wow, dude have you slept since returning?
Thanks, as always! I look forward to a great read after work
The dread and numbness from early on has been replaced by an odd and uneasy sense of optimism. I thought there was no chance at any more disappointment this season but I think it could happen again. Lloyd cut out my heart with a knife dipped in shittt and then gave me an artificial heart hooked up to an enormous machine....quality of life sucks but I'm hanging on by a thread. Is is a second chance at life for me or just that death was not a cruel enough punishment, only time will tell. Lloyd you have nothing left to lose...light up the scoreboards (and find me a new heart).
As a Michigan fan in the heart of tOSU country, I've always been used to being hated and enjoyed every moment, but getting laughed at in recent years is starting to suck.....
I think this UFR shows why the "eh" contingency is "eh." The game plan of "let Illinois screw up" is okay for an opponent like Illinios, but will there be adjustments for Wisco and OSU?
My concern for OSU especially is that their coaching staff will devise a gameplan to attack the linebackers like they attacked the secondary last year. Can Carr and English cover up for this weakness? I guess we'll see.
one potential saving grace is the apparent similarity of the UW and OSU offenses... hopefully our linebacking corps can get some kinks worked out against the MSU backs, improve against UW, and perform at the highest possible level v. OSU...
i guy can dream, right?
"...will there be adjustments for Wisco and OSU? "
Yes. The adjustment: Score 40 or die.
After watching this again, I think this was easily Crable's best game as a Wolverine. Ezeh needs to trust his reads, it will come with time. Secondary is playing well. When we throw Jamison, Crable, and BGraham we really are a pass rushing terror. I think that we held off on that this game to try and keep the middle clogged up with Taylor and Johnson. For teams that don't have mobile QBs (everyone left), I think we can expect a pretty heavy dose of those three, especially on obvious passing downs.
Wisconsin's and OSU's offenses are not very dangerous. Wisky is missing Swan but getting Hubbard back soon, yet Donovan has been a step back from Stocco. They just got throttled at PSU. As for OSU, I refuse to believe Robiskie, Hartline, Small is an advantage over Trent, Warren, Harrison. I doubt Donovan or Boeckman will be able to pass on us enough that we cant overcome our linebacker deficiences. Offensively, I dont think weve reached our potential yet. Mario owned Malcolm Jenkins w/ double moves in last yrs OSU game, Henne just missed him a few times and he abused whoever was on him vs. Wisky. It will all come down to our o-line play in these games, whether we score 20ish and its close or 35-40ish and its not.
I'm a little bit afraid that we're concentrating so much on OSU. I know most of us are far removed from the locker room and the practice field, but we still have three games to play before we get to OSU.
Wisconsin and Michigan State are very capable of beating us. Minnesota isn't a good team, but that's what we thought about Appalachian State.
I noticed the 3 and inches save by Englemon and nearly vomitted. Why does it seem like any time the RB makes it clean thru the hole on anything and
@ Nick:
Boeckman is dangerous. He throws a very good deep ball. OSU's backs (Wells, Wells, and Saine) are talented. Robiskie is a very good receiver, although Small and Hartline are mediocre.
OSU also has a very good defense, while our starting QB is injured and so is our Heisman-candidate RB.
If we don't have Henne, our chances of winning out are very slim. I think Hart will be back against MSU, if not Minnesota, but that doesn't mean he'll be 100%.
I know robiskie has made a leap this year, i just feel like our corners have progressed enough that w/ our pass rush, Boeckman wont do too much
Also, why dont we play a 4-2 w/ Jamison and BGraham at the ends and Crable playing the other LB instead of CGraham. Take advantage of your personal. I know he may not have practiced in the position in the nickel all year, but why are we shifting Crable down to end, when we can jsut take CGraham out?
Dudes..
Illinois : spread option.
OSU, MSU and Wisc : Traditional drop-back QB.
Light years difference in terms of preparation. Defensing against OSU and Wisc is our bread and butter. OSU will be the best drop-back QB team we'll face all year. MSU, Wisconsin will be slightly better than PSU with upgrades at QB. But we'll be playing with Henne at the helm. Take the crowd out and we should win.
Brian Cook, the god of gods for a wonderful UFR.
nick - agree. if crable can't play c. graham's position why not put b. graham in for jamison?
it's a little baffling to switch to a formation that takes b. graham out and leaves c. graham in - and requires him to think, and not overpursue.
i'm putting the over/under on c. graham flailing to the ground on chris wells' cutbacks at 4 right now.
The way I see it, Crable is the only one who can corral running QB's. BGraham and Jamison are both solid pass rushers, but neither one is fast enough or athletic enough to keep up with Juice Williams, Eddie McGee, etc. They've shown that they can't keep contain and they are totally useless once faster QB's gets outside of them.
With Crable at DE, he's got one end covered.
With the following lineup...
DE - Jamison
DT - Johnson
DT - Taylor
DE - Graham
LB - Ezeh
LB - Crable
...Crable would be in ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK mode, leaving no LB's adept at pass coverage on the field. That's basically running a 5-1-5.
This is the lineup I like most against the spread:
DE - Jamison
DT - Taylor
DT - BGraham
DE/LB - Crable
LB - Ezeh
LB - Graham
Against a traditional offense, our 4-3 is badass.
I think underestimated here is the ability of the defense to leverage the ball in this game. As Lloyd Carr directed they turned the runs to the inside even at the risk of overrunning the play on several occasions. Chris Graham although much maligned made that one sack on Williams on the second possession that was key. However he does miss a ton of tackles.
No "Lmao!!!......................." from a certain So[J]meone yet?
Anyway, @ WhattheDeuce:
"Can Carr and English cover up for this weakness? I guess we'll see."
It's clear that the coaching staff has not been able to cover for weaknesses, despite knowing exactly what said weaknesses are, for a decade. It has been on the *players* to cover for those weaknesses. This is why the perfect storm of a lack of talent + underpreparation + looking ahead finally boiled over during The Horror this fall.
The Horror was entirely due to motivation, under-preparation and arrogance. The very factors which might keep the Minn. game close if we don't respect them.
We'll beat Appy St. down if we played now. But it's history man. No if's and but's.
I think losing to Minnie at this point would be worse than the HORROR.
Minnesota flat out sucks dog. They are awful, the have the worst D in the nation, and an inexperienced coach and QB.
We should be up at least 3 scores after the first quarter. My theory is get up big before the half and let mallet and brown/minor and the rest of the youngsters play in the second half.
NDSU's kicker guaranteed they would beat Minnie... Lloyd and the players better not be looking ahead to Sparty.
App State would beat these guys by 14+ we better beat them by 30+.
Granted, Stanford beat "the best team ever" 2007 edition, but they have an actual coach not some TE guru who somehow got a head coaching gig.
"It's clear that the coaching staff has not been able to cover for weaknesses, despite knowing exactly what said weaknesses are, for a decade."
Holy frig. A decade ago was 97. Thought the D was pretty good back then. And I think there's been some pretty good Ds between then and now. So I guess Carr just forgot how to coach overnight or something....
Keep in mind that these are college kids. Not NFL pros. Some games - particular guys - or particular units - just don't show up. Happens all the time at every level.
As for the continued criticism leveled at the LB play, keep in mind that neither Branch or Woodley are on this D-Line. There isn't a guy on the team you would consistently double, unless it was Crable on a pure passing down.
http://mgoboard.com/blogmedia/vi...m-poor-
play.avi
Clearly this game plan was to force everything inside. Check out the wide open invitation to plow... and yet somehow this is scored as a 'bad play' for Graham because he didn't blow up the fullback and take Mendenhall down at the LOS.
Please.
Fullback with a head of steam vs. filling LB is going to be a draw most of the time. Unless you're used to watching David Harris play.
Graham did his job forcing it inside where it could be gang tackled. This is classic Michigan philosophy football. Everyone does their job... take on your assignment.... help is on the way.
The idea is to bend. Don't allow huge plays. And take advantage of your opponents mistakes. Which is exactly how this game was won.
The happiest guy in America is Glen Mason now..happier than Marty. Every-time I see his tanned visage in BTN, he has that smirk which definitely annoys Minn fans. Glen Mason at-least had a terrifying running game and NFL caliber backs. If I am not wrong, Minn went to bowl games last 3 seasons.
They should atleast have NFL level TEs now and they don't.
I can't wait till all this, "OMG! OSU is soooooo rad!!! No way we can beat them!" Crap is over. I hate it. Partypoopers.
But the good news is, I think it ends saturday. The way Boeckman got flustered when MSU finally took some chances & brought the pressure, I can't wait to see him go up against Dan Connor, Sean Lee & Maurice Evans. I think when penn state picks up a few fumbles, grabs a few tipped balls & Morelli keeps his cranium diconnected from his anus, they win by a touchdown.
Minnesota does run the spread but they don't have the right personnel yet, because they were a smashmouth style team for the past x amount of years.
The Minnie spread should not scare anyone.
A modest disagreement: Minnesota hasn't been a "smashmouth" team - they haven't had big enough (read: Wisconsin-sized) linemen. They've been a "running" team with technically sound line play. But I digress.
I'm sure I'm in the minority, but the Minnesota offense scares me just a bit. Weber may not be the greatest QB in the country, but he's thrown for 2,000 yards and 19 TDS. They also have a bunch of guys running the ball at nearly 5 YPC.
This game is on the Michigan offense. If they can take advantage of the worst defense in the country, no problem. If they (as brian says) keep going rock, this could be uncomfortably close.
The team remaining on our schedule that scares me most is MSU. On the road; rivalry game; State has a pretty dynamic offense; Ringer and Caulcrick are very good backs; Saint-Dic is an animal and will abuse the non-Jake-Long side of our line; and Dantonio is a good coach.
Sparty will give us all we can handle this year.
It would be absurd for either Henne or Hart to play a single down against the Gophers. In fact, Cone should be in for at least half the game so we can keep Mallett healthy. We should be able to win that game without a single starter playing a down.
Anyone need tickets to the game this weekend? I can't go and am giving up my pair of student tix (one already has the validation sticker). $50 for the pair is all I'm looking for. Email me at shorts723@yahoo.com
Oregon was a bad outing. Trust me.
Very bad.
Murl, what is your basis for calling Dantonio a good coach? His career record is 23-20.
all this talk about OSU's offense being good or bad... none of that really matters that much. with that defense, they won't need to score much... I almost LOL when I read the suggestion on here "whether we score 35-40"... Dude, if we score more than 30 on OSU, I'll eat my own friggin' socks. I think we're looking at something in the low to mid 20's. That D is STOUT.
OSU's O might not score alot on PSU's very good D this Sat, but PSU's O isn't going to get shit on that OSU D. NFW. See the UM v PSU game last year for similar result.
Go blue!
I think we fans are all ripe for disappointment against Minnesota -- I'm not talking about a loss but a EMU-type game.
We're not good at blowing out teams... other than Notre Dame.
carc - I think Murl meant less-nuts than John L, not necessarily better. I could be wrong, but that's the only explanation.
jvocke, bear in mind that this is the EXACT same defense we faced in Columbus last year, and we have the EXACT same offense. Neither side lost much. We put up 39 last year, on the road. While I agree 35-40 seems difficult, that is only because this offense has underperformed so far this season. If we are healthy and clicking (and Henne has played outstanding vs OSU the last 2 years), our guys know how to beat that defense. It is our defense that has cost us the last 2 years.
Everyone has gotten so wrapped up in the "OSU owns Michigan" and "Tressel owns Carr" talk, but I think the reality is that Troy Smith owned Michigan; he was the killer in each of the last 3 games. No more Troy Smith, and I think we can win this game.
Sparty should have hired Brian Kelly. Sucks for them.
I was the one who originally said we could score 35-40 if the o-line plays good. This is true, we hung 39 on em last year as LJ said. You all know what our O is capable of. Previously in big games, we've been explosive on O if we protect Henne. See OSU 06, ND 06 and bad if we get manhandled up front see USC rose bowl last yr.
Everyone was singing the praises of OSU's defense last yr and look what happened to them in last 2 gms. Their D is good but not ungodly. When u play primarily cover 2 like they do, you will give up plays if you dont get pressure w/ front four. or else u must send extra guys which leads to single coverage or vacated zones or sit back and let a senior Henne pick u apart. Long can handle Gholston, maybe shift blocking help to right side of line and passing game should be fine.
Yep LJ, This is the year I am *expecting* a Michigan victory. Last 3 years, I wasn't feeling good about The Game. Even in the year OSU went 7-5 ( they lost to Northwestern), I thought we'd lose heading into The Game.
This year, I think we'll win. Boeckman is a fraction of a QB Troy Smith is .. ( OK he throws a mean deep ball.. Chad Henne started throwing it when he was a sophomore ). This Penn State game will reveal a lot of things. Let's see whether he can hit Robiskie who's covered by King or Sargeant.
PSU game will be an ugly low scoring one. If Morelli plays like how he played against Iowa or Wisconsin, Nits win. I'd say 14-13. PSU.
--
I'm with take Minnesota lightly = Horror redux crowd. We are levelling the playing field by not playing Henne / Hart. Our D has become great against spread. But expect Minnesota's O to have 2-3 scoring drives. We shoot ourselves - long day.
We'll be emotionally and preparation-wise ready in MSU, Wisc games. But Minnesota might be a Ball State redux and I hate such kinda games.
