September 17th, 2016 at 7:33 PM ^
Awesome! Except letting two punts land and bounce, oh, and Kenny...excellent.
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September 17th, 2016 at 7:36 PM ^
Except for those two missed FG's
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September 17th, 2016 at 7:38 PM ^
Damn my fat fingers.... to finish my thought, wonder if Harbaugh is getting the lighter fluid out for Nordin's Red Shirt
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September 17th, 2016 at 7:34 PM ^
This is the one I had but for some reason didn't post. The connection here at the stadium is....well, it reminds one of the wild west days of wi-fi, but then 110,000 people are right now on their phones trying to tell people in distant corners of the world how this one turned out. I won't complain, I guess.
September 17th, 2016 at 7:34 PM ^
Partridge >>>>>Baxter?
September 17th, 2016 at 7:34 PM ^
the first 3 games.
September 17th, 2016 at 7:35 PM ^
Good Call creating this. Special Teams was awesome today except for the kicking game. But Peppers on Special Teams is fun to watch. I hope Peppers returns for TDs a few more times this year (especially in rivalry games).
I can't believe they block punts like crazy. Don't know how many teams would have done that this many times in two games. Probably some kind of a record.
September 18th, 2016 at 8:56 AM ^
I think it is funny to say our special teams was great today, except for maybe half of our special teams...but I get what you are saying. Kenny Allen had an abysmal day. Seemed like he was off: two missed manageable field goals, absolutely garbage punting, and seemed to not have the leg on kick offs that he typically had.
September 17th, 2016 at 7:35 PM ^
We good.
September 17th, 2016 at 7:36 PM ^
Remember when we were all worried and upset when Baxter left for USC?
Yeah.....me neither.
September 17th, 2016 at 8:47 PM ^
I figured we'd be better this year. As a rule of thumb, just take the opposite of what Brian says . Special teams won't be as good? Check. O Korn will start? Check. Allen is guarantee from inside the 40? Check. Desmond Morgan is the ideal linebacker? Check. Serious lol on that one. You can follow this line back years with his comments and predictions. He's almost always wrong.
September 18th, 2016 at 7:20 AM ^
you sound like a real fun guy. or what others would call a d*ck.
* isn't a,e,o,u, or even y, by the way.
September 17th, 2016 at 7:36 PM ^
Kenny Allen was hitting line drives all game. Zero hang time. We need to reduce the burden on him
September 17th, 2016 at 8:15 PM ^
When we weren't kicking, everything was great. When we kicked, things were not good at all.
Allen missed the two FGs obviously, but more importantly, his punts were sh** all day.
September 18th, 2016 at 1:20 AM ^
How does the "burden" of kicking field goals affect the hang time on his punting?
September 17th, 2016 at 7:37 PM ^
kicking game is a concern
September 17th, 2016 at 7:38 PM ^
Allen's double dipping as P and K is going to end up costing this team at some point.
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September 17th, 2016 at 7:39 PM ^
Kenny Allen was either drunk or hurt
September 17th, 2016 at 7:40 PM ^
Special teams is, well, really special. I can't recall the last time our special teams played consistently well as they are now. Enjoy the sunshine Baxter.
Kenny looked a little woozy. I wonder if it's the violence
September 17th, 2016 at 7:41 PM ^
Rugby, too. I have a feeling special teams innovation might have gotten ahead of itself a little bit (or maybe it's just that the defense has caught up for the moment). Some coaches seem to think anybody can learn to punt a ball on the run and I'm sure it looks good in practice but a lot can go wrong under pressure and getting it right 2/3 of the time isn't good enough.
I know Kinney played club rugby in high school, but he was a prop. That's not the same.
September 17th, 2016 at 7:42 PM ^
Kicking game was terrible. Line drives punt mixed with the pro style punt formation doesn't end well. Would really like an explanation for why they're not running the shield punt formation. It will cost them a TD in the near future.
September 17th, 2016 at 7:53 PM ^
I think maybe Harbaugh's got the drop on the current version of the shield punt. That's two games in a row where we've been able to get four through onto the other team's three and at least one has gotten through clean, and we've had five blocks already.
