Football Season Starts Boo

Comment by Jon

Jon — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 10:25:40 +0000

Yeah, I obviously check your blog out on a timely basis...

That's a very good point about the zone blocking scheme. It's why Michael Hart became such a stud. I was thinking that even Lloyd couldn't get this collection of linemen to block any better, which is true, but you're right in that McGuffie and Shaw would be free to pick their spot.

Comment by Ken

Ken — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 15:44:37 +0000

They did that stationary-O-line thing twice. I've seen that on other teams; it's designed to fool the D-line into not rushing the passer.

I still believe a Carr-coached team would have run the ball better. Running the ball was such a point of emphasis for Carr. And also, Carr's zone-stretch play puts the decision-making into the hands of the running back, where we have depth and talent. By contrast, the spread-option play puts the decision-making into the hands of the quarterback, where we have precious little talent or experience.

One other piece of good news: highly-ranked high school QB prospect Tate Forcier committed to Michigan today. He attended the Utah game... and probably saw that there was a good chance he'd be able to start at QB right away.

Comment by Jon

Jon — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 15:20:22 +0000

Argh.

I mean, I'm not jumping off a building because this is the first game in what is a transition year. But yesterday crushed any optimism I had of it being a glorious transition year.

Now, it's cliche, but true, that the biggest improvement in a team is between its first and second games. And Game 2 is against Miami of Ohio. But the youth of the offense has a lot of work to do before it makes that leap. Maybe Coach Rod needs to get Justin Feagin on the super fast track to starting. Or, like you said, Carlos Brown.

How about that wild play when the ball was snapped and the O-line didn't move? I mean, it's not like the O-line could do much more anyway.

I would submit, however, that a Lloyd Carr coached team with this lack of talent and experience would not have faired much better.

Another bright spot: I truly believe that the 4th quarter rally was a result of the conditioning program by Super Barwis. That will certainly pay off in the future once we can put this whole puzzle together.

Football Season Starts Boo

Ken — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 15:04:09 +0000

Michigan 23, Utah 25

This game was not as close as the score indicated. Utah utterly dominated Michigan, and if not for a couple of turnovers and a flood of timely Utah penalties, Michigan would probably have lost by three touchdowns.