SB Nation - Kevin Grady

A Win, A Win, My Kingdom For A Win...

SCM — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 11:00:19 -0000

First off, apologies for the deleted threads, basically there was nothing of value being stated in the most recent one, and the game thread had digressed to caps-lock explicatives from yours truly, and really, there's just not much to gleam from that is there? Anyways, discretion being the better part of valor, I decided to try to calm down a bit before putting some thoughts together here. Let's just get this out of the way first: that was an appalling loss. Appalling is at least in the correct ball-park I'd say, and it's not a four-letter word, so we'll go with that. I have no doubt that this team was trying their best out there (how else do you block a punt when you're down by three scores late in the game)? I'm not going to question their heart either, they are out their busting their tails day in and day out, so to question their desire, etc is just wrong if you ask me. Let's steer clear of that shall we? Anyways, this was an Illinois team that was outright horrible coming into this game; in every measurable statistic they were horrible. We made them look out-freakin-standing from the start of the second half onward. I mean, well, words still fail me even now to be honest. Now then, let's also get something else out of the way: there are clear and obvious deficiencies on this Michigan football team. That said, this was not only a winnable game but one we controlled for the first 30 minutes (aside from Illinois first drive, I believe they had 12 yards in the first half), and had an opportunity to put into firm grasp at the start of the 3rd quarter. This brings me to coaching concern numero uno.

The goal-line stand - Have you ever seen such a punctuated drastic change in a football game with so much time left? The worst part was that somewhere in the back of my head, when Roundtree was caught on the one I thought to myself "oh no"... I hate that portion of my brain, the worrisome/mettlesome portion that makes me worry about things like picking up a simple yard for a score. Now then, what followed falls entirely at the feet of the coaches. You have a senior tailback who has worked his tail off to be a part of this football team in a limited role, he has fulfilled what was asked of him to continue to be a member of this team and did so in a manner that enabled him to be a captain today. Kevin Grady needed to see the football four times on the one yardline. He didn't even see the field. How do you NOT stay in your spread and pound the football with Grady? If you decide to forego that option, then you absolutely MUST tell Tate to keep the football if he sees a gap in the D-line (like the CHASM that was present on second down). This was an enormous gaff that completely deflated this Michigan football team and gave Illinois life when they had done nothing all day. This was easily the biggest turning point of the football game and it falls squarely on Coach Rodriguez and his offensive staff. Everything else that happened can be traced back to the failure of the Michigan offense to pick up a TD from one yard away.

The Read Option - Juice Williams has been anywhere from god-awful to atrocious this season, we made him look like a Heisman contender (again). Is it not concerning to anyone else that we were torched by plays that this defense essentially sees every single day in practice? How hard is it to tell your defenders to hit the QB every time, you plant him every single time whether he pitches it or keeps it, you drill him. Our linebackers and safeties were so out of position and so confused as to what was going on that we made a horrifying offense look like a well oiled machine. Again, I don't have solutions on defense, but I at least have some suggestions:

Switch up the safeties. Whomever, however you do it, I don't care, but give someone else a shot. Mike Williams is simply not getting the job done right now. I don't know if it's coaching or just a lack of recognition on individual players' parts, but on nearly every single big play, there's Williams nowhere close to the play or taking an angle that puts him so far away from the action that you wonder what it is, exactly, that he's keying on. I'm not calling out the young man for the sake of jollies here, I'm sure he's out there playing his tail off, but he's not getting the job done and its been big time play after big time play as a result.
This team is still not tackling, it's more like they're hanging on and eventually dragging someone down. However you have to address this, do it. This team isn't wrapping up and they aren't stopping people on first contact. This is not exactly a new issue with Michigan defenses, but it certainly seems to be one that is the most directly addressable via practice and coaching... it doesn't take 5 star talent to know how to make a solid tackle. Basic fundamentals. If you don't have the talent to be proficient in complex schemes, you absolutely MUST be sound in the fundamentals, we are not. I fully understand that we have a talent deficit on defense, but that doesn't mean that these guys aren't capable of playing competent very basic defensive football, you know, tackling.
Our linebackers continue to look lost, Ezeh and Mouton continue to really take puzzling angles and again are slow to fill holes. How many times did we have an LB literally stand next to Williams trying to figure out if he still had the ball or not... HIT HIM, IT'S FOOTBALL!!! We're dying for any kind of consistency from this spot on the roster, we've gotten none so far this year.

Down three scores with time left - Michigan drives down and, while I agree that a TD would've been huge, a FG puts you within 15 and lots of time to play. I don't understand essentially putting the game on the line right there. It sure would've been nice to have that FG on the board when we blocked that punt wouldn't it? Sure I know it likely doesn't make a difference in the outcome, but that's not why I bring this up. I find it concerning because this is again on coaching and game management. You're sending a message to your team there by not kicking the FG on 4th and goal from the 10, and at that time, it's the wrong kind of message. One of the greatest comebacks in Michigan history started with a FG you may recall (down 17 with 7 minutes to go against MSU in '04). You need three scores, you take a score however you can get it if you ask me.

End of the 1st half - Really the fist half was dominated by Michigan in every aspect except the scoreboard. The defense did a nice job holding them to 3 and out at the end of the half and Michigan had two timeouts left. Rather than using one to keep approximately one minute on the clock about to receive the ball, instead Rodriguez let the clock run down and simply ran out the half after the punt... Since when is that this staff's MO? Again, what kind of message are you sending there? Why go to the half quietly with a timeout in your pocket when you had a chance to score and get the ball to start the 3rd?

Have to reel in Tate - Tate Forcier is a freshman, this is obvious and has been repeated ad nauseum, but it needs to be stressed to a young guy that you do not try to make up a deficit in one play. You could see as the game went on that Tate started bypassing open underneath receivers trying to hit the big play, he waited longer in the pocket, scrambled around more opening himself to hits and consequently fumbles, and it hurt his team. At a time when there was time to simply continue running the offense, you absolutely have to pull your young QB aside and get him focused on what you have to do. The turnovers aren't on coaching, but some of the situations that lead to them could've been prevented by keeping your young guys heads in the game. This will improve with experience and maturity, but it'd be nice to see Tate keeping within the offense a little more in these kind of situations rather than forcing it.

Redzone - Dude, seven trips inside the 20 and 13 points???????????

Measurable progress - The Notre Dame game was, is, and will continue to be a big win for this football team. That said, every other team we lost to last year we've again lost to this year. That's troubling. It's hard to argue that any of these teams are markedly better than they were last season (Illinois is considerably worse), but I find it concerning that within the conference our team has not improved in the slightest from last season relative to its competition. I fully understand that this is a better football team than the 2008 Michigan squad, but that doesn't much matter if you aren't winning games. So yes, count me at least slightly worried here, especially since Ron Zook (who cannot coach himself out of a paper bag) has taken us to the woodshed twice now, and this time with a downright bad football team.

Now then, there are many in the fanbase who are clamoring to say "everyone got too excited after starting 4-0, etc, etc, etc". I disagree. I mean sure there were some eccentrics out there who proclaimed an improbable run after the first four weeks that was way premature, but let's not pretend those four games were some kind of mirage either. This team played at a level in those football games that it simply was not capable of last year. Unfortunately, short of the Iowa game, we have not seen that level of play again since. Many of the familiar unforced errors and turnovers have crept back into the fold, and we've struggled mightily since. Now then, let's lay some facts out there before we get all huffy about Coach Rodrguez:

This team has absolutely no defense, this the result of many factors: attrition, lack of solid defensive recruiting at key positions, lack of development of key prospects at key spots, and a lack of a solid base in fundamentals. This team has an outstanding defensive line and nothing else, it's a shame because we're watching one of the great DE's we've ever had have to play through this. But look, this team is starting two former walkons right now... at Michigan, has that ever happened before? Seriously, ever? We're at a talent low on defense that is easily comparable to what we saw on offense last season.
Yes, it has been said a million times, let's say it again: this team is being operated by a freshman quarterback. An improvement over last season in terms of talent, certainly, but still an inexperienced freshman who has made his share of freshman mistakes this season. Tate is trying to do too much at times now, and it's on the staff to get him back on track because when he sticks to the offense, things certainly have a propensity to click.
Even with a freshman QB and our best lineman out for the season, this offense is capable of great things, not always consistently, but certainly more than we ever saw last season. There have been many streaks of brilliance there this year punctuated by periods of just flummoxing incompetence. Call it growing pains, I know it doesn't make it any easier to tolerate, but just realize that there has been definitive and noticeable improvement on that side of the football.
This isn't measurable, but seriously, we cannot buy a break over these past several games. Once again we caught a team with 13 men on the field when we snapped the ball and it wasn't called... it's a clear rule and an easy call... Beauford and I talked a bit about how if the officials aren't calling that stuff then maybe we shouldn't be trying so hard to catch teams like that, but after more thought I have a hard time not getting really angry that this team is doing things like that and not getting the calls. I want us to push the tempo, I want us to catch teams off-guard, I want us to play in a way that has the defense getting caught in those kinds of positions. To not get those calls is a joke. Also, another holding call on this offense the second the ball is snapped... which, really?

There will undoubtedly be many threads dedicated to Rodriguez's future this week, to which I sigh mostly. I understand that people are angry and are looking for explanations. I also understand that there will be some epic hyperbole about expecations, tradition, and how things are done-round-these-parts type of stuff that will make me weep softly inside for the good of humankind. Rodriguez deserves some criticism, but that's not to say he deserves to be treated as though he's a bumbling idiot who has put this team in this position all on his own. I simply cannot ignore the fact that Rodriguez has succeeded before, yes I know it was in the Big East, whatever, he's an experienced guy who had his teams performing at an elite level when he left. That doesn't just all disappear now that he's in Ann Arbor rather than Morgantown. Again that fact does not place him above criticism either, it does not mean that he still shouldn't face some tough questioning after performances like this. I said previously that this game falls largely at the feet of Rodriguez and the staff and I firmly believe that... but let's remember this is year two. A program is not built in two years, nor is it built in three years. It takes time. Look at our defense for god's sake, there are issues there that are only going to be improved with recruiting at this point. There are other issues that are going to improve with experience (QB). There are also issues, however, that have nothing to do with player personnel, and that's what's troubling: mistakes with the football, fundamental gaffs, a defense that looks lost against an offense it faces day in and day out, etc.

