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| The team celebrates Jeremy Gallon's 71-yard catch-and-run. |
Denard Robinson hasn't thrown an interception in the last two games. It's funny how that works. Michigan has made a commitment to running the ball the last couple games, rather than trying to have Robinson throw for the win. I know Robinson has had longer runs and more important runs, but his 49-yard touchdown in this game might have been his single greatest individual effort. He made a couple separate jump cuts before bursting out to the left and outrunning the defense.
What's up with Jerald Robinson? Almost every outgoing wide receiver for the past couple seasons has pointed to Jerald Robinson as the next year's breakout star, and he continues to look completely harmless. He did have an 8-yard reception in this game, but he also had another drop. As a redshirt sophomore, that gives him 4 receptions for 47 yards in his career.
The defense was excellent. Injury to Scheelhaase aside, Michigan held the Illini to just 134 total yards - 105 rushing, 29 passing. The Wolverines also grabbed an interception, recovered a fumble, recorded 9 tackles for loss, and notched 3 sacks. Jake Ryan was the most disruptive force with 11 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, and 1 forced fumble. Middle linebacker Kenny Demens has played significantly better since the first couple games, and yesterday he had 8 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, and 1 interception. A huge chunk of Illinois' yards seemed to come when backup quarterback Reilly O'Toole first entered the game and hit Michigan with several screens and draws.
Every running back had a good game . . . except Fitzgerald Toussaint. Even Toussaint had a touchdown, but he only averaged 3.4 yards/carry and lost a significant chunk of playing time to Thomas Rawls. I'm not sure what's up with Toussaint, but Rawls had 9 carries for 90 yards, including a 63-yard touchdown. Even Justice Hayes had 10 carries for 66 yards, although most of his carries came after Illinois had thrown in the towel. Hayes has decent speed, but he's not a very physical runner . . . and he fumbled the ball without even getting touched. Luckily, it bounced right back up into his hands.
Michigan's backup quarterback situation is shaky. Russell Bellomy struggled somewhat. He let a snap squirt right through his hands, and he completed just 1/3 passes. I'm not a huge fan of what I've seen out of Devin Gardner as a quarterback, and I do think Bellomy has potential down the road . . . but boy, does he look shaky right now. He wasn't helped out by his receivers, though, who had their hands on both incompletions; but Bellomy looks afraid to push the ball down the field, and he's not very crisp running the plays. I'm going to try to enjoy Denard Robinson while I can, because the quarterback play might be really iffy for a couple seasons.
Dennis Norfleet is too fast. He blew past everyone except the punter . . . and when the punter stepped up to make the tackle, Norfleet didn't even give himself time to shake; he just tried to run right through the punter, which doesn't work when you're only 165 lbs. Regardless, he had yet another moment where Michigan fans just think "It's only a matter of time." He did muff a kickoff return (which he still managed to pick up and gain 12 yards), but that 42-yard punt return was fun to watch.
The defensive line continues to improve. It was obvious that they would improve, but they're better than I thought they would be at this point in the season. Quinton Washington had 5 tackles and 1 tackle for loss. Craig Roh had 3 tackles and half a sack. Jibreel Black had 3 tackles, but he showed impressive speed in chasing down Scheelhaase before driving him to the ground on the play that caused the quarterback's concussion.
Jeremy Gallon screen fun. Gallon took the throwback screen (which Michigan runs once or twice every game), made a couple people miss, got some nice downfield blocking - especially from walk-on tight end Mike Kwiatkowski - and raced 71 yards for a touchdown. Gallon had just that one reception, but that was just one more piece of evidence why Michigan needs to get him the ball early and often.
This was a nice confidence booster before the Michigan State game. The Spartans looked pretty bad in a loss to Iowa, and Michigan obviously looked very good. At this point in the season, Michigan clearly looks like the better team. Hopefully the momentum can carry over into next Saturday's game, which has been announced as a 3:30 p.m. kickoff to be shown on the Big Ten Network.
I hate the Big Ten Network. This is going to be another weekend where I find a radio station to listen to the game on while I watch the TV muted.
ReplyDeleteCould the announcing team point out the obvious one more time with Bellomy. The play book has to change as he is not a 4.3 speedster who has played 4 seasons.
