M vs. Minny Replay on BTN
Replay started at 11. I watched this in a bar with bad audio, so I'm going through the Mike Patrick Experience at the moment. I am nauseated thus far.
Minnesota's about to score their first TD and I forgot that Leidner got the world's most generous spot on a 3rd down run in the red zone for a first down.
October 6th, 2013 at 11:23 PM ^
October 6th, 2013 at 11:25 PM ^
October 6th, 2013 at 11:38 PM ^
Also gems like "If that ball is throw less accurately, it's intercepted." Valid point, I guess.
October 6th, 2013 at 11:43 PM ^
Is it just me or do the coaches need to get Green to explode into the tacklers?
October 6th, 2013 at 11:47 PM ^
He needs to pick his feet up, but he barrels over two and a half dudes on his TD run later. It's pretty hard to draw conclusions about him for now, as he's been used in Obvious Run Situations (right at stacked boxes later this game) and one play-action pass.
October 7th, 2013 at 12:10 AM ^
October 7th, 2013 at 12:22 AM ^
He has pretty nice burst for a guy his size, but he's not Toussaint.
I also have to give Minny defenders credit for scouting Green and going low on him every time.
October 7th, 2013 at 12:49 AM ^
October 7th, 2013 at 1:16 AM ^
I'm not down on Green because of that. I down (slightly) on him because he looks a bit overweight, doesn't appear to have much lateral agility, and gets suprisingly few YACs for a guy with his size and power.
October 7th, 2013 at 7:30 AM ^
if he becomes the #1 back next year, he can/will get into the flow of the game better. A few carries doesn't really help there. I look forward to having a big bruising back getting 25+ runs per game, wearing down defenses, and finding his rhythm.
Assuming he develops along with our younger OL guys, watch out. For now I think he is being used properly, as Fitz is obvious #1.
October 7th, 2013 at 11:35 AM ^
I am not down on Green- he is a freshman. I was commenting on what I have seen to this point. I am confident in our staff to improve his drive, explosion and pad level.
October 7th, 2013 at 9:55 AM ^
October 6th, 2013 at 11:43 PM ^
October 6th, 2013 at 11:53 PM ^
October 6th, 2013 at 11:57 PM ^
On the upside, I think that was really the only visibly awful thing from Bryant all day.
October 7th, 2013 at 8:23 AM ^
But on the first offensive play, he pulls and doubles a guy Lewan already has owned. If he moves on to the safety, it's a TD. Everything else is perfectly blocked. But I thought he had a decent day
Glasgow is going to be a very good center
October 7th, 2013 at 12:11 AM ^
One bad play does not make a bad player.
October 7th, 2013 at 1:05 AM ^
October 6th, 2013 at 11:55 PM ^
October 7th, 2013 at 12:05 AM ^
October 7th, 2013 at 12:12 AM ^
Wow, so glad I was at this game so I didn't have to listen to this announcing.
October 7th, 2013 at 12:22 AM ^
October 7th, 2013 at 7:33 AM ^
he had maybe three throws where Gallon and Funch bailed him out with really nice catches, but results based charting and all.
October 7th, 2013 at 12:13 AM ^
October 7th, 2013 at 12:20 AM ^
Wilson was put on an island with him all day, and he got a PBU later on. Minny also apparently stopped throwing to him in the second half, so maybe Wilson's coverage was better.
October 7th, 2013 at 12:28 AM ^
I forgot about the scramble where James Ross gets blocked by the umpire.
October 7th, 2013 at 12:57 AM ^
October 7th, 2013 at 1:08 AM ^
It always amazes me how people can find so many things to complain about after 30 point wins. We still look like the best or 2nd best team in the legends and we still don't have our 2nd best player yet. The division will come down to NW and us. I still don't trust Sparty even though they are the media darling after any sign of life. If they start to have consistency on offense, I may change my tune.
October 7th, 2013 at 1:21 AM ^
October 7th, 2013 at 8:23 AM ^
I can understand if you want to say MSU has the best defenses in the division. That is your opinion. But, clearly there are other defenses that are proven. I think of Michigan's defense for example.
