Michigan Monday is up
Michigan Monday is up again. LINK: The Many Saints of September.
The Wolverines did everything they were supposed to do against the Huskies and then they kept doing it. Nothing was learned that we didn’t already know, but the only things that could have been learned from this game were bad. The fact that there was nothing new is a very good thing.
Michigan is leading the nation in rushing right now (350.3 ypg) for the first time — I’m guessing — since Bo Schembechler was coaching.
On the offense:
True freshman Donovan Edwards impressed with 86 yards rushing on eight carries. That includes a 58-yard touchdown run that showed incredible patience and then an elite burst through the line of scrimmage. He looks special, but the fact that he’s only getting cursory touches right now tells you all you need to know about Corum and Haskins.
The Wolverine offensive line continues to dominate and overmatch their opponents. This time they also played just about everybody. Nineteen offensive linemen played in the game. I don’t know if that’s all of them, but if somebody didn’t play in that game, they may have missed their window.
On the defense:
I do think this was cornerback Vincent Gray’s best game in a long, long time. He wasn’t really tested deep but he triggered well on short passes and tackled well. It was good to see and was no doubt a confidence booster.
It was good to see a bunch of guys play in the front seven. And as I said on our Michigan Monday podcast, I also like that they stuck with backup safeties Makari Paige and Rod Moore through the second half. Those two guys need to continue to get reps to help the safety depth grow.
On special teams:
The Michigan special teams continue to be really, really good. There were a couple of mistakes, but we can chalk that up to the fact that the Wolverines played anybody who was wearing a blue uniform and sometimes that can create issues.
One of those positives for Michigan is their return game which is getting more and more dangerous. Receiver AJ Henning returned five punts for 70 yards, with a long of 32 yards. He looks like a threat to bust one.
What does it all mean?
It means that Michigan is looking like a very real threat to end their eight-game losing streak to Ohio State. Of course, the real decider there will likely be the Buckeye defense rather than anything going on with the Wolverines. And right now, there’s plenty of reason for Ohio State fans to be concerned.
Michigan is absolutely doing all of this against three not-very-good teams, but they’re doing it with aplomb. Nobody criticizes guys in a dunk contest for not having a defender to dunk on. It’s kind of the same thing here.
It's always a good read.
September 20th, 2021 at 11:04 PM ^
Nooooope no no no. Don’t you go convincing me that OSU people are slightly concerned about playing Michigan. Nope nooooooope. I don’t care what problems they have on D. We will 100% lose that game unless of course we don’t but I won’t get Lucy’d again, not this time, not this Charlie Brown. You take you fake concern and you go home Mr OSU blogger. Go sell crazy someplace else.
September 21st, 2021 at 6:32 AM ^
This is 2018 all over again, already. The team looks vulnerable and their fanbase shows worry. I am not trying to kick that ball again. I'm not. Nope.
...
But it is sitting there and she doesn't seem to be paying attention...
September 20th, 2021 at 11:05 PM ^
Love Michigan Monday, great recap!
September 21st, 2021 at 9:27 AM ^
How odd one of the best Michigan wrap ups comes from an OSU guy
September 20th, 2021 at 11:08 PM ^
Nobody criticizes guys in a dunk contest for not having a defender to dunk on. It’s kind of the same thing here.
He underestimates very online Michigan fans.
September 20th, 2021 at 11:10 PM ^
He’s pretty low on our D-Line, which I’m not denying, but it’s the first time I’ve seen this take (not in the pre-season, that is).
I thought our DLine was pushed around on NIU’s long, second drive, but didn’t see anything else concerning. Curious what UFR will say.
September 20th, 2021 at 11:12 PM ^
Rush for 300 yards in Madison, and I'll start believing.
September 20th, 2021 at 11:36 PM ^
Lol if we do that…you better “start believing”. Has any team ever done that at Madison???
September 20th, 2021 at 11:49 PM ^
I will believe once we beat them in Madison. I don’t think we need 300 yards rushing against a top 10ish defense on the road in order for me to be convinced Michigan is near or at elite status. But of course, that would icing on the cake if they did that.
September 21st, 2021 at 8:19 AM ^
Apart from Wisconsin you mean? ?
September 20th, 2021 at 11:59 PM ^
Hell, HP, just WIN in Madison and I'll be a believer. It's been...20 years since that happened. Almost as long as C-bus.
September 21st, 2021 at 5:15 AM ^
What if we rush for 299?
September 21st, 2021 at 8:20 AM ^
What if we run for 150 and pass for >400?
September 21st, 2021 at 9:31 AM ^
I'm more concerned with them running on us. If we can stop them to an acceptable number, I'll move my belief from, 'Is this really happening!' to 'This is really happening!'
Oh, and winning the game would be nice.
September 21st, 2021 at 9:43 AM ^
Come on, if we run for 300 in Wisconsin, the entire fan base will exclaim "Wisconsin is a garbage team this year! I won't trust this until we win at Michigan State!"
September 21st, 2021 at 10:16 AM ^
The goalposts will absolutely be moved after every win. Hell, we've already seen them moved at least once.
September 21st, 2021 at 7:47 PM ^
My goalposts are on wheels to make the moving back easier.
September 21st, 2021 at 11:10 AM ^
If Uof〽️ has 300 yards on the ground vs Wiskey, we will beat BLOsu and go to the playoffs.
September 20th, 2021 at 11:21 PM ^
And as I said on our Michigan Monday podcast, I also like that they stuck with backup safeties Makari Paige and Rod Moore through the second half. Those two guys need to continue to get reps to help the safety depth grow.
Comments like these make me wonder if the writer is a closet Xichigan fan.