Improvement needs to be seen though, and for the first time in Rodriguez's tenure I'm concerned about the lack of improvement against known competition. A bowl game should have been assured by a 4-0 start. This team should have handled a terrible Illinois team today. After tough losses to MSU and Iowa, the team really gassed it against Penn State. All of these losses were explainable and/or understandable in some way, also obviously frustrating/concering, but at least understandable. We then were looking at playing the worst two teams in the conference in Illinois and Purdue with a chance to stretch to 7-3 heading into the final two games of the season. Michigan's failure to get the job done today, let alone how it happened, has caused me to worry about where this team is for the first time in Rodriguez's tenure. A loss to Purdue next week would present the very real possibility that Michigan could finish the year 1-7 over its last eight games and miss a bowl for the second straight year... this is something that I don't think anyone would swallow easily and that's putting it lightly. I'm of the firm belief that it would ludicrous to give Rodriguez anything short of four years here, he's just now getting the opportunity to fill the offense with players he has recruited, and on defense we aren't even close to reaching that point. It is going to take time, which is something everyone needs to understand. It's not a simple question of just tweaking one thing or another schematically in the long haul, it's a question of bringing in talent. Of course my opinion on the matter means nothing and I'm not sure how those whose opinions do matter approach these kind of things.

It sure seemed like the initial game-plan was there today: Brown had 25 carries in a game where we were all begging for our backs to touch the ball more. We utlized a lot of quick throws and reads and generally dominated the first half everywhere except where it matters most: the score. Then the execution went away, there were some tremendous errors in in-game management in my opinion, and it all fell apart at the worst possible time. I'm concerned about how this team seemed to lose its composure again, I'm concerned that nine games into this season they're making mistakes that they were not making in the first four weeks. No matter how you slice it, some of it (a lot of it) falls on coaching in some way or another. I'm concerned because this football team with the same players has played much, much, much better football this year than what we've seen over the past month.

I do think we can say the following:

Missing a bowl this season should be viewed very poorly after a 4-0 start... "epic collapse" would describe it aptly.
Despite the hot start, I'm starting to have some trepidation about where this team will advance to next season due to a combination of both schedule and the fact that our defense is losing its best player(s?) and what exactly do we have waiting for us in the wings on that side of the ball? A major revamp needs to occur on defense prior to next year.
A win against Purdue would certainly stem the tide of woe-is-us worrying that will undoubtedly hit a fever-pitch this week to the point that this team might be able to find its bearings heading into Wisconsin and Ohio State... it's sad to say, but 7-5 would now be an enormous victory given where we are now.
These next three weeks will likely go a long way to determining just how much slack Rodriguez has going forward. A win against OSU, no matter how unlikely that appears right now, cures many ills. That said, if Tressel and company watch this tape, they may not even have Pryor throw a pass when they come to Ann Arbor (you think I'm kidding?).
Saying "this team just isn't that good" doesn't explain a loss like this, and frankly ignores large portions of how this team has played throughout the year. This team isn't consistent in any way, but they are not 2008 either. This team is more than capable of winning football games, particularly against these kind of teams. Lack of execution is not the same as "just not very good".

So here we are, I'm not happy, you're not happy either, but there's nothing we can do about it now. This team has three opportunities to try to put a positive spin on a year that has been nothing if not completely up or completely down. Right now a bowl, ANY bowl, is the goal. Accomplish that and move on. I like Rodriguez, I think that he has the tools to succeed in a big way here, but I don't have any idea how the people who matter are going to continue to view this thing if we keep dropping games like this. He deserves no less than four years at the helm, a rash decision before that leaves us in no better shape and possibly sets us back even further. If we are to garner anything out of these last three weeks the coaches are going to have to work their tails off to get this team in position to win games. It starts with Purdue next week, get it done.

Unit by Unit: Breaking Down Michigan Football's Offense After Its Win Over Indiana

Maize n Brew Dave — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:21:17 -0000

Hey! Lookit this, we're not running hopelessly behind, so it's time to get started with the Michigan Indiana Unit by Unit breakdown. We'll take a hard look at the players and the coaches for each particular unit on the team, and bring them in for a pat on the back or a wag of the finger. After we've looked at each position, we'll give you a final wrap on the team's play on Offense and Defense (Special Teams too!). If you're looking for more detail, game bullets are here, the wrap up is here, the boxscore is here, and the general AP recap is here. If you're looking to peruse the Michigan Official photos from the game, check out this. There are the links, so now let's take a good hard look at....

The Offense

David Guralnick via Detroit News.com

It's funny to think that when our offense puts up 36 points we're sitting here, at least initially, thinking it was a rough day. But the numbers bear this out. Michigan was outgained by Indiana 467 to 372. Forcier looked like he was pressured the whole day and the offense stagnated for large stretches of time. In hindsight however, I am nowhere near as concerned about the offense's performance after rewatching the game. The offensive line did a more than passable job. The receivers had three drops but were dependable and picked up crucial yardage when we needed it. The run game was nearly unstoppable, even when Tate or Denard took off. A handful of bad snaps killed some drives and two turnovers (one just a horrid horrid play by Forcier, the other a fluke hit on Robinson) did the rest. Despite those issues, Michigan had the lead in the fourth and still rallied to win even after the Defense gave up it's first truly big mistake of the season. You can have some gripes about personnel, play calling, execution; but they're all minor after a second glance. All in all, the offense performed pretty well when it didn't shoot itself in the foot with bad snaps. Take away the bad snaps and Michigan is easily over 400 yards for the game and they're still averaging over 35 points a game.

The Offensive Line

David Guralnick via Detroit News.com

My initial reaction to the game was that the O-Line had it's worst performance of the year. After review, I actually think they had a decent game. Quite a turn around, eh? How's that happen? The answer is in the blocking. Despite David Moosman's issues with snapping the ball in the second half, the line did an excellent job opening up running lanes for Carlos Brown, Brandon Minor, and Denard Robinson. A lot of the penetration I saw was on blitzes by the outside LB's that the Tight Ends probably should've picked up. The biggest issue the line faced all day was that there was a new center. There were numerous instances where two to three guys moved early. One play in the second both Ortmann and Schilling left early when Michigan was trying to pooch punt. These types of procedure penalties didn't happen with Molk in, and I'm guessing there's still a little communication problem on assignments and snap counts that Moosman will need to resolve as the Center going forward.

Regarding the illegal formation penalty, the first one was legit, IMO. The second is a 50/50 call, but could've been made. Michigan's formations were arcing badly as they tried to ward off Jamie Kirlew and Indiana's outside pass rushers. And don't sleep on Indiana's pass rush. There were two instances where Michigan tried to block Kirlew with Koger or Brown, one ended in disaster (Forcier INT) the other almost did (Forcier's last second pitch to Brown on the last drive).

(more after the jump......)

Indiana got pressure with it's blitz or when Michigan tried to get cute with one of the Conference's best pass rushers. Otherwise, the Line generally got a good push and opened up some mammoth holes. Had Minor been at 100%, some of those TFLs never would've happened. Better communication and better snaps will eliminate most of the issues the line had on Saturday. And if you look past the bad snaps and procedure penalties, the Line actually had a decent day. Michigan's linemen were consisently clearing space and getting to the second level on run plays and were standing their ground on passing downs. Perry Dorrestein was more than passable at left Tackle. Michigan spent most of the day running left behind Mark Ortmann and Steve Schilling, successfully. Mark Huyge had a great block second level block on Minor's TD run.

You can't give it more than a C grade because of the mistakes, but there are a lot of positives to take away.

The Running Backs

David Guralnick via Detroit News.com

Carlos Brown should never, ever, ever leave the field. Ever. He is by far Michigan's best and most effective back right now. He's showing us a cut back ability I never knew he had. He's running with authority, carrying tacklers for an extra five yards. He's breaking away from everyone. He's our best pass catcher out of the backfield. Never take him out. Ever. If I'm right, and I think I am, after Brown's second touchdown (in just the second series of the game) he didn't get another carry for the next NINE SERIES with his next carry coming a couple of plays into the tenth series after his second touchdown! That's insane. He's the hottest player on the team. You have to feed him the ball, and that's a big mistake by the coaching staff. Maybe they want to protect him, but in a close game getting away from him almost cost us. 146 yards on just 12 total touches. Seriously. Give him the ball. I'm begging you.

Whew. I needed to get that off my chest.

Outside of Brown, I thought Brandon Minor had a good game though it's clear he's still not 100%. Minor had some very good straight ahead runs, but I can count only one play where he was forced to make a cut (or the play called for it) where he was able to move laterally as quickly as we're used to. Straight ahead though, man, he was awesome. He plowed Indiana like a cornfield, picking up 51 yards on 12 carries. Honestly, if he was 100% I think he'd probably have been in the 70-80 yard range. The ankle's healing, he was great in pass protect, but I think he still needs another week to two weeks to be totally healthy and the Brandon Minor we all expect to see.

A special shout out to Kevin Grady who is becoming one of my favorite role players on the team. Kevin was huge in run blocking and showed great hands, shiftiness, and determination picking up two first downs on two catches. I think we're going to start to see more of him in this offense as a Tatenard safety valve. Also, give Grady massive props for his blocking on Tate's dive to the endzone touchdown. I really want to see Grady score a TD this year after all he's been through. One more note, Michael Shaw saw some limited action but largely watched this game, getting only two touches.

When the running backs got the ball, I thought they were great. I'll get into why they didn't get as many touches when I talk about the Quarterbacks. Overall, the Running Backs turned in an outstanding game in all aspects.

The Receivers

Couldn't be any other photo, courtesy David Guralnick via Detroit News.com

Martavious Odoms is the man. I wasn't sold on him going into the year, but now I'm a believer. He just keeps getting better and better. It's not just the great route running and TD catch, it's the little things. His blocking on Carlos Brown's TD run, was the reason Brown went in clean. On the two point conversion, he saw Tate sprint for the endzone and closed off the safety. Sure he had a drop of a poorly thrown ball, but the kid truly is something special. Like Odoms, Kelvin Grady had a busy day. He did have drop on a questionable screen pass by Forcier, but still managed three catches including a crucial 19 yard pickup on Michigan's final drive. Watching him, I get the feeling he's still getting his bearings on the field, but the fact that he's contributing in such a meaningful way so quickly is amazing to me.

