Recent Comments
I appreciate the insight. From what I've seen from the clips and of UM during the season (ok ok I was rooting for you guys the whole way vs Notre Dame) this game should be a great one. And there will be no face-mask ripping, Jesus that looked terrible.
Great to have another Michigan fan here to help. Please feel free to correct me or smack me around if I get something wrong or misrepresent the Michigan community.
Go Blue!
Thats like saying companies dont use Social Media with bad intentions.
That RaleighBlue has a similar train of thought, which makes me feel better that it's not just me.
Also, one more correction. When I say "Borges let Denard go back to much more under center", I meant "Borges let Denard move out from under center to much more shotgun where I think Denard feels more comfortable." My apologies for the error.
MSU was more physical, but if we played them now, we would win (and I mean in East Lansing, not a neutral field). Fitz also wasnt running hard and we had some key plays go against us. They did beat us.
Iowa: the refs were blind. Literally.
Hokies reading this...we respect you very much. Hoke will have us ready to play. Good luck.
For all of those complaining about us getting into the Sugar Bowl over a number of other "better" teams, why don't they just win more games than us, or lose less games than us? And for the non-AQs, Boise definitely didn't deserve anything. They play one game per year that they have ALL SUMMER TO PREPARE FOR. Then they recede into the mediocrity of the Mountain West, and lose to a TCU team who is supposed to be second-tier to them...
This is what needs to happen - a resounding victory against Michigan on January 3rd. Then we will gain more (spiteful) attention as a program, but we won't care because we're representing our conference on a national level and gaining momentum and respect for our future. As stated by several others in previous comments, the words of these haters need to be used as motivation for us to come out and crush the oppositon.
And - for the love of God and all that is holy - Give. David Wilson. The. Fucking. Ball.
First, let me say that I'm excited that I have a legit reason to check out what is considered one of the best college football blogs around. Secondly, I'm very excited that Michigan and Virginia Tech will be playing for the first time. I hope it's a great game. My name is Craig Barker and I am one of the authors at The Hoover Street Rag, a Michigan focused blog. We're nowhere near as in depth as MGoBlog, but really, very few are.
To answer your question, there were a couple of factors that, in my opinion, limited Michigan against Michigan State. One was "the trash tornado", sustained 30 mph swirling winds that made Denard's already less than perfect spiral a little more wobbly. Secondly, the physicality to the point of excess of Michigan State's defense was effective. It may not have been kosher, but it did leave an impression. All of that said, Brian Cook's UFR, which while it takes some time to learn the jargon, does break down the tape very clearly, can be found here for the MSU game.
With regard to Iowa, one of the critical issues was once Michigan went down 24-9. Borges let Denard go back to much more under center. This is why Michigan, I feel, was able to move quickly, make it 24-16, get a stop, and then drive the length of the field and nearly score on four separate plays, only to have one thing or another blow it up (we still would have needed the two point conversion just to go to Overtime, so this is not a "oh, so close" lament. Similarly, it wouldn't have put Michigan in the B1G Championship game because Michigan's loss to Michigan State would have been the tiebreaker. Just a note.) The Offensive UFR for Iowa can be found here. I encourage you to read through at your leisure.
Anyway, like I said, looking forward to a showdown with VPI, no matter what the national buzz is. Go Blue!
All of this information is already on Brian Cook's UFRs, which are publicly available. The coaches don't read these blogs, they are for fans. If a coach needs to read a fan blog then they shouldn't be coaching.
"If you're going for it on 3/1 4/1, you should attack the edge, especially WLB #44 Morgan. Morgan can get pancaked on nearly every play and we don't have the speed on the edge to contain a sustained attack there. We do a good job of limiting big plays there, but its surprising to me that more teams don't attack that area of the defense as it can be good for 5-10 yards / attempt."
Michigan Alum here: Cease highlighting weaknesses immediately. Ask a michigan fan does not include game planning against us. That my friend, is treason. The rest of your article is accurate and informative. Good luck.
