 |
| Tight end Devin Funchess was the embodiment of Michigan's high-flying offense (image via MGoBlog) |
Devin Gardner is the best Michigan quarterback ever! Gardner was 21/29 for 503 yards and 2 touchdowns. He also had 15 carries for 81 yards and 3 touchdowns. That total of 584 yards left him one yard short of the Big Ten record for total yardage, which is 585 and was set by Dave Wilson of Illinois back in 1980. Two of Gardner's completions went for 70 yards (to Jeremy Gallon both times), and if not for a couple failures to throw away the ball, Gardner basically played as well as anyone could ask. He had zero interceptions, although there was a fumbled snap between center Graham Glasgow and himself (the third week in a row in which that has happened).
Jeremy Gallon is the best Michigan receiver ever! Gallon had 14 catches for 369 yards and 2 touchdowns (along with 1 carry for -5 yards). That set a new Big Ten record for receiving yardage and rests second all-time behind Louisiana Tech's Troy Edwards and his 21 receptions for 405 yards and 3 touchdowns against Nebraska in 1998. The previous Big Ten yardage record (301) had been held by Purdue's Chris Daniels since 1999, and the previous Michigan record (246) was Roy Roundtree's since the triple-overtime game against Illinois in 2010. Former Michigan wide receiver Marquise Walker had 15 receptions twice (against Ohio State and Washington in 2001) to set the receptions record, so Gallon's school receptions mark is one less than Walker's; however, Walker had 160 and 159 yards in those games, respectively, so Gallon had a much more explosive day.
Kyle Bosch burned his redshirt and I don't really care. The coaches decided to switch things up again this week and start Joe Burzynski at left guard and redshirt freshman Erik Magnuson at right guard. That didn't last long, since Burzynski tweaked his knee early. But instead of calling redshirt freshman Kyle Kalis or redshirt sophomore Chris Bryant off the bench, Michigan went with true freshman Bosch. It was only Indiana - a smallish and bad defense - but I thought Bosch did pretty well. His size is college-ready, and I thought he was the most talented lineman in Michigan's 2013 class. Michigan only allowed sacks when Gardner held onto the ball too long, and Fitzgerald Toussaint ran 32 times for 151 yards and 4 touchdowns. It doesn't matter where the solution comes from, as long as the problem on the interior gets fixed. Some people were bothered about Bosch burning his redshirt halfway through the year, but if a true freshman plays half the year - especially when all other options have been exhausted - I don't see how anyone can have a problem with it.
Channing Stribling got torched again. I really don't care what Stribling does in practice. He's a true freshman and the game is moving too fast for him. Last week he got beaten twice on jump balls he should have been able to intercept or knock down, once by Brandon Felder and once by Allen Robinson; that resulted in a loss. This week he used poor technique again and got beaten for a 67-yard touchdown by Kofi Hughes. Instead of going up for the ball, Stribling tried to cradle the ball into his chest, which allowed Hughes to come over the top. Add that to several missed tackles, and I think Stribling needs to be demoted. He has a good future, but the speed of the game is one reason why most freshmen redshirt.
Hello, Thomas Gordon. Gordon had a weird stat line. It consists of the following: 2 interceptions returned for 41 yards. That's it. No tackles, no pass breakups. And those were his first two picks of the year. Opposing quarterbacks have been testing Michigan's cornerbacks more than the safeties this year, but I've been a little surprised that Gordon hasn't been more involved up to this point.
Good for Indiana. I have a soft spot for the underdog, and I somewhat hope that Indiana gets a few good years here. Obviously, I hope they lose to Michigan whenever the two meet. But as long as another team takes a dip to replace Indiana near the bottom of the conference, it would be nice to see the long-suffering Indiana fans have a little fun. They're 3-4 right now, but I think head coach Kevin Wilson has them going in the right direction. They've also been doing a good job on the recruiting trail. By the way, Michigan starting cornerback Raymon Taylor was once an Indiana commit.
