Several thoughts after watching film of Michigan’s triple-overtime win at Rutgers …
First off, the Scarlet Knights wanted this one badly and really believed they had a good shot to win. They had incredible energy on their sideline and came out swinging. Michigan’s pregame body language was better than it had been the previous week — we made it a point to watch it as they took the field — but the shoulders were definitely slumping when Rutgers went up a couple scores.
The run defense has been solid this year against teams that aren’t all that talented up front. Michigan State and Rutgers have poor offensive lines, and while some guys were on skates again — Donovan Jeter and Chris Hinton still play too high and get pushed around a bit — they did okay, and the linebackers filled the gaps relatively well.
The defense shut down Isaih Pacheco (15 carries, 43 yards), who had 133 yards rushing against Illinois a week earlier in averaging 6.9 yards per carry, and didn’t give up the big running play. It got fooled once on a 21-yard quarterback draw by Noah Vedral, a great call, and gave up a decent gainer on an end around on which sophomore safety Daxton Hill decided to play two-hand touch on the sidelines. Other than that, it wasn’t bad.
The pass defense, though, was awful, and it wasn’t one or two guys. The ends can’t generate any pressure, and there are always that few plays a game where the ball gets over their heads for a big play. Vedral is a stiff, and he threw for almost 400 yards. Sophomore Hinton did a pretty good job generating pressure a few times, but they still need more from the interior line.
Honestly, the defense was better with walk-on Adam Shibley in for redshirt sophomore Cam McGrone, who has been reckless (best word to describe it) in over-running plays this year and putting himself in bad position to make tackles. We still hope he’s okay, obviously. Word has it he suffered a knee injury and it doesn't sound good, though Jim Harbaugh didn’t put it out there today.
Redshirt junior Josh Ross is who he is. He plays hard, but he doesn’t play particularly fast and he gets picked on a lot in the flats.
Michael Barrett has been hard to find in three of the last four games. He made a splash at viper in his first game, but he’s been blocked quite a bit since.
Michigan mixed it up a little bit on third down and dropped eight in coverage twice in this game, the first time on Rutgers’ first series. Vedral had time, but he also had seven blockers in for max protection. It obviously caught him off guard, so the wrinkle worked.
Redshirt sophomore Gemon Green had a tough game. He’s gotten to the ball a number of times this year but just doesn’t make the play. He should have knocked down the fourth down pass in the end zone on Rutgers’ last score — to that point, the Scarlet Knights had only put up 10 points in the second half — and was in position, but just didn’t knock it down.
Still waiting, meanwhile, for redshirt junior Luiji Vilain to make a play this year. They need somebody to generate some pass rush. We heard David Ojabo might play more, but we didn't see him.
On offense, if Ryan Hayes doesn’t return soon from his injury, he might not get his job back. Redshirt frosh Karsen Barnhart is still making freshman mistakes, but less and less, and he plays with an attitude. He was doing the belt buckle face rub our Doug Skene speaks so fondly of, on more than one occasion. Andrew Stueber is solid at right tackle, and center Zach Carpenter played well for his first start. He plays physical football, as well.
If redshirt sophomore Jalen Mayfield returns (and again, he’s practiced), we’d like to see Stueber and frosh Zak Zinter, who has played pretty well for a true frosh, as the guards. Redshirt junior Chuck Filiaga had his struggles again, though he also had some good plays in there, too. Frankly, Zinter seems to be the better option.
Fifth-year senior tight end Nick Eubanks still doesn’t excel as a blocker, and this game he compounded that with a few false starts. Nobody seems to challenge him about it when he comes off the field, which is perplexing and disappointing.
Flat out, he needs to be better and give more effort, though he’s been solid catching the ball.
Sophomore Cornelius Johnson needed to secure the ball on his tone-setting fumble to start the game, and he should have caught the pass in the end zone that was knocked away, but he’s getting better, and he cares. He plays with passion, similar to junior Ronnie Bell (though nobody really matches Bell’s passion), and it’s evident. All the receivers seem to care, honestly — this seems to be one of the more “want to” groups on the team.
That wasn't the case last year.
They obviously got a spark when reshirt frosh quarterback Cade McNamara came in and led the first scoring drive. There was a bounce in their step after the first score, and they maintained it the rest of the game. They wasted 30 seconds on the last drive before the half, though. Terrible clock management.
McNamara is so much better that Milton at knowing where his open receivers are and calling out blitzers. There was one play on which he directed sophomore running back Zach Charbonnet to pick up a potential blitzer out of a look he would later admit he never saw before. Sure enough, it came, and Charbonnet (who excels as a pass blocker and did again) picked it up.
Harbaugh mentioned today what we saw yesterday — a lot of Hassan Haskins’ yardage was on his own. He sees things better, and while the run blocking wasn’t nearly as good as some thought it was, he made it look better with great cuts and vision. He has really good feet, and he’d be in that “want to” group we talked about with the receivers.
Watch his block on Jackson’s kick return, too. He and frosh Blake Corum sprung him so Jackson didn’t even have to move … he just ran.
Finally, fifth-year senior Quinn Nordin needs to start making kicks. It was pointed out today and seems true, he seems to be kicking where he’s aiming (like this guy when he hits a nine iron. Take a second and do a better job lining it up). But who would have thought they’d miss long snapper Cam Cheeseman (opt out) so much, too.
