Bowling Green Recap

After the embarrassing Umass debacle last week, Michigan came out ready to play form the get-go against Bowling Green.  The team looked much more focused and came out and stomped on an opponent with inferior talent.

Michigan scored the most points they’ve scored since the 1980’s and played much more aggressively on the defensive side of the ball on their way to a 65-21 victory.

Offense

The offense had an absolutely monstrous day for Michigan.  They racked up an astonishing 721 total yards (2^nd highest production in school history) including a whopping 466 yards on the ground. 

The offense got off to a fast start with Denard Robinson personally racking up 189 yards in just under 9 minutes of play!  If that doesn’t amaze you I am not sure what does! When Robinson went down on the sideline though, I think every Michigan fan collectively wondered if the magic had worn off.  However, Robinson’s momentary injury may have been a slight blessing in disguise as it allowed the coaching staff to show off their depth at the quarterback position and finally get the other QB’s some game reps.

Devin Gardner took over for Robinson and quickly led the offense downfield to make the score 21-0.  Gardner on subsequent possessions threw two gorgeous deep balls that should have been touchdowns but one was ultimately dropped and the other was called back to due to penalties.  Gardner showed impressive arm strength, but he looked slower in the run game than expected due to his indecisiveness.  Gardner did prove that he has all the tools that you would expect from a 5-star recruit and that he will simply need more time to grow into and get more comfortable with the offense before he can become a true star.

Tate Forcier relieved Gardner and provided flashes of the golden boy Michigan fans came to love in 2009.  Forcier set a school record by being the first quarterback to complete every single one of his passes with a minimum of 10 attempts.  With Forcier at the helm, the offense was very crisp and the tempo was excellent.  Forcier still lacks a very good deep ball, but he is much more decisive with his reads in the running and passing game and will more than likely be your #2 quarterback during Big Ten Season.

The running backs, aided by an amazing performance from the offensive line, were all able to get plenty of carries.  Mike Shaw and Vincent Smith both had solid, but not great, performances.  Hopkins, in his first action of the season, looked very solid in his role as the “big back”, but his untimely fumble likely cost him a few snaps in the coming weeks.  Fitz Touissant finally made his debut and it seemed to me despite his 2 carries for 66 yards that he is not fully healthy/in game shape at this point in time.  People need to realize that Touissant was a 100 meter champion in the state of Ohio as a senior and if he were truly healthy no chance he would have been caught from behind on his first carry as a Wolverine.

Roy Roundtree had another good day and the receivers overall got the job done minus the awful drop by Hemingway.  Taylor Lewan was your starter at left tackle and I legitimately think that in him we are seeing the next top 10 NFL draft pick that will be produced by the University of Michigan.

All in all, the offense showed that it has the ability to operate at a high level even without Denard in the game.  However, the extreme explosiveness that the offense has with Denard at the helm can not be matched by either Forcier or Gardner.  Robinson will return next week fully healthy and proceed to terrorize the Indiana defense.

Defense

Outside of a routine screen play that went the distance, the defense played much better as a whole this week.  They were extremely stout against the run only giving up 32 total yards on the ground.  Bowling Green, however, was able to amass 251 yards through the air.  The defense was much better in the second half only giving up 7 points and less than 120 total yards to the Falcon offense.

There were a few notable changes in the defensive scheme this week from the Michigan defense that I expect we will see more of with two more passing opponents next up on the slate. 

First off, Michigan used a nickel package that featured true freshman cornerback Courtney Avery as your nickel man.  Avery was extremely active and even was able to rack up a few pass break-ups to his credit.  Cullen Christian also saw extensive reps as the boundary corner in place of James Rogers.  Christian looks a bit slow at the corner spot right now and his lack of tackling ability make him a liability on the edge at this point for the defense.  Expect to see this nickel package almost exclusively next week against Indiana’s pass heavy offense.

Michigan also showed a 4-man rush in passing down situations that we’ve rarely seen at any time this season.  On obvious passing downs, Van Bergen was bumped inside to a defensive tackle spot and Roh was placed with his hand down on the edge.  This defensive alignment allowed for both Van Bergen and Mike Martin to stunt and get pressure up the middle while Roh and Banks provided adequate pressure from the outside.  This alignment resulted in much more pressure than we’ve seen from 3-man rushes in prior games.

Jonas Mouton played a much better game this week after his disastrous performance against UMass, but Obi Ezeh was rarely heard from over the course of the game.  Big Will Campbell got his first set of extensive reps and proceeded to show Michigan fans why he is not a viable option at defensive tackle quite yet.  Campbell did make some good plays on the field, but too frequently he was stood up early and allowed himself to be moved out of the play.

Mouton was also used more frequently as a blitzing option and had a lot of success getting to the quarterback in this game.  I am really hoping that this is something that Greg Robinson is going to implement more in next week’s game against Indiana.

Upshot

Michigan went out and took care of business and was able to dispatch an inferior opponent with relative ease.  The coaching staff was able to play a lot of their young players and this will pay dividends as we move through the season.

The defense was much more aggressive and showed decent improvement overall.  The defense does not have to be great for this team to win games; it just has to be good enough to let the offense out-score opponents.

After seeing Robinson, Gardner, and Forcier at the helm of the offense, I do not think that any school in the country has the depth/talent at the quarterback position that Michigan does.

Three Up:

1.     Tate Forcier – Finally got his shot to play and he went out and ran with it.  It was good to see him stick with things and perform well as we will surely need him at some point during the Big Ten season.

2.     Roy Roundtree – Another impressive game for Roundtree, the guy just always finds a way to get open.

3.     Offensive Line– Any time that you can rack up that many yards on the ground credit has to go out to the guys up front.  They also did a great job in pass protection for all three quarterbacks and were a huge factor in allowing the QB’s to go 26-29 on the day.

Three Down

1.     Jeremy Gallon – I know he had a decent day as a receiver but it is pretty clear that he is just not the answer for this team as the punt returner.  For other options, check out this week’s mailbag.

2.     Jordan Kovacs – It is painfully clear that Jordan Kovacs is a great tackler, but is a liability when in pass coverage.  Anytime he’s lined up over a tight end or a slot Michigan fans should just cover their eyes and cringe in fear.

3.     Will Campbell – Proved to the fan base that although he is definitely powerful, he still has a long way to go to produce at the level that Michigan will need him to in the coming years.