What does this mean for Michigan? Well, Michigan might have earned some confidence offensively, which would be nice. I also suggested prior to this game that Michigan would go to more of a spread offense with Bryant and Kalis benched, and that appears to have been the case. Al Borges's play calling seemed to shy away from running power and zone stretch constantly and incorporated some more misdirection, draws, etc. out of the run game. Michigan can't expect to blow people off the ball, so this is what Michigan's offense should look like for the remainder of the year.
Well, we’re bowl eligible.
ReplyDeleteHoke looked to have aged five years in four quarters by the time the field interviews finally rolled around.
As goofy as this sounds, I thought the difference in this game was defensive depth. We rotated 24 guys including Funchesss. Seven guys got snaps at defensive tackle, the participation list had five guys seeing action at defensive end including the three SAMs, I thought I saw Heitzman get snaps there as well which would make it six as the list has him only at tackle, three guys at middle linebacker.
We didn’t get a lot stopped, but at least we had fresh legs running to the football. While nowhere near the play of the game, I thought the most telling play of the game was an inside handoff to Fitz on our last drive of the game. An unblocked (sigh) defender is standing there in the hole. Fitz jukes him and then runs around the kid like he was standing still … he actually was standing still as he had completely lost his legs somewhere in third quarter. The kid barely had enough left to even lunge.
At one point late, we had true freshmen at both corners and at Mike, Stribling, Lewis and Conley. I like Stribbling’s game better than Thunder does and thought the freshmen corners both played pretty well. I thought that the worst beat of the day was the early touchdown over Ramon Taylor that might be on a Safety in a coverage error. Lewis had five tackles, got his hands on Gordon’s second pick and did ok keeping it in front of him despite getting picked on some. Stribbling missed a tackle early, but I thought he played pretty well overall. On the pick that wasn’t, Stribbling played it just about as well as you can right up to the instant when he learned that this is BCS football, everybody’s receivers are strong and have hops.
All the pressure was on Michigan yesterday, Indiana had nothing to lose coming in to Michigan Stadium and kept that pressure going all day long. Congratulations are in order to the offense for responding the way they did. Eric Magnuson to RG was an interesting development. We played stretches yesterday with a redshirt freshman and a true freshman flanking our walk-on Center.
I like Devin Gardner at QB and he had an indisputable helluva game, but sometimes he throws it like a girl. There I said it.
My favorite small play of the day was a Fitz TD where Williams is pushing his guy outside real nice, Fitz sees white inside and cuts left straight into the path of the guy Williams is pushing. Williams looks up, says, ‘Whoopsies!” grabs the kid by his shoulder pads right under his arm and just plain holds him there. Nicely done!!! Fitz bounced outside left for yardage all day.
Obviously, the one thing to bear in mind here is that Indiana is just real bad on defense and really wore down at the end. I do think it’s fair to say that we wore them down, but the next defense we see will be real good, real tough, real deep, real motivated and playing at home.
who is conley?
DeleteMy bad, Gedeon, I got Conleys on the brain.
DeleteI think we lost some toughness in our defensive line. Running up the middle on us was stuffed the last couple of years but this season is considerably worse. Need defense to make more stops against MSU
ReplyDeleteAgree ... if Michigan was able to pressure the IU QB in this game, this game takes on a different look. IU gets a lot fewer yards and points. As it was, the IU QB had a lot of time to either throw or see seams in the coverage and take off running.
DeleteAll in all, I came away from that game somewhat positive in my outlook for the future.
From what I remember, many IU plays were of the quick-hitting variety, which pretty much neutralizes the DL. Michigan's biggest problem was giving up huge passing plays. The DB's were uncharacteristically out of position on a lot of them and the tackling was on the poor side. Those guys must be exhausted. IU's pace was ridiculous and the refs seem to go out of their way to support it by spotting the ball in a hurry.
DeleteIs it really worse? Last year after 7 games we were giving up 3.7 YPC rushing, this year only 3.2. Despite concerns about our pass rush this year, we have 16 sacks through 7 games, as compared to 9 last year, and about the same number of TFL.
DeleteI agree on the quick-hitters. I think the pace sort of negates the defensive line's ability to get a real push up the middle. Indiana does a pretty good job of blocking, too. I really thought Greg Frey did a good job with what he had at Michigan, and he's doing the same at Indiana.
