What is the MGoCoach in you looking at on Saturday?

GRIT

Rotation on the DL - Who gets the most snaps of Henry, Wormley, Charlton, and Ojemudia?

Interior OL combo blocks - Who is better: Kalis-Miller or Glasgow-Miller? This will be especially important against ND.

Chesson - How good is his pass blocking and how is his route running?

Gardner's feet - Is he more comfortable setting his feet and how are his throws on timing routes?

I want to see if our D can strip the ball and get more Interceptions this year. We have been good on D but I want to see if we take the next step and be great.

Running backs. Is Fitz back to 2011 form? Out of Hayes/Green/Smith who sees the most production at this point? 

Post-game posbang! (wait . . . I haz a sad)

Really want to see all three phases look good.  3 and outs on D.  Sustained drives with some of this vertical passing and play action we've been hearing about.  I also want to see Wile punt the bejesus out of the football. 

I want to see the offensive scheme now that Denard Robinson is out of the picture. I don't think we'll just be able to line up and overpower people, so how does Borges utilize Gardner, Toussaint, Gallon, Funchess, etc. to the best of their abilities?

How the OL and the DL perform when not lined up across from each other. We need an A grade DL and a B grade OL (at least)

1. No draws on 3rd and long

2. Play action on 1st down

3. Screens of any sort would be nice

4. Guards pulling and actually hitting their assignments

5. Ability to move the line of scrimmage on 2nd/3rd and short.

Our punt coverage was poor to bad last year.   Too often we gave up easy yards on the transition and played behind on field position.   Our punters do a good to great job getting the ball downfield, it would be nice to see a significant improvement in coverage.  Helps your defense immediately if you don't cede 10+ yards per transition. 

a really big play takes place? 

1. Pass rush

2. No big plays

I believe the O-line will get where it needs to be, but I want this team to hang its hat on defense.

Special teams blocking.  I want to see Norfleet busting a long punt or KO return with the help of some effective special teams blocking.  

1. I want to see Michigan dominate the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.
2. I want to see Manball in action: Kalis going to Lewan actually working....preferably with Kalis getting to the LOS before Fitz (or Drake, or Derrick, or DeVeon or Tom)
3. I want to see Michigan's defense being fast (preferablly the regular players not giving up a TD) and scheme sound.
4. I want to see the 4th quarter go by quickly, cause Michigan is running clock, and about mid way, i'd like to see young players in the game getting PT and experience.

Looking for new home so I will be looking at 3 houses (before noon) on Saturday

honestly, right now my only real concern for this team is Jarrod Wilson and TE blocking(only slightly) (also Devin's health)....seems like a lot of shuffling going on back there and the past decade has not been nice to our safeties for the most part.

I think the reason we haven't gotten consistent D Line pressure in the past 5 years was depth....we have that now. That means lots of fresh and faster bodies and more mixed packages across the front to confuse the opposing O-lines a bit. Twists and stunts for days in a nickel package on 3rd down.

Only O line game I'm worried about is Notre Dame becasue it's early...i think they will out-physical the crap out of CMU, and gel and improve with each game.

According to MaizeMan over at GMBWolverine, the depth and phyicallness of both lines far surpasses anything we have seen in quite a while, at least since '06. He also said he hasn't been this excited about a squad since 2003, and we probably should have only lost to USC that year. And apparently Mattison is making 97 d-line comparsions...good sign.

A lot of people are freaking out about our receivers sukcing...but Gallon has proved himself. Dileo is a sneaky bastard. I hear Chesson is a burner and he has good scrimmage film against a good defense. Reynolds looks servicable, jury is out on Jackson still. Plus we have a proven pass catching tight end in Funchess, AJ Williams as a backup at 265 (blocker hopefully), and Butt seems to be all over the practice film getting open and has great hands and size, plus he performed well in the spring game.

Needless to say, I am not too concerned about this team...the only matchup the whole season where they might be overmatched is ND on the defensive front against our O-line, and that is yet TBD...i just think that game is a slugfest and a toss up. Every single game is very winnable with no most-likely losses...it's been a long time since we could honsetly say that. Our team just has to be ready and focused each game though, unlike many Carr teams. I think we have the staff and squad to do it big this year (and years to come) and be in Indy in December.

