MSU Week: Monday

Submitted by GunnersApe on

Surprised there hasn't been more on the board.  I feel bad for all the Michigan residents who deal with the Brah's on a regular basis. Well a snowflake tread if you will.

 

Issues for me:

-Some kind of Snap Count Variation

-Trick plays by MSU

-Health of Devin "60 minutes and all"/Max protect.

 

 

WingsNWolverines

October 28th, 2013 at 3:03 PM ^

This team is going to show up and give their defensive line and secondary a fight till the end. Make no mistake these boys will be pumped and ready to play. I'm sick of hearing about how good this defense is FUCK EM. Offensively we have the weapons at WR and QB to burn a hole through their green and white asses. No conservatism here no holding back. Give State a big fucking maize and blue dick sandwich and make em choke on it. It's time to fuck some loud mouth annoying bastards up this weekend. If Gardner can hold on to the ball and dominate in the air to Gallon and Funchess with some Chesson thrown in there than this team can out score MSU. I want their defense on the field half of the game because eventually that line will tire from being on the field so much and that's when Michigan goes for the jugular. These boys will be ready and they will pull out the victory in one of the greatest games this rivalry has ever seen. Mark my words this will be a classic game and the Wolverines will be victorious. 24-21 Michigan.

Hoek

October 28th, 2013 at 3:05 PM ^

Fuck this shit, we should beat State every year. This year is no different. This is a team that almost lost to Western Michigan last I checked WMU has yet to win a game. We are going to east Lansing and dropping 50 on those poor kids. 50-9 will be the score when the clock strikes 0:00!



Man up and Go Blue!

MGoManBall

October 28th, 2013 at 3:10 PM ^

Eventually, that defense is going to wear out with that embarrasing collection of players that they like to call an offense can't move the ball. 31-14 MICHIGAN!

The Dirty Nil

October 28th, 2013 at 3:14 PM ^

I don't have any reason to believe it will be a lot different than last year's game. Finishing drives was a problem in that game, so I hope Michigan avoids that same mistake, and replaces a couple of those FGs from last year into TDs.

Leonhall

October 29th, 2013 at 6:41 AM ^

If you look back at the past couple of seasons vs state, we've had plenty of scoring opportunities, denard missed guys open in the endzone, players have also dropped passes, now one could argue it was due to the defense, but....I also remember last season a screen called to Fitz, I believe it was a poor throw, had he caught it, it would have been a HUGE gain. We just need to execute better, not drop passes, and devin needs to step into his throws. While in the red zone, if there isn't at least 2 fades to Funchess, I will be pissed. Honestly if devin gets in trouble, he needs to tuck and run. I'm sick of state, I'm sick of fucking spartan idiots telling me, you better be ready for "beast Lansing," or we're gonna "hit you hard," you better be ready, blah, blah, blah, "our lines our superior to yours," sick of this shit. Hoke better be telling these guys most aren't giving us a chance, and we should be the ones coming out with a chip on our shoulder. GO BLUE!

mGrowOld

October 28th, 2013 at 3:35 PM ^

Being 54 the concept of losing to MSU more than twice in any given decade seems crazy to me but facts are facts and until we demonstrate we can play the same on the road as we do at home I'm afraid this one looks bad to me.  

But I am totally willing to give Al every chance to change my opinion of his game planning on Saturday.  Perhaps he watched the OSU game against Penn State and saw for himself that taking the ball to the edges stretches a defense and makes the middle that much easier to exploit.  Perhaps he saw Urban Meyer's offense absolutely crush PSU by "taking what they were giving" instead of demanding the ball be run into stacked fronts.  And perhaps he watched as I did, OSU get the ball with under a minute to go on their own 30, up by 28 and NOT run the clock out but rather go for the throat to crush PSU before half.  And maybe we saw Miller line up in the shotgun or Pistol on virtually every play to keep the threat of his running present - even when Hyde was getting the ball between the tackles.

But I really ,really doubt it.  I predict a game plan very smiliar to Iowa 2011 and yet another frustrating road loss 21-13.

htownwolverine

October 28th, 2013 at 7:04 PM ^

While not as old as you I am older than the average poster and I'm with you. This idea of Staee being tougher than us and favored at that dump in EL more than 2 times a decade blows my mind. Hoke needs to start getting his shit together on this whole toughness angle. Practice what you preach or pretty soon it rings hollow. Soon is close.

mGrowOld

October 28th, 2013 at 7:21 PM ^

Between the ages of 11 (1970) and 24 (1983) I saw Michigan lose exactly TWO games to MSU and only 8 total from age 11 to age 48 so yeah, losing to MSU more than twice in a decade DOES seem kinda wierd to me.  And two of those loses (1990 & 2001) were increadibly tainted so to me we only really "lost" 6 games over a 37 year stretch and virtually all of my fandom.