DeleteThoughts on the defenses inability to get set quickly? Huge lapse in the scout team prep this week? Looked as if our defense had practiced against Borges' tempo.
ReplyDeleteI feel like that probably happens with every team Indiana plays. Maybe I'm wrong, but it's just really tough to get set when teams run plays back-to-back like they did. That's not an excuse - Michigan needed to do a better job, and they did seem to adjust as the game went on. But the first time you play an offense like that, it's tough.
DeleteTTB,
ReplyDeleteWell reasoned and written. Thanks.
Gracias.
DeletePoints win games, but it's defense that makes sure it's YOUR points that are enough. The fact that we set a school record for offense and still had to struggle and worry until deep into the 4th quarter is a big problem. This should have been the kind of game where we could get our backups some real snaps, but we failed again to do that, and will almost certainly not have another chance for the rest of the year. Every single game since Central has been a struggle, and our last five will be the same, win or lose. Teams that put up blowout wins have a huge advantage in player development..that's why teams like Alabama, Ohio State and Oregon always seem to have top-notch replacements ready to step in, no matter how many guys they lose to the NFL.
ReplyDeleteAs far as Gardner, he had a great game, but against a very weak defense. He's still a turnover machine, who costs us 1 or 2 touchdowns every game. Unfortunately, the bar has been lowered so far that a game without interceptions for Gardner has become a cause for celebration, when for quality quarterbacks it should be considered the norm. I doubt you could find many other QBs in all of DI with 10 INTs at this point in the season, and you certainly won't find any in the top 25. If that trend continues (and there is no reason to think it won't), we will be very lucky to get two wins out of our last five games.
The biggest concern for this team is that they really have shown no significant improvement since game 1. Some growing pains were expected, but we're 7 games in and we just had our worst defensive performance of the year, by far. Given our talent level, 6-1 at this point in the season is about as good a result as we could have expected, but I kind of hoped that we'd be showing a little more upward momentum going into the tough part of our schedule. As it stands, none of our young and highly touted recruits have really emerged as stars, and more than a few have been mild to moderate disappointments. A lesson, I guess, that recruiting hype and practice buzz should be largely ignored.
I don't really think this was a game where anyone expected a lot of backups to play. Indiana is improved, and they can keep the pressure on teams even when they're down. The Hoosiers put up 28 points on Michigan State last week, too. They've scored at least 41 points in every game except against MSU, so that was probably wishful thinking.
DeleteEverybody missed tackles yesterday, I thought. Not just Strib. Was perhaps the most frustrating thing about the game. That and it seems the words 'perfect throw' are being muttered by every commentator with regards to an opposition QB.
ReplyDeleteI agree that there were a lot of missed tackles, but not as badly as what I saw from Stribling. He missed a tackle AND lost outside contain at one point, two huge no-no's.
DeleteWell said. Let's hope we can put together a great game plan and practice well for the next 2 weeks. Time to show who the boss is in the state of Michigan.
ReplyDeleteWell, let's hope Hoke and company can finally put together a strong game plan and win a game they aren't supposed to. So far, they have not done that in 3 years. MSU is a must win game for us, or we're completely out of it in the legends division only halfway through the BT season. We have a much tougher schedule that either State or Nebraska the rest of the way, so this is the chance for Hoke to show that he can outcoach people.
DeleteI really just don't think a Big Ten championship is a possibility at this point. I mean, yes, it is possible mathematically. But we're probably dreaming if we think we can beat Ohio State and/or Wisconsin right now. Again, it's possible, but odds are against us. This team is at least one year away from that point, and that's only if Gardner returns in 2014.
DeleteWell, no, I don't think a BT championship is very likely for us in the end, I'm just saying that it would be nice not to be completely out of it after only four conference games, which we will be if we lose to State.
DeleteAnd why in the world would Gardner not return in 2014? He has not shown NFL-level ability this year...not even close. I doubt he would even be in the top 10 of QBs drafted this year, and he also suffers a lot by comparison to guys who will be juniors next year. If I couldn't get a top-notch guy this year, I'd wait for 2015 rather than take a chance on Gardner. Not all of that is his fault...he has a poor offensive line and only two decent pass-catchers to throw to on the whole roster, not to mention that he plays in a poorly conceived passing offense. But the bottom line is, his numbers will not impress anyone when this season is over, especially considering that we've got four of our five toughest games still to go.
I agree that he's not NFL-ready, but that doesn't always stop people. Ernest Shazor, for example.
DeleteSpeaking of Wisconsin, Alabama played about as close to a perfect game as is humanly possible last night, hammering the Arkansas Razorbacks 52-0 in the only game I'll be pulling for Alabama to win this year.
DeleteGiggling delightedly!!!!!
Well, Shazor turned out not to be as highly regarded by NFL scouts as he thought, but his leaving early was hardly rash. He was a first team All-American in his last season, and I guarantee that Gardner will not be this year.
DeleteSeriously, I just don't understand where this whole "Gardner might go pro" meme came from. He started a few games last year, and did pretty well, but that's not nearly enough to make him a candidate for early entry. We've had plenty of QBs in the last 20 years who have been good enough to get drafted and even start in the NFL (Grbac, Collins, Griese, Brady, Navarre and Henne) and none of them had any buzz about going early. Bank on it..Gardner is here for the duration, and nothing that will happen yet this season will change that.
I agree that Gardner won't be an All-American, but stranger things have happened. Shantee Orr left one year early, too, and he went undrafted. Fitzgerald Toussaint was considering leaving early, and he wasn't an All-American, either. It happens.
DeleteGardner going pro comes from his potential, size, athleticism, and status as a UM graduate.
DeletePeople have the misconception that college performance matters a great deal for the NFL - it's only a minor factor. Michigan can go undefeated the rest of the way or lose 4 of the next 5 and Gardner's draft status may not change at all.
It must kill Hoke that MSU is the kind of defense that he wants to be, unperturbed by fluky offensive gimmicks like Indiana's.
ReplyDeleteUm, MSU gave up nearly 3 times the number of points to IU as their average against the rest of their schedule. Yes MSU has a great defense, but they weren't immune to the IU offense. Indiana's offense is legit no matter what people say. The Michigan coaches have not been pleased with their CB play outside of Countess and that is why we are seeing true freshman on the field. And while those freshmen are often in a position to make plays and showing their potential they are still not really field ready. You're left with the option of Avery or Taylor not being near the WR or a true freshman being there but unable to make the play. Next year there will be a lot more athleticism in the back 4 but for now the coaches are between a rock and a hard place.
DeleteI really can't wait to see Indiana play OSU the same week Michigan play's Iowa. Should be completely opposite box scores and I can see the Indiana game ending at 150 combined points and 1500+ yards.
Hoke probably thinks it's a gimmick, but obviously it is not. That's part of the problem. MSU's d is out there thinking of ways they can attack each offenses weaknesses (see: every game vs Denard) while Michigan in general seems to wish it was the mid 90s and everyone would just 'play the right way'.
DeleteI would expect the secondary to be the same people next year, save Thomas or Furman replacing Gordon. They should be better thanks to everyone gaining a year offsetting Gordon's loss, but I don't think even Peppers is going to come in and start right away ahead of Taylor or Countess.
Thunder, my Uncle knows one of the assistant coaches on Springfield, a team that played against Reon Dawson the previous 3 years, and he said that Reon was one of the best pure defensive backs he's seen in his life. He said Reon was really fast and had great pure tackling abilities. He said he wouldn't be surprised if Dawson got significant playing time next year or in two years, and said he was underrated at three stars! I hope he's right, because that'd make for a great secondary in the coming years.
ReplyDeleteI kind of like Dawson. He's still really skinny, but he's got some natural physical skills that will give him a chance to be successful. In my opinion, it all depends on how quickly he fills out and/or learns the defensive playbook.
DeleteSo if you want Stribling to sit, who do want in his place? It seems to me that the biggest gap in our defense so far is the third corner. Every quarterback looks confident throwing fly routs against that guy (or Raymon Taylor) and the rest of the defense has to adjust. Do you thing Lewis would be the best bet, or should we stick with Avery? Or would like to see a scheme change where the corner isn't nearly as isolated on that route? Thanks Magnus and nice post.
