Air Force Aftermath

To close for comfort was the theme of the day.   Air Force moved the ball at up and down the field and minus a missed field goal and a Michigan stop inside the five they would have upset the #19 ranked Wolverines.   Air Force is a team that is designed to make look silly and compete with teams that are bigger and have more talent.   Both of those things happened on Saturday. 

Michigan was pretty one dimensional on offense as the Denard show continued while the rest of the running game faltered.  Denard was fairly accurate in the passing game with only one INT after a tipped ball.  He did have a couple nice throws and a few deep balls.    Another positive on offense was the introduction to Devin Funchess a TE/WR hybrid who looks like a future star with 106 yards and his first touchdown as a Wolverine.   His intro reminded me of the first time we saw Kevin Koger a few years ago.

On to the first Cheers and Jeers of the year.

Cheers:

• Denard Show was in full effect
• Devin Funchess showed he needs to be a bigger part of the offense
• Jake Ryan wearing #47 made the game saving play
• James Ross a true freshman had two big tackles on 4th down
• Norfleet is an electric kick returner. 
• Special Teams seems to be a strong area for the Wolverines
• A win is a win

Jeers:

• The Michigan defense gave up 417 total yards
• Fitz had 7 yards on 8 carries
• The Michigan offensive line had trouble run blocking all day
• Gardner had two drops that could have cost Michigan the game
• ESPN's loss of signal during the Gardner non-catch review
• Will Roy Roundtree report to the Michigan offense?  Paging Roy Roundtree.

A win is a win and that is really all you can say about the game on Saturday.  Denard was 100% of the offense and the defense had trouble stopping a unique opponent.   It's a game you go home happy you won but knowing there is a ton of more work to do.  

Work to be done:

• Michigan's offense line has now under preformed in two games.  They can't seem to open a hole for anyone other then Denard. 
• Michigan's Dline is not doing anything special either.  Big Will had two defensive holding calls.   It seemed having Frank Clark back helped later in the game.   Not much from Craig Roh yet.
• I thought Kovas would have a huge day but I didn't see much of him after the first two drives.
• Michigan needs more game breakers on offense other then Denard.   Is Funchess part of the answer?
• Did we lose Roundtree's productivity with the loss of Tate Forcier?  He needs more looks if he is open.  (he may not be)
• I know this might not a popular take but better coaching/game management from Brady Hoke.  I thought he screwed up time management at the end of the first half, missed a challenge opportunity when Gallon had clearly made a first down by two yards and didn't have his team prepared enough to face Air Force's offense.  I expected he would know Air Force pretty well from his two years at SDSU.   It seems he may need to communicate with the coaches in the press box more often. 
• Receivers please catch the ball.

I think we are starting to see this team might not be as good as we thought going into the year.  I hope they improve before they go down to South Bend and the Big Ten season starts.  Maybe next week will be a confidence building experience against UMass.