Lots Riding on Today's Production from O
A lot rides on the production of the offense today. M obviously has no chance to win without a significant offensive production. But, larger than that, by this evening, we'll have a lot more information on whether last week was an anamoly (just a bad day) or if last week was the start of a trend. The trend being this offense will not be productive enough against stronger defenses (some have already reached that conclusion off of last weeks singlular data point).
If after todays game, poorer offensive performance appears to be a trend, there will be a lot of negativity and it wil be a long two weeks. Under that scenario, it is hard to imaginve many more wins against B10 non-bottom feeders. I personally don't think today is a "must win", but I do think it is a "must have significant positive offensive showing."
October 16th, 2010 at 9:15 AM ^
I think last week was a bit deceptive with how our offense moved the ball. Since we didn't have any huge gainers, people assumed our offense didn't move the ball. We really did move the ball but for whatever reason got away from the run (even still ran for 162) and depended on the pass and with that, came mistakes. Granted it wasn't a great performance, it wasn't like MSU completely shut us down -- but having said that, you're right -- today is going to be interesting to see how we bounce back.
October 16th, 2010 at 9:15 AM ^
Keep in mind that Denard had 2 picks in the inzone and 3 over thrown passes that were sure tds... That is 5 more touchdowns for blue, which means we would have won... The offense worked and will continue to work against big ten opponents, it was just an off day.. On the lighter side of things, I see Michigan pulling out the win today with UM being hungry and Iowa not as prepared for this offensive juggernaut.
October 16th, 2010 at 9:40 AM ^
I agree with you -- there were many significant missed opportunities last week (interceptions, overthrows, potential big gainers stopped by a shoestring tackle) that would have made a huge difference. I also tend to believe it was an off-week. But the point I tried to make in the OP was that if we miss similar opportunities today, it will become a lot harder to believe last week was just an "off week". You wouldn't expect to have two "off weeks" in a row.
October 16th, 2010 at 10:52 AM ^
Happened on drive we scored on, right? We didn't leave 35 points on the field...
October 16th, 2010 at 12:44 PM ^
Keep in mind that Denard had 2 picks in the inzone and 3 over thrown passes that were sure tds...
Inzone?
October 16th, 2010 at 1:39 PM ^
Sounds like an Italian sports car.
October 16th, 2010 at 9:17 AM ^
MIchigan's offense will find that the ultimate answer is, indeed, forty-two.
Michigan 42, Iowa 38.
And Denard will be back in the Heisman discussion after a "week off."
October 16th, 2010 at 9:35 AM ^
Everyone expects the defense to be bad and the offense to bail us out. We shall see. Go Blue!
October 16th, 2010 at 9:35 AM ^
I'm anxious to see how MSU (12:00) play's against a pretty decent Illinois team. I''ll use that as I did last week's "Indiana at Ohio st." as a small indicator of what to expect. Though I do think there's a chance MSU could be as flat as Indiana was last week.
October 16th, 2010 at 9:45 AM ^
Who is this MSU you speak of? I'm not familiar.
October 16th, 2010 at 9:35 AM ^
And in other analysis, Michigan has to score more than Iowa to win the game, the sky is blue, and insemination happens when sperm fertilizes an egg....
October 16th, 2010 at 9:38 AM ^
that we will be inseminating Iowa?
October 16th, 2010 at 9:59 AM ^
We'll be inseminating the sky. Pretty high level stuff going on right here.
October 16th, 2010 at 10:39 AM ^
Life starts at conception, love it or leave it pal!
October 16th, 2010 at 9:59 AM ^
...is that you don't have to define "anamoly" (sic) for us. We are quite an educated bunch, dare I say, an anomaly for a sports blog population.
October 16th, 2010 at 10:20 AM ^
Where do we draw the line between fan and incubus? What can the phenomenology of internal time consciousness tell us about the game starting in about five hours?
I think the defense will play well today, and would not be surprised to see Iowa held to under 30. Just so we are clear - how many points indicates a "good" defensive performance? 34.
October 16th, 2010 at 10:38 AM ^
Good song
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October 16th, 2010 at 10:17 AM ^
Hate to break it to you, but if "poorer offensive performance" is indeed a trend, it's going to be a long month-and-a-half. And an even longer off-season.
October 16th, 2010 at 10:29 AM ^
But also expect Denard to have an excellent game with a Michigan victory
October 16th, 2010 at 10:31 AM ^
The offense was VERY close to scoring 40 points last week, as odd as that sounds.
October 16th, 2010 at 10:54 AM ^
the result of this game is gonna come down to the offensive production? O RLY?
October 16th, 2010 at 11:06 AM ^
good post. This has been on my mind all week as well.
I was at the Iowa game last year. Iowa had a better defense and last year than they do this year. And conversely Michigan's offense is much improved. That said we moved the ball well with Denard running the O at the end of the game. It just makes sense that we would have similar, if not better success, this year on that side of the ball.
October 16th, 2010 at 11:27 AM ^
Yardage production was great last week, scoring not so much. The O is only going to slow itself down with things like penalties and TO's...but hopefully not!
October 16th, 2010 at 11:44 AM ^
Brian mentioned in the preview a feeling that maybe Iowa isn't down with doing anything special to defend the spread. Play the base defense and let er rip. They didn't appear to last year. It was Denard's best game. Let's hope that is the case again.
October 16th, 2010 at 1:04 PM ^
inzane!
October 16th, 2010 at 1:07 PM ^
lots riding on today's defensive performance? Maybe they can be slightly better than almost the worst in the country today. Showing some improvement in tackling and the like would make a huge impact on the game.
The offense is doing just fine, and even last week we had the yardage but just got derailed by turnovers.
October 16th, 2010 at 5:43 PM ^
Every time Michigan loses a game everyone want's to jump on the defense and point out how terrible they are. Well I have to put the blame on the offense. If there are no turnovers Michigan wins, if there are turnovers it is a loss.