Saturday, November 3, 2012

Gardner Style

John T. Greilick/Detroit News
When Rich Rod recruited Devin Gardner over former PSU and current LSU QB Rob Bolden, most Wolverines fans were very happy.  Devin was a 5 star QB, great athlete and a perfect QB for a couple years after Denard.

Then the whole Tate Forcier mess started and Rich Rod screwed up Devin's red shirt year because he was punishing Tate.   The NCAA is yet to rule on Devin's medical redshirt from his freshman year.   I really hope he gets it.  I could get used to watching that type of football for the next two seasons.  (BTW if they are asking for help with stupid redshirts maybe they could get one for Big Will)

Today, the recruitment of Devin Gardner paid off and paid off big.    We all know the story that happened last week.  My next question is, who's fault was it that Devin wasn't ready to play in Nebraska?  As I get older, I continue to lose patience with stupid.  Generally, people aren't stupid their decisions are.  Whoever made the decision to not give Devin regular snaps at QB during the week and have a (winnable) back up plan if their running QB goes down, it's just plain stupid.  

Denard is a special player and I think Devin could be as well.   I realize this performance was against the worst defense in the Big Ten but I also know that Devin can make throws many QB's can not.   The Gallon throw was great and so was the one to Roundtree with his feet on the end zone.  If this kid gets some confidence, look out!

I also like how Devin scrambles and runs for positive yards if guys are not open.   That is a huge plus out of the QB position which saves drives and creates points.   Minus the poor decision on the pick, I think Devin played as good as we could expect.  Sure glad we had a 5 star QB on the roster that we weren't using under center!

Cheers and Jeers:

Cheers:
  • Devin "freaking" Gardner
  • Gallon and Roundtree for some really nice catches
  • Q Washington - he is really playing well in the middle
  • Rawls and Fitz for running hard and being the difference
  • Props to Big Al for calling a good game when the Gophers clearly were staking the box to stop the run.
  • Jake Ryan for playing hard every down
Jeers:
  • Punts, What Up Hagerup?
  • Kick off coverage was poor
  • There was one Ref that looked like he called all the pass interference calls
  • Run defense looked great or gave up 8 yard runs
  • The Oline  seemed to struggle with the run blocking again

I would also like to thank Jerry Kill for killing Minnesota drives by doing dumb things like trying a fake field goal on 4th and 17. 

This game went the way it should have.  It was nice to see good decisions by the Michigan coaches and the Wolverine players.   Let's hope MSU can give us new life in the race for Indy.

BTW: MSU can't sell out their stadium when Nebraska comes to town?  Really?

5 comments:

maize n blue blood said...

You can put stupid on Hoke and Borges. Borges for not developing Bellomy like he is suppose to and not giving Gardner snaps during practice this season, because DG is a QB 1st and a WR 2nd. As a coach you should always have your backups ready just in case someone gets hurt. Not AB, he tried to ride DR to the end.

You have to blame hoke 2nd, because he is the HC and it's up to him to make these decisions when needed. But him being stubborn about leaving Bellomy in the game and not even considering Gardner, may have cost us the BIG CHAMPIONSHIP. I believe if DG had came in he could have closed out the came. Yes he would've started off slow, but he's a QB first and his QB instincts would have kicked in. We were only down 9-6 when Denard when out. Again i say Devin could have closed out that game. That is why Hoke had the headset on today, because he new he should have stepped in last week but never will admit to it. So the headset was a sign that he blew it last week.

We must win out and hope the huskers drops one to get the BIG CHAMPIONSHIP game.

Congrats Gardner. Thanks for stepping in and taking care of business.

Congrats to Mattison and the Defense for having another good game.

uncle ron said...

Ok... if Bellemy is the back up then why did Kennedy do the mop up duty yesterday....once again lost opportunity to get him experirnce, I'm lost here.

maize n blue blood said...

Agreed. there is not much confidence in Bellomy, but Borges is not that good a developing QB's. When Bellomy came in the Illinois game early for DR he did not throw one pass then later in the same game AB still would not call a pass play for Bellomy, but Kennedy did throw a pass.

We need someone who can focus on QB'S only like Stan Parrish, Scott Loeffler or someone with an impressive resume' in that department. Yes i know these to are coaching at this point and it would be a stretch, but that is who we need to make these QB's better.

I will give AB credit for his scheme as a coordinator, but not for his so called development of the QB's. DR was not a bad passer under RR.

Hoke needs to find a coach specifically for QB's only also we need to replace Darrell Funk, o-line coach, we can't get a run game going under his guidance.

Hoke is the sheriff and it
s time to make a few changes.

JQP said...

Maybe it was Minnesota's lousy defense, maybe it was just Gardner, but Michigan's offense looked about as good as it ever has these last two years. As much as I like Denard, I think Gardner is the better QB. He's got a touch on the ball that Denard doesn't have. He's big. And he's very good at buying time once the pocket breaks down. And it's all more impressive when you consider how many reps he's gotten all season.

Makes me all that much angrier that he wasn't ready for the Nebraska game.

Also, he deserves to be put in from now on if Denard is sputtering. Forget him as WR -- he's too valuable as a QB. As they say, Gardner can ball!

maize n blue blood said...

Be ANGRY at Hoke for not pulling the trigger in the Nebraska game.

We need to go back to RB by committee until someone emerges hungriest of them all. FT too comfortable and is not hungry anymore.
Give him and rawls a few touches here and there, then one of the 2 will emerge as the starter.

Please lets start blogging about a new QB and O-line coach. Those are our biggest issues.