Sunday 9 October 2011

Game Reaction

Yesterday was a real mixed bag in terms of performance for Michigan; on both sides of the ball. Still, a win is a win and it sets up a massive game against MSU next week, with the winners taking control of the Legends division.

On offense, Michigan couldn't get their running backs into the game, and Northwestern really keyed in on Denard's running in order to force him to pass. This worked for them as Denard went on to throw a few terrible balls that were picked off and returned for good yardage. Denard still made some nice throws in the first half, but in the second half things really seemed to flow.

In the 2nd half UM often found themselves in 2nd and medium situations, and this allowed Borges great variety in his play calling. The screen passes seemed pretty effective today, and have done all year come to think of it. If I have one complaint about Borges in the game, it's that we didn't see a real read option play for Denard, even though the team has had success with it this year.


On defense, UM looked shaky in the first half, especially against the triple option run by Colter. NW did a really good job of getting their speed players in 1 on 1 situations out in space, where they made Michigan's tackling look below average. Pass coverage seemed pretty good overall, there weren't any blown coverages; but Persa was throwing the ball well which is how they amassed so many yards.

In the second half UM did a much better job of getting to the football, and even got some pressure on Dan Persa with a couple of sacks - (was the Kovacs blitz counted as a sack?). The interception was questionable to say the least, but at least we can say UM made the most of the opportunities given to them.

The MSU game will be a tough one to call, because they also have a good passer, and a much better defense than NW, but if Michigan can play to their potential for four (or even just three) quarters, they could easily come out of East Lansing 7-0.

65 comments:

  1. Good recap Benji,

    Blake Countess and Jake Ryan have made great contributions over the past weeks. They are giving me hope that we can still have some play makers while we await our Top 5 cavalry.

    I really hope MSU think they can win with the same game plan as last year. Because, I think Al and Greg have done an exceptional job with their schemes and adjustments. We just need to Denard to make better reads and throws (easier said than done). Devin could be the game changer if Al decides to heavily feature that package where Denard is at slot or back.

    Also a small note - I hate that the band didn't make the trip to NW. Me and my daughter had to sing the victors acapella.

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  2. Kovacs did get a sack on that play where Persa lost his helmet.

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  3. I think the MSU defense will be a great game. I also think that Michigan can take advantage of the aggressive play of the sparty front 4 with miss direction, screens, and draws. Im going to disagree with Benji on the passer part. While Cousins can make some good throws, I think he is a horrible decision maker, especially in the redzone. He forces many of his throws when pressured. If we can get to him, he will make mistakes. They must keep them off balance with the Gardner package. I thought it was good sign to see him vs NW yesterday, if anything to give Denard some rest. He did show that he can throw as well. That throw on the run rolling out of the pocket was superb. Here is the only thing that worries me, and I think you will see it with not only MSU but with Illinois as well. Like ND MSU has a big physical receiver in Cunningham. (he is not as good as Floyd) But he poses problems. Illinois has a big tall speedy receiver as well that TORCHED NW in their comeback win... His name escapes me at the moment. I must say however that Mattison and Borges have done MASTERFUL jobs of adjustments after the half. I cant wait till next week, GO BLUE!

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  4. I think against MSU we need to play hard nose football. read options and screen passes that set up the big play. If i remember correctly denard threw key picks in the endzone last year. When we get in redzone thats where we make MSU stop denard running three times. Dong give him a tough sotuation to throw a pick. The field is smaller and backs can make more plays if careless. Whoever wins the redzone and turnover battle wins the game! Either MSU by 10 or Michigan by 10 and im gonna go with Denatd throwing one pick and having 3 td's to win the game late! Go blue

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  5. It should be a really close game on Saturday. Before the season I picked MSU to win it, but the way that Michigan adjusts during the games gives me a lot more hope than I had preseason.

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  6. I agree with alot of what Benji said. If DR could put together a whole game I would eat some crow about some of the things I have said about him. I still think DG will be the starter next year.

    Thank god NW forgot to run the option in the second half.

    The offically were wrong on a couple of different calls.

    Countess and Big Will played well again.

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  7. I know this is off subject but.
    Jim Harbaugh is doing a great job with the 49ers.

