Best and Worst: CMU

Submitted by bronxblue on

This will be a bit of an abbreviated post because, well, 59-9 tells a pretty compelling story.  Sure, I will try to tease out some larger trends from the game, but the biggest takeaway is that UM destroyed a MAC team in the way you expect the winningest program in college football history to do so, and nobody really seemed that surprised.  Given the relative struggles the past half-dozen years, that’s the biggest Best I can point out.

Best:  The least sexy 59 points you’ll ever see 

As Brian noted in his “Five Questions, Five Answers” preview, the Al Borges offense we’re going to see is not the spread that was trotted out under RR and limped along until the end of the Denard era.  While I take issue with the “wrong side of history” supposition of this decision, I agree with Brian that Borges’s offense will remain dynamic and creative enough that the ghost of Mike Debord will stay in his comically 90’s room for the foreseeable future.

That’s like, totally your opinion

But 52 points were scored by this offense without much in the way of trickeration or going for 2 points on the first two TDs, you twerp.  It was an efficient, dominant performance with wrinkles here and there but also a consistent scheme that was frankly missing during the Transition.  As Ace noted there are questions about the line, but Kalis MANBALLED a couple of guys and held up well; I expect Miller to struggle at times but should improve with more reps to at least competent.  This offense will undoubtedly struggle at times when teams are able to collapse the inside of the line, and the WRs need to create more separation than they did today, but overall it felt like the type of performance one expected from this unit.  It should be the best in the conference unless OSU figures out how to block people, and even then I think the plethora of backs and TEs will continue to keep Devin reasonably clean and away from too many hits running the ball.

Best:  Who needs redshirts?

The usual suspects played – Morris, Smith, and Green on offense; Charlton and Thomas on defense.  Not unexpected burning men like Gedeon, Butt, and Stribling also suited up, and while I’m a little annoyed if Gedeon only plays on special teams this year, you have to think the coaches like what he brings on defense to push him into a more prominent role.  Lewis is a bit of a head scratcher, but Norfleet had some troubles early on with returns and Lewis is a shifty guy in space.  But overall, I’m not a fan of redshirting except when the guy in question really wouldn’t help you (i.e. most linemen, small-ish WRs, anybody in the secondary unless they are unbelievable), and basically everyone who played acquitted himself well enough to warrant more playing time in some capacity.

Best:  The Bus That Couldn’t Slow Down!

So yeah, the defense looked REALLY fast out there.  Thomas on the punt block practically yanked the ball out of the punter’s hands, and throughout the game CMU players were hit as soon as they touched the ball.  Early on it seemed like Countess was playing off the WRs too much, but then every time the ball was sent their way he stuck the receiver almost immediately.  Other than one or two plays toward the end, the secondary kept everyone in front of them and rarely did you see much separation.  Under Hoke, it sometimes felt like Mattison and co. had to gameplan teams into spots to compensate for a lack of athleticism at certain positions; at least after today it looks like those limitations are disappearing quickly.  It isn’t quite LSU/Alabama speedsters out there quite yet, but this is another check in the “good recruiting” checklist for this staff.

Worst:  We can’t have nice things

Listen, I’m as neurotic and cynical as the next guy when it comes to sports, but at some point it just gets old.  I will admit to being a bit down about the early play calling and will remain a Borges questioner until such time as I learn how college offenses work, but at some point the liveblog became one big bit*hing session+ once it was clear UM was going to run away with the game.  All of a sudden you have people questioning Derrick Green’s ability to run through contact, Frank Clark’s inability to get to the QB (I will admit to being in this group initially), and every non-TD run or non-intercepted completion as proof that some component of the team wasn’t “working” or was a point of concern.  The hive mind of the liveblogs can adopt misguided stances and I get that it shouldn’t be taken seriously, but the team just scored 59 points against a bowl team, held them to a couple of field goal attempts with 3(!) of 14 drives longer than 30 yards, and averaged 5.1 yards per carry and 10.5 yards per attempt.  They played pretty well folks; let’s enjoy the win for at least a day before we all try to Gladwell our way through trends from one game.

