Started to do research on UConn ... yikes!
I just started looking into UConn ... I did not follow much of the Big East last year, especially UConn.
First thing that I looked at was ESPN's spring recap and rankings. I was a bit surprised that UConn was ranked 3rd:
http://espn.go.com/ncf/notebook/_/page/Big%20East%20spring%20wrap/big-east-spring-wrap
Then I wanted to find out about their QB ... I was hoping to see that they were using young or untested QB ... but they have a 5th year senior! A guy who was a 4 star and originally went to Notre Dame. I know that doesn't mean much on paper, but it does make me nervous against our defense.
http://recruiting.scout.com/a.z?s=73&p=8&c=1&nid=1578691
http://rivals.yahoo.com/michigan/football/recruiting/player-Zach-Frazer-29704
Anyone else have thoughts on Zach Frazer ... ?
But this isn't a typical ND team. Yes, they have a good new coach in Brian Kelly. He will probably have their offense ready to go. But he has never had very good defenses at Cincy or Central, and that is the side of the ball with far more question marks. Not to mention they are changing schemes on both sides of the ball, going from a pro-style offense to the Spread, and from a 4-3 to a 3-4 defense. Those transitions tend to take time, and they only have one game before they play us. That game is against a Purdue team that is likely to be better than last year's squad. I'm not saying the ND game will be a cakewalk. I think it could be a high scoring shootout, similar to last season's game. I just think a victory in South Bend is more likely than a victory at home against a UConn team who went 8-5 last season, and is expected to be better this year.
Two years ago, when Michigan was working hard to find a "signature" team for the first game in the newly renovated Big House, the names I heard thrown around on this board were alot more intimidating than UConn. The two that I remember most vividly are Georgia and Boise State. When Michigan ended up scheduling UConn, the lackluster reaction or even disappointment was deafening. And, now, UConn is too difficult for a season opener and you wish we had scheduled Buffalo instead?
UConn will likely be battling Pitt and, to a lesser extent, RU, Cincy and WVU for the Big East title this year. Don't forget that they also beat ND last year in prime time in South Bend. Is this game going to be a challenge for Michigan? Absolutely. But isn't that what we all wanted in the first place? Yes.
Michigan did not become (and will not return to) its place among the elite teams in college football by scheduling more cupcakes or baby seals or whatever you want to call them. It will return to the elite level only when it can schedule BCS conference title contending teams (UConn, Pitt, Oregon, OSU/PSU) and beat them. Stop all your bellyaching. It is sink or swim time, gentlemen. The sun is shining, the girls are in bikinis and the water is not bad either. And if Michigan wants to hang out with the big boys, it is not allowed to bring its floaties.
I think it is a fair assumption that many on this board didn't know much about UCONN at the time of the scheduling, and naturally assumed they were just some Big East also-ran. They lack a vibrant, FBS level history, come from a conference that has an extremely low "fan respect level", and they don't run any particular scheme that's eye catching.
All of that lead quite a few people just to assume that this was just a high level push over, and that Michigan would be running on all cylinders before this game came up. Since then, they've seen just how hard it is to succeed with underclassmen comprising much of the roster and 2-deep. I could see the more casual fan's swaying feeling toward this game.
Just to be clear, I in no way, ever condone the scheduling of FCS teams, and I'm always pro-BCS over just cupcake FBS teams. Does the financial aspect make that a reality? Supposedly not. Would I love to see Michigan go all USC and schedule anyone, anywhere? Hell yes.
floaties are the in thing with the women. /shrug
I think people were miffed about opening with UConn because they understood that UConn had potential to be a solid team.
We knew that Martin was going aftter a BCS level opponent to open the 2010 season. To simplify things, let's divide the potential opponents into four catagories.
- Nationally respected programs who are projected to be solid in 2010
- Nationally respected programs who are projected to be weak/questionable
- Everyone else projected to be weak/questionable
- Everyone else projected to be solid
UConn falls in catagory four and, IMO, that is the worst group to schedule an opponent for in this particular situation. Michigan isn't going to get a lot of respect if they win, but they will sure take a lot of heat if they lose. It's kid of like Utah 2 years ago. No one outside of Ann Arbor or Salt Lake City remembers that Michigan was a failed 2-pt conversion from tieing that game late. I would have much rather seen a UCLA, Colorado, Virginia type of opponent.... i.e. team that falls into catagory 2.
Just as one example, the MGoMasses (or vast majority thereof) would have been ecstatic if we had landed Georgia. And not because we were more likely to beat Georgia than UConn, but because of its name and history. It would have been a big "get", a storied BCS team to christen the new Big House and possibly even a College Game Day game. People were unimpressed with UConn simply because the two words "UConn footbal" are, well, relatively unimpressive.
I also highly doubt everyone would have been happier if we had scheduled CO or VA rather than Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Texas, Nebraska, etc. I have not gone back to those threads to see if anyone made the argument that we should play a nationally respected BCS team down on its luck (your category #2), but I do not recall it and I certainly do not believe it was the prevailing attitude of most of the board at the time. Everyone was focused on getting a big name BCS team and UConn was a yawner.
