Saturday 1 October 2011

Quick Gameday Reaction

Michigan absolutely destroyed Minnesota today in what has to be the most dominant performance I've ever seen from the Wolverines. I know Minnesota isn't a good football team, but it was still an extremely impressive effort from offense and defense. Here's a few things that caught my eye.

- The run defense from Michigan was excellent; I can only remember one long run from Minnesota and that was towards the end vs our 2nd string D.

- Blake Countess continues to impress in coverage, and he even forced a fumble. He's not a big guy, but I thought he made some nice tackles too.

- Denard found some rhythm in the passing game and just looked really good throughout.

- The UM running backs looked explosive, especially Fitz. Credit to the OL for creating those running lanes.

- One bad note, kickoff coverage wasn't that great. It was saved by Minnesota giving away a penalty pretty much every time!

- First shutout since 07' !!!!!

18 comments:

  1. Finally DR has a good passing day. Good things happen when you SET YOUR FEET!!! Thats has nice touch on the screen pass to Hopkins.

    DG needs more playing time.

    Countess did good things, very good things.

    Big Will is getting there.

    OL and DL played well.

    RBs played well.

    The WRs and TE caught the balls that hit them in the hands. Most of the time.

    Its good to be a Michigan fan.

    Benji,
    Is there a chance for a commit today?Payton maybe?

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  2. Denard's passing was great! I really want to see some more of Thomas Rawls, even though Fitz ran the ball great today, he had a few big gainers. Devin played a good game, I agree he needs more PT for the future, but Denard is still the QB and leader of this team and that won't change till after he graduates.

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  3. Denard was clearly better than DG. I am very excited to see the two QB sets. And to answer Jers question, Payton has said that he does not want to take an ND visit which means it's just a matter of time before he commits.

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  4. Well I'd say it's pretty clear that Payton has probably narrowed it down to U of M and Oklahoma...I haven't heard much about him and Cal anymore. He's probably seen everything that he wants in one of the schools and figures ND just isn't for him (thank God).

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  5. I thought Payton canceled his OK visit to?

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  6. I thought he went last weekend for the Mizzou game. Did he not go?

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  7. I am watching the MSU & OSU game. OSU O is terrible at best without Posey and Herron.
    MSU D line is pretty good.

    And I am sorry but Matt Millun is the last person that should be judging how good a player is.

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  8. The OSU game was a joke; don't let the scoreline fool you, they did not deserve 7 points. Unless their offense improves significantly when all their cheats come back, Michigan should handle them pretty easily.

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  9. Yeah that game was a matchup of 2 pretty decent defenses against 2 horrible offenses. From what I have seen of MSU so far I'm not impressed. OSU's line leaked like a siv. Bell and Baker have looked very ordinary. BTW, I thought MSU's touchdown in the first quarter was kind of a fluke. I think both the MSU and OSU games are very winnable for us this year. An improved defense for us this year will definitely help in these games.

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  10. Crazy dealing with fair weather fans when your 5-0. I'm glad they put DG in, quite down the peanut gallery. DG played ok...but you could definatly see his inexperiance, which in return made drob look better. I noticed he was putting a lot more heat on his passes which seemed to make him far more accurate. I'm not sure of his exact numbers but he only had a few incompletions, couple of which were dropped.

    Defense looked extremly impressive. They only got across mid-field twice. Good team or not they executed great. Like benji said even our 2nd string shut down thier offense. They've improved dramatically every game. Hopfully that continues.

    If they keep playing like that I don't see a team on the schedule they can't beat.

    Sorry I forgot his name, but did you see that uofm coach that started his career 29-0!! Holy crap! Don't see that record getting broken.

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  11. Smokey,
    That coach was Yost.

    Is it just me or is the D line getting it done without blitzing as much?

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  12. Thanks jer89. And I definatly agree with you about millen. Look at the lions now superbowl bound. At least playoffs.

    And I was worried what Ohio would look like when the rest of the cheaters got back...I'm not anymore. They have major problems at QB. They have WR's and RB's, as much as I hate em, thier not chumps. Herron and posey arn't gonna make that team 10 times better. (unless one of them plays QB.)

    again anything can happen expecialy in a rivalry game, but I don't see either State being dominant over us. Maybe even the other way round the way thier progressing.

    Very happy, and when the lions beat Dallas tommorow and go 4-0....even better!

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  13. Ya OSU does not scare me either. But there is still some teams that will give UM a scare. I know most people will disagree with me on this but Ill. is playing well. And go Lions.

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  14. Yeah I'll be the first to say ILL looked beter than I thought they would. Thier QB is still young and makes some bad plays, IMO isn't good enough to run the table. Struggled pretty hard to a strugglng NW team. They do look good and anything can happen. Lol

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  15. OSU offense was bad, But MSU tried to give them that game. Cousins is a terrible decision maker. Especially in the redzone. He loves to throw INT's there. But I cannot believe just how bad the OSU offense is. Braxton Miller just looked lost, and what was up with that cute thing he tried at the sideline where he slowed down? was this a lame attempt to get a flag? Not sure, but they looked really bad. The Defense's however looked decent and MSU has a front 7 to be reckoned with.

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  16. Don't forget Illini almost lost to Western Michigan. Also there is a small blog over on mgoblog about denard supposedly having an abscess on his elbow that may have been affecting his accuracy in the previous games. Either way his passing numbers looked alot better today (unfortunately i only was able to watch the 4th quarter because of work). From the highlights it was a nice surprise to see Hoke get DG in the game and have both DG and DR on the field at the same time. Yes DG showed his inexperience but thats why we need to get him reps when we can so when he needs to take over and ever lead the team (after DR graduates or god forbid an injury) he has the experience to lead the team. And yes MSU didn't look that great but it is a Big 10 rivalry game and we go on the road after being on the road at Northwestern anything can happen and i will not count MSU out just based on todays performance, that game will be a battle and i believe Hoke will have them well prepared. Go Blue!

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  17. I'm saying it right now, Countess will be pushing for starting time at corner by season end. That dude is going to be a great CB if what we've seen so far is any indication of his talent/potential.

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  18. First off Minnesota sucks. That being said I thought the team looked good today. Very crisp and well coached. For the first time this year I can say I loved the offensive play calling with all of the short passes early on (finally). I think Borges is finally starting to get a better feel for what he has and how best to use it. Again Minnesota sucks but at this time last year, would you ever have thought the Michigan defense could shut out anybody?

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