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

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

#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

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

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

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

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

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