Beanie Bowl
Impressions from the Beanie Bowl limited tape at Mgoblue.com:
1) This may be the slimmest team in America. Its pretty damned hard to see any fat on anyone...every looks svelt. Valerie Bertanelli would be proud.
2) Carlos Brown looks great, like Superman.
3) Overall execution on offense in particular, looks sloppy.
4) Nick has a great arm, if the WR is wide open.
5) "Beanie Bowl", is an unfortunate name and should be changed immediately.
anyone?
mgoblue.com
August 29th, 2009 at 8:06 AM ^
I dont know how serious to take this but the secondary still looks lost on some plays. Everyone looks fast though and it looked like the line was creating some big holes. Brandon Grahm looked like an All-American though which is a no brainer.
August 29th, 2009 at 9:51 AM ^
the coaches were blowing their whistles on a lot of the plays before a hit could even be made. that and it's not being taken very serious (at least that's what i'm telling myself).
August 29th, 2009 at 10:04 AM ^
I think you're right. It looked like while they were definitely trying on most of the plays, as soon as something developed a little bit they just stopped. If the idea was for this to be a full-contact actual scrimmage, then we might have something to worry about. Otherwise, I'm just going to assume it was mostly to get them into the Big House, hear their name on the PA system, and work on making sure they've got their portion of the playbook down pat.
August 29th, 2009 at 11:54 AM ^
You have to remember that this game was the 1's and 2's going up against scout teams.
August 29th, 2009 at 8:17 AM ^
I just watched it (somewhat) quickly through the choppy feed from mgoblue.com.
My thought was that the Blue Team had the 1s and the 2s rotating in. So, I was happy to see the O and D of the blue team looked good (especially BG and the wide receivers).
Not much to "draw" from it.
August 29th, 2009 at 9:48 AM ^
Svelt...nice word.
August 29th, 2009 at 4:47 PM ^
Svelte is even better.
August 29th, 2009 at 9:58 AM ^
My impressions of the video were that the first team defense looked good. That Carlos Brown if he stays healthy could have a big year. Also my favorite part of the whole video was the opening kick return.
August 29th, 2009 at 10:01 AM ^
My favorite plays:
1. D. Robinson making a nice move in a hole and accelerating all the way to the endzone.
2. Tate scrambling for a couple seconds on the last play before chucking it 60 yards to Stonum. Granted, it looks like the D gave up on that play, but still nice to know he can throw it 60 yards and put it where he wants it.
3. Anything with Carlos Brown. Dude looks good.
August 29th, 2009 at 10:03 AM ^
if that guy got a four-year scholarship, then i hope Sheridan is asked back for a 5th year. while not overly impressive, Sheridan could grow into a serviceable QB versus average teams.
August 29th, 2009 at 10:07 AM ^
Not my biggest worry but I have heard that the kickers are having a hard time on kickoffs. Seeing the opening kickoff of the beanie bowl making it to the 10 yard line kind of worries me that we will be giving the other team good field position.
August 29th, 2009 at 10:09 AM ^
MGoBlue really needs to reconsider their video streaming options.
August 29th, 2009 at 11:09 AM ^
Unfortunately, I don't believe they have the Leaders and Best working on the Media Center. I don't understand why they don't do anything about it. It seems to be a common problem.
August 29th, 2009 at 11:35 AM ^
I have a DSL connection and use Mozilla Firefox and have no problems at all. It takes about 20 seconds to start the video. But, after that, it is clear and no jumps, etc.
August 29th, 2009 at 2:07 PM ^
To make the video less choppy and be on time with the audio start the video and then pause and drag it back to the beginning and play again.
August 29th, 2009 at 10:09 AM ^
Carlos Brown could have been one of the best Michigan running backs ever if he could've stayed healthy. I haven't watched it but it's not good to hear our offense is playing sloppy. Watching teams playing sloppy is more frustrating than watching a team that just isn't good.
August 29th, 2009 at 10:59 AM ^
Wow. That analysis is based on this video?
August 29th, 2009 at 10:13 AM ^
This was probably more for fun than anything. Get 'em in a real UM uniform, get 'em into the Big House, toss the ball around, don't get hurt, and burgers and sodie pops all around!
August 29th, 2009 at 12:27 PM ^
Diet sodie pops, though, per Coach Barwis.
August 29th, 2009 at 1:02 PM ^
have you seen someone svelte drinking a diet sodie pop?
