Victors Valiant

Preview: Michigan State

2011-10-14T12:03:00.000-07:00

We will be facing a team who is throwing traditional uniforms out the door and going with a combination of South Florida, Baylor, and doggie poo...

Who, What, When, Where, Weather:
Who: Little Bro (Line: Mich +2.5)
What: The Battle for The Paul Bunyon Trophy
When: 12:00 Eastern (ESPN)
Where: East Lansing
Weather: High near 57, 25-30 MPH Winds

I grew up in a quaint community nestled about 25 min from East Lansing and unfortunately grew up as the lone Michigan fan out of my entire group of friends. For the vast majority of my life, minus a hiccup hear or a hiccup there, this was never a problem and when football season came around they new their place and my disdain for Spartan fans was of the "LOL" type.

The year this all changed was 2001, at the devine age of 14 where true dislike, for an individual (in this case collective fan base) rivaling hatred can really seap into your being. You will all mostly remember this game as the TJ Duckett back of the endzone catch with no time left, infamously known as "The Catch", "Clockgate", or "Spartan Bob". For those of you "not in the know", Michigan should have won this game but the hometown Spartan clock keeper stopped the clock early on a Jeff Smoker spike allowing the Spartans one more play resulting in the afforentioned shenanigans.

I went to the game with my father, who had gotten us 2 tickets through my grandfathers company. We spent the afternoon tailgating with the partners of my grandfathers company (all sparties) enjoying the afternoon all in good fun. I was leaning along a fence near the stadium waiting for my dad to head into the game when not one, but two grown men came up to me (who I had never met or seen before), bent down to get directly in my face (close enough to smell rotten stench of cheap whiskey and Natural Light). These two "gentleman" thought it would be the right thing to begin shouting profanities at me along the lines of, "Hey kid, F*ck you and F*ck Michigan, go green!!!" All the while other green and white fans walked by laughing. I was an even tempered kid, brushed it off and thought I would have the last laugh before the day was over. But, the transformation from an "LOL Sparty" to complete unadulterated hate had started to begin.

Than the unthinkable happened and Michigan lost. On the way out of the Stadium I had my head down as distraught as I ever have been outside the loss of a loved one. At least 3 times I had groups of Guido wanna be bros, bump into me all the while pointing, laughing, and shouting go green in my face. Yup, the transformation to hatred was done screw, East Lansing. None of us will ever get the last three seasons back. Hell, I know even with a Michigan win on Saturday the only thing that will be heard from Sparty fans will be of the "Wait until basketball" or "What about the last three seasons" variety of responses. But, damnit we need this win not to prove just to Sparty who the real football power in the state is, but to prove that this Michigan team isn't the same team that we've seen the past 2 seasons. So I'm done, I've prefaced my hatred for Little Bro, and promise this won't be a yearly thing. So onto the most rationalistic preview of this game I can let my Maize and Blue colored lenzes allow.

Offense vs. Sparty
Sparty's defense is ranked pretty darn good... Rankings? Scoring Defense ranks3rd ationally, 10.2 pts/gm. Total Defense, 173.4 yds/ gm: 1st nationally. The Rushing defense is ranked 3rd nationally giving up a mere 64 yds/gm. Against the pass MSU is 2nd nationally allowing just 109.4 yds/gm. Needless to say, on paper, holy crap, Michigan will have their hands full with this defense. However, especially this early in conference season, it's good to look and see at how these stats were compiled. I'd like to avoid using anything from games against an FCS school but, Youngstown State is 8th Nationally in FCS in total offense. Florida Atlantic, who supposedly is a Div 1 team, is 118th Nationally in total offense. Notre Dame is 20th Nationally. Lowly Central Michigan is 88th nationally. Lastly the mighty Buckeye offense moved up from 108th, last week, to 105th this week after their performance against Nebraska.

Now, save Notre Dame, all these offenses are garbage, you know it and I know it. But, to be fair Sparty did hold a very talented Notre Dame offense to just 275 yds on the road. Michigan will come into this one 26th nationally in total offense, 7th rushing, & 90th passing. But, what dominant defensive team has Michigan played to date? To say that this will be a telling game for both teams is a complete understatement.

At the end of last season the Spartans lost some key pieces to the defense, most importantly linebackers Eric Gordon, Greg Jones, and Strong Safety, Marcus Hyde. This years strength seems to fall on the Defensive Line, lead by NFL prospect NT Jerel Worthy and DE William Gholston who appears to be finding his groove in this, his sophmore campaign for the sparties. The Spartan defense was able to bottle-up Denard last season to the tune of 84 yds rushing and 3 interceptions. 2 of those being very costly ones in the endzone.

Last season, Michigan ran Denard quite frequently with zone stretch-runs and this season, it appears as though the designed runs are more power off tackle run plays. Gordon and Jones were phenomenal last season at filling the gaps in the zone stretch plays leaving nowhere for Denard to go. A major match-up will be Al Borges finding ways to get Denard out in space and keeping Jerel Worthy and William Gholston non factors.

As mentioned above, against the pass the Spartans are nearly just as good as they are against the run. Denard has had moments of, "Wow didn't know you could do that" mixed with "Umm where were you throwing the ball" this season, the latter has happened more frequently. Minus the 3 INT's last week Denard showed improvement stepping up in the pocket and making good throws and did strikingly well against Minnesota. For Michigan to have any chance here Denard needs to show that continual improvement instead of the deep ball quacks that have plagued him this season.

If sparty is able to apply a ton of pressure I am worried about Denard's decision making but also think they will feel comfortable enough sitting back making Denard read the defense and throw a good ball against the zone something, he's struggled with mightily this season.

What To Watch For:
Denard " OHHH NOOOO'S" vs. The Spartans base defense. If we can keep the turnovers to a minimum and move the ball consistently, I believe that will start to open up some run lanes for Robinson and the backs on the edge. It'll be interesting to see if Sparty uses a spy on Robinson and if they do whom? I think this will be a game where if there isn't a pass Denard may be able to step up in the pocket with the defense sitting in zone and take off through open running lanes... I hope...

Defense vs. Sparty
The Spartan offensive line returns only 2 guys from last years running attack that crushed the Michigan D to the tune of 246 yds. 2 major factors this season are that, 1.) Michigan isn't running a 3-3-5 coordinated by Greg Robinson and State is using a makeshift line that hasn't pummeled really anybody on the ground this season. In the their non returning offensive line spots they have resorted to a Freshman JUCO transfer, Fou Fonoti, a spring ball position switch player in Dan France at Left Tackle (yeah, that's the guy protecting Kirk Cousins blindside), and lastly redshirt Freshman Travis Jackson.

Rushing the ball their only success has come against Non BCS schools. Notre Dame was able to pile up tons of yards on the ground, and Northwestern and SDSU were able to compile very respectable games on the ground so, like every other facet of this game this will be a very telling matchup for the Michigan run defense and the sparty rush offense. One big component will be the play of Kenny Demens plugging up the middle and Michigan being able to hold contain on the edges, which has been the crux of the Michigan defense to date.

While I don't think BJ Cunningham is half the man Michael Floyd is, he is still a very talented WR whom Kirk Cousins definitely relies on when nothing else is available. The glaring thing for Michigan is past Cunningham the WR's aren't very deep for sparty.

With the Michigan State offensive line being shaky, I'm looking to see Mattison dial up some blitz to get some pressure on Cousins to speed up his internal clock hopefully leading to some poor throws on his part. He hasn't been brilliant yet this year and it could only get better for Michigan if the front 4 can get pressure through this rag tag offensive line allowing Mattison to have his LB's and secondary play freely.

What To Watch For:
Michigan keeping contain. If Michigan can keep contain and keep the Spartan RB's bottled up inside the Spartan running game will look just as mediocre as they have all season. Making sparty put the game on Kirk Cousins back can only benefit Michigan here.

Special Teams vs. MSU
Kickoff and punt coverage is the key here. MSU has always hyped and dangerous speedster Keshawn Martin and if coverage continues to be shaky look for sparty to take one to the house. Having Hagerup for this one is big and I hope the wind doesn't become to much of a factor and he can boom some high bombs not giving Martin much of a chance for a return.

Prediction:
I'll say it once, and I'll say it again, but this game will be a very telling game for both teams on what they actually have. If Michigan wants to prove to the country this isn't the same team as the past 2 years, this will be their time to prove it. Brady Hoke has come in and put back an emphasis on this Rivalry. I do believe that this one will not be a shoot-out with the strengths and weaknesses on both sides basically coinciding one another. The last three seasons have caused me to fear road games to the point where I like to sit at home underneath a blanket and watch road games alone. But damnit, this cannot be the same team we've seen the past 2 seasons and this sparty dominance has to stop at some point. I think realistically it's a toss-up but because I'm a homer, I am going with Michigan in a close one. Meeechigan wins.... 24-20

Preview Northwestern

2011-10-07T19:50:00.000-07:00

Site Note: Sorry I have been absent all week and didn't get a recap of Minny up. I have had the most important job interviews of my life this past week and my spare time went to that. So, onto the wildcats...

Who, What, When, Where, Weather:

Who: Northwestern (2-2) Line: Mich (-7.5)

What: First Road Game Of The Season!!!

When: 7:00 p.m. Eastern/ 6:00 p.m. Central, for you Chicago folk

Where: Evanston, Ill, Ryan Field

Weather: Courtesy of NWS: @ game time, 61 and sunny.

