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| Devin Gardner wears cliched quarterback #98 (image via Times Union) |
Ugliest interception ever? I don't think I've ever seen a Michigan quarterback throw a more ill advised, damaging interception than the one Gardner threw. Late in the game he retreated into his own endzone, got wrapped up by blitzing safety Austin Collinsworth, twisted around uncomfortably, and tried to heave the ball (to no one in particular?) as he was being flung to the ground. Mammoth defensive end Stephon Tuitt made a diving interception as the duck floated to the ground in the endzone, and suddenly Notre Dame was within four points.
Jeremy Gallon for the #1. The #21 jersey is nice and everything, but Gallon is everything you would want in a #1 receiver - speed, good hands, leaping ability, game-changing plays, blocking, toughness, etc. He won't be a first round pick, but 8 catches for 184 yards and 3 touchdowns against Notre Dame - on top of what he has already achieved - is worthy of that jersey. The problem with the #1, apparently, is that players have to prove their worth at least one season before their final year in Ann Arbor, and it's greatly dependent on the quarterback throwing him the ball. If Gardner had been the quarterback for the entirety of 2012, Gallon might be wearing the hallowed jersey of Anthony Carter, David Terrell, and Braylon Edwards instead of Desmond Howard's.
Here comes Blake Countess. Countess finished the game with 6 tackles and 2 interceptions. The second interception, which bounced off Raymon Taylor's knee and popped up into the air, was a right-place-right-time kind of play that sealed the game for Michigan. The first one involved Countess coming off his flat receiver to jump into the throwing lane of Notre Dame quarterback Tommy Rees; he followed that up with a 30-yard return that showed good speed, vision, and cutback ability. The last Michigan player to make 2 picks in one game was cornerback James Rogers against Purdue in 2010.
The offensive line struggled as expected. Notre Dame blitzed often, and they put pressure and hits on Gardner repeatedly; Michigan also struggled to run the ball. The running backs combined for just 24 carries and 71 yards, which is almost 3.0 yards/carry. I thought the guards were the weakest links. Both had problems with picking up linebackers in Notre Dame's 3-4 defense. Fighting Irish nose tackle Louis Nix was his dominant self (4 tackles, 1 tackle for loss) and got penetration consistently, and left tackle Taylor Lewan had his hands full with Tuitt, although Tuitt's only entry into the box score was that interception for a touchdown. I would say Notre Dame won the battle up front, but Gardner scrambled and ran the option well enough to get the edge frequently (13 carries, 82 yards, 1 touchdown). Michigan has to improve along the front five, but that's probably the best defensive front they'll face all season.
Gardner and the #98. Before the game, Gardner was announced as the recipient of the #98 Legends jersey, previously worn by Heisman winner Tom Harmon. It bugs me a little bit that Gardner's #12 jersey won't have a chance of joining Michigan's pantheon of Legends jersey numbers, but there's no better representative on the current team than Gardner. He was 21/33 for 294 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 1 interception, to go along with those rushing yards above. Aside from two balls thrown into the dirt and that terrible interception, Gardner was on point throughout.
Michigan needs to blitz. Rees mostly did a good job of seeing the blitz, audibling appropriately, and getting rid of the ball. Michigan notched just 1 sack (by Brennen Beyer) and got little pressure on him throughout the night. Through two games, I just don't think Michigan's defensive linemen can get to the quarterback consistently enough without sending at least one additional blitzer. Zone blitzes are probably the way to go, because while Michigan's corners can cover well enough, the safeties and linebackers leave a little to be desired in man coverage. The pass defense, which allowed 314 yards, was not stellar. And while Rees's 29/51 effort wasn't great, running back George Atkinson dropped about three balls, and wide receiver T.J. Jones missed another one or two, perhaps because he appeared to injure both shoulders in the span of about three plays.
