Postgame Presser Notes: Michigan State Comment Count

Tim

Rich RodriguezIMG_20100904_191744.jpg

Tae Odoms may have a broken foot. "I don't know what's up with Mike" Martin. James Rogers cramped severely. [I saw Rogers leaving the stadium, and he seemed to be walking fine, for what it's worth].

"I don't look at margin of defeat. I'm just disapointed we didn't play better. Our guys played hard, but we didn't play well." Too many mistakes to win against a good team. A little off in both the pass and run game on offense. Dropped passes, missed protections. "I don't want to say it wasn't our best effort, but it certainly wasn't our best technique-wise and the things we needed to do."

Need to make big plays to counter the opponents' big plays "None of those things occurred today." Can't diagnose what went wrong on the big plays until watching film. "We didn't tackle well." Maybe accountable to going after the ball a bit too much.

Ineffectiveness in the red zone made a difference. Denard needs to "live for another play" or take off and run instead of making bad passes which can turn into turnovers.

Denard not as sharp as he has been. He's still young, but he's competitive and going through the film they'll see what happened. "This is just his sixth game. I'm told everybody all along that he's a first-year starter." Denard wasbhesitant at times, but there weren't a lot of creases. "We had some more things planned."

Guys were close to making some plays, but didn't close the gap on defense.

On MSU containing Denard: "They just played well, got off blocks. And we didn't play as well I don't think."

Low kick led to the blocked field goal - there wasn't penetration up front that caused it.

Punting with 6 minutes left was the wrong decision. RR was trying to get the players' attention and change the call. He wouldn't punt it again in the same situation.

Iowa has had an open week to get ready, and Michigan has a big game against them next week.

Denard Robinson

Mood in the locker room was what you'd expect from losing the game.

MSU had a couple blitzes, stunts. That wasn't the main issue on offense though, Michigan just made a couple bad reads. "We made bad mistakes, and we've gotta capitalize on a few things." Made bad reads, bad plays, some mistakes.

MSU didn't try to take Denard specifically out of the offense: "Not really. We've got weapons everywhere. I'm not the only weapon on offense." Denard hesitated a lot, which prevented him making the long runs. "Just bad reads, bad reads."

Rivalry games are always exciting, maybe Denard played a little too excited. Got too excited on the bad throw to Hemingway.

MSU is fast - "they're a Big Ten team." MSU more physical? "It's just like the rest of those games." Dirty play at all? "It's Michigan State vs. Michigan. That's all I've got to say."

Greg Jones wasn't the reason Denard made mistakes today. "I didn't pay attention to one player. I paid attention to everybody."

Team wasn't worried when they went down 2 scores. With a high-powered offense, they should be able to come back from that. Knew they could come back, just needed to keep playing hard and keep focused.

No one person is to blame for the poor performance, time to move on. "Refocus and get back in there. It's mid-season now. Time to crank it back up."

Roy Roundtree

"Yeaaah, I just lost focus" on the first drop. Got into the endzone and realized he didn't have the ball (jokingly).

"I felt like it was a lot of mistakes in the redzone." Have to score when you get down there, and not doing so hurt the team.

Denard "he was keeping poised all through the game." Not getting frustrated by throwing interceptions, and was pumping the team up.

MSU always plays physical, just like everyone else in the Big Ten will against Michigan. MSU isn't necessarily the best defense M has played, there were a lot of mistakes on the Michigan side that helped them.

"This is a tough loss, you know. We just have to go in there Monday and learn from our mistakes and prepare for Iowa."

Ryan Van Bergen

MSU better than other teams played? "They have some better players at some positions than teams we've seen." They took care of the ball, moved it with the run, and smart passes. "They executed better than we did."

A couple miscommunications on gap responsibility led to the long runs. "We weren't in the right one twice. Same play." Will figure that out. "I thought we were prepared for it. Unfortunately they just gashed us on a couple plays."

"I think they got called for an illegal chop on Mike. I think he'll be fine." He wants to get it evaluated before risking further injury.

"If I'm going to be a leader on the defense, I have to set an example. Obviously we didn't win today, I didn't play well enough." Everybody has to push, we haven't seen Michigan play as well as they can yet.

Cousins' bootleg wasn't that effective - the defense against that was improved. "It was kind of easy getting back there to him."

