News and Notes

• I continue to prove that I know more than just Kung Fu 
• Why I pick MSU you ask? Home+Coach back...sorta=win 
• People learned from last week.... always...BAM!
• The big toss up this week is Stanford and the Ducks. I got Ducks just due to being at home. Maybe the best home field in college football.
• No one on this blog believes PSU is a ranked team after B10 play starts. 

He's gonna get hurt. I said don't run him.... Don't do it. You can't run a QB that much and make it the whole season. You just can't. 

The people that are saying that are afraid. They are scared that the dude in dreads will show up and run wild on their team. I have had most these conversions with a friend at work that played on the 1999 MSU team. "Man you can't run a QB like that". "He's gonna get hurt". I also have seen most of this squawking from MSU fans in general. The UM vs ND Thread over at the scUM filled RCMB had too many to count of "Denard is gonna hurt before Greg Jones can get his chance!!" "HAHAHA Looks who's hurt! " and "Oh he back.... BUT HE'S GONNA GET HURT!".

Here's what it comes down to.... YOU WOULD BE IDIOT NOT TO.... Have you seen what this kid has done with 17-30 carries? He had a record setting four games. He is averaging like 8.7 yards a carry... Yeah for realzzz! Before sitting out the rest of  the Bowling Green game he was hitting at 25.8 yards a clip. He turned a 1 yard loss into like a 58 yard TD which no other human could have done. Why on earth would you hand cuff the kid? It's like the kids back in the day on my play ground "I don't like Michael Jordan, he shoots too much, coach should tell him to pass more". Hello?!?! You would be a dumb simpleton not to let Jordan touch or shoot the ball 90% of the time. Denard has the Jordan effect. He's such a weapon running you gotta do it. He has "it" as we say. You have to take that risk of injury since it's such a huge pay off.

Football is a funny sport where QBs who take very little hits can be knocked out for games at a time or a whole season. Take the Notre  Dame game for example. Dayne Crist was knocked out for a whole half and didn't take near the hits Robinson did. If it happen... It happens. It's football. It can happen to anyone. Ask Chad Henne who had the best LT in the game. His senior year was less than great thanks to an injury. He didn't take many hits. You just gotta roll with Robinson in the style of play. You could pull the rains back a bit and not win,loss close or win close. As Rich has always done just let em fly. You would be an idiot not to. 

Offense 
With Denard in the game the Offense went ZOOOOM!!!! ZOOOOOM!!!! When he left with a knee ding(which had Michigan Stadium on edge) the Offense went "AHHH HA!!". First Gardner had his run with the Offense. On his first snap he looked like a freshman doing a great zone read and ran to the right for a good 4-5 yards but tried to avoid a tackle and went backwards for a 1 yard loss. Devin just has to learn to use his big body and pick all the yards he can. This isn't HS anymore where you can just dance around people. Outside of a few bad short pass Devin looked good. His long ball was as advertised... Right on. It's too bad Hemingway couldn't catch a wide open TD. On the next play Devin was robbed again with Grady making a nice play and scoring a TD but was called back by Molk hitting a "defenseless player". I couldn't see it from the stands or in my TV review. So who knows.

Tate came out to a nice reception from the crowd. He also came out on fire, throwing on 12/12 and a TD. Tate looked to have great command of the offense and deserved all the snaps he got since he was moving the offense at a bit faster clip than Devin. I won't get into the "WHYS NO RED SHIRTS FOR DEVIN?!?!" thing since this post isn't for that but it still frustrates me. The RBs all played well. Shaw still looks like the one but I thought Cox/Fitz looked good in their limited action. I still wanna see more Cox/Fitz and less Smith. I know Smith is a solid back but just seems to have lost a step of speed. Smith to me has always been a 3rd down back with his catching skills but I rather see guys that could take it the distance(Fitz first run anyone?). I feel like RR likes Smith because he has great ball security and won't hurt you but Cox/Fitz look like backs who could gash defenses. WRs looked good besides the Hemingway drop. Roundtree had a great day of getting open. Stonum had some nice grabs and even Gallon got his first TD of his career. In short Michigan is deep at every skill position with all three QBs,stable of RBs and WR who look to be a threat after the catch. What I am saying is this Offense is ROLLING!!! Maybe the best since 2000.

Defense
The Defense had a much better day. Still had a few issues. The freak 70 some yard play which just looked bizarre. The LBers stilled looked suspect outside of Mouton(Nice INT). I did see some nice plays out of Demens and wouldn't mind seeing more of him and letting him get a few series a game, maybe more on run downs but I think with Obi still Obi he should be getting looks. It was nice to see the defense forcing 4th downs and even looked pretty good on the goal line forcing BGSU to score on two lucky 4th down wild cat TD. Tackling still was an issue and even Roh missed a few. The four down linemen was nice to see as it seemed to get some more pressure. We got more looks at Avery, Christan and Talbott. All had so-so days but it's pretty clear they are not ready but will have to go when UM goes to a dime package.

The Good
-Deep,Deep,Deep
-Tate looking Sharp
-Devin's long ball as advertised
-Cox/Fitz two headed monster... More please?
-Lewan still crushing fools.
-No ones gonna cramp Denard's style, no ones gonna hold him down... O No.. You gotta keep on moving!
-No human could have ran for a first down, yet Denard took it to the house.
-Shaw running tough son.
-Can your WR block like ours?
-12/12
-87239837 Total Yards
-Kids loved the game. They are Nard Crazy.

