Offense
So the offense shit the bed. No really they shit the bed. Instead of playing football Al got all cute. I like to mix in the Devin stuff but not make it our offense. We refused to run any running back. 10 carries for our backs just puts a ton of pressure on Denard. After a while the MSU Defense knew the running back wasn't getting the ball. It kills play action and zone read stuff.

When MSU started blitzing the hell out of us we didn't adjust at all. I swear the team hasn't practiced at all vs blitz packages. The OL,RB,WR and Denard were all clueless. WR and RB were not running hot routes. Denard was not checking anything at the line. I don't think this offense has been blitzed since Denard took over. Teams were to scared it would break Denard open. Now teams will use this to blitz him at will. So he looked pretty lost when MSU brought it. His OL didn't help and neither did anyone else. They will need to practice this all week since teams will bring it now. Al failed to solve the blitzing by throwing in a screen or anything to that nature. Maybe a RB draw if the blitz were coming from the edge. MSU didn't even try to hide  it.

The 4th and 1 play may have been dumbest play call I have seen in a while. Denard up the middle is the simple play to call. It works for a yard. Having him turn his back to a blitz is just dumb. You knew it was coming. Again trying to be cute. Just play football. Make it simple.

Defense
It wasn't great but it wasn't bad either. The edge is still a sore spot for this defense. Roh, Ryan were getting smashed on the edge all day. The defense still did a nice job with Cunningham and Cousins. Kept them in check. Martin got loose of course. Floyd was terrible on his one TD as he just lunged for Martin instead of trying to tackle him. Which would have brought on 4th down and maybe a FG attempt. Besides Countess all the DBs struggled. Thank god they were not tested much. T-Wolf needs to just sit out a game and get better. You can't help the team playing in a wheel chair. It wasn't a great outing by the defense but enough for a win. Mattison was the best coach on this day. That isn't saying much.

Dirty Play
Do I like it? No. He should have been tossed. He wasn't so I can get over it. Now call me a bad sport or whatever but there needs to be a little Dog in us.. Don't want a bunch of kitty cats. Do you think Mike Hart, Woodson and Woodley let their QB get cheap shot like that without something coming back on MSU? Now I am not saying hurt anyone but you can't let people just punch your teammates in the face and get away with it. This team is really nice at times. Sometimes too nice. We need a few dogs out there. We are missing that. Call me whatever but as a team we just took it. We looked scared and soft at times.

Toughness
Hoke coaches it. In fact he throws it down our throats. We know its something he preaches 24/7. So why did the team look soft again in a very physical game? People blamed that on Rich. Thought it was what the spread did to this team. I think that was always nonsense. My thoughts? I think the personality of this team from Denard on down is just a bunch of nice dudes. Good guys. Like I said earlier. The 97 and 2006 teams had some dogs in that locker room. We had some mean men who would kill you. Right now I think we lack that. We just do. We got great guys on this team but nice doesn't always when you find yourself is a nasty cock fight. The closest dog we might have is Lewan and that just isn't enough.

During our live blog Yak Attack from SE Michigan Sports was on a role. He helped soften a bad day.

YakAttack:I love how Shred tried to reel it back on topic. That's why I pledge my undying allegiance to this man

YakAttack:  I agree shred. At some point you have to retaliate, or you end up Adebisi's bitch. At least that's what I learned on Oz

YakAttack:  I wanna see Gholston and LaGarrette Blount in the octagon

The Good
-Wide Outs played well when they were given the ball
-Held Cunningham in check
-Mattison made some nice adjustments as the game went on
-ahh the first drive was good?
-Denard jet sweep
-Roundtree catch
-Defense was..aahh ok.

The Bad
-We are terrible on the edge still
-Roh was meh...again
-D-line and O-line getting zero push most the day.
-10 carries for our backs.
-No Shaw?
-Al like Rich has fallen in love with Denard to the point that it hurts the offense.

The Ugly
-Anyone know what a Hot Route is?
-Denard's lack of getting the F out of the pocket when he was blitzed.
-coaching... Al just got to damn cute. Forgot about the backs.
-Going all nuts with the Devin play package.
-Letting MSU punk us during and after play. Need some dogs on this team.
-execution on all fronts sucked.
-4th and 1 play will go down in history.
-All our QBs lock on. Zero Progression.
-Punting on the MSU side of the field.

