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Utah Open Thread
August 30th, 2008 at 1:05 PM
#2
Defeat the Mormon Menace
August 30th, 2008 at 1:19 PM
#3
I'm surprised
Brian,
I'm a bit surprised you haven't jumped on the opportunity to write "Utah Utes of Utah (We're from Utah!)."
This morning's slate of games is thoroughly un-entertaining. As Teddy KGB once said, "I feel so unsatisfied." Can 2:30 (CDT) just get here already?!
August 30th, 2008 at 1:23 PM
#4
Try VT/ECU
VT game and the Northwestern game aren't too bad (read close). At least it's football and Terrelle Pryor got sacked on 3rd and goal.
August 30th, 2008 at 1:33 PM
#5
I REALLY enjoyed
Watching pryor getting sacked and then giving that "what was that?" look to the ref. Sorry
August 30th, 2008 at 1:56 PM
#6
Beanie Wells
Beanie went down!! It looks like his left ankle!!
August 30th, 2008 at 1:58 PM
#9
All - we'll have the livechat
All - we'll have the livechat up and going in about 30 minutes. I'm just stabilizing my beer/snacks/sandwich situation.
August 30th, 2008 at 2:01 PM
#10
That confirms the BTN 1st
That confirms the BTN 1st game curse.
August 30th, 2008 at 2:31 PM
#11
ok comrades
lets get this revolution started already, get the live chat going, yo
August 30th, 2008 at 2:41 PM
#12
Nevermind
Nevermind.
August 30th, 2008 at 2:37 PM
#13
The Live Blog has been moved.
^^^^^^^^^^^^What he said
August 30th, 2008 at 2:37 PM
#14
Come on in
the water is nice.
August 30th, 2008 at 2:39 PM
#15
gotcha
I kinda thought you guys were sponsored by brian or something, like the superfan club or something. haloscan lubbers. jk.
August 30th, 2008 at 2:53 PM
#16
game stream
August 30th, 2008 at 7:16 PM
#17
Okay, so that was painful to
Okay, so that was painful to watch. I have just doubled my Scotch budget for 2008.
August 30th, 2008 at 7:45 PM
#18
25 yards total rushing isn't
25 yards total rushing isn't what I expected for a team with 4 top RBs (Shaw, McGuffie, Brown, Minor). We have serious problems on offense and it's going to take longer than I though to adjust and gel together.
August 30th, 2008 at 8:55 PM
#19
I'm not so sure about us
I'm not so sure about us having "four top RBs." Those four have a combined total of like 600 career rushing yards.
August 30th, 2008 at 9:03 PM
#20
I wouldn't get too down on the backs.
The line, she is ... not good.
August 31st, 2008 at 12:04 PM
#21
Honestly, no BS, i don't see
Honestly, no BS, i don't see how anyone could have expected anything different--not as bad as that, but still a huge struggle was in order-offensive line is the most important component of offense, not skill players, and we all know we have no experience and little talent this year on the o-line
August 30th, 2008 at 8:13 PM
#22
Would be cool if McGuffie
Would be cool if McGuffie didn't have more carries than Brown and Minor combined with a ypc average of 1.
August 31st, 2008 at 4:05 PM
#23
Would be cool if the line
Would be cool if the line could block, too
August 30th, 2008 at 9:17 PM
#24
I'm just really frustrated
I'm just really frustrated in that we can't stop any spread offenses. Every year it's the same stuff; shreaded by a spread offense with no effective plan. I thought bringing in Shafer would help solve the schematic problem, but it seems that our personnel flat out sucks in defending the spread. I'm just wondering if we will ever be able to defend a good spread team. Do we lack speed? Do we have poor fundamentals? What exactly is the problem? Why did we do better in 2nd half than 1st half defensive wise?