Comments

CarlisleWolverine

October 9th, 2010 at 10:09 PM ^

This is all I heard tonight from idiots. I almost went to blows with one guy defending RR, Drob, Roundtree, etc. I almost lost it when he said Les Miles should be coach because HE is a Michigan man. I'm so pissed. I hope we unload on Iowa.

PhilipVU94

October 9th, 2010 at 11:26 PM ^

I know there was a lot of animosity back when he turned Michigan down, but I truly can't tell if your irony is just beyond my understanding as a U-M n00b or if someone you came into contact with really has a screw loose. 

Les Miles?  The guy LSU fans want to run off even though every week he pulls some ridiculously improbable win out of his posterior?

michiganmark

October 9th, 2010 at 11:27 PM ^

I hope we unload on Iowa, too.  And I've been a big RR supporter all along.  Losing 3 times in a row to Sparty, however, is unpleasant as hell and not acceptable.  I'm tired of hearing about bad luck, youth, etc.  It may be true -- but can't a great coach (which I've always thought he was) come up with a way to make up for that?  For once I'd like to see a quality win against a quality rival (ND wins involve a rival, but -- of late -- a low-quality rival).  We've had none since '07. 

If we don't unload on Iowa, does this team's psyche (and mine, and that of many fans) just run down the drain?  All the ghosts of last year (you know . . . those ghosts cackling on your shoulder right now) will come rushing back, no?  And so Iowa is extremely important.  And so I really hope you're right.  I want RR to be successful, and I've always believed he would be.  But my faith is being severely tested.

Bodogblog

October 9th, 2010 at 11:51 PM ^

It's really 2 years in real years
<br>Some of your observations are reasonable, but take this time to learn humility and calm. That way when the team turns the corner, you'll be better and ready to turn with them.

M-Wolverine

October 10th, 2010 at 1:50 AM ^

If he's a great coach as so many believe and/or tell us, can't we overachieve is some games (other than Wisconsin 2 years ago) and beat some teams, at least on an equal pace to the ones where we've stunk up the place vs. worse teams? MSU may be a better team, but damn, how about stepping up to upset a rival just on the emotion of the rivalry alone? Lord knows it used to happen to us enough.

Njia

October 10th, 2010 at 2:09 AM ^

At the end of the day, we can talk about how much better we are in one aspect or another, but at this point in the season, we're at the same point we were last year: 5-1. We beat the four teams we should have beaten, (a few tomato cans and a questionable ND squad) squeaked by Indiana and got throttled by MSU.

Meanwhile, our defense is no better than 2009, in some respects, worse. Sure, the team did better today than last week.

No, injuries sure don't help, but facing facts, unless we beat a quality opponent in the B10, we're not making any substantive progress.

NateVolk

October 10th, 2010 at 6:51 AM ^

The reality is you are right.   Iowa can make it all better.  In terms of  tangible evidence of that progress.

Dealing with the talk is what makes the MSU loss so tough. Otherwise, it is nothing we can't fully recover with a win next week. 

champswest

October 10th, 2010 at 10:41 PM ^

of the fans who post here (and I am pretty sure that it is).  We are all rah-rah at 3-0, 4-0 and 5-0, but as soon as we lose a game panic sets in.

Let's try to stay behind the team and the coaches and give them our full support and drop all of the talk about repeating last year and replacing coaches.

Dan TrueBlue

October 9th, 2010 at 10:26 PM ^

Here's the positives that I took from this game.  For once, we didn't lose because of a huge lack of talent.  In fact, a lot of the guys in the backfield where our talent/experience is the most shallow really stepped it up today.

No, we lost today for two reasons: Sparty stepped up, and we made mistakes.  I can live with that.  Good teams make mistakes once in a while.  It's how we bounce back from it that matters.  

Fixing a lack of talent would mean waiting until next year, which is what the last 2 years were about.  Fixing mistakes, like dropped passes,can be done in a week.

ftroop

October 9th, 2010 at 11:02 PM ^

I had a lot of respect for RR not panicking and running Denard continuously when we got down big.  I think that would've been a great way to get him hurt.  He didn't seem to get dinged really at all, popped up every play and jogged back to the line.  

 

Growing pains, that's all.

