I wish we could have gotten Casteel.
...for DRob. This is his extra dimension -- if he can be successful in the passing game.
I think Lewan has taken every rep at left tackle today with the 1's, 2's, and 3's. I like it. Maximize the reps.
the tight ends have done a real nice job. all three of them have made plays and done a nice job all over today
...by Cox and a good pickup to the 5 yd line.
...Stokes for a TD (Tate's first of the day).
what was the final breakdown?
DRob with 4? Gardner with 2? Forcier 1?
i don't think Denard's offense went 4 and out the entire game... it's going to be AMAZING to watch opponents have to go through what we did against PSU/Illinois. schadenfreude at its best.
his best throw of the day. perhaps just having an off day after all.
the commentators though... haha
"great throw. tough across the body to a guy going in the opposite direction. not an advised throw but..."
good defensive coverage on the 2 point conversion
47-39 Blue over Maize
...stfu so we can hear RichRod. Oh well.
Geaux_Blue-- can you give some of your thoughts on how the Defense played?
there weren't any blown tackles that i saw. when the secondary got burned it got burned on a great pass/good qb touch. d-line permeated to get qb pressure. overall i think the d-line is possibly better on run coverage than they were last year. i found myself surprised by guys on the 3rd line defense.
as for the secondary... it's as reported. basically we're going to have to hope the d-line can get enough pressure that the opposing qbs won't be able to spot the 3-5 yard gap their receiver has on the cb/safety in question. floyd and somebody else had really good hits during the game.
i guess the one thing i can safely say is i didn't say "ohhhhh shit" - what's more, i think our defense will be better against pro-style teams than spread teams. RR had DRob playing more spread heavy plays that involve more qb draws and options, etc. part of why Forcier may have struggled is because the defense was able to put more pressure on him, especially when he was under center. they had problems defending DRob, but that's probably 80% Denard, 20% poor defense.
i hope this is helpful - it's just my observations. if there's anything in particular you're wondering i'd be happy to answer
As for the back 5 looking not amazing - remember who we have coming in this fall as recruits, a lot of highly touted kids. Between MRob and Furman at the Spur/Bandit spots or Cullen Christian and Dorsey at CB, one of more of those kids might be starting either at the very beginning or a month into the season. Those are all highly sought after and physically prepared kids.
I'm not saying they all come in and start, but if you take the worst person from that back 5 and replace it with the most prepared of the kids coming in, I bet the secondary gets better. It will also be much deeper in the event of an injury, and much more competitive at practice. If there's one area (based on our current roster and the make-up of our recruiting class) where freshman can contribute this year, it's the secondary, and none of those guys are here yet.
appreciates the attendance, for being "All In" - team gathers on the sideline to do Hail to the Victors
BTN, of course, just talks over it so people who obviously would be more interested in hearing what the coach has to say, etc... cannot
I'm really looking forward to watching the offense this year with Pat White...err, Denard Robinson...at QB
MICHIGAN WINS!!!
Now I wait for 5 hours...then I wait until mid July for NCAAF 11
Demo coming in June though. I know it's not nearly as much to look forward to but I still can't wait.
Did the D get any picks? I remember reading about a few fumbles, but not interceptions.
Obi picked off DG, I believe
...an ill advised Gardner throw from the end zone as he was getting touched down for a safety. Could have been called either way (TO for the D).
... a future weekly posting during the season on MGOBLOG titled, "Getting Leveled by Lewan" where Brian will detail all of the opponents who get pancaked by Lewan.
i think that could be an incredible YouTube series called "Pancakes with Lewan" where i sit down and eat breakfast with Lewan while discussing the week in review. Like Michigan Replay... only with bacon
This will surely win a Webby.
Or with Bacon?
according to my records (starts poking at the air as if he's hitting an invisible calculator), the only loss M has in any sport since Brandon took over is the Miami hockey loss and the Purdue baseball Friday loss.
score another for Dave Brandon.
DRob = Night and Day.
And clearly looks to be the starter.
Does denard look to be the starter because he has progressed so much of where forcier was last season, or forcier has regressed?
Forcier looked a lot like he did toward the end of last season. A young, skilled, undersized QB who was playing through injury.
I have confidence that he can command the offense if DR goes down, but DR is looking more like the starter given his improvements and the type of offense that RR runs.
