Thoughts on the Illinois game
1. The better team won. Illinois’ ability to throw and run was too much for us, and I really left the game impressed with how much Juice Williams developed as a passer. Benn is as good a receiver as we will face this year.
2. Martavious Odoms really impressed me as a kick returner, and I like how he found holes in Illinois’ zone defense.
3. Brandon Graham just keeps zooming up draft boards with his solid play, and we will have to enjoy his skills while we can this year.
4. I would let the backup safeties try to play a little bit, because they cannot be appreciably worse than Brown and Harrison.
5. I understood why Shaw did not play until the second half when I saw him whiff on a blitzer and almost get his QB killed. While Minor may be fumble-prone, he is a good pass blocker.
6. I found the play calling repetitive on first down, and I think that we should throw a few more passes in there.
7. I do not remember Lopata having a game where he consistently kicked the ball so low.
8. This defense needs a geometry lesson, as they continue to take horrible angles in run defense.
9. The kick coverage units were outstanding.
10. I like that Coach Rod stayed with Threet even when he struggled, because that will help his confidence later this year.
11. I know that Fitzgerald plays on special teams, but it would be nice to see him play occasionally on defense, so that he can prepare for next year. Panter and Thompson do not set the world on fire, so why not give the kid a few plays a game?
12. Koger looks like he will be a good player, and I would love to see him get a little more involved in the short passing game.
13. Do we give Illinois’ coaches credit for making adjustments, or does the Michigan staff deserves blame for quarters 2-4? I do not know.
14. Mike Martin ran off the field dragging his arm in the second half. Does anyone know what injury he sustained and how long it will take to heal?
15. I just read in the Detroit News that Stonum was suspended for breaking team rules. Does anyone have any inside information?
October 5th, 2008 at 12:48 PM ^
Maybe KC Lopata forgot how to kick, it seems like we haven't had many field goal attempts this year.
I think he'll be fine next week...
October 5th, 2008 at 1:09 PM ^
October 5th, 2008 at 2:52 PM ^
October 5th, 2008 at 3:01 PM ^
October 5th, 2008 at 3:07 PM ^
Screen passes are more difficult to throw than you think. It took Henne forever to become accurate on them. Juice was on the money on all or almost all of them yesterday. On longer throws, yeah, he's off sometimes, but he hits enough to keep the D honest, which is all he needs to do in this offense.
October 5th, 2008 at 5:56 PM ^
Yes but he made 50% of all of his passes. How many of those were of the screen variety, I do not know, but 50% is not much of an improvement. Also, this Michigan LB crew isn't exactly known for stopping those short passes anyway so it's hard to give him that much credit. When you're targeting our weakest unit in the LBs (which I believe the screen passes generally do), you're going to break off quite a few of those passes for long gains. I say he's still a terrible passer in his third year starting...not quite the Troy Smith-like improvement everyone is hyping him for.
Also, I dont necessarily think Chad couldn't make screen passes b/c they are objectively hard for every QB to do. Certain players can do certain things regardless of perceived difficulty. For example, it's easy for Juice to run and scramble and hard for Chad to do the same. It's easy for Chad to throw a large variety of passes but hard for Juice. What makes a good passer is to be able to hit almost every type of pass and to not limit your offense. Plus, they play(ed) in completely different offenses. I would think that changes that comparison a bit.
If Juice can still hit those screen passes yet almost no other type of pass with efficiency, does that make him a good passer or even an improved passer for that matter? He's always been able to play the dumpoff game. That's great when you play a team that can't stop that. However, when you're playing a team that's able to stop it and has a great LB corps, Juice and the Illini offense fail tremendously.
October 5th, 2008 at 6:04 PM ^
Completion percentage isn't the best metric for evaluating a QB. Yards per attempt is. When a QB throws a pass, how many yards does his team typically gain? It's the most straightforward measurement there is. YPA is often correlated with completion percentage, since an incompletion gains zero yards, but not always. If the QB attempts a lot of low-percentage passes, he can have a high YPA and a low completion percentage if he completes some of them.
Seven yards per attempt is about the minimum level for a competant QB. (Threet is below this on the year, though he did manage 7.1 for the Illinois game.) Eight or more is very good. When Juice Williams dropped back to pass, what did Illinois gain, on average? Try a staggering 11.9 yards. That is outstanding QB play. He may not be a great NFL prospect at this position, but as a college QB he's terrific.
October 5th, 2008 at 6:08 PM ^
October 5th, 2008 at 6:18 PM ^
I'm sorry, but you seem to be fishing for reasons to knock the guy. Every QB's stats are aided by yards after the catch. It's not like it only happens to spread QBs. Hey, if he throws a pass that's well-placed enough to allow the receiver to run afterwards, more power to him.
Toss out the 77-yarder, and he still averaged 9.3 YPA, which is All-America good. Toss out the 57-yarder as well, and he still was at 7.3, which is solid. Take that with the 120 yards he rushed for, and that's still a very, very good performance.
October 5th, 2008 at 7:40 PM ^
October 5th, 2008 at 8:28 PM ^
Charles Stewart gave up some big plays while playing at safety, didn't he?
Also, another big issue this game is that the defense was not able to tackle very well.
October 5th, 2008 at 9:14 PM ^