The defense is really clicking right now. Our secondary is still shaky and we definitely benefitted from the rain and some drops yesterday to keep the yardage down defensively. Jake Ryan is a stud. We need to work on not over pursuing the QB once you get through the line. Happened a few times yesterday.
I can tell you never played football or never got a chance to get any playing time. Your blogs are bias. You make positive comments about players you like and negative comments about players you don't care for. This is the main reason I'm going to stop reading your blogs.
ReplyDeleteI'll miss you lots.
DeleteHow will we know if he/she is really gone?
DeleteI guess there won't be any more comments from Anonymous...
Delete"Not to be Debbie Downer but" Illinois was out there with a seriously inferior offensive line.
ReplyDeleteStill, it's always nice to see a defense run to the ball and then hit somebody.
The best part is that it's starting to feel like running to the football and then hitting somebody is once again what we do around here, which if true will come in real handy next week as the MSU game is always, only about hitting.
Their offensive line isn't great, but neither were the lines for Air Force, UMass, and Purdue. Regardless of the talent across from them, the DL and LB seem to be ratcheting up their play.
DeleteI was very near the Illinois sideline all game and that team simply had no energy or urgency, especially once they got down a bit. They didn't bring it.
DeleteWhile Michigan has looked real good, especially the D, I'm a little worried they're not quite as good as Purdue and Illinois - very bad teams, IMO - have made them look.
The MSU game is going to be MUCH tougher than one would think based on the results of the last couple weeks. I hope the coaches are stressing that this week.
I had bad seats and didnt see a replay, but from where i stood, both of Bellomys incompletes came on nice throws but dropped passes (funchess and roundtree?). The two guys sure looked like they were hating their hands. He also came in when it started raining pretty hard...
ReplyDeleteRoundtree dropped one. Funchess's drop was a difficult catch. He could have reeled it in, but it would have been a very good play on his part.
DeleteIt was very wet out there when those drops happened. Bellomy should be a decent player and he showed nice wheels on a QB scramble. Gardner's a real talent too - everyone's down on him right now, but I think he's going to be a quality starter. He's a guy who can make plays with his legs, even with an OL that is going to be a problem all year. The 2013 team will definitely be led by the D though.
DeleteOther than the botched snap, I thought Bellomy looked pretty good. On the pass to Funchess, he had a defender in his grille and still got the ball off. On the Roundtree pass, he looked like he was nicely going through his progression. While definitely not Denard, he still got a first down on a run. I'm cautiously optimistic about him.
DeleteFitz didn't have a great overall game, but he did have a few runs that reminded us of his season last year. At the very least, it's getting better.
ReplyDeleteEven if all the dropped passes were caught by Illinois, I still think they fall short of 250 yards. When Kovacs doesn't register a bunch of tackles, something's going right.
I had said Rawls had earned more P/T and sure enough he got it and again showed why he should be seeing the field more. I'm not saying Fitz should be benched, nope, just more like what Bama does with their tailbacks. More of a rotation.
ReplyDeleteFurman hit the punt returner not Norfleet.
ReplyDeleteI think you're talking about the personal foul committed by Furman, which was not mentioned in this blog post. Norfleet ran into the punter while returning a punt. One more juke would've almost guaranteed a TD.
DeleteNorfleet hit the punter. I didn't talk about Furman's hit on the punt returner at all.
DeleteThe screen to Gallon was a Bubble Screen and not a throwback screen - right? I am mentioning this because Haiko at MGoBlog and Chris at BWS have been obsessing about Borges not using bubble screens when the defense is aligned in a way where it would be successful.
ReplyDeleteIt was a throwback screen, but with a bit of a twist. Lewan released and blocked, but so did a receiver on the same side. It was not a bubble screen; Wischusen got it wrong.
DeleteNo, I believe this was a throw back screen. The bubble screen talked about on mgoblog is typically run from the shotgun, with the receiver being in the slot and taking his first steps toward the sideline. Gallon was the outside receiver, he took a step forward while Denard faked a handoff to the right, and then threw back to Gallon on the left.
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ReplyDeleteNorfleet
ReplyDeleteFirst, no way should a guy as fast as he is get tackled by a punter. And I say that in a teasing manner, not hating on the kid.
When I watched the kick return again Norfleet was looking to his left, and didn't seem to notice the punter until it was too late. Point being I don't think he tried to run him over.