The rest of the receiver corps had an okay, not great, day. It's hard to stand out when you throw the ball 24 times, 3-4 are throw aways, 3-4 are drops, 3-4 are bad passes, and the ball spread around to 8 different receivers. Greg Mathews deserves some praise for his run blocking and drawing a flag for PI that got (even though it shouldn't have) picked up. But overall, like Junior Hemingway, Michigan's bigger receivers were largely shut out of the boxscore (one catch between them). Regardless, Hemingway had a great game run blocking and helped clear the way for a lot of yards on the ground, including Brown's first TD and Forcier's 10 yard scramble on Michigan's second to last scoring drive. Roy Roundtree made and appearance and notched a 35 yard catch at the end of the first half, but nothing more.

The Tight Ends had a decent day. The highlight was Kevin Koger's outstanding 36 yard grab that set up Minor's TD run, which Koger also added a good block on. Martell Webb's day was a little rougher, in that the only ball thrown his way was dropped and he didn't see a lot of playing time.

Overall, the receivers were great in run support, good in passing game, and came through when it mattered.

The Quarterbacks

David Guralnick via Detroit News.com

Well, if you were expecting a game where Tate truly played like a freshman, this was it. Even so, he played like a senior leading two critical scoring drives in the fourth quarter. You take the bad with the good sometimes, and dammit, the good keeps prevailing. Prior to the fourth quarter, Tate was not having a good day. Early in the game he was gunning everything at 100 mph. His first throw was rifled to Tacopants, and his second throw to Brown required the back to make a much harder than necessary catch before sprinting to the endzone. Tate was victimized by some drops, but only one throw was material (Webb's drop). The drops by Odoms and Grady weren't good throws or good decisions. Tate chucked one ball over junior Heminway's head that should've been picked, then scrambled around like a fool before throwing a "I'm getting tackled THROW IT!" pick that he should've just eaten. He also picked up an intentional grounding penalty and could've been called for another that ended up just being a sack. In the run game, I think he's got the Notre Dame game stuck in his head. Six legit rushes (sacks and bad snaps excluded): three scrambles and three really bad decisions on the zone read. He misread the DE on some, didn't see the late blitzer on another. He needs to keep handing that off for the time being, especially when the runningbacks are picking up 5 a carry on the opposition.

Now all that criticism aside, damn, what a fourth quarter. Forcier was on target whereas earlier he hadn't been. He showed some great athleticism scrambling for some first downs, and his pass to Odoms and TD runs were things of beauty. The Kid isn't perfect, but he is really, really good. One thing that I especially liked is that he used his safety valve when the home run wasn't available. The biggest thing he's gotta work on is realizing he's not the most athletic guy on the field anymore, and getting rid of the ball rather than running around like a chicken with his head cut off. It'll come with time, but overall, even though the middle of the game was kinda meh, a good start and finish for Forcier.

While Forcier took a minor step sideways, Denard Robinson took a HUGE step forward on Saturday. The kid is just electric on the ground. I know he fumbled before the half, but the fumble was a helmet on football occurrence. There's not a lot you can do when that happens. Robinson's rushing numbers are distorted by two bad snaps and a couple of dropped snaps, but when he actually got the ball off the hike, he was dangerous and picked up some tough yards. Where he impressed me the most was in the passing game. His pass the Koger was absolutely beautiful and perfectly thrown. He had one bad pass to Grady that was behind Kelvin, but he's showing he can handle the full offense and make the team vertical in the air. Right now he's light years ahead of anyone under center last season and a solid number two quarterback. While he's clearly the number two guy, he played like 1A when called in on Saturday. Great game from Denard.

Hail To The Victors! Michigan Survives Against Indiana

SCM — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 15:02:39 -0000

So Indiana really took it to Michigan at times yesterday. Though at other times, when it really mattered, IU couldn't capitalize: held to redzone FGs off of freak/poor Michigan turnovers, several three and outs with a chance to build on a lead while Michigan was sputtering, and a missed FG late in the game. IU certainly had their chances, but came up short on the ones that ended up making the difference.

Photo by David Guralnick via multimedia.detnews.com

Miscellaneous

- So if I had told you back in August, "Hey, I'm from the future, Michigan will leave September at 4-0!" What would you have said? I'm so thrilled I can barely express it, so take any criticisms that follow here with that in mind. Yes we've got a lot to work on, but uh, 4-0 people... WOO! We really struggled at times today... and won!!!! I couldn't care less about what opposing fans think, say, or try to extrapolate from these kind of games, we're finding ways to win even when we're struggling.

- The illegal formation penalties called were inexplicably bad, seriously, when has that EVER been called?

- By the way, if I had come back from the future and told you Michigan State would start 1-3..... anyways.

- Congrats to Iowa, we shall continue to ignore your existence for another week, but by ALL means please go ahead and continue with the hyperbole regarding October 10th and our tiny quarterback... no really, please continue on in TREMENDOUS detail.

- Penn State, hey fellas about that O-line... also, there's the classic Penn State coaching staff game-planning I've known through all these years.

- Purdue... the timeout at the end? Why?

- Is anyone going to ask Urban Meyer WHY Tebow was still in the game and throwing the football when he got walloped like that? I mean, it was what, 31-7? Classy.

- Can we put the Miami and FSU hyperbole nonsense away now?

More after the jump....

Offense

This is not pass interference.....

Photo by David Guralnick via multimedia.detnews.com

- Ok, this one goes first because it's the one major question I have about Saturday. WHAT HAPPENED TO CARLOS BROWN? Seriously, he's our best option at running back right now, and we totally got away from him in the second half when we were struggling to get things going. Brown accounted for 2 TDs and 144 yards on 12 touches and was virtually a non-factor after halftime. Seriously, he's as dangerous as anyone out there, what happened? There may be a perfectly legitimate explanation (dinged up, sore, some other problem I'm not thinking of?) but it'd be great to know what it was.

- Extension of above... why did we get away from running the football with our running backs? When the offense seemed mired in the 3rd quarter (odd to say considering we scored 36...) we seemed to out-think ourselves. I have no problem with us running the ball until someone stops it. The stat sheet will show 50 carries... but 21 were from the QBs, which to me, is about 5-10 too many. With the backs we have, they need to touch the football more. The stat sheet will also show 149 yards rushing, but that also includes those huge losses on the bad snaps... The team compiled 222 yards on the ground before you subtract 42 yards in losses from the QBs on those snaps. We ran the ball extremely well today.

- Ok, I know that Dave is likely going to give Moosman a fair amount of attention in his breakdown, so I will focus on the one part that I had a big problem with. Don't get into the habit of trying to quick snap for the offsides, we don't need to do that. I'm going to operate under the optimistic notion that they will do nothing but have him snap the football for the next week.

- Denard Robinson lead a very nice drive down the field, couple of very solid throws as well, 2/3 for 39 yards. He just always looks like he could bust one. I really like this kid, he's going to just continue to get better.

- Tate Forcier, is still a freshman, and he is still eight shades of awesome, but not above some criticism. He had a few more plays today where he really just needs to either get rid of the football or take the sack, he'll continue to learn, but that pick and the intentional grounding were both huge mental mistakes that were costly, and we were fortunate to not give up more points off of them. That nonsense out of the way.... the 4th quarter heroics were incredible, with the game on the line, he came through huge again. The scramble for the TD and then a perfect throw to Martavious Odoms for the game winner. He was dead on the mark and also had a key scramble earlier in the final drive to pick up 3rd and 4. Also, he's clearly dinged up, hopefully not too bad.

- Martavious continues to keep making enormous plays for this team, can't say enough about him.

- Today was one of the first times where I thought Brandon Minor looked to be missing a step, he's not gimpy by any means, but he doesn't have the same explosion through to the second level.

- Kevin Grady with a couple of clutch plays to pick up first downs and enough of a block to get Tate into the endzone on the first TD of the 4th quarter.

- Why are we seeing Martell Webb more than Kevin Koger? Can anyone explain this?

- Can someone please get Junior Hemingway involved in the game again? Please?

Defense

- Ok first the good... no really there is some! Believe it or not, the defense held IU to 3 for 15 on 3rd downs. Also, they managed to force five field goal attempts, several following quick changes where Indiana started with great field position. Also, the Wolverine D gave up 112 yards on 32 carries for 3.5 ypc... UNFORTUNATELY, the Hoosiers had one more carry for, um, 85 yards. IU finished with 197 yards on the ground on 33 carries for an average of almost exactly 6 yards per carry. Not good...

- Indiana's average starting position in the second quarter was the Michigan 42 yardline, and we held them to 3 FGs.

- More worrisome is the 270 yards we gave up through the air... Soft cushions all day let Chappell pick us apart with underneath throws. I'm not reassured given the fact that I typed that last sentence. That said no passing TDs, and JT Floyd looked less lost than he did against Western. I'm starting to think we're not going to see Justin Turner barring mass calamity. I continue to be greatly concerned with how easily we give up the underneath crossing routes, just way too simple for offenses to hit. Also, we need Boubacar Cissoko healthy.

- Big runs against the left side of our defense again... We shifted into the exact D Indiana was hoping for on that big run, then blitzed to the wrong side. Sigh.

- We have really struggled to get any kind of consistent pressure with the front 3 or 4... That said, it's also readily apparent that people like Graham and Roh might as well have leashes on their jerseys because holding is not going to be called, much to my extreme consternation during the game.

- Really nice sack by Ryan Van Bergen, that might get lost in all of the "WOE IS US!" about the defense that we're certain to read this week.

- Only saw a little of Greg Banks and I believe none of Renaldo Sagesse, not sure why.

- Jordan Kovacs took a poor angle on that big run, but other than that I thought the safeties did a nice job being unnoticeable again today.

Special Teams

- ZOLTAN! He's back!!! Yayyyyyyy! 7 punts for an average of 48.1, atta boy.

- Some are forgetting themselves and grumbling about the punt returns... STOP. Are we catching the football and not turning it over? Then don't change a single thing, lest you forget the torture that was our special teams last year.

- Stonum really attacks on kickoffs, clearly has a knack for it and had a couple of them yesterday that he nearly broke free on.

Heading Forward...

- A win is a win is a win is a win is a win is a win is a win.

- First road game of the year against a State team that probably doesn't quite know which direction is up right now. I'm really looking forward to seeing what we come up with for our game-plan this week.