Offense vs. Northwestern:

Rankings... Northwestern is ranked 99th in the country in total defense surrendering, 420 yds/gm. Against the rush they are 90th nationally, allowing 174.5 yds/gm, that's good for 10th in the B1G behind Indiana. The Wildcat defense is just a hair better against the pass... 85th nationally at, 245.3 yds/gm.

Statistically and on paper Michigan should have a major advantage when they want to go to the ground game. Northwestern was abysmal last year and until last week hadn't been necessarily impressive. Allowing 300+ yds a game to Army doesn't strike fear into me, no matter how many carries (75 carries/5.08 avg) it took Army to get there, because running is like... all Army does. Howeva, last week Northwestern held an Illinois running attack ,that before Northwestern was averaging 4.9 yds a carry, to a measly 2.16 yds/carry. I attribute that games success to a blitz heavy aggressive scheme and it being a rivalry game.

Denard & Co. are averaging 6.99 yds/carry at this juncture in the season. Since my job is to make predictions and try to sound smart, I don't think Northwestern has the the horses to slow this rushing attack down. Borges continues to add wrinkles and has realized that, shotgun is the way to go with these players. Fitz and Vincent continue to show, that not having 1 go-to back isn't that bad of a thing after all.

I mentioned above that the blitz happy defense was able to slow down Illinois last week, what I didn't however mention was that, by keying on the run, they opened up their defense to get torched over the top to the tune of, 391yds. This same secondary also allowed 375yds through the air to Boston College. The same BC that lost to Duke and Wake Forrest at home. Yes... I said Duke...

Now the Maize and Blue passing attack isn't one I am going to sit here and brag about by any means. I am hoping I can continue to sing his praises week in and week out, but man Al Borges, is learning how to use his pieces. Last week, Michigan moved out of the drop back timing passes and he allowed Denard Robinson to get comfortable with the Minnesota secondary sitting back. Northwestern was able to stop the ball when they were keying and blitzing on the run. Denard is a threat in his own right, and this should cause the safety's to come up in the box. If they do, look for Hemingway and/or Roundtree to have a few big catches over the top.

What To Watch For:
Al Borges playing to what Northwestern's safety's allow. If they come up look for Michigan to go over the top. If they play back, I really expect to see a run heavy day for the Wolverines, allowing them to control the clock and keep Dan Persa off the field. Speaking of Persa...

Defense vs. Northwestern
The Wildcat's have been without the preseason B1G offensive player of the year, Dan Persa, until just last week. So, it's tough to read much into their overall offensive statistics because even though back-up Kain Coulter hasn't played badly and is no slouch, but he's not the aforementioned Persa. Last week, Persa was 10-14 for 126 yds and 4 TD's.

Mike Trumpy, Northwestern's leading back just tore his ACL and is out for the year. This event leaves Persa, who let me mind you is coming off of a major achilles injury and was knocked out of last weeks game, and 3 dudes averaging 3.9 yds/carry, collectively to carry the rushing load. Coulter is the leading rusher on the team but, save a Persa injury, if he comes in the game the only reason would be to run the ball allowing the D to have a good idea how to stop it.

Will I have to come down from this cloud, I'm riding on the Michigan D? This defense seems for real and for all of the the things that seem to be pointing in Michigan's favor, Persa is a good QB and this offense was efficient all of last season with him in the game. This is one of those games where, I expect to be reminded that yes, we still have many areas for improvement. But, then again, I'm all like, they only put up 14 on Army. So far, Michigan has been able to mask their inefficiencies with timely turnovers. Minnesota would probably lose to Grand Valley this year for all we know, so I've had to remind myself to be cautiously optimistic with the stout performance of the defense last week.

The secondary will be tested. Persa was top 10 in the country in passer efficiency last season. So, because last seasons secondary horror is so ingrained into my mind, I am terrified of the possibilities of a good Persa and a short passing game. Getting pressure on Persa is going to be the key here. Thankfully, similar to the running game for NW the options here are slim past Jeremy Ebert who is definitely not a burner. Luckily for Michigan, Northwestern's offensive line though experienced, isn't good. Hopefully Mike Martin, Van Bergen, and the rest of the D-line are able to apply the proper pressure to allow the secondary to stay on the short passing game.

What To Watch For:
Michigan's front 4 applying pressure on Persa. Persa has only played 1 week so far this year, but like any quarterback if he's uncomfortable, I'd expect to see Ryan Lindley vs. Michigan version 2.0. I don't expect the running game to be a huge threat so it'll be the short passing game that Northwestern relies on to keep Robinson off the field. Pressure baby, pressure.

Special Teams v. Northwestern
Alright, Gibbons and Gallon have solidified the two biggest special teams concerns most fans have had over the last three seasons but, what is going on with our coverage unit? Brady Hoke has said it's getting worked on more extensively this week let's hope for that. No more long kick-off returns k? Thnx.

What To Watch For:
AGHHHH KICKOFF COVERAGE, AGHH!!!!

Prediction:
Vegas gives us 7.5 which means on a neutral field we'd be a 10.5 point favorite over NW. The Wolverine offense should be able to move the ball and depending on how Persa plays, unfortunately so could/should NW. At the end of the day, Michigan has Denard & Co. and like I couldn't have more of a man crush on our coordinators but both can adapt. With NW's running attack limited whatever passing attack they are trying to throw at us, I expect Greg Mattison to figure out by halftime. Those factors alone lead me to a Michigan victory. By how much, is difficult. It's a night game and NW will be amped up. It will be close until about half way through the 3rd quarter, where I think the Michigan's obvious advantages take over. Meeechigan wins... 34-24

Preview: Minnesota

2011-09-30T15:30:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-28T19:54:00.000-07:00

"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

2011-09-23T17:52:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-20T20:32:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-16T18:40:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-16T18:27:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-09T13:33:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-07T09:54:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-02T18:18:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-02T14:14:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-02T11:15:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-01T14:29:00.000-07:00

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.

Quickies: The Committee In The Backfield

2011-08-29T08:30:00.000-07:00

The Low Down: Did Denard Robinson count as a running back last year? No? Shoot... Unlike the days yore, Michigan's running back situation was more of a running back by committee last season. If you would've asked Fred Jackson he would've said the committee had the same skill set but only better than this committee...

Remember these guys?

We know this not to be true... So what was the committee?
Presumed starter last year, I guess was, scat-back extrordinaire Vincent Smith. He did lead the team in rushing yards outside of Shoelace. Behind him was Brandon Minor version 2.0, Mike Shaw, who ran with rage right into lingering injuries. The 3rd back in the mix was meaty freshman, Stephen Hopkins. Next up, was high-school highlight tape super-star, Fitz Toussaint. Toussaint has been victim of the nagging injury plague seemingly, since his arrival on campus. He did take his first career carry 61 yds and followed it up with a TD on his next run. The official MGoBlue website lists his position last year as "superback", so that must be good... Lastly, we had Mike Cox who's career stat-line looks like one helluva good game: 19 carries 169 yds 2 TD's... The big problem with Cox, has been his lack of knowledge on the playbook.

If the committee was one, the committee back would've come in 19th in the country with 1297 yds on 264 carries. Not to shabby... The problem in my mind is that's 4 dudes who totaled just a smidgen under 400 yds less than your quarterback. But, then my mind is all like, "Denard though?"... "Denard..." Rich Rodriguez was fighting for his job and he needed to do what he had to do to win. None of the backs stood out more than the others so he stuck with what worked, Denard left, Denard right, Denard pass, Denard left, so on and so forth...

1 Year Later:
MANBALL!!! 1 RUNNING BACK!!! I wanted to stop here, but better judgement said I'd be selling you short.

Since Brady Hoke came in, he has placed an emphasis on this team establishing a power run game with a feature back to take the work load. I would suspect that of the 264 carries all the running backs combined got last year, Hoke and Borges would like to see about all of those go to 1 guy. The rest of the carries that don't go to Denard will be divided up between everybody else.

General consensus back in the spring was probably that you'd see Michael Cox or Stephen Hopkins take charge by the fall as the lead back. Both are bigger, stronger, bruising backs. Cox, who committed to this style of play for Lloyd Carr, was definitely excited to be back to running downhill...

“When I came in, I committed to coach Carr, and I committed to this type of system,” Cox said. “I'm definitely happy to be back in the system that I came here for.”

Much has seemed to change from then till now however. Michigan brought in two pretty highly-regarded recruits in consensus 4* Justice Hayes and under-the-radar 3* Thomas Rawls. Hayes was more fit for the spread and is likely to be a slot-type player for Michigan. He likely won't see the field for Michigan this year as a running back, but fall-camp reports suggest that, he could return punts or kicks. Rawls is like Mark Ingram only better. What say you Fred Jackson?

“Honestly, I did get a chance to watch Mark Ingram a few times,” Jackson said. “Mark is probably one of the best guys ever to come through here. Mark was great, but there’s something about this kid Thomas. If I was to compare them as high school backs, give me Thomas Rawls.”

So there's that... And then there's this..
Fitz Toussaint apparently blew up at the scrimmage last Saturday causing the internetz to go into an uproar and as recent as 8-23 Shaw is the projected default starter due to consistency.Vincent Smith is also pretty much locked into a 3rd down back. He's a great blocker and causes some matchup problems out of the backfield, with his pass catching abilities. There hasn't been much news on Cox or Hopkins, so with those guys we'll see.

I Know I'm Forgetting Something... OHH YAH... Fullback... Guess What? We will use one this year. John McColgan will be it and I suspect that he will be relieved by Stephen Hopkins (maybe Steve Watson too) from time to time.

