CFN Michigan Preview
Overall:
http://cfn.scout.com/2/1079488.html
Best offensive player: Junior
RBDenard Robinson.
Off:
http://cfn.scout.com/2/1079486.html
Def:
http://cfn.scout.com/2/1079485.html
Depth Chart:
http://cfn.scout.com/2/1079484.html
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Enjoy?....
On defense, for best pro prospect they have Cam Gordon as a safety, after they list him as an unsung star on the rise as a linebacker...
But on Cam Gordon, has anyone seen him recently? He's huge. He looks like last year's Cam's older brother. I was a little concerned he was too light this year for SLB, but that doesn't seem like it will be the case
Saw him at DQ and he looked good. Can't wait to see him play this year.
Michigan 1st Quarter Points Allowed: 64 – Michigan 2nd Quarter Points Allowed: 194
States key game is ND, which I disagree with. I think a robust, mid season, conference win vs a tough opponent is key so I would have said the MSU game. RR beat ND twice and that didn't go very well in the long run.
remember that Notre Dame will head into the game as a top 20 or 15 team in the country. a win would build some good momentum
ND is an important game, but winning a conference game, a division game, an instate rival game, i think sets the tone of the program as being vastly different from past years.
part of me really wants to say that the game at Northwestern is a bigger game than ND as well. you can argue that a conference win on the road against a team that is on a similar reputation nationally and in the conference would mean more that a game against a team that, based on last season's records and the new coaching staff and system at UM, you might not be expected to beat (msu).
all in all - THEY ARE ALL KEY GAMES, some are more keyer than others.
The last couple of years of starting strong and falling off will be what everyone will talk about if UM starts off 6-0. This year's ND game is different due to their(hopefully legit this time)high rank, It could be a spring board to the MSU game/mid season.
So what I guess I'm saying is maybe this year it does matter. Plus it never gets old watching Lou Holtz lose his fricking mind.
Why do you hope their ranking is legitimate? I've got no problem with ND remaining mediocre.
I remember when RR beat ND for the first time. The old guy next to me was pretty much crying and he had been to every game for the last 30 years. It was something to get excited about, it was crazy during that game. It felt like Michigan was going to be ok and that we were going to be amazing that year, obviously everyone was wrong. I think ND sets the tone for the season. WMU will be a decent first impression but we will all sit back and say "lets just wait and see what we do next week before we get excited" and if we beat ND we have a good chance of starting off 5/6-0 and making that MSU game another really big one.
with RR beating ND 2 out of 3 and losing to MSU and osu 3 times , do you think people won't freak out if Michigan loses to ND this year? The 2 years RR won ND was the better team in most peoples opinions at the end of the season. Notre Dame is definately a key game but so is MSU, Neb and OSU.
Crist should never have come back into the game and Kelley proved that he's an asshole by playing a kid with an obvious head injury
I can't remember if Kelly gave him that pained "I just got pummeled in the prison shower pity" look when he told him he couldn't see out of one his eyes and he threw him back in. I'm glad he coaches there, makes the hate real, not forced like with Bob Davie or Ty.
(w/ apologies to the late kid whom the ND staff took for granted).
a few weeks before that game, our secondary wouldn't have been so vulnerable. And Kelly was a moron for calling a trick play pass to Jonas Mouton with a freshman QB.
Wait a second, we get all five offensive line starters back? When did Schilling get a sixth year of eligibility?
Seriously, do these people even research teams before they put out previews?
Molk was injured so we had 6 OL starters last year - 5 of them are back. That still counts as "5 starters backs" - he didn't say "all" he just said "5." As much as Fui gets wrong he got this one right.
You are thinking of 2009 when he missed the majority of the season due to foot and knee injuries.
Molk left the game against Iowa for a while (and Khoury filled in), but Dave started each and every contest.
Right. Either way, we have 5 guys on the OL with starting experience so the point still stands.
Considering that most of the season both Schilling and Dorrestein were starters on the OL, even saying 4 returning starters is a stretch. If he's saying 5 starters, I don't know who they would be, since I don't know if we have 5 guys who started even one game last year.
Lewan, Molk, and Omameh are the only true returning starters, but I could see including Huyge since he has started a few games, but I wouldn't consider him a "starter." That's 3 or 4, depeinding on how generous you want to be. I don't know who the 5th would be, considering Ricky Barnum is the 5th projected starter and he's never started a game for us.
I don't mean to turn this into a great global debate about RR. But I am tired of people hinting that his "system" was about to magically click and work if we would have just given him one more year. The only system i saw was an undiscipline, mistake prone system that yearly got worse as the season rolled on. My stomach turns at the thought of someone like this writer hinting at the fact that he has seen the future and holding "what could have been over our head". The fact was that Rich Rod's three teams that took the field against Ohio we're wholly unprepared. This year's team was lost, even. Most importantly, for whatever reason/excuse you like to use to help score some sleep at night, his incredible spread n shred offense that was apparently about to break open and take a major athletic dump on the collective chest of the college football world was also held scoreless in the final three quarters of the gator bowl, a game he and the team had WEEKS to prepare for. Save me the "what could have been", sooth saying Cleveland Steamers.
