Leon Hall is Michigan's all-time leader in pass breakups.

With Michigan’s 2009 season wrapped up, and the decade coming to a close, I thought I would steal an idea from Dr. Saturday and have my readers vote on a Team of the Decade. So, I’ve come up with a list of nominees for every position, and I’ll be posting two position groups every day for the next week, leaving it up to you to vote for who should make the team. At the end of the month, I’ll tally up the votes and reveal the team of the decade. Next up are the cornerbacks:

Michigan has had a long-standing tradition of having at least one outstanding cornerback on the roster, and the 2000s have been no different. There’s not many nominees at the position, but it’s tough to question the quality of the guys listed below.

Marlin Jackson (2001-2004): Yup, I’m being lazy again. A little help, Bentley?

A native of Sharon, Pa., Marlin Jackson earned first-team All-America honors from College Football News as a sophomore. Jackson has accumulated 98 tackles, six tackles for loss, one sack, six interceptions and one fumble recovery in 24 career games at U-M. His 25 career pass break-ups places him fifth on Michigan’s all-time list. He was named to the Associated Press All-America second team and the Sporting News third team during his sophomore campaign. An All-Big Ten selection in 2002, Jackson set single game (six) and single season (18) pass break-up records and ranked sixth on the team with 51 tackles. Jackson earned Freshman All-America first team honors from the Sporting News after collecting 47 tackles, seven pass break-ups and three interceptions in 2001.

After switching to the safety position for his junior season, Jackson returned to the cornerback spot in 2004 and turned in another all-American performance. He earned first-team honors on the American Football Writers Association squad. A co-captain for the Wolverines, Jackson earned All-Big Ten first team honors from the coaches and media in 2004. Teams threw away from Jackson almost 87 percent of the time during the regular season. He  contributed 38 tackles, five tackles for loss, one sack, one forced fumble, one interception and four pass breakups this year. Jackson is the team’s active career leader in tackles (186) and pass breakups (34), with his PBU total ranking second all-time on Michigan’s career list.

Jackson’s records for pass breakups in a single-game (six, against Washington in 2002) and season (18, 2002, now tied with Leon Hall’s 2006 season) still stand, and his career total (34) now ranks third all-time at Michigan behind Leon Hall and Todd Howard.

Leon Hall (2003-2006): Hall made an immediate impact upon reaching Ann Arbor, playing in all 13 games as a freshman and finishing the season with 26 tackles and three interceptions, earning first-team freshman All-America honors. As a sophomore, with Jackson sliding over to safety, Hall started nine games at corner, tallying 48 tackles, two interceptions, and breaking up ten passes. Hall took over the No. 1 cornerback spot as a junior, earning All-Big Ten second-team honors with 61 tackles and four interceptions. His finest year came as a senior, when Hall tied Jackson’s school record for pass breakups (18), recorded 45 tackles and three interceptions, was a unanimous choice for first-team All-Big Ten, and was named an AFCA first-team All-American. Hall holds the school record for pass breakups (43), and is tied for fourth with 12 career interceptions.

Donovan Warren (2007-2009): Donovan Warren came to Michigan as a five-star recruit, and was heralded as the next great Michigan corner after Ty Law, Charles Woodson, Jackson, and Hall. Although a combination of injuries, poor overall defenses, and unfair hype led to him not living up to the very lofty expectations, Warren still had a very solid career at Michigan. Warren started 11 games as a true freshman, recording 52 tackles, five pass breakups and an interception, and was named Big Ten Defensive Freshman of the Year by the Sporting News. As a sophomore, Warren battled through injuries, but still managed to record 52 tackles, five pass breakups and an interception as he took over No. 1 corner duties. In his junior (and final) season, Warren put it all together, recording 66 tackles, seven pass breakups, and four interceptions, earning first-team All-Big Ten honors from the media and second-team all-conference from the coaches before announcing his intention to enter the NFL Draft. Warren’s 17 career pass breakups leaves him 17th on Michigan’s all-time list.

Career Stats:

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Donovan Warren has decided to enter the NFL Draft, and will not be returning to Ann Arbor next season.

Commence freaking out about next year’s secondary.

Damn.

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LB/Safety Brandon Smith will likely transfer from Michigan, according to MGoBlog.

