Preview: Minnesota

Who, What, When, Where, Weather:
Who: Minnesota (Line: -20.5)
What: Big Ten Season Opener
When: 12:00 Eastern. Big Ten Network
Where: Ann Arbor
Weather: Hi 49: 20% chance of showers

Offense vs. Minnesota
The Gophers are 75th in the nation in scoring defense allowing 26.8 ppg to the likes of North Dakota State, New Mexico State!?, and Miami (OH). Their best defensive outing came in the opener against USC, which, what? The rush defense comes in at a respectable 32nd. But, something tells me that NDSU, NMSU, Mia (OH), don't pose the same rushing threat that Denard and Co. do. Which, is completely accurate Miami (OH) is 118th in the nation, NMSU is 109th, USC is only 67th, and NDSU is a 1-AA school, that was able to rack up 139 yds on the ground. I'm not convinced that their rush defense is prepared to be Denarded.

This rush defense was 90 something overall last season and no matter how good the overall number looks now, Michigan's rushing offense is 12th in the nation far and above what any opponent the Gophers have faced thus far. Denard is Denard, so I, through my maize and blue glasses, always expect great things. The running back by committee has been narrowed down to what seems like only two viable options and both have shown great things to this point. Look for Michigan's rushing attack to remind Minnesota where their place is. Having 2 starting DE's that collectively weigh less than 500 lbs will not help them, when Taylor Lewan bulldozes them.

Fortunately for Michigan's enigmatic pass offense the gopher pass defense is 108th nationally. It will be interesting to see if Michigan uses this to their advantage and works on developing a passing game to get Denard comfortable. Against USC, save a TD bomb, Robert Woods was able to get 17 catches mainly on short routes, as Minnesota did their best Michigan of the past 2 years impersonation, and gave receivers 7-10 yds cushion on every play.

Denard has looked uncomfortable in the pocket the majority of the season. I've thrown my opinion out there that Borges needs to maybe revert to the more simpler passing style of Rich Rodriguez's spread, at least early, to get Robinson comfortable and allow him to build some confidence. If there's a time for Robinson to throw effectively it has to be this weekend against the Gophers. Barkley chucked up 300, NMSU's Andrew Manley, threw for 288 and TD's and NDSU's, Brock Jensen went for 197 and only 5 incompletions.

Lastly, the experience in the secondary resembles one worse than Michigan's the past couple years.The experience consists of a converted WR and  guy with a handful of starts at CB. While the safety position, starts a guy that missed an entire season with a leg injury and a converted RB.

What To Watch For:
Michigan having an effective passing game, that isn't jump-ballpalooza. While, I don't think that the Wolverines will need a heavy dose of the pass to win this one, it would be nice going into the rest of the B1G schedule, feeling like their's something their that resembles a passing game. If the passing game still looks lost in the abyss look for Denard to scamper to another 125-150 yds.

Defense vs. Minnesota
The gopher offense comes in to this one 88th nationally. I can rehash the level of competition that's held this offense in check if I must but, NMSU, Miami (OH), NDSU... Minnesota's rushing attack is 48th nationally and for the majority, that offense has come from QB Marquise Gray, who is questionable to play this  weekend. Passing the ball the Gophers come in 97th nationally for 179.3 yds a game.

Gray has been able to pick yards just like how you'd expect a spread QB to pick up yds this year, broken plays and designed runs. The rush defense has gradually been improving and last week was able to keep the nations second leading rusher relatively in check. If Gray is unable to play it will be interesting to see where Minnesota tries to get yards on the ground. I was assume that they will try to attack the edges, as that's where Michigan's rush defense has been the shottiest the most this season.

Passing the ball, Minnesota has a weapon in Da'Jon McKnight and than nobody. Last week the secondary showed decent to good improvement blanketing the receiving corps from SDSU, and making NFL prospect Ryan Lindley look average. If Gray isn't able to go and true Freshman Max Shortell is in the game look for me to be even more excited about the apparent improvement of the secondary. Woolfolk should be able to sit this one out without any worries and Blake Countess can go ahead and be the first freshman corner to not look terrible at Michigan in first year since Donovan Warren.

The D-line stepped up big last week and helped make the secondary look better than they may or may not truly be and that trend of improved play should continue. Martin, VanBergen, and Roh showed last week just how disruptive they can be and Roh is playing some of his best football too date. With the inexperienced and not very good offensive line the D-line will be key.

What To Watch For:
Michigan being able to contain edge especially if Gray plays. This has been the most obvious glaring weakness for the D and if they can improve on locking that down that will be a good sign for the rest of the B1G season. The D is able to practice against Denard all the time, and not to take away anything from Gray, but he is no Denard, this should help the D here.

Special Teams:
Jeremy Gallon keep making me confident in you and Gibbons plese don't miss another field goal or this time I will start to worry.  One development to keep an eye on is the return of Will Hagerup punting. If he was able to win his job back this past week look for an advantage to Michigan in the field position game.

Prediction:
If Minnesota came into this game with their only loss being to USC, I'd be a little nervous just because B1G opener, yadda, yadda. But the fact of the matter is Minnesota is 1-3 and hasn't looked good against presumably weaker competition. Now I look at them like I did the Eastern game and expect Michigan to run away with this one. I say 34-14 Meeeechigan.

About Last Night: Recap Brady Hoke's Former Team

"I'm sorry I left for my dream job in the middle of the night, but I am pointing so it's OKAY!"

The Big House... How you've changed and how you've managed to stay the same, I hadn't been back to A2 for football since, EMU 2009.  During the first half, I was trying to pinpoint why Seven Nation Army became the new ballad of Michigan football. Why wasn't "The Victors" ringing through the air on repeat, what has happened here? It wasn't until San Diego State's 2nd drive of the 3rd quarter that I realized how much the Big House was still the same... "Hey, down in front..."

Michigan had just recovered a San Diego State fumble, the stadium had gone into a commercial break and Pop Evil's atrocious Michigan song was playing. There was no action to be seen on the field. My eyes curled slowly around to peep over my shoulder, trying to mask my disdain, to see two elderly gentleman who glared at me as if I was stepping on their oxygen tank. Pondering what at all they could possibly want to see going down the field, I obliged their request and briefly smiled. This, was the Big House I remembered...

Two years of 4-0 starts that ended abruptly in league play have brought skepticism upon this 2011 team... For all of the things that are different, there are many things the same.

The highway to success this season, same as last, will be paved by Denard Robinson's legs. That's the same. The difference? Michigan's defense has showed itself this year to be, dare I say, reliable? A not great but supposedly good SDSU offense was held for the most part in check.

