We will beat Utah because ____.

Submitted by Dawkins on

By now you've all read the Week 0 Opponent Watch, which was pretty flattering to Utah and rated them a "Fear Level: 8". Well, below are some reasons to be optimistic about our chances against Utah. Please feel free to add to the list.

  • Utah is 1-3 at home in conference play in each of the past two seasons, which suggests their home field advantage may not be as big as some other programs'.
  • Our defense held Utah to 2.2 ypc last year (81 yds), and we return a lot of starters from that side of the ball. We also held them to 172 non-garbage time passing yards. Where we shit the bed was turning the ball over 5 times. This staff will not permit such a travesty!
  • Really for the first time since Henne, we will have a (probable) starting QB who is NOT turnover-prone. The value in that is immesurable (I mean, it IS measurable, but it's been so long since we've had one that I've forgotten how to measure it). 
  • The Opponent Watch column pointed out that Utah was 9-4 last year, with 3 of their 4 losses to then-top 15 teams. HOWEVER, they were also a mere 12 points from having a 5-7 record. They had some very narrow wins, including: UCLA (by 2), USC (by 3), Stanford (by 3), and Colorado (by 4). Wins are wins, but it wasn't a dominating 9-4 record they put together. 
  • Peppers. He wasn't active for this game last year. This year, he will return one to the house. The kid is just incredible and he's the best athlete we've had in this program since Charles (Denard included). Call me a homer if you want to (but watch his film again before you do). When the game is over, I'll be the homer braggin about having made this prediction!
  • HARBAUGH is a natural born warrior and leader. The only profession for guys like him 1,000 years ago was waging war. Luckily for humanity, there are more constructive, less deadly jobs now for guys like him to focus their talents on:

MGoBoard

BornInA2

August 28th, 2015 at 2:26 PM ^

because Popular Mechanics says they are cupcakes. And everyone knows that Popular Mechanics is an expert source of information on college football and baked goods.

Oh, and because Harbaugh.

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Hemlock Philosopher

August 28th, 2015 at 1:50 PM ^

First: "The only profession for guys like him 1,000 years ago was waging war. Luckily for humanity, there are more constructive, less deadly jobs for guys like him to focus his talents on now". Bravo, that is a great statement. Second: Because of that leadership we are confident in our abilities and because of that training we are competent to do the job (e.g., block for the QB and RBs and not turn the ball over 5 damned times).

Joined: 02/12/2009

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markusr2007

August 28th, 2015 at 1:57 PM ^

  • Utah's secondary is not very good against the pass nor the rush. 
  • Michigan takes advantage with TEs and some new shiny WRs we never knew we had.
  • UM's quarterback is a game manager this time.
  • UM Offensive line goes all Drevno.
  • Also, Harbaugh.

Joined: 10/21/2008

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swalburn

August 28th, 2015 at 1:59 PM ^

..........because we have better football players.  I've tried to keep my expecatations realistic, but I'm all in now.  I just think we have a lot of skilled kids who are finally getting the coaching they deserve.  There is simply too much talent on the roster and among the coaches to be mediocre.

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alum96

August 28th, 2015 at 2:04 PM ^

If you want more sunshine blowing you could also look at the opponent and say

a) they lost both their coordinators

b) they lost their best defensive player in Nate Orchard

c) their best CB coming back is suspended / kicked off team?

d) their QB is not a typical high octane Pac 12 QB, he is basically Jake Rudock of the Pac 12.

As far as Pac 12 matchups, if you exclude the garbage at the bottom (of which Oregon State will be) this is a pretty perfect matchup for UM.  Its not a high octane offense that has the potential to put up 40 on you so it wont pressure are offense to try to be something it is not.  Utah wins with defense and special teams, something UM is probably going to have to do quite a bit this year.  They do have a bad ass running back.  And great kicking game - our FG kickers really have not been discussed much at all offseason but it's an open question esp in a year I expect many close games. 

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Dawkins

August 28th, 2015 at 2:06 PM ^

While Travis Wilson and Rudock put up similar numbers last season, Wilson's completion percentage was poor-to-mediocre (44% to 55%) in conference play all last year. Rudock, on the other hand, has played very well against some pretty good Big Ten defenses, including Ohio State, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Michgian. 

And to be fair, we also lost both our coordinators and our best defensive player (Clark). 

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alum96

August 28th, 2015 at 2:10 PM ^

Right but this is a sunshine blowing thread so I ignored the last sentence.

The Pac 12 has good defenses too - they are stressed far more than Big 10 defenses.  Pac 12 QBs actually can throw 15 yard out patterns on the regular.   There were 5 guys who threw for 3800+ yards in the Pac 12 - in the big 10 the best was 3200 in Cook and it dropped off a cliff after that.  So Big 10 defenses that you pat on the back for Rudock doing ok against get inflated stats.

Wilson is very similar to Rudock.  In fact both had backups pushing them to the bench... but Utah's got hurt.

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Michigan4Life

August 28th, 2015 at 5:20 PM ^

Also, Booker wasn't prominently featured RB at that time last year. This season, he's among the best RBs in the country. Michigan defense got shredded against offense who can actually run the ball like Minnesota, MSU and OSU. We'll see how that'll goes for Michigan defense and it's a good test for them



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Dawkins

August 28th, 2015 at 6:09 PM ^

The argument cuts both ways, but when that's your situation, its still evidence that things arent as disasterous as the record might make them seem. MSU was in that situation in 2012 when they lost several games by 1-3 points and finished 6-6. Their fans pointed to the multiple small margins of defeat as an indication that their record could improve substantially in 2013, and they were right.

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Playing The Field

August 28th, 2015 at 2:19 PM ^

Not to state the obvious, but the biggest impact in the team's improvement will be the diffrence in coaching. It's pretty clear that the talent has been recruited to acceptable levels, now it's just a matter of the coaches being on another level than what these kids have had before. Coaches in football more than any other sport have a direct effect in wins and loses. The other major reason is becuase all signs point to an efficient QB with a low turnover rate. As one Mitch McGary once proclaimed.....Win The Game!

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Dawkins

August 28th, 2015 at 6:05 PM ^

My concern with this argument is that talent won us 11 games in 2011 despite having the same coaching we've come to loathe for 4 years. So theres an argument that if the talent were really there, then we should not have concluded a disasterous 5-7 season just 9 months ago.

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bluepow

August 28th, 2015 at 2:22 PM ^

Is pure gold.  Check out the reactions of everybody, notably Drevno and the official.  Also note SF is winning 24-0.

The intensity dial has been turned up just a wee bit.

Joined: 11/11/2009

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MGoUberBlue

August 28th, 2015 at 2:49 PM ^

We have:

Better talent that Utah that was not properly trained or coached

A QB that will has a history of high percentage completions and low turnovers

Four really stud running backs from which at least one and maybe two will break out big time

That proven defense that seems to have more talent than before

Special teams that will make special plays.

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