Please don't change your mind. Please.

Yesterday I took my (very) early look at the 2010 offense. Today, we take a look at the dark side of the moon defense, which should return nine starters from a unit that, well, stunk in 2009. [Note: I will be referring to players by what class they will be in for 2010. For example, Donovan Warren will be referred to as a senior.]

Defensive End: Might as well get this out of the way — Brandon Graham will be sorely missed, no matter how good his replacements are. It’s tough to replace 10.5 sacks and 26 tackles for loss with three guys (which may be what Michigan tries to do), let alone expecting just one player to step and come close to replicating that type of production. Michigan does return starter Ryan Van Bergen, who put up a solid season and could slide over into Graham’s vacated spot. He’s got the size to hold down the strong side of the line, and his five sacks show he has the ability to get to the quarterback. The other DE spot is very much up for grabs — Greg Banks and Adam Patterson are both redshirt seniors who have failed to make much of an impact in their four years in the program, while redshirt freshman Anthony LaLota was an Army All-American who could vault ahead of both seniors based on his prodigious talent. Incoming freshman Ken Wilkins has the frame to be a DE down the road, but at 6-4, 244, he’ll probably take a redshirt year. The hybrid LB/DE spot has a lot fewer questions, as Craig Roh came in the fall and locked down the starting role as a true freshman. If he adds some bulk, he could become a real force as a pass-rusher and speedy playmaker on the edge. Junior Brandon Herron will return as his backup, and incoming freshman Jordan Paskorz will provide depth, although he will likely redshirt as well given the returning players at the positon.

Defensive Tackle: There’s a lot of promise at DT for the Wolverines, with talented junior Mike Martin returning along with senior Renaldo Sagesse and sophomore (and former five-star recruit) Will Campbell. Martin struggled a bit as he adapted to playing the nose tackle in Greg Robinson’s hybrid defense, but was still one of the Wolverines’ most consistent performers on defense. Both Sagesse and Campbell showed solid improvement as the season wore on, and should get solid playing time in 2010. One possibility that has been thrown around by Michigan fans is for Martin to slide over to Van Bergen’s position, with Van Bergen taking Graham’s DE spot and Sagesse or Campbell taking over at nose tackle. If Sagesse or Campbell can hold their ground at nose tackle, I like this possibility, as it frees up Martin to be more of a threat to penetrate into the backfield (something he did with regularity as a freshman) and gives Michigan more size up front to stop the running game. We’ll have to wait until the spring, at the earliest, to see if this is an option. Michigan has also secured a commitment from DT Terry Talbott, but at 6-4, 255, he’ll probably take a redshirt year to add some weight before he sees the field.

Linebacker: If it wasn’t for the safeties, no position group would scare me as much as the linebackers (and it’s pretty close, anyway). Stevie Brown, who turned into Michigan’s most consistent linebacker in 2009, is gone from the weakside spot, leaving seniors Obi Ezeh and Jonas Mouton as the Wolverines’ returning starters. Ezeh and Mouton both took steps back this fall, struggling to the point of being benched multiple times in the latter half of the season. The Wolverines will need to see more aggressiveness from Ezeh, more discipline from Mouton, and a better understanding of Robinson’s schemes from both if the defense is going to improve substantially next year. Both will face competition, as redshirt junior (and former walk-on) Kevin Leach and juniors J.B. Fitzgerald and Kenny Demens all saw the field last season. Fitzgerald, a former four-star recruit, has the best change to take one of the middle linebacker spots, but don’t sleep on Demens, who saw limited action but is an athletic freak who could emerge as an upperclassman. The competition is even more open for Brown’s old spot, with sophomore Brandin Hawthorne and redshirt freshmen Isaiah Bell and Mike Jones all in the mix, potentially joined by redshirt sophomore Brandon Smith, who bounced between linebacker and safety but looks more promising (in my opinion) as a linebacker candidate. The bad news for Michigan is this position group played very poorly in 2009, and loses their best player. The good news is that there are a lot of talented players vying for just three spots. Hopefully some spirited competition, as well as a year of experience under Robinson, will fuel some better play in 2010.

