Quick look at statistics and implications
Sorry for adding to the already overflowing board, but I'm still fuming and need time to reflect publicly.
This was just bad, and Heiko predicted well that this would be another atrocious hangover game offensively. That being said, the statistics say we played a very strong game defensively allowing only 206 total yards... The defensive line kept the run game honest allowing 47 yards rushing on an average of 1.9 yds per carry. D-line also did a great job in the second half of being able to apply pressure to Whitmer. Linebackers played a decent game, and secondary wasn't bad either except for a couple of coverage lapses. Not utilizing bend not break throughout the game seemed to work.
Offense was a different story... Only compiling 284 yards against a team like UCONN is cause for for concern. The biggest concern has to be the turnovers. One was the miscue on special teams, but the other three are directly linked to DG and his lack of ball security throwing and running. Offensive line was REALLY bad... I'm not surprised that we ended up with 174 yards on the ground mainly because DG was constantly being flushed from the pocket and they were running Fitz to the left throughout the second half.
What this game says is that we are still a VERY young team mainly on the O-Line... This is a much needed bye week, and hopefully it will not be taken for granted. Coaching definitely has to do a better job of preparation and really needs to come down harder on these guys. More emphasis on ball security and addressing the offensive line issues...
I still believe this is a team that can go 10-2 and make the trip to Indy, but A LOT has to change. Youth needs to be overcome, and I think it will by the time we reach November. Plus, Jake Ryan returns giving us a leader on defense. Self inflicted mistakes will keep us from accomplishing goals in the long run, though.
Thoughts?
September 22nd, 2013 at 12:18 AM ^
Michigan is not "very young" on the OL. They have 2 5th year seniors, for god's sake. They have 2 Rs Sophmores and 1 Rs Freshman. That's not young. Rather, they just look bad. Bad is not young.
September 22nd, 2013 at 12:24 AM ^
September 22nd, 2013 at 12:56 AM ^
Every team in the country is younger than they'd like to be somewhere. One of my only rays of hope is this staff's oft repeated line "the expectation is for the position" and Hoke's repeated criticism of the offensive line these past two years. It takes some balls to fire a guy on your staff, but I think Hoke has them.
September 22nd, 2013 at 4:36 AM ^
Who on the OL is playing beneath expectations? Lewan is Lewan but hurt, Schofield is playing about as well as last year, Kalis is alternating crush-kill-destroy-blocks with oops-my-bad-freshman-derps. Glasgow appears to be doing what the coaches tell him and occasionally leveling a linebacker. Miller is underweight; neither he nor Glasgow were heavily hyped, so we're getting what we should have expected from them (perhaps even a little more from Glasgow).
Borges seems to be adjusting where possible (and someone put a bug in Fitz' ear about following his blocks). Our biggest issue is that the one guy we need to be awesome is giving the ball away at an unprecedented rate. Some part of that is coaching, but most of it is on Gardner.
We will live with Gardner and die with him this year. Better opponents will require him to step up, or they'll make us step off.
September 22nd, 2013 at 6:40 AM ^
Really all of them should be better. Lewan hasn't improved much in the last two years. Schofield was getting beat in pass pro and does not seem to have improved either. Miller constistently stands straight up after the snap lets tackles get underneath him and drive him into the backfield. Glasgow's footwork isn't good enough. Kalis should be more consistent at this point.
September 22nd, 2013 at 6:41 AM ^
but any hack should be able to pass block on the interior of the OL. but they get constantly burned, especially with any kind of blitz up the middle. that's coaching.
September 22nd, 2013 at 12:32 AM ^
September 22nd, 2013 at 12:47 AM ^
September 22nd, 2013 at 8:34 AM ^
September 22nd, 2013 at 12:25 PM ^
September 22nd, 2013 at 12:34 AM ^
September 22nd, 2013 at 1:29 AM ^
I believe those were all d-linemen (or at least caused by d-line penetration), so I am not sure where your getting that they didn't get pressure tonight. They did a better job beating blocks one on one in this game.
September 22nd, 2013 at 1:46 AM ^
September 22nd, 2013 at 8:41 AM ^
The D-linemen got push and the QB dropped back into Taylor's blitz. So yeah, he got the sack but the D-line helped a lot.
September 22nd, 2013 at 12:34 AM ^
September 22nd, 2013 at 12:45 AM ^
September 22nd, 2013 at 12:18 AM ^
agree. To me the season comes down to Devin not turning the ball over and moving it like he did against CMU and ND. I believe that once Jake Ryan comes back, our D will be great if our DL plays at the level they did today.