The Bad
-Tackling
-Bowling Green
-Injuries
-Hopkinsbumblesandfumbles
-21 POINTS?

The Ugly
-The officials
-Side line issues(10 men on the field ect)
-Travis cheering for Denard on Defense.
-A old D-bag behind me saying Michigan should accept a holding penalty on a 3rd down play.
-Bowling Green's Run Defense.

Dropped Out: 21. West Virginia, 22. Fresno State, 22. Oregon State

Others receiving votes: North Carolina State 4, West Virginia 4, Oregon State 3, Florida State 2, Kansas State 2, Oklahoma State 2

 

Michigan 3-0 0-0 vs. BGSU 1-2 0-0

With UMass turning out to be not quite a cupcake, hopefully Michigan has a chance to take a big bite out of this delicious cupcake. Bowling Green has lost games to Troy and Tulsa, while beating Marshall. BGSU is a pass first team, who can’t run the ball at all, they rank 111th in rush yards. This game will be a big test for Michigan’s young secondary, although BGSU is down to their backup QB which should help us out a little bit. Well kids, lets get on with the previews.

Bowling Green Offense:

Bowling Green has then nations top receiver, in Kamar Jordan. He has 34 receptions for 343 yards, and a touchdown. He is also a pretty big kid, at 6’3” tall. I don’t know how being without QB Matt Schilz will effect the passing game. Taking Schilz’s place is sophomore Aaron Pankratz. Schilz was completing nearly 65% of his passes, so hopefully the passing game will slow down a little bit without him in there. BGSU has no running game, their leading rusher is Willie Geter who has run the ball 66 times for 243 yards and two touchdowns, over the course of 3 games. I don’t expect BGSU to try to run the ball all that often, just enough that they can use the occasional play action fake. Who wants charts? I want charts

Team	Pass Yards	Rush Yards	Turnovers	Points	Total Yards
BGSU Offense	258.3	83.3	7	30.3	341.6
Michigan Defense	269.3	170	6	23.6	439.3

 

So yeah there’s that………

Bowling Green Defense:

Can Bowling Green Be the team that finally shuts down Denard? If I had a million dollars I would bet every last cent on it, that NO Bowling Green can’t shut down Denard. I’m not going deep into who is Bowling Green’s defense, just think of them, and I mean this with all due respect, as Denard Robinson’s next victims. Charts? Hellz Yeah

Team	Pass Yards	Rush Yards	Turnovers	Points	Total Yards
BGSU Defense	270.3	195.3	9	30.3	465.6
Michigan O	223.7	286.3	2	33.3	510

 

What does it all mean?

Bowling Green seems to be good at forcing turnovers, but lets be honest, this is the best team they’re gonna face all year. I fully expect Michigan to rush for well over 400 yards, and only throw the ball sparingly. I can’t imagine Bowling Green’s defense can stop our offense. I also anticipate BGSU scoring some points. I know that GERG has installed a dime package for this game, and we’re probably gonna need it, because BGSU is gonna spread the feel out and throw the ball all day long.

GRADES?

Position	MICH	BGSU	Advantage
QB	A+	C+	Denard is all you need to know here
RB	B+	D-	Shaw had a breakout game, let’s see if he can continue to run hard.
WR/TE	A	A	This is a push, I still think MICH has the best receiving corps in the Big Ten, but BGSU’s receivers are pretty good as well
O Line	A	B-	Michigan’s O Line will flatten this team.
D Line	C+	C	Well, Mike Martin is a beast, other then that, not much production from our line. RVB and Banks step it up
Linebackers	C+	C	Mouton, and Roh are both great, although Mouton didn’t play well against UMass. Redemption game.
Secondary	C+	D+	BGSU gives up a ton of yards through the air, so does MICH. Let’s see what GERG can dial up tomorrow.
Special Teams	D	B+	Any chance that Bryan Wright could come back and kick for us?

 

Predictions:

After playing like ass and WINNING, our defense comes to play and we win 49-10. GO BLUE

I am guessing come Saturday Michigan will be pushing Bowling Green around the field. Maybe a bit in this fashion...

Bowling Green challenges Michigan on a Nard Touch down score...

.
.
.
.
.
.
Which leads to this....

.
.
.
.
.
Which leads to Freddie the Falcon having Mike Martin hold a fire arm to his beak.

News and Notes

• I was late getting out the match ups so that explains the "???". Just Email me and I will fix those or post them in the comments.
• I remain supreme so far but this week started the real test with some great toss ups. 
• As a whole we are 55-20 which is pretty damn good. MM noows itzz shitzz yo!
• I am drinking what D.Hart was drinking last week. WAR EAGLE! OR BIRD..
• No one loses on the Blue turf. I also think it should be illegal but thats another story. 
• The Stanford Pine Cones are riding high but I go out on the limb and take the the Irish at home. Worked for Hulk last week out in "Zona".
• Miami used to be the shit and than USC became the new Miami and than Florida became the new USC and now Bama is the new Florida..errrhhh ahhhh Get what I am saying? Don't bet against the new world beaters. 
• No MidKnight Round Table this week. Blame it on Nihilism.