+ I never understand *’ing out the vowel in a cuss word.  I think we all know that “f*ck” doesn’t refer to one-time Tiger’s first basemen Robert Fick, yet everyone apparently thinks removing the ‘i’ in sh*t is going to throw everyone off the scent.  Either blot out the whole word or leave it alone.  /HOTSPORTSTAKE

Best:  NORFLEET!!

Had 106 yards on 4 returns, and was a couple of broken tackles away from housing at least 1 of those returns.  He also recorded 38 yards on his one run, and overall looked like a dynamic component of the offense.  He’ll never be an every-down back and I doubt he’ll reach the heights of Breaston (who seemingly was both faster a bit more elusive in small spaces), but he gives this team a legitimate return man for the first time since, I don’t know, McGuffie, and the type of guy who can take those once-a-game Ronald Bellomy WR runs and make them work because the other team can’t immediately assume that’s why he’s on the field.

Worst:  Out of Nowhere!

Fair warning: this section is going to be one big wrestling analogy.  Since I was around 6 years old, I’ve been a huge fan of professional wrestling.  I watch it on television, Hulu, and Youtube every chance I can.  I once rented every Wrestlemania (9 of them at the time) and watched them straight, without blinking, and probably lost a gallon of water with the drool that fell from my mouth.  I loved Jake Roberts and Damien so much I cried when Earthquake “squished” him during their feud.  I was a little Hulkster, then a member of the Warrior nation, followed by a heartbroken Rocker fan (seeing Shawn kick Marty Jannetty and throw him through the barbershop window taught me to never trust anyone in a leather jacket).  I was a fan of the Dangerous Alliance and marked out so hard when Stunning Steve became Stone Cold and ushered in the Attitude Era along with DX, the Rock and Sock Connection, Kurt Angle, and washed-up MMA guys like Tank Abbott and Ken Shamrock.  Hogan creating the NWO with Kevin Nash and Scott Hall set the world on fire for a bit, and Goldberg speared anyone with a pulse into next Tuesday.  TLC wasn’t a way to treat a lady or a TV channel with weird shows about future diabetes sufferers; it was a brutal contest with enough splintered tables and broken limbs to remind you how fragile the human body is.  Innovators like Chris Jericho and Rey Mysterio showed you little guys could rise to the top, and Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit shed the “Vanilla Midgets” label to become champions even though their careers ended suddenly (and in Benoit’s case, horribly).  Even with the relatively fallow period that followed Brock Lesnar’s departure to NFL training camps and, ultimately, the UFC, I still enjoyed watching Batista, JBL, Orton, John Cena, and the rest soldier on.  And with the ascension of “Indy” guys likes CM Punk and Daniel Bryan, plus the healthy growth of the development system and the indy feds like ROH, PWG, CZW, and the like, it is a good time to be a fan.

Over this time, I’ve seen the medium evolve and grow, and mostly for the better.  Guys train harder and take better care of their bodies, match quality is higher, and storytelling has evolved to the point where major sports blogs have writers dedicated to covering it. It isn’t necessarily still real to me, but I definitely see it maintaining a place in my sports life going forward.

One change I have noticed over the years, though, is the proliferation of “spontaneous” in-ring moments and moves that you just didn’t see back in the 80’s and early 90’s.  It used to be when a guy was going to hit his “finisher”, he had some setup – Hogan gave you the big boot before running the ropes and dropping the leg; Ric Flair gave you the knee breaker and then actually had to lock in the figure-four; and even “quick hitters” like the Ultimate Warrior and Shawn Michaels still had some setup before they finished you off with their splash or superkick.  But around the time Austin hit the scene, guys started in with the reversals and the quick finishers; Stunners to everyone, Diamond Cutters off chokeslams, Tombstones off cross bodies and Sweet Chin Musics off jumping attacks.  Now every move was “out of nowhere”, culminating in Randy Orton RKO’ing literally everybody off ever-more convoluted triple-lindys.  As Brandon Stroud of With Leather always laments, guys just need to stop jumping around Orton and they’ll win all the time.

