The rain held off and the University of Michigan showed off Team 133 on Saturday at the Big House. There was an estimated 20,000 fans in attendance.

The practice started off as any other. The players were broken up into groups working on different drills and stretching out. They were broken up into two teams, offense and defense, with the offense wearing the blue jerseys and the defense wearing white.

They played 4 quarters of 15 minutes. The clock never stopped and after the third quarter the clock never reset to 15 minutes, so how much time they actually spent practicing is up your opinion.

I was impressed with a few different players. One being WR Courtney Avery–I never realized how big he is–he’s listed at 5’11”. Sounds pretty small for a wide receiver, right? Well, the kid can jump! He leaped over a defender to catch a pass and was above him by a good 18 inches!

There’s a reason Michigan recruited QB Russell Bellomy. He was redshirted as a freshman last year and was came out to play in the second series with the second offensive team. The first team played one series with Denard and then spent time with QB Devin Gardner. Bellomy can run and pass and he looks very comfortable controllign the offense. He looked much better than Garnder, who threw the only interception of the day.

Something that I thought was bizarre in the rules for Saturday was tackling. They said that they QB’s were off limits and they were playing more of a two hand touch tackle. Well, that must have been the case for Robinson and Gardner, but it was open season for Bellomy and Jack Kennedy who were tackled on more than one occasion.

I really loved the atmosphere inside the Big House. It was great to be there on a spring day watching football and there were a lot of families in the Big House with little ones dressed in their maize and blue. Probably my favorite family was a young Mom and Dad who had what looked like a 5 month old in one of those carrying holders–I haven idea what they are called. Anyway, at the end of each quarter they switched who was holding the baby. So cute! It’s great to see the tradition being passed on to the future gernerations!

It looks like there was a decent turnout for the men’s lacrosse game vs. Ohio State afterward. I did not stay for the game, but watched it on tv. That’s the first time I’ve ever watched lacrosse before. I wouldn’t mind attending a game in the future.

The following recap may or may not make any sense. This game ended up being quite the circus…In fact the Circus Bowl would have been more accurate than the Sugar Bowl title!

Michigan and Virginia Tech went into overtime before Brandon Gibbons made a field goal after VT missed theirs to win the game 23-20.

The first half of the Sugar Bowl will go down in history as one of the weirdest 2^nd quarters of football I’ve ever seen; also the first game ever between the University of Michigan and Virginia Tech.

The first quarter only saw Michigan with 3:59 of ball possession and an inability to get anything started. Fitzgerald Toussaint was rarely used and center David Molk didn’t start the game because he hurt his foot in warm ups. Not having him playing in the first series was disastrous for the Wolverines because Denard fumbled snaps on downs number two and three of the series leading to an early three and out.

Virginia Tech scored their first FG of the game after running back David Wilson was forced into a 22 yard loss by the Michigan defense after turning to reverse the field, running the wrong way, and being tackled by Jake Ryan.

Michigan ended up giving VT several 3^rd and long opportunities and the Hokies capitalized on 3 out of 4 of them in the first quarter. Denard Robinson also threw an interception. Molk did return to the game in the second series and the snaps got better, but the offense was missing blocks left and right!

To begin the second quarter, Hokie third string place kicker, Justin Myer scored his second FG of the night to give VT a 6-0 lead.

After making the kick, he proceeded to send his kickoff out of bounds giving Michigan the ball on their 35 yard line. Michigan can do nothing with the good field position and kick the ball back to VT.

VT moved the ball downfield swiftly then got hung up inside the Michigan 10 yard line. Eventually they give the ball over to the Wolverines on downs.

Michigan was able to record a couple first downs with the help of Toussaint and Robinson, but eventually was forced to punt again. This time, the Hokies ran into punter and were hit with a roughing the kicker personal foul giving Michigan the ball back.

Robinson was able to sneak out of what should have been a sack and air the ball out to Junior Hemingway who was able to score a 45 yard touchdown. Just like that, the Michigan football team turned the game around to lead 7-6.