 

Optimism is a word defined by the dictionary as  1.a disposition or tendency to look on the more favorable side of events or conditions and to expect the most favorable outcome. 2.the belief that good ultimately predominates over evil in the world. 3.the belief that goodness pervades reality. 4.the doctrine that the existing world is the best of all possible worlds. The first definition describes Dark Blue perfectly. I am one of the most optimistic people I have ever met. I can find good in the worst situations. I believe that everything happens for a reason, and things always seem to work themselves out. Take this fwiw.

As I’ve read through the blogosphere these last few days I’ve noticed that optimism is not flowing freely like it should. Michigan is 3-0 yet all of these “professional bloggers” seem to find need to pick apart every little thing. So fucking what if our defense played like ass? We won the fucking game didn’t we. Craig Roh has come out and said that this kind of performance won’t happen again. Why shouldn’t we be optimistic? What can our negativity possible contribute, other then giving Dark Blue a fucking heart attack at a young age? Seriously people, have faith in the greatness that is MICH.

We play a MAC school this week in Bowling Green State University. What happens if we go out there and hold BGSU to 10 points and under 250 yards of total offense? Will everything in the world be right again? But what happens if we allow 400 yards of total offense and give up 30 points? Think about this, as long as we win the game does it really matter how poorly or great our defense plays? A win is a win is a win is a win.  Never forget that. Never forget the pain and heartbreak that is associated with 2008 and 2009. Never forget the long holiday season, where instead of gearing up to watch MICH play in a bowl game, we sat at home and rooted for Northwestern to kick somebody’s ass. Never forget the way that the last two years nearly broke Brain Cook.

This season things seem different, from the last two years. The offense seems like a complete, perfectly functioning unit. Everyone on that offense smiles, everyone is incredibly humble. Everyone is All in for Michigan. Everyone on Defense also plays with a smile. Jonas Mouton and Obi Ezeh seemed to have figured a few things out. Craig Roh is becoming a team leader at a very young age. Mike Martin has shown the ability to blow through double teams and wreak havoc in the backfield. And let us not forget the raddest dude ever, Mr. Denard “Shoelace” Xavier Robinson. The guys on the team absolutely love Denard, as does the majority of the fans and hell the media for that matter. He is the unquestioned leader of this team as a true sophomore. He is the guy who led us to a last second victory over Notre Dame, on the road. Has anything like that happened in the last two years? I don’t think so.

So what the fuck is the point of this post? BE POSITVIE. That is the point. All of the shit that our beloved Wolverines have been through the last two years, they don’t need to hear a bunch of bullshit negativity from their fan base. Support these kids in everything they do, and more importantly believe in them. Believe that they can accomplish anything. So our defense may not be the ‘97  version reincarnated. Who cares, these dudes can play and are learning at an incredible rate. This team has great things ahead of it. Believe in Rich Rodriguez, GERG Robinson, and the rest of our coaches. Believe in Denard Robinson, Vincent Smith, Jordan Kovacs, and Obi Ezeh. Just Believe in MICH and things will be just fine. GO BLUE

Watching Umass Murder Michigan by Roll Out on Saturday made my inner charting skills come to life. I was miffed how I could call a Roll out on almost all the 3rd down plays but Michigan was powerless to even put a dent in them. I'm never one to do much charting and leave it to the greats(Brian ect) but watching Umass dial up the same gig on many 3rd downs had me wondering... How many yards? Whos at Fault? and that old Back to the Future II question.... Who What Where and When? Or Why? Whatever... On to the chart!!!


Roll out! roll out! roll out! roll out!

[chorus - "roll out!" in background]
I got my twin glock .40s, cocked back
Me and my homies, so drop that!


Disclaimer:My Crude chart is in no way better than anything Brian or TOB does(charting wise, not MS Paint). It maybe laughable.

RO or MP	Yards	Responsible	Result
Roll Out	16 yards	J.Rogers	First Down
Roll Out	0 yards	Floyd	Break up
Moved Pocket	4 Yards	J.Rogers	Holding on Umass
Roll Out	13 Yards	J.Kovacs	1st Down
Moved Pocket	0 Yards	Mouton	2nd Down
Roll Out	8 Yards	J.Rogers	1st Down
Roll Out	10 Yards	O.Ezeh	First Down
Roll Out	7 Yards	Mouton	QB rush TD(Jonas its OK to try and dislodge the QBs head from his body when he tries to rush for the endzone. Wait thats a flag now...sigh/fuck me)
Roll Out	16 Yards	J.Rogers	First Down
Roll Out	5 yards	C.Gordan	Thrown TD
Moved Pocket	8 Yards	J.Rogers	1st Down

• Out of 11 Roll Outs or Moved Pockets UMASS hit on 8 of them. Two were good Michigan defense and one was a UMASS holding call.
• UMASS gained 87 yards on Roll outs
• James Rogers was to blame for 5 of them.
• 6 of the 11 went for first downs and 2 for Touchdowns 
• Mouton could have smashed the UMASS QB on 2 yard line on the TD Roll Out but for some magical reason pulled up and tried to avoid hitting the QB.... Still have a WTF look on my face.
• I'm surprised Robinson didn't dial up a blitz from the left so when the QB rolls right...BAM! But what do I know? Not much I can tell you that
• 5 Roll Outs in the first half
• 6 Roll Outs in the second half

So looking at it.... It's like a money play you use on NCAA 11 when your brother is better than you and this all you got to keep drives alive. It's cheap and dirty but you do it to keep pace or even compete. Coaching was bad here. The Michigan coaching staff showed no adjustment to these plays. I am wondering if Coach Rich Rod is saying on the head set after the 5th Roll Out "Hey Silver Fox do you plan on doing something about this? ". I dunno... I just wonder if Rich needs to be more hands on when teams pick you apart with two TEs and a Roll out play on most 3rd downs. Michigan learned nothing after the half and almost cost the team and a head coach a lot. Until the next chartering bug hits me... I leave you with this.

