Prognostication: MSU's upcoming strategies.
Gotta admit, State looked quite impressive against Wisconsin. Once they dissect the Indiana game film, their offensive coordinator will need to strap on a drool bucket when he considers a variety of ways to exploit our porous defense.
My quarter says that this coming Saturday we'll see the following unfold:
On offense, even though State doesn't have a Ben Chappell at the helm, they'll give added emphasize to the passing game after seeing how much cushion we're giving teams. They know we'll focus on stopping the run, so they'll focus on mid-range throws in an effort to control the clock and pick us apart. Their tight end will slide outside and cause us fits. Because Michigan will continue to play tentatively on defense and, for the most part, only bring 3-man pressure with GERG's "bend but don't break" philosophy, Cousins (like Chappell) will have time to find his targets.
On defense, their plan will be to keep Denard and our RBs corralled by cheating up and possibly shadowing DRob. State will emphasize taking away the run, period. Their plan will be to frustrate Denard and force him to make pressured and possibly errant throws. As such, Denard needs to be ready to scramble and find his open receivers -- and quickly -- because they will swarm to him and bring pressure. Denard will be sore after this one!
The Big House certainly helps us, but this game makes my sphincter quiver with anxiety.
I beseech you to allay my fears, brethren, and show me the error of my thought process.
October 3rd, 2010 at 7:38 AM ^
allay my fears
No can do, man. If Michigan wins it's gonna have to be another shootout, IMO.
October 4th, 2010 at 2:35 AM ^
No can do, man. If Michigan wins it's gonna have to be another shootout, IMO.
The records are gonna break again Saturday! Could be 84-77 by the end of this bloodbath.
GERG - YOU LET YOUR BOYS HANG IT ALL OUT ON SATURDAY AND LET THE CHIPS FALL WHERE THEY MAY! BRING IT ON EVERY DOWN AND LET TAYLOR LEWAN LINE UP AT D END TOO.
Have more faith in your offense (which has never had more weapons, nor been more explosive) to get it back if the younger guys get gashed once in a while. The extra pressure WILL cause more bad throws and get a few picks for your young studs who just lack confidence. Tell them to stop worrying about getting gashed and just make a #$% good play on the ball. Tell them they're the greatest bunch of @#$%^ DBacks you've ever seen and EXPECT them to play at a higher level. You'd be surprised at what a vote of confidence will do to their games. Right now you have them playing scared to lose, and not playing to win.
My guess is that by the 4th quarter, by bringing the heat all day, Cousins will finally wear down and we'll pull away with Denard and Co.
SOMEBODY GIVE THIS KID ANOTHER RUSHER ON THE LINE!!! AND YOU WILL SEE THIS ALL DAY ON SATURDAY!!!
HULK SMASH MARTIN: "You're goin' the wrong way!"
(Can you imagine what Martin is really saying to him as he literally carries him back 15 yards on this play??? I'm guessing it's a little more SALTY than my caption above)
October 3rd, 2010 at 8:33 AM ^
go to church today and pray if you are so inclined.
October 3rd, 2010 at 12:22 PM ^
No need to wait to go to church to pray. I would say as Paul did, "pray without ceasing"!
October 4th, 2010 at 12:06 PM ^
However, i say pray without ceasing that our boys play hard and cover thier assignments. if they do that winning will take care of itself! GOOOOOOOOOOOO BLUE! BEAT green!
October 3rd, 2010 at 8:35 AM ^
Unless Gerg has some tricks up his sleeve he's been reserving for this game, there's no reason to think MSU won't be able to go up and down the field on us all game long, just like UMass and IU did, and depending on them missing easy throws and dropping passes like UConn did is a slim reed to put your hopes on. Cousins is no Denard, but he really hurt us last year with his scrambling.
It's going to be all up to Denard and the offense again, especially the OL and RBs. It'll be nice to be at home, but there will be plenty of Spartoons in the stands, and it's not like MSU has never won in the Big House, so I'm not sure we'll have the same sort of home-field advantage that we might against other teams.