Unit by Unit: Breaking Down Michigan Football's Offense Following Its Win Over Western Michigan

Maize n Brew Dave — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 18:47:35 -0000

A new weekly post game feature here at Maize n Brew will be what we like to Unit by Unit. We'll take a hard look at the players and the coaches for each particular unit on the team, and bring them in for a pat on the back or a wag of the finger. After we've looked at each position, we'll give you a final wrap on the team's play on Offense and Defense (Special Teams too!). If you're looking for more detail, game bullets are here, the wrap up is here, the boxscore is here, and the general AP recap is here. There are the links, so now let's get to the nitty gritty.

The Offensive Line

The Offensive Play in a Photo, Tate untouched. Awesome Photo via John T. Greilick

The Offensive Line always goes first, good or bad, because they're going to determine how this season pans out. Frankly, the line was excellent. In particular I thought Mark Ortmann played outstanding football. Say what you will about it being "just Western Michigan," but Michigan lost at home to 3-9 Toledo last year and the line got pushed around by a bad Toledo defense. This year it was an entirely different story. I thought the ends actually outplayed the middle of the line. David Molk had a good, but not great game and missed a few blocks. On the other hand, David Moosman and Steve Schilling played fairly well. On the right side, Mark Huyge was excellent. IIRC, he simply dominated the Western DEs on Saturday, much like Ortmann. They didn't give up a sack. Michigan averaged 4.8 yards a carry. The boys on the line deserve a game ball a piece.

Overall, Michigan was outstanding up front. They controlled the line of scrimmage, buying time for Tate Forcier, Denard Robinson, and Nick Sheridan to throw without pressure and lanes for the quarterbacks and running backs to run through. Protection outside the pocket was excellent too, as the lineman set up their blocks very well. Carlos Brown averaged 5.4 yards a carry for 54 yards and Michael Shaw racked up 37 yards for a 4.9 a carry average. Not bad for a run offense that couldn't get past two yards a carry for its first four games. What was also impressive was the fact that Michigan was able to play it's second string in the second half. Elliot Mealer, Perrry Dorrestein, Rocko Khoury, Patrick Omameh, and Justin Ferrara all saw playing time. That's going to pay dividends down the line should anyone get injured.

(More awesomeness after the jump....)

The Running Backs

Awesome Photo via John T. Greilick

Judging the Running Backs on a day like Saturday is a little difficult. While they played a crucial role in balancing the offense, there was nothing spectacular to hang your hat on. Carlos Brown was good on the ground. 5.4 a carry is nothing to sneeze at. Brown also deserves a little praise for his pass catching out of the backfield, which I thought was a great addition to his overall game. He does deserve a little fisking, however, for meekly putting the ball on the turf at the start of the second half. That was not a play where the ball should've come out. But Carlos gets some serious props for his pass blocking. Watching him flip a DE was one of the highlights of my day.

I would've liked to have seen a little more of Michael Shaw. Shaw did get seven carries and looked fairly good, but I don't think he or Brown really ever got in a rhythm. I'd say it may have been better to go a little more two back on Saturday, but I think Rodriguez started hiding cards after he saw the game was in the bag. It was nice to see Kevin Grady and Vincent Smith get some carries. Grady, hopefully, will be a good backup this season and I'm really pulling for him personally. Smith had some happy feet, but he's a freshman in his first game, in mop up time. 6 carries and 23 yards isn't too bad. Overall a good, workman like day for Michigan's ball carriers.

The Receivers

Junior Hemingway, Kevin Koger, Kelvin Grady, Marativous Odoms, and Greg Mathews were absolutely outstanding. Route running. Improvisation. Blocking. Everything. Hemingway just stole the show. It's been more than a year since a receiver caught more than one touchdown pass in a game (Adrian Arrington - Citrus Bowl). I think it's fair to say the Hemingway came close to matching Arrington's performance on New Year's day 2008. Reeling in five catches for 103 yards and two TDs, Hemingway was solid in every aspect of the game. He ran the short routes. Caught in traffic. Worked with his quarterback. And he just flew past the WMU secondary for his second score. Hemingway gave us a glimpse of his talent on Saturday, so all we can hope is that he stays healthy and keeps reminding us of another #21.

Awesome Photo via John T. Greilick

From New Math to Old School. That's how we're rolling. And that's how the new 86 rolls. Kevin Koger also flashed a large amount of his considerable talent on Saturday notching a TD, three catches and a highlight reel one hander he'll be talking about for the next month. If there was one pass that Forcier threw to Tacopants, it was Koger's one-handed catch. Making his cross, Koger leaped and stretched out his right hand for a catch he had no business making. Yet, he did, cradled it into his body as he hit the turf, and popped out of his barrel roll like nothing special had happened. Anyone still have questions about how Rodriguez uses his tight ends?

Then there were the slot receivers. Though Odoms got the start, Grady got his number called the most. In his first football game in three years, Kelvin pulled in two catches for 13 yards and took an end around for 11. While the numbers aren't crazy, he looked natural out there. Frankly, I was in shock that he was able to haul in Denard Robinson’s first throw, which appeared to be going close to the speed of sound. Grady’s got great hands, and combined with what appeared to be some tremendous wheels, it was like the passage of time meant nothing. Kelvin's really going to help us this year. Odoms didn't see a lot of balls thrown his way, but made his presence felt in other ways. On Denard Robinson's TD scamper, the tiny slot receiver was slated to take an end around, but once he realized the play was broken immediately found someone to block. Watch Odoms come from nowhere and block the closest man to Robinson after the first guy misses. I may not have been sold on Odoms before Saturday, but that play sold me. He never took his foot off the gas when the play went haywire and made the crucial block to spring his quarterback (@ 0:37 below). Maratavious, when you're old enough and the NCAA allows it, the first beverage is on me

Also making appearances were Greg Mathews and LaTerral Savoy. Mathews was fairly quiet, notching only two catches, but was extremely effective after the catch. If Hemingway can become the deep threat, I think Mathews is going to have an outstanding season as our possession receiver. Savoy tallied a catch early, but was a not so innocent bystander to Nick Sheridan's interception.

Overall, this was the best regular season game out of Michigan's receiving corps since the 2006 Ohio State game.

The Quarterback(s)

Tate Forcier is your starter from here out. No question about this. While Robinson’s run was amazing, it was off of a broken play. He just improvised that whole thing with the aid of some great blocking. Tate looks light years more polished and in control. His pass to Hemingway for the opening score was something you don’t see out of freshmen. Frankly it’s something you don’t see out of a lot of seniors. When he rolled left, he clearly knew where the LOS was, got the corner to bite on the scramble, and lofted a damn near perfect pass the Hemingway who read his quarterback like a book. That was as good as it gets.

You really couldn’t ask for a better start to a college career. Forcier went 13-20 for 177 yards, 3 TDs and no picks. Notsobad, eh? Tate’s arm was excellent in all aspects of the passing game. The deep ball to Hemingway was Henne-esque. But what what most impressive was his ability to throw on the run, with accuracy and steam. Michigan moved Forcier out of the pocket numerous times, and 95% of those instances resulted in positive throws. If there’s room for improvement, I will say that there were a few moments where his ball protection was less than ideal and he danced around too much. He’s not going to have the same type of time against Notre Dame, and he’s certainly not going to be able to evade the Irish the way he did the Broncos. Just ask Colin Kaepernick. Forcier gunned a few passes in the second half and got a little outside of the offense, but I’m willing to be forgiving because most of that happened when Michigan was up 31 points. All things considered, that game was as good as I’ve ever seen out of a freshman, especially when you considered the youth around him.

Denard Robinson’s feet were just as good as advertised. His arm was as "live" as advertised. However, he’s not the level of passer that we were hoping to see. Robinson attempted only four passes on the day compared to 11 rushing attempts. The reason for this is obvious. He’s a much better runner at this stage than he is a passer. While Denard showed a live arm and can throw decently on the run, he doesn’t look as comfortable pulling the ball back to look downfield. You could tell he’s still a scramble first player who takes off when his first or second read isn’t there. Frankly, with only a month under his belt, I’d be surprised if he’s getting past his second read. The long and short of it is that Robinson doesn't know the system or himself well enough to hang in there and let the play develop. But that will come and it really doesn’t matter right now, does it? The kid is blazingly fast. He’s going to be an excellent change of pace in the Notre Dame game, but he’s no where near being a starting quarterback based on what we saw from his arm and reads. The keys for him moving forward will be playing a bit more under control, and rolling him out of the pocket to allow him to use his legs and allow him to throw or tuck it under without large men in his face. All in all, a great and electric start for Robinson.

Nick Sheridan looked like a new person and the same guy all at once. Sheridan is noticeably bigger and stronger. He moves better than last year. He’s definitely got a great grasp of the system. But he’s still not a D1 quarterback. Sure a penalty wiped out a near TD, but a veteran doesn’t force a throw into tight coverage. Especially a throw that far inside. Nick’s a nice insurance policy to have, but he and Robinson appear to be about equal in the passing game (Nick more experienced/Denard much better arm) so I’ve gotta go with Robinson’s legs. As I said in my QB preview, if Sheridan’s on the field for any extended period of time, we’re in trouble.

The Offense Overall

Sure you can nitpick and find things to complain about, but the bottom line is at no point last year did our offense look this good. Penn State? Nope. One trick pony. Purdue? Not so much. Bad tackling let that happen. No. This was a complete offense on the field. If you can't be excited about this then I've got nothing for you.

On a micro level, the Offense performed much, much better with Forcier under center than either Robinson or Sheridan. He's just a better passer right now and frankly he's got pretty good wheels. I don't think he'll have nearly as much time against Notre Dame's defense as he did against Western, but his ability to scramble will force the Linebackers to play a little further off the LOS.

Macro, the play of Michigan's wideouts was incredibly encouraging. If Junior Hemingway can stay healthy, Michigan has a legitimate No. 1 receiver. The emergence of Kelvin Grady as a threat will also start to take some of the pressure off of Mathews and Odoms, both of whom had good games.

It was clear that Michigan had a game plan for Western and they executed it to a tee. I'm looking forward to seeing more of that as the Wolverines take on an excellent Notre Dame squad.

2009 Michigan Football Season Preview, Part II: The Running Backs

Maize n Brew Dave — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 16:30:48 -0000

Part I: The Offensive Line, can be found here.

