face to face with Devin pointing out the good and bad of each series of downs. Yes there was a lot of good but it appears that Nuss is not just going to be happy with what's expected. We have a lot of work yet one would expect that with the vanilla plays that were called

uminks

August 31st, 2014 at 2:08 AM ^

Finally some creases up front for Green and Smith. Last year they had problems even against little teams. This game is a confidence builder for the OL. The NT for App ST was pretty big and powerful at 325 lbs and benches 400 lbs and he did not dominate Miller (I was impressed). Though, I think we will see a lot more quick passing against ND.

DL was not too impressive. A small AppST team controlled the LOS at times. LB did not close the gaps and some long runs occurred into our secondary. Though the tight coverage by the secondary was very good and should have lead to more sacks by our DL. My initial thoughts were that the defense would play much better than the offense but the offense faired better. Clark needs to rush better from the DE. May be Taco is ready?

Shane needs more snaps. May be the third and 4th games will give him more opportunities. He needs to improve in case DG needs to come out of the game at times.

DK81

August 31st, 2014 at 2:31 AM ^

The camera angles for the reviews were terrible. How do the officials not have access to camera angles on both sides of the field? That hurt us on the first challenge. Another nitpick is App St first touchdown there was no camera view from the back endzone to show if their receiver had possesion before going out of bounds. It seemed to me he was bobbling the ball. Also it baffles me how bad refs are at spotting the ball.

 

/end rant

bddutchg

August 31st, 2014 at 10:47 AM ^

As we all know, the offensive line is the foundation that any football team is built upon. We need not spend any time debating this fact, it is indeed self-evident.

Our O-Line looked much improved, and the glaring misfires look like they were because of missed assignments, not because our linemen were overmatched, poorly coached, or simply not as talented as they should be to be playing in Ann Arbor. This leads me to the conclusion that our O-line will improve as the year goes on, which is key.

looty

August 31st, 2014 at 2:25 PM ^

I was thinking the same thing during the game. I can picture him sitting on the couch in his boxers with a bottle of Jim beam eating nachos screaming at the television after a gain of no yards yelling " run it again! Run it again!"