Michigan 28, Akron 24
This afternoon in front of a late-arriving, non-sellout crowd at the Big House, Michigan faced off against an Akron team that went 1-11, 1-11, and 1-11 in the last three seasons, started the year with a 38-7 loss to UCF, spent last weekend getting outgained and nearly outscored by FCS James Madison, and is considered the worst team in the FBS. This was a game to work out the kinks in the playbook, get in some good reps for the backups, and give a good show for the fans who probably paid $5 for a ticket from their friend who likes to sleep in on Saturdays.
OR NOT.
At first, it looked like all would go as expected; Michigan forced an Akron punt on their opening drive, and after Fitz Toussaint rushed for a two-yard loss, Devin Gardner completed five consecutive passes, capped by a 48-yard toss to Devin Funchess, who outran the entire Akron secondary en route to the end zone.
Concern started to grow when Michigan's next drive netted zero yards. The first quarter ended with the score at 7-3, Wolverines; surely, Michigan would pull away any time now.
Then Brendan Gibbons missed a 45-yard field goal to start the second quarter, snapping his streak of 16 consecutive makes. After the defense forced a three-and-out, the Wolverines drove deep into Zips territory, only for Devin Gardner to fumble away the possession on a speed option—a play in which Fitz Toussaint had a clear touchdown if Gardner would've pitched. The defense again picked up the offense, as Blake Countess intercepted a Kyle Pohl pass and returned it all the way to the Akron 20-yard line. Any time now...
Three plays later, Gardner forced a pass into coverage that Akron's DeAndre Scott intercepted easily. The Zips were able to mount a plodding drive that oozed into Michigan territory; after taking a delay of game on fourth-and-one, however, Robert Stein's 45-yard field goal clanged off the left upright. Any time now...
Two plays later, Gardner threw the ball to a well-covered Jeremy Gallon; Akron's Justin March came away with the interception. Luckily for Michigan, only 29 seconds remained on the clock. Stein's 55-yard attempt with 0:05 left in the half went wide left, and the Wolverines were happy to kneel out the clock and regroup at halftime. Any time now...
The second half began inauspiciously, with the Wolverines gaining just one yard on three plays before a Matt Wile punt. Akron's ensuing possession went 75 yards in eight plays, ending in a 28-yard touchdown from Pohl to a wide-open Zach D'Orazio, who went unmolested up the seam as the linebackers failed to get depth on their drops and the safeties couldn't close the gap. Akron 10, Michigan 7. ANY TIME NOW...
Devin Gardner bounced back from his turnovers and gave U-M fans a brief respite from PANIC on the next possession, scoring on a 36-yard inverted veer keeper—for seemingly the first time all day, Michigan got great blocking up front, and Jeremy Jackson guaranteed the score by wiping out three Akron defenders downfield. The defense held up their end, too, forcing another three-and-out, and the Wolverines took a 21-10 lead when Jehu Chesson took his first career reception on a crossing route, broke through a few (poor) tackling attempts by the Akron secondary, and jetted into the corner of the end zone. After Michigan came up with another stop, disaster averted, right?
Wrong. Two plays into the fourth quarter, Al Borges tried to set up a screen pass on third-and-9. Facing heavy pressure, Gardner sidearmed a horribly ill-advised throw directly into the arms of Justin March; as noted earlier, March plays for Akron. He waltzed 27 yards untouched into the end zone. ANY TIME NOW...
Michigan's next drive went nowhere, and Wile didn't help matters by booting a 35-yard punt—not even among his two worst on the day—to set up the Zips on their own 39. A 43-yard pass from Pohl to L.T. Smith set up Akron at the Michigan seven. The Wolverines caught a huge break two plays later, when Pohl threw a play-action pass right to Jarrod Wilson (above, Upchurch). Wilson smartly took a knee in the end zone, giving Michigan the ball on the 20. Time to run out the clock, yes?