Three days till the 2009 Michigan Football season kicks off. If you're not bursting from the seams with excitement you should probably see a doctor. Or a mortician. It's almost kickoff time, baby. We'll get to the Western Michigan preview in good time. But for right now, we need to figure out what we've got on our side of the football. Now if you can't wait until the season starts to know how it's going to turn out, we got you covered there as well. Here are Beauford's, MnB Dave's, and SCM's 2009 Michigan Football season predictions. There's your quick fix if you need a baseline.

But this is the time of year when we break it all down. Position by position. So we're splitting things up in to a couple of separate posts to give you all the information you can handle on what to expect out of Michigan this season. The Depth Chart is out, so we'll break it down. Since we know what to expect out of the Offensive Line, lets move on to a position overflowing with talent, depth and expectations, but short on results last year.

2009 Michigan Football Season Preview: The Running Backs

In a dismal year, the running game was the only bright spot for the Wolverines in 2008. And by bright spot I mean it wasn't so time and space warpingly bad that some light actually managed to escape its grasp of its implosion, unlike the passing game. Sarcasm aside, the ground was the only place Michigan was able to do anything offensively. In conference the team average 3.9 yards a carry and actually outgained Michigan State and Minnesota (two bowl teams) on the ground. Eees goot, yes?

Mostly. to be perfectly honest the run game, like most of the offense stunk, prior to the Penn State game. But if the loss at Happy Valley had a silver lining it was that the offense finally started to click on the ground. The oft concussed Sam McGuffie was no longer in a starting role and the oft one-handed Brandon Minor was toting the mail. During the Northwestern game, Carlos Brown took over and went for over a 100. Against Minnesota and Purdue, the running game clicked, accounting for most of the offense. There were break away runs. There were cut backs. There was excitement.

This year the position is absolutely stacked with power and speed. But the big question is can anyone stay healthy? Everyone who suited up as a tailback last year suffered some kind of injury that really should've knowcked them out for the year. Carlos Brown missed half the season. Brandon Minor probably should've missed most of it. McGuffie? He doesn't remember. Mike Shaw moved so fast his muscles protested by giving him a hernia. Kevin Grady, injuries and the dog house.

If the unit can stay healthy this is hands down the deepest, most talented stable of backs in the Big Ten. If they can't, Michigan's going to have a lot of problems.

The Starters

In the one back set, Brandon Minor appears to be the unquestioned starter. When a preview includes the caveat of "appears to be" you have right to be worried. Minor was held out or in the green light-contact jersey for a good portion of fall camp with various dings, bruises and pulls. Compound that with recovering from a right wrist injury last season that only allowed him to carry the ball in his left arm, and any time the injury bug rears its ugly head with Minor, you're right to be a little concerned.

But when he's healthy...

More of the preview after the jump....

Minor's one of the those unique running backs that has the perfect combination of size and speed that makes him a threat to run your ass over or sprint right by you. In a lot of ways he reminds me Tyrone Wheatly. A big, upright runner with good change of direction skills. As with all backs it took him a little while to start learning the scheme and spot the proper holes to dart through, but toward the end of last year his running took a giant step forward. On top of that Minor's become an outstanding out-of-the backfield pass catcher. You don't have to look any further than his twisting "that ball is nowhere close to me, but I'm catching it anyway" pseudo touchdown catch against MSU to see how well he's developed in that area.

Last season Minor's stats looked like this:

Year	Carries	Yards	YPC	Long	TD	Rec	Yards	YPC	Long	TD	Fmb	Lost
2008	103	533	5.2	45	9	5	59	11.8	27	2	0	0

Not bad for a guy that had 13 carries in the first 6 games, and missed another game with injury. Realistically, Minor put up these numbers in five games. Five. Are you kidding me? Extrapolating that out, if he runs at his average in all 12 games with we're looking at close to 1,500 yards this season out of Minor and close to 20 touchdowns on the ground.

But life doesn't work that way. Knowing Minor, it's impossible to say he'll stay healthy the entire season. So counting on him missed roughly three to four games this year to injuries of playing time limiting injuries, a 1,000 yard season is not an unreasonable expectation. As for touchdowns, probably somewhere in the 13-15 range is another good target as Michigan primary back. If Minor can stay healthy he's one of the elite backs in the Big Ten and could give Evan Royster a run for his money. Especially when you consider Michigan's returning offensive line. But given his track record, that'd be one hell of a jump. Minor should have an excellent season, barring injury. He's going to be a great leader and a great runner for us this season, but I can't jump on the Doak Walker band wagon.

via 1.bp.blogspot.com

After Minor is Maize n Brew favorite, Carlos Brown. Brown's long been kind of a tragic hero around these parts. An explosive, game changing speed back who just can't stay healthy. But when he is, he's a 100 yard plus a game back. It's really just not fair. Brown came in a top 100 recruit at tailback. He's been shuffled to cornerback and back. He's thought about transferring. He's been a practice and spring game all star, but almost never an in-game, when it really matters game changer. Except once. And man was that special.

Over the last four years we been tantalizingly close to seeing what Carlos Brown can really do. Every spring there is a "Good-Holy-Lord!" dash to the endzone from Brown that has everyone shaking their head and saying, "If he can stay healthy...." before they trail off. Just like Minor, if Brown can stay healthy, he's a game changer.

But the two backs couldn't be more different. Brown is a low to the ground speed demon. He's not a run-your-ass-over kind of player. Instead, he hits the seam and is gone. With an explosive first step into the gap, he gets up to speed in milliseconds, and is best (oddly) running between the tackles and guards so that he doesn't have to make sharp cuts. Unlike Minor, Brown has never displayed much "escapability." He's a straight ahead runner who can make a cut or two but is never going to juke a guy out of his jock. That's just not who he is. He's lightning to Minor's Thunder. He's speed in a helmet. And if we try to make him something he is not, we're going to be disappointed.

Brown's number over the last three years are really irrelevant. The kid's played sparingly due to any number of dings he's suffered at Michigan, so projecting numbers for his is really like pulling numbers out of thin air. But isn't that what all preseason predictions do anyway? Best case scenario, Brown joins Minor as a 1,000 yard plus back, and chips in 7-9 touchdowns. Carlos hasn't played enough for me to judge his pass catching ability, but you can rest assured that if he's healthy enough to play, they'll try to get him the ball in space from time to time and see if he can turn the jets on. Realistically, again given the injury bug, I'd project Carlos at Minor's numbers last year. Realisticall about 500 yards and 5 TDs, maybe a receiving TD as well.

Combined, Minor and Brown should have a prolific season for the Wolverines. So many things are in their favor. The Line. A QB who won't spike himself. Good receivers to take the pressure off. Experience. In the two back set, combined with Forcier or Robinson, Minor and Brown should be deadly. Between them, there are three options capable of running for a touchdown at any moment. I think that balance, combined with experience and knowledge of the system will end up with one of Michigan's highest running out-puts in two decades. If the stars align, the tandem could reach 2,500 yards and close to 25 TDs. If the sky falls, injuries, etc... 1,300 yards between them and 14 TDs. My prediction is, caveated with "they could get injured at any moment," is Minor and Brown, best case, combine for close to 2,100 yards and 22TDs on the ground. You can't tell me you wouldn't take that.

The Backups

After Minor and Brown, the depth chart lists Michael Shaw, Vincent Smith, and Michael Cox. All three are talented backs. All three are very, very different. Of the group, I've got a soft spot for Mike Shaw is is likely going to be the first guy off the bench into the game. Shaw is fast. There's no other way to describe him. He's got good hands as a receiver so he's just as effective running between the tackles or flaring out for a pass. Shaw only managed to get in a handful of carries last season as a true freshman and in the process managed to rip up his groin to the point he required off season surgery. But when he was on the field, he was pretty good. Shaw piled up 215 yards on 42 carries last season, including a pair of dazzling 30 and 48 yards runs. While Shaw didn't find the endzone last year, it's fair to say a gimpy private area probably had something to do with that. This year, Rodriguez told me at BTMD that Shaw has his explosion back and that he's running as well as he ever has in a winged helmet. So keep your fingers crossed.

Smith via mlive.com

Next up is true freshman Vincent Smith. Generously listed a 5'8" Smith doesn't look anywhere near his posted height. But that really doesn't matter. The kid's a hell of a football player. He got a glimpse of it in spring practice when he dodged half the defense in the "M" Drill. But the thing that impressed me the most is that he absolutely trucked Michael Williams in one-on-one tackling drills. Knocked his damn lid right off. Then he bounced up like a superball. Smith has an escapability and elasticity that none of the other backs really seem to have right now. Sure, he's got to get in a game to show it, but his practice reports really make you excited. Like Shaw, I think you'll see quite a bit from the freshman this year.

Then, we get to Mike Cox. Despite his humorous name, Cox has yet to see game action. Most of that was due to recovery from high school injuries, so it's hard to judge. However, with the advent of practice video on Mgoblue.com, I was able to see a little bit of Cox on the practice field and I came away impressed. Cox is a big, big dude. He hits the hole very hard and has good pad level on his runs. Not having seen him run in space, I can't attest to his speed, but there was something there that I can't put my finger on. He just looks like a Michigan running back. MGoBlog reported hearing some nice things out of practice on the kid, so take it all for what it's worth. We could see plenty of him if Minor goes down.

Fullbacks

The Fullback seems to be the forgotten part of Michigan's running game after years and years of the Carr style pounder coming out of his stance and shuffling toward the left or right tackle, tipping Michigan's hand every time it ran right or left. The hold over from that regime is Mark Moundros, a junior who currently sits atop the depth chart at his position. Moundros' production will be limited, but should aide Michigan's young quarterbacks as a safety valve and blocker. As an added bonus, he's got decent hands and concentrates more on protecting the football than trying to make people miss when it's in his hands. He's a fullback, so you're not looking at a lot of speed. But you're going to get a consistent effort and results out of Moundros. So what's not to love.

