Prior to kickoff yesterday, the one thing that was on every one's mind was the question of, "Can Michigan rebound?" That obviously came after Appalachian State shockingly upset Michigan the week before. What kind of team would come out this week? As we would eventually find out, the same one. The only difference was they were playing a better team and got whooped 39-7 at home. It wasn't shocking that they did lose, but the way it happened was incredible to see, and not in a good way.
Michigan won the toss and decided to take the ball. Who can blame them? With the bad defense from last week (that was nothing), why voluntarily put them on the field? The offense came out strong with a solid drive. Mike Hart started the drive with two runs to move the chains. Then Chad Henne connected with Carson Butler on a play-action bootleg for 30 yards. Everything was going great at this point. Michigan was down to the Oregon 31 yard line and was in good shape. Enter the drive-killing penalty. Mario Manningham caught a short pass that would've made it 3rd and short, but instead there was a holding penalty. That just took the momentum out of the offense and the next play ended it altogether. Chad Henne threw a horrific pass into the endzone that was intended for Manningham. Problem is Manningham wasn't even near the throw and a few Oregon defenders were. The pass was picked off and returned 55 yards, beginning what would truly be a long day.
With a shortened field, Oregon quickly got down the field and ended up on the 1-yard line. The defense for Michigan finally stepped up and held Oregon to only a field goal. That would be one of the only stops on the day, but it was big at the time. Using some of that momentum, the offense drove down the field with the combination of Mike Hart rushes and a 35 yard pass to Mario Manningham. Eventually it would come down to a 3rd and goal and Chad Henne connected with Adrian Arrington for a huge 7 yard touchdown. Michigan leads 7-3. Remember this point in the game because it would be a distant memory by day's end.
Oregon wasted no time in turning this game around following the Michigan TD. Dennis Dixon threw a perfect bomb to Brian Paysinger for 85 yards and the score. All it took was Dixon putting the ball in the air and Paysinger just simply ran past Brandon Harrison. Following the TD, Oregon converted a 2-point conversion, making the score 11-7.
Things already looked bad, but they got far worse quickly after the bad coaching really started to show. Carlos Brown came in the game with a cast still on his hand as a sub for Mike Hart. You could hear people in the crowd saying to not give him the ball due to the cast. The coaches didn't get that memo, as Brown took the hand off and fumbled, giving Oregon the ball and ending another promising drive.
Luckily for U-M, the defense was able to hold Oregon after they started moving the ball. The Ducks attempted a field goal but the kick was no good. Michigan again moved the ball themselves, but had another bad finish to the drive. On 3rd and 10 at the Oregon 17, Chad Henne dropped back to pass and was sacked for a loss of 8. That ended up putting Michigan just out of range for a field goal, as Jason Gingell attempted a kick and it bounced off the upright.
This is right about when the run away started. Oregon got into the endzone on this drive via a 2-yard TD run by Jonathan Stewart. To get that far down the field, Oregon mainly used a running attack of Stewart, QB Dennis Dixon, and another running back, Jeremiah Johnson.
With the deficit now at 11, Michigan had to get going, especially with the defense barely hanging on by a thread. Yet again, Michigan drove down the field into Oregon territory, and as we had already seen once before, Chad Henne took a sack on 3rd down. This time it eliminated the chance to even kick a field goal, but Michigan took a delay of game on fourth down to make sure of that. From the 39-yard line, Zoltan Mesko punted the ball out of the endzone for a touchback, meaning U-M netted 19 yards on the punt.
Oregon gets the ball back and you know the drill. The Ducks moved down the field and capped this drive off with a fake Statue of Liberty (Oregon did the actual play earlier in the game). Dixon ran untouched into the endzone for a 9-yard score. The play itself completely fooled the Michigan defense, who all went after the running back. 25-7 was the score now, and although it looked bad, Michigan wasn't out of it just yet.
They would be very soon, though. Chad Henne threw 3 consecutive incompletions and Michigan had to punt again. Oregon wasted no time and on only one play scored again. This TD was another long pass, this time to Derrick Jones from 61 yards out. With Oregon ahead 32-7, things were bleak for obvious reasons. Somehow, though, things still managed to get worse.