Well, not quite. Fitz Toussaint started the drive with a 16-yard run, but his two ensuing carries netted a lone yard. After Gardner's third-down pass to Gallon came up just short of the sticks, Wile shanked a 22-yard punt. The Zips went on an 11-play march down the field, and after getting stuffed twice at the goal line, scored the go-ahead touchdown when they spread the field—Pohl rolled right and found receiver Tyrell Goodman all alone. 24-21, Akron. 4:10 left on the clock. Full-blown PANIC.
Gardner went back to what he'd done best all game, run the football, taking off for a 35-yard gain to move Michigan into Akron territory on the next possession. He found Gallon on the sideline for a 20-yard gain on the very next play, and Michigan got another first down when Gardner's throw to Jake Butt in the end zone drew a pass interference call. Toussaint found a big hole on the left side of the line and took advantage for a two-yard touchdown on the next play. 28-24, Michigan. 2:49 left. Now was the time, yes?
Well, kinda. First, Pohl found Jerrod Dillard for a 24-yard gain, and the Zips moved into Michigan territory two plays later when Blake Countess jumped offsides on a blitz. A 19-yard run by Conor Hundley on third-and-five gave the Zips a first down at the Michigan 27. Despite a holding call moving them back ten yards, Akron kept pushing downfield, with Pohl finding Smith all alone at the 11-yard line after escaping the pocket. Another pass to Smith gave Akron a third-and-one on the Michigan two as the clock ticked down to 0:15. An ill-advised toss play to Jawon Chisholm moved the ball back two yards; the Zips burned their final timeout. Fourth down, five seconds left, ball on the Michigan four.
Greg Mattison dialed up a heavy blitz, and Pohl's desperation pass found only fieldturf, perhaps helped by a missed holding call in the Michigan secondary. The time had finally come, with zero seconds on the clock. Michigan 28, Akron 24, The Horror II narrowly avoided.
In the end, Michigan outgained the worst FBS team outside of Georgia State by seven yards—seven very critical yards, as it turned out. Gardner's 248 passing yards and 103 rushing yards were offset by his four turnovers, including his second pick-six in as many games. The offensive line struggled to open up holes against a very small Akron defensive front. The defense, for their part, allowed far too many passes over the middle and couldn't muster a good pass rush until the game's final play; they gave up big plays, too, as both Raymon Taylor and Jourdan Lewis were beat for big gains over the top.
"This is an embarrassment," Taylor Lewan said after the game. Even with the victory, there's no argument here.
September 15th, 2013 at 3:03 AM ^
Hoke has been recruiting well but it will take these young guys a bit of time to make a difference. This year and next we will probably not be a top 10 team. I still think we will go 8-4 or 9-3. A bit worried about losing Schofield and Lewan next season. Gardner may have to scramble a lot more in 2014.
September 15th, 2013 at 3:03 AM ^
Hoke has been recruiting well but it will take these young guys a bit of time to make a difference. This year and next we will probably not be a top 10 team. I still think we will go 8-4 or 9-3. A bit worried about losing Schofield and Lewan next season. Gardner may have to scramble a lot more in 2014.
September 15th, 2013 at 3:06 AM ^
September 15th, 2013 at 4:07 AM ^
September 15th, 2013 at 4:37 AM ^
Worst part about being at the game today? (well other than actually having to watch that game) I got a damn sunburn on my face and arms to boot!
September 15th, 2013 at 5:31 AM ^
September 15th, 2013 at 6:04 AM ^
Akron was almost mistake free? They almost played mistake free football in your eyes? I can not freakin' wait for this weeks UFR. CAN'T WAIT!!! Akron looked terrible. I witnessed two bad football teams play eachother at the Big House.
September 15th, 2013 at 7:55 AM ^
September 15th, 2013 at 1:18 PM ^
I understand what you mean now. You know, it's okay to get pissed off. When you exchange your hard earned money for a good/service, you expect that good/service to be as advertised. That doesn't mean Michigan has to win every game. Heck, they won yesterday's game didn't they? What it means is that there is a certain level of effort that you expect to see. There is a certain level of preporation that ought to be visible. When that is inconspicuously absent, it's okay to get upset. Remember, this athletic department and this football program had absolutely no problem taking your money when they mailed you that ticket.
