Bulletin Board Material for next year

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"We contained him," defensive tackle Kevin Pickelman said. "We knew he couldn't throw the ball."

B10 or Bust

October 10th, 2010 at 1:16 AM ^

At first, I just thought it was someone who watched the game...yep, Denard can't throw (unless NOBODY is within about 30 yards of the receiver).

A quick check of the roster reveals that Pickleman is 3-0 againt Michigan with 2 of those wins taking place in Ann Arbor.

This "high powered O will save us" has to end....we're in deep shit.

It's time to face reality...we got problems. 

go16blue

October 9th, 2010 at 9:31 PM ^

Whats worse than an ignorant spartan? An ignorant spartan on the one day that theyre right. I wouldnt say that he cant throw (i think any michigan fan knows otherwise), but today... was pretty bad.

SixWingedAngel

October 10th, 2010 at 12:57 AM ^

but the reason why he has had such good success in the pass game is because of the enormous threat he is to run.  Defenders are constantly being exposed out of position because they are too worried about Denard getting loose.  Denard was excessively one-dimensional today because he got panicked and went for the home run instead of making hitting his wide open check downs.  His runs feed off people needing to defend against his arm and his passing counts on people respecting him as a running threat.  The entirety of Denard's threat to opposing defense is predicated on the fact that he makes anything possible on every play.  When he starts being predictable, he isn't yet good enough to execute when the defense can anticipate what will be coming.

bronxblue

October 9th, 2010 at 9:36 PM ^

The only Bulletin Board Material this team needs is 0-3 under RR against MSU.  Let some no-name DT tackle smack if he wants, but a win is a win.

jrt336

October 9th, 2010 at 9:51 PM ^

Yeah the best player in college football the first 5 weeks with the 4th best pass efficiency can't throw. Who the hell is this guy? He can't even start on an average Dline, so he should shut his mouth.

Mannix

October 9th, 2010 at 9:57 PM ^

But he is not a pocket QB. Sparty tried to make him a pocket passer, took away running lanes and made him beat the with his arm. It was a good move and one I'm sure we'll see more of this year.

The lack of adjustments for Michigan's Offensive guru's was not moving the pocket for Denard, getting him in space and putting pressure on the secondary to make moves to help or stay.

BlueGoM

October 9th, 2010 at 9:54 PM ^

They forced him to throw - and got 3 picks.  They did something right.   I will wait for the UFR but I suspect MSU tried to take away the main group of plays that UM has been running and dared UM to throw the ball more - and to be honest Denard doesn't have a lot of experience sitting in the pocket like a traditional QB.   It seemed he had time to throw but couldn't find an open wideout; also he was sacked for the first time I think.

Having said all of that we still moved the ball well - but those INTs in the redzone just killed us.  Towards the end we had to throw ; became a bit one dimensional and that was that.  The blocked FG didn't help either.

Get used to the MSU smack talk .  3 in a row will get you that.   Sad to say.

mgokev

October 9th, 2010 at 9:56 PM ^

I agree.  Despite our WRs dropping some of Denard's well thrown balls, it wasn't his best outing.  We left 24 points on the board by throwing behind the receiver twice, dropping a perfect pass, and kicking it low.

The good news is that these things can, and will, be corrected.

Muttley

October 9th, 2010 at 11:51 PM ^

• The first INT cost 7 points • The overthrow of Stonum cost us 4 (settled for a FG) • Prior to the 2nd INT, which was fairly well covered and would have taken a great throw to complete, DRob short-hopped a wide open Odoms for a first down at the three. • Martell Webb scored on the drive following Roundtree's drop • I don't know if we get to count a 42yd FG as "points left on the board". Everyone knows that's a crapshoot. In defense of Broekhuizen, the center short-hopped the snap, and Doug Rogan did a great job of fielding it and getting it down somewhere. But the somewhere wasn't the expected spot, which has to throw off the kicker.

jmblue

October 10th, 2010 at 1:48 AM ^

And then there was the third INT, which didn't directly cost us points but snuffed out a possession when we were only down two scores (and came on first down, no less).  I still had some hope we could pull it out until that play.  That was pretty much it.

bronxblue

October 9th, 2010 at 9:59 PM ^

But two of this INTs were more a byproduct of Denard making a bad pass than anything MSU did.  That first pick in particular, Denard had Roundtree open with room ahead of him - he just threw behind him.  I'll give MSU credit for bottling Denard and the offense up, but I didn't see MSU do much to stop those 3 straight drops by open WRs at the end of the 3rd.  MSU deserves credit for winning, but sometimes a guy can just make bad plays and not because the defense did anything special.

Gustavo Fring

October 9th, 2010 at 10:48 PM ^

Guess what?  He's starting his sixth game. 

Actually that is what is so scary.  The numbers he is putting up could be SO MUCH better.  And once he gets some more touch on his passes (it'll come)...unstoppable.  He is really close...once he puts it alltogether (I say next year) we will be scary good.

Ghost of Bo

October 10th, 2010 at 1:42 AM ^

It looked to me like one of Denard's major problems today as a passer was his inability to get 'air under the ball'.
 

Many of his seemingly ill-advised throws were actually decent reads, but the passes were flat and delivered at a bad trajectory. It's hard to expect a natural speedster quarterback, in his sixth start, to have the touch to deliver the balls necessary to cut-up a good defense singlehandedly.

In time, as Denard adds more and more passing skills to his arsenal, he will emerge as a true dual threat. For now, he needs to try not to force the ball into tight spots, check down when it's not there, and take what the defense gives him.

I love his tenacity and his confidence. He will come around; touch takes time. Keep the faith in Shoelace. Those who stay will be champions.