I could not agree with you more. The games the past few years have been borderline unwatchable, especially with the defence being unable to to stop anyone. I am super excited for this year just for something different. I cannot stand the RR apologists.
Notre Dame will be a crucial test. It's at home and it's a night game. Presuming Michigan beats Western, the ND game will set the tone for the season.
Of course MSU & OSU (and Nebraska, Michigan's soon-to-be second biggest rival -- sorry ND and MSU) will be huge games as well. But a bad loss at home to the Domers will be bad mojo, while a nice win sets up a contending season.
Really? Why is this on here? Brian has an LOL CFN tag for a reason. This is the same guy who said that a cruical part of ND's team was a player who passed away like a week before he came out with the article.
As mentioned above he doesn't know what position Denard plays. He doesn't know that Schilling graduated.
Don't give this guy page views. You know who our most important players are, and you get way better analysis here
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and tags of "no dead players"
Were between astriods hitting Ohio and fall camp.
However I think that we get WAY better analysis here every day
We do, but were 100% UM psychos and don't have to worry about other teams or conferences as these "national guys" who just gloss over every team. I would like to have our own on our opponents during the off season through other blogs to get a gauge on the competition and not just the cream skimmed by national media. We just have to make it a month and a half till August.
Sounds like another t shirt idea to me.
As mentioned above he doesn't know what position Denard playsYeah, playing Devil's advocate, neither does the Big 10 when they elect him Big Ten Offensive Player of the year but don't list him as one of the top QBs in the conference.
...that our kicking game should be better, which wasn't mentioned.
sure as hell better not be worse
Northwestern fans might agree with that, but the college football world in general and the vast majority of the UM fan base would laugh at that idea right now. If nothing else, which program do we recruit most directly against, NW or ND?
If Brian Kelly does the same thing to ND that Weis did, and Fitzgerald has NW in the top echelon of the Big Ten for more than one year, then it's possible that NW might surpass ND in importance.
Dan Persa scares me, I was hoping he was a senior last year. I hope our D figures out the whole "scabling QB" thing thats haunted us since Tony Rice.
Reading that felt damn good. Better than coffee to get my morning going.
I can't get enough pre-season previews, regardless of how far off base they may be on several points.
Not new thread worthy - encouraging words from Troy Woolfolk this morning on wtka regarding his health; sounds like he is feeling good and said this past year has allowed him to study the game a lot more and he feels like a better athlete than before the injury. Also mentioned Al Backey as, "playing the best football i've ever seen him play," noted he saw something in Avery early on indicating he was going to be a quality player and raved about Carvin, saying he may go down as one of the best safeties to wear the helmet that's got wings.
I have to imagine this was mentioned in a thread somewhere a few days ago; I believe it was TomVH who tweeted that Roh is up to 267 or so, witht he coaches wanting him at 270 by camp. diesel.
Coaches Tour event, I asked Coach Hoke about Troy Woolfolk's recovery, and he said Woolfolk is coming along great!!! He went on to explain some of the things he has been doing, like participating in 7 on 7 drills. It sounds like he will be fine and back in time for summer practices.
Who is Al Backey?
man, that's great news on Woolfolk.
Al Backey:
http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/backey_al00.html
if memory serves, he was running with the 1's opposite Avery inthe spring game. a walk-on I believe? 3rd year guy, if nothing else, maybe can provide some servicable depth at cb.
division is a huge reach.
Beating MSU is much more important than beating ND this year. When Michigan beats ND, it doesn't affect instate recruiting a lot. When they beat MSU, it makes it more difficult for MSU to recruit instate. Since Michigan and ND have a "national brand" while MSU really doesn't, losing recruits to Michigan can cripple Sparty's program.
As for ND, Michigan should be expected to lose. If Greg Mattison is a magician, the defense will be as good as that of ND. Since he is human, we would have to give the edge on defense to ND. Even if they are even, it would still leave a second-year spread offense against a first-year WCO team that may or may not still be struggling to learn the offense. It could get ugly.
By the MSU game, though, the offense should be a lot better. MSU has lost a lot of personnel, but still think they are going to go 11-1 every year. Their constant bragging will bite them on the ass in that game. Michigan's offense will be at least competent by then and the defense will find a way to stop them on sheer hatred if nothing else.
The rah-rah Michigan Man train has gathered a lot of steam this year, especially on the recruiting trail. Everybody feels the program is "headed in the right direction." But losing to MSU this time around could undermine everything. MSU is THE essential game this year. Even a loss to TSIO would be more tolerable and have less effect on the momentum Brady Hoke has gathered so far than a loss to MSU.
MSU must go down. There is no other option.
"6'7 310-pound redshirt freshman Kristian Mateus has the potential to grow into a good left tackle with a little time."
CFN got it wrong Kristen Mateus plays for Syracuse /s