Tag: Vincent Smith

Ohio State 26, Michigan 21

Here’s some Kate Upton to make you feel better.

I told you so but I wish I didn’t.  Last week I railed against the usage of Denard Robinson, saying that using Denard so much last week a) set him up to get injured, b) might limit his effectiveness against OSU, and c) took away the element of surprise of using him in the backfield and at receiver.  People responded by saying that they were glad Michigan used him because it would give Urban Meyer trouble preparing for this week’s game.  How did that go for you?  Denard tweaked his elbow injury last week and didn’t throw even once this game.  Michigan also ran very few plays with Robinson and Devin Gardner on the field, running a very vanilla and predictable offense.  I guess all that stuff last week was just for fun.


WTF.  There’s really no excuse for the play calling in the second half, and that falls on both Brady Hoke and Al Borges.  People want to fire Al Borges, but the head coach has to step in and call shenanigans on the crappy play calling.  Now I’m not suggesting that either one get fired, but you can’t separate the two entities. As the head guy, Hoke is responsible for the calls that are made by his coordinators.  Michigan tried running the ball up the middle with Vincent Smith – which has been a terrible idea for years – and generally went into a shell on offense.  There was no element of surprise, and all the plays and counter plays that were opened up last week by Robinson’s utility were apparently erased from this week’s playbook.

Derrick Green, come on down.  Outside of Fitzgerald Toussaint, Michigan’s running backs are terrible.  Thomas Rawls has no vision, lacks speed, and isn’t as powerful as a short yardage back should be.  Vincent Smith is gone anyway, and while I always liked him as a third down-type back, plugging him in for short-yardage plays against OSU was a poor decision.  You simply cannot expect him to gain yardage when Michigan’s interior offensive line is this bad.  He did okay running outside on the inverted veer plays, but good grief, Borges has to put him in a position to be successful.  Even fullback Stephen Hopkins comes in for some criticism here, because he missed two key blocks and generally looked like he didn’t understand his job.  Michigan needs running backs in a bad way, and I don’t see game-breaking ability in either DeVeon Smith or Wyatt Shallman.  The coaches need to bring in a bunch of backs and let them improve through competition.

Play action bulls***. Here’s the part that perhaps irked me most about the play calling in the second half.  Borges kept calling play action passes when there was clearly no threat of running the ball.  That doesn’t work against teams who aren’t stupid, and the Buckeyes are a lot of things – cheaters, ugly, arrogant, etc. – but their defense is always well coached.  When Devin Gardner turns around to give play action fakes, he’s diverting his attention from the coverage and sometimes he’s limiting himself to throwing to half the field.  The linebackers and safeties weren’t biting on play action fakes to Vincent Smith because Smith gets tackled by a stiff breeze, so there’s no tactical advantage.  But again and again, Gardner wasted time by running around with his back to the defense and pretending like the Buckeyes gave a s*** about the 5’7″, 175 lb. running back.  Just drop Gardner straight back or roll him out.

Carlos Hyde played well.  I actually thought Michigan’s interior defense would hold Hyde down pretty well, but Michigan’s defensive ends and play calls seemed so concerned with Braxton Miller that they unclogged the middle a little bit.  Hyde got downhill and broke a few tackles, but there were several occasions where he got to the second and third levels without being touched.  Greg Mattison seemed to call more 4-3 Over defensive fronts than normal.

Freshman frustration.  I do not like seeing guys like James Ross and Joe Bolden out there in games like this.  It was somewhat inevitable, I guess, because of a lack of depth, but today is an example of why you need depth at linebacker.  Bolden in particular got out of position a couple times and allowed some key gains, and Ross got caught inside on a Braxton Miller run.  Both of those guys have high upsides, but freshmen are freshmen.  Next year the Wolverines should be able to go two-deep with experienced guys at every linebacker position, so we should see even more improvement in the linebacker group.