The weapon that is Devin Gardner. Good ol' sandbaggin' Al Borges rolled out the pistol formation, which had been rumored to be Michigan's new wrinkle this year with
Eminem's halftime interview. I like some of Eminem's music, but I'm halfway embarrassed that the two biggest modern "pop culture" representatives of the state of Michigan, Detroit, etc. are Eminem and Kid Rock. Marshall Mathers's interview with Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit was one of the more awkward television interviews you'll see, because . . . well . . . that's Eminem. He likes the attention.
What does this mean for the season? Michigan just beat a national championship game participant from last season, so that's cool. I thought Notre Dame sort of lucked into that game, but that's neither here nor there. Michigan has shown they can play with just about anyone on their schedule. They should be favored in every contest except perhaps Ohio State.
After seeing Michigan's performance, I think they will be favored against even the mighty Ohio State when we get them in the B1G House
ReplyDeleteGlad I'm not the only one who thought of Kaepernick, especially on that zone read run for 40 yards.
ReplyDeleteHey Magnus, can you say anything about ND's defensive strategy? It looked to me like they were run blitzing almost every single play until the late fourth quarter, when they finally started to soften up and respect the edge/pass.
ReplyDeleteFor awhile I was really frustrated with Borges for continuing to even try to run between the tackles, but in retrospect, it seems like he might have baited ND just enough to stubbornly keep their focus on stopping the run.
I would imagine, since Hoke has made it so clear in public that he wants to run between the tackles, that other teams would gameplan to take that away. It's frustrating to not be able to run the ball, but I'll take a performance like DG's every game this year if teams are going to sell out to stop our run game.
Have to run between the tackles to open up play action and bootlegs. The running backs on this roster are between the tackle guys also.
DeleteI don't think Notre Dame was selling out to stop the run. On a lot of the runs a linebacker simply came through the line unblocked. Part of that could be due the nature of a 3-4. Its designed to confuse the offensive line, especially the guards. 3 first year guys on the interior and it makes sense that those inside linebackers lived in the backfield.
Borges called a great game. While the ypc for the RBs wasn't good, it kept the defense off guard for the play action. As Borges said in his interview with Heiko, many of his calls that you thin didn't work are to set up plays that do. I know everyone hated the Vincent Smith runs on 3rd down last year, but if you never had him carry it, then everyone would have been expecting those screen passes that picked up 10-20 yards and blown them up.
DeleteIn Borges' mind if you have a play for a gain of 3 and then can call something after that for a gain of 15, you're averaging 9 yards a play which is pretty good. Now that he has the QB to run what he likes and can throw accurately those plays he has set up should be successful at a much higher rate.
I don't really think Notre Dame was run blitzing. Michigan hasn't shown any counter action this year (as far as I remember), except the reverses. Until that happens, I think linebackers are going to read run and sell out to get there, unless Michigan starts running counter trey or something to try to stall those guys. Borges is going to have to open up the playbook a little bit more to keep linebackers honest, because Gardner's run fakes are the only things keeping them from coming up. Late in the game, I thought Notre Dame's DE/OLB started keeping contain backside on those run fakes, which gave Gardner some trouble. If teams can contain with that backside end, you've got to start running a counter, in my opinion.
DeleteAgainst a 4-3 front the results should be better. Its tough to judge against Notre Dame since they have such a good 3 man front in a 3-4 scheme. Their nose tackle demands double teams, and both ends are extremely good.
DeleteThe linebackers had a free run to the ball carrier on several plays. I think that has more to do with the line never getting out to the second level rather than play calling.
If the backside de starts playing contain, Gardner should have plenty of time to throw. With Lewan showing that he is capable of shutting down any d-end he faces, that leaves only 2 lineman actually rushing Gardner. He is effective enough to make the d-end miss one on one and tall enough to throw over the top of the d-end. Vince young made a living off abusing the contain man, Gardner has all the skills to do the same. I'd like to see more hard play actions to isolate the contain man.
