Michigan St/Michigan

What's up everyone,
I apologize for the absence of a post last week.. I was in Iowa City with some friends and I was unable to reach a computer. Anyways, its MICHIGAN/MICHIGAN ST WEEK, but before we dig into the rivalry, lets look at some of the shit that happened last weekend..

Scheelhaase eating turf.. left game with concussion 

I think my sub-conscience had the biggest influence in my decision to write a post last weekend (aside from my other excuses). What happened? Uhhh.. pretty much what I said a couple weeks back.. "Illinois is just bad..". They lived up to their reputation and were destroyed in a 45-0 blowout. (Side Note: Though I say Illinois is bad, and they are, they put up a fight against Wisconsin the weekend prior.. just keep that in mind as we get closer to Indianapolis). Michigan was better at everything.. Offensively, Denard and the backs picked up some yards. Defensively, Jake Ryan proved that he is a rising star in the B1G. Special Teams, Norfleet probably should have just hurdled the punter and he would have scored. Put simply, we're better. Any 2010 repeat was absolutely crushed when Scheelhaase was knocked out of the game. Riley O'Toole sucked and it was over pretty quickly.

The long hair makes you look 20 times more badass

Now that we are done with that...

Michigan State heads into the Big House this weekend. Michigan State is coming off a 19-16 OT loss in East Lansing to an "OK" Iowa squad. I honestly thought Michigan State was going to win, but they choked and couldn't finish. The offense continued to be inept and the defense was average at best.. This is the same team that was predicted to basically walk thru their division and make it over the hump to a BCS bowl.. Whatever though. I hate Michigan State so it is always nice to seem them suck. That being said, they still scare me coming into this weekend. The past 2 years, the Michigan State defense has done an exceptional job containing Denard. Even though their defense has been sub-par so far this season, rivalry games often bring the best out of players.. For Michigan to have success on offense, Fitz needs to grow a pair and stop dancing around in the back field. Make a cut, get your ass up the field, and when you have the room, THEN you can do your jukes. If he can't step up his game, Thomas Rawls is the next man.. I'm not sure why, but I just cannot look at Rawls the same ever since the hit he took during the Alabama game... (11 minute mark)

Look for Gardner to get involved Saturday. I like Roundtree, but Gardner is my favorite WR. He is the most athletic receiver we have and I love seeing the ball in his hands. Borges said he wants to develop a go-to WR and I hope it is one of the Devin's.

Most athletic players on the Michigan roster

Defensively, I think Michigan matches up well against Michigan State's offense. Michigan State has a new QB, new WR's, and a mediocre offensively line. The lone bright spot on their offense is Le'Veon Bell and he is pretty tank-ish.. Michigan ranks 3rd in the nation in pass-defense, but they will be tested more this week as opposed to weeks prior. The biggest challenge for this Michigan defense will be stopping the trick plays.. Michigan State's offense blows and Dantonio knows this.

This game is a toss up for me.. I think the game being in Ann Arbor helps, as well as past tweets that will only fuel Denard.. I have Michigan winning this game by a reasonable amount with hopes that Michigan State's offense will continue to sputter.

Other B1G games:
Navy>Indiana
Iowa>PSU
Wisconsin>Minnesota
Nebraska>NW
OSU>Purdue

Purdue/Michigan Preview

Hello Errrbody,
It has been a long 2 weeks, but Michigan is back in action this saturday. Our opponent? The Purdue Boilermakers. But before I delve into the preview, I want to review some things that happened in the B1G last weekend..

Overall, I was 5-1 on the weekend. Not too shabby considering a lot of the games were toss ups.

Ohio/MSU: I was surprised Braxton Miller didn't tear his ACL.. but I will give him credit where credit is due.. He carried his team to that victory. (Prediction: MSU>Ohio... 0-1)

Northwestern/Indiana: I figured Northwestern would win this game. They came out firing and got themselves a 27-0 lead. It seems as though Northwestern STILL cannot close the deal as they let Indiana back in the game late. No offense Northwestern, but almost everyone in the B1G is better than Indiana.. Your 5-0 mark is false advertising (Prediction: Northwestern>Indiana... 1-1)

PSU/Illinois: Pretty much called this one. PSU handled Illinois in a 35-7 smack down. Illinois is bad and PSU is playing with passion.. Pretty much all there is to it. (Prediction: PSU>Illinois... 2-1)

Minnesota/Iowa: I picked the right time with Iowa. They came out on fire (probably because it was homecoming) and handled Minnesota. Minnesota hadn't played anyone previously so their record was deceiving, like Northwestern's. (Iowa>Minnesota... 3-1)

