Michigan Rewind: Western Michigan

Snapshots: Brandon Herron's 94-yard Interception Return

I'm not sure if you Michigan fans (or Western Michigan fans, if any Broncos have stumbled upon this site) remember this play from Saturday's 34-10 victory, but it's the one that went a long way toward earning linebacker Brandon Herron the Walter Camp Defensive Player of the Week honors.  It was also the longest interception return in Michigan football history at 94 yards.  It was kind of a big deal.

To set up the play, WMU has driven down to the Michigan 4.5 yard line with the score tied 7-7 and just over seven minutes remaining in the first half.  It's 2nd-and-goal.  The Broncos come out with an Ace package (two tight ends, two wide receivers, one running back).  Despite the proximity to the goal line, defensive coordinator Greg Mattison knows that the Broncos like to throw the ball and counters with his basic nickel package: an Okie front with three down linemen, three linebackers, two cornerbacks, and three safeties.

SAM linebacker Jake Ryan has bumped down inside over WMU's right guard.  On one side of him is Mike Martin in a 0-tech (nose tackle) and on the other is Craig Roh in a 5-tech (outside shoulder of offensive tackle).  Herron is aligned in a 3-off (outside the left guard's shoulder and off the ball). 

As WMU quarterback Alex Carder hits the first step of a three-step drop, he sees that Michigan is running the exact same coverage that he probably saw in his pre-snap read - Man Free.  Each of the cornerbacks is locked up on a wideout, strong safety Jordan Kovacs and nickel corner Thomas Gordon each have a tight end, and free safety Carvin Johnson patrols the middle of the field; Herron is tasked with picking up the running back out of the backfield, and middle linebacker Kenny Demens is coming up to blitz.  With the left tight end releasing and the right tight end staying in to block, WMU's offensive line correctly slides its protection to the left; therefore, each offensive lineman is responsible for the gap immediately to his left.  In theory this should work, unless the defense sends multiple defenders to one gap.  They don't.

As Carder hits his third step, his options are limited.  Cornerback Courtney Avery has blanketed the receiver to the bottom of the screen while the releasing tight end is running straight into the juggernaut known as Jordan Kovacs.  At the top of the screen, cornerback J.T. Floyd awaits the backside receiver.  Nickel corner Thomas Gordon waits at the line of scrimmage for the running back to release, which the RB never does; instead he steps up to block the 250 lb. Demens.  The LT successfully single blocks DE Ryan Van Bergen, the LG and C struggle to hold off NT Mike Martin, and the remaining TE single blocks DE Craig Roh.

The problem is that everybody forgot about Jake Ryan, who rushed at the snap.  The RG blocked him initially, but when Ryan stepped back to the RG's other side, the RG correctly left him to RT Dann O'Neill.  O'Neill has nobody else to block and stands still so everyone can admire his long blonde hair.  Carder just hit his back foot and might want to release the ball soon, since a 230 lb. man is two yards away and approaching fast.

As Carder releases the ball, Ryan does his best impression of Dikembe Mutombo and swats the pass, which looks to be intended as a back shoulder throw to CB Avery's wideout.  The pass is probably a bad idea no matter what, since nobody's open except FS Johnson and LB Herron.  In retrospect, Carder's thinking he should have eaten it and taken the sack.  At the time, Carder was probably thinking, "Maybe if I throw it, the bad man won't hit me anymore."  He was wrong.

Herron intercepts the deflected ball at the 5-yard line while Carder lies on his back.

Herron, who was planning to step out of bounds and enjoy raucous cheers and pats on the butt from the cheerleaders, hears a screeching voice coming from the vicinity of my couch yelling "Stay inbounds!"  Spurred on by the urgency of my screams, he eludes the WMU left tackle and runs as fast as he can.

