Post-game Comments/Thoughts
"This was embarrassing - we will not come out like this again." - Taylor Lewan
— Michigan Football (@umichfootball) September 14, 2013
"We're not coming out like that again." - Devin Gardner
— Michigan Football (@umichfootball) September 14, 2013
"I'm not going to play a down -- but, we're going to coach our butts off this week." - Coach Hoke
— Michigan Football (@umichfootball) September 14, 2013
"I'm not here to celebrate - we have a lot of work to do." - Taylor Lewan
— Michigan Football (@umichfootball) September 14, 2013
This game certainly should not be an accurate depiction of what the rest of the season holds for us. This is still a very talented team, but like Hoke says, there is still much work to be done before this is a championship team. Between turnovers, the offensive line, and the entire defense, there is certainly much to do, but I am 100% confident that the coaching will come through. I fully expect them to win by four touchdowns next week at UCONN.
And let's never speak of this game ever again. And don't pay attention to the media for the next week.
September 14th, 2013 at 4:24 PM ^
Thanks for posting this. I like that the players are equally/more embarrassed by today than I am.
September 14th, 2013 at 5:25 PM ^
...of Lewan and Gardner presser. Lewan is... intense.
September 14th, 2013 at 5:37 PM ^
You would think this next week of practice is going to be difficult for the O-Line... but after hearing this, I think the 2nd team D-line is the one in trouble.
September 14th, 2013 at 8:15 PM ^
Nothing personal against Gardner, but I love how he says "no disrespect to Akron" while he and Lewan are talking about how embarrassed they are about almost losing to Akron.
September 14th, 2013 at 9:11 PM ^
I want Lewan to coach after his 10 years in the NFL. That was amazing.
September 15th, 2013 at 3:37 AM ^
hate to break it to ya there die-hard, but a game will never mean as much to you, as it does the players. knock it off.
September 15th, 2013 at 4:19 AM ^
hate to break it to ya there die-hard, but a game will never mean as much to you, as it does the players. knock it off.
September 14th, 2013 at 4:27 PM ^
It was embarrassing at half time... Why do you have to wait until the next game to tackle, block or give better effort.
September 14th, 2013 at 5:36 PM ^
Sometimes games like this happen and you just can't snap out of it. I have a feeling this will be a very focused/intense week of practice and hope that this is the kind of wake up call that brings the team together and better.
September 14th, 2013 at 5:53 PM ^
in games like this, once you realize you have to step up your effort, it's too late. by that point the underdog is fired up and is going to play the rest of the game at a million percent intensity. I can't imagine anyone on Akron was worried in the fourth quarter about saving energy for the rest of the season. plus the problem with being tight is you end up overcompensating and forcing it and, let's say, throwing three interceptions and fumbling twice.
September 14th, 2013 at 4:27 PM ^
I WON'T FUCKING TURN IT OVER 4 times again. He needs to learn how to take a sack or just throw the ball away. He's really starting to remind me of Robinson with these pics and today he was horrific. The OLine was horrific. I was stunned Hoke didn't as so much give Morris a nod. That's how serious this game got. Defense looked horrible in the secondary giving up at least a little over 300 yards passing. Here's my question though, why did we stop running Fitz??? It was working!!! If its not broke don't fix it and he was blasting through the line yet we continued to go to the air. I blame this loss all on coaching. Was unprepared and not ready for Akron's game plan. Idk WTF happened but Gardner and this whole team have a lot of work to do. No reason in hell it should have been this close. None. We did get the W though. That's now 16-0 home game wins that Hoke now has at home. Thank God for that. Learn from this, fix the errors and get ready for UConn. GO BLUE. Kudos to Akron for a well played out gameplay though.
September 14th, 2013 at 4:31 PM ^
Not sure what game you were watching but Fitz got stopped behind the line ALOT today. He did break some long runs, but we got stuffed more than we should have.
September 14th, 2013 at 4:46 PM ^
"I blame this loss all on coaching." - WingsNWolverines (emphasis mine)
I'm not sure what game he was watching, either...
September 14th, 2013 at 7:39 PM ^
...and if we had just kept giving Fitz the ball, it would have been worse. My reaction was the opposite..."stop trying to force the run game."
September 14th, 2013 at 4:42 PM ^
19 times. I don't think they went away from him, so much as we had to mix it up. He consistently wasn't gaining yards, not assigning blame, just saying without his 24 yd run, he had 47 yards on 18 carries. Not exactly carrying the mail...
September 15th, 2013 at 6:50 AM ^
Two of his best carries got called back (holding).
Oline and dline play definitely starting to concern me. Instead of what I thought was a dominant team is starting to look like a very beatable team. Unless D Gardener is playing out his ass, who are we?
September 15th, 2013 at 12:03 AM ^
Seriously? They should have benched him for Morris? You're insane.
September 14th, 2013 at 4:28 PM ^
was that we got outplayed on each side of the ball particularly on the lines, but also extending to the secondary, by a team as bad as that. This was way worse than a letdown game should be. In fact, IMO we were very lucky to win. Ugh.