Nebraska/Wisconsin: I kind of got lucky on this one. Wisconsin had a strong hold on this game with a 27-10 lead and let Nebraska back in. I still don't know how good either team really is though... (Nebraska>Wisconsin... 4-1)

Purdue/Marshall: I thought Purdue would smoke these cats.. They didn't and they only won by ten.. I mean if you're a Purdue fan, it is cool that they put up 51 points!.. but on the flip side, you also gave up 41 points to Marshall... uhh... (Purdue>Marshall... 5-1)

You struggled with these guys, Purdue? Michigan is a lot better than them

Leaving off our last B1G team, Michigan heads to West Lafayette, IN, to play the Boilermakers. Michigan is coming off its bye-week and Purdue is coming off a ten point victory over Marshall. Last year, Michigan handled Purdue at the Big House and is a 3 POINT favorite coming into the 2012 meeting. So where do I begin?.. Statistically, Purdue looks a lot better than Michigan on paper, but that means little in comparison to strength of schedule. Michigan has played Alabama, Air Force, UMass, and Notre Dame. Purdue has played Eastern Kentucky, Notre Dame, Eastern Michigan, and Marshall.. I think Michigan has clearly had the more difficult schedule. If you want to compare ND games, go ahead. Realistically, had Michigan only turned the ball over half the amount of times than they actually did, we beat ND by 14. I understand that Purdue was young and had a lot of talent last year, but I just don't see them as an elite team in the Big Ten. Michigan has been ready for this game for 2 weeks now and I really do not see them losing. The only way Purdue wins this game is if they come out playing inspired football for a full 60 minutes. If they can do that, they have somewhat proved themselves in my eyes.

Here are the keys for Michigan if they want to win this game
-Borges uses Denard's legs often, and his arm in moderation: Last week, the Michigan offense became too predictable and ND picked up on that. For some reason, Borges continued to put Denard in passing situations he clearly was not comfortable being in. As a spectator, this became evident probably after the first or second pick.

-We get pressure on TerBush: Last week, our defensive line did a solid job against the ND running game and had some success getting pressure on Rees. If they can improve, or even play like they did against ND, that will be a good sign for Michigan. Let's just hope the bye-week did not make them lackadaisical.

I would take this guy over GERG any day

-Fitz gets goin': Last year, Purdue was Toussaint's coming out party. He ran all over the Purdue defense in a solid win over the Boilermakers and carried that momentum through the rest of the B1G season. Fitz showed flashes in the 2nd half against ND (notice the O-Line stepped up as well) so hopefully that is a good sign of things to come.

2011: 170 yds rushing & 2 TD's.. 2012:???

Predictions of other B1G games
Ohio>Nebraska
Wisconsin>Illinois
MSU>Indiana
PSU>Northwestern

Wolverinenation had a cool picture.. Go Blue!!

Let the Games Begin

After a disappointing non-conference, can we turn it around?

Hello Everybody,
As you all (should) know, Michigan has a bye week this upcoming saturday. I would have preferred taking the break prior to Michigan State week, but this will suffice. Michigan needed some time to regroup (mentally and physically) after a rough outing against Notre Dame last week. Again, I'd like to congratulate Notre Dame on a hard-fought win, but in a way, Michigan pretty much gift wrapped the game and put a ribbon on top.. However, what's done is done, so it is time to move on. From my prior blogs, you should tell by now that I am pretty harsh on my team. I do this because I know the standard that is held at Michigan and I hate not meeting the expectation. This week, I am going to apply a similar criticism to the rest of the teams in the Big Ten as conference play kicks off!! Lets get started...

Penn State @ Illinois
Penn State: Penn State beat Temple last week and finished their non-conference schedule at 2-2. Honestly, I am pretty impressed by Bill O'Brien's leadership at PSU thus far. I like how he came in and was able to get players to buy into his philosophy. The belief is evident as PSU players have stepped up in the face of attrition and played their hearts out. Matt McGloin has shown much improvement with the addition of TE's in the offense. Not only the offense, but the defense has been exceptional thus far as well (granted the level of competition hasn't really been top-notch). An emotional first game here, a one point loss there, PSU could easily be 4-0 at this point and receiving much more recognition.

