6-17 for 49 yards (2.9 y/a) with an interception.
Before this trains gets out of the station, please note the following quote from this blog:
"I'll go in and grab all the Mallett plays to evaluate how he did. (Not well is your answer.)"
The critique isn't of Clausen's performance, it's of the breathless response to that performance.
I'm skeptical that Ron English will properly gameplan to stop this.
At the same time I would still give the advantage to Mallett. He's got way better receivers to work with and an infinitely better running game, even if Hart doen't get one hand-off all game. Minor and Michigan's O-Line is much better than what ND has.
Back to the D. The key to the game IMO is Michigan's LBs and Safeties. Can they not suck? Can they make decent pursuit angles? Can they not overrun every play? The D-Line has been solid and Trent has been pretty good.
Will they insist on lining up Crable in a 3-point over a tackle?
Ron English went from Genius to Goat faster than anyone I can ever remember.
anthony, A-freakin-men. I have NEVER seen a defense get so crappy so fast. Ever. Never ever. How'd it happen? It can't ALL be English and it can't all be Woodley and Branch. it is truly mind boggling. We must get it fixed. But how?
I would suggest that your defensive players just aren't that talented.
Anyway, I would be encouraged by Clausen's performance if I was an Irish fan (shudder the thought). There was no way he was ever throwing downfield in the first place. ND's receivers are utter crap and their offensive line blows, so Clausen wouldn't have had any time to let the WR's get more than 10-15 yards downfield before he was decapitated.
Then there's the whole matter of him trying to go through his progressions and make the correct decision and then throwing the ball on one of the best back-7's in the nation while Dan Connor made prank calls to a local funeral home arranging Jimmah's funeral.
I have never, never, never seen PSU blitz so much in my life. Every play, we were coming with two or three extra guys.
At Michigan, Clausen's job is a little easier. He won't be under as much pressure. The Wolverine secondary kind of stinks, to be charitable. The stadium won't be nearly as loud. He'll have a fighting chance to do some good things, I believe.
And not that I need to tack this on, but the Notre Dame blogs set an unreachable standard for delusion.
I think the D's problems are 85% playcalling and gameplanning, and 15% talent.
Not having a spy in the first 2 games is inexcusable and should get someone fired, yesterday.
Not utilizing Crable properly is ridiculous, even if Graham is banged up there has to be at least one other serviceable end on the team. If you're telling me Michigan has only TWO DEFENSIVE ENDS that can play than someone should be fired for that too.
As far as the tackling/pursuit angles/overrunning, people I tailgate with are football coaches and their theories are that Michigan probably doesn't practice enough at full speed. Knowing angles and reading plays only happens at full speed so if there isn't enough 'live' activity you are going to see a degradation in fundamentals. Of course, nobody can know that for sure, but it seems like a reasonable assertion. I wouldn't put anything past this coaching staff at this point.
I notice that is not a soda that Jimmah is drinking. Assuming he is not in Canada, then you can do the math and figure out he is breaking the law.
So Lloyd benches Slocum for putting a few swear words on his myspace profile. I wonder what Charlie has done to discipline Jimmah.
Not that I never had a drink before age 21. Just pointing out the differences in programs / coaches / etc.
Dude looks like Cory from the 80s.
I dunno. For a Freshman, Clausen looked pretty good to me. Throw away the stats, but it seemed like he had better footwork, delivery, and pocket presence than Mallett. Jimmah is, sadly and unfortunately, going to be good.
Wait, is Jimmy even in that picture? I thought that was just a garden-variety picture of guys from Jersey -- all of whom, apparently, get their hair cut with Flowbies.
Lol, Jimmah's friends are brownish areas with points.
Colin: +1 for making me involuntarily say "Hey brother."
No, that's not Jimmah. That's just a bunch of douchey guidos who like like Jimmah.
