Morning After Thoughts
I am awake and it is real. Somehow, this terrifies me more than if we had lost. I still have no real idea what our true potential is. There was a lot of suck, and a lot of awesome on both sides of the ball and I am left here to try and repiece together the fragments of my exploded mind. Here are my Saturday thoughts:
1. From what I can remember, it seemed like nearly every effective offensive play fell into the category of "Eye-Popping Denard Highlight Reel" stuff. The lack of production from the running backs has been discussed extensively already, but I really missed the consistent, controlled offensive drives we saw against Western. I love when Denard goes into unchained animal mode, but bread and butter running and short passing would be a welcome sight in the Big Ten season.
2. I can't help but feel that Denard and Borges are turning a big corner after last night, and that thrills me. Is there any doubt now concerning what Denard can and can't do? Maybe I am crazy and still riding the victory wave, but I have a feeling that to a large extent the sadly disappointing Denard that ruled in the first three quarters will be absent in future games. I am fully prepared to eat this words and hate myself over the next couple of months though.
3. I am insanely grateful that we do not have to face Floyd again. That being said, I'm very worried about the MSU game now. I don't think they have any receivers on his level that just seem unstoppable, but that game could also turn scary.
4. Greg Mattison, you are the king and messiah of adjustments. I honestly have no idea what happened in the second half, but somehow we had a number of tremendous defensive plays.
5. There is a chance, a chance I hate even bringing myself to hope in, that this team could end up being pretty solid by the end of the year. I am not used to the idea of a team actually improving as the season wears on, but there are encouraging signs that this team could pull that feat off. Again, prepared to eat these words.
6. It is great, so very great, to be a Michigan Wolverine.
Go Blue.
September 11th, 2011 at 12:03 PM ^
Just so glad he is happy again after last season
September 11th, 2011 at 12:13 PM ^
It's been too long.
September 11th, 2011 at 12:05 PM ^
Extremely hungover and still happy.
September 11th, 2011 at 12:05 PM ^
I agree, it seems like the team is growing before our eyes. You can see changes being made during the course of a game, so it makes it very hard to guess how good our team will actually become this year.
I'm also curious to see how ND fares the rest of the season - I know they were highly-regarded at the start of the season, but it would be nice if they aren't revealed to be a broken, terrible team. Our win will be classic either way, but you know. :D
September 11th, 2011 at 12:59 PM ^
I was just about to post about adjustments and then saw your reply. I agree, the adjustments were amazing. I was telling a friend of mine while watching the game that adjustments at halftime HAVE to be made in order to have a chance in that game and thankfully, they made some.
Still though, Michael Floyd continued to dominate. Our defense deens help.
September 11th, 2011 at 12:07 PM ^
Wow, you just snuck this in under the wire. Post a minutes later and it you would have had to call it the "Noon After Thoughts". Two minutes later and it would be the "Afternoon After Thoughts".
September 11th, 2011 at 12:08 PM ^
1. I call it his desperation mode. And there isn't a better player in college football than a desperate Denard Robinson.
2. I agree here. I think Borges and Denard will have a lot of confidence in each other after the fourth quarter of the ND game.
3. Glad Floyd is gone, but not worried about Sparty. Sparty is overrated and is going down.
4. Mattison would never have been this good if he hadn't gone outside the coaching tree. He learned a lot with the Fighting Irish, Florida, and the Ravens.
5. Michigan got past ND. Iowa didn't look very good yesterday. I'm not saying they will, but the Wolverines could be undefeated going into the Nebraska game if everything works out right. I'm guessing they pick up a loss or two, but I don't see this team losing more than two before Nebraska.
6. It is always great to be a Michigan Wolverine, even when it doesn't seem like it.
September 11th, 2011 at 12:22 PM ^
Pt 6 -- Especially great to be a Michigan Wolverine after cocky ND fans think they've got the game won and prematurely start singing "It sucks to be a Michigan Wolverine."
September 11th, 2011 at 1:04 PM ^
#6 is straight truth
September 11th, 2011 at 1:45 PM ^
Am I the only one who thinks the only thing going through Denard's head while he is creating is oh shit oh shit oh shit?
