Mark May just told Lou Holtz that Michigan

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Watching college football live finale.  Lou Holtz starts going on how Michigan's D will be tested next week at Notre Dame when Mark May interupts and tells him Notre Dame is gonna get Rolled.  haha first good thing Mark May has ever said about a Big Ten team.

NateVolk

September 5th, 2010 at 12:38 AM ^

You said it.  How great was it to be free of the nonstop talk from the know-it-alls and just turn the guys loose to play today?  You know it had to be an even bigger relief to them.

These guys take their jobs seriously and they play with a lot of passion.  I think they will just leave the yapping, platitudes, whining about disrespect, and running clocks to other local coaches and players.

The players will just keep competing hard in practice like they are becoming known for.  Time will take care of the rest.  We are seeing that process bear fruit little by little right now.  A misstep or loss here and there can't stop us from reaching where this is heading long-term.

I hope the fans stick with it when things dip a little here and there. They do on this blog, which makes it the place to be.

Swazi

September 5th, 2010 at 1:37 AM ^

Lou Holtz also said Notre Dame would run the table and make the National Championship game last year.  He's a homer if there ever was one.  UConn beat Notre Dame last year, and Notre Dame was waaaaay better then than what they are now, and we rolled UConn pretty much.  I'm sure they'll get some big plays, but overall, Michigan will win comfortably me thinks.

PhillipFulmersPants

September 5th, 2010 at 9:00 AM ^

making sweeping generalizations about a team's offense after 1 game. That same ND offense that was sooo much better last year? They scored 24 against Purdue.

ND will be a huge test if for no other reason than it's a road game. Michigan hasn't won many of those in the last two years. Total of 1, and that was two years ago.

UMfan21

September 5th, 2010 at 12:31 AM ^

I would LOVE for Forcier to get the start next week and go with an Air Raid spread attack just to mess with ND.  They'll spend all week trying to figure out how to stop Dilithium now.  What better way to throw them off and squash the Tate rumors.

Swazi

September 5th, 2010 at 1:39 AM ^

I think Rod playing Denard every play (other than the hip scare) means that he'll be starting until he makes himself lose it, or gets hurt.  I don't see the first happening so it'd have to be the latter, and even then, with 15 pounds of added muscle, his durability is much improved.

Firstbase

September 5th, 2010 at 8:38 AM ^

..."strategory" of that!  If weather conditions are favorable for a passing attack, I'd love to see it to keep the trio of QBs all happy and working together.

However, as we've just witnessed, Denard's passing ain't half bad (19 of 22 is insane, even though most were less than 20 yards). 

Therefore, my quarter says DRob is the starter for the foreseeable future.

UMAmaizinBlue

September 5th, 2010 at 12:31 AM ^

Mark May has said good things about Big 10 teams in the past, Michigan included. Besides, if you worked with Lou Holtz and had to put up with his yearly "Notre Dame are gonna be National Champs" predictions, you'd throw down the occasional smack talk on the Irish.

 

I certainly would like to see this happen next week, but we still have a lot of preparation to do. The Irish are no Huskies, and Kelly is (sadly) no Weis (miss you, big guy xoxo).

UMAmaizinBlue

September 5th, 2010 at 12:43 AM ^

I know some people saw the Huskies as a bigger threat to us given their experience and depth at various positions, especially offense, but when it comes to our depleted secondary, I consider the Irish to still be a more formidable foe. Crist, Walker and Floyd are still very big threats for our DB's to have to account for, regardless of Crist's inexperience, IMHE. Agree to disagree.

Blue since birth

September 5th, 2010 at 12:58 AM ^

I don't believe they're nearly the threat that Clausen, Tate, Floyd, etc...were last year. Especially with a first time starter at QB and a new coach/system. I'm not convinced they'll get much of a chance to test our DB's (relative to what they'll need anyway). We'll see how Crist reacts with Martin and Roh in the backfield.

I don't see them being able to hold us... Our offense should be able to take alot of pressure off the D as well.

Maize and Blue…

September 5th, 2010 at 8:08 AM ^

they only had 203 yards passing against Purdue.  I was really concerned about DRob as a passer going into yesterday as he hadn't proved to me he could do it in a real game.  Denard threw for almost 200 so....

Just trying to say that what things look like on paper aren't always the truth.  ND does concern me because of how BK has run his offenses in the past, but he didn't show much of that in game 1.  They definitely weren't slinging the ball all over the field like I expected ND to.

mejunglechop

September 5th, 2010 at 12:35 AM ^

I'm not convinced. Notre Dame is probably the best positioned team on our schedule to exploit our weaknesses in the secondary.

