November 1st, 2015 at 7:27 AM ^
Well said.
October 31st, 2015 at 11:11 PM ^
Dark Matter? The Man from Taured? Michigan vs Minnesota 2015? What is the weirdest thing in the universe?
I have no idea.
October 31st, 2015 at 11:11 PM ^
Never give up. That's what I took from this team. Looked like it was over, and they fought harder and longer. What we lack in talent, we make for in heart. Love these guys!
October 31st, 2015 at 11:11 PM ^
Minnesota should play MSU and defeat them. Then we can trade Minnesota a victory over M for a victory over MSU.
October 31st, 2015 at 11:11 PM ^
Do you feel a touch better about the MSU loss because we maybe should've lost this game to Minnesota?
I found myself justifying my hurt from two weeks ago with "well, before the season I said we'd lose @Utah, to MSU, @Minnesota and to OSU...and we won the game @Minnesota in an ugly game that we maybe, probably, shouldn't have won.
Then I thought, well...if you're going to lose, at least you lost (between MSU and Minnesota) to the higher ranked team (even though when it comes to divisional standings, that's the wrong train of thought).
In the end. I was kind of okay with that ugly win...thinking, okay, we SHOULD be 6-2. Now let's reset and see what we have for the rest of the season.
What are your thoughts for the rest of the season? What's your take? Your outlook on everything OUTSIDE of that Minnesota game (which should go in the other snowflakes threads).
I know I'm not likely to get a sober or honest answer...but I really am interested in seeing how everyone feels about the rest of the season.
October 31st, 2015 at 11:14 PM ^
Yes. This was a massive karmic correction.
October 31st, 2015 at 11:23 PM ^
I mean, if we had to split against MSU and Minnesota I would rather have it the other way around--beat State and lose to the Gophers. But you could certainly say that the way those games unfolded, we should have lost one and should have won the other, so in some ways I guess it worked out?
October 31st, 2015 at 11:27 PM ^
I'm excited about what I see next weekend. We have to reset and get back to playing at a high level.
We should've beat MSU, no question about it...not homer, not maize and blue glasses...we should've won. The officials were AWFUL in this game versus Minnesota, but we should've lost...we played like shit.
So we lost against the better team and kept our ranking...kind of worked out.
So reset. Calm down (me talking to myself). And get back to basics.
November 1st, 2015 at 12:37 AM ^
But if Dymonte squeezes that INT and our secondary gets their heads around those underthrown balls, I think this game turns out differently (larger margin of victory). W
e'll be okay. We survived a team's best effort despite not playing our best. That actually makes me feel better.
November 1st, 2015 at 7:44 AM ^
thought there were some moments in the game where I thought effort was not 100%. This looked like a pretty substantial MSU/bye week hangover. This did not look like a particularly focused team. I don't know. I don't know how we can feel particularly good about this win as fans. We were two touchdown favorites and instead the teams looked relatively equal on both sides of the ball. Meh.
October 31st, 2015 at 11:25 PM ^
This game feels sort of like the Akron game a couple years ago. It's a relief that we won, but it's worrisome to learn that the team's floor is a lot lower than we thought it was.
I think this game was an aberration, we were probably still a bit hung over from the MSU game. If we play like this again, we could conceivably lose to even Rutgers or Indiana, and would get housed by PSU or OSU. But I don't think we'll play this poorly again.
November 1st, 2015 at 1:32 AM ^
I don't know. I think this is one of the games, where you have to give a credit to your opponent (and a few lucky bounces).
I agree that it was not a very inspiring day for Rudock or the offense, but I think if you look at the tape, the defense played a lot better than the stat line indicates.
To their credit, Minny came out aggressive and believing they could win and they played like it. Mitch Leidner made some great throws, and frankly just got lucky. The Minnesota coaching staff also did a great job of anticipating what Michigan wanted to do on offense and defense, and RPSing their way into some nice plays.
It was not the best day for the offense, but take away the injury Rudock (and the derpy shovel pass) and it was not all that different from what we've seen before. We managed to score more points than we did against UNLV or Maryland, against a much better defense, and with Wilton Speight playing the majority of the second half.
The question has always been whether the offense could be good enough to win if the defense had a bad (or unlucky day) --- that answer is still basically no.
October 31st, 2015 at 11:38 PM ^
Not really. I think Minny got lucky to be in the game. We had two dead-to-rights interceptions dropped. One was a sure pick 6. Yes, Peppers had an amazing step-around to get there, but the ball hit him in both hands. On their first touchdown drive, they got lucky with the throw behind Clark. They got lucky that Rudock was knocked out of the game. They got lucky with several of what Brian would call NFL windows. No way Leidner hits those normally. They got lucky, in the very short term, with Kill retiring and giving them a huge emotional boost.