It didn’t end there, however. With 49 seconds left, Virginia Tech fumbled on the ensuing kickoff and Michigan recovered.

Brandon Gibbons came onto the field for the field goal attempt, but he and holder Drew Dileo seemed to have other plans. Dileo ended up throwing the ball into the air and it was batted down by a Hokie before being caught by the Michigan long snapper, Jareth Glanda. Michigan ended up with first and goal, but ran out of time and had to settle for a field goal.

Halftime Michigan leading 10-6.

First Michigan possession of the second half looked to be over when Robinson threw an interception. That interception was reviewed and ruled an incomplete pass because the cornerback did not have complete possession of the ball. On the next play, VT put 7 guys in the box and Michigan was unable to protect to Denard so they were forced to punt.

On the first play of the next series, Michigan defender Frank Clark got in the way of a Hokie throw and intercepted it!

Denard then threw another interception, which was then called back because of defensive pass interference, so Michigan didn’t lose the ball!

Denard literally put a ball in the air that looked like a 500 dead or alive ball to Junior Hemingway in the back of the end zone. Hemingway was able to get a hold of it and get one foot in bounds before he fell backwards out of the end zone.

Michigan 17 – Virginia Tech 6, 9:43 Third Quarter

Myers hits another field goal to give VT 9 points with 6 minutes remaining in the third period.

Michigan punted the ball back to VT who put together a seven minute drive that resulted in a touchdown of their quarterback Logan Thomas’ run and then a game tying 2 point conversion.

Michigan 17 – Virginia Tech 17, 10:22 4^th Quarter

When Michigan got the ball back, the Hokies held them to another three and out. Denard has had 11 carries this game and has run of 0 yards!

The Hokies were moving the ball well on the next possession before getting stuck at 4^th and 1 just over mid field. They chose a trick play with their punter who was instead tackled and looked a bit lost carrying the football in his arms.

Michigan was given the ball on downs and good field position and they were able to get a first down with running from Robinson! Michigan ends up scoring a field goal.

Michigan 20 – Virginia Tech 17, 4:00 4^th Quarter

Michigan was able to stick VT deep in their zone (8 yard line) after a holding penalty on the kick off. That didn’t seem to do much good since VT was able to move the ball well down the field. A couple times the corners were a split second from preventing the passes from being caught, but VT was able to keep moving the ball.

Justin Myer had a 25 yard field goal attempt with 5 seconds to go in the game when Brady Hoke tried to ice him with a timeout. And he made it so we’re going to overtime!

Michigan 20 – Virginia Tech 20, End of Regulation

Virginia Tech had the first possession. And holy cow Danny Coale came up huge again with the touchdown pass from 20 yards out. He caught it with his right hand and landed on top of the ball, knocking the wind out of him in the corner of the end zone. The play went to review and it was said by the referee that the receiver did not maintain control of the ball.

And then Myer, the third string kicker, missed the field goal to the right…pushing it to the right.

Michigan got their turn with the ball and ran three plays up the middle to set up Brendon Gibbons with the field goal attempt from 37 yards. The Hokies took a timeout to try an ice Gibbons.

Icing him did not work because he blasted it through the middle of the uprights to give them the win!

The Michigan fan in me was very happy they won, but it was obvious that this game was dominated by the Hokies. And I believed that catch by Coale was a catch and touchdown! This was not how I imagine the game to end. Even Coach Hoke thought “It was good!”

Congratulations to both teams! The University of Michigan football team is your 2012 Allstate Sugar Bowl Champions. Brady Hoke goes 11-2 in his first year as Head Coach.

Junior Hemingway was named MVP of the game with his 2 touchdowns! Denard finished 9-21 for 117 yards, 1 TD, 1 InT.

Random Fact: Tom Wilson, who presented the trophy to Brady Hoke, is a Michigan Alum!!

