B1G Week 2 Recap

This past weekend around the conference was the lull before the storm of week 3.  The only marquee matchup was the Michigan vs Notre Dame game, while the remaining 11 teams played cupcakes. 

Good surprise:
While Wisconsin has yet to play anyone above a junior high level, the Badgers still have not yielded a point.  The linebackers are in the discussion as the conference’s best, and they have been leading the overwhelming performances. Last Saturday Wisconsin yielded just 113 total yards.  This week they travel to the west coast for one of four B1G matchups vs the Pac 12.

Illinois offense looks like they are going to be able to score some points this season.  A week after Cincinnati took Purdue behind the woodshed, the Illini stuck up for their ashamed conference brethren.  New offensive coordinator, Bill Cubit, is acclimating himself nicely in Champaign and could help keep Coach Beckman off the hot seat. Senior Nathan Scheelhasse with 336 total yards and 4 touchdowns.  This week will be one of their stiffest tests of the season as they host Washington.

Things looked grim in Columbus on Saturday afternoon as Braxton Miller left the game on the first drive, and looked seriously injured. Even though San Diego State is one of the country’s worst teams this season, being without a Heisman favorite could have been a scary situation.  Instead the Buckeyes showed that they have the best backup quarterback in the conference, Kenny Guiton, and the Urban Meyer full-out spread offense might be more potent under the new signal caller. Guiton finished with 235 total yards and 3 touchdowns. Of course, Ohio State needs Miller back under center if they have national championship hopes, but they can afford to rest him until they get into the B1G schedule if needed.

Bad surprise:
I thought Indiana might be a scary team in the conference this year after their 73 point outburst in the opening week, but the Hoosiers followed it up by losing to Navy.  I predicted correctly that this game would be the best of the weekend, but didn’t expect Indiana to struggle so much with the triple option offense. The Hoosiers gave up 444 yards rushing on the night and 41 points, this does not bode well for them trying to stop Ohio State, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, and possibly even Penn State.

Since we didn’t really learn that much from the slate of games last week, the only other bad surprise I can come up with is the Spartan offense (again).  I know I shouldn’t be surprised by how truly miserable they are this year, but it still caught me off guard when the Green and White couldn’t score on South Florida.  In case you were wondering, no USF has a terrible defense and gave up 53 points to an average FCS team (McNeese St) at home in week one. Sparty’s offense now has scored a grand total of two touchdowns on the season, meanwhile their defense has accounted for four. No team in college football history has finished with their defense scoring more than 25% of its touchdowns, and at this point the offense will need to rack up 10 touchdowns in a row just to get to that number.  Maybe this week against Youngstown St, the Spartans can at least decide on a starting quarterback.

Week 1 conference rankings:
1. Michigan (no change)
2. Ohio St (no change)
3. Northwestern (no change)
4. Wisconsin (no change)
5. Nebraska (up 1)
6. Penn State (down 1)
7. Michigan State (up 1)
8. Indiana (down 1)
9. Illinois (up 2)
10. Minnesota (down 1)
11. Iowa (down 1)
12. Purdue

Week 2: Notre Dame Recap

The Michigan Wolverines pulled out a hard fought victory Saturday night for UTLII.  It marked another spectacular event thrown by the Michigan athletic department, and another data point about why Notre Dame wants out of the rivalry.  Michigan quarterbacks have been the main storyline in the past four games of this series, with 3 of them making Wolverine fans extremely happy.  Devin Gardner’s 376 yards was the 8^th most yards in one contest in Michigan history, and the 2010 and 2011 matchups resulted with Denard topping the all-time list.  So as the fighting chickens move on to greener pastures against the likes of Michigan State and Purdue, lets look back on yet another unforgettable matchup in the Big House.

