Two things I am mystified about from the Iowa game (not TF/DR)
I tried to blame it on the pint of Rumple Minze I needed to maintain a required viscosity level to support life in the stands at Iowa, but I still cannot get my head around a few things:
1) How damn hard is it to field a punt? I am to the point that I don't even expect returns, don't even count on them. Just simply field the ball. I watched random Iowa guys field punts aaaannnndddd run.
2) What does it take to find a safety that can cover? Over the last ten years we have had more than our fair shares of woes with pass coverage over the middle so it did not start with RR. Yet, 3* Sash and 0* Greenwood at Iowa seem to have this thing figured out.
For a program of our stature, I am simply dumbfounded by this.
October 11th, 2009 at 9:33 PM ^
Mathews shouldn't be the punt returner. He messed up yesterday and made a stupid dive for one in another game. Gerg needs time to implement his schemes. And our safeties aren't exactly good either. I bet Kovacs was a 0*. I'm mystified about why our WRs cam't get open. Every pass Forcier threw was into tight coverage.
October 11th, 2009 at 9:50 PM ^
The issues with the safeties last night shouldn't have been surprising, they were basically starting over - AGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIN - back there. Cissoko's...*ahem* issues...forced Woolfolk to corner, which left Michigan with two strong safeties on the field and Mike Williams having to play a position with different responsibilities than the ones he'd been accounting for to date. The results were bad, but not unpredictable.
October 11th, 2009 at 10:01 PM ^
We lost this game for one and only one reason. Turnovers. Without the turnovers, this was an easy win. The safety play was not the reason.
I was at the game and haven't reviewed the DVR so I can not remember all the safety plays. But, IMO, Woolfolk had excellent coverage on the long passes. But, those were perfect throws. A foot longer -- incomplete. A foot shorter -- incomplete or interception. You just cannot defend against a perfectly thrown pass.
October 11th, 2009 at 10:03 PM ^
Woolfolk did play well...and he also didn't play safety.
October 11th, 2009 at 10:07 PM ^
you'll have to excuse Enjoy Life he is still recovering from the evil incarnate
October 11th, 2009 at 10:09 PM ^
the 3 whole times Stanzi tried to throw to the left, wolfolk looked to have really good coverage. Should probably be thankful Stanzi was awful throwing to the left, something I hadn't picked up on watching earlier games but man that right side is much better for him. Warren and Graham did a great job whenever they could for the most part on that right side.
October 11th, 2009 at 11:09 PM ^
Zoltan outkicks our punt coverage ... they get an extra 15 yards to return punts. Other teams do not out kick the coverage so we don't get that extra yardage to find a gap.
October 11th, 2009 at 11:11 PM ^
killed it last night.
October 12th, 2009 at 10:46 AM ^
Valid point for this game. Living in IC, I have also seen them returning punts against non-Zoltan greatness as well.
October 12th, 2009 at 4:57 PM ^
That's not usually the case for Zoltan, though. Usually his punts aren't returned at all.
October 11th, 2009 at 11:35 PM ^
"1) How damn hard is it to field a punt? I am to the point that I don't even expect returns, don't even count on them. Just simply field the ball. I watched random Iowa guys field punts aaaannnndddd run. "
In my opinion, fielding a punt is a non-trivial exercise, more difficult than catching a pass. With all the risk involved I am surprised more teams do not let punts drop and not field them.
October 12th, 2009 at 10:28 AM ^
You're right - catching punts is very difficult. More difficult than catching most passes, more difficult than catching kickoffs (which are actually pretty easy).
October 12th, 2009 at 11:08 AM ^
I wouldn't say they are very difficult. They are certainly harder than any other. It's just like a pop up to the catcher in baseball. The ball has a weird pull back to the field that doesn't happen any other time. All it takes it repetition and it shouldn't be a problem.
October 12th, 2009 at 10:50 AM ^
Do we really have more trouble this year catching punts than other teams do, or does it just feel like that because we're cringing every time due to last years' troubles?
We've only had two punt catching miscues this year, only one of which resulted in a turnover, if I remember correctly.
The lack of a punt return game is a little disheartening, but it's not crippling. Our return guys are probably also a little bit inside their own heads about it because of the problems last season. Confidence has an impact on performance and our punt returners are probably building confidence from as low as it can get.
October 12th, 2009 at 10:52 AM ^
Speaking of which, was anyone else surprised that Hemingway returned punts? I hadn't heard about him returning punts at all during camp, and I thought Odoms, Warren, or Stonum would be the next man out there.
October 12th, 2009 at 11:10 AM ^
In all honesty, I expected to see some Jeremy Gallon out there. Or Je'ron Stokes.
October 12th, 2009 at 12:50 PM ^
Granted we've seen the impact of special teams alla Notre Dame, but why would you burn their redshirts, when we have others that are just as dangerous.
October 12th, 2009 at 2:08 PM ^
I'm pretty sure Stokes has played in every game so far this year. My statement was more of a "before the season started, I thought we'd see these guys on ST" type of response.
EDIT: Stokes missed the EMU and Indiana games.