Mike Jones and Brandin Hawthorne exist in bad ways.  I was not a fan when Rich Rodriguez recruited Jones and Hawthorne, and they have worked their ways down the depth chart.  Jones incurred a 15-yard penalty for a late hit in this game, and Hawthorne has made similarly poor plays this season on special teams.  It’s not a coincidence that Ross and Bolden passed those guys for playing time.  Hawthorne will graduate after this season, and I would not be surprised to see redshirt junior Jones depart with a year of eligibility remaining.

This was Gardner’s worst game.  Gardner was visibly frustrated at a couple points, and it showed in his play.  Especially in the second half, it looked like he was trying to throw pinpoint passes instead if letting it fly.  He’s always had a slightly awkward throwing motion, but he just didn’t seem to be following through with his normal verve.  That’s somewhat understandable for a kid playing quarterback in such a big game for the first time, which is why it would have been helpful to have Robinson ready to throw the ball.  Robinson had his best quarterbacking performance against these Buckeyes last season, so limiting him to 10 touches seems like a bad idea.  Gardner finished 11/20 for 171 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception, and he took 4 sacks despite the absence of John Simon, OSU’s best defensive lineman.  There was nobody to take the pressure off of Gardner – Robinson out of the backfield, Toussaint, Borges – and thus it was left on his shoulders to try to make plays when there none to make.

The better team won.  I argued with people all week who said that Michigan was the better team but that the Wolverines played a tougher schedule.  The bottom line is that any of us would rather be 11-0 than 8-3 coming into the game, regardless of who was on the schedule.  The Buckeyes ran the ball well, threw the ball well, and played pretty solid defense except for a couple huge plays (Robinson’s 67-yard touchdown, Roundtree’s 75-yard TD reception).  The bottom line is that Michigan replaced David Molk, Mike Martin, and Ryan Van Bergen with Elliott Mealer, Quinton Washington, and Craig Roh, respectively, all of which are steps backward.  I fully believe that an influx of talent is coming with Hoke’s recruiting classes, but right now Michigan has a deficit that will take some time to fix.

Michigan 42, Iowa 17

Devin Gardner was responsible for 6 touchdowns on Saturday (image via AnnArbor.com)

Devin Gardner is awesome.  Prior to the game, I didn’t realize how terrible Iowa’s secondary is.  In the game preview, I predicted that Gardner would play his worst game as a quarterback.  That wasn’t close to being true.  The Hawkeyes blew coverages repeatedly, and Gardner completed 18/23 passes for 314 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 1 interception; he also ran 9 times for 37 yards and 3 touchdowns.  He makes some questionable passes at times, and frankly, he has been lucky several times.  Both Northwestern and Iowa have had defensive backs misjudge passes that have allowed for long completions to receivers Jeremy Gallon and Roy Roundtree; better defensive backs pick off or knock down some of these passes, but I’ll take it.

That Fitzgerald Toussaint injury hurts.  I didn’t see it on the initial play, but the replay was nasty.  Toussaint is obviously done for the year and I would be surprised if he returns in time for spring ball.  There were rumors that he was considering leaving for the NFL after this season, but combined with his mediocre performance thus far, that seems like it won’t be an option.  Hopefully he can return healthy next year, get back to his 2011 form, and raise his draft stock for 2014.  In the meantime, that hurts the Wolverines for the Ohio State game and beyond, because he was improving over the past couple weeks and the backup running backs are just so-so.

I do not like the usage of Denard Robinson.  Michigan could have won this game without playing Denard Robinson.  He’s obviously not fully healthy, and he tweaked his elbow injury in the second quarter.  The coaches obviously don’t trust him to throw the ball, and tweaking the injury probably means he won’t be able to throw against Ohio State, either.  Yes, it was fun to watch and it gives Ohio State some other formations and plays for which to prepare, but it also potentially cost the team Robinson’s throwing ability, however mediocre.  I don’t understand the need to unleash those plays and formations on Iowa if Michigan could have surprised the Buckeyes with those things next week.

