Tag: Fitzgerald Toussaint

Running Back Preview: Michigan vs. Virginia Tech

David Wilson

MICHIGAN
Starter: Redshirt sophomore Fitzgerald Toussaint began the season alternating with junior Vincent Smith, but Toussaint quickly took the lead in the race to be the lead back.  Toussaint finished the season with 174 carries for 1,011 yards (5.8 yards per carry) and 9 touchdowns.  Toussaint has the toughness to break tackles, the stop-and-go moves to make people miss, and enough speed to be a breakaway threat.  Sophomore fullback Stephen Hopkins has carried 11 times for 43 yards (3.9 yards per carry).
Backups: Smith is the third down and change-of-pace back.  He rushed the ball 49 times for 296 yards (6.0 yards per carry) and 2 touchdowns.  Despite being only 5’6″ and 172 lbs., he’s the superior blocker.  Smith has also caught 10 passes for 142 yards and 2 touchdowns.  Senior Michael Shaw is the next guy in; he finished the regular season with 31 carries for 199 yards (6.4 yards per carry) and 3 touchdowns.

VIRGINIA TECH
Starter: Junior David Wilson has started all 13 games and finished the season with 266 carries for 1,627 yards (6.0 yards per carry) and 9 touchdowns.  Wilson has also caught 21 passes for 126 yards (6.0 yards per catch) and 1 touchdown.  Redshirt junior fullback Joey Phillips has 3 carries for 2 yards on the season with zero touchdowns; he has yet to catch a pass.
Backups: Fifth year senior Josh Oglesby has 90 carries for 336 yards (3.7 yards per carry) and 6 touchdowns.  Redshirt sophomore Tony Gregory has the next most carries with 16 for just 27 yards (1.7 yards per carry).

THE TAKEAWAY
Wilson is the more accomplished back.  He leads Toussaint in yardage and yards per carry.  Wilson has at least one explosive play (20+ yards) in 10 out of his 13 games, and his only sub-80-yard rushing effort of the season came against Clemson in the ACC Championship.  Toussaint is also less effective and almost non-existent in the passing game (5 catches, 14 yards, 1 touchdown) than Wilson.  Fortunately for Michigan the Wolverines have significantly more depth at the position with two backups who have starting experience and a fullback who can run a little bit, too.  If there’s an injury to either running back, Michigan is more able to withstand the blow.

Running back play is largely dependent on the offensive line (which we’ll discuss another day), but this is a near wash when both teams are at full strength.  Wilson is not only the First Team All-ACC running back, but has also been voted the conference’s top overall player and was recently voted to the All-America team.  Toussaint would very likely have been All-Big Ten if not for the early-season platoon and missing one game due to injury.  With a superior fullback and experienced, potentially explosive backups, I have to give the advantage to . . .
Advantage: Michigan

Michigan 40, Ohio State 34

Denard Robinson made people look silly on this 41-yard touchdown run. (image via CBS)

This was Denard’s best game.  Ever.  I take back all the negative things I ever said about Denard Robinson.  He’s spectacular.  I want to have his children.  In all seriousness, though, the guy was 14-for-17 for 167 yards and 3 touchdowns with zero interceptions; he also carried the ball 26 times for 170 yards and 2 touchdowns.  The only flaw in his game was the fumble (put the ball in your outside hand!), but he made throws in this game that he hasn’t made consistently in his entire career – his 28-yard pass to Drew Dileo was thrown perfectly.  That was a great way to cap the regular season.

The replay official was Woody Hayes, Jr.  There was no way in hell that Fitzgerald Toussaint’s touchdown run late in the fourth quarter should have been reversed.  It was called a touchdown on the field and, at worst, there was no good angle to reverse the call.  Officials are supposed to have “indisputable evidence” to overturn calls, and if it takes 10 minutes to review the play, then it’s obviously disputable.  That’s not the fault of the officials on the field – it’s the anonymous guy in the booth.  That guy needs to be reprimanded by the league.  Anyway, that play would have put Michigan up by 9 points (presumably 10 after the extra point) with about two minutes remaining, and Ohio State only had one timeout left.  It would have taken a miracle for OSU to score 10+ points in under two minutes; all it would have taken is a little bit of luck for them to overcome the six-point deficit that resulted.  Luckily, Courtney Avery saved the day.

