Sunday, September 3, 2017

Imperfectly Dominating

Michigan's' Chase Winovich knocks the ball out of Florida
Daniel Mears - Detroit News
The game started a bit nervously for Michigan fans as on the first play sophomore LB Devin Bush gets flagged for a hit out of bounds and a possible targeting penalty, which if the review had agreed to  would have cost Bush the rest of the game.   That didn't happen and Wolverine fans took a deep breath. 


During the rest of the game, that same feeling seemed to exist at least for me.   Michigan dominating on defense but the offense and Wilton kept throwing TD's to the Gators.   I agree that the first pick was not on Wilton, but if he hits Crawford in the chest that ball is not intercepted. 


Michigan was able to run the ball on a tough Florida Defense and I thought the Michigan Offensive line played well enough to secure the victory.   The story of the game was clearly that Don Brown or Donnie as the ABC crew liked to call him is a Wizard.   Florida is not a good offensive team and Don Brown proved it again with his re-loaded defense.   The Florida offense scored 3 points and had 9 first downs on the day.   The Michigan defense dominated the overwhelmed Gators offense and it didn't matter who they put under center or gave the ball to.  


With a dominating performance on defense the Wolverines have plenty to work on, so lets take a look at Cheer and Jeers for Week 1:




Cheers
  • Another dominating performance from the Michigan defense
  • 6 Sacks = Wow!
  • The offensive line played well
  • Isaac with over a 100 yards!
  • Black is the real deal at WR!
  • Grant Perry might have the best hands on the team
  • Hello Nick Eubanks!
  • Bush had 7 tackles and 2 sacks
  • Michigan ran for over 200 yards
  • Nordin was sharp early with some long field goals
  • 433 yards total for the Wolverine offense


Jeers
  • Free 14 points on 2 picks 6's can't happen
  • To many penalties, one cost Michigan a TD
  • Love DPJ but worried about ball security on his punt returns
  • Too many field goals and not enough TD's
  • It didn't seem like Crawford had 1 catch for 3 yards
  • Nordin's last miss was a bad one
  • CB depth might be an issue
  • Michigan had a punt blocked/tipped


It feels good to win a big game and happy to dominate the Gators again but there are plenty of things to work on before Penn State and Ohio State.   Good thing the strong Michigan staff has time to fix the issues and get this team ready for a great finish. 



6 comments:

In Harbaugh we trust said...

First off great article..I agree with DPJ punt returns...ONE HAND on the ball, it was like I was waiting for ball to get punched out..Can't wait to hear the SEC excuses...Paul F. I'm looking at u..Right tackle freshman had a tough night pass protecting...After last night I will never second guess Jimmy when it comes to QB...He knows...and like u said we have about a month to get things right until games get tougher...lets enjoy this win...

dude1984 said...

Great game. Not to take too much away from the D, but I really can't comment on the defensive performance because the FL O is pretty scrubby. I did like how fast and aggressive the D was though.

What really surprised me in a very positive way was the O performed. FL has a legit D and Michigan steamrolled them. So much speed in the skill positions. If the O-Line can play at that level through out the year and Speight can work on preventing so many high throws this O can be something special.

My general take away is that Michigan is fast all over the field, faster than last season, and more physical in the trenches on a more consistent basis which points towards good things if they can repeat this performance on a weekly basis.

Onwards to the Cincinnati game next weekend.

Big35Hurt said...

Here's my take....
Offense
We are starting to get the type of OLine Play that is necessary to run this offense. The entire offense is predicated on the ability to run the ball and play action pass. I don't think the WR youth is going to be as big of an issue as I thought it would be going into this year. Someone still will need to step up and be a #1 guy that we can count on to make the big 3rd down catches, but I was VERY encouraged by the WR blocking yesterday. I'm not too worried about Speight's int's. The 1st one could have been caught and the 2nd one was largely in part due to him having a man in his face. The positive thing (if there was one) about that 2nd pick 6 is that he hung in there and stepped into that throw. It was just a poor throw. Ulizio struggled in pass pro for sure, but it was very clear from the start that he wasn't going to be able to handle that DE from Florida. I think they should have given him some help. The fact that we dominated the line of scrimmage against a solid SEC front 7 is VERY encouraging moving forward. Next week we get to face a Cincy D that got ran on by a bad opponent this week. So expect more of the same. Oh, and by the way, our TE's are each limited in some capacity of their games, but collectively they sure had a great day yesterday. Lastly, a shout out to Khalid Hill for a crushing block on one of Isaac's runs. I love watching that kid play. he does so many things well. He's a "football player".