Plus, their huge end of game error wasn't one guy, it was an entire coaching staff and team screwing up (or at least more than one player, any number of whomcould have shouted something and forced a spike).
So no, not really. I think we should have won both games.
November 1st, 2015 at 12:06 AM ^
Unless our passing game improves, PSU defense will give us a lot of problems!
November 1st, 2015 at 12:23 AM ^
No cause technically while we won a game we didnt deserve to win, it was a defense stop by our team that won the game. It wasnt them attempting a fg to win like kick 6, or whatever you want to call 2 weeks ago. We took the lead, without any ref help, without any balls bouncing our way. Did the coach make a mistake with time management, yes but they still had easy opportunity to tie or win with 2sec left on the 1.
October 31st, 2015 at 11:11 PM ^
Won a game they probably should have lost. I'll take it!
October 31st, 2015 at 11:12 PM ^
Won a game they probably should have lost. I'll take it!
October 31st, 2015 at 11:13 PM ^
I'm just happy with the win. Yeah the defense didnt play well. So what Michigan won and that a all that matters. Finally luck was on our side. One question does anyone else think that was targeting on Rudock? I mean c'mon! !!
November 1st, 2015 at 12:09 AM ^
In general, probably not. The Gopher player was going for the pads until Rudock started to slide. He cannot change his trajectory in flight. Though, the refs have called some pretty pathetic targeting calls on us all year!
October 31st, 2015 at 11:13 PM ^
We bowl eligible my niggas!
November 1st, 2015 at 12:33 AM ^
that's just racist. Wait, wait, wait. Ok, that's a "gga" and not a "gger", so I guess it's cool.
/s
/it's really not that cool
October 31st, 2015 at 11:16 PM ^
M got away with one tonight. It feels good. Time to finish the season strong
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October 31st, 2015 at 11:16 PM ^
Damn good team that lacks at QB position. It will end up costing us a game maybe at PSU. Still like our chances against OSU. Just think in a dog fight this team has more heart than theirs does.
October 31st, 2015 at 11:16 PM ^
Everyone kept assuming a concussion, and rightfully so...but it could've been a number of things.
Any word?
October 31st, 2015 at 11:18 PM ^
Speight is fine, Rudock looked like a strained neck.
October 31st, 2015 at 11:30 PM ^
Sorry, still coming down from that high.
November 1st, 2015 at 8:12 AM ^
Strained neck? Couple of hot pads and massages should take care of that.
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October 31st, 2015 at 11:16 PM ^
much from this game. Did we get exposed as not as good as we thought? Was this just an emotional let down game? A fluke? Up against an average team that was on an emotional high and played over their heads. All of these?
October 31st, 2015 at 11:26 PM ^
Probably a little bit of everything. Minnesota played far above their heads tonight, but they were playing for their coach and you could tell Leidner was fired up for this game. Defense got exposed, but the offense oftentimes put them in bad spots, much like 2013/14.
I think it means we're not a top-15 team, but until proven otherwise, this is more the exception than the rule. We came off a terrible loss and just looked sloppy. If it spills over into Rutgers, then there's a real problem. But until then, we can and maybe should write it off as an aberration.
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October 31st, 2015 at 11:18 PM ^
How do you win a game in which you lose the turnover battle, get outgained by 160 yards, and lose your starting quarterback?
A little luck, and a lot of HARBAUGH.
October 31st, 2015 at 11:18 PM ^
This was the first time all year that we just looked . . . inept.* It was an uncomfortable reminder of 2014, when we looked hapless even during the games we won. So I don't know if I should be nervous that this was a return to form or if I can dismiss it as a small speed-bump during a much improved season. I think I'll go with the latter--partly because we ended up pulling out the win anyway!
*Yes, the last play against MSU had some ineptitude. But it was also pretty flukey.
November 1st, 2015 at 8:46 AM ^
I would argue this was more about flukiness than coaching ineptitude.
A huge portion of their offense stemmed from incredibly poor throws that normally would not be caught by wide receivers and in fact would often be picked off. Of their 26 points, they probably netted at least 13 from such plays. Not catching easy interceptions isn't really something you can do anything about as a coach.
Then, with the score 23-21 and Michigan driving, our starting QB gets hurt effectively destroying our offense. Our next 8 plays went for -2 yards.
With Rudock staying in and Michigan picking off the passes they should have, this would have been an easy 38-13 type game. Instead, every break fell Minnesota's way (and they had it all to play for with Coach Kill's retirement) and it ended up 29-26.