100 cocktails to Colin for the Arrested Development reference.
what a bunch of pretty boys. i bet they all went out to get their nails done & eyebrows waxed.
i would agree with anthony re: playcalling & skeme %ages. when they did spy, it was TT of all people. but i think it's a matter of even-man vs odd-man fronts. the even man front no work good vs spread. but, we use anyway. /caveman coach
Anthony:
Nice point on practicing at full speed. One thing I've noticed is that there appears to be a dearth of discussion on just why exactly our defense is so bad. I agree with you on the talent front -- we've got the players. My theories on our ineptitude is that (1) we don't develop team speed, and (2) our schemes just stink.
ESPN in its quest to, for the first time, reveal its true loyalty to Notre Dame, has renamed itself. It is now called the Jimmy Clausen Sports Network (JCSPN). Sorry Yankees, your no longer who's now.
Longtime fans of the who's now more better network will be comforted to find the same format on the hip website, but now with much better content.
http://www.jcspn.com/
Niiice, colin. I miss AD so much....
Unfortunately, I think Michigan is going to give birth to another ND 'legend' this weekend. Just don't see how U-M is going to score and I think Jimmah can get ND in the end zone at least once against this defense.
MSU will then throttle ND in South Bend next weekend (again!) and the circle of hell will be pretty much complete.
Yeah... I gotta disagree with Anthony... I think that with the 2 frosh QB's going at it, it will boil down to which team does the least to hurt their team. Given that ND has known for some time that Clausen will probably be their guy, and we fully expected Henne to be our guy... I gotta think that - from a game planning stand point - the Henne injury gives advantage to ND.
I concede that UM has better WR's, but I expect both D's to focus on stopping the run and forcing the other QB to beat them with the arm. Even with worse receivers, I gotta believe that Jimmah is more prepared to be "the guy" on offense than Mallett is.
Will be a nerve wracking game to watch.. because if we lose this week, we're surely getting DRILLED next week vs. PSU... an 0-4 start would be unbelievable and basically insurmountable for this team. Last week it looked like most of them have already mailed in the season.
Go Blue!
I don't think Michigan will score like gangbusters or anything (maybe 24 points or so), but I do think that Mallett will be singificantly better with a week of practice with the first team under his belt. Hopefully he won't be launching ICBMs into receivers' hands.
As for the defense, I think the problem is with schemes and confidence. Players seem lost and out of position on nearly every play, and I don't get the sense that they believe they can stop anyone. We saw glimpses of that confidence returning when they held Oregon to a FG on its first drive. Hopefully we'll see it again.
" One thing I've noticed is that there appears to be a dearth of discussion on just why exactly our defense is so bad. I agree with you on the talent front -- we've got the players. My theories on our ineptitude is that (1) we don't develop team speed, and (2) our schemes just stink."
Dave, I agree. i think it's 85% (2) and 15% (1). in the research i've done, it's all about the even-man front vs the odd man front. against the spread-option, i think it's best to go with the odd man front. this is actually a better defense against the run between the tackles, imo, and that's what the spread-option tries to do: run up the middle. just $0.02.
also, based on what i've seen, ND should go with Jones as the QB and run the spread-option. M chooses such a flawed front (the even man) against it, it's a safe bet to get 5-8ypc.
at the least, we KNOW M can't defend the S-O. but, imo, we don't really know if M can defend the pro-set. why not go with the sure thing if you're ND? If I were an ND fan and Weis doesn't go S-O vs M, i'd be uber-pissed. it's as close to a sure-thing as you can get in football. if Weis puts jimmah in most of the time, he's a flat-out idiot.
"Wait, is Jimmy even in that picture? I thought that was just a garden-variety picture of guys from Jersey -- all of whom, apparently, get their hair cut with Flowbies."
99% of us New Jerseyans hate these people, please don't associate us all with these d-bags.
Regarding the defense:
We lost 4 guys in the first 50 picks of the NFL draft. 4 players this talented can make almost any supporting cast look very good and compensate for many shortcomings.