TXmaizeNblue

October 9th, 2010 at 11:59 PM ^

Inablity to tackle correctly is not an easy fix.....it ought to be but its not.  I've been getting so pissed off by this lame ass going for the ball verses making the fricken tackle I just about turned the game off.  Greg Robinson should make those kids tackle dummies all day long, until they show they can wrap up and bring down.  Is somebody on the fricken defensive staff going to show JT Floyd & Gordon that they cannot bring runners down from the shoulder pads!!!!!!!  I love Gordon's kamikaze lowering the boom style, but he needs to move his target down about 12 inches.  There are not too many running backs that he is going to take down hitting them that high. 

OBI EZEH SUCKS.....plain and simple - he sucks, and he is killing this defense.  He's got lead feet and he bites on everything.  I would bench his ass.  This guy will never get fixed.

Denard - despite all his awesomeness, has continually exposed that he has no long ball.  As much as I love him, he just does not have that touch on the ball that good quarterbacks have.  You can lists all his percentages and so forth, but everyone knows outside of 20 yards its a crap shoot.  Most of the completions over 20 yards that he has made were just the talent of the receivers out maneuvering and muscling the coverage for the ball.  All his interceptions today were just terrible throws.  RR should seen how horrible he was throwing and just kept the ball on the ground.  They were having decent success running the football.

If I'm Iowa I'm making Denard beat me with his arm. 

How was Christian the #3 CB in the nation last year?  I don't see it.

sum1valiant

October 10th, 2010 at 10:47 PM ^

he can throw the deep ball, but let's not pretend he has a good touch for it

I don't really know what you're getting at there.  Anyway, the point is thatare very few to no quarterbacks that have "touch" on the deep ball 6 starts into their career.  As I said, show me one that does, until then I rest my case.

WorldwideTJRob

October 10th, 2010 at 3:26 AM ^

Denard has touch on his deep ball. He laid one in there perfectly for Roundtree but he dropped it. I felt he threw a nice one to Stonum on the second drive but D. Stonum just misplayed it. He still has some things to learn but let's not act like he wasn't a 70% passer before coming into the game. He had a bad day but I'm sure he will bounce back next week.

Dan TrueBlue

October 10th, 2010 at 10:55 AM ^

I agree with you on Ezeh, and on the tackling.  At one point, when State was running over us in the 2nd half, my wife turned to me and asked, "Why do all of their guys look bigger than ours?"  

But we knew about those problems going in.  The defense is young, small, and not all our first-choice guys.  Still, I felt like they stepped up and did a better job of stopping MSU than any other team they've played except maybe ND.

I really disagree with ya on Denard though.  I think the UFR will show that a lot of those interceptions were on the receivers.  Take his first one, on the first drive.  When he threw that, Roundtree was leading the defender by a couple steps, and Denard threw it ahead of Roundtree.  Roy should have gotten to that ball first, but he slowed up (I guess to be sure he caught it, not knowing there was a guy behind him), and let the defender race past him.  

Denard wasn't at his best, but it wasn't for lack of talent.  And the receivers really did not play like they needed to.

NorthFLWolverine

October 11th, 2010 at 10:33 AM ^

that first pick was because Denard threw the ball behind Roy. There was a very tight window to put that ball in there and the throw had to be perfect, which it wasn't and that was that. Ezeh sucks and that is all one can say about him. He is clueless out there and I have to look at Gerg because he specifically coaches the LBs. James Rogers is stiff as a board and couldn't cover my six year-old grandson. Anyway, maybe we can give Iowa a good game but I have this awful feeling it is going to be the same old story. 

Don

October 10th, 2010 at 5:25 AM ^

Frankly, outside of Denard, the real difference makers on offense yesterday were wearing green and white. Our receivers had a lousy day, our RBs didn't do squat, and our OL did not dominate the line of scrimmage the way it needs to from the middle of the second quarter on. Not only that, but our return game was nonexistent, and our kicking game—from kickoffs to FGs to punting—was mediocre to horrible.

One game is just one game, but if we don't play substantially better everywhere on the field in our upcoming games, eight victories is a mirage, and getting that sixth victory is going to be an adventure.

harmon40

October 10th, 2010 at 10:34 AM ^

I guess we'll see in the UFR why it fell apart, but they were moving the ball easily through the first three or four drives.  But I think it's hard for them to maintain any kind of rythmn when they can't get back on the field because the defense can't get a stop. 

 The breakdowns on offense were not nearly so total and mind-numbing as the ones on defense.  One looks at the offensive mistakes and thinks, "we can fix that, we'll be OK."  One looks at the defense and contemplates the meaningless of life.