September 11th, 2011 at 4:43 PM ^
September 11th, 2011 at 12:09 PM ^
They did not have a good game. Our d-line scares me because they have gotten 0 pressure the past 2 games. Big Will actually played pretty well though which was good to see. There was a particular 3rd down and short for ND when BWC blew up the play for a loss. Our O-line was great in pass protection, but didn't open any lanes for our running backs. How many yards did our backs have on the night, like 13? That is awful. We are going to struggle against more physical teams.
September 11th, 2011 at 12:15 PM ^
Agreed. I thought our lines were supposed to be our strength this year, and so far both have been underwhelming. offense is not opening up running lanes very well, and defense is not getting pressure.
I'll also go on record as not liking Martin dropping into coverage. You have an All American DT that is a beast. Let him loose to rush, don't make him back peddle.
September 11th, 2011 at 12:17 PM ^
Our defensive line didn't have much chance vs western because of the amount of short passes they threw. They never had a chance against this ND line who might be one of the best in the country. The running game was non-existant because they were facing 8 in the box on almost every down until the 4th quarter. Their gameplan was schemed at stopping the run because they didn't respect our passing attack.
September 11th, 2011 at 1:16 PM ^
The fact that NDs Oline is really good is what gives me hope for the rest of the season. We know what we have in Martin and RVB (2 pretty good players) and the fact that Campbell had flashes of being a player is a great sign against NDs line. With this staffs focus on technique I think we will see them just get better as the season rolls on. What we need desperatley though, is for someone to step up at rush end.
September 11th, 2011 at 4:36 PM ^
I'm glad you posted that, I was thinking it myself, and, watching the game on television, IIRC, Brian Kelly all but said it. At any rate, the announcers picked up on it and shared as much. They were more diplomatic, but it amounted to the same conclusion.
EDIT: This was intended to be a response to the above message, sorry for any confusion. But, yes, we do need a rush end, STAT!
September 11th, 2011 at 12:09 PM ^
Morning After Thoughts:
Someone give ND the morning after pill because they got #*^%&@ HARD last night!!!
September 11th, 2011 at 12:11 PM ^
Troy woolfolk's ankles are made of glass, but we already knew that.
September 11th, 2011 at 12:14 PM ^
September 11th, 2011 at 12:13 PM ^
What if Bob Ufer had been calling the play-by-play at the end of that game. I haven't heard Frack Beckman's call, but I am certain it will go down in Michigan history as one of the great sound bites
September 11th, 2011 at 12:55 PM ^
Available on mgoblue.com -- Frank wigs out!
September 11th, 2011 at 1:36 PM ^
One of the first thoughts I had last night was, "What would old Ufe have thought of that game?" I almost regretted the question because the answer was so immediate: He wouldn't even be able to have called the end. His voice would have been that far gone.
"Never in all my cotton-picking years!"
September 11th, 2011 at 3:31 PM ^
My thoughts...
1. ND is for real. Their defensive is talented and had a great game plan for us...I.e. Stack the line and make Denard beat you with his arm. Get used to that, cause we are going to see it alot. As has been said before, ND just needs to learn to take care of the ball and erase mental mistakes
2. The offense was dissapointing. Hopkins should never touch a ball in a situation when the game is still on the line. How can you fumble the ball at that point of a game is beyond me...He got LUCKY. The Offense on a whole relied on too many high risk plays...chucking the ball up and hoping our receivers and not the ND defensive backs made the adjustment. Too risky. I would like to see more naked bootlegs with a FB/TE/HB in the flat as I think that can be a dangerous weapon...ala Griese to Tuman.
