Interceptions and the Kicking Game.
It has been my perception that most of Michigan's interceptions, and for that matter, turnovers have occurred in or near the red zone; often on third and long situations and often when someone was trying to force something that wasn't there. I'm wondering if part of the problem is the frustration of getting to the 15-yardline and stalling (or being hurt by penalties) and recognizing that absent a touchdown, we're probably not going to score. That would suggest to me that if Michigan's kicking game was even okay, there would be fewer interceptions. Anyone else have that sense?
November 16th, 2010 at 1:25 PM ^
kicking has improved as the season goes on. most of the last few int's have just been terrible throws imo. definitely frustration, but not necessarily from the kicking game
November 16th, 2010 at 5:03 PM ^
I think the penalties have more to do with it. They put the Qb in a bad situation causing Denard to force plays which result in INTs.
November 16th, 2010 at 6:02 PM ^
The number of penalties has not been bad but the timing has been terrible. Penalties, turnovers, kicking, and long gains on 3rd down. As bad as they have been, it is a nice bonus to be 7-3 with two to go. Next year at this time we are hopefully 9-1 with two to go.
November 18th, 2010 at 7:59 PM ^
dropped passes have also put denard in bad situations
November 16th, 2010 at 7:28 PM ^
The Purdue game was terrible conditions so I can't fault him. Denard has a ton of faith in his arm which is great for a quarterback he just hasn't developed the touch he needs which he should get this summer. The throws are slightly behind with timeing and trying to throw in between tight coverage
November 16th, 2010 at 1:26 PM ^
Maybe, but I think it's youth more than anything. Denard is a first-year starter, so I would expect him to get better. He is night and day from last year, so I think the sky is the limit.
November 16th, 2010 at 1:55 PM ^
This is sort of a variation on my unified Devin-Dilthium theory. I think that most mechanic coaching goes on and sticks during the spring and summer. Over the season, that coaching starts to degrade b/c the focus is more on game planning. Consequently, the athlete regresses back to the prior levels, although they never fall back to the prior low.
Evidence for this is Devin Gardner's senior season, in which DG went from having much improved mechanics over the summer/early year to returning to the Vince-tacular sidearm. And I think we're seeing the same thing with Dilithium this season. He obviously picked up a ton of coaching this summer and really grew as a passer and decision maker. But as the season progressed, that coaching gets further and futher away, and DR starts heading back to prior habits.
Another way to say it is that your mechanics have 2 levels: mean/average and your polished. Coaching increases both levels, but the level at which your perform is related to the time elapsed since coaching. The closer you are to last being coached, the closer you are to that polished level. As time elapses and you move from technical coaching to game planning and scheme installation, the polish starts wearing off and you regress to your mean until you have another summer to add the polish back (and increase the mean). I suppose the logical extension of this is that next summer both Denard and Devin will be getting that much better and we'll see less of a drop off during the year.
November 16th, 2010 at 2:31 PM ^
In terms of Saturday, I'm not sure what Denard saw on that pick-six, but it seems like he has been hesitant to take off running if nothing is there.
At least, that seems to be the case since Michigan State.
November 16th, 2010 at 2:18 PM ^
But as the season progressed, that coaching gets further and futher away, and DR starts heading back to prior habits.Isn't Denard being coached throughout the season? Why would coaching on his mechanics stop once the games start?
November 16th, 2010 at 4:15 PM ^
My assumption is that the time devoted to coaching mechanics drops dramatically as coaches move on to schemes, film and game planning. That is, coaches focus more on what you should be doing in a given play and less on how to do it. For example, the quarterback is told more to read X and look for Y and less what X and Y look like. Of course, I could be completely wrong about this, given my paucity of experience playing/coaching football.
November 16th, 2010 at 1:30 PM ^
The kicking has improved as the season has gone along???
November 16th, 2010 at 1:31 PM ^
we made a field goal a few weeks back..
November 16th, 2010 at 1:33 PM ^
Slightly, not a ton but it is a little bit better now than what it was at the beginning of the season. Obviously, it is no where close to what we would like to see it at though.