MSU
MSU is just brutal inside and simply beat us up on the line. Worthy #99 for them is a monster and a likely 1st round pick. Every fanbase likes to make excuses for why they lost, but MSU was just more physical than we were. There were swirling 30-40 mph winds that day which made Denard's sometimes inaccurate passing into a QB OH NOEZ fest. Normally the O-line has been excellent, but with no passing game, we became one-dimensional and they put 8 in the box and cheated the other safety.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sM18sAZRnIU go to time mark :29. argggg
Iowa
This was the worst-executed game of the year for us combined with the worst-officiated game of the year. A inordinate amount of drops, missed PAT, several batted passes, multiple non-call PI's, Denard derping (fumbles and picks) led to a perfect storm of underwhelming offense. Despite all of this we still had a a good shot at winning but the officials had other plans. Watch the last minute of this for some good old home field advantage officiating:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0wTCaQOQ8E
Sometimes you eat the bar, and well, sometimes the bar eats you. Nonetheless, we played poorly and didn't deserve to win the game. Iowa played well when they had to.
i'm thinking our unofficial meet-up should be the night before the game. we can go out somewhere on bourbon st, watch some rose/fiesta bowl, etc.
you guys. bourbon street. i mean, is there really any other place we should be?
Plenty of flaws out there to go around. If they say we don't deserve we will just have to show them. This is not about one season anyway. It is a culmination of 10 plus win seasons and a travelling fan base. Hell yeah we deserve it.
Spot on, Joe. The media was campaigning for a week BEFORE the selections that Michigan, and their fans, should head down to New Orleans. If the Hokies felt disrespected before the UVA game, they should be LIVID by the time this one kicks off. Maybe, just maybe, this will be the year that we don't come out flat for a bowl game. The only way to prove that you belong in a game is to destroy the team that you are lined up against.
Another point:
The ONLY team that has a real complaint here is Oklahoma State, because they lost a chance at a NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP. I hate the BCS as much as anyone, but the BCS didn't screw up the Sugar Bowl. Before there was a BCS, the bowl games picked teams that would give them a good game, full seats, and TV revenue. In the Sugar Bowl, and only the Sugar Bowl, how is that different than this year?
After #1 & 2 its all about the $$$$. Apparently years of fan support and reputation are paying off. Way to go Hokies!!!
I'm not sure about Clemson's D-line. I watched the ACC title game and didn't come away from it impressed with their D-line. Maybe I need to watch it again. One of the great things about the Michigan community is our obsessive desire to understand the game. As a result we have complete offensive and defensive film cut ups for every game courtesy of MGODISNEY. Here's the example I'll be using for this answer:
Michigan D versus Nebraska, every snap. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnepI46utc4
Mike Martin #68 is a stud, but its not his height 6'2" or his weight 300# (http://espn.go.com/college-football/player/_/id/381841/mike-martin). He has outstanding pad level, gets a great jump, has excellent backside pursuit, gets off his blocks in the run game and is tireless. He is a complete football player and will play on Sundays, but most likely be a middle round pick. He is the most disruptive player on the defensive side of the ball. It doesn't show in his stats (3 sacks, 4TFLs) but he does a good job of breaking the play and funneling the backfield to the ends or whoever is responsible for containment. VanBergen #53 (6'6" 290#) is a solid DT in his own right but keys off of Martin's strengths. It is very likely that they will move around (pre-snap) as well once they find the weakness on the Oline. For instance, at 4:50 Martin is lined up at the DE and again the results are depressing for Nebraska (TFL/no gain). We love Mike Martin.
Mattison is great at getting a defensive player unblocked to the QB, if you look at the link below (3:50), you'll see the pressure we get rushing 4 and dropping Martin into the underneath. VanBergen has the sack on that play. Also, 3 and 1 / 4th and 1 have not been gimmies all year. If you're going for it on 3/1 4/1, you should attack the edge, especially WLB #44 Morgan. Morgan can get pancaked on nearly every play and we don't have the speed on the edge to contain a sustained attack there. We do a good job of limiting big plays there, but its surprising to me that more teams don't attack that area of the defense as it can be good for 5-10 yards / attempt.