The optimism for the Maize and Blue defense faded a bit after week one. The most concerning part being how badly the Wolverines were controlled in the trenches.  Notre Dame does boast one of the best offensive lines that is currently on Team 134’s schedule, but I expected the defensive line to perform better. It was obvious early-on that the front four was just unable to generate much pressure on Tommy Rees, and he was able to pick apart the secondary.  Coach Mattison rarely sent blitzes, and when he did Rees was able to audible to a quick pass and still avoid pressure.  However, this appeared to be by design.  The Michigan coaching staff decided to play softer in the back 7 in order to keep every pass play in front of them, instead forcing the mistake-prone Irish QB to beat them with short throws all the way down the field.  The result was Notre Dame looking unstoppable between the 20s, but as the field reduced so was Tommy Rees’ efficiency.  This game plan put a lot of pressure on the Michigan secondary tackling ability, and they did not disappoint.  Raymon Taylor and Thomas Gordon led the team in tackles, and I can only remember one missed tackle all game from the unit which came from the 3^rd cornerback (Hollowell). Since I think Tommy Rees is the best pocket passer on the schedule this year, forcing any other signal caller to beat you by stringing together multiple accurate short passes will be a positive for the Michigan defense.

In the running game, Notre Dame again had some success outside of short yardage situations.  I am unclear how much this was to do with Michigan sitting back in a 4-2-5 Nickel package for most of the game, or it’s a concerning weakness of the defense.  At this point I am leaning towards the former. The front four struggled to hold their blocks, or generate any penetration which resulted in the linebackers getting swallowed up by the Irish offensive linemen.  Since linebackers are much better in space, attacking gaps, this was not ideal.  Michigan pulled the nose tackle often and left undersized ends to hold up in the middle of the defensive line.  I have a feeling a similar type of defensive strategy will be used against Nebraska, Northwestern, and Ohio State.

The Michigan offense hung 41 points on by far the best defensive lines (and one of the best overall defenses) on the schedule. Notre Dame had no answer for Devin Gardner’s athleticism, accuracy, or playmaking abilities. Even though the young interior line struggled, the running backs did not go over 100 yards, and the 2^nd receiver is still unknown; Michigan scored more points than any team will on the Irish this season.  Outside of the one terrible decision from Gardner, he was near perfection and likely vaulted himself into national recognition.  He constantly looked down pressure and made the confident throw to the open receiver.  It helped that Notre Dame just could not stay near Jeremy Gallon.  The Wolverines consistently moved the ball against the Irish, and sustained drives by mixing in runs by Fitz or Devin and an effective play action passing attack.  It now looks like the true freshman that will be relied on most will be Jake Butt who’s in line blocking is already as good, if not better, than Devin Funchess.  Yes, it would have been nice to see the offensive line not break down so much against the stiff competition, or Toussaint having more running lanes and topping 100 yards again, but scoring 41 points on a real opponent is impressive. The scary thing is that the Michigan offense isn’t clicking on all cylinders yet, but they have scored 100 points in the first two games for the first time since 1947.

Top Performers

1. Jeremy Gallon

2. Devin Gardner

3. Blake Countess

4. Raymon Taylor

5. Thomas Gordon

Areas of Concern

1.      Defensive line’s ability to rush four

2.      Interior offensive line’s run blocking

3.      Frank Clark’s lack of production

4.      2^nd receiver position

Michigan just pulled out what will likely be the conference’s best nonconference win in the 2013 season.  While there are many areas to improve, the Wolverine’s schedule lessens drastically which should give them a chance to prepare for the grinding November schedule. 

Week 2: Notre Dame Preview

Everyone knows the significance of this week’s game against Notre Dame, and everyone knows that if Michigan is going to have a special season the Wolverines will need to scratch out a win tomorrow night.  Although last week against CMU was encouraging, tomorrow will be a very good litmus test for Team 134.

Notre Dame Rush Offense vs Michigan Rush Defense
The final rushing stats for the Chips were very poor, but how much of that was due to losing Tipton so early?  I would like to say that the Wolverines rush defense will continue their dominance throughout the season, but at this point we just don’t know.  We did see that Coach Mattison likes to play in a Nickel package, and opted to remove the nose tackle for much of the game to replace him with another defensive back.  It will be interesting to see how well the lesser beefed up defensive line can hold up against a decent offensive line.  Notre Dame returns three players up front, including both linemen on the left side.  The area to attack will be on the opposite side, and it will be important to try to get one of the Wolverine pass rushers matched up there.  Notre Dame lost their top two running backs from last season, and replaces them with smaller; spread type scat backs (think wanabe Venric Mark’s).  I am worried that the Nickel package will make the Maize and Blue too small up front to be able to withstand the push from a real sized offensive line.  If these quick guys get into the second level of the defense bad things will happen for Michigan.  If the Wolverines can hold up in the nickel it means extremely good things for this game and moving forward.  If they are forced into the standard 4-3 for the majority of the game, Michigan will stop the Irish rushing attack but likely at the expense of a passing explosion.  I would have to imagine Coach Hoke and company are more afraid of Rees throwing the ball than McDaniel or Carlisle breaking out for a huge day. The inside linebackers will be asked to do a lot in this game, and I think they shine in this game.  Advantage Michigan.