So what’s my point?  Well, one of the things that has changed about following college sports is that because of the multitude of mediums covering the games, you really aren’t “surprised” by anything before the teams step on the field.  Sure, Gordon being suspended for the first game was relatively unknown, but even then there was a board post on the topic two hours before the game.  I knew the vast majority of the depth chart weeks before it was released, heard the insider buzz about certain players stepping up while others floundered, and even knew the basic structure of the offense and defense, including quite a few wrinkles, despite the best attempts by the Fort to keep them under wraps.  On one hand it makes fandom more engrossing and “fun” because my knowledge is more thorough and nuanced, but the “Christmas morning” feel of watching the team line up that first game is lost a bit when you’ve already read about the N64 and Easy-Bake oven in the nondescript box three weeks ago.  And with  all that information, expectations can explode to unreasonable levels; witness the post above with people complaining about the young running backs.

The inexorable march of progress is such that we’ll only get more insider information and in-depth analyses of players and recruits, and on the whole that is a positive for both fans and the game.  To be a well-rounded fan, you need to read and keep up on your teams to an almost-unhealthy degree; otherwise you are basically Skip Bayless or Lou Holtz without the clothing budget.  About the only time you can  ever be surprised anymore is when you….

Best:  Play the Game

For despite all of the predictions and charts, the acronyms and the tomes written about the game, nobody knows will happen during the game until the teams actually line up.  Fitz looked great out there, making cuts and accelerating through holes opened up be a much-improved offensive line.  Devin looked shaky earlier but played well in the end, accounting for over 200 yards in about 2.5 quarters of work.  Morris, Green, and Smith all had their turns out there and showed promise.  the depth on defense, previously a figment of the fevered imagination of our benevolent overlord, showed up in spades.  Countess looked like the corner everyone expected last year before he was hurt, while Thomas, Wilson, Stribling, Morgan, Ross, and Gordon all stepped into more prominent roles and played well (I recognize Wilson blew at least one assignment).  Even guys like Clark, whom I’m more down on than others, played reasonably well.  I know it’s one game, but it was nice to be surprised by guys actually playing football in a game that mattered. 

Worst:  Big Ten!

Oh where to start.  MSU struggled to move the ball against the other, other directional school last night, and no amount of BTN spit-shining will change that.  As noted earlier, OSU went for 2 twice because (a) Meyer wanted to make a point, and (b) that point is that he is a *ick.  And even with all of that early success, a 4-8 Buffalo team was touch-and-go with the #2 team in the country, at home, for most of the game.  Illinois looked competent against Southern Illinois but still only won by 8, Cincy pounded Purdue by 35 as perennial Most Awesome Name candidate Munchie Legaux stood tall in the pocket.  PSU held on against Syracuse but looked like it will be years until the effects of those sanctions allow them to regain their stronger position in the conference, and Wiscy ran over UMass like they always do against overmatched squads who are lactose intolerant.  At least they can run the ball with James White.  Oh yeah, and Iowa lost to NIU because of course they would.  At time of this post teams like NW and Nebraska are still playing, but I doubt we’ll learn much about either team win or lose (though if they lose to Wyoming and/or Cal, I’m going to book my tickets for Indy tomorrow).

But overall, it was not a banner weekend for the conference.  The Big 10 isn’t great at football outside of the top couple of teams; that’s been an annoying reality for a couple of years now.  The conference isn’t dying or falling behind anyone not named the SEC, but the Big 2, Little 10 mantra is gaining traction every day, and I’m not seeing much evidence down the pipeline that it will change any time soon.

