With one month of football down, what have we learned about Michigan and the rest of the big ten?

Submitted by Dayday on
I've learned that Michigan's defense is outstanding and will keep them in most games. I've also learned I'm now more concerned about 10/21 than I am about 11/27.

The Baughz

September 23rd, 2017 at 11:33 PM ^

Well ya because one is one the road at night against the best RB in the country. But they are beatable. PSU is explosive but if Michigan can limit Barkely and keep McSorley in the pocket, they can win that game.

Swayze Howell Sheen

September 24th, 2017 at 6:11 AM ^

look, I agree, the guy is a douche.

but, if you watch that play, he looks to the right, sees the guy get about to break open, and chucks it to where he is going to be, perfect throw, game winning TD ala Henne to Manningham. so you have to give him a little credit. Sure, there was some guy from the left that was headed to the same spot (perhaps the play wasn't quite executed correctly) but I am fairly certain McS did exactly what he wanted to do.

 

war-dawg69

September 24th, 2017 at 12:23 AM ^

If Michigan has reliable Qb they can beat anyone. They will only get better. Glad I didn't post anything in the first half. So proud of O'korn and offense. I love our defense more but I expect nothing less from them, but ten yards in th second half is unreal. Who has a better defense than Michigan..........noooooobooody. Purdue has the whiningest coach and dirtiest team in the big ten. Hope blotchman and his late hit targeting thugs get smashed in every game. The late hit on Speight was flat out late after he was down. Both targeting hits were on purpose and the guy who hit O'korn jumped up to hit him in the head.

Was on a good high until Iowa scored to early and some evil entity was looking out for the ass raper enablers. Our defense can shut psu down and we can beat anyone with competent QB play. Really hope Speight is okay, but #7 may have awakened a sleeping giant in John O'korn. His late hit actually helped Michigan IMO. My favorite play of the game was the run by O'korn who should have run the play before and he knew it so he hits a tough run for the first down. Michigan overcoming those huge down and distance plays was kind of surreal to me. I absolutely love our TE's. If O'Korn can keep growing this team can really do something this year. I TAKE BACK EVERYTHING I SAID IN THE FIRST HALF. LOL.

enlightenedbum

September 23rd, 2017 at 11:36 PM ^

Big Ten has four good teams that are short of being elite, 1 above average team (Iowa), four potentially mediocre teams in Indiana, Purdue, Nebraska, and Minnesota, and a bunch of trash.

Michigan has an elite defense, a very good kicker, a poor offensive line, poor WR play, a new starting QB and decent but not great RBs.  Looks like good TEs though.  The defense is the best individual unit in the conference, but we need a lot of improvement from the offense to contend, especially given that we have Wisconsin as a crossover.

myislanduniverse

September 24th, 2017 at 11:27 AM ^

True, and Franklin is going to play him for 30+ snaps a game or face the wrath of the PSU fans. Then when Barkley goes down injured (he definitely wasn't feeling great after rolling his ankle), they'll be on him for "breaking" their Heisman stud.

He definitely is super human, though. They'd better only above average without him, I feel.

tragictones

September 24th, 2017 at 10:13 AM ^

Michigan State decided to sell out to stop Barkley last year.  Held him to 14 rushing, 11 receiving yards.  Penn State bombed them deep for overplaying the run and crushed them.  

Minnestoa, Indiana and most notably Wisconsin all stopped Barkley cold, and Penn State won all those games.  Pitt held Barkley to about 120 total yards (catch and rush) and lost.  Penn State has above average receivers, an excellent pass-catching tight end, other decent running backs, a QB who can pick up first downs with his legs.  They win in all sorts of ways.

What seems to be MORE true is stop Wadley beat IOWA.  While Barkley accounted for 52% of PSU's yards last night, Wadley had 56% of Iowa's and almost single-handedly won them the game.  Not to mention last year, all Michigan had to do was stop Wadley and they would win.  But, Wadley accounted for 73% of Iowa's yards last year and beat Michigan all by himself.  Penn State has other weapons.  Iowa does not have anyone other than Wadley.  

