After Tonight: More Wary of ND or Less Wary of MSU?

It's hard to say how we would match up based on their performances against each other beacuse what we will try to do to the opposing defense is different from what each tried to do to each other...did that make any sense?  Anyways, ultimately I think both will give us some trouble because it will be hard to run the ball agianst their front 7.  So, we should have more success throwing against ND, but that's not really our forte.  On the other side, it's unlikely we will be able to slow MSU's running game the way ND did because our front 7 isn't not as good.  

Unfortunately, I think we lose both games.  We have the ability to win if we play well and get turnovers, make plays on special teams, are effecient on 3rd downs etc.  But, all in all both teams are equipped to give us trouble by stopping our running game.  I think MSU will give us more trouble because in addition to stopping our run game they will run the ball on us fairly easily which will be difficult to overcome that combo.  Let's hope for a special performance from D-rob and maybe some big plays down the field from the Devins or a big Norfleet return to get us going.

Keys against MSU will be Funchess and Gallon. Notice how Well Toma did against them. Secondly Gardner and scheme will have to control blitzes by Adams. Finally we will have to profit with the run in the second half. On defense we will have to limit severely yards after contact with Bell. If he is draging guys then falling forwards we will lose.

I'm a bit wary of ND, MSU (they seem to play with extra hate for UM), Purdue, and OSU, but I am still optimistic that Michigan will continue to improve and could win all of the upcoming games. If the Wolverines can score twice on Alabama, I just don't see any of these teams being able to stop Denard and crew from scoring despite the current problems with the O- and D-lines. And there is likely no way that ND holds Michigan to a mere three points. A loss in South Bend wouldn't be as disappointing as losing to MSU, though.

The things ND did to dominate Sparty (they really did) on defense weren't enough to make me fear them shutting us down next week. They got great pressure on Maxwell, but Spartys Oline sucks. ND would line up 4 and a guy got in unblocked at least 6 times that I counted, all from the blindside. Our Oline needs to improve, but our pass protection is good, and Denard knows what to do under pressure, run. To shut down their rush ND only had to key on 1 guy, too. They stacked the box and it took away both Bell, and their TE in passing downs. Denard can burn ND with his arm, and a double dose of Devin, and we have 3-4 backs we'll use in different looks. Outside runs, delayed handoffs, read option, power, late passes to Smith, and then our best RB is Denard. What ND did to Sparty won't be enough to shut Michigan down. They'll have to do much more.

Why don't teams scheme their defense to jump Sparty's endless series of slant routes?  Holy fuck that seems obvious.  Maxwell doesn't have time to throw deep outs or corners, and they don't seem to be trusting him with those decisions yet anyway. 

Quick slant and seem routes seem to be in his wheelhouse, and the opportunity to jump those routes seems worth the risk.  The WR's don't have the skill or burst to hurt you that badly.

What stood out to me was MSU's abject failure to protect Maxwell.  I think the loss of Fanouti hurt them pretty badly.  I am more confident in UM's chances against MSU this season as a result of it.

I think the UM-ND game will be a high-scoring affair--probably into the 30s again.  I think ND will exploit our problems on the D-Line and I think UM will exploit ND's secondary.  Since it's on the road and since we probably owe a karmic debt in this series, I'd give ND a slight edge.  But I think UM and ND are pretty evenly-matched overall.

Blitz Denard...I dare ya.  The gigantic holes I saw on blitzes last night were Denard touchdowns.  Alabama showed that teams have to contain Denard not sack and chase him.  I don't think ND or MSU has the patience or players to do that.

I think MSU got away from the run too much and with an inexperienced Qb they could never stretch the defense.  

ND's Qb looked solid against a meh secondary that reminded me of ours the last few years.  The worst thing for that kind of defense to face is 3-and-long because for some reason the offense will convert and unusually large amouny.

Less wary of MSU.  I've always thought ND would be a challenging game, so my opinion hasn't really changed.  Although Gholson clearly has great potential, I'm kind of relieved he's won the starting job, because as a freshman he might make more poor decisions than an upperclassman like Rees.  We'll have some trouble running on them, but that was true last season as well, and now they'll have a much younger secondary than the one we victimized last year (but which did manage to pick Denard off three times).  I think it will be another classic game.

MSU doesn't scare me.  Stack the box, blitz Maxwell on obvious passing downs, and jump the short routes to the TE.  There's the defensive gameplan in a nutshell.  I believe we can throw on them as long as we don't have 50 mph winds and Denard is settled down and not too amped up for the game.  One fear I do have is that he'll be so anxious to beat those guys that he'll try to do too much.  

