This was a strange game for Wolverines fans. Clearly, one team played well and one team played poorly. Sure, State has a better defense then Michigan but Michigan clearly beat themselves on Saturday with bad decisions and mistakes. If Michigan is going to have one of the worst defenses in the country they can not waste offense possessions.
One team had 3 turnovers, with two of them coming in the end zone and one team didn't turnover the ball at all. That is pretty much all you need to know about the game. Denard looked like a QB making his 6th start on Saturday and Cousins didn't. Denard picks in the end zone were late, bad throws where he stared down his intended target. If you show up to a shoot out and run out of bullets, you not going to do very well. That was the story for the Wolverines on Saturday.
Instead of Cheers and Jeers today. I am going to state my top concerns with the Wolverines through 6 games.
#5: Michigan was not sharp at all on Saturday - Are the practices "too physical" during the week? Wide receivers were dropping balls all over the place. This team was either too tight on Saturday or just plain too tired.
#4: Michigan 5 wins has come over poor teams. UConn lost to a pretty bad Rutgers team on Friday, Indiana got their head handed to them in Columbus, and ND barley beat Pitt.
#3: Are there 3 more wins on the schedule? Maybe. As of right now, Illinois, Penn State, and Purdue look winnable. But many Michigan fans are feeling a bit of Deja vu from the 2009 season. Where Michigan was undefeated until they lost to MSU and didn't have a win over a D1 opponent the rest of the year. Illinois and Purdue had surprising wins on Saturday.
#2: The Defense is the worst in D1 against the pass. Enough said.
#1: This team is not getting better. One of the things you look for in young teams is, are they getting better from week to week? I don't see that in the Wolverines right now. The senior linebackers are clearly not a strength on defense. Obi ran right out of his gap on Baker's 61 yard TD to start the MSU scoring. If he didn't move at the snap, Baker would have ran right into him. I see Cam Gordon playing better then week one but I'm not sure you could say that about many more Wolverines. Taylor Lewan has showed he is a good player on the offensive line.
Sub topics under this heading of "not getting any better"
- I'm also not seeing creative play calling on offense. Those option read runs on first down are killing me. Those worked on the first drive but didn't work anytime after.
- The "Denard Effect". Denard has been an incredible player this year but we have to remember he made his 6th start on Saturday and is still a very young QB. His 3 picks were all very poor decisions, that he should of thrown away or just ran with it. In the post game press conference, he said, he "just got too excited". With that said, when Michigan is down in by 3 scores in the second half, RR clearly had to throw and should of called on Tate to try to bring the team back. With the all the press Denard has been getting, "how do you pull him?" That is a coaches decision and one RR didn't make on Saturday.
- Someone please tell me why Devin Gardner is not red shirting this year? I would understand if Denard or Tate went down. But at this point, a handful of plays and some time against BGSU seems like a wasted opportunity to get him another year of eligibility.
So where do we go from here?
Michigan needs to protect against the implosion of 2009 by trying to stay focused. They are one win away from being bowl eligible and now need a win again against a team they weren't expected to beat. That opportunity is at the door with Iowa coming to the Big House next week. As it sits right now, Michigan won't be favored to win against one of the best defenses in the country.
Like I said before, there are some opportunities for wins on the schedule but there are also opportunities for a 2009 collapse. The road they take will define this team in 2010.
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