 With all that said....knock on wood. go blue.

NORFLEET! return for a touchdown.

Accuracy and timing on offense...fitz break a big run and juke someone out of their shoes.

and outs for our defense, and plenty of 1st downs for our offense, both in the air and on the ground. In short, I am looking for domination, especially in the trenches.

Can we run between the tackles.  Everything else will work itself out.  I trust Mattison to have a solid, physical defense no matter the parts.  Soon enough they will be dominant with the right depth and star players, but for now, we can assume his units will always at worst hold down the fort.  Passing game will be fine, Devin and recievers will be solid.  But everyones role, the whole management of the game, both offensively and defensively, gets so much easier if we can grind out yards. So as most have said on here, the biggest variable for this team is how the interior O-line performs. 

Dennis Norfleet.

Gardner accurracy and interior D-line penetration.

I'll be looking to see if Al's "Manball" offense looks more like the '08 Cap One Bowl offense than it does a DeBord 2.0 offense . . . run twice up the middle for 2 yards, pass to the flat on third and 8 for only 6 yards, punt on fourth and 2 even inside the 35.  Anything but that.  

I'll be looking for "SmartManball".

*

Like everyone else I want to see the interior of the offensive line play well.  To expand further on that, I want it to look like Touissant is back to his old form because he gets a lot of yards up the middle, which everyone knows is all on the interior.  In my mind that is everything this year.  A good running game up the middle controls almost everything about the game.  The clock, how much our defense is on the field, Gardner's safety, and giving our receivers room.

Most excited to see all the new talent debut (specifically Dymonte, Taco, Jehu and Kalis) but I'm expecting the following:

1) Dominant interior running game

2) No blown coverages.  The individual talent on the DL and secondary is improved / more experienced and that should translate to a much better pass defense.  Big plays due to mental mistakes (against an inferior opponent) would be troubling.

3) Multiple TE's having an impact in the passing game

First and foremost will be Devin's playing. I have full confidence in him, but I want to see how much he has progressed now that he has had a full off season knowing he is the starter.

Offensive line is the second thing I want to see. Some thing they will not be excellent, but I think they will be good. In particular, I want to see how Kyle Kalis has progressed.

Third is the defensive line. They were pretty good last year, but I expect them to be better this year.

I'll be either streaming the game or listening to it on Sirius/XM radio.

Post-game numbers I'll look for:

• Offensive yards on 1st down -- this is a proxy for OL and RB production.
• Offensive 3rd down conversion -- ditto

The above numbers will indicate the health of the running game.  If the running game is healthy, then Gardner's passing opportunities should open up and those numbers will follow and be good as well.

• Defensive 3rd down conversion -- rough proxy of overall defensive effectiveness
• Defensive sacks -- as indication of effectiveness of pressure
• Defensive tackles by position group -- as rough measure of D-Line effectiveness

The ideal is a very low percent of 3rd down allowed, and most of our tackles being made by the defensive line personnel.

This is finally Al's offense, right? I have not recovered yet from the 2nd half of the OSU game.

I'm interested to see how the newer players do:

• Glasgow . . . does he get push? Help in the pulling, creating holes?
• Miller . . . snapping ability, connection with Devin, creating space.
• Funchess . . . does he block better? Is he targeted more?
• Chesson & Reynolds . . . catch anything? In the game?
• Green & Smith . . . any decent runs?
• Heitzman & Wormley:  who gets penetration?
• Black & Henry:  what are they doing?
• Clark:  is he consistent? Is he getting pressure?
• Wilson & Clark:  Kovacs was a huge loss. How are our safeties doing?
• Stribling, Hollowell, Thomas. How much do they see the field? How much do they stand out.

The one general area I'm interested in, beyond the new players, is special teams. Does our coverage improve? How does Norfleet do on returns?

is Drake Johnson really second on the depth chart?

Not the pistol.  Don't give ND any scouting material and unleash a chunk of 10-12 plays on them in two weeks. /Not looking ahead

so I will miss the game entirely (not even a cell signal available).

I'll record it, and my secondary interest after winning will be whether Shane gets over/under 15 min of (non injury) game action.