What's the strategy for Iowa?

I think the team really needs to relax and play the game they know how to play.  I'm not saying we would have beat MSU if our execution had been on par with our other games this year, but if our guys are doing what they know how to do we're in this game 100%.  Just got to get over the mental side of the loss and play on. 

You sound fired up.

I think you keep up the pressure and the look of the Dline.  Offense sticks with the system but hopefully adds in Tousaint.  The biggest changes (most amount of work) will go into defending the middle of the field.  I listened to Sam Webb yesterday and today, and I think he is right.  If we can't work through our deficiencies behind the defensive line, the run could kill us as badly as the pass.  What remains to be seen is whether scheme adjustment alone will work.  I personally think (although I don't attend practice) that we really ought to consider testing some of the younger players at those positions. 

I honestly believe that if we score more points than them, we should win.

Please win because this will be my first time in about 6-7 years ( don't care to look it up but it was when we murdered Houston woo...hoo) that I will be at the Big House. I hope that is the strategy.

I think Denards ability to read and execute the zone option will be the determining factor in this game. Iowa has a very good d-line that plays very aggressive. I have noticed that they often tend to get a little to aggressive and over-pursue. If he can get the ends guessing early it could lead to some big plays on the ground.

same Defensive philpsophy as MSU. We should be ready with plays that allow Denard to run or use the fake run as a weapon. His strength isn't hanging out in the pocket and throwing into a window, but Iowa will almost force Michigan to do this, unless we counter with something else.

Defensively, we'll still give up 30-37 points, but if we execute on O, don't give up any special teams points, and get a TO or 2, we should be fine.

There are not many positives from Saturday, repeating almost anything from that game will be disasterous.

It would be nice if 1/4 to 1/3 of the crowd wasn't rooting for the opposition.  Bill Martin's lasting legacy will ultimately be negative as more and more Michigan Stadium is not any where near what it used to be.  The gross raising of ticket prices drove many season ticket holders out and the AD is holding those tickets and not reallocating them to new season ticket holders.  They seem to be selling them on a game-by-game basis and the oppostion is buying way too many seats and despite the new enclosures and the "larger" stadium, we don't have the "advantage" that was sold to the fanbase.

That and the results on the field and basketball floor leave something to be desired.

Well our defense did handle MSU for the first quarter. The keys for the Iowa game are getting ahead early and maintaining momentum. The INT in the end zone killed our momentum and it was downhill from there.

MSU is also ranked the 14th best offense in the country, to Iowa's 34th ranking. And oddly enough Iowa is a worse rushing team than passing team. Theoretically we should be able to handle Iowa easier than MSU. But it's all about that quick score. Our defense isn't good enough to keep Iowa from scoring the whole game and we aren't going to win a defensive struggle.

On offense, I want us to play to our strengths.  I think Denard and the play-calling got away from that a little bit and it led to some mistakes.  Let's get it started on first downs and play downhill from there.  2nd or 3rd and long against Iowa's tough D will be playing uphill and may lead to more mistakes.

On defense, I thought the boys played hard.  I do think Iowa's passing game is much more potent than MSU's, so getting pressure on Stanzi is a must or we will see some shades of Indiana again.  Iowa's tandem of WRs is possibly the best duo we'll see all year.   I'm glad Moeaki is in the NFL.

Most of all, I just want us to play up to our potential so we can get a true measure of where we currently stack up against a top half of the Big Ten team. 

I have emerged from my padded room.  The docs say a couple of weeks on medication and "the visions" should stop.  I sure hope so.

Iowa.  In my opinion, GERG made the mistake of believing that our defense was capable of "stacking" against anything against State. big mistake, my friend, big mistake.  Defensively, establish your base defense and play it consistently.  Regardless of how hard this defense tries, it cannot plug every gap, it cannot flat out take away the run.  If it tries to, we are going to see Cam Gordon fail to catch many-a-running back in the next few weeks.  Defensively, sag, sag away.  True, the bubble screens and wide receiver screens are going to drive us crazy, and there will be agonizing games.  But perhaps we can avoid getting gashed the way we did against State.  It is too late to turn this defense into a good one(this year), so lets just have a bad one where we at least know where, when, and how the bad is going to happen.

A lot of Denard, and hope for more than 35 out of the offense.

or what defense should be used, but I'm really hoping that Mike Shaw is 100% healthy against Iowa.  He seems to take pressure off of Denard as a viable option to run the ball or catch it out of the backfield.  He must have been hurting against MSU because he only played sparingly with a brace on his knee.  I'm not going to add any defensive strategies because the coaches will decide what to do in that regard.  It's glaringly obvious that this team will need to score about 30 points to win games and I think Shaw provides a spark to the offense.

Execute

The offensive and defensive strategies were fine:  execution was the key.  The poor denard throws and numerous missed tackles were what cost us that game.  If we take the game plan handed down and execute, Iowa is a winnable game.

Asking Obi to execute isn't asking too much, is it?

Everyone was commenting how disgusting it was to see all that red in stands last year.  I was at both games and the roars I heard Saturday every time MSU scored was unbelievably loud.  Their touchdown to open the third qtr sounded like we scored.   I was at the mouth of the opening to section 44 when that TD happened and it really loud when they scored.  It's unacceptable.

let stanzi fuck up

 

Because in this rebuilding effort, I've seen a lot of losses happen, but I'm still waiting on the great victories....

