EnoughAlready

September 8th, 2013 at 10:07 AM ^

ND has a great passing attack.  The defensive strategy was to avoid giving up big gainers, which they did.  Yes, the front four didn't get any real pressure.  But Michigan blitzed more against CMU than they did against ND, and ND has a real big, experienced, talented O-line.  Remember, last night the D only gave up 2 TDs and 3 FGs.  Against ND, that's nothing to sneeze at.

seegoblu

September 8th, 2013 at 10:11 AM ^

And an unwillingness to blitz with tighter pass coverage behind it was disappointing especially given the Clark preseason hype. Upside is that ND was likely the best line we will face until Ohio.

But other than that....it's a beautiful morning in Connecticut.

Njia

September 8th, 2013 at 10:12 AM ^

That's all well and good. But remember, the last time we beat these guys UTL, we only won 11 games, including the Sugar Bo-....................

Forget what I just wrote ... All is right with the world. 

MGoVoldemort

September 8th, 2013 at 10:20 AM ^

Our interior o line obviously has to get better, but they are young, and will get better each week. As for our defense, Notre Dame can score on ANYONE. The scheme was geared towards the fear of Notre Dame's play makers, because Mattison knows our secondary and back 7 is young, and still learning. Other than Ohio, Notre Dame is the most consistent offense we'll see all year.

Elmer

September 8th, 2013 at 10:35 AM ^

Still hoping one kid decides last night was too great to hold off commiting and picks Michigan today.  I also hope Brian Cole realizes that Michigan >> MSU.

AlbanyBlue

September 8th, 2013 at 10:37 AM ^

Overall, it's a great day in Albany....

Offense -- We're not getting the push in the run game, and Toussaint bounces too much. That said, we have to run the ball, and we can use the pass to set up the run, so that will help. In pass pro, the interior line looks vulnerable, as we expected. It's a good thing Gardner can scramble out of trouble. It's great to have an excellent passer back there. On the EZ interception -- it was just Devin thinking he can make something happen no matter what. He'll learn, and the end result, well, that's just something that won't happen again.

Defense -- A bend-don't break strategy to protect our safeties and limit the big play. Our D-line was dominated for the most part and our LB corps misses JMFR. That said, they made big plays when they had to (nice stick RayTay) and did enough  to allow the offense to win. Hopefully the D-line can improve and the safety situation can get better. Nice plays by the CBs, doing what they were asked to do. I noticed Pipkins a little more than some others; he needs more PT.

umich_fan1

September 8th, 2013 at 10:46 AM ^

I guess I was a little surprised reading the snowflakes thread with a lot of ppl more down on the M defense than I was. They gave up 23 points, 3 fgs included. Most of the game we rushed 4 guys against a 6 man O line. Few teams in the country are gonna generate a good rush off that. Our LBs looked to be 6-7 yards past the los, pretty much conceding a 5 yard ND rush. Playing with 2 deep safeties as well most of the time.  NDs RB, i forget his name, had great burst, which I think ND RBs have lacked in recent years. I didn't like how we clearly telegraphed our 4 man rushes too many times. Ramon Taylor had a good game, tackling machine.My bottom line point is this was totally bend don't break game plan for the defense. With our alignments, I don't see how ppl could think the defense could do a whole lot better than what they did.

FormerlyBigBlue71

September 8th, 2013 at 11:07 AM ^

I completely agree.  The game plan was to play a bend don't break defense to limit the big play and make Notre Dame drive the length of the field and then hold them to field goals.  It was pretty successful in my opinion.  The run defense will get much better, we were playing six in the box against 6 and seven man fronts and they were coming downhill.  The pass rush needs to improve, but they accomplished what they wanted to do, limit big plays and make Notre Dame work for every point they got.  Not too mention Notre Dame runs a passing spread which is a pretty hard offense to stop and Brian Kelly is one of the better offensive minds in the country/

Koyote

September 8th, 2013 at 11:27 AM ^

As you said, the D only let up 23 points. Not to mention that one of those touchdowns they let up was a super lucky bounce off the RB's hands 5 yards directly into a receiver's hands behind him.

 

Did ND have some drives? sure, but all teams will have some drives. However, they put us in a position to win, and that is all that matters. A far cry from the GRob era thankfully.

Duval Wolverine

September 8th, 2013 at 10:56 AM ^

I did not see Avery out there on defense last night....not sure if its because of his injury or the coaches like what they have in Wilson.  In my opinion, Id prefer Wilson out there because he is bigger and more of a natural at the position vs a very undersized corner playing safety for the first time!

DLup06

September 8th, 2013 at 11:45 AM ^

But they only had 19 rushes on the game. Threw the ball 53 times. Nonexistent as our (power) run game was, I think it was important that we tried to keep a semblance of balance in the offensive gameplan, as opposed to ND that was too pass happy considering their success on the ground

TexasMaizeNBlue

September 8th, 2013 at 11:53 AM ^

I live in Texas and it was quite a joy watching the Longhorns get ambushed by BYU, followed by our sweet victory over the Irish. Wearing my Wolverine jersey in the midst of orange has never felt so good.

MadMonkey

September 8th, 2013 at 1:51 PM ^

  1. Student Section was AWESOME (this coming from an older alumni).  Their sections were mostly full with an hour to go before game time.   The students were incredibly supportive throughout the game and helped disrupt NDs offensive at key times.  
  2. Gardner!  Especially what appeared to be a check-off in the 4th quarter when ND had 11 in the box which he read correctly.  The guy is amazing and quickly shook off his one major brain-fart.
  3. Gallon!
  4. Borges planned and called a great game.   
  5. Countess is a potential all-American
  6. Miller and Kalis will be shown in the UFR to have done a better job with Nix than the stats show.  I saw multiple plays where they nullified Nix and made him a non-factor in run blocking and pass protection.
  7. Haltime show was one of the few can remember enjoying
  8. Chicken dance at the end of the game!