First Half Defense
The defense didn’t have a great first half, but if you take out the two big plays (the pass where just about everyone thought Rasheed Ward was down except Ward himself, and the 49-yard Conteh touchdown run), the defense was stout, though not excellent.

64 of NU’s 212 first half passing yards came on that play, about 55 of them after the “tackle.” Take those yards away, and Michigan held NU to 157 first-half passing yards. This is respectable but not great. It’s got to be expected given Michigan’s shitty secondary.

The rushing touchdown, if removed from the first-half stats, takes NU’s yardage down from 15 rushes for 97 yards to 14 rushes for 48 yards. This would be much better.

However, it must be remembered that these big plays did indeed happen (the rushing touchdown with backup linebackers in, I believe). Improved execution in the following weeks should fix these problems.

Second Half Defense
The defense was much better in the second half, mostly bending without break, but also forcing 4 C.J. Bacher turnovers in a row. The main difference appeared to be increased intensity. The two fumbles were forced by pressure, as was the Ezeh interception (with the caveat that it was tipped). The Trent pick was either a bad read, bad throw, or combination of the two.

Michigan has discovered that to win games, the defense must pressure the quarterback. In future weeks (notably against the spread offense of Purdue), this will hopefully happen from opening gun to final whistle, rather than coming and going over the course of the game.

First Half Offense
The first drive with Henne was good. It certainly showed that this is indeed his offense. Mallett was 5 for 11, missing a couple open guys, and not responding to pressure as consistently well as he did in the first couple games. He will improve in the future.

Troubling in the first half was Michigan’s insistence on running into stacked fronts on first and second downs. Michigan has 15 carries for 37 yards in half 1. Michigan ran on 8 out of their 12 first-and-tens for 28 yards. This counts only conventional runs, not backwards screens or reverses.

Second Half Offense
The play selection improved in the second half. Michigan ran (conventional runs) on 8 of 16 first and tens, though they went for only 16 yards. Half as opposed to two-thirds of running plays on first and ten, though the production decreased.

Henne was more accurate than was Mallett, and Michigan was able to move the ball through the air, and Mike Hart did break a big run on a second down to boost the Wolverines. Before compiling these stats (which may not be accurate, check the facts if you’d like), I expected that the rushing was more successful in the second half because Northwestern tired down. However, it seems that this is not the case, and it may be more creative playcalling that benefited Michigan.

Special Teams
The return units were unspectacular, but also didn’t hurt Michigan. Coverage teams were still not great. Lots of Northwestern drives started with good field position. However, the biggest Achilles Heel of special teams is the terrible play of Jason Gingell. He was 0/2 on the day, missing 26 and 39 yarders. This puts his season total at 3/9 (two were blocked in the App. State game, only one was his fault). This week’s depth chart lists K.C. Lopata and Bryan Wright as “OR”s along with Gingell, meaning that a starter will be established in practice over the course of the week. Lopata was mentioned in Carr’s Monday press conference, Wright was not. Expect Lopata to be given a try in the Eastern Michigan game.

Posted under Analysis, Coaching

O.M.F.G.

This actually happened. At least for the rest of this year, the scourge of having lost to a 1-AA team will be hanging over the ehads of Michigan Wolverine players and fans. For players, it may provide the extra motivation they so clearly lacked yesterday. For fans, there is no recourse but to take the abuse from others, and hope to run the table the rest of the way.

Observations on the game:

• Chad Henne had his worst day (by far) that I’ve observed. He was missing deep balls, making bad reads, throwing across his body, etc.
• Mike Hart carried the team, despite being out for most of the game. Brandon Minor has yet to learn how to find a hole.
• The defensive line was bad. The inside zone handoff was a guaranteed three yards for App St. the entire first half, and was still moderately effective in the second. Brandon Graham was in the doghouse and played limited snaps.
• As expected, the secondary sucked. Stevie Brown and Johnny Sears were major liabilities. Morgan Trent was much improved over last year.
• The coaching was bad. Sure, Brandon Minor isn’t cut out for the zone game unless there is a gaping hole, but you have one of the biggest offensive lines in the country, and you’re playing a bunch of guys who don’t breach 300 pounds. Just pound the ball all game.
• We are back to not being able to stop a mobile quarterback. Scary, considering we’re playing Dennis Dixon next week.
• The fans were pathetic except during the late 3rd and early 4th quarters.
• I was interning for the Big Ten network. It is a poorly run organization at every level. Don’t expect it to last longer than a year.

