Warp speed ahead!

Photo - Michigan Daily

As I watched the end of the Boise State - Virginia Tech game on Labor Day night it occurred to me that the difference between the two minute offenses of Boise State and Virginia Tech embodies the struggles that many long-time Michigan fans are having in accepting the new Michigan offense. For the longest time, we had prototypical pro-style quarterbacks who like Boise's Kellen Moore could surgically take apart any defense with his passing even when everyone knew they had to pass. Now with a system that emphasizes a quarterback's running skills and athleticism more than his passing skills, I think many Michigan fans fear that we will be unable to run an effective two minute offense, just as Virginia Tech's Tyrod Taylor was unable to do at the end of the Labor Day game.

Among the multitude of amazing things Denard Robinson did on Saturday perhaps the most significant thing was to show those Michigan fans still uncomfortable with the new offense that just because he is not 6-4 with feet of clay doesn't mean he can't deliver in crunch time when everyone knows he needs to pass the ball. With the game on the line and 75 yards away from pay dirt, he went 5-6 for 55 yards and added 17 yards rushing with a fourth and one conversion and a touchdown rushing. Any doubting that he can be a complete quarterback is either not paying attention or is looking for reasons to complain.

The offense still has things to work on: the running backs have not been productive, the down field passing is inconsistent, and the propensity for bad penalties is gonna cost them at some point. Although last year taught us not to get to far ahead of ourselves, I think it is safe to say that baring some key injuries, this offense will be fairly productive.

The Defense? We won. Can't say too much more than that. They did appear to limit the ND rushing attack a little bit, but didn't get much pressure on the ND QBs and had some significant lapses in coverage. Cam Gordon took a couple of bad angles that led to two long ND touchdowns. Missed tackles were numerous, and the two inside LBs are about 50/50 to make the right read. We don't really know how good the ND offense is, but it's probably safe to say that the defense still has a long way to go to get to adequate. We won't discuss the special teams.

So big picture, where are we? One game closer to the seven wins we need to go bowling. I'd like to say this is better than a 7-5 team, but after last year, we know things can go south really quickly when the team has serious depth issues. Looking at the schedule, based on games played so far, there appears to be four teams that we would seem to be better than: UMass, Purdue, Bowling Green, & Illinois, five teams we don't have enough evidence to judge yet based on over matched opponents: Iowa, MSU, Indiana, Wisconsin, & Penn State (a loss @ Alabama doesn't prove anything major), and one team, Ohio State that appears clearly better than us. If I had to guess now, based on last year, Iowa and Wisconsin will join OSU in that last group, and Indiana will join the first group.

Some other thoughts:
-I'm sure you'll hear from negative nancies in the media and opposing fans how Denard won't survive the season carrying the ball 30 times a game and Michigan's offense will suffer if he goes down. While there is some truth in that, it's no more true for us than it is for any other team. Where would OSU be if Pryor went down? How's Florida doing so far without Tebow? Is a QB that carries the ball more likely to get injured than a RB who carries that much? I think that part of the negative reaction towards the amount of carries Denard gets has to do with that uncomfortableness with the offense we discussed above.
-I'm sure he got approval of the team doctors, but I wonder if Brian Kelly's decision to put Dayne Crist back in the game was a sound one. Crist's vision problems would seem to suggest a potentially serious concussion or head injury that would keep him out of the whole game. I'd hate to think that the decision to put him in was motivated by the horrible play of his backups, and you just hope that there are no lingering issues for Crist.
-Didn't see much of any of the other big ten games to draw many conclusions, other than the large white stripe on the MSU helmets looked bad and I wished we played Minnesota this year. What the heck Gophers? At least when we lost to an FCS team, we lost to the three time defending champs, not a .500 team that's only been playing Division one for four years.
-Bad day for the MAC. They went 2-5 in non conference play with two losses to FCS teams (Akron to Gardner Webb, Ball State to Liberty). The conference should really consider an en masse move to FCS.
-Almost equally bad day for the ACC, with losses to an FCS team (see below), a poor Kansas team, and big losses in marquee games by Miami and Florida State. They look to be a one bid league in terms of the BCS, yet again.
-USC looked fairly average. Pac Ten will be decided Oct 2 when Stanford visits Oregon. The amount of empty seats in Neyland Stadium midway through the fourth quarter was quite impressive.
-Biggest loser this week? Probably Boise State, whose "big" win over Virginia Tech became virtually worthless when the Hokies fell to FCS "power" James Madison. I can see another 12-0 season ending in a random BCS bowl game (but not "the" game) against TCU.
-The news on Friday that FCS power Villanova has been asked to join the Big East in football confirms what many have said for years -- the Big East doesn't deserve a BCS bid. Villanova currently plays in a 12,000 seat stadium, probably draws less per game than two other Philly area teams (Penn and Temple), and probably falls about ten spots down in the sports consciousness of the typical Philly fan. I know that UConn made a similar jump a decade ago, but they weren't really competing with anything else other than Husky basketball.
-On a final note, one of the all time greatest Wolverines, Ron Kramer, passed away on Saturday. I'd like to think he spent the afternoon watching the game with Bo, Yost, & Bob Ufer. Godspeed, # 87.

