Diversions?/Observations!
I'm a little curious about the starting RB situation. If Rawls was the starter, why did Smith get (seemingly) 80% of the carries? Was it a diversion for the Alabama D's prep work? (BTW, I hold Smith in high regard; he is tough!)
Also, it was a little surprising that Roundtree was targeted very little. I spit a mouthful of water out unintentionally after the DG TD; my wife said, "Well at least that play finally worked!" Oh, it sure did!
I feel that Michigan played a strong game against an excellent team that will dominate its conference (and division this time?). They did not give up; they nearly outplayed Bama in the second half & they scored more points than LSU did!
OL/DL strength; guess which team walked away with the pair of sacks!
All in all, It's Still Great to Be a Michigan Wolverine!
September 2nd, 2012 at 12:09 AM ^
Yeah our lines really outplayed theirs. /s
September 2nd, 2012 at 12:09 AM ^
MODS: Lock it down! Too many 100 point poster threads! Wasn't the game bad enough to have to live through?
September 2nd, 2012 at 1:27 AM ^
What about this thread upsets you? Every single point the OP makes is sound and factual.
Everyones down tonight, but we have 11 weeks (at a minimum) to improve and I think we all agree that there's going to be a ton of positive weeks in our future.
September 2nd, 2012 at 1:35 AM ^
Not everyone needs their own thread.
September 2nd, 2012 at 12:09 AM ^
Devin actually beat the Bama DB's several times... His problem was he turns the wrong way constantly when a ball is thrown at him and Denard still can't throw that accurately to wide open guys. Other than a couple nice throws he struggled. But most of that was cause Bama is disgusting..
Norfleet should be in our starting RB rotation.. sorry, but this kid is gonna be the truth in years to come. He's an upgraded version of V. Smith. Much faster, can juke. Probably take one to the house this season i feel.
Other than that Taylor lewan is back at his old tricks of ruining drives with penalties..
Hope countess isn't hurt too long. Good thing we have a few games where we prob dont need him coming up
September 2nd, 2012 at 12:15 AM ^
I would old off on the "old tricks" thoughts. He had a couple of penalties but at least one was a weak call. He is our best oline man and highly rated for a reason. He had a great season last year and we are on game in this year.
Otherwise I agree with many of your thoughts.
September 2nd, 2012 at 12:53 AM ^
It's like the guy has been playing QB all his life and really had an off night at WR.
September 2nd, 2012 at 12:10 AM ^
I think every one of us should start our own individual threads re how we felt about the game.
September 2nd, 2012 at 12:15 AM ^
the wrong game, my friend, or perhaps you have a less than firm grasp on reality...
The Michigan game I watched tonight was a blow-out in which we had very few redeeming qualities. I believe we'll improve throughout the year, but you need to take off your maize-colored glasses.
September 2nd, 2012 at 12:19 AM ^
Want a diversion? Watch RR lose to Toledo again on ESPN U
September 2nd, 2012 at 12:22 AM ^
Here's a diversion: Arizona's first half has produced 331 yards but only 10 points. RichRod's offense is consistent.
September 2nd, 2012 at 12:22 AM ^
what the hell were you watching?
A total domination by a better team and a better coaching staff. To watch Borges try and turn Shoelace into Tom Brady was a disgrace. What was the ONE THING THAT BAMA WAS WORRIED ABOUT? Denard's legs, and Borges did nothing, nothing to use this to his advantage...no spread option...multiple handoffs to arguably the slowest RB in the stable....at least Norfleet showed he has some wheels and i would have liked to see him carry the ball. I guess they were worried about fumbling, so giving Smith the ball over 10 times to gain a yard or two was an acceptable compromise.
Here's the rub...we want to avoid the tomato can games, but it sure looks like it would have done team 133 some good to play easier competition in game 1.
So be it, they lost, they learn and hopefully have that cliche'd improvement from game 1 to game 2. Of course the competition next week doesn't hurt. But its the triple option, so some additional frustration will happen next week.
The topper is that injuries happen, but they are less likely to happen against inferior competition in earlier season games since most of your ones don't play the whole game. Just unlucky for Countess and Moore to get hurt, but playing Lewan with 4 mins left in the game when its 41-14 is plain stupid. The back ups should have been in and there is no one that can reasonably argue this fact.
I find it a bit ironic that Arizona is losing to Toledo right now...could Rich Rod lose to Toledo twice in his inaugural seasons at a new program at home?
I guess the saving grace of today is that the B10 looks abosolutely awful (save OSU) and there's a lot of football to be played. Let's hope Countess and Lewan are available for most of the conference schedule.
Go Blue! Those Who Stay Will Be Champions!
September 2nd, 2012 at 12:25 AM ^
That you can't make a thread after a loss without the drunks raiding it.
September 2nd, 2012 at 12:26 AM ^
One more: Denard's reaction to Bellomy's interception is going to be (probably already is) an epic gif.
September 2nd, 2012 at 12:33 AM ^
That was my thought the moment I saw the camera shot!
September 2nd, 2012 at 12:37 AM ^
A song from Les Miserables prior to uM punting?
September 2nd, 2012 at 12:42 AM ^
They played "Look Down" from Les Miserables, which I kinda wish we had come up with.
September 2nd, 2012 at 12:47 AM ^
Alabama fight song stuck in my head
September 2nd, 2012 at 12:50 AM ^
we got absolutely destroyed by their monstrous o-line. the better team won tonight so just give credit where credit is due.
September 2nd, 2012 at 12:56 AM ^
They got off to a much better start than we did. Countess got injured and they jumped on that, Denards first passes were against NFL talent and they jumped on that. Wipe the shaky first quarter away and look at how we settled in to the game and we performed well. Held them to a few 3 and outs and 50+yard fg attempts. 20-14 for the last 3 quarters. They blew right by us at the beginning, though.
September 2nd, 2012 at 1:14 AM ^
you sound pathetic with your rationalizations of " a few three and outs" move on man. Stop trying to cling to false realities.
September 2nd, 2012 at 12:58 AM ^
When the hell did Mealer move to center and Barnum move to guard?
September 2nd, 2012 at 1:40 AM ^
Alabama plays an entirely less perfect game in all facets and scrapes by someone like Ole Miss or Vanderbilt I'll probably be a little pissed.
Rawls--clearly the most overhyped RB since Grady. Fitz is all we have
D-line--rateing anyone against that Oline is just unfair, I saw some good things but how would you know with 5 future NFL starters clobbering your guys all night.
Oline--I thought did ok, Bama had to blitz to create pressure most of the time, the run blocking was probably better than it looked since we had no backs that were capable of getting to the hole like Fitz.
Roe--???????? Demens--?????????
Borges--overrated play caller, 3,000 yard career rushing QB runs the ball twice in the first half and despite last years Iowa game and the lessons learned after he still has Denard under center on 2nd and long. That's just dumb or stubborn. IN his defense, he's limited by an offense that had no RB today, and hardly any receiving threat. But still man, Denard under center ='s death
Tackling--was terrible, I don't know how anyone could observe differently but the whole team did at least play with a physical edge, they were just outmanned pretty much everywhere.
Receivers--who knows what we have, Denard can't get them the ball often enough in stride.
Denard--just didn't look improved throwing the ball at all, and I saw little evidence he can read a defense yet.
The upside-- No team on the remaining schedule including a bowl opponent is even close to Alabama in talent and coaching.
September 2nd, 2012 at 1:42 AM ^
My observation is we just got thrashed
September 2nd, 2012 at 2:00 AM ^
Before you bitch about Vincent smith running on short yardage, think about or review his blocks tonight.
I still love this team. Go blue!!
September 2nd, 2012 at 2:32 AM ^
Saban has his guys playing at a whole different level and sadly our guys weren't ready to handle their offense or defense. We were dominated in the trenches, Denards passing game was off by a mile and to make matters worse our defense reminded me of 2010 and there is work that needs to be done. Why wasn't Denard using his legs?! Borges should have had several plays where he should of ran but didn't. His throwing still worries me and its obvious without Toussaint we have no running game to take the pressure off of Denard. Im hoping Lewan is ok. We have some work to do before Air Force but I see us winning that game in a blow out. Alabama is beyond B10 level right now and they deserve to be ranked in the top 3. Learn from this loss. Move forward and make improvements. Still a long way to go! GO BLUE.
September 2nd, 2012 at 10:18 AM ^
It appears that this year we will struggle with teams that are power running teams with big backs. Our D Line does not look capable of dominating and our back 7 seem intent on trying to arm tackle. If we don't improve dramatically we will be in trouble against the good B10 teams again. From what I saw last night 5 in row against the hated Sparty's is a real possibility
September 2nd, 2012 at 10:59 AM ^
Bell is good but their OL can't hold a candle to Alabama's. Also, Maxwell flips out whenever he's under any pressure, and the one thing M did well last night (besides punt) was rush the passer.