DEFENSE. I think Michigan is finally on the right track. I think the talent on that side of the ball will finally be better utilized, and with the coaching and aggressive play on both sides of the ball, I can't wait until fall. Finally, defenders knowing how to get off the block and swarm to the ball. Like one of the previous commentors said, the D didn't look like road cones...
lots of things looked "in progress" today, but it was great to see a defense that looked halfway competent on the field again. My god, last year's D was a horror.
Wait! We played a GAME today?
8-4/9-3.
what, you mean the offense isn't the best ever after like 10 practices (whatever it was) in a transition spring? fuck me, we're screwed!
/s
I predict we'll have more people freaking out...Ha Ha!
Ok kidding (well not really).
Here's what I got:
If we don't get serious about acquiring some speed at safety this will serve as the defense's biggest liability. Hoke & Mattison know this. I love Kovacs but he needs a speedy partner. (Raymon Taylor, can you close the deal and grow an inch. or two?). Otherwise, I think we're set on D with one closing note - more competition from the second unit please.
As for the offense and our quest for Manball Supremacy aka "WE will run the power play and get downhill..."SCRAP it. The Coaches should learn some spread. My 2-cents is this ,work the power-play-west-coast-blah blah blah in gradually to the offense.
If Denard and Co. can add a back who can go the distance on any down with zone blocking (there I said it - because that's what we have - an OL of vets who know how to zone block). At this point we don't seem to have that guy. (We have a little Vinny who promptly welcomed Mr. Evans back to the Big Ten with a BLOW at the line! Here Here and what else is new!) It would be so rad dudes if one of our freshmen recruits came in and claimed that role. We'll see...
All in all I think the staff did a tremendous job of placing all expectations where they should be! WONDERING...OH OH OH OH WONDERING!
The kids will have their assignments for the offseason and Denard will...well, he'll come back as Denard. =]
P.S. Mega holds on that Cox run...MEGA! Come'on second units! =(
Does anybody on this staff know zone blocking?
I'm fairly certain some of our more successful running plays were using zone blocking, though I'll have to rewatch the motherfucker to be sure.
You're right that our offensive line has not yet picked up on the blocking scheme, but that doesn't mean they won't. We've been running a zone scheme since the late Carr years and it's a big change to ask of guys who have been recurited to/running that scheme for years.
One comment though:
All in all I think the staff did a tremendous job of placing all expectations where they should be!
The big thing is that I think they drastically lowered everyone's expectations. I certainly don't think they raised anyone's, at least.
I predict our uniforms will continue to look awesome, that is what I took from todays game.
9-4 . It was only a spring game and more like a controlled practice at that. Chill.
I don't know whether the defense was good or the offense was bad. Either way, I was extremely disappointed seeing Denard and Devin today. Also, we have no established running back, and this kind kind of offense needs a featured back. Hopefully Hopkins or maybe even Cox (!!) can step up. I miss the days of the A-Train, Chris Perry, or Hart running it 30 times a game. Let's get back to traditional Michigan football. However, I think the defense did a good job today. Also we were missing Floyd and Woolfolk in the secondary. I hope Carvin Johnson can lock down that safety spot. He was in the right place at the right time today. I was disappointed by the play today, but I'm extremely optimistic about the upcoming season. We have a very favorable schedule with Nebraska, tOSU, and ND all at home, and we don't have to play Wisco or Penn St. Like many people have said on here, they've only had 15 practices so we shouldn't worry too much. Go BLUE!!
The defense is ahead of the offense. After the last couple of years that may seem bizarre and disorienting, but it's normally quite common.
Our offense has guys that can make plays. I'm not too worried about them. I'm more encouraged by the defense today, if anything.
8-4, tossup in bowl game.
42, 133, Ohio. Lots of slobbering by the Old Guard. Woot.
the defense will be agressive and tackle better.
there would still be some portion of MGoBlogland that would be flipping out.
If the offense ran the defense ragged all day long, people would be jumping off of Burton Tower and shouting "Mattison doesn't know what he's doing arrrghhhh" on their way to the pavement.
If Denard was completing every pass, people would be moaning about defensive backs who can't cover and why wasn't Corwin Brown hired instead of Kurt Mallory.
If Will Campbell had sacked the QB on every play, people would be apoplectic about how our horrible OL can't control an obvious 5-star bust like WC.
If Furman had caught Cox from behind, people would be complaining about how slow Cox is.