If you remove Harris and Hall, in particular, from the 2006 Michigan defense I don't think it would have been nearly as good.
We have no linebackers this year and putting Crable on the line isn't helping that any. Until we get better linebackers or better linebacker play (not probable - speed and intelligence are hard to teach) expect more of the same.
The bigger problem that I see with the 2007 team is the offense. It needs to be scoring 40 points a game and should have been with the returning starters; this is clearly on the OC's shoulders. I would give anything to have Gary Moeller as the OC right now.
FWIW - Hall looked great in his NFL debut on Monday night.
Has there been any word about a suspension of Greg Mathews? I certainly think he should be on the bench at the very least for this week. That kick was ugly.
I have to guess that Clausen will throw downfield more this week.
My guess is that his first start in a hostile environment at PSU was designed by the coaches with a game plan to throw high percentage short passes to build confidence and see what the kid can do as far as basic performance in a game situation. '
The Michigan rush is not like PSU or Ga. Tech, I suspect that even against ND's anemic offensive line that Clausen will have more time to pass on deeper routes.
Don't be surprised if Weis has him throwing long from the get-go. What does either team have to lose...they both need to break out with a win this week to salvage any semblence of a season.
Remember the DeBord Threshold: Still 40-0 when holding opponents to under 30 points.
The only way I see us winning games from now on is not from outperforming the other team, but just by being less shitty than them. I propose the transitive verb undershitty to describe these scenarios.
Example: Both teams have played lousy football so far, so have a great chance to undershitty Notre Dame this weekend.
golden tate, snigger snigger...
Hall did look pretty good the other night btw...
On our linebackers, anyone hear anything on whether Mouton is close to overcoming whatever his injury was, and/or seeing the field?
Wow, I'm totally going to force the word undershitty into a conversation today.
Brian said:
But by God that's a special swing pass to Armando Allen.
Ah, but can the Blue D stop that "special" swing pass? The fact that it's a good question should make us all just a little bit nervous.
...
WRT the defense's suckitude, I weigh in with 50% talent 50% coaching. Just because these guys are 3 or 4 or 5 stars doesn't mean they'll turn out to be 3 or 4 or 5 stars. Just like the NFL draft, recruiting is somewhat of a crapshoot. Given what we've seen on the field so far, I think it's safe to say that our boys are a tad slow in the back four, a tad weak in the front four, and a combination of the two in the middle.
But let's not let the coaches off completely, because I refuse to believe this defense is as bad as it has looked. I've had a problem with Ron English ever since the Ohio State game, as he just kept blitzing and blitzing and blitzing on Troy Smith, which of course resulted in Smith calmly throwing where the blitz came from for a first down or a touchdown. Given our personnel in the back four, it was unrealistic to expect the pressure to rattle Smith into turnovers.
At that point, I knew that English was in the habit of trying to do too much, and at the expense of the overall game plan. And when you combine that attitude with less-than-stellar talent, you get a horrendous defense that repeatedly is made to look foolish by its own coaches.
Actually, the more I think about it, the more I hold the coaches responsible for the lack of talent on defense as well. It's their job to replace all of the NFL draft picks, and it's not like they can claim to be "surprised" by players graduating or going pro early.
So on second thought, it's really more like 80% coaching 20% talent.
I agree with the trepidation regarding the D's ability to stop the swing pass, forward pass, shit; anything actually. I have the worst feeling in the proverbial "sky is falling" sense that this will be a JC coming out party. ND fans will remember fondly in 'ought seven when a maligned Jimmah came to be a man.
I think I'd sepukku myself if that happened.
For the sake of the team, I hope the D does a 180 and helps Pickle Boy get use to many Wolverine Gang Sacks.
isn't that jimmah in the back in the pink shirt (only the collar can be seen)?
Looks that way, back right. I tink he might be naked from the waist down in the middle of that "manwich".