Halfway through, I switch to the royal “we.” I’m too depressed to go back and fix it. I hope to god that this year isn’t 2005 redux.

Posted under Analysis, Coaching

On ESPN.com:

“Big East. The conference everybody loved to dismiss before 2006 is must-see TV this fall with three Top 25 teams (Louisville, Rutgers and West Virginia) and a potential sleeper (South Florida). The league is littered with Heisman candidates (WVU’s Slaton and Pat White, Louisville’s Brohm and Rutgers’ Rice) and great young coaches (WVU’s Rich Rodriguez, Louisville’s Steve Kragthorpe and Rutgers’ Greg Schiano).

Big Ten. Outside of Michigan, Wisconsin, Penn State and reloading Ohio State, few Big Ten teams have a legitimate chance of making the postseason. Michigan State and Minnesota have new coaches, and Illinois, Indiana and Northwestern continue to struggle. No wonder people are jumping off the Big Ten bandwagon.”

-Mark Schlabach

The Big East has 3 top-twenty five teams. Very neat. The Big Ten has 4. The Big East has a sleeper in South Florida (in the “others receiving votes” in the USA Today Top 25). The Big Ten has an “other receiving votes” as well, in Iowa, as well as a legitimate sleeper in Illinois, who has been stockpiling talent under Ron Zook, and returns 19 starters, including 9 from a defense that was, if not spectacular, certainly a bright spot for the team. (36.4% teams top 25 B10, 37.5% teams top 25 BL, with no top 5, and 1 top ten to the Big Ten’s 3)

The Big East has four preseason Heisman contenders. Michigan has 3. Wisonsin has one in P.J. Hill, one of Penn State’s skill position players on offense (Morelli or the electric but as-yet disappointing Derrick Williams) could be considered a candidate. Ohio State’s Beanie Wells will receive consideration. Juice Williams from Illinois is a human highlight reel – though he’ll have to stop allowing half of those highlights be for the other team if he wants to be considered. Indiana’s Kellen Lewis is a less electric, but also less mistake-prone version of Juice, and James Hardy is likely to catch touchdown passes over many a defensive back who can’t handle his 6-8-ness. The Big Ten returns 4 first and second team all Americans (would be five if Mario Manningham wasn’t hurt for a significant portion of last year – remember, until the injury, he was a legitimate Heisman contender, not just an all-american candidate). The Big East returns two first and second teamers, along with a third teamer, Rutgers tackle Eric Foster, their only defensive name on the list.

Great coaches? Who cares if they’re young. Give me Tressel over everyone in the Big East any day. In terms of recruiting, there is no better coach in America than Ron Zook (ok, except Pete Carroll, but he has a lot more to work with). Bret Bielema, despite being an asshole, took his team to a one-loss season in his first as a head coach. Oh, did I say don’t worry about age? He’s actually the second-youngest coach in America, only to conference foe Pat Fitzgerald of Northwestern.

Bowl eligibility might be little harder to come by if you face a schedule featuring four preseason top-25 teams, as well as another receiving votes, as Illinois and Michigan State must do (Minnesota and Northwestern miss only Penn State). Despite this, Illinois will probably be bowling. At least 5/11 Big Ten teams are mortal locks to go to bowls, and 2 or 3 more likely will. 4 Big East teams will be bowling, and it is unlikely that 6 make it, despite the fact that all but 2 Big East teams (Syracuse and West Virginia) play a 1-AA opponent.

Is it fair to say that the Big East is hot while the Big Ten is not? Certainly not. The real reason peopel are “jumping off the Big Ten bandwagon” is your moronic “journalism.”

Posted under Coaching

Andy Katz has written an interesting article on coaching succession in college. He isn’t talking about football (his focus is on Syracuse basketball), but this is certainly a relevant topic for the imminent retirement of Lloyd Carr.