Those who stay will be champions!-Bo

Bo was with the team today as always inspring them with his lasting messages. These seniors have been through the ringer, but they stayed! And now they celebrate by singing “It’s great to be a Michigan Wolverine” and “Pour some sugar on me!”

Team 132 is the 5th team to win 11 games in a season!

Denard leading his team

The University of Michigan football team will play Virginia Tech in Tuesday night’s BCS Sugar Bowl on ESPN at 8:30 PM.

They are currently ranked 13^th with a record of 10-2 (losses to Michigan State and Iowa).

Virginia Tech comes to the game ranked 17^th and a record of 11-2 from the ACC. Their only losses came from Clemson…twice!

Michigan is coming into this game having lost 5 of their last 6 bowl games. But they are a new team this year, with solid leadership and coaching that reverberates throughout the locker room. “Team 132” as they are so affectionately called has worked very hard this season to get to this game.

They won in stunning fashion in the first game Under the Lights at the Big House vs. Notre Dame 35-31 in the second game of the year.

They handed Minnesota a blowout loss of 58-0.

The loss at Michigan State could have gone either way. Michigan was outplayed, but was able to capitalize on Michigan State’s miscues. A few different plays going the other way and that would have been a victory.

Same with the loss at Iowa.

The win vs. Ohio State had been a long time coming. Yes the Buckeyes have suffered this year and rightfully so, but they have an excellent future quarterback in Braxton Miller who the Wolverines were able to coral on different occasions during the game while on other series he dominated the line of scrimmage. In the end, Michigan won 40-34 and the celebrating continued into the next week!

This season has led the Wolverines to this game.

There are some who say they don’t belong in this game. Like Michigan State quarterback Kirk Cousins, who on Monday night with his Spartan team beat Georgia 33-30 in triple overtime in their bowl game.

After Michigan State lost in the Big Ten Championship game, they were no longer looked at as being a team that could compete in the BCS Championship Series.

From ChicagoNow.com:

Reporter: There’s talk that Michigan now gets into the BCS, you want to make a case for state? Do you need to make a case for State?

Cousins: “Michigan sat home tonight on the couch and watched us, we played our hearts out, you saw it. I don’t see how you get punished for playing, and someone else gets to sit on the couch and get what they want. If this is the way the system is, I guess it’s a broken system.”

There’s always going to be people who think you don’t deserve what you get. He has a valid point in that it doesn’t make sense and that the system is broken.

But in the mean time, Michigan was invited to this bowl game and Michigan will be on that field tonight playing for the Sugar Bowl trophy and a victory in the BCS Bowl.

As a Michigan fan, I am very proud of this team and can only hope for them to play for a full 60 minutes of football tonight. I wrote on twitter yesterday that they need to win the turnover battle. Having our defense recover a fumble or get an interception would do great things for their confidence.

On the offensive side we need to establish the running game—I’ve always wanted to say that!—But honestly, we need to give the ball to Fitz and let him do his thing. He’s been dominant when given the chance this year and his presence lightens the load for quarterback Denard Robinson to do his thing. Having multiple threats has never been a bad thing!

The offense also needs to control the ball and eliminate turnovers. Take care of the ball, guys! And it will take care of you.

Let’s go blue!

No man is more important than The Team. No coach is more important than The Team. The Team, The Team, The Team.–Bo Schembechler

It’s been 5 years since we lost Bo. It’s been 7 years since Michigan last beat Ohio State. Every season begins and ends with several goals in mind–one being beating Ohio State. It’s been 2,926 days since the last time the Michigan football team did. #BeatOHIO

The Team! The Team! The Team! Congratulations Team #132–you did it!

Saturday at the Big House, the Michigan football team did everything they were expected to. A 9-2 team was hosting a 6-5 team battling tons of off field issues for the past several months–one being their Head Coach Jim Tressel stepping down and Terelle Pryor leaving the team after being suspended. Michigan hadn’t won in 7 years–if they were ever going to win again, this would be the day!