Kinda gives the term "brodeo" a new meaning, huh ?
We can't lose to a metrosexual QB.
We just can't.
cfaller96, i don't think blitzing vs smith is a bad idea, as long as you play tight coverage with the DBs. if you blitz you assume that theres isn't much time to throw to WRs on long routes. so, he'll just check down or hot-route to the button-hook receiver. if the CBs are off those WRs by 10 yards, then it's an easy completion (that's what happened- a series of 'long handoffs'). but if you play tight coverage, he can't go to those short routes, and he has no time to wait for the long ones to develope.
the fact is, TS was actually a really good pocket passer in college. he wasn't the scrambler that VY was, certainly. i think they were right to blitz TS, but wrong to blitz VY in the RB.
i really think, if ND goes to a pro-set offense, that this D will look MUCH better. the even man front they play is a better fit vs the pro-set than the spread-option.
Jimmah isn't in that picture. It's old and was all over myspace a year or so ago. Though I cannot fathom it, apparently lots of the kids are wearing their hair that way.
As for losing to a metrosexual QB, I think Tom Brady when I hear "metrosexual." I think a more appropriate term for Jimmah, or anyone who wears their hair that way, is the term Brian used in a previous post: "douche."
Is there any chance that Weis still has a hangover from what the defense did last year against ND, and thus will be more likely to try to play it safe? I mean, it's obviously a completely different defense this year, but perhaps he's still dumb-struck by what Ron English did to ND last year.
Wishful thinking? Maybe, but that's all I've got this year.
Chicagoblue... I wish, but no. Even Weis has seen that the book is out on our D. Can he exploit it the same way App State/Oregon could? No... but I fear that without better tackling from our LBs/CBs, that dink and dunk game against PSU could be more effective with a few broken tackle gainers.
FTR: Jimmah is not in the picture.
DanK, you're on the money re blitzing against Smith with buttery-soft corners. Classic passive/agressive. Nic Harris/Myron Rolle/Taylor Mays/etc. would have helped a bit, no? Who was the position coach during their recruitment?
Take a look at the defensive recruits in the 04, 05, and 06 recruiting classes. A bunch have left or washed out which is normal, but some of those were purported 4 stars. Aside from Branch in the 04 class, there's not an obvious difference-maker among them, just a bunch of guys who are just OK. Maybe some of them will shine, given the obvious opportunities this year, but it remains to be seen.
Then you've got a meathead 5-star like Slocum who sticks it out for two years trying to get eligible, and then gets pinched for a MIP two days before his first chance to play. That's a textbook illustration of "stepping on your own dick".
I'm confident we'll lose to ND. And MSU. And OSU. And PSU. And Wisky. 5-7 had to happen sometime in our lives.
Why don't I see a certain *Mike Hart* in the comments?
Did you see the ND run defense? If Mike Hart gets big chunks initially => more people in the box and relatively easy completions for Mallett.
That said, the first package coaches teach to Mallett should be to assign HOT ROUTES to receivers in case of blitz. ND will blitz exclusively and PSU will too. So that should be the first thing Mallett should know.
I think that coaching is a huge part of the problem with our D. Being at both games so far I have noticed that after approx 75% of the plays there are players yelling and pointing to each other about where they are supposed to be at during the play. It seems quite obvious to me that they do not know where they are supposed to be playing.
Off the cuff - Is it me or does Coach Carr seem a little more pissed than he did after the loss to ASU (I-AA style)? I think he will get much more involved in the coaching this week, which is a good thing. The apparent delegading to the OC and DC is, in my opinion, what has thrown the 80% (coaching) too far off!
As for Mallett being the starting QB, I think we will all be very pleasantly surprised by this guy. After he gets a series or two under his belt, I expect a 'wow' (notice the lower case letters).
Dank, you are right on about English trying to do too much, and with our lack of experience and questionable (at best) talent in the secondary (read everyone other than Morgan Trent here) that is a recipe for failure. English had a long leash. It's now gone. He's probably assisting Bedford with the secondary as we speak, and Lloyd is coaching the.