Cornerback: Despite losing Boubacar Cissoko, and having a revolving door at the second cornerback spot all season, this group actually looks like it will have a lot of depth next season. Senior Donovan Warren has said that he will return next season (he will ask the NFL about his draft status, but unless he gets told he’ll be a first-rounder, he’ll likely be back), giving Michigan a lock-down cornerback on one side of the field. The status of the other corner spot will be determined by senior Troy Woolfolk, and specifically whether he’ll stay at corner or return to safety. If he does stay at corner, he’ll be the man opposite Warren, and his solid performance in 2009 — despite being moved from safety mid-season — gives Michigan a chance to have two very dependable cornerbacks in 2010. Redshirt sophomore J.T. Floyd will be back, and should provide depth or potentially start if Woolfolk is a safety, and sophomore Teric Jones should improve with a full year at cornerback under his belt. Redshirt freshman Justin Turner is the big wild card here — the highly-touted prospect was being hailed as the next great Wolverine corner before academic issues forced a redshirt. He could see the field — and start — at either corner or safety, depending on need and his ability to adapt to the college game. Michigan also has commitments from three cornerback prospects — Courtney Avery, Terrence Talbott, and Adrian Witty (who qualified after sitting out last season and enroll in January) — and are the favorites for Rivals100 prospect Cullen Christian (who will announce his decision tonight) and three-star Tony Grimes. Senior James Rodgers, who has bounced around between receiver and defensive back his whole career, will also provide depth. That’s a lot of bodies at corner, so we could (and probably will) see at least one player switch over to safety. It feels strange to say this, but I’m actually confident that the cornerbacks will be a strong point of the defense in 2010.

Safety: Oh, boy. This position was a total disaster in 2009, with Michigan trying everything from a freshman walk-on (Jordan Kovacs) to a safety-turned-linebacker-turned-safety (Brandon Smith) to just playing Donovan Warren in a deep half from the cornerback position. Michigan does return both starters, Kovacs and Mike Williams, but neither player’s job is remotely safe. Redshirt freshman Vladimir Emilien will have a shot at the starting job, and Woolfolk would be almost guaranteed a spot if he moved over. Justin Turner is also a possibility, as well as Brandon Smith and J.T. Floyd, and even redshirt freshman Thomas Gordon and walk-ons Floyd Simmons and Jared Van Slyke. In fact, you may have a shot as well. It’s that open. I’d be crazy to even begin to guess who will be playing safety when Michigan opens against UConn next fall, so the conjecture ends here. This position group could be anything from the unmitigated disaster it was in 2009 to passably competent, and anywhere in between.

Outlook: Well, the defense certainly can’t be worse than this year’s. Losing Graham will hurt tremendously, but expected improvement across the board for the rest of the defense should mean that this team will be better in 2010. How much better will depend on a wild variety of factors, especially the personnel at linebacker and in the secondary — it’s far too early to guess, and as we found out this year, even the best guesses can be horribly, horribly wrong. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Similar Posts:

• Michigan’s Team of the Decade: Defensive Ends
• Michigan’s Team of the Decade: Cornerbacks
• An Early Stab at the 2010 Depth Chart: Defense
• Recruiting Update: Part II (Rounding Out the Class)
• Michigan’s Team of the Decade: Defense

Jordan Kovacs, and whoever else plays safety, needs to keep the ball in front of them.

I hate to even do this, but before I hit the keys for Saturday, it’s time to look back at last week’s game:

1. Get pressure on Darryl Clark — Michigan recorded two sacks against Clark, and the defense actually did a solid job of getting in his face most of the afternoon. The breakdowns in pass defense don’t fall on the shoulders of the defensive line, just the linebackers and secondary (and possibly the coaches as well).
2. Make a big play in the return game — Didn’t happen. Even with Carlos Brown returning kickoffs, the team couldn’t muster a return longer than 26 yards on a day when the offense desperately needed the good field position.
3. Punch it in — Two scores (one TD, one FG) in four red zone chances is simply not going to cut it against a team as good as Penn State.
4. Slow down the pass rush — Penn State sacked Forcier five times, and Michigan got nothing going in the screen game.
5. Get off the field — Michigan didn’t do terribly on third down, limiting Penn State to 5 conversions on 15 chances, but it wasn’t exactly a stellar effort, either. The Wolverines put forth a strong effort early, giving the offense several chances to make it a game, but fell apart late. The first touchdown of the second half came on a 3rd and 9 from the 11-yard line, and Penn State converted three third-downs on their last drive to really milk the clock before hitting a field goal.