Illinois: Illinois is coming off a brutal loss against Lousiana-Tech (who?) and finishing their non-conference schedule at 2-2. So.. I guess I don't really know what to say. They beat a decent MAC team and a bad Big South team (with all due respect Charleston Southern). Their other loss involved a 45-14 blasting from an unproven Arizona State squad. I don't want to be too harsh considering Tim Beckman is in his first year, but this team just does not look good. The defense has played poorly and the offense has looked consistently stagnate.
PREDICTION: PSU OVER ILLINOIS

Didn't know you could throw prior to this season

Minnesota @ Iowa
Minnesota: Minnesota comes into this game with a 4-0 non-conference record (one of the three remaining unbeaten teams left in the Big Ten). They are starting their backup QB Max Shortell in place of injured MarQueis Gray. Shortell came in last week and played really well, but today will be more of a challenge. The game will be at Kinnick which is one of the toughest places to play in all of college football.. except if you're Central Michigan of course. This game is big for Minnesota. Thus far, they have beaten lower quality teams (Best win: Syracuse). If they can beat a Big Ten team and take home the Floyd of Rosedale for the third consecutive year, Minnesota may be for real... but I doubt it.

Iowa: Iowa only has one bright spot this year.. FB Mark Weisman (If you're from Iowa, I'm sure you're acquainted with the common phrase "Weisman for Heisman"). He's good, but not that good. Iowa is always a difficult team to gauge because they're infamous for playing down to their opponents. Though they have struggled thus far this season, I think Ferentz got on the team after last week's pathetic loss to Central Michigan. I fully expect Iowa to come out on fire since it's Homecoming.. Though I could be wrong. If you know Iowa, you also know that nothing is certain with this team.
PREDICTION: IOWA OVER MINNESOTA

apparently he has his own Heisman twitter account

Wisconsin @ Nebraska

Wisconsin: Wisconsin finished their non-conference schedule at 3-1 and has looked unimpressive to this point. The offense has struggled mightily as the QB situation has yet to be completely figured out. Last year they were fortunate to have Russell Wilson as he added a different dimension to their offense. This year, Wisconsin's offense has been very predictable as they have relied solely on their running game. If you can stop the running game, you can beat Wisconsin (Ex: UNI (almost), Utah St. (almost), and Oregon St.). I expect to see them struggle for the rest of the season as teams will load the box against them.

Nebraska: Nebraska finished their non-conference schedule at 3-1 and has also been unimpressive. They played only one power-conference team in UCLA and lost. Their offense has had some big numbers though!.. too bad the three other teams they played were terrible. It is hard to tell where this team really is at this point. Taylor Martinez, "T-Magic", has pulled a rabbit out of the hat with his dramatic improvement in completion percentage (again.. they've played bad defenses). If he wants to continue his fast start, Rex Burkhead will need to stay healthy and really contribute in the run game.
PREDICTION: NEBRASKA OVER WISCONSIN

Don't care how high your comp. % is, you still can't throw "T-Magic"

Indiana @ Northwestern & Marshall @ Purdue
I'm going to make these previews quick and painless..
Indiana no longer has Tre Roberson and Northwestern is a lot better than the Ball St. team they lost to last week....
So... Fact: Purdue is better than Marshall...
PREDICTION: NORTHWESTERN OVER INDIANA
PREDICTION: PURDUE OVER MARSHALL

and finally...

Ohio @ Michigan St.
Ohio: Ohio comes in 4-0. Similar to Michigan with Denard, Braxton Miller is Ohio's offense. He runs, he throws, and if he was able to, he'd catch by passing to himself. Though Ohio is undefeated, they've struggled against bad teams. A lot of the blame has to be put on the defense as they have given up a lot of big plays. If Ohio wants to continue to be successful, Jordan Hall and the WR's need to step up and help the offense.

Michigan St.: Michigan State comes in 3-1. Michigan State has looked very inconsistent on offense this season. If Andrew Maxwell is not on, it normally ends up being a long day for the offense. Similar to Wisconsin, Michigan State relies heavily on the running game. Le'Veon Bell has been the only bright spot on their offense. I give Michigan State the advantage in this game as it is at home and I think they have the defense to beat Ohio.
PREDICTION: MICHIGAN ST. OVER OHIO

Get down fairy

Quick info:
I am not really a huge Iowa fan, but I thought this video was pretty funny

As conference play kicks off, my friend Andy has created some cool new bracelets. Want to rep your favorite Big Ten team? Any color, he's got it. Andysparacords.com

There's red & white, but no scarlet and gray... hmmm.. (intentional)

NEXT WEEK: PURDUE!!!

My dog, Wolverine, is ready.. Are you?

A Well-Deserved Loss

Well... where do I begin...
Lets start with the score. #11/Notre Dame "trumps" #18/Michigan 13-6 under the lights in South Bend. I am going to be completely honest... I physically could no longer handle watching the game after half-time. You can ask any of my friends and they will tell you that I am probably the biggest die-hard Michigan football fan that they know, but this was more unbearable than the Bama loss (do note that I watched all 60 minutes of that game). I was able to scrape together a little analysis from the highlights so lets talk about the bad....