Expectations: What is them?
Umm...

Seriously, I want to sound smart here and say X, Y, & Z are for sure going to happen, but really if you have an idea, maybe you could email me and I'll post it. So, since this is my blog and nobody takes me seriously I am just going to take what I do know and mix it in with my best educated guess.

EDIT: I had this post about ready to go, got busy, and over the weekend Michigan had their scrimmage. Brady Hoke announced Shaw would most likely be the starter, more than likely backed up by Fitz.

So before the presser, I would've said Shaw starts by default, maybe gets backed up Fitz and only that because of practice hype. Thanks for reaffirming my thoughts Brady, I appreciate it. Yeah, Shaw will start, how long his body can take the pounding of being the man at running-back, is yet to be determined. I like Fitz backing him up and taking over if Shaw goes down, if only for the reason I've had an affinity for Fitz since the first time I saw the gold that was his high-school highlight tape.

How good the offense looks early will be very important for the stat line of the RB's, If the offense struggles early, how long until Denard starts to see more and more designed runs? The offensive line in my opinion, should still be very solid and create many of those running lanes for the backs. I will make my ridiculous prediction now and say that by the end of the season whomever our starting tailback is will amass over 1,000 yds by the end of the season. If I had to boldly predict who that'll be, I'd say Toussaint. That's my story and I am sticking to it. Next up, the wide receivers. As always, Go Blue!

Attrition Strikes

2011-08-25T09:28:00.000-07:00

You won't see those mugs roaming the sidelines any more

This morning (FR) TE Chris Barnett joined the attrition party, when it was speculated and than confirmed that he too would be leaving The University of Michigan. He will be joining (JR) WR Je'Ron Stokes and (FR) OL Tony Posada, whom also left the program this past week.

Barnett... Had an interesting recruitment where he flopped from Arkansas to Michigan on signing day. He came into camp blimped out to 280 and was most likely headed straight for a redshirt. It won't hurt the team this year but after Kevin Koger and Steve Watson are gone , that'll only leave us with Brandon Moore as a realistic option at TE, for next season. Let's hope Ricardo Miller can get on the Craig Roh diet ASAP.

Posada... This one doesn't hurt that much. Posada came in pushing 340 lbs when in HS he was listed around 310. He wasn't going to see the field any time soon unless sudden DOOM imploded the offensive line. Posada was also most likely going to wind up behind one of the highly touted recruits that will be coming in, in the class of 2012.

Stokes... The blow from Stokes' departure might be a little easier to take knowing that Darryl Stonum will be returning next year after he serves his redshirt. But personally, this one hurts. Stokes was a guy that I had always had high hopes for at Michigan. As a former college receiver myself, I really liked his tape out of HS. He was a highly regarded guy by all recruiting services and unfortunately for him WR is one of the positions Michigan has been deep at for the past few years. Maybe he was frustrated or the writing was on the wall for him during camp with the new staff.

Where does it all mean from here? Stokes' departure makes it sure that the coaches will take a receiver or more likely, two in this years recruiting class. Our OL class and depth chart moving forward is good, so the Posada transfer shouldn't have too much of a ripple effect. Barnett's exit leaves us paper thin at TE. Let's all pray for Ricardo Miller to become beefy and hope one of 2012 guys comes in ready to play.

As always, Go Blue.

Quickies: Quarterback

2011-08-24T13:07:00.000-07:00

Man, Denard's Smile Gets Me Every Time

The Low Down:
Michigan began last season returning, the previous years starter, Tate Forcier, along with Denard Robinson. They also brought in highly touted dual-threat QB Devin Gardner. Well, Tate Forcier lost his wings at the start of camp and by the end of camp he lost his starting job, as Denard beat out Tate and Devin, to win the starting job and Rich Rodriguez believed he had found his next Pat White. Michigan for the 3rd time in as many years would have a first year starting quarterback.

Rich Rodriguez by all accounts made the right decision. In 2010 Denard Robinson put together arguably the best all-around performance a quarterback has ever had accumulating 4,272 total yds, helping Michigan's offense be one of the most prolific offenses in the country. He was named the Big Ten player of the year and was named an All-American. For those of you keeping track Robinson was responsible for just a hair over 67% of Michigan's total offense last year (6,353 yds). Denard's legs were, in my opinion, his most valuable asset as he amassed an NCAA-QB record of 1,702 yds on the ground, which was only 29 yds shy of being the nation's top mark for the year. He also proved that his arm was a Div-1 arm as he completed 62.5% of his passes for 2,570 yds. Not too shabby for a first year starter, that wasn't recruited as a QB by basically any other program, save UCF.

However, for all of the exciting plays and incredible memories, the picture isn't all roses and butterflies. Because of the heavy emphasis on the usage of Denard's legs (19.69 att/gm), Denard missed time in 10 of 13 games last season. Devin Gardner began the season as the backup until the emphasis of him getting a redshirt cleared the way for the more experienced Forcier to be the immediate back-up to Robinson. Forcier seemed to pick right up from '09 and even led Michigan to a win in triple-OT against Illinois, securing Michigan's first bowl in 2 seasons.

Robinson tied for the league lead in INT's with 11 and he also struggled in the red zone where he only completed 44.1% of his passes. I attribute much of those struggles to a first year starter who felt the need for his offense to score on every drive to keep pace with the opponents walking past our defense.

1 Year Later:

Much has transpired since the Gator Bowl. Tate Forcier was sent home during the bowl week for grades. He then awkwardly left the program after he was maybe told, "thanks but no thanks", by Dave Brandon. He was going to play at Miami, than maybe Hawaii, and eventually he has found a home at San Jose St. We'll always have Notre Dame 2009.

Welp, On To The Next One

In that same time Rich Rod was canned and Michigan lost the proposed puppet master to, Denard and the offense's success and in the process scratched the whole spread 'n' shred. Would he stay or would he go? That was the big question surrounding Denard Robinson after Rich Rodriguez was let go. Denard stayed and it does not appear that, to him, leaving was ever a question. So, Denard's back, Devin will be backing him up, and Michigan was able to snatch yet another recruit from the grips of Purdue on national signing day, in project QB, Russell Bellomy.

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QB- Depth Chart

Denard Robinson (Jr.)

Devin Gardner (Soph.)

Russell Bellomy (Fr.)

Jack Kennedy (RS Jr.)

Al Borges is now our offensive coordinator. He will bring his west-coast offense and Brady Hoke wants to run MANBALL, allowing the offense establish a running game that doesn't consist of Denard, Denard, and more Denard. The fascinating thing about Denard's numbers last season was that he did it, missing time in all of those games and it's not like teams didn't know it was coming either. Week-in and week-out teams knew they'd be getting a heavy dose of Denard. The major transitions for Denard will be coming from under-center, and the passing game which is going to be much more timing oriented. Denard seems to be doing a good job adapting according to Borges.

"He's playing good. He's kind of a kick to coach. He's upbeat all the time." He's been receptive to every bit of coaching since he's been here. Timing is getting better in the passing game every day. The guys worked in the off-season, but there was room for improvement. "It's not there yet, but it's showing some promise."

If there's one thing the previous coaching staff could take from the RR tenure is that whole, not coaching to your talents thing, RR was accused so adamantly of doing in his first year. I think Borges is a smart guy and he's still going to let Denard be Denard. Ace from thewolverineblog, posted this blurb from a Rittenberg piece on the offense. Al Borges had this to say...

Our offense is not zone read or spread,” offensive coordinator Al Borges said, “but we’ll do some of that stuff.”
Borges envisions Michigan’s quarterbacks lining up under center about half the time, perhaps a little more than half. The rest of the time, they’ll line up in the shotgun. In the shotgun, Michigan will use two running backs about half the time and one back or no backs the other half the time.
But before you think you have it all figured out, read this.
“Schematically, we’re blowing everything up and starting over again,” Borges said. “We’re still going to gear everything we do offensively to the skills of the people that are doing it, in particular the quarterback. Are we going to look just like we did at San Diego State? Probably not.
“We may in three or four years. We’ll see how this thing evolves.”

Brady Hoke takes it one step further...

"You've got a system that you wanna run, but you're not going to be putting a square peg into a round hole either." Al Borges has a coaching pedigree that proves he can adapt to different personnel. He'll get playmakers the ball. "At the end of the day, we've still gotta block up front, and knock people off the football."

So yeah, MANBALL with a good amount of things the Denard's really good at, like running stuff from the gun.

Expectations: What is them?
So the general consensus across the national media seems to be, that this new offensive scheme is most likely going to hurt Denard's production. I personally couldn't disagree more. While they focus on just the idea of a scheme change, I prefer to focus on what the coaches have said and what that actual scheme change means for Denard, Devin, or anybody else that lines up at QB next season.

So let's run it down... Denard missed significant time last year, if Michigan can find a #1 running back to take the running pressure off of Denard, that only means a better chance of having a health Denard all year and it doesn't allow teams to key on him alone. I don't know about you, but healthy Denard all year? Yes, PLZ!!!

Running things from under-center is only going to open up opportunities for the QB's to make plays with their feet. Many of Denard's runs last year were designed runs. What happens, when Denard or Devin drops back, can't find an open receiver and has wide open running lanes? With the ability Denard has, I expect him to absolutely break off some big ones this year when the play breaks down. Will he run for over 1700 yds again, probably not. The good news is, I don't think he will have to.

