Now that was Michigan Football

that looked like the team that I grew up watching yea it was sub standard opponent, but long runs from scrimmage some great passes to keep them honest and some very good defense. Couple of area still to work on . special teams and some coverage, but all in all a positive start to the 2014 season

Looking Back

The run game looked good but let's not start saying that Green and Smith are going to be great all year. They both did show nice vision, patience and cuts though so that is really encouraging.

I thought Kalis looked really good. ND should show me if it was legit. The block Kalis threw for Smith's 2nd qtr TD was NICE.

Gardner looked good. Nice to see that his poise and decision making is pretty damn good when he gets a pocket and isn't running for his life all day. I don't think ND has the DBs to play with our receivers. if the O line gives Devin time he will pick ND apart.

Devin Funches..... 'nuff said. I thought Norfleet played well. Darboh and Chesson looked good on their targeted throws too. The key will be to make sure that it's not a one man show at WR.

I liked the gameplan but it was App St. Let's not annoint Nuss as a savior just yet. I thought AB called a great game against ND last year. I am waiting to see what Nuss has in store.

Our D line was everything I expected it to be against the level of talent they played. We have some real quality depth. Wormley and Taco looked phenominal at times.

It was nice to see our DBs not giving a 7 yards buffer. It was aggressive bump man coverage all day. We have the athletes for it and it was refreshing to watch.



Looking Forward

I was a little concerned about App St's ability to play out of the pistol/shotgun during their first scoring drive. It was the spread formation that I expect to see from ND and Golston is 100 times more dangerous.

ND's receivers aren't that good but they still had 5 guys catch passes of 25 yards or more. I think it was because of Golston's scrambling ability that allowed the WRs to get open downfield. Our D line has to get penetration. Our LBs have to stay home and disciplined and our DBs have to play tight coverage and stay smart.

No way ND rushes for 281 on us like they did on Rice so I like UM to have a decisive time of possesion. That obviously bodes well for us. ND's time of possesion against Rice was only 30:09.

Rice threw for 226 on ND. I think our WRs could be in for a good day.

Hagerup will help tremendously in field position. He will be our equalizer against Brindza.


Broken record keys to the game.... establish the run, hold onto the ball, don't give up big plays.

based on what I saw from both teams in week one, if we can do the three above UM will walk out of South Bend with a Win.

Vegas has ND -4.5 right now but my prediction is UM 34 - ND 24

I agree with most all of what you said except that time of possession is often not meaningful (we were about even with App St).

Though we only threw 14 passes (with Devin) our early success set up our later success running (that and Kalis in for Joey B). We spread the field out with our receivers with even the tight ends often spread out. I think that will be more repeatable as an offensive strategy against stouter defenses.

'shoes