Well, that was ugly — at best, Michigan gets a 2/5 on the day. Let’s move on to Illinois:

1. Run, run, run — Michigan still has the 9th best rush offense in the country, and Illinois’ run defense gives up over 185 yards per game (101st nationally). The Wolverines need to get back to doing what they do best on offense — running the zone read successfully and basing everything else on that success. I expect to see a lot of touches for Brandon Minor and Carlos Brown, and expect a 100-yard day out of at least one of them.
2. Keep the Illini off the board early — I’m sure Illinois will be very geared up for an opportunity to knock off Michigan for their first FBS victory of the season, especially at home in a late afternoon game on Halloween. Michigan couldn’t stop their offense last year, so if Illinois scores early, it may just give them the confidence to play far above their level of play so far this year. If the Wolverines can stop the Illini early, and maybe force them to switch up quarterbacks a couple times, it’s likely that Illinois will play like the 113th-best scoring offense in the country.
3. Show me something, safeties — Michigan has spent the last several weeks unsuccessfully trying to mask the weakness at safety, even going so far as to essentially turn Donovan Warren into a deep cover guy last week while subbing Boubacar Cissoko in for Mike Williams (and moving Troy Woolfolk back to safety) on third downs. With Cissoko gone, Michigan doesn’t have that option anymore, so Williams and Jordan Kovacs will have to show a better ability to keep the play in front of them and play their assignment. If the safeties can’t improve from their disastrous performance last weekend, it could be a long day for Michigan’s defense.
4. Get the outside receivers involved — No Michigan outside receiver has more than 15 catches (Greg Mathews, and seven of those came last week), and both Junior Hemingway and Darryl Stonum have essentially disappeared as the season has wore on. Hemingway practiced this week and should be good to go after that scary collision with Warren last week. Tate needs to get the ball to these guys — the whole point of the spread offense is to spread the field vertically and horizontally (duh). Without any threat from the outside guys, the vertical threat becomes moot, and the offense bogs down. I’d like to see at least five catches out of one of the outside receivers, and for all three to get involved in the offense.
5. Just go for it — This game is a must-win for Rich Rodriguez and his staff at this point. Illinois is so bad that a loss would be catastrophic for his public perception, and a sign that the 4-0 start was a whole lot of luck. I’d like to see the coaching staff pulling no punches on this one — empty the bag of tricks, go for it on fourth down, fake a punt, slip an onsides kick in there somewhere, whatever it takes to give this team a spark. If the team loses while sitting back, I’ll go bananas. Please don’t make me go bananas.

It’s about time for a victory, and if Michigan doesn’t get one here, I don’t know where they’re going to find one. Michigan 34, Illinois 17.

Similar Posts:

• Farewell, Donovan Warren
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Justin Feagin, Sam McGuffie, and Boubacar Cissoko are just three of the players now gone from the Class of 2008.

Michigan’s 2008 recruiting class was the #10 overall class in the country according to Rivals.com, and was supposed to breathe some life into the program after a sub-par recruiting effort in 2007. The 24-man class boasted 17 four-star recruits, YouTube sensation Sam McGuffie, some very quality prospects snapped up on signing day, and even an athlete projected to play quarterback. On my old website, I projected individual player outcomes from the class based on numbers from the previous decade of Michigan recruiting — these projections now read somewhere between side-splittingly hilarious and profoundly sad. The class is down to 17 men. The casualties are as follows, in order of exit from the program:

1. Taylor Hill, 4*, No. 21 OLB — Just a couple days after Michigan’s season-opening loss to Utah, Hill decided to transfer closer to home, landing with hometown Youngstown State, an FCS team.
2. Marcus Witherspoon, 4*, No. 20 OLB — Witherspoon could not qualify academically at Michigan, and transferred to Rutgers. He has yet to play for the Scarlet Knights, and has battled a shoulder injury that required surgery last October.
3. Sam McGuffie, 4*, No. 10 all-purpose back — We all know the story of McGuffie, who came in with great fanfare and had a breakout game against Notre Dame in 2008, but battled multiple concussions and transferred to Rice in January of this year.
4. Dann O’Neill, 4*, No. 10 offensive tackle — O’Neill announced his intention to transfer in June of this year, and officially made the move to Western Michigan in July, stating that he thought Western was a better fit for him.
5. Kurt Wermers, 3*, No. 37 offensive guard — Wermers transferred to Ball State in July, and made some very critical comments about the coaching staff on his way out. Soon after his transfer, it was revealed that Wermers was academically ineligible. I will withhold further comment.
6. Justin Feagin, 3*, No. 41 athlete — Feagin was dismissed from the team in late July for “violating team rules”. Those “team rules” turned out to be attempting to buy cocaine from a friend in Florida. Feagin attempted to transfer to Appalachian State, but was not admitted due to academic and legal concerns.
7. Boubacar Cissoko, 4*, No. 4 cornerback — Cissoko was kicked off the team today for violating team rules after missing team meetings and class.