The one area of slight concern for me, is in the passing game. Once we get in the red zone Denard has to improve on that 44% number from last year, and how does he respond to timing and precision routes. To answer both of those I think he will look like a quarterback with a year of experience under his belt. We saw what kind of jump he made from year 1 to year 2 and there has been nothing but positive feed back from the summer and the start of fall camp about his work ethic towards the changes to his footwork and the passing game in general.

There's a great chance for Denard to be just as effective, he'll probably throw for more yards, maybe somewhere in the 2,800-3,000 range and probably run for less, most likely somewhere between 1,000-1,300. If one of the backs takes charge and becomes very serviceable, I will be just fine with those numbers and I expect him to be right up there for All Big-Ten contention. Lastly, if Denard does go down, I don't think Gardner will be too much of a drop off. He's not as much of a threat in the running game, but he's a big tall guy who can see the field from the pocket and when he does run, he's dangerous (think Bowling Green last year).

So fear not, my friends, when doubt creeps in your mind between now and September 3rd, remember this smile and you will be at ease...

As always, Go Blue

Quickies: The D-Line

2011-08-23T12:05:00.000-07:00

This, We'll See Tons of This (Fingers Crossed)

The Low Down:

In 2009, Brandon Graham got held on every single play and last year our undersized d-line only brought three and the defense gave up 4.5yds a rush (insert a knock on the 3-3-5 followed by some rabble, rabble). Craig Roh, who showed promise as a true freshman being a rush end was moved to more of a hybrid-esque linebacker position. Mike Martin at NT and Ryan VanBergen at SDE (Strong Defensive End) were the staples in the line. At DT we had platoon between Greg Banks, Renaldo Sagesse, and Adam Patterson. William Campbell was on the D-Line and then he wasn't, after an uninspiring freshman campaign and a not so awesome start to the season, that saw him basically only see the field in a goal line run package as a blocker. Quinton Washington essentially flopped spots with Campbell mid season, but to my recollection didn't see the field on the D-Line.

The team alone only had 18 sacks coming in for a not so solid 93rd in the country. VanBergen and Martin are our 2 returning sack leaders with 6.5 between the 2 of them. Greg Banks (2) and Adam Patterson (1) were the only other lineman to register a sack. I'm not counting Roh's (0.5) because as far as I'm concerned he was a LB. If you're searching for a moral victory defensively after last season, Michigan did have more TFL's (Tackles For Loss) than little bro last year. Michigan came in 73rd while Sparty came in 86th nationally. Again, outside Roh, VB (8.5) and Martin (6.0) are the only players along the line that returning with stats in this category.

I've said it once, and I'll say it again, that 3-3-5 thing, whatever it was, wasn't conducive to our defense (any aspect of it) at being good. With the 3 down lineman trying to plow through these big manball offenses in the Big Ten, pressure isn't going to be applied and more often than not your best player (Martin) will be getting double teamed and taken out of the play. This also as mentioned allows the lineman to get to the second level easier making it much more difficult for LB's to step up and make a play.

1 Year Later:

Brady Hoke and Greg Mattison are both former D-Line coaches, so you know they will coach the group especially hard and expect much from this group. This is evident by the constant coaching and expectations on Martin, who has taken notice and been one of the teams key leaders this off season and early into camp.

In hindsight I am pleased I couldn't get to this post last week, as my thoughts and opinions would most likely have turned out to be pretty inaccurate. A week or two ago, I say the 2-deep ends up something like this...

WDE	DT	NT	SDE
Roh	Campbell	Martin	Vanbergen
Black	Ash	Q. Washington	Heininger

Now one week later, there's some rumors out there that this might be the case...

WDE	DT	NT	SDE
Roh	Vanbergen	Martin	Brink
Black	Campbell	Q. Washington	Heininger

Damn you internets... Damn you...

No Freshman on the 2-deep quite yet, but keep an eye out for Frank Clark, who basically traded spots with other freshman Brennan Beyer. Clark has been generating a substantial amount of buzz through fall camp. I would expect to see him in pass rushing situations only as size wise it'll be hard for him to hold the line and play the run effectively.

Let me butter you up with the good stuff, Mike Martin and Ryan VanBergen return to anchor the line. These two guys, past Brandon Graham, have been the 2 most consistent players on the defense I can recall over the past 3 seasons. Both have added some weight and appear to be primed for great seasons. Martin is set up for another All Big-Ten Caliber season, with a huge chance to improve his draft stock. Rittenberg gives him his #10 spot in his preseason top-25 player rankings. Craig Roh is getting moved back to where he belongs, on the line with his hand in the dirt. Roh also got jacked up over the summer bumping his weight up from 251 to 269. There hasn't been much hype about Roh since the inception of fall camp, let us for now attribute that to the illness rumors floating around Roh. PLZ DON'T BE MONO.

The elephant in the room... Will Campbell... It was reported shortly after Brady Hoke's hire that Campbell was moving back to defense and that Hoke and Mattison were going to make a point out of developing the 5-star recruit. It appeared early in the fall that Will was on his way to doing what the coaches asked of him to be a major factor in this front 4. He was even praised by Hoke for his commitment to the team by meeting his weight goals.

“Will Campbell left spring at 342 pounds and came in at 316, 319,” he said. “Just watching him move around and do those things, you can see that. That’s a commitment. A commitment is always important - he showed his teammates he’s made a commitment."

Then this gritty, hard working walk-on, named Nathan Brink popped up, and Campbell's consistency has been a cause for concern. At first it seemed like your typical fall camp overachieving all-star like hype, but sounds like kids' got game. Mattison on Brink.

"He has come out every day as tough as he can. He listens to [defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery] on every word. When he tells him to step a certain way, he tries to step a certain way. And he's really, really physical." …
"In the spring it was mentioned a number of times because his toughness stuck out like crazy," Mattison said.

Nothing is set in stone and I am a huge proponent of the best players on the field, but how disappointing would it be to see Big Will not being able to beat out an under-sized walk on for the starting role. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed and that, the coaches are just toying around with different options and the rumors of Will barely hanging out with the 2's are just of the motivational type fluff.

With Terry Talbott off the team with a medical exemption, the depth on the line is thin and it's vital that Will and/or Q. Washington really step up their game. This team desperately needs a player at the DT position to take the pressure off of Mike Martin. If teams are allowed to double team Martin because he gets no help in the middle we could have some serious concerns.

Expectations: What is them?

3 things in my mind are cut and dry. Martin, VanBergen, and Roh. That 4th spot will be a mystery until either Sept 3rd or when Brady Hoke releases the depth chart. If Will Campbell isn't there at the beginning of the season, I will be worried about the production of this unit and more importantly if Campbell will ever amount to a productive member of this team. VanBergen is big enough to move inside but what does that do to the SDE position? Hello Brink or Heininger? Maybe Jibreel Black but most reports have him somewhere in the doghouse.

So with all the uncertainty, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and make a highly and most likely inaccurate and very flimsy prediction. Will Campbell, will take a hint and will be consistent enough by seasons start to secure the starting role at DT. VanBergen, like never leaves the field so, when Will goes off expect VanBergen to move inside bringing Nathan Brink, the defensive line's Jordan Kovacs on the field at the SDE position.
To take my flimsy uneducated prediction further, VanBergen and Martin will both be All Big-Ten, and Roh will be right on the cusp of All Big-Ten. This unit, as long as someone can step up to take double teams off Martin, should be able to apply more pressure to the backfield than what was seen last year. This as stated before should help the secondary and free up the LB's to read/react and make plays. Improvement, my friends improvement.

Up next: Now instead of talking about how crappy the 3-3-5 kind was, I get to over speculate on if this offense will take a step back under Borges or not. I'll get it out of the way and start with the QB's. As always, Go Blue.

Quickies: The Linebacking Corps

2011-08-18T12:16:00.000-07:00

See a theme with these pictures?

The Low Down:

What happened to the 2007 version of Obi Ezeh? You know, that guy that played along side Crable, and Chris Graham, on a defense that stifled the Florida Gators in the Citrus Bowl? He at one time looked serviceable and appeared to have potential. Two defensive coordinators later, he was projected as a co-starter with Mark Moundros who, until last year was a specialist at fullback. Well, Rich Rodriguez didn't need a fullback and Obi Ezeh, didnt play downhill, waited for plays, and was just no longer any good. The implementation of the 3-3-5 forced Craig Roh to play out of position, get his hand out of the dirt, and read and react as an OLB (outside linebacker). Jonas Mouton seemed lost in pass coverage, except for that one magical play against Notre Dame. It's still a mystery why Kenny Demens was behind Moundros and Ezeh on the depth chart to begin the season, but clearly at the end what we saw was an upgrade.

The heat to win was on and Rich Rodriguez hit the panic button and forced a 3-3-5 onto Greg Robinson, hoping to emulate the success he had at West Virginia. The only problem was as stated earlier on this blog, Greg Robinson had no clue how to run a 3-3-5 and it was no more evident than by the simple alignment of the linebackers in particular. Here is the alignment Michigan had last season...

Courtesy MGoBlog.

As you can see the linebackers are lined up directly behind the down lineman. This is bad. Simply put the problem is aligning that close to the line of scrimmage is that it allows offensive lineman to get the to second level quicker opening up lanes. Even if you plug some lanes, you're leaving wide open cut back lanes (think the Wisconsin game). Here's what West Virginia looked like when you know, their defense was good...

Thanks again MgoBlog

Do you see that, isn't it clear? Those LB's are what, 6 yds off the line of scrimmage except for the guy who is obviously blitzing or at least disguising his blitz. Linebackers have to be able to read and react and play downhill. Lining up a yard or two behind the lineman does not allow you to do this.

