Sunday, November 15, 2009 - Andy Andersen

The expected trouncing in Madison happened Saturday as the Wolverines made Wisconsin’s QB Scott Tolzien look like an All American.  He completed four touchdown passes.  He threw 16 for a total of 240-yards, and one interception.  He also ran one in on a QB sneak.  We provided him an All American day.

Wisconsin also had the expected great rushing day, charging for 229-yards, much of it in the second half.  In the first half they managed only 53-yards.  That was a plus for our sometimes staggering defense.

Michigan had 265 passing yards and 71-yards rushing. The smallest player that I have observed in D-1 football, Vincent Smith had 28-yards on eight carries, and had some impressive moves.  Fortunately he also seems to be one of the toughest as well as one of the smallest.  He produced some important first downs, and caught a TD pass.

At the end of the game, Denard Robinson compiled 36-yards on five carries, and had one pass completion on five attempts for six yards.

Roy Roundtree had a nice game with seven catches for 56-yards and a TD.  Tate Forcier was a respectable 20 of 26 for 188-yards and 2 TDs.  Tate’s sore arm situation appears to have gone away, or improved.  He seemed to me to throw better. He still takes too many sacks, but on occasion dished the ball off for some yardage instead of taking the sack.  Stonum was sterling on 6 KO returns totaling 135-yards.

Michigan’s inability to stop critical third and longs, cover the middle, avoid mistakes and penalties, and finally to stop the Badger running game, and their surprising inability to show up on both sides of the ball for the entire game (offense failed in the red zone and late), doomed them.  The team did not convert the best of their two last chances this season to get to a bowl game.  Now they have to beat the Buckeyes to save their season and for Coach Rodriguez to cement his grip on a long-term future in Ann Arbor.  Plaudits and security are not consistent with last place finishes in the Big Ten.  And shouldn’t be.  Not at Michigan.

Their consistent inability to play effectively for sixty minutes in Big Ten games, leads to an alternate title that would have been as appropriate as the one used.  A Tale of Two Halfs is descriptive too.

 My preconception has always been that when things go consistently wrong in the second half, the opposing coaches are making better adjustments than their counterparts. Do you think that applies somewhat? Or the conditioning is poor. Do you think that applies?  I certainly do think that the fact that the defense is smallish makes a difference, and did especially on Saturday against the Badger behemoths.

Cellar Dwellers is another title that unfortunately comes to mind, and applies.  That is where the Wolverines reside in the Big Ten standings with one game left.  They have scored 188 points, 224 have been scored against them, and they have a losing streak of 6 games in the Big Ten against a single win over the next worst team in the conference, Indiana.

Some gave their all and have all year.  Brandon Graham had an exceptional game, especially in the first half, sacking the Badger QB.  As a result Ryan Van Bergen picked up the football and sped into the endzone for six. Maybe galumphed would be a better term then sped, if you define that as a combination of “gallop” and “triumphant”.  Certainly that was one of the high points of the game, and a high point in his career.

Things did not start out well.  The Wolverines took the KO and stalled. Worst fears were confirmed and amped, when the Badgers drove 80-yards in 5 plays for the first score of the game.  An assist on this Badger drive goes to a roughing the passer call against the Wolverines.  The TD pass was for 27-yards and it was M 0, W 7 right off the bat.

Much to my surprise and relief, M answered.  Mathews, Minor and Roundtree all contributed to this 11 play, 74-yard drive.  Shifty little Vincent Smith collared a Forcier pass for 21-yards and its 7 up.  As mentioned above, Smith is a tough little guy and can block as well as scoot.

M’s offense squandered some opportunities, getting a FG blocked.  I remember how enraged Schembechler used to get when that happened, saying that it was inexcusable.  A 9-play, 45-yard drive was wasted.  Again the Wolverines could not manage the red zone offense.  Tate got a 1^st down at the 6 on a short run. Minor ran for 3 to the 3.  Then Minor rushed for 2 to the 1.  Tate then rushed for a loss of a yard.  I do not understand the rush of Tate off tackle.  What?  Jason Olesnavage’ s FG try was then blocked.

So all the fault for this loss does not all go on the Michigan’s struggling defense as the OL again couldn’t provide the punch into the endzone from distances winners cross consistently and automatically, and losers find consistently aggravating when they can’t cross them.  Granted Wisconsin has a great run defense, but I thought the play calling stubborn and hard to understand to say the least.  The OL just can’t get it done in this area.  This first failure to score was an important turning point.

Fortunately Kovacs collared an interception so the Blue got another chance.  M was on the Wisconsin 23 as the first quarter ended.

In the second quarter, Michigan’s offensive woes continued, as they could not get a first down while enjoying good field position and again settled for a FG, this time from 37-yards out.  M 10, W 7.