And why didn't Hopkins get the ball more?  He ran for 6, ran for 7, then didn't see the ball again. 

kalamazoo

October 10th, 2010 at 12:02 PM ^

I'm with you...I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more Hopkins.

I know he fumbled once this season, but he can pound the ball more which helps especially when the O-line is being matched by MSU's Defense.  Runs for 6 and 7 are great runs.

I'm sure there's some thought going into it, but especially when you're down in a game without a strong RB attack, give it a shot.

Dan TrueBlue

October 10th, 2010 at 11:01 AM ^

We knew the defense had holes going in.  But they played well enough to keep us in the game, which is all we can ask of them this year.  They made MSU punt 4 times and held them to a FG twice.  That should have been enough.  And if the offense had played better so that the crowd stayed in it (like in the beginning), it would have been easier to stop them too.

If the offense completes a few more passes, or the defense covers the correct gaps, it’s a much closer game. Then if MSU makes a few more mistakes, maybe from the louder crowd as the game stays close, we might actually win. If not, it’s at least pretty darn close.

SC Wolverine

October 11th, 2010 at 8:40 AM ^

Agreed. When we scored that td at the start of the 4th qtr, we were in the game. If you had told me beforehand that we would "hold them" to 35 points, I would have been sure we were going to win. Our offense has to execute for us to win, and our offense did not execute. Outside of the disaster that is Obi, our defense is improving.

Bodogblog

October 9th, 2010 at 11:37 PM ^

They're all handling it better than us.
<br>Denard will be fine - sometime your balloon gets up so big it can't help but let some air out. D though... poor MLB play coupled with RS freshman safety. And once again, aren't we a fraction of a second late? Roh almost destroyed Cousins on that Dell TD. Cam almost blew up that deep ball. We can get better.
<br>
<br>I'll be there on Saturday cheering louder than I did today

dahblue

October 10th, 2010 at 12:43 AM ^

1.  Fuck....No one to be specifically mad at/upset about.  We made too many mistakes in a game where that's intolerable.  Coaches, offense, defense.  Just...fuck.

2.  After seeing what OSU did to Indiana's offense, I think we might be in worse shape than expected.

LudaChristian

October 10th, 2010 at 12:44 AM ^

I don't care if he just had a heart attack, I hate Dantonio.  He's an arrogant bastard.

Now that that's out of the way...

I think the score made things look worse than they were.  Yes, our defense has work to do and yes, MSU played better today.... But one of the reasons we're always in the game (and why he wasn't taken out -- even after 3 picks) is because Denard can get us points QUICK.  Yeah, today he maybe forced things a little bit and it hurt us.  But after what he's done so far this year, I don't know how people can get on here & talk about him being benched for "struggling" going forward.  He's still lightning in a bottle, man.  A little more touch on his passes in the redzone and it would've been a different story today.

Token_sparty

October 10th, 2010 at 5:35 PM ^

Dantonio didn't send a message to the UM team players saying, "Time to put little brother in his place."  Dantonio didn't put a message under the spot where the Paul Bunyan trophy is supposed to go saying, "The Paul Bunyan trophy is temporarily housed in East Lansing, but will return next year."  Who's arrogant again?  Pot something something kettle.

Soulfire21

October 10th, 2010 at 1:24 AM ^

Anyone else see all of the "teachable moments" this game?  Such a god-awful term, but that's what they are.

Receivers were open, Denard's gotta get the ball there.  Once that really starts happening (and the ball isn't being underthrown), watch out.

Admittedly I was blinded by Denard's pure amazingness, perhaps too blinded to realize that he's a sophomore and this is his 6th starting game.  I'm not concerned, at least for the time being.

Does it suck to lose to Sparty?  Hell yes it sucks, but I won't commence panic -- not yet, at least.  Denard's done amazing things this year, we've got 24 hours to get this out of our system, and it's all about beating Iowa on Saturday.