O'Neill, who at this point feels monumentally guilty for leaving Michigan and for growing hair like Kyle Turley's, pretends to trip over Kenny Demens' foot so he won't have to run anymore.  Meanwhile, Herron's convoy includes the 300 lb. Mike Martin and the 290 lb. Ryan Van Bergen, neither of whom are needed but both of whom make the effort anyway; the 230 lb. Ryan, who batted the pass to Herron and the quarterback to the ground, also runs interference downfield.  (Watch this full speed and take a gander at Van Bergen, who puts his head down and sprints his ass off despite knowing that he's a brontosaurus chasing . . . some other type of faster -saurus.)

Herron, a 221 lb. linebacker, crosses the goal line five yards ahead of 195 lb. free safety Carvin Johnson.  Momentum has shifted.  The band plays a song.  The people rejoice.  Somewhere, a child is born.  Probably.

Herron caught the ball at 7:09 and crossed the goal line at 6:58, meaning he took roughly 11 seconds to travel 95 yards wearing football pads and dodging offensive linemen.  Remember all those practice reports saying that Herron was a physical freak but lacking in football instincts?  This confirms the former, but the latter might be in question now.  Combine this play with his 29-yard fumble return for a touchdown later in the game, and Herron had 8 tackles, 1 interception, 1 fumble recovery, 123 yards of returns, and 2 touchdowns.  Not bad for a guy who was a late addition to the starting lineup after beginning the week as the #2 weakside linebacker.  I wonder if Herron will start next week . . .

Go Blue!

(The above play begins at 1:53 of the video below.)

Michigan vs. Western Michigan Awards

Linebacker Brandon Herron picks up a fumble and returns it 29 yards for a touchdown as
former Wolverine Dann O'Neill (#68) chases from behind

Let's see more of this guy on offense . . . Michael Shaw.  Fitzgerald Toussaint looked pretty solid as the starting running back (11 carries, 80 yards, 2 touchdowns), but Shaw (4 carries, 54 yards, 1 touchdown) has the speed to be a gamebreaker.  He also has a little bit of shake to him and can run through a tackle once in awhile.  The knock on Toussaint has been his vision, and his 43-yard run could have been longer if he had made a cutback.  Both performed well and should continue to see time, but hopefully Shaw gets more than 4 carries next week.

Let's see less of this guy on offense . . . Michael Schofield.  Schofield got the start at left guard because of an injury to Ricky Barnum.  While Schofield didn't play horribly, he's too tall at 6'7" to be a guard and doesn't have the agility that Barnum does.  Big #75 is a capable backup, but hopefully he can get back to being a second string tackle soon.

Let's see more of this guy on defense . . . Brandon Herron.  The fifth year senior linebacker got the start at WILL despite being listed second on the depth chart behind Mike Jones.  Neither player has lit the world on fire - until Herron's performance on Saturday - but #58's outstanding game should warrant another start next week.  He tallied a career high 8 tackles to go along with his 94-yard interception return for a touchdown and a 29-yard fumble return for a touchdown.

Let's see less of this guy on defense . . . J.T. Floyd.  I've never been a big fan of Floyd's abilities, and he again showed a lack of change-of-direction skills on Saturday.  In a perfect world, Floyd would be playing safety.  It's not a perfect world, obviously, because Boubacar Cissoko (who should be a senior) is in jail, Cullen Christian (who should be a sophomore) is at Pitt, and Justin Turner (who should be a redshirt sophomore) is out of football right now.  It's not Floyd's fault that he isn't very good at football, but I sure would like to see Troy Woolfolk on the field instead.  Floyd's ceiling is very low.

MVP of the Western Michigan game is . . . Brandon Herron.  He accounted for 12 of Michigan's 34 points and put the Wolverines up for good when he returned an interception 94 yards for a touchdown in the middle of the second quarter.  It took the breath out of Herron, but it sucked the life out of the Broncos.  The fumble return for a TD was the icing on the cake, and the combination of those two plays earned him the Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week award.

