As SMQ put it... And the rest of college football laughs and laughs.
At this point, it is clear Charlie Weis is not going to succeed as a coach on any large scale at the college level, barring a completely-unforeseen turnaround. This obviously affects Michigan, as the Wolverines play Notre Dame for the next infinity years.
In the more immediate timeframe, this means that Notre Dame commits like Chris Watt and Shaquelle Evans, who had considered Michigan late in the process, will remain off (metaphorical) board. However, even if Notre Dame reels in a good recruiting class for 2009, they are likely to FAIL once more in the next season, and it is more relevant that Weis is stockpiling talent for the next Irish headman (thankfully, not Brian Kelly immediately).
And now, some humor at Weis's expense: Tim: charlie weis retained, and there is much rejoicing Paul: do you think it was because kelly turned them down? Tim: i dunno. i think they didn't want to develop a reputation of cycling through coaches before giving the new guys a chance, plus the buyout thing Paul: so they're giving them the five years? Tim: yeah, they give everyone 5 years, with necessary adjustments for melanin levels Tim: charlie weis just went on a recruiting trip to hawaii. do you think he had to buy 2 seats on the plane? Paul: hahaha Tim: i'm just sayin'. the cost of that flight alone might have been worth paying the buyout instead Paul: he may fit in with the samoan population Tim: they are at least athletic and fat Paul: yeah... CW has one of two. that's closer than he is to most athletes Tim: hey man, MCL injury Paul: true
Horrid (and questionable but possibly not right) calls that went against Michigan Saturday.
Chop block on David Molk. The right guard had not engaged the defensive tackle when Molk went low. This is as bad a judgment call as I've seen in a while.
Greg Mathews diving catch in the endzonde ruled incomplete. This was a close call, but Mathews's right hand was between the ball and the ground the entire time, and the ball is not jarred loose when he hits the ground (a sure sign that he has full control of it). This isn't an egregiously bad call, but another example of Michigan getting bad breaks in this game. (video below).
On 4th & 6, Steven Threet throws (slightly behind) Martavious Odoms. Odoms turns back for the ball, but has no chance to make a catch, because his left wrist is raked by the defender, so he can't get it back to the ball.
On the very next play, there is no contact between Donovan Warren and Michael Floyd. The pass is broken up. More than three seconds after the play ends, an official away from the ball throws the least-justified pass interference flag possible. Even the NBC announcers(!) think it is a terrible call. On the next play, Golden Tate catches the game-sealing touchdown (in the first quarter, ugh). (video below)
Second quarter, Michigan has brought the game back within 11, Notre Dame is driving. On second and goal, Donovan Warren is called for pass interference ("a fag is down in the endzone") on a ball that was thrown out the back of the endzone (again by a ref with an obstructed view of the play, wtf), and would have been uncatchable by anyone. Notre Dame scores a touchdown on the ensuing first and goal.
Michigan is driving in the second quarter, and Sam McGuffie is literally pulled to the ground by his facemask, and nothing else. The linesman (who is within 4 yards of the play) reaches for his flag, but decides against throwing it. Ultimately, the umpire says "wtf?" and has to throw the flag from 15 yards downfield. This isn't exactly a missed call, since the umpire made up for it, but how does a linesman not call that?
Third quarter, Jimmy Clausen grounds it, no doubt at all. The NBC announcers, of course ruminate for a full minute on how "it was probably close enough" to the line of scrimmage. If it doesn't pass the line of scrimmage, there is no "close enough."
With 3:40 left in the third quarter, Michigan has the ball on ND's 5. Kevin Grady is stopped for a 1-yard gain, and fumbles. His forward progress had been stopped for a good period of time before the fumble. For those who say it shouldn't have been ruled forward progress because Grady had carried a guy into the endzone earlier in the game: you're wrong. On the first play, Grady never stopped moving forward (and was hardly even slowed down). On the second play, Grady was wrapped up low by one Irish, and high by two, with his forward progress completely stoppped, when one of the guys up top strips him. It's a completely different situation, which should result in a completely different call from the officials.
With 7 minutes left in the fourth quarter, David Bruton makes an interception for the Irish. On the return, he is brought down by David Molk. Molk is called for a horse collar tackle (at least I think so, the NBC coverage was awful). However, what Molk did (grab and release the back of Bruton's jersey, causing Bruton to lose his balance and fall down) is not at all a horse collar (definition: grabbing the inside of a ball-carrier's shoulder pads and riding him to the ground). I don't know how the refs could make such an egregious error on a 15-yard penalty.
