POSITIVE Quick Hits - Wiscy
Well, we just lost convincingly to the best team in the Big Ten. That being said, I noticed a lot of positive/neutral things in this game and I'd be curious to know what you all think as well. Please save bitching, sarcasm and FIRE RROD for other threads. This thread is meant to be a change of pace from the tsunami of negativity otherwise on the board.
That being said:
- Denard broke 2 NCAA records today: He is the first 1500/1500 NCAA QB in history, and now holds the NCAA major college single-season rushing record for a QB
- Michigan scored 28 pts in a half against Wisconsin-- perhaps we were more warmed up by then, or Denard's deep ball was finally falling? Either way, hopefully we can carry some momentum forward to next week
- The defense forced 2 turnovers against a team with 7 on the season (!)
- Drew Dileo and Darryl Stonum were returning kickoffs more so than Gallon. Following the injury to Stonum I think we see why he doesn't regularly return them, but after seeing Gallon's fumble, I think we might be seeing a turn towards the safer and more reliable Dileo.
- No disastrous picks from Denard in this game; his balls batted by Watt were unfortunate, but not dangerously thrown. The facepalm underthrown balls of the past few weeks were greatly cut down this week.
- Denard did a better job with QB draws and otherwise attempting to run when everyone was covered this week. It was a refreshing positive to see the coaching staff notice and presumably address his poor (non) running habits during designed pass plays this week.
- We were in a horrifying position at the end of the first half following Gallon's fumble inside our 30, but James Rogers baited Tolzien to throw and then picked off the pass, preventing a sure TD. Nice to see some mindgames being played by our secondary for a change; bodes well for the development. Also, way to respond! Our defense has heart/swagger this year even when things are going badly.
What else did y'all notice about the game in the positive/neutral category?
November 20th, 2010 at 3:32 PM ^
Well Vincent Smith and Denard!
November 20th, 2010 at 3:34 PM ^
Agree on all counts. Stonum was carrying the team on his back for a lot of the second half with his returns as well as his catches. Overall, I was really happy to see the team fight back in the 2nd half.
One more positive, RR decided to onside kick early in the 3rd quarter. Though we didn't get possession and looked totally uncoordinated, I liked the call.
November 20th, 2010 at 3:36 PM ^
... this game simply confirmed what people who follow the team closely already know, our offense is good (but can improve with the consistency) and our defense is bad (consistently).
November 20th, 2010 at 3:36 PM ^
looked dazed I hope he is ok that was one heck of knee to the head he took!
November 20th, 2010 at 3:37 PM ^
November 20th, 2010 at 3:39 PM ^
6-17
We gave up 40+ points
We scored 0 points in the first half
We don't have a defense to speak of
One player is the entire offense
Without Denard Robinson this is worse then last year. This team didn't get better.
But if you like being the new Northwestern, Illinios Purdue....You know middle of the road then by all means. Me? I say fire this fuck head hire Jim and get back to playing POWER FUCKING FOOTBALL on both sides of the ball.
3-3-5 fucking idiot.
Yeah I know we score a lot of points and look at the stat's. No, look at the "L's" and get used to them.
November 20th, 2010 at 3:44 PM ^
Way to be positive... on a thread just asking for positivity...
November 20th, 2010 at 3:53 PM ^
You're right,
I'm positive this team sucks.
I am positive they have sucked for three years.
I am positive it is RR's fault.
I'm positive he should be fired.
And I'm positive that Denard like Barry is stuck on a shitty team and will never get what he and his talent deserves.
November 20th, 2010 at 3:44 PM ^
Yes our O-line didn't get better. Neither did our WRs. In fact we just waste time practicing. Don't expect me to save you a seat on the band wagon when the defense comes around. Oh and your avatar blows.
November 20th, 2010 at 3:49 PM ^
- Regardless of the 1st, we scored 28 in the 2nd, which is amazing, we adjusted, and this Wisky defense is no joke
- We have an extremely young defense with a bunch of injuries, so 40 points is no surprise
- Denard IS on our team, and he IS NOT our entire offense, Vincent Smith had a big game, Stonum had some awesome catches as did Roundtree, we have an amazing OL
- "Without Denard... blah blah blah" is a absolutely stupid arguement
- Fire RR? You want another 3 years of adjustment? Give me a break and get over it.
-
STFU!
November 20th, 2010 at 4:30 PM ^
November 20th, 2010 at 3:46 PM ^
Look, we played well in the second half...but it was the first half that bothered me.
And no, it wasn't the defense.
The defense is a lost cause, at least this year. We all know that. They played hard, but are simply outmatched. We knew we would have to score a lot of points.
So, what did we do in the first half? We ran into the brick wall, over and over agaiin. Second half? We threw to move, and then established the run.
First big drive in the first half...we kicked a failed field goal. Second half...we tried onside kicks.
We all know that our D sucks. Fine. That is a longterm fix. But I think coaching errors didn't really give us a chance. We have to play all game like we did in the second half...like we have nothing to lose. Next week, that is our only hope.
I know, kind of negative...but the positive is that with the right coaching decisions, and playing like we have nothing to lose...we can win a game like this. RRod needs to coach like that in order to win next week.
November 20th, 2010 at 3:50 PM ^
How was our offensive game plan any different in the second half? Were you watching the same game I was?