Onward.
First off, the Scarlet Knights wanted this one badly and really believed they had a good shot to win. They had incredible energy on their sideline and came out swinging. Michigan’s pregame body language was better than it had been the previous week — we made it a point to watch it as they took the field — but the shoulders were definitely slumping when Rutgers went up a couple scores.
The run defense has been solid this year against teams that aren’t all that talented up front. Michigan State and Rutgers have poor offensive lines, and while some guys were on skates again — Donovan Jeter and Chris Hinton still play too high and get pushed around a bit — they did okay, and the linebackers filled the gaps relatively well.
The defense shut down Isaih Pacheco (15 carries, 43 yards), who had 133 yards rushing against Illinois a week earlier in averaging 6.9 yards per carry, and didn’t give up the big running play. It got fooled once on a 21-yard quarterback draw by Noah Vedral, a great call, and gave up a decent gainer on an end around on which sophomore safety Daxton Hill decided to play two-hand touch on the sidelines. Other than that, it wasn’t bad.
The pass defense, though, was awful, and it wasn’t one or two guys. The ends can’t generate any pressure, and there are always that few plays a game where the ball gets over their heads for a big play. Vedral is a stiff, and he threw for almost 400 yards. Sophomore Hinton did a pretty good job generating pressure a few times, but they still need more from the interior line.
Honestly, the defense was better with walk-on Adam Shibley in for redshirt sophomore Cam McGrone, who has been reckless (best word to describe it) in over-running plays this year and putting himself in bad position to make tackles. We still hope he’s okay, obviously. Word has it he suffered a knee injury and it doesn't sound good, though Jim Harbaugh didn’t put it out there today.
Redshirt junior Josh Ross is who he is. He plays hard, but he doesn’t play particularly fast and he gets picked on a lot in the flats.
Michael Barrett has been hard to find in three of the last four games. He made a splash at viper in his first game, but he’s been blocked quite a bit since.
Michigan mixed it up a little bit on third down and dropped eight in coverage twice in this game, the first time on Rutgers’ first series. Vedral had time, but he also had seven blockers in for max protection. It obviously caught him off guard, so the wrinkle worked.
Redshirt sophomore Gemon Green had a tough game. He’s gotten to the ball a number of times this year but just doesn’t make the play. He should have knocked down the fourth down pass in the end zone on Rutgers’ last score — to that point, the Scarlet Knights had only put up 10 points in the second half — and was in position, but just didn’t knock it down.
Still waiting, meanwhile, for redshirt junior Luiji Vilain to make a play this year. They need somebody to generate some pass rush. We heard David Ojabo might play more, but we didn't see him.
On offense, if Ryan Hayes doesn’t return soon from his injury, he might not get his job back. Redshirt frosh Karsen Barnhart is still making freshman mistakes, but less and less, and he plays with an attitude. He was doing the belt buckle face rub our Doug Skene speaks so fondly of, on more than one occasion. Andrew Stueber is solid at right tackle, and center Zach Carpenter played well for his first start. He plays physical football, as well.
If redshirt sophomore Jalen Mayfield returns (and again, he’s practiced), we’d like to see Stueber and frosh Zak Zinter, who has played pretty well for a true frosh, as the guards. Redshirt junior Chuck Filiaga had his struggles again, though he also had some good plays in there, too. Frankly, Zinter seems to be the better option.
Fifth-year senior tight end Nick Eubanks still doesn’t excel as a blocker, and this game he compounded that with a few false starts. Nobody seems to challenge him about it when he comes off the field, which is perplexing and disappointing.
Flat out, he needs to be better and give more effort, though he’s been solid catching the ball.
Sophomore Cornelius Johnson needed to secure the ball on his tone-setting fumble to start the game, and he should have caught the pass in the end zone that was knocked away, but he’s getting better, and he cares. He plays with passion, similar to junior Ronnie Bell (though nobody really matches Bell’s passion), and it’s evident. All the receivers seem to care, honestly — this seems to be one of the more “want to” groups on the team.
That wasn't the case last year.
They obviously got a spark when reshirt frosh quarterback Cade McNamara came in and led the first scoring drive. There was a bounce in their step after the first score, and they maintained it the rest of the game. They wasted 30 seconds on the last drive before the half, though. Terrible clock management.
McNamara is so much better that Milton at knowing where his open receivers are and calling out blitzers. There was one play on which he directed sophomore running back Zach Charbonnet to pick up a potential blitzer out of a look he would later admit he never saw before. Sure enough, it came, and Charbonnet (who excels as a pass blocker and did again) picked it up.
Harbaugh mentioned today what we saw yesterday — a lot of Hassan Haskins’ yardage was on his own. He sees things better, and while the run blocking wasn’t nearly as good as some thought it was, he made it look better with great cuts and vision. He has really good feet, and he’d be in that “want to” group we talked about with the receivers.
Watch his block on Jackson’s kick return, too. He and frosh Blake Corum sprung him so Jackson didn’t even have to move … he just ran.
Finally, fifth-year senior Quinn Nordin needs to start making kicks. It was pointed out today and seems true, he seems to be kicking where he’s aiming (like this guy when he hits a nine iron. Take a second and do a better job lining it up). But who would have thought they’d miss long snapper Cam Cheeseman (opt out) so much, too.
Onward.
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