Notre Dame Pass Offense vs Michigan Pass Defense
Tommy Rees returns under center for the Fighting Irish, and if you recall he has put up some big numbers against the Wolverines in his career.  He is also the only quarterback in the history of college football to experience a night game at the Big House.  Rees is coming off of a career day against Temple where he threw for 346 yards and 3 TDs.  While Notre Dame does not have the big name receivers of past years, they have a very formidable corps. Darvaris Daniels seems to be a viable option as a downfield threat, with TJ Jones being an open field nightmare underneath. Also, the Irish have another huge tight end that could test Ross in coverage.  It will be very interesting to see if the Wolverines match up in a man-to-man coverage for most of the night, or fall back into a zone.  As I mentioned above, Michigan will be looking to attack Rees from the right side of the offensive line, and I think Jibreel Black or Frank Clark could have some success on the inside.  If the Wolverine pass rush has improved as much as we hope, tomorrow night will be a very good early season test.  The biggest factor in this area will be the return of two safeties for the Maize and Blue.  The worst play from the defense last week came from both safety positions. While it looks like Jarrod Wilson has improved dramatically, Courtney Avery will be able to provide reliable experience if needed.  On the other side, I think Thomas Gordon is one of the better B1G safeties, so him returning to the lineup will be a very good thing.  Over the years Tommy Rees has not responded will to pressure, so if the Wolverine front four can collapse the pocket look for number 11 to turn the ball over multiple times.  If Rees is allowed to sit back in the pocket for chunks of time, look for him to pick apart the young Michigan secondary.  As much as I want to believe the pass rush has taken a major jump forward, I think the Irish have the upper hand here.  Advantage Notre Dame.

Michigan Rush Offense vs Notre Dame Rush Defense
In case you didn’t know, Notre Dame has 3 of the biggest defensive linemen on the planet.  The smallest one is around Quinton Washington’s size, with the largest being roughly the size of a small planet.  I think this matchup will be the biggest factor to the outcome of the game.  The Wolverine offensive line looked extremely good against Central, and will get their stiffest test of the season tomorrow night.  I think the rushing game plan will be to attack the edges of the Notre Dame defense to make the scary face-masked wooly mammoths run and to test the weakest part of the defense, linebackers. Michigan was able to get Lewan involved in the rushing attack last week for the first time in 2 years, and whenever you can get a legitimate NFL left tackle as a lead blocker good things will happen.  I will be interested to see how Glasgow-Miller-Kalis handle Louis Nix, and if Al Borges breaks out any power pulls to the left (Kalis pulling to Lewan’s side).  They did very little of it against the Chips last weekend, but I have to guess that it will be a significant part of the game plan tomorrow night.  Temple was able to average almost 5 ypc last week against this vaunted front seven, so if Michigan can get the edge look for similar numbers.  This also might force the Irish out of their standard 3-4 defense, just to get more bodies at the point of attack.  I think Fitz and company will have a big day on the ground, and a Wolverine back will go over 100 yards.  Advantage Michigan.