3. THe Defensive is a work in progress, but WWWAAAYYY better than anticipated. They tackle 100x better and the in game adjustments are just tremendous. It really looks like Ryan, Robinson, Gordan, and Hawthorne may be gamers and just need more experience...There were a few busted coverages, but with a scheme like this, that is to be expected this early in the season. I think alot of the yards given up by the D was due to a future top 10 pick tearing us up and the inability of our O to sustain drives past 5 plays...MANBALL needs more plays
4. We really got hurt by not playing in the 4th quarter last week. Our O still looks like they are carving out exactly what they need to do, as well as the feeling of how to handle the O from Borges. On D, they just need more snaps to feel out when to show the blitz. As the game wore on, they were much better at discuising the blitz, as well as hitting up the right gaps at the right time.
5. Gibbons looks alot better on Extra points...How that translates to field goals is beyond me...I admit, I got scared when we needed 3 and we may rely on a field goal at the end to tie it up. On the brightside, Gibbons may be slowly building up confidence by hitting the EPs.
September 11th, 2011 at 12:21 PM ^
1. I think if our defense could've stopped ND after we went three and out twice, instead of being in a 14-0 hole, you would've seen the RBs get more consistent handoffs. Instead, we're down by 14 playing catchup.
2. Not sure, but was definitely exciting. I think Borges has a great idea of what Denard can do and I think Denard just needs to get more familiar/comfortable with Borges' offense and when he can take off on a broken play.
3. I don't think MSU's receivers are anywhere of the combined level of Floyd and Riddick, although Riddick was really only open because we were worried about covering Floyd...soo yeah. I think it will be interesting to see our d-line against MSU's o-line. whoever can win that battle will make life a lot tougher on the other team. And I think MSU's o-line stinks, so yeah.
I think we'll see a lot of zone blitzes vs. MSU, although I hope I'm not stating the obvious.
4. Like the tweet Brian posted on the main page: I hope our players are talented and smart enought to run Mattison's schemes....
5. Definitely encouraging. Last year's start was as well. Hopefully they have different endings.
September 11th, 2011 at 12:25 PM ^
It is encouraging to beat a talented team like ND when we played like crap for at least half of the game. Floyd, Wood, Teo, etc. are the real deal, and there is a lot of other talent on ND's roster. We are not going to play anybody like Floyd for the rest of the year, and OSU and Iowa haven't looked very good so far this year. The best part of all is that this team is only going to improve during the season, considering that the schemes are new on both sides of the ball. Both Mattison and Borges made adjustments on the fly, and we got better as the game wore on. There are things to improve upon (RBs in particular), but all of the elements are there to be a very good team.
September 11th, 2011 at 12:25 PM ^
I just want to say that while the defense didn't play well, they stepped up BIG TIME on 3rd and short. I havent seen that in too long.
Also:
September 11th, 2011 at 12:35 PM ^
will campbell ate someones babies... who knew he had a heartbeat
September 11th, 2011 at 10:41 PM ^
I'm loving the MANBALL-ization of our third-down defense. Coach Mattison says that the defense earns time off of the field by stopping the opposing O.
September 11th, 2011 at 12:35 PM ^
September 11th, 2011 at 12:36 PM ^
I'm finally coming down from my euphoric Michigan high and I'm realizing that Notre Dame kicked our butts for 3 quarters. Denard/Hemingway were great last night, but I can't help but wonder what would have happened if:
1) Notre Dame had shot themselves in the foot one less time. - No doubt Mattison's blitzes/stunts were fantastic but if Rees takes a sack on his 2 redzone nono's they may get 2 field goals.
2) Brian Kelly and crew never put Rees under center. For 3 quarters they dominated out of the gun running draws, slants and throwing on 3rd and Floyd...why go under center?
But kudos to Borges for letting denard be a gun slinger. The passes weren't great, but I guess they don't have to be when you've got Hemingway leaping and plucking passes that would have hit Tacopants square in the numbers.
September 11th, 2011 at 12:38 PM ^
and making sure we weren't all being Inception'd and dreaming within a dream that we won that game, I watched a repeat of Gameday Final 'cause I missed the opening segment with our game's highlights. Denard took that game over, and our clan of receivers have earned my proverbial helmet sticker for getting their act together and catching everything thrown at them in the second half.
tangent observation: I was so confused who was on the field throughout the game due to the jerseys not having names on the back. Plus, I didn't realize a few of the guys changed numbers so I was spending the majority of the defensive possessions figuring out who was making those big plays in the second half! Damn you, pizza dave!
