Saturday, September 14, 2013

Akron Post Game


John T. Greilick / The Detroit News


Overall grade = D-

I don't think Michigan could have played any worse today, I'm still not sure how they won the game.  Michigan was a 37 point favorite and won by 4 points.  Akron had lost 27 straight road games and was 3 yards away from beating the #11 team in the nation in their own stadium.


Cheers
  • Michigan won the game
Jeers
  • Devin "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" Gardner has to stop.  3 picks, 1 fumble and one of his picks went for a TD.  Unacceptable against any opponent.    Yes, he won the game as well with the plays he made but he almost lost it with his mistakes.  Funchess should have caught the one pick that hit his helmet. 

  • Where is the run game?  Fitz is either breaking off a 20 yard run or getting stopped for no gain.  

  • Michigan got out coached by Akron's coaching staff

  • The secondary played poorly for most of the game.

  • Still no pass rush, unless GMat blitzes

  • Holding penalties cost Fitz and the offense a number of first downs and about an extra 60 yards rushing.

  • Special Teams also were poor; can't field a punt, missed field goal, and poor punts.

  • Felt like a Rich Rod game

I didn't see much of anything Michigan improved on this week.  It was an embarrassing win if there is such a thing.   Lets hope this young team learned something and this haze/letdown isn't carried on the road next week. 

6 comments:

Voice of Reason said...

I believe that Michigan should have and could have won by a larger margin, however, I believe the truth is that since Akron's head coach Terry Bowden took over their team last year, Michigan was the schedule that he circled and pointed to. Bowden wanted to make a good showing against Michigan.

Bowden is a pedigreed coach whose dad is Bobby Bowden one of the winningest coaches in the history of football. Terry coached at Auburn with some success and he knows his x's and o's pretty well.

He can prepare to have his team give their all for their "bowl game" which was Michigan. Most likely, his team was preparing for Michigan since their spring game and what we saw was the result of their efforts.

It's no fluke, when Michigan is on your schedule you circle it. It won't get any easier with UConn either on the road. IMO

Big35Hurt said...

UConn is twice as bad as Akron. UConn lost to frickin Towson. Michigan won't sleep on them like they did on this game. By the way....2 observations....Funchess really had some great BURST on his TD. He was stopped when he caught it and really exploded. 2nd, Chesson's TD was really impressive RAC.

Someone needs to teach Gallon how to block. geesh...

d_ronii said...

One thing that was accomplished in your preview bulletpoints was for Jehu to get a catch and touchdown.

Squashman said...

I thought quite honestly, we got out coached in all facets of the game , but more disturbing was the way our o- line and d-line got manhandled. Establish the run and devin wouldn't have to make as many plays. We looked awful in the trenches.

Scott K said...

Bob....

I've followed your blog for several years and really enjoy it... that being said, if you EVER predict a early blow out and call for replacements after halftime again, I will be forced to boycot you. :)

Seeing Wolverines fist pumping and chest beating in the endzone at the end of the game was as disappointing as the entire game was. They really should have hung their heads in shame and raced off the field. Akron's O and D lines having their way with our O and D lines is a HUGE concern... hangover game or not, bowl game for Akron or not. I hope there's some serious 'looking in the mirror' in A2 this week.
Why, why, why can't we ever avoid playing down to our opponents? Seems like the same reel plays every year since '76, when I became Blue.

Bob said...

That's fair Scott K, I agree.