Obi Ezeh: the sequel?

Submitted by randyfloyd on
I was watching Obi all game. He was reading the plays well, made some nice plays in both the pass and the run. By far his best game of the season, and I'll be interested to see how Brian rates him on the UFR. Edit: we have been dogging him all season, and I just thought he deserved his own thread for praising him...

SC Wolverine

November 13th, 2010 at 3:45 PM ^

You are so right about Obi.  It was kind of shocking/nice to see.  Unfortunately, it is probably simply the gauge of how inept Purdue's offense is.  Still, he made some nice tackles, so we have to give him credit.

Raoul

November 13th, 2010 at 3:56 PM ^

Actually Fitzgerald started and Obi backed him up, although Obi may have ended up playing more than Fitzgerald.

Here's the defensive participation from the player participation release (starters in CAPS):

Michigan Defense

DE -- 88 CRAIG ROH, 55 Black
DE -- 53 RYAN VAN BERGEN, 92 Banks
NT -- 99 ADAM PATTERSON, 95 Sagesse
OLB -- 42 J.B. FITZGERALD, 45 Ozeh
MLB -- 25 KENNY DEMENS
WLB -- 44 MARK MOUNDROS
SLB -- 4 CAMERON GORDON, 13 C. Johnson
LCB -- 5 COURTNEY AVERY, 24 Christian
SS -- 32 JORDAN KOVACS
FS -- 20 RAY VINOPAL, 22 Talbott
RCB -- 18 JAMES ROGERS

ST3

November 13th, 2010 at 3:48 PM ^

Lots of guys played well on D. I think the rain, wind, and horrible field contributed to both offenses' woes. Give each team another 100 yards under normal playing conditions and the game is more like what we were expecting.

eth2

November 13th, 2010 at 3:54 PM ^

While the weather conditions were hellish and stifled both Os, got to give the Michigan D all the credit in the world today.   Without Martin and Mouton, their performance is all the more impressive.   The young guys all took a step forward.  And I agree that Obi had one of his better games.  

How about that guy Kerrigan for Purdue?!   One man wrecking crew.  I'm no expert, but he looked better than Clayborn to me.   

steelymax

November 13th, 2010 at 5:43 PM ^

Were those two Purdue graduates?

Maybe someone made mention of how ridiculously biased they were. Went apeshit over how great an effing fieldgoal was because of a botched snap and then had muted responses to such things as Michigan intercepting a pass.

Yooper

November 13th, 2010 at 5:01 PM ^

the next two years. Roh needs to continue to improve physically but Kerrigan shows what an impact a DE can have. As virtually everyone on this Board has said, let's put Roh's hand down and let him excel.

akblue

November 13th, 2010 at 3:56 PM ^

Great to see a player continue to compete and contribute-- especially after considerable criticism and adversity.

This seems to be a big part of our team. They continue to compete no matter what. I like RR's quote from last week, "When your back is against the wall you can go two ways, forward or down." Obi and the team keep moving forward.

jlcoleman71

November 13th, 2010 at 3:56 PM ^

especially with Martin and Mouton only seeing limited action.........they didn't give up a touchdown and were put in tough spots because of all our turnovers.........great job defense.

Mannix

November 13th, 2010 at 4:01 PM ^

But he's like Tom Brookens was with the Tigers. Play him all the time and you get less production. Remember all the UFR's and don't get sucked in. He had a very good game (he is a D1 athlete) and leave it at that.

He will just leave you wanting more down the road. Turn and walk away.

 

EDIT: I really don't remember if Brookens was an everyday player for awhile or just for a year or two.

Brown and Blue

November 13th, 2010 at 4:10 PM ^

Obi had a fantastic game, and some good hard hits.

Is it my imagination or are there more subs playing throughout the game on defense?  I think the more players playing has led to a better defensive performance overall.  Not sure if it's causal, or just coaches finally doing a better job utilizing what talent they do have?  

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

November 13th, 2010 at 4:15 PM ^

Obi looked pretty decent.  I really liked his play on one third down where he fought off a cut block, a second block, and forced a bad throw from the quarterback.  I've always thought he had very good athleticism and positively zero football sense.  Nice to see his athleticism take over this time.

ommeethatsees

November 13th, 2010 at 4:27 PM ^

Where has this D been all season.  They just appeared to be playing with a lot more confidence today.  Although I think the Purdue Offense had something to do with that.

If anything I think it was our offensive line which had been one of our strengths which really struggled today.

greeno

November 13th, 2010 at 9:23 PM ^

Glad to see him get some play today as well. Don't remember him doing anything epically bad or good.
<br>
<br>Ezeh probably played his best game since the bowl game against Fla.