THE BAD...
#1: O-LINE PLAY. Both Fitz and Denard had bad days running the ball. Denard had a couple scampers here and there, but nothing extraordinary. As for Fitz, there was no running room. Fitz had 2 yards rushing at half-time.. sickening. The O-Line did get "better" push in the second half as Fitz rushed for 56 yards (not really that impressive). As for pass-blocking, it was inconsistent at best. Sometimes Denard had time to throw, but when he didn't.. I will talk more about this in "THE UGLY" segment.

#2: OFFENSIVE PLAY CALLING. By now, Al Borges should know his offensive personnel as far as their strengths and weaknesses. Giving Denard multiple reads has been okay at times, but this got out of control. I like Al and I think he's a good coordinator, but he still does not truly understand Denard's limitations as a passing QB.

THE UGLY...
#1: Everyone knows what is next.. TURNOVERS. Denard finished the game with 4 picks and a fumble. Add in a Vincent Smith pick, and you come up with a total of 6 turnovers on the night. This is inexcusable. Denard cannot be the only one at fault here as multiple position groups did not do their jobs at times during the game (O-Line and WR's primarily).

Great ball placement

#2: RED-ZONE SCORING. You cannot win games converting in the red-zone 33% of the time and scoring only 2 field goals. After the first quarter, I thought this game could have easily been 14-0 with a little better play calling. The HB pass and the HB toss plays were a couple of the plays I was not too fond of. Hopefully we can learn from this outing and convert at a better rate in the future or else this is going to be a long season

#3: THE REST OF THE BIG TEN...
Ohio: 29 UAB: 15- Pretty self-explanatory. UAB shouldn't be scoring 15 points and Ohio shouldn't only be scoring 29 points. However, I cannot say I was surprised by the score considering Ohio only beat Cal last week by a TD.

They're an intimidating bunch

Wisconsin: 37 UTEP: 26- UTEP is in Conference-USA and was 1-2 coming in.. why are they scoring 26 points against a Big Ten team?..

MSU: 23 EMU: 7- EMU had the lead for most of this game. MSU wore down EMU and it showed as they scored 14 in the 4th.. still not impressive.

Nebraska: 73 Idaho St: 7- Ohh Nebraska.. Quit scheduling joke non-conference games. This win does not change the fact that you lost to UCLA, so stop thinking you're better than you actually are.

Illinois: 24 Lousiana-Tech 52- I think Illinois just sucks.. not much to it.

Iowa: 31 CMU: 32- I include Iowa in this group because they have beaten Michigan the past 3 years.. If we lose this year, I will be extremely disappointed.. I attended this game and CMU came in with a great game plan. Iowa was way too predictable.

Maybe the best team in Michigan

The Big Ten race this year is certainly up for grabs. All teams in the conference have been pathetic to say the least. I feel bad for the team that wins the Big Ten and has to get ran over by USC/Oregon in the Rose Bowl.

and finally..

THE GOOD...
#1: THE DEFENSE!!! For as many turnovers as Michigan committed, the defense held their own. I was especially impressed that we held Tommy Rees in check. In 2011, aside for the turnovers, Rees was throwing the ball all over the field against our defense. Michigan only gave up 145 yards passing and 94 yards rushing on the day. It seemed at times that the D-Line was showing spurts of brilliance. I know ND didn't have as many play-makers as they did last year, but the defense really helped keep us in the game.

#2: DENARD'S PASSES. Even though Denard threw 4 picks, he made the best of them. For the most part, the passes were perfect spirals. Whether it be double or triple coverage, Denard hummed a beautiful lazer into the hands of the defense.

#3: THE FUTURE. As I talked about in the last blog, I am really excited for the future of Michigan football. I know that this season is far from over, but I am that excited for the years to come. The coaching will become more apparent as Hoke gets the players he wants. The future of the O-Line and QB position are the two areas I am most excited about.

At the end of the day, it came down to who had the better back ups. I always thought Tommy Rees was leagues ahead of Everett Golson as far as a passing QB goes, so I was not surprised when Kelly pulled Golson for Rees. Michigan does not have a real back up for Denard. Devin Gardner is too valuable of a WR now and Russell Bellomy is not quite there yet. I expect Denard to bounce back with a big game against Purdue. Notre Dame also impressed me defensively, but it was not their front 7. Their front 7 were impressive, but I liked how Kelly was able to slap together a make-shift secondary and force 4 interceptions against Michigan.