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  8. Jer89 not a chance that DG is the starter! Thats stupid and im tired about hearing about devin... He will start after denard is gone. You dont replace a heisman candidate and a qb leading his team to what seems to be a great year. Thats stupid and our coach is not going to try and lose his job. So get off dg starting, it wont happen till robinsons gone or hurt

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  9. Personally i pray once we get into the redzone against MSU we do not run DR 3 times asking MSU to stop him. The NW game was just a reminder of how fragile DR can be sometimes and it seems like last year the more the season goes on the more fragile he becomes. Speaking of which does anyone know the extend of denards injury when he went off and was grabbing his wrist? Also does anyone know why after Vincent Smith made that tackle during one of DR interceptions that he didn't play the rest of the game? I understand DR is a majority of our offense but we need other play makers to step up the further we get into the season and B1G schedule and ask teams to stop them just not DR.

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  10. C-Note, I agree with you about the WR's we have to face, but that ND Game was the 2nd Game of the year, this team has greatly improved and getting great play from many guys on Defense as they learn the system and getting GREAT coaching. I've been watching film and this D is for real. Northwestern will end up being one of the best Offenses we will have faced this year and we shut them down in the 2nd half.

    Benji, great coaches make great adjustments, what a concept huh? I believe we have the best coaching staff in the country.

    Denard is frustrating sometimes, but exciting as hell most of the times, I wanna see him keep improving and we'll be fine. Gardner will not be the starter next year unless there is an injury, but I agree that he will see a lot more time and be incorporated even more so next year.

    This team is a slam dunk to win 10 games now IMO, with a great chance to go undefeated, we have a greatly improved/improving Defense, an ever evolving Offense that's super exciting and explosive, an improved Special Teams and superior coaching on all sides of the ball.

    Purdue is not the only game we'll be favored in, Neb and OSU don't have the cache to beat us in AA this year, You think Iowa can stop us and score enough points to beat us, doubtful. MSU and Illinois will be tough but I like our chances a lot.

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  11. Hail,

    Wait and see next year. Al Borges is getting
    frustrated with DR foot work and turning the ball over. DG can run the ball just as well as DR. He just has not had the chance to show it.

    I believe the coach told DR that they will give him every chance to be successful. But if his ints. starts to cost the team wins the coaches will go to DG.

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  12. @Jer89
    Was that in a post game interview with Borges? Where was this from?

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  13. Its from how red Al Borges face gets every time DR thros a int.

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  14. lol oh ok...so it's not from any interview or first hand conversations. I'm pretty sure you can see that look on a lot of coach's faces when any of their players turn the ball over or do something stupid.

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  15. And for all of you that think DR is a heisman candidate you need to wake up. There is no way DR is even in the talk for the HT. Here is a list of QBs that will get it before DR.
    1 Andrew Luck
    2 Landry Jones
    3 Kellen Moore
    4 Russel Wilson
    And thats just QBs.So please get over your man crush for DR.

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  16. I'm confused...I thought this was a Michigan recruiting/fan site...

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  17. Akmed, There is no recruiting right now.

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  18. Jer89...there is always recruiting...just apparently no leave for our team and its players

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  19. Benji,
    UM offered a new OG Alex Kozanthe other day. Do you know anything about him. And does mean the ship has sailed for Banner and Ganett?

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  20. Jer89 I think you mean Kozan, or is it Kozonthe? If it's Kozan he's got a VERY impressive offer sheet. Could just be one of those things where U of M is a little tired of waiting and if they ended up with him instead of Banner or Garnett the coaching staff wouldn't be disappointed. I thought Banner was super high on Michigan right now. Maybe both sides have cooled...has anyone else heard anything about some of his other visits?

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  21. Akmed I missed the space between Kozan and the.

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  22. Jer89 ur just not football smart. I try not to talk trash but denard makes Al look like an offensive wiz. He put up 450 yars of 512 and no matter how hard we try dr is at least 75% of our offense every week! And no DG is no where close to running abilty as you said. His boot leg looked so slow and barely got in. So im pretty sure Al doesnt care what you think about his red face and was the first to check on denard's health after the game. So no i dont have a man crash but do believe denard is by far the best optionn we have until he is gone! He will only get better with this staff and your points should all get ignored especially when you just said theres no recruiting. Every day someone is calling kids so please stop acting like your on staff and drob is actually 6th in the poll right now. Which is no surprise your wrong again. Have great week at work and god bless!