I think Mattison was smart not to blitz Rees very often--he's too experienced and it would have opened up more opportunities for big plays. Forcing ND to work for its points paid off--they scored some, but they also made some huge mistakes. Not many of our remaining opponents will have QBs with experience levels comparable to Rees though, so if our front four continues to struggle getting pressure then presumable there will be more opportunities later to unleash the blitzes (Hackenberg in particular should expect to feel the wrath).
ReplyDeleteI think it has to do more with not getting beat over the top/big plays than the opposing qb. The corners seemed to being allowing the short completions in order to not get beat deep. Also,the middle of the field was open most of the game, biltzing would have just made that worse.
DeleteI agree that it would have been a bad idea to blitz Rees, because Notre Dame's offensive line is solid, he has decent receivers, and he's pretty good against the blitz. My point is more that Michigan is struggling to get to the QB without blitzing. If they want to get pressure, they have to send 5 or more. If they're fine just sitting back and trying to prevent the big play, then so be it.
DeleteThink you're right about laying back and waiting for mistakes. GM brought more heat in the 2nd half but it was mostly handled, though there were a few rushed throws here and there, typically on a DB blitz.
DeleteI think ND has a good OL and that the front 4 will get more pressure in the future. Beyer and Clark did have a couple plays, but for how many passes were attempted they didn't get much.
Kudos to Mattison, I thought he called a smart game.
"Gardner is the new breed of quarterback"
ReplyDeleteI would agree ... which begs the question: Then what about Morris and Speight? I doubt either has the same range of athletic potential as Gardner. Both are probably perfectly good pocket passer types, but I doubt either could represent the same rushing threat Gardner does.
Gardner's play action fakes are beautiful ... much better than Robinson's.
Looking retrospectively, I wonder where Michigan would be had Hoke and Borges made the decision in 2011 to switch gears and go with Gardner at QB and move Robinson to RB? Gardner may not have the pure speed of Robinson, but he's good enough to pose a credible threat and his passing is clearly superior. What I'm not clear on is whether his passing was clearly superior 2 years ago. Maybe not.
Moving Robinson to RB, in retrospect, makes all the sense in the world, but Gardner didn't look like this in his limited action in 2011. I'm not sure he even looked like this at the beginning of 2012. It's not like the coaching staff was wedded to Denard at QB, and Gardner is clearly a better fit for what they want to do. But for whatever reason, the coaching staff concluded that Denard should continue to start at QB in 2012 (so much so that they moved Gardner to WR). I just think the light foe Gardner went off later than we all would have liked.
DeleteI was never in support of switching Robinson or Gardner to a new position full-time. There was too little depth at the quarterback position. Moving Gardner to WR full-time prevented him from being ready to play QB at Nebraska, which very well could have cost the Wolverines that game. Bad idea. It could have worked the other way, too - moving Robinson to RB full-time might have hurt Michigan if Gardner got hurt. That's why you recruit a quarterback EVERY year, which Michigan failed to do in 2012.
Delete@Anonymous: It's not like the coaching staff was wedded to Denard at QB...
DeleteThey really WERE wedded to Denard at QB in 2012. He had started for two years, his name was all over the Michigan record book, and had led the team to an 11-2 record in 2011, including a Sugar Bowl win. No sane coach would have considered moving him to RB at that point.
Borges's history was that QBs took a leap forward in their second year under his tutelage. He really believed Denard was going to do the same, and at least in practices, it seemed to be working. That unfortunately didn't happen in the games (even before the injury), but I can't blame Borges for believing it would.
Anyhow, there are multiple reports that, for the first 2-3 years of his Michigan career, Gardner wasn't putting in the time to become a great QB. To have installed him above a healthy Denard, they would have had to be really sure that Gardner was better, and I don't think they had that evidence.
Hindsight is 20/20. Fitz was and is a damn good RB. A lot of people wanted Denard to move to WR too, which never made sense.
