Game Recap: UCONN Sept. 4

Offensive Breakdown

This was the Rich Rodriguez offense that turned West Virginia into a college football powerhouse.  This was the offense that turned Pat White into a college football star.  In fact, Michigan might have seen the birth of their very own star with the performance that Denard Robinson put on in front of the largest crowd to ever watch a football game.

Multiple flyovers, a stadium tribute video featuring the voice of Keith Jackson, the awe-inspiring touching of the “Go Blue” banner by Brock Mealer, and a Michigan win would have given Michigan fans plenty to be happy about Saturday.  However, Robinson’s jaw-dropping performance left Michigan fans and national writers abuzz Saturday night.

Even two days after the fact, I am not entirely sure if Michigan fans know how truly remarkable Denard’s performance was for any quarterback, let alone a quarterback in his first college start against a quality opponent.

His final stats:

29 Carries, 197 Yards, 1 TD      

19-22, 186 Yards, 1 TD

383 total yards, 2 TD’s

That stat line belongs in NCAA or Madden - quarterbacks don’t put up those combined numbers in big time college football.  The running stats would be a great day for any featured back, but throw in the passing performance and we have the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week.  Denard showed impressive command of the zone read and repeatedly used his speed to get to the edge for big gains.  Even though he rarely threw down field, almost every pass he threw hit his receiver right in his hands.  Robinson will continue to see open receivers as he’s officially proven that he is at minimum the fastest man in the Big Ten.   The most impressive part of the passing game may have simply been watching Robinson calmly stand in the pocket and check his options rather than bolting the pocket as soon as his number one option was covered. 

29 Carries is too many for a quarterback, but how can you take the ball out of this guys hands when he is that lethal?

The offense’s biggest improvements in my eyes was the lack of negative yardage plays combined with much better ball security.  The lack of negative yardage plays put the offense into great third and short situations that they were able to convert 14-19 times over the course of the game.  The running backs, receivers, and offensive line were undoubtedly all solid, but Denard was the undisputed star of the show Saturday.

Defensive Breakdown

The defense held a veteran UCONN offense to just 10 points by playing bend but not break football.  Even though it was a better performance than I think most were expecting, I still left the game feeling very wary of our defense’s ability to stop a big time offense.

UCONN’s wide receivers dropped a lot of catchable passes that really could have kept the chains moving.  However, Craig Roh routinely getting in the back field to harass Frazer might have had something to do with some of the passes not exactly being right on the numbers.

Michigan’s defensive scheme was very conservative on Saturday.  3^rd and longs led to a lot of 3 man rush situations in order to protect a young secondary that the coaching staff didn’t want to see get exposed early. 

One player who stood out to me was Mike Martin.  The guy was everywhere and routinely taking on and beating two lineman at once.  It was great to see him healthy and being the disruptive force in the middle that we all know he can be.

The linebackers played decent football but a few times failed to fill the proper gaps and allowed the UCONN running game to pick up a few more easy yards than I would have liked.

The defense looked fundamentally improved from last year and I think we will continue to see them get better from week to week as our younger guys get more accustomed to the system.

Three Up:

1) Denard Robinson – Need I say more.

2)  J.T. Floyd – Was lockdown at the number 1 corner spot and forced a huge fumble to prevent UCONN from closing within one touchdown.

3) Craig Roh – Showed no signs of a sophomore slump with two tackles for a loss and putting routine pressure on Frazer all game.

Three Down:

1) Tate Forcier – Time to see what kind of character Tate truly has.  If Saturday’s actions were any indication, he will not wear the maize and blue next year.

2) Jeremy Gallon – Even though I still think Gallon can be an electric punt returner, this was not a confidence-inspiring debut with one muffed return and failure to catch another.

3) Cullen Christian – The true freshman got some snaps at the end and promptly missed two tackles.  Going to need him to play better against ND.