The comment about lack of practice is interesting. English was trying to teach these young guys a relatively complicated scheme. Presumably at the cost of full bore basic D practice. That would explain bad angles, and perhaps some element of bad tackling from out of position.
Is anyone else concerned that Mallett only had a lousy .560 completion rate in HS? I mean, WTF? Shouldn't almighty blue-chippers complete something like 70% of their passes in HS? And my fear about Mallett wasn't eased by what I saw last Saturday, either: big strong man, hurling ICBMs all over the place without the slightest hint of touch or accuracy.
I just hope he isn't so cocky that he tries to do too much and loses the game for Michigan by throwing a bunch of dumbass passes for INTs. If we don't have more turnovers than ND then I think our chances of beating them go way up.
Man, I didn't realize how intense I got with the language saying things like "I saw enough to be happy" and pointing out stuff he did wrong. Me and my crazy optimism...
Mike Hart should be options 1, 2, and 3, provided he is healthy enough. Until/If ND shows they can stop the run.
One thing that should really help Mallett is being the 1 guy in practice. Maybe he won't stare down Mario so much.
Curious to see what Ryan does on bootlegs off the play action- seems to roll out better than Chad.
Regarding his touch: He was definately firing "ICBMs," for much of the game, but they were right at the WRs hands- I expect AA or MM to catch those. Secondly, on his scramble he threw a nice touch pass- I think he's capable of switching speeds.
That said, my prediction is that Hart carries us for most of the game, but Ryan craps his pants when called on.
I think that Coach English's biggest shortfall is his inability to evaluate talent. I have always been underwhlemed by the guys he thought so highly of, and he didn't like Leon Hall when he was in HS either. Usually, that is evident in recruiting, but I wonder if his lack of talent evaluation, led to his/our dreadful D so far this year. Maybe he can simplify things (or Carr can for him) and we can get back on track. Thoughts?
CAUP,
There's so much context involved in high school numbers, that I really doubt it warrants mention. Things like accuracy and such are definitely noticeable on tape and, as a whole, high school numbers are really really difficult to adjust for. The talent gap is gigantic.
I will say that I do harbor some fears that Mallet is literally too big to perform some of the more subtle mechanics of throwing a football. It's got to be really easy for him to get long in the arm and, for that matter, difficult to take the snap and take his steps. He didn't look super smooth last week, that's for sure.
If we could just start from shotgun, give him hitches and outs and run the zone from shotgun, I think he'd have a much easier time of adjusting and being competitive early. On the long routes we love to run, we're going to see him stare down a lot of receivers and probably struggle with accuracy. He won't get the love from the crowd he did replacing Chad last week, that's for sure.
I think it will help Mallet to know more than 9 seconds before he's chucked into the fire.
On the subject of ICBM's, did anyone see the final play of Ravens/Bengals game? Boller threw the ball and I thought, Jeebus, that's a fast ball. Poor Heap was standing about 9 inches from him and could only slow it down with his chest. Right to a Bengal. Psst, Billick, your QB is Kyle Boller, you're a yard from the end zone. Pssst. Run.
EEKS, that's a nice fantasy, and one I share, but don't think I've ever seen a Michigan WR (or TE) intentionally break off a route in the face of a blitz ever.
irt talent evaluation: it's not like these kids were sought after by lots of other top-notch schools.
Then again, English's knee-jerk offer to Sears, who is horrendous, makes me want to knee that jerk.
my last post should've read "it's not like these kids WEREN'T sought after..."
I know they were sought after, and I think D Warren will be very good. Maybe its the Sears thing, Hall thing, and a bit of over-reacting. Many seem like "projects" and we should have some sure things. I guess the ROJO fiasco still hurts...
That second Rakes passage is faaacking hilarious.