Note: FWIW, Michigan will get far more respect if they beat UConn and UConn goes on to win the Big East than they would by beating VA (irrelevant in football since the game was invented), CO (irrelevant since Neuheisel and Barnett wrecked it) or even UCLA (when you hire Neuheisel to restore your program to glory, it says alot about how bad you have become).
People were talking about UVA or Duke excitedly. Let me say that again: UVA or Duke (is that category 2 or 4?). When they announced U Conn there was a collective groan. Then many realized the snake in the grass potential, that built across last season.
We were destined to get category three or four, just by virtue of the scheduling challnges for booking a return visit (or attempting to avoid one).
My catagories are overly simplistic and confusing. I just used them for arguments sake.
Basically, catagory one are the teams that are nationally respected and recognized to be a threat. Beating these teams is front page news and losing to them is palatable because it is "expected."
Catagory two are teams that are historically relevant and have had some recent success but are now firmly planted in mediocrity. Older generations may want to put these teams in group 1 while younger generations will want to drop them to group 3. They are not perceived to be a threat, but people would not necessarily be surprised if they made some noise.
Catagory 3 are teams that no one is taking seriously, and for good reason. Teams that have been around for ages but have been punching bags for the majority of their existence would fall here as would most teams that don't have large athletic department budgets.
Catagory 4 is a little more exclusive mainly because it's not easy to place teams in this group. Teams that would fall here would include teams that will be full of upper classmen or teams that have been off the national radar but have shown signs that times might be changing, maybe from a coaching change or a trend in better recruiting. These teams aren't projected to be in the class of group 1 teams but those who pay attention to college football can see that the potential is there.
My argument is that I think it was forseeable that UConn was going to be a catagory 4 team when they were scheduled. It is a proverbial "lose-lose" situation. It is certainly a game Michigan can lose, even though a lot of people will be expecting Michigan to win. 2010 UConn might be at or higher than the level of a "catagory 2" school, but they aren't going to demand as much respect as that group.
1. I said that it was a personal preference of mine for "group 2." I made no inference for everyone else's opinion other than that I feel the board was aware of UConn's potential. My personal order of preference would have been 2,1,3,4.
2. Virginia was a solid program in the 90's. They were also the first ACC team to unseat FSU as conference champ. UCLA and Colorado are shadows of their former selves, but public perception, which is significant given the state of Michigan's program right now, says that UCLA or Colorado are unquestionably more sexy than UConn.
3. Far more respect? Did you not watch Cinci get rolled by Florida last year? The Big East has lost some credibility over the past decade and UConn winning the Big East will do more to damage the perception of that conference than to enhance the perception of UConn.
I think everyone got excited about who it could have been, the Boise States and Georgias of the world and were disappointed with UCONN since many people didn't know much about them.
It's like when you get your birthday card from your grandma. You hope it has $100 bill in it and then you open it and it has a $10 bill in it. Still nice, but not as nice as you hoped.
our former AD's seeming lack of foresight.
From what I understand, Martin mishandled the coaching search even though there was ample time to prepare for the transition to a new coach/regime. I remember a laisse-faire like bungling that ended feeling like we (hopefully) just got the best coach that was still available. Likewise, the 2010 opener search also seemed thrown together at the last minute.
I don't think that Martin couldn't anticipate the importance of either the coaching search or the opener, but perhaps he relied too heavily on the Michigan brand for success.
Regardless, I am excited about our coach and UConn. I trust this will be the game that returns us to national respectability.
I could take Moses Malone and 10 guys off the playgrounds from Petersburg Virginia and beat UCONN in football
Lord Cornwallis at the Battle of Yorktown, after the French fleet arrived, had a better chance of emerging victorious, than UCONN does against Michigan
Gerald Laird vs Stephen Strasburg is a more equitable matchup than UCONN vs Michigan
I could take Devin Gardner and 10 Red Arrows from Lowell and whup up on UCONN
UConn is for real.
Huskies had a great season last year under incredible adversity and probably should have won 2 or 3 more games than they did. UConn returns with an NFL-sized and talented offensive line, a great QB in Frazier, and a solid running attack (Jordan Todman is very good).
On defense they have arguably one of the best front four and LB corps in the East. If the Huskies have any weaknesses in 2010 it's their secondary (just like UM and a lot like Ron Lee-coached Wisconsin football secondaries). UConn also has zero heir apparent at WR, which really sucks for them. Despite those two big question marks, this is without question UConn's best football team ever (to date).
I don't like the fact that Michigan could lose this opener to a Big East team and thereby unleash the media dogs on Rodriguez and staff, but I do like the matchup. It's going to be an excellent indicator of GERG's progress with the UM defense. And if Michigan can somehow control the LOS and shutdown UConn's run, then like holy crap, Michigan just might have some fun this fall against similar teams like PSU, Wiscy, Iowa, MSU and dare I say OSU too.
Offensively, Michigan can probably knock UConn around a bit by throwing the ball, but one thing's for damn sure: Michigan's QBs will be able to run the ball at will on the Huskies. Just consider what BJ Daniels (88 yards rush, 3 TDs) and Zach Collaros (75 yards rush, 2 TDs) did to the Huskies last year. It broke them.
for UConn. DR is like few other running QBs.