It's no secret that RR's offense is very run-heavy, but what not everyone is aware of is that his last 3 years at WVU where he recorded double-digit wins, his team was in the Top 5 in total rushing offense in EACH of those years. So the man definitely knows how to gain yards on the ground, and getting yards on the ground has been key to his success.
i think Robinson had more poise and decided to take off (or try to) when the throw required was too small of a window. forcier keeps trying to fit it in. led to 2-3 near picks. i would not be surprised if RR put both guys into the backfield and had Denard take handoffs, throw or go out for passes. it would require defenses to key in on two different people and make it a very viable threat of who's going where to do what.
again, forcier may have had an off day. all i'm saying is DRob made GREAT reads with little to no DONTDOTHATOMG moments. hell, the only time i saw RR get on him was when he lofted a pass (on target) rather than throw it. also he seemed to be able to whip the ball with ease where forcier actually looked like he had to push it to make the ball have some zip. once it looked like he threw his arm out bc he had to muscle it to make it get there in time.
The having confidence taking off instead of forcing it thing should also tip in DRob's favor considering he's a WAY bigger threat when he does take off than Forcier. Don't get me wrong, Tate can scramble pretty nicely when need be, but Denard in the open field = scary.
For those who watched the game (I'm waiting until 8pm), how has our defensive formation looked? Different? Or similar to what we saw last year?
Did our offense stretch the field? Were the corners challenged? Did the LBs fill gaps, or read the plays better or worse than last year?
Defense looked a lot like last year. I think we're going to have to accept the fact that we'll have a defense that will finish AT BEST in the middle of the pack in Big Ten.
If Gerg can't make it work this year, RR will need to look for another coordinator, because we definitely have the talent to play better on D.
My only hope is that the offense can be productive enough this year with so many players returning to mask the short commings of our defense.
Thanks for the info. Finishing middle of the pack would be a great step forward for the defense and I would be more than pleased if that was true. Some MgoBlogers have mentioned that the D has looked decent against the run, including other reports I have read from practice it seemed as though this is a theme.
Should I PANIC that the Oline may not be running on all cylinders or trust that the LB is improved?
Is that they are experienced talent can only get you so far. I'm sorry but when you said "If Gerg can't make it work this year, RR will need to look for another coordinator, because we definitely have the talent to play better on D." I lold especially with a Lot of key guts not playing (woolfolk and Martin) and no freshman that could EE.
I would give gerg at least another year if rr gets one
full disclosure: i'm someone who has to read Brian's graphs and explanations to develop my understanding of zones and reads, etc. visually, the defense didn't look much different. the line looked improved but in terms of how it LOOKED, as in "does it visually look much different than 4-3 etc" it seemed similar. which means guys arent wandering around lost and are making coverage, which is good.
offense tried to stretch the field at times with limited success. Defense did a great job of sniffing out bubble screens and options, most notably during a no-gainer where the guy was swallowed alive and on forcier's fumble (TAKE THE SACK OR THROW IT AWAY).
my biggest concern going in was the line because of the loss of graham. in my opinion we're "fine"
Again, thanks. See above. Also, being "fine" on defense should allow everyone to breathe easier. A middle of the road defense allows us to win games against BGSU, Uconn, UMass, Purdue, Illi, and a great chance at ND, and MSU.
Did denard make any passes down field that made you trust that ability?
several of them. the 97 yarder was 20+ yards down the field when he threw it. he also had a couple 20-30 yard throws. i don't know if he is the guy to have throw the hail mary per se but he made throws consistent with the ones he made against Iowa (ignoring that game's awful INT pass) if not better
I know I'm rehashing 50% of the comments, but Denard really looked much improved. Overall, he looked like a play-maker. He looked comfortable, composed, and and far more mature than last fall. Perhaps this shouldn't be a surprise, but it was surprising to witness. Tate looked much like he did last year. He didn't look nearly as comfortable as I would have imagined, which is a bit concerning. Of course this is just spring and things will change by the fall, but as it stood today, I would not be surprised (indeed, I would expect) Denard to be our starter.
The offense looked decent as a whole. Cox, Toussaint, and Hopkins all looked promising. Roundtree looked great too. It was tough for me to judge the defense, other than their ability to play well against the run and put pressure on Tate.
We'll have our problems in the fall, but I think overall we'll be a much better team than last year.
Were we able to successfully run the zone read?
There were a couple of sloppy exchanges (with DG and Tate in at QB), and the tailback play was unspectacular, in general, but the zone read looked pretty smooth for the most part. The most encouraging thing was Denard's seeming comfort running it, especially with him not having the green light to run it at all last season. He seemed to make the right decisions for the most part and his exchanges were smooth.
likely was the reason DRob looked so good
Not only did we run the zone read fairly well (though I often can't tell if the right decision is made), but several times I had no idea who had the ball and even a couple of times followed the play only to realize that I was looking in the wrong direction. I don't recall that ever happening last year (which really stuck out at me watching Illinois since Juice disguised the direction of the play very well). If that continues (and it happened with both main QBs, though I think more with DRob), that alone should improve the offense dramatically.