ReplyDeleteThat's what tomorrow's awards post is for........
DeleteDid Dymonte Thomas' legs fall off or something? Either I'm not seeing him out there, or I'm not paying nearly enough attention (either is plausible).
ReplyDeleteThomas has been playing a lot of special teams.
DeleteIs it only me that thinks that Chris Fox and Elliot Mealer are almost identical football players?
ReplyDeletebased on?
DeleteThis is my starting offense for next year!!!
ReplyDeleteQB: Shane Morris
RB: Thomas Rawls
FB: Sione Houma
LT: Logan Tuley Tillman
LG: Chris Bosch
C: Patrick Kugler
RG: David Dawson
RT: Dan Samuelson
TE: AJ Williams
WR: Devin Funchess
WR: Jehu Chesson
This is my starting Defense!!!!
WDE: Frank Clark
NT: Ondre Pipkins
3TDT: Maurice Hurst JR
SDE: Da'shawn Hand
WILL: James Ross III
MIKE: Desmond Morgan
SAM: Michael Ferns III
CB1: Jabrill Peppers
CB2: Blake Countess
SS: Jarrod Wilson
FS: Josh Furman
What do you think Thunder?
DeleteNo offense, Phillip, but I think a lot of it is wrong. Gardner instead of Morris, Green instead of Rawls, Magnuson instead of Tillman, Glasgow somewhere, Magnuson somewhere, maybe Braden somewhere, Darboh instead of Chesson or Funchess, Heitzman perhaps at SDE, Henry somewhere, perhaps Wormley, Jake Ryan at SAM, etc.
DeleteWhy did you replace so many players who start and/or contribute heavily this year who will still be around next year?
DeleteI am under the assumption that Gardner and Ryan are declaring for the draft...
DeleteI'm not sure why anyone would assume that. They both have a year of eligibility left. Ryan is coming off an injury and doesn't have much draft stock, and Gardner needs another year to be a legitimate pick.
DeleteThose aren't the only two issues, either. Josh Furman over the other options? Rawls when he's buried? An all-new offensive line when we'll have upper classmen and vastly more experienced players? Funchess not at tight end when the coaches have said they want him to stay there and develop further? No Willie Henry or more experienced defensive lineman?
It isn't likely that they will declare for draft. Gardner still has a lot of issues re: turnovers, and Ryan is only going to play a half season. They would improve their stock by investing another year honing their skills. Better to go 2nd or 3rd round than going 5th or 6th.
DeleteWell I know Gardner was projected #13 overall at one point, and Jake Ryan is Jake Ryan. And the offensive line isn't working, so redshirt freshman will need to step in.
DeleteOh no :(
ReplyDeleteAs usual, you're pretty solid in your assessment but I'm going to go to bat for Stribling just a bit. I agree that as a freshmen, he probably shouldn't be out there. You've got to wonder with all things considered, why they're not playing some of the veterans ahead of him. Is it to convince the Hollowell's and Richardson's to move on to greener pastures in order to quickly free up a schollie for some available 5 star recruit, or are they really that bad? Stribling is way skinny and the game is moving too fast for him. Despite his length and quickness, he doesn't seem to want to own position on those jump balls and gives the receiver way too much space. He needs to post up better, but how often does a kid his age not get called for pass interference for constantly panicking and holding or face guarding the receiver?? This youngster actually identifies the pass and looks for the ball. I'm impressed with him, and believe that this error he's made in these two games, though disastrous, can be easily fixed. This is great experience for him too. I don't see him being a liability later in the season, at least not for that reason. He could use a few protein shakes or burgers to bulk up though.
ReplyDeleteI have a feeling that Mattison is a little impatient to get a bigger/better corner out there to take snaps from Avery/Taylor. Those guys are solid, but neither of them fits his prototype. Stribling obviously is not fully ready yet, but Mattison must feel that a crash-course investment helps UM later this season or next year.
DeleteI think you're right on both points. Makes me wonder how much time they're spending during the week to work on those obvious technique errors these kids are making.
DeleteGood points. Last year they used Wilson ahead of vets in limited situations to get his feet wet. Seems like a similar thing with Stribling, though he's not expected to be needed to start next year.
Delete