September 21st, 2021 at 12:17 AM ^
Definitely a “Romeo wherefore art thou Romeo” vibe from his writing lol. A few things bounce the other way his childhood he might be a Michigan fan. There were definitely a few moments in my childhood where if my exposures were just a bit different I’d have been an OSU fan.
That being said, the OSU fans who say they want Michigan 11-0 when they beat us genuinely mean it. Their obsession with OSU and the rivalry is almost ritualistic where Michigan is literally a necessary evil to progress their plot line.
September 21st, 2021 at 1:28 AM ^
I want OSU at 11-0.
September 21st, 2021 at 5:17 AM ^
So you wanna skip this year?
September 21st, 2021 at 11:01 AM ^
He remains an objective sportswriter who roots for OSU, but given his “job” is to write about Michigan football, he wants the Wolverines to be good and interesting. He doesn’t suffer from BPONE or That School Up North syndromes.
September 20th, 2021 at 11:22 PM ^
It wasn’t all good news, however. Case in point: Michigan currently leads the nation with seven plays from scrimmage of 50 yards or more. That might sound good, but you can’t keep relying and surviving on 50-yard plays all season long. You’re eventually going to need a few 20-yard plays to burn the clock and give your defense a break here and there.
Remember, the Wolverine defensive line is thin. They can’t keep being sent out onto the field after two-play touchdown drives. Blake Corum needs to settle down and take a knee here and there after like 30 yards. Be smart!
At first I laughed. But then I thought "he's kind of got a point".
September 21st, 2021 at 8:52 AM ^
If he has a point, it's on top of his head. I'll take a game full of two-play scoring drives all day! As long as points are going up, I don't really care how long a drive takes. The more points you have, the less likely the other team will keep up.
I think the defense would love to get winded and tired from being on the field for 45 minutes when the offense is scoring quickly and consistently...
September 21st, 2021 at 10:16 AM ^
Yeah, I'm sure all those guys on defense were pissed about the offense spotting them 32 points by halftime....
September 21st, 2021 at 11:04 AM ^
Do you get his sarcasm there? He uses it to make his writing interesting. You think he knows lots of Michigan fans read his writing? It is an absurdity used to illuminate a legitimate point.
September 21st, 2021 at 9:11 AM ^
I also laughed because it seems like he's throwing excellent shade at us perpetually miserable fans.
September 20th, 2021 at 11:57 PM ^
Somebody in the Michigan blogosphere should do an Ohio Outhouses write up of their game
September 21st, 2021 at 12:02 AM ^
Ohio Onanism
Buckeye Bukake
I got nothin'
September 21st, 2021 at 6:29 AM ^
Actually, it's not a bad idea, although I think we need to give it a very Henry Fielding title just to see how Buckeye fans respond to the marketing - "Wherein We Encapsulate The More Salient Observations Of Ohio State's Most Recent Contest".
September 21st, 2021 at 6:42 AM ^
A review of truckstops.
September 21st, 2021 at 1:35 PM ^
This is perfect
September 21st, 2021 at 8:13 AM ^
That would be Gus Johnson writing under an alias.
September 21st, 2021 at 4:38 AM ^
it IS a good read. Thanks for posting.
September 21st, 2021 at 5:56 AM ^
But you rarely saw the Michigan defensive line pushing the Huskies offensive line backward. There wasn’t much penetration throughout the game. A couple of times, defensive tackle Chris Hinton could be found about 10 yards downfield for some reason. The defensive line will be a concern for probably the next three years. Michigan will have to work around it.
Will be interesting to see if UFR agrees.
September 21st, 2021 at 7:37 AM ^
I didn’t watch the game so am relying on UFR for every aspect of the game
September 21st, 2021 at 6:18 AM ^
Valid points but what does Kirk Barton think?
September 21st, 2021 at 8:10 AM ^
He'll have to watch the practice tape, if only he could get his hands on it...
September 21st, 2021 at 8:02 AM ^
I really enjoy Michigan Mondays, I hate Ohio State but a very select few of their fans are ok.
September 21st, 2021 at 8:28 AM ^
I can't help but feel that MM is posted later at night intentionally.
September 21st, 2021 at 8:40 AM ^
Is he just concern trolling at this point? I find it hard to believe that any legitimate OSU fan thinks Michigan is going to beat them this year. Honestly, any fan of our key opponents has the Wisconsin game circled as the real bench mark for Michigan's potential success this season. If Michigan finds a way to win that game, then I will start taking other teams fans seriously when they say they are "concerned" about Michigan. Because, at this moment, I am not sure that I take Michigan seriously. BPONE is real people.....
September 21st, 2021 at 9:07 AM ^
Well.......here in Cleveland 92.3 (sports talk radio) just did an entire segment on "what happens to Ryan Day if this is the year OSU finally loses to Michigan?"
There is some acknowledgement around here that this is a possibility.
September 21st, 2021 at 10:17 AM ^
Fair enough MGrow, I guess I should expect this level of fear from an opponent who almost never loses games this early in the season. However, recency bias forces me to believe that OSU will get things turned around by the time they play Michigan. I am not saying it isn't possible, I am just still going to proceed with caution because Michigan fans have traveled this road before. It is Wisconsin for me, if Michigan gets it done, then I am definitely ALL IN for this season to be the one.
September 21st, 2021 at 11:17 AM ^
Not only that, but what if they lose to PSU and MSU as well?
An 8-4 season may cause their stadium to experience the China Syndrome.
September 21st, 2021 at 8:51 AM ^
Really nothing to learn from their observations. Captain Obvious weekly review..
September 21st, 2021 at 8:52 AM ^
I enjoy writing Michigan Monday and watching Michigan football
I need to take a shower.
September 21st, 2021 at 10:02 AM ^
Yes good read if you can get past the OSU hubris. I look for Michigan to beat OSU this year. For funzies, hoping U W beats OSU in the Redbox Bowl at Levi stadium after that.