What happened to Michigan’s defense?  I absolutely did not expect Ohio State to have that much success offensively.  I figured Braxton Miller would get a good chunk of yards by scrambling or on designed runs, and he did (16 carries, 100 yards, 1 touchdown).  Michigan shut down running back Dan Herron (15 carries, 37 yards, 1 touchdown).  But there were wide open receivers running all over the place, and Miller actually hit some of them nicely.  I can’t even just pick on one guy – Blake Countess, J.T. Floyd, Thomas Gordon, Jordan Kovacs, and Troy Woolfolk all got beat on deep passes.  Miller finished with 14 completions in 25 attempts for 2 touchdowns and just the 1 interception at the end of the game.  I was high on Miller when Rich Rodriguez was recruiting him out of Wayne High School in Huber Heights, OH, and he’s going to be tough to deal with for the next few seasons.

The game experience was awesome.  It was great weather for being the end of November.  The tailgaters and frat houses were partying hard.  (Thanks to the tailgaters who let me join them, by the way.)  I only saw one classless encounter between a Michigan fan and an Ohio State fan, and both of them were drunk and stumbling.  The only downer the entire day was that the Union hockey team was sitting near me and kept complaining that people in front of them were standing.  Usually “down in front!” is reserved for old people, but these 19- to 22-year-old kids were trying to rest their legs for this afternoon’s game against the Wolverines, I guess.

Fitzgerald Toussaint made dudes look silly.  If you are one-on-one with Toussaint in open space, you might as well lay down and take a nap.  He had 20 carries for 120 yards and 1 nullified touchdown, and that was a pretty solid defense he was up against.  Between Robinson and Toussaint, Michigan had 46 carries for 290 yards.  Yowzers.

Ten wins.  I expected the offense to be pretty good, and they’ve put some points on the board.  I expected the defense to be solid but unspectacular, and they’ve been on the verge of spectacular.  Aside from giving up 34 points to a mediocre Ohio State offense, the defense has been awesome this year.  I did not expect Michigan to end up with ten wins on the season, and they still have a chance for an eleventh.  The coaches and the players have done an excellent job overall and have played with a lot of hustle and intensity.  It’s been a great season, and Michigan seems to be on the upswing after a few down years.

Go Blue!

Michigan vs. Nebraska Awards

Jeremy Gallon hauls in a touchdown pass (image via Rivals)

Let’s see more of this guy on offense . . . Jeremy Gallon/Martavious Odoms.  Gallon isn’t exactly DeSean Jackson with the football in his hands, but he sure does have a way of gaining extra yards in the open field.  Whenever he catches the ball, I expect at least a couple people to miss tackles.  Odoms, on the other hand, just plays with a reckless energy that I’m going to miss next year.  He’s finally getting some more time, and it’s nice to see him playing more as he finishes out his career.  His 38-yard touchdown reception was a dagger.

Let’s see less of this guy on offense . . . Michael Shaw.  Shaw has the speed to get outside, but Michigan has had a hard time sealing the edge this season.  Shaw is more of a straight-ahead runner, and I don’t think he’s being used properly right now, because he doesn’t have great vision.  I was in support of playing him more early in the season, but as Al Borges seems to go away from the I-formation as the season wears on, Shaw’s talents are a bit superfluous.

Let’s see more of this guy on defense . . . nobody.  The defense is operating at a high level right now.  There’s no need to mess with success.

Let’s see less of this guy on defense . . . nobody.  See above.

Play of the game . . . Terrence Robinson’s forced fumble on the opening kick of the second half, which was recovered by Courtney Avery.  Robinson has barely played on offense this season, but he has made his presence his known on special teams.  With Michigan clinging to a 17-10 lead coming out of halftime, this particular play must have made Nebraska thing that it just wasn’t their day.  The offense scored a touchdown to make it 24-10 and the game was essentially over.

MVP of the game . . . Fitzgerald Toussaint.  Toussaint had 29 carries for 138 yards and 2 touchdowns.  On a day when the offensive line struggled to create holes in the running game, Toussaint made positive plays on snaps that looked to be doomed.  I often talk about explosive plays in the running game, and Toussaint now has at least one 20+ yard rush in 6 out of 13 career games, including his 31-yard touchdown against the Cornhuskers.  Toussaint now has 891 yards and 9 touchdowns on the season.

