As I come back to reality this morning after the incredible win last night I am starting to remember how ugly the game really was, and how fortunate us Wolverine fans are. But, no matter how bad of a football game it was, the fact of it is that we were selected to the 2012 Sugar Bowl to play Virginia Tech and somehow we found a way to win. Soon enough all people will remember is that we had an 11 win season and won our bowl game too. Coach Hoke set the bar very high moving forward, which I think is exactly where he wants it.
The Good: Even though our defense gave up way too many 3rd and long conversions, they did a very good job of the bend not break style last night. The Hokies were knocking on the door in the first two drives, and the Big Blue defense held the fighting Beamers to just field goals. They seemed to sure up tackling, and kept the plays in front of them once VaTech made the red zone. Jake Ryan continued to impress, and creates a lot of excitement for his sophomore year. Matt Wile came in to replace the inept Hagerup punting the ball, and finished with 3 punts and a 44.5 yard/punt average. Brendan Gibbons has had his career games in the last two. First he hit the game winning field goal against Ohio from 42 yards, then last night he was perfect in 3 attempts including the game winner. What a major improvement from one year to the next. Could the kicking game actually be a strength next year? The last thing that was good from the game is the officiating. It feels weird to be on the side that the refs continue to help throughout the game. I think they made 2 very good calls with overturning the interception and OT touchdown, but still both are huge plays that end up going our way. The pass interference on the jump ball to Roundtree. The announcers thought it was a good call, and it probably was, but I think it could have easily been a no call. The no-call pass interference on the last play in Iowa was a lot worse. Even on the last drive in regulation for VaTech, the refs spotted the ball 5 yards short of where David Wilson ended up because they thought his knee hit. In replay, it wasn’t even close.
The Bad: Yikes, where do I start? Denard looked terrible. I thought he was going to come out and cement himself as a preseason favorite for the 2012 Heisman last night, but instead he doesn’t look like the favorite to even be Michigan’s starting QB next year. Virginia Tech did a great job of locking him up all night long. Their game plan was similar to Michigan State’s: make him 1 dimensional. They sent run blitz after run blitz, and constantly sent more guys to the backfield than we had blockers. They were effective in stopping the run all night. Fitz and Denard had very little running room. By taking away the best part of our offense, it effectively made our offense 0-dimensional. Denard was not accurate enough to throw open our single covered receivers, and the Hokies knew it. I am surprised that we didn’t try more screens or quick slant passes. My hopes/ expectations for Denard in 2012 took a huge step backwards last night. If a team is able to contain the edges with good ends, and get pressure on him from up the middle he looks very ineffective. It worked for MSU this year, but next year we have to play a lot tougher teams than Sparty. Alabama is losing a lot of players from their defense, but they recruit so well that they will replace them with other future NFL-ers. Ohio has a lot of talent, and a new coach that loves athletic blitzing defenses. State’s program is growing stronger, and they will have a formidable defense again next year. Who knows about ND, Iowa, and Nebraska as well.
There were a ton of other things that were bad from last night: 3rd down defense, secondary in zone coverage, offense as a whole, Hagerup, etc. But the last thing I want to focus on is something that actually helped us. Frank Beamer’s play calling last night might have been the worst I have seen since… last year’s Wisconsin Rose Bowl. Big game Bret vs Beamer Ball might be a game to see which coach can get fired first. Wow. I thought Lloyd had some bad bowl games, but this year coaches seem to be on a completely new level. Beamer struggled to manage most of the game last night, but he got bailed out that his 3rd string kicker was incredible. His kicker was not able to bail him out late in the game though when he chose to put the game in the hands of his punter to possibly run a fake punt. Most bowl games feature an onside kick, fake fg or punt, trick plays, etc, but let me set the stage for this bonehead move. It is 4th and 1 from the 45 yard line. The score is tied 17-17 with 7+ minutes on the clock. Michigan has 11 total yards in the 2nd half up to this point and looks completely inept to score against Baylor’s defense. Beamer chooses to run an option play with the punter, where he rolls out and can choose to punt the ball or run for the first down. Since it is a punter put in a late game situation, he implodes under the pressure and Michigan takes over at the VT 45. They get a few yards and kick the go ahead field goal. Beamer forces his players to ride the Greyhound bus back to campus when they make a stupid mistake during bowl week, today I think he should be riding home on that same bus. Michigan would never have managed to get into field goal range if they had to start inside their own 20. Virginia Tech would have gotten the ball game with around 4 minutes left from close to midfield and the game still tied. The game shouldn’t have even gone to OT. But I will take the stupidity and the victory.
I would have to imagine that last night’s win was almost unwatchable for any fan who did not have a tie to either school, but at the end of the night It is still great… to be… a Michigan Wolverine!
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