It is far too early to judge the Class of ‘08, as many of the players from that class have yet to find an opportunity to see the field. However, it’s tough to feel optimistic about this class. Of the 17 players still on the team, only Darryl Stonum, Kevin Koger, Michael Shaw, and Martavious Odoms (and maybe J.T. Floyd, if you’re being generous) have had a major impact on the field. There’s not really any one person to pin blame on here — I don’t really think anybody saw this coming, and I don’t know how they could have. However, the lack of depth in the ‘08 class, coupled with the thin ‘07 class, could really hamper Michigan’s development over the next couple years.

Cissoko "missed class, missed workouts" according to Thomas Wilcher, his high school coach at Cass Tech.

Well, Michigan’s depth at secondary is now even thinner, as the Detroit Free Press is reporting that Boubacar Cissoko has been dismissed from the team:

Sophomore cornerback Boubacar Cissoko has been kicked off the Michigan football team, his high school coach, Thomas Wilcher of Detroit Cass Tech said tonight.

“He missed class, missed workouts,” said Wilcher, who said he spoke to a U-M assistant coach and Cissoko today.

I don’t have a lot to add to this one — Cissoko was given ample opportunity by the coaching staff to get his act together, and in the end, he didn’t. It’s disappointing, since despite his struggles this season he has a lot of talent and could have been a major contributor down the road. Hopefully, he’ll land on his feet somewhere and learn from his experience at Michigan. Wilcher put it much more bluntly, saying, “Now he’s got to make something, because he blew it.” He certainly did.

Hopefully Michigan can get some players to step up at corner, because the depth chart is in dire straits now: If Donovan Warren leaves after this season, the Wolverines will only return Troy Woolfolk, J.T. Floyd, Justin Turner, Teric Jones, and James Rodgers (who just switched over from receiver) at the cornerback position. In other words, it’s time to start begging Warren to stick out his senior season.

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• An Early Stab at the 2010 Depth Chart: Defense

Will Troy Woolfolk have to be Michigan's #1 corner next season?

As any Michigan fan who has watched during the 2009 season can attest, the secondary has been somewhat awful. The statistics agree: Michigan is 96th in the country in pass defense (246.5 yards allowed per game), and although some of that can be attributed to poor linebacker play, the onus falls squarely on the shoulders of defensive backs not named Donovan Warren. Greg Robinson has tried three different players at the second corner spot, and of those players, one has a tenuous hold on a spot on the team (Boubacar Cissoko), one doesn’t appear to be athletic enough to guard MAC wide receivers (J.T. Floyd), and the third was a safety until last week (Troy Woolfolk, who actually had a decent game against Iowa).

The secondary is a huge concern for this season, for obvious reasons: they’re not very good, still making major personnel changes, starting a walk-on at safety, etc. However, take a look at this (the depth chart by year for this season, with a big assist from MGoBlog), keeping next season in mind:

Now take Donovan Warren out of that picture, as in all likelihood he’ll be playing on Sundays next season.

Best case scenario for 2010: Warren stays, allowing Woolfolk to develop into a solid #2 cornerback. Justin Turner turns out to be the stud defensive back we expected him to be when he committed. Boubacar Cissoko gets his act together academically and on the field. Mike Williams learns how to properly cover the deep middle in a Cover 3. Vlad Emilien or Marvin Robinson supplants Jordan Kovacs and spends much of the season terrorizing opposing backfields. Michigan gains commitments from Cullen Christian (very likely) and another 3/4 star corner to add depth to the secondary.

More realistic scenario: Warren leaves, and Michigan spends the season without a real #1 corner. Troy Woolfolk is passable, but the #2 corner is again a fiasco barring Justin Turner being the next Law/Woodson/Jackson/Hall. The safeties remain shaky, with one first-year starter taking Kovacs’ spot and Mike Williams remaining as the other safety (and hopefully learning how to cover the deep middle, please). Cullen Christian and another 3/4 star corner commit, but probably don’t contribute immediately.

Very little of this situation is the fault of the current coaching staff: Lloyd Carr’s staff had one cornerback commit in the class of 2008 before handing over the reigns to Rich Rodriguez. That commit was Boubacar Cissoko, who has had equal problems staying eligible and staying with opposing wide receivers. The other defensive back in that class, Brandon Smith, struggled as a safety and was moved to linebacker. You could argue that the Rodriguez staff needed to get another cornerback in the class of 2009, but I doubt anyone expected Justin Turner’s eligibility to be in question so deep into fall camp, and Adrian Witty failed to qualify entirely. It certainly isn’t anybody’s fault that Warren is so good that he’s a likely first-round NFL Draft pick after his junior season.

What am I saying here? There isn’t much to do except brace yourselves, because the struggles of 2009 could be what keeps the 2010 team from being a bona-fide Big Ten title contender.

Similar Posts:

• Farewell, Donovan Warren
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Unlike most of this season, Michigan did a very good job in the trenches on both sides of the ball.

Well, yeah, we lost this game, but there was actually a lot of good that came out of the 30-28 loss to Iowa. Here a some obsvervations from the game:

• Everybody else seems to have weighed in, so here’s my two cents on Rodriguez’s call to put Denard Robinson back in the game on the final drive: At the time, I couldn’t believe it, and on a final drive I don’t think a team should trot a player out there who causes heart attacks every time he throws downfield. It’s not just that Robinson isn’t very accurate yet; he’s never played in that situation, and he doesn’t have the arm to make up for poor decisions the way Forcier does. Yes, it turns out Forcier was concussed, and the point is moot now, but I just had a bad feeling from the moment Denard took the field. Again, just my opinion.
• The defense put in one hell of an effort, given the five (five!) Michigan turnovers on the day. The Wolverines held Iowa to just 5.1 yards per play, allowed just 34 rushing yards, scored a touchdown (albeit a gift from Ricky Stanzi, but still), AND managed a goal-line stand in the fourth quarter. If you told me they would play that well before the game, I’d have a hard time not picking Michigan to win.
• The offense, on the other hand, was somewhat of a disaster. Seven of the team’s 13 drives stalled after picking up ten yards or less, and the turnovers were so killer because almost all of them were completely unforced.
• Donovan Warren and Brandon Graham simply had monster games. I’ll never understand why Stanzi threw at Warren’s side of the field so much — he was just blanketing the Iowa receivers — but at least Stanzi had a choice to stay away from Warren. BG was blowing plays up, whether they were runs or passes, and basically lived in the Hawkeye backfield all night. These two guys are what is holding this defense together.
• Troy Woolfolk was a pleasant surprise at cornerback. He appeared to play quite well, and possesses the feel for the game that Boubacar Cissoko is lacking right now and the athleticism that J.T. Floyd just doesn’t have. Unfortunately, Mike Williams totally blew his assignment on a couple of Iowa’s touchdowns, and now we’ll have to see if the secondary gets realigned again or if the coaches will simply try to bang it into Williams’ head that he has to be the last man back at all times.
• The linebackers finally put together a complete game (at least until Brian puts out his UFR and anything I have to say here is completely mitigated). Stevie Brown clearly should have been a linebacker since day one — he made a huge play on the goal-line stand, has been a really solid tackler, and gets to plays very quickly. Ezeh and Mouton both raised their play from earlier this season — you simply don’t hold a team to 34 yards rushing if your linebackers aren’t having good games. Hopefully they can keep it up for the rest of the season.
• Huge day for the offensive line. They were opening up huge holes for the run game (which netted 195 yards on 4.3 yards per carry) and protected Forcier and Robinson very well when they dropped back (no sacks given up). Even though I think Iowa’s defense is a little overrated, that was still a big performance against a very tough defensive front. Also, nice to see Moosman snapping the ball much better — I don’t recall a single bad snap.
• It’s tough to really comment too much on the offense. Tate had a rough, rough game. He’s still a freshman, and we have to expect those kind of performances to happen every once in a while. He’s still one of the best true freshmen quarterbacks in recent memory. Denard got thrown into a really tough spot, had one great drive, and then threw a killer pick. He’ll learn from that as well. Minor’s fumble was the one turnover that shocked me — as a senior, you have to protect the ball in that situation, especially when the run was going nowhere to begin with.
• OK, I lied. Mathews’ turnover was also a stunner — he’s back there for one reason, and that’s to catch the ball. If you have to go to your knees to field a punt inside the ten, just let it go.
• Is any outside receiver going to step up on this team? Martavious Odoms and Kevin Koger continue to deliver week-in and week-out, and the outside guys continue to pull disappearing acts. This week, Stonum, Mathews, Hemingway (and Savoy, if you want to count him, since he saw a few snaps) combined for two catches and 16 yards. I realize Forcier often looks to his underneath guys first, but that’s still paltry production from a group of guys with too much talent and experience to be invisible like that.