Offense:
Denard's legs. That will be the key. His passing has continually been inconsistent and shotty the whole season. The 300 yd passing performance against ND is definitely the exception and will never be the norm this season, unless drastic improvement has happens. But, man, oh man, do those legs move. Chalk another point up to Al Borges. He has shown adaptability once again. Was that speed option we saw? Yes, yes it was. If Borges can find a way to keep the running game interesting for opposing defense while Robinson, finds whatever it is he's looking for in the passing game than I really like our chances heading into, B1G play.

The RB situation isn't resolved yet. I still like what Fitz brings to the table as an every down back, But, just like it has taken me a while to come around on Jordan Kovacs being undeniable, one can not simply deny Vincent Smith. The kid plays bigger than he is and is also able to squeeze through holes that no other back could squeeze through. With Denard's legs opening up plays for both backs I am quite okay with having 2 viable options.

The offensive line is really hard to talk about as well, Denard... He runs they look good. They didn't really allow much pressure getting to Robinson and MANball is becoming less and less a part of the offense so that's good.

Any and all WR performances can be extrapolated strictly from the ND game. If they've shown anything this past week it's that, they block and stay engaged in the offense even when the ball isn't coming there way. That's a good thing because from the looks of it all we are going to need them doing as much of that as possible this season.

Defense:
SDSU came into this game averaging 38 ppg and 428 yds a game. Michigan held the Aztecs to just 7 points and jsut 368 yds of offense. The surprisingly good thing about this feat is that the D was able to hold SDSU when many of their possessions started in or near Michigan territory. The D was also able to continue their streak of timely turnovers, forcing 3, all from inside Michigan territory. Michigan defenses of the past 3 seasons would not be able to do such things, considering SDSU has an NFL prospect QB and one of the nations top rushers this is a well recognized feat. Can the defense continue to causing these timely turnovers consistently into league play? No... it won't happen. Yes this is a bummer but there are other things to hang your hat on.

CB depth!? We has it? I won't go that far, but it's better than I can ever recall it being. As soon as Floyd followed Woolfolk to the sideline, I was waiting for the ball to drop and for Ryan Lnidley to have his way with  the secondary. Highly recruited freshman Blake Countess came in and seemingly picked up right where the defense left off.

There are you are D-line, there you are. In my season previews I said, Michigan's best unit on the field defensively would be the D-line. 4 games into the season, I finally look kinda smart for say that. Mike Martin, was blasting into the backfield causing pressure on Lindley all afternoon. If it wasn't Martin, it seemed like it was VanBergen, if it wasn't VanBergen it was definitely Roh, who inched closer to my 12 sack prediction with another one. If William Campbell can continue to improve which, from my opinion is happening, this unit should be able to keep building momentum into B1G play and be a stronghold for the defense this season.

Special Teams:
Any kicker can miss a 40 yarder on any given Saturday. It just sucks that it happened to be Michigan's kicker, again not relieving any stress out of that position. One more miss and I'll be screaming for a switch to Wile or student body tryouts part 2. Jeremy Gallon is the best punt-return option we've had in quite some time and he's proved it. Now obviously with all special teams my emotions are week to week with them. Right now we've got a good thing going lets keep it that way.

Good Feeling To Take Home With You:
Through non-conference play the team is 4-0. I don't care how they got here or what the last 2 seasons say, I'd rather be here with this team than have any losses in our record. There's something about this team that I'm vibing with. The defense isn't perfect, but they are better and every guy is saying the right thing and it just feels like their minds and approach this year are in a better state than the previous undefeated starts. Every starter on this team has seen and undefeated start and they've all seen how badly they've gone. That experience I believe carries this team through this season and the B1G collapse that has plagued this team previous years won't happen again this go-round.

Preview: San Diego State

Preview: San Diego State University
Who: San Diego State (Line -10.5)
What: Brady Hoke left this school for ours fergodsakes
When: 12:00 eastern. Big Ten Network
Where: Big House
Weather: 67 40% chance of rain

Offense vs. Aztecs
The Aztec D comes into this match-up 80th nationally, allowing 383 yds/gm. The rushing defense is 99th in the country giving up 197 yds/gm. Passing the Aztecs look better, 36th nationally allowing just 186 yds/gm through the air. Those rushing numbers could be skewed as, Army compiled 407 yds on the ground against SDSU. Army is a triple option team and only being 1 of like 2 teams in the country that still runs that crazy scheme gives them a schematic advantage. Cal Poly doesn't count and Washington State was mostly held in check rushing the ball, they were also held in check against UNLV so there's that. SDSU runs that 3-3-5 thing we attempted to run on defense last year, but their coach Rocky Long actually knows how to run it. Michigan needs to run what they are good at because not doing so will make the 3-3-5 look like a plausible defense with zone-blitzes coming from places the O-line most likely won't be able to pick up.

SDSU's defense returns 5 from a defense that finished 44th nationally last season. Their glaring weakness that Michigan should be able to exploit is on edges where the Aztec roster has only 1 DE out of their top 4 over 250 lbs. Taylor Lewan should hopefully be bulldozing lanes all day. Does Al Borges line up under center or use that Denard Robinson guy like he's supposed to? I hope the latter. He seemed to get the hang of it last week and from what I saw had great play-calling with the succession of zone-read plays.

It'll be nice if Michigan can run the ball effectively, because I am getting agitated watching Denard learn footwork on the fly. Borges' new found love of the spread will hopefully filter into the passing game as well. I'd like to see more hitches, curls, bubble screens, and the things that made our passing game mildly effective last season. This season other than jump-ball bombs it has not been. Washington State was able to get big plays last week on the deep ball so if needed it appears that will be there for Michigan. I hope we don't need it. If it is, look for Junior Hemingway to have a monster day.

What To Watch For:
Taylor Lewan and Mark Huyge blowing up tiny DE's allowing Denard and presumably Vincent Smith to run wild.

Defense vs. San Diego State
The Aztec offense is lead by Sr. QB Ryan Lindley and Soph. RB Ronnie Hillman. Hillman was 10th in the nation in rushing and Lindley has a cannon arm. Lindley lost his top 4 WR's from last year thanks to the NFL draft, graduation, and injury. Hillman picked up right where he left off and is the nations second leading rusher. Michigan's defense just got gashed for over 4 YPC against Eastern and appears to only be able to stop 3rd down halfback draws against Notre Dame. Hillman scares me.. SDSU also returns 4 lineman  from last season as well.

