We all love gifts; I love birthday gifts, I love Christmas gifts, I love unexpected gifts of kindness.
Michigan must of felt they needed to do something extra special for Notre Dame on Saturday. Michigan had whipped Notre Dame in it's last two outings and many ND fans and alumni were wondering if "Good Time Charlie" is the man for the job in South Bend.
See Michigan is a very Charitable team, we help friends and programs when they are down. In fact we even helped ND start their football program back in the 1800's when our bus stopped at South Bend and a few Wolverines got out and showed some ND students how to block and tackle. Even ND's stadium is based of the Big House. Michigan is a very giving program.
That spirit of giving continued on Saturday. Michigan entered the game as a 2 point favorite and like a 5 year old on Christmas morning, Notre Dame was quick to open their presents. Under the tree was first a "questionable" backwards pass (should have been reviewed) on the 10 yard line for quick 1st quarter touchdown. Of course if you open one gift then the second has to be just as good or better and it was. The next box had a Michigan fumble on the next kickoff which resulted again in a quick touchdown.
Michigan had 6 nice presents under the Tree for ND on Saturday. They were full of things like Sheridan's arm strength or Threet's wet shotgun snaps. Things that usually ND gives as gifts, turned out on Saturday they were the ones receiving them.
When Michigan lined up with ND away from the Christmas Tree they played well on both sides of the ball. Michigan moved the ball on offense and the defense stopped Jimmy and gang on a regular basis. It was the 6 gifts that was the difference in this one.
Even the officials were moved with the spirit of giving. They continued to call pass interference on good coverage and called an incomplete pass on a Matthews touchdown catch that looked pretty good to me (if the officials on the field call it a touchdown the booth would not of overturned it).
Let's take a look at the gifts, just in case you would like to send thank you notes:
- Threet backwards pass = ND Touchdown
- Shaw kickoff fumble = ND Touchdown
- Matthews TD Catch called incomplete = ND Touchdown and No Michigan Touchdown
- Grady fumble on the 5 yard line = No Michigan Touchdown
- Threet fumble = ND Touchdown
- Sheridan INT on the 5 yard line = No Michigan Touchdown
There were other smaller gift but those weren't as impressive as the top 5. If my math is right, 4 ND touchdowns, while three Michigan touchdowns were erased. That is a pretty large swing.
Jeers:
- Is the QB competition over yet? Threet is a QB and Sheridan is not. Sheridan should be playing safety. He just doesn't have any arm strength.
- Stupid Mistakes. I know they are young and dumb but that show of fumbling and other mistakes were just terrible.
- The weather didn't help but you have to secure the ball
- Stevie Brown; Stevie how many times are we going to watch you get beat deep?
Cheers:
- I really liked the progress the team made when they weren't being charitable. The offense moved the ball regularly and the defense stopped ND when they weren't given the ball on the goal line.
- McGuffie has turned into a super star. This guy can flat out play. Nice game Crime Dog!
- I also liked the coaches game plan, Michigan out played ND for most of the game.
This is a good week for Michigan to have off. They need two weeks of practice before the Big Ten season starts. As we have seen from this weekend, the Big Ten continues to be a weak conference and this could be any one's championship. Take away the fixable mistakes and Michigan is looking pretty good. Keep getting better, make the Big Ten and a Bowl game the goal this year. I have a feeling this team can still do good things this year.
4 comments:
When UM wins the TO battle 12-1 the last two years it's a "whipping", but when ND winis 6-2 then UM gave them the game? I'll stop short of saying UM outplayed them for most of the day. ND was up two scores in a monsoon, and really didn't need to do anything but run, run, run, punt. UM was screwing up enough to let ND do nothing. Up until the rain started they pretty much did what they wanted on offense.
Offensively, ND pretty much shut everything down at halftime. If the game had been close, I think we would have seen a lot more deep passes aimed at Brown, Trent, and company.
It's not realistic to try to re-calculate the final score by eliminating the plays you don't like and assuming the other team wouldn't have responded.
I don't disagree with either of your statements, but ND was not moving the ball at all on the Michigan D (when they weren't getting the ball on the 10 yard line). (they did have one long pass)
There are errors and then there are un-forced errors. Michigan made many of both, but most were un-forced. Threet's backward pass - unforced, Shaw's kickoff fumble un-forced, Threet's wet fumble unforced. All lead to ND easy touchdowns. I would be careful in saying ND has come along way.
There was also questionable calls by the Refs all game. Backward pass never reviewed, Mathews touchdown catch is called good most of the time, Grady's fumble could have been whistled down for foward progress. These might sound like excuses and these kids have to protect the ball better, but I'm not sure we can draw the conculsion that ND played great. ND protected the ball and took advantage of turnovers, nicely done and a good win. They mostly likely will still get beat in East Lansing this weekend.
They had two long drives. One that ended in a 48 yard bomb to Tate and another that had a 60 completion to Tate. They never threw down the field again after the rain started. I just don't buy that UM suddenly figured them out. They did what they wanted until the rain.
I'm not saying ND has come a long way. I'm saying that UM just isn't very good. In fact the defense looked much worse than last year. Either ND improved by leaps and bounds on offense or UM regressed quite a bit on defense. I'm guessing it's a bit of both.
The backwards pass wasn't even close it was at least a yard backwards. The Matthews pass could go either way. If it were called a catch, then there wasn't enough to claim it wasn't upon review. However, the reverse is also true. It was a judgement call, and the ref that called incomplete had the best view.
ND played in the same weather and didn't turn it over six times. The Michigan defense is far more concerning than the offense right now.
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