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Is Cissoko on his way out as a Wolverine?

UPDATE: The rumor appears to be true ($). Cissoko is not with the team in Iowa, and it looks like Troy Woolfolk will play (and likely start) at cornerback, with Jordan Kovacs and Mike Williams starting at safety. No definitive word as to why Cissoko was left behind in Ann Arbor.

The rumors are flying about Michigan cornerback Boubacar Cissoko, who may not have made the trip to Iowa. First, MGoBlog poster mgokev:

I’ve just heard from a reliable source on the team that Boubacar Cissoko was not invited to travel with the team to Iowa today. Possibly to send him a message to step his game up because there’s no apparent injury issue with him. Thoughts?

Go Blue Michigan Wolverine has also added their two cents:

GBMW got word on Friday that he was asked to leave twice this past week during practice. Seems that he has not taken to his benching very well.

Some sites were using his injury as an excuse for how bad he has been playing this year and using the “waving of hands” after each incomplete pass even if he had nothing to do with it as an emotional boost even when he was getting torched during the Notre Dame game.

His future at Michigan is up in the air as well. Will he go just a few miles away to play football if things do not go well at Michigan? Who knows after the game they may use the “flu bug” as an excuse of him not making the trip. Will be interesting press conference after the game.

*** Rumors are swirling that a couple of players think he is gone either way.

I’m not putting much validity into any rumor until I hear something from the mouth of a coach, but if true, this is not good for a secondary that is already razor-thin and probably losing Donovan Warren to the draft next season. I’ll have more on this situation as it develops.

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• An Early Stab at the 2010 Depth Chart: Defense

Does Michigan have two All-Big Ten backs? Carlos Brown is making a strong case.

I still haven’t had a chance to re-watch the game (torrent is still downloading) but I have a few thoughts after a closer-than-expected victory over Indiana:

• If Tate Forcier is the agreed-upon MVP of this team, Donovan Warren is a damn close second. The overlooked fact about the controversial game-sealing pick was that Warren was playing unbelievable man coverage and Chappell should never have thrown that pass in the first place. Michigan fans should be pulling out every voodoo trick in the book to ensure Warren stays healthy; I don’t even want to entertain the thought of a Cissoko-Floyd starting cornerback tandem.
• Let’s hope Forcier got his egregiously horrendous pick out of his system early, and we won’t see anything like that again. I’m not that optimistic about this — freshmen will be freshmen, after all — but man, was that ugly.
• As Brian already noted over at MGoBlog, special teams played a huge factor in the victory. Darryl Stonum was constantly one block or juke or broken tackle away from taking a kickoff the distance, and Zoltan Mesko averaged 48.1 yards per punt, downed Indiana inside their 20 twice, and crushed a 59-yard punt in the fourth quarter that completely swung field position in Michigan’s favor. I doubt this could be seen on TV, but that 59-yarder had movement that I wouldn’t believe unless I saw it with my own eyes: from my vantage point (in line with the sideline in the north end zone, about 35 rows up), the punt started a few yards outside the right hashmark before hooking all the way to the left hash … the returner had no choice but to let it go. Great effort out of the special teams Saturday.
• Can we please get Kevin Koger more involved in the offense? He made a great catch up the seam for 36 yards on a pass from Denard Robinson, but that was his only reception of the game. The guy snags anything thrown near him, is great at finding open space, and I would much rather see him on the field than a backup receiver when we go four-wide.
• Carlos Brown is making a very strong case to split carries with Brandon Minor, even when Minor becomes fully-healthy. With Junior Hemingway going almost completely silent since the opener, Michigan is in need of a home run threat, and Carlos Brown is that threat. He was really effective on the ground, averaging 7.5 yards per carry, and took his only catch (a very well set-up screen) 61 yards to the house. However, he only got one touch in the second and third quarters combined while Michigan’s offense mostly stalled. I’m not saying he’s better than Minor (only Minor gets that tough 3rd and 1 to ice the game by bowling over some poor safety), but he certainly brings something to the table that only he can provide right now.