We're short a voter this week, so here goes:



Dropped out: 20. USC, 21. Air Force, 22. Houston, 24. Pittsburgh

Others receiving votes: Air Force 11, USC 10, Nevada 10, Missouri 5, Oklahoma State 1

Offense
I mean they put up 42 points right? But after watching the replay I would say it may have been their worse day from a execution stand point. Denard's second pass shouldn't have been thrown. He forced it in for an INT. Two mis-handled snaps, one went for a called back Roundtree touchdown and the other was for a drive killing 7 yard loss. All of this was in his the first half and was cleaned up by the second half. It was good to see that when Denard needs to throw a lot he can do it fairly well. Mike Shaw had his best day and who I have said for a long time could be our best back went for 100+ yards and 3TDs. I really wanna see if Mike can do this on a every game basis. He seemed to do a better job at just using the holes that are given to him instead of dancing. We will see if he can do the same vs BGSU and in Big Ten play. Another coming out party was for Mr.Stonum who had 100+ yards and two big TDs. He showed his elite speed in a WR screen for his first TD. The same question we asked about Shaw will be asked about Stonum. Can he do this going forward?

Once the the Offense got rolling it was a good day but still not it's best. The unit looked to be going through the motions until late in the 2Q so we hoped lessons were learned.

Defense
THEY ARE WHO WE THOUGHT THEY WERE! and thats not very good. Talk about sleep walking/no energy/going through the motion/AHHHHHHHHHHHH RAGE! Even Michigan said "Yeah dude we looked like utter shit". Whether it was death by roll out(Roll out chart coming this week)or by just punching us in the face by running up the middle it was ugly. I put a lot this on Greg Robinson and the coaching staff. They just didn't look ready at all. They made what seemed like no adjustments. My thought is that Will Campbell must be pretty terrible at the moment. Greg refuses to put four down linemen unless on the goal line. The three down linemen just wasn't effective and Michigan refused to change it. Where do we go from here? Lets hope this was a huge wake up call for this side of the defense. If this happens in Big Ten play we will lose. A willing to make adjustments must happen and tackling must be better going forward. Alright I am done rambling.

The Good
-Robinson passing besides his INT
-Welcome to the party Mike Shaw
-Welcome to the party Darrell Stonum
-Taylor Lewan crushing fools?
-At least Mike Martin knows what he is doing.
-Sitting with Section 1 from Mgoblog(THANK YOU SO MUCH!)

The Bad
-Tackling
-Tackling
-Contain
-OMG they called a Roll out?!?!
-Mouton
-Energy?
-Heart?
-ANYTHING????!
-EVERYTHING!!

The Ugly
-The dude behind me calling for Greg Robinson to be fired. Idiot.blogspot.com
-James Rogers
-Kicking
-Special Teams look laughable
-Coaching
-Adjustments
-Cox still not getting a shot?
-In 09 this is a lost

SCS on the Left????

 

On the Saturday of the Bowling Green Game outside of the Stadium somewhere, MM will have its first ever meetup. If you are interested in attending, maybe pounding down some brewdoggers you can send me or Shredder an email. This is a chance to see Derp Blue being a total jackass, fwiw this is completely normal behavior for me. All of the staff have my phone number so if interested send an email, and I’ll give you my number too. How Rad is this? Its pretty fucking rad. I’ll be the guy decked out in Michigan gear, DERP.

 

The MM staff, oh wait this is the MM support staff, they probably  won’t be attending :(

 

 

Obligatory Nard Dawg Pic

We'll start either at 11:30 or whenever I get back from South Quad with my pizza.

So I took a little bit of a sabbatical yesterday, I went off into the great unknown to watch our Wolverines play,  this time I was without any sort of internet access, and my phone was dead, so I had no way of reading the message boards, and blogosphere’s reaction to Michigan’s win. Thank the fucking lord for that. I came home today, and after putting my shit away, I jumped online, big fucking mistake. My head was already pounding for the large quantity of Jagermeister I had drank the night before. So I log onto MGo and although I was expecting some OMG DOOM stuff, I was blown (lol) away. Fire GERG? Seriously dudes, you want to fire the guy whose patchwork defense beat Notre Dame?

We won this game, we are 3-0. Everyone in the known fucking universe, knew that our defense was going to have some bad days. Yesterday, our defense had a bad day. This is  the perfect teaching opportunity for GERG and his merry band of Corches. So what if we got gashed by the UMass offense. We won the fucking game, the only thing that matters at the end of the day is the win loss record. By my count MICH is 3-0. That is as good of a start as any team in College Football history. If any team has started better than 3-0 in the first 3 games of the year, let me know. 

