Don

September 7th, 2009 at 12:58 AM ^

and in some ways, it even surpassed that game, as ridiculous as that might sound. Sure, the competition was only WMU, but in light of the ridiculous crap RR and the team has had to endure over the last few months, it felt damn good to to see them put a whuppin' on somebody.

Crime Reporter

September 6th, 2009 at 1:02 PM ^

I am so proud of this team. This is exactly the kind of game they needed to have, and make no mistake, WMU wasn't a pushover. Hiller may have been dinged a bit, but this defense confused him and flew to the ball.

Craig

September 6th, 2009 at 2:51 PM ^

It was so loud yesterday at the game. Members of the band told me that they couldn't even hear the whistles from the drum major. Damn, The Dawg House was rockin'! Woof Woof!

mth822

September 6th, 2009 at 5:09 PM ^

There seems to be a friendly game of can you top this, as far as play making goes amongst the younger Michigan team. I mean this both offensively and defensively. Very good sign, very good. Carlos Brown, I mean, is anyone that overly concerned now with the idea of starting Brown? With the play of Koger is anyone overly bummed about Sims at MSU? The players were holding onto the football, taking big hits and then stretching the plays for an extra 2-3 yards. There seems to be a developing sense of,"we, the young guys of Michigan, want to take ownership and show what we can do." To me, that's family values 101.

One of the few negatives I heard, and I heard it from people who could care less about Michigan. But they all said,"You got blanked in the 2nd half. Did they figure out your schemes in the 2nd or what?" I did not notice there were no points in the 2nd and I still think there were points in the 2nd half. But if there were not I'd write it off to experimentation and to the idea that,"Dude, we're up 31-0 at halftime."

The reality is, for all teams on Michigans schedule, that you can't really look at Forcier as a freshman anymore. And you cannot sleep on that offense.

Durham Blue

September 6th, 2009 at 11:58 PM ^

yes, dude, we were up 31 and it was obvious RR was trying different things. It also appeared that the D kind of went prevent and the corners backed off the LOS. That's the only reason Hiller racked up so many yards in the 2nd half. Yes, the long bomb where Woolfolk got beat was indeed troubling (shades of last season) but I have no reason to doubt that GERG will shore that up (hopefully by this Saturday!). The D looked inspired and well coached. They made the stops or forced turnovers before WMU got too far down field. I love, let me repeat, LOVE, the way the D was tackling. It was a sight for sore eyes!

All in all it was an impressive display on both sides of the ball. If we keep it up and put in the same effort I am sure we will give ND all they can handle this week.

Craig

September 7th, 2009 at 2:20 AM ^

I must agree. I loved how we were tackling! For years (as far back as 2004) I can remember horrible tackling from Michigan. It was never form tackling where you hit with your shoulder and use your arms to wrap 'em up. That is something you learn in high school or even before that. This was a sight for sore eyes.

HartAttack20

September 6th, 2009 at 6:34 PM ^

Simply amazing that these freshmen made these highlight plays during their first games. Not just one of the FR QBs pulling away from the other, but both performing over expectations. I think both pulled farther ahead of Sheridan after he made a mistake and the others made little to none. I hope that both of the QBs keep playing all season if they are going to play like that. I expect them to make mistakes at some point, but I hope it doesn't happen. I'm excited to see what we can do against Notre Dame.

BILG

September 7th, 2009 at 12:07 AM ^

Yes, last year sucked on many levels....Combination of attrition, new system, wrong cogs for many of RR's schemes, etc. Add in some bad luck and a ridiculous turnover ratio, and it was a nightmare. Change hurts, it's a universal truth in all walks of life, but this team endured and more power to them for it. These kids bought in, in spite of 3-9, old ivory tower loyalists, a poor excuse for local objective media coverage, and vengeful players that couldn't cut it in RR's system. The witch-hunt was and remains ridiculous, hopefully it will die down a bit. Seriously, the kids looked like they were having fun (of course winning helps) but they were also happy for one another. I have no doubt this is a team now. The fact that Forcier and DR can talk so positively about one another speaks volumes about the atmosphere surrounding this program. When you break your back with teammates over the summer, in the film room, and on the field, you bond. The malcontents can go to OSU.....BTW, congrats to Justin Boren, he looks destined to fulfill the legacy of underachiever that he was promised under our old outdated training systems. Congrats Boren, you turncoat douche that couldn't cut it in the land of Barwis, you can now eat as many chicken wings as you want.

Moving forward....No, this is no a reason to get irrational like the ND fans that believe they have "returned to glory" or "awakened the echoes" every time they have started 2-0 over the past 25 years. It is simply a positive step for a team, that clearly has a lot of speed, talent, hunger, and aggressive mentality. That is why RR was brought in, to change the culture. Sure, it hurts at times, and with so many young players there are sure to still be some ridiculous mistakes made this year, especially against better competition that can force and will exploit poor execution on our part. But to put it in context, we sucked for one year...sacrificed a year to catch up with the rest of college football. ND has been irrelevant for 25 years...I think its obvious the program made the right move.

Give these guys time, enjoy the new looks on offense, and how exciting is it to see LBs and safeties flying to the ball. I dont mind the D Warren pass interference penalties...good agressive defense in the right spot, just needs to smarten up a bit with the contact. Only one blown coverage when the freshman was put in the game...also, not a bad experience for an extremely talented player to go through. Do I wish this type of progress could have been made last year....of course, but the pieces and circumstance were just not in place. Enjoy this year guys, it will be fun, exciting, and new....and after this year, expectations will start to go way up in Ann Arbor.

Great to see the support for RR from the fans. Love it...let the guy build a program. Kind of ironic that it was the students and young kids willing to be patient with the coach in our age of "instant gratification" while the presumably "wiser" older fan base Carr loyalists can't see past their own biases.

As I have firmly believed for a while, the sinusoidal cycle that is the performance of these college football programs is shifting our way. OSU is still a great program, but you can start to see some of Tressel's outdated schemes being exposed. He is a great coach, but much like Carr I think he peaked out a year or two ago, and RR will eventually have his number, the same way he had Lloyds, and Lloyd had Cooper's.

All that being said, fun kids to watch. Love the speed, looking forward to watching these in shape, hard working kids and coaches getting what they deserve, support.

QVIST

September 7th, 2009 at 4:04 AM ^

I think it was rather obvious that RR was almost "playing dumb" in the second half to throw off ND. Why expose any more of the offense when you're up 31-0? We're gonna see some wicked stuff on Saturday that ND will not know how to defend, I just know it.

Go Blue!

bacon

September 7th, 2009 at 8:29 AM ^

Apparently this highlight real demonstrates why the spread is dead in college (sarcasm).

One play that impressed me during the game was at 8:27 (sort of cut short). The corner jumps the route by Odoms in the flat and Tate correctly reads it and throws to the wide open Hemingway. He only got 12 yards or so, but there's a good chance that one ends up in the end zone at some point this year. I love how versatile this offense is, and as they add parts in, they're going to become more and more difficult to stop.

Hopefully they can show some more tricks next week against ND and big fat Charlie.