DeletePart of it was keeping continuity. That was a mistake Rodriguez made that Hoke didn't repeat. In 2011, there was a huge payoff, but in 2012 there were some injuries and less fortune so the results weren't quite as good.
The only decision I really fault the coaches for was moving Gardner to WR. Simply wasn't needed with Gallon, Dileo, and Roundtree. Had to know chances of Denard injury were strong.
It has been a bit puzzling to me how Michigan has recruited the QB position in the last two classes. You look at the NFL and the majority of the best young QBs are those that can extend the play, are a threat to run, and are great passers (RG III, Russell Wilson, Kaepernick, etc...).
DeleteThe way it looks like Borges wants to run his offense is with a fair amount of the pistol (popularized by Nevada with Colin Kaepernick at the helm) and bootlegs. Not to say that requires a mobile QB, but it certainly doesn't hurt; it adds a tasty little wrinkle to the offense that we're seeing run quite smoothly.
Morris has some wiggle, and Speight reminds me a bit of Roethlisberger (minus the sexual assault) in the way he moves around the pocket, but none can hold a candle to the mobility of a Gardner. Should be interesting to see if playing with Gardner the whole year changes the way the coaches will continue to recruit the QB position.
What happened to Cam Gordon? Why didn't he play?
ReplyDeleteAs I noted preseason.... Beyer should not have been discounted so quickly... appears the coaches and myself were correct once again. Gordon and Beyer will continue to split time, as it should be. Glad to see Beyer more than hold his own.
DeleteHe played
DeleteAre you having fun lording around your retroactive victory?
DeleteNotre Dame has the O-line to exploit sightly undersized guys like Gordon. That's why Beyer played so much. Gordon is much better against run-based spreads like Northwestern.
Cam Gordon did play. He had 3 tackles.
Delete@ Gordon G
DeleteBeyer has made his plays from the defensive end spot, not the SAM linebacker position. That doesn't mean he's ready to be an outside linebacker. As a former defensive end, it appears the coaches are prone to using him in nickel situations to come off the edge, like they used to do with Jake Ryan.
To me, Gardner's most impressive moment was coming back after that head-exploding interception and playing nearly flawlessly. Lots of inexperienced QBs would have folded after a mistake like that.
ReplyDeleteAlso, despite the numbers and not a lot of space, I feel Toussaint ran really well when he could. It's clear he's the workhorse going forward, IMO.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. I thought Fitz ran very well under very difficult circumstances.
DeleteI agree on Toussaint. He left some yards on the field against Central Michigan, but I thought he got as much as he could against Notre Dame. There were a couple times he got dragged down when you thought he might be able to burst through the line, but the guys dragging him down were 300-350 lbs., so you can't be too upset with him.
DeleteToussaint looked like his old self. And by old self I mean - the same awesome player he has been all along.
DeleteOK - he looked more impressive this game than others and he made some amazing plays, especially in the 2nd half.
I hope Glasgow/Miller/Kalis mature over the season because if they can hold the holes open for a little longer Toussaint is capable of having a huge year.
I thought Toussaint played very well as well despite the apparent paltry numbers. He took his opportunities when they presented themselves and, most importantly, held onto the football. If we get this kind of production out of Fitz all season I will be immensely happy.
DeleteI think that Michigan will use this year to continue to grow up at key positions, they'll need to. Baring any serious injuries, they'll be a lot better by the time they play the osu and bowl games.
ReplyDeleteSo will other teams.
DeleteI think you're mistaken about the #1 jersey. It's not that Gallon lacks the resume to be #1. It's that they had to give him #21. All the legends jerseys are going to be assigned from now on, and there was no other remotely plausible WR to wear #21. They're not going to give #21 to just any guy, so before they can give out #1 again, they need two stud WRs on the roster at the same time. And they need to pass the character test too.