CRex

September 5th, 2010 at 12:39 AM ^

I'm worried about ND to be sure.  By all accounts Crist is good and Kelly is a good head coach.  Plus Kelly is a spread guru and as such likely has some ideas on how to shut it down.  

Still Purdue's defense, yeah Purdue, managed to contain ND.  So I have hope we can hold ND to under 30 and pull out a win.  

BlockM

September 5th, 2010 at 12:39 AM ^

With a freshman QB? I know they have fantastic receivers, but a team like Iowa, Wisconsin, OSU and possibly MSU have better tested QBs than ND right now. I doubt we'll roll, but I don't think ND is going to be the pest passing offense we face this year by a long shot.

ToughD

September 5th, 2010 at 12:43 AM ^

Honestly I think the ND team of 2009 would have a better chance of beating the 2010 Wolverines.  Their Pro-style offense would have cut-up the secondary with their two really good receivers.  Now they're down to one and have a new Spread Offense with a new coach.  Michigan practices every day against a Spread team; one that is MUCH FASTER than ND's version of the Spread.

Jinxed

September 5th, 2010 at 12:47 AM ^

Ummm.. Notre Dame scored 34 on us last year.. unless our defense got considerably worse, I don't see them scoring more than that. Kelly is a good coach, but Weis' weakness was never on offense, and that team had Clausen and Golden Tate... Expecting anything worse than the results from last year is terribly pessimistic.

The outcome of this game rests on how much their defense progressed during the transition. If their defense improved more than our offense, then we might be in trouble. 

FingerMustache

September 5th, 2010 at 2:13 AM ^

wasnt there a diary on this topic earlier in the yr?

 

TOP is not an advantageous stat for the most part. it is merely an indicator of how a team controlled the ball. if one team runs a pass heavy offense while another plays a run heavy offense, it is only natural that the run heavy offense will have a higher TOP. Our long drives obviously shorten the game and decreases the number of drives the opponent will have, but it also decreases the number of possessions we get.

 

The single advantage of a high TOP is that it increases the probability that we will have the ball in the final possession of the half/game.

Bronco Joe

September 5th, 2010 at 7:45 AM ^

TOP is not an advantageous stat for the most part. it is merely an indicator of how a team controlled the ball. 

So controlling the ball is NOT advantageous? When there was 13 minutes left in the game and UM was up 20 points with the ball, the thought that UConn only had 2 possessions left to score 3 times, if TOP continued, was a HUGE advantage.

MileHighWolverine

September 5th, 2010 at 10:50 AM ^

but despite it, and your very reasonable explanation, I still believe that when your weakness is defense, you are generally better off winning the TOP.  

I guess I should modify that statement a little: as long as you are scoring TD's and not FG's, it is to your advantage to slow the game down and keep your D off the field.  I liken it to what the Pats did against the Colts.  And I think it is especially important when you are thin on D to keep them off the field as much as possible.

bryemye

September 5th, 2010 at 11:25 AM ^

What about making the other team's defense very tired and giving our defense time to rest? Remember when our defense never had time to rest? Remember how bad they were? I mean, sure, there were other reasons for being so bad but being exhausted all game is definitely one of them.

I don't remember this diary post and if there are lots of stats to back you up that's fine but intuitively it doesn't make too much sense. 

A lot of TOP leads to long drives which leads to shorter games which leads to less series where our defense could get blown open. This is a positive in my book.

sum1valiant

September 5th, 2010 at 2:33 AM ^

The outcome of this game rests on how much their defense progressed during the transition. If their defense improved more than our offense, then we might be in trouble.

This is a "prediction based on flimsy evidence", but after what I saw today I don't see how their defense could possibly improve more than our offense.  Furthermore, I think any improvement in their defense would be nominally offset by an improvement in our defense, and I think we all agree that their offense certainly could not have done anything but regressed.

Furthermore Furthermore, my post doesn't seem to make any sense and I feel as if I have yet to fully recover from today's 18 pack. 

Blue Bunny Friday

September 5th, 2010 at 12:42 AM ^

I've got it on the replay, but find other things more interesting. Casual observations:

Purdue can't tackle

Cierre Wood looks good (see #1)

Crist looks v. average

Marve =/= Tebow (despite commentator comments)

Link

NateVolk

September 5th, 2010 at 12:45 AM ^

Brian Kelly is a super coach and leader of men.  He knows exactly where he is going  with that program and the steps it takes to get there.  In a couple years, it is going to be very apparent that one of the major universities in this state whiffed big time when they didn't look his way a few years ago. I ain't talking about Michigan either.

They have players and they'll be home.  I'd rather worry about them Monday and just eat up all the great observations from you all on our team for the next 24 hours.

I know where this program is headed in the long term and what happens next week down there will help us get there.