Cue up your angriest/most emo music (my personal choice right now is John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band — scream therapy helps): MGoBlog is reporting that LB/safety Brandon Smith has received his transfer papers and is looking for another football program. In a bubble, this move isn’t a disaster — Smith has yet show the ability that made him a four-star safety in 2006, and bounced between positions a couple times in 2009. However, coupled with Michigan’s razor-thin depth at both linebacker and safety, as well as the news that Donovan Warren will likely transfer, this is simply not good for the Wolverines.

Warren’s near-imminent departure for the NFL leaves Michigan in a real bind at defensive back — the safeties desperately need help, but moving Troy Woolfolk back there would leave two huge holes to fill at cornerback. At this point, I fully expect Woolfolk to start alongside J.T. Floyd or one of the true freshmen (with Cullen Christian being the highest-rated commit so far and the most likely to contribute when he steps on campus), while Justin Turner will likely get a chance to start at safety across from, well, someone. It may be early to give up on Mike Williams, another former four-star safety who has only had one year of starting experience, but his dismal 2009 performance makes it tough for me to get my hopes up about him. I think Michigan fans can all agree that starting Jordan Kovacs puts severe limitations on how good the defense can be — if the defense has any chance of being better, there needs to be a scholarship player at each safety spot. That leaves Vlad Emilien and possibly Thomas Gordon competing for starting roles.

It is very, very early to take a stab at the starting defensive backfield for next year, but if I had to wager a guess, I’d say it will be Woolfolk (CB), Christian (CB), Turner (S), and Emilien (S) — that’s a senior, a true freshman, a redshirt freshman, and Emilien, whose eligibility is listed as either redshirt freshman or sophomore (he did get some playing time on special teams, but I’m not sure if it was enough to burn his redshirt) depending on where you look. Either way, that’s a very inexperienced secondary, and one that is missing the elite talent (Warren) that it had in 2009.

So, brace yourselves: the 2010 defense is as frightening (for Michigan fans) on paper as the 2009 D was, and Michigan will almost certainly be relying on freshmen to hold the secondary together. I don’t think much of this is his fault, but Rich Rodriguez is going to have a hell of an uphill climb to hold on to his job. Ugh.

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Have we seen the last of Donovan Warren in the Maize and Blue?

I was really starting to think Donovan Warren would come back after he said he would wait for his NFL evaluation before making a decision. Now? Not so much.

Warren, a third-year junior who led Michigan with 4 interceptions this year, has filed paperwork to ask the NFL’s underclass advisory committee for his draft status.

He said Thursday their input will play into his decision, but turning pro is “just something that I believe it’s just for me.”

“I’m definitely, I’d have to say heavily, I like the chances of me coming out,” Warren said at Michigan’s annual football bust.

Warren said he planned to make a decision “within 2 weeks or so,” likely before the advisory committee reports back on his draft status.

This obviously has huge repercussions for next year’s defense — Troy Woolfolk will likely stay at cornerback, with Justin Turner, J.T. Floyd, Cullen Christian, and a few others all in the mix to start opposite him. We’re going to have to see huge improvement across the board if the secondary is going to be anything but a disaster next season.

The good news just keeps on coming, as Rich Rodriguez announced at the annual football bust that running back Vincent Smith tore his ACL during the Ohio State game and will miss spring practice. He should be ready to go in the fall, but it’s never good to have a guy competing for a starting job out in the spring.

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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.

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• 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.

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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.

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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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Odds are, Ricky Stanzi will throw a pick. Michigan has to capitalize.

It’s Thursday, so again it’s time for “Five Things…”. First, a look back at last week (unfortunately):

1. Continue the success of the return game — Stonum returned three kicks for 60 yards, a far cry from the 218 return yards (albeit on seven returns) he had against Indiana. He didn’t really come close to breaking one, and Michigan could really have used the field position they enjoyed against the Hoosiers. Oh well.
2. Limit the freshmen mistakes — Up until his last pass of the game, Forcier managed to pull this one off despite teetering on the edge of disaster several times in the late stages of the game. However, you can’t really pin this on on Tate: the guy was doing everything he possibly could to will the offense down the field. Even with the pick in overtime, Tate did a tremendous job of not making a disastrous play until it reached a point where he finally tried to do too much.
3. Get to the quarterback — The defense, outside of the mammoth 17-play drive in the first quarter, played a very solid game. The D recorded two sacks and had several other hurries (Brandon Graham, especially, had a MONSTER game). This is one area that was tough to criticize last weekend.
4. Seriously, re-establish the deep threat — Michigan did have two 40+ yard completions, one to Koger and the late catch-and-run by Stonum. However, there really still isn’t a guy that Michigan can just send on a fly route and put the ball up there. Where art thou, Junior Hemingway?
5. Stay tough in the red zone — The Wolverines alternating between bending and breaking: the first State TD was a break, to say the least, and not in a good way, and the 15-yard touchdown run by Winston met little to no resistance. However, Michigan also held State to two short field goals, including one on the drive that ensued directly after the rollout punt FAIL. And Brandon Graham did this:

Which was awesome. Half-credit, maybe?

