Tag: Denard Robinson

Ohio State 21, Michigan 10

Brandon Graham was the best player on the field.

• Brandon Graham had a great game. He is perhaps the player from the senior class that I will miss most. He dominated his side of the line repeatedly, ending the game with a sack amongst 4 or 5 tackles for loss.
• I really thought Brandon Minor would play, but he was in street clothes. His inside running was missed in this game, as the running game was forced to play the third- and fourth-string running backs (Michael Shaw and Vincent Smith) with Carlos Brown also limited.
• Vincent Smith might be Michigan’s running back of the future. He doesn’t have the speed to be a game-breaker, but he gains yards consistently, runs tough for his size, and makes decisive cuts. I was wrong about him being unready to play this year.
• The defense played extremely well in this game. For the most part, Michigan didn’t allow the big play. They did allow the 29-yard TD by Brandon Saine, but OSU picked on walk-on DE Will Heininger on that play.
• J.T. Floyd got picked on and was beaten a couple times. Fortunately, OSU quarterback Terrelle Pryor was horribly inaccurate on the two deep balls he threw. I still maintain that Floyd’s future should be at safety, but I liked the move by the coaches to move Troy Woolfolk back to safety and re-insert Floyd at cornerback. It may not have helped Michigan significantly, but it certainly didn’t hurt.
• Speaking of Pryor, I’ve been thinking this all season but had no reason to mention OSU sooner – why does a 6’5″, 230 pound, speedy guy run like such a pansy? He runs through arm tackles, but anytime someone gets a chance to tackle him solidly, he wusses out. He either stops moving his feet and collapses into the fetal position, or he prances out of bounds. For example, when he scrambled early in the game and Steve Brown came up to pop him near the sideline, both players bounced off each other, Pryor gathered himself and had a chance to gain two more yards, and he . . . side-stepped out of bounds.
• Tate Forcier had a horrible game. Ohio State didn’t do anything too confusing defensively. Forcier just made bad reads and bad throws. And that fumble on the opening offensive series was inexcuseable. Not only did Forcier retreat into his own end zone, but then he didn’t tuck the ball away when he scrambled. He’s been lucky all year that his lack of ball security didn’t cost him more, but it showed up in the biggest game of the year.
• I liked the wrinkle where Denard Robinson started in the backfield, shifted to wide receiver, and ran a fly pattern. I did not like the facts that a) Forcier underthrew him and b) Denard was interfered with by the cornerback and it wasn’t called. Denard was clearly being pushed while the ball was in the air, and it wasn’t an instance where both players were jostling each other. That was a textbook interference call and the officials blew it.
• I did not like the modified pistol formation. Out of shotgun, Shaw lined up as the deep back with a fullback to either side of Forcier. It led the defense to the play each time, and Michigan didn’t show a play to complement it.
• Roy Roundtree looks like he might be the next Michigan wide receiver to wear the #1 jersey.
• For the love of all that is good, can Michigan please install the sprint counter draw? It worked against Michigan for the thousandth time over the last several years, where the shotgun QB takes the snap and rolls toward the running back, who pretends to block and then takes the handoff going in the opposite direction. Ohio State, Michigan State, Oregon, and Purdue have all torched Michigan with that play, and those are just the times I can think of off the top of my head. I have never seen Michigan run that play, but it works every time against us.
• I will miss Brandon Minor, Brandon Graham, Greg Mathews, Mark Ortmann, David Moosman, and Steve Brown. All of these players are good to great college players, and it’s disappointing that their careers coincided with such a huge reconstruction project for the program. They might have been here during a couple bad years, but they weren’t the reasons for these two losing seasons.
• Go Blue!

Does Michigan have a quarterback?

No.

As I was watching the game yesterday, this thought wandered into my head for the first time. Does Michigan have a starting quarterback for the future? After the first series against Penn State, on which Tate Forcier looked pretty good, everything went downhill.

Tate Forcier
Tate Forcier seems to be the quarterback of the future. He has started every game this year and leads the team in passing. So far he has thrown for 1,167 yards, 9 TDs, and 5 INTs while completing 55.3% of his passes. And in Rich Rodriguez’s read option offense, Forcier has 75 carries for 190 yards.

