Long run, sustained drives bring memories of 2004ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN SEPTEMBER 6, 2005 Michigan took down a solid Northern Illinois team on Saturday but questions remain on the defensive side. Whether is was coach Bo Schembechler at halftime or talk radio after the game, the word on the street is that the defense does not appear to have the solved the problems that plagued last year’s end of season. On the bright side, the offense looked great, converting when it needed to. You had the feeling Michigan could have ran every play. Freshman Kevin Grady looked good in his Wolverine debut. His acceleration through the holes, and awareness on the field was impressive. Mike Hart still looks strong and M is obviously looking to use him more as a receiver. Surprise punter Ross Ryan looked pretty good; we’ll see where that goes this season. But the missed tackles, assignments, and in some cases, just getting beat by the man across the line (Gabe Watson!), won’t fly this week against Notre Dame. I heard Coach Carr’s press conference immediately following the game. He seemed oblivious to the defensive struggles – telling the press that they shouldn’t expect to keep teams’ offenses completely down anymore. He drastically changed his tune on the weekly Monday call, which they actually held this Monday (Labor…
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The Road Game Blues
Wisconsin Looms; Can M Buck the trend? Wolverines Struggle in first road game each season SALINE, MICHIGAN SEPT 21, 2005 Five seasons in a row Michigan football has headed into its first game on the road undefeated with sights on another national title. 5 straight times the Wolverines have stumbled. That said, heading into the Wisconsin game, Michigan has two positive trends on its side: M has won 6 straight against the Badgers (Lloyd Carr has never lost to Barry Alvarez) and get this: the Wolverines have not lost a Big Ten opener since 1981. Unfortunately, that loss was to the Badgers. Taking it back to 1998, Michigan has actually dropped 6 of 7 road openers. Here the summary: Year Opponent Result 1998 @ Notre Dame Loss – 36-20 1999 @ Syracuse Win – 18-13 2000 @ UCLA Loss – 23-20 2001 @ Washington Loss – 23-18 2002 @ Notre Dame Loss – 25-23 2003 @ Oregon Loss – 31-27 2004 @ Notre Dame Loss – 28-20 There’s no positive spin. This is a team that has and should have national title aspirations and basically they’ve been derailed right off the bat in all of these seasons. If there’s a good side it’s that Michigan has rebounded in these years, winning Big Ten Titles in four of these seasons. The…
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Michigan Crashes Back to Earth, Falls to Ducks
Comeback effort too little, too late as M falls to University of Oregon Ducks ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN SEPTEMBER 21, 2003 Ann Arbor News writers Jim Carty and Antoine Pitts differed when describing Michigan’s final offensive play. Carty wrote that the last play was “one last drop by [M receiver Braylon] Edwards”. Pitts said the drive ended when “quarterback John Navarre’s pass to Braylon Edwards sailed high.” This sums up a common debate over the past few years. Is John Navarre throwing bad passes, or are Michigan’s talented receivers not making catches? This debate certainly was a good one on Saturday, as there were several bad throws, several missed catches and some in between. The bottom line is that this team is not as good as everyone hoped after last week, and certainly is not good enough to get away with bad execution, whether it be drops or sailing passes. As complete as the team domination last week of Notre Dame was, this was as equivalent in terms of a total team collapse. Every facet of Michigan’s game could be criticized. Is the hope of a national title over? Probably but not completely. Losing early like this gives Michigan a chance to rebound. But as I told the Mudbowl on Sunday morning, I more concerned about Michigan’s ability to win the…
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Houston Cougars Humbled by Michigan, Irish Next
Navarre struggles. TA coming to town on Saturday. ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN SEPTEMBER 7, 2003 Oh yes, it was sweet being back at Michigan Stadium after missing Game #1 at the DALMAC. Jess and I arrived in our seats about 20 minutes before the start, just in time to see the band and the team come out. The weather was perfect: literally no clouds and a mild mid-70s. As for the game, it is tough to give any good takes due to the quality of the opponent, but I will say that Houston crushed a team (Rice) the week before, and many good/great teams (e.g., Ohio State, Purdue) struggled or lost against so-called patsies. The Michigan Wolverine defense looked much improved, which probably had something to do with the return of Shazor and Jackson. They both played great. The Houston offense really couldn’t do anything; only mustering a field goal after converting a 4th down. The holes created by the M offense were as big as I can remember. The M fullback, Dudley, had some great blocks for Perry and Underwood and the rest of the runners. “Duds” was the player of the game of WJR. John Navarre looked average. I felt the receivers could have made a few more catches, but Navarre wasn’t putting the ball in a good place.…
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Michigan Takes Down CMU in 2003 Opener
TORCH LAKE, MICHIGAN AUGUST 30, 2003 Quick takes on the Michigan versus. Central Michigan game 2003: – The artificial field is going to be a big boost for Michigan. The players loved it and felt they could really show their true speed. I hear you could smell the rubber throughout the stadium. – The offense could have racked up as many points as they wanted to. The only downside was the dropped passes. Braylon Edwards is on Coach Carr’s s-list and the rumor is that Edwards has big ideas about the way things should be run, and they differ from the ideas of the coaching staff. – The defense giving up over 200 rushing is no good. They will be better next week against Houston but we’ll really know the deal when Notre Dame visits on Sept. 13. – The fans didn’t throw marshmallows on the field, but I bet the opposing fans will in the coming weeks if people keep talking about it. – Navarre is listed in the New York Times as one of six people on their Heisman Watch. He had good numbers on Saturday but they could have been better if the receivers held onto the ball. I thought Matt Gutierrez looked pretty good late in the game. He connected on a very nice rollout pass.…
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Michigan Cruises Past Miami, OH 43-10
SALINE, MICHIGAN SEPTEMBER 7, 2004 Michigan took complete control of the game in the 4th quarter with a series of Miami turnovers and ended up putting a big number on the Miami Redhawks. What the 43-10 score did not readily reveal was a few concerns that will need to be addressed as the season progresses. First off, Lloyd Carr starting a true freshman (Chad Henne) blew my mind. The whispers around the program indicated that Henne was tearing it up during camp and pre-season practices. We’re still not exactly sure what happened to Matt Gutierrez, but we’ll have to assume that Henne will be the starter if he keeps getting it done. They say Henne is a very confident guy. He must be: he was one of the top rated passers in high school, yet chose to come to Michigan where there looked to be a pretty stable quarterback situation for at least 2 years out (with Gutierrez and/or Clayton Richard). He looked very poised but we’ll see how that holds up next week at Notre Dame. Richard looked pretty sharp in mop up time. The biggest concern for me is the running game. David Underwood just did not get it done. He averaged just 2.9 yards a carry versus a lesser team. I know Miami was highly ranked at…
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Tennessee Vols Stomp Michigan in 2002 Citrus Bowl
Ouch. The Tennessee Volunteers did what is mostly unheard of, especially over the past several years – they routed a Michigan Wolverine football team in the 2002 Citrus Bowl. It was as ugly as it can get, embarrassing not only Michigan but also the Big Ten conference. So, we’ll have to see how this impacts Michigan’s plans for next year. I read that they were going to insert BYU-transfer QB Spencer Brinton into the game with 2 minutes, but never got the ball back. Where are Drew Henson, Tom Brady, Brian Griese, Todd Collins, Elvis Grbac, Scott Driesbach and Jim Harbaugh when you need them? I am sure that the Wolverines will work this out and find their next QB for 2002. As a follow-up, the impact nationally of the blow-up was lessened significantly by the other major schools that were also crushed (Colorado and Nebraska for instance).
