When Michigan has the ball…
There aren’t really any particular matchups that are intriguing this week, but there are definite areas that I would like to see Michigan improve upon. The first thing is the general game plan. In the past cupcake games under Brady Hoke the Wolverines have come out in MANBALL formations and run an extremely vanilla set based on the power run game. That is fine and all, but this Michigan team will not be successful against real opponents using this mindset. However, the Wolverines do seem to have something in a pass-to-run offense. I am looking for a similar game plan to App St (start with short passes to attach the edges and then attack over the middle). Moving to specific position improvement, the first priority tomorrow has to be improving the running back’s pocket presence. As MGoBlog said, last week might have been the worst running back game that they have witnessed. Both Green and Smith repeatedly left chunks of yards on the field by not hitting the designed hole and instead trying to gain yards by running over offensive linemen engaged in blocks. I am just looking for one of the backs to look more comfortable in the zone running scheme. Yes, Miami is horrible and likely both backs will be over 100 yards again, but I really want to see confident runs and the use of the holes the offensive line will create. Finally in the passing game, of course an easy answer would be Devin Gardner remembering to throw the ball to the team with the winged helmets. However, even before bad Devin surfaced last week I think the bigger problem is ball distribution. I understand Funchess is the best receiver on the team (possibly in the country), but Michigan is chocked full of athletic receivers that had quite the recruiting hype and a true slot ninja. If Funchess is 100% tomorrow he could have 20 catches for 1000 yards and 17 touchdowns, but I would rather see some of the younger guys feel a part of the game plan and gain some confidence. If Michigan is going to make any noise in the B1G they will need to use more than 1 receiver. Yes, I want to see Minitron unleashed again tomorrow, but at this point, even if Funchess is 100% it might be better for this team moving forward if he didn’t play just to force Gardner to create some chemistry with someone else.
When Miami has the ball…
Again this section isn’t so much about specific matchups with the RedHawks, but more how the ravaged defense responds to their first (albeit massive) bout of adversity. Similarly to the offense, it will be interesting to see the defensive game plan tomorrow. Will Mattison just scrap all of the offseason work of being more aggressive, mainly with press coverage, or will he run it out there again looking for any improvement? I know this game doesn’t require the full arsenal of players, but if Taylor and/or Peppers are able to play it would be really nice seeing them back on the field. Both need more reps in this new defense, and I don’t know how much more Hollowell I can stomach. The defensive line looks to be very good. They were consistently beating their man against one of the best offensive lines the Wolverines will face this year. It will be fun to see Frank Clark actually get to a quarterback tomorrow. I also thought the linebackers looked much more comfortable last weekend, but it will be important to continue to get Jake Ryan snaps in his new position. The big area to watch is the secondary, particularly the cornerbacks. Michigan will likely be in their Nickel package all afternoon again, but which cornerbacks see the most snaps? If Taylor and/or Peppers is back I would like to see more of them and Jourdan Lewis on the field. I know Countess will still see a lot of snaps, but he just isn’t able to be a physical, press type cornerback. So much for giving Charles Woodson’s number to a player who doesn’t fit in the new defensive system at all. The other thing I want to see are some turnovers. The defense was supposed to carry the team in the beginning of the year while the offense caught up, but so far that hasn’t been the case. There is no way that a defense full of this many talented players should go two games without forcing a turnover, and if they really aren’t that good than how haven’t they at least lucked into one yet?
Michigan football is a funny/frustrating
thing. It took me all offseason to get the turd flavored season cleaned out of
my mouth, then teased me with some improvements and optimism in week 1 only to take
this new hope and proceed to torture it for 60 minutes as if I was being
questioned by Jack Bauer. The Penn State game broke me last year, but a
lackluster performance tomorrow could just get me there a few weeks quicker
this year.
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