September 22nd, 2013 at 12:58 AM ^
That was one of the worst teams in college football. If you missed them saying it during the broadcast here is a link with their team stats http://espn.go.com/college-football/team/_/id/41/connecticut-huskies We do not know anything about how well Michigan will perform throughout this year after the first four games. For the drinkers I suppose that means more drinking. For the pot heads more pot. For the rest of us I guess we'll just experience all of it, unyielding.
September 22nd, 2013 at 2:17 AM ^
September 22nd, 2013 at 12:20 AM ^
September 22nd, 2013 at 12:32 AM ^
I hate to rag on the guy, but I really don't think he's the answer at center. I don't know exactly who is, but we've got to fix that position if we want to have a functional tailback-based running game. Toussaint is having to dodge DTs as soon as he gets the ball and it seems like it's affecting his confidence as a runner at times - he's stopping and starting all the time, even when it seems like there's an alley for him to pick up 4-5 yards.
Fortunately we have a bye week to try something out.
September 22nd, 2013 at 12:33 AM ^
What ever happened to the possibility of Burzynski being the starting center? I could have sworn he was the starter going into the spring game
September 22nd, 2013 at 12:35 AM ^
September 22nd, 2013 at 12:49 AM ^
This is so true, sorry but he has been absolutely terrible, the last 2 games. I'll admit I did not watch the center spot closely against ND but I have the last games and the coaches have to replace Miller or do some extreme coaching through the bye week. I am actually beside myself after what the coaches had to have seen last week, that he was in there to start tonight. Miller cannot get any movement, cannot even get a stalemate with any nose they put on him - he is blown back off the LOS on every play, looks like he has never executed a successful cut in his life, often puts his head down and completely whiffs on the defender, I'm sorry but he is terrible right now, they have to have a better option there. I know you want that chemistry and cohesiveness with your line but, Miller has not shown that he can do the job he needs to.
I hope if they fix it one way or another -
- Go Blue ][\/][
September 22nd, 2013 at 12:21 AM ^
September 22nd, 2013 at 7:45 AM ^
September 22nd, 2013 at 8:12 AM ^
Along comes Akron. I'm thinking....ok, lets show the little guys how to play man ball. Run it down their throats. NOPE.
All the sudden Michigan, it awesome offensive line recruiting (I realize most of them haven't seen the field, but c'mon) can't put a body on a body and get a push. Not even 3 yards and a cloud of dust. Fitz is always shuffling left or right down the line. Every play. There's no hole to run through.
So now...NOW...teams figure out WE CAN'T RUN THE BALL. Lets make the quarterback beat us with his arm. In the process figure out if we put a little pressure on him the recipe for disaster all works even better. He always turns his back and runs with the ball in one hand out to the side.....starts to force passes.
I don't know about the rest of you, but I get the sense the whole team is in a tailspin. Hoke looks scared. Our oline coach should be scared. Everyone just thinks jake Ryan is going to come in and play superman after tearing his acl. I wouldn't hang your hat on that.
I'm not sure what the answer is but I think it might involve Chris Bryant. We may need to start over with game planning. We are going NOWHERE. Very frustrating to watch.
September 22nd, 2013 at 9:59 AM ^
Hoke looks scaredScared? Like "I'm going to tuck into the fetal position and suck on my binky" scared? He looked the same on UConn's sideline to me as any previous game, and that's what I like about the guy. Not sure how you came to this conclusion based on a television broadcast.
September 22nd, 2013 at 12:22 AM ^
4 TO's
One tipped ball. Behind the WR a little bit? Sure, but not due to lack of ball security.
Jump ball for Chesson. Great play by defender, young WR didn't take that ball. One-on-one coverage, you're OK to throw that ball. TO not due to lack of security.
Kerridge stips the ball from Gardner. Not great ball security by Devin, but to be fair, he cannot expect that his fullback has been running stip drills with the DBs.
Punt miscue, not due to Gardner lack of security
He got weirded out, and that's not great. But they came back and won on the road. Yes terrible team, but they came back after a nightmarish set of plays.
September 22nd, 2013 at 12:34 AM ^
September 22nd, 2013 at 12:39 AM ^
You're wallowing in drama.
Look at all of the games today - no QB makes every throw perfect. And when they miss and a ball is tipped, most of the time it doesn't fall into a DBs arms.
The throw to Chesson was a little short, but it should have been caught. Part of that is a great defensive play, part of that is a young receiver not taking what he wants.
Sure, hold the ball in traffic. But if Kerridge doesn't actively knock it out, there is no fumble.
