Rittenberg: Robinson works his magic
September 5th, 2010 at 1:25 AM ^
Even Rittenberg and the national media have to recognize Denard's dilithium fuelled abilities.
September 5th, 2010 at 1:39 AM ^
The thing that really pisses me off is that this win and DRob's superb performance seems to be overshadowed by negativity. People pissing and moaning that he didn't air it out enough. People crying that this isn't "MIchigan football". First off, was there ever a time during this game when he had to throw the ball? UConn could not stop him on ground. If aint broke than don't try to fix it. I for one am proud of his RECORD BREAKING performance, and I am damn proud of this team as a whole. They answered the call when most people thought they would not win. I'm also happy because the popular consensus around here was that this was a game that they had to win, and they did it in a pretty damn convincing fashion.
September 5th, 2010 at 1:46 AM ^
A reminder worth repeating. Thanks for doing it. A few hours ago, there was tension and worry and the team just went out there and represented themselves and the Michigan football program very very well. That is a huge step forward.
There should be no negativity right now.
September 5th, 2010 at 2:36 AM ^
September 5th, 2010 at 1:53 AM ^
I wouldn't worry about it. Looking at the Big 10 QB stats page we only through the ball 2 or 3 times less then any other of our conference foes and DRob was super accurate. He only had 3 incompletions; one was a drop by Roundtree who got lit up, another was a throw away. All our completions were pretty easy catches. I thought our passing game looked great.
In the future we'll have teams bringing up their safeties for run support and I imagine you'll see a few more passes downfield. That said I couldn't get enough of the long drives on the ground. They really made it a lot easier for our defense.
September 5th, 2010 at 8:42 AM ^
if you do not see Notre Dame putting 8 guys in the box most of the time next week and daring us to beat them with the deep ball......
September 5th, 2010 at 9:33 AM ^
Denard proved more than capable of making accurate throws. I think our running game is the more dangerous attack right now, but it's not like you can just sell out on it as a defense. RR would be happy to use three-WR and a TE sets and let Denard pass for chunks of yards against a stacked box. The most impressive play of the day for me was when Denard hit TRob on the post with a defender flying in his face--he stepped right into the pressure and made that completion, knowing he'd probably take a hit. I can't remember the last time I was so excited about a Michigan player.
September 5th, 2010 at 12:23 PM ^
when they bring more in the box, and they will, you add another spread receiver or two forcing them back out of the box. It is easy with the level of talent UM has at receiver and slot. No backs 5 receivers out wide and DR in the backfield.
September 5th, 2010 at 1:19 PM ^
If they do, the bubble screen and short passing game will be open for big gains all day.
September 5th, 2010 at 1:56 AM ^
Anyone who thinks our offense "isn't Michigan football" either wasn't alive or wasn't paying attention during the Bo era. This is closer to the offenses he ran than Lloyd's pro-style system. Bo loved the option and always wanted QBs that could run.
September 5th, 2010 at 3:52 AM ^
The last Michigan QB who ran like Denard was a Bo Shembechler guy, so I would definitely say this is good ol' Michigan football.
September 5th, 2010 at 12:26 PM ^
He loved the run. He would rather do it with 10 big down linemen and a QB, but he loved the run. He said 3 things happen when you pass and two of them are bad.
September 5th, 2010 at 5:48 AM ^
Just watch the famous 1969 OSU game (24-12) -- Michigan is running the option there. Hell, the quarterback had a running back's number (27, IIRC). I always wondered about that -- was Moorhead a running back before Bo tapped him to be quarterback in 1969 (as a junior)? Or was it done to make the option more effective (why give the quarterback a number that makes him stand out)?
September 5th, 2010 at 8:36 AM ^
cry really means "This isn't Michigan Football of a very recent and small portion of Michigan History."
September 5th, 2010 at 12:55 PM ^
Not to mention that the zone read option is practically straight out of Fritz Crisler's playbook. His "Mad Magicians" were legendary for their ball fakes that left the defense fooled.
The fact of the matter is that for most of our history, we've been at the forefront of innovation in college football. The forward pass, the linebacker position, two-platoon football, the option, the no-huddle - we helped popularize many of these things. Only in recent years did we acquire this reputation for being stodgy and boring.