Lose the pissy little  girl attitudes. We are winning football games, what more do you want?  Denard Robinson is the shizz and Michael Shaw had a breakthrough game. So did Darryl Stonum. Lewan cracked the starting lineup. Cam Gordon had an interception. Things couldn’t be much better. MICH

Last week, we saw Michigan's defense play decently. Not great by any means, after all, they did give up 535 yards, but decently. Against UMass, we exhibited what will hopefully be our worst defensive performance of the year. We gave up 436 yards, which is bad against pretty much any team. And we gave them up on only 12 drives, which is even worse. And when you discount a knee to end the first half, these numbers become 438 yards on 11 drives, or 39.8 yards per drive (in contrast, Notre Dame had 17 drives, good for 31.5 yards per drive including the 95 yard pass). On these 11 drives, UMass scored six times (5 TDs, 1 FG). We can't just blame the secondary for having a bad day too because UMass ran the ball 20 more times than they threw the ball and rushed for over 200 yards on the ground. And to cap it all off, UMass is an FCS team.

Well, that was bad. And embarrassing. And almost a repeat of the horror. And many other things that could involve several expletives and lost brain cells from head bashing. So was it as bad as well all thought the minute it was over? No. It was not as bad as we all thought but by no means was it anything close to acceptable.

Before everyone starts panicking, people need to remember that we were a) facing a good FCS team, so it should not have been a repeat of Delaware State and b) coming off of a large win against Notre Dame, possibly accounting for our slow start. This should not be an excuse for our poor play (and I don't want it taken that way), but it could explain a few things. Whatever the case may be, there is no excuse for the way we started and finished. Our defense looked awful and consistently played a cover 3 that looked a lot like 2008 at times. Putting it simply, our defense sucked.

So how can we pull any positives out of this? First of all, UMass is actually a good team that will probably end up being a serious contender for the FCS title. Second, this game should serve as a huge wake-up game for this team. This game will hopefully teach them to never take an opponent for granted and will also likely cause the coaching staff to prepare them for each game like it means the season is on the line. Also, our offense still looked good and we finally had a running back show up, so there's a plus as well.

So, does this spell doom for our season? Absolutely not. We're still 3-0, even with this ugly win. Should we temper our expectations? For those of us predicting more than 8 wins, then probably yes. Otherwise, 7-5 or 8-4 are still possible. In my opinion, this is Michigan just coming out flat and taking an opponent for granted, something that is not likely to happen again. If it happens again next week, then start panicking. And be happy, this is not a repeat of Appalachian State. Remember, we still won, which is the most important stat.

Bonus Content!
Misopongon's quote was so good it needs to be shown in it's entirety.

One thing about the maizestaches on the helmets, I don't see this as "selling out" at all, but a return to tradition.

Back when football was young, it was a much more brutal game. Not only didn't players have wings on their helmets; they didn't have helmets at all. This meant that each play, players would basically just smash faces. Since virtually everyone back then had a mustache, by the time everyone left the field, there would be maize and blue (and purpley) mustache marks on everyone's foreheads.

Mustaches and stripes have been a key part of the Michigan tradition since 1879. With the UMass game we will honor such illustrious founders as head coach Albert S. Pettit (back row, far right); halfback Edmund H. Barmore (front row, far right); rushers William W. Hannan (back row, 2nd from left), David DeTar (back row, 3rd from left), Irving Kane Pond (middle row, far left), and John Chase (middle row, 3rd from left); and goalkeeper (wait, what?) Charles A. Mitchell (back row, 4th from left).



This is the team that beat the 'g' (gentlemanly replacing it with an 'e') out of Racine College, 1-0, then fought mighty Toronto to a 0-0 standstill (and you thought scheduling mid-majors was a problem today?). U-Mass is a perfect game for this, since it hearkens back to the days when Michigan was dying for a chance to line our forehead staches up against those of the mighty East Coast teams. Sure, the land grant-y former Massachusetts Agricultural College is the Michigan State of the Commonwealth, but apparently Harvard and Yale and Princeton are still afraid of the Champions of the West. Figures.

News and Notes

• I will gladly take a loss for UM as I did last week by picking ND.
• We all love us some corn.
• No Leach, no care....
• I almost joined Hulk in the Arizona pick but just couldn't in the end. He may get us there.
• The only excitement this week is in the MSU vs ND pick. I got MSU since it will be Dane's first away game as a starting QB. I think that leads to a Spartan win. 
• The Moon has been discovered. Mac Tonight! Oh yea! 

1. What impressed you most about the win in South Bend?

SCS100: Denard was obviously amazing, but it was the fact that the defense did not get shredded as badly as I expected them to. Even when Crist was playing, they weren't awful and managed to get one INT out of it. Overall, I would say that it was a relatively successful day for the D.

Seth9: The Denard Robinson led winning touchdown drive was definitely the most impressive thing for me. While his 87 yard touchdown run was awesome and certainly the highlight of the night, the winning drive was a work of mastery. Denard was 5-6 passing for 55 yards on that drive, as Michigan efficiently and methodically marched down the field for the touchdown. Also notable was that despite struggling at throwing the ball for most of the second half, Denard carved up the Notre Dame secondary during the drive. And to cap it all off, Michigan's excellent clock management made it so that Notre Dame got the ball back with only 20 seconds left.

