Can we have some positivity please? I'll start.

Submitted by octal9 on

* Brandon Graham - DUDE'S A MANBEAST. He absolutely blew up the backfield several times. How about rushing the QB and then coming back and just flat out devastating that receiver? Wow.

* Donovan Warren - One would think that Stanzi would've learned to not throw in his direction after the first time, but no. He kept attacking that side and time and time again, DW turned him down. Lockdown corner, I bet he sees maybe 3 balls thrown his way the rest of the year.

* Brandon Minor - MINOR RAGE. 'nuff said.

Keep it going, please.

AAB

October 11th, 2009 at 12:18 AM ^

Stevie Brown made an absurd play on that 4th down. Ezeh made an equally good play on that 2nd down. Zoltan kicked ass. Denard Robinson led an outstanding drive. We looked like the better team on the field.

NYWolverine

October 11th, 2009 at 3:39 AM ^

when youth is the culprit, rather than poor progress. What we have is a top-end Doug Flutie/Charlie Ward QB in T. Forcier. We're making progress, but let's recognize the limitations.

I will say that I hate that Tate's pocket presence will have to be dictated by his height, but it will. Those throws into those big DT grubby mitts proved it. Tate is a rollout QB unless an LT steps up big time. Good news tho kids! Denard! How exciting is this football team? It's like we can out-Florida, Florida. I think tonight proved that Big-Ten football is not a game that Michigan has to adapt to, but a game that will have to adapt to Michigan. Next year. Holy cow...next year.

BlockM

October 11th, 2009 at 12:19 AM ^

Denard Robinson. 3/4 on the second to last drive. Many yards rushing. Pounded in a TD against a D that before this game hadn't allowed a rushing TD in 33 quarters. Valiantly attempted to push the team down the field against all odds.

mjm2k1

October 11th, 2009 at 12:19 AM ^

Iowa is a good team, but not drastically better than us. Minus the pick 6, they played pretty much mistake free and barely held on for the win. no such thing as a "moral victory" but think we can play with some of the more physical teams in the Big 10

ATrain32

October 11th, 2009 at 12:19 AM ^

Still kinda amazed we had a chance to win at the end. This was not a game we were expected to win. Yet, there we were. I'm proud of the team for playing hard and not giving up.

Germany Shultz

October 11th, 2009 at 1:14 AM ^

We will be 5-2 next week. Not bad after 3-9. PSU is looking winable if we don't give it away like tonight. Illinois is looking like a sure win. We have Purdue at home. 7 or 8 wins easy and a decent bowl with extra bowl practices to develop players for next year.

nazooq

October 11th, 2009 at 1:23 AM ^

Exactly. We need to keep things in perspective. Back in August, every rational prognosticator said this was a 7-5 season, likely 3-1 in the non-conference and 4-4 in the Big 10. After the ND win, expectations skyrocketed but in reality, this is still that 7-5 team. Maybe they'll pull out an 8th regular season win and have a chance at 9-4 after a bowl. If so, I see some elegant symmetry here with RR matching Lloyd Carr's final 9-4 record in his second year. After that, this team becomes a 9-11+ winner every year and will become a regular at BCS bowls and with some luck, appear in the national championship every few years.

A2MIKE

October 11th, 2009 at 12:20 AM ^

the stats don't support that... I think they outgained us by nearly 100 yards and we lost the turnover and 3rd down battle pretty decisively. With all that said we still had a shot at winning on the road.

PhillipFulmersPants

October 11th, 2009 at 12:32 AM ^

Strange thing about the turnover margin is that it didn't cost us a ton of points. They scored 6 on our 5 TOs, if IIRC. Obviously nixed our ability to score on those drives.

The 3rd down battle was huge, true, and the big breakdowns in the D on a few key plays was a big part of that.

runandshoot

October 11th, 2009 at 12:20 AM ^

Michigan hung in with #12 Iowa on their home field, and gave them all they could handle, even with five turnovers. Michigan outplayed a veteran Iowa team and will learn from this game.

This team is really close to being a championship contender. Give Rich Rod another year or two to recruit players that fit his offense/defense, and this team will be in the Big Ten Championship mix.

MaizeZee

October 11th, 2009 at 12:21 AM ^

Graham is an animal. And Zoltan? I feel like I really don't have to say anything, it's Zoltan.

We're alright, tough loss, but considering it's an away game against a ranked big ten opponent, I don't feel horrible about this loss.

Go Blue!

the_big_house 500th

October 11th, 2009 at 12:21 AM ^

And in desperation situations this Michigan team has done a great job of moving the ball down the field. Even though we lost I'm extremely prousd of our defense, Robinson's TD drive and Forcier's preformance. Great effort boys, great effort!

CaliFan

October 11th, 2009 at 12:22 AM ^

and are complaining about losing to a 12th ranked team with 5 TO's....I think it is so positive that our team has given us so much hope that we can hang with ANYONE!!!

We are young, but we NEVER give up!!!

So pumped for the rest of the year..my dogs were barking so loud because the house was so pumped at the end of this game.

Tweeter

October 11th, 2009 at 12:22 AM ^

we can put to rest the whole "RR's type of play wont work in the big bad big ten." Clearly the way this team plays is good enough to win against whoever. No it is just a matter of the players executing.

griesecheeks

October 11th, 2009 at 12:23 AM ^

to use Richrod's line, there's a lot of teachable stuff in that game. the fact that we stayed that close against a top-15 team with 5 TO's is amazing.

and graham... that guy is terrific. enough said.

and, i said it before, it's only going to help us in the future to see Denard get reps in a tight game. his skillset right now isn't necessarily the most efficient for a tight game with a running clock, but he'll get there.

c'mon guys, time to fight back!

imablue

October 11th, 2009 at 12:23 AM ^

Graham played a great game. We lined up with Minor
as the single back pounded the ball down the field.
D line played well. We kept it close to the end.