Play of the game . . . Herron's 94-yard interception return for a touchdown.  Not only did linebacker Jake Ryan bust through the line to bat the ball, but Herron stayed inbounds after catching it, and then raced down the sideline with a convoy of blockers that included 290 lb. defensive tackle Ryan Van Bergen and 300 lb. defensive tackle Mike Martin.  It was a total team effort and one of the most exciting plays I've experienced as a Michigan fan.

Michigan 34, Western Michigan 10

Jordan Kovacs, form tackler extraordinaire, gives Western Michigan quarterback Alex Carder a tour of his facemask

Well, that was weird.  I've never seen a Michigan game called due to weather.  Maybe that's because it's never happened before this weekend.  Like every other Michigan fan, I wanted to see the game continue.  These games against MAC teams are typically when you see awesome plays and great statistics - witness the 94-yard interception return by Brandon Herron, the 44-yard touchdown run by Michael Shaw, etc.  By the time the game was canceled with 1:16 remaining in the third quarter, Michigan had taken control and was likely bound for a couple more touchdowns and some more big plays on defense.  Safety is the most important thing, and I don't question the decision to cancel the game . . . but if someone ends up just short of 1,000 yards rushing or 1,000 yards receiving or some other significant statistical benchmark, we might look back at September 3 and wonder what could have been.

Al Borges isn't dumb.  People everywhere were concerned that offensive coordinator Al Borges would try to turn Denard Robinson into a quarterback who takes every snap from under center, but that simply wasn't the case.  It looked as though roughly 75% of the offensive formations were shotgun.  It looks as though Michigan was more likely to pass from the shotgun and run from the "I" but that could change as the season progresses.  Additionally, the offense isn't as high speed as it has been for the past few seasons under Rich Rodriguez, but it was still effective.  Michigan huddles now, which took some time to adjust to since I got used to watching Rodriguez's teams.  But the Wolverines averaged 7.5 yards per play against WMU, whereas they had only 5.7 against UConn in last season's opener.

Hello, Brandon Herron.  I don't know where the hell you came from, but I'm glad you're here.  I really thought Herron would be a backup and special teamer based on his play in the past and his multiple position switches over the past couple seasons, but he was in the right place at the right time and made some plays.  Despite being listed second on the depth chart at weakside linebacker, he started the game at WILL, made 8 tackles, returned a batted pass 94 yards for a touchdown, and picked up an Alex Carder fumble for a 29-yard touchdown.  It was the longest interception return in Michigan program history and the first time any defensive player scored twice in the same game.  All that came from a fifth year senior who previously had 34 career tackles, 1 tackle for loss, 1 pass breakup, and 1 fumble recovery.  Herron has always been considered a bit of a physical freak who lacks great instincts, but his instincts looked pretty good on Saturday . . . and nobody really came close to catching the 221 lb. linebacker from behind, either.

Special teams still suck.  Apparently it doesn't matter who coaches the special teams, whether it's an offensive or defensive guy, etc.  Some Michigan fans hated that defensive backs coach Tony Gibson was in charge of special teams because he was one of only four defensive coaches under Rodriguez.  Now an offensive guy (tight ends coach Dan Ferrigno) is coaching special teams, and they're still bad.  Kick returner Kelvin Grady doesn't look like anything special and made a bad decision to leave the endzone.  Brendan Gibbons had a low extra point attempt blocked.  Western Michigan averaged 31 yards per kickoff return and consistently had excellent field position.  Of course, special teams would have looked better if the suspended Will Hagerup were punting.  Freshman Matt Wile averaged 41.0 yards per punt but didn't have great hang time, and he averaged over 65 yards per kickoff, which is better than anyone - Hagerup, Seth Broekhuizen, or Gibbons - did last season.  There's potential there for Wile, but overall the special teams were disappointing.