Defense
I agree with the comment about CB depth perhaps being an issue moving forward. Their youth showed too at times, but for the most part I think they played well on the outside. Now, let's talk about some of the REALLY GOOD things that we saw yesterday.
*Bush is going to be a TON of fun to watch for the next 3 years at the MIKE.
*The entire team defense is extremely fast at all 3 levels. It was amazing to watch the DLine pursue plays and make the tackles. They get there FAST.
*Don Brown is truly a genius on D. It's so much fun to watch this guy's defense.
*Gary is a beast with an endless motor. I hope we get to watch him for 2 years (not 1).
*Hurst is also a beast. Definitely a top half of the 1st round guy in April.
*Hudson was also noticeably flying around.

Special Teams
* Punt blocked. WTF?
* DPJ - yes he scared me a bit but the kid wants to make things happen and it looks like he has really good hands. I think he's going to be a lot of fun to watch back there.
* Nordin - what a start! I'm going to give him a mulligan on that last one. I was impressed.

A few questions that maybe someone could answer for me:
* Is Ambry Thomas going to play Safety? I was hoping he would stick at CB.
* Is Newsome for sure out for the year? I saw some video of him running and he looked good, but I realize running and playing in a game are 2 very different things.
* Am I the only person that thinks that John O'Korn is not a viable backup option and that if Speight got hurt we would need to look at Peters or McCaffrey?

Big35Hurt said...

1 other question....is Kareem Walker in the mix anymore? He looked really good in the Spring.

Voice of Reason said...

I have been hearing and reading from the "expert" talking heads and writers about how bad Florida's offense is and has been under Jim McElwain but when you look at the last two year's scheduled results it's difficult to justify the criticism completely.

In 2016 against the SEC teams they put up 45 in a win against Kentucky, 28 in a loss against Tennessee, 13 in a win against Vanderbilt, 40 in a win against Missouri, 24 in a win against Georgia, 20 in a win against South Carolina, 16 in a win against LSU, and 30 in a B10 win against Iowa. Plus they were never shut down by the defensive powerhouses in their conference.

In 2015 they put up 28 in a win against Tennessee, 38 in a win against Ole Miss, 21 in a win against Missouri, 28 in a loss to Les Miles' LSU, 27 in a win against Georgia, and 24 in a win against South Carolina. Plus Michigan and FSU were the only two teams that basically shut down Florida's point offensive production.

My point being is that the media seems to refuse to give Michigan the respect that they deserve in this win. I guess we're going to have to get used to this media bias.

Regarding the CB's, this group did fairly well against a top 20 team regardless of the suspensions. They will get better as the year progresses. Devin Bush, Jr. is a good player, I'd like to see him become more disciplined in his tackling, i.e., I believe he was charged with targeting last year in a game(?) When he gets that area more under control, he'll be awesome.

I am fairly satisfied with Michigan's offensive line play. It was clear I agree that the right side of the line needs some work. They had their good and bad moments, however, they hung in there and produced against one of the better defenses in the country so I am encouraged. They will have a few games to work out the technicalities before serious play begins.

Speight is likely what he's going to be this year and we will see what and where that is before the end of the year. I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't start to see Peters make appearances before the end of the season if Speight's improvement isn't noticeable and exponential to get Peters ready for next year.

I am still concerned about the Special Teams play. They've seemed to come up with miscues or questionable decisions in big games periodically. If they don't get that worked out then it runs the risk of costing them in big games.

Lastly, Grant Perry's penalty where he spun the ball was not acceptable. And just to think that he may have done it AGAIN later in that game should have the coaches and team mates up his rear end. IMHO!!!

[Not that anyone is interested in reading all of this stuff]

Big35Hurt said...

Yep I saw Perry spin the ball again later in the game. What the hell is wrong with that guy!!?!?!?!