Inside the Box Score - Game 10

Submitted by ST3 on

    It feels great to win a rivalry game, even if it’s just our opponent who considers it a rivalry. By my count, Brady is now 4-1 in rivalry games. I’m including San Diego State, because you don’t just take another team’s coach without there being some hurt feelings. Brady is like the personification of the little brown jug, if only it wore short sleeves and was neither little, nor brown.*

Link: http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/m-footbl/stats/111211aaa.html

Burst of Impetus

  • Initial impetus went to Michigan after Touss’ 65 yard run that basically told Illinois, yeah, you have a good defense but we can run on you. We controlled the impetus for the rest of the half.
  • Illinois had two nice plays to start the second half, but our defense followed that with a Desmond Morgan de-cleater (everyone who saw/heard it knows what I’m talking about), a blitzing Kovacs TFL, and a monster sack from Van Bergen, who split a double-team and jumped on top of Scheelhaase’s back. Burst of Impetus regained.
  • It did appear that Illinois adjusted to our inside running game, and started to slow us down. When Denard went out injured, things got a little dicey. Then, JT Floyd picked off Scheelhaase and almost returned it for six. When Gardner threw for a TD shortly after that, the game was basically over. Illinois was beaten by our backup QB again.

Trash Cans Full of Dirt

  • JT FLOYD!
  • 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.
  • Back to Floyd. He’s been a punching bag on this blog and I’ve thought that was a little unfair, but what do I know, I only watch the game once. I hope the “JT Floyd is not a good corner” meme can die a quick and sudden death after today. He had 4 tackles, an interception that put the game away, and 2 pass breakups. I also didn’t notice him whiffing on any tackles.
  • Desmond Morgan was second in tackles with 8, including the aforementioned de-cleater. Can I have 3 more years of that, please?
  • VAN BERGEN!!! He gets three of these “!,” one for each of his TFLs, that included 2.5 sacks for 27 yards. On one of his sacks he proved that Lewan is not the only one who likes to ride donkeys.
  • The first time Illinois was in our territory, there was 1:45 left in the third quarter.
  •  
  •  
  • Just wanted to let that sink in for a minute. 
  • The Team had 6 TFLs, 4 of which were sacks, 5 passes broken up, and the 4 QHs. Yes, Illinois’ offense is struggling, but our guys still needed to go out there and make plays and they did. I can’t see Martinez or Miller doing that much better throwing than Scheelhaase did. We’ll need to stop their run games, but it will be nice having those games at home. Not to jinx things, but 10-2 is still a distinct possibility, and that starts with defense.

Filthy

  • I apologize to Touss for that “china in a bull store” crack last week. Touss was in Bull-mode all afternoon. He had 27 carries for 192 yards. That works out to 7.1 yards per carry. He had a 65 yard run that set the tone for the first half.
  • Denard had two nice touchdown runs, but was otherwise held in check by the Illini.
  • I know “Molk” doesn’t show up in the boxscore, but 223 NET YARDS RUSHING against a good rush defense does, and a lot of that is attributable to one David Molk. What a game he had.

San Diego49ers

  • Odoms caught two for 46 yards. One was a 27 yard TD that put the game away. I’ve always liked Odoms, and I couldn’t be happier for him.
  • Koger caught two, one for 40 yards where he dragged the DB for the last 10.

Big John R. Studd Referee Section

  • The linesman was Tripp Sutter. Tripp, I assume you are a grown man. Why are we still going with, “Tripp?”
  • Michigan had 4 penalties for 29 yards, and Illinois was flagged for 4 penalties and 25 yards.
  • After last week, it was nice not having to complain about the refs, but man were there a bunch of replays.
  • I think the lesson we learned from the Iowa game is that you can get a little physical with the wideouts and sometimes get away with it.
  • I thought they missed a helmet-to-helmet hit that knocked out Denard, and a few other late hits on Illinois, but all-in-all, there’s nothing to complain about this week.