Come Fall the competition thing is going to do less and less for Mich, while timing, exchange (ie no fumbles) and team cohesion will be more and more important.
... more like Denard starting. I just hope that we don't have to open the playbook too much against UConn. Or Notre Dame.
I want it to be later in the season when RichRod gives the order and Denard jumps to light-speed.
(Simulated view through Denard's helmet, beta version, not NCAA or FCC approved):
ludicrous speed?
(I don't ever want him to go to plaid, just sayin')
I think we will be hearing the name Jordan Todman over and over again on sept 4. UCONN's o-line are big and will wear out a dline as the game goes on... It will be a big time test for our d-tackles and Campbell will have to be ready to play a lot of downs.
They also have probably the best linebacker corp in the big east and definitely the best linebacker overall in Lawrence Wilson. He is always around the ball and gets into the backfield.
Here is espn's big east linebacker unit rankings:
1. Connecticut: Lawrence Wilson led the league with a whopping 140 tackles last year, while Scott Lutrus was a regular 100-tackle guy before getting hurt. They're both seniors with a ton of experience. Jory Johnson played in 12 games last year at the other linebacker spot. Depth is a little shaky, but the starting unit is as solid as it gets.
"Let me tell you what, you're lookin' good! Thirteen starters comin' back. Twenty-two lettermen. Lookin' tough."
UConn returns 16 starters: 4 on the offensive line that produced two 1,000 yard rushers, one of those rushers, and a QB. Sort of. QB Zack Frazer appearred in 8 games last year and was the starter late in the season, though they did employ 3 different QBs last year. A rotation that Spurrier was probably proud of until his team lost to them in the PapaJohn's.com Bowl.
The defense loses both defensive ends, a corner and a safety but there may be more than two spots to fill in the secondary according to the UConn blogs chatter. They also have a LB in Greg Lloyd who, it turns out, is son of former NFL menacing LB of the same name. They aren't on speaking terms. I also found a few blogs for keeping up with the enemy: http://uchuskies.com/ and http://www.courant.com/sports/uconn-football/
I'm sure that we'll be ready and that our boys will make us proud.
OT: Noel Devine's arms in that espn spring wrapup story give me nightmares
actually a really underrated team.. Michigan's gonna have to step up their game for this one
This is a very solid team, and its gonna make for a fantastic season opener. I expect us to come out swingin' right away in this one and use that "stable" of backs to pound the ball for the first couple of series before opening up the bag of tricks. If you don't think that the Huskies are going to bring their best game, you are dillusional. I can't wait!
You wanna know how excited I am about this game/season. Yesterday, my wife (MY WIFE!) quoted to me the date of the opener. There is absolutely no reason why she would know this date other than catching on to me saying repeatedly, "God, I can't wait for September 4!" July 4th fireworks signal the two month countdown!
i am looking forward to the announcement of where the second half of the home and home is going to be played. obviously michigan can buyout UConn, but with UConn being up and coming, i think it would be cool if UM scheduled an east coast road game in a year when ND was home or something. obvs UConn's stadium is too small for it to be worth UM's while, (40k) but maybe they play in Foxboro or New York City....
We're probably going to have to score a lot of points.
I know it sounds like I'm condescending but I'm still trying to wrap my head around UM new non Rock,Rock,Rock philosophy. How many game have they won in the past buy smashing a team in the first half and letting their depth and what I like to call the "Soul Crusher" in the 2ed half were they force the other team to abandon the run. I know there were some hiccups (USC Rose Bowl, Drew Brees PUR off the top of my head), but they always had a top half Big Ten Defense.
With the Spread it seems UM can almost take the same approach except it will be "score early and often" forcing teams to abandon the run were in the past UM would shut down/bend don't break losses (ah...the good old days), the pressure is on the Defense (Duh), but 2ed year in system will help(please God) and the future looks bright if the D can come together and we could be seeing a Point a Minute team.
Sorry for the ramble, this is the guy who still uses pro sets and ball control in NCAA10, and will use a four WR set and run the ball up the gut.
Try spreading it out first half. Fling the ball around, mixing in some read option and some play action. As Brian pointed out in UV today, the read option now works (I've been testing it in the demo and it really does). The spread will be very effective I think; child's play with a mobile QB.
Get up by two or more scores by half time or maybe the third, then switch to ball control while the other guy has to abandon the run. Go "aggressive" on tempo until you get a big enough lead, then "conservative" to burn clock.
Now, unfortunately this will probably not transcend the video game world and apply in RL, due to the god-awfulness of our defense. In the real world, we'll need to pour on the points the entire game, IMHO. UCONN will be a test. This offense should target in the high-30's in terms of point production every game. I think we're going to need it.
Did your research happen to reveal the fact that RR is 4-0 against Randy Edsall?
Good Bowls come from winning the Big10. I'd must rather work the hiccups out in close games with UConn and ND, get everything clicking before we roll into Big10 play. Playing 4 quarters of tough football, and even if we lose by a score, does a lot more for the team than smacking around WMU for 4 quarters.