The Michigan rush defense has had a tough time holding contain on the edges this season. Roh, Black, and whomever else line up at DE need to keep contain. The LB's have had a tough time being consistent and with a back like Hillman, keeping contain and gap coverage is more vital than normal. Did I mention this facet of the game really frightens me? Mattison has shown ample ability to be able to adjust on the fly this year so hopefully the D won't be getting gashed too long before we find a way to slow Hillman down.

Lindley is throwing a pedestrian 207 yds a game. As mentioned Lindley doesn't have the same targets he had last season and when you have the nations second leading rusher, ride that horse right? Michigan's secondary is better than they were a year ago if only because they couldn't get any worse. But for reals, they are noticeably better and are doing more than just standing and watching on the field. Michigan's major task here will be applying pressure. Eastern didn't throw the ball and Michigan adjusted well to Carder and Western but were in able to do so against ND. San Diego State's O-line is experienced and good but hopefully not as good as ND's.

What To Watch For?
Brady Hoke is a defensive guy and knows this offense better than any other coach in the country. Hopefully he can give Mattison some pointers. Mattison adjustments vs. Hillman running game will be the major match-up on the day. If SDSU is pounding the rock all day and getting big chunks it could be a long day in the big house. If Michigan is to even moderately contain SDSU I like our chances.

Special Teams:
Gallon has proven to be a solid punt-return man which is good. I'm not sold on Vincent Smith being the kick-off return man but the jury is still out. Kick-off and punt coverage is scary. Michigan is 1-1 on field goals right now. I don't care that it was a glorified PAT, after last season I will take it.
As always, Hold on to ball and please do not give up any crushing returns.

Prediction:
I hate myself as a fan sometimes and get extremely nervous for these types of games. Brady Hoke knows this team and is going to have a good idea of what they are trying to do. For this reason alone, I give Michigan the edge. Hillman and Lindley will move the ball for SDSU but so will Denard & Co. I like this one to be a little more high scoring and I think Vegas is crazy on giving Michigan 10.5. This hasn't been touched on yet, but the time change should have an effect on SDSU's performance. Here's to hoping Hillman is sleeping the whole game. I am going with 34-31, Meeeechigan.

About Last Night: Recap Eastern Michigan

Brady Hoke & Ron English discussing the craziness that is Denard under center...

Do you think Brady Hoke is discussing how dumb he realizes MANball is here, when he has Denard Robinson at his disposal? Probably not here but, if Al Borges and Hoke haven't realized it by now than we are in for 12 games of ridiculously sloppy offensive first quarters. Where upon, by the end of said first quarter a bolt of lightning will strike Borges in the head reminding him we had to run Denard 29 times to beat Eastern. As inadequate as the defense looked on those first few EMU drives, the offense looked like Akron going against the Alabama defense. If you've allowed your mind to remember anything from Notre Dame that isn't the fourth quarter you'll remember all those early game drives that made you do nothing but face palm.

12 plays, 32 yds. Interception, Punt, Punt. Guh... Denard went on the rest of the game being Denard and Michigan won 31-3. Minus the first 2 opponent drives of games, I'm scarily allowing myself to pseudo-like our defense, which my reasoning I will discuss, but they've consistently shown enough this year to make me not hate them...

Offense:
I have to call myself out. When this season started, I didn't predict that the minimal MANball, our offense would run would be a very difficult transition. I was... what's the word? Wrong, that's it, I was wrong. Power-I couldn't be run against Eastern. When Denard isn't tossing up rainbows to Junior Hemingway, he's looked shaky and I haven't done a statistical analysis but the structures of common knowledge would lead me to bet that, YPC is significantly lower than runs out of the gun. Running zone for 3 years straight doesn't translate into  man blocking well and I thought it would. Other than being tall, lengthy, and remotely fast, this is why I didn't play Offensive Line.

After 3 series of this MANball, I-formation stuff not working, Denard got to be Denard. Thus ensued Michigan racking up 376 yds rushing, because the threat of Denard, handing off, running, or throwing is much scarier to a defense than, him sitting in the pocket, frantically panting the ball, or handing it off to a running back going straight up the middle.

I mean you guys have all seen it too right? I can think of Vincent Smith's long run, the Koger TD pass, and the Dileo TD pass all prime examples of why Denard being the focal point of this offense needs to stay true for the next 2 seasons. Sorry MANball but you will have to wait while we have a, dreaded water bug as our QB. Kudos to Borges, because he's saw what was happening, realized how he's going to win games and strayed far, far away from whatever that is, that we try to run from under center from time to time.

Passing the ball has scared me. I feel like Lloyd Carr on 3rd & long every time their is a pass. Denard has taken steps backwards, and I don't know why. It'll be interesting to see if the passing game starts to reflect the running game and digs into the Rich Rodriguez playbook.

Defense:
Why this defense always starts out slow is beyond me. The logical explanation is that Mattison is feeling the opponent out. Well, if that's the case... Stop feeling the opponent. Howeva, if you were to tell me that Michigan would be tied for 5th in the country in turnovers forced I'd have called you a liar. So if cupping a good feel on our opponents will lead to turnovers I'm all for it. The defense gave up 196 yds in first half (147 on first 3 drives) and Eastern only gained 236 on the day.

Let me be sentimental for a moment here. I love a defense that can adjust mid-game. It's like having a crush on the pretty girl and finally getting her. At first you're just infatuated and angry that it's not working out and then something clicks you change your approach and boom. You got the girl. Now, this is probably an exaggeration. Well, not probably, it is, we aren't that good yet. But, allowing that few points and that few amount of yards against anybody after the past 3-4 years was rewarding and the signs of an improving defense are there.

Eastern never really threw it so judging our secondary on the day is difficult. Thomas Gordon is looking better and better and that interception was smooth. Allowing outside runs to break contain is a concern on the DL. I like Jake Ryan to keep improving and hopefully the problems that have plagued him are coachable and he can hold that spot down.Craig Roh finally let the opponent know he was on the field and made some plays. My season prediction of 12 sacks is looking bleak but one can hope. Jibreel Black has also been a positive on the D-line, rotating in for Roh. Also, unless I'm my eyes are blind to what I hope to see, William Campbell has not looked bad when he's seen the field. Let us all hope this continues.

Greg Mattison is a great coordinator. He can, as they say, in the cool defensive circles, "adjust".

Special Teams:
Michigan has made 100% of their field goals. Jeremy Gallon can field punts and do something after catching all the while, I don't need to scream at the television for him to hold on to the ball. This is improvement.

Let's not squib kick at the end of the half ever again okay?