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  24. Hail,
    First I am football smart and more inportant common sense smart. NW defence is not very good and they keep him in check on the ground. What will he do when he faces a better D like MSU was? Hit wide open DBs like he has been doing. Second Dg is fast and if you hit the open WR you do not need to be as fast. Something DR was a big problem with.Third I know Al Borges does not care what I think and I am fine with that. I bet your not on his speed dial either. Forth you have a major man crush. Fifth right know there is not much on recruiting the only kid that may commit is Payton and thats not for at least 2 weeks. And sixth ESPN has DR 10 th. in the H race and sense ESPN pretty much control the Heisman race by controlling who gets T.V face time. He is NOT going to win. So nice try.

    Now having said that DR is a very good at running the ball not a passing. Ok at best but if we the fans want to see UM return to greatness we need to be open minded to all option. Not just one guy because he is very good at one thing and so so at the other. We have said not so nice things about other players and not one word from anybody in there defence but question DR and all hell breaks lose. Just keep a open mind for posible changes.

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  25. Jer,
    You should also keep an open mind to the fact that nothing is going to change with DR. The only way that is going to change is if god forbid he gets hurt. That is absolutely the only way that he will not be the starting QB. That's just the way it is, period. Borges likes him but knows that DR has a lot of work with his footwork. Borges admitted that DR has exceeded his expectations as a passer. The plain and simple truth of it is that this team would be 4-2 at best without him playing and starting. No way we win the ND game and I don't think we would have won yesterday too. NW shut down our RB's, they didn't shut down DR. You don't shut someone down when they have over 100 yards rushing and 4 scores (2 passing, 2 running). DR torched them passing and running. What you see happening right now is DR caught in the middle of technique change. He is struggling right now between reverting back to his old footwork and the new, proper footwork for this offense. Borges said himself that DR won't be a finished QB until a year in the system. What you see now is not the finished product. I suggest you sit back, stay patient, enjoy the progress that the team is making and look forward to the future of Michigan football and where the coaches will eventually take this team.

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  26. Wow, Hail a cab out of this blogosphere with your cantankerous tone. Embellish much? Robinson is not a god, and he's not a Heisman candidate, other than with that smile. He's not a good QB, plain and simple. If the coaches had 100% faith in his passing ability they wouldn't be trying to integrate more of Devin Gardner. Gardner's rollout throw reminded me of Steve Young. Denard Robinson would dominate at one of the academies or at GTech. But, his best throws are his throws to 1-on-1 deep routes where our WRs are much better than the CBs we've played. However, we're about to hit into the tougher part of the schedule, where we're going against better teams with better corners. Those deep routes are more likely to dry up, as better safeties and corers come. It perplexes me that Robinson has such a steadfast groupie club. Look at his passing stats alone and he's benched last year for the ROUTINE misreads for INTs.

    I have more faith in the rest of the talent, and believe the RBs would be much better if they had consistency. Same for the WRs. This "pro-style" offense cannot be a pro-style offense until we actually have a QB running the offense. It doesn't matter how many running yards DRob piles up, we won't win the big games until they either replace him or he learns how to throw and when to throw. Simple as that, really.

    Russell Wilson is showing it at Wisconsin, what a really running QB looks like. We have a throwing RB in charge of our offense. We have a guy who gets us down field with his feet, but then gives up the ball with his arm. The coaches are stuck; he's a nice kid with a winning attitude, but if he wasn't selfish down in his heart he'd realize he should be a HB. Kids got less than a season and a half of college left and those of us who have seen 2.5 years of mostly terrible throwing decisions and a completion percentage the likes of Jemarcus Russell are making good football sense.

    This isn't little league football, and I wish the coaches would stop pretending he's more than the most dynamic runner in college football. Devin Hester with a strong arm.