We hear about him being this prima donna, but that wasn't the case at all. He got up after every hit . . .
As opposed to laying on the field and refusing to get up, as so many quarterbacks are wont to do these days.
. . . and was even getting on some of the wide receivers when they weren't on the same page as him.
Because nothing says "down-to-earth non-prima-donna" like a freshman QB yelling at his own older, more experienced receivers.
Honestly, even the state news agency of North Korea doesn't work this hard to prop up their Dear Leader.
Gnarls: Brady is all man. Nothing metro about him.
Let me say this for emu: when the pressure was on both from the scoreboard and Penn State's defense, he didn't pull a Chris Simms and start making ridiculously ill-advised throws into coverage, covered up by media types saying he's "trying to make a play" but really giving the game away.
So in a game where Notre Dame needed a big play, he didn't produce one, but at least he didn't produce a bunch of big plays for the Nittany Lion defense. This cycle of complete inertness kept Notre Dame in the game until the third quarter, when their offense stalled inside the Penn State 10 and they kicked a field goal to pull within 17-10. From there the big uglies took over, and despite Clausen's hairdo, Penn State was bigger and uglier.
"I guess the ROJO fiasco still hurts..."
losing Jai Eugene probably hurt too. i don't know what he's been doing lately, but you have to believe he'd be in the lineup at CB somewhere. ahead of Sears for sure. Eugene and Warren are MUCH better alternatives, it seems, to Sears and Harrison. alas, it will never be...
Topher,
That was highly dictated by Charlie Weis's gameplan. He has said that playcalling will be significantly different this time and Clausen will be given the nod to make throws in traffic, deep one etc.
I think we'll be burned for a TD and and the commentators go ga-ga we'll see him throw an interception too.
While Mallett was pretty much instructed to "go and hurl it" during Oregon game.
Flop: About hot routes when blitzing.. Add this reason as to why DeBord is overrated, lazy and should be let go.
I just wonder how many of those swing passes will result in 3 missed tackles and 50 YAC against our D.
I'm just worried that Brian will have another post with the same title after the game.
to quote michael scott
michigan, i hate so much about the things you choose to be
Glad to see that you're back online Brian. Took a lot of courage.
Keep the matches away from that strawman you just coughed up. (and your William Wallace-esque locks)
UM CAUP '91, I don't think there's anything unusual about Mallett's HS completion percentage. He was not throwing to college-bound WRs (to my knowledge), so I wouldn't expect them to hang on to everything.
While many don’t see it that way, the upcoming game is one of the most fascinating of the year. In fact, it is the first game I can think of where the loser will be remembered long after the winner. Certainly there are games where if one team loses that team will be chided for a very long time. In this case, whoever loses this game will face that consequence. Thus this game is of special significance. I am fairly certain that Charlie Weiss recognizes this fact and will do his utmost to forge a victory. On the other hand, while Lloyd will try to win, he, much like Rhett Butler, hardly gives a damn what the press is thinking or will be thinking after the game. That is the kind of disdain for the extrinsic for which Carr is noted. as in his bubble he need not worry as he will always control Tara, I mean The Fort.
1. When Notre Dame gets the ball they will be desperate to score as they have yet to score an offensive TD this year and amazingly rank 119th out of 119 in total offense. Their opposition, the UM defense, is similarly inept, ranking 109th out of 119. (That stat may be misleading since Oregon shut down its offense in the second half otherwise more realistically we would be ranked at least 115th. Did you know we are giving up a cool 505.5 yards per game?) This is a classic battle with a twist, one of the immovable object (ND offense) vs. the unstoppable force (UM defense). You really can’t ask for a more equal match-up.
Any offensive coordinator who saw the last 2 UM games should recognize that we can not stop the long pass or a two minute offense. Thus, I suspect that on the first series ND will either go no huddle or throw a long pass. Most definitely by the second series they will be in the no huddle offense. And why shouldn’t they, as we have not been able to stop such an attack. Indeed, we haven’t even been able to line up for it properly. Further, since the ND offense has not done thrown a long pass or had to run the no huddle this year, I am certain the coaches will be unprepared for their strategy. Nonetheless, we may not have to be, considering their previous level of incompetence.
