Outback Bowl Snowflake Thread

Alright I have a few Michigan related questions, and it would be great if a fellow mgoblogger could help me answer them.

1- How is Derrick Green in pass protection?

2- How did this bowl game help recruiting?

3- Should we get a backup kicker/punter with Wile taking over all duties next year (saying Hagrup doesn't come back)

4- How is Devin Gardner's redshirt appeal coming?

5- Was russel bellomy ever injured like hoke said, or is he just not there mentally?

6- Is there any news on how Fitz Toussaint and Countess are rehabbing/healing up?

7- Other than Roh and Demens, who else leaves in the front 7?

And finally,

8- Speaking of Demens, was he banged up early? Because I saw a lot of Ross + Bolden.

Thanks, and Go Blue!

I thought it was a solid game played on both sides of the ball... Borges play calling was actually decent. We lost though because of our inability to prevent big plays. If we stop one of the four or five big plays they have, we win. I mean we dominated the game in terms of T.O.P., but in the end, South Carolina made the bigger plays to win. I applaud the overall effort from the boys this year, and the 2013 season can't come faster for me. Go blue!

but I'll post this here anyway, even if it is consigned to eternal anonymity. I'm still cut up enough about the Ohio game that I tend to blame Borges for everything, and Hoke some for not forcing him to have more variety. That said, obviously there were some personnel issues this year, and in the future we'll have enough depth that that is less of an issue.

That being said, for the league as a whole, today was surprisingly not bad. I was pretty convinced that Wisconsin, Nebraska, and maybe even Northwestern were going to get destroyed utterly today, and the first two kept their games competitive, while the latter won. Obviously, Purdue got blown up, but not counting them, we were outscored 107 to 118 today, and counting the earlier bowls 155 to 168. That's really not a huge margin of defeat, and if a couple things go a little differently, the postseason record is somewhat shiny.

I know the MGoCommunity is not overly partial to ESPN for recruiting info, but according to their latest class rankings (http://insider.espn.go.com/college-sports/football/recruiting/classranki...), there are actually 9 current or future B1G programs with a top 40 recruiting class, including Rutgers(?!). The SEC has 11 in that list, for the record, the PAC has six out of its 12, and the ACC has six out of its however many, including Notre Dame. Obviously, stars aren't everything, but that means enough schools are getting in enough talent that they shouldn't be bad due to total lack thereof, and the recent coaching hires seem to be decent overall. For perspective, a higher percentage of B1G schools have top 40 classes than really any conference except the SEC, although the percentages shift in the top 25 alone. According to Rivals, 11 of our programs have a top 50 2013 class.

TL;DR Version: Actually, as a conference we didn't look so bad, held our own when we were considered heavily overmatched, and recruiting in the conference looks to have some life to it after all.

FWIW, someone asked Fitz when he would get his boot off and he said in 2 weeks.

I must say I'm not used to Michigan losing heartbreakers...  it seems like the Wolverine's lot in life to inflict these kinds of loses on others (mostly recently Michigan State and Northwestern).  I honestly can't think of game in my time watching Michgan football that I was quite as emotionally conflicted about...  So pleasantly surprised by the gameplan and poise in a loss...

Despite digging a hole early our boys played like their hair was on fire and dug themselves back out, only to stumble.  They never gave up and even though the 'cocks clearly had some major  talent advantages they largely played like a group of very talented individuals.  Michigan played together.  Michigan supported eachother.  Sadly the team, the team, the team wasn't quite..

I feel much better about Borges after this game.  Like woah.  Devin had an on-again off-again game through the air but his legs impressed; keeping key drives alive. Denard was utilized about a dozen different ways and even when some of them fell flat I still appreciated the thought and the design that went into it.  Getting Denard and Devin on the field together on many snaps was a "best case scenario" I almost expected Al to avoid without reason.

It's a shame we got burned on punt coverage...  especially with all the talk about it here.  It's equally frustrating that we couldn't stop them on that last drive...  inches...  10th of a second...   Living by the blitz, dying by the blitz.  It felt awful.  Every almost stop.  Every ankle tackle that wasn't quite... GAAAHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

If I wasn't excited about the direction of the entire program, I would be in agony.  The heartbreaking nature of the lead with 11 seconds remaining has tainted the fact that my expectations for the season were largely met (loss streak to Michigan State and Iowa broken, home-win streak extended to 14).

I must say I thought Matt Wile did an excellent job stepping in for Hagerup. He really booted a couple of those punts and obviously the long field goal was clutch. It's too bad we couldn't redshirt him and put a year in between him and gibbons and hagerup. But Wile's senior year I'm looking forward to him being a stud kicker and punter for us similar to Maher for Nebraska. Well done, Matt

one of the better bowl games this year.  Of course I wish we would have won but the guys played there asses off and the game could have easily been ours.  Here is to a good off-season in the class room/weight room and building  bad ass Wolverine football players.

Go Blue