1 Year Later:

Jonas Mouton and the enigmatic Obi Ezeh are off to try their hands at the NFL. We now have a DC who spent the last 3 years working with the likes of Ray Lewis and Terrelle Suggs. I'm excited to be done with the defense quickies so I don't have to discuss that 3-3-5 was crappy on all accounts and that we have this new fangled 4-3 defense that is going to be, in my honest opinion, oh so much better. Alas, the fact remains, we have this new 4-3 defense that I suspect will utilize the talents and free up the LB's to make plays. So who do we have to fill these positions?

Kenny Demens returns with a year of experience at MLB, and practice buzz says he's locked that spot down. Craig Roh has been moved back down onto the d-line. Cameron Gordon has added weight and moved down into the box as the SAM linebacker and I suspect will be able to hold off Jake Ryan, who stirred up a lot of buzz in the spring. At the Weakside Linebacker, JB Fitzgerald and Brandon Herron will fight it out.

Expectations: What is them?

You'll notice a theme here with the defense and I'll give you a hint, it'll rhyme with immovement... Improvement and let me tell you, I'll be damned if anybody can convince me differently. Obviously just how much, will be a question until the team can be seen on the field (by the way I'm a huge proponent for at least 1 preseason game in college football). In the 3 years of the RR regime, Michigan's LB's averaged just under 4 sacks/yr and our rushing defense ranked 35th, 85th, and 95th in the country.

Greg Mattison has said this defense is going to be more aggressive and more of a blitzing defense, so expect the linebackers to be causing more havoc in the backfield sacking the quarterback. Also, the linebackers will now have 4 down lineman for the opposing offensive line to handle, which should allow them to read and react more freely, not to mention they won't be lining up 2 yds off of the line of scrimmage anymore. I think a reasonable leap in rushing defense is expected maybe somewhere in the average of the last 3 seasons which would put somewhere around 70th nationally. For reference, Arkansas was 70th last season allowing, 162.62 yds/gm, Michigan allowed, 188.92 yds/gm. If they were to jump up to hypothetically in the top 50, you'd have to see about a 40 yds/gm improvement, which is quite a bit to ask/expect. But like John Lennon said,

You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.

One move to keep an eye on, and I think will help this defense immensely is Cam Gordon at the SAM position. The kid plays with a mean streak and has the experience and athleticism I believe to be decent to good in pass coverage and has added weight to be able to come up and attack the run. So, all in all, "blah, blah, blah, improvement, blah, blah, blah". Up next, The D-Line. As always, Go blue.

Quickies: The Defesnive Backfield

2011-08-15T09:41:00.000-07:00

Due to time constraints in my schedule these previews are going to be more snapshot quickies than elaborate essays with graphs and charts.

A reoccurring theme from last year. A DB chasing the opponent.

The Low Down:
Inexperience. 7 yd cushions. Attrition. Injuries. Scheme. Need I go on. The secondary wasn't very good to put it nicely. What we should of had coming in after 2009 was an experienced Troy Woolfolk and either Demar Dorsey or a proven JT Floyd/James Rogers lining up at corner along with everybody's favorite walk-on Jordan Kovacs at SS and Cam Gordon or Demar Dorsey at FS.

What we wound up with by the end of the season was journeyman James Rogers and freshman Courtney Avery at Corner. Jordan Kovacs and low 3*, should have absolutely been redshirted, Ray Vinopal at FS after Cam Gordon's move down into the box. The 3-3-5 didn't apply much pressure and it seemed as though the corners were always 7-10 yds off of their man. Demar Dorsey never came. Cullen Christian wasn't ready to see the field and transferred after the season. Woolfolk and Floyd were victims of the Angry Michigan Hating Gods, when their ankles exploded. Kovacs was reliable and FS was, well the same thing we've seen at the FS position at Michigan for a while, not a whole lot.

All in all there were a lot of factors into the secondary not being able to cover receivers or tackle them very well. Two very important things to playing in the defensive backfield.

1 Year Later:
I am a firm believer in the value that experience has for a football team and more importantly defense. The depth chart at the end of the season read like a simple math equation: walk-ons + freshman + position switch players = bad. This year if all the stars align correctly their should be hope for improvement. The old adage "it can't get any worse" applies here. The secondary will be more experienced and I would expect the 2-deep to look something like this by the time the season gets started..

CB #1	SS	FS	CB #2
T. Woolfolk (SR)	J. Kovacs (RS JR)	C. Johnson (Soph)	C. Avery (Soph)
T. Tallbott (Soph)	J. Furman (RS FR)	M. Robinson (Soph)	JT Floyd (RS JR)

There is two things that gets me giddy about this depth chart. There are no true freshman and there are no walk-ons. That means if we do see any freshman on the field they saw the field because they were better than the experienced player ahead of them.

Expectations: What is them?
Simply put, improvement. It has to improve. If any of the starters in the secondary go down there will be someone who either has a years worth of game experience or a years worth of being in a college program backing them up. That alone should lead to a decent jump in performance. A passing defense that was 112th out of 120 teams can't be that bad with a year of experience and what seems to be, by all accounts, a better coaching staff and an overall better scheme right? Just say it with me one time... Right...

Greg Mattison has stated that he wants this defense to be a blitzing defense. Moving to the 4-3 and getting pressure on the QB should alleviate some of the pressure of the of the DBs and cause an opportunity to get more turnovers as Michigan only had 12 INTs last season. Three of those 12 came in the ND game mind you. With these two factors alone (pressure & experience) I suspect the secondary statistics to jump up to respectable, maybe somewhere into the top 70 statistically.

Michigan also won't have to face some of the experienced quarterbacks that they did last year. No more Tolzien, Stanzy, or Pryor. They will however, be stuck facing with an experienced Ryan Lindley from SDSU, Persa, and Cousins. It should be noted that SDSU lost their top 2 wide outs to the NFL and their best 2 returners are out for the season with injuries. We don't know who will start for ND, Purdue, OSU, or Neb, but out of those 4 teams ND scares me the most from the QB position. That could change quickly but I'd like to see what happens at OSU and what Taylor Martinez brings to the table this season. The passing attacks from Minny, Eastern, Western, and Illinois for whatever reason don't strike fear into my heart, whether it be their QBs or skill position players.

The biggest early season barometer for the secondary and their success this year will be the night game against ND. That should come as no surprise as they are easily the best non-conference team on the schedule and a Brian Kelly offense can wing the ball around.

Barring Angry Michigan Hating Gods swinging their malice down on the secondary again, I think the 2-deep is going to look much improved from a year ago. So if any of that other mumbo jumbo made sense, you and I alike should expect and see improvement from the secondary this season, even if only it's because of scheme and experience alone. Next up, the linebacking corps. As always, Go Blue.

Practice Has Begun

2011-08-08T06:03:00.000-07:00

Today is the first day of fall practice, the offseason is to me is over...Let's get excited.

Coming up later today, preview of the secondary. As always, Go Blue.

Return From The Pooper

2011-08-03T06:46:00.000-07:00

My Thoughts Exactly

Well, sorry for not giving anyone a heads up, but I jetted to Ohio over the weekend for a friends bachelor party. So for the two of you, who actually read my thoughtless opinions on this here blog, my apologies.

There's not much like going and spending a weekend with a bunch of old fraternity bros on 50 acres in the woods, smack in the mountains. I felt like Jeff Bridges in True Grit, smoking cigs, and popping off rounds with guns. The main difference, I guess was, I wasn't on horseback, had running water, and wasn't hunting a human being (though I really really wanted too).

Another alarming difference was, Jeff Bridges didn't have to take his convoy through Columbus (damn GPS). I had been through Columbus once, at a younger age, but now at 24 the loathing I have for the place is beyond mend.

Now, for all the disdain, I have for the state of Ohio and that thing they call a football program, I'm not one those fans, who is going to constantly reference lathering Columbus up in feces, or bombing the shoe, or anything EXTREME!!! But, there was this overwhelming part of me that wanted make a pit-stop in Columbus and use the worlds largest toilet seat, to see just how good my aim was. I realized, I am upstanding human being and didn't want to stoop to the cooler pooper shennanigans that burdens Ohio on Saturdays during football season.So, my first official pit-stop won't be until I pony up the coin and go to The Game.

Now, if you ever are in Ohio, I recommend, going around Columbus and heading into the Smokey Mountains, stocked with guns, friends, and plenty of booze. The greatest thing about this region is that, running into locals is difficult to do for about 30 minutes of driving. The scenery was great, and really there's nothing like spending a weekend with friends shooting guns for about 6 hours straight during the day and drinking all night. I grew an inch and came home with lung cancer, all from the same festival.

So to get off my meaningless rant on Ohio, I just wanted to let you guys know that content per daily basis is much more difficult than I could have imagined. Working a real life job is not conducive to me writing material every day. But, over the next couple weeks I am going to start position group previews. I'd like to get one up today, but that all depends on workflow obviously. So, keep your fingers crossed, not only for content, but for my lungs, as a cigarette will never sound appealing to me again. As always, Go Blue.

Expectations: Simma Down

2011-07-28T12:26:00.000-07:00

A week ago today, one of the few mass media bloggers who covers Michigan that I like, decided to post this article titled, "Why Brady Hoke needs to win in year 1". This man, is Adam Rittenberg. Before I even began the read, I instantly went into face palm mode...