All in all, this could go anywhere from a 1/5 to a 4/5, depending on how you look at it. Let’s just say 2.5/5 and move on to the keys for Iowa before the vein in my forehead explodes.

1. Capitalize on scoring chances — When looked at from a pure points allowed perspective, Iowa’s defense is daunting, to say the least. They’ve given up a mere 13.4 points per game, good for 10th in the country (and only third in the conference, which is ridiculous). However, Iowa drops down to 32nd in the country in total yards allowed (302.6 per game) and 50th in the country in rush defense (122.2 yards per game). Now, I’m no Smart Football (seriously, check out that site), but that looks to me like a defense that has gotten a little bit lucky in the turnover department (anyone who watched the Penn State game probably has the same impression) and is due to give up some points. Michigan has to take points when they are available.
2. Force Ricky Stanzi to beat you with his arm — I must say, I have no clue why people are so high on Stanzi. He is currently 70th in the country in passing efficiency, and coincidentally just one spot ahead of Western’s Tim Hiller and three ahead of Indiana’s Ben Chappell. In five games this season, he’s thrown eight touchdowns and seven interceptions. I realize that pass defense is the weakness of this Michigan team, but the defense actually did a solid job against State’s previously-productive passing game, and Stanzi is prone to mistakes. Semi-bold prediction: Donovan Warren comes up with a pick. Mark it down.
3. Get Brandon Minor at least 25 touches — It sounds more and more like Carlos Brown will not be available on Saturday (rumor is he suffered a concussion in practice, FWIW), which means lots of Brandon Minor and some Michael Shaw sprinkled in. As noted earlier, Iowa is actually somewhat susceptible to the run. Against a defense as strong as the Hawkeyes’, having some success on the ground would be huge. Minor only had four touches against MSU (for 2 yards), and that cannot happen again if Michigan wants to be in this game.
4. Jonas Mouton, please stop being an idiot — I don’t know what else to say on this one. Mouton, more than any other Wolverine (besides, maybe, whoever is playing corner opposite Warren) has been responsible for big plays by the opponent. He is insanely athletic, but gets himself out of position and gives up the edge far too often. If Mouton can regain his form from the end of last year, and stay in the game mentally, he could be a real force on defense. Michigan needs somebody besides Warren and Graham to step up and make plays; Mouton could (and should) be that guy.
5. Make a statement — A lot of people will be tuning in to this game to see if Michigan is for real. So far, we have beaten three crappy teams and a Notre Dame squad that looks to be borderline top-25 and lost to a crappy Michigan State team. Heading into the meat of the Big Ten schedule, this team still doesn’t really have an identity. Some how, some way, forge an identity against Iowa, and the momentum from a night win against a top-15 team could carry this team through the season.

I’m really torn on this game. On one hand, I think Michigan is a far better team than we showed last week, and Iowa has really played down to their competition in every game and looks ripe for an upset. On the other hand, this is a night game (and homecoming, and a “blackout” game) in Iowa, and we have a very young team that has yet to really prove themselves. I think this will be close, but home field gives the edge to the Hawkeyes … Iowa 27, Michigan 18.

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Michigan's defense gave Kirk Cousins far too much running room.