Michigan Pass Offense vs Notre Dame Pass Defense
Devin Gardner had a very pedestrian season opener.  He made a few marvelous passes while mixing in a few bad decisions.  I thought the offensive line was very good in pass protection last week, and they will need to be again against the Irish.  Stephon Tuitt is another mountain defensive end, but even at 322 pounds he pass rushing freak.  Hopefully, Taylor Lewan will be matched up with him most of the night, and if so this threat will be somewhat neutralized.  If you remember my preview from last year, it mentioned how inexperienced the Notre Dame secondary was.  It never really was tested last season because Denard was on his back or throwing directly to Manti Te’o all game, but you might also have noticed that the receivers were constantly wide open on the outside.  The Irish return the same cornerbacks from a year ago, and I still think they are shaky.  Jeremy Gallon should be consistently open when he is on the field.  Look for Brian Kelly to double cover him for most of the game, and force Devin to find a second weapon.  There are some options here for Michigan.  Since the linebackers looked lost last weekend against Temple, Funchess could have a huge game.  If he is struggling to get off the line, then Chesson and Dileo should also be able to get separation more times than not.  The real test here is will Al Borges change up his game plan somewhat and move towards quicker underneath throws (slants, screens, TE curls) to help the young offensive line against the pass rush, or keep the motto: chicks dig the long ball.  This strategy could result in some huge plays if the offensive line can hold up, but if not Devin could be sandwiched between 700 pounds of leprechaun.  I would like to think that Borges would be willing to go with the strategy that has the best chance of success, but as we have seen before that hasn’t always been the case (2011 MSU, 2011 Iowa, 2012 OSU).  Advantage Push.

As much as I would love the Wolverines to wipe the field with Notre Dame on their last trip to Ann Arbor, I think this game has the makings of another close one.  The Irish have more proven talent on the field, but Michigan has the most potential.  If the Wolverines can win the battle in the trenches, they will be in very good shape to win.  However, Notre Dame has the edge on paper.  Turnovers and special teams will have a big role in the outcome.  I think Devin Gardner will have at least one very stupid mistake, but Tommy Rees will have one more.  Also, if Michigan can cover any punts well, the Wolverines will have a decided advantage on special teams.  Look for Dennis Norfleet to have a big game.  Michigan 31 – Notre Dame 21.

Week 2 Upset Alert

Last week’s upset alert went pretty well.  Washington destroyed an overrated Boise State and South Carolina had a close half until winning comfortably. The second week of the season still provides limited options for a potential upset, but hopefully I can pick out a few.

Florida @ Miami
Kirk Herbstreit actually picked the Gators to lose to Toledo at home last weekend.  Florida dominated.  This week they head to Miami.  It is still unknown how good the Canes actually are this season, but this should be one of the more competitive top 25 games this weekend.  Miami will look to grind out yards with Duke Johnson, while throwing in well-timed play action passes.  I think the Gator offense will continue to struggle, and will leave the door open for the Canes to pull off the upset on their home field.

South Carolina @ Georgia
The Georgia/ Clemson game was very well played for being the first game of the season, and I was blown away with the amount of speed on both offenses.  Even though Clemson came away with the game, I think Georgia is still one of the best teams in the SEC.  This is a very important game for the Dawgs, because making another SEC Championship Game will be near impossible after starting 0-2.  South Carolina’s offense is nowhere close to Clemson’s, which should help the young Georgia defense.  Also, outside of the Gamecock’s pass rush (mainly from Clowney), I think the Dawgs will be able to move the ball on Saturday.  Even if both defenses struggle, I just cannot see South Carolina’s offense be able to keep up with Aaron Murray, Todd Gurley, and company.

B1G Week 2 Preview

The B1G looked a little more respectable in the opening weekend of the 2013 season, but only a little.  There really aren’t too many conference games to get excited about in week 2, but lets take a look anyways.

South Florida @ Michigan State 12:00
Michigan State was one of the more disappointing teams last week.  The offense looks like the returners have not improved, and they are without their two biggest playmakers (Bell and Sims).  The Spartans desperately need one of their 4 QBs to take hold of the starting role.  South Florida still has some talented players that could challenge Michigan State, but I think the Spartans will grind out an ugly win.

Eastern Michigan @ Penn State 12:00
I think Hackenberg will continue to gain confidence with each start.  Look for Penn State to try to get the rushing attack on track this Saturday against the Eagles.  Penn State should roll in this one.

Tennessee Tech @ Wisconsin 12:00
The Badgers continue their daunting nonconference schedule. Gordon and White will be looking to finish with more yards than the entire Tennessee Tech team.

