Welcome to Game Day!

The countdown clock above reads 0 days and we have some news to pass on.

-Fitz is getting the start at tailback. I expect him and Shaw to get an even amount of snaps.

- JT Floyd gets the start at the other corner spot. We will see a lot of Avery as well, because I expect WWU to spread the field and try to move the ball through the air.

Sparty looked pretty poor last night, let's hope Michigan looks much better against a better opponent this afternoon.

Has anyone else noticed in the games on Thursday and Friday night that nobody seems to be able to make field goals or extra points?

Enjoy the day and Go Blue!

Michigan Friday: Looks to Speed Up the Clock

It's all most here folks, Michigan Football.   It will be hard to wait for the 3:30 kick off, I know you tailgaters like the later start so you can kill a few more bud lights.  Traffic will be a killer so leave your house early. 

Some random thoughts and info for the weekend:

• Something  I forgot to mention in my preview:  WR's and Kick Returners: Catch the Damn Ball!

• Skip Holtz vs ND:  Don't sleep on South Florida.

• TomVH now of ESPN tweeted RB Greg Garmon is expected to visit this weekend and maybe for the ND game as well. Greg is the 15th ranked RB in the country to Scouts.

• Best Games of the Weekend is Boise State vs Georgia and (the game Michigan will play in next year) LSU vs Oregon in Dallas.

• Vegas is betting that Western will cover the spread against Michigan.

• Sione Houma is now a 3 star FB now on Rivals.  He got a 1 star bump up.

• 5 star basketball prospect Mitch McGary is visiting Ann Arbor this weekend.   Michigan is in his final group.   He will make his decision in about 2 weeks.  

• Here is my prediction for freshman to play on Saturday: Wile, Morgan, Countess and Brown. 

• Look for a couple of shots deep for Roy and Jr. on Saturday.

• Danny O'Brein has cut his list to 4 which includes: UM, Tenn, MSU, and Alabama.

Game 1 Preview: Western Michigan

Time: 3:30 EST
Location: Ann Arbor, Big House
TV: ABC/ESPN 2
Weather:  High of 89 scattered thunderstorms
Line: Michigan -13.5

It's hard to believe that we are a day away from starting the Hoke era.  Is it me or does it seem like RR left about 2 years ago and not just 8 months?  Michigan kicks off the 2011 campaign in front of 110,000 strong at the Big House at 3:30 on Saturday (this really should be noon kickoff).  Saturday will be special for Hoke and his entire staff as well as the freshman who will be running on the field for the first time and of course the seniors who know it's now or never. 

Western Michigan finished 6-6 last year and finished with a 5-3 MAC record.  They are a perfect opening day opponent for the Wolverines, who hopefully will be rolling out an improved defense and a new pro style offense.   Western will remember Denard Robinson very clearly because Denard took his first college football snap for a touchdown against the Broncos just two short years ago.  

What to watch from WMU:

• Strong QB play - Alex Carder threw for 33 touchdowns and over 3,300 yards last year.


• A good WR unit with Ansel Ponder and Robert Arnheim.  The most dangerous is Jordon White who lead the team in catches and yards in 2010.


• A poor running game - Western only averaged 4.0 yards per carry last year. 


• A defense with 8 returning starters, which includes the entire D-line.


• There is not a lot of experience in the defensive backfield or at the linebacker.

We know the Wolverines well, so how does WMU strength match up against the Wolverines?

Let's go to the tale of the tape:

Denard vs Westerns D = Shoelace
WMU Passing Game vs Michigan's DB = Western
Mike Martin vs WMU O Line = MM
Michigan's O line vs Westerns D Line = Pancakes from Village Kitchen
Special Teams = Push
Intangibles = Big House and Hoke's first game

There really isn't a ton of mystery in this game.   Western will try to throw the ball and exploit the Michigan secondary and then mix in a few runs hoping to hit some big plays.  The Michigan defense will try to disrupt that strategy by pressuring the passer with a lot of pressure from the D-Line.  I expect to see lots of blitzes from the Michigan linebackers and lots of cornerbacks in the game since I expect Western to spread the field as much as possible.  Western averaged 30 points a game last year and I am sure they have watched a ton of tape on how the Michigan defense couldn't stop anybody.  Michigan hopes the likes of Woolfolk and Floyd back from injury will help the DB's cover the talented Western wide receivers.