 

Relying on a mediocre power running back with average speed behind a decent O-line is very different than relying on a QB. Particularly when that QB has the skill set of Denard. Remember how he beat ND last year with his arm? Very different from how he beat them in 2010 with his feet. I'm tired of media pundits talking about Michigan as a one dimensional team because of 2 games, one of which was against Bama without our starting tailback. All teams are heavily dependent on the QB., Your comparison is way off the mark even for a casual football fan. For a Michigan fan, it's even worse. "Denard is 94% of the offense". Guess what, after yesterday, he's now under 25% of the offense. Should we now start claiming he's not as important? Let's get more data....

State's defense has been playing way over their heads for the past two years. The only players on that unit with any pedigree are Bullough and Tom. Everyone else is overachieving. The defense has been emboldened through its successes, but as with most overachieving types, all that can be undone if they suffer a few losses and start to question their ability. As much as hate to wish good on Ohio, I'd really like to see State get manhandled by the Bucks in a couple weeks just to knock all of States' two- and three-star players' confidence down a few notches. Make them remember they're inferior athletes compared with top programs.

lines that can dominate ours

Neither. They are both where I thought they were before the season.

MSU struggled to put up,points on a bad Boise State Defense. ND shutting down State doesn't say much about ND. Maxwell got sacked when the pocket collapsed on the blitz, Denard would've taken that over pursuit to the house. Transitive law inapplicability and all that, but ND struggled against Purdue, and while the laid it on Navy, so did the pathetic Penn State offense. This game makes me a LOT more confident against Sparty. Their D is still good, but we should still be able to put up 21 or 24 against them, and I now doubt they'll score more than 17.

I agree ND is due... due to have their hopes crushed yet again. Their secondary is going to get Funchised. I think our O Line will finally start to play to their potential, even though Teo will have a few nice plays. Our D has some issues, but our offense looks like it has all the pieces to be potent once everyone just settles into a rhythm.

It will take a tremnendous effort to beat both.  ND is sitting on three straight losses and we are always MSU's superbowl.

My buddies and I were discussing this last night while watching Sparty. Explain to me the massive weight gains (mainly pure muscle) from last season to this with some of the MSU players. Is this the 1980s all over again? I have no proof other than my own two eyes, but how does Bell go from 190# last season to 247# this year and look faster and shifter? Same for Bullough and several other players. Acne, massive muscle gains, anger issues (playing way after the whistle, pushing, shoving, face mask pulling, personal fouls, etc) the last few years are no coincidence. Are we seeing a juiced team again in EL? Just doesn't pass the smell test if you ask me.

With Funchess looking to be a future star and Gardner getting more confidence and experience,  I believe we can fully take advantage of ND's secondary.  Throw in Gallon, Dileo and Roundtree we should feel pretty good.  All comes down to Denard making smart decisions and executing.  That being said were going to have our hands full with there running game..  This will be another close one

I feel better about both.

Next week against Notre Dame, we need to come out passing and passing strong.  Borges, here's your chance.  Denard needs to be accurate and the receivers need to put together one of their better games against a depleted ND secondary.  If we can establish a good passing presence, the running lanes will open.  Notre Dame has a good front seven, but we can beat them with Denard's arm.

As for State, turns out they aren't as good as everyone makes them out to be.  They've got a good defense and nothing for offense.

Both teams have weaknesses and can be beaten, however if we can't play defense and get Denard going we can certainly loose.  Have a feeling that we won't loose against sparty this year though.

MSU's O-line against our defensive line is a toss-up. I think our linebackers are better. MSU's D-line is perhaps stronger than Michigan's, but I wasn't impressed with their defense's open field tackling last night.

ND looked impressive, but they also did last year against MSU. And if memory serves, they beat State by around 20-ish last year as well?

Maybe ND's strengths match up well against MSU's weaknesses? Perhaps last night's game tells us very little about how our game with ND will go?

I see M scoring more points against MSU than last year, with fewer turnovers, because Denard's receiver corps is becoming productive, especially with the Devins in the mix. It's a winnable game. So I'm less worried about MSU now.

As for ND's offense against our defense, I think our linebackers really need to have a great game, because the D-line is still a work in progress. They will score points.

Our offense will also score points against ND, because Denard and our offensive players are not as one-dimensional as State's, and our O-line, though not as good as last year's, is capable.

I think it'll be another classic M-ND shootout. We have a good chance to win. I beleive we match up with them better than State does. Last night's game didn't change my thinking.

Equally.

I'm more weary of both since I think it's clear that they are both better than us right now, especially on the line.

Michigan is Moo U.'s bowl game.  They'll be ready for us no matter how much they sucked (or will suck the rest of the season) Saturday night.