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  27. I don't think anyone ever said he's a God...and I'm not a DR groupie...I'm a Michigan fan...HUGE difference. I supported RichRod when he coached here and I'll support anyone this team puts out, coach or player. I guess I'm personally happy with a 6-0 start and some people aren't. He's actually only started for 1.5 years and is only about 6-8 months in a completely new offensive system. But I guess there are apparently so many other people out there that would be doing so much better. I hate to break it to you...if Michigan is undefeated at the end of the Big 10(12) regular season then he WILL be a Heisman candidate because it will be because of him that this team goes undefeated. Support your team and put your hate/dislike away and save it for another blog. The coaches of YOUR team believe in DR and it's really sad that the fans don't trust in his development and the coach's decisions. Don't forget, these are the same coaches that have this defense playing much better and all of the players more fundamentally sound. They still have a lot of work to do to undo all of the poor fundamentals that some of these kids were taught for the past 1-3 years. Chill out, support your team and it's players no matter who they are.

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  28. Haha why do i even bother posting back.... Akmed made great point without denard we are 4-2 but i prefer 6-0... You choose? And pretty sure if 125 yards rushing 325 yards passing is stopping him your right then kid... But pretty sure denard ran for 100 yard against osu defense in the first half so im sure he can against msu and if he plays 4 quarters i guarantee he rushes for over 100 yards. No man crush but if your insecure id understand, but i like the kid because he has us at 6-0 with a chance to go to 7-0. Pretty sure in the second half he was throwing nothing but nice passed and Al trusted drob enough late in the 4 th to throw on a big third down play... And actually payton was on a visit this weekend so those who know football would like to know how the visit went since recruiting goes on every day!!! And not true no one talks crap about anyone other than the kicker who sucks. The reason so many defend Drob is because once again without him we arent undefeated and back in the national hunt. Denard gives us a chance to win every game. And if Drob should be benched so should mike vick... He threw 4 picks! The kids is our best chance to win... Put 9 or 10 in the box and i promise he beats you with his arm. No def cord is dumb enough to do that so he will keep getting his yards wait and see and you'll realize that the kid has us heading to big things in the future!

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  29. Akmed,

    I am open minded. I said in a earlier post that DG would be starting by the MSU game I see that is not going to happen and thats ok. And we really have no idea what UM record would be with or without DR. Did you watch the same game I did Saturday night? NW did a good job shutting him down with there bad defence. And for what Borges said its not like he can come out and say DR sucks he is saying what a coach should say. If the defence had not stepped up in that game it may have been different. Lets just agree to disagree.

    Professor A,
    Nice to hear from you. You aways have good things to say.

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  30. Noone doubts DR's running ability the kid is dynamic, shifty, and electric. Sure he ran for over 100 yards in the first half of the OSU game last year but when we consistently run him like we have been as of late(because of his lack of passing ability) he gets hurt. I have not seen him hit a receiver in stride on a deep ball this season( i did miss the Minnesota and SDSU game though) but a QB in the pro style offense needs to hit his receivers in stride so they can pick up yac yards. Yet DR consistently throws behind, low, or jump balls to his targets (he overthrew a open Koger that is 6'5" not more than 10 yards down-field by over 2 feet). I'm not trying to bash on the kid or our coaches decisions its just facts and i think we all need to agree to disagree because this website is mgorecruit not mgodenardsquarterbackability and it is flooding the blog for the past few weeks. Now back to my original question that no one has answered is there any updates that anyone knows about for DR's hand injury or why vincent smith did not play after the tackle he made on an interception? Also does anyone i mean anyone at all have any recruiting updates (for this year or even next year)? Thanks

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  31. I hate when people argue about Denard vs Devin on here... seriously it's not going to change anything, nobody is going to change their mind, and nobody can win this argument. We are 6-0 right now, I don't know why people are so unhappy with Denard. I know Ohio State would kill to have him right now

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  32. Has anyone else not received their coaches check in the mail from the Michigan Athletic Department? Mine hasn't come yet. Surprisingly enough, we are all fans of the same team, and the coaches of that team know what is best for our beloved Wolverines. Bickering back and forth about what we believe to be best for the team is completely irrelevant. Our coaching staff has insight into every position on the team (quarterbacks included) and will do what is best for the team at all times, with or without our input. I love this blog and read it almost obsessively (thanks again Benji for the wonderful insight into Michigan recruiting), but the insightful and thought provoking conversations formerly put forth by faithful readers is slowly being replaced by lack of perspective and ignorance of an overly vocal minority who would rather bicker about the teams quarterback than cherish the fact that the team we all love, (and all supposedly cheer for) is 7-0, and doing really well after three years of mediocrity that could have doomed the team to a running joke that never yielded a punchline. Everyone needs to get behind the coaches, quarterback (whoever he may be) and the rest of the team, lest we end up sounding like the idiots on bucknuts. I apologize for the brashness of this post, but find myself sickened by the fact that some have lost sight of the big picture; the Wolverines are finally showing the promise that greatness is returning to Ann Arbor. Go Blue.