In fact, I think MSU has played worse offensive teams, so that means UM's defense has been more tested.
MSU puts up great defensive numbers against teams without a passing attack. THey are built to stop the run and blitz. (FYI - Michigan may even be better at generating a four man rush than MSU.) Don't be fooled by MSU's hypre-aggressive defensive nautre against mediocre to horrible offenses. THey always end up struggling against a solid offense with a pass game.
On the contrary, Mattison is not hyper-aggressive. He is just working base defense play after play and only getting aggressive when he HAS to do it. He can do it a lot more if he wants.
October 7th, 2013 at 9:00 AM ^
They still run mostly their cover 4. Third down they bring some pressure a bit more than Michigan, but they aren't just sending blitzers every down.
They also did better against pass happy ND on defense. You can try to cut it how you want, but right now MSU's defense is better. Sugar coating it and trying to twist it to make it appear as if they aren't makes you look bad.
October 7th, 2013 at 9:20 AM ^
Second, look at the MSU sacks. And they are very very aggressive. They bring run blitzes and Other blitzes more often than most teams playing bad offenses. Just watch the games.
October 7th, 2013 at 10:18 AM ^
Which is clearly overstating a part of the post you responded to, and then go on to say a bunch of things that just aren't really that true.
Michigan's defense is less proven than MSU's. "Proven" tends to mean "good against good compitition", which both have faced one: Notre Dame. MSU came out better. And that wasn't a run happy team like you pointed out that trumps up MSU's stats.
Second, no, MSU isn't hyper aggressive and they don't run blitz all that much. Occassionally they'll bring the boundary corner if it's 2nd and short, so does Michigan. Narduzzi only gets very aggressive on 3rd and long, because the defense has put him in a position where he can be more creative. They don't run blitz a whole lot though. They play their cover 4, which allows their LBs to be very aggressive (similar to how ND has very aggressive LBs) because often times the OLB coverage responsibility can be passed onto the safeties. The safeties also help in backside leverage in the cover 4 scheme, which pretty much puts 9 in the box.
What it may look like to you is a team that stacks the box and run blitzes. But they don't. They play a lot of what eventually turns into man coverage on the outside and essentially bracket coverage on the inside, but it's not that simple.
This year, and the past few years, MSU has proven to be a better defense more consistently. The fact that they've had such a terrible offense and still put up the stats they have shows some of that. They can struggle against spread to pass teams (Indiana last year), but they also can shut them down (ND). When you start talking relative things, like how their defense is struggling relatively to themselves, and saying that Michigan may be more proven, you look like a fool. You can admit that MSU has a better, proven defense. It doesn't mean they have the better team. It doesn't mean they'll beat Michigan. It doesn't mean Michigan won't eventually have a better defense. It's saying what is true now, which is what the person you responded to was saying.
As far as Michigan being proven: I'm not sure I agree. I think Michigan's defense is consistent. But they aren't proven to be anything really. I guess proven to be at least pretty good. But they could be anywhere from pretty good to really good, there is still a significant range for them to fall into.
October 7th, 2013 at 12:46 PM ^
October 7th, 2013 at 8:17 AM ^
How is MSU a media darling? Are they even ranked in the top 25?
October 7th, 2013 at 2:12 AM ^
October 7th, 2013 at 2:53 AM ^
October 7th, 2013 at 9:04 AM ^
After that first Gopher drive, you'd think they just won the national championship. On and on about how much better they were playing, how their confidence was surging and this is a team on the rise.
AND MAXX WILLIAMS WITH A SPECTACULAR CATCH, WOW LOOK AT THIS GOPHER TEAM!!!1!!!11
The call on the Green TD to go up two TDs was so uninspired, it made Joe Buck sound like a raving lunatic by comparison.
And...Green goes in for the score.
October 7th, 2013 at 11:45 AM ^
.....Kept using the word "tremendous" for everything Minn did...grrr the audacity!
October 7th, 2013 at 10:42 AM ^
because Comcast decided to crap out in our neighborhood until 7:30, but it was clear that the announcers had their preferred script ready: Minnesota was going to upset Michigan, and they were going to call everything with that in mind.