Of course, Michigan beat themselves in this game, and they certainly had opportunities to win the game themselves. However, couple all of the above (9 possible mistakes by officials, with at least 3-4 being definite mistakes) with the following Michigan mistakes:
Following the Molk chop block, Steven Threet and Brandon Minor conspire to fumble the ball inside their own 20, giving Notre Dame a short field. Michigan's defense can't stop the Irish.
On the ensuing kickoff, Michael Shaw muffs the ball, giving Notre Dame yet another short field, on which they convert.
Donovan Warren, Stevie Brown, and John Thompson all miss tackles on Golden Tate, ultimately resulting in a Notre Dame touchdown.
Steven Threet fumbles a snap once the torrential downpour begins, which the Irish return for a touchdown.
Nick Sheridan. Egregious Interceptions. obvs. He completed all five passes he threw, but two of them were to the guys in blue shirts.
...and you have a recipe for disaster that is unlikely to be repeated again.
Notre Dame had no sustained drives, and was outgained 388-260. They also had every single fumble of their own bounce right back to their own players (the exact opposite of what happened to Michigan).
The Wolverines should look at Saturday's contest with an optimistic light, and Notre Dame fans should be fearful that their win was little more than a fluke.
The Situation Thanks to a pair of fumbles giving the Irish offense short fields, Michigan trails Notre Dame 14-0. Now, a particularly questionable pass interference call on Donovan Warren has resulted in an Irish 1st and 10 on Michigan's 48 yard line. Michigan's defense needs a big stop to prevent the Wolverines from being blown out early.
The Personnel and Formation The Irish line up with only one wide receiver (Golden Tate). They have two tight ends on the right side of the line, and a weak offset I-formation backfield. This is a clear running formation. To counter, Michigan comes out in their base 4-3. Morgan Trent is the corner lined up over Tate, and Donovan Warren is on the other side. Stevie Brown is 8 yards off the line of scrimmage at free safety, and Brandon Harrison is 15 yards deep as the strong safety.
The Play Jimmy Clausen gives a play-action fake to Robert Hughes on a counter. Notre Dame leaves 9 men in pass protection, which leaves only one receiver running the route. Golden Tate runs a slant-and-go pattern, cutting in before going straight up the field. Clausen heaves the ball towards Tate, who has 2-3 yards on both Morgan Trent and Brandon Harrison. Tate reels in the ball on the 5 yard line, and waltzes into the endzone untouched.
Why it Worked The blame for this touchdown does not fall on Stevie Brown. Repeat: Stevie Brown is not culpable. He wasn't exactly stellar the rest of the day, but don't rag on the kid for this touchdown. Our good friend GSimmons (a high school DC who runs Shafer's 3-4 Okie package as his base defense and also knows much more about football than I ever will) lets us know that it appears Michigan is running a read-2 defense, which is a form of cover-2-like-substance. Morgan Trent sees Tate head inside, leading him to believe that Tate will not be a deep vertical threat. Because of this error in judgment, Trent does not cover a deep half, which allows Tate to get behind the defenders. By the time Trent and Harrison realize their error, Tate has enough space to make an easy touchdown grab. Charlie Weis's decided schematic advantage (which apparently is not yakety saks after all) held true this once, as this was a perfect play call against this type of defense.
Massey from Buckeye Commentary offer his thoughts on Michigan's game. My views on OSU's game can be found over there.
Michigan – Notre Dame
What I saw… …was something no Wolverine fan wanted to see. A collapse in the biggest game of the year, to date. (And, before you jump down my throat, I know a collapse when I see one after attending Ohio State's last three debacles on the national stage.)The big game meltdown practically became a trademark of Rodriguez before he left West Virginia. You do not have to look any further than the Mountaineers last regular season game in 2007.
I also watched a game eerily reminiscent of the Buckeyes' blowout loss at the hands of the Trojans. Decent defense hampered by horrendous offense and turnovers.
I have no love for Michigan but they are a better team than Notre Dame. Their personnel is better at virtually every position save quarterback and some offensive line spots. The defenses should not be mentioned in the same sentence. Yet, they were never really in this game. Sure they piled up more yards, but the mistakes were crippling and immediate. After ten minutes, Notre Dame was averaging 3 points/play (7 plays = 21 points).