Golson blows, Start this guy

I will write a pre-game analysis 2 fridays from now as Michigan heads to West Lafayette, IL to take on Purdue. Thanks for reading and GO BLUE!!

Big Ten "Dark horse"

 

Notre Dame/ Denard Robinson 2012

Hello fellow Wolverines,
My name is Kyle Kisling and I am a first time blogger. I am a Michigan man trapped geographically in the corn state of Iowa. Over the past 4 years, blogs like "Maize and Blue Nation" and "Touch the Banner" have really sparked my passion for Michigan football. I think both blogs do a great job of sharing intelligent, informational, and unbiased content and it is always nice to get a break from the analysts at ESPN. I am not saying I do not respect their opinions, but I just get tired of analysts like Lou Holtz who would probably pick Notre Dame over Alabama.. Speaking of Notre Dame, they are the subject of today's post.

Michigan is the clear underdog coming into this game. Notre Dame has recently come off an impressive victory over Michigan State and freshmen QB, Everett Golson, has looked impressive thus far. #11/Notre Dame comes in with a record of 3-0 (Best win: 20-3 over Michigan St.) and #18/Michigan comes in with a record of 2-1 (Best win: UMass 63-13). Considering this is a blog about Michigan football, I am pulling for my boys in Blue. Here are a couple things the wolverines must capitalize on in order to win the game.

#1: Win the battle in the trenches (offensively and defensively). The O-Line needs to step up. We cannot bank on Denard rushing for 200 yards every game. As the Big Ten season starts, teams will load the box and will be able to stop him. In order for our offense to be successful, both Fitz and Denard have to be in sync. While Denard has been successful thus far, Fitz has severely struggled (8 yards against AF & 85 yards against UMass) since his return. If the O-line can open holes for him, this will open up running & passing lanes for Denard. Now onto the D-Line. Against Air Force, we struggled to get them off the field. They were constantly gashing our defense for big runs and that starts with the push our D-line was getting up front. Against UMass, our defense had a much better outing, but still gave up 75 yards to Michael Cox. Notre Dame has a much better O-Line and will gash us all day if our D-Line doesn't get some sort of push.

#2: Take advantage of our strengths. Coming into the season, everyone thought that the WR position was going to be an area of question for the team. From my perspective, it is one of our strongest areas as of now. From watching high school highlights of Devin Gardner on Youtube, I knew the kid was an incredible athlete. I am excited to see him consistently on the field this year because he can do special things anytime he touches the ball. Devin Funchess is a fantastic freshman TE that has burst onto the scene. Kevin Koger was a good TE in his tenure at Michigan, but Funchess has a chance to be a real star. However, these are only 2 of the talented WR's. Jeremy Gallon has been a reliable target and even though he has been in a prolonged slump, Sr. WR Roy Roundtree can make plays when he gets the chance. I bring up the WR's because Notre Dame is replacing 2 members of its secondary with converted WR's. If Al Borges can give Denard simple reads to make easy passes, it could be a long day for the ND defense.

Devin's tightrope TD

Young Funchess

#3: Let Denard do his thing. The first 3 quarters of last years game hurt my eyes. After 45 minutes of play, the offense had scored 7 points (only score on a jump ball to Junior Hemingway). To put it simply, Denard was amazing in the 4th quarter. Sure he threw a couple picks, but he put the team on his back and carried us to a thrilling win. Was a lot of it luck? Maybe. Did ND get complacent with a 24-7 lead? They sure did. However, at the end of the day, a win is a win. Denard has accounted for 969 yards in the two games he has played against ND.. and if our WR's can take advantage of the secondary, things will only get worse as it will open up the running game for Denard.

Can Denard make it 3/3 against ND?

These are the 3 keys Michigan must capitalize on in order to win this game. Michigan will need to be solid in nearly all facets of the game to pull this one off. If they play the first 3 quarters like they did last year, Brian Kelly is not going to let the same mistake happen twice. The game is in South Bend at night this year and I think that will play a huge role.. I love my boys, but I am going to have to pick Notre Dame. I really hope I am wrong and Michigan just ends up blowing them out, but that is highly unlikely. Win or lose though, keep your head high. I think the "Denard era" is only a warm-up for what the future holds in store for this program.

Denard's Predecessor, Shane Morris

Final Prediction: ND: 31 MICH: 21

OH! One last thing before I post this. My friend Andy has his own paracord bracelet business. The business has just started, so be the first to try his product. The wristbands are customized to fit your wrist and are sold at a fair price. For more information on the bracelets, check out his website @ http://andysparacords.com/

andysparacords.com

Thanks for reading and GO BLUE!!