About Last Night: Recap Brady Hoke's Former Team

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Preview: San Diego State

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

About Last Night: Recap Eastern Michigan

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As Always, Go BLUE.

Preview: Notre Dame

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

About Last Night: Recap Western

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Defense:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Quickies: The Committee In The Backfield

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!

Quickies: Quarterback

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

Out With New, In With The Oldish

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.