Michigan beat Ohio State 40-34 in a game that came down to the last possesion. It was everything a rivalry game–considered to be the biggest rivalry in college sports–is supposed to be. Mistakes were made by each team on both sides of the ball and on special teams. It was in no way a perfect game for either team, but it was a hard fought game.

I was at the game, but was unable to see parts of it because the crowd stood for the ENTIRE game, and I’m only 5’2”. I was able to watch parts on the large video screens, but even that was difficult at times. Just being there was good enough and I did get to see some awesome football. Football that I haven’t seen played since Lloyd Carr was the head coach. Football that hasn’t been played in more than 7 years!

The atmosphere at the stadium today was one of hope and new beginnings. For so long the focus has been on blaming the coaching and that the kids are just too young.

Today the Michigan football team went into The Game with a good strategy. It wasn’t perfect, but it was fuctional. They ran the ball well (277 yards from Denard Robinson and Fitzgerald Toussaint) and opened up the game with their passing (167 yards).

The tone for the day was set before the game. There was a sense of calmness and new beginnings. The tide was changing…

Head Coach Brady Hoke wanted to begin a new tradition. He had all of the seniors on the field with their families. They ,were introduced one by one and handed a personalized football with their name, Senior Day, and “The Game” information. Once they received the football and hugs from Coach, a photo was taken.

Again with the happiness…It was the end of an era. A few of them were redshirt freshman during Lloyd Carr’s final year. They were there for all 3 of the Rich Rodriguez era. And they were there for the first year of Brady Coach’s tenure. The negativity was gone, left it its place smile, hugs and good memories.

When all was said and done, fans rushed the field after the game!

photo used with permission by @chengelis

• Michigan finished the regular season 10-2. That’s not a typo! 10-2!
• Brady Hoke is only the 2nd coach in Michigan football history to win at least 10 games his first year.
• Michigan won ALL 8 games at home this year!
• Both Denard Robinbson and Fitzgerald Toussaint ran for more than 1,000 yards this season!

For a complete rundown of the game/more of an Ohio State point of view, see The Poisonous Nuthouse, written by Aerys’ own Krista Jones!

Michigan beat Purdue 36-14 Saturday in Ann Arbor in front of a Homecoming crowd to improve to 7-1 overall and 3-1 in the Big Ten Legends Division. They are in tie for first place in the Division with Nebraska and Michigan State.

Michigan only had 7 victories in the 2010 season.

Best costume spotted at the Big House on the Big House Cam was someone dressed up as Jim Tressel in a red sweater vest with a sign that said “Will coach for food.” A close second and third would be Buddy the Elf and Indiana Jones. Buddy the Elf was also spotted at the Michigan hockey game Friday night.

Justin Kovacs who has been Mr. Everything for the Michigan defense this year did not play because of an injury.

The game ball literally fell from the sky…kidding! The game had an outer space theme to it, so Michigan had someone with a rocket pack on their back take off from near the tunnel and fly around part of the stadium before landing on the 50 yard line. It was incredibly cool and reminded me a great deal of the movie “The Rocketeer” except there was no crazy helmet! Instead a Michigan football helmet was used! Very, very cool!

Purdue received the opening kickoff and it took them 74 seconds to march down the field and score a touchdown on a 48 yard pass.

Michigan threw 3 interceptions in the first 16 minutes of the game. Two of them were thrown by Denard Robinson (one into tight coverage and one underthrown) and one by Devin Gardner (overthrew his receiver who was going long…).

Michigan recorded their first safety since 2003 when Mike Martin tackled Purdue quarterback Caleb TerBush. It broke a 7-7 tie and gave Michigan the ball back which they ended up kicking a field goal. 12-7 was the resulting benefit.

Once Michigan was up, they pretty much took control of the game. It wasn’t pretty at times, but we found out we have a running game—or maybe we found out we have a running game when we play Purdue.