ReplyDeleteWell, then it's a stupid rule to have to hand out the #21 jersey. Personally, I think you could have handed the #21 to Devin Funchess or Drew Dileo, then the #1 to Gallon. The #87 jersey could have been given to someone else, like AJ Williams or Jake Butt. I don't think that's a good reason not to give out the #1.
DeleteWho cares if he wears #1 or #21? They're both honors. Desmond or AC - to me either is a great honor. The #1 thing got blown up under Braylon but as a consequence it's become a bit of a melodrama. Right now, #21 is more important. #1 can stay on ice for a while longer.
DeleteI don't like the legend jersey for this very reason. They HAVE to give it out. Honoring a player is great and all but the coaches should give it out when they feel like a player earned it. That's what made the number one jersey such a big deal with Braylon. Carr told him he had to earn it and he did.
DeleteI don't think there has been any mandate that says the legends jerseys must always be worn. I think they are being earned, just as the #1 has been. Edwards is the only guy that has ever 'earned' the #1, as far as I know. The #21 has been earned more times.
Delete@Lanknows: We shall see about the Legends jersey, as the program is only three years old, but so far they have all been worn. They gave Courtney Avery #11, and he has never been a star player by any rational definition. I think #87 last year was given to a guy who was injured and hardly played.
Delete@Marc
DeleteI hope you're wrong, but fear you're right. I suspect the "gotta give it to someone" mentality has to do with awarding them as they are ready to honor the player. I don't think that means it will always be used.
I think Avery got it in part for character/leadership. Off-field stuff is a big part of it.
Moore wearing #87 is more questionable, but I think the coaches envisioned a much bigger role for him than he ended up having. I have no problem with Funchess wearing it and it becoming the TE-legends number.
It'll be interesting to see what happens to #98 next year (assuming Gardner goes pro.) I would bet that no one wears it. I can't imagine them handing it to Morris before he wins the job (or Speight or Bellomy).
Looking forward.... appears NW is the real deal and will make/ break the B1G season for us.
ReplyDeleteBecause they beat a winless Syracuse squad? Because they beat a Cal team who barely defeated Portland State?
DeleteLets see how they do against OSU and Wisconsin. If they're not 0-2 in those games I'll start to worry about the Wildcats.
I'd be worried even if they went 0-2 (though perhaps less worried if those were blowout losses). Northwestern had us dead to rights last year and seems to have improved.
DeleteI do have doubts about stopping their offense (especially now that we're not practicing against a spread attack weekly), but ultimately our talent advantage should prevail.
DeleteI'm not convinced Northwestern is better than last year. I think Michigan is.
You say were not practicing against a spread team, but that's what the scout team will do when we prepare for NW. Mentioned it before, Stanford has done just fine against Oregon, and you could make the argument Oregon has a much more potent spread offense than NW.
DeleteWell - Hoke and staff have argued that practicing against a pro-style better prepares you for that kind of offense. It seems like the same would be true for spread to me. Don't think Scout team is the same.
DeleteI went to that Stanford-Oregon game last year, and they did great but Oregon also failed to execute some stuff. Not saying a spread team can't be shut down - just saying it helps if you practice against it. Fortunately, Michigan does still have spread components in their offensive playbook, but Northwestern is a finely-tuned offense at this point so even that will be a bit different.
NW will test the Defense but I'm very confident in them.
For one thing, Michigan won't be able to substitute as often as they might like and you could end up with some players stuck out there that can be exploited in the run or pass.
I agree, NW will be the toughest test for this team going forward save OSU. If Kain Colter can stay healthy, watch out.
DeleteThe first team offense and defense square up against each other in fall camp frequently. When they're catering the game plan for a specific opponent, they have the scout team emulate that opponent's game plan.
DeleteReally Michigan's defense is probably at it's best in nickel, especially once Jake Ryan is back. So as long as the Wilson continues to hold up at safety, they should be fine against the spread. I would like to see Washington left in on nickels plays against NW to help against the run and go with JR, Black, Washington, and Clark as the front.