It's the nature of intrasquad games—there's something for everybody who wants to make themselves miserable.
100 times this. I'm shocked by the number of "glass half-empty" people on this board. Cox had a very impressive TD run. The defensive pressure disrupted Denard. The defense was not afraid to lay massive hits whenver they could. This attitude makes the Spring Game so much easier (and much more fun) to watch.
Shhhhhhhhh! Don't tell anyone.
I seem to recall horrible predictions after the M basketball team had a 1-3 (I believe, correct if I'm wrong) stint in Europe.
I also remember the Lions going 4-0 in preseason before going 0-16 in the regular season.
My point: practice games like these mean little to nothing about what's going to come unless something is glaringly obvious. Even then, proper coaching and devotion can help to make these shortcomings a little less horrific. As has been stated for the billionth time, this was their 15th practice in a new system. I will only BEGIN to be worried if they look like they did in this Spring Game a week before Western.
Borges obviously wanted Denard to focus on his transition to the new offense. We all know Denard can run the ball. If Denard went Denard on the D for the entire Spring Game, we would be having this exact same fucking thread with people jumping ship saying "OMG Denard can't run the offense he's a RR player through and through and I like run on sentences and poor punctuation".
I've said it before and I'll say it again: I doubted Denard before his Sophomore year and strongly wanted Tate and his starting experience over him. I will never doubt the man's ability to learn and improve ever again. He'll improve in this system. Once it gets closer to crunch time, the coaches will play to Denard's strengths if he is the quarterback. I mean, having a pocket threat AND a running threat is much more dangerous than just one or the other.
The defense was the big question mark today, and their hustle to the ball and willingness to deliver big hits was a major plus. It's fairly obvious (to me at least) the defense's philosophy has been preached ad-naseum and the players are buying in. Of course they're not going to be 100% adjusted to the new system, but the energy and willingness to fight is as strong as ever.
Prediction? 50+ more threads by the end of the month screaming why Borges is ruining Denard. Oh, you meant W-L? 9-4 with the strong possibility of 10-3.
Offense was horrible, defense seemd to blitz on every play. Like an earlier prediction offense will be worse and defense will be better, I'm guessing 6-6. Not sure why we had to completely break the offense. Oh and by the way, it was boring as hell as well.
I'm sorry Cox's long TD run while plowing over people, DG's touch pass to the corner of the endzone, and DG's bomb and miraculous catch by some guy I don't remember that moved the offense from its own 6 to midfield wasn't entertaining enough for you. I'd like for you to go up to Jake Ryan and Mike Martin and tell them they were boring to watch.
Well then you shouldn't have watched it.
the RR offense from last year against the defensive 1st team this year. Fantasy, I know, but reading the comments on this thread, it would've answered a lot of questions for us common folk.
That said, I think it will be a big mistake if Borges and Hoke insist on establishing pro style as the base offense this season. There is so much upside to this team if the spread and zone blocking remains as the base offense with pro style mixed in as a change of pace. If this happens I see 8 wins as the minimum with a great chance at double digits. If it's mostly pro style with spread mixed in, the win minimum drops to 6. IME.
I hope they learn the lesson from RR.
In 2008 he had some pretty good success against ND and Iowa pounding Minor in the Pro-I. I'm convinced that if he would have run some more of that, especially against the weaker teams on the schedule, he would have picked up a few extra wins and lived to fight another day. He could have installed the spread a little bit less Cold Turkey.
Hoke and Borges DO NOT need a losing season to start off with. By any means necessary, get to 7 wins and a bowl game. There will be plenty of time to install a pure Pro offense.
Shitty as things looked today, it was still better than what was seen against Wisconsin, OSU or Mississippi State
We put up 28 points on No. 7 Wisconsin, second highest total all year by any of their opponents. You compare today's offense to that? I think MANBALL has replaced Charlie Sheen as the drug everyone is on.
April 16th, 2011 at 10:54 PM ^
and we lost the damn game and were in fact never really IN it. Why? NO defense and NO special teams. We were embarrassed by MSU, OSU, and Miss State for the same reasons.
Time to move on.
It said today's nightmare of an offense was better than last years. That is insane.
Yes, we lost to Wisconsin, etc., last year because of defense and special teams. To think that RR's offense was the problem is lunacy. Time to move on.
Making predictions after a scrimmage?