Fitzgerald Toussaint and Michael Shaw all ran well.  Shaw’s longest run was for 37 yards and Toussaint for 59. Toussaint also had 2 touchdowns and a career high 170 yards. Toussaint did most of his work in the first three quarters, while Shaw took over in the fourth.

Purdue scored their first touchdown with their first possession of the game, and their last touchdown with the last possession of the game. Everything in between was pretty much nothing.

Michigan dominated the clock with 36:25 minutes of possession to Purdue’s 23:35.

Michigan will play  next Saturday at Iowa who is 2-2 in the Legends Division and is 5-3 overall.

I was all prepared to write a congratulatory message to #23 Michigan State, if they did in fact prove that Michigan did not deserve their #11 ranking, which I’ve written before that they didn’t deserve it, and it’s even more obvious they don’t after losing to Michigan State 28-14, their fourth loss in a row to the Spartans.

Michigan State played a great game and was the better team…you’d have to be an idiot or know nothing about football to believe Michigan was in control this game or deserved to win. They didn’t. Michigan did have control a bit right at the beginning of the game, which is unusual because they’ve been a slow starting, second half team all year.

What I was not prepared for, were the penalties committed by Michigan State; penalties that they should be embarrassed about.

You beat Michigan, great job, but you did it with brutality rather than good football and class. I’d rather lose to a good team than a bunch of bullies, and that, Michigan State, is now what I’m going to consider you. Before the game, I was impressed with your defense and the games you’d played up to this point. After the game, I believe a lot of your players need to be introduced to what college football is all about—playing the game and the ball, not going after specific players with intent to injure or after a whistle has been blown—check the rule book!  

I usually root for Michigan State as long as they aren’t playing Michigan. Guess what, State? I’m not rooting for you anymore.

These are just some of the penalties that stood out for me:

• Numerous personal fouls called for late hits/roughing the passer on Denard Robinson (who eventually was hit so hard and late with five minutes to go in the game, that he did not return to the game after injuring his torso).
• Michigan State player, William Gholston, punching a Michigan lineman in his helmet (should have been thrown out of the game after committing his second personal foul—the first was him hitting Denard Robinson late and grabbing his facemask, twisting his head around his body while he was stuck on the ground with several MSU players on top of him).
• Intercepting a Denard Robinson pass and taking it in for six points, but taunting Robinson by holding out the ball before you got to the goal line. There should have been a flag, the touchdown waived off, and you should have had to start with the ball from the 5 yard line.

Denard Robinson seems to be taking a higher road than me. He said in the post game press conference, “They were playing football. It’s a dirty game.”

Forgive me Denard, but it’s only a dirty game if you choose to make it dirty.

In the pre-game post that went up last night, I wrote about Denard’s stats for the year. He really struggled again today with his passing. The only play that seemed to not have any problems was his pass to Roy Roundtree on the first play of a new series in the fourth quarter. It ended up being a 37 yard touchdown and put Michigan within 7 points of Michigan State, 21-14.

The number 1 ranked Michigan State defense did a great job limiting Denard on the ground to only 42 rushing yards on 18 carries and one touchdown. In the air he was 9 of 24 for 123 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Nine of 24 would be a completion rate of 37.5%…he was over throwing receivers, missing wide open receivers, and just not getting any help when he put the ball into the air. It was pretty much a recipe for disaster. On a happy note, he did score the touchdown of the game on a 15 yard run.

Devin Gardner spent more time rotating with Robinson at quarterback. It looks like Michigan was trying to take Michigan State off guard bringing him into the game. He went 3-7 for 45 yards, which doesn’t look good on paper, but there was an obvious improvement in passing accuracy when he was under center. He did make some rookies mistakes, such as dropping the snap twice, but he was able to recover both times. He also ran passed the line of scrimmage to make a throw and was penalized five yards.

