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Michigan vs PSU - Pre-Game Thread

thewolverines24

thewolverines24

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 2, 2011
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16,792
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Has their offense improved?

I figured they could only get better from last year, when they had a QB who was a big crybaby AND openly hated his coach.

I hope we destroy them, but I don't know what to really think about our team yet. we don't really have an identity... we've out-talented two mediocre opponents, and cobbled together the plays to beat an opponent who appears to be decent.

our stats tell the same story: no one stands out statistically on the offense (other than Speight by default). on defense, we COULD be among the best in the country, but for the big plays we've given up (which equalled a whopping 200 rushing yards and 2 TDs against UCF and 100 passing yards and 2 TDs against Colorado).

looking at things last year, it did take about 4 games to really hit our stride, although we had easy victories before that. and at least we've avoided a bunch of turnovers... last year those plagued our offense even after we started winning handily.

I'm really disappointed we can't consistently run the ball, still. but at least it's not as bad as it was under Hoke. we're still topping 100 yards each week, though big chunks of those are coming from sweeps and end arounds...
 
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Their QB play is better, but their run game is atrocious despite having Barkley. They averaged 3.8 YPC against Kent St, 2.4 YPC against Pitt, and 3.1 YPC against Temple.

McSorely is a decent upgrade over Hack. However, he does make bad decisions and throws into coverage. If we pressure him, we can force bad throws and hopefully capitalize with picks.
 
5 Things To Watch from MLive:

http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2016/09/five_things_to_watch_michigan.html

Their 3rd down offense vs our 3rd down defense bodes well:

"Worst third down vs. Best third down
Penn State's the worst third down team in the Big Ten -- again. After converting just 27 percent of their third downs in 2015, the Nittany Lions have converted -- wait for it -- 27 percent of their third downs so far in 2016. Penn State wants to play with tempo, but it has trouble staying on the field -- as the Nittany Lions are averaging just 4.4 plays per possession. And that's not because they're hitting big plays, as each possession is netting an average of about 26 yards per drive.

Meanwhile, Michigan's defensive is No. 1 nationally on third down. The Wolverines have allowed opponents to convert just 10.5 percent of their third down attempts (4 of 38). Opponents are facing an average of 3rd and 9 against Michigan so far this season, which is rather difficult time and time again. Part of this, of course, is due to Michigan being No. 3 nationally in tackles for loss (31). Again, Penn State's OL vs. Michigan's DL could be a thing."
 
I think our D is also #1 in the red zone; i checked the stats last night and I know we were #1 in something else.

other statistical categories are okay, but clearly skewed by UCF's running and CU's long TD passes. it's like we do everything right except prevent big plays.

I'd love to see us put it all together against Penn State & get some consistency. The UW game the following week should be a better challenge.
 
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Agreed and getting Lewis back will be a huge help. Same goes for Taco and Mone.

I believe Lewis and Taco will both be back this week and Mone is aiming for Wisky.
 
thewolverines24 said:
Agreed and getting Lewis back will be a huge help. Same goes for Taco and Mone.

I believe Lewis and Taco will both be back this week and Mone is aiming for Wisky.
Click to expand...

Will they be back? I thought I saw Lewis in pads at last week's game and was hoping to see him play a few downs, but he didn't. They need him back badly on the pass coverage.
 
Running game has been frustrating and the Defense has shows some vulnerability when taking away the run vs CU and giving up the long pass and doing the opposite vs UCF ...

The most consistent aspect of play for MICHIGAN this year...? Hasn't been mentioned yet ....


Special Teams

Even if PSU gets all puffed up about playing a "rival" and shows better ability than they have so far this year, I would expect one or two key special teams plays that either result in points immediately or give the Offense a short field.

I love this team in that when certain aspects fail, others pick up and despite the worry among the fans, the average margin of victory so far is 38pts.
 
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rumseyhouse77 said:
Will they be back? I thought I saw Lewis in pads at last week's game and was hoping to see him play a few downs, but he didn't. They need him back badly on the pass coverage.
Click to expand...
Taco will be back this week. He basically said that on twitter today.

I'm hopeful with Lewis since he dressed in full pads against CU. Harbaugh has sounded positive about his status this week. We really need him healthy.

Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk
 
Having him back is going to be a massive boost. I may be in the minority, but I am beyond concerned about how Colorado was moving the ball up and down when their starting QB was healthy. The dude threw an 80 yard bomb on one foot. Not sure if it's scheme related or personnel, but they could have given up another 2, 3 scores if that guy stayed in the game and was fully healthy.
 
dubbsco said:
Having him back is going to be a massive boost. I may be in the minority, but I am beyond concerned about how Colorado was moving the ball up and down when their starting QB was healthy. The dude threw an 80 yard bomb on one foot. Not sure if it's scheme related or personnel, but they could have given up another 2, 3 scores if that guy stayed in the game and was fully healthy.
Click to expand...

Actually, we were starting to shut him down before he got injured. He hit some big plays, and they killed us in the middle of the field, but the D was correcting the issues. Liafu was 5/11 for 23 yards before that 70-yard heave for a TD to start the 2nd half. Beyond two big TD passes that totaled 107 yards, Colorado wasn't staying consistent through the air. Our D had made the proper adjustments. The score would have most likely been closer at the end, but it was trending well for us.
 
Fair enough. I saw enough in the early going to warrant some concerns going forward when Michigan plays better competition.
 
Getting Lewis back is huge, but it's not our defense that I'm worried about when we start playing better teams. I'm worried about our O-line making running holes and keeping pressure off of the QB.
 
dubbsco said:
Fair enough. I saw enough in the early going to warrant some concerns going forward when Michigan plays better competition.
Click to expand...

I completely understand that. I'm just happy we have a d-coordinator who makes adjustments now. Durkin just did the same shit over and over.

Getting the best CB in the country should help alleviate some of our concerns.

Like Gulo, I'm more concerned about our o-line.
 
Yeah, most of the gains made on the running game have been through sweeps and reverses. They haven't shown any consistency with lining up and moving forward.
 
dubbsco said:
Yeah, most of the gains made on the running game have been through sweeps and reverses. They haven't shown any consistency with lining up and moving forward.
Click to expand...

Yep. Smith is back to missing holes as well. The vs Florida version of Smith is not what we are getting.
 
I've just never been a big fan of him in general. He's not bad, he's a decent B10 running back. Runs hard, hard to bring down, great blocker. But the dude just cannot find any holes and for someone who struggles with that, he's not fast enough to cover up.
 
Smith drives me crazy. He misses hole after hole. Msu and o$u just keep reloading at running back. It's about time jim finds a guy. Getting Lewis back should help the defense alot though. Maybe it will free up Peppers for running back :)
 
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