EMU Thoughts

The Good
-Smith would be a beast in the Mac
-We has Safeties(that is internet cat talk)?
-Denard would be a beast in the Mac
-Mike Martin went back to norm
-Roh found his smile?
-Black a player or pretender?
-Goal line is our bitch
-Big Will...ahhh ok.

The Bad
-Man ball fail
-Right now Denard couldnt throw a football through a open door.
-Contain...CONTAIN!! DAMNIT! <--- Me from my couch.
-Hawthrone??? Now hiring.
-Who needs red shirts?

The Ugly
-Zero catches for Roundtree and Hemingway
-Any ball that leaves Denards hand.
-Not seeing more of Devin
-Shaw? Still have a pulse?
-1st quarter scoring:0!

Has Denard been that bad? For me yeah he has. For whatever reason he can't even make the simple throws. When the good teams shut down the run and Denard goes all Moon ball we might be trouble. He has been so hit or miss. Right on the money to Gallon.. Or miss a wide up Koger up the sideline. Not sure if he is just thinking so much or what but I hope he figures it out. His passing has been brutal. I can't just blame it on man ball like some do. I think he has been terrible in shotgun or warming up before the game. SDSU would be a good start to find his mojo in the passing game. Hemingway and Roundtree are starving... Feed them!

Offense
Ugh.. for the first three quarters I wanted to know how 2009 Denard had time traveled back and taken the place of 2011 Denard. He was really bad until the forth. He missed some simple passes. The first screen he tried to run to Smith was one of the worst over throws I have ever seen. 3 and outs were rampant... Dogs and Cats living together.. Mass Hysteria! Then the night clouds parted and god smiled down on Michigan Stadium. Every moon ball connected. Balls were magically slipping out of Tommy Rees's hands. God said.... Denard go do you. And he did. Do we have a running back? hell no. Don't even say Fitz. The dude can't make it through games or practices with out being hurt. He will never be a major force on this team due to this. The other avg a whooping 2 yards a carry. Shaw didn't even see a carry(like 2) and Hopkins was bad. At least out WR can catch a jump ball or two. Hemingway may never go down into lore like Braylon or Carter but the dude has turned into a damn good stud. Roundtree may have found his mojo again after having a case of the drops. The O-line was alright... not really. Got pushed around at times. I didn't watch them enough but what I saw wasn't great at times.

Defense
Can we say they are average yet? They aren't great but they aren't last years suck fest either. Some of the play calls by Mattison were terrible. Notre Dame made smart adjustments. Nothing is more frustrating then having Mike Martin run away from the ball carrier when he should have ripped his head off at the line. The play call on the final Notre Dame touchdown was dumb. Asking Marvin to drop back that fast and track a WR to make a play is crazy thinking. Other then that he made this defense force teams to punt! Which was a rare thing last year. We also had some nice 3rd and 1 stops. If anything this defense is forcing turnovers.. If you don't think its average.. I do think it is. Not sure on the current rankings but I think its damn close to average..yay.

Special Teams
Punting was alright. Wile tackled a man! "Yeah I saw that!" May wanna lay low Matt.

The Good
-Denard went Postal in the 4th.
-Moon balls worked like 85% of the time.
-Smith still finds way to make plays
-Big Will might not be a lost cause? Home Alone YESSSSSS!!!!!
-Ryan is like a poor mans Matthews on the edge.
-All your 3rd and 1s belong to us!
-Still forcing turnovers.
-The Big House was a thing of Magic.
-Piped in Music.. There I said it. Sue me.
-HD Boards! Mooooore!
-Rees forgetting to use stick em.

The Bad
-All Running game not named Deanrd
-Some defensive play calls
-Some offensive play calls
-Oline play was "meh"
-Anyone covering Floyd
-Mike Martin running backwards

The Ugly
-Denards not
-My guess is that Denards INT count goes up.
-Last defensive play.
-The first three quarters
-The teams nerves

The atmosphere was awesome. All the pre game was great and we stood the whole game! Which is like find pot of gold. The Irish fan next to be was a  good loser. I had a blast. best game I have ever been to.