Michigan State started the game and didn’t let up; many congratulations to them. Again, they were the better team, playing all four quarters of football and kicking it up another notch in the third quarter, really preventing Michigan from getting any second half momentum like they’ve relied on throughout the year.

The only mistakes besides the penalties for Michigan State (13-124) were two fumbles that were both recovered by the Wolverines.

Time of possession for both teams was nearly even, 29:27 minutes for Michigan and 30:33 minutes for Michigan State.

The player of the game for Michigan State was probably their wide receiver Keyshawn Martin who had two touchdown catches in the third quarter, the first breaking the 7-7 tie and the second to make it 21-7.  The first catch was 10 yards and the second 13 yards.

With the win, Michigan State has taken control of the Legends Division, also includes Michigan, Nebraska, Iowa, Northwestern, and Minnesota.

Michigan will be off next week. They return to action against Purdue in their Homecoming game on October 29th with a noon start.

The day is finally here…Michigan vs. Michigan State in East Lansing. The Battle for Paul Bunyan Trophy!

Michigan enters the game 6-0 (2-0 in the Big Ten) and Michigan State 4-1 (1-0 in the Big Ten). They are the only two teams left in the Legends Division of the Big Ten Conference who are undefeated.

This is the first year of the Legends Division and Leader Division in the Big Ten Conference. Other members of the Legends Division include the Nebraska 5-1 (1-1 in the Big Ten), Iowa 3-2 (0-1 in the Big Ten), Northwestern 2-3 (0-2 in the Big Ten), and Minnesota 1-5 (0-2 in the Big Ten).

The game will be played at noon on Saturday at Spartan Stadium. Last year Michigan State beat Michigan at the Big House 34 to 17.

This will be the 104^th meeting between the two teams. The Wolverines have won 67 times to Michigan State’s 31. There have been 5 ties. The last three games have been won by MSU. The past two years they beat Michigan teams who were undefeated going into the game.

The Spartans do not like the “little brother” title given to them by former Michigan running back and current Eastern Michigan assistant coach, Mike Hart. They are looking forward to ruining another undefeated season for the Wolverines.

Michigan has struggled this year putting four quarters of football together. More than once they have found themselves down after 2 quarters and playing a near mistake free third and fourth quarter to lead them to victory.

Their leader and quarterback (basically their entire offense) has been Denard Robinson. He’s struggled at times and others played flawless football.

So far this year he’s 67-117 in completions, has 1,130 passing yards and has thrown 10 touchdowns with 9 interceptions. He’s run for 720 yards and scored 8 touchdowns on the ground. Last year he only threw 11 interceptions the entire year.

Spartan quarterback Kirk Cousins has also been so so this season. Fans either love him or hate him, but he’s in his third year as starter.

The real story has been the Michigan State defense, currently ranked number 1 in the country only allowing on average 173.9 yards per game and have held four teams to 7 points or less this year.

What might happen on Saturday, no one really knows. Hopefully the famous clock incident of 2001 doesn’t happen again. One second was left on the clock after Michigan State quarterback Jeff Smoker spiked the ball giving him enough time to toss a pass to T.J. Duckett and win the game for State 26-24. Officials were unable to prove that the second did expire although broadcasters and Michigan fans everywhere said it had.

What we do know is that there’s going to be another great rivalry game played between Michigan and Michigan State.

Let’s Go Blue!

The Michigan football team is 6-0 and bowl eligible.

I repeat, the Michigan football team is 6-0 and bowl eligible.

This really isn’t processing in my brain. Probably because I was so frustrated with the game last night, how it played out, even though it was in our favor in the second half and we eventually blew Northwestern away scoring 28 unanswered points for a 42-24 win. But it still doesn’t feel right.

I love this team. I love their never give up attitude, but I DON’T love the mistakes we’ve been making. These mistakes can be easily corrected. Throwing three interceptions on stupid throws in the first half is unacceptable. Heisman trophy candidates do not throw off their back foot. They just don’t!