harmon40

October 10th, 2010 at 3:22 AM ^

that Denard's game is not yet complete and that this is no reason for panic. He is still lightning in a bottle and a thrill to have on our side. Who gets 311 all-purpose yards in a "bad" game?
<br>
<br>However it's depressingly simple for the rest of this year: because the defense is apparently helpless, the offense has no margin for error. If the other team's offense is at all decent, their defense doesn't have to shut us down, they only have to slow us down. That seems to be an inordinate amount of pressure for our offense, to be thinking "holy crap, we've been off the field forever and are now further behind, and if we don't move the ball RIGHT NOW we'll be off the field for another extended stretch and be even further behind by the time we get the ball again."
<br>
<br>This year has been such a bizarre experience as a fan, to feel so optimistic and even excited about one side of the ball and so abjectly despondent about the other.
<br>

lager86

October 10th, 2010 at 6:43 PM ^

What exactly is your definition of Meechigan football?  In Lloyd's last year we gave up 34 points to Ap State and 39 to Oregon to open the season.  In 2005 we were 7-5.  Give it a rest.  I had to endure a pack of idiots behind me Saturday calling for (1) Harbaugh as coach, and (2) Forcier to replace Denard.  I like what we're doing on offense.  If not for a couple of bad reads, that game Saturday would have been a replay of the IU game.  Our D sucks.  I agree, but give the other stuff a rest.

NorthFLWolverine

October 11th, 2010 at 10:48 AM ^

did it to us back in the mid to late sixties (Sparty beat us three straight), then we brought in Bo and that was the end of that shit. Maybe one day we'll have some talent on the defensive side of the ball and a D coordinator who knows how to coach them. The fact that Gerg coaches the LBs and the fact that Ezeh is clueless makes me wonder about Gerg's ability to coach.

NorthFLWolverine

October 11th, 2010 at 10:15 AM ^

If any coach would have to go it would be Gerg. He coaches the LBs...Ezeh is brutally awful. Something has got to give...hell, put Moundros in. Moundros can't be any worse than Ezeh. What I can't figure out for the life of me is why in the hell do our DBs let guys get behind them on a constant basis? I played DB and the one thing you don't do is let that receiver get by you. Our 'D' doesn't get it and I don't blame our kids. Our 'D' is athletic and aggressive but they look lost out there and I attribute that to coaching.

NorthFLWolverine

October 11th, 2010 at 10:57 AM ^

why you're in the negative in points...you are fucking clueless. The days of three yards and a cloud of dust are over pal. How would you like to have the pressure of being a head coach at Michigan knowing you have to put this / our defense on the field every week? Not fun...no sir. I hope Dave Brandon and the powers-that-be don't fuck up and get rid of RR. However, if they shit can Gerg in the morning I wouldn't lose a bit of sleep over it.

dahblue

October 11th, 2010 at 11:25 AM ^

Without calling for any heads to roll (whether RR, Robinson or anyone else), I think it's a bit unwise to say "the days of three yards and a cloud of dust are over" after we just got beat up Big Ten style.  That being said, it seems that RR has put a new, potent offense together (even though it failed to get it done at a bitter rival).  If he can gut and build a new offense in less than 3 years; what's the excuse for the defense?  While the offense has improved, the defense has gotten worse every season in terms of yards allowed:

2008 - 4403 yards allowed (347 pts)

2009 - 4720 yards allowed (330 pts)

2010 - 5408 yards allowed (322 pts) [projected out over 12 games with toughest games to come}...I checked the math twice because I can't believe that number.

I don't think anyone would look at our defense and see "Michigan Football".  Even a traditionalist like me can learn to adjust to the RR offense (hell, it scores points and that's the job), but the defense??  If the attention placed on offense were shared with the defense, we'd be a scary team.  Instead, we're not playing Michigan Football.

M-Wolverine

October 11th, 2010 at 10:15 AM ^

We didn't top the attendance from the U-Conn game. I didn't think there were any more milestones and streaks to shatter after 2008-2009, but I was worried for the first time in a long time, the most watched football game of all time was going to be a Michigan loss.

(Though I'm still not sure how we had less people than the first game....I almost believe they played with the numbers when they figured we were going to lose. They reported the attendance late enough).

wildbackdunesman

October 10th, 2010 at 9:01 AM ^

Let's hope Odoms and Martin are okay.  I am glad that Rogers seems to be fine.  An MSU fan behind me listening to the radio at the end of the game said Rogers had a broken foot.  Maybe the radio had info that jumped the gun or he was mistaken with Odoms.

myblueheaven

October 10th, 2010 at 9:32 AM ^

Your stomach is upset for the day, but then you throw it up and shit it out and you fine! We made to many mistakes but there correctable ones. Denard is healthy and thats the most important thing going deep into this big ten war! I wish for a fast recovery for our fallen blue soldiers and like killers we will stay patient till next year then, we'll strike with mighty vengeance upon thee....