How do you think RR did for his first game?
I would say that i was surprised that we weren't ready to play!
I'm tired of seeing Michigan not ready to play! I thought our D would be good and it was in the second half! We actual got a pass rush! Rich rod didn't come out with the right game plan for D in the first half! We didn't blitz anybody in the first half! We let the Utah QB pick us apart! He just wasn't that good to have 250 yards passing in the first half! When we blitzed in the second half we looked great and the Utah offense looked awful! I know our defense is good but is RR gonna give them a chance to be good!
On the other side of the ball i pretty much expected that! If you told me we were gonna score 23 points i would have said we would win.
The thing that made me the most mad was that R-Rod is coaching like he is got time! Which he does but he coached that game like it was a pre-season game! This is Michigan there is no time! You have to win now! Its not like we don't have enough talent to win! You should never give games away especially at MICHIGAN!
Now i'm not saying that rich rod won't win here but i thought he would have come out with more urgency!
On a positive he changed his game plan on D and we looked a lot better in the second half. The good thing is i think this team will play better each game.
So i think we will be ok!
Do you agree?
August 31st, 2008 at 9:30 PM ^
I'm not sure if I agree! Well I'm a bit upset that the D didn't blitz at all until the second half! I thought that Shafer was all about hitting the QB in the mouth!
The running game was terrible, but that was probably mostly due to the o line! I think RR was smart to put Threet in instead of Sheridan! Sheridan looked awful in the first half!
Most of all, I think this gratuitous use of exclamation points is kind of ridiculous! Do you see what I mean! I just wasn't as excited as all the exclamation points would seem to indicate!
August 31st, 2008 at 9:38 PM ^
August 31st, 2008 at 9:38 PM ^
August 31st, 2008 at 9:40 PM ^
August 31st, 2008 at 10:52 PM ^
August 31st, 2008 at 9:50 PM ^
You cannot simulate game speed during practice. Utah gameplanned Michigan well. Play up close, sell out on the run and short routes. Make the young QB's beat you with their arm. Was suprised the running game was not very good. Granted, the run was all but abandoned in the second half due to being down 2 scores. First impressions I had with the defense was that Utah was attacking our outside linebackers, the weakness link IMHO. I don't think it was a lack of blitzing in the first half (I thought I saw a few). I also think in the second half, the defensive changes were to just rush the front four more and blitz less. I'll have to wait on the UFR to confirm this, no tivo here.
I also think Threet, despite not having better numbers, did really well. He came in and tried to cary the team to victory. Played like a RS freshman, but seemed to have a greater "presence" about him. I don't remember how the OL handled inside pressure, but it seemed like it should have been attacked more with the backs. I don't know, maybe load up the beer truck or something.
August 31st, 2008 at 10:07 PM ^
August 31st, 2008 at 10:12 PM ^
September 1st, 2008 at 6:16 AM ^
August 31st, 2008 at 11:15 PM ^
September 1st, 2008 at 1:01 AM ^
September 1st, 2008 at 1:59 AM ^
We didn't blitz anybody in the first half!
I suppose UFR will tell the story, but it seemed like we sent some pressure. You can't blitz repeatedly against a spread team or you'll get shredded by drags and screens. Not only did the defense not cost us the game, it's the only reason we had a chance to win in the fourth quarter. The one big change I want to see is Mouton starting over Evans.
The thing that made me the most mad was that R-Rod is coaching like he is got time! Which he does but he coached that game like it was a pre-season game! This is Michigan there is no time! You have to win now!
So he has time, except that he has no time? Jesus. I don't remember seeing this many people ready to jump off the ledge after The Horror. We lost a game to a pretty decent team. We're woefully inexperienced at a lot of key positions. We are not going to win now, regardless of how many exclamation points and self-contradictions your post contains. RR does have time. To say otherwise is just stupid.
September 1st, 2008 at 3:27 AM ^
Great comment.
I agree, Evans looked hesitant. Sheridan's INT was huge in our loss, but in the grand scheme of things this loss isn't a disaster. Big 10 has to be our main priority this season and in spite of the loss, we looked like a team on its way to being useful. Run blocking was terrible, but Utah loaded up and we lobbed the ball over their defense to counter it. When those lobs were never caught, they just kept crashing inside and we gave up on the passing game - rightfully so. The passing game will improve and we will be able to stretch the D with some bubble screens and misdirection.
For now, though, i'm a bit concerned about the ND game - I really don't want us to lose that one.
September 1st, 2008 at 7:27 AM ^
I would probably give RR a C+ for the first game. That's harsh, but justified. If you want to experiment with schemes, do that against lesser foes. Don't waste a game against a quality opponent by seeing what you have. This type of experiment would be better served against a team like Miami (OH), not a potential BCS team.
Offensively, he went for way too much. You don't need to be a genius to figure out that you cannot find results with an inexperieced QB, RB, OL an WR corps. I can't believe he had to play a game to figure that out. He must have had too much respect for the players. The entire Sheridan experiement was a collasal waste of time. Sheridan simply cannot run and he only looked fast because Threet was his competition. RR should have settled on Threet from the beginning, or become more serious about Feagin/Brown/Smith. Now, it appears Threet will be the QB and we'll have to chuck the ball to more experienced recievers to open up the running game. That should have been evident from the start.
Defensively, I think Shafer wanted to see what the opponent was going to do before making any adjustments. That's fine. The problem was that he didn't have any time to relay adjustments to the defense. They were on the field so long in the first half because of the offense that the defense had no choice but to react to what our opponent was doing as opposed to absorbing adjustments from the sidelines. That's why you saw multiple DB packages out there after the passing game was established, which led to successful runs by the offense. With no time for adjustments, the defense was helpless for the first half. Now, that doesn't excuse their play in the first half, as their intensitiy should have been higher, but now that I think about it I understand why RR blamed the offense for the defensive performance in the first half. That said, more pressure on the QB in the first half would have helped.
Overall, I think this was the case of RR hoping he had spread players when that was not the case. This false hope is unacceptable. He has to adapt to the players he has. Offensively, I would give him a D. Defensively, I would give him a B+. Overall, C+.
September 1st, 2008 at 10:40 AM ^
"Offensively, he went for way too much. You don't need to be a genius to figure out that you cannot find results with an inexperieced QB, RB, OL an WR corps. I can't believe he had to play a game to figure that out. "
So, what exactly should he have done, coached a different team with different players?
" RR should have settled on Threet from the beginning, or become more serious about Feagin/Brown/Smith. Now, it appears Threet will be the QB and we'll have to chuck the ball to more experienced recievers to open up the running game. That should have been evident from the start."
Your "solution" relies on the same inexperienced players you say in the beginning that RR should not have relied on, i.e. QB, OL, and WRs that have almost no game experience outside of Mathews. Two RBs that backed up Hart for years is hardly a mountain of experience to rely on and you suggest playing them out of position.
I don't see how your "solution" solves the problem you originally posited, that RR should not rely on inexperienced players and should not have needed a game to realize this.
September 2nd, 2008 at 1:51 AM ^
People are saying how terrible Sheridan looked and wonder how the coaches decided to play him. What this line of thinking fails to grasp is that the one thing you can count on young / inexperienced players to be is inconsistent. I fully assume that the coaches started the QB who looked the best in practice. He shows up on Saturday and looks bad.
I'm not going to say the Threet is the answer (the OL providing a running game is), but both guys are going to have plays where they look great and ones that will leave us shaking our heads.