November 16th, 2010 at 2:28 PM ^
Didn't we miss an extra point at Purdue? I don't remember hearing that it was bad snap or spot by the holder, but that was not an encouraging sign of improvement.
November 16th, 2010 at 2:47 PM ^
We also haven't been able to make any kicks from the hashes at all. Just dead on ones. And the misses haven't even been close. That's particularly troubling, but I've just resigned myself to the fact it won't be getting better this year, clearly.
November 16th, 2010 at 7:19 PM ^
Slightly, not a ton but it is a little bit better now than what it was at the beginning of the season.
How so? We went 1-2 in the season opener. We're 3-10 since then.
November 16th, 2010 at 3:30 PM ^
November 16th, 2010 at 3:35 PM ^
No, UM like most programs don't have a specific kicking coach or ever special teams coach for that matter. Usually, it is just a position coach that is responsible for special teams.
November 16th, 2010 at 1:31 PM ^
I don't think the lack of a good kicking game is really the cause for the turnovers. It is just Denard's inexperience to go with him trying to come up with big plays when he can just scramble or go through his progressions completely. Like Crime Reporter said, he is night and day compared to last year and he will continue to get better as he gains experience and confidence in his reads and ability to pass.
November 16th, 2010 at 1:36 PM ^
Although the field goal kicking is still terrible, i do think Hagerup taking care of the kickoffs has helped a lot, we actually have a chance to start defensive possessions not near midfield everytime-it's hard to run a bend but dont' break defense if you're given no room to bend.
November 16th, 2010 at 1:52 PM ^
If we are going for it anyway on fourth down, why call drop back pass plays on third and long? Wouldn't it make more sense to call a run play (Denard can get a few yards on third down running), shorten up the fourth down, then have the option to throw or run?
November 16th, 2010 at 1:55 PM ^
get Denard and Tater Nutz on the field at the same time. I feel bad when one of those guys sits on the bench. They are both so talented. Wiscy and osu can prepare for two QBs or two QBs at the same time. Who will throw it? Who will run it? When? So on...
November 16th, 2010 at 2:03 PM ^
I think the offense just wants to score touchdowns, if anything the fact the defense gives up so many points has more to do with it. I don't think the offense is worried about missing a 32 yard field goal.
November 16th, 2010 at 2:30 PM ^
Also as has been mentioned elsewhere, the weather was a huge factor last week. Denard needs more bad weather games under his belt.
November 16th, 2010 at 2:30 PM ^
Chart
| Opp. | Int. # | Down/Locaiton |
| Umass | 1 | 2nd & 9 at Mich35 |
| MSU | 1 | 3rd & 4 at MSU10 |
| MSU | 2 | 3rd & 9 at MSU12 |
| MSU | 3 | 1st & 10 at Mich31 |
| Iowa | 1 | 3rd & 10 at Mich45 |
| Iowa | 2 | 3rd & 5 at Mich40 |
| Iowa | 3 | 3rd & 19 at Mich28 |
| Illinois | 1 | 3rd & 8 at Ill41 |
| Illinois | 2 | 3rd & 8 at Ill41 |
| Illinois | 3 | 1st & 10 at Mich48 |
| Purdue | 1 | 2nd & 18 at Purdue18 |
| Purdue | 2 | 4th & 6 at Purdue35 |
| Purdue | 3 | 3rd & 18 at Mich12 |
| Purdue | 4 | 3rd & 10 at Purdue46 |
7 of 14 were 3rd and long and of those, 4 were in opponent territory. Bottom line is that only 1 interception was 3rd and long, deep in opponent territory (MSU).
I would say that they are not trying to force anything, half of the interceptions were in Michigan territory anyway.
November 16th, 2010 at 2:44 PM ^
But how about the kick return game? Is it just me or does Gallon make fairly large mistakes every game? I'm not sure why he is still returning both kickoffs and punts. I think we should give T Rob a shot since he's back there most of the time with him.
November 16th, 2010 at 4:58 PM ^
I have been saying this all season. Let someone else have a shot, it can't hurt more than gallon stumbling after 2 yards
November 16th, 2010 at 5:00 PM ^
It seems to me that it is Jr. Hemingway that is back with Gallon.