Finally, we get to Kevin Grady. A five star recruit turned hanging-on-by-the-skin-of-his-teeth back up player. Grady's tenure at Michigan hasn't been anything like he, or we, hoped. He hasn't shown the burst we saw in high school. He hasn't been able to hold onto the ball. He's been in trouble with his coaches and the law. I don't care. I really want him to succeed. Grady's been through a lot at Michigan. He's had a nasty culture shock in the transition and from learning to play within the team. But the kid's a senior now and I desperately want him to leave Michigan on a high note. Maybe I'm just being a sap, but there's something in those photos of him playing around with his brother from media day. a glint in his eyes that says he's finally at peace. Grady has always been an insanely talented athlete, but he's never been able to harness it all because of whatever mental demons that have consumed him over the last four years. But now he's got his brother there. He's going to leave Michigan with a degree. He's free and clear of the DWI nonsense from the spring. He got one last chance to leave on a good note. How can you not root for the kid? Realistically, I know Grady's not going to see a lot of early playing time. But I'm hoping, for at least one shining moment, he can deliver a glimpse of that talent and see the endzone one more time.

Overall and Projections for the Season

It's hard not to look at the talent, the speed, and the size of the Michigan tailbacks and not be excited about what they can accomplish this year. But I think the biggest difference you'll see this season will come from simply knowing and understanding the offense as a whole. The improvement on the offensive line is going to be a HUGE difference for the tailbacks, and would easily tack on an extra five hundred yards to a season for a stable of mediocre backs. But when you're talking about a group as fast and talented as Michigan's, you get all tingly.

Everything hinges on the players health this season. Minor's been battling headaches after a fall car accident. Brown is Brown, so you never know if some he's going to wake up each day with both his feet still attached to his body. Shaw had the hernia. Cox and Smith are exciting, but unknown. Grady is simply fighting for playing time. If the group stays mostly healthy, it's arguable that they could be the most productive tailbacks in the Big Ten and put Michigan in the top 25 in YPC and total yards. I'm not being optimistic on that assessment, I'm being reasonable. However, even if the injury bug does bite (and history says it will), this is still a vastly improved unit over last year that will benefit from some fresh faces and considerably more depth than it's had in years.

Personally, I'm expecting big things from Minor and Brown. I've got Minor cracking 1,500 yards and Brown coming up just shy of a 1,000 yard season. Shaw and Smith contribute consistently in and out of the backfield and Mike Cox concusses some poor safety during mop up time. And since the theme of all this is redemption and achievement, I'm hoping for a 300 yard 3 TD season from Kevin Grady. That would be the icing on the cake.

Go Blue.

Friday Happy Hour Says Good Bye to the King of Pop and Looks at the End of the Michigan Football Summer Camps

Maize n Brew Dave — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:26:32 -0000

Maize n Brew gives you your daily (or semi-daily) rundown of all the Michigan Football, Michigan Basketball, College Football, and College Basketball news you need to get through the tedium at your boring ass desk job. For good measure we'll throw in a little irreverent information and commentary to help you salt away the time. Want it in 140 words or less, follow us on Twitter! Or you can find us on Facebook! Here's what's ON TAP:

Things You Need to Read Right Now

via a.abcnews.com

As you may have heard, Michael Jackson passed away yesterday. Say what you want about his personal life, and very, very unfortunate choices, he churned out some damn catchy music. "Don't stop till you get enough," "PYT", "Billy Jean", etc. Thriller is still the coolest video I've ever seen. Orson says good bye to the King of Pop as only Orson can, and NWO pays tribute to Jackson with the Nittany Lion's version of Thriller from this past season.

The Real Price of Freedom - Black Heart Gold Pants
OPS puts on his serious face and pens an excellent op-ed on the death of Ed Thomas, the First and Second Amendments, and the cost of what it really means to be an American citizen. We don't get political here, and this is not meant to stir debate, but regardless of where you stand this is a must read.

Lake the Posts turns two today. Whippersnapper. Get off my damn lawn. Congrats guys. LTP is a daily read for me.

2009 Preseason Consensus - The consensus national top 25 and conference predictions of all the college football preseason magazines, for 2009. Yeah. We're nowhere to be seen.

Michigan Football

Our friends over at Maize & Blue Nation are putting together their Watercooler Guide to 2009 Michigan Football. Here is The Offense Part I and The Offense Part II.

Tailback Kevin Grady expected to return to Wolverines - Grady, the elder, will be back on the team.

Michigan's Football Recruiting Yield Since 2005
When Carcajous Attack! continues it's stellar preseason work. Taking a look at .... It's shocking when you think about it, but Michigan has lost 25 players over the past four years. Damn. Sure there's no guarantee that any of these kids would have, or could have, been a star. But at the least we'd have some depth. Great work by Markus putting this all together.

Michigan vs. WMU Game On ABC: Ready for Some Ridicule - More good stuff from Markus.

The summer camps are over and the Michigan coaching staff will have a little time to catch their breath. Everyone except Barwis, who never really rests. Apparently he hangs from the Schembechler Hall ceiling wrapped in a cocoon of his own wings for twenty minute stretches every couple of days. Otherwise he's in the weight room using titanium sheets to make origami cranes and, surprising, delicate watercolors that give a glimpse into his inner soul. The result? Tate Forcier is up to 190 pounds. He came in at 175.

Michigan Sports Center has some Michigan Football TV Times for you. A lot of late afternoon games. Don't really know how to feel about this. I like having a little extra tailgate time, but that's a lot of time to sit in the sun boozin. September 5 - vs. Western Michigan | 3:30 PM, ABC September 12 - vs. Notre Dame | 3:30 PM, ABC September 19 - vs. Eastern Michigan | 12:00 PM, Big Ten Network October 31 - at Illinois | 3:30 PM, ABC

Lloyd Carr, still awesome. - Carr talks to Petoskey Alumni about missing the sidelines and what he's been up to since retiring.

Michigan Football Recruiting

J.D. Pride Reflects On Michigan, Elite Camp - Pride is Seantrel Henderson's buddy, and apparently a decent QB. No one is sure if he's BCS D1 material yet, but he definitely got a look see at camp ($).

Being Seantrel Henderson - Fluff on the No. 1 recruit in the country. Take what you want from this, but I'm not taking it as an indication he's planning on attending Michigan. Hope he does though.

While he says he will wait until Signing Day to make a decision, he plans to cut his list to ten schools soon. He says Minnesota, Ohio State, USC, UCLA, Oklahoma and Florida State will make the cut for sure and he also likes Michigan, Iowa, Florida and LSU.

($) HS coach fluff on Courtney Avery's commit.

MSU, U-M have a shot at 'maniac' DL from Cincinnati - Fluff on a big dude DT that Michigan seems to be on the outside looking in on.

Big Ten Football

11 Things I Want To See In the Big 10 During 2009, Part 2 - "#8 - I want RichRod's Spread to succeed spectacularly" - Hell yeah. Seconded.

The Spartans pilfer MI QB Joe Boisture from Boston College. Congratulations. You now have your own 6'6" arm that moves like a coffee table.

College Football

Premature Assessments: Exiting 'rebuilding,' young 'Canes can't be held back - It's no secret that I have a soft spot in my heart for Miami. Tha "U", bitches. I don't know why. But ever since I started watching college football seriously Miami was always on the tube. All the antics. Jimmy Johnson's hair. Larry Coker. Erickson. You name it. There was always a swagger that Miami players had that I envied and wished I could emulate as a teen and pre-teen white boy whose physical growth had far exceeded his body's ability to wire neurons to match that growth. I may think that George Teague's catch and strip of Lamar Thomas in the 1993 Sugar Bowl is the greatest play in College Football history, and one I'll watch over and over again, but I was rooting for Miami. So, when the Good Doctor is predicting the 'Canes have the talent and potential to show up in the ACC championship game, that makes me happy. More on Miami's emergence from the fog from the good Doctor.

16 years later, this is still awesome.

Oklahoma makes Bob Stoops a very rich man by Matt Murschel - Oklahoma is revising the contract of Bob Stoops that will look to pay the Sooners football coach close to $5 million in 2011. insert scrooge mcduck vault picture.

- Scout is slowly releasing their Pre-season State Rankings for the Class of 2010. Here's the 2010 Mid-Atlantic Rankings and the 2010 Illinois Rankings There are a couple of Michigan targets on there, including Javarie Johnson (LB) and Kyle Prater (WR). Just FYI, here's the 2010 Kentucky Rankings.

Smart Football: Urban Meyer Q&A on his offense - Urban Meyer Q&A on his offense

Oregon's new uniforms. - LSU Freek and Orson have a little fun with . My personal favorite is the bubble wrap version.

Voter Certification - Heisman Pundit gives us a ballot. Worth a read.

Mike Leach, Party Pirate - Just go there for the photo. It's priceless.

College Basketball

The Big Blue Daily Mail -- Calipari Taking Flack for "Oversigning" - A Sea Of Blue
More on the Oversigning mess at Kentucky from A Sea of Blue.

Misc...

Home run a cool debut for U-M's, Cubs' Jake Fox - Former Wolverine Jake Fox hit a home run in the first inning against the Tigers at Comerica Park on Thursday.

LSU 11 - Texas 4: National Champions! - LSU thumps Texas to take home their 5th CWS title. Congrats guys.

Monday Happy Hour Looks at Michigan Football Camps, Recruiting, and Other Nonsense

Maize n Brew Dave — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:54:49 -0000

More photos » by TONY DING - AP

Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez, left, watches freshman quarterback Tate Forcier run through passing drills. Rodriguez' schedule is now packed with Summer Camps and 2009 season preparation. (AP Photo/Tony Ding)

Browse more photos »

I'm short on time today so our usual roundup of Michigan Football and Michigan Basketball related nonsense will be have to be a little truncated. Hope everyone had a great weekend. Now, here's what's ON TAP:

Michigan Football

Sometimes you can never go home again. I certainly hope that's not the case for Rich and Rita Rodriguez, but more than a year later, we're still getting sob stories about Rich's departure from WVU. I get it that people are still steamed over Rodriguez' departure, but at a certain point you've gotta move on.

Fluff on Michigan Freshman Lineman Taylor Lewan as he gets used to Michigan. Make sure you have a thick coat for the winter Taylor.

Yeah. We're so not getting this guy. - Gholston works hard and humble at MSU camp

Michigan's Summer football camps are kicking off and there are a lot of kids trying to get a look see from the staff. But from the sounds of the article, Michigan is focusing on 2011 and beyond.

Michigan's women's camp also kicked off this past weekend with almost 300 women packing Oosterbann. News attached, Kevin Grady is still with the team, Dan O'Neill is gone, and Kelvin Grady seems to be a fit. This is basically echoed in the Free Press.

