Quick Game recap : Michigan-UConn Season opener 2010

Submitted by nmajali on

 

Quick Game recap:

 

The QB was super great, Michigan finally has a running QB that fits in the system and having Tate there as a backup makes us really comfortable. One Robinson established himself in the game it was super, opened up the passing game and opened up the option and opened up the option of using Running Backs.

 

The RBs were impressive, both of them, Shaw had a weird fumble that was recovered by Webb and had a weird run that lost 8 yards, but otherwise both played mart football and Smith is really fast too.

 

The Offensive Line, to me they are the the MVPs in this game, wow was that really a great line, I think Barwis gave them strength and speed. Opened lanes for that QB and RBs and allowed 0 sacks.. Nice!!

 

The WR/TE, both excelled, nothing special, they did block downfield, Koger excelled with a couple of big receptions, the rest helped so much in 3rd down situations. A couple of good catches and no real drops to be worried about.

 

On the defensive side, its official, Michigan will be playing true contain, allow 7 to 12 yard receptions and don’t allow big plays. With the exception of that one really lucky reception where the ball bounced a couple of times, Michigan really didn’t allow any big plays. Both JT Floyd and # 4 Gordon played great.

On the D-Line I would like to say Roh is a stud, he was in there all the time, pressured that QB a lot. I still believe the DL, DEs and LBs could’ve had even more pressure on the QB, but it was enough for this game. The Run defense was not really impressive, I think we will need to tighten up there to have a chance against the run happy offenses of the Big Ten.

On Turnovers, again JT Floyd great great play with Obi Ezeh recovering, I do believe the DBs could’ve had a couple of picks late that were dropped, its just lack of experience there.

 

Special Teams not impressive at all, that return fumble could’ve been a disaster! The punt was ugly with a great roll, and the Kicking game was ugly, one bad short kick and one missed XP, that falls under really bad kicking, we’ll call it first game jitters for now.

 

Coaching, just super great.. good job Rich Rod 

 

In all, 4 names that have to be mentioned, Denard, JT Floyd, Roh, and Gordon. And as a unit the O-Line gets my vote for being the true workhorses of this game. Congrats everyone, GO Blue, was worth the 9 month wait.. my call was a 21 point win (off course I was being optimistic!!) but a call is call, and I guess I’m ecstatic.. wish I was in Ann Arbor to celebrate .. Hail to Victors. 

Comments

Worthing

September 4th, 2010 at 8:37 PM ^

I know Pat White went over 185 passing and rushing only once in his career. Nov 16, 2006 according to 2006 so thats pretty impressive in my books. Vince Young did it twice.

ironman4579

September 4th, 2010 at 9:18 PM ^

Disagree about the backs.  Shaw ended up with 3.2 per carry.  Smith looked good.  Shaw looked average at best IMO.  Would have loved to see Cox at least a little bit.

Ziff72

September 4th, 2010 at 9:51 PM ^

Relieved about the win but......

Cam Gordon was not good he missed several tackles and was beat 2 times and the guy dropped it.

Still not sure if Uconn was just idiotic or what but how was Denard going thru gaping holes but the RB's could find no daylight?  Very strange.

Very sloppy game aided by a horrible effort from Uconn and some fortunate bounces. RR will have plenty of teachable moments to go over and we really need to sharpen things up to have any chance next week.

nmajali

September 5th, 2010 at 3:12 AM ^

I agree with your points, but I thought about it comparatively, gordon was supposed to suck and he was actually acceptable. When hE hit they seamed to be big hits and he was in on a lot of plays. Sure he got support from a constant blitzing of the qb by the defensive front. But still he was out there and his true first time, he also had that semi-field goal block, and on the flip side missed a tackle on the big play that UConn had! ie, compared to my original expectations he was super great, let's hope he gets better and at least doesn't regress.
As for the RB, they did run through the same holes, but I still believe that the handoff takes time to develop and helps the defense in coverage, versus the direct snaps that Denard (the bullet, shoelace, lightning bolt) Robinson gets. Anyways, this is just a game against UConn regardless of how good everyone says they are, I won't be sold on everyone until Big Ten play starts and that is still 3 games away, so let the testing begin.

Hoken's Heroes

September 4th, 2010 at 10:26 PM ^

...and then the wheels fell off. My point is that let's see Denard show consistency because you can bet that he'll make mistakes this season. And it pisses me off that I wasn't able to watch the game and my DVR didn't record it for some reason.

 

Great way to start off the 2010 season. Let's hope the team gets better and better each week.

 

GO BLUE!

ChrisLorenz

September 5th, 2010 at 4:44 AM ^

1) Does anyone else think that Michigan should have called timeout before the UConn TD play? It seemed to me that as the half was nearing the end a timeout there may have had little adverse affect and would have allowed the defense to gather themselves to try to make a big stop on UConn.  Probably wouldn't have mattered seeing how Michigan struggled spectacularly in short yardage plays yesterday, but just curious what ideas might have been as to why not to call timeout there?

2) I was disappointed to see so few depth players get significant playing time.  I know that the game wasn't a complete blow out but I felt like the last drive Michigan had could have been conducted by the second string offense, maybe they would not have effective and therefore it would have been a bad idea, but anyway, it seems like some key players on both sides of the ball played late into the game during which time the game had already been decided and therefore just leaving them open to the chance of picking up a needless injury.  Anyway, it is nitpicking I know but again just curious of others thoughts.

 

Other than that a great win, and I am hoping that next weekend I will feel as positive on Sunday.

Bronco Joe

September 5th, 2010 at 7:27 AM ^

1) The quick play was a gimmick that worked - in the stands everyone was looking around saying, "What just happened?" I think you're right, though. When everyone ran to the line and the D was not ready, someone should have called a TO. Regardless of how the team was on short yardage (I think they had a couple of stops...) they should have taken the opportunity. If they had and it's 21-3 at the half, then UM scores to start the 2nd half, all those second team O players start getting into the game... 

2) The problem was the 1st offense was needed for that last drive, playing defense. Seeing D-Rob stand at the line, watching the play clock tick down, then the crowd starting to cheer in support as they realized the game was in hand - truly a moment to remember for this team. They needed the 1st team to grind out a couple more first downs. I believe they were about 1 more first down from not giving the ball back.

There will be plenty of time to get the depth chart into the game against UMass and BG. 

m1jjb00

September 5th, 2010 at 3:30 PM ^

I was also wondering about the time out.

I noticed Stonum wasn't back on one of the later kickoffs. 

The punt doesn't bug me at all. 

As RR said during the press conference, the wind weirdly shifted just before the opening kick and Gibbons was punting into it.  Did he slip on the miss field goal?  I thought I saw him getting off the turf.  There's no excuse for the extra point.

As for the run defense, was it really bad?  I recall rather late in the game seeing only 50-something yards for UConn rushing, though I could be or the scoreboard could have been wrong.  Some of our tackles were a little high.  UConn is a good running team, with one of the better lines we'll see this year.