Boy, am I excited for this one. Here are a few thoughts on the game, based on my initial (and so far, only) viewing of the game from Spartan Stadium:

• I don’t know if anybody expected the loss of David Molk to have as much of an impact as it has thus far. His absence reaches far beyond the occasional bad snap — it’s pretty clear that Molk-Moosman-Huyge is a much more preferable combination in both run- and pass-blocking than Moosman-Huyge/Ferrara-Dorrestein. It was tough to tell from being at the game (and in the nosebleeds), but if I had to guess, the biggest factor in the running game disappearing was poor line play. Forcier was also sacked four times, and spent several other plays scrambling for his life. Just a bad performance from the line overall.
• The offense deserves much of the blame for this loss, but I don’t think you can let the defense entirely off the hook. MSU did everything they could to give this game back to Michigan, turning the ball over four times and committing some boneheaded penalties (State finished with eight penalties for 94 yards), but they moved the ball at will. The 17 play, 70 yard drive that led to the Spartans’ first score was pure torture to watch. I mean, look at this:
  

  1-10-MIST20	(12:22) MIST was penalized 5 yards.
  1-15-MIST15	(11:30) Running back rushed for no gain.
  2-15-MIST15	(11:15) Kirk Cousins passed to Charlie Gantt for 18 yards.
  1-10-MIST33	(10:49) Larry Caper rushed for 5 yards.
  2-5-MIST38	(10:12) Larry Caper rushed for 6 yards.
  1-10-MIST44	(9:37) Keshawn Martin rushed for 18 yards. MIST was penalized 15 yards.
  1-25-MIST47	(9:13) Kirk Cousins passed to Blair White for 9 yards. MIST was penalized 15 yards.
  2-16-MIST41	(8:59) Kirk Cousins passed to Blair White for 17 yards.
  1-10-MI42	(7:46) Kirk Cousins passed to Blair White for 3 yards.
  2-7-MI39	(7:31) Running back rushed for 1 yard.
  3-6-MI38	(6:50) Kirk Cousins passed to Mark Dell for 9 yards.
  1-10-MI29	(6:30) Kirk Cousins passed incomplete to Charlie Gantt.
  2-10-MI29	(6:25) MIST was penalized 15 yards.
  2-25-MI44	(5:49) Kirk Cousins rushed for 19 yards.
  3-6-MI25	(5:19) Kirk Cousins passed to B.J. Cunningham for 15 yards.
  1-10-MI10	(4:51) Running back rushed for no gain.
  2-10-MI10	(4:02) Larry Caper rushed for 2 yards.
  3-0-MI8	(3:17) Kirk Cousins rushed for 7 yards.
  4-0-MI1	(2:25) Touchdown. Larry Caper rushed for 1 yard.
  (2:25) Brett Swenson made the extra point.
  MI 3   MIST 7,   Plays: 17   Yards: 70   Possession: 10:02.

  The Spartans were penalized 50 yards on that drive, and yet were still able to convert two third-downs and a fourth-and-goal to put seven on the board. Excuse me while I kick the nearest puppy.

• How on earth do we let Kirk Freakin’ Cousins rush for 75 yards, including a critical 41-yard scramble in the fourth quarter? I really don’t know who to pin that one on: it could be the scheme, the d-line not keeping contain, or the linebackers not doing their job, but one way or another, that cannot happen in the future. If Ricky Stanzi starts gashing the defense for 30 yards at a time this weekend, I might just set my TV on fire.
• Darryl Stonum continues to be both electrifying and frustrating. He was the only Wolverine other than Tate Forcier to put up a productive game on offense, hauling in five catches for 95 yards and the critical 60-yard TD to put Michigan within seven. However, he couldn’t find a seam on kickoff returns, and, more importantly, put the ball on the ground early in the fourth to kill a promising drive deep in Spartan territory. Overall, Stonum had a great performance, and he really seems to be improving with each game, but he can’t make those kind of mistakes.
• Has the team’s tackling completely regressed since the first couple weeks, or is it just me? Maybe it’s just the image of Larry Caper shedding tackles en route to the end zone in overtime, but this team needs to wrap up and haul guys down on the first try.
• There were a few bright spots, so I’ll try to end on a happy note: Besides the terrible decision on the rollout punt, Zoltan Mesko had a great game, averaging 43 yards a punt and booming a long of 56 yards. Jason Olesnavage hit both his field goal attempts, including a 42-yarder. Jordan Kovacs actually looked quite solid in run support when Michigan brought him off the edge; I couldn’t tell how he did against the pass, but he did bring something to the table. Donovan Warren continues to merit “don’t throw at me” status. Brandon Graham continues to toss aside double teams to make plays. Tate Forcier continues to not get nervous. I’ll end there, before I start making asinine comments.

This game was rough, but we have to remember preseason expectations. I expect Michigan to have a solid bounce-back effort against Iowa, and we’ll learn a lot about this team as they try to rebound from a bad loss. It should be a very interesting week of football.

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