Cincinnati @ Illinois 12:00
The Bearcats took it to Purdue last weekend, but it is unknown if most of that was due to Purdue’s ability or Cincinnati being better than expected.  This one should be a high scoring game, and I think the Bearcats will be able to outscore the Illini.

Missouri State @ Iowa 12:00
The Hawkeyes will be looking to bounce back against Missouri State.  Iowa surprisingly kept the game against Northern Illinois pretty close, so that shows me that they are better than I expected or the Huskies are just an average MAC team.  I think it is a little bit of both, and look for Iowa to have a big weekend.

Indiana State @ Purdue 12:00
The Sycamore defense is awful (73 points to IU) and the Purdue offense isn’t much better (7 points against Cincy).  I think Indiana State will score 20+ points, but the Boilers have to be able to crack 30 against these guys.

San Diego State @ Ohio State 3:30
A few years ago this matchup might be more anticipated, but the Aztecs are coming off of a loss to an FCS team and OSU is coming off a disappointing 20 point win over Buffalo.  I have a feeling that SDSU will come out angry and try to forget about the debacle of last weekend, but the Buckeyes are just too talented and will pull away for a very comfortable win.

Syracuse @ Northwestern 6:00
Cuse looks to even its record against B1G opponents, but it’s a tougher task this weekend against Northwestern. The Wildcats return home after the conference’s best win in week 1, and will hopefully get Colter and Mark back from injuries.  I think Syracuse will score more against Northwestern, but the Wildcats are going to push 40 with either Colter or Siemian.

Navy @ Indiana 6:00
I probably could have gone with the Syracuse/ Northwestern game for the marquee matchup, but I wanted to give the Hoosiers some love.  This game is intriguing on paper because of the two contrasting styles.  Indiana will finish with more passes on the opening drive as Navy does for the game.  I actually think the Midshipmen’s best defense will be their running attack and ability to control the clock.  This will be a big test for the Hoosier defense.  It is tough to prepare for Navy’s unique offense.  I think Indiana will pull this game out, but it could be very high scoring.

Southern Miss @ Nebraska 6:00
Lets see how the Husker’s defense responds to being the laughing stock of the conference.  I don’t think the Golden Eagle offense is as potent as Wyoming, but Nebraska has the uncanny ability to make any offense look decent.  Look for Martinez, Cross, and Abdullah to finish with over 100 yards on the ground.

Minnesota @ New Mexico State 8:00
The Golden Gophers really didn’t play that well last week, but came away with a blowout victory.  I will be very interested to see how the Minnesota offense responds, especially Philip Nelson.  The Aggies should be one of the worst teams in division one this season, so Jerry Kill’s team should get some good practice on the road Saturday night.

B1G Week 1 Recap

The opening weekend of the season was a little more kind to the B1G in 2013 as compared to last year.  Could the conference be on the upswing?

Good surprise:
Indiana’s offensive outburst. I knew the Hoosiers had a very good offense, but I didn’t expect them to put up 73 points.  The Crimson and Cream could surprise some of the top end conference teams this season, and should be able make a bowl game.

Christian Hackenberg took over the helm at Penn State with an impressive performance against a power 6 team to open his career.  He finished 22-31 for 278 yards and 2 touchdowns.  Even though the scholarship limits will greatly affect Penn State’s overall talent the next 4 years, they will have one of the best pocket passers in the conference.

Northwestern was favored heading into the matchup with California mainly due to the returning offensive playmakers (Colter and Mark), but when both went down with injury Trevor Siemian and Treyvon Green stepped up.  Siemian finished 18-29 with 276 yards and one TD, and Green finished with 129 yards on 16 carries and 2 TDs. The Wildcats have a very good 2 deep at QB and RB.

Nebraska’s forgotten running back Imani Cross looked like one of the conference’s best backs against Wyoming.  He finished with 105 yards on 13 carries while scoring 2 TDs.  

Bad surprise:
For the 2^nd straight B1G Week 1 recap I am going to list the Michigan State offense in this category.  I really thought that Andrew Maxwell was going to take a sizable leap forward in his second year as the starting quarterback.  He would also be helped by playing a weak WMU team. However, Maxwell looked like he had no confidence in his abilities and was constantly waiting to be replaced.  He finished 11-21 for 74 yards, and the Spartan defense outscored their offense.