The Shredder: The Defense with out a doubt. I know... DENARD DENARD!! OMG DENARD!! But the Defense was avg/solid and got many stops. I was always happy to see that Gallon could catch a punt with out issues. The front 3 played pretty well with Martin beating even triple teams. I hope we can keep Roh on the line but it seems like that was only the case with Herron in the game. With him hurt I am guessing we wont see that until maybe Indi. Floyd and Rogers did enough to keep ND in check and of course Cam had about as bad as a day that you can have. It's his 2nd game so I am not really worried. If the Defense can be average we can have a very good season.

Hulk: There was alot of good from the Maize and Blue from the win on Saturday. Denard was amazing again in South Bend. Racking up 502 yards of offense and showing the mental fortitude/killer instincts is amazing for a QB of Denard's experience. He looked like a grizzled vet with his decision making and control of the offense.
The downfield blocking from both recievers and OL was outstanding. The difference in getting downfield and throwing blocks for Denard is even greater than most other players in the country. If you throw a block for Denard, theres a good chance you turn that 5-10 yard gain into a 87 yard touchdown run. On the play that Denard housed it, not only did all the interior OL get their blocks to create the crease, but Roundtree and Odoms completely chop the legs out from the CBs. Even Stonum gets in the way of his guy to take away his angle. Then the key block on the play. Omameh completely destroys one of the best LBers in the nation in Te'o, forcing him 5 yards downfield and right into the path of the safety that had a angle on Denard. The toughness and hustle of this years team can all be seen in this one play.
The defense stepped up and created turnovers. Mouton looked like a stud in this game. The flea flicker where he read the QBs eyes while flying back to his zone was exceptional. Floyd was in perfect position, baiting Montana to throw the pass.

Dark Blue: Obviously Nard Dawg impressed everybody. I was really pleased with the defense. They bent, but they didn’t break which is a great sign for the rest of the season. The Linebackers played well and so did the secondary minus the boneheaded mistakes by Cam Gordon. Also the way that Brain Kelly chewed his young QB’s out on the sideline was pretty fucking hilarious.

2. Will Denard win the Heisman this year?

SCS100: No, only because I expect him to slow down at some point. We play extremely good defenses in Iowa, Wisconsin, and Ohio State. If he makes at least one of them look bad, then I'll rethink my position, and if he makes two out of three look bad, I'll say he should win. If he makes all three (or even just Ohio State's) look bad, then he should win and I'll start a torch and pitchfork community if he doesn't.

Seth9: Probably not. Denard's superhuman production levels will probably drop, as every defense we face from here on out will focus on him first and foremost. This will allow our other athletes opportunities to produce more, but the Heisman goes to the best individual performer. And it doesn't help that Denard is only an average QB when it comes to throwing the ball, which will irk Heisman voters, as will Michigan's status of not being an elite team yet.

That said, if I had to bet on an individual player to win the Heisman, I would bet on Denard. However, I give him less than a 50% chance of actually winning.

The Shredder: .TBD

Hulk: No. He has certainly played well enough to be the frontrunner right now, but I don't see him winning it because A)I just dont see him keeping the same pace vs. the good B10 teams and B) Michigan winning enough games for him to get real consideration. He is without question one of the most explosive/exciting players in the country, but the Heisman usually goes to a player on a team that is in the National Title hunt. I think Denard has a real chance of winning it in his next two years in Ann Arbor, but not this year.


Dark Blue: I think he has a better shot then anyone else, right now, to win it. DENARD IS A STUD.

3. Final Score of the UMass game?

SCS100: 45-14. UMASS is not a bad FCS team, so I'm a bit wary of even predicting this score. It could be lower, it could be higher. It probably depends on how much Denard plays.

Seth9: I'm predicting 45-10. We'll rack up the points early, but UMass will score on our second string defense a couple times and our production will slow down with our second string receivers and running backs.

The Shredder: Nardigan 42 Umass 13

Hulk: 52- 10. Michigan comes out and does what they should do. Pound UMass into submission. Denard will score early and often and Devin and Tate will get alot of time. We'll get to see alot of young guys on both sides of the ball.

Dark Blue: 56-17. Devin has a monster game.

4. What is your favorite Michigan tradition?

SCS100: The Banner. Running out of the tunnel and touching the banner while The Victors plays is rivaled by one tradition, the sign at Notre Dame in my opinion.

Seth9: When we in the student section do the _________ at hockey games.

The Shredder: Thats hard question right there. I love them all... Maybe having three new captions each game.... wait wait no I hated that one. Glad it's gone. I really love the Banner. It gets me all excited and crazy. My friends and I usually yell "You wanna get NUTS? LET GET NUTS!" after everyone jumps through or when Michigan has a big hit or play. We also have our own tradition on a Michigan kick off of yelling "RIP THEIR FUCKING HEADS OFF!!"  That will get a few looks from the white heads but we are always careful if kids are near by.

Hulk: Has to be all the winged helmets flying out to the middle of the field and touching the M club banner. Its a breathtaking moment.

Dark Blue: The two that stick with me the most, are the winged helmets and Touching the banner. Both are great U of M traditions.