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  33. DR will start next year. Anyone claiming or suggesting otherwise is crazy. Yes Denard makes some dumb moves, but we would lose a lot of games without him. He certainly does more good than bad. No two ways about it.

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  34. I meant to say that the team is 6-0. (Just hopeful thinking for next week I guess).

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  35. First comment on here, love the blog, but I am lost on how there is still a debate on Denard as our qb. He has the 3rd highest passer efficiency rating in the B1G, thrown for more touchdowns than anyone but Russel Wilson, leads the B1G in rushing yards per game and total yards. I understand it's easy to get excited about a big time backup like DG, but if you're expecting him to do more than that you have REALLY, REALLY high hopes. He'll be great when he gets to start in a couple of years, but it's going to be a long while before we see another Denard anywhere.

    GO Blue!!

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  36. Pat White, Dennis Dickson..... just to name a couple ive seen that are close to DR's ability pretty recently

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  37. I live in Youngstown Ohio, and there was word around that junior RB Deveon Smith from Howland High committed to UofM over the weekend. Has anyone heard anything about this guy? Looks like a decent player. BTW, I saw Brionte Dunn in person a few weeks ago vs Austintown Fitch, and I wasn't really that impressed. He looked god, but not great. Personally, i don't care if we end up signing him. Have to trust the coaches. Go Blue!

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  38. Benji, love the blog, just curious any way to delete users who always seem to cause arguements that are not about recruiting??

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  39. all i can say is we are 6-0, and who cares if D-rob is in the heisman hunt or not, I'm sure he doesn't care. its all about the team the team the team. I know we all hold our breath when d-rob throws the ball, but you can see his improvement from game one to today. he's learning and getting better everyday. I hope everyone can see the whole team is improving every weekend, and the coachs are finding ways to better the team and win. Last year we would have lost to North Western. If we can stop MSU's run game this weekend. we will be 7-0. GO blue!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  40. Did this deveon smith commit at the game? He looks kind of like a power back being 5'11" and 215lbs. But scout doesn't even have him listing Michigan as a school of interest. If this kid committed and with the strong interest of that RB from georgia for next year does that take Dunn out of the picture? Also does anyone know of any other recruits that have set up officcial visits this year? I think I remember someone saying Wright has one set up for The Game.....

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  41. Tbone
    I heard that Dunn is hurt? Not sure if that is true?

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  42. The BTN announcers were bush league in my opinion. I don’t know why they had these third string guys in there. Really takes away from the game. Should have turned on the radio, but they are not synchronize to TV.

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  43. @Jer89
    I don’t have a “man crush” on DR but I do believe he gives us the best chance to winning. No doubt his interceptions were frustrating in the first half. Is he a Heisman winner? No, but his upside is still much greater than his downside. Or are you just trying to stir the pot?

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  44. Damn. Still bashing DR. Some of you guys are hopeless; unless MSU/Buckeye fans, pretending to be UM fans.

    Hemmingway is a good leaper with great hands (Wonder if he's NFL potential). Proves it on Saturday's. Interesting to see Stonum next year. May be his breakthrough year. We will need it with the tough games next year.

    Wormley is @ 6'7" 270+/-lbs. Damn. And on track team. Don't see him redshirting. Big Will/Ondre Pipkins tandem NICE!!! Blake Countess (The Count), Yuri (The Black Russian) Wright, Courtney Avery and Raymon Taylor makes a nice young backfield. I'm hoping Josh Furman makes a statement/jumps in the mix next year. And can anyone fill me in on Chris Bryant?? I haven't heard a peep from him. Is he projected OG or OT?