Offense
I felt like I barley watched the offense. With the defense scoring 14 pts and some long drives(and weather) the offense didn't get as many plays in as one would hope but they still looked solid. Half the time I thought I was watching a bootleg copy of Rich's offense but with an extra TE. Denard didn't do anything crazy but it seems that if Michigan needs him to they can go "all Denard" when they need first downs or 50+ yard TDs. I liked what I saw out of the running backs. I hope they get even more touches. Fitz got better as the game went on. His one long rip should have went for more but for some odd reason he ran at the safety instead of cutting off to the left for more yards. He also had a nice Mike Hart moment as he juked left behind the LT when the hole closed.. Like a woooo moment. I also think Shaw looked good in his only 4 carries. As he ripped off a long TD run and did some other nice things. The WR spot was sorta quite with the big names only getting one catch and Gallon had a nice catch.

Denards passing was still not where it should be as he left Koger out to dry and missed Dileo which may have been a TD if he does. It did seem the offense was ramping up before the weather went all crazy. If anything Michigan seems very flexible. I liked what I saw.

Defense
Whats this? Blitzing? What is that? You can do that? I thought that was against the rules. It was nice to see that from a Michigan team since Ron "freaking" English. I will say the team looked very shaky in the first drive and in zone coverage. I think the first drive there was a lot of butter flies. Lots of confusion in the secondary. Michigan didn't allow a big play which was nice for a change. The d-line didn't do much and them getting pressure on the QB without a blitz is troubling. Unless the ghost of Brandon Graham enters Roh and Black body then I doubt we will see much pressure all year. The LB got subbed in and out a lot. Kenny was alright. Missed on a sack when he had a free shot. Ryan looked good with his chances and the coaching seems to be helping the whole unit. T-Wolf looked great before he went down on ST(why). Outside of that the back 4 looked alright. They got nickle and dime to death.

Back to the blitzing and Kovacs. I like it. It came from different gaps and wasn't shown until the snap. Kovacs timed them perfect and got a full head of steam on both. Also the 14 pts scored by Herron was awesome since he has been a bench player his whole career. Nice to see him make some huge plays. I still see big issues with the defense but I think we can be average.. Cross your fingers.

Special Teams
The black eye of the day. Terrible kick off coverage and a blocked FG. At least those kinds of things can be corrected in practice. I know it is a philosophy thing but I can't say I am crazy about having T-wolf playing on ST and any other big time starter. Also we still don't know if a kicker exists on the roster. Wile was ok in punting... Hangerup get your head out of your ass ASAP.

The Good
-One two punch running backs?
-OLine play
-Deanrd ball is alive and well.
-Defensive adjustments?!?! Yes it is real.. Not a myth.
-Kovacs walk on QB crush special
-Herron setting records
-Competent coaching
-Mitch McGary having a blast

The Bad
-Zone defense
-Dline couldn't get much done vs a "meh" Mac dline
-Mike Martin played? pretty quite.
-Kenny's whiffed sack
-Denard still not as accurate on some throws as you would like.

The Ugly
-Weather
-Kick Coverage
-Special Team.. Not so special
-The Pop Evil song
-Troy getting hurt... On Special Teams

The Bizarre
Is this dude real? Looks like a Wax Figure...

Offense 
No reason to even talk about the first half since Michigan didn't even show up. Mistakes all over the field. They looked lethargic. Liked they expected to loose. It was a poor first half. I think we only had the ball 3-4 times as Wisc just sucked clock. They were booed going into the locker room. The 2nd half was better but it was frustrating since you know the game could have been closer if we show up in the first half. Denard had his best game in some time. 300 and some yards total. Running back didn't do much. V.Smith may have been knocked out for the OSU game as he was hit in the head by a knee. It's the kind of performance that makes your piss boil.

Defense
ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh........arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...uuuuuuuuuuuuugghhhhhhhh...
That's how that went. On the bright side they forced a TO but on the down side they were phyiscaly dominated for the whole game. At one point it got embarrassing as Wisc didn't even try to pass the ball. I think it was 29 straight runs to end the game. That's alarming... But at the same time the UMASS game gave us a peak into the future. We couldn't stop their run game so why in the hell would we stop Wisconsin's? I mean Wisconsin is a very good team, maybe the best in the B10. They start like 20 seniors or some crazy shit but it goes to show how far off this team is. I thought we would see more four down linemen and didn't. The 3-3-5 seems to be doom vs a pro style team which seems obvious to most(besides our coaches). Even the announcers made comments about it being a tough defense to defend vs such a huge physical team like Wisconsin. They are gonna have to pull out some pure magic to make OSU punt enough for us to win. Wisconsin never punted once.