September 11th, 2011 at 12:38 PM ^
Thank goodness we play Eastern next, because this hangover is going to linger. Wow, what a game.
September 11th, 2011 at 12:46 PM ^
1. Will Denard be able to throw jump balls the rest of the season? I don't think any team will watch this game and let their secondary faceguard us the rest of the season. If that happens, half of his passes will be interceptions
2. As a result of 1, Denard will need to master the two things he didn't this game--short passes (not that he can't do this, just that he didn't) and long passes hitting the WR in a window/on the run
3. The running backs had a microcosm of last year last night. Either ND's D-line was just too good, or nothing has changed. Or Toussaint needs to be covered in bubble wrap 6 days and 20 hours a week.
4. Did our D-line regress or did ND's O-line outweigh us by 20 lbs and outnumber us by 2 on most plays? Eh, hopefully the latter.
5. Drops. Drops!
Good news
1. That turnover thingy that was supposed to regress to the mean each of the last two years? Well, it probably gifted us one extra win this year.
2. We have so many interchangeable receivers, which has to scare defenses. Denard does a terrific job of distributing the ball.
3. Borges knows what needs to be done, even if he wants to avoid it if possible. This is a huge relief to me, as this summer I worried he wasn't smarter than some idiot on the internet, ie me. Letting Denard loose was exactly what was needed in the 4th quarter after the first 3 didn't work.
4. The D is experienced enough to know when the play call has screwed them. JT Floyd's pass interference against Not That Floyd was brilliant on a probable touchdown pass.
September 11th, 2011 at 12:49 PM ^
The most exciting and the most unsustainable of all three of our Notre Dame miracles.
While unlike many people I never gave up on the game, thinking about the comeback now is absurd.
We needed a perfectly fumbled ball for one score (I thought we hired Hoke not Miles??) and a jump ball touchdown thrown to a 5'7" wideout. Nearly all of Denard's long completions were of that variety and a good team (think Ohio State 2009) would have shifted his TD/Int ratio from 4/3 to 1/6.
The offense looked completely shambolic. The defense seemed to come to life on third and short - in a way we were lucky that Kelly elected to go conventional there, because had they decided to throw, we probably would have lost - but were ripped apart up front and in the secondary. In fact, through 2 games, GERG's defense has performed better than Greg's defense.
One huge positive was the comeback. Obviously, under RR, we seemed to never quite manage to come all the way back like we did last night. How much of that is a difference in attitude or ND's secondary's ineptitude at hauling in jump balls remains to be seen.
A win is always better than a loss (God how I wish we had beaten App. State 35-34 and Toledo 16-13) but at this point we seem even further away from being a good team than we did the past two years. Luckily for us, if the results from Saturday were any indicator, the rest of the Big Ten - aside from Wisconsin - seems to have regressed as well.
September 11th, 2011 at 1:11 PM ^
I don't think that's the right outlook. And recall RR had a comeback win over ND last year and the year before, and Wisconsin in 2008? Indiana in 2009? 4 comeback wins in three seasons is a pretty good ratio.
September 11th, 2011 at 2:52 PM ^
this is about as half empty a take as you could possibly go for. Take your pills please. The schedule is good in the near term. We have many problems with just as many positive indicators.
WTF wrt the B1G. PSU lost to Alabama. They looked pretty good defensively. They had QB issues. NU looks good. Nebraska looks good. OSU will be good when full strength (Toledo is good.) MSU is rolling. Iowa loses to ISU in 3OT. Forgive me for not worrying about the B1G. There was plenty of goodness in yesterday.
Our cup isn't running over but it's more than half empty.
September 11th, 2011 at 3:32 PM ^
No....
Penn State looked pointless due to their QB situation.
OSU nearly lost to a MAC team at home. Oh right, calling Toledo good makes that totally okay.
Iowa lost to a team that maxes out at 6-6 at their best.
Didn't get a chance to see Northwestern beat....Eastern Illinois....
Nebraska took 4 quarters to put away a Fresno team that is living on past reputation.
I'll give you MSU, but to say they are rolling after last week is laughable.
Wisconsin is the most complete team in the Big Ten. After that you have a lot of teams with a lot of flaws. Unlike a lot of people, I really don't care about conferences. All I want is for Michigan to win. I could care less if the Big Ten goes 1-7 in the bowl season as long as Michigan wins. So in reality, I'm less worried about the Big Ten, because my only worries stem from whether we will be able to win it.
But yeah, Big Ten is awesome!! "We" have our own network!!!!!
September 11th, 2011 at 3:47 PM ^
Why was this less sustainable than last year's ND game? OK, we had the miracle finish. But last year, we injured ND's starting QB in the opening drive and he didn't return until the second half (when he may have still been feeling the effects of the hit), and had a +3 turnover margin, which we never came close to repeating again. We faced a healthy ND squad this year for four quarters.
September 11th, 2011 at 4:40 PM ^
relied on flinging the ball into the air and hoping that our receivers would come down with it, including 5'7" Jeremy Gallon.
Denard was 11-24 for 338 yards and 4 TDs and 3 Ints. We talked about our offense being boom or bust last year, well, I think that it peaked last night in that regard.
While you could say our reliance on Denard was unsustainable last year - it was - our offense moved the ball with some consistency. We had 9 drives over 30 yards. On top of our 4 scoring drives we missed two field goals. Last night we looked absolutely terrible until the last quarter of the game and it was was only through an incredible amount of 50/50 balls and lucky breaks that we were able to put ourselves in position to win that game late. There seemed to be no real strategy or game plan.
Not to mention, it's unlikely we will continue to face teams with the ability to shoot themselves in the foot in the red zone when they can close out a game like Notre Dame did yesterday.
But hey, if you think Denard will continue to average 30 yards a completion and Michigan's defense will "generate" 5 turnovers a game, that's fine.
September 11th, 2011 at 11:25 PM ^
The things you point out do give the outcome a bit of a smoke-and-mirrors type tint.
But presumably DR will be asked to do less and will be less likely to get hurt.
This is a great post BTW.
September 11th, 2011 at 12:55 PM ^
"5. There is a chance, a chance I hate even bringing myself to hope in, that this team could end up being pretty solid by the end of the year. I am not used to the idea of a team actually improving as the season wears on, but there are encouraging signs that this team could pull that feat off. Again, prepared to eat these words." - Transatlantic Flight
I have always believed that this is exactly what will happen with this team as it picks up new systems on both offense and defense. Granted, we don't have the personnel at every position to do exactly what they would like to do next year and beyond (the next couple classes look like many of the questions will get answers), but this is a decent start all in all.
There will be quite a few experiments run on both sides of the ball this year, because they need this season to figure out exactly how far they are from "being Michigan".
September 11th, 2011 at 12:56 PM ^
Try explaining last night. Had to do it to the rest of the family this morning. They don't understand why I look like I ran the Iditarod last night...
September 11th, 2011 at 12:58 PM ^
Yesterday was an amazing day. I arrived in Ann Arbor by 8:30 am. Hung out at College Gameday. Was completely trashed by noon. Ate lots of food and was sober by gametime.
On the way to the game I bumped in to both Chris Wormley and Lloyd Carr.
The game itself was a up and down affair but not one person gave up. We even had a little kid behind us that was an ND fan. He cried after the last TD after being a complete dick all game. Seeing him sob made my night.
Best game and gameday experience ever.
September 11th, 2011 at 1:07 PM ^
If you are Borges, you give up your Grand Plans for this year and next, thank your lucky stars you have Denard, and let Denard do what Denard does.
You can always start the West Coast Offense school in earnest later with post-Denard QBs. For now, sit back and enjoy what fell into your lap. You may even learn a few new things yourself.
September 11th, 2011 at 1:15 PM ^
I loved every second of the fourth Q (especially watching it with my ND buddy) but I'm not nearly as confident as most of you sound.