Denard missed Stonum for a TD and threw over Smith's head on the drive that ended in a missed field goal in the first half. Then, on the following drive, Stonum and Hemmingway dropped back to back passes around midfield which would have moved the chains. The difference between the first and second half was execution, not play calling. Dropped passes and bad throws are the reason why our offense stalled in the first half.
November 20th, 2010 at 6:50 PM ^
The problem was not that we didn't try to throw, it was that everything was overthrown or dropped. What he really meant was that we should execute better in the passing game. Yeah, no shit.
I am still waiting for someone to explain how our coaches can draw up some plays to make our guys thirty pounds heavier, .2 tenths faster in the 40, and three years worth of starts more experienced. If you can find a coach that can do that, I say hire him. Rebuilding is a painful process, espcially when you are facing some of the most senior-laden teams in the entire country.
November 20th, 2010 at 10:25 PM ^
This reminds me of the DeBord years, when people would bring up his run/pass ratio to argue that he, in fact, was a balanced playcaller. The issue wasn't the number of passes, but the lack of passes downfield that we attempted.
If you watch the game again, look at how long our passes were in the first half compared to the second. Most of the throws we attempted in the first half were short and did not punish the UW safeties for cheating close to the line of scrimmage. We did not throw many passes beyond the chains. In the second half, we made much more of an effort to establish the downfield passing game, and were very successful.
November 20th, 2010 at 4:11 PM ^
Michigan should've ran the ball more in the 1st half IMO. They were moving the ball on them from the running game. It's the passing game that slowed down Michigan and it didn't help that Denard was a bit inaccurate at times in the 1st half. Denard was much better in the 2nd half.
November 20th, 2010 at 4:37 PM ^
This is what frustrated me in the game as well. Denard had a very poor first half in my opinion and I thought the playcalling was a bit funny. Our blocking from our WR has gotten significantly work in recent weeks according to my eyes. I'll have to go back to previous WRs and look at this UFR to see if that's true.
I am actually quite encouraged by Avery's play at times right now, as well as Vinopal. Demens is good at times.
That Wisconsin offense has been built to peak this year. It is what it is. If they didn't destroy our defense it would have been a very poor reflection on that program.
November 20th, 2010 at 10:21 PM ^
The first-half playcalling was reminiscent of the PSU and Purdue games. Again, Magee seemed to not have great confidence in Denard in the downfield passing game and gameplanned away from it. Aside from the one deep ball to Stonum that was overthrown, I don't remember many attempts to stretch the UW defense in the first half. In the second half we went downfield far more often and we saw the results.
November 20th, 2010 at 3:45 PM ^
November 20th, 2010 at 3:59 PM ^
Stanford is on after the game on Fox Sports net.
November 20th, 2010 at 4:09 PM ^
Did anyone seriously think we were going to beat this team? The haters should go STFU.
Wisky kicked the shit out of OSU as well. They have 15 5th yr seniors. Their entire offensive line is 5th yr along with their QB. We scored 28 in the 2nd half. As Spielman said, just get our D to 50th or so next year and we are going 10-2 or greater.
We could have laid down and died in the 2nd half but we fought. That's more than I can say for all you fucking Haters. Give me back your UM gear. Fucking Henne and co. went 7-5 as sophmores.
November 20th, 2010 at 4:11 PM ^
That is a very good point. Look at what a young team did back in 2005: 7-5.
Everyone calm down. Do not forget that we are bowl eligible and have a chance to win one more next week.
November 20th, 2010 at 4:24 PM ^
Yes that 2005 team is very interesting. That season could have been very very ugly too...
A pair of OT wins (@Iowa, @msu)
TOUCHDOWN MANNINGHAM!
that close from 4-7!
On the other hand, a terrible loss to ND, a QB draw against Wisconsin, a 60 yard run given up against MN to set up a game winning FG, a blown 9 point lead in the fourth quarter against ohio, and a pitch back to breaston from being 12-0 ;)
November 20th, 2010 at 4:21 PM ^
Our run defense missed him horribly in the 2nd half.
November 20th, 2010 at 4:23 PM ^
It is now time to move on to OSU. I am guilty of looking forward to this meeting with OSU before the Wiscy game even started. I just think wisconsin is a better team than OSU and I believe we will play a great game next week.
November 20th, 2010 at 6:26 PM ^
Actually, Denard is now the first to have 1500 rushing, 2000 passing.
November 20th, 2010 at 7:08 PM ^
he doesn't quite have 2,000 passing yet
November 20th, 2010 at 7:46 PM ^
Not according to this...
http://www.mgoblue.com/sports/m-footbl/recaps/112010aaa.html
Maybe you should let the athletic department know they're wrong... :)
According to mgoblue official stats through 11 games, Denard has 2,229 yards passing. He had 1,990 going into today. Not really sure where you're getting your info.
November 20th, 2010 at 7:08 PM ^
one big positive was better kick returns! finally!
November 20th, 2010 at 9:41 PM ^
Dave Brandon and his staff see the value of innovation and entertaining the crowd. The Slippery Rock video and appearance on the field was outstanding. Well played DB, great positive from the day.
November 21st, 2010 at 4:33 PM ^
If we erased the first half and then played another half of football we probably(/could) would have won.In other words we outplayed them in the second half. Thats a positive....