I’ll have more on this game once I have a chance to watch it again. For now, enjoy WolverineHistorian’s highlights:

Similar Posts:

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"And tate leaps back into our hearts" (AP Photo)

Well, a win is a win. That’s about all Michigan fans can say after watching the Wolverines eke out a 36-33 victory over Indiana this afternoon. I was watching from the student section, but also was part of an almost constant stream of text messages between myself and a few friends, who I will call “Noah”, “Sam”, “Jeff”, and “Steven” because those are their names. Looking back, they perfectly encapsulated the emotions of this tumultuous victory (warning: some explicit language follows … I tend to curse like a sailor on game days; also, many spelling errors will likely follow, as I’m typing these up verbatim):

Noah (12:09 pm): In a word: pourous.
Ace (12:10 pm): Nice timing … but yeah, bad.
Sam (12:28 pm): Dear Greg Mathews, please catch the punt. Xoxo. Sam.
Ace (12:29 pm): Co-signed.
Jeff (12:43 pm): Cissoko is just not good.
Ace (12:44 pm): Quite bad, actually.
Noah (12:44 pm): That touchdown courtesy of bouboucar cissoko. I bet he still talked shit after that pass.
Ace (12:45 pm): He’s really just awful. Christ.
Noah (12:46 pm): a glaring weakness in a somewhat promising defensive unit. Good thing we seem to be scoring at will…
Ace (12:47 pm): Yeah … Carlos has been nice.
Noah (12:48 pm): Carlos brown. Carlos brown.
Noah (1:14 pm): Are you kidding me?
Noah (1:25 pm): I really like that guy.
Ace (1:26 pm): He’s decent…
Steven (1:38 pm): Whats the story with the cracker FS.?
Ace (1:39 pm): Williams is hurt, so we put in Kovacs. Safety depth is thin…
Noah (2:06 pm): Fucking Moosman.
Ace (2:07 pm): That went very wrong.
Noah (2:25 pm): For the record, the call was for a blatant hold on floyd, not P.I. proper.
Ace (2:26 pm): Then call holding … that was uncatchable regardless.
Noah (2:27 pm): Agreed. But if you saw the replay youd probably be cursing floyd more than the refs.
Noah (2:56 pm): And tate leaps back into our hearts.
Ace (2:57 pm): Dude got hops for a white boy.
Ace (2:58 pm): Two times.
Noah (2:59 pm): Moosman made his first positive contribution all day by pushing tate in on that last play.
Ace (3:00 pm): Seriously … he owed him one.
Noah (3:01 pm): Huge. We should be ok as long as indianas red zone impotency continues.
Ace (3:02 pm): Yeah … I hope so.
Noah (3:02 pm): Fuck.
Ace (3:03 pm): That’s why Kovacs is a walk-on … horrible angle.
Noah (3:04 pm): Horrible everything. Warren almost had him…
Noah (3:17 pm): Fuck yes. Im losing my mind watching this by myself.
Ace (3:18 pm): I’m losing my mind watching this with 108,000 other people.
Noah (3:19 pm): I can only imagine. At least your behavior is acceptable where you are. My neighbor probably thinks im a head case.
Ace (3:20 pm): Lockdown, motherfuckers.
Noah (3:21 pm): Can that be reviewed? You guys are about to be pissed.
Ace (3:21 pm): Is it gonna stand?
Noah (3:22 pm): No.
Ace (3:22 pm): Fuck.
Ace (3:23 pm): Fuck you for scaring the shit out of me.
Noah (3:23 pm): Ive never been so happy to be wrong.
Noah (3:24 pm): It was a bad call. But hey, at least i wasnt wrong the other way.
Jeff (3:24 pm): Warren is a beast
Ace (3:25 pm): Lockdown.

Thank goodness I’m on a plan with unlimited text messaging. I’ll have more coherent analysis on the game in the next few days, but for now, it’s time to enjoy the victory and let 4-0 soak in. The one thing I’ll say is this: Last year, when we play a bad game, we get the crap kicked out of us. This year, we play a bad game, and we pull out a victory against a 3-0 Big Ten squad (albeit a soft 3-0, but still). This game may not bode well for the rest of Michigan’s season, but every team has their ups and downs, and we just won on a down day. It feels good.

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Don't let this happen, please.