September 15th, 2013 at 6:16 AM ^
How do you think one of those players would respond if I saw him on campus and said, "Hey *insert name here*, I saw Akron put together quite the game plan against you guys Saturday. They looked like a pretty good ball club."
What would they say? Would they just get really pissed off? All I know is if I was Greg Mattison, that's what I would say to my defense as an openning remark before we start film study. I want to know how somebody saying that to them makes them feel. If they say, "yeah, they looked good"... I would respond, "really, because that was AKRON!" I hope they wouldn't respond that way. I really hope.
So traditionally after a MEEEEchigan victory all of the players run into the lockerroom and sing The Victors as a team.
Hail... to the victors valliant.
Hail... to the conquering heroes.
Hail... Hail... to Michigan. The champions of the west.
I hope those players felt good singing that fight song after this game. If I was Brady, I would tell each and every one of my position coaches to sing along too. I don't want to see ANY of you not singing the timeless tradition that is our fight song after a Michigan victory.
Make it blatantly obvious that it's not about winning and losing. It's about how you play the game - being a character football team... and next time, if we win, it will be because we deserved to sing that song.
September 15th, 2013 at 7:28 AM ^
Made lots of big plays and lots of big mistakes.....feast or famine.....that is how young teams play guys, get used to it....one minute running loose and scoring quickly going from down 10-7 to up 21-10 with seeming ease and then tossing a pick 6 and going down 24-21 and then scoring in just a few plays again to go up 28-24........on defense, giving up a long pass and then picking one off in the end zone and then giving up another long pass after losing contain and then making a big 3 yard loss on a 3rd and short near the goal line.......
September 15th, 2013 at 1:35 PM ^
That's funny because against Notre Dame they looked nothing like how you just described, unless those were different coaches on the sideline, different captains at midfield for the coin toss, and different players executing the gameplan (term used very loosely).
The worst part, and I think this will show up in the UFR to some extent, the young guys played better than the veterans.
RS Jr. (Graduate Student) Devin Gardner was 50% from the field and had 2 TDs, 3 INTs, and another fumble.
RS Sr. Fitz Toussaint looked good running the ball, naturally, but totally abandoned pass protection fundamentals. That will show up in the UFR.
RS Sr. Jeremy Gallon did not score. (RS Fr. Jehu Chesson and So. Devin Funchess did)
Sr. Drew Dileo didn't have a reception all game. He averaged 15 yards on 2 attempts on kickoffs.
Jr. Matt Wile punted 4 times for an average of 33 yards per punt.
___________________________________________
Tell me more about how the youth of this football team hurt them.
September 16th, 2013 at 12:48 AM ^
September 15th, 2013 at 8:56 AM ^
September 15th, 2013 at 8:56 AM ^
I refrained from commenting yesterday, afraid that my emotional state had clouded my thinking. Still not sure how good Michigan will be this year - this display forced me to take back all the readjustments I had made in my head after the ND game.
But after watching the rest of the B1G last night....yikes. Akron would have been the worst loss of the bunch but nobody looks very good. Are Ohio and NW the saviors of the league? Sigh.
September 15th, 2013 at 9:27 AM ^
September 15th, 2013 at 9:45 AM ^
it's a "young team"?
On offense: RS-Jr QB. Two RS-Sr. tackles; a RS-soph center and guard; 4 Senior WRs; a RS-Sr. TB. A RS-Fr. guard (better than a true Fr. guard). Two sophomore TEs.
On defense: Q. Wash and J Black are seniors; Beyer and Clark and Morgan are juniors; the two Gordons are seniors; Countess is a RS-soph/junior; Avery is a senior. And many of the sophomores already got lots of playing time last year. It's not like they're totally green and shiny.
I fail to see how that qualifies as a "young team."
September 15th, 2013 at 9:57 AM ^
You guys aren't giving the coaches enough credit. The play calling was pure guile.
Given that you can really only prepare for what you've seen, imagine how much time Urbs is going to waste coming up with defenses for Borges' "RB gets TFL"-play.