I'll say the same thing after IU this year that I did after last year's IU game: getting to six wins is not going to be a cakewalk. Denard is an incredible player, but he's balanced by a defense that simply can't stop anybody with any talent and competence. High-powered offenses inevitably run into stretches when mistakes in execution, turnovers, and penalties gum up the works, and then it's on your defense and special teams to pick up the slack. Given the level of vitriol and anger around here after a win, I think I'll stay away after the losses to come.
October 3rd, 2010 at 8:40 AM ^
...getting to six wins is not going to be a cakewalk.
You do realize we're at 5, right?
October 3rd, 2010 at 8:59 AM ^
to beat one of Illinois or Purdue last year?
October 3rd, 2010 at 9:17 AM ^
If we can't beat EITHER Illinois or Purdue, then we don't deserve to be in a bowl.
October 3rd, 2010 at 9:29 AM ^
I don't like 2009 Michigan's odds against 2009 Illinois or 2009 Purdue. Fortunately, those two games will be played in 2010, which, according to the space-time continuum, is NOT LAST YEAR.
I could go through the differences between this year's Michigan team (increased napalm levels in cleats, moar dilithium, etc.) or this year's Purdue (cue the theme from M*A*S*H) or Illinois (No more Juice Williams). But sufficed to say that when a team is #2 in total offense in the country, when presented with the question "how many wins for that team over the next 7 games, O/U 0.5 games," you should probably take the Over.
October 3rd, 2010 at 10:31 AM ^
...this is not last year.
Denard, Donkeys et al.
October 3rd, 2010 at 10:58 AM ^
Jesus, memories are short around here. Remember all the happy talk from the past week about how horrible IU's schedule was according to Sagarin and therefore we were just going to kick IU's ass from one end of the field to the other? How'd that metric work out?
When I say it won't be a cakewalk, I mean we won't be rolling everybody by double digits like so many predicted that we would do against IU. Virtually everybody was confidently predicting a comfortable beatdown of UMass, too. Obviously our offense is vastly more powerful than last year's team, but our defense isn't demonstrably better (might even be worse), and our kicking game is marginally worse, since we can't kick field goals. It's unrealistic to assume that Denard isn't going get nicked up as the season progresses, and when Tate or Devin come in, they won't be facing Bowling Green. Our offense will keep us in every game; there won't be any collapses like we had against Illinois last year. Every game will go down to the wire, because our defense has yet to prove it can stop anybody that isn't a MAC team. I'm not calling for Gerg's head, but it is what it is. It's also not going to keep me from enjoying the hell out of this team and how it plays, which is hard, selfless, with a great team orientation. I just don't believe the season is going to be all ponies and sunshine, and I'm fine with that.
October 3rd, 2010 at 9:07 AM ^
Ben,
I doubt we will go 12-0, but I will be schocked if we lose to either illinois or purdue. I also think we should beat Penn State. Yes, I think State, Iowa, Wisconsin, and OSU will be difficult, but we do get 3 of those at home.
In fact I believe 12-0 is more likely than 5-7. Although neither is very likely. Anything from 7-5 to 10-2 is reasonable.
October 3rd, 2010 at 9:27 AM ^
It may not be a "cakewalk," to get to six wins, but Illinois has no Juice and Purdue isn't very good. Simply taking care of business against those teams would get Michigan to seven wins. Since both are revenge games, Michigan will do more than "take care of business" against both.
MIchigan has been getting everyone's best game, but against MSU, Purdue, and Illinois, it may end up being Michigan who has the extra motivation this year. Also, PSU is looking surprisingly inept, and Wiscy may be continuing a small decline. Despite the defensive woes, this team can still beat anyone they play, and I don't buy into this subtle insinuation that this year's team isn't much better than last year's model.
October 3rd, 2010 at 9:45 AM ^
MIchigan has been getting everyone's best game
*Michigan's defense has given everyone their best game
October 3rd, 2010 at 9:54 AM ^
By tricks do you mean concussion grenades and Obi Ezeh weilding a knife?
October 3rd, 2010 at 1:06 PM ^
I recommend giving Obi something that doesn't require arms-length distance to be effective.
October 4th, 2010 at 2:42 AM ^
But since he can't hit the right hole to save his life, put the guy outside the end and let him contain an end and blitz on pass rushing. One hole to fill and he can make the tackle if someone runs him over.
I don't give a crap who takes his spot in the middle (how hard can it be playing beind Martin??).
October 3rd, 2010 at 12:56 PM ^
It's a question of physics. Our universe isn't structured in a way that would allow them to beat us for a third time in a row.
October 3rd, 2010 at 8:11 PM ^
October 4th, 2010 at 12:14 PM ^
talent or competence. it is the disconect between the players being confident in their abilities and GERG being confident in their athleticism. sure we may not have as much speed but talent and heart we do have. when that meshes with GERG letting loose a little more with his trust all who say things like this will eat their words! here is to hoping it is this saturday! GO BLUE BEAT green!
October 3rd, 2010 at 9:05 AM ^
You're right, Little Brother looked pretty solid.
Strategically, Lt. Dan will follow the mantra of Holtz (and others), "The firsht thing you pack when going on the road is your defensh." As a former DC and disciple of The Vest, his first objective will be to stop the run. He'll load the box with 8 and bring pressure to try to force the ball out early and disrupt our timing.
Hopefully, our defense will make a signigicant jump on the learning curve this week and get us 2-3 TO's.
I'm sure Rich Rod and Brother McGee will try some misdirection to try to catch their D overpursuing.
As usual, this Backyard Brawl will a very tough, physical fight. We're going to have to play exceptionally well and catch/make a few breaks to win.
October 3rd, 2010 at 11:01 AM ^
I think the first play of the game against MSU should be the misdirection where Denard takes two quick steps toward the line of scrimmage, faking run, and then fires to a wide open Roundtree in the seam. We've only tried it twice and it has resulted in a touchdown both times.
October 3rd, 2010 at 11:11 AM ^
There's almost no defending it. If the dbacks don't suck in for the run, then Denard just keeps it. They could almost call that play on every down.
October 3rd, 2010 at 12:25 PM ^
Yesterday, Denard did a little head down with two steps as if he was going off tackle, then dumped a ball off Tebow style. It was pretty sweet, sans the jump.
October 3rd, 2010 at 12:30 PM ^
We've only tried it twice and it has resulted in a touchdown both times.
They actually threw it twice against ND, and the second time their safety reacted well and hit Roundtree pretty well, still a 15 yard gain though.
That said, I'm looking for a number of new playaction wrinkles we can run against MSU.
October 4th, 2010 at 12:17 PM ^
breaks is the key! CHANCE F A V O R S The Prepared mind! preperation and trust this week. come on boys! coach em up coaches and learn and study hard playas! GO BLUE BEAT green!
October 3rd, 2010 at 9:14 AM ^
Tackle well. Their running backs get a ton of yards after contact. Don't bite on play action. MSU has a good running game which enables them to use a lot of play action getting the tight ends involved which we have had trouble with lately. I think Cousins is solid and will have a field day with us if we don't put pressure on him. Last year's game proved that we can beat these guys however we are going to have to execute our game plan and show some new wrinkles. Wisconsin did not play as well as they can which should not be underestimated but that Don Treadwell called a hell of a game...I love play action passing inside the five yard line.
October 3rd, 2010 at 9:21 AM ^
Go ahead Sparty, put 8 in the box. I'll take Denard's arm/our receivers over State's pass defense (#9 in the conference). That means they'll have to win a shoot-out on the road, where DanTonyOh is 9-11 during his 4 year career.
Panic all you want about our D....the pressure is on Sparty to come into the Big House and rely on THEIR defense to stop us.
