Surely, this is targeting.
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Let’s see more of this guy on offense . . . Jake Butt. Arguably your best player on offense should not end the game with 1 catch for 4 yards. He did make a “catch” that was ruled a catch by the nearest official, only to be overturned by a more distant official, and the “instant” replay came back without indisputable evidence enough to distinctly rule it a catch. But even then, Butt would have had just two catches. Michigan and Jake Rudock need to find more ways to get him the ball.
Hit the jump for more awards from Saturday’s game.
Let’s see less of this guy on offense . . . Karan Higdon. I agreed with Chris Spielman when he said to get Higdon out of the game. A kid like that playing in his second career game against Michigan State? That’s a bad place for such a youngster. He tripped over his own feet on one carry and ended the day with 2 carries for 3 yards. If the coaching staff wanted him ready for Michigan State, they should have started giving him carries against Oregon State to build his confidence and work out the butterflies. He has 10 carries for 19 yards against Michigan State and Northwestern.
Let’s see more of this guy on defense . . . Joe Bolden. I hope Michigan can avoid the targeting penalties that are plaguing the Wolverines so far this year. Bolden got ejected for being blocked into a sliding Connor Cook. Michigan was already without James Ross III for the first half, who somewhat legitimately targeted Northwestern’s Dan Vitale last week. And for some reason, nobody from Northwestern was ejected when Jake Rudock took not one, but two(!) hits to the head on a play similar to Cook’s last week. I’m sure there’s no conspiracy against Michigan – it’s just crappy officiating.
Let’s see less of this guy on defense . . . Willie Henry belly-flopping onto piles. Hint: Nobody’s going to miss the 304 lb. guy who throws his hands in the air and launches himself onto a pile of prone bodies. Especially when it’s the end of a third-down play, and your team just stopped your rival’s offense. That was stupid to the nth degree.
Play of the game . . . Jabrill Peppers’ 28-yard catch and run. It didn’t score a touchdown, but it did get Michigan close to the goal line, where fullback Sione Houma eventually punched it in. There aren’t a ton of options for Michigan, since offensive big plays were hard to come by and the Wolverines didn’t force any turnovers. The goodness of the play comes mostly in the hint at what could come in the future.
Player of the game . . . Jourdan Lewis. There are a few guys I could probably pick here, including Houma (2 touchdowns), Henry (3 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, 1 pass breakup), and Peppers (2 catches for 35 yards, plus some nice returns of punts and kickoffs). Even punter Blake O’Neill could have had a case except for, you know, that thing. But without Lewis on Michigan’s side, I don’t think this game would have been close. He still allowed Cook to throw Aaron Burbridge the ball 9 times for 132 yards, but that combination probably goes for 200 yards with any of Michigan’s other defensive backs shadowing him. Lewis himself had 6 pass breakups to go along with his 7 tackles.
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Yea the officiating was horrible..I’lll never understand why the Bolden play was even a penalty and him not being there actually affect the defense and we shit ourself in the foot I thought the play that gave them momentum was the fullback scoring cause that got them right back in the game…n rudock not being able to hit a wr 30 yards down field once we get a competent qb I think we’ll start dominating the big 10 and I’m pretty sure morris can make those those rudock horrible and we played scared that game while msu kept coming….to win a football game you need offense defense and special teams which msu didn’t have the latter and still won I’ve never seen a special team that bad and they still winning games….next year I wouldn’t mind seeing peter taking over rather than a game manager like rudock again.
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Has there been any feedback from the recruits in attendance?
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Lamar Jackson said Michigan leads. It seems to be a two-horse race between Georgia and Michigan for Isaac Nauta. It seems like David Long will stick with Stanford as long as he gets accepted, but if he doesn’t, Michigan would probably be his pick.
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Thunder,
What if UM had gone offsides or had an illegal formation penalty on any of the downs of the last possession?
Wouldn’t the clock start on the ready-for-play? That would’ve been game over?
Thanks!
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That’s a good question. The offended team (in that case, MSU) would have the choice to enforce the 10-second runoff. Obviously, MSU would decline the runoff, so the clock would not start until the ball was snapped. Just like most penalties, it’s one that can be declined by the other team.
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Even if the penalty is declined (thus no 10 second run-off) the play clock would start on the ready for play. Correct?
Unless the officials deemed that the offense incurred the penalty intentionally!
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Again, the offended team (MSU) would have the choice. Obviously, they would choose to have the clock start at the snap.
It’s a good idea if you want to skirt the intention of the rule, but it simply wouldn’t work in practice.
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Hopefully this performance will keep Lewis in school for one more year. I know Burbridge is decent but common on now he’s not Jerry Rice.
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Lewis held Burbridge well below his season YPC and catch rate and had 6 passes knocked away. MSU kept throwing it up to Burbridge because MIchigan was comfortable playing one of the best WR in the country one-on-one.
If this was basketball, Burbridge would be a volume shooter – an inefficient player who puts up impressive point totals only because he shoots a lot.
Also, Cook was delivering a lot of on-the-money passes. If one of the best QB-WR combos in the country gets one-on-one coverage and attempts to complete 18 passes, they are going to put up some yards even if Deon Sanders is the guy covering.
I don’t think Lewis diminished his draft stock much, if at all. He may have raised it actually.
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I do hope he stays in school but if anyone else on the team was sticking burbridge he would habe had at least 200 yds lewis was with him step by step hw never hit burn n keep in mind connor cook is a future top pick for a reason he put the ball in the right stop everytime where only burbridge was able to get it if anything this game continue to raise his stock.
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Another week, another recommended change to the RB carries. Starting to think Jim Harbaugh’s never gonna get it right.
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I have a good friend that coaches D2 football who has a theory on crappy officiating. He is of the opinion that the game has gotten faster than the officials can process it.
His solution is ….. of course ….. full time officials.
I watch these games and know for sure I couldn’t ref one, and agree that what I thought was a markedly faster game 10 years ago has caught another big time ramp up. While I hate to compromise the pittance in profits being brought into these schools via nationally televised sports, i’m inclined to agree with his solution.
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