The Maize Rage

Michigan's Offense Tries to Throw the Game, But the Defense Is Up To the Challenge

2010-01-24T14:33:00.003-07:00

Vladimir Emilien making a nice interception

Michigan's offense was constantly getting in their own way today, but in the end, Michigan's offense and defense were both much too strong for the Hawkeyes. Michigan would fumble the ball 4 times, lose 3 of them and throw an interception during the game. These 4 turnovers kept putting Michigan's defense in rough spots, but they pulled through. Michigan's 1st team defense only surrendered 3 points in Michigan's 45-17 victory @ Kinnick Stadium.

Michigan ran the ball well as they had 4 HBs gain at least 45 yards on the day. Starter Vincent Smith was the big gainer as he ran for 81 yards and 2 TDs on 13 carries. Michigan had 3 runs on the day for 20+ yards. QB Tate Forcier didn't throw the ball often, but when he did it was usually for a big gain as he threw for 203 yards on only 10 completions. Michigan's defense only allowed 267 yards on the day and they forced 2 turnovers themselves.

#3 Michigan will next play on the road again next week. This time they'll travel to Minnesota to try to retain the Little Brown Jug.

Game Statistics
Category	Michigan	Iowa

Score	45	17
First Downs	18	14
Total Offense	457	267
Rushes-YDS-TD	42-254-5	26-80-1
COMP-ATT-TD	10-15-1	21-39-0
Passing YDS	203	187
Sacked	3	1
3rd Down Conv	6-9	4-15
4th Down Conv	0-0	1-2
2pt Conv	0-0	0-0
Redzone-TD-FG	7-5-1	4-1-1
Turnovers	4	2
Fumbles-Lost	3-3	0-0
Intercepted	1	2
PR Yds	58	5
KR Yds	55	172
Total Yards	570	444
Punts-Average	2-43.5	6-34.7
Penalties-YDS	1-10	1-13
T.O.P.	14:32	13:28

Michigan's Defense Does It Again!

2010-01-18T22:41:00.006-07:00

Michigan was simply bigger and stronger tonight

Michigan came into their game with the #9 Florida State Seminoles expecting a dog fight and a likely offensive shootout. When it was all said and done, the Wolverines would walk out of Doak Campbell Stadium with their 2nd shutout in 3 games, 30-0.

FSU's defense played fairly well as they did a decent job of taking away what Michigan's offense does best; run the ball. Yards were very difficult to come by on the ground which forced Michigan to pass much more than they are comfortable doing. Luckily, the Michigan QBs were very proficient in the passing attack today. They completed 20 of 27 passes and threw 1 TD pass with 0 INTs. Due to the driving rain which was prevalent all game, Michigan played it safe and thus the QBs only averaged about 11 yards per completion. Despite the difficulty to run on the ground, Michigan stuck to their running game down the stretch and managed to gain 124 yards and 2 TDs on 34 carries. Michigan was also fairly difficult to get off the field as they converted 8 of their 14 3rd down conversions and scored on all 5 red zone trips.

While Michigan's 331 yards of offense seems like little, it towers over what their counterparts were able to achieve against our defense.

They only allowed 167 yards of offense.
They didn't allow FSU to convert a single one of their 8 3rd and 4th down conversions.
They only allowed 8 first downs in the entire game.
They never let FSU enter the red zone.
They forced 3 turnovers.
They only allowed the Noles to possess the ball for 9 of 28 minutes in the game.

As is usually the case with this Michigan defense, they weren't on the field long enough to rack up many stats so coach Jello gave the game ball to the entire defensive squad.

It didn't seem to matter what FSU tried on offense, Michigan's defense seemed to be 1 step ahead of them and their players just seemed to outplay their counterparts. FSU employed the help of the former Oregon Duck's O.C. for this game and mixed things up nicely. They tried various things from the wildcat. They tried a lot of pistol formation. They tried going 5 wide with a DB taking the snap. They tried using their SG wing formations. None of this worked. Michigan held both of FSU's QBs to under 81 QB rating and under 40% completion percent. They held the scarily dangerous Marcus Baker to less than 3 YPC.

Michigan will now begin their trek to try to win back the Big 10 title after failing last year. They open up in Ann Arbor against Indiana.

Here are some highlights of the game:

Game Statistics
Category	Michigan	Florida State

Score	30	0
First Downs	16	8
Total Offense	331	167
Rushes-YDS-TD	34-124-2	15-42-0
COMP-ATT-TD	20-27-1	10-24-0
Passing YDS	207	125
Sacked	1	1
3rd Down Conv	8-14	0-6
4th Down Conv	0-0	0-2
2pt Conv	0-0	0-0
Redzone-TD-FG	5-3-2	0-0-0
Turnovers	0	3
Fumbles-Lost	0-0	1-1
Intercepted	0	2
PR Yds	29	1
KR Yds	21	150
Total Yards	381	318
Punts-Average	3-39.7	4-44.8
Penalties-YDS	3-20	1-3
T.O.P.	19:02	09:07

Michigan's Defense Gets Thrashed, But Offense Gets the Job Done

2010-01-16T17:00:00.007-07:00

Michigan traveled to Cincinnati for the 2nd year in a row to face the Bearcats. Their defense looked completely lost at times and they did everything in their power to ensure a Bearcat victory (including three roughing the passer penalties). Luckily, Michigan's offense was just good enough to overcome this poor defensive performance and pull out a 26-14 victory. Cincinnati managed nearly 400 yards of offense on the day including 104 yards rushing and nearly 300 yards passing. Michigan was incapable of stopping either facet of Cincinnati's offense. While our defense did a lot of bending, it did very little breaking as they only allowed 2 TDs and 3 of 12 3rd down conversions.

When the D finally caught the Bearcats, they smacked them in the mouth.

Michigan's offense was average at best, but they got the job done. They gained 142 yards on the ground and 157 through the air. HB Vincent Smith was the biggest weapon as he gained 85 yards and 2 TDs on 12 carries. Michigan's RBs were beat up during the game as the top 3 guys were knocked out @ 1 point forcing Michigan to go 5 deep @ HB. Luckily, everyone is healthy after some ice baths and ready to make the trip to Tallahassee next week. Hopefully both the offense and defense will play better against the Seminoles as they'll have to if Michigan has any hope of a victory.

Vincent Smith and the offense played just good enough to win.

Game Statistics
Category	Michigan	Cincinnati

Score	26	14
First Downs	13	19
Total Offense	299	397
Rushes-YDS-TD	29-142-3	31-104-1
COMP-ATT-TD	12-21-0	25-34-1
Passing YDS	157	293
Sacked	1	3
3rd Down Conv	3-9	3-12
4th Down Conv	0-0	1-4
2pt Conv	0-0	0-0
Redzone-TD-FG	4-2-2	6-2-0
Turnovers	1	2
Fumbles-Lost	0-0	1-1
Intercepted	1	1
PR Yds	5	22
KR Yds	73	144
Total Yards	377	563
Punts-Average	4-45	1-40
Penalties-YDS	4-55	2-20
T.O.P.	14:23	13:47

Wolverines Defense Dominates #6 Texas in Season Opener

2010-01-10T14:54:00.002-07:00

#8 Michigan, who plays a positively brutal schedule this year playing 4 teams ranked in the top 6, opened the 2012 season against #6 Texas. While the game looked good on paper, the Wolverines showed early who was the better team. SR QB Tate Forcier returned from his devastating injury last year to lead the offense and they played very well. The well balanced offense rushed for 249 yards while passing for 211. Michigan spread the carries around as they had 3 guys rush for at least 48 yards and had 3 guys rush for a TD. Forcier had a solid game, completing 61% of his passes for 185 yards, 3 TDs and 1 INT. He also led Michigan in rushing with 85 yards on the ground and 1 TD.

With as impressive as the offense was, this game was all about Michigan's defense. The defense last year dominated opponents last year including 2 shutouts and 2 games where they only gave up 3 points. In this game, the defense picked up where they left off last year. They got after the QB all game and Texas' offense was ineffective throughout. They forced 4 fumbles, caused 2 turnovers, sacked the QB 4 times, held Texas to -3 yards on 17 carries, allowed 76 passing yards and 73 total yards. In addition to all of those impressive numbers, they allowed 0 points and didn't allow Texas to convert any of their 10 3rd or 4th down conversions.

After this impressive victory Michigan will rest a week as they prepare for #11 Cincinnati the following week.

Game Statistics
Category	Texas	Michigan

Score	0	42
First Downs	5	19
Total Offense	73	460
Rushes-YDS-TD	17-(-3)-0	43-249-3
COMP-ATT-TD	13-19-0	13-20-3
Passing YDS	76	211
Sacked	4	2
3rd Down Conv	0-8	6-10
4th Down Conv	0-2	1-1
2pt Conv	0-0	0-0
Redzone-TD-FG	1-0-0	9-4-1
Turnovers	2	2
Fumbles-Lost	4-2	1-1
Intercepted	0	1
PR Yds	11	71
KR Yds	180	0
Total Yards	264	531
Punts-Average	6-43.3	1-45
Penalties-YDS	2-27	2-28
T.O.P.	09:29	18:39

2012 Season Preview

2010-01-09T15:53:00.002-07:00

Michigan is coming off of a disappointing 10-3 season, but hope is very much alive in Ann Arbor. Michigan returns a ton of talent this year and should contend for a Big Ten title, and possibly a national title in only coach Jello's 4th season. Michigan lost some talent on offense in their top rusher, Mike Shaw, and 3 of their top 4 receivers, not to mention 2 starters on the offensive line. Defensively, they lost a studly DT (Mike Martin), 3 excellent LBs (including superstar MLB Kenny Demens), and the most prolific corner in the coach Jello era in Boubacar Cissoko.

The Offense:
None of this seems to matter, however, as the Wolverines are even better this year than they were last year. Everyone hopes that QB Forcier can remain healthy this year (he has 2 seasons where he threw fewer than 105 passes due to injuries) in his final campaign for the maize and blue. Michigan will miss Shaw at HB, but they have plenty of backs to step up and fill his shoes. While they lost 3 great WRs, they've replaced them with equally good, and much faster ones. @ TE, Michigan has a potential secret weapon in Brandon Moore if coach Jello chooses to utilize him (which he has yet to do in the past). Moore is 6'6 and is rated 94 OVR with 86 speed. Michigan's O-line should dominate as they boast 4 90+ rated guys with an 88 as their only "weak" link.

The Defense:
It would seem that Michigan's defense has nowhere to go but down. They were rated #1 in the country in several categories last year and on several occasions would completely dominate the opponents' offenses. Surprisingly enough, this years defense should be even better than last year! Their SO MLB is rated an 86 OVR and he is the only guy on the defense that's not rated in the 90s. Michigan's defensive line is surely the best in the country. DEs Lalota and Roh are rated 99 and 96 with 87 speed each. In the middle is Michigan's all time sack leader Big Will Campbell who is rated 99 and true SO DT A.J. Keller who comes in rated 93. Their LBs are rated 90, 86, and 96. The MLB is the only slow guy with 81 speed while the OLBs have 89 and 88 speed. Turner and Floyd are the starting corners and are rated 96 and 95. The safeties, Emilien and Bell (both returning starters) are rated 95 and 94. Michigan's defense is extremely talented, powerful, smart, and fast. They should dominate opposing offenses once again this year.

Here are the preseason all american and conference players from Michigan:

1st Team All-American

William Campbell - SR, defensive tackle

2nd Team All-American

1st Team All-Conference

Vladimir Emilien - SR, free safety
William Campbell - SR, defensive tackle
Craig Roh - JR(RS), Defensive End
J. T. Turner - SR, cornerback

2nd Team All-Conference

Ricky Barnum - SR(RS), Guard
J. T. Floyd - SR(RS), cornerback
Jeremy Gallon - JR(RS), wide receiver
Shane Johnson - JR, punter

The Maize Rage is on haitus for now

2009-12-02T19:11:00.000-07:00

I'll get back to posting here whenever my desire to do so returns. This'll likely coincide with me getting some of my QBs back.

Black Shirts Stifle Bearcats as They Assist Charles in His First Start

2009-12-01T08:44:00.013-07:00

All eyes were on true FR QB Mark Charles as he made the first start of his career in only his 2nd game. After being rushed into last week's game after Forcier was injured, Charles put up disappointing numbers as he threw 3 interceptions. While he showed once again that his passing game is in dire need of improving, he showed that the hype given to his rushing game was well deserved.

Michigan's offense was far from efficient, but they played well enough to get the job done on the road against a very good "A" rated Bearcats team. They only gained 341 yards of total offense and were really poor on 3rd downs as they only converted 2 of 7. Most of the Wolverine offense came on the ground as is the custom for them. They rushed for 196 yard and 4 TDs while Charles only managed to pass for 145 yards. He also threw his 4th pick of the season while he still has yet to throw his first TD pass. Mike Shaw, who missed most of his JR year due to injury, ran the ball well between the tackles as he gained 58 yards on 9 carries including a 17 yard TD run where he ran over a Bearcats' defender. Last year's leading rushing, Vincent Smith, was completely shut down in this game as he was never able to turn the corner on any of his runs and was tackled for a loss on 5 of his 7 carries. The story of the day on the ground, however, was Charles. Things were scary at the beginning of the game for Wolverines fans though. On his second carry, he was blasted by a Cincinnati defender just like Manti Teo hit him last week and knocked him out for a few plays. Luckily, he bounced right back up as he showed his toughness. For the game, he ran for 62 yards on his first 13 carries for a nice 4.8 yard average. It was his final carry of the game, however, that really left Michigan fans salivating. He took the snap on a QB power run off tackle and scampered, untouched, 44 yards for his 2nd rushing TD of the day as he left all of the defenders in his wake. He ended the day with 106 yards and 2 TDs on the ground.