Greg Mattison is awesome.  Does anyone have any doubt that former defensive coordinator Greg Robinson would have allowed Carder to throw for 350 yards and 4 touchdowns?  Anyone?  It looked like it might be a long day when WMU opened the game with a long drive on which Carder didn't throw a single incompletion on the way to a touchdown.  Michigan's players were confused, and at one point near the goal line, safety Carvin Johnson lined up on the wrong side of the field against a five-wide set, leaving cornerback Courtney Avery alone covering two wideouts.  Avery did an excellent job of splitting the two receivers and blasting the guy who caught the ball at the 1-yard line, but it led to a 1-yard touchdown run a couple plays later.  After that initial drive, though, Michigan's defense settled down.  It's clear that the Wolverines don't have a lot of horses on defense, because they weren't beating MAC players in one-on-one matchups often enough.  But they did come up with timely big plays (Jordan Kovacs' two sacks and a forced fumble, Jake Ryan's batted pass, Herron's two TD returns).  This  is what a "bend but don't break" defense looks like.

Oh no, Troy Woolfolk.  Fifth year senior Troy Woolfolk, playing in his first game since November 2009 against Ohio State, went down with another injury.  After sitting out last season with a dislocated ankle, he was carted off the field in the first quarter with another ankle injury.  Luckily, it sounds like it's only a sprain this time and Brady Hoke said that he could have returned if Michigan needed him, but it looked ominous.  Early in the game, he looked like the aggressive, speedy corner that Michigan lacked all of last season.  His replacement, J.T. Floyd, hasn't changed one bit - he's still too slow to be good.

Wheeee, Michigan running backs!  Neither of Michigan's primary running backs looked fantastic, but it looks like the right guys are playing.  Fitzgerald Toussaint had 11 carries for 80 yards and 2 touchdowns, both of which required a little bit of oomph that not all Michigan backs have had; included in those 11 carries was a 43-yarder.  Meanwhile, Shaw had 4 carries for 54 yards, including a 44-yard touchdown run.  He also looked good on a toss play on which he ran through a tackle.  Vincent Smith (2 carries, 11 yards) looked like a solid change-of-pace back, and Denard Robinson (8 carries, 46 yards) had a decent but unspectacular day running the ball.

It was a win.  Despite the mistakes and the scares, it looks like Michigan got out of the game relatively healthy, they allowed only 10 points, the defense probably gained a little bit of confidence, and the offense looked consistent at the least.  After the 2007 Appalachian State game and the 2008 Toledo loss, I appreciate these wins a little more.

Congratulations, Brady Hoke!  Congratulations to Coach Hoke, who got his first win at Michigan.  Hopefully many more will follow.  Go Blue!

Highlights: Michigan 34, Western Michigan 10

Preview: Michigan vs. Western Michigan

It's been a busy week, what with the 2011 Season Countdown finishing up, the beginning of college football, my real job, and all the coaching stuff.  I didn't have time for a true game preview, but you've seen enough of those by now, anyway.

Predictions

• Starting running back Fitzgerald Toussaint goes for 120 yards and 2 touchdowns
• Denard throws for 200 yards and runs for 100
• Kevin Koger catches a TD pass from Denard
• Somebody records career interception #1
• Michigan gets 4 of those "sack" thingies that I vaguely remember 
• Final score: Michigan 35, Western Michigan 14

Poll Results

Michigan wins by multiple scores: 86%

Michigan wins by one score: 10%

Western Michigan wins by one score: 0%

Western Michigan wins by multiple scores: 4%

Thoughts on the Initial Depth Chart

Surprise, he's starting at quarterback.

The initial depth chart was released for Michigan's game against Western Michigan.  Here's the depth chart and a few thoughts:

QB: Denard Robinson, Devin Gardner
Yep.

TB: Michael Shaw OR Fitzgerald Toussaint, Vincent Smith, Stephen Hopkins
Shaw is going to be good if he stays healthy.  Just wait.  Lots of people think he was a better fit for the spread just because he was recruited by Rich Rodriguez, but he was actually a poor fit for the spread because he doesn't have great vision.  He's a one-cut-and-go back.  This is the offense in which he belongs.  Toussaint's another kid with great potential and lots of injuries.  If he stays healthy, this is a nice one-two punch.  Smith will be a good third down back.

FB: John McColgan, Steve Watson
There's, like, no one else.

WR1: Junior Hemingway, Kelvin Grady, Jeremy Jackson
WR2: Roy Roundtree, Jeremy Gallon, Martavious Odoms
I'm a little surprised that Odoms is third on the depth chart, but his shoulder and wrist injuries probably have something to do with it.  I'm expecting Gallon to bust out, so hopefully that does indeed happen.

TE: Kevin Koger, Brandon Moore, Steve Watson
Yep.

LT: Taylor Lewan, Michael Schofield
LG: Ricky Barnum, Elliott Mealer
C: David Molk, Rocko Khoury
RG: Patrick Omameh, Elliott Mealer
RT: Mark Huyge, Michael Schofield
Exactly as expected, although Mealer's a bit of a surprise there.  My gut tells me that Khoury would replace either guard if there were an injury at either spot and Molk were still healthy.

5-TECH: Will Heininger, Nathan Brink
Walk-ons are a bit scary.

1-TECH: Mike Martin, William Campbell
3-TECH: Ryan Van Bergen, Quinton Washington
These two positions are largely interchangeable, although I doubt we'll see Van Bergen playing much nose tackle.  I'm a little surprised that Campbell won't start, but Van Bergen should be fine at DT instead of DE.  He played well there in 2009 and ended up with 5 sacks.

WDE: Craig Roh, Jibreel Black, Frank Clark
The first two were expected.  I'm a little surprised that Clark is on the depth chart, but . . . well . . . there's not much depth on the defensive line.  Hopefully he's a situational pass rusher and not much more.  He won't hold up against the run at only 228 lbs.

SAM: Cameron Gordon, Jake Ryan, Brennen Beyer
I sure hope Beyer stays off the field this year and can redshirt.  Gordon and Ryan are going to be solid.

MIKE: Kenny Demens, J.B. Fitzgerald, Marell Evans
Demens is going to be a stud.  There's actually a little bit of depth here.  The two backups are steps down from Demens, but they're not bad players.

WILL: Mike Jones, Brandon Herron, Brandin Hawthorne OR Desmond Morgan
I was leery of Jones starting at WILL since he was only 207 lbs. the last time we saw him, but he's up to 224 lbs. now.  I don't think he's a playmaker, but he had a decent spring game.  Herron and Hawthorne won't scare anyone.  Morgan's going to be a player someday.

CB1: Troy Woolfolk, Blake Countess, Greg Brown
CB2: Courtney Avery OR J.T. Floyd, Tony Anderson
Hopefully it's Woolfolk and Avery first.  Yippee for Countess, who looks like he'll be good for the next few years.  Floyd might be a solid slot corner, but I'm scared if he starts.  All things being equal, start the young guy.

SS: Jordan Kovacs, Marvin Robinson
(Edit: Never mind.)
FS: Thomas Gordon, Carvin Johnson
Gordon kind of came out of nowhere.  He was playing the nickel back position in the spring, but it sounds like he really turned it on over the summer.  He should have been starting over Johnson last year, anyway, so it seems like things have been righted here.  Johnson has apparently been boom-or-bust back there, but both of these guys should be solid players in the next couple years.

Memories...

I came across this video created by The Wolverine Blog, and it made me wish the season started today. This was such an exciting day for Michigan fans, even if it was only Western Michigan.

The Case Against Denard

Need I say more?

People on message boards are clamoring to see Denard Robinson. With Mid-American Conference patsy Eastern Michigan University coming up this Saturday, some fans are dying to see the fleet-footed Floridian start or take the majority of snaps against the Eagles.

