... how the Peace Bowl might go, what he's watching, etc. He mentioned...
• What he expects to happen: "Florida is under a first-year head coach, Dan Mullen, and they will certainly be a formidable opponent. Mullen has strong ties to Urban Meyer at Ohio State. He will try to attack Michigan in very similar fashion as to what Ohio State did.
"They say that Florida isn't as talented as Ohio State, but if you know anything about their conference football and if you know anything about Florida, you'll know one thing: they have got good skilled players. Those kids can make plays at any time in the game.
"The thing that concerns me a little, and something we want to watch closely, is that their quarterback, Feleipe Franks, can throw the football both short and deep. That allows those receivers, who are good athletes, to make great catches and to run with the football after the catch.
"While Franks is a decent runner, he's not known for his legs, but he certainly has the talented receivers to be able to get the ball downfield and make big plays. That's the thing that scares me — they can make big plays.
"Along with their passing game, they've got Lamical Perine and Jordan Scarlett, a pair of runners who can break a big play at any time. They, together, rushed for almost 1,500 yards. There's almost 2,300 yards for Franks [passing]. That's a lot of offense to try to stop. It certainly is going to present a challenge for Don Brown and his defense."
• What he's hoping to see: "I know we have to stop the run. Those two running backs can run with the football and score touchdowns, so we've got to stop the running game. But along with that, we also have to be able to put pressure on that quarterback.
"If we're going to continue to play man-to-man coverage in that secondary, we've got to get that quarterback so he doesn't have time to sit back there and find wide-open receivers, which can happen in man-to-man coverage. Stop the run on defense and put pressure on that quarterback.
"On the offensive side of the ball, we've got to control the game. If we can limit penalties and stay away from turnovers, it's going to make this game a whole lot better for us. We've had opportunities, and we've controlled the game. If you look at statistics as far as possession time, we've done an excellent job of that all year long, with the exception of the one game…
"We then have to get our third-and-short game going, so we can get those key first downs when we need to move the football. Last, can we score when we get inside the red zone? We can move the ball and do all those things, but you've got to put some points on the board."
• The next man up: "You've got guys who have played all year long and are not going to play in the bowl game, for one reason or another. This is how you approach it: 'Look, here's an opportunity to get a head start on next year. You go out there and play your hearts out and show what you can do. It's going to set the tone for what we're going to do next year, and it's going to set you up to have a great season next year.'
"That's how you want to approach it. You use it, not only for a good wind-up of this season, but to set the tone for the next season. If a kid plays well in this game, it's going to set him up for next year to be noted and have the other guys on the team really feel confident in him."
Here's the full podcast: https://michigan.rivals.com/news/mi...ball-podcast-jerry-hanlon-with-john-borton-11
• What he expects to happen: "Florida is under a first-year head coach, Dan Mullen, and they will certainly be a formidable opponent. Mullen has strong ties to Urban Meyer at Ohio State. He will try to attack Michigan in very similar fashion as to what Ohio State did.
"They say that Florida isn't as talented as Ohio State, but if you know anything about their conference football and if you know anything about Florida, you'll know one thing: they have got good skilled players. Those kids can make plays at any time in the game.
"The thing that concerns me a little, and something we want to watch closely, is that their quarterback, Feleipe Franks, can throw the football both short and deep. That allows those receivers, who are good athletes, to make great catches and to run with the football after the catch.
"While Franks is a decent runner, he's not known for his legs, but he certainly has the talented receivers to be able to get the ball downfield and make big plays. That's the thing that scares me — they can make big plays.
"Along with their passing game, they've got Lamical Perine and Jordan Scarlett, a pair of runners who can break a big play at any time. They, together, rushed for almost 1,500 yards. There's almost 2,300 yards for Franks [passing]. That's a lot of offense to try to stop. It certainly is going to present a challenge for Don Brown and his defense."
• What he's hoping to see: "I know we have to stop the run. Those two running backs can run with the football and score touchdowns, so we've got to stop the running game. But along with that, we also have to be able to put pressure on that quarterback.
"If we're going to continue to play man-to-man coverage in that secondary, we've got to get that quarterback so he doesn't have time to sit back there and find wide-open receivers, which can happen in man-to-man coverage. Stop the run on defense and put pressure on that quarterback.
"On the offensive side of the ball, we've got to control the game. If we can limit penalties and stay away from turnovers, it's going to make this game a whole lot better for us. We've had opportunities, and we've controlled the game. If you look at statistics as far as possession time, we've done an excellent job of that all year long, with the exception of the one game…
"We then have to get our third-and-short game going, so we can get those key first downs when we need to move the football. Last, can we score when we get inside the red zone? We can move the ball and do all those things, but you've got to put some points on the board."
• The next man up: "You've got guys who have played all year long and are not going to play in the bowl game, for one reason or another. This is how you approach it: 'Look, here's an opportunity to get a head start on next year. You go out there and play your hearts out and show what you can do. It's going to set the tone for what we're going to do next year, and it's going to set you up to have a great season next year.'
"That's how you want to approach it. You use it, not only for a good wind-up of this season, but to set the tone for the next season. If a kid plays well in this game, it's going to set him up for next year to be noted and have the other guys on the team really feel confident in him."
Here's the full podcast: https://michigan.rivals.com/news/mi...ball-podcast-jerry-hanlon-with-john-borton-11