Highlights:
Martin at :40, 1:40, 2:00; 3:33; 4:35
Hokie Nation shouldn't have to defend itself to anyone. We had a good season. People are bashing the Hokies because we got blown out in our conference title game, but so did Georgia. I don't hear anyone ragging on them for that. Neither Kansas State nor Boise State play a conference championship game, nor did Alabama..Michigan either! At least we got into ours! Kansas State isn't first in it's conference, so why should the second team from the Big 12 get the Sugar Bowl over the Hokies? They're 10-2! Boise State couldn't even win the Mountain West! How many ranked teams did Boise State play? One. I don't hear outcries for 10-2 TCU who at least managed the TOP of the Mountain West. How many ranked teams did TCU play? One. How many ranked teams did the Hokies play? Three, and won two (I'm talking strictly regular season here since the Mountain West can't be bothered to have a conference championship). The Hokies are 11-2! How about you gripe about Alabama sitting pretty after doing less work? Michigan's a two-loss team (to one that wasn't ranked). I don't hear anyone complaining about that. However, ten of the 12 teams Michigan played are going to bowl games, so that proves they have a good record after a good schedule.
If you've got a problem with it, take it up with the system, not the team. Honestly? The best someone can do who has a problem with it is not watch;That'll show 'em, but at this point? It's our name that's up there in ink & there's not a damn thing anyone can do about it. Hokies play better when we're down anyway.
Personally I'm gonna get a huge kick out of kickin it with Mich fans. Geaux Hokies
Just from looking at the scores on ESPN, it looks like only Michigan State and Iowa were able to contain Denard and the UM offense. Were these games just a match-up problem for UM, or did they have specific looks defensively to contain an otherwise explosive offense?
Hearing that your two best defensive players are stud DT's bothers me. How big and how disruptive are we talking here? Can we expect to see a D line on par with what Clemson had that gave us fits?
Why not have some good old fashioned hate? Give me a month full of flogging from every sports columnist that wants to preserve the integrity for the little guy and how many travesties were created for VT. Let every sportscaster justify that Michigan deserves to be there because they have a strong fanbase and then let the same sportscaster blow a gasket yelling the only reason VT is there illegitimately is because they have a strong fanbase.
I honestly hope that there are tons of articles out there telling the team how bad they are. I like how we match up against Michigan and the more negative attention we have for the game the more eyeballs will be watching as we make all the columnist shut up.
Personally I have to say I've been awarded opportunities that maybe someone else deserves more but I take advantage of those opportunities instead of lamenting "oh why me? why am I getting this really good thing". Some of the fanbase is "Draking" too much and needs to realize getting what you want is a good thing.
Let's Go Hokies in the Sugar Bowl! Everyone else just has to deal with it.
How much has Al Borges transformed the offense from the one installed by Rich Rod, a coach Hokies are very familiar with? From the games I've watched it seemed like Borges kept most of the spread around because it fit the personnel better. I'm asking because losses to WVU in 2002-03, and the rise in popularity of the spread, prompted Bud Foster to switch from his 4-4 defense to the 4-3 we run now. Going forward we had much more success against stopping WVU, and other spread teams, save Clemson, but that's another story. Also in the 2004 Sugar Bowl the Hokies were able to keep Borges' offense in check.
Do you like Devin Gardner package where he's in at quarterback and Denard goes out to the wing?
I'm looking for a great game, and some good conversation, welcome and thanks for dropping by!
Don't know how, but it happened. Although, with my late season slide, it probably prevented my percentage from dropping further
Funny- douchebag Dodd didn't step up for Virginia Tech in either 2000 (Fiesta Bowl snub) or 2005 (or Miami who was ranked seventh in the BCS and VT tenth- BOTH snubbed) or even 2006 (when VT was leapfrogged by Wake after the beatdown we gave them and their field goal game against GT in ACCCG for the final spot in the at-large pool, though they won the ACC) but he bashes the program NOW after those snubs? Though our choice was debatable, Michigan's was outright horrendous and NO ONE calls them out on it? Frank should post the tweets and articles on the board in the locker room and if we can steam roll Big Blue, give the media the game ball and tell them to eat refried shit then take a long walk off a short pier with ankle weights on as a present from the team. Same to Herbstreit then destroy his logic about stating that VT was the only BCS team to schedule cupcakes. Didn't the #2 team schedule two FCS teams and two others from the Sun Belt? But its cool- powerhouses can do that. Sorry for the rant.
Someone has to be last.
hey its better than half.
i was walking down bourbon street about a week ago, there are a ton of new strip clubs there. even my friend who lives in NOLA commented on it.
And yes, I now realize that I restated everything that was in the article. Should have read the whole thing before commenting. I'm embarrassed.