What does an ND win tell us?

Submitted by itself on

Im not a skeptic, Im just curious what everyone thinks.

Does today's win over ND tell us more about all things U of M or more about all things Charlie Weis? Or perhaps something else?

Discuss

Blazefire

September 12th, 2009 at 9:10 PM ^

ND looked like an excellent, excellent team the whole game. They were fast and physical and talented and trained and we beat them. It says way more about Michigan.

West Texas Blue

September 12th, 2009 at 9:22 PM ^

Iowa's win wasn't that great. It was a very ugly game; Iowa's QB continuously overthrew his WRs. ISU isn't very good, as Chizik left that program in bad shape. Zero offensive playmakers on ISU's team. Iowa still has alot of issues. ND will be our 3rd toughest game, with OSU and PSU the 2 remaining difficult games.

ShockFX

September 12th, 2009 at 9:22 PM ^

Possibly the toughest other than OSU. Those receivers are insane. You can't downplay the fact that Floyd and Tate were obscenely good and impossible to cover. If we had 2 Donovan Warrens then maybe they could have been held a bit more in check. But they went right after Cissoko, and he had no chance against Floyd.

exmtroj

September 12th, 2009 at 9:17 PM ^

It tells us about us!!!! And how we fucking rock way more than anyone thought we would! This ND team is no slouch, they actually seem legit and I would say better than the 2006 version. I think we just never gave up, and took their asses down! FUCK. SHIT. UP!!!!

jml969

September 12th, 2009 at 9:16 PM ^

There's no way Michigan would have won this game a year ago. RR has QBs he's been looking for and it paid off for the past 2 weeks. There's a great chance of being 4-0 before heading to E. Lansing and a great chance of beating Sparty at their home turf as well.

maizenbluedevil

September 12th, 2009 at 9:25 PM ^

Both teams had their mistakes, but for the most part pretty good. We outplayed them and won, which is the kind of game I like to see.

Obviously, both teams had some problems.

On our side:

- For the first half, Cissoko vs. ND's wideouts had me curled up on the floor, in the fetal position, thumb in mouth, whimpering sighs of dismay. He looked better in the second half so I'm glad to see he stepped it up, but the secondary still makes me nervous. (Plus, looked like we made some good adjustments in the 2nd half getting more pressure on Claussen. The fact that we adjusted at halftime and stepped up is encouraging.)

- Is it me or did the tackling not look as good this week as last? It just looked like their tailback was having his way w/ us... It just seemed like we weren't getting to him and making hits.

- Injuries are a concern. Harkening back to secondary=scary, hopefully Williams' injury isn't too severe. Plus, Moosman was injuried, and Stonum... Hopefully we have them all back next week, along w/ Hemingway. With Hemingway and Stonum out, our WR depth seemed lacking at points. I'm glad Matthews stepped up, had a solid game and caught that last touchdown pass. For the long-term, I'm now *much* more pleased that RR is recruiting a bevy of WRs!!

- On a positive, obviously, Tate is epic. Also, Koger is quickly becoming one of my favorite players. The guy just gets it done, and I love it.

I predicted 7-5 before the season. If we can stay healthy, keep up the great momentum we're building, and Tate keeps executing like he is, 8-4 is very feasible, and dare I say it - 9-3 now looks possible.

Especially because it looks like a lot of our B10 competition isn't as good as we may have thought. The only games we're *serious* underdogs in, from here on out, are OSU and PSU. MSU, Iowa, and maybe Wisconsin are more in the toss-up range, I think we win 2 out of those 3, and if we do, we're looking at 9-3. Maybe I'm being optimistic, but barring lots of injuries or major collapse this is very possible.

SonoAzzurro

September 12th, 2009 at 9:27 PM ^

First, Tate is the real deal. This was a huge game today, as ND played good D. Aside from the TDs, Tate was impressive in keeping his composure while we had to come back from behind twice. As he gets more games under his belt, he should have a great career at Michigan.
Second, the whole team has a tremendous character. We were the underdogs today, and rightfully so. ND made mistakes that cost them the game, but that still doesn't take anything away from the resilience our guys showed.
Finally, not only are we very thin on D in terms of depth, but I also wish they will be able to bring in some serious talent with recruiting. We weren't able to put much pressure on Clausen during the game, and our corners were at their receivers mercy for good chunks of the game. They ran the ball pretty well I thought.

Overall a great game. Go Blue!

BlueGoM

September 12th, 2009 at 9:32 PM ^

The biggest missing element of our offense last season was QB. We've got one now. It also tells us that our secondary is a bit weaker than we thought, ND has two top level WR's and a good QB themselves, but still, Cissoko was really targeted today. Ouch.

It also tells us we'll very likely be 4-0 heading into Spartyville. 8-4 season isn't out of the question, maybe 9-3, as long as Tate "Our Savior" Forcier stays healthy.

In summary, we no longer suck.

b-diddy

September 12th, 2009 at 9:40 PM ^

tate led an epic 2 min drill to win the game, and basically scored 2 td's, since the first one was dropped.

ill be interested to see how ND's defense shows out. i know their offense is the real deal, and will carry them to an excellent record (cupcake schedule not withstanding). hopefully, their defense actually is pretty good, and the offense is this good.

last year, as injuries mounted and threet wore down, i think our team actually digressed. frustration of forcing a round peg into a square hole boiled over nd our team didnt improve like you hope. i think the opposite happens this year. good vibes, good fit, and good coaches (run and hide doubters!) and michigan will be even better in november than in september.

the_big_house 500th

September 12th, 2009 at 9:51 PM ^

If there was a game to see this season for Michigan without a doubt today was THE game to go see. I'm envious jealous and incredibly excited for the people here who got to go. I couldn't make it up unfortunately but I will be there this weekend!