Worst idea ever.
if i am going to be wrong, i am going to be a lot wrong.
potato salad
14-0
It's only 15 practices into a whole new system. Don't be a dumbass and wait until September to make your predictions.
13-0.
<br>
<br>Realistically, I would say 8-9 wins if the defense plays like it did today. The offense will come around, so if the D can make plays at a competent level that should translate to a good season.
I'm going to say 8 wins, with a win over MSU and/or OSU. Our defense looks much better, and it will take pressure off of the offense. We're not going to have the juggernaut offense that we had last year, but DR and DG will learn the offense enough to put up points.
of comments. Some of you see the Spring Game as it should, a simple, open to the public exhibition/practice, in poor weather. You know it's only April. Some seem to have suffered such trauma during the past three years that I believe I see some ptsd in the fanbase. Others are predicting records already in a post on the Spring Game. Love the loyalty, but it's way, way too early to know what will happen this fall. I think we can all agree this will be a team with players on the field that play with more intensity, with better habits in the 'fundamental' areas of position playing, and this team will be proud of the Michigan tradition. No hand wringing here.
If I see another PNC Bank banner I will stick a pencil in my eye.
I don't think I have any good idea of what Michigan is going to look like come August based on the few five minute clips and quasi-scrimmage that I watched today. However, if I had my druthers I'd have liked to have seen an RR style offense coupled with a Mattison defense. Obviously that's a pipe dream now, but I can see how the two could have been pretty fantastic in my fantasy world. I don't think M is locked into being terrible with the pro-style set, but I have to admit that they will not be as explosive, and I'll miss that. That being said I will not miss the defense that M played for the last three years and am glad that Mattison is the coach. I'm sure I'll check here another thousand times before the first game, but I'm also pretty certain I won't know until about the sixth game how good M really is. Sigh.
Prediction: That i will still cringe in fear and curl up in the fetal position at the sight of our field goal team heading out onto the field.
prediction yet.
Seriously, how can a school of 30,000+ students not have goddamn student that can kick worth a damn?
April 16th, 2011 at 11:35 PM ^
Problem is, they have MLS careers ahead of them, and they graduated.
The thing I enjoyed the most from this game was Brady Hoke. I remember last year's game, RR was basically wearing a winter coat (without the hood), gloves, hat, and looked visibly uncomfortable.
This year, Brady was out on the field the whole game in shorts and a short sleeved shirt and short sleeved golf rain jacket.
It was also nice to see Desmond and Charles on the field during the festivities. If I was a recruit going into the locker room after the game it would be great to be hangin' with a couple of Heisman trophy winners and Superbowl winner. It was nice to see the guys coming back to the program.
April 17th, 2011 at 12:31 AM ^
Good god is this a joke?
April 17th, 2011 at 12:37 AM ^
"The thing I enjoyed the most from this game was Brady Hoke. I remember last year's game, RR was basically wearing a winter coat (without the hood), gloves, hat, and looked visibly uncomfortable. This year, Brady was out on the field the whole game in shorts and a short sleeved shirt and short sleeved golf rain jacket."
April 16th, 2011 at 10:06 PM ^
I fall into the camp that was borderline happy today. Last year's defense was so bad that even the offense you saw today would have lit them up. Yes, the offense needs work - which it will get. These guys didn't all get worse. There are positive and Borges won't waste it, nor will Hoke let him.
It's huge to see that the defense was able to look so good against ANY offense, let alone one with players from a record-setting offense.
My prediction is 8-4.
I'm also excited to see how good things can look when guys like Demens, Floyd, Woolfolk, Lewan, etc. are full-go.
April 16th, 2011 at 11:00 PM ^
Here's what I took from the "game" today...
I got to watch a Michigan football "game" (of sorts)!!! The winged helmets were on the field (and on television) on a Saturday afternoon. I'm not concerned about the play today (nor am I excited by it). I'm just happy to have had a chance to watch the team at all.
April 17th, 2011 at 12:30 AM ^
No prediction based on the spring game, but I will say there was nothing to get excited about.
If Denard Robinson is not the starter next year (all year barring injury) then that is a disaster for this coaching transition. That's my opinion. Not necessarily saying we can't win with this staff, but the transition itself... is damn near a RR disaster.
This team has much, much, MUCH more talent than that 2008 squad.
But hopefully the staff can get Denard's play under control and we can win 9 games next year. If we win less I'll be pissed.