So the optimism has carried over, now it is Monday, 5 long days until our Wolverines take the field in South Bend. Michigan has gone from a team that was predicted to win 6 or 7 games, to a team now expected to win 9 or 10. Are we jumping to conclusions? Is the unbridled optimism to much? Can we expect the momentum gained in the ass whoopin of UConn to continue to carry us?

This is not the 2009 Wolverines. You can throw out all of the bullshit about the 4-0 start last year. At no time last year did we look even close to as competent as we were on Saturday. Even against Notre Dame, and the magic that ensued. Notre Dame was a very mediocre team last year, and we needed a miracle to beat them. We also needed another miracle to beat a not very good Indiana team. In 2009 our offense at times looked competent, but was always glaringly inconsistent. Our defense last year, even with God on the D Line was so full of holes it made Swiss cheese look water tight. Tate Forcier and the rest of the Offense were so young that these sins are forgivable. The D was in their 3rd defensive coordinator in 3 years. I offer no excuses only facts.

Fast forward to 2010. The offense has grown into the machine that we thought it could be when Rich Rodriguez was hired in December of 2007. David Molk and his minions along the offensive line have turned into a force to be reckoned with. The blocking in the UConn game was outstanding, yet Greg Frey, U of M’s offensive line coach was happy but he thought there was room for improvement.

Pretty much satisfied with the offensive line play. Liked the effort. No "high grades" on the OL - partially because it's tougher to grade out well with Coach Frey. "A couple guys didn't play nearly as well as we thought they would," both at the point of attack and on the second level, but they were solid as a group.

Full presser notes found here.

Denard Robinson was obviously the star on Saturday, and with good reason. This dude looked like Pat White, except he threw the ball better then White did as a Sophomore. He has an absolute cannon for a right arm. If I had any kind of photoshop skills there would be a picture here. Instead I’ll try to paint a picture using words. Imagine if you will, that you are 19 years old, and about to start you first game in front of 113,000 people. Imagine all of the butterflies in your stomach as you enter what has to be considered a must win game. Imagine that you have had to endure 9 months of criticism, negative attacks, and media bias. Imagine that you are about to face a team that returns 16 starters and has a good shot at winning the Big East.

Denard Robinson faced all of this on Saturday, yet no butterflies showed. Sure he made some mistakes, there were a couple of poor reads on the Zone Read, but really who gives a shit. The positives make me forget the few negatives. I am not jumping on the Nard Dawg for Heisman campaign yet, but a few more performances like on Saturday, and this loyal fan will be firmly on board. 

This week things get a little bit tougher. We go on the road, to face Notre Dame. I think Brain Kelly will probably succeed at ND, but I think it will take some time. I think 7 wins is probably the best possible outcome for the Fighting Irish, although really I don’t know that much about this team. We know they are talented, if there was one thing Weis did well it was recruit. Yet as us Michigan fans know, changing systems can sometimes be a very hard road. I think Kelly has more talent at Notre Dame then Michigan did when Rodriguez took over, yet it’s still going to take some time to iron all of the kinks out of his offense. Brain Kelly has won everywhere he has ever been and I expect ND to be no different, but it’s not going to be this year. Their offense didn’t look overly impressive vs. Purdue, and the Defense, although forcing a couple of turnovers, allowed Purdue to move the ball quite well. And fwiw Purdue sucks.

So before I get to far into my ND preview I should wrap this up. The preview will probably be up on Thursday for those that are interested. One final thought before I put down the keyboard. I think Brain and Tim at MGoBlog deserve some love. I think a lot of us take all of their hard work for granted. Don’t. These guys do this because they like us, love the University of Michigan’s athletics. Lets try not to start any stupid threads or clutter the message board with crap. Treat MGo like you would treat a U of M football player, with tons of respect. Also if you haven’t read this or this by Dex at the Wolverine Liberation Army do so now. Dex is so good at the emo MICH post, read it and enjoy. Also keep smiling because Denard would want you to do so.