Trying to get a score prior to the end of the half, Michigan again drove down into Oregon territory as they had done so many times before. Just as usual, the Wolverines couldn't find the endzone. Before giving the ball away on an incomplete pass on 4th down, Chad Henne suffered an injury. He ran out of bounds to avoid a big hit while scrambling (if you can even call it that) and hurt his leg. At the time it didn't appear to be too serious since he stayed in the game to finish the drive, but he never returned. If it weren't for an equipment problem, Ryan Mallett would've entered the game, but Henne just stayed out there instead.
At the half, Oregon led 32-7 and the fans were sick of it. Boos rained down on the team and the only cheers were for Ryan Mallett. Some decided to get out of the stadium at the half and the ones that stuck around had a disgusted look on their faces for good reason.
To start the second half, the Michigan defense got a stop and forced a punt. Oregon actually took a timeout before the punt, and the joke was that they were confused since a punt wasn't something they had to do against Michigan. Either way, Michigan got the ball back and the Ryan Mallett era began. It didn't go well as Michigan went three and out, but that was expected since Mallett was just thrown into the game so suddenly.
After another stop on defense, Michigan got the ball back and turned it back over. The turnover was an interception, but I really don't think you can blame Mallett for it. He threw a laser to Mario Manningham and it deflected off his hands to an Oregon player. The Ducks couldn't convert the turnover into points as they fumbled the ball away inside the Michigan 10-yard line, giving the Maize and Blue a much-needed break.
Following a punt, Oregon scored again on a long pass play. Dennis Dixon hit Jaison Williams from 46 yards out for the TD to put the Ducks ahead 39-7. At this point, I had enough. I left the game and haven't had a chance to watch what happened afterwards, but nothing else did go on regarding the score. Just looking through the play-by-play of this game, Oregon could have scored into the 50's if they wanted. The Ducks definitely took their foot off the throttle and still almost won by even more than they did. A goal line stand by U-M and a missed field goal by Oregon kept things at 39-7 when the game ended.
I really don't even know what to say. It was an all around pathetic effort put forth by the entire team. The coaches continued to look clueless as Oregon blew by Michigan. On offense, the lack of being able to close prevented U-M from scoring. Michigan gained over 300 yards at the half and got past the 50-yard line a countless number of times, but only had 7 points to show for it. On defense, well, they looked like a J.V. high school team. Oregon had their way with Michigan. Dennis Dixon could do whatever he wanted. Run or pass, the Ducks completely dominated the defense in every aspect. Plus, the lack of tackling really didn't help either. Just listen to what running back Jonathan Stewart had to say afterwards:
"They looked slow," Stewart said. "They were a big group of guys. At the same time, they were getting moved around."And I'll finish this with Oregon coach Mike Bellotti:
"We didn't take advantage of everything, in all honesty," said Mike Bellotti, Oregon's head coach. "We could have got on them worse."As hard as that sounds considering Oregon racked up 624 total yards and 39 points, it's true. This game could've easily been a 40+ point blowout rather than only 32.
I'll have much more on this game and everything else tomorrow and throughout the week. The question I put forth until then is could this year's Michigan-Notre Dame game be one of the ugliest ever? 0-2 vs. 0-2 and Jimmy Clausen vs. Ryan Mallett? Who would've ever imagined that?
Los Angeles, CA
Worcester, MA
August 30, 2008
September 6, 2008
September 13, 2008
September 27, 2008
October 4, 2008
October 11, 2008
October 18, 2008
October 25, 2008
November 1, 2008
November 8, 2008
November 15, 2008
November 22, 2008
Princeton, NJ
Ann Arbor, MI
6 comments:
Regarding Stewart's comments of UM being slow: defensive players can look slow if they don't know what they are supposed to be doing. If they are thinking too much and not reacting fast enough, they will look slower.