Michigan will try to run the ball and mix in a short passing game.   They want to move the ball on the ground and score lots of points with out showing too much for ND.  The flavor of the day will be vanilla unless the Michigan defense struggles and Michigan needs to open it up a bit.   If the Wolverines can move the ball with Shaw and Toussaint I expect we won't see Denard running too much.   I believe the game plan for Denard is to beat the D with the treat of running but hitting the Michigan WR's on short routes that will set up the long ball. 

Sing Hail to the Victors if..................

• Shaw and Toussaint both have over 100 yards


• The Michigan pass rush is effective against the Western's O line


• The Michigan defense is much improved and gets a ton of stops


• The Michigan Oline dominates and keeps Denard clean in the passing game

Say, I wish Western would get back on their horse and head back to K-Zoo.......................

• If the Western pass game is effective against Michigan's D


• If WMU scores touchdowns instead of field goals


• It becomes a shoot out

Former Wolverine and 4 star recruit Dan O'Neill transferred after he thought he didn't fit into RR's spread offense and wanted more of a pro set.  He headed to Western where his brother played.   (Which is ironic because I expect Western to throw the ball in a number of spread sets and Michigan now is the one that wants to run the ball in more pro sets).  Dan will get to meet a lot of his former teammates during the game as I expect Mattison to do all kid of things to get pressure on Western's QB to protect his linebackers and defensive backs.   The key for the Michigan D is not to give up any big plays and let Denard and the Michigan offense do their thing. 

The last few years the Michigan D plays their best game of the year in the first game of the year, so I expect something similar on Saturday.  With some better coaching and solid D Line and Woolfolk locking down one WR, I expect the Defense to over whelm Western.  The Michigan offense will be Pro Sets and have Denard in the shotgun a lot.   The goal is to get Denard out of the game early in the 4th quarter and healthy for ND next week.   The Wolverines want to over power the Broncos and not show too much for ND to key on. 

Michigan 31 Western 13

Go Blue

PS:  I will have my game thoughts up on Sunday.

2 Deep for Western Michigan

MICHIGAN OFFICIAL TWO DEEP WMU GAME
OFFENSE                                         2nd Team         3rd Team
QB	D. Robinson	D. Gardner
RB	M. Shaw OR F. Toussaint	V. Smith	S. Hopkins
FB	J. McColgan	S. Watson
WR 1	J. Hemingway	K. Grady	J. Jackson
WR 2	R. Roundtree	J. Gallon	M. Odoms
TE	K. Koger	B. Moore	S. Watson
LT	T. Lewan	M. Schofield
LG	R. Barnum	E. Mealer
C	D. Molk	R. Khoury
RG	P. Omameh	E. Mealer
RT	M. Huyge	M. Schofield
DEFENSE
SDE	W. Heininger	N. Brink
NT	M. Martin	W. Campbell
DT	R. Van Bergen	Q. Washington
WDE	C. Roh	J. Black	F. Clark
MLB	K. Demens	J.B. Fitzgerald	M. Evans
WLB	M. Jones	B. Herron	B. Hawthorne, D. Morgan
SLB	C. Gordon	J. Ryan	B. Beyer
SS	T. Gordon	C. Johnson	J. Furman
FS	J. Kovacs	M. Robinson
CB1	T. Woolfolk	B. Countess	G. Brown
CB2	C. Avery OR JT Floyd	T. Anderson
SPECIAL TEAMS
P	M. Wile OR S. Broekhuizen
K	B. Gibbons OR M. Wile
PR	J. Hemingway OR D. Dileo OR J. Gallon OR M. Odoms
KR	J. Gallon	K. Grady	V. Smith

HT to Mgoblog

Not a ton of surprises, here is what sticks out to me:

• Big Will is backing up Mike Martin.  Looks like Michigan has 8 guys on the DL that will rotate all over the place.  