August 30th, 2008 at 9:48 PM
#25
west texas
for the most part this was a good performance for the defense. besides having trouble at first with the vertical seams olb's too worried about contain, and not holding the vertical, and a misplay by brown on the big pass. even the first half wasnt that bad.... utah did a good job of getting the ball out early to keep the preasure from gettign there. Michigan adjusted by holdign the vertcial seams better and the secondary breaking on more first move routes.... dont let the stats foul you.. michigan defense is good.. and much better able to contain spred offenses
August 30th, 2008 at 9:51 PM
#26
Better at moving in on the QB
Or faster, anyway. More faith in their reads?
EDIT: Or jsut read what the coach said.
August 30th, 2008 at 9:58 PM
#27
West Texas
"Why did we do better in 2nd half than 1st half defensive wise?"
Because Michigan now makes second half adjustments - something that was never done under the previous regime.
August 31st, 2008 at 12:11 AM
#28
2nd Half Defense
It seemed to me that the defense looked better in the 2nd half because Utah went conservative. They stopped throwing the ball and went with a lot more runs up the middle. I'm sure some adjustments were made by Rodriguez at halftime, but I think it was more on the Utes than the Wolverines.
August 31st, 2008 at 12:01 PM
#29
Agree totally.
Agree totally.
August 30th, 2008 at 10:53 PM
#30
i couldn't see shit from row
i couldn't see shit from row 63 in the endzone, but the defense looked phenomenal in the the second half (and like shit the first). how'd they look on tv/close enough to see? also, how did the o-line look? couldn't quite tell who sucked and who was ok from where i was. basically i was too far away to see anything. can i get a quick (or long) recap please? i don't want to have to wait to read it in the papers/here tomorrow.
edit: also, was it just me or did they not throw anything over the middle, or get it to the receivers in stride? the o just looked like shit from top to bottom from where i was.
August 30th, 2008 at 10:29 PM
#31
What really impressed me was
What really impressed me was our DTs ability to run down a mobile quarterback. Also the fact that we actually seemed to have more energy on defense in the second half even with a lot of 3 and outs by the offense. Looks like the days of 4th quarter melt downs may have come to an end.
August 30th, 2008 at 10:29 PM
#32
Aww dammit
Well that sucked, but it was the first game. We have no offense. Crap. To anyone willing to answer, what is your assessment of the o-line? I thought it was more a matter of the QB and the RBs struggling, but I'm not the expert. I just wish that Carlos Brown would have played more, definitely at RB. I thought he was better than Minor last year, and he has speed and the moves.
The improvement by the D-line was spectacular, but the mistakes made in the 1st half and the beginning of the 2nd half were too big in the end, although that INT in the first half was the result of a bad decision. Brian Johnson is pretty good though.
Clemson doesn't have it. They will lose again and WF is going to win the And I called E Carolina or VTech. I am a fucking guru.
August 30th, 2008 at 10:35 PM
#33
dont get too cocky tim
i called the ecu as well, and im picking them next week vs wvu, i have watched that program grow up before my eyes... and i am a huge wake forest guy, remember i was the leader of the jim grobe mafia....... its going to be nice to have ecu and wake dominate recruiting in nc for awhile, instead of ncstate or unc
August 30th, 2008 at 10:37 PM
#34
What, you're not an Elon fan?
Insert smiley here.
August 30th, 2008 at 10:38 PM
#35
oh
like i said, it was a lot abou the offensive line, on runnign plays they were not gettign the push, hard to run when the los is being reset behind the place the ball was snaped.... but i blame a lot on the wr's as well, they were being covered one on one and were not able to break free very much........
August 31st, 2008 at 5:25 PM
#36
NC
I am beginning to believe that the state of NC holds part of the future of college football. WF is awesome, although Grobe needs to recruit better, but he works well with what he has. UNC has a great coach in Butch Davis, and he has been recruiting pretty well; he really will build up the program. There is App St, may they burn in hell for eternity. I think that NC State will get a little better eventually. Tom O'Brien is a pretty good coach, but I don't know how far he'll take them. And Dave Cutliffe is a pretty good coach at Duke, but how much can he do there? Maybe he'll get them to a bowl game. And of course, Skip Holtz is doing a great job at ECU. I wonder how long they can keep him before he goes to a BCS school.