While all eyes were on Charles, it couldn't go unnoticed that the reason Charles was able to do his thing was because the blackshirts played so well. They only allowed 10 points and they scored as many TDs as the Bearcat offense. They only allowed 18 rushing yards on 27 carries and only allowed 3 of 10 on 3rd down conversions and stopped both Cincinnati 4th down conversion attempts. They also forced 2 fumbles, 1 of which was returned for a TD by LB J.B. Fitzgerald. While they shut down Cincinnati's running game, they need to do better against the pass. Cinci's QB was nearly superman as he completed 24 of 29 passes for 310 yards. Everyone on the Wolverines' defense was flying all over the field as they were lead by 4 players who had 9 tackles. They also played most of the game in the Bearcats' backfield. While they only had 1 sack on the day, they tallied 18 TFLs.

The Wolverines are now preparing to take on a ranked Virginia Tech team in their final game before they begin their Big Ten title defense.

Here are the highlights from week 3:

Game Statistics
Category	Michigan	Cincinnati

Score	35	10
First Downs	16	16
Total Offense	341	328
Rushes-YDS-TD	35-196-4	27-18-0
COMP-ATT-TD	11-18-0	24-29-1
Passing YDS	145	310
Sacked	1	1
3rd Down Conv	2-7	3-10
4th Down Conv	1-1	0-2
2pt Conv	0-0	0-0
Redzone-TD-FG	4-3-0	3-0-1
Turnovers	2	2
Fumbles-Lost	1-1	2-2
Intercepted	1	0
PR Yds	50	21
KR Yds	68	129
Total Yards	459	478
Punts-Average	4-43	4-42.8
Penalties-YDS	1-5	1-12
T.O.P.	15:40	12:20

Michigan Loses Opener and Loses Forcier for the Season

2009-11-23T18:19:00.007-07:00

This game was a perfect example of Murphy's Law for the Wolverines. Everything that could've gone wrong did. On their 3rd play from scrimmage, starting QB Tate Forcier would get injured. This would thrust highly touted QB recruit Mark Charles into the spotlight immediately in his first collegiate game. Forcier would return a few plays later to continue to run the offense. Later in the 1st quarter Foricer would get injured again and this time would have to miss the rest of the 1st half. Forcier would return for the 2nd half, but would get injured 1 final time, this time it will cause him to miss the next 11 weeks which will put him out for the rest of the regular season. Fans can only hope that he can return for the bowl game and be ready to play.

The vast majority of the time that Charles was in the game Michigan was pass only situations so fans never got to see Charles' running prowess which as been so hyped (he only carried the ball twice during the game and 1 of those was a scramble after he couldn't find a receiver). Charles did not throw the ball well at all as he threw 3 picks against ND's very good defense which was playing the pass the entire time he was in the game.

The stats of the game were surprisingly close with the only anomoly being Charles' 3 interceptions. Michigan had slightly more total offense than ND and they threw for more yards than ND (mainly because they were playing catch-up for the majority of the game). They were also tough to get off the field as they converted on 8 of 11 3rd down conversions.

Forcier played well for the short time that he was in there. He completed 8 of 11 passes for 117 yards. Other than him, no other offensive player stood out at all. The defense was lead by SR MLB Kenny Demens who was flying all over the field as he racked up 14 tackles. Michigan's defense played okay and they held ND to only 5 of 11 3rd down conversions, but still they only forced 1 punt the entire game. Also, Michigan's defenders dropped 2 potential INTs that hit them right in the hands, including 1 by starting impact corner (and fastest guy on the team) Boubacar Cissoko which would've been a pick 6 to end the 1st half. In addition to those, Michigan also forced a fumble, but failed to recover it. Michigan is going to have to make the big plays if they want to win the big games.

Michigan will have to lick their wounds as they travel to Cincinnati next week. That week will officially begin the Mark Charles regime in Ann Arbor, 1 2 years earlier than anticipated. This will make things interesting for the rest of the year as he will certainly make some true freshman mistakes. Hopefully Michigan's outstanding defense can help pick up the slack and take some of the pressure off of the Wolverines' new signal caller.

Game Statistics
Category	Notre Dame	Michigan

Score	31	18
First Downs	19	20
Total Offense	325	330
Rushes-YDS-TD	26-95-2	24-74-2
COMP-ATT-TD	18-24-2	22-34-0
Passing YDS	230	256
Sacked	0	0
3rd Down Conv	5-9	8-11
4th Down Conv	1-1	0-1
2pt Conv	0-0	1-1
Redzone-TD-FG	5-4-1	3-2-1
Turnovers	0	3
Fumbles-Lost	0-0	0-0
Intercepted	0	3
PR Yds	0	7
KR Yds	96	151
Total Yards	421	488
Punts-Average	1-43	1-46
Penalties-YDS	0-0	0-0
T.O.P.	14:30	13:44

2011 Season Preview

2009-11-19T21:02:00.009-07:00

2010 was a breakthrough year for the wolverines as they went 12-1 with a Rose Bowl victory over the California Bears. 2011 looks to be another great year for Michigan fans everywhere. While they did lose some key players from last years team, the Wolverines have reloaded and will be ready to take the college football world by storm.

A moment of silence for our dearly departed...
Michigan lost some good players from last year. FB Mark Moundros was a great blocker to have in the backfield and Steve Schilling will be sorely missed at guard, but they are the only offensive starters to leave. On defense, we were hit harder. We lost leading sacker Ryan Van Bergen who opted to leave a year early for the NFL. We also lost both starting OLBs who accounted for 105 tackles and 11 sacks. The secondary was hardest hit as we lost superstar corner Donovan Warren, and both starting safeties. These 3 players accounted for 10 of Michigan's 21 interceptions last year.

Welcoming back some old friends...

Michigan returns some real studs for 2011. Offensively we have 9 starters returning, including the leading passer, rusher and receiver. They will be lead by JR QB Tate Forcier who had a very solid 2010 campaign. Mike Shaw, the starting HB returns after sitting out most of last season with an injury and he will be backed up by Vincent Smith who lead Michigan in rushing yards last season and led the Big Ten in rushing TDs. Forcier will have some very good targets to throw to as Michigan returns every WR from last season and the starting TE. This receiving core will be anchored by a trio of seniors in Martavious Odoms (the team's leading reciever), Darryl Stonum, and Junior Hemingway. The offensive line is very stout and is lead by superstar David Molk and stud bookends Pat Omameh and Mark Hyuge.

Despite losing some key defensive players, Michigan's defense should be very good this year. The defensive line is ridiculous with Anthony LaLota, Mike Martin, 1st team All American Big Will Campbell, and Craig Roh starting. #1 recruit A.J. Keller will provide some very good depth at DT. The LBs will be tackling everything in site as they are led by 2 SRs and a JR. The secondary will be led by shut down corner Boubacar Cissoko, but with the departure of both starting safeties, this is the weakest part of Michigan's defense.

Looking to the future...
When coach Jello took the reigns of this team Michigan was very young. Now those young players have matured and have blossomed into some very good football players. Everyone is expecting very big things from Michigan and it is up to coach Jello to get his kids to fulfill their promise. We will see very early if Michigan can play up to their potential as they take on the #3 Drunken Irish in their first game of the year. Michigan faces a very tough schedule as they play 5 teams ranked in the preseason top 25. If Michigan can avoid injuries, costly turnovers, and boneheaded mistakes, you can expect them to have a very good year. Coming off of a 12-1 season, there isn't a lot of room to rise, however.

Honoring the outstanding...
Here are the Wolverines that were named to the preseason All Big 10 and All America teams:

1st Team All-American

William Campbell - JR, defensive tackle

1st Team All-Conference

Martavious Odoms - SR, wide receiver
William Campbell - JR, defensive tackle
Tate Forcier - JR, quarterback
Vincent Smith - SO(RS), halfback

2nd Team All-Conference

Boubacar Cissoko - SR, cornerback
Anthony LaLota - JR, Defensive End
Jeremy Gallon - SO(RS), wide receiver
Kenny Demens - SR, middle linebacker

Michigan Tames Da Bears in Rose Bowl

2009-11-16T20:09:00.007-07:00

Michigan completely routed the Cal Bears in coach Jello's first Rose Bowl. The #4 vs. #12 matchup promised to be a competitive game, but this isn't how things played out at all. Michigan's offense was unstoppable as their starters scored a TD on every single possession. As if that weren't bad enough, Michigan's starters on defense held the bears scoreless as well. In fact, the only points Cal would muster was in the 4th quarter when Michigan's subs were getting some experience and backup HB Fitzgerald Toussaint fumbled the ball deep in Michigan territory and Michigan's 2nd string defense couldn't stop the Bears starting offense on such a short field.

Things got off to a bad start for the bears. After going 3 and out on their first drive, Michigan marched down the field for a TD. On the ensuing kickoff, the bears would return the kick 97 yards for a TD. Or so it would appear. During the run back, coach Jello pointed to the ground on which a yellow hankie sat. This momentum changing 97 yard TD was called back due to a clipping penalty. The bears never recovered from that moment and never got anything going on offense or defense.

Michigan's running game was firing on all cylinders as they racked up 265 yards on the ground including 81 yards and 2 TDs by QB Tate Forcier. In addition to pounding the ball on the ground, Forcier was perfect through the air, connecting on all 14 of his passes for 162 yards and 2 TDs. Michigan would convert on 7 of 9 3rd downs while holding the bears to 1 of 6. All of these factors contributed to Michigan holding the ball for over 20 minutes while the bears' offense was only on the filed for 7 and a half. This totaled to 67 offensive plays run by Michigan to only 32 for the bears.

Forcier dominated the game on the ground and through the air

Game Statistics
Category	Michigan	California

Score	42	7
First Downs	25	8
Total Offense	438	167
Rushes-YDS-TD	52-265-4	15-72-0
COMP-ATT-TD	15-15-2	9-17-1
Passing YDS	173	95
Sacked	1	0
3rd Down Conv	7-9	1-6
4th Down Conv	2-2	0-1
2pt Conv	2-2	0-1
Redzone-TD-FG	6-6-0	1-1-0
Turnovers	1	1
Fumbles-Lost	1-1	0-0
Intercepted	0	1
PR Yds	17	0
KR Yds	29	135
Total Yards	484	302
Punts-Average	0-0.0	4-43.5
Penalties-YDS	1-5	2-23
T.O.P.	20:33	07:27

2010 All Conference and All American Teams Announced

2009-11-15T09:32:00.007-07:00

2nd Team All Big 10:
QB Tate Forcier (SO) - 2nd best QB rating in conference, 2,005 passing yards, 365 rushing yards, 25 total TDs, 68.7% completion percentage

HB Vincent Smith (rFR) - 823 rushing yards, 6.6 yards per carry, 13 TDs, 9 20+ yard rushes

C David Molk (rJR) - 12 pancakes, 2 sacks allowed

LE Ryan Van Bergen (rJR) - 57 tackles, 28 TFL, 13 sacks, 1 INT, 3 FF

ROLB Marell Evans (SR) - 65 tackles, 11 TFL, 7 sacks, 2 FF, 1 FR

CB Donovan Warren (SR) - 33 tackles, 4 INT, 1 FR, 1 TD

FS Michael Williams (rJR) - 50 tackles, 4 INT, 1 FR

1st Team All Big 10:

DT William Campbell (SO) - 40 tackles, 13 TFL, 10 sacks, 1 INT, 3 FF

P Shane Johnson (FR) - 40.1 average, 34.0 net average, long of 59, 11 inside the 20

Freshman All American:

HB Vincent Smith (rFR) - Vincent began the year as the #2 guy on the depth chart. After losing #1 guy Mike Shaw in week 4 to an injury Smith stepped in as the starter. He was then injured for 3 weeks himself. When he returned, he took over as the #1 guy for essentially only half of the season. Since he's been healthy, Big 10 defenders have been chasing him all over the field. In his limited playing time he's managed to amass over 800 yards rushing and 13 TDs. He did this on only 124 carries which averaged out to 6.6 yards per carry (4th best in the country). He was an explosive back as he had 9 rushes for over 20 yards which was 3rd best in the nation.

Returner Jeremy Gallon (rFR) - Redshirt receiver Jeremy Gallon didn't see much action at WR (he only caught 12 balls this year) but he was the Wolverines' main threat in the return game. He racked up 712 kick return yards and 263 punt return yards. He didn't return any for TDs, but he did have a 63 yard kick return.

1st Team All American:

DT William Campbell (SO) - In only his 2nd year with the Wolverines, Campbell has been selected to the 1st team All America list. He had an impressive 10 sacks this year which was 4th best in the nation for a DT. He also had 40 tackles, 13 of which were for losses. As a freshman, Campbell was 2nd on the team last year with 7 sacks and he clearly didn't suffer from a sophomore slump as he has improved on those numbers this year. He is a very highly rated player (one of the best on our team) and all hopes are that he will return for another dominating year as a JR. We will have to wait and see and this reporter suggests that the fans enjoy his playing while he is still there. At 6'5 and 334 lbs, very good strength, tackling ability, a devastating power move and incredible block shedding ability, there's no doubt that Big Will is going to be a terror at the next level.

Michigan Finally Snaps 6 Game Skid vs. Hairless Nuts

2009-11-08T11:28:00.004-07:00

Just 1 week after clinching a spot in the Rose Bowl, the Wolverines played the 1 game that matters the most in Ann Arbor. The hated silver bastards from down south came into town, and despite their terrible record, they came ready to play. The Wolverines looked shell shocked in the first quarter as they were just blitzed by the hairless nuts. They jumped out to a quick 21-7 lead and you could almost hear a collective "not again!" come from the 106+ thousand fans in attendance. The 1st quarter saw the nuts score on a 73 yard TD reception from Pryor to Sanzenbacher and a 96 yard kickoff return by Thomas.

The wolverines were able to weather this opening storm, however as their defense would shutout the nuts for the next 2 quarters and only give up 7 points in the 4th. Michigan's offense was fairly consistent the entire game as they scored in every quarter. In the end, the would come away with a 35-28 victory and snap an excruciating 6 year streak of losses to the silver guys.

Never has a victory formation tasted so sweet

As is often the case with Michigan, this game was decided on the ground. Michigan managed 230 yards on the ground while holding the hairless nuts to a stupefying -47 yards, thanks in part to 6 sacks. While the nuts couldn't run the ball, Pryor was scary through the air as he passed for 319 yards and 3 TDs, but also 2 interceptions. Forcier was not to be outdone, however. He was very efficient passing the ball as he completed 14 of 18 passes for 139 yards and 2 TDs, while also rushing for 64 yards. The main weapon on the ground was freshman Vincent Smith who ran for 113 yards and 2 TDs.

Despite their 11-1 record, 8-0 Big 10 record, their #5 ranking and their Rose Bowl bid, everyone in Ann Arbor knew that a loss here would make this season yet another failure. Now that coach Jello has gotten the monkey off of Michigan's back, things are finally looking promising in Ann Arbor.

Game Statistics
Category	Ohio State	Michigan

Score	28	35
First Downs	8	22
Total Offense	272	370
Rushes-YDS-TD	18-(-47)-0	49-230-2
COMP-ATT-TD	19-27-3	15-19-2
Passing YDS	319	140
Sacked	6	3
3rd Down Conv	3-10	9-12
4th Down Conv	3-3	0-1
2pt Conv	0-0	0-0
Redzone-TD-FG	4-2-0	6-3-0
Turnovers	4	3
Fumbles-Lost	2-2	3-3
Intercepted	2	0
PR Yds	9	20
KR Yds	232	118
Total Yards	513	508
Punts-Average	2-40.5	2-41.5
Penalties-YDS	0-0	3-40
T.O.P.	09:29	18:41

Michigan Clinches a Trip to Pasadena in Coach Jello's Second Year

2009-11-05T20:19:00.008-07:00

While it was an extremely tough game, the Wolverines were the ones celebrating in the end

#7 Michigan traveled to Camp Randal to battle the #25 Badgers in a game that took everything that Michigan could muster to pull off the win. This game was back and forth all day and wasn't decided until there were 10 seconds remaining in the 4th quarter. Things started off slowly as the score was 3-3 after 1 quarter. Wisconsin outscored the Wolverines 10-7 in the 2nd quarter to take a 13-10 lead going into the half. The 3rd quarter saw an offensive explosion of 35 points where teams had their offenses, defenses, and special teams making huge plays.

Michigan started the scoring with a 34 yard TD pass from Forcier to Odoms. Wisconsin answered back on the ensuing kickoff with a 97 yard return by Anderson. Later, Wisconsin's defense would capitalize on 1 of 3 Michigan fumbles in the game and return one for an 87 yard TD. Not to be outdone, on the ensuing kickoff, Michigan's Terrence Robinson would return the kickoff 91 yards for a TD. Wisconsin finished the 3rd quarter scoring barrage with a 3 yard TD pass to take a 34-24 lead into the 4th quarter.

Michigan's defense played good enough to get the victory

Forcier would hit Roy Roundtree for a 20 yard TD pass 30 seconds into the 4th to cut the lead to 34-31. Wisconsin's defense would toughen up, making it very difficult for Michigan to move the ball. On the one drive where Michigan was finally gaining some yards, Terrance Robinson would fumble the ball yet again to end their drive. Wisconsin added a FG midway through the 4th to take a 6 point lead. Late in the 4th quarter, Forcier would do what he does best as he orchestrated a beautiful 85 yard drive which he capped off with a 2 yard TD run with 10 seconds left to give Michigan the victory and a Rose Bowl birth.

Forcier proved once again that he is the man!

Michigan's #1 ranked rushing defense got the job done, holding a very good rushing team to only 34 yards on 23 carriers. Michigan's #2 ranked rushing attack, however, never got going as they only rushed for 180 yards on 40 carries. Luckily, Forcier was an absolute beast in the game. He completed 18 of 22 passes for 243 yards, 3 TDs, and 0 Ints. He also racked up 48 rushing yards on only 12 carries (2 of which were sacks) and had the game winning TD run. This was enough to garner him Big 10 Player of the Week honors. Michigan's defense, while giving up a season high 38 points, was very disruptive as they amassed 6 sacks and 3 interceptions during the game.

Big Will Campbell and the Wolverine D put a hurting on Wisconsin

Now Michigan will prepare for the only game that really matters of the season as they will host the silver guys from down south next week.

Here are some highlights from the game. (Windows 7 came with a new movie maker which is very, very different from the old one so I'll have to get used to it before I can make some more highlight reels)

Darryl Stonum TD reception

Roy Roundtree TD reception

Terrence Robinson's kick return for a TD

Martavious Odoms TD reception

DE Anthony LaLota interception of a screen pass

Game Statistics
Category	Michigan	Wisconsin

Score	38	37
First Downs	18	12
Total Offense	423	299
Rushes-YDS-TD	40-180-1	23-34-1
COMP-ATT-TD	18-22-3	14-28-1
Passing YDS	243	265
Sacked	2	6
3rd Down Conv	6-11	4-11
4th Down Conv	0-0	0-0
2pt Conv	0-0	0-0
Redzone-TD-FG	5-3-1	2-2-0
Turnovers	3	3
Fumbles-Lost	3-3	0-0
Intercepted	0	3
PR Yds	38	38
KR Yds	255	257
Total Yards	716	594
Punts-Average	4-42	3-43
Penalties-YDS	1-5	0-0
T.O.P.	17:20	10:40

Michigan Dominates Minnesota to Hang on to The LIttle Brown Jug

2009-11-01T18:48:00.002-07:00

Michigan had no problems with Minnesota as they beat them for the 20th time in their last 21 games. Forcier was on fire, hitting 15 of 20 passes for 215 yards and 2 TDs. On the ground, the 2 headed rushing attack of Vincent Smith and Terrence Robinson combined for 148 yards on 23 carries while Martavious Odoms accumulated 94 yards of receiving which was a season high for any Wolverine receiver.

Michigan's defense dominated as they held the Gophers to only 40 rushing yards and 199 passing yards. They also allowed only 3 of 10 3rd downs to be converted. This win means that Michigan only needs to win 1 of their final 2 games to win the Big 10 title outright in only coach Jello's 2nd season.

Game Statistics
Category	Minnesota	Michigan

Score	14	52
First Downs	14	20
Total Offense	239	421
Rushes-YDS-TD	22-40-0	37-206-4
COMP-ATT-TD	19-26-1	15-22-2
Passing YDS	199	215
Sacked	2	2
3rd Down Conv	3-10	6-10
4th Down Conv	0-0	0-0
2pt Conv	0-0	0-0
Redzone-TD-FG	1-1-0	5-5-0
Turnovers	3	1
Fumbles-Lost	1-1	1-1
Intercepted	2	0
PR Yds	22	42
KR Yds	233	72
Total Yards	494	535
Punts-Average	6-38	3-45
Penalties-YDS	1-15	2-25
T.O.P.	10:52	17:06

Michigan Holds Onto the Paul Bunyon Trophy

2009-10-29T19:19:00.002-06:00

3-5 (0-4) Michigan State gave Michigan all they could handle in East Lansing today. They started off hot in the 1st half and went up on the Wolverines 14-0. Michigan couldn't seem to do anything right. Finally, with 38 seconds left in the half, the Wolverines scored on a 6 yard TD pass from Forcier to Stonum. Michigan was able to force a 3 and out on MSU's next possession. Fitzgerald Toussaint, in his first punt return of his career would take it back 52 yards (a Michigan record under coach Jello's watch) to the MSU 13 yard line with 7 seconds remaining. Michigan had 1 shot at the end zone and Forcier would connect with Jeremy Gallon for a 13 yard TD to tie the game up at the half.

The 3rd quarter went back and forth as Michigan outscored the Spartans 14-10, thanks to 2 rushing TDs by Vincent Smith, including a 45 yarder. Forcier would connect with freshman Je'Ron Stokes for his 3rd passing TD of the game which tied a career high. Sr LB Marrell Evans earned player of the game honors as he tallied 11 tackles, 1 forced fumble and had 3 of Michigan's 6 sacks. Offensively Vincent Smith had a big game, rushing for 136 yards and 2 TDs on 16 carries. For MSU, their 4th string true freshman QB had a surprisingly good game. He completed 15 of 21 passes for 251 yards and 2 TDs. Michigan's defense, despite giving up 32 points and 251 passing yards, played well. They held the Spartans to only 16 yards rushing on 25 carries and sacked the QB 6 times while forcing 2 turnovers.

Game Statistics
Category	Michigan	Michigan State

Score	38	32
First Downs	14	14
Total Offense	340	267
Rushes-YDS-TD	33-193-2	25-16-1
COMP-ATT-TD	12-18-3	15-21-2
Passing YDS	147	251
Sacked	1	6
3rd Down Conv	5-9	5-8
4th Down Conv	1-1	0-0
2pt Conv	0-0	1-1
Redzone-TD-FG	3-3-0	4-3-1
Turnovers	2	2
Fumbles-Lost	0-0	1-1
Intercepted	2	1
PR Yds	52	9
KR Yds	171	239
Total Yards	563	515
Punts-Average	1-43	2-36
Penalties-YDS	2-20	2-20
T.O.P.	14:54	13:14

Michigan and Iowa Battle For 1st Place in the Big TenMichigan and Iowa Battle For 1st Place in the Big Ten

2009-10-27T10:28:00.004-06:00

**Due to some technical difficulties uploading vids and pics, there will be no footage from this game**

Michigan and Iowa faced off this Saturday in a pivotal Big 10 matchup. The winner would be in 1st place and would have the inside track to the Big 10 crown and a trip to Pasadena. This game featured to 2 highest scoring teams in the Big 10. In Iowa, it also featured what is, by far, the best defense in the Big 10. Iowa had only given up 91 points through 7 games while Michigan's porous defense had given up 158 points (4th highest in the Big 10). This game, played @ Iowa's Kinnick Stadium, would see Michigan's high power offense finally get shut down by Iowa's stifling defense while Iowa's prolific offense continued to roll over the top of Michigan.

At least that's how it looked on paper. Things didn't turn out so well for the Hawkeyes on the field as they were manhandled by the #6 Wolverines 49-10. Michigan started each half on fire as they put up 21 points in both the 1st and 3rd quarters. Tate Forcier was brilliant as he completed 12 of 12 passes for 180 yards and 2 TDs. The subs got to play for Michigan as they had 11 different guys rush the ball. Starting FB Mark Moundrous scored on a 2 yard TD run which made him the 9th Wolverine to score a rushing TD this season. The Wolverines' offense was just firing on all cylinders as they scored over half as many points in 1 game as the Hawks had given up through 7 games!

This win gives the Wolverines a 2 game lead over the next closest teams in the Big 10 race (they're only 1 game up on PSU, but Michigan holds the tie-breaker). As long as coach Jello can keep his young team focused, they have a great shot at playing in the Granddaddy of Them All at the end of the season.

Vincent Smith Named Week 7 Big Ten Offensive PotW

2009-10-21T20:49:00.002-06:00

Vincent Smith, in his first game back from the injury list, was named the Big10 Player of the week after his performance against Purdue. The 5'6, 165lb HB had a huge game as he rushed for 164 yards and 3 TDs in 18 carries which included a career long 82 yard TD run.

Forcier Gets Beaten Up Against Purdue

2009-10-20T17:46:00.003-06:00

Michigan came away with the 42-17 victory in this game, but it must've been very frustrating for coach Jello, and especially QB Tate Forcier. In the first half, Forcier would go down to injury, but he only missed 1 quarter of play. While he was injured, true FR Ian Heffner took his place until he was knocked out of the game due to injury.

Overall Michigan's running game was working as they rushed for 224 yards and 4 TDs on 42 carries. Michigan's stout defense held the Boilers to only 23 rushing yards, but gave up over 300 passing yards. The true frustration came for Michigan in the 2nd half. Purdue started stopping Michigan's running game on 1st and 2nd down which forced Michigan to have to throw more. During the 1 1/2 quarters that Forcier played in the 2nd half Forcier was sacked 7 muthafuggin times! These also weren't coverage sacks or all out blitzes either. Purdue usually only rushed 4 or maybe 5 and was still smacking Forcier in the mouth within 2 seconds of the snap of the ball. It was beyond frustrating.

Hopefully the offensive line can step up their game when they travel to Iowa (for the 2nd year in a row) in 2 weeks.

Game Statistics
Category	Purdue	Michigan

Score	17	42
First Downs	14	21
Total Offense	347	423
Rushes-YDS-TD	24-23-1	42-224-4
COMP-ATT-TD	15-28-1	16-22-1
Passing YDS	324	199
Sacked	3	7
3rd Down Conv	4-11	5-11
4th Down Conv	1-2	3-3
2pt Conv	0-0	0-0
Redzone-TD-FG	3-1-1	5-4-0
Turnovers	1	1
Fumbles-Lost	0-0	0-0
Intercepted	1	1
PR Yds	7	41
KR Yds	161	75
Total Yards	515	539
Punts-Average	5-39.6	2-51
Penalties-YDS	2-15	4-40
T.O.P.	10:18	17:42

Michigan and Penn State Play One For the Ages

2009-10-18T21:51:00.005-06:00

Michigan and Penn State went back and forth all night in a game which was decided in the final 15 seconds of the game. Both teams' defenses had their hands more than full tonight as both offenses were basically unstoppable. The Wolverines converted on 5/6 3rd down conversions while the Nittany Lions converted on 8/10 conversions. The 1st quarter flew by as there weren't even 2 complete drives in it. PSU had the ball first and they marched down the field to score a TD. During this drive they converted on a lot of key 3rd down conversions. Michigan's defense played well on 1st and 2nd down, but no matter what they tried on 3rd down, they just could not get PSU off the field.

On Michigan's 1st drive, they drove down the field with ease. Early on Penn State had absolutely no answer for Michigan's option game. Michigan would end the drive with a nice TD pass from Forcier to Stonum.

Penn State would once again be unstoppable as they marched down the field to take a 14-7 lead. Michigan would then score on their next drive to tie up the game up with only 24 seconds left in the half. Penn State would get greedy as they would try to get into field goal range and FS Michael Williams would make a huge interception off of Kevin Newsome to stop the drive and give the Wolverines great field position with 7 seconds remaining.

Forcier would make 1 quick pass to get the Wolverines closer as they called a timeout with 1 second left. Kicker Brandon Gibbons would kick a career long 53 yard FG to put the Wolverines up 17-14 at the half.

Michigan's Forcier drove down the field to start the 3rd quarter, but an untimely interception would force the Wolverines to go scoreless in the 3rd quarter. The Nittany Lions would add a FG in the 3rd quarter to tie the game up 20-20 after 3 quarters.

On Michigan's first drive, they drove into PSU territory, but Penn State, who had figured out Michigan's option game forced the Wolverines to punt for the first time. PSU, who began the drive inside their own 15, would go on a very long, extremely frustrating drive from there. No matter what Michigan tried, they were incapable of getting PSU off the field. Eventually they would get into the red zone where Michigan finally made Penn State fail on a 3rd down conversion for only the 2nd time in the game. Penn State would have to settle for a FG to put them up 20-17 with only 1:05 remaining in the game, and Michigan was without any timeouts.

Penn State chose to kick the ball deep and freshman Jeremy Gallon would field the kick 2 yards deep in the end zone. He would break through a tackle at the 20 yard line and ended up returning it for 45 yards which allowed Michigan to start at their own 43 yard line.

Tate Forcier would lead the Wolverines on the most memorable drive in coach Jello's 1 1/2 years as head coach. He would hit Roy Roundtree for a 16 yard completion. Then, with Penn State dropping just about eveyone into coverage, Forcier would then scramble up the middle on 3 plays in a row for 11, 14, and 10 yards, the final one taking the Wolverines to the PSU 7 yard line with 15 seconds remaining. Forcier would then connect with Roy Roundtree once again, and Roundtree showed his toughness by holding onto the ball for a 7 yard TD which put Michigan up 24-20 with 12 seconds remaining.

Coach Jello chose to squib kick it so as not to let the dangerous PSU return men return the ball. Penn State would take a couple of shots at the end zone, but Michigan's prevent defense did the trick and they escaped with the 24-20 victory.

Forcier was a real beast today. He completed 12 of 14 passes for 134 yards, 2 TDs, and 1 INT. He also lead Michigan in rushing as he rushed for 86 yards on 14 carries.

Forcier was the man today

Game Statistics
Category	Michigan	Penn State

Score	24	20
First Downs	17	19
Total Offense	277	303
Rushes-YDS-TD	28-143-1	30-72-1
COMP-ATT-TD	12-14-2	17-23-1
Passing YDS	134	231
Sacked	1	0
3rd Down Conv	5-6	8-10
4th Down Conv	0-0	0-0
2pt Conv	0-0	0-0
Redzone-TD-FG	4-3-0	4-2-2
Turnovers	1	1
Fumbles-Lost	0-0	0-0
Intercepted	1	1
PR Yds	0	1
KR Yds	144	65
Total Yards	421	369
Punts-Average	1-40	0-0.0
Penalties-YDS	2-10	0-0
T.O.P.	11:16	16:44

Following the Illinois Game, Michigan Signs 2 More Recruits, Including a Huge Catch

2009-10-17T10:36:00.001-06:00

Ann Arbor-- Today Michigan signed two more huge recruits. The first is 6'5, 312 lb guard Brandon Whitehead from Texas. The Wolverines graduate 2 guards this year so Brandon will add some much needed depth. His blocking attributes are very high for someone ranked as low as he was and coach Jello expects him to be able to produce after only a couple of seasons.

The other recruit signed this week is a huge catch that is expected to make several huge catches for years to come. He is the lone, non-bonus allowed the Wolverines Greg Banks. Greg is a 6'5, 183 lb WR from Maryland. Banks is a huge target at 6'5, but on top of this, he is the 2nd fastest player at any position in this year's recruiting class. That size, combined with that height should make for a brutal combination for opposing defenses. He should be able to run by anyone tall enough to jump with him and jump right over anyone fast enough to run with him.

Banks, who has played basketball all of his life, has only been playing football for the last 2 years. Because of that, even though he's a recruit, he's a bit of a project. His skills will need a lot of work, but physically he is a freak of nature. Coach Jello will glady take this rough project and mold him into a standout receiver.

During the press conference, Coach Jello made this bold prediction. "I would bet that before he leaves, Greg will have earned the right to wear the coveted #1 jersey at Michigan." Clearly, he has very high hopes for this kid.

Wolverines and Illini Battle Until the Very End

2009-10-15T22:37:00.003-06:00

#13 Michigan opened their Big10 schedule by hosting Illinois. This hard fought game went back and forth and wasn't decided until the fat lady bellowed. Illinois started off very strong as Eddie McGee connected with Hawthorne for a 70 yard TD to put Illinois up 7-3 after 1. The 2 teams would alternate TDs in the second quarter and they ended up with 2 apiece to give Illinois a 21-17 lead at the half.

After losing starting HB Mike Shaw last week for the season, things got even worse for the wolverines in the first half as 2nd stringer Vincent Smith went down with a shoulder injury and is expected to miss 2-3 weeks. Michigan would have to finish the game with their 3rd and 4th string running backs.

The 3rd quarter was the turning point for Michigan as they held the Illini scoreless. Midway through the quarter, Michigan's punter Shane Johnson would pin the Illini inside their 5 yard line. The weather, which had been rainy all game, caused another of many miscues during the game. As you can see in the highlight reel, QB McGee, would slip and lose his balance while dropping back. This allowed LB Jonas Mouton to sack him for a safety. Michigan would add another TD to take their 1st lead since leading 3-0.

Early on in the 4th quarter Michigan would use a Tate Forcier 5yd TD run to take a 33-21 lead. Illinois would score another TD with 1 minute remaining to cut the lead to 33-28. Illinois would not recover their onside kick so Michigan got the ball on the Illinois 35 yd line. All Michigan had to do was run out the clock. Sounds easy enough, right? Well, Michigan was stopped short of the first down on their 1st 2 tries as Illinois used their TOs to stop the clock. On 3rd and 2, Michigan ran a QB blast play and Tate Forcier was stood up at the line by a jarring hit which popped the ball loose and Illinois would recover it. With no TOs left, Illinois would pass the ball and eventually get to Michigan's 30 yard line before the time ran out to seal the Wolverine victory.

Michigan will now have to lick their wounds and prepare for their trip to Happy Valley next week.

Game Statistics
Category	Illinois	Michigan

Score	28	33
First Downs	16	21
Total Offense	420	394
Rushes-YDS-TD	24-33-1	53-204-3
COMP-ATT-TD	28-33-3	16-21-1
Passing YDS	387	190
Sacked	5	4
3rd Down Conv	4-8	4-13
4th Down Conv	0-1	2-2
2pt Conv	0-0	0-0
Redzone-TD-FG	4-2-0	5-4-0
Turnovers	2	3
Fumbles-Lost	0-0	3-2
Intercepted	2	1
PR Yds	11	6
KR Yds	148	122
Total Yards	579	522
Punts-Average	1-40	3-40
Penalties-YDS	1-14	1-10
T.O.P.	11:21	20:38

Wolverines Beat Boise, But Lose Shaw For The Season

2009-10-14T22:20:00.006-06:00

Starting HB Mike Shaw broke his elbow and will miss the rest of the season

Things got off on the wrong foot for the Wolverines as Boise State HB Harper would take a handoff on the 2nd play of the game and scamper for a 40 yard gain. BSU would use this momentum to score on their opening drive to go up 7-0. That would be the only lead the Broncos would have during the game as Michigan's offense continued to click while their defense got their heads on straight and shut the Broncos down for the remainder of the game.

Every Wolverine fan held their breath during the 1st quarter when starting QB Tate Forcier went down hard during a run. He ended up missing over a quarter of the game, but luckily he came back. While he was out, in a surprise move, coach Jello went with true FR Ian Heffner (Hugh's grandson) instead of rsSR Nick Sheridan. Heffner played well, completing 4 of 6 passes, including a TD pass as well as running 10 times for 41 yards.

While the Wolverines dodged a bullet when Forcier returned halfway through the 2nd quarter, they weren't so lucky later in the game. On an 8 yard rush, starting HB Mike Shaw landed awkwardly and broke his elbow. He will miss the remainder of the season. The Wolverines go 5 deep (not including their redshirting freshman) at halfback, so they've got plenty of backs to replace him, but he's clearly the best back that Michigan has and will be sorely missed. This comes at a terrible time as the Wolverines begin their conference season next week.

Game Statistics
Category	Michigan	Boise State

Score	48	14
First Downs	17	15
Total Offense	457	294
Rushes-YDS-TD	44-272-4	34-55-0
COMP-ATT-TD	15-19-3	18-31-2
Passing YDS	185	239
Sacked	3	4
3rd Down Conv	7-10	4-14
4th Down Conv	0-0	0-1
2pt Conv	0-0	0-0
Redzone-TD-FG	6-6-0	3-2-0
Turnovers	3	2
Fumbles-Lost	2-2	2-2
Intercepted	1	0
PR Yds	30	0
KR Yds	56	216
Total Yards	543	510
Punts-Average	2-43.5	7-36.9
Penalties-YDS	3-29	1-15
T.O.P.	18:00	14:00

Black Shirts Dominate Once Again While the Offense Finally Gets it Into 5th Gear

2009-10-13T23:03:00.004-06:00

Michigan's front 7 (the Black Shirts) along with the secondary were dominant once again for the Wolverines. After getting torched for 55 points against Notre Dame last week, they got things turned around against lowly Duke, 56-10. In this game, the offense finally hit their stride as well. Michigan would gain 450 yards of total offense while holding Duke to only 232, including only 9 yards of rushing. Michigan's ground game was nearly unstoppable as they rushed for 256 yards and 6 TDs.

After a terrible outing against Notre Dame, QB Tate Forcier had a good game completing 14 of 19 passes for 170 yards and 2 TDs. The rushing attack was a 2 pronged attack led by jr HB Michael Shaw who had 121 yards and 3 TDs and QB Forcier who gained 63 yards and had 1 TD.

The Wolverines will need both their offense and defense to be clicking once again this week as they travel to the smurf turf where the Broncos are very tough.

Game Statistics
Category	Duke	Michigan

Score	10	56
First Downs	13	19
Total Offense	232	450
Rushes-YDS-TD	30-9-0	45-256-6
COMP-ATT-TD	18-25-1	16-21-2
Passing YDS	223	194
Sacked	5	2
3rd Down Conv	4-12	9-14
4th Down Conv	0-1	0-0
2pt Conv	0-0	0-0
Redzone-TD-FG	2-1-1	7-7-0
Turnovers	4	0
Fumbles-Lost	1-1	0-0
Intercepted	3	0
PR Yds	34	21
KR Yds	248	51
Total Yards	514	522
Punts-Average	5-33.8	4-43.5
Penalties-YDS	4-43	3-31
T.O.P.	13:34	18:35

The Black Shirts Dominate CMU

2009-09-28T19:46:00.003-06:00

Michigan's Black Shirt defense was all over CMU all day long

Enroute to beating up the Chippewas, Michigan's defense looked very good while their offense showed a serious need for improvement. This isn't evident by just looking at the final score of 44-14 however. Michigan's starting defense didn't give up a single point and they didn't give up a single rushing yard while they were on the field. Michigan scored early as FR(RS) HB Vincent Smith would take his first carry of his career 56 yards for a TD. Shortly after this FR(RS) return man Jeremy Gallon would fumble a punt return and CMU would return it for a TD to tie the game up 7-7. This would be as close as the Chippewas would get, however, as Michigan would continue to dominate and take a 24-7 lead into the half. CMU wouldn't score again until they faced Michigan's 2nd team defense early in the 4th quarter.

The black shirts would hold CMU to 17 yards on 25 carries, 155 yards of total offense, 1 of 13 3rd down conversions and would force 2 turnovers while sacking CMU 6 times. There wasn't anything that the defense didn't do and didn't do well. On the offensive side, it was a different story. Michigan would only complete 17 of 32 passes, thanks in no small part to 7 drops by Wolverine receivers. Michigan was also only able to convert 3 of 13 3rd down conversions.

With their game against a highly ranked Notre Dame team next week, coach Jello is going to have to get the offense clicking and in a hurry.

Here are some highlights of this week's game:

Game Statistics
Category	Central Michigan	Michigan

Score	14	44
First Downs	9	20
Total Offense	155	465
Rushes-YDS-TD	25-17-0	40-221-4
COMP-ATT-TD	13-28-1	17-32-1
Passing YDS	138	244
Sacked	6	3
3rd Down Conv	1-13	3-13
4th Down Conv	1-1	3-3
2pt Conv	0-0	0-0
Redzone-TD-FG	1-1-0	7-4-3
Turnovers	2	1
Fumbles-Lost	1-1	1-1
Intercepted	1	0
PR Yds	0	14
KR Yds	226	35
Total Yards	381	514
Punts-Average	9-36.0	3-39.7
Penalties-YDS	6-49	3-25
T.O.P.	10:53	21:49

2010 Season Preview

2009-09-27T20:41:00.003-06:00

Expectations are high in Ann Arbor as this new season is about to begin. The Wolverines, who began last season unranked, begin 2010 ranked #12 in the country. Coach Jello hopes to improve upon an impressive 2009 campaign in a couple of key areas. First and foremost, he must beat the silver guys from down south. In addition to that, his goal is to win the Big 10 and to play in a BCS bowl game. The wolverines will get an early chance to see if they've improved during week 2 when they travel to South Bend. Last year the Wolverines were embarrassed against the drunken Irish and they must make some improvements in order to win this game.

Offensively the Wolverines didn't progress as much as coach Jello wanted during spring and fall practices. Several defensive players and most of the offensive line have shown some real improvements, but the offensive skills players seem to be having trouble getting settled into the new system. It is very possible that the defensive unit will have to carry the offense this year. Of special concern is the quarterback position. As we all know, Denard Robinson has transferred away to Army and this leaves Forcier as the only QB capable of running coach Jello's offense. Forcier has not progressed like Jello wanted and he has no decent backup so things could get hairy quickly there. The defense lost their 2 best players last year in MLB Obi Ezeh and LE Brandon Graham. MLB Demens and DE Van Berger are poised to filled their shoes, but Michigan is still searching for a solid #2 DE. Michigan's LB corps is clearly the strongest part of the entire team and they should be exciting to watch this year.

