September 18th, 2010 at 8:12 PM ^
I'd say Stonum was a pretty positive note today. Shaw too.
September 18th, 2010 at 8:16 PM ^
Stonum adjusted nicely to his deep catch. Good sign.
September 18th, 2010 at 8:17 PM ^
It's them HD contact lenses. They work wonders!
September 18th, 2010 at 8:31 PM ^
HD contacts? That's so this spring. He needs to upgrade to 3D contacts.
September 18th, 2010 at 10:25 PM ^
Glad they've got him doing returns again!
September 18th, 2010 at 8:14 PM ^
I think Lewan totally destroying the same people that Huyge struggled with was a nice positive..
heck almost every run in the 2nd half we behind Lewan/Schilling....if he can keep it up our OLine just got a whole lot better.
September 18th, 2010 at 8:16 PM ^
Lewan was totally blowing people up today and opening huge holes on the left side. Nice catch!
September 18th, 2010 at 8:17 PM ^
How come Lewan was only in for a little bit and then Omameh was back in not too long after?
September 18th, 2010 at 8:19 PM ^
Lewan plays LT. Omameh plays RG. I'd assume their PT doesn't correlate with each other. Lewan played most of the 2nd half because Calvin Magee wanted to see him play. My guess is he performed up to standards.
September 18th, 2010 at 8:19 PM ^
Lewan is at LT, and Omameh is at RG...don't see the connection.
Lewan got in for a series to spell Huyge.
September 18th, 2010 at 8:21 PM ^
Was it just a series? I thought he was in there several series sporadically. I could be wrong though.
September 18th, 2010 at 9:01 PM ^
Lewan played a lot more than just a series. I don't think it was the entire 2nd half, but he was out there for a good portion of it. There could be other factors involved, but the running game seemed to improve after the time he went in. It was after I noticed him playing that Shaw started to get some yards, including the 30 yd. TD.
September 18th, 2010 at 8:23 PM ^
who is the starting LT. Omameh does his soul crushing at RG
September 18th, 2010 at 8:24 PM ^
I noted that Lewan was playing too, was wondering if I missed Huyge getting hurt or something.
September 18th, 2010 at 8:16 PM ^
Just start him already. He litteraly engulfs people and eats them alive.
September 18th, 2010 at 8:17 PM ^
... +1.
Win by 1, win by 100--who cares?
Every team has a letdown/trap game. Good to get it out of the way now.
The defense is who we thought they were, even before the injuries.
The nearly pathetic negativity from small people who have never stepped out and risked anything in the arena is mind-boggling.
Now on to watch ND dismantle MSU!
September 18th, 2010 at 8:17 PM ^
There were a lot of positives on the offensive side of the ball:
-Denard shrugged off an early INT to have a great day throwing the ball (10-14-1, 241 yds, 2 TD).
-The deep ball returned to the offense. Grady, Stonum and Hemingway each hauled one in.
-Stonum was a real playmaker out there. Two of his grabs were TDs and a third was a deep ball.
-Shaw may have seized control of the tailback position with his career day (126 yards, 3 TD).
-There were a lot fewer penalties than last week.
September 18th, 2010 at 9:04 PM ^
I also thought J. B. Fitzgerald looked good in some of the extended playing time he got. I specifically remember one play that he had a solo tackle at the LOS, something that was pretty rare today. I'm far from an expert though, and I'll be interested to see if this is borne out in his UFR grade.
September 18th, 2010 at 8:22 PM ^
Denard's passes were looking very nice today. It's good that he's shutting up the haters who said that he was only dumping the ball off in the first few games.
September 18th, 2010 at 8:24 PM ^
Also a pretty positive note on the day.
September 18th, 2010 at 8:28 PM ^
Also, not sure if it was posted or not (there's a lot of unhappy posts to look through), but I was really happy with how, at least the student section, acted when UMass's band took the field. No one near me booed, everyone cheered and most people stood up. I was really proud of how everyone acted.
September 18th, 2010 at 8:30 PM ^
get yer own avatar ; )
Also yes the whole crowd gave UMass' band a round of applause. Very sad for them to lose a long time director on the road like that.
September 18th, 2010 at 8:35 PM ^
haha sorry. I'll try to find something else :)
September 18th, 2010 at 8:39 PM ^
It was nice that the announcers noticed and commented on that on tv...described the Michigan crowd as well informed and classy, or something along those lines.
