Hail To The Victors! That's How You're Supposed To Eat a Cupcake
by SCM on Oct 18, 2009 6:00 AM CDT
in Michigan Football
10 comments
Photo by John T Greilick via multimedia.detnews.com
727 yards of total offense. Yes, a Boeing's worth of yards in a single game. 442 of those yards were in the first half, which saw the teams enter the locker-rooms with the score standing at 49-3. What can you say? Delaware State was indeed awful. That said, it was really nice to see us just put the hammer down from the get go and put this one well out of reach. One could also call it refreshing. Obviously a ton of positives to take away from this performance, not the least of which is that it was accomplished without Carlos Brown, Brandon Minor, and short of the opening series, Tate Forcier. That Michigan emerged from this game without an injury to anyone and got as many players much needed experience was about all we could've hoped for. I certainly wasn't a fan of this game even being on the schedule, but since it was, I don't think the team could've handled it any better than they did on the field.
Miscellaneous
- Nicely done Purdue! Congrats to the Boilers and as I imagine many of their fans are saying: about time. I just had to link to the following from The Buckeye Blog:
One of the biggest problems with the current BCS system is that when you play in the toughest conference in the country, it is nearly impossible to make it out of conference play unscathed. First a fifth ranked Penn State drops to Iowa powerhouse. Now the 8th ranked Buckeyes go down to Purdue who were only a play or two from turning a 1-5 record into a 6-0 record.
Unlike the SEC, the Big Ten fronts at least seven teams with the ability to do serious damage year after year. Along with the rivalry games which can go either way, Ohio State, Penn State, Iowa, Wisconsin provide bruising, physical play that would leave a PAC 10 team wilted.
Wait, what?! Now then, no offense Boilermaker fans, but let's be honest here. This was a Purdue team that was thoroughly outplayed in most phases of the game by Northern Illinois. A team roundly predicted by the vast majority of talking heads to be battling for the 10th place spot in the conference this season. The Buckeyes lost to a 1-5 team, albeit a team that's 1-5 thanks to a few close ones, they were still 1-5 and no combination of "a play or two" gets them remotely close to 6-0. Top 10 football teams probably shouldn't lose to 1-5 teams. Also, he must be excluding USC from that "leaving a PAC 10 team wilted" talk, since, you know, they took care of OSU as well (albeit in less impressive fashion than Purdue). This game was not an example of how huge of a gauntlet the conference is, but rather just how "meh" Ohio State is capable of playing. It will be awfully interesting to see how the rest of that fan-base reacts to this one, and Terrelle Pryor's performance in particular.
- The top 3 teams in the country all looked pedestrian at best Saturday. Florida certainly did not look like the #1 team in the nation against Arkansas... a team that Alabama put a serious whoopin' on not too long ago. Of course, Alabama had trouble putting away South Carolina, who is still South Carolina last I checked.... And Texas went out and outlasted a Sam Bradford-less Oklahoma in a game that saw its share of offensive ineptitude. There's simply not a dominant team out there right now, and that's just fine with me.
- I watched the majority of the second half of the USC/ND game and the thing that really stood out to me was just how terrible Charlie Weis continues to be at managing a football game. He passes up a field goal opportunity to go for it on 4th and short in the second half, at a time when I thought to myself, "kick the FG, there's tons of time". Those three points probably would've been pretty big in that last minute wouldn't they? Then, ND lets 10 seconds run off the clock inside the USC 10 yardline on their final possession when they had a timeout in their pocket... why? That's two plays down there! Yeeeeesh.
- Indiana, who was coming off of a shellacking at the hands of, ahem, Virginia, came out and beat the pants off of Illinois (a late Illini TD made it look closer than it ever was), who now find themselves at 1-5.
- One other note from the ND game... since the refs have suddenly started calling Michigan for this "illegal formation due to a lineman not being within X inches of the guy next to him in relation to the line of scrimmage" garbage I've been paying more attention to how other teams line up. ND's tackles were vast distances off the line of scrimmage at many times throughout the game... stunningly no flags were thrown for it.
more after the jump
Offense
- Ok so 727 total yards and 10.1 yards per play... everyone looked great at times and we didn't show a darn thing to Penn State. There's just not tons to discuss, but let's see what we can scrounge together eh?