Good Feeling To Take Home With You:
Al Borges isn't going to regulate one of the greatest talents in America. He will play to his talents ie.) Denard. Something else Borges did very well, was setting up plays out of the zone-read. It was really nice on the Dileo touchdown pass to go back watch the game and see how the 3-4 plays ahead of that set that play up. The dude can call plays and at the end of the day if Denard is healthy he will let Denard be Denard to win games.

As Always, Go BLUE.

Preview: Eastern Michigan

Who, What, When, Where, Weather:
Who: Eastern Michigan: Line: Michigan -29
What: Baby Seal U, 3rd game
When: 12:00 Eastern
Where: Ann Arbor
Weather: 67 sunny

Preface: This is going to be short, just like how long I expect this one to be interesting which, won't be very.


Offense vs. Eastern:
If there was one defense in the country significantly worse than Michigan's last season it was Eastern. They also got killed by sub-level MAC teams. We looked out of rhythm and slow to get started next week, so we'll see what happens. If we don't crush here, that's shocking. We can obviously run the jump-ball pass play but past that, we haven't done much this season. It should be time for us to work on our simple plays that we need to be good at.

What to watch for: I formation Manball vs. not looking stagnant on offense. That's all we should need to run on this one. Look for guys like Devin to get some reps by the 3rd  qtr.

Defense vs. Eastern:
Eastern has run the ball well this year to the tune of 313 ypg. They have however done this against, Where are you and Who cares State of the FCS. Forgive me if I am not impressed. Our defense has been able to get timely turnovers which, wasn't our strong suit last year. We have better athletes and our front-four should finally be able to apply pressure without having to run crazy blitzes from all over the place.

What to watch for:
Front four vs. applying pressure. If we can't do this against Eastern, I will be worried for the rest of the year and the Big Ten season will scare the heebyjeebies out of me. Not letting the worst MAC team move the ball against us vs. PLEASE GOD NO.

Special Teams:
Make a field goal if necessary, catch the ball, and no big returns. That is all, carry on.

Prediction:
The line is 29 and that is a hefty one. Michigan has the talent and if they can exploit one team this season it needs to be this one. I'm looking for this one to lose my serious interest early Look for Michigan to win going away. I'm going with Michigan: 52-7.

About Last Night: Recap Notre Dame

So, I've watched this game 3 times now, counting Saturday. I've started this post multiple times and ended it in dismay. I cannot articulately place words together that can describe what was seen at Michigan Stadium on Saturday. Next to Braylonfest this was unequivocally the most miraculous thing I can recall these eyes seeing.

Thank goodness for my good pal who, is the always optimistic Michigan fan. Because 10 minutes into this one, my emotional roller-coaster mind had already began the painful process of this game being a blow-out loss and nothing I saw showed me any different. Even after the Hemingway TD grab it seemed like only moments had passed until again, the game looked out of reach at 24-7. Those short painful moments then turned into time continuum stoppage when, a player we all love for his smile and humble personality, began ascending up the national spotlight ladder (again) with a 300lb ankle weight latched on to him. 

If you told me that 4th quarter didn't last like 3 days, I'd call you a liar and shun you away. Because I'll be damned if it didn't. As soon, Stephen Hopkins pulled the fumble lateral back to Denard and he walked in the endzone untouched, I allowed the impossible to creep into my mind as a possible.

Jeremy Gallon all 5ft nothing of him did his best Braylon Edwards impression. Vincent Smith scampered around a few missed blocks on his way into the end-zone with a 1:12 left making me nauseous that there was too much time on the clock for our shotty secondary we did. Thirty seconds didn't seem like enough time to me and with our kicking game and and then...

TRh

My word... my word... All of the jibber jabber and rabble rabble I just spewed at you is the best way I can describe it. I'm sorry this took until the eve of the Eastern game to post but, you saw it, you're still trying to figure it out and come down from it... Cut me some slack.

Offense:
Manball...Denard & Jump ball that'll work... Yeah that'll work...


Defense: 

Thank goodness for unforced turnovers. There's a ton of work to be done here but it was wonderful seeing Big Will and Hawthorne get in there and make some plays. Let's hope it holds up this week.

Again, I am sorry I suck as a blogger and take forever sometimes but this whole week I've had a hard time even talking about what took place, let alone trying to place my inadequate thoughts onto a blog that people can like read. I am going to try and get an Eastern preview in tonight  we'll see, don't hold me too it. Besides it's Eastern. I don't like to preview murders.

Preview: Notre Dame

Finally...Also, did I just sell out to Adidas? Damnit...

Who, What, When, Where, Weather
Who: Notre Dame: Line ND (-3)
What: FIRST EVER NIGHT GAME AT THE BIG HOUSE!
When: 8:00 p.m. Eastern
Where: Ann Arbor, MI
Weather: Hi 72, 40% chance of Thunderstorms <--- jokes right?

Offense vs. Notre Dame:
So, South Florida's offense last year came in nestled right between Purdue and Ball State in the national rankings at 105th nationally in yds/gm.  This year they came into South Bend minus their leading rusher and leading receiver from a year ago. They also play in the Big East, which ties with the MAC and C-USA in conferences that are good... Well, probably behind the MAC.  They did bring with them a somewhat experienced line and a returning quarterback who came in with a stunning 1685 yds passing from last season. That was the offense ND held last week in a monsoon to 254 total/yds. Forgive me if I am not superdy-duper impressed.

This ND defense is the same defense that got torched last year by Navy and Tulsa and then had a stretch of success toward the end of the season. Well was it really success? 3 points given up to Army. But seriously, is Army (no shots here towards service men) still D-1? ND held USC to only 16 points in another monsoon vs. the Trojan back-up QB, who couldn't compete with Mallett at Arkansas and transfered to USC. Lastly, Miami looked about as interested in playing in the Sun-Bowl, as I am toward watching a 7 year-old girls ballet instead of Michigan football on Saturdays, when they threw up only 17 on the scoreboard in the their bowl game last year. They finished 51st nationally, so that's something... but again... I dunno, call me a homer but, I'm not impressed. Michigan's Defense got torched by everybody because of every reason under the sun, mainly talent and scheme. ND's defense is stacked with 4-5* talent and got torched by Tulsa and Navy. This game, just like for Michigan in all aspects is going to be a huge barometer of where both teams are in all aspects of their team.

I'm not sure if only running 39 plays last week is a good thing or a bad thing. Both? Michigan obviously didn't show much last week, but they also didn't get to run much against somebody who's not themselves. I don't think they would have shown much on offense either way so, damn you rain... damn you. So we'll go off what we know. Last year, this happened and it'll never get old, so yah...