Articles like these, are what get our frugal Michigan minds running with expectations and the memories of glory days of yester yore. Are we really going to allow ourselves to get stuck in that trap again? For all of the things Brady Hoke has on his side compared to Rich Rodriguez, one thing they should not be allowed to have in common is lofty expectations of instantly turning the program around, the instant time they walk through the door.

If Michigan doesn't win big in year 1, Rittenberg seems ready to put Hoke on the proverbial hot seat by year 2.

If Michigan doesn't make a big jump this fall, it could have a tough time doing so in 2012. The Wolverines could be a better team, a more well-adjusted team, and not have the record to show for it.

Two middling seasons would mean two more years of Michigan lingering outside the upper crust. Questions about whether or not Hoke can restore Michigan among the Big Ten's elite likely would surface.

Is this like Rich Rodriguez's first year where, we as fans just forget our deficiencies and expect greatness right away? I don't think there needs to be any reminder of where our defense is at and I look at the defense like I did the 2008 offense. A unit that is inexperienced, young, and needs a substantial amount of proper coaching.

It would be a disservice to Hoke, his staff, recruiting, and the players if by year 2, the papers are running articles about him pleading for patience among all ye faithful... I am not going to exhaust all the problems that faced RR when he came here or while he was here, because it was more than impatient fans that caused his demise. However, we all know that wins could have cured all. I just hope that the patience RR did not get from the administration is forwarded to Hoke, and from Brandon's comments, that appears to be the case...

"Everybody always wants to know wins and losses and 'How are they gonna be?'" Brandon said. "I've been around this game long enough to know that's a dangerous trap. So much depends on injuries. We're implementing a new system, so how fast can our players adapt to a completely new system on both sides of the ball? How big of a step-change improvement will you see among some of those young players who really struggled last year?

"There's just too many unknowns to quantify how we're going to be on the field this year."

I wonder if this was his process when evaluating RR's tenure here at Michigan. It doesn't appear that was the case, but he's got HIS GUY in there now and lets hope the fan base follows suit with this patient approach.

I ask myself and other Michigan faithful what if, we go 7-5 or 6-6 this season? More often than not, the response I get, is something along the lines of "disappointing". My rebuttal is always, what if we are actually competitive in our losses this year? See, my rule of thought, is there is a massive difference between 7-5 and being competitive vs. 7-5 and getting blown out by every quality team on your schedule. There's a difference between losing nail biters and letting Wisconsin run 99.9% of the time en route to getting dismantled at home.

As a die-hard homer fan it has taken the 3 years in the shitter, that it seems like the program has been stuck in, to really appreciate what we had and where we are at. It seems like we as a fan base, have been plagued by our previous success these last 3 years and the "AHHHH WE ARE MICHIGAN!!!" mentality has allowed us to skew rationality and cause lofty expectations. Here's a bit from the guys at Maize and Blue Nation from 2009...

On 2008 expectations...

I'll be the first to admit that I was a little too hopeful for an 8-win season in 2008. But looking at the schedule and taking time to really think about our opponents, I thought 8 wins could be possible. If we got off on the right foot and could keep injuries down...we might get there.

And the 2009 expectations came out too...

So there you have it...we will end the season with 8 wins and 4 losses. And for those keeping score at home, 5-3 in the Big Ten. We'll make a bowl game. Likely a pre-New Year's Day bowl. Maybe the Alamo Bowl or something along those lines.

Optimistic after an atrocious 3-9 season, no? I couldn't find much in the realm of quoted season predictions from 2008 that wasn't of the bleacher report substance, but for 2009 only 1 member of the Michigan rivals staff had us pegged for anything less than a 7 win season. Again after what I saw in 2008, those especially in retrospect were lofty expectations.

Now, Brady Hoke comes into a situation where he's getting 18 starters back. He's got an offensive coordinator who will implement his offense, but not force a square peg in to a round hole and a defensive coordinator who by all accounts seems to be on the same page. He's a Michigan guy, which should buy him some time. I just urge fans on the side of caution with this upcoming season. If we don't immediately, look like the 97 team that many of us want to see, can we please keep everything in perspective, and stay objective? I am going to shove my foot in my mouth (only a little bit though) when I release my season predictions, but I am a believer in Hoke and what he's doing with the program and would hate to see questions about his ability to turn around the program surface so early in his tenure.

So, lets stay calm, and follow our team faithfully this season, and not haunt Hoke with expectations that were always over the head of our previous coach. As always, Go Blue.

All Your Recruits Are Belong To Us

2011-07-26T08:17:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay in posting, however over the weekend my car turned into this...

Not my car exactly, but you get the picture

So real life has been occupying my time since Saturday. Let me tell you what, relying on your friends to get to and from places, makes me feel like I have an automobile diaper on that needs to be changed twice a day. I blame the invention of cell phones on this one. So anyways, on to important things like, 17-18 year old kids that don't play for Michigan yet.

Last week in my intro to Brad Hoke piece I briefly mentioned the wonders Brady and his staff have been able to work on the recruiting trail, without coaching a game yet. To recap, this class currently has 19/20ish commits with one being Kentucky S Jeremy Clark who is accepting a greyshirt offer from the Wolverines. For those of you that don't know, it means that Jeremy will spend his freshman season at Michigan minus a scholarship gaining one during his sophmore campaign. He does have full scholarship offers from other schools so to choose to come and do this at Michigan, I believe speaks volumes about the ability of the coaching staff to sell kids on Michigan.

So far many of the experts seem to be in agreement that this class is shaping up to be one of the best in the nation by National Signing Day...

Scout's Allen Trieu...

The long and the short of it is that new head coach Brady Hoke and his staff have come in, been very aggressive on the recruiting trail and had a lot of success so far in the 2012 class. The Wolverines, are actually nearing completion with this class, with only a handful of spots remaining. It has been a defensive heavy class, but we expect more offense in the remaining spots.

MaxPreps, which has Michigan's class rated #1 in the country ...

Michigan fans are simply delighted with the success of Brady Hoke on the recruiting trail, culminating with Kyle Kalis' flip to the Wolverines. Defensively and on the offensive line, this class is outstanding. Add another premium offensive skill player, like former Ohio State commit Bri'onte Dunn, and this class would get even stronger.

ESPN, while not as high as MaxPreps, currently has Michigan 5th overall behind Texas, Florida State, Florida, and Alabama. Also, Rivals also just released their rankings where they have Michigan rated 3rd behind Florida State and Texas.

So who composes this fantastic class Michigan has compiled so far, say you? The class...

Name	Position	State	Rivals	ESPN	Scout	24/7
Kyle Kalis	OL	OH	4	4	5	4
Royce Jenkins-Stone	LB	MI	4	4	4	4
James Ross	LB	MI	4	4	4	4
Joe Bolden	LB	OH	4	4	4	4
Terry Richardson	CB	MI	4	4	4	4
Erik Magnuson	OL	CA	4	4	4	4
Jarrod Wilson	S	OH	4	4	4	4
Tom Strobel	DE	OH	4	3	4	4
Pharaoh Brown	DE	OH	4	3	3	4
Blake Bars	OL	TN	4	3	3	3
Devin Funchess	TE	MI	3	4	4	4
Mario Ojemudia	DE	MI	3	4	4	3
Kaleb Ringer	LB	OH	3	3	4	3
Matt Godin	DE	MI	3	3	3	4
Ben Braden	OL	MI	3	3	3	3
Anthony Standifer	CB	IL	3	3	3	3
Caleb Stacey	OL	OH	3	3	3	3
Allen Gant	S	OH	3	3	3	3
AJ Williams	TE	OH	3	3	3	3

A few things that immediately stick out is the number of Ohio natives in this class (9). There are 9 lineman, along both lines combined in this class. This is also a very defensive heavy class with 12, 13 if you count Clark, defensive players in the fold and a few more still in the mix to become Wolverines.

Also, if you're wanting to dig a little deeper, you'd see that the Michigan staff is doing one heck of a job of not only invading Ohio, but also securing down the top recruits in the state. They've gained commitments from 7 of the top 12 players in the state and lead or are in the top group for, 3 more of the top 12 in, Farmington Hills WR Aaron Burbridge, Flint DT Danny Obrien, and Southfield TE Ron Thompson. I think the staff is going to take a WR whether or not it's Burbridge, but if he can qualify I expect him to be a Wolverine. Also O'brien is on the record of saying that the staff told him they were only taking one more DT in this class, but with MO DT Ondre Pipkins in the mix and high on Michigan, I see the staff making room for 2 DT's if they both want to come to Ann Arbor.

Border? What stinking border?
While, the state of Michigan does have a very solid group of recruits to choose from this year, that has not always been the norm, compared to states like Ohio. So to be able to get into Ohio and steal away big time recruits has to be of importance if Michigan wants to get back to competing with the likes of Ohio. Hoke has made an emphasis of this and with the impendnig NCAA infractions and media scuttlebutt surrounding the OSU program it seems, at least for the time being, the staff has been able to do that. The big name of the Ohio group was, OL Kyle Kalis, who early in his commitment was more than solid to the Buckeyes.

As of June 8th, Kalis was still committed to Ohio and had this to say about his recuitment to MGoBlog's own Tom VanHaaren...

I'm still listening to coaches. I want to go to Ohio State, but I want to know that Coach Fickell is going to be my head coach when I'm there, and if we don't have more than a two year bowl ban.

A short month later on July 10th, Kalis was a Wolverine where he called Brady Hoke from the block M of stadium to tell him he was a Wolverine, he then had this to say about his recruitment to ESPN.
On Not going to OSU...

