LB/HO/LF - Cripple Fight 2008

Submitted by Lordfoul on

My first reaction to this game was "Holy Jumpin' Jehosefat!  We suck donkey balls!"  By the end of the game though, I couldn't shake the feeling that we had just dominated the Irish and yet had our asses handed to us.  Sure enough, a quick look at the box score revealed 388 yards of offense for us, 260 for ND.  The numbers further showed us owning them in passing and rushing yardage.  Our offense had indeed clicked finally though it was hard to see it through the smokescreen of killer turnovers.  Even our defense didn't play half-bad statistically but trying to overcome the mistakes this young team was making, and the places on the field that they were made, was nothing less than impossible.

Looking Back - Some thoughts looking back on the game after sleeping on it:

Evidence of our offense clicking:

  • McGuffie runs for 131 yards and becomes our solid first string back.  Dude was on fire and proved a great receiving target as well.  He also managed to not get hurt on a tackle that would have snapped the hamstrings off a mere mortal.
  • Threet completed 16/23 passes for 175 yards and a TD.  His passes were on target and well timed.  This guy is our starter.
  • Then again, Sheridan did complete all five of the balls he threw.  Just sayin'.  ;~)
  • We had 5 drives of 7 plays or more, 4 of them for 58 yards or longer.
  • Our receivers looked very good and the throws were spread amongst them very well.

Evidence that our offense is young:

  • We had 7 fumbles and lost 4 of them. 
  • We had 6 turnovers total.  (Someone tell Sheridan we have the Winged Helmets!)
  • Threet fumbled all over.  Of course I put the blame for the backwards pass mostly on Minor.

Evidence that our defense wasn't as bad as they seemed:

  • We held ND to 260 yards of offense.
  • Jimmah(!) was only 10/21 for 147 yards, 2 TDs, and 2 INTs. 
  • We held ND to 113 yards rushing on 34 attempts.  3.3 yards per.
  • If you told me the three statistics bullets above and that we would lose, I would have called you a big fat (Weisian even) liar.

Of course there were bad plays...

  • Trent was burned crispy despite providing pretty good coverage on the second and third touchdowns.  His PI on the first ND posession was killer as well.
  • Stevie Brown looked lost in coverage a lot once again.
  • Pick a play.  See any real pass rush?  No?  Explain this to me.

And oh so many goats in this one.  Not going to pick on the freshmen:

  • Brandon Minor, catch the damn ball!  The first turnover of the game was the killer kind we can't afford.
  • Kevin Grady, hold on to the damn ball!  The turnovers in the red zone were extra killer and no me gusta.
  • Two turnovers in the redzone.  Two inside our own 15.  Another returned directly for a touchdown.  C'mon, seriously?
  • Cue up the Yakety Sax.

Hats Off Awards:

  1. McGuffie!!! - 178 total yards and brilliant moves displayed throughout.  Welcome to Michigan Fans' hearts.
  2. Rich Rod - I have to hand it to him.  This offense is making great strides.  At this point I don't think we can blame him for the turnovers.
  3. Zoltan!!! - Looked much more like the heir to the Space Throne with a wizard performance befitting his name:  4 punts with 52+ yard average (the fake-fake punt was very nice) and of course picking up the first on the real fake punt was awesome.
  4. Our Receivers - These guys looked great all game.  I was praticularly impressed with Stonum and of course Mathews was solid.  We were robbed on that TD catch, his wrist clearly hit the ground under the ball.
  5. Camera man who kept his camera trained on Fat Charlie during his "I've fallen, and I can't get up!" moment.  Knees weren't made for that kind of strain, that's for sure.  The rest of the game he looked like Golum meets Jabba the Hut on those crutches.  Gotta give the big guy props for seeing it from the sideline though.

Looking Forward:

Michigan is coming around folks.  I figured a lopsided loss like this one would make me despair as to us getting 6+ wins.  But honestly the Big 11 looks rather shoddy across the board (except for Penn State, but until they prove otherwise, we pwn Penn State) and there are plenty of wins left to be had if we can play like yesterday minus the turnovers.  Congratulations to Wisky for going out west and winning a tough game that I didn't think they would.  They will probably beat us next week, but it is far from a sure thing IMO.

GO BLUE!

 

 

Comments

scottiemmm

September 14th, 2008 at 8:37 AM ^

except maybe about Sheridan, pretty sure completions only count when your team catches it.
When Mcguffie got tackled with his leg awkwardly 5 yards behind him my buddy and I were like oh fuck! And then he just jumped right up and probably did some flips off camera. Amazing...
100% agree with the Rich Rod analysis, this team is going to be pretty good, I'm looking forward to seeing what we can do with our bye week against Wisconsin and Illinois.

cbuswolverine

September 14th, 2008 at 8:50 AM ^

"Brandon Minor, catch the damn ball! The first turnover of the game was the killer kind we can't afford."

 

That ball HAS to be thrown forward. I wanted to kill him for throwing a backwards pass there.

cbuswolverine

September 14th, 2008 at 9:45 AM ^

then dropping the ball is about 1% of the problem it is when the ball is thrown backward.  This is basic stuff.  It's the first thing you teach a QB when he's about eight years old.  That play does not call for a lateral.  That play calls for a forward pass.  You are NEVER supposed to throw a backwards pass in that spot.  NEVER.

Obviously you have to catch the ball, but to say, "That is all" is crazy.  I guarantee you that there is one player who was reamed on the sideline and who will continue to get reamed by the coaching staff for that play, and that's Threet.