UMgradMSUdad

October 28th, 2013 at 10:25 PM ^

I lived through those decades too.  A lot has changed since then. State has been consistently stronger recently than any time since the 50s and 60s, and the Rich Rodriguez tenure (0-3 against State) happened at Michigan.  Start the decade with Brady Hoke at the helm, and he has two more losses to go in the next 8 years to fall below your rather ridiculous standard (given the strength of recent State teams) of no more than two losses in a decade. 

 

UMgradMSUdad

October 28th, 2013 at 10:25 PM ^

I lived through those decades too.  A lot has changed since then. State has been consistently stronger recently than any time since the 50s and 60s, and the Rich Rodriguez tenure (0-3 against State) happened at Michigan.  Start the decade with Brady Hoke at the helm, and he has two more losses to go in the next 8 years to fall below your rather ridiculous standard (given the strength of recent State teams) of no more than two losses in a decade. 

 

UMgradMSUdad

October 28th, 2013 at 11:36 PM ^

I could lie and say I was born in 1902, when Michigan beat State 119-0 and then claim I'm pissed anytime Michigan doesn't win by at least 100 points, but in reality, I'm within a year or two of you in age.

My father was a Spartan (I know, I know, that maybe explains a lot), and while he almost never bragged about Spartan football, the one exception he made was to say State had a pretty good QB in his day, a fellow by the name of Earl Morrall.  In the 1950s, Michigan went 2-7-1 against State, and had the same record in the 1960s.  So over twenty games spanning two decades, Michigan won just four games against State. I'm not saying I would be happy returning to that, but surely you realize it's unrealistic to expect things to stay that way they were when Bo's boys were kicking Michigan State ass.  Times change, situations change, and while it would be wonderful to win every game, as a fan base we're setting ourselves up for disappointment if we expect it should be a given that we will win 8 out of every 10 games with the Spartans just because that's the way it was through our formative years.

Reader71

October 28th, 2013 at 11:36 PM ^

I don't think your standard is ridiculous. But, you aren't 30 anymore. You've seen us lose 9 times out of the 24 games since your 30th birthday. Its the new reality. You've lived with it almost half your life. Not being able to come to grips with that is a bit ridiculous.

But I think you're fine, you just wrote a silly little comment and we're being pedantic.

LSAClassOf2000

October 28th, 2013 at 4:31 PM ^

For scouting / discussion purposes, the current MSU rankings on a whole bunch of offensive and defensive metric, courtesy of TeamRankings:

MSU Offense
Value (rank) MSU Defense Value (rank)
Points/Game 26.3 (#76) Opp Points/Game 11.6 (#3)
Yards/Game 353.1 (#96) Opp Yards/Game 221.1 (#1)
Points/Play 0.357 (#76) Opp Points/Play 0.178 (#2)
Yards/Play 4.8 (#100) Opp Yards/Play 3.4 (#1)
3D Conversion % 46.02% (#30) Opp 3D Conv % 28.70% (#5)
4D Conversion % 62.50% (#23) Opp 4D Conv % 28.57% (#18)
RZ Scoring % 77.78% (#87) Opp RZ Scoring % 80.00% (#45)
Rush Play % 57.28% (#31) Opp Rush Play % 42.11% (#5)
Yards/Rush 4.4 (#56) Opp Yards/Rush 2.0 (#1)
Rushes/Game 42.1 (#34) Opp Rushes/Game 27.4 (#1)
Rush Yards/Game 185.0 (#40) Opp Rush Yards/Game 54.9 (#1)
Pass Play % 42.72% (#95) Opp Pass Play % 57.89% (#121)
Completion % 56.54% (#82) Opp Completion % 46.96% (#3)
Yards/Pass 5.5 (#117) Opp Yards/Pass 4.7 (#1)
Passes/Game 30.6 (#86) Opp Passes/Game 35.3 (#86)
Pass Yards/Game 168.1 (#110) Opp Pass Yards/Game 166.3 (#1)
Int Thrown % 1.40% (#10) Opp Int Thrown % 3.64% (#38)
QB Sacked % 2.73% (#12) Sack % 6.44% (#37)
FG Conversion % 72.73% (#68) Opp FG Conv % 50.00% (#8)

 

MikeCohodes

October 28th, 2013 at 5:04 PM ^

At first glance, that 26.3 points seems high. At first I thought that it was looking at the total scored by MSU in games, but I just checked the math and no it doesn't.