Blacksburg

All sports fans have favorite teams. And most sports fans have secondary teams. Those are the teams you root for when they are not playing your favorite team. The reasons for why we root for our favorite teams are deeply rooted in our upbringing and our identity. The reasons for our secondary teams are far more trivial. Perhaps we have family members who live there, or maybe we lived there when we were very young. Maybe they played a style of ball we liked, or had an ex-player from our favorite team there. Or maybe they are just a team from a different conference that was traditionally an underdog that we adopted out of some sort of sports related compassion.

For a good friend of mine that secondary team in college football is Virginia Tech. For several years we have talked about going down to see a game in Blacksburg on a weekend when Michigan is out of town. This weekend, we finally made good on that talk and took in the North Carolina/Virginia Tech Thursday night game.

The drive down was good. We left Wednesday night, stayed in the small town of Marietta that night and drove from there down to just outside Blacksburg on Thursday. The traffic was light, and the scenery was gorgeous. Southwestern Virginia is in full fall bloom right now, and one can easily see where the Hokie color scheme comes from, with a myriad of maroon and orange trees covering every hillside.

We parked in a residential neighborhood about a mile from the stadium early enough to stroll around campus a bit. After the requisite stop at the student bookstore to pick up some Hokie gear, we found a campus eatery for some dinner. It was the type of place you find on every campus, low prices, standing room only, loud music, and yummy greasy food. We especially liked the sign taped on the front door, written on the back of a sandwich wrapper that said they were closing at 7pm. They had to get to the game, just like the rest of the town.

Lane Stadium is set at the southern end of campus, on top of a hill, to the west of a somewhat dense thicket of woods, the type of which seemed to play a pivotal role in just about every major engagement in the Civil War. Approaching the stadium from the east, the massive light towers of the east structure glowed overhead, providing an almost eerie aura to the woods. Only a narrow path separates the woods from the stadium entrance, and after the game, we followed the crowd into the woods, expecting to find a path underfoot, but instead stumbling through branch after branch as we made our way to the tailgates on the other side of the hill.

The stadium itself is pretty basic. Two large stands on the east and west sides contain most of the 66,000 seats, with a large new press box and suite complex on the west side. The north stands are small, and the south stands have recently been expanded to include a second deck.

The atmosphere of the game was pretty electric. The Virginia Tech band is huge (330 people) and did a fairly elaborate pre-game routine that includes forming the shape of Virginia with a pair of tuba players dancing around the state to Blacksburg, spelling out Hokies, and some old fashioned "T-E-C-H" cheers. The entrance of the players was fantastic and is an example of how piped-in music can be used to effectively get a crowd jump started. I took video of the entrance, but I'm not sure I truly captured the entire effect. Somewhat surprising to me, no other piped-in music was played during the game.

We were sitting in what was supposed to be the North Carolina section, but it was only about half Tar Heels, with the other half various Hokie fans. Hokie fans were all decked out in Maroon and Orange, and were fully engaged in the game. The section stood for the entire game, and particularly came alive when Tech was on defense. Like the Michigan student section, the Hokie fans rattled their keys for "key" plays on defense.

Other in-game atmosphere enhancers included fireworks at the start and end of each half, after every Virginia Tech score, and at one random moment in the second half during a North Carolina drive. The score board also had a gobbler sound effect on every third or fourth down for UNC that was twice as annoying as the fake Lion sound they make at Penn State.

