Northern Illinois 10, Michigan 63 - Post Game Thread

[Mike]

These are the games you are supposed to try shit out. If their game plan is indeed to shorten the game against NIU, that's an indictment of the staff. In this hypothetical, the fan complaints would be 100 percent justified.

I agree with this take. If you're scheming to shorten the game against a MAC school then you're basically admitting you have significant problems. I guess the goal is to get to 4-0 and hope for bowl eligibility.

[AlabamAlum]

I agree with this take. If you're scheming to shorten the game against a MAC school then you're basically admitting you have significant problems. I guess the goal is to get to 4-0 and hope for bowl eligibility.

There is a certain logic, though, in polishing what you think will be your strongest weapon against good comp.

When I was training to enter the blood sport of The Dark Kumite on Forbidden Island, I knew that my jumping crane kick was my strength. But my sensei advised me that only only decapitating 1,000 men with the kick was not enough. I asked him “5,000?” He shook his head no. I asked him “10,000?” He just sighed, shook his head no again and said, “You must do the kick until it is a spiritual part of you. It will become the shadow of your soul. A reflex. Not a purposeful action. The kick should be done without thought or calculation, like day following night. A force of nature.”

He then threw some poison in my face and blinded me. Instinctively, I did my jumping crane kick and decapitated him. After, he became a force ghost and helped me defeat the Russians when they invaded America. June the 29th, 1945. Anyway, we delivered the bomb.

As god is my witness.

[Mike]

So you're saying we should continue to run up the gut into 11 man fronts on the goal line until it works?

[AlabamAlum]

I’m not saying anything, but my sensei force ghost just shot you a bird.

[Hannibal]

I'll be disappointed if our offense doesn't look like it did against WMU in this game. As I said above, NIU has given up an average of 232 ypg rushing in their first two games. Our OL has been mashing people, including some quality guys for UDub. The passing game will be facing inferior athletes. I don't know what NIU's offense will look like against our shitty defense, but hopefully they won't be able to shorten the game against us by carving out long, time consuming drives.

Our last game against NIU was a totally joyless affair where we won 33-17 and we gave up over 400 yards of total offense and 20 first downs.

[Jeff Buchanan]

There's that possibility. NIU O scores a lot of points off a spready offense. I did watch some video of their game v. Wyoming. Wyoming ran a vanilla 4--3-4 that flexed to a 3-4-4 with 3rd and long. I agree that M's D has issues at CB and are vulnerable on well timed routes outside.....but only if the QB has time. I didn't see a lot of drop backs from NIU. The offense is designed to get the ball out fast. M's strength is their front out of a 2-4-5. When that's working, an NIU offensive game plan that relies on the short game isn't going to work well.

This isn't a Don Brown D. I'm not concerned about containing NIU's O with what we've seen from Mcdonald. NIU isn't fielding Olave type receivers.

Also, Paul Cryst has run an effective offense that relies on paving opponents. He really doest care if the passing game is well oiled or not.

You fellas miserable about M's offense and McNamara sucking when he does throw it need to take a deep breath. 2 games in doesn't provide enough data points to get all wound up about this. Bell gone is an issue that's going to take a while to allow his absence to be compensated. Right now the compensation is the run game.

[Da Geezer]

Oh, boy, what I would have given for a 31-14 blowout with over 300y rushing last year. We should have some perspective.

[lineygoblue]

I re-watched the game last night on BTN and realized just how close it was until late in the 3rd quarter. In fact, the turning point in the game was the 14-point swing where the U Dub CB taunted Corum after he tried to hurdle him. That was a 3rd down play that came up short of a first down. The score was 17-3 at that point. Had Michigan punted, and U Dub gotten a TD, its 17-10, with just about the entire 4th quarter to go. Michigan's pass defense was starting to fade at that point. UW was moving the ball well with the passing game.

Instead, Michigan keeps the ball on the foolish penalty, and makes it 24-3, and the game is essentially over.

So, there's still plenty to be concerned about. I don't think NIU will have the horsepower to cause an upset this week, but Rutgers could get interesting.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Are you sure you had the right game? After M's TD drive on their first possession to open the 3rd, the game was never in doubt. Frankly, aside from some teeth gnashing I inappropriately succumbed to over the failed TD on 4th and goal, the game was never in doubt.

But I agree with you, on assessing how good or not good this team is. The passing game is suspect based on too little data. But the hand wringing just isn't justified and typical of M fans, understandable based on the past two seasons of shit-shows. I'm with you on the impact that has on fan confidence levels.

But again based on too little data, there's a lot to be happy about for this team and the coaching staff. If you squint there's the makings of a good football team.

[Mike]

You'd have to squint so hard, you'll strain something. I don't want to take anything away from the run game which has looked great against meager competition, but we've all seen this movie before. The cracks in the foundation are visible from the moon and will be exploited by the first team we run into with a pulse. Fortunately for me, I'm largely ambivalent which is good for the blood pressure.

Get ready for a lot a passes to the likes of Mike Sainristil standing still at the LOS. Speed in place.

[lineygoblue]

I'm just saying that there was a chance for UW to get back into the game, late in the 3rd, down by only 2 scores. They had just stopped M on 3rd and long, when their #21 taunted Corum. Had Michigan punted there, Washington had been moving the ball with their passing game, and could have edged their way back into the game at 17-10. There was still a lot of time left.

I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth. U-Dub was horrible against the run, and Michigan exploited the snot out of the run. That's what they should have done. Actually, its what a lot of us in here have been wanting to see. Michigan had a huge advantage in the running game, especially with personnel, and they took advantage. That part of the game, I'm very pleased with.

This still has the potential to be a sucky season. I think Rutgers is going to be more formidable than they've been in a while. Wisconsin (for Michigan) is almost unbeatable in Madison. And we haven't gotten to the 'fun' month of November yet. I think 5-6 losses are still possible, and at least 4 are a lock.

But I'll enjoy the good stuff until it goes away.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Plenty of posters here argue that games that feature a contest between evenly matched teams wrt talent are won or lost up front. foundational. Aside from OSU M has no less and probably more talent than any of the conference teams it will face going forward. It looks like the OL and DL may be the best units JH has had. Lean on them.

I agree with you there are exploitable weaknesses - an apparent lack of a passing game albeit based on too little data. It was functional v. WMU caveat opponent, bad v. Washington that, IMO and I'm not alone, had an above average pass D on the back end.

That the Huskies couldn't stop M's run game and Gattisbaugh shelved the pass game when that became obvious makes me less concerned about it, caveat impact of the Bell loss.

[Tom W]

Let's just stop with being afraid of Rutgers.. or any MAC teams. Just stop. Please.

[Hannibal]

We should be afraid of Rutgers this year. We still suck.

[Mike]

I'm not afraid of those teams, just the good ones. But whatever. The main thing is we have real college football back.