As well, I'm sure he's already having visions of running right up the middle for big gains against Mattison's D. Imagine the surprise when Mattison unexpectedly starts defending that!
Check. Mate.
September 15th, 2013 at 8:47 PM ^
That's our plan. Give up huge gashing runs up the middle all year, and have no RB production ourselves. We'll show them...
Brilliant I say!
September 15th, 2013 at 11:28 AM ^
Thank god we won. This way, it's embarrassing for a couple weeks, but then everyone will forget about it. If we lost the game I think it could set back recruiting for years.
I wouldn't have thought this competitive of a game would be possible, even on Michigan's worst day and Akron's best day. I could be wrong, but based on past performance isn't Akron probably substantially worse than the CMU team Michigan beat 59-9? It wasn't just mistakes or fluky plays: Michigan got outplayed on the LOS and in general didn't show themselves the superior team in any way. Can effort really overcome talent to this great of a degree? I guess the only answer is yes.
Well, anyway, tomorrow is another day.
September 15th, 2013 at 1:25 PM ^
We were down by three with 4:05 to play, marched down the field to score in 1:15, which unfortunately was too soon. We came from behind a couple of times and won the game.
The team made the big plays when it counted. A win is okay. I am not embarrassed or pissed off or any of that nonsense. That's why they play the game.
Akron had some very good coaching in Tommy Bowden and Chuck Amato and will win more than three games this year if they continue to play like they did yesterday.
September 15th, 2013 at 1:28 PM ^
September 15th, 2013 at 1:51 PM ^
So you're saying that there exists not one person who is justified in being upset at a moderate - high degree after that game? I don't know about you, but regular season ticket holders paid approximately $90 to attend that game. They don't have a reason to be upset?
This performance should not be considered any more valid than previous performances in terms of predicting the rest of our season? You think this despite the fact that it is the most recent iteration? It is the closest data point for demonstrating where we are as a team now.
September 15th, 2013 at 2:32 PM ^
September 16th, 2013 at 3:36 AM ^
Can you supply some supporting evidence or logical proof (just an explanation of your thought processes) for why recency doesn't equal primacy?
I mean, I'm not going to look at Michigan's 1997 season as a sign of us trending upwards today... because that happened in 1997. I would argue that the 1997 season is totally irrelevant... so primacy of a data point would at least be a function of recency.
September 15th, 2013 at 10:45 PM ^
September 16th, 2013 at 3:44 AM ^
I can pay $10 to go see two bad teams play eachother at Saline High School. Is it wrong of me to feel a little put off when I pay $90 to see what is advertised to me as being one of the best college football teams in the country play a game... and I get mediocrity?
And yes, the players aren't getting paid in cash. They are receiving free education. Also, I never claimed that the players aren't being screwed over in all of this either. It's kind of irrelevant whether they are or aren't. I still paid an athletic department $90 and received nothing that was promised to me.
like buying an xbox on ebay and receiving just the empty box.
September 16th, 2013 at 6:32 PM ^
September 16th, 2013 at 10:18 PM ^
Thank you for informing me of what everybody thinks. Also, thank you for informing me that there is no objective standard of justice, but rather arbitrary and unaccountable authority doing whatever it wants.
September 15th, 2013 at 4:03 PM ^
September 16th, 2013 at 1:29 PM ^
Any time now.... while watching the game. It's really not all that uncommon to see a powerhouse struggle with a patsy for a quarter or two, but 99% of the time in the 2nd half the quality depth shows up and you wonder why you were even worrying in the 1st half at all. I have to chalk this up to just plain inexcusable preparation by all involved. Neither the coaches nor the players gave a damn about this game and did it show. However, the best thing that could come out of a game like this is that a) you win the game anyway, which Michigan did, and b) it wakes everybody the F up and scares them into insane obsessive overpreparation for the next few weeks at the very least if not the rest of the regular season.
I usually exercise the 24-hour rule concerning any reaction or discussion about a football game, but I had to extend that to 48 for this one. Whew. Pleased to report my fingernails are growing back and heart rate and blood pressures are back to normal.
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