Quick takes from ND win (fill 'em in!)
Three things that entered my mind after the game. Feel free to reply with your own Quick Takes.
1. MINOR RAGE was a huge upgrade in the inside running game.
2. ND's line is much improved, but they were holding Michigan pass rushers all day long.
3. Tate Forcier is...the real deal.
September 12th, 2009 at 10:08 PM ^
4. Stevie Brown was the glue that held the defense together today. He made key play after key play.
September 12th, 2009 at 10:40 PM ^
I love Stevie. I hope he plays like this all year and shuts some of the haters up.
no homo
September 12th, 2009 at 10:09 PM ^
1. I agree 100%. I was screaming at my TV to just run the damn ball with Minor up the middle. RR listened :D
2. I agree 100%. I saw Brandon Graham in a headlock half of the time. But they are a lot better than I thought they would be. Their run game was phenomenal.
3. Tate is now one of my favorite players on this team. He has joined Brandon Graham, Brandon Minor, Kevin Koger, and Donovan Warren.
September 12th, 2009 at 10:43 PM ^
"3. Tate is now one of my favorite players on this team. He has joined Brandon Graham, Brandon Minor, Kevin Koger, and Donovan Warren."
You, me and everyone else.
September 12th, 2009 at 10:11 PM ^
5. Kevin Koger is very important to the offense's success.
September 12th, 2009 at 10:12 PM ^
6. Agreeing with Tom Hagan, Stevie Brown was everywhere and is now living up to his practice hype.
7. I personally thought that the CB's played well, despite what the box score says. Cissoko has to cut down on his trash talk though.
8. I would've just blitzed like none other and forced Jimmah to throw and stay calm, but GERG won us the game so no arguments here :).
September 12th, 2009 at 10:25 PM ^
I think Cissoko needs to cut down on being bad. He was awful today, ND recognized it and exploited him all game. Donovan Warren, however, played a very strong game.
September 12th, 2009 at 10:37 PM ^
But it's not like Floyd is your average receiver, though, he is definitely an elite player. Not many CB's could cover him well. Cissoko didn't do amazing, no, and could for sure improve his play, but our other options behind him would've been worse, to say the least.
September 12th, 2009 at 10:52 PM ^
We also don't know if he was at 100% after getting hurt last week. floyd is going to make a lot of good players look bad.
September 12th, 2009 at 10:12 PM ^
1) The team. The team. The team.
2) Haters of the present regime can now officially suck it.
September 12th, 2009 at 10:12 PM ^
Yeah. ND fans are whining and whining about the refs, but their O-Line blatantly held all day long. Not those little "it could be holding on any play" holds but outright tackles.
Sorry:
1. Tate is as real deal as a Frosh can be.
2. We need to work on tackling running backs.
3. ND has a sad.
September 12th, 2009 at 10:45 PM ^
At one point, the announcers were talking about how penalties were "killing the Irish," and they showed a table which said the teams were something like two yards apart in total penalty yardage.
I thought I was listening to NBC for a moment.
September 12th, 2009 at 10:12 PM ^
No offense to the rest of our backs b/c they are all good, but Rage is on another level.
I love how tate shrugged of that pick. It didn't even phase him.
September 12th, 2009 at 10:18 PM ^
The defense got extremely exposed on the delay plays, specifically the screens and draws. ND gashed the LBs on the same seal draw to the right side every time.
There is an issue with over pursuit with this defense currently. It's not necessarily a problem--just a factor of young players that want to make a tackle. This hopefully will be countered by the MSU game.
Other than that, the coverage is as good as one can expect, Forcier is a kid that understands the game of football beyond his years, and the running game will continue to develop. It was better this week.
Also, Hemingway is important to this offense as a deep threat. The lack of a deep threat allowed ND to focus their defense 10 yards from the LOS. There was not much of a threat beyond the yard marker. The team needs a deep threat to make the bubble screens more effective.
September 13th, 2009 at 2:52 AM ^
in the first half they caught us in blitzes on third down, but in the third quarter we totally blew up their screens. GERG did a great job at halftime.
September 12th, 2009 at 10:21 PM ^
His ability to preform under the gun and still complete passes he's amazing at seeing the field and recognizing the blitz.
September 12th, 2009 at 10:27 PM ^
1. Minor is a bad ass!
2. Tate can read a D purty dern good
3. Tate makes quick decisions, and right(mostly)
4. The corners played good against two top tier(or close) WRs. Sure they lost several battles, but that one strip of Tate by Warren was HOT to save a TD.
5. Weis is retarded.....Um, just run the clock you dumb shamu wannabe.
6. STEVIE HAS FOUND HIS NICHE!
September 12th, 2009 at 10:30 PM ^
Eleventy-Three-Niner: Who needs Newsome or Beaver?
September 12th, 2009 at 10:44 PM ^
Michigan can play better on both sides of the ball than they did today? I DO! The next two games (Eastern & Indiana) will provide opportunities to heal and experiment with different players/schemes. They should be ready to play their best when they hit the meat of the Big Ten season. Bring on Sparty.
September 12th, 2009 at 10:48 PM ^
1) Tate is one special kid.
2) Rich is one special coach.
3) Its great to be a Michigan Wolverine.
September 12th, 2009 at 10:55 PM ^
5150 - your comment hit home that I'm glad Tate is our QB and not T.Pryor. How about the difference between their post game interview comments. Tate is proving to be rock solid on AND off the field. We are lucky to have him.
September 12th, 2009 at 10:57 PM ^
Agree with your posts.
1. Great win. Composure was showed throughout the ranks. We beat a REALLY good team today.
2. Defense is very, oh so very, thin. Front lines needed more subs to stay fresh. We got torn up on the ground, which was surprising.
3. Secondary needs a little more speed, and needs to get comfortable with bumping at the line of scrimmage. Booboo may be hurt a little?
4. Roh needs more meat fast. He seems to have a great head and spin moves. He will have a hard time putting the weight on during the season, though. He is going to be an absolute monster on the edge once he adds to his frame.
5. Matthews has great hands.
6. M's receiving corps is getting depleted.
September 13th, 2009 at 4:16 AM ^
1. We faced the best receivers on our schedule and won. With all the anxiety about our CB depth, this should be somewhat of a relief. The backups will gain valuable experience in the next two games for when they get tested against the spread teams of the big 10 or due to injury.
2. Tate has room for improvement. He missed a number of reads in the running game in the first half. This was corrected in the second quarter, when MINOR RAGE took over. His lack of hand offs (only five to RBs in the first half) badly hurt the time of possession (18:41 to 11:19). Learning this will balance the offense and hopefully lessen the amount of carries he gets, which I think is a little high, IME. Rushing yards should be there for Minor's taking.
3. Ascendance of Happy Michigan-Quarterback Loving God