I remember the gentleman sitting in front of me last year at ND, repeating himself stop Denard and you stop them. Well sir you didn't stop Denard. I think ND's coaching staff will maybe take that note to heart to this year.Denard Robinson alone compiled 502 yds of total offense against the Irish defense last year but you already knew that. The team as a whole had 532. ND will be keying on #16. But how?

I don't think Borges will hold anything back this week offensively and you will see a heavy dose of Denard. However other than a play here or there I don't think Denard packages will be deployed early in the game unless we get down quickly. Michigan will hold the element of surprise in this one as Michigan didn't run much, if anything from under center last year against the Irish, save the Hopkins goal line touchdown.

I'd like to think we will see more toward that 70% shotgun distribution we saw last week before the hurricane rolled through. Look for a good dose of Fitz running power out of the gun with quick dump offs to the receivers. ND has experience all over on defense and there's no need to take risky shots early here.

What To Watch For:
ND's experience vs. Al Borges' mind. Pretty much everybody who will be strapping up for the Irish on Saturday was a witness to the Denard Robinson show last year. One would suspect that this will help them in their endeavor this year. However, Michigan has a new mad genius at offense who will be trying to add some new acts to the show this year. I like the idea of Michigan trying to establish the run early and saving Denard for later. Michigan's offense was able to torch this defense last year and I don't see any glaring reason why they shouldn't be able to emulate much of the same success.

If you come at me with, "but, scheme change", stop it. Just... stop it.

Defense vs. Notre Dame
For all the success that Michigan's offense had last year in this game. ND's offense had 3 more total yds (535). That was last year and this is, this year, which means Notre Dame should put up yards. However, last season the Irish looked much better when led by Dayne Crist and I still place the non Denard Robinson portion of last years victory to Crist's injury. Crist threw for 277 yds on 13-25 passing in limited action for 2 TD's. Nate Montana and tomorrows starter Tommy Rees combined to go 8-19 for 104 yds and 2 INT's.

Rees and Crist had a heated QB battle through spring and fall camp after Rees impressed the second half of last season for ND.That battle ended early in the South Florida game last week with Brian Kelly's head exploding.

Crist was yanked after going 7-15 for 95 yds and 1 INT. Rees came in and promptly went 24-34 for 296 yds 2 TD's and 2 INT's. Rees proved himself last year at the end of the season and I wouldn't look for seeing Crist on the field this year. Brian Kelly will roll with Rees. Flip-Flopping QB's in what many consider a must win isn't ideal. All three interceptions thrown last week were terrible passes. Two of them were late and way behind the receiver and 1 doinked off a recievers head who wasn't looking for the ball. These QB's do have one of the top 3 receivers, in my mind, to throw the ball to in Michael Floyd.

Michigan was getting picked apart by Alex Carder last week until Greg Mattison went blitz happy. Brian Kelly's spread is definitely leaned towards a passing spread and this will be exploited on Saturday truly testing Michigan's revamped defensive scheme. Personal feelings aside, Floyd is a stud and scares the willies right out of me. Michigan's front four will need to apply pressure, something they weren't able to do last week, this will allow the defense to drop more into coverage hopefully, and I do mean hopefully, stopping Rees to Floyd happening on the regular and making Rees turnover prone like he was last week. Avery/Floyd and Woolfolk will have their work cut out for them. I would think with Woolfolk's speed and experience he will be the guy matched up over Floyd mostly.

Notre Dame's rushing offense was 87th last season. Cierre Wood will lead the attack this season.  The season on the ground started out respectable this year with 117 yds on the ground for 4 ypc. The running game did add to the turnover fest that took place with a fumble that resulted in 6 points for the Bulls. Notre Dame hasn't been a smash mouth running team since before the days of Weis (man I miss that guy), so don't expect them to pound the rock when Michigan's secondary is what it is, unless ND can find success on the edge. Here's to hoping that Craig Roh and whomever lines up opposite Roh at DE can keep contain.

What To Watch For:
Pay attention to 2 things. First Michigan's front four applying pressure vs. Tommy Rees. It will only be a good thing if Mike Martin and gang can apply pressure so that Kovacs and the like don't have to come down into the box. This is most likely not going to happen as ND has an experienced line and it didn't get done last week against JuCo transfers against Western. If they can apply pressure look for Rees to make a bad decision or two resulting in a couple takeaways for the defense.

The latter is dependent on if the first happens or not. If the front four can't apply pressure watch to see how Mattison can adjust his gameplan. Figuring out a way to apply pressure without leaving Floyd and the other receivers painstakingly open will be clutch.

Special Teams:
Just hold onto the ball. A field goal or two would be nice.

What to Watch For:
Kickoff coverage vs. big plays. Last week was scary, lets not do that again K? Thnx.

Prediction:
First ever night game at the Big House, around 115k going bonkers...  if the Wolverines have ever had a home field advantage due to the game time atmosphere tomorrow is it. Notre Dame has scared me for the past 2 years and this year is no different and I don't know why. They should've blown USF out but turned the ball over 5 times and didn't. Notre Dame also wasn't able to defeat Michigan for the past 2 years when M was ummm, subpar to say the least.

Denard Robinson, I believe, is going to get his probably not 502 yds of getting his, but will be very effective. You don't tear someone up for 502 come back the next year against the same guys and get shut down. I said it in my preseason prediction that this game was a toss-up to me and it still is. After the last 2 seasons, until ND beats Michigan, I don't think it will happen. Michigan is going to squeak out another thriller. Michigan Wins: 31-27

About Last Night: Recap Western

Why is Hoke  not pointing at the clouds, making them break up?

If I recall correctly, it was around, oh I dunno, 6ish when my mind was super excited that the event that is a Michigan football Saturday would carry right up to or into the Oregon v. LSU game that I cared nothing about. I was outside firing up the grille in Grand Rapids, waiting for the rain to stop. Then something strange happened and it was just like, over, done, no mas. "Wait, what?"

I'm glad I had the foresight to record the game on my television at home. I was going to need to watch again. After the two delays and the beverages I began to forget all the things I had just watched and began looking for affirmation from my friends that the game was actually over and also trying to collect bits of what all I had just seen. Did Michigan ever have the ball? Denard really didn't take one of his runs a bazillion yards to the house? Our defense ran those blitz things and scored a touchdown?...wait, did you say, TWO touchdowns!?