Michigan 45, Nebraska 17

“Your chances of tackling me are slim.” – Fitzgerald Toussaint (image via MGoBlue.com)

Thank goodness for Fitzgerald Toussaint.  Michigan’s offensive line didn’t really run block worth a damn, but Toussaint consistently created a few yards – or more – out of absolutely nothing.  Chris Spielman said the words “Barry Sanders” in reference to Toussaint.  Don’t get me wrong – Chris Spielman is kind of a moron – but he might know a thing or two about Barry Sanders.  Sanders was the best running back in the history of football, in my opinion, and Toussaint does have a similar ability to stop and start suddenly.  Channeling my inner Fred Jackson, Toussaint has the cutting ability and mindset of Mike Hart . . . but he’s faster.  I love the way he’s running the ball.

Nebraska looked awful.  Part of the reason the Cornhuskers looked awful on offense and special teams was due to Michigan’s improved defense, but for the most part, they just didn’t play very well.  Taylor Martinez throws like a girl and is careless with the football.  Their kick returners couldn’t hold onto the football.  Seriously, two fumbled kickoff returns in the same game?  It looked like Nebraska had their returners study film of Boubacar Cissoko and Martavious Odoms circa 2008.  And it might have been an entirely different game if anyone but Nebraska’s defensive tackles could catch the ball, because the receivers dropped several passes and so did their defensive backs.

Obligatory discussion of Denard Robinson.  This might have been Denard Robinson’s most complete game of the year, and yet . . . it still left me wanting.  Robinson is more effective running the offense out of a spread look, and it’s about time Al Borges relies mostly on the spread and only a little on his pro-style offense.  Robinson ran the ball a little better and seemed to be more  decisive, but he’s still not hitting the holes as quickly as he should.  Altogether, Robinson probably left 30 or 40 yards on the field because he was trying to get out of bounds, he was tentative, etc.  As far as passing the ball goes, it was all or nothing once again.  He threw some nice passes (an out route to Hemingway, a post to Odoms for a TD, a crossing route to Gallon for a TD) and he threw a bunch of questionable ones, too (the interception to defensive tackle Terrence Moore, a post to Roy Roundtree into double coverage that was dropped by Stafford, a bomb to Roundtree that was played horribly by Dennard and should have been picked, a crossing route to Kelvin Grady that should have been picked, etc.).  He finished with 23 carries for 83 yards and 1 touchdown, which is too many carries for such little return; he also finished 11-for-18 for 180 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception.  Also, I really wish Robinson would learn how to pitch  the ball on the option.  Seriously, dude.  Pitch it.  I don’t think you’ve pitched it once all year.

Obligatory discussion of J.T. Floyd.  Nebraska’s one huge play was a 54-yard touchdown bomb to Brandon Kinnie, who torched Floyd so badly that all Floyd could do was grab onto Kinnie and hope for a pass interference flag.  Prior to that play, Kinnie had 19 catches for 192 yards and 0 touchdowns on the season.

William Campbell wheeeeeeeee!  It was pretty awesome to see him hustle downfield on a Taylor Martinez run and then turn Martinez into roadkill.  Campbell had a sack on Martinez, too.  Mike Martin is certainly a more disruptive force on the interior and will be missed next year, but Campbell has things going in the right direction with this coaching staff.

The commentators sucked.  I really, really hate when Chris Spielman does Michigan games.  Any commentator who openly talks trash about one of the teams on the field should be banned from commenting on the game.  I tuned in to the game to enjoy Michigan football, not hear a former Buckeye repeatedly mention how long it’s been since the Wolverines beat his alma mater.  I actually like Urban Meyer’s offensive philosophy and coaching decisions; he’s oodles smarter than Spielman.  However, I thought he showed some ignorance when discussing Denard Robinson’s strengths and weaknesses.  Especially early in the game, Meyer was touting Robinson as being excellent at the zone read play.  Robinson makes more bad reads in the option game than good ones.  Last season it looked like Robinson didn’t even have the option most of the time – it seemed as if there were predetermined playcalls for whether he would hand off or keep the ball.  This year it looks like Al Borges has given Robinson more freedom to pull or keep the ball, but Robinson frequently makes the wrong choice.  I agree with Meyer that the quarterback power run bogs down the offense at times, but that’s mainly because Borges and Robinson do a poor job of disguising the play.

