San Diego State Preview

Time: 12:00
Location: Big House
TV: BTN
Weather: High of 66 and 70% chance of rain
Line: Michigan -10.5

Welcome to the Brady Bowl (Hoke not Tom).  Remember back in 2006 when Michigan was undefeated and they had a late scheduled game against Ball State. The game was November 5th right before Michigan headed on the road to face Indiana and the #1 vs #2 match up against Ohio State. Michigan struggled the entire game and won 34-26. That game went a long way in Brady Hoke getting his current gig.

Between Ball State (his Alma Mater) and Michigan (his dream job) he spent two years at SDSU. He turned that program around and won a bowl game with Aztecs last December. They have been able to continue that momentum under new head coach Rocky Long who was the DC under Coach Hoke with a 3-0 record. This is the best start SDSU has had in 30 years and will have plenty of "intangibles" to play for on Saturday when they met their former coaches team.

The Aztecs are similar to Michigan in the fact they roll up a lot of yards on offense and also give up a bunch of yards on defense. How many yards? 419 total yards to Washington State and 446 to Army.
On offense the two NFL worthy guys are QB Ryan Lindley and RB Ronnie Hillman. It will be both of their jobs to keep scoring up and Denard off the field.

Let's go to the Tale of the Tape:

Running Game: Push (Denard vs Ronnie)
Passing Game: Lindley
Defense Talent: Push
Defense Coaching: Mattison, Hoke and Borges (It was Al's offense he should know how to stop it)
Scouting Report Edge: Hoke and Borges
Intangibles:  SDSU (Our coach broke up with us via text)
Kick off Time: Michigan (it will be 9:00 AM on the West Coast)

This is the best game in the Big Ten this week and somehow ESPN/ABC looked past it.  SDSU likes to get out quickly and has scored at least 14 points in the first quarter the last 7 games.  Michigan has yet to score in quarter number 1 this year.   That could mean the Aztecs could get out to a quick lead and Michigan might be playing from behind again. 

If you haven't blocked out the Rich Rod years, you might remember the tenancy of his teams to get out and score early and then fade late.  The 2011 Wolverines seem just to be the opposite.

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

• SDSU sleep walks through the first half
• Michigan doesn't sleep walk through the first half
• Denard can find his wide receivers and tight ends
• 1 Michigan Running Back gets over 100 yards
• Hoke and Mattison come up with a secret formula to stop Hillman & Lindley
• TWolf is 100% healthy - No casts or limps

Think to yourself, Damn Hoke must be a good coach if they are doing this to us.........

• SDSU gets out to a two score lead in the first half
• They have formula to stop Denard
• Aztecs keep Michigan under 400 total yards
• The Michigan defense is dazed and confused
• Hillman over a 100 yards and Lindley over 300 passing

If I was a betting man, I would assume the SDSU kids want this game more then the Wolverines.   Brady Hoke was their coach and now he is on the Michigan sideline.   On the other hand, if there is anyone in the nation that could "read SDSU mail" it would be Coach Hoke and Big Al.   So I'm guessing that will even it self out during the game. 

This maybe the best offense the Michigan defense has seen but ND was pretty close.  I know San Diego State hasn't seen a Denard Robinson yet but he has struggled early in games by throwing picks and over throwing receivers.   Don't sleep on the Aztecs and it wasn't a joke when Coach Hoke wanted to buy out this contract.  He knows how good they are.  If you need something to reference when thinking about this game, think Notre Dame.    I see lots of points and not much defense.  If Michigan can continue to get turnovers on defense (while not giving them up on offense) that might be the difference.   Brady Old vs Brady New

Michigan 38 SDSU 28


GO BLUE!

Wolverine Wednesday: The Last 3 Plays

As you know, I have fun making fun of coach speak.  Press conferences are basically a waste of time for reporters to ask silly questions that we all know the answer to. 

Before the season:  How is Denard doing under center?  Big Al:  He is really making strides and a good athlete and QB.  He still has some learning to do but we will be ready for Western Michigan.

This week:  Do you think you have figured out the best way to use Denard?  "I think we know how to use him. We said we wanted him to carry the ball 15, 16, 17 times, but no promises. There may be games he carries it more, maybe less. But in terms of how we’re using him, I don’t have any reservations about that. That’s our issue now. We’ve only run like 80, 90 plays in two games. Our tailbacks would be getting more carries if we were getting more turns."

Basic stuff right?  What intrigues me, is the behind the curtain stuff, the information we don't get from practice.   One of those things came from Al's press conference yesterday regarding the last 3 plays:

Are last three plays the same three plays every game? “No, that changes every week, and it depends on how they defend you late in the game. That’s part of our film study is to see what kind of defense they have.”

So tie that into what Denard said after the game on ESPN; something to the effect that they had been working on the last 3 plays all summer.   Part of Big Al's offense game plan seems to be to script the final 3 plays each week and the 1st team offense practices those 3 plays over and over.  I found that interesting.

Other news was that Big Will and Hawthorne will get more playing time.  Hawthorne had a great Spring and Fall camps but turned his ankle before the Western game.  Greg Mattison said, Troy's ankle is fine (I don't believe it!).

In other Mash related news:  Fitz, Cam Gordon, Herron and Odoms all participated in practice on Tuesday.  None of the guys above played in the ND game and Gordon and Odoms haven't played yet this year.

Stonum who is red shirting this year has been running as the scout team WR. 

• David Brandon is letting the players keep the throw back jerseys they wore during the game.  He checked with compliance and got the OK.  Memo to Wolverines players, lets keep those off of eBay and Pawn Stars.

• It seems Michigan has added Akron to it's 2013 schedule.  Exciting stuff!

• Every time I write this recruit's name it makes me hungry:  Taco Charlton a 2013 DE recruit from Ohio got a Michigan offer last night.

• The Michigan line is -30 right now on Saturday.