James Ross, welcome to the Big Ten.  Ross got his first career start at WILL in place of Desmond Morgan, and he did a pretty good job.  There were a couple issues in pass coverage and he got pushed around when offensive linemen were able to latch onto him, but the kid led the team with 12 tackles  That’s a pretty good beginning, though he has played plenty throughout the year.  My expectation for next year is that Morgan will move to MIKE to make room for Ross to play WILL full-time.

Cover the tight end!  Iowa quarterback James Vandenberg didn’t really try the outside, but he did repeatedly attack the middle of the field by hitting tight ends.  I don’t blame him for attacking the middle of the field due to Ross’s inexperience, but Iowa has decent receivers and Michigan has so-so cornerbacks.  Tight end C.J. Fiedorowicz had 8 catches for 99 yards, and Coble Krieger had 3 catches for 24 yards and 1 touchdown.  It was a good day for those guys, but it’s tough to keep up a good scoring pace by dinking and dunking your way down the field with 5-yard passes to the tight ends.  Kevonte Martin-Manley was the only Iowa wideout to catch a pass, and he finished with 2 receptions for 7 yards.

Josh Furman isn’t a safety.  Let me mention once again how out of place Furman is at safety.  Furman is a good special teams player, but playing safety just isn’t his thing.  He entered the game late and failed to make a couple plays that were right there.  When he’s not attacking downhill, he’s lost.  The kid played rush linebacker in high school, and you just can’t move guys back in a defense and expect them to be successful.  You can move a kid from corner to safety or safety to linebacker or linebacker to defensive end or defensive end to defensive tackle, but you can’t go the other way.  If he can hold some additional weight, the coaches ought to bulk him up to play SAM.

Good for the seniors.  Twenty-three seniors played their final game at Michigan Stadium yesterday, and they were undefeated at home over the past two seasons.  It’s a pretty amazing turnaround, because these fifth-year guys were the first Rich Rodriguez class from 2008 that saw Michigan lose on their home turf to Toledo.  A bunch of guys got in the stat book in their final home game, including Steve Wilson and Floyd Simmons.  Jack Kennedy took the final snap.  And Vincent Smith caught a screen pass for a touchdown for old time’s sake.  Those who stay will be . . . undefeated at home.

Notre Dame 13, Michigan 6

This will not end well. (image via USA Today)

I wish I were wrong.  I pretty much had the lowest score prediction in the Michigan blogosphere, and even I didn’t expect the sloppy snoozefest that occurred on Saturday night.  I was criticized on my game preview for picking a 24-20 score because the offenses were powerful and the defenses weren’t.  Well . . . we saw what happened.  The defenses were okay, but the offenses aren’t where they should be for either school.  Notre Dame should be more explosive for offensive genius Brian Kelly, and Michigan should be better with a senior quarterback.  Brian at MGoBlog sort of criticized my understatement that this would be Denard’s worst game against Notre Dame, but I guess I wasn’t clear enough; the pressure up front was bound to make Denard jumpy.  I just expected more breakdowns in the defensive backfield.

Denard Robinson is a terrible (passing) quarterback.  He was, is, and probably always will be.  I have been saying this for years.  He’s capable of good games (Ohio State in 2011, for example), but that’s not the norm when he faces decent teams.  Over the past two seasons, he has 26 touchdowns and 23 interceptions. Last night he was 13/24 for 138 yards, 0 touchdowns, and 4 interceptions; he also fumbled twice and got sacked 3 times.  There’s no excuse for the poor decisions he makes, the poor footwork, the turnovers, and the inaccuracy.  Even his Hail Mary interception at the end of the first half was terrible because he overthrew every single dude on the team; you’re not trying to beat the opponent deep in that situation – you’re trying to complete the pass and get yards after the catch.  And all that stuff happened with Notre Dame missing starting safety Jamoris Slaughter and starting corner Lo Wood.