Awesome E-Bay Michigan shwag found by MVictors. - Rah-Rah-Rah Rose Bowl Rout (1902)

Michigan Basketball

John Beilein's Summer Camps in full swing - The 'Beilein Shootout,' where elite teams come in for a one-day event to play against one another on campus, was held over the weekend. Beilein's got his hands full this summer.

Smotrycz smokin' foos in da NYC. Whaddup balla. - UM Hoops.com

Other Michigan Sports

Michigan's Tiffany Ofili, Geena Gall defend their NCAA track titles - University of Michigan seniors Tiffany Ofili and Geena Gall defended their NCAA track titles on Saturday. Ofili won the 100-meter hurdles for the third straight year, and Gall won the 800 run for the second straight year. Ofili's time was 12.96 seconds; Gall's time was 2:00.80. Damn.

Varsity Blue has your roundup on where Michigan players will be in the Baseball Summer Leagues.

Around the Interwebz

The Rose Bowl is moving to ESPN - ESPN announced it will start televising the Rose Bowl in January 2011.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! /sobbing/

Do you have any ideas for how the N.C.A.A. could punish teams and coaches that violate its rules? The Quad Blog at the NYTimes directs us to the Orlando Sentinel's College Football 365 Blog who gives us 12 can't-miss college football penalties.This is a great read. I'm quickly become addicted to this site.

The boys at the Rivalry check their predictions against the media's for the Big Ten's best players.

Sparty NO! SpartyMSU predicts MSU's 2009 football season. 12-1. They must've been hangin out with Jeff Smoker to get this fried before writing predictions like this. Definitely worth a read.

Two top USC administrators say they can't comment on investigation - Responding to criticism that it has failed to independently investigate or publicly address allegations that led to a probe of its athletic program, USC posted video statements Thursday evening from two top administrators.

Monday Happy Hour Gets Its Recruiting Fix

Maize n Brew Dave — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:21:43 -0000

You know, if you were following Maize n Brew on Twitter you'd already know about this stuff. Come on folks, join us on twitter. It's not like you've got work to do!

Michigan Football

Some disappointing news hit the interwebs on Friday. According to MGoBlog Dan O'Neill Has Left The Team.
As a result, our OLine depth takes a hit, sort of. As MGoBlog points out, O'Neill hasn't really lived up to his potential and wasn't threatening for playing time. One of the Mgoblog board posts also had the somewhat saddening hearsay that O'Neill lost his love of the game. No matter what the reason for the decision, I wish the kid luck. He's not the first of us to change our minds as to what we wanted to do with our lives once he hit college.

Kevin Grady's family says he did not violate terms of probation - A little damage control from the Grady family. This is actually welcome news. Kevin's dad is not happy with the accusations that his son did nothing about his probation. "Those are not correct, those accusations are not, that he did not fulfill any of his obligations," Grady Sr. told the radio station. "He had to have it done before his probation was done in July, and Kevin did complete three-fourths of it. Those accusations are not right." I'm kinda relieved the Kevin didn't sit on his thumbs when the court ordered him to do things. While I'm disappointed he didn't finish is requirements, it's a lot better than if he'd just blown them off. That said, dude, when a judge tells you that you have X number of days to do something, you get it done.

Michigan Football Recruiting

Michigan apparently came up short in the Brennan Clay sweepstakes, as Tate Forcier's old backfield mate appears to have committed to Oklahoma. According to the Tulsa World, the four-star running back committed to OU over the weekend. I'd be concerned about this, but it's still too early in the recruiting process, doesn't seem to jibe with what we've been hearing, and hasn't been confirmed independently. All that said, any news of a commitment isn't good, especially when Clay was a high priority target. SBN's Oklahoma site, Crimson And Cream Machine, is fairly excited about the news.

The Big House Blog gives you a quick roundup of the weekend's 2010 recruiting news up including Brennan Clay, UM Commit Devin Gardner, Will Gholston, and Kyle Prater. Apparently Gardner and Prater are making a connection, so Michigan may have some hope for the #1 WR recruit in the 2010 class.

Michigan Basketball

Michigan adds dates to nonconference basketball schedule (via Detroit Free Press) - Dear lord is this season's basketball schedule going to be tough. To tip off the season the Wolverines are part of the 2009 Old Spice Classic in Orlando, November 26-29. The teams committed to the tournament are Alabama, Baylor, Creighton, Florida State, Iona, Marquette and Xavier. Yeah. That'll be easy. Then Michigan hosts Boston College on December 2 in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. A week later, Michigan travels to Salt Lake City to face Utah on Dec. 9. Ten days later, Michigan travels to Kansas for the first of a home-and-home on Dec. 19, with the return visit ~~January 8, 2010~~ Jan. 8, 2011. Then, Connecticut comes calling on Jan. 17, 2010 to complete the home-and-home that took Michgian to Connecticut last season. Methinks no one will question Michigan's non-conference schedule anymore.

Beileins part of 1st father and son camp (via Detroit Free Press) - Hey dad (sniff).... wanna have a catch?

Good to hear CJ's alive and well. A Q&A with CJ Lee catches us up with the former captain of the Michigan basketball team.

College Football

In The Bleachers Podcast - 2009 Phil Steele Interview - Our friends at In The Bleachers interview Phil Steele and attempt to get the break down of all that Steele-ian information your tiny human brain is unfit to process. Be wary, 24 minutes of Notre Dame talk and only 3 minutes of Big Ten related content. But it's Steele, and while I may think he's gone off his rocker with some of his top 20 picks (cough Notre Dame cough) you can't argue with the man's successful predictions the last few years.

Ohio State's Jim Tressel among coaches to sleep in Saddam's palace (via Detroit Free Press) - So basically he was returning home?

How Good-Looking is Your Head Coach's Sister?: The Moral Case for Abolishing Overtime in College Football - Dawg Sports makes the "moral" case for permitting two teams to duel to a draw. Ah, the off season. Nothing like fee time for Kyle to make obscure references and ague against the conventional wisdom. If he's this verbose in person I have no idea how anyone gets a word in edgewise, ever.

College Basketball

UK Basketball: Every Rose has its Thorn - A Sea Of Blue - Our homies over at A Sea of Blue are dealing with the Calipari/Gillispie/News Circus as best they can. To their credit, they haven't strangled a single MSM reported. Yet. Kudos guys, I would've blown my stack by now with the ridiculous crap that's hit the newspapers and espn over the past two weeks.

Monday Happy Hour is Picking Fights with Dad

Maize n Brew Dave — Mon, 18 May 2009 19:56:03 -0000

We haven't had a happy hour around here in a while so I figured it's time to drop a little knowledge on you. So sit back, grab a frosty one, start humming the Cheers theme, and ogle what's ON TAP:

No, Sadly, a Buckstache Was Not Involved

This just speaks for itself [names and places changed to protect the innocent]:

[MIDDLE OF HELL ON EARTH KNOW AS], Ohio (AP) — An Ohio man who argued with his grown son over a messy bedroom says he overreacted when he called 911.

[Buckstashe Turdburglar] called authorities Thursday after his 28-year-old son — who's a school board member in the [post-apocalyptic wasteland that is Suburban Ohio] — threw a plate of food across the kitchen table and made a fist at him when told to clean his room.

The son, also named [Buckstache], lives in a room in his parents' basement.

The father declined to press charges and told police he doesn't want to ruin his son's political career.

The son, who also works as a political consultant, says he's lucky to be living in the house rent free. He also promises to keep his room clean. (emphasis added).

No word yet whether this is indeed the famed Subcomandante Wayne. While I'm sure this is just a misunderstanding, the underlined portion just killed me. As someone who's worked in the political arena, I've got news for the Dad: If your son is 28 and living in your basement, his political career is already on life support. Calling the cops on him basically, and mercifully, euthanized what was left of his political aspirations. And, really, if you're throwing food against a wall in your parents' house at 28, you're pretty close to a total system collapse anyway.

Also, before you jump on me for piling on and ruining this kid's career, think real hard about that. I live in Chicago and have seen this on three separate elevator news screens in separate buildings; all before noon today. Hell, the Cleveland papers and the AP stories are using his real name and his PLACE OF WORK. I'm not. And I'm sorry, this is just funny.

Moral of the story, if you are an able-bodied, employed adult, who is living at home for free: keep your damn room clean.

Speaking of cleaning up...

Michigan Men's Lacrosse Team Captures Second Straight National Championship!

/commence "Wooooo!"ing/

The Michigan Men's Lacrosse team overcame an 8-3 deficit to capture its second straight Collegiate Lacrosse Association (MCLA) National Championship in Denver, Colorado with a 12-11 win over Chapman University. Sophomore Trevor Yealy scored the game winner with nine minutes left in the fourth, putting the Wolverines up 12-10. Champman managed one more goal to cut the lead in half, but the Wolverines held firm to capture the title. Props to David Rogers and Kevin Zorovich who scored 3 goals a piece, and to goalie Andrew Fowler who recorded 15 saves in the win. Go Blue! More photos here.

Photo Awesomeness Courtesy of Will Moss, via mcla.us

/end "Wooooo!"ing/

Michigan Softball Moves on to Super Regionals, will Face Baylor

ahem.. /resume "Woooo!"ing/

On the ladies' side of the athletic equation, Michigan's perenially awesome softball team claimed yet another Regional Crown with a 4-0 win over Notre Dame this weekend. Up next? Baylor. Michigan hosts the Bears this coming weekend at the Wilpon Softball Complex, tickets go on sale Tuesday (May 19) at 8:30 a.m. Admission for each day of the event is $10 for reserved grandstand chairback seating, $9 for reserved grandstand bleacher seats, $7 for outfield bleachers and $5 for students and seniors.

Get out there and support the team. This is their SIXTH STRAIGHT REGIONAL CROWN! And remember, it's sweet revenge time. Baylor eliminated Michigan two games to one when they last met in Waco for the 2007 Super Regional. So all the support you can give will go a long way towards guiding these young women to the College World Series in Oklahoma City!

via www.mgoblue.com

/end "Wooooo!"ing/

Michigan Baseball Eliminated From Post Season Play

Well, the run had to end somewhere. After two straight amazing seasons in a row, the Michigan Baseball team came up a little short this year. Unfortunately, the team simply ran out of gas at the end, coming up short twice against Northwestern and missing the Big Ten Tournamnet where only the top six teams qualify.

Tough luck guys. We're still behind you and we'll be ready for another big run next season.

Go Blue! Help Kids!

