Official Post Game Thread

me off is my friends and family calling for RR's job already.  When I said uneducated fans piss me off, she responded with " I would not call myself an uneducated fan seeing that I have had season tickets for 30 years and yes Rich Rod must go"  wtf.  I responded with..It is not all RR fault..if any coach came in without any Defensive talent we would be in trouble..You can't be excited for our offense at the same time calling for RR head.I proceeded to follow it up with the decimated defense diaries.  But I doubt anyone who can turn that fast will change their opinion.

they weren't in position to make those INT's, the passes were poorly thrown, properly thrown, they're catches.

There are three very winnable games coming up (Penn State, Illinois, Purdue). Iowa and Wisconsin are good, but still vulnerable. Even OSU is vulnerable to option QBs. Many of us predicted 8-4 this year, which is still doable. It sucks that MSU is one of the 4, but that's how it is.

Heisman is still possible too; we just need to get our shit together for the rest of the season.

I'm oddly stable about this one.  From the start of the season I figured we needed to score 35 to be assured a win.  The defense held State to 31, so 35 would have won it.  We also got some good pressure bringing four rusher.  On the offensive side you add on the two TDs from the red zone turnovers and that failed field goal at the end of the first and we points and the win.  

Denard reminded us he is a soph and this is the first year of starting.  Henne did the same thing a few times during his soph year.  We're a young team and young players make mistakes.  Period.  That's what happened to us today.  Our schemes worked on both sides of the ball IMHO.  You have Denard take back a couple bad reads he made and we're headed to OT at the very worst or likely winning it in regulation.

Also we had some flashes of brilliance in the run game.  

I think people are melting down because after a flashy start we forgot where we were on the rebuilding map.  The team reminded us of that today.  It hurts, but it is the truth.  

Let's just call this what it is:  There's a ceiling for a team with a defense like this and a total disaster of a kicking game.  You can't do much when your kicking game forces your hand when you should be putting points on the board, and you can't do much when your defense can't stop the other team from racking up big plays and tons of points.

It's frustrating, but this game was the reality check.

A young Michigan team lost and MSU took advantage of our mistakes like a decent team ought to do. Now, the fact that we made what looked like to be so many unforced mistakes in a weird way gives me more hope b/c I honestly think that those are correctable.  

At least Alabama lost.  That'll help keep the focus off of us this week.

I'd rather be where we are now, then where we were in 2007 at the same point. Difference: beat MSU in 2007.  Our stock is going up and it clearly wasn't then. But blue chip performers dip every once in a while on the way up.

To the casual fans and MSM, (most of the Rich Rodriguez haters and obnoxious Sparty fans are just casual fans), winning the rivalry games are all that count. Not the general direction the more serious fans see.

 Get ready to put up with a lot of really annoying chatter and smack talk for months on end. That won't change until Michigan wins these games  with MSU, OSU, PSU etc.

Beating Iowa would change perceptions in a big way though. I'd say it is a real opportunity for this program.

Meh, the game was a disappointment of course. However, had we lost to a team like Iowa or Wisconsin in the fashion we did today then it wouldn't have hurt nearly as bad. The offense just wasn't having its day and the defense was the defense. Today has made me realize how much I really dislike the fans of MSU though. Sparty running all the way across the field to stand right in front of the student section and wave the MSU flag after the game was the icing on the cake. He had no reason to run over and do that so he was going 120 yards out of his way just to be an asshat. Go Blue, Beat Iowa.

I've collected my wits, and I'm sorry for my earlier tirade.  Iowa is definitely beatable, since I don't think they have anywhere near the quality on offense that MSU does.  I wish the best to Martin and Odoms -- we need you guys!

We're not the only team Sparty has beaten this season. Sparty will run over a lot of teams with their balanced attack. No one expected us to run the table in the big 10. We didn't execute and we lost the turnover battle. We know what we did wrong, and we can learn from the mistakes. We have a young team and perhaps the offense thought they were unstoppable. Every good offense has their off days. Perhaps we can come out sharp next week for Iowa.

didn't execute in critical situation.  Two of the INTs that Denard threw was simply bad throws, not bad reads.  I have to see it again to check on his mechanics because he was either late in his throws or his footwork didn't allow the ball to come out quicker.  After that, Denard seems more indecisive and it shows when he hesitiated when he threw up for grab to Grady.

The OL had trouble sustaining blocks in the 2nd half and that's probably due to MSU slanting hard with LBs filling up the gap quickly.

The WRs had several drops.  Roundtree was the most notable one but it didn't matter since they scored a TD.  Hemingway was simply trying to run before he secured the ball.  Stonum stopped a little bit but if he had kept going, he would've caught the ball.

The defense made a few stops but the LBs play were disappointing. Ezeh was consistently late to fill up the hole and get washed out easily.  Mouton had some good moments and other bad moments.

Cam Gordon had a terrible game and doesn't look to wrap up which is frustrated me.  His mistakes were magnified even more because the front 7 didn't do very well.  Michigan need a S who have the speed and the range plus sure tackling ability to succeed.

1. Defense played to expectations, it's frustrating but no more so than any other week this season and, at this point, I don't ask for anything more than 4 stops in a game from them.  I am excited about Jibreel Black though.

2. I wasn't annoyed by the playcalling (minus the punt at the end of the game which RR explained in his presser).  I was annoyed by the lack of execution.  I would not have been surprised if the defense cost us the game, I was a little disappointed that it seemed mostly due to lack of offensive execution.

3. This game served as a reminder of my season expectations.  As explosive as this offensive is, there are still some really young players out there who have a lot to learn and a lot to develop (which, holy hell, offensive juggernaut here we come).  This loss was to a pretty good Spartan team and was a toss-up coming in.  It was not a "must win".

4. We're going to get those 8 wins and possibly 9 and have a spectacular showing in a bowl game this year.  RR stays the course and we continue the climb back to the top.

Let's demolish Iowa.