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"