No need to freak out, there are 6 more games that should yield 2 - 3 more wins and a trip to a bowl game. Yes this was a frustrating loss but not shocking given State's experience and skill at key positions and Michigan's lack of the same on defense.

Long ass drives. If Denard or Shaw break loose, they must take a knee immediately. Average 4 yards a carry with a standard deviation of about 1 yard. No quick scores. On-side kicks. Keep the defense rested. 

Winning the turnover margin is key.  If we score two TDs on our first two drives (which wasn't that far off) then I think it's a different ballgame.  I think they will stress ball control in practice this week, I just hope Denard doesn't over-think the wide open TD opportunities and plays "tight".  Making smart decisions during a big game vs. a good secondary is very hard to do.

I think Denard pulls it down and runs often this game, which is fine with me!!!

not white jerseys.  We'll have to throw to win this game, and I know we can do that.  Denard will get back on track.  Pressure Stanzi and we have a great chance at home. 

I think we do exactly what we did against Sparty. We might see some other personnel getting some snaps, though. Our first two drives, we went right down the field. We would have been up 10-0 if it weren't for the interception and it would have been 14-0 if we had a little more aggressive play calling on 3rd down.

He looked good in his limited action with MSU (why didn't he get the ball more????) Let the big boy move the line.

Remove the turnovers and MSU is a different game. Flip the TO's and even better
<br>Nothing radical is needed. D is not going to dramatically improve. Must have Denard magic this week, must not beat ourselves. But Obi needs to sit, hate to pile on - I audibly gasped when he overran the second long TD run. Time to put in some younger guys there, no Moundros. I will claw for every win this season and concede nothing to gaining experience for next season - except at that position. And only because I agree with many on the board who don't think it can get worse. Still love the guy though

is to mix it up on D more.  At Indiana we were a bit too passive and with MSU we were too aggressive IMO.  Yes, the 3 man rush has a place in our defense.  No, the 4 man rush is not some magic bullet for stopping the run.  Blitzing has its place but should be used sparingly.

My hope is that the coaches are on their game this week, looking for the best opportunities to get aggressive and learn when it is appropriate to play softer against Stanzi.  I think MSU's film will give the Iowa O-Coord a bit more to think about; we weren't a 1 dimensional BBDB team and now we just have to keep them guessing and hope we don't get burned in coverage.  I have nightmares of Stanzi's perfectly thrown 3rd and long balls to well-covered receivers.  If he's on their offense will be difficult to stop.  MOAR RICK SIX PLZ

Yes, Denard had a crappy game.  He threw three picks, looked rushed and just didn't find his groove (despite 300 yards of offense).  Much of that is on him being a first year starter.  But, much of it is on our complete inability to establish a non-Denard running game.  It was pretty obvious that MSU keyed in on Denard on the zone read, with the reasoning that even if he gives to Smith, someone will make the tackle or, at most, it will be a small gain.  I expect that Iowa and all of our future opponents will make this same call, because it is the correct call.  Until we have a viable RB who can make teams pay for keying in solely on Denard, we will be less effective against solid defenses. 

I really like Smith's heart - he has a ton of grit, plays clean and is a great blocker - but he is either clearly not 100% recovered from his ACL injury, or just lacks the speed / size combo (you need one of them) to really be effective.  Not only did State's D key in on Denard on the zone read, but on numerous other drives, Smith gained 2 (or less) on either first downs (putting Denard in a hole) or on 3rd downs (effectively ending drives).

I guess that I can't understand why, given Smith's lack of effectiveness, RR won't go with Hopkins.  On his limited carries, he looked great.

We gave up around the number of points most people were expecting we would.  Though I think the defense can still improve, the problem was killer turnovers and missed scoring opportunities.  I'm taking it as an aberration and looking for a bounce back this week.

and bringing the safety's up into the box.  Their plan was clear - take away Denard's running and take your chances on the other backs and Denard's passing.

Much as it pains me to say it, this was the exact correct call to make - 3 picks, no long runs by Denard or Smith/Shaw/Hopkins, several key stops on third and short. 

Expect Iowa to do the same thing until we can prove that it is a mistake.  We MUST make them pay for loading up the box like that, and we must do it early in the game.  Our tight ends and slots will need to have a big day.  Is it time to re-introduce the pitch out option that Oregon does so well? 

Our strategy: Win and not let our 5-0 start, 1st loss hangover, 2009 Sparty No implosion happen again.

An immediate change would be to stop handing off to Smith on 1st down.  His predictable two-yard runs aren't doing the offense any favors.  It's almost like RR is channeling Carr on those calls.

... just need to adjust better, MSU was a wakeup call, not as much for the players at it was for the coaching staff. As much as we got outplayed, we just got outcoached. On offense they seemed to come with alot of run blitzs at the right time, but on D they directly took advantage of the 3-3-5 because of poor play by the linebackers. The run D played so good for the first half. I was so proud of the unit, but second half they took advantage of our run blitzs with counters and we had no answer. Also in the first half we came with alot of pressure and it worked, but when they started picking up the pressure it left those young corners all alone. I underestimated don treadwell, but the good thing for us is we most likely won't have to face an offensive coordinator like him for the rest of the year.