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  45. I can't believe there is QB controversy taking place on this blog. If this offense had NFL caliber RBs and WRs, then I could see the desire to get a throwing QB onto the field. But as it is, DR is consistently moving the ball and scoring more than 30 points a game with an offense that is otherwise lacking in elite talent. Outside the QB position, most teams in the B1G have better skill position players than Michigan, and yet we have one of the best offenses. If he were throwing to Edwards, Avant and Breaston, then I might want DG in the game, but that's not what this team is working with.

    As painful as it is to watch your QB throw ridiculous INTs every week, the upside to DR far far outweighs those mistakes. We can handle his INTs as long as his TD/INT ratio stays good. My biggest fear is that when DR gets injured in a big game, I think the offense will stall with DG.

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  46. I don't really want to get into this debate but here goes...
    DR is frustrating this year b/c of the passing game. However, he is learning a new system and does have a good arm. Will he even be a totally polished passer - probably not. Is he a Heisman candidate? Heck yes (probably not a winner, but a candidate) b/c if nothing else he is a difference maker. Those don't come around often and DR has so much magic in his legs that you have to live with some of his lack of polish in the passing game. Still, he is a good leader, and a difference maker at the QB position.
    Gardner may be a good runner but there is nothing to indicate he is a runner like DRob. Very few are in college football.
    Let's try not to focus on DR's problems and instead focus on how special of a player he is. He has unique talents that no QB will bring to Michigan for maybe another 10-20 years. What you are seeing is a "special" athlete. Without him, we are not 6-0 at this point, that much is clear.

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  47. I completely agree with the fact that denards upside far out weighs his faults. My only worry is coaches preseason talked about how they wanted to run him maybe 12 times a game and it seems like in the games his accuracy is off, he runs around double that and I would hate to see him go down with an injury in a pivitol game. DR also uses his passing game to set up lanes for him to run and if his accuracy lacks in say the OSU game they will focus on only the run and shut down a one dimensional offense.
    However as many state this is only his first year in the new offense and Borges himself said he needs at least a year to solidify himself as a good passer. So needlesss to say next year should be an entirely different story. Now can we pease get some recruiting news on this blog? I've grown tired of beating this dead horse

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  48. Jer89 brings up man crushes, but he's the one slobbering all over DG with his own man crush.

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  49. Ok sume how the DR talk has gotten way out of hand. We all have our own opinion and I respect all of them. And we can have a difference of opinion as long as it does not get out of hand. So lets just agree to disagree on this and I will not bring it up again. The most important thing is the team. Go Blue

    Lets get back to recruiting.
    Someone commented earlier that Jordan Payton visited UM this weekend. Is that true? Because I thought schools were not allowed to bring recruits to road games? Let me know if I am wrong on that?

    I commented earlier that Dunn was injuried acouple of weeks ago. Is that right? I heard it was not very serious.

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  50. I'm predicting a win this weekend. A chess match. Al Borges v Pat Narduzzi. Honestly I think Mattison will get pressure on Cousins, and our defense is going to keep MSU out of the endzone on a few occasions. But Borges v Narduzzi is going to be interesting. Nadruzzi is good, but I think Borges has the experience, and creativity in the playbook to take the advantage. We all discussed the play calling in the beginning of the season, talking about how Michigan is holding back to have an advantage over the next opponent. As competition grew, so did the play calling. Then we see DR and DG on the field. Why? "to give D-coord. something more to think about". I honestly believe that Borges has a few tricks up his sleeve for this game. Some sort of aspect that we havnt seen just yet, and neither have the Spartans. I'm not saying Trick plays, but some sort of play calling we havnt yet seen, and it's going to be enough for Michigan to beat MSU in East Lansing.

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  51. The MSU game will be a tuff game. I had UM beating MSU big time earlier in the year.But after watching MSU a couple of time and the game will be closer then I thought.There D is pretty good. LaL you are right about the chess match between the two. I think in the end UM will win the game score some where around 30-27. Can't wait to see what Borges and Mattison have up there sleeves.Go Blue

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  52. Wow this is an odd recruiting blog. For those of you wondering, Denard is the starter and Devin is on the field because he is to good to not play.

