U of M thread (in the Lions Forum) :)

[Desert Lion]

Is there any word on the severity of Countess injury?

[*JD*]

Well, that sucked.

[Kstat]

We can always take it out on notre dame.

[chemiclord]

Go fuck yourself Chemi.

Go fuck yourself right back.

I'm not particularly wrong. If you still embrace the "traditional" expectations of Michigan football (win the Big Ten, win your bowl game), then sure... the chance for a "terrific" season is still on the table.

I just feel with how very mediocre the Big Ten is that it probably shouldn't be a particularly good gauge of a "terrific" season.

[Desert Lion]

Only on the forum do you get to get up on a Sunday morning and read the news. come to the Forum and see a thread that starts with "go fuck yourself"

Hey Chemi, You have a good rest of the holiday weekend.

[nhwbrooklyn]

The size and speed were definitely an issue, but I agree that the depth was probably even bigger.

It was really apparent when the starting CB went down, but I think the play that epitomized the difference was the play late in the game immediately following the injury to M's starting left tackle. Robinson was sacked when the backup tackle was beaten so badly on an inside move that the Bama players had to be laughing about it.

Alabama was bigger, stronger, deeper, and faster than Michigan.

Yeah but depth is first on that list.

And lack of depth has a huge impact on the rest of your listed differences.

Lewan, btw, is considered maybe the top OL guy in next years draft (Fluker and Jones are in that discussion as well). His sub and talent around him on the OL can't compare to Bama's (depth! ).

[nhwbrooklyn]

Go fuck yourself right back.

I'm not particularly wrong. If you still embrace the "traditional" expectations of Michigan football (win the Big Ten, win your bowl game), then sure... the chance for a "terrific" season is still on the table.

I just feel with how very mediocre the Big Ten is that it probably shouldn't be a particularly good gauge of a "terrific" season.

I wouldn't say the Big Ten is mediocre. They just simply can't hang with the SEC (and nobody can right now).

[CGVT]

Yeah but depth is first on that list.

And lack of depth has a huge impact on the rest of your listed differences.

Lewan, btw, is considered maybe the top OL guy in next years draft (Fluker and Jones are in that discussion as well). His sub and talent around him on the OL can't compare to Bama's (depth! ).

Lewan got abused all night. His talent can't compare to Bama's

The drop off was significant, but Lewan got his ass handed to him too.

[nhwbrooklyn]

Lewan got called for some penalties I noticed but I didn't think he was abused. I'd have to watch again and focus on him. It's quite likely he had extra responsibilities all night because UofM needed their extra blockers helping out the rest of the line.

It would have been a better gauge for us to see him protect a real pocket passer or run block for a real RB like Fitz.

[nhwbrooklyn]

UofM played 10 freshman.

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegesMichigan/post/_/id/6600/notebook-o-line-shuffles

[whodean]

2 years of steady improvement and Coach Hoke will have M closer to where Alabama is today.

[Whitley]

Countess going down was huge. And Michigan REALLY missed Fitz. Rawls and Smith showed very very little.

I didn't know that the defense (on the Denard 1st half INT) could chuck a WR out of bounds and not get a penalty for it.

Really strange they did not run Denard at all.

[Fraquar]

Why was Countess even playing on ST's?

As for Roundtree - he flew 5 yards on a hand-chuck - he's gotta play stronger than that.

[*JD*]

Rumor is that Countess is out for the year. That hurts a lot.

[*JD*]

Rumor confirmed:

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120903/SPORTS0201/209030365/Michigan-CB-Blake-Countess-out-season-OT-Taylor-Lewan-OK?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Sports