Linky

Will Michigan follow the suit of Syracuse basketball (and Wisconsin football), or let Lloyd retire before searching for a head coaching candidate? It seems that, although Syracuse and Wisconsin certainly look forward, it’s definitely not a trend in the NCAA.

My take on the matter is that I would like to have a successor named prior to Lloyd’s final season (which is likely to come this year, or almost certainly in 2008). This would ease possible hits to recruiting, because recruits would know there is going to be continuity, and other head coaches (Miles, Meyer, Weis), would not be able to cast doubt on Lloyd’s tenure as head coach. Naming a successor would likely require promoting from within, something I am in favor of, though many in the Wolverine Nation are not.

Internal Candidates
The two prime internal candidates are quite obviously the two coordinators, OC Mike Debord and DC Ron English. Erik Campbell has been associate head coach for a while, but I don’t believe that he is looked at as a legitimate head coaching candidate, or he probably would have been promoted to a coordinator position in his 13 years at Michigan.

Ron English
One knock on English is that he hasn’t proven that he is a great coach, but rather than he is a great motivator and recruiter. However, my opinion on the matter is that those two domains are where the head coach must excel, and let his coordinators and other assistants do the scheming, etc. Another advantage of English is that he has shown to have a slightly more aggressive philosophy than fans are used to seeing from the Maize and Blue. English is a hot commodity, and it is likely that he would last only one or two more years as a Michigan assistant before being hired as a head coach either here or somewhere else.

Mike Debord
Debord, on the other hand, is a less exciting candidate. He gets a lot of (undeserved) flak for being uninspiring in his offense, but he is a brilliant coordinator and game planner, with the sole exception of the Rose Bowl debacle. Debord showed at Central Michigan that he may not be the most successful head coach in the world, but one must take into account the inherent advantages that Michigan holds over a MAC program. Still, a head coach shouldn’t need to have built-in advantages to succeed, and perhaps a better head coach (who could succeed at the lower level), would be able to use these advantages to take the program to all-new heights.

If you disagree with my take on the matter, feel free to debate in the comments.

Posted under Coaching

Every year the Greek Community has a semester long fund raising program inaccurately called “Greek Week.” On Wednesday night, representatives of the charities receiving the funds address everyone in the Greek system at Rackham auditorium. One of the annual charities is the Lloyd Carr Cancer Foundation. To speak on behalf of the fund, Lloyd Carr has spoken 3 out of the past 4 years.

I was lucky to sit up front by the speaker staging area, and from watching him before and during his speech, I reaffirmed my strictly idealistic man-crush on Lloyd Carr.

Before his speech as people were filing in, I saw Carr walk up and begin talking to the spokesman for one of the charities. This kid is in a wheel chair, and couldn’t even make it on stage to give his speech. Lloyd without an SID or handler telling him, talked with this kid for about 5 minutes. After his speech, the host of the event told the audience that Lloyd had also promised him and his family tickets to a Michigan game this year.

His speech was vintage Lloyd Carr. I could just imagine his note card for the event:

1. Reminisce about own Greek experience
2. Awkward anecdote about leadership
3. Talk about football

It is important to note that transitions between topics are not allowed. The awkward anecdote involved Ernest Shackleton where he compared Michigan students to Antarctic explorers. The football talk was about his love of the NW corner of Michigan Stadium.

If we ever need to get a score late in the game, or get an important stop, I always hope it’s in the North End.

TAKE THAT RICH ALUMNI!

He was asked after he left the stage to say a few words about Bo (Bo’s charity fund was the next charity to speak), so he awkwardly went back up on stage and took the mic away from the emcee and told the story of his first interview with Bo, which included road rage, the Pretzel Hut and suspending players. I’m putting this in a quote, but I’m paraphrasing here:

For my first interview for a job at Michigan I flew in on a Monday. I walked into Bo’s office, and there were a couple assistant coaches in there. We went out to the Pretzel Hut, which was a fine Ann Arbor establishment to go for lunch and a beer.

So after we left the Pretzel Hut, we headed to get the car in the parking structure. Bo was driving, and he pulled out and before he could even get the transmission into drive, a car that had been coming up slammed on his horn, and I mean really slammed. He wanted Bo to know he had pulled out in front of him.