Hexadecimal Points

  • Normal jerseys from both sides. I will say that I find orange to be a complementary color, like white, grey, yellow, and maize. I don’t think you should wear a complementary color with white pants. It’s not a good look, but Illinois has to concede blue to us, forcing them into the orange unis, and making them look like an orange creamsicle.
  • 2H Matthew Cavanaugh had 2 tackles and 5G Frank Clark had one, and gave up the edge, again. Cavanaugh is making the most of his ST play. That guy always ends up making a couple tackles.
  • #24, Delonte Hollowell, didn’t show up in the boxscore, but he made a huge play on special teams. On one of our punts, the Illini returner muffed the catch. Before he had a chance to cover the ball, Hollowell nailed him. It was a nice, clean hit that allowed McColgan to recover the fumble.

Derpan Meyer

  • Announcers were Justin Kutcher and Craig James.
  • Referring to Illinois’ offensive line, Craig James said, and I quote, “They’re athletic and I watch them, and the eye candy of their offensive line is there.” Hey, Illini linemen, if Craig asks you for a post-game interview, you should probably politely decline. And Craig, when the third thing that shows up on Google when you search for Craig James is “Craig James killed 5 hookers,” you probably shouldn’t talk about linemen as eye candy.
  • When I found out Craig was announcing our game, I decided NOT to use the “Craig James killed 5 hookers” angle {allegedly, I know, I know,} but when you throw a fat one over the plate like that, you leave me no choice.
  • Craig James called Reilly O’Toole, “Freshman O’Toole.” That’s fitting.

Random, as Yet Unnamed, Bullets

  • I’m not sure which name is better, Reilly O’Toole, or Pat Nixon-Youman. On the one hand, you’ve got “Reilly O’Toole.” On the other, you’ve got a former First Lady with a great Chris Berman name, “Pat Nixon You-Da-man!” And let’s not forget Illinois DB Supo Sanni.
  • Illinois, after getting only one first down in the first half, actually had one more first down than we did, 15-14. But when you only accrue 37 yards rushing, you are usually not going to win the game. Illinois averaged 1.1 yards per carry. I’m giggling.
  • Total yards, UofM 362, Ill 214. Big Plays! We had ‘em, they didn’t. Their longest run was 13 yards. Mr. Kovacs, please stay healthy.
  • Net yards per punt, UofM 32.2, Ill 34.7. Net yards per kickoff, UofM 49.2, Ill 50. A push on special teams? I’ll take it every time.

* The point of this paragraph is to admit to Illinois that they are our rivals, in the same way that Minnesota and San Diego State are. In other words, not really.

Comments

mgoblueben

November 13th, 2011 at 12:44 AM ^

But with the illinois woes and all the opportunities in the redzone (at one point 0-3 to end the first half) we should have won in minnesota style.  Should have been 31-0 first half. Great win dont get me wrong. We are our own worst enemy

AMazinBlue

November 13th, 2011 at 1:08 AM ^

we sure have struggled the last few weeks.  I don't know if it's all play-calling, but it sure seems to be a major part of it. 

I wish Devin was a better manager of the game at this point,  I was really worried when he had to enter the game, but Denard wasn't doing anything either at that point.  The game turned out well and there were no major injuries.  By the looks of it, DG fits Borges' play-calling eye better than Denard, but he just doesn't have any polish or experience.  It will come in time and hopefully he and Denard can become interchangeable with packages that truly suit their skill sets and the offense never skips a beat when either comes into a game.

snoopblue

November 13th, 2011 at 2:15 AM ^

Wins a win. Next two weeks will be tough. Nebraska will be hard to stop, we are at home. I'd love to win against them, but what I really care about is beating Ohio State. Our offense really needs to get it together. I actually get scared/mad when we get tackled inside the opponents 20 because we struggle getting it in the endzone. When JT Floyd got tackled at the 10, I should have been jumping around but I was biting my nails.

Extremely impressed with the defense. Flying to the ball, making solid tackles, stopping the run AND pass. Wish the offense was as creative. Where was the misdirection? It's hard to evaluate Borges yet, because maybe he is saving stuff for these next two games. Especially Ohio State. If they bring out a whole bunch of different things that game, I think many of us will have a "oooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" moment.

maizenbluenc

November 13th, 2011 at 12:43 PM ^

It is a home game, and Nebraska's offense has struggled against all but Michigan State. Mattison and the boys will get it done on that side.