August 30th, 2008 at 10:37 PM
#37
O-line
I felt in terms of pass blocking the O-line was acceptable but far from good. However, with run blocking I felt they were atrocious. Too many times our RBs were tackled in the backfield by an unblocked DE or linebacker. Hopefully some of the run blocking problems can be ironed out in practice and we might have a run game by the ND game.
August 31st, 2008 at 11:29 AM
#38
Clemson, Shmemson
Tim,
So f'ing right about Clemson. That performance against Alabama was so predictable. They're frauds every year.
August 30th, 2008 at 10:40 PM
#39
elon
ive actually sent several kids to play there., know alot of the coaches very well, a fine little program...
August 30th, 2008 at 10:43 PM
#40
My best friend is on the faculty there
She's not a football fan, though (part of my failure to spread the WLA gospel).
August 30th, 2008 at 10:55 PM
#41
Someone on
TV called BG over Pitt last nite (can't remember who)...
Did anyone see that smug lil troll Holtz say he knew Michigan would lose and that they won't be that good this year? Like he was the only one in the world who had the inside info that UM was going to have a down year. No shit, Lou.
August 30th, 2008 at 11:19 PM
#42
Until
Rodriguez gets 1. A real quarterback and 2. An offensive line that doesn't resemble my first crush's gash they will never be a good football team.
I love the fact that we played so many young guys right away. This team will be great in the future... if and only IF we get a QB that can make plays (see Threet's throw on 4th down) and an O-Line that doesn't leak like a hooker on a period.
I puked after the third quarter.
JB
August 31st, 2008 at 11:26 AM
#43
Classic
JB,
Your post should take the place of the MGoBlue banner on the homepage until this offense has at least 100 rushing yards. Make it happen, Brian.
September 1st, 2008 at 9:35 AM
#44
first crush's gash? what's
first crush's gash? what's that?
August 30th, 2008 at 11:28 PM
#45
Regardless of how the first game or even the first season goes
I
suspect Rodriguez is a better coach than Carr, and Michigan will soon contend again for national championships.
Good luck to Michigan in every game except the one that counts.
August 31st, 2008 at 12:53 AM
#46
It's not fair to knock the
It's not fair to knock the D's second-half success by saying that Utah was playing Lloydball. We had six sacks. The Utah coach wasn't exposing Brian Johnson to that many hits just for the hell of it. The switch to a three-man front seemed to make a big difference after halftime.
August 31st, 2008 at 8:48 AM
#47
ATTN BRIAN!!!
Please don't priase Zoltan anymore and please take his shirt off your site. His name does not deserve to be known by anyone other than his parents.
Maybe we should recruit an actual punter next year too...
GO BLUE!!!
August 31st, 2008 at 11:02 AM
#48
He made one big mistake
You're overreacting.
August 31st, 2008 at 1:17 PM
#49
I'm not sure exactly how to
I'm not sure exactly how to feel about the game. The result is what I expected, a close game with Utah winning. However, I feel like Utah could've won by a lot more if they didn't constantly bail us out with idiot penalties.
August 31st, 2008 at 4:34 PM
#50
There were a lot of good
There were a lot of good things that came in this loss. I am sure, once the players who played in the game for michigan got back to their dorms, numerous loud fbombs were heard. Then this morning, you go to church or to the cafeteria and were moving on. Because Saturday brings yet another team wanting to whoop your ass. After every win or loss you have to sit yourself down as a player, coach or fan and say,"If we do not show up next week we will lose." I think this team learned that it will have to claw and fight for every victory. Even if that means first downs. The key is that it has to get to a point where week to week more answers are found. There cannot be OR's forever on the 2deep unless players are injured. I'd imagine the coaches now have a better idea of who they can win with.
August 31st, 2008 at 5:05 PM
#51
Tate's in
Tate committed yesterday after the game.