Special Teams
A giant kick in the balls most the day. Gallon fumbled again and I have been pretty light on the kid as most have been pretty tough on him but that has to be it right? Stonum came in and did his thing that we knew he could. He is a great kick returner but we saw why he hasn't been doing it. Such a high risk in getting hurt and thats what happened. His Twitter said it would be hard to keep him off the field for OSU so we will see. The on side kick was a must and great call. Michigan just couldn't come up with it.

The Good
-Denard's best game in a while
-Oline was alright
-Stonum
-Kovac's sack...finally a blitz!
-Mike Martin is still a beast with no ankles.

The Bad
-Need to complete a pass? Just throw it to the middle of field.
-Gallon fumbles...again
-Denard's John like tipped passes.
-To Wisc D-lineman who run the other way.
-Ugly Mouton showed up.

The Ugly
-25..26...27...28...29 running plays in a row?!?!?
-Stonum being ripped into two.
-Starting to wonder if all the 3-3-5 worry wards were right?
-coaching
-Dline was taken to the wood shed...as was the whole team.
-V.Smith may be out.
-Sammy Watkins picks Clemson...
-Seniors going out that way.
-Who needs a drink?

Offense
Well it wasn't pretty. Really it was down right nasty. Along with the weather. Maybe the spread doesn't work in nasty wet conditions with a natural crappy field? But anyway yeah it was ugly. Denard struggled for the second straight week. He had issue finding running lanes and when they did they closed quick. I'm not sure if Denard is just so banged up to the point where he has lost some burst or the O-line isn't getting to the second level but his running game has taken a step back. Passing wise he was shaky again. He once again he "FREAK OUT" moments where he just heaves the ball to the safety for a fair catch. His first INT I haven't watched yet but that didn't look much better. Denard hasn't gotten to that point where he just throws it away or... this novel idea... JUST RUN!! Denard use those magical legs that god gifted you with and run until tackled good sir!

The running backs again played alright. V.Smith had a nice day with 97 yards and a TD. He was a solid runner most the day. Doing nothing outrageous but was getting 3-4 yards on most carries. Michael Shaw took a hard hit and never saw the field again. Hopkins was pretty solid. Ran hard has always and had the winning TD to seal the game.

The WR had a alright day. Roundtree found the endzone and Hemingway moved the chains a few times but their were some drops out there. The offense has a whole just struggled most the game vs a pretty bad Purdue defense but the elements had something to do with it. I may have been the most frustrating performance this year since you knew that Michigan could just blow it open if it just did what it has done most the year and put up a lot of points. Whats the saying?  A win is a ...win.

Defense
The defense produced TOs and even scored. Than again Purdue is so mangled it almost laughable. Michigan did what they should have done. I mean Purdue was using its banged up QB has a running back... But he has some wheels. The Robinson kid was brutal and Michigan forced him into mistakes. Roh showed again why he should have been playing DE all year. He got to the QB at times and forced the fumble that Cam picked up and ran in. Cam again looked a lot better near the line and I did notice Vinopal had a few nice plays. Coming up and making tackles. He didn't ever seem out of position. Can he do is vs Wisc and OSU? ahhh I'm not sure. But the kid hasn't been awful. The D only allowed 9pts and had it best outing. Even if it was coming with a mangled Purdue team, this was a shot of confidence going into it's toughest tests. 

The Good
-Denard's 3rd down run
-V.Smith(he deserves it)
-D Line got some push for once
-Hagerup destroyed a football
-Lewan saves a drive
-Roundtree route running
-Cam to the house

The Bad
-Tate was so-so
-Obi was...ok!!!
-Shaw being knocked out
-Denard sacked?? Huh?
-O Line had it worst game

The Ugly
-Denard's pick 6
-Denard's missed tackle
-Denard's arm punt to the safety is still an issue
-Denards fumble
-Ahh he didn't play well.
-Purdue's QB Frankenstein
-Kicker? Kicker?
-Mouton and Martin still out...maybe longer?

-

Offense
67 points and I missed 7 of those since I got in the stadium late. It's pretty crazy to think what the score might have been had Michigan not TO the ball 5 times. 67 may have been the score at the end of regulation and a win. Denard had a good day passing with 300 and some yards before going out with a knock to the head. While in Denard improved a lot when he had time. There were moments when he had all day and didn't have a MSU/Iowa freak out bomb INT. He sat in there and threw down field with some very good accuracy. Illinois did a great job of holding Denard running the ball. Denard ran 19 times for 62 yards. Illinois seemed to dare Michigan and Denard to throw all day when he was in. Denard did have two INTs. One I feel was Webbs fault for not looking for the ball out of his break(who knows, it may have been Nards) and the other was tipped which was on Denard.