October 3rd, 2010 at 9:59 AM ^
This is also Sparty's first trip away from home (unless you count the FAU game as an away game). IT will be Cousins first trip to the New Big House (where I am sure he dreamed of playing as a child, much as all students who end up at MSU really wanted to go to UM but just couldn't get in) as well. While Sparty has proven that they are a force to be reckoned with at home, they have yet to prove themselves on the road. Our number one stategy should be to be as loud as hell to help our D out, although I won't be at the game because my boss elected to sell his tickets at face value to some business acquaintaces of negligible worth while not even offering me first crack. But what does that matter--I am only the most rabid UM fan whith whom he has ever come into contact. Why would I want to go?
October 4th, 2010 at 12:21 PM ^
instead of a +1 (because i dont think i am able to yet) to you i would like to find a way to buy you a Guinness!
October 3rd, 2010 at 9:22 AM ^
If Sparty would like to bring 8 into the box to stop the run, watch Tree, Junior, Stonum and companies make big plays all afternoon.
October 3rd, 2010 at 10:01 AM ^
Those deep throws in 1 on 1 coverage will be available most of the game I imagine. Missed a few yesterday. Next week, maybe we hit a couple of them.
October 3rd, 2010 at 11:03 AM ^
Denard was overthrowing all game against IU but made the adjustment on his final drive to underthrow it a bit and allow Hemingway to make a play. If he trusts his receivers on those deep balls, then he will hit more against MSU.
October 3rd, 2010 at 9:41 AM ^
I've heard from Detroit reporters that Dantonio would like to run the ball down our throat and that his defenders would like to hit us in the mouth.
Also, does anyone know where I can find a 16-ounce Jimmy Dean roll?
October 3rd, 2010 at 3:28 PM ^
He's gumming one right now, thinking about Dantonio's jaw.
October 3rd, 2010 at 9:53 AM ^
and will be offensively aggressive the entire game. That's what keeps me positive about this one and every other game this season. He won't sit on his strength hoping that an antiquated formula on "how you should win" comes to fruition. He has the best QB and possibly the best offense in the country and he's going to let them do their thing.
October 3rd, 2010 at 12:59 PM ^
C'mon...let's drop this talk about our lack of defensive talent. Our pass defense is ranked 120 out of 120. We're the worst in the nation. So, feel free to check the rosters of every other team from North Texas to Kent St. and see if you really think that we have less talent than they do. There is no excuse for our performance on D. We can't get worse than worst. Time for RR to shake GRob up a bit. You say:
He has the best QB and possibly the best offense in the country and he's going to let them do their thing.
Altering a terrible defensive strategy has no impact of the offense. Our offense is doing amazing work. Why would recognizing that we aren't Ball St. on defense hurt the offense?
October 3rd, 2010 at 3:02 PM ^
I am a robot. Gerg needs to be fired. Our pass defense is bad.
Your whining about the defense is getting tiring. Usually after giving up 500 yards passing, a team would be last in passing defense only 5 games into the season. Although I guess that is new information for you...maybe you should start a thread about it. I did hear Jim Harbaugh's defense did pretty well last night though. Maybe he will come be our defensive coordinator. Either him or the plethora of amazing D coordinators just sitting around on the couch in their home every Saturday.
October 3rd, 2010 at 7:51 PM ^
Did you mean to say that you are full of shit so you make things up? Yeah. Thought so. Find me one time that I said Gerg needs to be fired for his terrible 2010 defense and I'll paypal you $100. Until that time, don't make shit up and pretend I said it. This would be a put-up-or-shut-the-fuck-up moment for you.
We are nearly halfway through the season and are last in the nation in passing D. I'm not sure how you defend that other than making shit up and then moving on to Harbaugh. Huh? I'll also send you $100 if you can find a thread demanding that we hire him. Again, otherwise, feel free to say something accurate. Otherwise, you're more useless than a picture of a fucking kitten.
October 3rd, 2010 at 10:02 AM ^
I don't think Cousins and MSU's receivers will be able to execute as well as Chappell and Doss
October 3rd, 2010 at 10:12 AM ^
Seriously, ever offense we have faced has been able to execute "flawlessly". Our defense makes opposing QB's look incredible.