MSU total scoring through 8 games: 26, 21, 55, 13, 26, 42, 14, 42, which is 239 points. /8 = 29.875 per game total between O and D scoring.

Based on who they played though, those 55, 42, and 42 point games (Youngstown, Illinois, & Indiana) show what they can do against no defense whatsoever. I doubt they will score more than 26 on Saturday, which seems to be their ceiling when playing against a defense with a pulse.

ilah17

October 28th, 2013 at 4:52 PM ^

I cannot stand Mike Valenti!!!! I always hope we win but winning this weekend will be especially gratifying so he'll shut up. Except I know he won't :(



Who gives UM a better shot at 100 yards rushing, Green or Fitz?

Doc Brown

October 28th, 2013 at 5:10 PM ^

that asshate won't show up next monday if Michigan wins. He will come up with some mystery disease or excuse to not face the music. He is a coward of the n'th degree. A shockjock with no consequences or rules. 

Prince Lover

October 29th, 2013 at 1:10 AM ^

But he is the main reason why, in my mind, I hate losing to Sparty way more than losing to Ohio. That Howard Stern wannabe is so self absorbed, condescending and hypocritical, that I love UM beating his whiny ass sending him into 4yr old mode where he hurls insults and sucks his thumb until his shifts end. But when Sparty wins, his smugness is nauseating.
Yes, I know, just turn him off, and often times I do, but 97.1 is the common work radio station on and I can't always do that....

erald01

October 28th, 2013 at 10:58 PM ^

U do understand thats how he gets people to call in..MSU fans very rarely call in so he has to talk shit about Michigan so our fans call in..its a lot more of us than the puke greens.

jonvalk

October 28th, 2013 at 11:43 PM ^

Could be listening to the Columbus slappies on your drive home like I'm stuck doing. They're quite insufferable at this point. At one juncture, Spielman was on and said not to forget about Michigan. They all essentially mocked him for even thinking that we pose a threat to them since they beat PSU so bad.

One Inch Woody…

October 28th, 2013 at 4:56 PM ^

Some day, Borges' and Mattison's little baby birds are going to need to fly and that's gonna happen this Saturday. No more 5 yard cushions. No more craptastic D-line stunts that cause everyone to fall down. No more zone stretch! This is the game of the season. We need to pull out all the stops! If this doesn't happen, we have no chance of winning

NFG

October 28th, 2013 at 5:09 PM ^

On offense, we need to do or not do these things to be successful:

1. No QB draw out of shotgun on 3rd and short.

2. No tackle over in obvious run D&D.

3. Screens when defense continues to blitz on 3rd and short.

4. No more counters away from the strength of the TE/Tackle positions.

5. Want more waggle with QB run/pass option.

6. No option into the boundy.

7. Use Dileo on a rub route via motion if within the MSU 10 yard line or needing a 1st down.

BayWolves

October 28th, 2013 at 6:11 PM ^

With this much freaking time to prepare the coaches better not put a predictable piece of junk on the field.  There will be no excuse for such a display.  A second bye week means you come fully rested, prepared, practiced and ready to go with improved play and some new wrinkles to throw at Staee.

We all know what Staee is going to run and if we cannot stop it on O or D then we get to apply the EPIC FAIL label.  This team is such a wild card this year I am not sure what we'll get but with 2 weeks to prepare? C'mon Man!

Reader71

October 28th, 2013 at 11:43 PM ^

Me neither. Blind faith would be stupid. Its what we had before they coached a game. Now we have sighted faith, based on the 25-8 record since they've taken over. Also, this isn't like the end of the Carr era, when we believed that Michigan would never be worse than 7-5. Hoke's predecessor went 15-22, so we know it can be worse. We don't want it to be worse.

mal

October 28th, 2013 at 7:48 PM ^

I feel like to win we are going to have to play some backyard ball with Devin playing Johnny Football-style. The line of scrimmage will be Sparty's. Go Blue

Brown Bear

October 28th, 2013 at 8:53 PM ^

Brady Hoke is 3-0 after bye weeks at Michigan with an average margin of victory of 24. Being a rivalry game and stout defense I'll predict Michigan 28 state 16

/science