In my mind, the game will be won in the first two series. If they score a touchdown up front on offense, they will likely win by 2-3 touchdowns. On the other hand if they do nothing with the ball in their first two series, we will probably win by a touchdown, possibly 13-6 or 13-3 or something to that effect. The tricky part of the equation is if they move the ball but do not score, or if they score only a field goal in their first two possessions. In that case, they will probably win on a late score in a very close game.
2. One would think that when we have the ball we should be able to pretty much move the ball with ease, even if we never score. That has pretty much been our M.O. for the year. But on closer inspection, if you look at the yardage gained in the second half against Oregon with our new QB, you will s
Continued But on closer inspection, if you look at the yardage gained in the second half against Oregon with our new QB, you will see that we only gained 65 yards. If one were to multiply this by 4 quarters we would be averaging 130 yards per game. That would rank us 119th in the nation just a fraction behind ND. If you are giving up >500 yards per game, that would be a dubious statistic.
ND’s defense really hasn’t been terrible this year scoring all their touchdowns and giving up 340 yards per game. Because of this, I seriously doubt we will have more than one or two long drives and possibly not even score on those. One thing I am certain of is that we will run the ball to the left side on our first play from scrimmage for 2 yards, do the exact same thing on the second play for 2 yards and throw a 4 yard completion on 3rd down, setting up a punt by the best healthy player on our team, Zoltan Mesko. No doubt the defense will have 9 men in the box thereafter and will challenge us to throw the ball. History suggests we will not.
Special Teams
Defer
Final analysis
The loser of this game will be ridiculed for a very long time. That is incentive to play at the highest level possible, although that ceiling appears to be infinitestimally low. It seems to me that since UM is favored, they will face greater derision than ND if they lose. And if we lose, we can be sure we will end up 2-10 or 3-9. That in itself might not be such a horrible thing as it will do the obvious (eliminate this era of Michigan Football), as well as erase the App State upset as the greatest of all time. Last week that game was destined for an immeasurable amount of reruns on ESPN classics and shows that are based on the upsets of the century. If we lose this week and fulfill our destiny it will end up being just a blip on a dreadful season. By the way if we win, I think we will end up 6-6, in which case the App State game will have some staying power but not much.
Final Score
ND 0 UM 0. Game called after the 6th overtime because of darkness.
Mike - That's a great take on the matchup/game. Very funny stuff! Good luck to Michigan, and may both our teams salvage something out of this dismal start.
\have a great chance to undershitty Notre Dame this weekend.//
Now that's funny, I don't care who y'are...that's funny, right there.
I'm with Mike. If we can keep ND from scoring early we've got a chance.
Who was the last Michigan quarterback to step in as a true freshman and really deliver the goods? There haven't been many that I can remember who even actually played...even Rick Leach (the one true #7) had his only loss to OSU as a freshman.
The thing I hate about the ND games is that Michigan's recent track record is underperformance with the extremely out-of-character blowout win ('03 & '06, nice bookends to the Brady Quinn Era).
And for some damn reason (distinctive lack of home field attitude? Slack crowd involvement?), ND usually plays really well in Ann Arbor. Even during the good ol' days when we pwned OSU, ND could usually be counted on to come in and fuck everything up for us.
I'm not optimistic...by now I don't have any faith AT ALL in the coaching staff's ability to motivate this team. I am hoping we can ride Mike Hart like the horse he is and keep the Emu on the sidelines where he can hopefully improve his hair grooming techniques between now and the 2011 NFL draft. Who knows, maybe a "conventional" pro-style offense will jar the memory of the defense and bring them back to the game of football as we remembered it while Bo was still alive.
carc, is that why the emu had a 69% That's a huge difference, and it has me worried.
