The Crappy UMass Performance Was A Good Thing

Michigan played like crap against (let's be honest) a solid team. That team was way better than bad FBS teams (anyone out there think Ohio would be umASS)?

The fact that Michigan won while playing that "terribly" should be a point of encouragement.

I think last year, watching the Indiana game, we knew something wasn't right.  The team was banged up already and not playing with the same energy as earlier in the season.  The loss of momentum was clear even from our 3rd and 4th wins.

So my main concern for Saturday is that we clog this momentum loss.  It's important to come out with energy and build momentum for the Big 10 schedule.  We need to be building towards something, not holding onto dear life and coming away with wins.

I think most of us just want to see a team that is more physically mature, who is able to get stronger as the season gets deeper.  Again, I don't want to see another Indiana against BG or IU the week after.  We need to build towards MSU and beyond.

It was a very flat performance, on defense especially.  The defense is not great at this point, but they are not that bad.  They exhaled on the same day that UMass had their superbowl, and that was that.  I do believe their focus was lacking, but I don't believe for a minute, nor did I at the time, that the game was ever in jeopardy.   

Running backs were solid, Junior Hemingway got his feet wet.  No injuries.

The game was not representative of what this team will or won't do in Big Ten play, or even next week.  It was a stupid game, end of story

Agreed, however FCS teams have proven over the last few years that they are not "cupcake" opponents any longer. Every game is a do or die situation IMO every year for every team. Either way, I think our team learns from their mistakes and carries that on throughout the remainder of the season. 8 - 10 wins this season is a strong possibility if our defense can make stops and allow our offense to just play and not have to be pressured to score every time we have the ball (although that it always what I expect from this high-powered and talented offense).

Good things:

- We won

- Lessons learned - we will get better off this

It wasn't a good thing or a bad thing. It was just a "thing". Team performance isn't a static, unchanging quality, and teams don't churn out the same performance every game - they just don't. I know everyone wants to pick through the bones of this performance, but it's not, at this point, more indicative of anything than the last two prior games.

I've seen Big 10 Champion Michigan teams trail San Diego State at home in the 4th quarter. This shit happens. Until they go out and make this level of performance consistent, this is just a game we managed to pull out despite not playing that well.

It will help keep them focused.  Defense has potential, but a lot of work to do.  I just hope they get to a good place over the next two games.

The few mistakes at the end of the game made the game close, when it shouldn't have been.

with a win and a chance to address the issues.

We will see this UMass game plan again and again this season as we play safe to protect the secondary and opponantes seek to keep the UM offense off the field. 

We will improve if the secondary gets a bit healthier and gets better so we won't have to protect them as much.

That said, the DLs and LBs must keep contain and get some kind of presuure on the QB.

No, not UMASS.

against MSU, OSU & Wisky.  One of them I wanna beat because I am tired of their chest puffing & tired of their sorry ass less than mediocre team beating us, and the other two because I feel they are our biggest & best competition of the year & have no chance at winning unless the D shows up with it's best offering. 

A close game allows us to thin the herd - that bandwagon was getting pretty crowded.

Rich Rod talked last week about "being good enough to play poorly and still win".

I think that needs to be qualified by the level of competition.

We were good enough to play UMass poorly and still win (and perhaps BG next week) but we're not at the level where we can play the Illinois, Purdues, and MSUs of the world poorly and win.  

For me it's the definition of the difference between a 6-7 win team and a 8+ win team.

Mike Martin is a great player. Seriously, he makes HALF the plays on defnse.  He is Michigan's only great player on defense.  Roh isn't there yet, he still needs to gain more bulk and power.

If Martin gets injured, I shudder to think how bad the defense will be.

Banks is a pretty good player. he made a number of solid, tenacious plays.

Van Bergen needs to step it up.  He's been invisible.

Thomas Gordon is pretty good.

Mouton still runs himself out of too many damn plays. 

Obi Ezeh is terrible.  Sorry.  Watch the game again and do nothing but watch Obi.  Not only does he react slowly, but he misses tackles and can't shed a block to save his life. Its to the point where I'm starting to question his desire.  He plays soft.   And that isn't GERG's fault.   The most troubling thing is...there isn't ANYBODY better than this guy?  Demens?  Anyone?

Clearly they are halfway there: the offense lost focus and still put up 42 points and over 500 yards.  The defense lost focus and... sucked.  But there is hope that at least they are moving in the direction of the elite teams who can lose focus after huge, emotional victories and still come away with solid wins against crappy teams.

A win is a win.  We need 3 more for Bowl Eligibility, and that's fine by me.  Get them how you take them for now.  Then take them however you want to later.