It has been another busy week of work, so I apologize for delaying the usual college football articles. I will try to get up to date this afternoon as I have a long break between training sessions. If you didn't realize this yet, the Michigan Wolverines ended their 4 game losing streak to the in-state rivals last Saturday and moved into the leading contender in the Legend's Division. While the game was not pretty for really any of the 60 minutes, Big Blue emerged as the winner and the celebration ensued.
I was able to predict Michigan State's final score, but I was a little off on Michigan's effectiveness on offense. They did score 4 times, just not 3 TDs and 1 FG. While in the game I had a horrible feeling that Michigan State was going to find a way to steal the game and continue Mark Dantonio's success in the rivalry. After watching the replay, it really seemed like Michigan outplayed the Spartans all game, but they were unable to put them away. It reminded me of a Lloyd Carr coached game. For the 4th game in a row I came away very impressed with the defensive effort put forth by the guys in the winged helmets. It is incredible what this coaching staff is doing with the talent they have on the field. It looks like after the Alabama debacle, they will still finish with one of the top defenses in the conference. Do you realize that Wisconsin, Michigan State, Ohio State, and possibly Nebraska, Penn State, Illinois have more "talent" on the defensive side of the ball this year, yet Michigan is out performing most of them. I feel like a broken record at this point, but the defensive line continues to impress me every week. Yes, the Spartan offensive line was disheveled with injuries, and Michigan took advantage. They look like a completely different unit that played in Dallas against Alabama. But look at the remaining schedule, there is not an offensive line left that even loosely resembles the Crimson Tide's. Wisconsin's group seems to keep improving, but are still falling short of preseason expectations. We would only meet them in Indianapolis with a B1G Title on the line. The only other worrying matchup would be the January 1st bowl that the Wolverines are slated to be invited to (whether it is the Rose Bowl against USC or Capital One Bowl against LSU). Mattison has begun slanting the defensive line to help them move to a point instead of just stand up and lose leverage, like in Alabama. In addition to that, the line backers are also slanting, but in the opposite direction of the defensive line. This has basically doubled up the improvement we have seen on the field. By moving the line backers across the grain, it prevents them from getting and offensive lineman size them up and eliminate them from a play. It also really helps with the decision problems Morgan and Demens were showing early in the season. You could make a very legitimate argument that this group is the best in the B1G, and Kenny Demens and Jake Ryan should be getting all conference hype. The linebackers have been a big reason why this year's defense has been almost as dominant on short yardage situations. On a 2nd and 6 when MSU was driving, Desmond Morgan was getting blocked but still managed to tackle the 247 pound Le'Veon Bell with a full head of steam, with just one arm. He stopped him dead in his tracks, that is some serious strength. The players that went above and beyond on Saturday were Craig Roh, all 3 linebackers, and Jordan Kovacs. I haven't talked about the secondary yet today, but I will mention that JT Floyd struggled in the first quarter to cover Aaron Burbridge and it was clear Michigan State wanted to attack his side of the field. Somehow he turned things around to make the Spartans avoid him for most of the remaining 3 quarters. He has really improved in stepping up to help with the run game, and has very good technique in coverage. He still struggles with top end speed, but I will take that over struggling with technique and speed like he did in 2010. This defense seems to really trust each other and each player goes out and does his job and relies on teammates to do theirs. They are playing as a unit, and this is really fun to watch! Just think about what this defense will look like when they get an elite pass rushing defensive lineman... I just got a little giddy.
Ok, this post has already gotten a little long, but I want to mention the offense a little bit. The play calling was very interesting for the second straight game against Michigan State. Al Borges continues to play the season close to the vest after the Notre Dame debacle. Michigan State keyed on Denard running the ball all game and basically limited him to very little positive yards outside of the one long run. The Spartans were not worried about Fitz running at all, and trusted their cornerbacks to play single coverage. I would have liked to see Gallon get the ball a little more, whether in bubble screens or jet sweeps. Maybe Michigan State's defense was too fast to make those effective. I also would have liked to see Funchess get involved with the offense a little more. With the aggressive, blitzing, scheme of the Spartans the middle of the field was open again. It is looking for likely that Borges just doesnt trust Denard to throw short routes over the middle of the field which could be a result of him being relatively short. The same statement about the defensive line applies for the offense as well. Michigan will not face a defense even close to Michigan State's until the bowl game. After the personal foul after the first play of the game on Lewan, he really held his own against Gholston for the 2nd year in a row. It is looking more likely that this will be big number 77's last season in Ann Arbor.
Michigan now leads in the Legend's Division, and has a chance to really put their foot in the door of the championship game with a win in Lincoln this weekend. It looks like a two team race between Nebraska and the Wolverines. Iowa still only has 1 loss as well, but they still have to play Northwestern, Michigan, and Nebraska. If Michigan can win the remaining games on their schedule, there will be no doubt that they deserve a spot in the Rose Bowl. The Wolverines are even in a place if they win the rest of their games in the regular season and happen to lose in Indianapolis, they could continue the B1G's streak of getting two teams in the BCS. Lets just focus on this next week as it will be the toughest game of the year with regards to the goal of the season of winning the B1G.
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