September 18th, 2010 at 8:28 PM ^
True - nice to see him back. He's a relatively big WR too so he'll be a help on those downfield blocks. He's been injured so often it'd be nice to see him have a big year.
September 18th, 2010 at 8:30 PM ^
I thought Denard's decision making was excellent. When he pulled the ball down and ran early on, he was able to avoid major contact and get to the sidelines. That's smart football.
Denard's downfield throws looked very good when he made them (Stonum made him look better.)
Michael Shaw and Vincent Smith played MUCH better in the second half. They were finding seams and breaking tackles.
Denard found six different recievers to varying degrees.
Kelvin Grady made some exceptional blocks and at least one very nice catch.
So yes, there are many positives, build on those. Work on the flaws. Polish the stone.
September 18th, 2010 at 8:48 PM ^
It seems to me we're playing exactly as everyone on this board expected we would before the season started, and perhaps even better. No one knew Denard would be as developed as he is as a passer and a team leader. The defense is struggling, as we suspected, but has shown glimpses of excellence. The secondary is barren, as we suspected. The kicking game is suspect, and sad.
Two things are making us crazy. 1) We all got a taste of the national media attention. How many posts were on this board last week linking to some story about Denard and the Heisman? A lot. RR says don't swallow the poison, and I think he means us, the fans, too. And 2) It's just dang hard to watch.
September 18th, 2010 at 9:10 PM ^
Another positive note: The continued presence of the Slippery Rock score and the very nice ovation given to the UMass band by the Michigan Stadium crowd.
September 18th, 2010 at 9:15 PM ^
As bad as it was, we won despite:
1) A botched snap by freshman punter resulting in blocked punt deep in our end;
2) Cam getting greedy and turning his interception right over for a 10 yard UMass gain;
3) The uncalled PI that cost 'Tree a TD, and then we missed the FG;
4) The refs stubborn and ongoing refusal to throw a flag when Martin and Roh get held.
5) Etc.;
6) Etc.
In the last two years we don't win a game like that, even against a AA opponent. Today we did.
September 18th, 2010 at 9:21 PM ^
If you watched the game on TV you might have noticed this...about 5 or 6 UMass players grew up UofM fans and had an opportunity to live their dream playing in Michigan stadium.
Would have meant more if we blown them out, but still entertaining.
September 18th, 2010 at 10:20 PM ^
Although, I don't know how the officials decided it was UMass ball on the fumble. On replay, it becomes obvious that Mouton recoverd and the WR who jumped on the pile after they had already awared the ball to UMass ended up with the ball. Very strange situation.
Also, on the guy coming out of bounds to catch the ball. Since he hadn't re-established himself in bounds before he caught it, wasn't he out of bounds. My theory on this is that you remain in your last previous state. Since he jumped from out of bounds, he was out of bounds until touching in. Therefore, when the touched the ball, he was still out. Anybody able to correct me?
September 18th, 2010 at 10:44 PM ^
I totally agree with you. He wasn't out of bounds when he caught it but he never was back in, so his last established position was out of bounds. If the football rules are the same as basketball rules, he should not have been given that catch.
re: the overall thread, I think Denard (and most of the team) came out playing not to lose. The first two games we came out playing to win. UMASS took it to us, we responded late in the 2nd quarter and the offense at least never looked back. I think we should have upped the aggressiveness on defense and tried to force more plays, rather than sitting back and letting UMASS dictate things.
September 18th, 2010 at 9:38 PM ^
My positive for the day was Denards downfield passing, minus the early interception. Just another thing he makes defenses prepare for.
September 19th, 2010 at 12:44 AM ^
Loved watching Lewan today. My son plays that position and it was great to show him how Lewan kept driving until the whistle.
September 19th, 2010 at 2:54 PM ^
Fitz Tousant (not sure of correct spelling) was. i know that 75% is not 100%. i did think he was supposed to play. shaw ran hard, was patient when needing to be and hit holes hard at the right times. VS ran hard as well. very nice to see the run game goingggggggggggg!
September 19th, 2010 at 3:13 PM ^
Toussaint. It's French for "All Saints" (tous + saint) if that helps you remember.