Hope
I finally saw this year's Wolverines, and I liked it. There have been better squads playing in the Michigan/Notre Dame rivalry, but the 28-24 maize
The main reason is they have a Heisman quality quarterback, Denard Robinson, whose explosive play reminds one of Anthony Carter, except he has his hands on the ball every play. (He's surpisingly small for a QB, but then Carter was small, too.) Also, the offensive line is powerful enough to give him the room he needs. Though I keep fearing on any play he'll take it hard and that'll be that.
At first, I thought it was the Michigan of old. Notre Dame had no trouble scoring on their first possession. (I still think our defense is what's holding us back). But then Michigan tightened up and scored three unanswered touchdowns (including an 87-yard run from Robinson), leading 21-7 at the half. In classic Michigan style, the Wolverines refused to put the game away in the second half. When Notre Dame scored 10 points in the third quarter it was anybody's game. (Subject for further worry--Michigan was 0 for 2 in field goals attempts. We also had three interceptions, which was nice, but what happens when we face a team not so easily picked off?)
Michigan defense held tight in the fourth quarter, but the offense kept giving the ball back. They had Notre Dame's backs against its end zone when what should happen but a 96-yard touchdown pass, and Notre Dame's got the lead with less than 4 minutes left. All that work for nothing, it seemed. But Denard and the boys were able to put one more series together, and got their only score of the half with 27 seconds left. Even then, with the prevent defense and sloppy play, they gave Notre one last chance to score.
It's hard to compare Robinson to anyone else, since he's rewriting the record books each game. With 258 yards rushed he broke the Michigan record for QBs that he set last week. He also broke the Big Ten record. I don't think he can keep this up. When you include his 244 yards passing, that's 502 yards of offense he's responsible for. Amazing.
posted by LAGuy @ 12:04 AM
2 Comments:
"Hope..."
...less:
1. You can't be competitive with 1/2 a team. Michigan's defense is very weak. Until that changes, we'll continue hovering around .500 per season.
2. No kicking game. AGAIN. Michigan seeks quality special teams the way Hollywood seeks quality screenplays.
3. As you alluded, Denard Robinson simply can't do it all himself. Besides, it makes the opposing team's defensive plan caveman simple, as there's only one guy to key on. That's literally an offensive depth equal to "0".
Let's enjoy "undefeated" while we can...
improvement?? In case U forgot, U-M beat Notre Dame last year with the Tate the Great and he was being mentioned for Heisman as well. Weak D, poor kicking, quickly now name their best tailback. I think the team is very comparable to last year (don't forget how much we all loved Tate thru September in 09); just Denard is putting up big numbers and should continue to (like Tate did) for two more. The season begins with MSU (not Indiana), four games from now.
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