The questionmark is our own offense. To put it in Lloyd Carr terms: can we produce enough points to win? After coming out of the box with an unstoppable redzone scoring offense, we can't seem to score in the redzone very much at all anymore. I keep hoping our guys don't get stopped inside the 10, because if they do, odds of scoring seem to drop dramatically.

bronxblue

November 13th, 2011 at 9:19 AM ^

Nice breakdown.

It was a good game.  The offense had good playcalling but struggled with execution (which give some credit to the Illini for playing up), and the defense was almost dominant until the 4th quarter.  A good game, and one that hopefully can be replicated against a similar spotty offense in Nebraska.

ST3

November 13th, 2011 at 1:53 PM ^

OK, you got me. There's nothing wrong with Tripp. I'm just jealous that I didn't get a cool "Tripp" or "Trey" nickname growing up. The 3 in ST3 stands for III, as in my dad is Jr. and my grandpa is Sr. I avoided that "the third" thing growing up because it just rhymes with too many bad things. I should have owned it and been a Tripp. But seriously, I'm not sure there are many "Tripps" in upper management. I'm just sayin'...

BradP

November 13th, 2011 at 10:44 AM ^

Speaking of Molk's play, I will wait to see the UFR come out (not waiting to pass judgment on Huyge and Omaneh: problem going forward) to see how he did, but I am getting really, really frustrated seeing linemen whiff on screens.  Molk and Lewan always seem out in front, yet both seem far more likely to whiff.

If I remember right, in this game Mich had a screen to Toussiant set up well against Illinois, whith Toussaint having the ball behind Lewan, Molk, and Hopkins, and a safety and corner in between the ball and the endzone.  I do believe that both Molk and Lewan completely whiffed.

Its seems as much of a trend as the screen itself.

ST3

November 13th, 2011 at 1:49 PM ^

Part of the problem is you are asking 300 pounders to get in space and block 200 pounders. The 200 pounders don't want anything to do with that, so sometimes just the presence of the linemen out on the screen is enough. By that, I mean, the DBs have to pick a side and as long as the RB goes the other way, the actual block is nice, but not necessary. And also, I don't want a guy with 4.5 speed waiting for a 5.1 guy to get downfield. If you see the open field, just hit it. 

BlueMan80

November 13th, 2011 at 11:08 AM ^

According to the Chicago Tribune, JT Floyd's evil twin, TJ Ford intercepted the pass.  Let's see more TJ!!  Local media is banging the Fire Zook! drum loudly now.  Clammoring for Mike Leach to turn the Illini around.  Should be an interesting Nov. for the Zooker.

TSWC

November 13th, 2011 at 2:22 PM ^

I'm not going to complain about the refs too much (hey, who cares? we won!), but since you had a little section about it there were a couple of huge holds that didn't get called, including one on Heininger where he was nearly pulled off his cleats from behind (by the jersey, I believe) possibly preventing yet another sack (I think the play ended up being an incomplete pass, so it could've been worse).

Mengin06

November 13th, 2011 at 2:44 PM ^

I don't know if I'd call special teams a push, since they had a turnover on one and Gallon averaged 15.5 return yards on four punts!

We actually won the special teams battle decisively! When was the last time we could say that?

micheal honcho

November 13th, 2011 at 4:02 PM ^

thats a nice way to describe young Mr. Morgans hit. I dont want to jinx myself but I think I was the 1st guy here to predict good things for this young man. Having watched him play in H.S. and knowing many who know him, I felt like he had the makings of a great Michigan linebacker. I did not predict or even dare think that he would play so much as a frosh, I figured junk time & possible red shirt. I think he'll carry another 15lbs next year and will be playing as a MLB instead of WIL.

Anyhow, great job Des!! keep it up and you'll be a captian when you're a senior. That his was a real momentum changer.