2000 Michigan vs Northwestern
So last night I watched the entirety of the 2000 Michigan vs NW game on BTN. While obviously not my favorite game to go back and watch (though quite entertaining in terms of sheer offensive production on both sides), watching Northwestern's offense gave me a little more optimism towards our new offense with an unexperienced QB at the helm. My real question is, do you think we will have any player capable of a Damien Anderson type season? Also if our offensive line and blocking in general isn't solid, I feel like blitzes and pressure are going to cause real havoc for our offense and lead to bad field position more often than not. Should I be worried?
Not to be sarcastic about your question, but after watching OSU blitz and pressure M last November, I don't think things could be much worse.
I see some missed assignments as the year goes on. Any new system is going to produce that result. Overall though, I feel pretty confident as a fan that this new system really is state of the art for college.
IIRC Damien Anderson burst onto the scene in 2000 (I've tried looking up his past stats but I couldn't find them anywhere) - we have Minor and Brown who both have had moderate levels of success with limited carries. I like the fact that both have had a long TD rumble (brown v. minnie this year, minor v. MSU in 06) despite the lack of PT.
I think the old staff had more belief in Minor than they had Grady - IIRC true frosh Minor finished the rose bowl while 5* grady sat and watched.
I think running back is the least of our offensive worries this year - I'd bet we have two runners with over 500 yards and a couple other runners with more than 250 yards this season.
OL play will be the critical issue. If they are productive, we will be able to run and that will help the QB tremendously. And RR at WVU used a lot of shorter pass plays and screens, which would be easier for a green QB to execute than deeper option routes requiring QB and WR making the same read.
Just look at ND 1993 to understand how line play can make a difference. The "skilled" position players for ND, lacked much skill. (Ask yourself if you have heard of Kevin McDouggal since that season. Even Ron Pawlus had a post-ND career even though he had almost no success in college.) But their O-Line and D-Line were fantastic. They dominated the LOS and came within a last second BC field goal of playing for the MNC.
Ten Yard Torrents has that game seeded here for those who can bare to watch it:
http://leech.tenyardtorrents.com/details.php?id=1749
know, I don't think that our o-line will be too bad. There may not be a ton of experience, but, both major recruiting services ranked projected starters Moosman and Zirbel 4 stars. Rivals gave McAvoy 3 stars, while Scout gave him 4. Both gave Ortmann 3 stars. Steve Schilling was given 5 stars by both. Yes, he may have been eaten alive by every decent DE in the Big Ten, Vernon Ghoulston included, however, in high-school, I think Brian posted something about this, Schilling played in a run-first offense that barely passed at all, so he wasn't really used to dropping back in pass pro. Some of those rankings may not be great, but with a little help from the fourth part of the Holy Trinity, Mike Barwis, we can get the most production out of them possible. Coach Greg Frey was the O-Line coach at West Virginia last year, which many preseason magazines are saying as having the best overall offensive line in the nation. We all know about West Virginia's explosive running production last year, which depended heavily on O-Line play. Before last year, Coach Frey was one of the original coaches at South Florida, which hasn't really had much success until this past year, however they did have a modest number of rushing yards. This is thanks in some part to Coach Frey. I believe that with the help of Coach Frey and Mike Barwis, production from this O-Line will be fairly decent to good.