Vincent Smith and Al Borges d’oh.  Michigan was moving the ball really well at one point in the first quarter, and then Al Borges had to go ahead and call that play where Vincent Smith throws the ball to the other team.  That was a huge turning point in the game, because it seemed Michigan was on its way to scoring before that play.  Of course, Smith should know better than to throw it, but he’s a running back.  Hell, Michigan’s actual quarterback threw four picks of his own, so who’s to say that Denard wouldn’t have made the same poor decision?  I thought Borges called an okay game, but that was a huge, huge mistake.

Hooray for Jeremy Gallon.  I thought Gallon was pretty consistent throughout the night in all phases of the game.  He made good decisions on punt returns, ran well after the catch, and had a couple nice designed runs.

J.T. Floyd rabble rabble rabble.  He did not have a good game.  He is not good.  I take that back.  He isn’t good at covering, he isn’t good at supporting the run, and he isn’t good at taking on blocks.  However, he does have a knack for tackling wide receivers when they catch the ball in front of him.  So there’s that.

Freshman safety anger.  I hate hate hate playing freshman safeties.  I’ve mentioned this before.  All safeties should redshirt or be limited to special teams.  Jarrod Wilson got caught flat-footed in the second quarter and then had to grab onto Tyler Eifert to prevent a touchdown pass.  Pass interference, first down, then touchdown.  Wilson also picked up a holding penalty on the ensuing kickoff.  All that attrition in the defensive backfield over the past few years has really hurt the team.

WTF on Notre Dame’s touchdown?  Notre Dame lined up in pro left with trips to the right on the 2-yard line..  Michigan put four guys down with Jake Ryan as the middle linebacker and safety Jordan Kovacs about 7 or 8 yards off the ball.  This is problematic because a) Notre Dame has six blockers to block five guys and b) Jake Ryan isn’t a middle linebacker.  Ryan’s read step took him to Notre Dame’s left (presumably because that’s where the uncovered gaps were), but he was also moving backward on the snap.  Quarterback Tommy Rees simply took the shotgun snap and ran right behind his center and right guard, who were double-teaming Quinton Washington.  Washington didn’t do a bad job of holding up, but that’s just setting up your defense to fail.  Put Desmond Morgan or James Ross in there, and maybe your MIKE has a chance of making the right read.

Jake Ryan’s role needs to be re-evaluated.  I think the coaching staff is asking too much of him.  Sometimes he’s a SAM linebacker, sometimes he’s an inside linebacker, and sometimes they put him at defensive end, even in running situations.  He can’t hold up at defensive end against the run.  Leave him on the edge and then move him around in obvious passing situations to get after the quarterback.  He’s a quality player in some aspects, but he’s not a freak athlete that can be moved around at will.

Where is Michigan now? Out of the top 25.  And that’s probably where they deserve to be.  They were overrated to begin the year, and now they’re probably in the range where they deserve to be.  The loss of Junior Hemingway has hurt because Denard doesn’t have a go-to guy, and the lack of playmakers on the defensive line has turned this into a mediocre defense.  The linebackers and safeties are fine, but the defensive line and cornerbacks are weaknesses right now.

Video: Hoke, Denard, Smith, Campbell, Gordon, Omameh, Dileo postgame

Michigan 63, UMass 13

Jerald Robinson almost made two one-handed catches. Unfortunately, he dropped both. (image via Boston.com)

We’ve seen this before. This game felt eerily similar to Michigan’s 63-6 beatdown of Delaware State back in 2009.  The only difference was the interception that Denard Robinson threw, which was returned for a touchdown.

We didn’t learn much from this game. I didn’t really see anyone stand out in this game and make an unexpected impact. There weren’t any big plays on special teams, Michigan struggled to get much pressure on the quarterback, none of the second-teamers stepped up to have a great game, etc. A few players saw their first action (Graham Glasgow, Curt Graman, Justice Hayes, Joe Kerridge, Kristian Mateus, Jordan Paskorz, Steve Wilson) and a couple guys record their first statistics (Justice Hayes had 3 carries for 19 yards and 1 touchdown; Mike Kwiatkowski had 1 catch for 16 yards), but this team still has some problems that aren’t quite fixed.