September 14th, 2013 at 4:33 PM ^
I love DG and am happy to have him. But this turnover problem is now a trend, not an outlier. 6 INT's in three games, and it would be 7 without that ND one that got called back. Accuracy issues also popped up again as well. He is a great talent and will be great, but the Heisman hype was way overboard, and this game shows that.
EDIT: apolgies for double post.
September 14th, 2013 at 5:03 PM ^
There weren't any interceptions called back against ND.
September 14th, 2013 at 5:05 PM ^
For the record the play in ND game you referring to was not a catch. Without the penalty it still would have been M ball
That said, you have a point.
September 14th, 2013 at 7:43 PM ^
Can't believe how many ppl still don't realize he dropped the ball.
September 14th, 2013 at 5:59 PM ^
correct?
September 14th, 2013 at 10:29 PM ^
a pick six in each of our three games! Now that's some consistency
September 14th, 2013 at 4:32 PM ^
The players recognize they lucked out. This was the epitome of a "let down' game. Let's hope they learn from it and move forward. You can't let a game beat you twice, especially one in which you won that you probably shouldn't have.
After all, this is a team that beat a quality/good ND team.
September 14th, 2013 at 4:32 PM ^
This was for the most part an experienced Akron team especially on the line and Akron changed their game plan - they slowed down their tempo etc but we definitely played like we were in a hangover haze from the ND game.
September 14th, 2013 at 4:38 PM ^
got beat badly by UCF?
September 15th, 2013 at 12:26 AM ^
that UCF team just beat PSU pretty badly. (Late PSU TD to make the game close was on a botched punt snap). Personally I am going to blame this entire game on Tressel - and feel better - even if there is no logic in it.
September 14th, 2013 at 4:55 PM ^
Akron had a good game plan and they played very well. I'm not sure why or how they played in previous games but they have far more game experience then we have
September 14th, 2013 at 9:19 PM ^
More experience? They where 1-11 for 2 stright years!!!
September 14th, 2013 at 4:33 PM ^
a "glazed donut" something is wrong.
September 14th, 2013 at 4:44 PM ^
Isn't that supposed to mean a noon game?
September 14th, 2013 at 4:58 PM ^
Yes. It had NOTHING to do with the opponent. However, maybe the comment is a general one about how bad empty carbs are for you.
September 14th, 2013 at 4:34 PM ^
You know what ALWAYS happens after all of the "this will never happen again" talk? The exact same fucking thing happens the next week. Mark my words, we will be tearing our hair out again on this blog next saturday as UConn's offense piles up countless hundreds of yards through the air and our running game averages 2 ypc.
September 14th, 2013 at 4:39 PM ^
the team had a pretty good track of crushing inferior teams under Hoke. Not sure why one game, makes the opposite the expected norm all of sudden.
September 14th, 2013 at 4:50 PM ^
Thank you
September 14th, 2013 at 4:48 PM ^
Step back from the edge, brah.
September 14th, 2013 at 5:04 PM ^
I think we come out strong and go up big against UConn
September 14th, 2013 at 7:35 PM ^
To this specifically, as someone said, one aberration does not a pattern make. Further, UConn has the 95th best rush defense in Division I and was an underdog to Maryland today, I believe. A meager 2.0 YPC is not a likelihood when - even with today's numbers included - we're average 5.0 YPC as a team. It would take a significant collapse and I don't see what you see there.
September 14th, 2013 at 7:47 PM ^
UConn is fking toast.
September 14th, 2013 at 4:34 PM ^
Is it just me or do our lines suck? Barry Sanders would have a hard time running behind our O-line. Our D-line didn't put much pressure on Akron's O-line most of the game. Terrible.
September 14th, 2013 at 8:01 PM ^
Maybe, but he'd also feel right at-fucking-home with this O-line.
September 14th, 2013 at 4:34 PM ^
until the oline can block and Gardner does not do stupid shit every other drive this team will be 8-5
September 14th, 2013 at 4:36 PM ^
According to the mgblue.com website, Ross Douglas played special teams. Another burned redshirt?
http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/091413aab.html
September 14th, 2013 at 4:39 PM ^
The defense is starting to be very concerning. Why do we play this bend don't break crap? The corners are 10 yards off most of the time. We get gutted up the middle routinely. We play weak zones that allow repeated 3rd down conversions. And to top it off we can't get to the qb without blitzing.
Borges used to get a lot of heat running a offense he's never ran before with Denard at qb. Gmatt always gets high praise(and he deserves a lot) but never catches any slack for performances like this. Hopefully this is some medicine we need to bounce back strong, but I'm backing off my undefeated season talk.
NW scares the mess out of me now!
September 14th, 2013 at 4:43 PM ^
Minnesota scare me now. East Grand Rapids high school would scare me righ now if they came to the Big House.
September 14th, 2013 at 5:29 PM ^
Nice shout out for EGR!
September 14th, 2013 at 6:08 PM ^
East Grand Rapids? Sure Grand Haven, but East Grand Rapids? :)
September 14th, 2013 at 4:57 PM ^
Agreed. Mattison gets a lot of praise...so he deserves a heap of critism for this game. Poor defensive game plan, poor execution.
September 14th, 2013 at 6:19 PM ^
I still suspect that the corners are playing so far off so as to put less pressure on the safeties. Jarroed has looked good, but he's still untested and there may be a very good reason for that.