Nobody thought Purdue was going to compete for the Leaders Division crown, but little thought they would compete with Illinois for the right to last place.  The Boilers traveled to a rebuilding Cincinnati and got their doors blown off by the Bearcats, 42-7.  In my preview I said if they could pull the game out then Purdue should be a bowl team again, but at this point it looks like 4 wins will be a struggle.

I expected the Cornhusker defense to be among the league’s worst, but I didn’t think that would mean giving up 34 points at home to Wyoming.  Nebraska was lucky to come out with a win against the Cowboys, and their defense is solely to blame.  The vaunted black shirt defense gave up 602 yards to a Big Sky team. Between Michigan State’s lack of offense and the Husker’s inability to stop practice dummies, the Legends Division might be a two team race if these two squads don’t show major improvements.

Week 1 conference rankings:
1. Michigan
2. Ohio St
3. Northwestern
4. Wisconsin
5. Penn State
6. Nebraska
7. Indiana
8. Michigan State
9. Minnesota
10. Iowa
11. Illinois
12. Purdue

Week 1: Central Michigan Recap

The Michigan football team opened the 2013 season with a convincing win over Central Michigan on Saturday.  Even though the game was well in hand by halftime, it was a good preview of what we can expect to see for Notre Dame and beyond.  The Wolverines were better than the Chips in every facet of the game, but there are still some areas that need improvement if Team 134 is headed for Pasadena.

The first thing that I noticed on Saturday was the speed of the Michigan defense.  They were without their best two players (Jake Ryan and Thomas Gordon), but the winged helmets were flying all over the field.  Greg Mattison was able to rotate multiple players at each position without a significant drop off of production.  It looked like the Wolverines went 12 deep on the defensive line, and it looked like 10 will be playmakers or eventual starters (I was not very impressed with Matt Godin or Richard Ash).  The linebacking two deep is easily the best in the entire conference, and once Ryan comes back the Wolverines will have 7 legitimate backers.  The secondary was missing both assumed starting safeties, but performed pretty well.  It looked like Michigan was content to give a 5-10 yard cushion on the CMU receivers in order to help the inexperienced safeties prevent a big play. 

As I mentioned in the preview, one area I was looking for was how well the defensive front four could hold the blocks to give the three linebackers free lanes to the ball.  Even though Central’s offensive line is undersized, and the Wolverines are expected to dominate the trenches, it was still impressive to see it happen on Saturday.  Morgan, Ross, Gordon, and Beyer were all able to play downhill, and each showed better initial instincts.  I can remember each of the 4 linebackers making a play at or behind the line of scrimmage with Beyer and Gordon recording at least one sack each.  In addition to the defensive line just holding the blocks, the front four was able to bust into the back field on multiple plays.  Black, Ojemudia, Washington, and Wormley stood out as the biggest playmakers.

It was more difficult to grade the offense after week one because the game plan was so basic, and Gardner made broken plays look so easy.  The stable of running backs definitely impressed.  Fitz looks explosive and healthy, and the freshmen are college ready and pushing Fitz for playing time.  It was tougher to really assess the passing game with Devin only throwing 15 times, but the offensive line looked great in pass protection.  The Lewan and Schofield tackle tandem is clearly the best unit in the conference, and could be one of the best in the nation, and Kalis will be the best Michigan guard in quite some time.  The word is still out on the receiving unit not named Gallon. Gardner looked a little nervous at the beginning with an interception on his first throw, but settled in completing 10 of his last 12 throws. He was clearly the best athlete on the field, and made CMU’s defense look silly multiple times.

Top Performers

1.      Cam Gordon

2.      Brennan Beyer

3.      Desmond Morgan

4.      Taylor Lewan

5.      Devin Gardner

Areas of Concern

1.      Interior offensive line against Notre Dame

2.      Defensive secondary (should be better this week with Gordon returning)

3.      Frank Clark’s lack of production

4.      2^nd receiver position

Michigan definitely made a strong impression in their season opener, even while not revealing much of the playbook.  Notre Dame was uninspiring against Temple, but will provide one of the toughest tests for the Wolverine offensive line.