"I can't go there (Ohio State) and take penalties for something I never did," Kalis told ESPN.com on Monday. "Ohio State is a great program. I'm just not sure how long it will take them to recover. I want a solid, grounded coaching staff with a safe environment. Where there aren't such tough questions."

On Michigan and the Ohio border...

"He is the type of guy I want to play for," Kalis said. "(Hoke) has an incredible amount of passion. I believe the Michigan-Ohio border is now open. I think you're going to see eight or nine guys from the state of Ohio going over to Michigan this year."

Well, we've got that number of 9 so lets hope that border stays open and we can snag a couple more, maybe RB Bri'onte Dunn? I find that highly unlikely at this point with the NCAA curling up into a ball when it came time to punish Ohio for their tomfoolery (more on this to come).

So where do we go from here?
DT: Michigan is thin at DT and needs to get at least one. I've already mentioned Danny Obrien's comments and like I mentioned if both want to commit I believe the staff makes room and something in my gut tells me that both Ondre and Danny will commit to play for the Wolverines by NSD (national signing day).

Quarterback: I am not in the group that believes Michigan needs a quarterback in this class. They have already gained a commitment from 2013 prospect Shane Morris who by all accounts is shaping up to be one of the top prospects in the country. If Michigan can fill positions of need and gain a buffer qb to be between Gardner and Morris than take one, if not, I won't be losing any sleep and I don't think you should either.

Hold the line: I expect Michigan to take one more offensive lineman in this class. Michigan is at a point where they can choose to be very selective with who they accept commitments from and with 5* Jordan Diamond, and other highly regardged recruits like Zach Bannder, Adam Bisnowaty, and Joshua Garnett in the mix they should be selective.

RB: Michigan has a stable of running backs on the roster already. This factor leads me to again believe Michigan will be very selective on who they accept a commitment from. I would expect only a top guy to get this spot in the class. We Michigan fans need to keep our fingers crossed on Bri'onte Dunn, because with Ohio getting off easy that's loookin less likely, also making our chances of landing a top tier back less likely as well.

WR: Michigan has offers out to some of the top talents in the nation at WR. Most likely in this class, if he can qualify, I think is Aaron Burbridge. But, also keep an eye on OH WR Dwayne Stanford who is teammates with 5* DE Adolphus Washington, who comes across as pretty high on Michigan and they could be a package deal. Some other potential suitors to keep an eye on, are IA WR Amara Darboh, CA WR Jordan Payton, and OH WR Monty Madaris.

Dude closest to going blue? OH DE Chris Wormley, has long been thought of as a Michigan lean. How soon who knows? Hopefully before the season. His commitment, I would expect to effect Adolphus Washington, as there are already 3 DE's in this class. But again, I would love to have both.

So that's kind of where we are at. My apologies for any scatterbrained thoughts. Now I can focus on up to date material, and I am also working on getting a resident buckeye post up as well from my college roomate. So next time you read something from me (hopefully tomorrow), it won't be something you knew 3 months ago. As always, Go Blue.

Out With New, In With The Oldish

2011-07-20T09:17:00.000-07:00

Well This Was Fun Wasn't It?

It took 2 seasons, but last fall when Denard Robinson beat out Tate Forcier and Devin Gardner for the starting quarterback role, it was evident by game 1 that, Rich Rodriguez had found his guy to run the spread offense. All of the slot ninjas, quick nimble lineman, and quarterbacks that could run, seemed to be finally meshing. Through the first 6 games of the season Denard was the Heisman Trophy front runner (he finished 6th in final voting). Shoelace became the first player in NCAA history to rush and pass for more than 1,500 yds and set the Big Ten single season total offense record with 4,272 yards of total offense (2,570 yards passing and 1,702 yards rushing) and led the conference in rushing. By the end of the season the offense statistically was one of the best in the country and one of the most exciting Michigan offenses to watch in memory.

Michigan 2010 Offense
Total Offense:	9th
Rushing Offense	13th (238.5 yds/gm)
Passing Offense	36th (250.2 yds/gm)
Scoring Offense	25th (32.6 pts/gm)

For all of its successes the spread seemed to have its down falls as Denard missed time in 10 of 12 games last season and the offense seemed stagnant against the better teams on the schedule. The offense also seemed to flounder in the redzone ranking 92nd in scoring %. Personally, I think that statistic is somewhat not conducive of the circumstances. Our defense couldn't stop the JV girls powder puff team from getting in the end zone, forcing the offense to score on nearly every possession. Oh, and that field goal kicking thing? Uhh...

Thank you Barbrady, you're right I did not want to see that.

Well, after a 52-14 beat down by the hands of Mississippi State, Rich Rodriguez was gone and so was the spread. Brady Hoke brought in Al Borges to take the reigns of the offense. There were rumblings about whether or not Denard Robinson would stay... he did and here we are.

Al Borges is a journeyman offensive coordinator, with four schools under his belt in the last eleven years. The performance of his teams?

Al Borges Offenses	Team	Rush Off.	Pass Off.	Total Off.	Scoring Off
2001	CAL	87th	96th	77th	104th
2002	IU	93RD	84th	69th	95th
2003	IU	59th	101st	98th	114th
2004	AUBURN	29th	40th	25th	18th
2005	AUBURN	25th	70th	37th	30th
2006	AUBURN	47th	88th	76th	56th
2007	AUBURN	53rd	103rd	97th	84th
2009	SDSU	116th	30th	86th	85th
2010	SDSU	48th	12th	16th	19th

My reaction, very MEH... But, in this what have you done for me lately world we live in, the progress he was able to make at previously abysmal SDSU in just two seasons, is where I find my hope and encouragement. Borges was able to move the ball against quality teams last year when SDSU played TCU, Missouri, Utah, Air Force, and Navy.

Brian at MgoBlog had this to say about Borges.

Borges looks like just a guy by the numbers, and he's just a guy who seems like the worst possible fit with Denard. Jason Campbell ran more when he got to the NFL. Hopefully there's some more flexibility in this offense than it appears at first glance, otherwise it's a fourth straight year with a new, underclass starting quarterback.

Borges and Hoke both came in saying there would be an emphasis on establishing the run and running a more pro-style/west coast, MANball type of offense. Think Lloyd Carr offense, but without that old man I need a diaper look, every time we drop back to pass. Borges likes to zing it around a little bit more. But, with a talent like the Denard the old adage, can't fit a square peg into a round hole seems to apply. It appears as after spring ball Borges is beginning to feel the same. In a recent Rivals article Borges dropped these bits on his plan.

"What we're trying to do as we go is take the next step, understanding what we want in the offense, and his skills are going to be explored," said Borges. "We're probably going to run the quarterback more than I ever have because he is so talented we have to explore that option, but then develop other parts of his game. Because he wants to be a next level player, he's been very receptive."

And this about running out of the shotgun.

"We will be under center half the time and more in shotgun than we've ever been before, though we've always run a good degree of it. We ran 35 snaps in one game at San Diego State last year. It's not news for us. But there's a transition not just for Denard, but everybody."

You'll notice here in the spring game highlights that, the first play was out of shotgun and Denard was able to, well... be Denard.

The rest of the time, made me maddeningly confused wondering, "is this that turn around for the defense we've been waiting for, or are we really going to be this bad on offense?" I think somewhere in between. What I find most encouraging is...

The progression Denard was able to make from his freshman year to last, which leads me to believe he will put in the time and effort this summer to make the transition smoother.
Al Borges I think clearly sees he has a talent he can't under use just to install his system. Something that plagued Rich Rodriguez early in tenure at Michigan.
We have 9 starters returning offense. This is a veteran group that are no longer freshman and sophomores who are still working the squeak out of their voices. These are matured dudes who have had adequate time in the weight room.

Concerns?

Who steps up at running back to make MANball work and keep the load off Denard? Many out there seem to believe that incoming freshman Thomas Rawles may be the dark horse in the running back race. Rawles was an under the radar recruit who would've been ranked higher had their not been questions about his ability to qualify.
The offensive line is the least of my concern. From my time playing football I am under the distinct impression that moving from a zone scheme to a man blocking scheme isn't that difficult for a lineman. If you're blowing people up you're blowing people up. If that assumption is far and away inaccurate it could be a problem.
Too many receivers not enough balls. With all of the slot ninjas on the team how do they become incorporated into this offense.

Expectations?

I expect to see an offense hovering somewhere around the 40 in the country. There's too much talent coming back on this team for me to believe we will take a drastic dip. If we struggle the first two games of the season to move the ball against two defenses we haven't had a recent problem against than, I may be putting my foot in my mouth sooner rather than later.
I expect to not see a clear-cut back until the 3rd or 4th game of the season unless someone emerges from camp head and shoulders above the rest. My starting back prediction is... Michael Cox

The true tale of the story will be, if we aren't moving the ball well early in the season, how quickly will Borges and Hoke scrap all that is MANball and cater the offense to our skill set. The hope and my belief is that we never get to that point. We will definitely see some "uhh ohhs" and "ohh EFFFFFF" plays along the way but nothing compared to 2008. The offense seems to have all bought in to the new system and I think we won't be last year but we won't be even close to 2008 either. At the end of the day we have the best smile in college football leading our offense and if this doesn't put your heart at ease, than I do not know what will.

Up next we get caught up on recruiting. As always, Go Blue.

A New Kind Of Greg

2011-07-18T08:17:00.000-07:00

When Brady Hoke was hired as the head footbal coach for the University of Michigan, he inherited a defense that, was the worst in history of the program. It was a defense that, had been ravaged with injuries and attrition over the last three years. They were, a young and inexperienced unit, who had not seen any sense of stability at the DC. The team had 2 DC's in the last 3 years and 3 within the last 4.

Rich Rodriguez was and always will be, an offensive minded coach, who seemed to pretend that other teams can't score touchdowns and would prefer to only be involved in the offensive gameplan. In 2009 Greg Robinson was brought in to mend what was obviously a broken unit. His resume was smitten with various degrees of success at the professional and collegiate level. He came to us from Syracuse where his recorded as a head coach was 9-27 and his defenses (remember his specialty) went from 57th overall to this...

Year	Team	PassEff	Rush	Scoring	Total
2008	Syracuse	101	101	101	101
2007	Syracuse	109	108	104	111
2006	Syracuse	81	110	72	107

Robinson, throughout the majority of his career had worked under an aggressive 4-3 defensive philosophy. He came to Michigan with the intent of running a 3-4 hybrid-esque defense. But, by 2010 Rich Rod decided it best to go with what was successful for him at West Virginia and move the team to the 3-3-5. One Problem, Greg Robinson had no familiarity with that style of defense and by the end of the 2010 season, our players were experimenting with magical stuffed animals being rubbed in their faces.

Even if Rich Rodriguez was still the head coach obviously, it was time for yet another change to the DC position. I personally don't believe Rich Rodriguez would have been able to pull in a DC with even remotely the same amount of success as Brady Hoke was able to do when he convinced Greg Mattison to come back to Michigan to take the same position.

Greg Mattison was an vital part in getting that vaunted 1997 National Championship defense to where they were serving as Michigan's defensive line and DC from 1992-1996, where he worked alongside Brady Hoke. Mattison then took a like role at Notre Dame until 2004. After 2004 Mattison, became co-DC at the University of Florida partnering up with current Louisville head coach Charlie Strong. He served that position until, 2008 where Mattison, moved to Baltimore to become the DC for the Baltimore Ravens.

I was having a difficult time, pulling information from Mattison's Notre Dame years but was able to find good statistics on Mattison's defenses at Florida and Baltimore.

Florida	2004	2005	2006	2007
Rushing Defense	53rd (141.9)	10th (94.9)	5th (72.5)	10th (103.3)
Passing Defense	46th (203.67)	28th (204.92)	33rd (182.3)	98th (258.54)
Pessing Eff. Def	27th	25th	4th	71st
Total Defense	42nd (345.58)	9th (299.830	6th (255.43)	41st (361.85)
Scoring Defense	31st (21.1)	18th (18.8)	6th (13.5)	46th (25.5)

Ravens	2008	2009	2010
Rushing Defense	3rd (81.4)	5th (93.3)	5th (93.9)
Passing Defense	2nd (179.7)	t-8th (207.3)	21st (224.9)
Total Defense	2nd (261.1)	3rd (300.5)	10th (318.9)
Scoring Defense	3rd (15.3)	3rd (16.3)	3rd (16.9)

Take a look at those numbers... If that doesn't make you go all, Kip in Napoleon Dynamite about this hire,

than I am not quite certain that you and I will ever be on the same wavelength. This especially from a coaching standpoint was a slam dunk of a hire. To go along with his on the field success, Urban Meyer had this to say about his ability on the recruiting trail, while on the set at ESPNU..

“He’s not only one of the best defensive coordinators in America, but also the best recruiter in college football.”

That's high praise from a great coach and recruiter himself. The recent success by Hoke and his staff is I believe in direct correlation with Meyers comments, especially when you look at all of the high class defensive recruits being brought in. (More informative catch-up post on recruiting to come soon.)

The true test for Mattison, will be how can he get the back 7 to improve from the previous years. Michigan has a solid unit coming back on the front line. This defense as whole was fundamentally bad last season, especially their inability to do something vial to winning football games, tackle. How soon will Mattisonn and the defensive staff be able to bring the young players along? One thing we do know is that it can't get much worse than it has been.

Brady Hoke brought in a man, who understands Michigan, is a proven college coach, and was at the helm of one of the top 5 defenses in the NFL for the last 3 seasons. I don't expect Michigan to jump into that top 50 category that Mattison's defenses were at Florida or the top 10 caliber defenses he had at Baltimore immediately. I do however think that the team is well on its way. With good production from the front 4 to help out the secondary and Mattison in charge I expect the defense to be significantly better than the past 3 seasons. There's only one thing going against Mattison in my eyes, he doesn't have this head of hair...

May your hair live in infamy GERG.

It will be an exciting time and we should expect to see improvement hopefully sooner rather than later. Next up, Al Borges. As always, Go Blue.

Whatcha Gonna Do Brother?

2011-07-15T14:03:00.000-07:00

Preface: My purpose for the next few posts will just be getting some opinions on the new coaching staff out there, a quick rundown of where the program is today, and then getting into more preseason, up-to-date content. So bare wtih me...

I don't think I need to go in deep on Brady Hoke, but I want to hit on some things to get the newly formed blog up to speed and get some things out on where we are at. Quickly, we all know or should know his story by now, Michigan Assistant, turned around Ball State and San Diego State, is a Michigan man. But, really whatcha gonna do brother, when "Hokeamania", runs wild on you?

So, back in January when David Brandon Finally ended his magic airplane cross country tour of a coach search we wound up with some guy named Brady Hoke. After the announcement, I got on expedia, priceline, or whatever and I booked my flight to Nepal to go on a Michigan sabattical of sorts. I didn't think I could take it anymore. I figured I could come back in 2 years and maybe John Gruden or somebody not named Brady Hoke would have finally bought that house in Ann Arbor and we might be over this whole fiasco. Needless to say, I was in the John Harbaugh or Rich Rod gets one more year camp.

I decided, I wasn't going to watch the presser, but rather get a rundown from Brian and the guys over at MGoBlog. Well, when I realized I was at work during the presser, it was a no brainer, I was watching.

Ohh, my how ashamed I was. Luckliy I never went through with purchasing those tickets...GREAT SCOTT he's right, This is Michigan. Did myself and the fanbase need to be reminded? Maybe we're a frugal fan base, whose emotions have been numbed after the last three years but, it seemed like a good portion of the fanbase was with me, in that complete 180 degree "I feel like a jackass for not giving this guy a chance" sort of way. Brady Hoke, who mind you has not coached a game yet for the maize and blue, in my eyes has done nothing but deliver on that chance so far.

In a few short months Brady Hoke has done the following

Bring Michigan into the 21st century when it comes to paying assitants and wooed top NFL defensive coordinator Greg Mattison away from the Baltimore Ravens.
So far recruited 19 players (20 if you count Kentucky S Jeremy Clark's Greyshirt offer) to a Michigan class ranked in the top 10 by every major recruiting site, and one that has 9 players including 5* OT Kyle Kalis from the state of Ohio. He has also taken back the in-state battle from Little Brother.
Convinced Denard Robinson to stay
Put up countdown clocks for and placed emphasis on beating Little Brother and Ohio. (For whatever reason, I absolutely get like girly giggly when I hear him call OSU, Ohio.)

Obviously September 3rd is going to be the start of the journey and will truly be where Brady Hoke begins to build his legacy at The University of Michigan. But I believe he is well on his way and I am thrilled for Brady, his family, the team, and The University of Michigan.

How will Hoke and Mattison turn around a defense that ranked in the depths of the NCAA? How will Hoke and new OC Al Borges set this offense in a position for Denard Robinson and the rest of our skill players to effective just like last year? In the next few days I will try and answer these questions somewhat, while providing a rundown on Mattison and Borges to get the blog caught back up on where we are with them in charge of the defense and offense respectively.As always, until next time...Go Blue

Here We Go

2011-07-15T11:01:00.000-07:00

The date was August 27th, 1995. I was like most 8 year olds in that, I loved doing things with my father and generally rooted for whatever team on the television he was cheering for. More than any other team, that meant I was a Michigan fan from my inception into this world. At such a young age I never quite understood my fandom, and then this happened...

I was sitting in the south endzone that day with my father and 2 of his cousins. One of whom, decided best that he leave at halftime, because in his words the team was "playing like shit" (cynnical dude he was). To this day I have never gone without seeing him and saying "4 seconds man, 4 seconds"... My father raised me up and I hooped, hollered, and cheered till I couldn't anymore. I didn't want to leave the stadium until the team was completely off the field. My fandom was set in stone. From that day forth, my life was engulfed in Michigan athletics and Virginia, has not been heard from since.

I did not have the privilege of attending the great University of Michigan, as I decided to take my talents (if that's what you call them) to a small Division 3 college in Holland, MI to play football. If you were to walk into my dorm, past all the obscure posters and paraphenalia, you would have assumed I was a U of M student as my room was plastered in M memorabillia. Throughout this blog I will get into my relationship with my roomate who. don't hold it against him, is a buckeye fan. Believe it or not he has never pooped in a cooler and is actually objective. I was always under the impression that those things did not go hand in hand but, what are you going to do?

Now at the devine, entitled age of 24, I feel as though I have an opinion and that opinion matters. I mean, why else would I start a blog? While writing on this blog I will bring an opinion presented with as much objectivity as my slappyness will allow, humor (I was told I was funny once), and honesty. I love Michigan athletics and can't remember the last day I went without trying to find some bit or any bit of information that I could. So while procrastinating I figured what the heck. So in honor of the greatest fight song in the world, I give you my blog Victors Valiant.

First football related post to drop soon.