If UMASS could move it against us, everyone else on our schedule will be able to move it against us as well.
October 3rd, 2010 at 10:39 AM ^
I think that Doss will be one of the single best receivers that we face all season- he had 221 receiving yards yesterday. I don't think that MSU will have a receiver of the same quality as him nor will they throw it as much (Dantonio and his staff are too old-school to just abandon the run).
As for UMass, I don't think that we were really up for that game and their roster had been bolstered by transfers making them better than the average FCS team (obviously not as good as MSU or even IU, but still better than EMU and such).
We'll see what happens, at least I know that we'll be motivated for this one.
October 3rd, 2010 at 10:53 AM ^
Agreed. That Chappell/Doss combo was probably the best passing/receiving tandem we'll see all year...
HOWEVA, this pass defense will probably be the worst MSU sees all year (in conference play).
October 4th, 2010 at 12:33 PM ^
our "O" will be the best "O" they face all year! it is a weighted scale we will speculate all week and then on saturday will see which way the scale will Balance. Liken it to a boxer or MMA if you will their offense is outstanding and they bring pain to their oppenents. Their D is not so good and they get smaked around ABOUT as much (not quite as much hence the 5 - 0 part). the boxer goes from one fight to the next and is bruised but is getting better at understanding his "D"eficiencies! he/she is tired of getting knocked around and searches for the finer points in the coaching they recieve. Yet all the while they still know that they are going to bring MAJOR PAIN to their oppenent! they have the confidence to say i will win because my offense is awesome and i will figure out a way to make their offense against me less effective! Period! GO BLUE BEAT green!
October 3rd, 2010 at 12:04 PM ^
UConn did not execute flawlessly; they dropped a couple key passes and had a game-changing fumble. Michigan won by 20.
Bowling Green did not execute flawlessly. They QB made some bad throws and they couldn't block our defensive line. It was over by the early 3rd quarter.
Notre Dame did not execute flawlessly. Their starting QB was knocked-out and his replacements were inept. ND committed several turnovers and had to punt many times during that stretch,
This week we play Sparty, who is known for fucking up epically, especially in big game when they are on the verge of being relevant. So although Sparty often brings his "A-game" against Michigan, it is also possible that Sparty could self-destruct on offense and leave A2 with the imprint of Denard's cleat stamped on his ass.
October 3rd, 2010 at 12:51 PM ^
Just curious... Why is it that you seem to think UMASS is such a 'crappy team?' Watching that game, they actually look like a very good FCS team. I think BG would have a tough time beating UMASS and some other MAC teams might not beat them either. I really don't think UMASS is the worst team we have faced this year.
But yeah, your first point stands. I agree with the opposing QB's having the game of their lives bit. That's been a bummer.
October 3rd, 2010 at 10:30 AM ^
Seconded. As far as I could tell it was the 4th quarter before a dropped or errant pass, and lots of floaters and diving grabs that were all made handily. MSU has more running potential than Indiana but as far as passing goes it'll be really hard for them to duplicate.
So Michigan's defense has trouble with senior teams who execute really well? Tough to be mad about that. Football is still football.
October 3rd, 2010 at 10:22 AM ^
Wasn't Dell in the Ski-mask home invasion assault in the gang style dicipline taught by Danphonio the saint?. Back to the issue Cousins is not Chappell he will make more mistakes which we will have to capitilize on. We will need to use all of our weapons on offense. Forcing our will to make them play the whole field. Im quite sure RR will have a good scheme to force them to adjust to us not the other way around. This will be an important game for the 12th man lets make it impossible to even think with all the noise, keep Cousins uncomfortable.31-27 M win For Sparty the most important thing is to win or the 14 would be gone for Michigan it will always be win the right way, just a different worldview
October 3rd, 2010 at 11:49 AM ^
Why did you predict that we will have a field goal?