Location: Big House
TV: ABC
Weather: Cloudy and High of 70, 90% chance of rain during the day
Line: Michigan -21
Time to move on from last weekends game. Time to play another opponent and focus on the rest of the season. Michigan played a powerful team with little to no weakness last weekend. This weekend they get to play a team that runs the triple option. If your not familiar with that type offense, it's basically death by running the ball and confusing the defense on which player has the ball. Just when you key on the run, they hit you with a play action pass. Georgia Tech has been successful running it the last 4 years or so.
This offense is something you don't see very often and just the opposite of what the Wolverines defense saw last week. The Wolverines defenders will have to stay in their gaps and do a better job in tackling the ball carrier. One of the reasons this offense is hard to defend is because you only have a week to prepare for it. Georgia Tech played Iowa in the Orange Bowl a few years ago and the Hawkeyes dominated because they had a strong defensive line and they had a month to prepare. Having Big Will and Q Washington regularly in the backfield will help the defense get off the field quickly.
Tale of the Tape
Spread/Pro Style Hybrid vs. Triple Option = Denard Robinson X Factor
Triple Option vs Michigan's Defense = Push
Michigan's Offense vs AF Defense = Huge Day by Fitz and Gallon
Letdown vs. Trip to Big House = Push
Needing a win vs Happy to be there = Needing a win
Air Force has smart football players that run a complicated miss direction offense that is hard to defend. They run that offense to stay competitive in games like this. Brady and Big Al should not be surprised at what Air Force runs since they saw them every year at San Diego State in the Mountain West. The key to this game is that Air Force does not have the athletes or size the Wolverines do. They give up a ton of points on defense and try to out score their opponents when they are over matched in talent and size. AF gave up 59 points to ND last year and if you were up at 9:00AM last weekend, you saw what ND did to a similar type of offense at Navy.
Sing Hail to the Victors if..............
- Michigan shows no let down from the Alabama game
- It's the Denard Show running and throwing
- Fitz is close to 200 yards
- Gardner is playing QB instead of WR in the second half
- The Michigan D line dominates the smaller AF O line
- The AF running backs can't get outside to run free
- Michigan can't stop the triple option and they run free all day
- Michigan isn't scoring every time they have the ball
- Michigan still has a "hang over" from last weekend
- A slow start by the Wolverines could cause doubt and indecision
- AF is still running strong in the 4th quarter because they are used to training in the thin air of Colorado.
On paper this game is not close and why Vegas has the Wolverines winning by three touchdowns.
I don't see the Wolverines having much trouble moving the ball on offense against a small AF defense. The key to the game is: can the Michigan Defense stop the triple option? At times the Wolverines have had trouble with games like this one. I think Brady's experience playing Air Force at SDSU and him coaching the Dline will help the likes of Q, Ash, Black, Big Will, Roh and Clark do their job. I expect a big day from Denard passing the ball and Fitz running mad for missing last week. I expect to see a ton of tackles from Kovas and Thomas Gordon at the line of scrimmage.
Michigan 41 Air Force 17
Go Blue!
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