DeleteI thought both the Notre Dame offensive line and defensive front 7 were real stout in this game. And that the guys everybody has been worried about around here did a real nice job not getting eaten up. We passed blocked ok against some huge, mobile people and got some push here and there from both of our lines.
ReplyDeleteI thought we got a better than decent game from our young interior guys and am now thinking this line is gonna be pretty good sooner rather than later. Our too small center hung with a future NFL nose tackle and our young guards looked pretty strong, mobile and tough in their own right. Some mistakes, and losses on individual plays happened for sure, but I'm thinking we came out of this thing about as golden up front as was possible.
I was distracted and missed some series, but it looked to me like Morgan and Bolden at Mike and that Ross wasn't off much at Will. Is that right?
23 carries for just 70 yards from the RBs. This with Fitz making some really amazing plays. This with a top 10 NFL LT, an NFL QB, and an NFL WR.
DeleteThere has to be some reason the run game is not functioning well. I think it is logical to conclude it is the interior OL that is holding this offense back.
They are not a disaster, but they are the team's weakness. Gardner has been bailing them out with his scrambling and all-around amazing play.
I don't think it's that simple, Lank. Notre Dame under Diaco has a long track record of aggressive, irresponsible linebackers. Watch the game again and see how they sell out super-quickly every play where they need to read. Gallon didn't ever make them back off, and Notre Dame paid the price all game long. They just didn't learn. The pass won't always open up the run, especially if the defensive coordinator is a stubborn twit. Remember Purdue over-committing to Fitz last year only to see Denard roast them alive? It was stupid, but coaches do stupid things sometimes.
DeleteSame excuse last game for poor run game. If not for dg everyone would be raging.
DeleteThe logical conclusion here is that Notre Dame is for the second year in a row and with most of the same, veteran personnel, real good up front. Of the teams we're gonna play going forward, only Sparty compares up front right now, maybe the Buckeyes by the middle of November.
DeleteI'll give you the NFL LT, but with regards to an NFL QB and WR, we'll see.
It's not an "excuse." It's a reason. They are different.
DeleteSo, if I'm to understand correctly, the reason that Michigan has not ran the ball impressively through two games is not due to personnel or scheme but, rather, both sets of opposing defensive coaches are really really stupid.
DeleteNevermind that these are some of the best people in the world at what they do; Diaco won coordinator of the year last year and was a semi-finalist the year before. Some guy on the internet who says dumb things all the time thinks they are twits, so that must be what the problem is.
I feel much better now. Guess our RBs will average 6 ypc or more the rest of the season once they face some non-idiots.
I hope you're at least getting a workout beating up that straw man, Lakwonda. I never, ever said Diaco was really stupid. Just that he, like every other freaking human being, can do stupid things sometimes. Having super-aggressive linebackers can work well in college because the QBs and receivers aren't as good as in the NFL. Misdirection is more difficult to execute than straight-up run plays.
DeleteI didn't say anything about Central. I think Toussaint ran much better against Notre Dame than Central. Again, it's not as simple as you're desperate to make it out to be. The interior line is still raw, but they only allowed 1 sack and one head-exploding interception thing, both on blitzes.
Michigan doesn't pass to open up the run, they do the opposite. They'd run draws instead of play actions if that was true. I remember one DG draw and that is it.
DeleteNotre Dame was not selling out to stop the run.
It's beside the point whether they are 'being' stupid are just are. The idea that two consecutive coaches, also ALL the coaches we've faced, were being/are dumb strikes me as a rather convenient coincidence. "Let's sell out to stop the run since Michigan has a bunch of newbs on their OL." - not something I imagine the opposing coaches saying.