I went back and watched the game. After just less than 3 full quarters the opener was over. Brady Hoke started his career 1-0. Minimal was seen/learned from the offense. The defense showed some things that were known and some things that were a pleasant surprise. Observations?... Observations.

Offense:
This section is going to look just like the game. Abbreviated. For those of you worried about the move out of the spread, Michigan ran about from the gun, 70% of the time. Al Borges would like you to believe that will not be the ratio that we as fans shall see the remainder of the season.

 “No, no … no. The game had no balance to it with regard to that. If we had played a fourth quarter, we would have been right about where we wanted it.”

I don't buy it. But with only 39 plays to judge off, I'm going to be smart here and hold off on judgement. One thing I can take away from the game, was my ever growing love-fest for Fitz Toussaint. He was just shy of 7 ypc and had that nice 43 yd scamper. He looked like that dude I saw in his High School highlight tape that made me giddy (please stay healthy). Shaw also impressed on his run. Until something shows me we need to worry, we should all feel good about our running-back situation.  

Just like the game, I'm going to hold off on Denard until after the ND game. From what I saw he made one questionable throw but managed the other 38 plays well. Last years opener gave us 80 something plays to go off of.

Defense:

Those first two drives made me nauseous. Just like last year. There were no deep balls, just methodical dumps down the field doing exactly what every lowly team in college football would've done last year. Then something, dare I say aMAIZEing, happened. 1:53 into the video.

Yes, that was the defense about to get scored on, running that thing our defense used to know as a blitz, causing a turnover and completely changing the outlook of a game. I know, I'll give you a second to comprehend that run-on sentence... You good? Alright on with it we go. 

Until Michigan's secondary and linebacking corps are substantially better Michigan is going to have to figure out ways to get pressure on the QB something GERG, as we all know, struggled with. Well, this dude Mattison gets it yo. If it's not working don't keep doing it. Bringing 4 down lineman wasn't working and so Mattison went blitz happy and Alex Carder's back was finding that luscious Michigan field turf regularly.  

The defense went from getting torched on 3 consecutive drives, to shutting down the Bronco attack. Jordan Kovacs isn't a walk on anymore and if anyone should question this. He will personally do this to your face.

If you need to see it at full speed here you go.

This defense is going to be scary and I think it will take a few games until we know exactly who to suspect we'll see on the field that'll be scaring us. JT Floyd was supposed to start but he didn't Frank Clark was supposed to be the freshman on the field most, but correct me if I am wrong, Brennen Beyer was that guy. Also Carvin Johnson got some time back at safety and then Marvin Robinson showed up on the field. That'll be an interesting battle to see play out. Last player note is Big Will Campbell did see the field but did nothing of note. I think until he's not here I am always going to cross my fingers he finds whatever it is to make him the second coming of 2006 Alan Branch.

The most encouraging thing for this unit is, we have a coordinator in place who seems pretty good at making in-game adjustments and isn't just hoping the other team screws up.

Special Teams:
UGHH... It's always something isn't it? One of these times the special teams will win us a game and my head will explode.

Good Feeling To Take Home With You:
Congrats to Brady Hoke. Who, even in the biggest moment of his career followed his team out of the tunnel and made it about the 115 of them and not himself. I wanna give the dude a big hug.

Preview: Western Michigan

So tomorrow starts the Brady Hoke era... I'm excited...

Is he pointing at me... OMG...

Who, What, When, Where, Weather (predicted)

Who: Western Michigan: Line -14

What: Season Opener

Where: Michigan Stadium

Weather: High of 91 40% chance of Thunderstorms

Let's get too it...

Offense vs. Western's Defense:

Western's defense came in at a stifling 73rd in the nation last year. I can't talk negatively about this because Michigan was what... 110th? Michigan sucked against the Big Ten, while Western sucked against the MAC. Western was 66th in the nation vs. the run and actually decent against the pass coming in at 47th nationally. 

By now, we know what Michigan did last year. Michigan had came in  8th overall in the country in total offense and we have this Denard Robinson kid who you know, is pretty good. The last time Denard saw a Western defense he did this...

never gets old...

Western brings back all four starters on the d-line, their leading tackler in the linebacking corps, Miami transfer Doug wiggins and All-Mac performer, Sophomore Lewis Toler in the secondary. Their are some glaring weaknesses that Michigan needs to and will attack. One of the four starting d-lineman is a whopping 210 Lb. DE, in Paul Hazel. Western has two, count umm, two inexperienced LB's starting this season. Their leading running back from a year ago is now a 5'6 corner, named Aaron Winchester.

WMU's head coach, Bill Cubit, talked about having a spy on Denard  at all times or something, but I mean really? It's Denard vs. the MAC and we've seen how that's gone over the past couple years. If you can find a LB or SS or whoever who can just watch Denard and keep up with him, I'll be... surprised...

What to look for:
Unfortunately, I'm not expecting a ton of Denard in this one. Michigan will be running at that 210 lb. of a defensive end all day, if the coach in me is correct. I would suspect we'll see a good dose of Mike Shaw and Fitz Toussaint, especially if the rain comes.

If the rain chills out and doesn't ruin the first Saturday of college football in Ann Arbor, the biggest thing you need to look for on offense should be how Michigan's new fangled passing attack looks. Timing is clutch in  the new passing attack. Rain obviously doesn't bode well for slinging the rock around, so this aspect of the offense unfortunately might have to wait until the ND game to get a good look. If Michigan can pass look to see Junior Hemingway jumping over a former running back often.

Defense vs. Western's Offense:
So, Western, finished 34th in the nation last year at 411.7  yds/gm? Weird... I don't follow Western so, this, was surprising. They probably won't be running the ball very much as they were 96th in nation in rushing yards and their starter from last year is now going to get owned by Junior Hemingway. The Bronco passing attack came in 23rd nationally at 3429 yds through the air.

I'm not talking about it anymore but Michigan's defense last year was...

So there's that, and I'm not talking about it any further...

Some dude named Graham Couch, wrote earlier this week that Alex Carder was the best quarterback in the state of Michigan...He received much ridicule and tried to re-emphasize his point later this week. This guy is like, not smart... and anybody who watched a snap of Michigan or Michigan State knows this to be true. The guy writes for the Kalamazoo Gazette I don't quite expect him to show a love fest for Denard or Cousins. Brian over at MGoBlog writes better than anyone in the state, (especially Graham Couch), and he did a great job explaining the ludicrous, that was this statement. So, I'm not going to.