• No Cox and Hopkins is 3rd string RB. 


• Odoms is 3rd string at WR.  Gallon has leaped over a guy with experience.  Could be due to injury?


• SDE is a fight between two walk on's.


• Thomas Gordon beat out Carvin Johnson at SS


• Blake Countess beat out G.Brown who was on the team in the Spring.   Which is impressive.


• The reported battle between Avery and Floyd continues at CB


• WLB seems very un-settled to me


• The "or" in the punting and kicking game scares me

Thoughts.................

Michigan Friday: Brandon's Decision Making and 2 Scrimmages

David Brandon has done an excellent job since taking over the AD position at Michigan.  He got the football program through an NCAA Investigations and got the penalty reduced.  He fired the football coach that was under preforming and hired somewhat of a "sleeper" pick as the new head coach.  

He has improved on the Big House work of former AD Bill Martin and is now focusing on Crisler Arena.  If you had to grade him right now it would clearly be a A and maybe even an A+.

This brings me to his latest decision to play App State again in 2014 and his response:  "the opportunity to play again is a good thing. I don't see how it could be a negative".

Since he is having a hard time finding the negatives, let me list them here:

1. Michigan players and fans will have to live through 9 months (Jan-Sept) of App State upset  highlights from the 2007 game before the kickoff of the 2014 season. 


2. It's a no win situation for Michigan.  Like I mentioned yesterday, if the Wolverines win 50-10 they beat up on the little guys and ran up the score to get revenge.   If the game is close, App State has our number.   If Michigan loses the game, its a disaster. 

For all the teams that are looking for a large payday by visiting the Big House it's hard for me to believe that was U of M's only option.   If David wanted to get a revenge game, why didn't he schedule Toledo?

I don't see any upside to playing this game.   None.

Greg Mattison's PC yesterday:

He wants 22 players strong on defense:  For next weekend, "I hope it's 22." Needs to have 22 capable guys, and have seven more days to get 22. Won't ever be a coach who says we lost a game because a guy got injured.  

• Standouts on D are the seniors Martin and Woolfolk 


• Jake Ryan and Marvin Robinson have had some good days but have been a bit banged up in practice.


• Kenny Demens is running with the 1's but need to be more consistent.

On Denard:  "I got on him today. He didn't play every play of yesterday's practice, and I yelled at him during stretch today: 'Boy, you must be as fresh as a daisy today,' and he gave me something back.' I love him."

AL "the hat" Borges PC:

(Does this comment give us some insight into why Michigan might have lost a few players this week? Both freshman's weights were much higher then expected)

"Our practices are not for the faint of heart. We get after them pretty good." It has been a real real grueling training camp. (We want to) see what they're made of when they're tired."

• Would not comment on Chris Barnett.


• Thomas Rawls has been out a couple of weeks with a injury.  Looks like it's Shaw, Hopkins and Smith at this point.  They may redshirt Hayes and/or Rawls.  (I bet not having a RB in the 2012 class might effect this decision)


• Denard will be in the shotgun and under center. 


• WR: Roy and Junior are the starters. Expect to see Grady, Gallon, Jackson and Dileo.

Michigan will play a scrimmage today and Saturday before they ease up a bit for game week. Today and Saturday should cement the two deep, when we learn who on it will probably come out on Monday. 

Here is my prediction for starters:

OL: Lewan, Barnum, Molk, Omameh, Huge
TE: Kroger
WR: Roundtree, Hemingway
QB: Robinson
RB: Shaw
FB: McColgan

Defense:

DL: Roh, Martin, Campbell and Van Bergen
LB: C. Gordon, Demens and Hawthorne
CB: Woolfolk and Floyd or Avery
S: Kovas and Johnson

I'm concerned about the speed at safety.  Look for Woolfolk to move to safety and Avery fill in his CB spot if that becomes a problem.   Or maybe more Marvin Robinson.   I also think Big Will could lose his starting spot to Brink. 

The defense looks like it's built to stop the run (which would be a huge improvement) but could get beat deep in the passing game.