DeleteThe idea that Toussaint is "running better" one game to the next is more plausible I suppose, but when I watch the games I'm not seeing many holes or easy choices. Maybe it's on the running back, but I don't think so. It seems unrealistic that RB performance fluctuates so wildly. Whereas the OL interactions and defensive strategies can. Toussaint ran for 5.6 ypc in 2011 - he looks, if anything, even better this year - yet his ypc are 3.6.
When your run game sucks against one of the country's best defenses (presumably) and you suck against one of the worst defenses (presumably) we, at the very least, have a range to look at.
Michigan's RBs (4.1ypc) didn't do much better than New Hampshire did in the run game (3.7 ypc overall). Michigan's RBs then did much worse than Temple did against ND (4.6 ypc). Michigan's RBs didn't produce very well last year, either. There's not much reason for a defensive coordinator to think "we gotta stop this run game!"
My argument is simple, but at least it is rational.
My take was that ND had to pick their poison to either be aggressive on the LOS bringing more than 4 or drop more guys into coverage. They chose to let Gardner try to beat them with his arm rather than let Michigan pound the ball on the ground. That coupled with some first round draft picks up front and a very young interior OL going up against a 3-4 for the first time led to a very anemic ground game.
DeleteBorges also called a great game taking what the defense gave him. The OL clearly needs some work as there were way too many times where one of NDs front 7 came through unblocked. Should get fixed with time and thankfully the next month is a very easy schedule.
Linebackers playing the run hard on run action plays is not selling out to stop the run, its just a defensive philosophy. Selling out to stop the run is consistently bringing 8 guys in the box.
DeleteMichigan is not a pick your poison kind of team, yet. Michigan is a running team. Outside of Gallon there really isn't a play maker among the receivers. Dileo is a sure handed slot guy but by no means a play maker. Really in the passing game the next biggest threat besides Gallon is Gardner's ability to scramble. Magnus hit on that talking about d-ends playing contain. If ends start playing contain, Gardner can still be effective but the te's become more important as check downs. Like I said earlier, Gardner has all the tools to be as effective as Vince Young was against contain guys but its hard to check down to 2 guys under 5'8.
I live a couple blocks from Mathers and my kids have gone through school with his daughter. He's pretty good about showing up for his daughter's stuff at school, but always looks like he'd rather have an enema than a conversation.
ReplyDeleteI think he dumbed lucked into his ages cultural sweet spot despite a serious lack of social skills much in the way of self confidence or any semblance of an extravert's nature. From what I've seen, this guy is about as far from an attention whore as anybody I can think of.
I don't think he's an attention whore, really. I just think that when he gets attention, he likes to do weird things. He likes the idea that people might think he's original or whatever, but he's not out there seeking tabloid attention all day, every day.
DeleteI agree it's not about getting attention. He was on a Tigers' broadcast a couple years ago and was stiff and boring. Yesterday, he was just trying too hard. Wanted to be funny, but doesn't have the charisma to pull it off.
DeleteAll I can say is good luck to the big ten next year trying to stop Butt and Funchess.
ReplyDeleteI can't say enough about Gardner and Gallon. Those guys are really carrying this offense. If Gardner goes down we are absolutely dead, because this OL simply can not block very well yet. We'll be fine through to Penn State, but against tougher defenses the OL is a weakness.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Defense - I'm not too worried. I thought they did alright. The secondary made some plays. They tried to pick on Taylor a little bit and had some success but he never backed down - and every completion on him, he raked aggressively for the ball. Countess was solid. I didn't notice Wilson make too many mistakes either.
Wilson got beat in coverage by TJ Jones on a corner route, but that's to be somewhat expected. Wilson can't hang with guys of Jones's caliber.
DeleteI missed that one, but I'm not surprised. Do you blame talent, experience or both?
DeleteTJ Jones is good. Very good.
DeleteHis shoulder injury early on in the game gave us a distinct advantage, I thought; he and Rees were gutting us. Those shoulder injuries can be pesky; hope the young man can return to full form. If so, he will be playing on Sundays for sure.