Alex Carder, is good, but not the best QB in the state. Carder threw for 3334 yds last season coming in for 16th nationally, but did have 12 picks. Jordan White was 5th nationally in receiving yds. That's where there offense came from last year. Jordan White is more Wes Welker than Randy Moss. I look at it this way, Hawaii usually leads the nation passing so, take that, for some food for thought... 

Western only had two returning starters on the offensive line and two of their projected starters are injured so, Michigan's front seven should be able to apply pressure to Carder. I may or may not eat my own words, but simply Michigan has had 2 weeks to prepare for Western and Western has no idea what Michigan will deploy defensively. Greg Mattison only coordinated the best defense over the past three years in the NFL so, I'd be willing to bet he can formulate a good game plan.

What to Look for:
Michigan's got Troy Woolfolk and a combination of Courtney Avery and JT Floyd back in the secondary so pay attention to them matching up with the Bronco passing attack. Western has issues at the offensive line and one should watch Michigan's front seven bring the pressure and stop Western's abysmal rushing attack and apply pressure to the passing game as well. Kill 2 birds with 1 stone if you will. Michigan has Mike Martin, Craig Roh, and Ryan VanBergen against an inexperienced offensive line, they will "kill 2 birds with 1 stone".

Prediction: 
Michigan's got more talent and had 2 weeks to prepare. Even in their last 3 years of shady football Michigan looked pretty good in their first game of the season. I expect this year to be no different. Look for Brendan Gibbons or Matt Wile to make a field goal in this one as Michigan wins, 34-14.

Wins & Losses: Uneducated Prediction 2011

So, this is the last second portion of the preseason where anyone who knows me personally can go back, look at this season prediction and call me to my face, i dunno, something witty like, "dumb"... I'm not going give long elaborate reasons for my reasoning, because I don't have to and I plan on doing (key word PLAN) individual game previews throughout the season. So on to the stupidity...

Western Michigan: Win- Are we playing Toledo? No.. Michigan wins. The Brady Hoke era can't start out with a loss. I refuse to believe it, feasible until it actually happens.

Notre Dame: Toss up- Win- Yup, I'm going with it. Dayne Christ or not, Michigan has won 2 of 3 against ND with the worst 3 Michigan teams in recent memory. Until ND proves me wrong which, the rational side of me thinks they will do this year, Michigan wins.

Eastern Michigan: Win-  I mean, it's Eastern. If we lose I will cut my fings off to prevent me from typing things, I surely will regret. But seriously, it's Eastern...

San Diego State: Win- Where did Brady Hoke coach last season? Oh, yes... San Diego State. Who knows their personnel better than anyone else in the country, besides their current coach? Brady Hoke. San Diego State will be good but Michigan's knowledge of their personnel plus their presumed better talent = a win here. 

Minnesota: Win- If there was one Big Ten team that had a worse defense than Michigan last year, it was Minnesota. They also bring in a new coach and are moving Marquise Gray back to QB. Should be an interesting season in Minneapolis, but one that won't see a victory over Michigan.

Nortwestern: Toss up- Probably a Loss: Northwestern will be an under the radar team in the Big Ten and a good one. Persa will be competing with the likes of Denard, Cousins, and Martinez for best QB in the big ten and could easily come out on top. For that reason and it's the first conference road game of the year, I'm chalking this one up as the first L of the season.

Michigan State: Toss up- Leaning towards Win: We haven't lost 4 years in a row to Sparty since the 50's. All my high school buddies are Sparties and I can't take anymore. Even if it's because I have been drinking the Brady Hoke Kool-Aid too much, I'm taking the Wolverines in a close one.

Purdue: Win- Unless Danny Hope can get his team psyched up on Michigan stealing another one of his recruits, Michigan gets the win. 

Iowa: Loss- Kinnick is a brutal place to play. I know Iowa is replacing a good amount on defense and a quarterback but, Ferentz is one of the top coaches in the Big Ten and Iowa has a way of squeaking out close wins against Michigan lately. 

Illinois: Win- If Michigan beat you last year with that defense, even though allowing 65 points shouldn't count, we'll beat you again this year. Illinois is repacing their horse at RB and some studs on defense. As long as Roy Roundtree doesn't get tackled at the 1, Michigan gets the win here.

Nebraska: Win-  Nebraska has a brutal schedule leading up to this November match-up and I question of Martinez will make it that far in the season. Besides, we have a 1997 National Title to win outright still. 

Ohio State: Loss- Damnit... They are still Ohio State and our roster is still talent deficient compared to theirs. I hate to say it, but it's the truth. This can obviously change, but until we beat umm, I won't predict it.

So, did I really just do that.... 9-3? I mean sure... whatever, I'm rolling with it. This team is returning 18 starters from a team that went 7-5 last year and will presumably be a crapton better on defense. Rich Rodriguez for all his faults was a master on offense and we do have talent their no matter what scheme we are in. 

This should some my thoughts up...

Quickies: The O-Line

Taylor Lewan's Mustache Tattoo Makes Me Giggle

The Low Down:
Minus Denard Robinson, this unit was Michigan's best position group on the field last season. Anchored by David Molk and Sr. Steve Schilling, this unit allowed all of 11 sacks last year. They paved the way for the nations 13th best rushing offense. How much of those numbers were predicated on the spread offense and elusiveness of Denard? Maybe a good amount, but offensive lineman don't collect any stats but penalties, so I'll take those provided stats as indicators to how effective they were as a whole.

David Molk finished the season on the All Big-Ten first team and was the only Wolverine to make the team. But, that doesn't bother me, the Big Ten is always deep when it comes to offensive lineman and last year was probably one of the best years in the conference in a long time.

Taylor Lewan, is the second coming of Jake Long so accept that. He shut down first round pick Adrian Clayborn, but does have this problem of holding onto the opponents jersey and not knowing the snap count, as he was head and shoulders above the rest of the offensive line when it comes to penalties.When Patrick Omameh wasn't struggling with high caliber DT's he spent his time blowing up stud linebackers...

Steve Schilling played well and never caused me to curse terrible things at the television screen. Lastly Mark Huyge played his normal Dr. Jackyl & Mr. Hyde with his performance starting at tackle until Taylor Lewan proved himself to be a much better option and then splitting time with the often injured Perry Dorrestein.

1 Year Later:
Have I mentioned that we're like transitioning to MANball? Yeah? Alrighty than...Michigan was primarily a zone running team last year out of the gun and general consensus is that, this year the team will gradually move toward a straight forward power run game. This will be a transition for the line.