I don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade, but we keep getting lucky. Eventually these mistakes are really going to cost us. We can’t rely on other teams to fall apart in the second half of a game and expect to come out with a win. We also can’t rely on our adjustments at halftime, which so far have been amazing, to work every time. We need to put 4 quarters of football together. After this is done, we will be worthy of a top 15 ranking. Until then, that number 12 in front of Michigan means nothing.

Michigan is in first place in the Legends Division with a 6-0 overall record and 2-0 conference record. This is the first time since 2006 they’ve been 6-0.

So what actually happened in the game?

Michigan held Northwestern 3 and out on their opening drive. Michigan scored on their first drive of the game on a Denard Robinson pass to Steve Watson. What set up that touchdown was a 48 yard pass from Robinson to Junior Hemingway on third and 7 from the Michigan 42 yard line. All of a sudden it was first and goal.

Northwestern scored a touchdown on their second possession of the game going 80 yards in six plays.

Robinson and Hemingway connect on the next possession for 27 yards. Two plays later Robinson threw his first interception of the game on a floater on second and seven. This lead led to Northwestern’s second touchdown and a 14-7 lead with 3:13 to play in the first quarter.

Robinson threw another interception on the following possession, also the first play of the second quarter. He threw a floater up once again that was picked off. Vincent Smith, the intended receiver, ran all the way back to make the tackle. Thankfully our defense came up big and after six plays was able to hold Northwestern forcing them to punt.

Our offense was unable to get anything going on the next possession and had to punt after three downs left us with a net loss of 5 yards. The Michigan defense came up huge again holding Northwestern and forcing them to give up the ball on downs.

The next Michigan and Northwestern possessions resulted in touchdowns. Jeremy Gallon caught a pass from Robinson and ran it into the end zone. Northwestern scored going 82 yards in seven plays for their touchdown. Score: Northwestern 21—Michigan 14.

Denard threw his final interception of the game with just over a minute remaining in the half, which led to Northwestern scoring a field goal as time run out. Score: Northwestern 24—Michigan 14.

Then the second half starts and a new team emerges from the Michigan locker room…

Michigan had the ball at the start of the second half. Robinson threw accurate passes and then ran into the end zone for a touchdown. Score: Northwestern 24—Michigan 21.

Michigan’s defense held Northwestern to another three and out after Mike Martin recorded a sack on second down.

Michigan follows that great defensive effort up with a 12 play, 80 yard drive that saw Devin Gardner in at quarterback for a few snaps. Gardner scored on the option and all of a sudden Michigan is up 28-24.

The Michigan defense came up big again, this time intercepting a pass. Brandon Hawthorne caught at tipped pass. The referees did review the play and ruled it an interception.

Gardner and Robinson both were in at quarterback for the next possession. We were able to see Gardner throw the ball on a roll out to Jeremy Jackson (Huron alum and son of running backs coach Fred Jackson) for a 19 yard gain. All of a sudden, it’s first and goal and the start of the 4^th quarter. Mike Shaw gets the call and runs it into the end zone on first and goal. Score: Michigan 35—Northwestern 24.

Northwestern looked like they still had some magic left in them getting a six play drive going before Wolverine Thomas Gordon stripped the ball from their receiver and picked it up for the fumble recovery. This led to probably the only so/so possession of the second half for the Michigan offense when they had their 47 yard field goal attempt blocked.

On Northwestern’s next possession, specifically a fourth and five down, Wolverine Jordan Kovacs blitzes and is untouched going after the Northwestern quarterback. He tries to tackle him, only taking his helmet off in the process. Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald literally has smoke coming out of his ears that the play wasn’t blown dead quickly enough and a facemask penalty was not called. The refs did blow the play dead and the ball was turned over to Michigan on downs. One of the linesman had to physically block Coach Fitzgerald after he stated coming out onto the field to “discuss” the call with the referee.

Nine plays later Denard scores another rushing touchdown to finish the game. