MSU's starting RT Burkland takes medical DQ
Not to put more MSU stuff on the board, but this is something that actually affects their on-field performance and Michigan, so I think it's worth it. It appears Michigan State's starting right tackle, Skyler Burkland, has taken a medical DQ. IMO, he really wasn't that good of a player, but MSU has very little depth at OT and this probably forces them to put the really slow footed Dan France back out at OT. It is unfortunate that any player from any team has to end his career due to injuries, so I feel bad in that regard.
In less "I feel bad", they now have about '08 Michigan levels of depth along the o-line, minus having a Schilling-level guy (though I guess their LT could be about equal to an out-of-position Schilling), which won't help their poor performance in both run blocking and pass protection from last year. Look for Maxwell (or whoever they put at QB) to be even more shaken and in a hurry, and look for a weaker interior line to get even less push. Their only upgrade over a unit that looked like it couldn't get any worse last year is their LT, the rest of the unit is still extremely weak.
I see a 10 win floor for Michigan. Am I being reasonable, or have a begun my transformation to a young, lispless Lou Holtz?
Fun fact: If Hoke can make it through next year without losing at home, there is a good chance that he will be going into year 5 with a perfect record at home...
Well, if I meant year 4, I wouldn't have said 'good chance'. Year 4 provides us with the weakest home schedule since OJ wore Isotoners.
10 wins would be disappointing? Come on now. 10-2 is an excellent season in almost all circumstances. Let's not lose sight of the fact that our running game is a question mark and that our QB is still pretty inexperienced.
I agree with the RB situation although it is possible that Green makes an immediate impact. We won't know until August 31. I disagree with the QB thing. Gardner is a redshirt junior and looked pretty good in all games besides the second half of the Ohio game last year.
Gardner may be experienced, but he has a lot of question marks around the targets he has to throw to. Darboh and Chesson need to step up and produce.
love that avatar.
Gardner didn't look bad in the 2nd half of the Ohio game. The team was giving it their best shot with what Borges gave them to work with. The 2nd half they just noticed Denard couldn't throw and Gardner was only passing. Makes it a lot easier when you know what the other teams doing before the balls snapped.
Anything short of 14-0 and a BCS title is failure. If you aint first, you're last!
I would say that ND, Nebraska and Ohio are pretty close to us in terms of talent level (and NU has a four-year starter at QB). Then there's NW, who is clearly on the upswing, MSU and PSU which could still be dangerous on the road. It's fun to look at recruiting rankings, but most of our highest-rated players are underclassmen. I don't think we enjoy quite the huge talent edge you're making it out to be. Besides, the difference between 12-0 and 10-2 is often just a couple of lucky bounces.
Nebraska does not have the talent we do, but I agree they;ll be a tough game.
As for most of our talent being underclassmen, I disagree (unless you literally mean less than 50%, in which case, whatever).
Our QB is a 4th year junior 5-star, and our RB (assuming it's Fitz) is a 5th year senior 4-star. One of our starting WRs is a 5th year senior 4-star Army All-American and our two starting OTs are 5th year senior 4-stars. That's 5 of 11 offensive starters who are both highly regarded and upperclassmen, and the other 6 are one or the other.
Defense is another story, but mostly because our defense has a lot of guys who have achieved beyond their recruiting rankings (Jake Ryan, Desmond Morgan, Thomas Gordon and Frank Clark). Outside of that, Countess, Taylor, Cam Gordon, Quintin Washington and Jibreel Black (depending on the site) are all upperclassmen 4-stars. That's 5/11 again.
I don't know the answer to this, but I would guess there are a small number of college football teams who have 10 starters who are 4 stars or better and upperclassmen.
It's possible to get it that way, but that would mean we played in the Big Ten Title game and a good bowl (BCS or very close), so not a total bummer.
The worst part of that scenario is that it almost certainly means losses to OSU in back to back weeks, would be a huge bummer by itself.
A Rees led ND no less.
I don't think this team will win only 7 games, but rivalry games are unpredictable and can go either way. NW and Nebraska will have explosive offenses that could be tough to stop. There is no guarantee that this offensive line will be better run blocking than last year, which could affect a run game that struggled last year. If Gardner, Lewan, and/or Schofield get hurt, it could get ugly. If the front four struggle to get a pass rush and Ryan isn't himself coming off an injury, the defense might just be ok. This is all worst case scenario, but that is what a floor is.
Michigan will win 7 games, followed by 3 more.
This, I think, could be true if the O-line can create a push and we create a running game. I feel the passing game will be more than fine this year. The defense will be good again and probably improved. The majority of the season will come down to whether or not there is production from the RB position.
OK I'll bite. Here's my extremely scientific win% projections for each game:
Central Michigan 98%
ND 65% (I know they suck, no Golson, etc. etc. but anything can happen in these games as we've seen over the years. The ND team will be talented at most positions and very motivated by the rivalry as always)
Akron 98%
UCONN 95%
Minnesota 95%
Penn State 70% (Home field and think BOB is a solid coach, see last year + his recruiting classes)
Indiana 90%
MSU 65% (On the road, and this is their super bowl)
Nebraska 70%
Northwestern 75%
Iowa 90%
Ohio State 55%
Let's say that gives us a 50-50 shot at going to the BTCG, and have a 50-50 shot of winning. That's another .25 of a win. Then assume we are appropriately paired for our bowl game, which is another .5 of a win. That gives me an expected value of 10.41 wins (assuming independent outcomes), so I guess this sounds to me more like a baseline than a floor. I could easily see us have a few bad bounces and losing @PSU, @NW, vs. Neb, @MSU, or vs. ND. If everything goes wrong I see our floor / worst case scenario as 7 wins, but this has maybe a .5-1% chance of happening, probably less than our prob of losing to Akron (independently).
While I laugh when MSU has a setback...I feel for the kid since he can't continue his career. I wish him well and hope he doesn't have lingering issues in his future.
I am happy that Sparty loses another contributor, but I am never happy to see a young man get injured. The best-case scenario: Burkland graduates, goes to the University of Michigan hospital for surgery, heals fully, and is able to have a great life after college.
Knowing, of course, that he "owes" the University of Michigan for his health...
They've had a weak Oline the last 4 or 5 years. Outside of BG55 I don't recall a whole lot of pass rush agains them anyway.
And their sack numbers haven't been indicative of how poor their O-line has been in pass pro, as their QBs have been quick to throw the ball away quickly and not try to scramble/make plays. Maxwell looked like a Lions-Joey-Harrington last year he was so shell shocked.
their O-line has supposedly been patch-work the past views years but we haven't gotten a good pass rush on them. We stuffed their run game pretty good, but we weren't dominating like I had hoped. Hopefully that'll change
I think that speaks more to M's poor pass rush than Sparty's OL. Outside of BG, we haven't had a rush against really any opponent in some time.
Mike Martin got some interior penetration, but since BG, we haven't really had a DE that could get pressure and that's who you really rely on right? DTs and NTs are space-eaters and gap breakers, not QB-sackers (generally), right?
DTs and NTs that penetrate are NFL players. DEs tend to get more sacks, that's correct.
you can have disruptive DT/NT in the interior. Look at Star Lotulelei from Utah. He was 320 lbs but has the quickness and strength to dominate at the interior. Or Nick Fairley when he was at Auburn. Flatout dominant with his quickness and burst.
It's fine if they're a space eater provided they can hold at the gap and plays with proper pad level/leverage.
I don't think it's fair to criticize Schofner/Burkland's career. If you recall, Skyler was one of those guys who turned away from Michigan during the RR years, and of course there were rumors out there as to why / who told him to. Rich Rod would've loved to have had him show up as a member of the 2010 OL class and he could've been an option for playing time last year.
Schofner also tore his knee up as a true frosh, I believe, so he's had medical issues from the start.
Best of luck to him.
He just wasn't a very productive player. In all honesty, he belonged on the inside, but was forced to play OT because of necessity at MSU. Never really had good feet for pass-pro, and probably had a ceiling of a decent B1G starter (which isn't terrible, just not much to write home about).
But it appears it's from 247. Fonoti (sp?) is nominally their starter at LT, but he's been injured a lot since I believe he transferred in as a JUCO.
Tried to edit, but failed. Should have read "starting right tackle."
Dan KilbridgeSources: MSU offensive lineman Skyler Burkland taking a medical DQ
What does Damion Terry have to say about it?
Maybe the RCMB can start their own version of Never Forget.
Dear Mgoblog
Remember, Couch Dantonio isthe beestest developered of tealent in the nations.
Sincrly,
Michigan State Alumnis
obvious /s
Wow, tough break. It's always bad news when an athlete's career is ended by injury.