September 22nd, 2013 at 12:41 AM ^
"All we have to do is catch the football and the world is ours."
September 22nd, 2013 at 12:46 AM ^
Well they may be partially correct
But I'm not sure what that has to do with my post. I'm not talking about dropped balls. I'm talking about one inaccurate through that 95% of the time harmlessly falls to the ground. And jump ball thrown a bit short that was partly a great defensive play, and partly a lack of aggression on the part of the receiver.
September 22nd, 2013 at 1:05 AM ^
September 22nd, 2013 at 1:13 AM ^
So you're just assuming his mistakes will wash out to simply blown plays in the future. It's similair in that we've watched something for four weeks now and are still just writing it off as an anomaly. Really there's nothing we've seen thus far to suggest that his poor decision making and execution will become suddenly harmless in the future.
September 22nd, 2013 at 1:27 AM ^
He was fantastic in two games (with one horrible mistake), he's made some terrible decisions and plays in two others (along with some really good plays).
I don't think they're all going away, I didn't argue that. 4 TO's tonight were not all due to lack of ball security on Devin's part. That was the point.
But hey boy, don't let me interrupt your wallow. I see it a little differently, but that's what makes us all special.
I think we have problems, I see them as possibly fixable.
September 22nd, 2013 at 7:45 AM ^
Drinking the Kool-Aid a bit too much dog? Calling out someone as wallowing in depair while totally ignoring the facts is....well, rediculous. This team is not very good. All the points raised are legit and Devin is NOT that good. Face it, We can want him to be the QB we want and need all day long, but the fact is he's not. He's shown it and shown it...and against inferior talent.
September 22nd, 2013 at 12:26 AM ^
For the most part, ND got the better of both of our O-Line & D-Line. Yet besides the end-zone pick six, Devin made quick, accurate throws or scrambled to keep plays alive. I think very few QBs would have had success against that pressure.
Last week, Devin's giveaways turned what otherwise would have been a couple touchdown win into a nail-biter. This week, he was just plain ineffective.
It's hard to reconcile. He can play very well (ND, South Carolina) and make us competitive against top teams. Or he can play badly, and given our meek O-Line performances to date, when Devin's not on, we're in trouble.
The Good Devin has to reappear.
September 22nd, 2013 at 12:26 AM ^
Ohio State doesn't score a lot of points, right?
September 22nd, 2013 at 12:26 AM ^
The Minn. game will be interesting just to see who gets the start along the OL.
I want JMFR back in the worst way but I hope he doesn't come back too soon.
Devin is a turnover machine and if he hasn't learned from the end of last year and the start of this one....I don't know.
This season is going to be a grind but I think they will improve each game and I think they will be ok.
September 22nd, 2013 at 12:40 AM ^
better shore up because Minnesota has a good DT in Ra'Shede Hageman. If he gets off low, he's hard to block. He was named as one of the freak athlete in the country, landing him at #2 according to CBS website. If Michigan continues to have issues at interior OL, it'd be a long day for running in between the tackles
September 22nd, 2013 at 1:15 AM ^
any opponent, but Minnesota did not look at all good today to me. If Nelson doesn't get back at QB they are a 95% run team. I am sure Mattison can game plan pretty well for a one-dimensional team.
September 22nd, 2013 at 12:28 AM ^
No problem with the post but...who the hell knows what this team is capable of. 7-5? 9-3? i wish I could know or at least make a prediction but at this point I'm worried about Michigan coming to Iowa City. I'm not sure how Jake Ryan alone is going to make the defense "good", though the defense isn't the bad part of the team right now. DG is bi-polar. It'd be nice for him to get over his issues the next two weeks before conference play but I'm not holding my breath.
September 22nd, 2013 at 12:28 AM ^
We won. Defense was good. Hooray! Lalalalalala
September 22nd, 2013 at 12:31 AM ^
you might get a bit of perspective if you tune in to ESPN2 right now for the BYU-Utah game. I know I did (after posting about 5-6 angry postgame posts). There is a kid who is laying motionless on the field and replays showed his head/neck being driven into the turf. I'm watching it now and I'm suddenly less concerned with the performance of Michigan.
September 22nd, 2013 at 12:37 AM ^
Few minutes late, play has resumed. What happened to the injured player?? HATE hearing/seeing this stuff.
September 22nd, 2013 at 12:44 AM ^
September 22nd, 2013 at 2:19 AM ^
September 22nd, 2013 at 2:28 AM ^
post went completely over your head. He was saying an injury like that makes you realize football is just a game and there are more important things in life, in case you can't figure it out.