Forcier seems to have regressed this year. Either that or teams have figured out his weaknesses and are exploiting them. Early in the year, Forcier was picking apart man coverages, and it seems more teams are running confusing zone defenses to slow down Forcier’s read progression. On designed rollouts, opposing defensive ends and linebackers are taking better angles and hemming Forcier inside the pocket; while Michigan’s running backs are doing a good job as personal protectors, Forcier can’t get outside and run or find good throwing lanes like he did early in the year.

Forcier’s game management has also been somewhat lacking. He’s fumbled several snaps, albeit mostly ones from backup center David Moosman. Yesterday he clocked the ball on third down at the end of the first half when he had time to run a quick play and take a shot at the end zone. And before that play, he fell on a fumble and was very slow getting up off the ground. And in a hurry-up offense like Michigan’s, there’s no reason to take a delay of game penalty like Michigan did near its own goal line.

Denard Robinson
Denard Robinson is most Michigan fans’ second option. I have maintained since they were recruited that Forcier was the better of the two, but many fans claimed that Robinson would be a Pat White clone. And while that may end up being true, I guess – although I don’t think it will – Pat White redshirted as a freshman, so judging Robinson right now might be jumping the gun.

That being said, Denard Robinson sucks at playing quarterback right now. He’s not ready and I’ve said that all along. Subtracting the game against Delaware State from his stats (because, honestly, they shouldn’t count), Robinson’s passer efficiency rating is 37.11. Overall, he’s 10/21 for 172 yards, 2 TDs, and 4 INTs. He’s carried the ball 51 times for 293 yards.

Robinson doesn’t make good reads in the passing game. He doesn’t make good reads on the read option. He fumbles the ball too frequently as a runner. He’s inaccurate on deep balls. He throws the ball too hard on short throws. And other defenses know it, which means they load up against the run whenever he enters the game. So what would be 20- or 30-yard runs for a guy who’s also a passing threat have turned into 4- or 5-yard gains for Robinson.

Nick Sheridan
Sheridan is the dark horse in all this. He’s not fast and he doesn’t have a strong arm. He’s a former walk-on. He’s a redshirt junior and he might not be around next year.

However, Sheridan does know the offense. He’s not fast enough to be a real threat as a runner, but he’s fast enough to gain three or four yards if a defensive end crashes on the read option. His accuracy on short throws seems to have improved. We haven’t really seen him throw deep this year, but reports suggest that his arm is a bit stronger than it was.

His performance this year has been limited to a couple snaps against Western Michigan and nine passes against Delaware State, so that’s inconclusive. But for a team that’s struggling, Sheridan is an option to be considered.

VERDICT:
Tate Forcier should continue to start. His skills are better suited for this offense than anyone else’s. He has the most talent and the best arm. Right now, though, he’s not being used effectively. Rodriguez needs to lean on the running game, run some play action out of the I-formation, get the ball to Martavious Odoms on short throws, and keep Forcier out of harm’s way a little more. The strength of this team is its running backs; throwing the ball 32 times and running Forcier 14 times is putting too much pressure on Forcier.

Denard Robinson should get fewer snaps at quarterback. He should get occasional plays behind center and Rodriguez needs to find more creative ways to get him the ball. The coaches should start putting in packages where Robinson runs plays out of the slot or at running back; he may be a future quarterback, but that time isn’t now. You either have to remove him completely or put him in a position to succeed. You can’t keep throwing him out there in situations where he has proven he will fail (i.e. passing the ball on obvious throwing downs).

If Rodriguez decides to rest Forcier’s shoulder or if Forcier gets hurt more seriously, Sheridan should get the majority of the snaps. I know this probably isn’t a popular statement, but he’s a better quarterback right now than Robinson. He’s not going to win games by himself, but he can check into the right plays, handle the ball properly, and make the necessary reads. This team doesn’t need to throw the ball down the field to be successful, and that’s probably Sheridan’s biggest weakness.

Meanwhile, class of 2010 commitment Devin Gardner should be licking his chops. There have been rumors that he’s considering other schools (Florida, for example), but from everything I’ve heard, those rumors are untrue. On top of that, Forcier hasn’t fully convinced me that he’s ready to be the future quarterback, and Robinson hasn’t convinced me that he should even be playing quarterback. Unless Forcier’s consistency improves over the next five weeks or so, I’d expect Gardner to come in with a decent shot at earning some playing time next year.

Penn State 35, Michigan 10

Alex Smith expresses the sentiment of the day.