Michigan didn't get much love from the All Conference and All American voters. Here are the preseason team members for the Wolverines:

2nd Team All Big 10
WR Darryl Stonum (JR)
DT William Campbell (SO)
CB Donovan Warren (SR)
FS Michael Williams (JR)

1st Team All Big 10
DT Mike Martin (JR)
CB Boubacar Cissoko (JR)

2nd Team All American
CB Boubacar Cissoko (JR)

Michigan Routes Ole Miss in Capital One Bowl

2009-09-18T20:27:00.008-06:00

Brandon Graham celebrates after setting a Michigan record with his 13th sack in the season

Michigan, still seething after a 31-10 whooping at the hands of the silver guys from down south took out their frustrations on the Rebels of Ole Miss in the Capital One Bowl. This game was really never close. Michigan only scored 1 TD in the 1st quarter, but they were up 20-0 at the half. They tacked on another 14 points in the 3rd quarter to go up 34-0. Ole Miss would score their only points on a TD midway through the 4th quarter. On the offensive side of the ball, the Wolverines were led by QB Tate Forcier who had missed half of the season with an abdominal strain. He was his usual great self as he threw for 191 yards and 1 TD while also rushing for 36 yards which was the 2nd highest on the team. Sr Brandon Minor would end his career on a high note by rushing for 108 yards and 2 TDs on only 15 carries.

With as impressive as Michigan was offensively, it was on the defensive side of the ball where they were truly dominant. The 1st team defense didn't give up a single point. They held the Rebels to -7 yards rushing on 27 carries and only 212 yards of total offense. They allowed the Rebels to only convert 27% of their 3rd downs (compared to 57% for Michigan's offense). This domination helped Michigan hold the ball for almost 17 minutes compared to only 11 minutes for Ole Miss. They also forced 2 interceptions against the Rebels. This defensive effort was lead by the usual suspects as MLB Obi Ezeh had 11 tackles (giving him over 100 on the season and, in his final collegiate game, Brandon Graham had 8 tackles, 6 of them for losses, and 2 sacks. These 2 sacks set the single season record for Michigan. All told, the Wolverines racked up 6 sacks in the game.

Michigan will now look to continue recruiting to shore up their lineup and look to have a better year than they had this year.

Here are the highlights of the bowl game.

Game Statistics
Category	Ole Miss	Michigan

Score	7	41
First Downs	13	20
Total Offense	212	396
Rushes-YDS-TD	27-(-7)-0	41-205-3
COMP-ATT-TD	15-25-1	10-17-1
Passing YDS	219	191
Sacked	5	2
3rd Down Conv	3-11	4-7
4th Down Conv	0-1	0-0
2pt Conv	0-0	0-0
Redzone-TD-FG	2-1-0	5-3-2
Turnovers	2	2
Fumbles-Lost	0-0	2-2
Intercepted	2	0
PR Yds	10	24
KR Yds	0	25
Total Yards	222	445
Punts-Average	6-43.2	1-51
Penalties-YDS	0-0	0-0
T.O.P.	11:16	16:44

Wolverine All Conference and All Americans

2009-09-16T17:29:00.001-06:00

No Wolverine was named to 1st or 2nd team All American, but freshman DT William Campbell was named to the Freshman All American team. The 6'5, 330 lb Campbell tallied 28 tackles (14 TFL) and a whopping 7 sacks during his first campaign. Joining Campbell were the following All Big Ten Wolverines.

2ND TEAM:
SR HB Brandon Minor (793 rushing yards, 13 TDs)
SO WR Darryl Stonum (584 receiving yards, 7 TDs)
FR DT William Campbell
SO FS Michael Williams (55 tackles, 2 INTs)

1ST TEAM:
SR DE Brandon Graham (58 tackles, 23 TFL, 12 sacks, 2 FF)
SO DT Mike Martin (39 tackles, 11 TFL, 5 sacks, 2 FF)
JR MLB Obi Ezeh (95 tackles, 16 TFL, 2 sacks, 1 INT, 1 TD, 2 FF)
SO CB Boubacar Cissoko (46 tackles, 4 INT, 2 TD, 1 FF)
SR SS Stevie Brown (65 tackles, 7 TFL, 2 INT, 2 TD, 1 FR)
SR P Zoltan Mesko (47.2 avg, 41.0 net avg, 10 inside 20)

Wolverines Thrashed by Silver Guys

2009-09-05T12:19:00.003-06:00

Michigan, playing for the Big 10 title, could not get it done today against the silver guys from down south. This game was decided by the normally stout defense of Michigan being completely incapable of getting the silver guys off the field. The silver guys converted 11 of 13 third down conversions, including every one in the 1st half. Michigan's defense, who was ranked #2 in the country in rushing defense gave up an inexcusable 212 yards and 4 TDs on the ground. Brandon Saine would rush for 130 yards and 3 TDs while Terrel Pryor was extremely efficient, completing 17 of 19 passes.

On the other side of the ball, Michigan was unable to get their running game going as they only gained 33 yards on 14 carries. Starting QB Tate Forcier missed his 6th game in a row due to an abdominal injury so Nick Sheridan got the start. Hewas okay as he threw for 145 yards and 1 TD, but he threw his first 2 interceptions of the season as well. There really wasn't much good to say about Michigan in this game. When asked to comment coach Briggs said "This is a major disappointment for us. This game is the one I looked forward to all year. Yes we've gone from 3-9 to a much more Michigan like record. Yes we've finished tied for the Big 10 title. Yes we're going to be playing in a January bowl game. But with our inability to win this game, this season has been a failure."

Week 12 Highlights

Game Statistics
Category	Ohio State	Michigan

Score	31	10
First Downs	17	8
Total Offense	365	178
Rushes-YDS-TD	39-212-4	14-33-0
COMP-ATT-TD	17-19-0	12-18-1
Passing YDS	153	145
Sacked	1	1
3rd Down Conv	11-13	3-8
4th Down Conv	0-0	0-0
2pt Conv	0-0	0-0
Redzone-TD-FG	4-3-0	2-1-1
Turnovers	1	2
Fumbles-Lost	2-1	0-0
Intercepted	0	2
PR Yds	42	0
KR Yds	71	174
Total Yards	478	352
Punts-Average	1-43	4-53
Penalties-YDS	1-10	2-15
T.O.P.	19:01	09:06

Wolverines Outlast Badgers

2009-09-03T20:35:00.002-06:00

Today Michigan faced off against the Badgers of Wisconsin in this huge Big Ten showdown. The Badgers, however, were playing without their coach Raz who was reportedly at home with a case of explosive diarrhea. The game was an up and down affair all day. Wisconsin marched the ball downfield on their first possession and seemed unstoppable until the Wolverines finally held on a crucial 3rd down and forced Wisconsin to settle for a FG. Michigan would score on a Brandon Minor TD to take the lead only to give it away when QB Nick Sheridan, who was starting for injured Tate Forcier, had a fumble returned 44 yards for a TD. This put the Badgers up 10-7 after the 1st quarter.

In the 2nd quarter, starting WR Martavious Odoms was injured which forced the Wolverines to reach deeper into their depth chart. This resulted in WR Junior Hemingway catching his first 2 TD receptions of the season. This put Michigan up 21-13 at the half. The third quarter couldn't have started off worse for the Badgers. Michigan's Terrance Robinson took the opened kickoff and scampered 99 yards (while breaking the ankles of the only Badger defender in his way) for the first kickoff return for a TD on the season for the Wolverines. On Wisconsin's next drive QB Sherer was nailed while throwing the ball and had his pass intercepted by stud DE Brandon Graham. Brandon Minor would then finish things off with a 10 yard TD run.

At this point Michigan led 35-13 and due to time constraints the game was supersimmed. During this supersimming Wisconsin would score 2 TDs and failed on a 2pt conversion cut Michigan's lead to 35-26 after 3 quarters. Then coach Briggs retook the controls for the 4th quarter. Wisconsin's offense, thanks to the momentum from the 2 supersimmed TDs was unstoppable in the 4th quarter. They would score 2 more TDs while, luckily Michigan got 1 of their own. Michigan won by a final score of 42-40 (thank goodness for the failed 2 point conversion).

Game Statistics
Category	Michigan	Wisconsin

Score	42	40
First Downs	17	16
Total Offense	354	416
Rushes-YDS-TD	41-213-3	24-64-0
COMP-ATT-TD	11-21-2	25-38-4
Passing YDS	141	352
Sacked	1	3
3rd Down Conv	5-10	7-13
4th Down Conv	0-1	0-0
2pt Conv	0-0	0-1
Redzone-TD-FG	6-4-0	3-3-0
Turnovers	1	2
Fumbles-Lost	1-1	0-0
Intercepted	0	2
PR Yds	4	0
KR Yds	242	27
Total Yards	600	443
Punts-Average	3-34.7	4-38.5
Penalties-YDS	1-5	5-45
T.O.P.	16:39	11:23

Run, Wolverines..... Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuunnnnn!

2009-08-29T14:45:00.008-06:00

Today, the Wolverine running game hit its stride as they ran left, right, around, through, and over the Boilermaker defense. When it was all said and done, the Wolverines had tallied 311 rushing yards while holding the Boilers to a humiliating -10 yards rushing. The stats tell the entire story in this game. In addition to the rushing stats above, the Wolverines scored on 7 rushing touchdowns had averaged very nearly 8 yards per carry. They amassed 476 yards of offense compared to only 196 for Purdue. Thanks in part to 10 touchbacks on 10 kickoffs, Michigan nearly tripled the boilers in total yards, 563 to 196. Purdue's defense was so bad that the Wolverines managed to score 19 more points than their previous season high. Michigan also had 3 times as many sacks as the Boilers, 6 to 2, including 1 by NCAA leader, Brandon Graham who picked up his tenth of the season. 2 more sacks and he will tie the school record for sacks in a season.

While the running game was churning away, the Wolverine passing attack was efficient when called upon. As was expected, junior Nick Sheridan got the start over freshman Denard Robinson in place of injured starter Tate Forcier. Sheridan completed 8 of 11 passes for 165 yards. That's over 20 yards per completion. Sheridan has been a pleasant surprise in the limited playing time that he has seen this season. He has a gaudy 250.9 QB rating, has thrown 3 TDs without an interception and has completed 81% of his passes. He hasn't been throwing little dinks and dunks either as he is averaging 18 yards per completion.

The Wolverines will be anticipating their next game as it will be against Big Ten powerhouse Wisconsin and their new coach Raz. It is still uncertain whether or not Forcier will make it back in time for this game as he was still questionable against Purdue. Coach Briggs knows that he has his work cut out for him going into Madison, and this game will be a good indicator as to whether or not they've improved since their week 2 humiliation against Notre Dame.

Here are highlights of 5 of the Wolverine's 8 TDs

Game Statistics
Category	Purdue	Michigan

Score	14	61
First Downs	11	16
Total Offense	196	476
Rushes-YDS-TD	26-(-10)-0	40-311-7
COMP-ATT-TD	17-30-2	8-12-0
Passing YDS	206	165
Sacked	6	2
3rd Down Conv	7-15	4-8
4th Down Conv	0-0	0-0
2pt Conv	0-0	0-0
Redzone-TD-FG	2-2-0	7-5-1
Turnovers	2	1
Fumbles-Lost	0-0	0-0
Intercepted	2	1
PR Yds	0	16
KR Yds	0	71
Total Yards	196	563
Punts-Average	7-35.7	1-50
Penalties-YDS	0-0	2-10
T.O.P.	12:42	15:27

MLB Obi Ezeh Named Big Ten Player of the Week

2009-08-27T21:46:00.004-06:00

Following a very impressive performance at Illinois this past Saturday, junior MLB Obi Ezeh was named the Big 10 PotW. Ezeh was flying all over the field and was a vocal leader for the Wolverines. He tallied 12 tackles, 2 of them for losses, and also scored the Wolverine's first points of the game as he jumped the route of TE Michael Hoomanawanui to pick off a Juice Williams pass and then returned it 53 yards for a TD.

Ezeh joins defensive end Brandon Graham as the only other Wolverine to win PotW honors, which is fitting. Both of those players are having very good seasons thus far. Ezeh's team leading 69 tackles are the 3rd best so far in the Big 10 this year. Graham's 9 sacks lead the Big Ten and also are tied for the most in the country. Wolverine fans can only hope that these two finish the season as strongly as they've started.

Wolverines Survive in Champaign, 42-32

2009-08-27T15:23:00.011-06:00

Interceptions were a plenty on Saturday

This ugly game proved one thing about a college football game; the only thing that matters is the final score. Michigan's offense was completely inept (especially with Denard Robinson in at quarterback) while the Illini offense was able to gain massive yards through the air. If one were to merely examine the stats, they would assume the Illini won the game due to the vast disparity between the two teams. Here are some of the stats in question:
Total offense: Michigan 246 - Illinois 463
Passing yards: Michigan 120 - Illinois 464!
Redzone: Michigan 5-2-0(40%) - Illinois 5-4-0(80%)
When it was all said and done, however it was apparent that Illinois' QBs wanted to lose the game more than Michigan did. Even though the Illini QBs were more experienced and talented, they made more mistakes, including what is undoubtedly the most bone headed play this reporter has ever seen.

Denard Robinson, making his third start, has probably made his final start of the season. We are all hoping that starter Tate Forcier will be back in 2 weeks for the Wisconsin game, but it will likely be Nick Sheridan that starts next week against Purdue. Robinson was simply not getting the job done in the first half and went 0/5 with 2 INTs. With less than 2 minutes left in the half and Michigan starting on their own 20 yard line, coach Briggs put Sheridan into the game. Briggs said it was because they needed to throw the ball and Robinson's speed wasn't needed in that situation. Sheridan proceeded to throw a TD pass to cap a 3 play 80 yard TD drive. Briggs left Sheridan in for the rest of the game and he ended up going 6/6 for 120 yards and 2 TDs. This makes Sheridan 8/8 with 3 TDs in his limited play in the last 2 games.

Both offenses were horrendous in the 1st half. Before the 80 yard drive led by Sheridan, the score was 21-18 Michigan. Illinois had 1 pick 6 while all of Michigan's points were off of pick 6es including a terrible 0 yard pick 6 thrown by McGee. Michigan's offense play just "not badly" enough to hold on to the victory in the 2nd half. Sr HB Brandon Minor made saw his first playing time since his injury and rushed the ball 15 times for 83 yards and a TD. On the defensive side of the ball, Michigan tallied 3 INTs (all returned for TDs) and 6 sacks. Michigan isn't expected to be challenged next week versus Purdue, but the following week they have an anticipated matchup with the Badgers of Wisconsin.

Here are some of the horrendous passes thrown this week.

Box Score

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final
#18 Michigan	7	21	14	0	42
Illinios	6	13	0	13	32

Game Statistics
Category	Michigan	Illinois

Score	42	32
First Downs	10	24
Total Offense	246	463
Rushes-YDS-TD	35-126-1	21-(-1)-1
COMP-ATT-TD	6-12-2	38-54-3
Passing YDS	120	464
Sacked	3	6
3rd Down Conv	5-12	8-14
4th Down Conv	0-0	1-2
2pt Conv	0-0	0-1
Redzone-TD-FG	5-2-0	5-4-0
Turnovers	2	3
Fumbles-Lost	0-0	0-0
Intercepted	2	3
PR Yds	15	19
KR Yds	100	29
Total Yards	361	511
Punts-Average	4-47.5	4-36.3
Penalties-YDS	2-15	1-10
T.O.P.	13:48	14:11

Wolverines are back in the top 25

2009-08-23T21:33:00.002-06:00

Following Michigan's defeat of #3 Penn State, the Wolverines are in both top 25 polls. Before the PSU game, Michigan didn't receive a single vote in either poll. After the game they are ranked #18 in the coach's poll and #17 in the media poll.

DENARD?????????

2009-08-23T14:59:00.007-06:00

Last week, while taking on one of the worst defenses in the country, Denard Robinson made his starting debut because Michigan's starting QB was injured. In this game, Robinson had the best passing performance by a Michigan QB in the last 2 seasons. Today's opponent, #3Penn State proved to be much tougher than Marshall. While Marshall only sacked Robinson 1 time while Robinson put up the most pass attempts of the season, PSU was all over him all game. They sacked him several times, hit him more times, and generally pressured him even more. They even forced 1 of his 2 interceptions because of their awesome pressure. When it was all said and done, Robinson had 2 interceptions and 2 fumbles and almost single handedly handed the victory over to Penn State.

However, Penn States prolific offense sputtered all day long and could only muster 14 points (while their defense got 7 thanks to Robinson). They could only tally 239 yards of offense on the day which wasn't enough to get the job done. On the other side of the ball, Penn State's defense was incapable of stopping Michigan's offense. In fact, the only team that could stop Michigan's offense was Michigan's offense. If it weren't for Robinson's 4 turnovers, the game wouldn't have been nearly as close. For the second game in a row, kicker/punter Zoltan Mesko kicked all of his kickoffs deep into the end zone and didn't have any returned so Penn State started every possession that didn't result from a turnover from their own 20 yard line.

Michigan's next 2 games are ones that they should win and then they travel to Madison to take on the Badgers in a very important Big Ten clash. Injured starting RB Brandon Minor (who missed his 2nd game in a row) will be ready for that game. It's still a mystery as to whether or not QB Tate Forcier will return from his injury by then. After watching Robinson's game this week, Wolverine fans can only hope that Forcier will make it back in time to face the Badgers.

Here are Robinson's low lights from the game.

Box Score

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final
#3Penn State	7	0	7	7	21
Michigan	3	7	7	10	27

Team Statistics

	#3Penn State	Michigan
Score	21	27
First Downs	9	20
Total Off.	239	386
Rushes-Yds-TD	20-65-1	52-224-1
Comp-Att-TD	17-25-1	10-18-2
Passing Yards	174	142
3rd down conv.	2-9(22%)	9-15(60%)
4th down conv	2-4(50%)	2-2(100%)
Red Zone-TD-FG	1-1-0(100%	4-3-1(100%)
Turnovers	1	4
Fumbles lost	0	2
Intercepted	1	2
T.O.P.	9:04	18:58

Players of the Game
Penn State - K. Latham - 11 tackles (2TFL), 1 sack
Michigan - D. Stonum - 3 rec, 40 yards, 2 TD

DENARD!!!

2009-08-19T08:44:00.008-06:00

On a rain soaked field Saturday afternoon, all eyes were on true freshman QB, Denard Robinson. Starting QB Tate Forcier was injured last week and will miss the next 4 games or so. The major question in Ann Arbor was, how will Denard Robinson play as he was thrust into the starting role. Denard answered this question with an emphatic "pretty damned well!" When it was all said and done, he put together the best passing performance in the last 2 seasons. However, this was against Marshall, who had the 23rd worst defense in the country. The real test of what we can expect from Robinson will come next week when he has to face #3 Penn State. Robinson used both his feet and his arm to dismantle the Herd defense, but he also made some freshman mistakes. It's those mistakes that he can't afford against Penn State and he only has 1 week to learn from them.

Michigan was also playing without starting HB and leading rusher Brandon Minor who may or may not be able to play against Penn State. Michael Shaw had an okay game at best in replacing him so we'll have to see if Minor can go next week. Senior HB Carlos Brown made big plays whenever he touched the ball as he tallied 62 yards on only 6 carries. Sophomore Martavious Odoms was Robinson's favorite target as he had 125 yards and a TD on 7 catches. Senior punter/kicker Zoltan Mesko missed his first FG attempt of the year (a 55 yarder), but he was very solid in punting (45.5 yard avg) and was stellar in kickoff duty as all 7 of his kickoffs were downed in the endzone. Michigan's defense got the job done when they had to as they only allowed 1 3rd down conversion on 9 attempts. This allowed Michigan to controll the ball for over 20 minutes compared to only 8 minutes for Marshall.

Here are some highlight from Denard Robinson's first game as a starter:

Box Score

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final
Marshall	3	7	7	0	17
Michigan	7	14	7	14	42

Team Statistics

	Marshall	Michigan
Score	17	42
First Downs	9	22
Total Off.	229	482
Rushes-Yds-TD	20-61-1	39-170-3
Comp-Att-TD	13-23-1	20-32-2
Passing Yards	168	312
3rd down conv.	1-9(11%)	8-12(66%)
4th down conv	0-0	0-0
Red Zone-TD-FG	1-1-0(100%)	5-4-0(80%)
Turnovers	2	2
Fumbles lost	1	1
Intercepted	1	1
T.O.P.	8:22	20:32

Players of the Game
Marshall - T. Drakeford - 14 tackles (2TFL), 1 sack
Michigan - D. Robinson - 19/28, 309 yards, 1 TD, 16 car, 53 yds, 1 TD

Brandon Graham named Big 10 Player of the Week

2009-08-18T08:34:00.002-06:00

After his dominating performance against Iowa last week, senior defensive end Brandon Graham was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week. During that game, the Wolverine captain, whom most would agree is the best player on the entire team, tallied 8 tackles (6 of them for a loss), and 4 huge sacks. After the game, most people thought that his counterpart from Iowas, Clayborn, would be a shoe in for the award with his 7 tackle, 6 TFL, 5 sack performance, but Graham probably got the nod because the Wolverines won the game.

Graham becomes the first Wolverine to be named Player of the Week this season.

Wolverines Limp Away From Ugly Bloodbath in Iowa

2009-08-15T00:34:00.013-06:00

Michigan's players made enough plays to pull out the victory

Michigan just played their most brutal game of the season as they beat the Iowa Hawkeyes 38-28, but it was a very costly and ugly win. The first quarter was about as bad of a start to a game as one could imagine for the Wolverines. For starters, they turned the ball over twice and gave up the first TD on a 13 yard pass from Stanzi to Sandeman. What's worse, Senior HB and offensive captain Brandon Minor would sprain his ACL on only his 3rd carry of the game. He would miss the rest of the game and it is feared that he will miss at least his next game as well.

Iowa's defense was absolutely relentless. When it was all said and done, they would force 3 turnovers and record 8 sacks including 5 from junior DE Adrian Clayborn. All of these 8 sacks would come in the first half while QB Tate Forcier would only be able to get off 7 pass attempts. This ridiculous pressure would certainly weigh heavily on the mind of head coach Briggs. In the 2nd half, the Hawkeyes would not record another sack, but this is because Forcier would only attempt 3 more passes for the rest of the game. Coach Briggs completely took the air out of the ball and ran on almost every single down. When asked about this after the game coach Briggs said "sure it wasn't even remotely fun having to run the ball on every down, but what else could I do? I couldn't allow them to keep teeing off on my quarterback like they did in the first half. This was easily the least fun game of football I've ever coached, but at least we got the win. I suppose that's all that matters, right?......... Right?"

Unfortunately for the Wolverines, the carnage didn't stop at halftime. Early in the 3rd quarter, 2nd string HB Michael Shaw would be injured and he would end up missing the rest of the game. This really tested the running back depth of the Wolverines, but luckily for them, they have 2 decent senior running backs in the 3rd and 4th string slots in Carlos Brown and Kevin Grady. At one point in the 4th quarter Carlos Brown would go down too with an injury, but luckily he returned. Michigan would outscore the Hawkeyes 14-0 in the 3rd to take a 28-12 lead into the 4th quarter. Iowa's passing game was neigh unstoppable today and they really went to work in the 4th quarter, throwing for 2 TDs. This last TD would bring the Hawkeyes to within 3, 31-28. Michigan continued to run the ball to chew up the clock. Then, just about the worst possible thing happened to the Wolverines. With only 56 seconds remaining in the game and leading by only 3 points, HB Carlos Brown would take a pitch from Forcier and scamper 13 yards for a touchdown that would finally put the game out of reach. Unfortunately, as Forcier made the pitch he was hit in the midsection and would suffer an abdominal tear. Team doctors said that they expect him to miss about 4 weeks as he recovers. This will include crucial games at Illinois and hosting #3 Penn State. Wolverine fans will get to see what backup quarterback Denard Robinson can do next week against Marshall.

Here are some highlights of the carnage that ensued this evening.

Box Score

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final
Michigan	7	7	14	10	38
Iowa	6	6	0	16	28

Team Statistics

	Mich	Iowa
Score	38	28
First Downs	12	14
Total Off.	330	375
Rushes-Yds-TD	37-176-4	28-27-0
Comp-Att-TD	9-12-1	29-37-4
Passing Yards	154	348
3rd down conv.	6-9(66%)	9-17(52%)
4th down conv	1-1(100%)	2-3(67%)
Red Zone-TD-FG	4-4-0(100%)	1-1-0(100%)
Turnovers	3	2
Fumbles lost	2	1
Intercepted	1	1
T.O.P.	14:30	13:29

Players of the Game
Mich - Brandon Graham - 8 tackles (6 TFL), 4 sacks
Iowa - C. Sandeman - 10 rec, 169 yards, 2 TD

Michigan Reclaims the Paul Bunyon Trophy

2009-08-14T15:18:00.008-06:00

With last years 35-21 victory in Ann Arbor, the Michigan State Spartans had captured the Paul Bunyon trophy for the first time in 7 years. This clearly did not sit well with the Wolverines and new head coach Briggs mentioned at the beginning of this year that regaining this trophy was one of his main goals this season. Well, coach Briggs can put a checkmark in that particular box as his Wolverines had their way with the Spartans on their own home turf. As is becoming a theme this year, the Wolverine defense was dominant and didn't allow a single touchdown on the day. On the offensive side of the ball, the Wolverines got it done mainly on the ground.

Brandon Minor quiets the Spartan crowd after a TD run

Michael Shaw would begin the scoring with a 12 yard TD run, which would be the first of 4 rushing TDs for the Wolverines. After another Shaw TD run and a 9 yard rushing TD by Brandon Minor, the Wolverines took a 21-6 lead into the half. Minor would score again in the 3rd quarter and the Spartans could only muster 1 more FG and would lose by a score of 33-9. In what would prove to be a key part of the game, the Wolverines were efficient on third down (completing 61% of their conversions) while the Spartans were held to only a 27% third down conversion. Because of this, the Wolverines would dominate time of possesion 18 minutes to 10. Turnovers were another factor as the Wolverines protected the ball very well and didn't turn it over while forcing 2 interceptions against the Spartans. Brandon Minor would earn player of the game honors with 121 yards and 2 TDs rushing the ball.

Here are the highlights of this game:

Box Score

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final
Michigan	7	14	7	5	33
MSU	3	3	3	0	9

Team Statistics

	Mich	MSU
Score	33	9
First Downs	16	15
Total Off.	357	270
Rushes-Yds-TD	42-193-4	21-54
Comp-Att-TD	8-20-0	19-34-0
Passing Yards	164	216
3rd down conv.	8/13(61%)	3/11(27%)
4th down conv	0/0	0/1(0%)
Red Zone-TD-FG	5-4-0*80%)	2-0-2(100%
Turnovers	0	2
Fumbles lost	0	0
Intercepted	0	2
T.O.P.	17:50	10:38

Michigan Wins Big Ten Conference Opener, 28-3

2009-08-08T21:10:00.011-06:00

Michigan's defense intimidated the Hoosiers all day

Michigan's defense dominated the game this afternoon while Forcier really came into his own as a passer. In the end, the Wolverines would defeat the Hoosiers 28-3. The game was really won in the trenches today as both of Michigan's lines would dominate their opposition. Michigan's offensive line would give Forcier all day to throw the ball while the Wolverine's front 4 on defense caused all kinds of havov, resulting in 6 sacks on the day. Michigan's defense would hold the Hoosiers to only 3 yards rushing on 26 carries and only 212 yards of total offense (Indiana entered the game 4th in the Big 10 in total offense) and were led by senior captain, Brandon Graham, who logged 9 tackles and a sack on the day.

On offense, Michigan mostly ran the ball but when they threw it, Forcier gave Wolverines fans a glimpse of what he's capable of in the future. He would go 6 for 8 for 158 yards and 3 touchdowns, including a 78 yard bomb where he hit a streaking receiver in stride. Brandon Minor chipped in with a 100+ yard rushing performance.

Next week the Wolverines will go to East Lansing to try to avenge their lost last year to the Spartans. Here are the highlights of this week's game.