I know I said it last time, but I continue to be impressed with McGuffie.
What I Didn't see… …was an offense that can offer any support to the defense. The seven consecutive second-half possessions ending in punts or turnovers was, well, OSU-esque. As of right now, Michigan is 9-for-37 on third down. That's 24%. Whoa.
I also did not see any progress from Nick Sheridan. I take it all back. In my review of the Utah game, I said Sheridan would eventually take over as the starter. Judging from these last two weeks, I could not be more wrong. I will not be surprised if you have seen the last of him for a while now. Why bother playing him?
Who I watched … …McGuffie was hard to ignore. Why? Because his main competition fumbled away opportunities to get reps. The other four RBs only had 10 carries while McGuffie received 25 carries and caught four passes. That means he touched the ball on almost half of the Wolverines offensive plays (29 of 70, 42%).
What I expect next week… …is a lot of practice holding onto the ball. I know the weather was nasty in the second half when most of the turnovers occurred, but the Irish managed to hold onto it. Aside from that, I would be willing to bet that Threet and McGuffie get plenty of reps together in practice in order to build timing and backfield cohesiveness. They have to be the starting backfield at this point. There are no other viable options. They should receive 90% of the work. Michigan needs to take advantage of this bye week with the back-to-back home games versus Wisconsin and Illinois up next.
What this can tell us about The Game… Michigan is lot farther from beating Ohio State than the Buckeyes' dismal performance in Los Angeles might suggest. Ohio State has trouble protecting the quarterback against an aggressive defense. Michigan, on the other hand, did not sack Clausen last week after registering 8 in 2007. If the Wolverines cannot get through that offensive line, I have little faith that they will be able to penetrate OSU's porous unit.
It also tells me that Rodriguez needs to prove that he can win the most important games on the schedule, whether they be generated by circumstance or rivalry. I have not seen that from him yet.
I've decided this will be a semi-regular feature. I really couldn't think of anything for Miami but there's plenty in this game.
The Weather is Straight out of The Odyssey. You know how Odysseus and a few of his men get stuck in Cyclops's cave? They took some timber, sharpened an end and blinded Cyclops and then escaped by lashing themselves to the undersides of his sheep, so they slip out without being detected. Well, unfortunately for them Cyclops was Poseidon's son, and Poseidon controls the weather on the ocean. Poseidon was angry that they did that to his son and whipped up a storm that sunk every boat save Odysseus' and knocked his off into the edge of the world. I'm not sure what giant creature Rich Rodriguez blinded, but whichever deity controls the weather in South Bend sure as hell was pissed. The kicker is that this malevolent deity waited until its team was up by double digits before unleashing its wrath. Crafty...
Jimmy Clausen is Portia from The Merchant of Venice. Portia is definitely the hero of this play, and Jimmy Clausen was arguably the hero of the game on Saturday. I would personally say Michigan's slippery hands were the hero, but if you want a person, Jimmy will do. The short version of this joke is that Portia is a women who dresses up as a man to save the day. I mean, have you seen Clausen's hair? The longer story, is that she went to save Antonio who was in danger of losing a pound of flesh as he guaranteed his friend's, Basonio, loan. Basonio is inept at his job, but still manages to land Portia, a wealthy heiress, by performing an arbitrary task. Weis, on the same token, is an inept coach who managed to land a very highly regarded (albeit feminine) recruit, most likely by consuming two whole turkeys. I'm not sure who Antonio would be. Maybe Jack Swarbick, Notre Dame's Atheltic Director. The main components of Antonio are loyalty, a basic level of competancy and a strong hatred of jews, so maybe? I don't judge.
Finally... The Game in General is The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. The main character, JurgisRudkus, is a Lithuanian immigrant fresh off the boat (well, that plus the trip to Chicago). He has an indomitable love for the American dream of pulling himself up by the bootstraps. Jurgis could be Michigan in general. Stepping bravely into new uncharted lands with a firm belief that, despite toil and tribulations, there is a higher goal that will inevitably be achieved. Early on in the novel, tragedy strikes quickly in the form of unscrupulous guests taking advantage of a wedding party and even taking what few donations were given leaving the family with nothing. Similarly, right out of the gate some players coughed up the ball and Michigan was left with a 21 point debt.