No.

Tate Forcier is a true freshman. He won the starting job outright. Practice observers said during fall camp that Denard Robinson was catching up to Forcier, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Forcier has thrown the ball 53 times for five TDs. He's also run for a little over 100 yards. Meanwhile, Robinson has completed 2/4 passes for 18 yards. He's just not ready.

If you don't believe me, review the WMU game. Yes, Denard took his first snap 43 yards for a touchdown, but it was on a broken play on which he fumbled the snap first. That's great athleticism, but that doesn't mean he's ready to win games for you. A good punt returner might have done what Denard did on that play. I wouldn't trust a good punt returner to take snaps for an entire game in an FBS game.

Meanwhile, each of Robinson's passes was thrown 90 mph. One completion was on a very nice catch by Kelvin Grady; the other was just a solid throw. His two incompletions were darts, one of which probably should have been intercepted by whoever was covering Greg Mathews. The only detail that saved him from throwing his first interception was the fact that Michigan was playing a MAC team.

I don't know that I've seen much of a difference between Denard Robinson 2009 and Justin Feagin 2008. The coaches didn't trust Feagin to throw the ball against decent competition, and considering that Denard didn't throw the ball against Notre Dame, that makes me think Rich Rodriguez has approximately the same confidence in Denard's throwing and decision-making. If Feagin had played against a team like WMU last year, who knows? Maybe we would have seen him throw a couple passes.

Tate Forcier needs to start the game against EMU. He's only two games into his college career, and he's thrown a total of 53 passes. He led Michigan in a great comeback win against Notre Dame, but there are still some things he could improve, particularly his reads on the zone read option. Removing Forcier from the EMU game would stunt his growth, if only for a week. He needs to get ready for the Big Ten season. You can bet that EMU will throw some different looks at him, and it's better for Forcier to get used to reading different alignments and coverages against a less talented team than seeing a certain blitz for the first time against, I don't know, Iowa or Penn State.

The reason Michigan fans want Denard to play is simple: Denard is very, very fast. Michigan fans never ask to see the backup unless the starter sucks. The starter has been awesome, so what gives? I don't see OSU fans clamoring for Joe Bauserman or Notre Dame fans begging for Dayne Crist. When the New Orleans Saints played a cupcake Detroit Lions team this past weekend, I didn't hear any Saints fans asking to see Mark Brunell so Drew Brees wouldn't get hurt. Denard hasn't shown that he can do anything with his arm, but Michigan fans want to see him take a shotgun snap and teleport himself into the end zone. That's all well and good, and I'd like to see teleportation myself. But no matter who you are, if the opposing team knows all you can do is run from the QB position, they're going to put eight or nine guys in the box.

Forcier should start the game and take the majority of the snaps. Denard should play intermittently and if Michigan gets a big lead, Rodriguez should let Denard loose and see how much of the offense he can run productively. This quarterback situation should be treated like any other. Michigan shouldn't weaken its starting quarterback just to strengthen its backup. That makes no sense.

Highlights: Michigan vs. Western Michigan

A user named WolverineHistorian at Youtube already put up highlights of the Michigan vs. WMU game. And believe it or not, just like in the game, mostly good stuff happens in the video.

Michigan 31, Western Michigan 7

Wow. That's the one word that kept coming to mind as I watched the game yesterday. This is such an utterly different team than the 2008 incarnation that it's difficult to imagine Steve Threet and Nick Sheridan running this type of offense.

It's clear that Tate Forcier is the driving force behind this offense. Any argument to the contrary would be insanity. He didn't run the ball particularly well and needs to work on his reads on the zone read option. That being said, except for a couple hitches, Forcier threw the ball very well and directed the offense better than anyone else on the roster can. He looked like a veteran quarterback on the first TD pass when he scrambled and directed Junior Hemingway to head downfield. His second TD pass to Hemingway brought back memories of Henne-to-Manningham. And Forcier's play action fakes on Rich Rodriguez's version of the waggle pass were excellent, not to mention his ability to square his shoulders and fling the ball to Koger for a TD and then that one-handed snag seen above.