August 29th, 2009 at 10:17 AM ^
Not taking to much from this. Most 1st's going against the scout team. B Minor and Carlos will be one of the best rb tandems in the country. Vanbergen is looking to have a decent year, along with the dline in general. Just cant wait until next week. I live in East Lansing, and cant wait to shut all these spartans up..
August 29th, 2009 at 10:22 AM ^
I didn't see Minor in there. Brown looked really good. Sheridan looked pretty good. The D didn't look too good, but they did make a few plays. Obviously highlights tend to show the offense doing well. And like everyone else said, I don't think they were playing 100%.
August 29th, 2009 at 10:40 AM ^
As stated above, the Blue team was the two-deep, the White team was everyone else. 90% of the clips were of Blue O v. White D, so I don't understand complaints about the defense not looking good. The few clips of Blue D usually showed interceptions/sacks/etc., which is what you would hope from your starters.
I certainly wouldn't consider it sloppy. It's clear that they were just out there to have some fun and run through some situations. No one was going hard (heck, Denard looked like he was jogging through the defense on his one run).
All in all, it was enjoyable to watch (I especially liked when the White captain won the toss and chose to "kick") and it looks like they had a good time, too, but we shouldn't draw any inferences from it. It's like a less competitive version of the spring game.
August 29th, 2009 at 10:43 AM ^
This thing was just a run through. They were pulling up after initial contact and not really trying to reach guys going past them; there was no real intent on taking anybody down with any authority. From the highlights on the video the offense didn't look sloppy to me; the defense just made some occasional plays.
The fact that they went out under the M banner and did the coin toss makes me think the staff just wanted to give the freshman a quick view of the process once you go down the tunnel. I don't think we can draw anything really meaningful at all from it.
Anyone know why it's called the Beanie Bowl? I've never heard of it before. Must be a new RR thing.
August 29th, 2009 at 10:46 AM ^
I have a friend who saw the whole scrimmage. Of course this is all hearsay and coming from someone who doesn't know a lot about football. He was not too impressed with the way the team looked yesterday, but they may have been holding a lot back. A few things that stuck out to him was NS threw 2 INTs, Tate looked good (prob should be starter), and Carlos Brown had a good showing. For what it is worth.
August 29th, 2009 at 10:59 AM ^
If Sheridan seriously threw 2 picks against the practice squad just a week before opening day, I have to believe that Tate is the first guy on the field against Western.
August 29th, 2009 at 11:08 AM ^
He said that it was raining the whole time, so he may have had trouble gripping the ball. Not an excuse, but a concerning. I am sure Nick has improved quite a bit from last year. I am taking the opinion that the coaches have seen all 3 play more than I have so the person they name as starter is probably best. If Nick is it, then he must have performed the best through camp.
August 29th, 2009 at 10:46 AM ^
I don't know why so many people are hopping on the Carlos Brown bandwagon. Yes, he's fast. And he can be good. But saying he could have been "one of the best Michigan running backs ever" is extremely high praise for a guy who's never broken a single tackle in his career at Michigan.
Yeah, I'm probably exaggerating a bit, but that guy goes down faster than a sex addict at a swingers convention.
August 29th, 2009 at 10:56 AM ^
Some of us have been on the bandwagon for a while. In 2007, I felt that Carlos just looked better when he and Minor played for the injured Hart, and I thought he would be the better back last season. Obviously Minor had a great year so he has earned the starting spot, but I love Carlos's speed and I really think that he is capable of having a great season, IF (big if) he's healthy
August 29th, 2009 at 12:58 PM ^
and last year, IIRC, his freakish weight room injury happened before the season even began (correct me if I'm wrong, though!). Barwis mentioned that he thinks the strength and conditioning exercises they're using should help on the injury front. I REALLY hope he's right, because I too think he could have an awesome year if he stays healthy.
August 29th, 2009 at 1:26 PM ^
talking up Barwis pre-hab again.
August 29th, 2009 at 1:32 PM ^
And whats wrong with that? Even if most other S&C programs do something similar with similar results, it's freakin' Barwis, he deserves hype simply on account of that he's Barwis.