It’s Thursday, which means another edition of “Five Things…”. First, a look back at last week’s game:

1. Establish Denard Robinson as a passing threat — 0-4, 2 interceptions. Bad. Two rushing touchdowns? Good. Still, Denard needs to show he can throw downfield with some accuracy if he is going to have consistent success running the ball.
2. Establish dominance up front — I should have clarified that this was pointed towards the defense. Well, the defense didn’t exactly dominate, and EMU had a fair amount of success running the ball in the first half. However, the defensive line (especially, of course, Brandon Graham) played fairly well against both the run and the pass. The linebackers, unfortunately, remain a point of major concern.
3. Obi Ezeh bounces back — Ezeh showed flashes against Eastern, making a few nice plays when he recognized a play early and attacked with confidence. However, there are still too many plays where he gets caught hesitating and gets taken out of the play. He took a step forward against EMU, but will have to take a few more to be the player we expect three-year starters to become.
4. One of the young tailbacks shows starting potential — Michael Shaw is a young Carlos Brown, if Carlos Brown managed to stay healthy. So yes, starting potential.
5. A cornerback besides Donovan Warren actually plays well — Eastern did not pass a whole lot, but Boubacar Cissoko looked much improved in the limited opportunities he was given to play the pass. That pass interference was just about the worst call I’ve ever seen made on a football field, and Cissoko had tremendous coverage on that play, so I was actually encouraged by a penalty. Yes, it has come to this.

At best, I can give Michigan a 2.5/5 for last week’s effort. Hopefully they’ll come out this week and show more improvement. Here are my keys to the Indiana game:

1. Contain Jammie Kirlew and Greg Middleton — The Hoosiers are by no means a good team, but they do boast two NFL-quality defensive ends in Kirlew and Middleton. Wolverine fans got a huge scare last week when Tate Forcier was slammed onto his back and stayed down on the field after the play; I’d rather not have to go through that again. The last thing Michigan needs is for Forcier to be uncomfortable in his own pocket. If Mark Ortmann and Mark Huyge (and Kevin Koger, to a lesser extent) can keep Forcier’s jersey (and bill of health) clean, Michigan should be able to pick apart the Hoosier defense.
2. Gel on the offensive line — With David Molk out and David Moosman returning (and moving over to center), Michigan will have to deal with a realigned offensive line for the second straight week. They responded well last week when dealing with Moosman’s absence, and hopefully will adapt just as well this week. Losing the center is tough, however, since he is the man tasked with making the calls up front, as well as shouldering the responsibility of making sure the ball gets safely to the quarterback. Moosman and Forcier will hopefully have built a solid rapport in practice this week, as Michigan has already dealt with a few fumbled snaps this season.
3. Re-establish a deep threat — Michigan eased Junior Hemingway back into the lineup last week, and he is now 100% according to Rich Rodriguez. It’d be nice to see Hemingway or Darryl Stonum stretch the field vertically a few times this game and keep Indiana from selling out against the run. If opponents are forced to respect Michigan’s ability to go deep, they’ll have a tough time stopping the run and not allowing a big play.
4. Shore up the run defense — Getting Jonas Mouton back into the lineup will help, but Michigan still has to prove that they can hold at the point of attack and stop the run consistently. The Hoosiers’ rushing attack is currently in the middle of the pack in the country (65th overall with 146.7 yards per game) despite playing a very easy schedule (Eastern Kentucky, Western Michigan, @Akron). The Wolverines should be able to limit Indiana on the ground, but will have to play better than what they’ve done so far this year.
5. Keep Brandon Minor healthy — Minor is again a game-time decision because of a high-ankle sprain. These are the kind of injuries that can linger throughout a whole season (or, in Minor’s case, seemingly an eternity). I don’t think the dropoff between Minor and Carlos Brown is enough to warrant risking Minor’s health if he is not close to 100%, while a fully-healthy Minor will provide a big-time weapon when the meat of the Big Ten season comes around. Minor was held out of practice yesterday, so I really doubt he’s close to 100% healthy. If Michigan can get away with sitting Minor and letting Brown carry the load Saturday, I think that would be the best course of action, especially with a trip to East Lansing just one week away.

It’s amazing how many question marks still surround this team (especially the defense) three weeks into the season. The D showed signs of improvement against EMU, and get a key cog back in Jonas Mouton. On offense, Michigan has established themselves as potentially one of the premier rushing teams in the country. I think that trend continues Saturday: Michigan 38, Indiana 20.

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