People need to Calm down

I hear you.  But your argument is based on the unstated proposition that there are not degrees of bad.  You're correct.  We knew our defense was "bad."  We hoped it could show major improvement as the season went on.  Post-UMass, I think we know it's scary bad, and improvement, while possible, is far from assured.  We'll see.

it's because we thought the team was ready to take a step forward on defense. I'm glad we got the win, but today was just very disappointing.

Our defense is horrible and it will take a Heisman effort from Denard just to save Rod's job.  Maybe I should relax, but after watching that abortion of a football game, UMass better be D1 good or the Big 10 season is going to be loooooooooooooong.

You're right- our defense is definitely not part of the aristocracy.

However,thank gawd for Martin and Kouvac; other than these two, defense was a BIG no show today.

It seem to me that the defense was taking the day off.  I don't think they played hard and seem to go through the motions without much emotion.  I don't think our defense is this bad but hopefully RR will kick them in gear for next week game.  The offense started out lethargic as well but kicked in high gear during the late 2nd QTR and through most of the 2nd half.  This could have been much worse since UMASS ws up for this game and looked to have spent a lot of time preparing for our team.  Hopefully this will knock our young team back to the ground and they will be hungrier and play better next week.  I think next week we'll see a different UM defense!

Just take this like a man and move on. We are not good on D we all knew that but Rich Rods hot seat just got lit again. You know the old guard will play this up because our image took another blow.

The "decimated defense" argument doesn't apply here. I appreciate efforts to cheer people up, but it's okay to be upset sometimes. We have talented players (at least Rivals 3-stars) at every defensive position, except for Kovacs. FCS don't. We gave up more points to UMass than either of their FCS opponents this season and all but three FCS opponents last years (the mighty Albany, Hofstra, and Stony Brook). Just to reiterate, Holy Cross held UMass to fewer points this season. Guess how many three-star players Holy Cross has on their roster? Zero.

This is a site to analyze U-M football and share thoughts. The analysis right now is depressing. That's just the way it is. Brian's UFRs will cofirm this.

I mean, yeah, we knew it was bad.  But it is perfectly understandible to be upset about the way they played today.  They did not do anything particularly well, from the playcalling to execution, to just tackling... and all against what should be an inferior opponent.  After all the optimism of the improved play of the corners and linebackers, this was a major step backwards and it does not bode well for us in Big Ten play.  Remember Indiana last year?  Remember how our defense played poorly and we all chalked it up to Indiana turning a corner?  This seems eerily familiar.  

Let me be clear... firing Gerg is not the answer right now.  But this needs to stop if we're going to contend in the Big Ten this season. 

If Cam just falls down after that interception and gets the offense the ball and they score, this game is won by at least 20. That's the sad thing, instead of it being a comfortable win we give them the ball right back and they score. Then they blocked the punt and we leave the tight end uncovered in the end zone. Don't get me wrong I'm disappointed with the defense but I really believe had Cam just fell down that's a comfortable win.

I can't be the only person that is happy we won, and isn't worried about future games, can I?

I understand the concern, but we are 3 and 0. FAWKING ENJOY IT.

Next up Bowling Green.

Did anyone really think that our D was anything but bad? Jesus, we played badly across the board (yes, the O sucked in the 1st Q) and still got the win.  It's not like we were ranked in the top 5 with Jr's and Sr's in all the skill positions. 

Final conclusion:  We won and are 3-0.   I think we'll win next week.  One think I know is we'll be in every game this year and with a big play offense we'll have a good chance of winning at least half to the remaining games...if not more! 

It was an ugly game, no doubt, but the end had two KEY plays go UMass's way. 

If Cam doesn't fumble that interception, we have the ball 42-24 and grind out more time.  Instead he does and they get the ball at the 26 yard line, and ultimately a TD, more confidence, and more momentum.
If Hagerup doesn't drop that snap, they have a much longer field to drive with not a lot of time.  Instead he does drop it and they get even more momentum along with the ball at the 25 yard line. 

Overall what I saw was our team looked like they underestimated UMass, which is never a good thing to do.  They didn't execute well, and UMass got a couple of very good breaks at the end to close the gap.  Florida did it against Miami(OH).  Va Tech did it against James Madison and lost.  Oklahoma did it against Utah State.  West Virginia did it against Marshall.  And Cal did it last night against Nevada and got killed. 

So it's never fun, but it's a lot better to come out with the win and have a lot of ugly film to look at and learn from.

Go Blue!

UMass drove on Michigan with regularity. Whenever they needed something, they got it. The defense couldn't stop the trap, edge plays were always there, bootleg action killed them, tackling was awful, and as usual... Tight Ends were running free.

Michigan made UMass look like the New England Patriots. With B10 play looming, I understand why people are concerned.

I AM SO ANGAR MY LIFE IS EMPTY AND MY EMOTIONS ARE ENTIRELY DEPENDENT ON THE PLAY OF TEENAGERS

...to hear people complaining about style points after a victory again.  It's been awhile since the fanbase has been able to afford to do that.

This is one of those wins that feels like a loss. Two things, though:

1) If our defense is going to take a day off, at least it's on a day we score 42 points.

2) No significant injuries.

That is all.

Ah, its frustrating we gave up 34 points to ND and UConn combined and 37 today, but we WON!

It was a trap game.  In 2006, a pretty good season, we had a 5 game stretch where in 4 of those games we gave up 22 points total and in the 5th game we gave up 26.  It was Ball State for those that forgot...

Our offense put up 525 yards in 22 minutes.  Does that need to be repeated???

 

Our offense put up 525 yards in 22 minutes!!!!

 

 

Lets beat bgsu and IU and be 5-0 and go from there.  GO BLUE.

if we had a defense that was even respectable? we would be miles ahead of where we are now.

There are clearly failings with this team that the game highlighted, but I have to agree that this might just be a very bad game defensively, exacerbated by a good UMass offense.  They clearly had an offensive plan and stuck to it.  I will say, I hope the team's inability to stop the PA was due to some breakdowns mentally and not an inability on defense, as there are going to be teams later in the schedule that will murder them.  I will say with respect to the RB, there were a couple of runs by UMass that were stopped in the backfield or for a short gain and the Hernandez kid just made a play.  Obviously, the run defense was bad, but like last week sometimes that just happens.