Leonhall

September 5th, 2015 at 7:38 PM ^

Exactly how I felt Canadian, people didn't understand how tough it was going to be to beat them at home, that being said, arguably we should have, which like I said, may end up making us a better team later. We could have opened against a MAC opponent, blew them out and then been very disappointed later on.



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Joined: 06/14/2012

MGoPoints: 16430

swalburn

September 5th, 2015 at 7:38 PM ^

I guess I don't mind one quality opponent, but we could be 2-2 for the second straight year after the non-conference.  We could go 5-3 or 6-2 in the league and be 7-5 or 8-4.  If we played cupcakes we would be 9-3 or 10-2 and feel a lot better about ourselves.  I know it is sad but you are as good as your record says you are.  Michigan could have benefited from a couple lesser opponents so they could get their mojo before the league starts.

Joined: 11/24/2011

MGoPoints: 8025

UMForLife

September 5th, 2015 at 7:42 PM ^

We came our of game 1 pretty healthy. We have good video for coaching. We don't get cocky because we won. Our WRs and Butt look great. I am looking forward to the rest of the season. Let us see what we can do.

Joined: 11/04/2013

MGoPoints: 63393

LSAClassOf2000

September 5th, 2015 at 8:10 PM ^

As a Michigan fan, the bright side of Week 1 under a totally different coaching staff is that - even though we lost - there were a lot of positive takeaways that reinforce my belief that we've moved in the right direction after a long time. 

Then again, we lost to a respectable team by one TD and Penn State lost to a team that it should really have no business losing to, so there is that.

Joined: 01/07/2011

MGoPoints: 130623

m83econ

September 5th, 2015 at 8:28 PM ^

There was a lot of Penn State love from the pundits in the offseason with James Franklin the major cause. Sure, he got Vanderbilt to mediocrity, much of it due to watered down non-conference schedules, but haven't seen anything in the big ten that shows he's an upper echelon coach.

Joined: 09/13/2008

MGoPoints: 7295

JamieH

September 5th, 2015 at 9:40 PM ^

Almost every play we ran MADE SENSE.  Yeah, we probably ran a few too many up-the- middle runs, but they were used to set up really nice play-action passes that were generally effective.  We had makable 3rd downs that we converted at a decent rate.  We took some deep shots at good spots to take them, and the shots were THERE, they just didn't connect.  3rd down passing plays almost always went past the sticks.  There were NO SACKS.  When Utah didn't cover the quick bubble screen, we kept running it over and over again.  We got the ball to our best offensive player (Butt) a ton.  While Smith still lacks some vision at RB, he ran with a ton of effort and never stops his legs moving--if we can ever open some creases for him where he is SUPPOSED to go, he will pick up yards.  The defense, in general, played well.  The special teams looked OK outside of long FGs. 

Yeah, the team didn't win because we have a talent deficit on offense, but duh, we kind of expected that.  What I saw was that this coaching staff, once they start infusing the program with some talent upgrades at a few key positions,  is going to put a really exciting team out there on the field IMO. 

Joined: 09/05/2009

MGoPoints: 28331

Rug Dog

September 6th, 2015 at 1:49 PM ^

There were huge holes that Smith missed.  Yeah, our run blocking is a work in progress, but for being a work in progress they did open some holes.  I paused the game a few times and seen massive holes that Smith just missed flat out.  One of them was a touchdown, easily.  Honestly, they need to let Isaac get a few more reps, he hit holes and bounced it outside a couple times, to which Smith never does.

Joined: 10/05/2014

MGoPoints: 1502

kurpit

September 5th, 2015 at 10:04 PM ^

I've seen a couple people elsewhere comparing Franklin to Hoke and I didn't buy it at first but then some Penn State fans described him as having a good first year, recruiting well but not developing talent, and having a swiss cheese offensive line. Suddenly, the comparison seemed eerily accurate.

Joined: 02/25/2009

MGoPoints: 9237

Wolverdore

September 6th, 2015 at 12:03 PM ^

I think Franklin is a fraud. While I appreciate what he did for Vandy, he did it with smoke and mirrors. They have a week non-conference schedule year in and year out. Then they had Tennessee and Florida both down for the years he was there. Furthermore, their crossover games with the SEC West were against the weaker opponents, not including Bama or Auburn. He did better than any recent Vandy coach, but it was a perfect storm for him. He can recruit, but can he coach. Sounds familiar to me.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 82

SysMark

September 6th, 2015 at 12:29 AM ^

Northwestern is pretty good.  Stamford lost but right now they're not much different than us - lost to a good team on the road in Week 1.

Penn State was an unmitigated disaster.  In the first quarter it looked like they might win 50-0, then they got absolutely, completely schooled.

I loved it

Joined: 11/15/2008

MGoPoints: 21688

unWavering

September 6th, 2015 at 7:50 AM ^

Not sure why people were high on Penn State this year. Sure, their defense looked like it could be good but their offense couldn't do anything last year and there wasn't much reason to think it could this year. Also, I don't get the hype for Hackenberg, I've never watched him and thought he looked good at all.

Joined: 01/13/2011

MGoPoints: 22437

mexwolv

September 6th, 2015 at 12:01 PM ^

Was actually seeing a Head Coach in total control of his football team, in constant communication with other coaches and players, much better play-calling.

That alone makes me thing this season, regardless of our record, will be a total success.

Playing smart and better execution may put us on a 4-game winnging streak.  Hope that turns out to be the case.

Go Blue!

Joined: 09/06/2014

MGoPoints: 6004