WMU: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The Good:
- Mattison's defensive schemes looked better than GERGs
- Good blitzing and opportunistic defensive play
- Kovacs, Herron and Demens
- Team looked more disciplined on both sides of the ball than last year...no turnovers and only 1 penalty
- Both Spread-Option and West Coast stuff worked...having more variety in our arsenal may bail us out at some point down the road
- Denard is still Denard
- Shaw and Fitz, Koger and Roy
The Bad:
- Special teams remain too "special"
- Not enough pressure from our front 4 on defense
- Cornerbacks still very bad
- Wow we really couldn't cover that one guy they kept throwing to over and over again, could we?
The Ugly:
- I know it's dangerous and all, but seeing a football game called in the 3rd quarter was disappointing
- Craig James, on several occassions, calling spread-option formations "pro style"
September 3rd, 2011 at 9:22 PM ^
The good for me was that both coordinators appeared to make adjustments/have a good game plan. They seemed to have complete control. I felt comfortable about the outcome the entire game. I almost forgot how that feels.
Definitely a weird day on offense. Not a lot of chances but a good mix and a couple of nice big plays.
September 3rd, 2011 at 9:45 PM ^
Last year I was just frustrated watching the corners sit 8 yards off the line and backpedal when the ball snapped. Today it started out like that, but after the adjustments it seemed like mattison was baiting western into those screens by hiding the coverage.
September 3rd, 2011 at 10:29 PM ^
Maybe this was known already, but I was surprised to see Hoke without headphones. He must have really turned things over to the coordinators.
September 3rd, 2011 at 9:29 PM ^
Does this make herron the starter?
September 3rd, 2011 at 9:41 PM ^
No, it just means that Herron wins the "Luckiest Player of the Week" award.
September 3rd, 2011 at 10:11 PM ^
When it happens twice, it's not luck. It's him hustling, playing to the whistle, and being around the ball.
September 3rd, 2011 at 11:10 PM ^
... Slow internet is slow
September 3rd, 2011 at 11:10 PM ^
The first one he picked off and was aware of his surroundings. The second one was a fumble in the backfield, meaning he got penetration. Right spot at the right time, but not because of luck.
September 5th, 2011 at 8:47 AM ^
He also had eight tackles in essentially a half-game.
September 3rd, 2011 at 9:54 PM ^
Did 4 players get suspended before the game or what? Excuse my ignorance if I'm an idiot (excessive beer consumption) but I did not see Cam Gordon, Tay Odoms, BWC, ...? I got a text from a friend that guys were suspended and I'm making an assumption based on my observation. Any info? Again my bad if I missed this posted somewhere but i'm lazy and don't feel like searching.
September 3rd, 2011 at 9:58 PM ^
3 players were suspended for violation of team rules. Barnum, hopkins and marrell evans. Cam gordan was held out with a back injury. Will campbell was dressed but I did not see him get on the field.
September 4th, 2011 at 1:32 AM ^
some.
September 3rd, 2011 at 10:08 PM ^
we looked pretty stinkin good for the 1st game wth new coaches and a pretty new system / another new defense. a lot of people are pretty doomy and gloomy like this is year 4 of richrod. If we were that solid in the 1st of the hoke era, then I feel reeeeallly good about the future
September 3rd, 2011 at 10:08 PM ^
we looked pretty stinkin good for the 1st game wth new coaches and a pretty new system / another new defense. a lot of people are pretty doomy and gloomy like this is year 4 of richrod. If we were that solid in the 1st of the hoke era, then I feel reeeeallly good about the future
September 4th, 2011 at 3:56 AM ^
In the first game of the RR era we almost beat the team that ended up #2 in the nation. Not trying to downplay the win, just trying to not get too excited yet.
September 3rd, 2011 at 11:07 PM ^
It was tough to watch the defense at the beginning of the game but they got better and/or made adjustments. I think this is going to be a defense that gets better every week as they get more comfortable but will also have a hunger to win every week.
This defense was slightly worse than average today without those two touchdowns, but you could see potential with the blitzing and solid tackling. I see a great defense in a couple of years when Mattison gets who he wants.
September 4th, 2011 at 1:42 AM ^
It was a great win for Hoke to start off his Michigan career. The numbers between 2009 and 2011 are fairly close across the board. Taking the shortened game into account the numbers for 2011 could have been greatly better or worse in a few areas. Given how 2009 turned out we may need to wait for the Big Ten schedule in order to pass judgement either way. ND should have been a measuring stick next week but with how they played today that is in question.
Michigan vs WMU in 2009
Score 31-7
Total Yards: WMU 301 Michigan 439
Turnovers; WMU 3 Michigan 1
Time of Possession: WMU 25:40 Michigan 34:20
First Downs: WMU 15 Michigan 24
3rd Downs: WMU 5-14 Michigan 6-16
Penalties: WMU 3-15 Michigan 8-72
Michigan vs WMU 2011 (3 quarters of play)
Score 34-10
Total Yards: WMU 279 Michigan 288
Turnovers: WMU 3 Michigan 0
Time of Possession: WMU 25:18 Michigan 18:15
First Downs: WMU 17 Michigan 17
3rd Downs: WMU 6-11 Michigan 3-6
Penalties: WMU 8-50 Michigan 1-5
September 4th, 2011 at 12:09 PM ^
We don't really know how things will go until conference play begins.
That said, there were a lot of things I was happy about:
The defense was clearly disciplined, tackling well and running a scheme everyone understood. While it is early, and this is just one MAC team, this bodes well for the season.
Mattison adjusted when things weren't going well, and the adjustments produced better performance. This is something we weren't very good at last year, though admittedly, we looked sharp against UCONN last year.
Borges ran both spread-option and west coast formations, and both worked. To me, this is the biggest cause for excitement. Last year, there were conference games where our offense sputtered and couldn't score until the game was out of our control (Iowa, PSU, Wisconsin), and others where we just sputtered (MSU, Ohio, Miss St.). Being able to radically shift gears and move the chains will help when someone gets "in our head."
September 5th, 2011 at 8:50 AM ^
My favorite defensive play was when Kovacs faked blitz, then dropped back into coverage and broke up an out pass. I don't remember that happening in the past three years. Made me smile.
September 5th, 2011 at 9:09 AM ^
Mattison blitzes a ton. Generally, blitzes are couples with zones. You will never, and I mean EVER, see "tight coverage" in zones.
People obsessed with the # of yards between the DB and WR at the snap drive me nuts. What is the CB has the deep 3rd in a zone? A ten foot cushion takes like 2 seconds to get eaten up. It's nothing.