DrMantisToboggan

September 23rd, 2017 at 11:38 PM ^

That we will only need 22 points to beat Penn State. 

That, no, Maryland is not for real. 

That OSU is beatable, and their receviers are very fast with hands of stone.

That Wisconsin may go 12-0 without anyone knowing how good they are. 

That Purdue is is the top half of the West. 

And that Michigan can still win this conference with John O'Korn and this defense.

SpikeFan2016

September 23rd, 2017 at 11:39 PM ^

@Penn State is the most important game of the season. Given their win tonight, a loss there all but dooms us. I can't see them losing to anyone besides us and OSU.

If PSU beats us and loses to OSU, they'd still win the East over us even if we win The Game (assuming all three are 8-1 in the Big Ten). 

 

Would absolutely suck to go into The Game knowing we were playing for PSU and not ourselves (barring a miracle Maryland win on the same day). 

YouRFree

September 23rd, 2017 at 11:42 PM ^

i don't that that's the most important game. We still need to win one game at a time. Pen state will play UM, OSU, MSU in back to back to back week. I would be surprised they can win all three, especially at OSU. We jsut need to win one game at a time. Every game is important for us. Wisky and OSU game are as important as Indiana game. We can't afford to lose more than one game to win the BIg east.

SpikeFan2016

September 24th, 2017 at 2:25 AM ^

If Michigan loses to Penn State, we need Penn State to lose twice. A loss to OSU wouldn't be enough. They have home games against Indiana, Rutgers and Nebraska; road games against Maryland, Northwestern and MSU. Anything could happen, but PSU will be heavy, heavy favorites in those 6 games. Tonight was by far their best chance for a loss outside of UM/OSU. If Michigan, PSU and OSU all finish 8-1 in the Big Ten (PSU beats M, OSU beats PSU, M beats OSU), Penn State wins the East. They have a bigger margin for error than Michigan or Ohio State. 

MSU is HORRID, cannot picture a PSU loss in East Lansing. 

 

Wisconsin is definitely not the most important; we can lose there but win the rest of our games and be completely fine. 

 

Ohio State will be close to as important of PSU in a vaccum, but given how late it is, our chances could already be all but over by the time we get to The Game, even if we are 10-1 at the time. However, I also think that the possibility OSU loses two Big Ten games to teams other than UM is higher than that probability for Penn State (after tonight's victory in Iowa City). 

war-dawg69

September 24th, 2017 at 12:38 AM ^

Man a lot of football to go. Barkley or Mcsorely go down, game over for psu. They keep abusing Barkley like that and he won't make it through the season. Nobody in the country has a defense like us. Michigan is the last team I would bet against. That play call to Evans was beautiful. O'Korn can play better then he did today and I really believe that. This team is growing and I just don't see anyone beating us especially psu. They are vulnerable and like I said if they lose Barkley or Mcsorely game over. Watching another game right know and we would crush Washington. Any team who has a statue QB and plays pro ball our defense would destroy. I like our team going forward and look forward to crushing sparty.

SpikeFan2016

September 24th, 2017 at 4:46 AM ^

Nope. They switched it.

The 7th round of the tiebreaker, the last one before the 8th which is literally a "random draw", is overall record. PSU and UM went 3-0 in the non-conference, OSU went 2-1. Thus, in a 3 way tie, Buckeyes are eliminated as they would be 10-2 while Michigan/Penn State are 11-1. Then, it goes back to UM-PSU head to head. 

 

Rankings have no effect on Big Ten tiebreakers. 

 

http://www.bigten.org/sports/m-footbl/archive/081011aaa.html

BlueWon

September 24th, 2017 at 9:10 AM ^

with three new O linemen and two new WR starters. Not to mention, they have tweaked the offense with the addition of Hamilton. 

Their key to success is finding our speedy and large TE's. JOK did a great job at that yesterday.