I dont see how anyone cant be a little bit nervous about Minni. A quick touchdown or two, a couple RM fumbles or picks and you have a parity riddled football contest. I hope the D plays real well and that way the offense has some latitude to make some mistakes.
I think Ezeh has a future, he is a freshmen so just like others he will get better with more experience, he clearly has the athleticism. Same with Shilling. Just like Carlos Brown looks alot better today most had a little bit of doubt he would make it when he first came in.
I would imagine most coaches are looking to throw over the top of these db's, it looks like the weakness to me, they are actually decent tacklers, especially trent and harrison.
David man, Tiller gets PUMPED by michigan, regularly,
but maybe the walrus redux shouldn't count.
Ripe for disappointment is winning out, pounding tOSU winning the big 10, and then having the University of Spoiled Children remind us how fucked we're really gonna be NEXT year ( again )
Does anyone blame the players for the Horror at all? Chad Henne made some bonehead reads, the back-up running backs fumbled every other carry and I assume Gingell beat out Lopata for a reason.
Is it too irrational to assume that coaches should have seen all these actions occurring?
Maybe our OMFG recruits overlook a game, smoke a lot of weed, or don't play well every once in a while.
The biggest reason why the players get a free pass is because Lloyd Carr is man enough (I'm 40!! I'm a man!!) to take the blame and pass the credit.
@kgh10 - You got me right. Dantonio being less nuts than John L. is certainly part of it.
@carc - I am not saying Dantonio is exceptional...maybe I should have said he's not a glaring liability instead of saying he is "good") but I have watched several MSU games this year and it seems to me that Dantonio has done a good job. I admit I have no objective facts to back up my opinion that he is a good coach.
I will crawl back into my cave now.
Ezeh had a good day and deserved the overall positive. Compared to the previous week, it's a real improvement. The problem is that he's moving from "totally uncertain" to "developing an idea of what's going on". One objection to a minus: when we're in a 4-2, we give pretty strict gap assignments to our LBs, so they tend to commit to the holes on their side of the field. Harris wasn't so restricted, so you saw him making plays wherever the ball was going. He was so damn good. I think this was only responsible for one minus, or maybe two, but you have it right for the most part, imo.
Mon-L, I don't mean our 4-3 stacking up against a traditional dropback QB. I'm saying for (almost) a decade, teams have been able to gash and exploit our main weaknesses with no obvious efforts to correct them on our part. Starting with Donovan McNabb in the first game of 1998.
Um that was me. This comment system sucks at remembering and deleting posting info.
Carr does a "tremendous" job of absorbing ALL blame and deflecting ALL credit.
Has it occurred to anyone that's why he is so underrated?
If you're one of his players and you fuck up, you have Papa Carr TOTALLY covering your ass. Every time!
THAT is why these kids will run through a brick wall for this guy and NEVER EVER give up on a season.
There's only a handful of coaches I'd rather have than Lloyd Carr. And you know what, I really DO like the idea of our next guy having Michigan ties. Someone who thinks the word "Michigan" is as sacred as I do. And that's when Les Miles shoots to the top of my wish list.
i'm not too worried about losing the game, but i am worried about reading all the LC/MDB sux comments when we only put up ~30 pts w/o henne and hart. i'd guess 27-13 M. lots of bland running. maybe GM pulls a punt return out of his arse. i'm not saying the critizism isn't justified, just that no one should be OMFG!!!!11! surprised.
let's just pray for very little turnovers, no big plays for Minn, and no injuries. and maybe a dominate outing from the OLine. I love me that little brown jug. love it.
and i also basically agree w/ caup91...but let's not go nuts...the horrors were on the players, coaches, and BM for scheduling ASU. everyone gets a piece of that shitefest.
Minnesota shouldn't be a problem but could become a problem if we assume our third stringers could win in a cake walk.
If we win out or just knock OSU off #1--dudes, I'll smile all the way thru a hypothetical Rose Bowl loss to USC. M will score 30 on OSU--unless they don't have to. All this business about how we better play better or different against OSU is pointless. You can't gameplan for OSU when you're playing Illinois. OSU does not present with an accurate mobile QB anyway. All the guys who are hurt or 'hurt' will be back for OSU (God willing no more injuries.) The gameplan will bring it--no more tipping our plays BS. The game will be on the defense. I haven't and probably never will put English back on a pedastal but this one might make think he deserves a second (actually third or fourth after OSU 06, AppySt., Oregon) chance.
We won't score if we can't protect Henne, a serious concern the Illinois game brought to our attention.
You shouldn't get sacked 4 times in 32 attempts, is what I'm saying.
i still wish henne had more pocket presence tho...that pash rush clock in his head doesn't ring alarm bells unless a defender does it first. and then it's obviously too late.