October 31st, 2015 at 11:19 PM ^
We played one of the worst games we possibly could've and they played arguably the best game they possibly could've. They also had a lot of bounces go their way. We got out of there with the W and that's all that matters. Go Blue!
October 31st, 2015 at 11:31 PM ^
We got lucky. Sometimes that's enough to win. I don't understand their decision to go for the win when we have a less than stellar running game and our starting QB is out for the game. Seems like OT might have been the better option for Minny.
Smith is obviously damaged goods. His ankle is going to be a problem for the rest of the season, I'd bet and I'm not sure that Drake is 100 percent. Sure hope Jake is OK and able to play next week.
October 31st, 2015 at 11:20 PM ^
Boggled Leidner made throws he hasnt in 2 yrs - turned into Nova for a night sigh.
October 31st, 2015 at 11:29 PM ^
We'd have won it on that fourth down play on Minnesota's last series if Leidner hadn't pulled a DO+++ out of his ass.
November 1st, 2015 at 8:48 AM ^
Would he have ever had the confidence to make the throws he made late if he had the 3-4 picks he should have had earlier in the game? I doubt it.
October 31st, 2015 at 11:20 PM ^
Can anyone explain the hit to Rudock when he went out? It clearly was a helmet to helmet while borderline targeting.
Is that the right call?
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October 31st, 2015 at 11:26 PM ^
I think the argument was that the defender had already left his feet to make the tackle before Rudock started sliding and he couldn't stop his progress. Still looke to me like the defender could've avoided the high hit though.
November 1st, 2015 at 12:47 AM ^
it's impossible to go a complete stop once you leave your feet or avoid collision.
November 1st, 2015 at 7:36 AM ^
a massive fart would do the job if aimed properly.
October 31st, 2015 at 11:23 PM ^
I maintained up until a brief moment or two in this evening game that there is no reason that we can't - theoretically - walk into the Ohio State game 9-2 and with a pretty decent chance of, at worst, being 9-3. That's probably a better turn around - even if we've had to sit through the end of the MSU game and the ugliness of some segment of tonight's game - than many of us expected. At this point, I am rather confident about the rest of the season making at least most MGoBloggers happy.
October 31st, 2015 at 11:28 PM ^
Getting shredded by Mitch Liedner is not good.
November 1st, 2015 at 12:48 AM ^
Pass defense is a little concerning. Cook is a darn good QB and UM dropped a couple int's while Leidner was playing lights out, but IU and PSU have decent QB's.
October 31st, 2015 at 11:23 PM ^
this game. I don't think that can be discounted in their performance tonight. Leidner player as well as could be expected as did all of the Gophers. They certainly outplayed Michigan.
Michigan's defense was flat out atrocious tonight. UM does not need the goalline stand if they do their job 3rd and 19. Durkin needs to tear into the guys this week.
October 31st, 2015 at 11:38 PM ^
Seemed to me that two M linebackers (Ross? and Bolden?) sailed to stay home and crashed down too much. If they played it right, the game probably would have been over right there with a MN punt.
October 31st, 2015 at 11:25 PM ^
It would be nice if our DE/OLB would hold the edge on the zone read. We allowed their QB waaaaaaay too many rushing yards. We have to figure that out before OSU.
October 31st, 2015 at 11:29 PM ^
Not sure you're going to figure that out against OSU's attack featuring Miller/Marshall/Barrett/Elliott.
Every one of those guys are far and away better than anyone on Minnesota's team. I doubt we'll be able to "stop" them. Just need to be opportunistic, try forcing some turnovers, and try limiting big plays.
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October 31st, 2015 at 11:29 PM ^
Speight. Entered the program behind much higher rated QB's. Speight didn't give no ****s.
The media focused on Jake and Shane for the QB position for the season. Speight didn't give no ****s.
Harbaugh signed 100 QB's during his first "official" signing period where he had 3? months to prepare for? Speight didn't give no ****s.
Jake went down during a play that deserved a penalty and recieved none. Speight gave no ****s.
Speight, under tons! of pressure needed to score a TD to win. Speight gave no ****s.
One touchdown, a 2-point conversion later. Speight still doesn't give a fuck. Speight is a starting Michigan QB and has earned it.
If Speight never gets the nod for another start in his career I will always remember him. He was subbed into a game during a HUGE point in Michigan's history.
Losing this game, Michigan would reasonably never be in the BIG 10 Champtionship game conversation agian, for the year. Michigan would have lost a conference trophy...again.
Speight stepped in during a TREMENDOUS point of the game. No time to warm up. No time to gauge the defense. Speight gave no ****s.
Speight is a Michigan QB. Speight stepped in and delivered. He gave no fucks.