Tate came in and played pretty well but still has Tate Forcier moments. On his first play he had a wide open Hemingway and fumbled the ball when trying to throw it(slipped). At that point I just punched myself in the face since I had no idea why Denard wasn't in. Tate did come back to play very well(besides a INT) and lead Michigan to the dramatic win. Having him as our backup has been HUGE. I don't wanna think what we might be looking at with a true frosh back up in Devin. I just hope Tate sticks around but at the same time he deserves to play and wouldn't be surprising if he left. You gotta love Tate, he sticks in there and keeps playing. I have feeling that Tates growing pains maybe behind him at this point and "gets it" going forward.

The running backs played very well as a unit. The best of the year IMO. Lets take a look at the running chart with our backs.
-V.Smith 13 carries 73 yards(5.6)
-Hopkins 5 carries 45 yards(9.0 avg!) 1 TD
-Shaw 9 carries 44 yards(4.9 avg) 3 TD
Thats 27 carries for 162 yards at an avg of 6.0 per carry. Thats a great day as a whole. What stands out more than anything is we need more Hopkins and Shaw. It seems like Shaw came in late and made most his gains. If I had my choice it would be Shaw with 13 and Hopkins with the 9 but V.Smith had a good day and takes a ton of crap for being a steady back who won't wow you. 6.0 avg is outstanding and it came vs at the time the 15th best defense in the nation so no baby seal here.

The wide receivers played a great game, maybe one of the best I have seen since watching Michigan. I gave this group a lot of crap for not playing well last year and this year they maybe the most improved area of the team. Roundtree set records 9 rec for 246 yards for a 27 yard avg! He did have some drops which is a bit funny for him. Hemingway continues to surprise and amaze me. The dude had a gross move on his TD up the side line where he junked the pants out of three Illinois defenders. At his weight there is no way he should be doing some of the things that he does. Stonum also had a huge TD catch and still seems to be the 3rd option. I am starting to think we may have the best WR core in the Big Ten. It's great seeing the down field passing back at Michigan.

The line played very well as always. They did have a few bad moments with holding and false starts. Even gave up a sack when Denard went down which is rare. So all in all they did very well. The holes were there for the RBs all day.

Defense
I know 65 points in a lot but they looked so much better. We just attacked more. Sure it lead to some long scores but at least we are trying at this point and not just sitting back and being shredded(hehe). Even some young guys made some great plays in space. Avery's one on one tackle(where was that vs Iowa?) on the QB to force a 4th down and a missed FG. Cam looked more at home and blitzed well off the edge. I think Adam Patterson did better with Martin out. Even the most hated on recruit ever Ray Vinopal had a good day and had a huge stop to stuff Illinois on a 3rd down drive. Kenny Demons had a monster day from what I could tell. He should be pretty good going forward. The Defense just seem to never pack it in. They keep fighting no matter how bad they have been. They forced enough 4th downs in the end.

Did they crap the bed a few times? Yes. The Illinois wheel route to the RB happened twice. No one with in a mile of the RB. A few missed tackles here and there but man they can out and played their balls off and had a lot to do with that win. I didn't see much three down linemen and when I did they seem to bring CaM off the edge. So they just seem to attack more and say whatever happens with the secondary happens. I hope the effort continues.

The Good
-Denards long ball(it's getting there)
-Denard in the pocket
-RR putting Denard's health before his job.
-Free tickets from my cousin who was the side judge.
-Pick your poison at running back
-Pick your poison at wide receiver
-Best half time show ever! Thats right EVAAAR!
-Tate will not be denied
-FG is Good!
-Still fighting
-The crowd
-Moutons last stand...game!
-Defense looked avg at times(thats a GOOD!)
-Roundtree becomes elite
-WE SETTIN RECORDS YO!

The Bad
-Five TOs
-Read option defense could have been better
-FG is missed
-Student section not full(Booooo!!)
-Maybe too aggressive on offense at times.
-Tate's fumble. Could have been a huge gain.

The Ugly
-Wheel route blues
-Denards head
-Martins bashed ankles
-Lions coaching..whoops...Oh well.
-Tackling on the perimeter
-Drunk Michigan fans fighting with Illinois fans all game. You embarrassed the whole fan base.