DanK, strongly agree re: Henne's lack of pocket presence. It is a shame, because he definitely has an NFL caliber arm - strong, accurate (usually), etc - but the lack of ability to sense pressure in the pocket and adjust is a huge flaw. My question is whether that is something that can be taught or whether it is innate?
Off topic, but funny:
I visited my 6 year old nephew this weekend, and he wanted to play a new game that he just learned - rock, paper, scissors. I decided to try an experiment. In typical Michigan fashion, I threw only rock. The first few throws were mixed - I won a few, he won a few, or we both threw rock (in which case, I won because, like Michigan, my rock is stronger and will run over your rock). After about 10 plays, nephew starting throwing paper every play, and beat me like 10 straight. Teasing him, I said, "wow, you are really good at this game. You beat me every time."
His answer: "It's easy - you only throw rock"
Priceless! Even a six-year old can figure out how to stop Michigan's offense.
The one good thing about Henne's "lack of pocket presence" is that he holds onto the ball. I've been impressed on several occasions that he's held onto the ball while getting blindsided. I mean, he fumbled against Purdue, but that DE got a pretty good swipe at Henne's arm.
2 things:
1) i think they do try to develop pocket presence. i think it's just a matter of getting practice snaps going at full speed. mostly, they teach him to 'step up' in the pocket to avoid the Dends. the other thing i've noticed is how the M Oline protects him. sometimes they form a traditional pocket around the QB. on occasion however, they form a wall on his back side, so there's only one way the pressure can come from. and he doesn't need to backpedal to get awy from the pressure.
2) re: qbs holding onto the ball. when navarre was around, i recall hearing about a specific exercise that developes finger strength, which helps the qb grip the ball more firmly and avoid fumbles of course. iirc, you basically take a sledge hammer and hold it vertically w/ 2 hands (w/ the wieght @ bottom, hands at the end of the handle). but, your hands are flat (like a 3 yr old clapping). so you hold the hammer between your 2 sets of fingers and wiggle the fingers so as to lift the hammer (your arms are static). not the type of exercise you see at the gym too often.
Wow its amazing what a couple of light weight wins can do for comment section confidence. I guess the Haitian from "Heroes" came thru and wiped everybody's memory of app st/oregon shallackings. Lets see:
1. Carr is hc, English still DC
check
2. Immobile qb with poor line play
check
3. Gutless defense that puts zero pressure on anything
check
4. Worn out cocky rb who still has to go up against wisky/msu
check
Yeah Osu should be scared...very scared....
when do we get the offensive ufr?
I defended Carr, not Ron English. His coaching in OSU '06 and App St '07 were criminally bad. He's not the worst DC out there, but I won't miss him.
soj has reared his ugly two timing pharmaceutical pushing self.
Gutless defense that puts zero pressure on anything....dumb SOJ. Dumb statement even considering it was from you.
And "cousin"...that's saying a lot.
I suggest going back to your loft and watching some Michigan football games over the past month. But you probably don't have time...considering there is "quan" to be made out there with all your pill pushing.
@ Son of Jorel
Our defense is 2nd in the nation in takeaways and 14th in turnover margin. We're also 12th in the nation in sacks.
Our "worn out cocky RB" is a potential Heisman candidate and was the leading rusher in the nation until someone rolled on his ankle, which has nothing to do with being "worn out" or "cocky" and could happen to anyone.
Not that this is completely relevant, but we beat Purdue by a larger margin than OSU did and 14 of Purdue's 21 points came in garbage time. We've also beaten Penn State, who by Saturday will be OSU's toughest opponent this year.
You can talk all you want about the last few years, but this year's game has yet to be played.
I guess I see this years' OSU defense as better than last years... I also attribute the high point total to that piece of shit field (which also explains OSU putting up 42 on our very good D... offensive player is always at an advantage over defensive player on poor footing). I don't see any comparisons between last years "Game" and the forthcoming one... this is a new OSU D and a new UM O. I see the former as better and the latter as worse than the '06 versions.
Go Blue!
Not that this is completely relevant, but we beat Purdue by a larger margin than OSU did and 14 of Purdue's 21 points came in garbage time. We've also beaten Penn State, who by Saturday will be OSU's toughest opponent this year.
*************************************
don't go here......
Why not?
The field didn't create the score last year. Subsequent events demonstrated as much. M's only chance against Smith in that offense was a pass rush. Smith was just mobile enough to avoid it. OSU's defense last season was absurdly overrated.
Commenting by HaloScan
