Post Game Thoughts [Snowflake Landing Spot]
(+)
Nice to see 300 yards of rushing. Seems to have been Hoke's message for the past two weeks.
Defense was dominant. Anything they got had to be spectacular or hard earned.
Clock killing. We were on the field for a LONG time.
FG kicking, aside from the crossbar one.
(-)
Kick off coverage was eh (fumble recover aside)
Fitz... Suffered today from the "8-9 guys in the box to stuff Denard and I don't have an extra blocker like he does and we are not passing the ball." Even still, 1.1 ypc sucks.
WR drops. Don't know if it was because of the cold or what... but there were at least 3 good gains that Denard put on the money that the WR dropped.
Needing 24 carries from Denard to win. Seeing him rack up yards was nice and he didn't take any big hits... but there should have been another way to win this game.
[ED:BISB - All your snowflakes are belong to this thread]
October 6th, 2012 at 7:14 PM ^
October 6th, 2012 at 7:20 PM ^
October 6th, 2012 at 7:35 PM ^
October 6th, 2012 at 8:03 PM ^
This bothers me so much, because later on in the season, if we lose a game to say MSU, Nebraska or OSU and Denard only has 10 carries, you know someone is going to go "WELL YOU CAN'T RUN HIM 20 TIMES, HE'LL NEVER MAKE IT TO THE END OF THE GAME, SAW THAT IN 2010 RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE".
October 6th, 2012 at 7:26 PM ^
October 6th, 2012 at 7:31 PM ^
Well power running isn't the smartest against Alabama. In a game like this one Rawls is a better power complement to Denard's speed. Fitz had neither power nor speed.
October 6th, 2012 at 7:15 PM ^
After watching the MSU game, I don't see any way we lose in the next two weeks.
October 6th, 2012 at 7:32 PM ^
October 6th, 2012 at 9:05 PM ^
October 6th, 2012 at 7:16 PM ^
October 6th, 2012 at 9:56 PM ^
October 7th, 2012 at 10:52 AM ^
This is 100% true, but in a mustache competition, Hope wins. UNLESS Hoke shows up and can put in a relief mustacher, Taylor Lewan. Then Hoke wins, for not only the best mustache, but best coaching move in a mustache competition.
October 6th, 2012 at 7:16 PM ^
Going out on a limb... Jake Ryan's a baller.
October 6th, 2012 at 9:29 PM ^
October 6th, 2012 at 7:17 PM ^
Post Game Thoughts, I hope we don't have anymore games televised on the BTN
October 6th, 2012 at 9:39 PM ^
Second
October 7th, 2012 at 12:09 PM ^
I tried to figure out a way it could be worse, in an attempt to come up with a silver lining, but I got nothing. Maybe we don't have to listen to Pam Ward?
October 6th, 2012 at 7:17 PM ^
offense in the second half was concerning
October 6th, 2012 at 7:36 PM ^
Weren't passing. Instead kept running Fitz. Two drives where long Denard runs took us to the red zone. Then terrible Fitz runs on 1st and 2nd. The second time we got a chop block on 2nd too.
October 6th, 2012 at 9:09 PM ^
Denard's injury to his right hand is even more concerning.
October 6th, 2012 at 10:08 PM ^
October 6th, 2012 at 7:20 PM ^
October 6th, 2012 at 11:01 PM ^
This is what happens when we play Purdue (a team with predominantly 2-3 star defensive talent), as opposed to ND or Alabama (teams with almost entirely 4-5 star defensive talent).
October 7th, 2012 at 1:14 AM ^
Yes because Iowa last year was stocked with NFL talent. And it really takes 4-5 star talent to come unblocked of an edge while not biting on a play-action fake because you know it's not a run. And honestly, Purdue was supposed to have one of the best DLs in the B1G (you know, the one that held ND to 1.6 yards a carry), so umm...I'm impressed with our offensive performance.
October 6th, 2012 at 7:20 PM ^
We're going to win when Denard can out-athlete the other team.
We're likely to lose when he can't.
Nothing new here.
October 6th, 2012 at 11:03 PM ^
This is the only snowflake that is 100% true. Spot on description of the past 2-3 years of Denard.
October 6th, 2012 at 7:20 PM ^
In two years, this defense is going to be absolutely disgusting. I can't wait.
October 6th, 2012 at 7:39 PM ^
Bingo. If anyone would know this it would be Yost from beyond the grave. Can't wait.