I was super excited with the quarterback play today. D Rob looked way better than Forcier. He was calm, collected and able to make great plays with his arm and his feet. I do wonder how much of that is related to our terrible secondary from last year, when even Indiana was throwing deep bombs on us, but that remains to be seen. Forcier looked terrible I thought. When he was out there it was all helter skelter, he seemed to make bad play after bad play and he lacked composure. It looked like he was trying too hard to make a good play, which is what he was doing at the end of last year. This at least is encouraging for our defense, perhaps they will be decent after all. Devin Gardner made some cliche freshman mistakes, but I think he has the most potential of any of our current qbs, d rob included. He has the patience in the pocket, spreads the field vertically with his arm and has the vince youngesque running ability. Makes it all look quite effortless when he's not fumbling or throwing an interception from the endzone. He's vince young with a better arm, which will be devastating when he is the starter. I'd have to say the sooner the better, but he could benefit a lot by getting a redshirt year.
I don't think Forcier looked terrible.
I think he just looked like a guy playing through injury, which is what he was for the 2nd half of last year.
That said, DG has improved immensely, and given his running game, he's throwing better than he would even need to in order to win the starting job in this type of offense.
How did Shoelace do running the read-option play?
He did very well.
He would have looked even better had he not tied his shoelaces together to give the defense a fighting chance.
Overall, I'm not sure if I was disappointed or encouraged by what I saw. Denard is worlds better than last year and *based on today only* looks like he should, by far, be the starter next year. DG had flashes of athleticism but definitely isn't ready. Tate looked a lot worse than I thought and it was disappointing to see him have such an off day.
My biggest concern was that we didn't show much option at all. The only pitch play was a disastrous fumble on the pitch by Tate, but Denard did well on a few run-reads - also, his pocket presence was fantastic and the OL bought him enough time to go through his reads.
The special teams were horrible outside of a few good kicks, but Hagerup isn't here yet so I'm sure the punting part of that equation will be much better this fall.
The defense didn't stand out as being great or awful - they had a lot of good stops but got burned several times, most notably by Denard. Overall though, decent day for them as well. The linemen on both sides had their moments, but I'd say the DL played slightly better.
If I had to make a win prediction right now (and please remember I'm basing this on what I've seen on ONE day that probably isn't terribly significant), I'd say 6-7 with a cap of 8. Unfortunately, I feel like we just didn't look SHARP today, although several players look like they're vastly improved and the defense didn't get toyed with the way it did in last year's spring game.
That said, the coaches weren't using the whole playbook of course, so we'll see a clearer picture come August.
the Denard we all saw running the offense last year is gone. he showed tremendous touch on some seam routes, ran the option excellently a few times and didn't come close to turning it over. he's your spring game MVP & most improved by 10 miles
Just got back from the game, and while you seem to have all gotten the blow by blow pretty well (great job Geaux_Blue!) I took some notes at the game on the whole experience, and here's what I thought. (With the caveat that it was one afternoon in one of the least important Spring Practices with a whole Fall to go).
First, attendance was lower, but the weather was BAD. I saw snowflakes walking to the Stadium.
I looked all through the M parking lot prior to the Alumni Game (which actually had an exciting end) for an MGoTailgate, and even walked around the Stadium at the beginning to see if I could find any Brian like substances, but nada. I mean, they were there, I'm sure, but nowhere I could find. (Might have to really PLAN one next year that doesn't involve Brian being a host, or maybe an August MGoGetTogether at some bar in town...maybe the weekend before the first game, for those that don't want to be COMPLETELY anonymous).
As I said earlier, Musical Theater National Anthem singers - very cute.
Kick game, atrocious. Punting game, worse. As was said, when Tate has your best punt...things to fix in the Fall.
Devin might be the best pure QB we have, but his lack of playbook comfort (he hesitates out there on plays at times), and his freshman-itis will probably keep him off the field, and maybe redshirting. But he has the tools, is big, quick, and probably the best arm on the team. He keeps it together, he WILL be good. I'm not sure if he doesn't keep progressing, that he might not be the emergency back-up...left on the bench to redshirt even if spot duty comes up, but if there's a season ending injury, he might take over. If he has a good Fall.
I was one of the ones who thought Denard shouldn't get in at QB barring emergency at all last year, he was so unpolished, and definitely in Brian's camp of I'll believe it when I see it re: the Spring reports. But Denard looked leaps and bounds better...and if they were to play tomorrow, I'd say he's your starter. Better decisions, ran more plays, threw the ball better, and really RAN the ball (not ran one running play). We're a world away from deciding, but Denard looked to majorly improved...and Tate looked about the same. He didn't look worse. He just still looked like a freshman (which technically, he is).
The QB play might be a little tainted by the fact that there were too many dropped passes...but then, probably too many injuries at the Receiver position too.
As was said, no RB really stood out over the others. Though Hopkins is a truck.
In the feel good world, they said $120,000 was raised for Mott's. They got my $20.