The game itself was a thriller, although you got the impression early on that Virginia Tech could have run away with the game if they could have just put together a little offensive execution. But they could put any points on the board while their defense was holding UNC to negative yards in the first quarter, and eventually the Tar Heels found some offense with some misdirection and creative formations. The Hokies responded with a decent passing game in the second half and got a huge turnover early in the fourth quarter to go ahead by three. But in the end, the couldn't stop Carolina from nickel and diming their way down the field. And with a few minutes left in a tie game, they fumbled away the game.

All in all, the game was a great experience, and Virginia Tech's reputation of one of the premier atmospheres in college football is well earned. I would recommend a trip to Blacksburg for any serious college football fan.

A Win is a Win

My son had a soccer game on Saturday, so I didn't get to the game until there was about 2 minutes left (just missed the winning TD). My impressions are from watching the replay.

-This game reminded me, in some ways, of the basketball team's come from behind win at IU in January. A young, rebuilding team playing a lower level conference squad they are supposed to beat. The young team gets pushed around, but somehow finds a way to win. In both cases, a loss could have really hurt Michigan's resurgence, and there are few positives to take from the win, other than the fact that it is a win. Given how last season went, maybe that's enough. With four wins, a bowl bid, and at least a three game improvement on last season seems to be there for the taking. How much more than that, we'll have to wait and see. Anyone who had visions of Roses after the first two games probably has fallen back to earth with the last two games.
-I don't know if there is one area of the defense I trust 100% right now. The D line was supposed to be a strength, but they are getting very little pressure right now. Teams are clearly attacking the side of the line that Brandon Graham is not on with regularity. We should move him around more. I also think getting some of the backups with more size (Sgasse, Banks, Campbell) in for more plays would help offset some of the rush defense issues.
-Upon first glance, the LBs didn't look as out of place this week as they did last week, but tackling still seems to be an issue. I saw a couple of occasions where a ball carrier was met at the line of scrimmage, but still gained five or six yards because the LBs didn't get proper leverage on their tackle and the RB fell forward instead of going back.
-Boubacar Cissako just looks lost out there at times. After a rough start, I thought Floyd actually did better. I am disappointed that five-star freshman Justin Turner isn't ready to play.
-The offense looked out of sync. Perhaps it was the new center, David Mooseman. Or perhaps it was injuries to Tate Forcier, but they didn't really seem to get on track. Still, it's a testament to the design of this offense that they can still score 36 points when they look bad.
-I was happy to see Denard Robinson get to run some different plays, although it still looks like the package of plays they have for him is quite small. If Tate is out for next week, they'll need to expand that package at least a little.
-I think it was only fitting that one of the top HS punters in the nation for 2009 committed to us on a day when Zoltan Mesko was out best defensive player. All hail the new Space Emperor!
-On the game-sealing interception that some people have complained about, there was no good view on TV of who originally caught the ball. The first time we see the ball is when the players hit the ground and the ball is in Donavan Warren's arms. I understand why Bill Lynch was upset, his team played a great game, and with the game on the line, his team ends up on the wrong side of a close call. But the announcer's indignation was totally uncalled for. This wasn't a "travesty of justice", Indiana didn't get screwed. There's no way to tell from the replay if Warren caught the ball cleanly or if the IU player had possession before they fell to the ground.
-Interesting similarities between this game and the famous 1979 game: Both games were homecoming, Michigan was a double digit favorite in both, IU outgained Michigan in both games, IU coach went balistic about calls late in both games, and freshman stars made big plays to win both games.

Elsewhere:
-Good job Jim Delany, your suspension of one of Purdue's starting OL for what should have been a 15 yard penalty probably cost them the game against Notre Dame.
-Nobody circles the wagons like the Virginia Tech Hokies. Is there a better homefield advantage in football than Blacksburg?
-Perhaps in Oregon. Can we once and for all put away any discussion of California ever being an elite team. It seems like over the last 5-10 years or so, every time they win a few games, and look like they are ready to make the jump to being a top 10 program, they pull out a stinker like this. I understand losing a road game in a tough venue like Oregon, but 42-3? 42-3?!? Have some pride and come to play. There was a time when I wanted Jeff Tedford to be the coach here after Carr retired. Boy am I glad that never came to pass.
-Great win by Iowa, who seems to have Penn State's number. Our game in Iowa City in two weeks could get ugly. I don't think they will win the league, however. They have to go to Columbus, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them lose to either Minnesota or Wisconsin.
-Golden Rankings coming soon, with a look at the battle for the Paul Bunyan trophy coming later this week.