And if the solution is that the linemen can't release, well, Peppers showed where that leads. If the linemen can't get downfield early the shield loses its advantage.
September 17th, 2016 at 7:56 PM ^
This.
Our special teams is helping us win games. Like, we get better at times when our special teams is on the field.
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September 17th, 2016 at 8:42 PM ^
I guess what I'm tentatively suggesting is this:
1. There are pressures that it's hard for the shield to hold up against. I have a feeling this discovery may have come from study of last year's MSU film.
2. That discovery has already been worth five blocks and a TD, or even two if you give part of the credit for the Peppers return today to the fact that the Colorado linemen didn't release.
3. If we ran the shield formation we'd either risk letting other teams do the same to us, or we fix it and show everyone how it can be fixed. I can see why this doesn't seem like a good idea for now.
4. Last year we had an Australian punter with plenty of experience punting a ball on the run, which at least created some possibilities for escaping that kind of pressure (not always enough possibility, as we saw last year). Colorado tried to respond to the pressure today by rolling out with a non-Australian kicker whose rugby experience was as a prop (sort of the equivalent of an OG) and thus didn't have the necessary skill, and the result was a kick to his own lineman's butt and some butt-ugly low kicks, one of which came back for a TD.
September 17th, 2016 at 7:55 PM ^
As others have pointed out, I can't really remember the last time special teams were a weapon instead of an "oh shit this isn't good" type of thing.
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September 17th, 2016 at 8:55 PM ^
and I am definitely concerned.
He didn't just miss - he missed terribly - no hopers.
His punts were *awful* - line drives with no hang time.
He repeatedly failed to put the ball inside the 10/20 - multiple touchbacks.
He looked like a 40 yard FG would require all of the prayers.
That's terrifying.
What the hell was wrong with him today?
He looked so good last year?
September 17th, 2016 at 8:56 PM ^
He only punted a couple times last year. Not like we had a big sample size.
September 17th, 2016 at 9:57 PM ^
I think he has even regressed since the first couple weeks this season. From his first couple kicks, I thought I could see a difference in his game - the ball just wasn't flying off his foot like normal. Then the first fg attempt i thought something wrong. He usually gets good loft and hang time. I hope he's not injured. Maybe just needs some rest?
September 18th, 2016 at 12:53 PM ^
a poor looking PAT if I remember correctly. That could have been due to a number of things, but in retospect, there could be more going on than we know. Of course we know nothing.
September 17th, 2016 at 9:09 PM ^
without ST. Huge isn't the right word for how important they were today.
September 17th, 2016 at 9:12 PM ^
Won us the game. Seriously
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September 17th, 2016 at 9:15 PM ^
14 pts.
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September 17th, 2016 at 9:28 PM ^
I guess Partridge is is pretty good. Had a Peppers in his Pear tree.
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September 17th, 2016 at 9:30 PM ^
I was worried when Baxter left, still concerned a little. Something to be said for coaching at such a high level for so long.
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September 17th, 2016 at 9:38 PM ^
Wearing Kenny Allen out with XPs and subsequent KOs. Need Nordin?
September 17th, 2016 at 9:58 PM ^
are much better than Colorado's
I mean seriously, they looked like RichRod's units, such a big difference to have competent coaching in that phase of the game.
September 17th, 2016 at 10:39 PM ^
Special teams is rocking the house this year. I am in awe.
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September 17th, 2016 at 11:08 PM ^
Special teams were awesome except for Kenny Allen. Two(ish) blocks and several great returns by Peppers. Kenny had a forgettable day
September 17th, 2016 at 11:39 PM ^
I swear, Colorado's punter was terrified by the middle of the second quarter. He took two delay of game penalties as he was trying to figure out how to get Michigan's punt rush blocked, and it looked like he was trying hard to kick it out of bounds -- he just couldn't.
By the end of the second quarter, the stadium was loud on fourth down. I think we felt we could will a third block. Or... maybe a punt return touchdown. ;-)
September 18th, 2016 at 8:33 AM ^
Special Teams probably won us the game -- we had at least 14 points and it set up another 7-10.
Kenny Allen had a horrible day -- I almost hope he was injured or sick.