Saturday, January 2, 2016

Citrus Bowl = Wow

David Guralnick / Detroit News
It was a perfect day.  The weather was in the mid 80's and sunny at kick off and then clouds moved in to cool it down a few degrees.  Before the game, I got to catch up with friends and then got the pleasure to watch a Jim Harbaugh lead team dismantle the Gators in every aspect of the game.

Thank you Jim Harbaugh for coming home and taking the Michigan job.  This program was probably as low as it could go last year at this time and you found away to 10 wins and a Citrus Bowl victory. 

Thank you Jake Rudock, you also played a huge role in getting Michigan back to 10 wins and bowl victory.  You started shaky in the Utah game but the Citrus Bowl was one of the best QB performances from a Michigan QB that I have ever witnessed.   You sir are my MVP for the season, and thank you again for taking a chance on the Wolverines and saving the year. 

Michigan won every aspect of the game but I will take a shot at the cheers list:


Cheers
  • Jake "Freaking" Rudock played great against a very good Florida secondary.  The NFL now might be taking the world away from a great future Doctor.  His QBR was near perfect for the game! Jake is only the 2nd QB in Michigan history to pass for over 3000 yards.

  • If you give Jim Harbaugh 4 weeks to prepare for an opponent look out!

  • I have to give the offensive line some love, that was a talented Florida DL and they held their own by giving Michigan 225 yards rushing.

  • Michigan's defense played well minus Peppers and the Gator only scored on a trick play.   The Defense also held Florida to 28 total yards in the second half (262 overall yards).  The Wolverines also forced two turnovers in the red zone with the stop of the fake field goal and the interception in the end zone.  

  • Jehu Chesson played great and beat one of the best CB's in county in Vernon Hargreaves all day, who is expected to be the #1 CB taken in the NFL Draft.   Jehu finished with 118 yards receiving.

  • Blake O'Neil was out with a leg injury but Michigan only had to punt once during the game.

  • De’Veon Smith went over 100 yards and broke a ton of tackles!

Jeers

None

(The injuries to Darboh and Chesson could be considered Jeers but I don't think either are too serious)

This was by the far the best game the Wolverines played all year.  This Florida defense is for real and the Michigan offense picked them apart all day.   If the rumors about John O'Korn are accurate and if Michigan can find some LB's, this might only be a taste of what's to come next year!!  Go Blue!

9 comments:

In Harbaugh we trust said...

First off great breakdown Bob of yesterday's game...I am just so happy for Jake, thanks to this year he will get a sniff in the NFL...I see the equivalent to him in the NFL to a John Navarre...drafted as a 3... But within a year goes to 2....and the mayby a starter..the point is he was never seen a a dominate qb...but Jimmy and the amazing coaching staff..."coached them up" and now we have to be pre season top 12.... Mayby 10 but we will see...I hope we can finally get a consistent running game...I hope this 5* running back we are getting in January is really a 5*.... And (sorry to say) not a Green clone.....Happy new year bob love reading this blog everyday GO BLUE

Unknown said...

Great season. Did anyone else notice that the trick play that UF scored on that the QB was in motion before the RB got set for one second....Illegal procedure. Thought a penalty should have been called. Go Blue!

Big35Hurt said...

Yesterday sure was FUN!!! #GOBLUE

A few thoughts.....I'm not sure if anyone watched the espn pregame show, but FINALLY someone pointed out that we were extremely banged up on the DLine for the last 1/4 of the season. It took Desmond Howard to bring it up and point it out. In my mind, this was a HUGE reson why our run defense was downright terrible the last 3 games. Missing Glasgow, Ojemudia, and also Mone and Pipkins really impacted us. I know Mone and Pipkins didn't play for us this year, but they were recruited to be there and they weren't so our depth was very limited.

In my mind, beating a SEC team was nice, but more important is what it will (should) do for us on the recruiting side of things. After the way we played in the 2nd half vs Ohio St, a loss to Florida (especially a bad loss) would have basically crippled our recruiting momentum coming down to NSD. Instead, I think we made another GREAT impression on these remaining studs we are trying to sign.

Isn't it pretty funny that as we sit here today, although Sparty got a few breaks this year and made the playoffs, the way they got destroyed can't make their fans feel like they're any closer to be a factor on the national stage than they were 5 years ago. Now, Michigan Fans on the other hand can see and KNOW we are on the cusp of something GREAT.....

ScottyDoggs said...

To me this game was very important, it's Michigan's first quality victory (which validates the 9-3 season)... 10-3, a bowl win (go back fifty years and check out our bowl record)... this should help any recruits that "are sitting on the fence"...usually good recruits like a program that is on it's way up and they believe they can contribute to that... Harbaugh reminds me of Steve Jobs(not personality wise), but they are the best at what they do... R.I.P. Steve.

Big35Hurt said...

Rashaun Gary is flat out DOMINATING in this UA game right now......

PLEASE GO BLUE!!!!!!

Scott K said...

We missed on Davis & Delance, picking MD & TX respectively, announcing at the UA game.

dude1984 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
dude1984 said...

Great way to close out the 2015 season and begin 2016...onwards to recruiting, the QB competition, and anxiously waiting to see a Don Brown defense. Based on what I have read about Brown I like his philosophy, and I'll be killing time watching whatever video I can find of the BC defense.

"Isn't it pretty funny that as we sit here today, although Sparty got a few breaks this year and made the playoffs, the way they got destroyed can't make their fans feel like they're any closer to be a factor on the national stage than they were 5 years ago. Now, Michigan Fans on the other hand can see and KNOW we are on the cusp of something GREAT...."
-Big35Hurt

+A million to Big35Hurt...what makes it worse for Sparty is that they're losing a lot of key players and the Harbaugh et al recruiting machine is just getting started. This was their opportunity. I hope they enjoyed their 7-8 years of "dominance" because things are about to get back to normal.

What really has to bother them is that not only where they curb-stomped in a humiliating shutout, but Michigan absolutely destroyed the team that Bama beat by a much larger margin than Bama did.

Big35Hurt said...

With only 16 scholarship spots available......any word on player movement yet that's going to free up additional spots?