I'm just sayin'
Sack up Michigan fans - you're at home against a team that has performed, arguably, even worse than your own to date.
Compare the ND 2004 (#32 rivals) & 2005 (#40 rivals) recruiting classes vs. the UM 2004 (#5 rivals) & 2005 (#6 rivals) recruiting classes and you'll see a *definitive* upper class talent advantage for scUM.
Further, the ND OL is like a sieve - that unit is an absolute disgrace. As examination of the GT and PSU tapes will show - the key to stopping the ND offense is pressure pressure pressure - very simple.
The only time ND has managed to generate enough time to consider longer downfield passes was in max-protect mode, which will leave plenty of defenders to cover the 3 undersized receivers running their sloppy routes.
If UM doesn't consistently blitz then your DC is truly as incompetent as some of you have made him out to be.
To compound matters, a veritable litany of mental mistakes will likely continue to characterize this ND team resulting in penalty after penalty, just as it has the previous 2 games. I've seen nothing to suggest anything is being done to address this aspect of ND's play.
The ND defense may put up a respectable showing the first half, but after being hung out to dry by the repeated 3 and outs of the offense - a steady diet of Mallett handing off to Hart should eventually carry the day for your team.
W00t for you!
CAUP - my understanding is that Clausen's HS offense featured a ton of short throws, hence the high completion percentage.
The Chelsea Clinton clue was not intended for the 1992 election:::Bill Clinton was impeached BECAUSE it was 1998 and a preditory pre-2000 distraction for those politically inclined.
I'd like to remind you how the Clinton legacy allowed for the justification of tatooes and herion of the last revelry cycle. His "gays in the military" issue illustrates his acceptance of indecent liberalism.
Maureen is fucked up because she is disfavored and she had no empathy for the disfavored WHO HAPPENED TO BE HER CHILDREN!!!
Al Davis is fucked up because he is disfavored and had no empathy for the disfavored, which is why we had the 70s Raiders, preditory on the blue collar demographic during the 70s revelry cycle.
Expect the bi-racial Osama Mobarack to have a similar fate in store:::Deal with record company executive was a clue he doesn't care about black people, just as Guliani speaking of 911 is a clue he, like Italians, exploits and capializes off other people's misery. The good candidate is McCain, and they're burying him.
The difference may lie if he becomes president, for then it may not be positionable. Of course it may not be something we will be prevy to because of it. "There's something wrong with the way he looks." They say I am delivering him the election because of the Chelsea 2008 clue which would be consistant with how the gods conduct themselves in the context of the Situation::::
She is a better choice than he is and the gods are forcing injury upon the disfavored because of my actions.
The sent the clue Bush was evil with his Texas Rangers ownership, illustrating he is preditory on white males too.
This preditation translated to Iraq because the Republicans are positioned to be against obscene, indencent sickness in art.
You're all war mongers because of Iraq, and it is going to cost us all. Because of the use of liberals, delivering us this fracturization of the disfavored, the gods feel justified in taxing all equally.
: . . who is more evil: Bush or Cheney? § < --- > 09/11 18:25
: . . : . . Bush. Cheney has developed empathy § < - > 09/11 18:42
People have called Bill Clinton everything in the book. "Chelsea is different." The choreographed media declared Chelsea "untouchable" because SHE REPRESENTS A CLUE and they want it overlooked.
"What about (Amy Carter)?" What about her?
The way they dumped a shitty economy on his adminstration says disfavored. He's being punished for something.
The way they continually dumped on Carter in their media was similar to how they continually dumped on the French. And Barry Manilow. There may be a comparison here.
There was no future for Carter once voted out. Hillary is very much a viable candidate.
The Chelsea Clinton clue was not intended for the 1992 election.
9.15.07 DC war protest::::"You're a disgrace to your office!!" No, he fits in very nicely, thank you.
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