UM Fan NY

October 11th, 2009 at 12:24 AM ^

was good and more important played hard the entire game. sure williams and woolfolk made some big mistakes, but they battled all game and coach robinson really has these kids getting after it.

i thought the oline was very good also.

if you told me before the game that we'd have 5 TO's i would have guessed we lost by 20+. great effort, just too many mistakes.

pound del st next week. get the offense back on track and then beat psu.

maizenbluedevil

October 11th, 2009 at 12:25 AM ^

Our only 2 losses have been:

- road games
- 1 against a rival, the other against a top 15 team, and,
- our combined scoring deficit at the end of regulation in these 2 games is 2 points!! Not like we're getting blown out, we had very, very good chances to win both games. That's a positive. But, that also makes it frustrating.

A2MIKE

October 11th, 2009 at 12:24 AM ^

win v. Delaware state
toss up v. Penn State
win @ Illinois
win v. Purdue
loss @ Wiscy
loss v. OSU

I just dont see this team ready to play a really physical defense like Ohio State... they make Iowa look like a JV team... as much as I hate them their defense is ridiculous

El Jeffe

October 11th, 2009 at 12:24 AM ^

I'm incredibly drunk right now but I love our team. I felt so bad for the fellers after that last pick. They deserve our support and we should all pledge to observe at least a 12 hour waiting period before posting negative unhelpful shit. Hindsight is always, always, always 20/20. If DRob had hit Martavious on that drag route we wouldn't be kvetching about RichRod's decision-making.

Pace Bo, the Team, the Team, the Team!

That is all.

enlightenedbum

October 11th, 2009 at 12:26 AM ^

May have solved the corner opposite Warren situation. I thought he played pretty well. One really good play, decent coverage the other time they really went after him, but never huge plays unless I missed something.

Lines played well, Ezeh made some nice plays and I didn't notice any huge screw ups from him (maybe there's hope?). If we had safeties and could hold onto the damn ball, we win that game. Can Marvin Robinson enroll mid-semester?

wolvorback

October 11th, 2009 at 12:26 AM ^

I don't want to be postive. I want to kick a puppy.

sorry, I thought that I would respond for Prime Exodus since his "I hate my life and I am gonna walk into oncoming traffic" thread is gone.

jamiemac

October 11th, 2009 at 12:26 AM ^

After the sixth game last year, we were jumping off ledges after losing to freaking Toledo. While this was a heart breaking tease, the team fought hard and this is so much easier to stomach than at this point a year ago.

It's not even close

BlueGoM

October 11th, 2009 at 12:27 AM ^

Everyone is forgetting that this was the vaunted Iowa defense that hadn't allowed a rushing TD in 33 quarters and we ran the ball down their throats and got 3 td's on the ground. After a poor performance rushing against MSU this is a huge step and points to PSU as being a very winnable game. All the haters need to chill . This team is going give PSU all it can handle, beat Illinois and Purdue. 7-5 is the floor for this team, 8-4 or better is still possible.

BlueSCar

October 11th, 2009 at 12:28 AM ^

We get to watch many of these players for the next couple of years at least. If they can keep it close against a top 15 team with all of the freshmen and sophomores playing, it brings a smile to my face thinking about what this team will do when these guys are all juniors and seniors.

griesecheeks

October 11th, 2009 at 12:31 AM ^

one thing I'd like to see if we continue showing some I-form with Minor (Which is definitely a cool change of pace w/ the spread) is a straight play action bomb to Stonum or Hemingway. I know tate faked off it once or twice, but he faked and THEN scrambled around. maybe add a Koger short route as an outlet if the bomb is covered, but I think that could be a good play once or twice a game, especially if the RAGE is working like it did tonight.

AMazinBlue

October 11th, 2009 at 12:32 AM ^

There were a lot of positives in this game, but the glaring holes on the defense don't seem to get any better. We fill one and another opens up.

DRob proved he can move the ball in a crucial situation, which is HUGE! I hope the thing with Tate not playing at the end is not an issue. The more I think about I think Tate may have been the better choice for the final drive, but that's easy to say after the fact.

This was my birthday and the only present I wanted was a victory. Don't know what else to say. As I said at the top, I'm still fighting the anger.

Delaware State can't get here soon enough. We need to hang 60 on them and hold them to "0" for confidence.

griesecheeks

October 11th, 2009 at 12:38 AM ^

i know what you mean, but I don't think we're at the point where we can expect to hang 60 on anyone.

I'd be fine with any win next week with Rich finding a way to regroup the guys and work on specific facets of the game that aren't working (ie: passing). I'd expect DRob and Tate to both get quality reps next week.

and for the love of god, can we get a receiver to step up and DEMAND the football? i don't care who. just anyone! that's really what we're lacking right now.

Tate's gotta find his Jordan Shipley if he's ever going to get to the level of the guy (Colt) he's compared himself to.

griesecheeks

October 11th, 2009 at 12:47 AM ^

you can't throw Tate under the bus after one bad outing. More than anything, I wanna see him fight back. with a guy like him, you KNOW he's going to make bad plays to go with his moxie-plays. that's who he is.

that said, yes, D-Rob should, and will get a lot of quality PT against DSU next week.

jmblue

October 11th, 2009 at 12:38 AM ^

Our pass coverage overall was improved. We had a lot of guys get a hand on a pass. Unfortunately, we could only pick one off. We did have issues trying to cover Moeaki. It sucked that he got to return for this game. Is it me, or does it seem like our opponents always miraculously get healthy before they play us?