August 29th, 2009 at 2:03 PM ^
do "pre-hab," however, we were inundated with videos and anecdotes about Barwis's amazing strength program and its ability to prevent injuries last year. According to my prehabbed brain, and according to what we've learned this year:
Threet, Minor, Brown, Hemingway, Schilling, Odoms, Shaw, McGuffie and Warren,
at the very least, either missed significant time, were redshirted, or were limited due to nagging injuries.
I'm not saying pre-hab doesn't exist or isn't useful, or even that it won't be beneficial this year. After one year, however, I do not buy the theory thus far.
August 29th, 2009 at 2:24 PM ^
You can't really prehab concussions or mono or dropping weights on your hand and ripping off your finger tip.
But seriously, I tend to agree with you. UM seemed to have it's fair share injuries last year and people have been held out of practice this year already.
August 29th, 2009 at 10:59 AM ^
Agree - saying he could be "one of the best Michigan running backs ever", while certainly a compliment to Brown, is at the same time sort of an insult to the talent level we have had at running back here at UM. "One of the best ever" is a very difficult bar to reach and the label shouldn't be handed down so easily.
August 29th, 2009 at 2:33 PM ^
He played really well against NW, the only game he really played much in. For whatever reason I've always liked him. I may have exaggerated a bit, but he's damn good.
August 29th, 2009 at 3:07 PM ^
We skeptics cant deny he has looked damn good when healthy. Unfortunately that has mostly been in practice. Here's to hoping this season proves you right.
August 29th, 2009 at 5:22 PM ^
I've always liked him, too (well, except for his freshman year), but he had giant holes against Northwestern. And soon as the wind blew a little harder, he went down. He left a lot of yards on the field.
August 29th, 2009 at 10:49 AM ^
Yeah, there isn't anything to take from this. It wasn't even 1's vs. the 2's - it was the 1's, 2's, and some 3's against the walk-ons. It really only established that our first team can rip the shit out of our scout team.
It didn't really seem like there were many plays made in the air - Robinson had a short pass on the video, Sheridan had the long swing pass to Shaw, and Tate and the beyond hilarious hail-mary that the defense made no attempt to knock down. Beyond that, all I got was LOTS OF CARLOS BROWN.
August 29th, 2009 at 10:51 AM ^
Please Carlos, please, stay healthy! I love what Brandon Minor brings. I love his trucking style, I love his tenacity, I love his great vengeance and furious anger. But Carlos Brown is my favorite back on this team, and I really, really want him to stay healthy this year and finally show us what he is capable of.
August 29th, 2009 at 11:04 AM ^
+1 for weaving Jules Winnfield in there. Nice.
August 29th, 2009 at 4:53 PM ^
I concur.
August 29th, 2009 at 10:53 AM ^
So....was Forcier the starter? Sure seemed like it.
August 29th, 2009 at 11:04 AM ^
The order was Forcier, Robinson then Sheridan. I don't know how much to read into that but that was the order they came out in the scrimmage. Forcier got the most reps. This is per reports from Rivals and Scout.
August 29th, 2009 at 11:51 AM ^
woooo yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
August 29th, 2009 at 11:08 AM ^
where the sloppy comments are comming from. Did you watch the white team look sloppy, or are you talking about the 2-deep? I think they look night and day better than last year. There aren't linemen running around in different directions, the action looks pretty crisp to me. What exactly is the sloppiness refering to?
This is probably just the fact that one week from right now, I'll be in Ann Arbor - but Michigan will destroy WMU. I really like all the blitzes that we will employ, and even though Hiller will score some, the defense will create turnovers with pressure. It makes me happy to hear that Sheridan threw a couple of picks and Tate looked good. Play the kid the entire game! #5 will throw darts all over the field! Go Blue!
August 29th, 2009 at 4:30 PM ^
michiganfan...I know what you mean, you cant see much vs. the scout team but when I said 'sloppy' I meant that the first time O just didnt look "crisp"... its hard to explain but what i was referring to was the overall crispness which just didnt look super sharp...in that video...thats it.
August 29th, 2009 at 11:27 AM ^
Seriously? It was the freaking Beanie Bowl. It's basically a walk through. How can you judge the entire offense basing on a 5 minute clip on MGoBlue.com?
On another note, did anyone else notice that it sounded like we have a new PA announcer? It didn't sound like Grapentine to me. And also, he got really excited when we scored a touchdown in one part of the video. It almost sounded "MSU"-ish...
August 29th, 2009 at 11:31 AM ^
I'm now convinced David Cone received a scholarship because of his freestyle abilities.