Box Score

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final
Indiana	0	3	0	0	3
Michigan	14	7	7	0	28

Team Statistics

	IU	Mich
Score	3	28
First Downs	13	11
Total Off.	212	320
Rushes-Yds-TD	26-3-0	38-162-1
Comp-Att-TD	21-31-0	6-8-3
Passing Yards	209	158
3rd down conv.	8/15(53%)	4/9(44%)
4th down conv	1/3(33%)	2/2(100%)
Red Zone-TD-FG	1-0-1(100%)	4-3-0(75%)
Turnovers	2	1
Fumbles lost	1	1
Intercepted	1	0
T.O.P.	13:37	14:46

Wolverines Dismantle Eagles of Eastern Michigan 41-6

2009-08-05T22:12:00.009-06:00

The Wolverines had much to celebrate on Saturday

Michigan rebounded nicely from their thrashing against Notre Dame by beating up Eastern Michigan to the tune of 41-6. Michigan would score early and often and were never threatened by the Eagles as they held them to only 2 field goals. While Michigan's defense was beaten like a red headed step child last week, they are the ones that began the touchdown scoring frenzy as Stevie Brown recovered a fumble and then flew 46 yards down the sideline for a touchdown. On Michigan's next possession, senior running back Brandon Minor would end the first quarter by rumbling for a 67 yard touchdown run to put Michigan up 17-3.

Stevie Brown returns a fumble for a 46 yard touchdown

Michigan's offense would get 242 rushing yards against Eastern Michigan's sieve-like defense while also passing for 191 yards. Michigan's defense was torched through the air to the tune of 234 yards, but their run defense was very solid and only gave up 31 yards on 33 carries. Brandon Minor would win player of the game honors by rushing for 131 yards and 2 touchdowns on only 12 carries.

Really only one bad thing happened to Michigan and it happened late in the fourth quarter. By this time Michigan was giving it's second team some playing time and freshman quarterback Denard Robinson would strain his pectoral on an option play and will miss the next 2 weeks. This could pose a very interesting problem for coach Briggs. There is no doubt that freshman Tate Forcier is the Wolverines starter, but Robinson is a very similar type of quarterback and they are both suited to play the style of offense that coach Briggs is looking for. Because of this, Briggs knows that if Forcier gets injured he has Robinson to back him up. With Robinson out for a couple of weeks (which will include a crucial grudge match with in state rival Michigan State) this means that Junior Nick Sheridan will have to be the back up, and he is nowhere near as capable as Robinson.

This leads one to wonder if coach Briggs will continue to be as aggressive with Forcier as he has been thus far (Forcier is 2nd on the team with 25 carries, only 4 behind starting halfback, Brandon Minor). One can expect Minor to get many more carrier in these next couple of weeks, but this will also take away a huge part of the Wolverines' offense if Forcier is not allowed to run. We will have to wait until next week as the Wolverines host the Hoosiers in their Big 10 conference opener.

Box Score

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final
Eastern Michigan	3	0	3	0	6
Michigan	17	7	7	10	41

Team Statistics

	EMU	Mich
Score	6	41
First Downs	17	18
Total Off.	265	433
Rushes-Yds-TD	33-31-0	37-242-2
Comp-Att-TD	20-29-0	13-21-2
Passing Yards	234	191
3rd down conv.	2/13(15%)	4/10(40%)
4th down conv	1/1(100%)	1/1(100%)
Red Zone-TD-FG	2-0-1(50%	3-2-1(100%)
Turnovers	1	2
Fumbles lost	1	1
Intercepted	0	1
T.O.P.	14:37	13:23

Irish Embarass Wolverines in Ann Arbor, 35-10

2009-08-02T13:55:00.011-06:00

James Aldridge let's Obi Ezeh know who's running the show

Things couldn't have gone more wrong for the Wolverines on Saturday as they were beat down and beaten up by Notre Dame. Coach Briggs was quoted before the game as saying "we need to play mistake free football to win this game." Michigan went out and did the exact opposite of that. On Notre Dame's first drive, they marched the ball 76 yards in 9 plays, including a few key 3rd and long conversions, to score a touchdown. On Michigan's second possession, freshman quarterback Tate Forcier would throw a pick 6 to put the Irish up 14-0. Michigan would then follow this int on their next possesion with a fumble by senior running back Brandon Minor.

Michigan fans had a short lived ray of hope in the 2nd quarter as Donovan Warren would intercept Clausen and return it to the house to apparently cut the lead to 14-10. Unfortunately for the Wolverines, however, this touchdown would be called back due to a holding penalty on the return. The demoralized Wolverines would then go three and out. Notre Dame would score a third touchdown with 6 seconds remaining in the 2nd quarter and would take a 21-3 lead into the half.

The Wolverines would try to keep pace with the Irish, but were completely beaten up in the 2nd half. The Irish would run the ball right down the Wolverines' throats and there was nothing they could do to stop them. Armando Allen would receive Player of the Game awards as he rushed for 151 yards on only 12 carries. He would go untouched on his lone touchdown run as 4 Wolverine defeneders were all knocked on their backs during the play. This is the sort of physical play that destroyed the Wolverines all game.

Offensively, the Wolverines were beyond terrible. They would turn the ball over 4 times while only managing 83 rushing yards and 176 passing yards. All game the Irish defenders were simply too fast and too strong for the Wolverines. They were a step ahead of the Wolverine offense all day. Coach Briggs clearly has some work to do to get his team ready for a grueling Big 10 schedule. They will need some major improvements on both sides of the ball, and I really hope that he can turn things around.

Here are the highlights (or lowlights if you're a Wolverine fan) from the game.

Box Score

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final
Notre Dame	14	7	14	0	35
Michigan	0	3	7	0	10

Team Statistics

	ND	Mich
Score	35	10
First Downs	13	15
Total Off.	299	259
Rushes-Yds-TD	27-155-3	24-83-1
Comp-Att-TD	11-20-1	14-28-0
Passing Yards	144	176
3rd down conv.	7/11(63%)	6/11(54%)
4th down conv	0/0	0/1(0%
Red Zone-TD-FG	2-2-0(100%	1-1-0(100%)
Turnovers	1	4
Fumbles lost	0	1
Intercepted	1	3
PR Yards	21	0
KR Yards	62	159
Total Yards	383	418

Wolverine Defense Flexes Its Muscle as They Blank the Broncos, 41-0

2009-07-29T20:54:00.024-06:00

While Michigan's offense was very efficient Saturday night, it's the Wolverine defense that will receive most of the accolades. The Wolverine defense completely shut down the Broncos in a 41-0 drubbing. After the opening kickoff, the Wolverines forced the Broncos to punt. On the ensuing drive, the Wolverines marched down the field methodically for 84 yards in 9 plays, a scoring drive that was capped by a 12 yard run by wide receiver Darryl Stonum. The Wolverines were so methodical on this drive that they used up almost the entire clock in the first quarter and the quarter ended with Michigan leading, 7-0.

The Wolverines would be more explosive in the 2nd quarter as they added another 24 points to take a 31-0 halftime lead, including 2 touchdown passes from true freshman quarterback, Tate Forcier. This 2nd quarter was also a fateful one for the Broncos. It saw them throw 2 interceptions which the Wolverines would turn into touchdown drives. The first interception was just a prelude to the fact that this was not to be the Broncos night. Hiller hit his receiver in the hands with a pass and then the receiver was drilled by MLB Obi Ezeh. This hit knocked the ball loose and it was scooped out of midair by SS Troy Woolfolk for an interception. Also, in the 2nd quarter, future NFL quarterback Tim Hiller (who, in all honesty, is the only good player on their team) was knocked out of the game with a concussion. This forced the Broncos to play sophomore wide receiver, Robert Arnheim at quarterback. Arnheim would then throw an interception on his 2nd play from scrimmage.

This game was clearly just a case of one team being bigger, stronger, and more athletic than the other. At times things would be ugly. Hiller's concussion was just the first of many injuries suffered by the Broncos. In total, there were 6 Broncos that were sidelined at some point during the game while not a single Wolverine would so much as stub a toe. This game could be summed up by saying that this was like wathcing a bunch of men playing against a bunch of boys. The Wolverines would beat up the bronco players on several occasions.

In addition to the offensive efficiency (which was led by 2 passing touchdowns by Tate Forcier and 2 rushing touchdowns by Brandon Minor) and the defensive domination in this game, Michigan's special teams also shined. All American Zoltan Mesko did everything that was asked of him out there today. He made both field goals that he attempted, including a 44 yarder. In addition to this, he was dominating on kickoffs and punting (which is something that usually gets ignored in the stat sheet). He was called on to punt on 3 occasions and pinned the Broncos inside the 20 on two of those occasions (the other one was a touchback). Mesko kicked off 8 times during the game and only once did he allow the Broncos to bring the ball out of the endzone. This played a large part in the defensive domination by the Wolverines because on the 12 Bronco drives, only once did they start outside of their own 20. Because of this, the Broncos were unable to even get close to scoring. In fact, the Broncos never even sniffed the red zone and only once did they ever cross the 50 yard line. All in all, this was a perfect start for the Wolverines. They got a chance to try out their new offensive and defensive schemes against real opponents. They got a chance to give their true freshman signal caller some experience. No one got hurt. The Wolverines will now be better prepared to face their hated Rivals Notre Dame when the Irish come to the Big House in a week.

Here are some highlights of the Wolverines' defeat of the Broncos.

Box Score

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final
Western Michigan	0	0	0	0	0
Michigan	7	24	7	3	41

Team Statistics

	WMU	Mich
Score	0	41
First Downs	10	18
Total Off.	156	397
Rushes-Yds-TD	23-11-0	36-215-3
Comp-Att-TD	17-30-0	11-20-2
Passing Yards	145	182
3rd down conv.	5/12(41%)	4/9(44%)
4th down conv	0/2 (0%)	0/0
Red Zone-TD-FG	0-0-0	5-3-2(100%)
Turnovers	4	1
Fumbles lost	0	1
Intercepted	4	0
PR Yards	1	38
KR Yards	24	22
Total Yards	181	457

Western Michigan Player Statistics
Passing

Player	COMP	ATT	COMP %	YDs	TD	INT
T. Hiller	7	12	58%	43	0	1
R. Arnheim	9	17	52%	93	0	3

Rushing

Player	ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	FUMB
B. West	18	18	1.0	0	0	0

Receiving

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	DROPS
A. Ponder	6	42	7.0	0	15	1
C. Ravenell	4	32	8.0	0	15	1
B. Hammond	2	32	16.0	0	26	0
B. West	2	13	6.5	0	9	0

Defensive

Player	TCKL	TFL	SACK	INT	FF	FR
A. Dorcely	15	0	0	0	0	0
A. Pritchard	9	1	1	0	0	0
J. Berry	8	0	0	0	0	0
M. Pickens	7	0	0	0	0	0
V. Stewart	5	0	0	0	0	0
D. Lewis	3	1	1	0	0	0

Michigan Player StatisticsPassing

Player	COMP	ATT	COMP %	YDs	TD	INT
T. Forcier	10	16	62%	172	2	0
D. Robinson	1	4	25%	10	0	0

Rushing

Player	ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	FUMB
T. Forcier	10	75	7.5	0	32	0
B. Minor	8	50	6.2	2	14	0
D. Robinson	7	15	2.1	0	14	0
M. Odoms	3	19	6.3	0	14	0
M. Shaw	2	28	14.0	0	17	0
D. Stonum	1	12	12.0	1	12	0

Receiving

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	DROPS
D. Stonum	3	76	25.3	1	33	0
M. Odoms	2	42	21.0	1	27	0

Defensive

Player	TCKL	TFL	SACK	INT	FF	FR
M. Evans	7	0	0	1	0	0
M. Martin	6	2	0	0	0	0
S. Brown	5	2	1	0	0	0
J. Mouton	5	2	0	1	0	0
T. Anderson	3	0	0	1	0	0
T. Gordon	1	1	1	0	0	0
T. Woolfolk	1	0	0	1	0	0

Players of the Game: WMU: A. Dorcely - 15 Tackles | UofM: T. Forcier - 10/16, 172 yds, 2 TD, 10car, 75yds

Preseason All American and All Big Ten announced

2009-07-27T14:55:00.006-06:00

Today they have released the preseason All American and All Big Ten lists and there are 6 Wolverines on those lists.

Senior punter Zoltan Mesko, who is a first team All American, is the lone Wolverine to make the All American team. He was also, of course, voted to the first team All Big Ten. Mesko has one of the strongest legs that you will see and it is rumored that he will be kicking field goals for the Wolverines this year as well. To go with his booming leg, Mesko also has pin point accuracy and can place the ball wherever he wishes. It is this combination of power and precision that will greatly help the Wolverines to win the field position wars this year. Rumor has it that he is just as accurate as a place kicker so you can expect huge things from Mesko this year.

In addition to Mesko, three other Wolverines made the 1st team All Big Ten. These were senior defensive end Brandon Graham, junior fullback Mark Moundros, and sophomore defensive tackle Mike Martin. Graham and Martin will be the anchors to a very good defensive line which is easily the strongest part of what should be a very stout Wolverine defense. You can expect Graham to cause all kinds of havoc in both the opponents rushing and passing games while Martin will really clog up the middle. When the season's over, don't expect Martin to put up the kind of numbers that Graham is expected to, but Martin will be just as important, if not more so than Graham. If any one wants to run the ball up the middle this year, they need to get past Martin first, and that will be no easy task. Fullback Moundros being selected shows that the voters don't fully understand the Wolverine's offense this year. While Moundros will be expected to provide some good blocking here and there, this reporter doesn't expect him to get more than a few very short yardage carriers this year. We will have to wait and see.

Rounding out the list of Wolverines that were honored are those making the All Big Ten 2nd team. These players are senior halfback Brandon Minor, and sophomore center David Molk. Huge things are expected from Minor this year and it would not be surprising to see him make it to the 1st team All Big Ten by the end of the year, despite the talented running backs that exist in this league. The only thing that could hold him back would be how many carries he has to share with a very deep backfield. If Minor can get his carries this year, then he should be in for a banner year. Molk, while only a sophomore, shows tremendous promise. The Wolverine offensive line was very weak last year, but it is greatly improved this year and you can expect Molk to be the vocal leader of the bunch. Under his guidance and leadership, you can expect the Wolverine offensive line to be vastly improved this year.