I know that's hokey, but there's little else you can say. Brian Griese and Steve Hutchinson's Golf Outing raised a mouth droppping $650,000 for Mott Children's Hospital. That brings its three year total to more than $1.3 million.

Special mention must be made of the contribution Charles Woodson made over the weekend. Woodson donated $120,000 of his own money to the cause. Oh Chucky, 12 years later we still love you.

Special props to Brian and Steve, who's spirit and generosity made this all possible.

Out the Door? Yes and Dunno.

Of the Michigan news that's hit the screen over the last few days, there is some not-so-positive news to report. Reserve guard Kurt Wermers is no longer with the program. Brian at MGo has the break down of the effect of his departure (spoiler alert: None).

Secondly, and unfortunately, Kevin Grady violated his probation stemming from last year's drunk driving conviction and spent seven days in jail. That's not good. I wish Kevin all the luck in the world as he gets his life in gear, but it does not appear he will be with the team much longer. Link ibid.

It's Never Too Early For Season Predctions

Angelique Chengelis, one of the few remaining newspaper writers worth reading, has already broken down the season. Michigan goes 7-5. Alright. Are we ready for 2010 yet? She's probably right. Conceivably, Michigan could start 5-0 before getting hammered at Iowa. Best realistic case, 4-1 before getting hammered at Iowa. Most likely, 3-2 before getting hammered at Iowa.

Of note, Michigan State at 10-2? No way. No. Freaking. Way. Angelique has MSU going 5-1 in games against Notre Dame, Michigan, Wisconsin, Northwestern, Illinois, and Iowa? No chance. No Ringer. No Hoyer. No line. Not going to happen. I've got them for losses at Minnesota and to Illinois. Plus, Northwestern and Notre Dame are tossups, as is the Michigan game. They split most likely, but best case there is 4-2. And that ain't going to happen.

Celebratory Brews, Wags of the Finger, and All Things Inbetween: Elavuating Michigan Football's Performance Against Wisconsin

Maize n Brew Dave — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 16:51:42 -0000

Sure, it's Wednesday, time to move on. But there are still things to discuss. Like what we can take away from the game and the things we need to work on. With that in mind I dish out a few Celebratory Brews and a couple of Wags of my finger!

Celebratory Brews:

The Defense: There aren't enough superlatives to do justice to the job they did on Saturday. Aside from a few missed tackles (more on that later), one of the best defensive performances the Big House has seen in quite some time. Taylor, Johnson and Max Martin get massive props for Standing up Wisconsin's massive line, and winning. Also, while Taylor and Johnson were great, I hope everyone is paying attention to just how good Mike Martin has been (as opposed to Max Martin, who's name I erroneously used before). And he's a freshman. But a freshman who shed a double block on the failed two point conversion to smash Evridge as he threw on the game's final, and most important play. If he continues to play like this we're going to be memorializing his name in song very shortly.

Halftime Adjustments: Until this year I'd only heard of them. When the coaching staff realized the horizontal game plan wasn't working, they changed it. I back sets. Some traditional power game. The deep ball. The offensive coaching staff should be commended for an excellent second half.

Jonas Mouton: Just an outstanding game by the young linebacker. Mouton was all over the field from my vantage point; in a good way. He seems like a hybrid DE/LB in the Shawn Crable mold, except without the constant penalties that make you want to break things. Mouton routinely shed his blockers to make a play, blitzed his way into Evridge's helmet, and took down backs in space when he was the only thing between them and 30 yards. That added up to 8 tackles, a sack, and a boatload of props. Monster game.

Brandon Graham: Defensive POW in the Big Ten. I still maintain my prediction that he's going to break someone in half by midseason. He saved the game sacking Evridge at the six. Leads the Big Ten in TFL.

Brandon Harrison: Quickly becoming my favorite player on the 2008 squad. I've never seen someone his size hit like that. Cus D'amato once said of Mike Tyson, "He hits with bad intentions." So does Harrison. Harrison laid a hit on PJ Hill halfway through the second quarter that made my teeth rattle, and it should be noted that Hill sat out the rest of that series. Harrison also lit up Wisconsin's receivers whenever they touched the ball. At five foot nothin' he plays like the biggest guy in the defensive backfield.

All your conciousness are belong to Brandon Harrison. via mikedesimone.com

Donovan Warren: Served notice that the left side of the field is his, and his alone. Throw there at your peril. Best corner in the Big Ten at this point in the season. Warren also showed he can play some run defense, as he took down a handful of stretches to his side and made a touchdown saving tackle on Clay when he busted contain in the second.

Minor/McGuffie/Grady/Brown: All of them chipped in something big. Minor busted the "holy crap we can win this" run. Grady gave us hope with the "this is our season" 4&1 conversion. Brown gave Threet his first passing first down and seemed to settle Threet with that effort. McGuffie capped the comeback with a ballsy, 3& goal cut to the endzone. Sure some longer runs would've been nice, but these guys provided consistent effort and great pass blocking all day. They also provided 14 points.

Steven Threet, Version 2.0: Not to be confused with the Version 1.0 that spent the majority of the first half flailing about the backfield like a trout on dry land. While V2.0 wasn't perfect, he was pretty damn good and showed himself to be an above average college level quarterback on Saturday. He showed some touch, threw a couple of outstanding deep passes, and made the proper decisions at crucial times in the comeback. Plus, that pass to Koger was beautiful. His intermediate, middle of the field passes still need work but the majority of what he showed us from the 30 minute mark onward was outstanding.

The Offensive Line: While this group wasn't terrific during the opening half, they were more than serviceable. The fact Michigan couldn't run the ball had more to do with 9 man fronts more than anything else. Even on the rare occasion someone got to Threet in the backfield, it was usually on a broken play or that infamous late hit. Face it, they controlled the line of scrimage the second half of the game. Threet may have been hit from time to time, but the line didn't give up a sack. Not bad for a bunch guys the media called no-names, back-ups and underachievers at the beginning of the year. Steve Schilling, at least from where I was sitting, looked pretty impressive.

Wags of the Finger:

First Half Offensive Play Calling: When your wife is describing the the play calling as Weis-esque, you know something is wrong. She alos mockingly asked when we hired Bob Davie to run our offense. That may have cut to the bone, but, damn son, I married a good woman. While I will grant you Threet V1.0 was terrible, even that shouldn't have handcuffed the Michigan offense to the extent we saw. Wisconsin was stacking the line, over pursuing, and locking in on the totally obvious screens we were running. A little misdirection, mabye even a single deep ball in the first half would've helped to keep the defense honest. It wasn't pretty.

Throwing to the Shortest Guy on the Field in the Middle of the Zone: I may be in the minority on this, but the continued attempts to get Martavious Odoms the ball on these little run to the hole in the zone pass plays are driving me crazy. Yes, Threet was inaccurate on a majority of those throws, but if there's a linebacker anywhere between Threet and Odoms that's a tough throw. It's also going to be a throw where an extra 6 inches in height and arm span come in handy. If the backer's in there, there's got to be height on the throw, and its got to be a hard throw because otherwise the safety will knock it away or intercept it. We tried it at least four times and got one completion. Two bad passes, one drop, and one completion. Those numbers scream "Don't Ever Use Me Again," at least until Threet proves he can make the throw and Odoms proves he can catch it.

Martavious Odoms: I'll be honest, this is a stretch, but Odoms looked a little lost. He failed to turn around for the ball twice on passes to him. He dropped a ball or two that should've been caught, and looked a little tentative. He's here because of the misunderstandings on the pass plays. We're lucky those didn't get intercepted and run back.

Morgan Trent: Maybe I'm being too harsh, but Trent had a rough day. The fumble on the kick off was just maddening. On the second quarter Clay near-touchdown run, Trent blew the tackle that allowed Clay to scamper an extra 20 yards before Warren pushed him out of bounds. On the game's last touchdown, he got beat, stumbling on his own two feet, on a single move to the middle of the field. Sure Brown had the inside of that play, but Trent's stumble allowed the free release before Brown could get there. In his defense, one of the bright spots was an absolutely wicked hit he put on Jefferson. Even so, I'm sure this is a day #14 would like to have back.

Steven Threet Version 1.0: Horrid. Bad decision making. Bad option release. Bad arm mechanics. Bad throws. I think he'd agree with me on this.

Officiating: These guys were terrible. Failure to review plays that warranted it (Mathews fumble). They missed, at a minimum two blantant Pass interference calls in one series, a dozen obvious holds, and blew at least on call on replay (the completion on UW's final drive).

Hi, I'm Bobo, and I'll be the lead Big Ten Official for your game!

Special Teams: Two more fumbles and an anemic return game. WHY?WHY?WHY?WHY?WHY?WHY?WHY?WHY?

All Things Inbetween:

The Linebackers: Great game from Ezi and Thompson. Under normal circumstances they'd be at the top of the Celebratory Brews list, but I ran out of space. One thing that deserves special note is Thompson's individual effort to string out a stretch play while being blocked by a fullback and tackle, and still make the stop during UW's second possession of the Second half. He was the only thing between UW and a big gain, and he made things happen. Quietly, these guys played great.

The Booing: Meh. Everyone's chimed in on this. Brian hates it. Varsity Blue's annoyed. M Victors didn't like. Maize and Blue Nation had an anurysm over it. On the other hand, Michigan Sports Center and I have owned up to being among those who voiced their displeasure. To each their own. In hindsight I wish I'd kept my emotions a little better in check and not done it, but I don't blame people who did. That was the worst played half of football Michigan's ever played in the Big House, and to paraphrase Chris Rock, "I'm not saying you should've done it, but I understand."

Block M in the Student Section: Wooooooo!

via mvictors.com

Kevin Koger: Welcome to the show kid. From the looks of things Koger will be Michigan's starting tight end for the foreseeable future. Mike Massey tries, God bless him, but unfortunately isn't as good as the effort he puts forth. Carson Butler, much to my reget, can't stay out of anyone's doghouse and was benched for the game, despite suiting up. Blocking wise Butler is probably the best tightend on the team and he certainly adds an offensive deminision you love, but if Koger can get open like he did Saturday Butler's playing time may go out the window until he proves he can stay out of trouble and in the good graces of his coach.

Greg Mathews: Good and bad day for #13. Bad fumble on his punt return. Great and crucial catches throughout the second half.

Stevie Brown and Charles Stewart: Good game boys. Keep it up.