Although the main point of The Jungle may have been an evisceration of capitalism in favor of socialism (which some may agree with), the main thing I remember about the novel is a couple good things happening to Jurgis and then some massive tragedy coming out of left field. For example:
Jurgis gets a job
The women of the family were able to scrounge and make a nice meal
Jurgis' son drowns in the mud while Jurgis is working.
In the game, most of what happened was good: McGuffie looked dominant, Threet looked acceptable++ and the receivers were making plays, but then there would be a hope killing turnover. Eventually it was too much for Jurgis (Rodriguez) to deal with and he just gave up (put in Sheridan*). The last hundred or so pages are basically socialist propaganda which, if you've been over to Wolverine Liberation Army since the game, you got as well. Sometimes these are just eerie...
*Reports are Threet came out with cramps, which seems like a logical answer.
The refs were truly brutal in this game. I certainly won't blame them for the end result, but they definitely had a hand in getting the game there. Awful PI calls on Warren, a somewhat questionable one on Trent, and a catch by Mathews gave the Irish about a 15 point swing, and when playing from behind, players are more likely to take risks to make a big play. Also, the Grady fumble should have been called dead for forward progress. That was a hell of a missed call. Again, the players are ultimately responsible for the result, but this is a young team that didn't really deserve the help in beating itself.
The defensive line was kinda crappy. Though they ultimately allowed ND to get only 3.3 yards for each carry, they gave up some critical yards in the third and fourth quarters. Still, when the defense only gives up 1 or 2 scoring drives (one ND TD "drive" started at the Michigan 11, one at the Michigan 14, two were composed almost entirely of a long pass to Golden Tate, and the final TD was scored on defense), it's hard to find a ton of fault on that side of the ball.
Steven Threet, as predicted by many, has settled down the more game reps he has gotten. He finally calmed down enough to execute the throws that he was floating before. Then Sheridan came in a reminded Michigan fans why they should want Threet to succeed.
Sam McGuffie looks like the real deal. The offensive line was still sub-optimal against the Irish, and McGuffie had some impressive runs (and of course the screen pass). It was so kind of Perry Dorrestein to slam into McGuffie from behind on the touchdown screen.
Going forward, this game should probably give a little more hope to Michigan fans, though they are still disappointed for what could have been. I guess that's what Michigan gets for RUNNING THE SPREAD OPTION IN HURRICANE KATRINA.
So... that was a full-on Yakety Sax performance. Even with the threat of sounding like a huge homer, there was a lot of good in the game.
Threet looked like a solid QB. Between the throws down the field and how he took off on third and long for a first and goal, he made a lot of good decisions and the execution was there.
McGuffie is the real deal. I thought Shaw may have been the better TB after Miami, but McGuff was absolutely filthy all day.
The fade is a hard pass to defense
Stevie Brown made one or two mistakes. He also made a couple plays.
Special teams FTL!
Notre Dame spends it's TV and Bowl money on the refs.
There will be more in depth analysis when I watch the game sober. Is it to mean to make a yakety sax montage for Michigan? I'm serious, it might be cathartic. Let me know.
UPDATE: Can I legitimately make fun of Weis for getting Paterno'd when Michigan got housed? I have ideas...
For this second straight year, this game could look a little something like this:
Of course, last year, Michigan ended up pantsing The Worst Team Ever, and the Irish limped to a 3-9 season (that, in all honesty, should have been worse). So, what do we know about this years game?
When I previewed the Irish back in the summer, I was slightly skeptical that they would see tons of improvement. However, that didn't stop nearly every preseason magazine from anointing them the #1 most improved team, including Phil Steele. Against San Diego State, however, the Irish looked downright pitiful against a team that got completely smoked by a 1-AA squad the previous week, and needed the benefit of a couple pretty bad calls to put away the Aztecs.
The Irish offense was once again bad. I am still shocked that John Latina has yet to be fired, as the offensive line is completely terrible once again (please don't fire him, Notre Dame, we love him). Four starters return from last year's line, so inexperience can no longer be the excuse for getting dominated at the point of attack by one of the worst teams in 1-A.
Jimmy Clausen and the running backs seemed to carry over some of the same major issues they had last year, as outlined (with video!) in this post. However, just from a one-game sample size, I would name Clausen the most improved Irish player.
On defense, the Irish didn't dominate, but they did only allow 13 points to the Aztecs. Then again, one must take into consideration that San Diego state put up 379 yards on Cal Poly, and 345 on Notre Dame. This puts the Irish into "about the same quality as Cal Poly" territory.
Michigan hasn't exactly excelled themselves this early in the year, but the moribund performance from the Irish has to put some hope into the sails of Wolverine fans. Of course, the majority of SDSU's yardage came through the air, and Michigan's quarterbacks are far from stellar. That said, there is little question that they are more talented than the Aztecs' Ryan Lindley. Considering San Diego State was a blown call away from icing the Irish early in the fourth quarter, Michigan should have a little hope.
Predictions Michigan's defensive line should prevent the Irish from getting anything going consistently in this game. Clausen looks much better on the deep ball than he did in 2007 ,but I don't think he'll have a lot of time to throw it. On offense, Michigan should be able to incrementally increase their production, as the execution gets better with a little more game experience. Michigan wins 17-3.
Unfortunately, we were not able to secure a phone interview with a representative from Notre Dame. Instead of having a polite, respectful interview with a member of another school's media, we took a different approach. Enjoy:
Let's break down a bit of Notre Dame film from last year. Since Charlie Weis is the vaunted offensive genius who led the Irish to the Worst Offense in History, last year, we'll look at the offensive "effort" against the Cardinal of Stanford.
First of all, I don't know how John Latina still has a job. His offensive lines have gotten worse every year, even when they returned a lot of talent. Take a look at the regression by Sam Young, and you'll see what I mean. In case you don't believe me, here are some examples of the All-Star recruits of the Notre Dame offensive line getting completely owned by Stanford(!), of all teams.
Another item of note is the fact that Jimmy Clausen may just not be quite ready, but either way, there is no way he should have been starting for anyone last year, much less a team that has the QB tradition of Joe Montana and Brady Quinn. He was quite fond in 2007 of taking sacks by "scrambling" for 5-10 yard losses, when he was under little pressure and should have just thrown it away. On the rare occasion that he got good protection, he still managed to miss wide open guys, or threw passes that required superhuman effort for wideouts to catch. Another thing Clausen too often (not pictured) did was not trust his arm, and throw to the checkdown option even when his first read was open (and often widely so).
And of course, there is the lack of speed at the Irish skill positions. Slow running backs aren't too much of a liability when they can do all the things that Mike Hart could for Michigan. When you're just mediocre AND you get run down from behind by a Stanford linebacker, that's a problem. This category of videos is also good for showing why Stanford lost to Notre Dame: the scheme was good, but players didn't always execute right, and that led to several big plays.
This past weekend, we saw Notre Dame face off against San Diego State, and it appeared that few of their issues from last year have been resolved. Clausen was much improved, but it's time to find out whether he can be so poised when he is getting killed on every other play.
All the questions pertaining to things other than recruiting:
ikgodofsky inquires:
How will the current roster adjust to the spread? Who will be Owen Schmitt? Do we really need all these slots? I want to avoid a USC situation where we have tons of guys taking up roster space when they can’t all play at once.
The current roster is certainly not composed in a way that is suited perfectly for the spread. The O-line was allowed to get fat and slow under Andy Moeller and Mike Gittleson, the quarterback isn’t that mobile, and there is a complete dearth of slot receivers. Michigan will certainly need to count on several incoming freshmen to contribute, or it could be a very rough first year offensively.
Owen Schmitt was considered the heart of the WVU offense (in terms of effort and enthusiasm, the guy who was actually the key to making it run was clearly Pat White). Though fullbacks may not be the rare athletes that wideouts or running backs are, Schmitt was definitely a near-perfect fit for the role in the WVU offense. Whoever plays the role in Michigan’s offense will have huge shoes to fill. It’s almost like asking “who will be Michigan’s next Jake Long at the tackle position?” That question is setting unrealistic expectations for anyone. The players who will contend for fullback in the first year will be Mark Moundros and Vince Helmuth. Both played last year, and Moundros was the player used more often of the duo. He also had a better spring, but Helmuth is the more athletic player of the two.
Michigan’s offense relies on having a bunch of little slot receivers. Considering Rich Rodriguez inherited a team with none of them, it will obviously be a big need in his first two recruiting classes. The roster at Michigan will be composed in a different way than it has been in the past, carrying slightly fewer offensive linemen, but more QBs and receivers. Michigan will have Terrance Robinson and Martavious Odoms (both true freshmen), along with several other guys who may play some slot. It is obviously a recruiting need. These players are also capable of playing multiple positions, so they aren’t just taking up dead roster space.
As far as the USC comparison, I’m not sure that is quite accurate. While the Trojans did have 10 running backs coming into 2007 (which led to some of them transferring), there is a difference between the types of players Michigan has and the types of guys USC had.
USC’s players were all big, classic running backs. There is only one of these guys on the field at a time, or occasionally two. In addition, the running back position is one that traditionally has a true starter that takes most of the snaps, then a couple backups who get the rest of the carries.
Michigan’s offense, on the other hand, will use at least 1 slot receiver on pretty much every play, most often 2 of them, and sometimes three. There is a lot more playing time available to slot receivers than running backs. In addition, the wide receivers on a team rotate more frequently than do feature backs. The final thing to keep in mind is that these guys are pretty much all capable of playing multiple positions (having played WR, RB, or QB in high school). The versatility of the athletes will also allow for there to be much more of them at a time.
So, if there is a fire sale on slot receivers, Rich Rodriguez is snart to be the first in line. The team needs many more of these players than currently populate the roster, and they will play an important role in the Michigan offense of the future.
A lot of people have asked me some variation of this question:
How does USC/OSU/ND/other get away with cheating? Michigan should be rewarded for doing things the right way.
I really disagree with the notion that everyone except Michigan cheats. Sure, there are certain schools (mostly in the SEC) that don’t quite keep everything aboveboard, but to claim that the reason Michigan hasn’t won a championship in 11 years is ridiculous.
I would much prefer that Michigan fans accept the fact that we don’t have quite as much to sell right now as do schools like Ohio State and LSU. Instead of trying to claim they cheat, I would rather they hope that the Wolverines are better in the future to compensate. This makes us look less like Notre Dame fans/head coach (whiny excuse makers), and more like true fans of the game who understand that everyone can’t win every game, and instead just focus on our own team, and wish them the best in the future.
Jared from Chicago asks:
So I hear you've had some experience with Big Ten Network in the past. I'm also fairly certain the whole Comcast debacle will make a blip on the Michigan Football/Sports radar for at least a few more months. What's your take on the campus programming they have lined up recently? Is this just a revenue source to help them break even until Comcast can signed with? Is this a way to try and sell BTN to comcast as not just a sports tier package? Most importantly, is this going to be permanent non-sport coverage? I tell you what, I know I can't wait for "Purdue Campus Programming: Vet School Diaries - Large Animal Hospital" showing Wednesday (5/21/08).
I am led to believe by various reports that the Comcast deal should be resolved by the time football season rolls around. This is a relief for fans of every Big Ten school (unless, of course, you are a huge fan of the remaining spring sports). This time, it sounds like something is actually going to happen, rather than empty promises from both sides. I think Comcast lost a lot more subscribers over the past year than it would like to admit, many of them simply because they wanted to get the BTN.
The campus programming has been part of the Big Ten Network’s plan from the beginning. Unless something changed over the course of a year, these programs are entirely produced by the universities. BTN’s reasons for presenting this information are many:
Something to show in the summer when there are little or no sports.
Outlet for Universities to show off some of their facilities and programs, enticing new students to apply.
Chance for the universities to show that they are about more than just sports.
The third reason is the one that the Big Ten Network was really pushing immediately prior to its launch, and when President Mark Silverman toured all the universities in the conference to take questions from concerned citizens. I don’t believe the presence of this programming has ulterior motives in terms of profiting without Comcast, or getting the Annoying Corporate Monolith to pick up the station as something other than a Regional Sports Network.
To the best of my knowledge, the Network is still planning to keep this coverage each summer as a permanent fixture of the schedule. Personally, I think it’s a bad idea. The BTN is, first and foremost, a sports network. If this material was really worth watching, it would appear during the sports seasons as well, when there weren’t any games on. BTN needs to understand that its audience is composed of not just Big Ten fans, but primarily sports fans. This type of programming should probably be relegated to late-night programming, since it is essentially just infomercial material.
What hockey game? I haven't heard anything about a hockey game.
Anyway, Varsity Blue will be having team coverage of the final spring practice. If tradition holds, there will be a chance to interview players after the practice. This is where you come in. Let us know if you have any burning questions you'd like us to ask the players.
With a sucky game against Notre Dame last night, the Michigan hockey team's season has come to an end. It appears as though their scoring explosion in the NCAA tournament may have been a true trend, rather than an aberration based on a 7-goal game.
If Notre Dame and Michigan State win NCAA championships in back-to-back years, my mental health will take a huge hit.
Michigan's matchup against Notre Dame won't be the first this year. The two CCHA squads met up in a home-and-"home" series back in January, with Michigan winning their home game 3-2 and the "away"game at the Palace 5-1. How did each team do this season before and since that series? Let's take a look.
Michigan
Category
Before Notre Dame
Notre Dame
Since Notre Dame
Games
22
2
18
Against Tourney Teams
4
2 (obvs.)
9
% Against Tourney Teams
.1818181818
1
.5
Goals
91
8
67
Goals/Game
4.136
4
3.722
Goals Against
39
3
42
GAA
1.773
.75
2.333
W-L-T
20-2-0
2-0-0
11-3-4
Michigan seemed to get a bit worse as the year progressed, though it is important to note that they played far more games against tournament teams in the second half of the year (including all games against MSU and Miami, against whom Michigan went 1-2-1 and 2-0-1, accounting for almost half of their non-wins on the season).
Notre Dame
Category
Before Michigan
Michigan
Since Michigan
Sans Condra
Games
26
2
18
4
Against Tourney Teams
9
2 (obvs.)
3
4
% Against Tourney Teams
.346
1
.167
1
Goals
81
3
47
12
Goals/Game
3.12
1.5
2.611
3
Goals Against
50
8
35
8
GAA
1.923
4
1.944
2
W-L-T
19-6-1
0-2-0
9-6-3
2-2-0
Note: "Condra" is leading scorer Erik Condra. All of ND's games in the final column are a subset of the "since Michigan" column, and Condra will miss the game tonight. Against Michigan, Condra had 3 shots, and a +/- of -1. All year, he was 15-23-48 in 41 games (.91 ppg). Notre Dame's second leading scorer is Ryan Thang, 17-13-30 in 45 games (.73 ppg).
Notre Dame's statistics went way down in the scoring department, and remained about constant in the goals against department. The offensive stats are even helped by a 7-goal goame against New Hampshire, which included 2 empty netters as the Wildcats tried to get back into the game (and as Michigan fans groaned that they'd rather be watching their game against Niagara than a blowout. Thanks, ESPNU!).
The majority of Notre Dame's positive stats came in the beginning of the season, when they actually faced off against more teams that made the NCAA tournament. Since their better stats in the second half came from the New Hampshire game (offensively, at least), it may stand to reason that the Irish got worse offensively - even before they lost Condra.
My prediction is that neither Michigan's 3-2 nailbiter over the Irish at Yost, nor their 5-1 shellacking in the Palace will repeat itself. Michigan will win this game by a 4-1 score that is aided by a late empty-netter.
Ryan Mallett looked better than Jimmy Clausen. He made more little mistakes, but also didn't throw into coverage consistently, like Clausen did, and completed a variety of passes.
The only truly downfield pass I recall Clausen completing was the 14-yard slant in the first half, which was really a 5 yard pass with 9 YAC. Almost all of Clausen's yardage came from swing or screen passes. Oh, and he completed a hopeless bomb to Stevie Brown. Mallett, on the other hand, made a variety of throws, both downfield and short. Obviously, a big part of his success was the talent around him compared to Clausen, but he did apear to be the better passer in the game. That said, a little bird told me that Henne will probably be able to go next week. Said bird also told me that Henne's sitting against Notre Dame was more to ensure he'd be healthier to play PSU than because he would have been physically unable to perform against the Irish.
A big part of Michigan's success in this game was based on being able to get to the quarterback, which really hadn't happened in games 1 & 2. While this improvement is encouraging, it was based on multiple factors:
Clausen was poised when throwing screens, not so poised when getting crushed before he had a chance to pass it.
Notre Dame's offensive line is terrible.
Brandon Graham was healthy enough to play the whole game.
Notre Dame runs a pro-style offense.
Factors 1 & 2 won't apply against Penn State. Morelli is a senior, and will be able to make better decisions than Clausen (in theory). It will be interesting to see if the memory (or lack thereof) of the Michigan game last year will haunt him. Penn State also returns 4 offensive linemen, all except left tackle Levi Brown. Notre Dame has yielded many more sacks than PSU through 3 games (9, 6, and 8 for a grand total of 23, compared to PSU's 2, 2, and 1 for a total of 5). Of course, caliber of defense must be taken into account as well, as Michigan is likely to get to the quarterback much better than Buffalo, Notre Dame, or FIU.
The positive factors are 3 & 4. Graham will hopefully stay healthy enough for the rest of the season to be a factor in every remaining game. This will allow Shawn Crable play linebacker, which he can, instead of defensive end, which he cannot. Other players coming back from injury this week included Jonas Mouton, who only played on special teams, though he'll hopefully be able to slot in at WLB before the year is through.
The rest of the defense played better as well. This included good games from Chris Graham (which is probably not a reliable indicator of future performance, because he isn't very good), and Brandent Englemon, who solidified his starting position over Stevie Brown. Brown will improve at the position over the course of the year, and will hopefully be ready for starting action next season. Morgan Trent again had a very good game, showing that he is capable of the improvement that now-allegedly-departed Johnny Sears so failed to show.
This week, I was not in the stadium (worked out in the concourse for ESPN: more on that later), but I have heard from multiple sources, including commenters, that the atmosphere in the stadium was much better. The maize out looked pretty good in the student section on TV (but then, they always do).
If Michigan's woes in the early season are a source of much frustration, at least there is the ever-so-slight consolation that Notre Dame has started 0-2 as well.
This Saturday, the two winningest programs in college football history will battle for their first victory of the year.
Adding to the intrigue is the fact that both Michigan and Notre Dame will be starting freshman quarterbacks, the top two recruits in the 2007 class. Charlie Weis named Jimmy Clausen as Notre Dame's starter going into the Penn State game, feeling the Emu gave the Irish the best chance to win, both now and in the future. Michigan's starter will be Ryan Mallett, not by choice, but because starter Chad Henne suffered a leg injury against Oregon.
It will be interesting to see if Weis changes his mind on starters, going with Demetrius Jones after viewing game film on Michigan's pathetic performance against scramblers in the last two contests.
This is a prime opportunity for Michigan to get their first win, since, as poorly as the Wolverines have played, Notre Dame is just bad. Mike Hart is among the confident players wearing Maize-and Blue, as he guaranteed victory against the Irish following the Oregon embarrassment.
In the Dark Ages before a strong, Michigan blogosphere developed, the only outlet online for a fan to see others' opinion and voice his or her own were free, online message boards. Premium message boards and blogs have claimed the best posters from the ESPN.com message boards and left them a demolished wasteland with sticky caps-lock keys. I plan on venturing into these groups of partisan savages and report back with the most outlandish claims and back and forth claims of "OWNAGE!1"
In today's edition we explore the rantings and ravings of a poster who goes by the handle WCD34. He is what the local refer to as a "troll." A vagabond poster who travels from board to board bringing any intelligent discussion to halt.
In this thread he is defending Notre Dame and trying to justify his position of Michigan losing to Notre Dame. When someone mentioned that pretty much every Notre Dame offensive unit is worse than the corresponding Michigan unit, he (I assume) came back with this:
Moving on...Our RB situation is BY FAR MUCH BETTER than Michigan's. Again, it's young, but sick. Do you guys even pay attention?
...
Guys, we're going to have so many RB's, you're not going to be able to keep up with which one is which. And ALL OF THEM are talented. I know plenty of Irish Fans who are happy that D. Walker chose the draft. I can't wait to see the shocked looks on your faces when ND rushes for over 200 yds in Ann Arbor. :)
The dotted out section is a list of running backs who haven't really played (except for a bit of Blue & Gold game action). So his argument is that their running backs by batallion composed of totally unproven players is better than Michigan's give the ball to one of the premiere running backs in the country approach.
Let's take a look at this...
Adding up the yards that all the running backs he mentioned gained last year we get... 241 yards. Michigan's top returning back-up (Brandon Minor) has 249 yards. To get over the whole "Michigan runs more" argument, the Notre Dame running backs had 65 attempts while Brandon Minor had just 42.
So... with Michigan's primary back-up posting better numbers than the entire field of Notre Dame backs AND having a preseason Doak Walker candidate, I really can't see where he is coming from.
I understand being exciting about a good group of young studs, but to say that potential is better than a top-5 back, not to mention a few young guys with their fair share of potential, is just down right dumb. I guess that is why he's cruising around ESPN message board, and maybe why he's a Notre Dame fan (I kid...).
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