That is a sign of bad coaching or players who cannot grasp their defensive system. (I am being politically correct about the IQ of the defense.) That was an issue with Herman, imo. His defense was only good when there was NFL talent like Woodson who could understand his complex system.
The truely sad part is, that the kids in this program are really good and they've played their hearts out the past two weeks. In their minds, it's not supposed to be this way. Unfortunately it is this way, and it's all about poor leadership.
Lloyd Carr is a nice classy guy but he has slipped badly. In spite of his statistics, he was never a great coach. If he was coaching a small or mid-major program his record would be mediocre at best.
Also keep in mind that Michigan is currently on a FOUR game losing streak, i.e., OSU, USC, ASU and Oregon. That is no mistake. Each team stated basically the same thing in preparing for the Michigan game, they saw the same patterns of play and they've taken advantage. The Michigan coaching staff is no longer capable of policing their own tendencies. You can be out played by anyone if they know what you're going to do on the field.
What do you think BO would have done with this current group of players? You could bet that he would have gotten the best from them while demanding excellence on the field. The problem is, Lloyd Carr is too much of a nice guy, he is too classy. He doesn't get into the players corn flakes and shake them up. His players are undisciplined on and off the field. He has lost control and now it is more obvious.
He is also not an interesting interview, and he always plays it safe in his inteviews and on the field.
Interestingly enough Carr has a national title and BO does not. However, somehow I wish Carr had some of BO's guts and courage. Because BO would have NEVER let this program get to this point. He's never had a four game losing streak, and you always felt that his teams always had at least an outside shot at a title.
This week, Michigan and Notre Dame will meet each other for the first time ever with each having an 0-2 record at the same time. That is just poor coaching on both sides. I know Carr is trying to stick it out and hoping to turn it around, however, if you don't have the answers, then have someone else take over who has a clue.
I know Joe-PA at PSU had a couple of bad years, however, Joe has an overall coaching legacy that Lloyd Carr cannot match. Joe deserved a second chance, and he made the best of it, Carr will never be the institution that Joe has become.
Michigan needs to plan on a coaching change.
When the opposing coach said, that they weren't really tested and that they STILL don't know what kind of team that they have after they've played Michigan, that is an indictment of the Michigan coaching staff.
Here is Lloyd Carr's peer saying this, not the media. Mike Bellotti said, that they could have run the score up a lot more, and Michigan was no test for us. That says it all.
It is a much deserved slap in the face to the Michigan coaching staff. This team was not prepared to play this season at all. Any self respecting program would make the change now. Carr and company should try to stop the bleeding now, and leave. But they won't... because of the pay check.
The longer Bill Martin lets this go on, it will reflect on his legacy as well. We know Michigan doesn't make changes in the middle of the season, but considering this is a first already on a number of fronts, then why not make this a first and change staff?
Ron English and I deserve the blame for 0-2. http://conqueringheroes.blogspot.com
anonyouseseses, i understand your frustrations well. i was a senior at UM when they won the national championship and they've fallen hard since then (this season, at least). however, to fire the coach and/or staff is an unwarranted and undeserved slap in the face to both coaches and players. let the players, particularly the seniors, go out with the coach they committed to play for. let the coach who won a national championship go out on his own terms.
fortunately, bill martin will show a little more class and restraint than you advocate. there is no doubt that they are already putting together a list of candidates that they will contact as soon as they believe is reasonable.
Well Andrew, we all know that Bill Martin will not fire Carr and company especially during the middle of a season, because Michigan doesn't operate that way.
However, that is a poor way to operate a business when you are looking at potentially the death of a program or business. That is why many corporations would cut their losses and try to salvage what they can to turn around a bad situation. Michigan football is big business and to present a losing business to the Michigan fan base can "potentially" cripple or kill the program.
I strongly believe Carr and company should show some "Class" and resign, but we know that they will not for a number of reason, however, to have them stay just so that the players can go out with their coaches is...sentimental, and not good for business.
Plus, the committment of the players is to the school and not to the coach (albeit we know better). In a perfect world everyone should save face and there would be no losers.
Post a Comment