A major factor in this transition being a smooth one, is that, the line returns 4 of 5 starters only losing 4 year staple in the line, Schilling. Ricky Barnum will step in and so far there has been nothing but good praise coming in on Barnum, from fall camp. Huyge has been in a battle with highly recruited red-shirt sophmore Michael Schofield for the starting RT position, but so far all words point to him starting over Schofield.

The depth chart is a little scary this year.We lost what would've been 2 scholarship lineman when Jake Fisher made the decision to decommit from Michigan and go to Oregon and Tony Posada got homesick or something and left the program. However, one thing this line has shown over various David Molk/Perry Dorrestein injuries is some versatility. Guys have been able to slide around the line without too much drop-off. Obviously this year the scheme is going to be different but I can only go off what I've seen in the past.

Expectations: What Is Them?
How does one go about making predictions for an offensive line? (Insert name) will have X amount of pancake blocks and Y amount of penalties? No, that's just silly. But here are some things I expect to see...

We will see more sacks allowed this year. This will be a combination of Denard being in the pocket from under-center and the line getting used to the new scheme. If we are allowing like 2-3 sacks a game, that will be extremely disappointing. A betting man would think that many of the sacks will be within the first couple weeks of the season, and by the time conference play swings around the line should be comfortable.

We will still run for a BOATLOAD of yards. Call this my "Guaransheed" if you will but Michigan will finish in the top 3 in the conference in rushing again. By the way top 3 in this conference is not a small feat as the Big Ten had 5 teams in the top 14 in the country in rushing yds last year if you count Nebraska, 4 if you don't. I'm a firm believer that past quarterbacks if you can run, catch, block, whatever in one scheme you can do it another. Michigan's line will be good. We need Molk to stay healthy as he is definitively the leader of this unit and should be All Big-Ten once again. The team will still run the ball well. I can just envision Brady Hoke pointing in pleasure as the line runs off the field after many of bulldozing touchdown runs.

Taylor Lewan, will have fewer penalties, should make a solid push to be on some All Big-Ten teams by seasons end, and will continue to steal the hearts of all our ladies with his mustache tattoo...

Upnext, A quick season preview, followed by a preview of tomorrows showdown with Western. As always, Go Blue.

Quickies: Wide Receivers and Tight Ends

Moves, Junior's got moves...

The Low Down:
Wide-receiver is arguably Michigan's second strongest unit coming back behind in my opinion, the offensive line. Last year this unit produced. The receivers accounted for 81% of the caught passes on the team. Unfortunately for the tight ends a Rich Rodriguez offense isn't too kind to them. The tight ends aka, Kevin Koger and Martell Webb accounted for just 19 receptions.

Roy Roundtree led the way for the group, tallying 935 yds and 7 td's. 10 different players with WR next to their name on the roster caught at least a ball last season. The threat of Denard's legs opened up many of opportunities for the receivers. What a great thing it was to see Denard take 2 steps towards the line of scrimmage and just dump it off to an open wide receiver.. Would you like a reminder? I do, I do...

Let's keep this k?

This group did do one thing particularly well outside of being wide open and benefiting from Denard Robinson. They blocked down field creating running lanes. The best example would be, Roy Roundtree on the infamous 87 yd TD run against ND. I can think of many more examples, but I am too lazy to type them and too lazy to look up clips on youtube so please... Take my word for it.

I wish dropped balls was statistic because, dropping passes was the one lingering problem this group has had for a couple years. Drops can not only kill drives but kill momentum for a team.

1 Year Later:
Every player, save Martell Webb  who contributed last year was expected to come back this year. Everyone did, except Darryl Stonum and Je'Ron Stokes. Stokes as mentioned here on the blog left the program during fall camp. Stonum had a problem this past year with booze cruisin, and will be sitting this year out with a coaching staff induced red-shirt. If he does what he's supposed to, we'll see him on the field next year for the maize and blue.

The general consensus when the coaching staff came in was that this offense would look like Michigan of past and it would be 3 yds and a cloud a dust. No need for slot ninjas. However last year under Borges, San Diego State ran a good amount of 3-4 wide and I expect Michigan to do the same this year. This is one of the position groups where I consider Michigan to be DEEP... I don't like how the official depth chart looked when it came out because Martavious Odoms was down near the bottom and I don't expect that to be the case. Odoms is consistent catching passes and an outstanding blocker and as far as I am concerned the more dreads on the field the better.

When we line up in the power formations and are only using 2 WR's expect Roy Roundtree and Junior Hemingway to be on the field. In a 3 WR set expect those two paired with mixtures of Odoms, Gallon, and Grady. Jeremy Gallon has come in for some substantial fall camp hype. He didn't show much last year, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed on him, hopefully he found whatever it was, that made him a highly sought after 4* coming out of HS. Jerald Robinson will be another back-up to keep an eye on as he has height, good speed, and has also gotten praise from the coaching staff during spring camp and that praise has even carried over to fall camp as well.

Timing, timing, timing... This passing attack will be predicated on the receivers and quarterbacks being on the same page at all time. Roundtree on the timing aspect of this offense...

“You have to have the timing down in this offense because if the timing is off, then the quarterback is off,” junior receiver Roy Roundtree said. “Our receivers want the ball, so we got to get open and keep the timing good for Denard.

Where is that timing at now?

“We’re getting there,” he said. “We still have two more weeks to get ready.”

As a former receiver myself, if you can run good routes, you can run good routes. Much of what is going to allow the passing attack to be successful, will be on chemistry. Things may be a little sketchy early in the season but from all report the QB's, receivers, and ends put in time this summer and I am sure have carried that over to fall camp in preparing for the season. Call it a gut feeling but, Borges will use some of those "Denard up the middle, just kidding, he's passing over your head" plays that were so effective last year.

Expectations: What is them?
 Roy Roundtree benefited much last season from Denard's feet possibly more than anyone. For that reason, I won't be pegging him as Michigan's top receiver this year.  Junior Hemingway should have a big season. He's a big body that can make plays down the field. Tight-end hasn't been touched on too much here, but Kevin Koger will have a good season as well. Triple what he did last year is my expectation. Denard has said that he's feeling more comfortable checking down and not trying to force balls,  Koger should benefit, coming in for around 500-600 yds and a few TD's. Roundtree will get his and the ninjas will see more use than the mass media will lead you to believe. As long as the guys can avoid drops that have plagued them over the past couple years things should be "all good in the hood" as the kids say these days...

Blog Note: Sorry if these last couple preview posts are a little sloppy in content. My work schedule is crazy and I wanted to get them in before doing a quick season preview and a Western preview up on the board. Up next will be the O-line. As Always, Go Blue.