- I might be wrong but I think there were FIVE players who scored the first TD of their careers today: Kelvin Grady, Martell Webb, Mike Cox, Vincent Smith, Brandon Graham (yes that counts), and
- Michigan's QBs combined for 15-18, 266 yards and 2 TDs. Forcier looked sharp on his series and thankfully got to rest the rest of the day. My one quibble, and it's really really minor: I would've liked to have gotten Denard Robinson a few more passing attempts, I mean, 3 for 4 with 2 TDs and all, but really would've liked to have seen him get more reps where he got a chance to make a read or two and throw the ball. Again, that's nitpicking of the highest order. How about Nick Sheridan looking downright efficient in there? Nicely done Nick. Of course I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Cone as well!
- 15 passes to 11 different receivers... wow.
- Zero punts. Yay. Sorry Zoltan.
- The offensive line looked like a machine, like they were supposed to against a team like this, simple execution gets a big nod of approval.
- 54 rushes for 461 yards. Every back looked good out there. I really liked what I saw out of Vincent Smith, nice job young man. Shaw got the start but had as "quiet" of a nine carry 73 yard day as one can. Mike Cox has certainly shown flashes of brilliance in limited carries. I'm not going to extrapolate much from this game in and of itself, but I feel entirely comfortable saying we're stacked something fierce at the tailback position.
Defense
- 6 points, no TDs, nothing jumps out at me here, we dominated, we didn't give up anything stupid, tons of people saw the field, what else do you say?
Special Teams
- Hey, a blocked punt! A bit later than I predicted, but a special teams TD is always great to see, especially when it's Brandon Graham rumbling into the endzone with it!
Overall
Photo by John T. Greilick via multimedia.detnews.com
- Yeah, that about says it all... how nice is it to just say, "Well, we completely dominated a team we were supposed to dominate"? I'm still opposed to having a game like this on the schedule, but I can't complain with how we played it. Couldn't have asked for more heading into next Saturday.
GO BLUE!
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I don't think it's nitpicking
to argue Denard needed a good 15 pass attempts in this game. He’s one hit away from being the starting quarterback. Tate’s concussion must have been minor last week if he played at all this week, but nonetheless it means that if he gets another one they’ll have to hold him out for a significant period, it being his second of the season and all. Obviously, the coaches disagreed — maybe they figured it’s not better than practice, or maybe they didn’t want to give the remaining opponents extra film of his passing capabilities — but I don’t know.
Also — delayed reaction here, but I haven’t seen any real accolades for Rich’s having the good sense, intelligence, and/or experience to know to not put Forcier back in against Iowa. He didn’t know at the time there was a concussion involved, but in retrospect, thank god! No doubt he could see — watching him play and talking to him — that Tate was not right. A lesser coach would have either not seen or chosen to ignore the signs and put him back in on the final drive. It isn’t hard to imagine the Rosenberg column if he had and something had gone wrong (or even not — I wouldn’t put it past MR to have written about RR’s poor judgement in putting TF back in when he should have seen the signs of a concussion, etc.).
I agree on both points...
I really would’ve liked to have seen Denard get at least 10 reps in there where we rolled him out of the pocket and had him hit those short simple outs and slants. The reason I called it nitpicking in the original column is that I think it would’ve become even more ugly had we thrown the ball any more than we did yesterday, so I think the staff found themselves in a tough position of wanting to get everyone on the field while not putting up a basketball score. I also think we were bound and determined to not show any new wrinkles whatsoever to Penn State, including whether or not Denard has been throwing more with the offense in practice. That goes directly against my theory of “in-game experience is invaluable”, but it also makes some sense. I would wager large sums of money that at some point this season, Robinson is going to take a snap, give two quick steps towards the line of scrimmage, pull up and just torch somebody deep. Whether that’s this week or not I don’t know, but it has to be coming right? I just get the feeling that we’re going to have a heck of a gameplan ready for Joe Pa next Saturday.
The decision to keep Tate out in the Iowa game didn’t seem that like as big of a deal as everyone made out of it at the time, before any of us were aware that he was concussed, but yes, I like that Rodriguez was going to put who he felt gave us the best chance to win on the field, it’s a classic example of fans reacting wildly without knowing all of the necessary information beforehand.