5. Since we are a couple of games into the season, care to rethink you preseason final record Prediction?

SCS100: Since I had Notre Dame as a loss and I'm not so sure about Penn State anymore, I will revise my position to 9-3 with losses to Iowa, Wisconsin, and Ohio State. 10-2 is possible if Iowa slumps for no reason, but I'm still not convinced that we do better than 9 wins.

Seth9: I'm revising my prediction from 7-5 to 8-4. I really like our offense now, but our propensity to give up huge plays in the secondary is very concerning and will probably cost us some games down the road.

The Shredder: I said the low was 6-6 and high was 8-4. I and changing that by one game. Low is 7-5 and high will be 9-3.

Hulk: Eh, I'll predict 8-4 now instead of 7-5. I think we are a little better team now than I thought we would be, but our D will still cost us a few games.

Dark Blue: I predicted 13-0 and I’m gonna stick with that……………….for now.

6. How many yards of offense do we put up on the minutemen?

SCS100: 436 yards, the majority rushing. This is the game that I think the RB's finally show up.

Seth9: I'm betting on something in the neighborhood of 550. I think we'll get some short fields early on, which will limit yardage from getting much higher.

The Shredder: 9847897458957917079879247294 light years.... oh yards ahhh 700 even.

Hulk: 650. 375 passing, 275 rushing

Dark Blue: A whole fucking bunch, no way can this defense stop our offense, it ain’t happening.

7.Any think (thing) I missed?

SCS100: Considering the amount of upsets in the first two weeks, don't take anything for granted.

Seth9: Massachusetts undoubtedly has the best mascot of any team we play this year.

The Shredder: Any think I missed? I think you missed the "g" and hit the "k"...  On a serious note. I was just thinking... Has anyone seen Lloyd Carr's face at a Michigan football game since he retired? I haven't. Is it very telling? Hmmmm.... Something to ponder.

Dark Blue: MM meetup next week for the BGSU game.

Yesterday on MgoBlog I reached out to the Mgoboard for any donations of tickets to a Michigan football game. I had one great email after another of people offering their tickets to UMASS and BGSU. I was flattered and impressed with how much people were willing to give to the boys of St.Johns home. I am happy to say that one person had four tickets to the BGSU game that he was willing to donate. This will really work out well since the tickets will give us more time to plan our trip to AA.

I haven't told our boys yet but they will be sooooo excited. The two UM fans will flying around the house I am sure(they do after TDs anyway) once they find out. I even get to take another boy who is more of an NFL fan but was raving about Denard last week. Three kids were given a day they won't forget by great giving people. I wanna thank everyone who contacted me in by e-mail or by Mgoboard. You guys are outstanding people and the St.Johns Home Boys and I thank you so much. This should be such a great time. I know these people don't ask to be listed but I will just list the people by first name who were willing to give so much to us.

Greg,Ameed,Ron,Matt,Matt,Shawn,Douglas,Kevin,Ben,phjhu89,Adrian,Dagger,Maximinus Thrax,
jlcoleman71

I hope I didn't miss anyone. All these people deserve a lot of thanks for giving to others and our home. One Donation didn't come in a form of tickets but in T-shirts. This donor called M-den and had student shirts sent to us so we can wear them for next weekends game. Once again a 10000000 Thanks for giving to our boys. I know the tickets and shirts will be like Christmas to them in Sept.

So I’ve recently taken a few days off from writing my traditional emo posts. Why you might ask? Well first of all I’ve been sky high recently, the win over ND was huge and yes I am still flying high. Also Dark Blue has met a girl and well use your imagination.

So 2 weeks into the season and what have we learned about Michigan Footbaw? First, Denard Robinson is the shit. This guy if he plays even half as well as he’s played so far, will win the Heisman this year. He has done everything, and I mean everything for your 2010 Wolverines. He has proven that he can throw the ball when needed, everyone who follows college football knows he can run. He so far, has made good decisions with the ball in his hands, and he has yet to turn the ball over. How Rad is Denard Robinson? He is the raddest man in the world.

The second thing we have learned about this team, is our defense isn’t as bad as we thought. Yes we will give up some yards, yes there is some weakness in the secondary. But for the most part this defense has bent, but has yet to break. I think the secondary, minus some terrible mistakes by RS Frosh Cam Gordon, has played pretty well. Both JT Floyd and James Rogers have played very well. In fact most people thought that James Rogers spelled certain doom, but he has preformed above and beyond what the critics have said. Jordan Fucking Kovacs has continued to be Jordan Fucking Kovacs, a solid tackler who doesn’t make many mistakes. Cam Gordon is probably the weak link in the secondary but again he is a RS Freshman. He will get better, and will turn into an All Big Ten performer. Carvin Johnson is out for the next couple of weeks with a sprained MCL, and Thomas Gordon is filling in while he is out. Johnson looked okay against UConn, and Gordon looked ok against ND. This unit will improve with more game experience, have no doubt about it.

The third thing we have learned is our special teams suck. The kicking game is awful, who knows who the kicker will be from here on out. I have hope for Gibbons but the dude needs to improve. So far Hagerup has performed like a true freshman. He’ll get the shanks out of his system, and will be fine but for now hopefully we won’t have to punt very often. The punt returners HELD ON TO THE GODDAMN BALL against Notre Dame, hopefully sometime in the near future they can actually get some return yards. 