Week 1 preview: Western Michigan @ Michigan

2009-07-24T18:46:00.003-06:00

The start of the 2009 season is almost upon us as the season opener against the Broncos of Western Michigan is right around the corner. The Broncos had a good year last year, finishing 9-4, although is was a slight disappointment after beginning 9-2. The Broncos feel like they should've had a double digit win season last year and the sting of those last 2 losses will surely be on their mind.

After an extremely disappointing 3-9 campaign last year, the Wolverines are looking to rebound. After what happened to Michigan last year, the Broncos will surely smell blood in the water. They must realize that this is their best opportunity to knock off not only the most powerful team in the state of Michigan, but also the winningest program in college football history. An opportunity like this only comes around a few times in a lifetime and their coach will surely have his guys ready to go.

The Broncos will be led by their star senior quarterback Tim Hiller, who is clearly the best player on their team. Hiller combined with senior running back Brandon West will make for a potent 1-2 punch for the Broncos. The real question is will Western Michigan be able to handle the Wolverine defense which should be very stout all season. If Hiller and West can have big games, then the Broncos will certainly have a chance. Also, this will be the first game ever for Michigan's true freshman quarterback (either Forcier or Robinson) and it still remains to be seen how he (whomever it is) will handle the pressure of playing on the big stage.

At the end of the day, however, when it's all said and done (and lots of other cliches that can be thrown in here) I believe that the Wolverines will simply be too big, too strong, too fast, and too smart for the smaller school from Kalamazoo and the Wolverines should coast to an easy victory.

And now, let the new season begin!

What is the Current Quarterback Situation at Michigan?

2009-07-09T11:04:00.002-06:00

Questions continue to swirl regarding the qb position for Michigan this year. It's pretty much set in stone that the signal caller for the Wolverines this year will be a true freshman, but the question is, which one? Incoming Californian Tate Forcier has been practicing with the wolverines all spring and seems to be the likely choice. Coach Briggs has been raving about Forcier so far. "Sure Tate has a long way to go until he's where we need him to be, but he's been progressing very nicely. He's got the right combination of passing and rushing ability that I need to run my offense to its fullest potential."

But what about the other incoming freshman quarterback, the Floridian Denard Robinson? This kid is lightning fast; so much so that many feel that he may be better suited to play corner or perhaps wide out for the Wolverines. When asked about this, coach Briggs had this to say: "Coach Rodriguez told Denard that he had a shot to play qb for the Wolverines and I will give him every opportunity to fight for the job. He has some disadvantages coming in (namely that Forcier has been working with the first team offense all spring while Denard finished up his high school classes), but this kid is a fighter and a great leader and I know he'll give us his all. His arm isn't as lively as I would like, but his wheels certainly are. Tate is a serious threat to take off at any moment, and could get us some great rushing yards, but with Denard's speed, he will be scary as hell for opposing defenses. He would have an awful lot of linebackers reading his name on the back of his jersey."

"Denard has tremendous upside. He can do so many things for us. He will give Forcier a real run for his money for the starting quarterback job and it's definitely too early to tell who'll win that battle. On top of that, Robinson has the speed and skills to play some corner for us if we needed. Robinson hasn't been practicing long with us so I haven't seen him in person much, but there doesn't seem to be a whole lot that he can't do."

So, it looks like we'll have to wait until the first snap of the season to see who'll be the main guy for the Wolverines this year, but no matter who wins the job, it should be safe to say that Michigan's offense will be much more dynamic and exciting this year.

2009 Season Preview

2009-07-01T20:00:00.033-06:00

It's getting close to that time of year again, and after an extremely disappointing year in 2008, fans are anxious and excited about kicking this new year off. There have been several changes to the Wolverines in this off season and we'll go over them here. The biggest change is at the head coaching position. Coach Rodriguez was fired after only one season and the complete unknown, coach Briggs will take over the reigns. Coach Briggs has been quiet about his coaching philosophies thus far, but so far we know that he will in fact stick with a similar spread offense to what Coach Rodriguez ran last year. It is also rumored that Coach Briggs will implement a 3-3-5 defense for Michigan as soon as this season. That's about as much as we know about the new coach. Now let's talk about the players.

At the quarterback position, there's only one player to discuss. Threet has left in search of pro-style pastures and Sheridan is really too slow to run the type of offense that coach Briggs wants to run. That leaves us with the true freshman, Tate Forcier . Forcier has impressed so far in spring practices with both his legs (which was expected coming in) as well as his arm. According to coach Briggs Forcier is "coming along nicely. [Forcier] isn't where we need him to be at yet, but he's definitely making some good progress." Forcier will bring a new dimension to the quarterback position that hasn't really been seen before at Michigan. He's not as accomplished of a passer as wolverine qbs in the past, but that will come with experience. He can, however, fly with the ball when he runs. Teams will definitely have to account for his running ability at all times or he will burn them. Because of this, it should open up the running game for the halfbacks and it should also open up the passing game. The main concern here is that he is a very young kid who is going to be asked to shoulder a lot of responsibility. How well he can handle the pressure will have a huge impact on how the wolverines' season will go.

At running back, there will be some familiar faces. Brandon Minor and Carlos Brown will be asked to carry the majority of the load this year. Neither of them have the speed that coach Briggs would prefer, but they should still be major contributors to the wolverine offense this season. As long as they're able to split carries without either of them getting a big head and thinking that they should be the main guy, this backfield should be very successful this year. The departure of McGuffie will hurt as he has the kind of speed that is needed in this style of offense, but the Wolverines should be just fine without him.

The wide receiver position is probably the biggest question mark for the wolverines on the offensive side of the ball. They lack a real deep threat and a real game breaker at the wideout slot. Senior Greg Mathews will be the wolverines' #1 receiver and should be a solid receiver over the middle. However, he lacks the speed to go deep, so sophomore Martavious Odoms will be the wolverines' main deep threat. He should also be able to get carries as well as coach Briggs is expected to use the wide outs in the running game.

On Defense, expect the Wolverines to be solid. The biggest question is how will they cope with the change from the traditional 4-3 to a 3-3-5. The defensive line will be anchored by senior defensive end Brandon Graham who should be a monster this year. Again, the only question is how will he perform with only 2 other D-lineman along side him instead of 3. The Wolverines will have 2 stud corners in Donovan Warren and Boubacar Cissoko. After those two, however, things get a bit shaky and could be a cause for concern. Expect both Warren and Cissoko to have very solid years however. The linebacking corp that the Wolverines have can rival the best the Big Ten has to offer and is the strongest part of the Wolverine defense. The biggest defensive question will be the strong safety position. With the transition to a 3-3-5, the Wolverines will start 2 strong safeties and they aren't very deep at that position. They will have to start redshirt freshman Brandon Smith and true freshman Vladimir Emilien. This lack of experience could be a serious achilles heel for the wolverine defense.

Overall, there's no real way to tell how the Wolverines will do this year. The Wolverines can't really do any worse than they did last year and the addition of Forcier should definitely help the offense. The biggest question marks will all concern the coaching change. Coach Briggs is going to be rocking the boat quite a bit with his defensive scheme change. It will remain to be seen how the Wolverines will respond to this change. Don't expect the Wolverines to be challenging for the Big 10 title this year, but anything less than a bowl bid this year should be considered a disappointment considering their easy non conference schedule.

Exclusive interview with Michigan's new head football coach

2009-06-25T08:14:00.006-06:00

With the recent firing of Rich Rodriguez and the subsequent hiring of the complete unknown, Jabbar Briggs, sports journalists have been falling over themselves to get information on this coach. We here at the maize rage have been granted the only interview with coach Briggs. Here is what went down.

MR: So the college football world has been a buzz with your recent hiring. The first, and most obvious question should come first. Do you have any coaching experience?

JB: None whatsoever. I’ve never coached football, or any other sport, at any level before. On top of this I’ve never even played football before. My only football experience of any kind is watching it on tv and playing it in video games.

MR: Wow! So what made Michigan think that you are capable of leading a college football team?

JB: That question I will leave for the University to answer. All I can say is that I managed to garner an interview with them and I laid out my philosophy in great detail and Michigan liked what I had to say. Now my next step is to show the ones that hired me, and more importantly, the fans that I’m more than just talk and that I can back it up as well.

MR: What are your feelings towards coach Rodriguez?

JB: I won’t discuss my personal feelings towards coach Rod. He’s a great coach and I know that he’ll land on his feet again. I will, however, say just a few words on his coaching performance last year. Firstly, as a lifelong Michigan fan, it was really painful to see them go 3-9 last year. Yes, we lacked offensive talent. Yes, we didn’t have the types of players that Coach Rod needs to be our best. However, I feel that it was coach Rod’s own stubbornness that caused our downfall last year. He refused to adapt his coaching style to fit the players he had. Instead, he tried to force his players to play a style in which they didn’t have the physical skills. In short, he tried to shove a bunch of square pegs into some round holes. The real travesty is the fact that he, himself was in control of the holes and he could shape the holes however he needed so that everything fit. He refused to do this. This is all I have to say about coach Rod.

MR: While doing research on you, I found out that you attended Michigan State University. Surely, that must be a mistake, right?

JB: Ha ha! Nope. It’s no mistake. I grew up in Lansing, MI which is about 10 minutes from the MSU campus. After high school I joined the Air Force since I had no money for college. After the Air Force, I came back home to use my GI Bill money for school. My parents had moved out, but they didn’t sell their house and allowed my wife and I to stay there, rent free, until I graduated. That made it a no-brainer to go to MSU, even though I grew up as a wolverine fan. It could be worse. I could’ve gone to that lesser school down south!

MR: Are you referring to Ohio State?

JB: Yes, but you’ll never hear me utter those horrific words. I have a very normal (for a wolverine fan) hatred for those silver guys down south and it is my number 1 goal to beat those bastards as many times as I can. It’ll be rough at first because, in all honesty, they have tons more talent than we do, but I’d never use that as an excuse. I don’t believe in excuses. I want Big 10 titles. I want national championships. Above all else, I want to beat those silver guys into the dirt. I want my guys to leave their cleat marks all over their backs. I will not stop until this happens. Given the talent gap that exists between us right now, it’ll be tough, but I enjoy challenges.

MR: I have one final question. What are you immediate goals for this current season?

JB: Firstly, I plan to get Michigan back into a bowl. I want to get us back into the top half of the Big 10. I want to bring the Paul Bunyon Trophy back home where it belongs. Those goals I believe are easily attainable (suck on that MSU!). I also have one that will be scoffed upon by most, but my goal is beat those silver guys from down south.

MR: Thank you for your time. I know you must be really busy getting your wolverines ready for the season.

JB: Thank you. I would just like to say one thing to the wolverine fans out there. I promise that I will not disappoint you. I understand that I’m beginning from scratch pretty much, but I will bring Michigan back to their glory days. It’s an incredible honor to be walking in the footsteps of coaches like Yost, Schembechler, and Carr. I do not take my role lightly, and I will do everything I can for true fans of the Michigan Wolverines.

Coach Richie Rod ridden out of town on a rail – Wolverine fans rejoice everywhere

2009-06-24T09:51:00.001-06:00

Following an unbelievably disappointing 3-9 season which set the record for the fewest wins in the glorious 130 years of the program, Michigan has decided to fire coach Richie Rod after only 1 season. A source inside Michigan wanted it to be known that coach Rod was not fired because of his inability to win games. “At Michigan, it’s not just about wins. Character is much more important to us than wins and losses” he said.

When asked for the real reason that coach Rod was fired, the insider said “well, in a nutshell, it’s basically because coach Rod is a douche bag.” When asked to elaborate, the source said “just look at the obvious stuff. Firstly, he signs a contract with his previous school stating that he won’t leave, but if he does leave, he’ll pay them millions of dollars. Less than a year later he leaves them anyway and then refuses to pay them the money that he said he would. Then, he goes and draws the entire thing out until it’s an embarrassment for everyone involved, but he still won’t pay them the money that he owes them. Finally, he waits until Michigan has had enough of the entire embarrassing situation and they pay half of the money he owes for him. Everyone can see that this is first class douche baggery.”

Our source then went on to say “on top of this, he doesn’t know the first thing about Michigan football, the most storied college football program in the country. He knew nothing of our traditions. This was exemplified when he came in here and gave the #1 jersey do a freshman cornerback when anyone who knows anything about Michigan football knows that the #1 jersey is reserved for only an elite wide receiver who has proven that he has earned the right to wear the vaunted #1 jersey. This proves that Coach Rod didn’t even take the time to google Michigan football before starting.” When asked how much it was going to cost Michigan to fire Coach Rod after only 1 year I was told "Nothing. Coach Rod signed a character clause, which is also known as the 'douche bag clause'. He failed to meet the requirements of the clause so we don't owe him anything."

I then asked the insider who was going to take Coach Rod’s place and I was told that he is being replaced by Jabbar Briggs. “Who the hell is that?” I asked him. “Well, after the blunder that was Coach Rod, the Michigan staff decided to go in a completely different direction. With Coach Rod, we decided to go with a proven winner and not bother with getting a ‘Michigan Man’ and that didn’t work out well at all. Instead we’ve decided to go with a ‘Michigan Man’ who will look out for the best interests of the university and put the university first instead of himself. This will be a refreshing change and, in hind sight, it’s what we should’ve done in the first place.”

I was unable to get any more details about Coach Briggs from my source. I was also unable to find any coaching records on him at the pro, college, or even high school level. He seems to be a complete unknown. Coach Briggs was unable to be reached for comment, but I will do my best to try to track him down and get some information on him.

Michigan’s most anticipated recruit shines during spring practice

2009-06-23T22:15:00.006-06:00

Anticipation continues to grow to see what Michigan’s new quarterback, Tate Forcier, can do once the season starts. We were allowed to film during a recent Michigan scrimmage. Forcier did not disappoint as he was accurate while throwing the ball and was running all around the defense. He went 11/13 for 184 yards and 5 total touchdowns during the scrimmage.

Here are some highlights.