GO BLUE! http://www.maizenbrew.com/
happy with the win
Honestly, there wasn’t much good that was going to come out of yesterday’s game, save getting the young guys some playing time. Thankfully we were able to stay injury-free without revealing too many new schemes to future opponents.
I think this team is one of the most talented in the Big Ten (they really should have beaten Iowa) and the experience the young guys got yesterday will be helpful in the future, if not this year.
http://gordiehowehattrick.wordpress.com/
I didn't see the game
What are the specifics of the illegal formation penalties you were describing? I’ve never heard of anything like that before.
If you're so sure of what it ain't, how about telling us what it am!
Line of Scrimmage
The Rule in question is regarding the alignment of the Guards & Tackles relative to the Center. In other words, how far off the line of scrimmage they can get and still be legal. Most often it is the Tackle who cheats a little too far when the opposing defensive lineman has set up on his outside shoulder preparing for a pass rush situation.
Don’t quote me but I recall a commentator mentioning that their helmets are required to be even with the Numbers on the Center’s back. Of course this is not enforced with consistency but that is the Gist of the matter.
Exactly A2Fan
Michigan actually wasn’t flagged for it yesterday, but has been multiple times in prior games, and I have yet to see another team anywhere else get called for it.
GO BLUE! http://www.maizenbrew.com/
Nitty Gritty
Lineman and Back
ARTICLE 4. a. Any player in one of the following positions is a lineman.
1. A lineman is any player legally on his scrimmage line when the
ball is snapped. An interior lineman is any Team A player legally on
his scrimmage line and positioned between the end Team A players
who are also on the line of scrimmage at the snap. An ineligible pass
receiver of Team A is "on his scrimmage line’’ at the snap when he
faces his opponent’s goal line with the line of his shoulders parallel
thereto and his head breaking the plane of the line drawn through the
waistline of the snapper.
2. An eligible pass receiver of is "on his scrimmage line’’ at the snap
when he faces his opponent’s goal line with the line of his shoulders
approximately parallel thereto and his head breaking the plane of the
line drawn through the waistline of the snapper.
3. A player also is a lineman when, after the ball is ready for play and
the snapper touches or simulates (hand[s] at or below his knees)
touching the ball, his head breaks the plane of the line drawn
through the waistline of the snapper (Exception: Rule 7-1-3-b-1).
of the line drawn through the rear-most part, other than the legs or feet,
of the nearest Team A player (except the snapper) on the line of
scrimmage when the ball is snapped. A lineman becomes a back
before the snap when he moves to a position as a back and stops.
7-1-3-b-1 Offensive Team Formation
b. When the snap starts: The offensive team must
be in a formation that meets these requirements:
1.
All players must be either on their scrimmage line or legally
positioned as a back. At least five players wearing jerseys
#’s 50 through 79 must be legally on their scrimmage line,
and no more than four players may be in the backfield.
RATIONALE: Ease of officiating in counting players.
Also eliminates penalizing Team A for only 10 players:
six on the line and four in the backfield.
Games like these are pointless and embarassing. It’s embarrassing that a team like Delaware State would forfeit a game against a team in their division, a team they had a chance to beat because they have similar talent-level, just to knowingly get their asses handed to them by a far superior team for a half-million bucks. Capitalism is great until it turns all of us into cheap whores.
There shouldn’t be any games allowed outside one’s division. If a program needs money, make the AD’s give lap-dances or have a bake sale or something. Beating up on far inferior teams is embarrassing for all concerned. Michigan should be better than that.
Where were you 3 years ago? Your rant may have possibly saved us the most embarrassing loss of all time. Oh wait… that game was pointless… and definitely embarrassing. Forgive me.
(App. St.)
There is basically a cumulative Niagra Falls of shit happening right now.
by Pinchy The Lobster on Oct 19, 2009 1:15 AM CDT up reply actions
OMG - are you the President ?? or just work at the White House ?
“Capitalism is great until it turns all of us into cheap whores”
chill … this is football.
by Indiana Blue on Oct 21, 2009 8:37 PM CDT up reply actions
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