Watching the replays this morning, I noticed that most of those jump balls were to ND #4. Not sure we'll have the pleasure of poor quality pass adjustment like that for the rest of the year. I'm also not quite as confident that DR intentionally threw those balls short of his receivers. Given his accuracy early in the game (remember the first half screen?), I'm a little worried that the location of those passes was chance.
I have a feeling there will be a lot of bad chart performances this week...
September 11th, 2011 at 1:19 PM ^
My thoughts are:
-By the end of the season we will have a legitimate Big Ten defense.
-I am terrified by our offense. It's boom or bust at this point.
-Denard has a lot of work to do on intermediate passes. If we can establish an intermediate passing game, there is no telling how good our offense can be.
-Denard underthrew a ton of deep balls. We are lucky our receivers were able to make adjustments while ND's corners were not.
-Can we get a running game going that isn't 90% reliant on Denard.
-Oh, how quickly we abandoned manball. Also, LOL at limiting Denard's carries.
-Wile did a nice job punting, but we need Hagerup.
-Special teams coverage looked a lot better.
-Greg Mattison's value cannot be overstated.
September 11th, 2011 at 1:38 PM ^
I walked past Mattison on the sideline last night. He is a big man. And an awesome man.
September 11th, 2011 at 1:26 PM ^
My only thoughts:
Thank god for the defense. I think our offense played a grand total of 5 minutes in the whole first half and yet the score going into half was 7-17. We came up with some really really nice turnovers when they needed to happen. If those turnovers didn't happen, I think we would see the score as 0-28 going into the half.
I'm so sick and tired. So sick of hearing other teams play and have 40 point shootouts like South Carolina and Georgia and Mississippi St. and Auburn and having all of their defenses get so much praise for creating turnovers and getting the win. But when our team holds a team stacked top to bottom with talent to 24 points until the very end and creates turnovers... we're a bad defense?
Since when is allowing a talented team to score 40 points on you good defense and allowing a talented team to score 24 points on you bad defense?
Really.
Come on now.
September 11th, 2011 at 10:24 PM ^
In general, when your defense gives up over 500 yards of offense, their running game averages over 6 yards per carry, and on 2 of your "created turnovers" we don't touch the ball until we jump on it, your defense didn't have that great of a game. I don't care who gets praise...our defense didn't deserve it last night.
September 11th, 2011 at 1:54 PM ^
how magical our comeback was. I had the opportunity and the gift to be able to stand and cheer in the student section, with the maize out, yell till I was hoarse and couldn't speak anymore and get mobbed, carried, hugged and high fived from people who I never met before but I didn't care. It was the greatest night of my life both as a fan of college football but as a Michigan Wolverine. It was a night I will never forget and one I will always cherish and tell my children about one day. To all who went, we were apart of history. God I wish Bo and Ufer could of lived to see this game tonight. It brought a tear to my eye at the end because I kept thinking about how much those two would of lost it after that game.
Denard still makes decisions that make me shake my head sometimes. When nobody is open and the pocket is collapsing just throw it away man not up for grabs! Way too many interceptions thrown by him in the 1st half. He came alive though in the 2nd half and drove our guys right down the field for the winning score so he definitely did not fail in the end.
Defense made some great stops on 3rd and 1 and 3rd and 2 and that's what made me cheer the hardest was seeing our line stop the run on 3rd and short and I hope to see more of that in the coming games this season. Kudo's to Kovacs on that interception too!
Gallon still doesnt return kicks very well and our special teams coverage has got to get better. We can't afford to keep giving up 35 to 40 yard returns and hope to win that's got to stop before conference play starts. MSU, Nebraska, OSU etc will eat us alive on the return if we can't get more men deep to pin them down around the 20.
All in all I can not complain because I saw my first ND Michigan victory since 2007. I didn't have a chance to go to the 2009 game but right now I am on cloud 9 and I will be that way all week long. A memorable night and performance from my Wolverines has made my weekend perfect and nothing will take this smile away for a good while. GO BLUE!