So what does this mean for the rest of this season? Well the dream of 13-0 is still alive. We have beaten two respectable BCS schools, according to the Sagarin ratings the only school to play a tougher schedule in the first two weeks was USC. Am I making this fact up? Maybe, but whatever it sounds good. The road from here on out will be a tough road, but adversity is one thing these young Wolverines are used to. Big Ten play will not be easy, they will be gunning for young Denard Robinson. There are some good teams in the Big Ten who will test our linebackers with play action passing. Can we overcome these things and remain perfect? Only time will tell but the optimism is running high.

Offense

Move well at times, other times just shot it's self in the foot. Refs could have been better. I feel we left a lot of points on the field when NDs Qb went down. I wasn't to thrilled with some of our 3rd down play calls. We had a draw play on 3rd and 4 that went for 2 yards(Shaw). Also a boot leg that got tipped. I rather just let Denard do his thing on those 3rd downs. But what do I know? Rich Rod sticks to coaching UM and I will stick to hunting down Turtles. Running Backs were blah again. If you think about how dangerous this offense could be if we find a running back. I mean really. We do a lot of moving of the ball up and down the field just do to our so far stud QB. Think if we can get a RB going? WR were great, could have held a few blocks longer but were pretty sure handed. Having Roundtree in this game was HUGE just like that crappy radio show. Overall a good day but could have been better. We can grow even more which is scary.

Defense

I was shocked how many stop this Defense put up. At one point like 4 or 5 in a row? They did pretty well besides some bone head plays by Cam Gordan who is in his first game and will learn. On the deep throw to Rudolph Cam tried to play the ball and needs to play the giant 6'6 all pro TE that got behind him. Martin was double team most the day. The team forced 3 TOs which is a nice change for last year. Mouton continues to look very good. We will see how Brian grades him out. Roh was solid. Tackling could have been better, we missed a few in the back field. Most on of which was on Allen. The QBs got away from time to time but nothing major. Cullen almost cost us a lot with his late hit which was questionable. I was flashing back to Colorado but thank god Dane threw it to Denver Colorado instead of Michael Floyd.... I than fell on my living room floor.

The Good

-Mouton is mooootasic
-Denard is Mr.502
-Sonic 16
-NBCEE it(get it?)
-Roundtree stops bleeding for UM/ND game. Thank god.
-O-line continues to push other uglies around.
-Radnard,Dreads,87 yards,Sonic Boom,The Kneel
-Kelly's face

The Bad

-3rd down play calling
-Cam Gordan(You'll bounce back buddy)
-Teo is a world crusher
-Obi still looks like he's on Rollerblades
-Running back grading out at a "Meh" or "Bah"

The Ugly

-Kicking... 2002 anyone?
-Punting.. He's a Frosh but I expected better.
-Kelly's face
-ND QB depth
-Tate's fake huge
-The Rainbow

I work for St.Johns home in Grand Rapids. It's a home for abused and negleted kids. We have all ages on campus and I work in the 15-18 boys home. Many our boys will either move on with a foster family or will have to wait it until they are 18 in which they will go into independent living.

I did this for a basketball game last year and had 4-5 great people donate tickets so I could take the boys to a M basketball game which they loved. At that time we had a good 5-6 boys were pretty die hard UM fans but many have moved on. We now have two die hards left who have been asking me to bring them to their first game and I tried to get some funds from SJH but funds are limited and couldn't be promised anything.

So I am reaching out to the Midnight Maize community. If anyone has 3-4 extra tickets for UMASS or BGSU and is willing to donate please email me at midnightmaize@gmail.com

The two boys would be super surprised and excited. Umass is coming pretty quick so I am pretty sure I could get SJH to flip the bill on over night mail since they appreciate donations so much for their kids.

Someone last year donated 8 tickets to the WMU game which went awesome and kids came away so impressed they all said they wanted to attend UM. All those kids have now moved on and I hope they one day find their way to college after experiencing such a awesome day on the UM campus.

If anyone is interested in donating than please contact me. Thanks for reading!

This will become a weekly thing on either Sundays or Mondays depending on how fast I get the votes:


Dropped Out: 11. Virginia Tech, 14. Georgia Tech, 17. Florida State, 18. Georgia, 22. Penn State, 23. West Virginia, 24. BYU

Others Receiving Votes: Kansas 10, West Virginia 8, Texas A&M 8, Missouri 7, Oregon State 5, Penn State 5, Florida State 4, California 3, Kansas State 3, Northwestern 3, Texas Tech 2

BRAIN MAY DO MUPPETS BUT I DO FUCKING TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES! HAVE SOME FUCKING PIZZA! TURTLES IN A FUCKING HALF SHELL! MICHIGAN FUCKING POWER! 

The University of Michigan is special in many, many ways. It is one of the top universities in the world, providing excellent undergraduate and graduate education and producing high level research in nearly every academic field. It has the winningest NCAA football and hockey programs of all time and a strong and vibrant athletic tradition that started well over a century ago. The Michigan football tradition in particular is quite distinguished. Here are some highlights spread over time:

How many Rings...err... Yards will Sonic 16 grab in South Bend?