September 5th, 2010 at 8:43 AM ^
I thought it was genius of RR to NOT air it out. Sure, he could have. And done what? Scored quickly and put our defense back on the field? That was a masterful game of coaching and not exposing our greatest weakness. I still have this lurking feeling that if we played UConn again next week it would be a toss-up. Our offense was dominant. Our d-line was good. UConn could have exploited our secondary but only their ineptness - our our clock management - prevented it.
September 5th, 2010 at 1:59 AM ^
To say the least, today was the most excited I've been about Michigan Football in a long long time. How could you not love seeing Denard's obvious improvement (and the ridiculous amount of offseason work). I only have two things that worried me. The first was that the RB handoffs seemed to take a long time (forgive my ignorance if this was by design) and a better team might stop those plays before they got off the ground. The other concern I have is that a better D-line would get a lot more pressure on Denard forcing him to run more and not giving him enough time to set up the excellent throws he made today. I hope I'm wrong and the offense is as good as it looked today.
Go Blue!
September 5th, 2010 at 2:09 AM ^
Michigan defenders J.T. Floyd and Craig Roh can emphasize with their counterparts from Connecticut.
"He's a crazy animal to tame," Floyd said.
"What you saw happening out there," added Roh, "is what was happening all of practice to us."
I believe the word you are searching for, Rittenberg, is "empathize." Although Floyd certainly is emphasizing Denard's primal qualities, I don't think this is what you were intending. Maybe not the best way to open an article.
September 5th, 2010 at 9:10 AM ^
Don't these bloggers have proof readers? A little embarrassing for a writer.
September 5th, 2010 at 7:08 AM ^
Two plays after returning from the hip injury, Robinson pump-faked and then hit a wide-open Terrence Robinson in stride for a 42-yard gain, setting up another touchdown. Asked to describe the play, Denard Robinson, for the first time all day, looked confused. "It was, uh, I can't tell you," he said. After leaving the podium, Robinson greeted Rodriguez, telling him, "They were trying to take one of our plays, coach."
Love this response - Denard was not letting the media attention go to his head yesterday. No bragging on what they had done, talked about how good the O-line was when asked about his performance, not giving away any of the trade secrets in the presser. Very impressive day, for the whole team. Still looking for a story about how Roh was in the backfield the entire game MAKING the UConn QB hurry and make bad throws... Defense was ALMOST as big a part of the game as D-Rod.
September 5th, 2010 at 8:16 AM ^
...Roh story. This was posted by Rittenberg during the game.
Craig Roh and Mike Martin have looked great pressuring Connecticut quarterback Zach Frazer. Roh ended a Huskies drive late in the first quarter on a blitz in Frazer's face. The sophomore looks bigger, but he hasn't lost a step. If Michigan can continue to take away the middle of the field, it should be in good shape against Huskies star tailback Jordan Todman.
September 5th, 2010 at 9:16 AM ^
Thanks for the link.
While watching the recorded game after getting home last night (just as good the second time, I might add!) and Roh was in the backfield a ton. The only time it appeared Frazer had time to throw was when TWO of the rushers were double teamed. And the disappointing aspect in those cases was even though there were 5 linemen and a QB back for UConn being attacked by only 3 UM rushers, the other 8 players couldn't cover the 5 remaining UConn receivers. UM needs to get at least 4 rushing to consistently pressure the QB as is needed to support the secondary.
September 5th, 2010 at 1:34 PM ^
That was one of my favorite offensive plays and exemplified how much Denard has grown as a QB. He looks up, gives a pump fake and stands in the pocket with a beautiful pass to hit Terrence Robinson in stride for a big gain even as a passrusher was in his face.
September 5th, 2010 at 8:09 AM ^
...the first of Rittenberg's helmet stickers for week one.
Michigan QB Denard Robinson: "Shoelace" was amazing in his first career start, a 30-10 victory over Connecticut, predictably with his feet and surprisingly with his arm. Robinson broke Michigan's record for single-season quarterback rushing with 197 yards and a touchdown on 29 carries, eclipsing Steve Smith's mark in the third quarter. He was just as brilliant as a passer, completing 19 of 22 attempts for 186 yards and a touchdown with several big third-down conversions.
Natch.