Well, Bo wasn’t in a good mood, he had to suspend some players earlier that day which never makes any coach feel good, so instead of putting the car in drive and going on his way, he leaves the car in reverse and slams into the guy.

I was thinking to myself ‘this is one hell of an interview,’ when the guy behind us honked again! So, Bo did the only thing he could do, and slammed into the guy again.

The obvious question this brings up is how big of a deal was drunk driving back in 1981.

I really think this type of thing is what makes a college football coach. Lloyd Carr, despite being a grumbling curmudgeon with the press, is open and compassionate with students and fans. Sure success on the field is in important (and Lloyd has had success with a .758 winning % and 5 Big Ten Titles), but if that was it, coaches would just be hired guns like they are in the NFL (or Alabama).

Lloyd Carr is the definition of a Michigan time, and I was really surprised and impressed that the day Michigan jumped to the lead of the Fulmer Cup, he was there in front of students and being a part of campus. Hopefully for Lloyd, he can win a (Mythical) National Championship and ride into the sunset with a legacy appropriate for such a good coach and such a great man.

Posted under Coaching

Present (W Basketball), potential (M Basketball), and future (Football). From the Detroit News.

Martin keeps and open mind.

Interesting tidbit for those who think Lloyd will hand-pick his successor (Debord):

Q . Would you like coach Carr involved in the process to find a successor?

A . I would say that I would seek Lloyd’s input, but I don’t think I would want a coach directly involved in the process. I think you need to be able to step back, take a long look at the program and decide what’s in the best long-term interest of Michigan football. There’s no question that that’s an absolute critical objective.

And more interesting-ness on playing App. State:

Q . A lot of fans have criticized the school’s decision to play Appalachian State in football next season. What’s your take on that and your philosophy about football scheduling?

A . We thought we had a Division I opponent up until the final moment. Now, we didn’t get it, but we had to get a game in place.

If you look at Appalachian State, they’re the two-time, I-AA champion. Ask yourself: Do you think they could beat half the teams in the MAC?

I anticipate that we will have one of the top five toughest schedules this year. Look at our home schedule. Everyone wants you to play the top teams every week, unless you’re a coach or athletic director. So you have to look at it from both sides.

Posted under Coaching

Vance Bedford, who previously served as the defensive backs coach of the Wolverines 95-98, has been rehired at the position, leaving the Defensive Coordinator spot at Oklahoma State, the Tulsa World reports.

In his previous stint here, Bedford coached such greats as Charles Woodson, Daydrian Taylor, Todd Howard, Marcus Ray, and Cato June. It is unclear exactly which positions he will coach, as the word on the street is that English will continue to coach one of the defensive back positions.

Posted under Coaching

Two decommits in one weekend, but the story behind them isn’t as dramatic as it seems like it might be.

Starting with Marquis Maze, he really upset the coaching staff back in the fall by telling them he would take no more visits after committing, then proceeding to not only take more visits, but lie about it to the UM coaches afterwards. He’s been a de fecto decommit for quite some time now (did UM even rescind their offer to him?) He was an interesting prospect anyway, who it seemed like UM offered just because he is so damned fast. He wouldn’t have had much of a role on the team except for special teams and maybe the occasional trick play. Sam McGuffie, an 08 prospect with similar speed, but more of a pure running back, will hopefully fill the void Maze has left. Best of luck to him with Nick Saban and the Crimson Tide.

As far as Jerimy Finch, the experts have been feeling like this switch of committment to Indiana was imminent for some time. However, even they aren’t too worried about the decommitment of Finch, and think that Michigan will be able to win him back before signing day rolls around. As such, this is definitely a situation to keep an eye on, and hopefully Finch will be Blue on signing day.

Posted under Coaching

I have the misfortune to be in a place where an event as sad as this is actually celebrated. Hopefully the team will want to win one for Bo, and to strike back at the OSU fans who find this tragic passing humorous.

Posted under Coaching

I’m not just advocating this because I want my school to be represented by the winner. Lloyd Carr, at least this far into the season, has proven to me that he deserves to be coach of the first four games. Extrapolating to the rest of the year yields interesting results.

Oops, did I say Lloyd? I meant “Oyd.”

Vote here.

Posted under Coaching