Denard Robinson was adequate. His 43-yard touchdown run was, quite simply, electric. But keep in mind that it came on a broken play where he mishandled the shotgun snap; he was supposed to run the ball left or perhaps pitch it to Martavious Odoms who was coming behind him for a potential end around. If you take away that 43-yard run, Robinson ran the ball 10 times for 31 yards. He completed two short passes; missed badly on another in which he and the receiver weren't on the same page; and threw a dangerous deep jump ball to Mathews that ended up incomplete. Robinson's body language and decision making indicated that the game was moving a little too fast for him. Things will slow down for him and he could be a star down the road, but that time isn't now.

The running game was a bit of a disappointment for me. Forcier made some poor reads, and Rodriguez seemed more interested in getting the ball on the perimeter than taking advantage of his stable of running backs and WMU's poor defensive line. Some of this may have been due to the fact that starting fullback Mark Moundros was injured on special teams early in the game; without their best lead blocker, perhaps Rodriguez and Magee preferred to keep the ball on the outside. Regardless, the offensive line was a strength and even though starting running back Carlos Brown finished with 5.4 yards per carry, I feel Michigan could be even better at running the ball in the coming weeks.

Defensively, I was impressed with Greg Robinson's schemes and Michigan's tackling. There were several plays on Saturday where I thought WMU's running backs would have broken tackles if they were facing the 2008 defense. But Michigan's defenders seemed to stick to ballcarriers like glue. Not only were they tackling better, but the defense was hurrying to the football. If the first guy didn't make the play, usually a second guy was there ready to clean up the mess.

In the second half, WMU quarterback Tim Hiller started getting rid of the ball quicker. He found a rhythm and started hitting underneath passes to his receivers. Greg Robinson might be served well by disguising coverages on the outside, changing the look from cover 2 man to a cover 2 zone. Suddenly, instead of driving the cornerback off with his initial burst, that cornerback is sitting underneath the quick hitch to the outside. A couple well orchestrated disguised coverages might be just enough to make Hiller think twice, which would give Brandon Graham, Mike Martin, and the rest of the defensive line enough time to get to the quarterback.

Offensive game ball goes to . . . Tate Forcier. He finished 13/20 for 179 yards, 3 TDs, and - most importantly - zero interceptions, fumbles, or sacks in his first game at Michigan.

Defensive game ball goes to . . . I was tempted to say Donovan Warren, but I'll say Steve Brown. He finished third on the team with six tackles, including five solo. His new position at SAM linebacker appeals to his strengths, which are speed and physicality. Warren made several tackles and played very physical, but he picked up two pass interference penalties and a personal foul.

Let's see less of this guy on offense . . . Denard Robinson. Until he can run the offense more smoothly and completely, he should be behind center less. I felt like the offense got bogged down when he was in the game. His passing was subpar and jittery, and it seemed like WMU's defense didn't respect his ability to do anything but run. (Honorable mention: Nick Sheridan and David Cone.)

Let's see less of this guy on defense . . . J.T. Floyd. Floyd was in there as a backup to Boubacar Cissoko once Cissoko aggravated his shoulder injury. But especially in next week's game against Notre Dame, with Jimmy Clausen throwing to Golden Tate and Michael Floyd, Michigan can't afford to put Floyd in there at cornerback. He got burned a couple times - including the 73-yard TD pass, on which Troy Woolfolk was also at fault - and he's probably just too slow to be playing corner. If Michigan had any depth at the CB position, Floyd would probably be a safety. Hopefully Cissoko gets healthy and freshman Justin Turner steps up his game in the coming week. Otherwise, I'm afraid we should expect a rain of deep balls from Clausen next week.

MGoBlue's official game information.