Michigan then made one of its finest defensive stands of the game, and stymied the Badgers who were held and forced to punt.  But a stupid penalty again let the air out of the Michigan football as a punt rush ended up putting the Badger punter on his back, a fact that the officials could not ignore and rightfully flagged.  This was the same as a TO, and it resulted in a drastic change of momentum in the game which never swung M’s to the same degree again. Combined with the offensive sputtering described it had a fatal effect on momentum.  But to their credit the Wolverines did not quit.

The Badger offense gathered itself, laid into the defense, and journeyed 75-yards for the go ahead TD in 14-plays.  An 8-yard pass made it M 10, W 14.

Fortunately, Brandon Graham sacked the Wisconsin OB on the next play, and he fumbled.  It was a great play by Brandon.  Ryan Van Bergen picked the football up at the Wisconsin 14, and took it to the house.  This did repair some of the previous damage to momentum, but it didn’t last, as the defense could not maintain the advantage.  M 17, W 14.

Wisconsin immediately perpetrated a 74-yard, 6-play drive, which exposed the uncertainties of the Wolverine pass defense again, even if John Clay got the TD on a 1-yard run.  M 17, W 21.

Michigan’s next possession stalled.  Denard Robinson was brought in and on the last play of the half he heaved it way downfield, but no receiver was in the area, just two defenders, but they could not intercept it.  Denard was so errant on that pass because he was hit while he threw, as the protection broke down.  And so the half ended.  Essentially the ball game was over at this point.  Michigan was never really in the game from this point on, but they did keep trying.

To start the third quarter, Wisconsin fumbled and recovered it, then proceeded up the field seemingly at will on a number of completed passes. The Badger adjustments at the half seemed to negate our pass rush and it all worked for them now.  This 10-play, 80-yard drive ended with a 15-yard TD pass.  M 17, W 28.

Mathews, Smith, Roundtree and Hemingway produced an 8-play, 60-yard drive of our own, with Roy Roundtree collaring a 10-yard TD grab.  M 24, W 28.   That was as close as they could get.

Again the Badgers answered, as they had all afternoon.  They put together an 8-play, 76- yard drive completed by a 7-yard pass. M 24, W 35.

The pesky Badgers then they produced another long drive in the fourth quarter,  of 60-yards.  QB Tolzien sneaked of one yard to get it in.  M 24, W 42.

To add insult to injury they made a 15-play jaunt to score, again for 60-yards, but this time a 28-yard FG resulted.  This achieved a final score of 24 to 45 Wisconsin.

With all those long drives, is it any wonder I chose to title this by saying the pass defense was AWOL?  Later in the game big Badger RB, John Clay got their ground game going, too, and effectively managed the clock.

I don’t want to paint the game of Brandon Graham as AWOL, it was there and it was quite outstanding, and some of the down linemen were in the game too, but even with some changes to defensive personnel and schemes (Brandon Smith played fairly well) they looked the part of the role that they have assumed as the worst defense in the Big Ten.  To say tath they do not play like the Michigan defenses of the past have played, is an understatement.

I would hope that at the end of the year, Coach Rodriguez looks very hard at some of defensive coaches in the light of cold, hard realities, and gets the mess straightened out.  This far into the season the Wolverines still sometimes seem clueless and confused on defense and line up improperly.  I’ve talked to some of them and they seem to be reasonably bright kids.  Why aren't they getting it?

Obviously, Coach Rodriguez has to get this program turned around or eventually he is not going to be in Ann Arbor.  I thought he could do it sooner than later, but it now seems that it is going to be later.  The bottom of the Big Ten barrel is not good enough at Michigan.  What he has done elsewhere, does not seem to be happening here, and what has happened at other venues is beside the point anyway.

The offense has made some strides this season for all their struggles and they have helped to lose some games, but the defense being so bad is simply unbelievable.  The offense is not good enough to score all the points necessary to win even if they are better than they were last year.

We can list the rationalizations for the coaching and the poor play.  Like a third year in a new defensive system, lack of talent, and poor defensive recruiting.  We hear these over and over, and they are factors, but after while they become Kool-Aid, and it becomes obvious significant corrections have to be made.

This season is making Coach Rodriguez more and more vulnerable on the recruiting trail and amongst the dissenters.  We can be all in and all of that and I am, but only Coach Rodriguez can stop the bleeding.  So far there is but little convincing evidence that he can do so.

Even so, he needs the allotted time to prove that he is up to the task.  It would be disaster for the program to change its mind on him now, for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the spread system he has instituted.  To change back would take another two or three years to tailor the personnel back to a more conventional system again.

There is still that season ender with the Buckeyes to right some of the season’s wrongs.  We’ll see what the Wolverines can do.  It would be nice to beat the Rose Bowl team wouldn't it, but even if that wasn't a factor the Bucknuts could use another dose of humility. But we seem likely to be on the wrong end of that scenario-again.

I will have a column posted next Wednesday on some memories of past OSU games.  Much of that article will be on a more positive note.  Look in if you want.  If you don’t I’ll miss you. And I hope we all enjoy the game against the Buckeyes.

Go Blue!

Current Comments