Turnovers, please? Michigan is one of 11 teams in the FBS to have zero interceptions. Michigan had a chance in this game, but cornerback J.T. Floyd misplayed a long ball and let it sail harmlessly overhead. Paul Gyarmati did recover a muffed punt, though, so at least we’ve got that going for us. I’m looking forward to when Michigan gets some good cover corners on the field.

Vincent Smith is Spider-man. That 19-yard reception along the left sideline was ridiculous. He caught the ball, got hit immediately, spun like Kristi Yamaguchi, and kept running. I’ve never been a huge fan of Smith as a feature back type of player, but I’m going to miss his multi-purpose skills after this season.

Oh by the way, f*** you guys. UMass running back Michael Cox, who played for Michigan from 2008-2011, had a pretty solid game for the Minutemen.  He ended with 18 carries for 76 yards (4.2 yards per carry) behind a bad offensive line with not much of an aerial attack.  There were a couple plays where he ran east-and-west when there was no hole, losing a chunk of yards.  But he had some impressive runs against a Michigan defense that should have been able to clamp down on the running game.  I never really thought Cox was a superstar, but I did think that he deserved a shot to play when the aforementioned Smith was being used as a feature back.  The knocks on him were always fumbling (he never fumbled at Michigan, though there was a botched exchange in this game), learning the playbook (I didn’t see any missed assignments in this game), and running east-west too much (perhaps a fair criticism).  The kid is a decent running back.  Also, he looked huge.

I’m scared for Michigan’s offensive line. The coaches are clearly aiming to redshirt all the true freshman offensive linemen, which will only work if all the starters stay healthy.  Joey Burzynski got quite a bit of playing time at right guard and did an okay job, but the backup tackles (walk-ons Erik Gunderson and Kristian Mateus) were like revolving doors.  I still wasn’t impressed with Michael Schofield at right tackle, either.  I thought he played better as a guard last season.

Devin Funchess and Devin Gardner look like studs.  Funchess (2 catches, 34 yards, 1 touchdown) outran a safety for a touchdown and caught a low pass in traffic.  Gardner (2 catches, 48 yards, 1 touchdown) grabbed a crossing route, outran a safety, tiptoed down the sideline, and launched himself across the pylon for his score. Gardner could have had two more long gainers, too, but he was badly overthrown by Denard Robinson.

Speaking of Robinson . . . I’m probably just a Debbie Downer, because the guy accounted for 397 yards and 4 touchdowns.  But he also threw a pick-six, fumbled on the goal line, and missed several open receivers.  I don’t understand how he can have such poor throwing mechanics after four years of playing quarterback for a major college program.  He steps way to the left of his target, lets his arm drop, and throws off his back foot too much.  Even the Devin Funchess touchdown pass showed terrible mechanics.  Obviously, that play worked out okay, but he did the same thing on the pick-six and it cost the team a touchdown.  The kid completed 67% of his passes, threw for 3 scores, and ran for 106 yards.  He was the most dominant player in the game.  Obviously.  But good grief, he’s frustrating to watch sometimes.

Frank Clark looked like a stud.  UMass didn’t run much option, so Clark didn’t have much of a chance to look confused and lose outside contain.  But he has a knack for knocking down passes at the line of scrimmage and ended up with 3 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, and 2 pass breakups.  I predicted in the game preview that he would notch his first two career sacks, and while that didn’t happen, he abused the opposing tackles and was clearly the most disruptive pass rusher on the field.  If he can mature as a player and stay out of trouble off the field, he could be a solid NFL prospect in a year or two. I also liked what I saw from freshman linebackers Joe Bolden and James Ross.