    Regarding Deveon Smith, he did not commit (he doesn't have an offer). Michigan is only offering elite 2013 guys right now.

    In regards to Brionte, he was hurt (not severe) and didn't play most of his game. But when his team was loosing in the 4th Qr he came in and ran for 70 yards to lead a come back. He is a special player. TomVH has mentioned Brionte is more interested in Michigan and has hinted that he will switch his commitment to Michigan at the last minute (he is enrolling early so it would be soon).

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  53. He is not enrolling early

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  54. I Don't think that he will enrolling early but I do think he will swith his commitment. I just gunk he will wait a little longer to see what happens the rest of this season 1) because it will give him more of a reason to switch if we have a really good season and Osu doesn't and 2) he saw the reaction that Kyle Kalis got when he switched and saw how other Ohio prospects were treated,especially his cousin, when they came north. Like I said it's just a matter of time for him and Jordan Payton to go blue

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  55. Dunn's intentions is too enroll early to have a head start in Spring Ball. He postponed his decision regarding OSU. If he enrolls early, and OSU gets hit with penalties, he's fucked. Chances are he switches his pledge before the early enrolling period so he can enroll early @ UM. Either way I'm not too fond of him. He just has size. Thomas Rawls over Dunn all day for me. And Kalis switched WHILE dealing with the heat. Don't see why Dunn do the same. Even if he switches @ the last minute, he's still in the same boat dealing with heat (Especially family members)

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  57. DR is our starting QB, our coaches walk on water, nobody knows about Dunn, we're dying for recruiting news.......Sooooooo.

    Game predictions for week 7

    Hate to say this but my pre-season pick was a loss 34-31 Sparty wins. I hope I totally blew this one and believe that we can win.....something I didn't believe last year.

    BTW my opening comments were sincere and based on fact.

    Go Blue!!!

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  58. Rivals articles today have a couple of interesting items. First, Yuri Wright (Mike Farrell, the interviewer, actually more so) indicates in a video interview that U-M is his #1 choice at this point. Second, in an interview with Kyle Kalis, Kyle says he's close with all the members of this class including Strobel and DUNN (!) - and then he quickly says Dunn is not a member of this class. Maybe he knows something... I'm a fan of Dunn - size, power and speed - hope he realizes his best choice is U-M.

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  59. UM offered OG Alex Kozan the other day. This tells me either UM may take 2 more O linemen or UM may no longer have a chance at Banner and Garnett. I hope UM is looking to take 2 more OL.

    I have read good things about Alex Kozan. So we will have to wait and see. I still have high hopes for UM o linemen recruits.

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  60. With this new offer, is there a chance that we are not a lock on any of the current commits or someone is borderline academically? I hope not, but i suppose there is always that possibility.

    On a bright note, I went down to the Whitmer/Findlay game last Friday and Wormley
    was crazy good. Everyone could not get over his size, speed and most important, his discipline. I had to stand in the end zone because there was absolutely no seats, so i couldn't see very well except Wormley. He's kind of hard to miss.

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  61. Bendy, where was that article you said on espn that TomVH said he thought our next 5 commitments were, I have an insider account

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  62. @will
    http://espn.go.com/colleges/michigan/football/recruiting/news this is the link to mostly all of the articles tomvh posts.

    http://insider.espn.go.com/colleges/michigan/football/recruiting/story?id=7061093&_slug_=michigan-wolverines-look-round-2012-football-recruiting-class&action=login&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fcolleges%2fmichigan%2ffootball%2frecruiting%2fstory%3fid%3d7061093%26_slug_%3dmichigan-wolverines-look-round-2012-football-recruiting-class this is the article i saw about UM only takin 5 more and who TomVH thinks those final few wil be

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  63. we're blue!!! we don't want your green!!!!!!!!!





    .......lol

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  64. @Bendy, he doesn't say which recreuits he thinks will be our next commitments he just gives analysis of who we have at each position for the 2012 class and who is left on our board. He said a potential walk-on at OL could be Dan Gibbs from B-Ham Seaholm, and Michigan has not cooled on Jordan Diamond and the coaches wanted to make that clear to him. And the coaches said they recruited Standifer and Richardson as corners not safeties

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  65. @will
    thanks for the recruiting update!

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