oriental andrew

September 20th, 2010 at 4:46 PM ^

he's definitely cut way back on the snark, and his observations, i felt, were pretty spot on.  I, too, am still skeptical about Shaw - recall him taking a wrong cut again (frustration).  Wondering where the heck Cox is, but the comment from RR's presser is not very encouraging.

Paly33

September 20th, 2010 at 4:50 PM ^

Everything that was said about our defense was a very reasonable assesment.

People want to call this a “bend but don't break defense”, but the truth is for three years now, it's been a “broke but don't fix defense”. And the help that is supposed to be on the way, leaves piece by piece every single week.

Dead on!

caup

September 20th, 2010 at 5:08 PM ^

That was the best Michigan Monday I've read in a while.  He cut down on the stupid-ass snark and delivered a chilling, unvarnished critique, which is the only reason I started reading that O-Zone series in the first place.

I'd much rather read that kind of honest assessment than listen to too many of the posters around here shouting down any "pessimist."

His critique of Ezeh was spot on.

yostlovesme

September 20th, 2010 at 5:43 PM ^

I found nothing wrong with this.  He gave praise where it was due, and he called us out where we needed called out.  As much as I want to say that Michigan came out flat and wasnt mentally ready after the first two big wins, there is just to much evidence to back up the criticism.  I hope we find the answer soon, but I will be praying to win every shootout the rest of the season.

dcmaizeandblue

September 21st, 2010 at 12:45 AM ^

That's certainly a possibility but just because they drove down on the FIRST drive of the game doesn't mean that would've continued, which it didn't.  I don't believe you can make a blanket statement like that only having 1 drive to go on (with a personal foul penalty thrown in).

The defense adjusted and played much better for the most part, its OK to admit that we are inconsistent but the good is there too.

jmblue

September 20th, 2010 at 6:40 PM ^

I would guess that both Gerg and the players put a lot more into prep for ND than UMass.  (And even during the game - Mouton seemed to pull up when he could have knocked the QB out of bounds on his TD run, for instance.) 

That, and the UMass QB was really, really accurate (22-29) - much moreso than anyone for UConn or ND.

snowcrash

September 20th, 2010 at 6:29 PM ^

He's right that the defense did a horrible job of shedding blocks, but in this case I don't know how much of it was due to lack of ability/technique and how much was lack of intensity.

Indiana Blue

September 20th, 2010 at 8:47 PM ^

While we've had better, I really believe the special teams will be much better in the coming weeks.  I like Seth Broekhuizen.  He has a strong leg and the snap on his FG attempt was bad (good hold though), but the snap could bother Seth on his first kick.  He actually put one of his PAT's over the net ... last time this was done by a Michigan kicker ... never !  This means the ball's trajectory makes his kicks harder to block at the line of scrimmage.

Hagerup is going to very good.  Watch this kid in warmups ... he hits it 55 -60 yards and as high as the scoreboards.  Yeah we miss "Z" ... but this kid is going to be good.

I also like our kickoff coverage ... with the biggest problem being that Gibbons was only getting the ball to the 10 - 15 yard line.  Seth hit the last 2 kickoffs and I think the first went to the 5 and the second to the 10.  But we have been very good at maintaining lane responsibility.   A return to the 35 from a kick only to the 15 is still good coverage.

Go Blue !

energyblue1

September 20th, 2010 at 8:56 PM ^

Umass 7 blockers, michigan 6 man front....in zone reading, not attacking and we need this guy to tell us why the lbers looked like crap!  Really....

How about the dline got pushed back most every series due to doubles, then the umass oline wa scraping off to the lbers and getting right to them.  Only times this didn't happen was when mike martin made a superman play or Gerg decided to blitz. 

Contain, who had contain cause it wasn't anyone on defense I saw.....  Lbers, Roh/Mouton....didn't have contain, you guys blasted ezeh, how about he was getting both guard and full back half the time or at least the guard and I saw several plays where he shedded the guard and forced the runner but the other lbers were caught and couldn't close the backside cut either.  So rip ezeh while leaving the dline alone or other lbers.

 

In reality the blame starts with the Staff....sitting back watching them get ran over and not calling run blitz's to stop it, not going to more 4man fronts with actual size....sorry moving vanbergen into the middle isn't a 4man front, it is a repeat of last yr, undersized getting tail handed to him! 

Hoken's Heroes

September 20th, 2010 at 10:09 PM ^

There is a video that high lights all the O plays and you can see just how physical and manical Lewan is. And he hasn't even gotten close to reaching his potential. This kid is going to be something special as will many others on the O-line, like Patrick etc.

The first thing I thought of when I saw Taylor is the TASMANIAN DEVIL.

pinkfloyd2000

September 20th, 2010 at 11:13 PM ^

As a side note, OSU fans wouldn't know what having another rivalry game was if it bit them in the ass.

Not that this is any excuse, of course...it isn't. But I'm just saying...it was ND. That's like playing OSU-lite. And we have another one of those, too, in MSU.