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.

Quickies: The Linebacking Corps

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.