I did not expect a 45-17 victory.  That was kind of embarrassing for Nebraska and a pleasant surprise for Michigan fans.  If Michigan’s offense were clicking on all cylinders (i.e. if the offensive line could get a push), it could have easily been 59-17.  And Nebraska got a little bit lucky that Jeremy Gallon didn’t field that long punt at the end of the third quarter.  Gallon could have grabbed it on the bounce but chose to let it die at the 4-yard line.  That somewhat limited Borges’s playcalling and Michigan went three-and-out, giving Nebraska a chance to punch it in for their 17th point.  I’m not even being a homer when I say that blowout score of 45-17 was closer than the game actually was.  Michigan held onto the ball for over 41 minutes, while Nebraska had the ball for just over 18 minutes.  The Cornhuskers were just 3-for-13 on third down conversions and 0-for-2 on fourth down attempts.

Michigan vs. Illinois Awards

Ryan Van Bergen (#53) was a force to be reckoned with all night. (image via MGoBlue.com)

Let’s see more of this guy on offense . . . Martavious Odoms.  Odoms was struggling to see the field earlier in the year, partly because he was recovering from a broken bone in his forearm.  It was frustrating to see a key player from the past few seasons end his career by barely seeing the field.  Luckily, that trend appears to be ending.  He got what seemed to be the most playing time of the season against the Illini, when he had 2 receptions for 46 yards, including a 27-yard touchdown reception from Devin Gardner to go up 24-7.  Odoms was also wide open in the endzone early in the game, but Denard Robinson overthrew him.

Let’s see less of this guy on offense . . . umm . . . Denard Robinson at quarterback.  Bring on the anger.  Robinson has clearly regressed this season, and I’m not going to blame it entirely on offensive coordinator Al Borges.  Borges hasn’t made the same playcalls that allowed Robinson to put up good numbers last season, but much of that is on Robinson’s shoulders, too.  He was unable to hit wide open receivers early in the year, and his inability to hit the deep ball has been extremely maddening.  I described Robinson last year as “wildly accurate” because of his throws that would be catchable but wouldn’t allow receivers to run after the catch.  There was another fine example on Saturday evening when Robinson hit tight end Kevin Koger down the left sideline, and Koger was so wide open that he had time to stop, catch the ball, get started again . . . and get dragged down at the 2-yard line.  If that’s even a decent throw, it’s an easy touchdown.  Devin Gardner at least deserves a prolonged look if Robinson isn’t getting it done, because Robinson is turnover-prone and his rushing has been disappointing for the last several weeks.

Let’s see more of this guy on defense . . . Thomas Gordon.  Gordon has been a turnover machine with 1 interception, 4 fumble recoveries, and 2 forced fumbles on the season.  He’s also the team’s second-leading tackler, despite coming off the bench for the past two games.  Meanwhile, senior Troy Woolfolk has been inserted at safety despite clearly being unhealthy; Woolfolk has yet to create a turnover in his career.

Let’s see less of this guy on defense . . . Troy Woolfolk.  This is obvious, considering the above paragraph.  Woolfolk is hurting the team by playing such significant minutes.  I wish he would have been allowed to get healthier earlier in the season, but he wasn’t.  It’s pretty apparent that he won’t be healthy during the regular season, although hopefully he can get his body right by the bowl game.

Play of the game . . . Jordan Kovacs’ forced fumble and Gordon’s recovery.  Illinois had just stopped Michigan on the goal line and had some emotional momentum.  Running back Jason Ford popped free for 8 yards up the middle when Kovacs put his facemask on the ball, which fell to the ground while Gordon jumped on it.  If it hadn’t been obvious previously, it seemed to me right there that this day just wasn’t going to go well for the Illini.

MVP of the game . . . Ryan Van Bergen.  The defensive tackle/end had 7 tackles, 3 tackles for loss (for 28 yards), and 2.5 sacks.  Mike Martin (9 tackles, 1/2 a sack) would be a decent choice, and so would Fitzgerald Toussaint (27 carries, 192 yards, 1 touchdown).  But on a night when Illinois couldn’t do anything consistently on defense, in large part because quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase was under pressure, I have to give it to the guy who took him to the ground a few times.