Best:  UTL II

Hey, it might be fun…

Comments

Nosce Te Ipsum

August 31st, 2013 at 10:49 PM ^

I enjoyed what you said about the element of surprise in a game that we already have so much data on. Did you enjoy Michigan football more when MGoBlog and other football related sites were non existant or do you prefer what we have now?

543Church

August 31st, 2013 at 10:58 PM ^

I think I liked things better before we knew which junior high kids were taking unofficial visits.  Seeing the sausage get made is unappetizing. 

However, I enjoy the insights that this site has into the actual games moreso than the traditional media.  Plus I'm here aren't I?  If I didn't like it I wouldn't be reading it I guess.

 

Baldbill

August 31st, 2013 at 11:06 PM ^

I have been thinking about that for some time...the expectations that I have are so different that what they are these days. I mean I have been hearing about Shane Morris and some of the other freshmen for more than a year now, etc... I know more but seem less happy that I do...it is a dilemma.

SysMark

September 1st, 2013 at 12:10 AM ^

I think you're hitting on  a very sensitive topic for some of the primary contributors to this blog.

Really, are we better off, or even more knowledgeable?  At some point you do have to question the merit of so much additional knowledge.  Could it be that it's not much more than white noise in the end?

bronxblue

September 1st, 2013 at 9:17 AM ^

On the whole I've enjoyed following the sport way more since MGoBlog and its ilk have taken on more importance in the lives of the fans.  It gives you more insight into the team, and in that way you feel more invested because you have a better sense of the gameplan, the lineup, etc.  But there is always a bit of me that misses being able to watch the games as a blank slate fan.  Of course, that probably stems at least as much from when I first got into following UM football, which was as a child when sports always take on a bigger meaning than they should.

bronxblue

September 1st, 2013 at 9:25 AM ^

Looking at the wrong guy for that, then.  Time-tested amateur wrestling with dedicated student-athletes and grueling training: not in my wheelhouse.  Bombastic spandex-clad personalities with pyro, sleazy managers, sexy valets, finishing moves hailing from "Parts Unknown": totally my thing.

DonAZ

August 31st, 2013 at 11:03 PM ^

Great post!  I was a little lost in the pro-wrestling thing ... mostly because I'm so damned old to me "pro wrestling" means "The Sheik" and "Bobo Brazil."

Grampy

September 1st, 2013 at 8:12 AM ^

Kickoff Coverage:

While there wasn't anything to take away in punt coverage, the kickoff (and there was a large sample) coverage was significantly better.  I don't recall seeing anything returned beyond the 25, except for the one which wound up back at the 10 by dint of penalties.  I know it was CMU, but everyone was pushing it out past the 30 last year.  More good use of burnt redshirts.

bronxblue

September 1st, 2013 at 9:20 AM ^

Agree.  Part of me wished we could have seen punt coverage more because it was such a weak spot last year, but then again the team just kept scoring so it is hard to complain.  Next week against ND is going to be a bit scary, unfortunately, just because of the unknown.

MidnightBlue

September 1st, 2013 at 9:33 AM ^

bronxblue,  you made me read it thrice when you said our OL should be the best in the conference,  for I figured with all the 'concern' of the interior, with an undersized new center, a walk-on LG, and a redshirt RG.... I never even thought that we'd be the best in the conference.. blame cognitive dissonance I guess... but I dont think anyone other than the most fervent fan would agree on that.  This year Id figure Wisc and Nebraska  OL are better...then next year ours or OSU

bronxblue

September 1st, 2013 at 12:51 PM ^

I'm referring to the offense.  Sorry if that wasn't clear

The line will be a weak point inside, but I'm high on Kalis and, frankly, it's not like any line really dominated yesterday.  Wiscy always looks like they should be good, but who knows given the fact that last year they struggled to run the ball against teams liuke Utah St. and the like.  Beating the crap out of UMass doesn't mean much to me.