My thoughts on this game are incomplete. When Carlos Brown fumbled with about five minutes left in the third quarter, I headed out. Brandon Graham had just blocked a punt in Penn State’s territory, and even though I knew Michigan probably wouldn’t win (it was already 32-10), I thought Michigan might at least make it respectable.

Instead, I went to a charity cash party and gambled away money. Unfortunately, I was surrounded by Penn State fans.

Yesterday was an offensive abomination. I had issues with the playcalling and substitutions. Previously dependable players weren’t dependable. Starting center David Molk returned only to get injured and force somewhat incompetent backup center David Moosman into action as the snapper. Penalties. Poor quarterback reads. Fumbles. Interceptions. It seems like every team has an absolutely horrible game once per year, and hopefully this is Michigan’s final one this year.

Everyone and his mother knew the game was over when Michigan produced perhaps the worst offensive series of the year. Starting deep in Michigan’s own territory, the Wolverines ran the ball on first down and Mark Ortmann got called for holding. The ball was on Michigan’s 4-yard-line. Then Ortmann false started on (er, prior to) the next snap. Prior threw an incomplete pass on second down. Then Tate Forcier took a delay of game penalty, putting the ball on the 1. On third down, while Forcier was calling an audible and stepped to the side, David Moosman inexplicably snapped the ball out of the back of the end zone. Safety. The end.

Even though Michigan gave up 396 yards to Penn State, I really didn’t think Michigan played horribly on that side of the ball. For the most part, I thought the players did pretty well. Just like on offense, Michigan was outsmarted.

PSU was able to isolate subpar defensive players in pass coverage. Starting middle linebacker Obi Ezeh was twice exposed, once against running back Evan Royster and once against tight end Andrew Quarless. But he had no business being one-on-one with Royster, who was lined up all the way on the sideline. And in a Tampa Two scheme (in which the two safeties play halves while the MIKE covers the deep middle), both Jordan Kovacs and Mike Williams failed to react to Quarless running straight up the middle of the field; meanwhile, backup Quick Brandon Herron failed to chuck Quarless coming off the line of scrimmage.

Michigan’s cornerbacks also did a poor job of covering the wide receivers early in the game. They seemed to be trying to protect Michigan’s young, inexperienced safeties and bailing out a little too quickly. This left PSU’s receivers wide open on outs and hitches.

I’m depressing myself, so let’s finish up.

Offensive game ball goes to…uhhh…Brandon Minor? I don’t know. He led the team in rushing, scored a TD, and didn’t fumble. Sure. Let’s give it to him.

Defensive game ball goes to…Brandon Graham. He had 7 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, and half a sack. I wouldn’t even want to shake hands with that guy, as I would probably incur the most pain I’ve ever felt. Remember in the movie Speed how there were those big barrels of water on the highway to prevent stray cars from running into concrete barriers? Opposing quarterbacks would be wise to make their pads out of big barrels of water.

Let’s see less of this guy on offense…Denard Robinson. He’s not being used effectively, and that’s on Rodriguez. I hate to say it, but I really haven’t seen a single reason to believe that this guy should remain at quarterback for the remainder of his Michigan career. He’s a turnover waiting to happen, especially on passing downs. Disregarding the Delaware State game, six of Robinson’s 13 drives this year have ended in a turnover. Yesterday he was 0-for-2 with an interception and a fumble. He doesn’t make good reads in the passing or running game. And absent the threat of the pass, Robinson’s running abilities are becoming less and less effective. Rodriguez should use Robinson on occasional plays in the middle of drives or on two-QB plays at random times, but what’s happening right now isn’t working. So it needs to be changed.

Let’s see less of this guy on defense…Obi Ezeh. I’m not saying he should lose his job, but he’s not a three-down linebacker. I’d like to see defensive coordinator Greg Robinson start to mix in some 4-2-5 nickel packages. I like Michigan’s four-man front with Roh in there. On obvious passing downs, Coach Robinson should remove Ezeh in favor of a third cornerback. I think Boubacar Cissoko would be a good slot corner, so the back seven would consist of linebackers Mouton and Steve Brown; corners Donovan Warren, Troy Woolfolk, and Cissoko; and safeties Kovacs and Williams.

Picture via TheWolverine.com

Iowa 30, Michigan 28

Single wing QB Denard Robinson

Michigan 36, Indiana 33