October 6th, 2012 at 8:06 PM ^
I want to see us beat our opponents in three years 550-0 over the season.
October 7th, 2012 at 10:50 AM ^
Must be 720-0 in the regular season to yield a point a minute.
October 7th, 2012 at 12:11 PM ^
If we win our regular season games 720-0, we'd better be playing in the BTCG and the Playoff. That's three extra games. Stop selling this hypothetical team short!
October 6th, 2012 at 7:21 PM ^
We have the best defense in the big ten after MSU's performance today and how we've taken a team averaging 50 points per game and only allowed 13.
October 6th, 2012 at 7:24 PM ^
and we handed them 7 points off the late first half turnover. mattison has them going now.
October 6th, 2012 at 8:05 PM ^
Exactly.
Stellar defensive performance, as its been the last three weeks.
Seems that everyone who claimed the Alabama and Air Force games were too unique to grade the season on have been proven correct thus far.
October 6th, 2012 at 7:22 PM ^
October 6th, 2012 at 7:22 PM ^
Remember "The Sky is Falling" view people had over this defense after Air Force?
October 6th, 2012 at 7:25 PM ^
Only stupid people had that view. My frankness may be caused by a little alcohol intoxication, but that's how I feel.
October 6th, 2012 at 11:02 PM ^
I think there were reasons to be concerned because there were two data points and neither looked great, but anyone who followed college sports shouldn't have been surprised that Air Force was able to run the ball. That UMass game and then ND reminded people that this defense is pretty good.
October 6th, 2012 at 7:24 PM ^
J.T. Floyd got a haircut!
October 6th, 2012 at 7:24 PM ^
Granted, Fitz didn't have much room but there were times he chose to BOUNCE instead of planting a foot and going upfield for 2 yards. Sometimes a hard-earned two yards is a GOOD thing.
October 6th, 2012 at 7:33 PM ^
October 6th, 2012 at 10:15 PM ^
October 7th, 2012 at 10:56 AM ^
I agree with the Bellomy. If we have more games like this (probably won't, but I can hope), we need Bellomy in there to get him experience and to see if he could be a viable first option next year and keep Gardner at WR. Gardner has shown SO much promise at the WR position, but we need Bellomy to get some time on the field because I don't think Sugar Shane will be ready day 1.
I still think a 2 loss season going into the B1G championship game is very very possible.
October 6th, 2012 at 7:40 PM ^
He seems to lack patience unless its to dans outside. When they showed his highlights from last year he looks like a different back. A few of those runs lacked holes as well but he was patient when needed and decisive when it was Noth South time
October 6th, 2012 at 7:40 PM ^
October 6th, 2012 at 7:27 PM ^
We went vanilla in the 2nd half under the assumption that Purdue can't catch up without help. That said, Short made things very difficult, and I think BC will be singing his praises in the UFR. We already knew that this wasn't the strongest interior line. I thought Denard made some nice decisions other than staying with the read option too long when Maci blew up Vincent Smith.
October 6th, 2012 at 7:29 PM ^
Good ass-whooping to see, not gonna lie. I, along with many other fans of this Michigan program, needed this today. God, Purdue looked like hell against us; they'll end up stunning a team or two the rest of the season, too. Back 7 played well today on defense; I hope this Kovacs injury goes the EFF away, stat. Some good play from the "front 4" as well; they played well enough I guess(?). I think we would all like to see a run game get going by someone else not named Denard. Are we happy people!? Denard got his runs today, that's for sure (230+ yards is pretty neat).
October 6th, 2012 at 9:04 PM ^
this game just left me with a great feeling, and I've been saying for two weeks that we won't lose again. We hafe a great quarterback, our receivers are looking better, and Borges called a great game.
Defensively I'm excited to see just how far we can go this year.
We are far from a great team and we don't belong on a field with the best teams, but we can play with anyone in this conference and by the time we get to the Rose Bowl I won't be afraid of USC or ORegon either.
jdon
October 7th, 2012 at 12:05 AM ^
I'm afraid of Oregon, not even going to lie. Only a fool wouldn't be.
October 6th, 2012 at 7:30 PM ^
and truly believe after what I have seen from MSU that we might beat State by two TDs. I think the game to win the Legends might be starting to shift to the Nebraska game should they beat Ohio St tonight.