Magnus

September 14th, 2008 at 10:17 AM ^

I also thought Threet might be more at fault on that.  Not only did he throw it backward, but he threw it before Minor was looking.  You could tell that Minor didn't see the ball until it almost hit him in the facemask.

I just think that was a bad play all around.  Threet should have thrown it forward and waited a split second longer.  Minor should have run upfield a little more, turned his head around, and caught the ball.  And the playcall - if it did indeed call for Minor to run straight toward the sideline and catch a lateral, which I doubt - was not designed well.

willis j

September 15th, 2008 at 9:45 AM ^

This is on the RB to be in the proper place. See the McGuffie TD score on pretty much the exact same play. See where McGuffie gets to compared to where Minor gets too. Threet has to throw to the RB, regardless of where they are. In this case Minor was behind the line. Not Threets fault. Threet is already in the shotgun too so it shouldnt be hard for Minor to get a few feet upfield. Threets job is to get the ball, turn, and throw to Minor to get him the ball, in space, ASAP. Its minors job to get into position. Its Threets job to get him the ball wherever he is at. Slightly bad throw by Threet, Minor still needs to catch this.

And to say you are never supposed to throw backwards is kind of off base. This play is basically and extended hand off and the "passes" go backwards all the time. This is the least of the problems on this play.  This is a pretty basic play and the players not executing it should not be somethign the coach needs to worry about.

Lordfoul

September 16th, 2008 at 7:46 AM ^

It was a team effort on this one.  After seeing it a few more times on ESPN, Minor had his eyes on the ball when it was released.  The pass wasn't great/should have lead Minor, but Minor got both hands on it and didn't move to jump on it until it was too late.  Awful play by both but I expect it out of Threet (freshman) whereas Minor needs to fix the play as an upperclassman.  Just MHO.

ColoradoBlue

September 14th, 2008 at 9:30 AM ^

The pass rush wasn't bad at all, considering we were rushing with 3, maybe 4 guys most of the time. Jimmah did a much better job this year at avoiding sacks and dumping the ball into the stands.

goody

September 14th, 2008 at 11:36 AM ^

the ran the play action pass (again) and kept 7 guys in to protect him and Michigan only rushed 4.  Not good odds for geting pressure.  Also on that play,  it looked like a cover 3( Trent with outside thrid and Harrison with middle third) and Trent and Harrison just let Tate run right by them.  Trent this year has been a little dissappointing.

Magnus

September 14th, 2008 at 11:58 AM ^

I had a hard time figuring out the defense on that play.  Gsimmons thought Tate should have been Trent's guy.  I thought Brown should have been dropping back in cover 2 and he bit on the slant-and-go.  Gsimmons is smarter than me, so I guess ot was Trent's fault.  But I think Harrison was blameless on that play - he just happens to be fast enough to get close even when his backfield mates get burned.

Magnus

September 16th, 2008 at 10:22 AM ^

I have a feeling that we were slightly intimidated by Golden Tate's speed and Michael Floyd's speed/size.  I think they were trying to sit back and get some help over the top and trying to get there with only three or four guys.  And when Notre Dame showed they could hit some bombs, that made it all the more necessary to try to play it safe in the defensive backfield.  Also, with as much success as we had getting to the QB without blitzing last year, the coaches probably thought we could do it again.  In the second half, there was more blitzing, but they were mostly running the ball by then to run out the clock.

chitownblue (not verified)

September 14th, 2008 at 10:19 AM ^

Agreed - you could say that Threet needs to take a deeper drop to make it go forward, or that Minor needs to go further downfield. I'm not sure which? I do know that he got both hands on it, so probably should have caught it.

Ms. Wolverine

September 14th, 2008 at 3:27 PM ^

This is pretty much how I feel. Halve the turnovers and we might have won this one. Unfortunately the Yakety Sax nature of this matchup prevailed. Definitely liked what I saw from Threet and McGuffie.

RDDGoblue

September 14th, 2008 at 5:12 PM ^

Lordfoul....
Maybe not a UFR, but this diary is quickly becoming a favorite of mine. I might not agree with all you say, (I definitely blame the lateral/fumble way more on Threet than Minor) but it is well written and has a great format. Not to mention a catchy enough name. Keep it up.

 

To explain my view on the Threet/Minor Yakety Sax duet, Minor did get his hands on the ball, and maybe could have caught it, but if he did he would have been making up for a couple of Threet mistakes. Looked like Threet threw it before Minor was looking, looked like he threw it real hard for a short pass, and worst of all, looked like he threw it slightly behind Minor's ear.

 

Getting both hands on that ball while running away from the passer, and wearing shoulderpads which restrict movement is tough enough without having to do so in the rainy conditions of yesterday. I blame Threet. Not hating on Threet, in fact he made me more of a fan yesterday, and I think Sheridan should get used to the headphones.

Lordfoul

September 14th, 2008 at 6:57 PM ^

I will have to go back and look at the play again.  Enough people are blaming Threet that I will have to call it at least 50:50 for blame purposes at this point.  At least in part I hope it was Threet's fault, as he can work on his end of that play easier than Minor can grow new and improved hands.

Being compared in any way to Brian's work (and UFR especially!) is both awesome and a reach maybe.  Thanks a lot though.

Trublu62

September 17th, 2008 at 10:43 PM ^

Pretty good analysis overall Perm. I'll never understand how the McMaster didn't end up on the operating table after that tackle. Keep up the good work.

GO BLUE