If Michigan had a bad defense or even an average defense they would be in these games. They have an awful defense that is lined with true freshman doing the best they can against a very well balanced offense, where the QB only missed a couple of throws all day. Mix that accuracy in with a power running game and you have yourself a huge miss match.
7-5 is Michigan's record this year heading into the Bowl Game. You could see it in the eyes of RR after the game in his press conference that this year is really wearing on him. A defense that has only stopped UConn and Purdue and a list of injuries that would make your head spin. So you think the Wolverines are going to be able to be competitive in C-Bus next week with these potential players either out or coming back from injury: Lewan, Roh, Stonum, Martin, Gallon, not to mention the guys that are already out for the year?
We all sort of expected 7-5 at the beginning of the year and this team delivered just that. 7-5 = a Bowl Game, 8-4 = a Bowl Game, 9-3 = a Bowl Game. So does it really matter?
Here are the things that concerned me watching the game at the Big House yesterday:
- RR continues to coach like he has a defense or kicking game. Which really confuses me. The play calling was way too predictable in the first half. Wisconsin was putting a safety in the box and basically letting Michigan's talented WR's be down field in single coverage and Michigan continued to run the ball or throw short slants with very little luck. I mentioned this early in the year: THIS TEAM CAN'T WASTE OFFENSIVE POSSESSIONS AND THINK THEY WILL WIN THE GAME. It's not possible. Michigan can't come from behind because the defense can't stop anyone. A field goal on 4th and 6? Really? I would rather have Denard running or throwing then kicking a field goal of any length. 3 doesn't help anyway because a Michigan defensive stop means the other team kicked a field goal. If Michigan is going to win games, they are going to be shoot outs.
- Coming out Flat: This is a huge problem. Ever since the Michigan State game, Michigan has come out flat in every big game. I'm not sure if it's practice, pre-game speech, the night before, warm ups, youth, but this needs to change. You can see it when they come out of the locker room that they are not ready to play. Which in turn equals, drop balls, interceptions, fumbles, and 3 and outs on offense. This is on RR and staff. This team was ready to play coming out against UConn and ND but ever since then this has been a huge issue. You can tell a lot about a team on how they run out of the tunnel.
- Defense - I'm getting a little tired hearing about the youth on defense. RR and Staff have been here 3 years now and they should have recruited many more defensive players if they saw this would be an issue two years ago. I agree that Carr didn't recruit defense like he should have in his last few years, but depth issues on defense now are clearly on RR. There should be a lot more sophomores or juniors playing and there just isn't. This team couldn't tackle at all yesterday. Does Greg Robinson make it to the Bowl Game? I'm not sure he should.
- Did Wisconsin beat Michigan once, twice or three times? Wisconsin man handled the Wolverines physically. Michigan can expect the same treatment next Saturday as well. The Wolverines are injured physically and mentally and I think they will have a hard time finding the motivation to pull an upset next weekend. These players haven't beat Ohio State and if they continue to come out of the locker room without any confidence, it will get real ugly early next weekend. I'm betting the Vest is having a discussion right now with his assistants, "should we have Pryor throw the ball at all? I think we could put 42 on them without ever putting the ball in the air." At this point, the Wolverines can look forward the 2 weeks of bowl practice, getting healthy and hopefully getting better.
