10-2 and WE BEAT OHIO!!!!!!!!

I want to scream and jump and scream some more!  After a too-close of a game, we finally beat Ohio.  Yes, you read that right, Michigan beat Ohio.  First time since 2003.  Can we start our own streak vs the stinky nuts now? Before I get to the analysis, I want to say congrats to all of the seniors on the team.  The have perservered through more than most college football players, and I am so impressed with them this whole season.  This win was for them!  

Now, I need to be a little critical here.  How the eff do we let an inept offense score 34 against us?  They only scored more than that in 1 game this season (against Akron, who Western beat 68-19 yesterday). Our defense looked terrible today, in almost all phases.  The DLine was not as productive as I thought they would be against a lesser offensive line, the linebackers looked non-existent for most of the day, and the secondary... umm... what happened since the last two weeks? 

I figured we would use Desmond Morgan as  QB spy for most of the game, and I thought he would struggle.  I was not expecting as much difficulty.  Morgan consistently found someone to be blocked by, and to let Miller past him to the first down marker.  Ohio ran the ball on most 3rd and mediums (4-7 yards) with QB draws and we didnt recognize it or make adjustments. The other linebackers were invisible most of the game, didnt "feel" any of them. 

The defensive line made some big plays throughout the game, but overall they were not as productive as I was expecting.  Mike Martin was able to get off of some double teams to make some big stops in the first half, but Ohio seemed to make some changes to control him in the second.  RVB looked great at times as well.  Craig Roh looked average, but got burned on some edge contain throughout the game and allowed Miller to have some big gains. He did draw the holding in the end zone, but that was the extent of his success today.

The secondary.... where do I even start?  They looked like we traded our coverage with last year's.  Countess looked like a freshman and got burned over and over on the double move routes.  Woolfolk looked so bad that he got benched at halftime on senior day.  His replacement, Gordon, picked up where Troy left off. And JT Floyd looked like same old cornerback from last year.  How does a receiver get 5 yards open down the sideline on a hail mary play when we are up by 6 with 1 minute left?  Why do you bite on the out route? How do you let someone behind you?  Where was the safety coverage?  Ohio had 2 of their biggest plays of the season in the first half, and it was set up by terrible coverage.  Ugh, so painful to watch.

Ohio had been averaging less than 23 points a game, and they had 24 at the half.  Our defense looked so bad for most of the game.  I thought the game was over once got the 10 point lead 37-27, but our defense had other plans... lets give up a touchdown in about a minute of real time. 

Ugh, I need to talk about something positive... Denard might have had his best game of is career today, definitely best B1G game.  He played at near perfection for most of the game.  He ran hard and made decisive cuts, threw some great passes and were helped out by some good catches and coverage.  Minus the one standard turnover, he looked incredible.  Fitz also looked great running the ball.  He ran hard and fell forward almost every carry.  Our ability to run the ball was what won the game for us.  The offensive line also played very well.  Omameh had some great guard pulls to spring Denard for some first down runs. Lewan pancaked his guy quite often, and Molk just destroyed some fools. The receivers also looked good too, Odoms and Hemingway had great final games in the Big House.  It might have been one of our best offensive performances of the year, and if we didnt have it we wouldnt have beat the lowly stinky nuts.

Michigan just couldnt pull away at any point of the game to seal the victory and run away with the game... up 16-7 coming off of the safety we let Ohio back into the game with some terrible defense. Up 30-24 we cant get a first down on 3rd and 3 (after a terrible play call to throw a 20 yard down and out pass, when we needed 3), Hagerup didnt want to win by too much, so he decided to drop the snap.  Then up by 10 again, 37-27 we couldnt even start thinking about stopping any sort of offense.

And the lame duck coach must have had some sort of deal worked out with the refs, since I have no idea how you can overturn Fitz's lone td run at the end of the game.  One camera showed him over the line, and the other view showed him short.  Both cameras were looking at the goaline on an angle, so how do you over turn that call?  No idea.  Then the next play, since when is it ok that there is 2 penalties applied on one play.  A hold will negate anything that happens after the penalty.  A late hit in the end zone after a touchdown, results in 15 yards applied on the kick off not another 15 yards added to the hold.  I am still confused about the call, because I have never seen that happen before.  I want to hear the reasoning for it, but it almost moved us from inches away to out of field goal position to let Ohio tie with a field goal.  Also, on the play that Hoke challenged on the 3rd down, Posey pushed him out of bounds a clear yard before the marker yet the play was not overturned because of not enough video evidence. So I am glad that the refs werent a reason to use for a loss today like they were against Iowa. 

But we won, Ding Dong the streak is dead, and so is Fickell, and we are going BCS-bowling! 

Go Blue!!!!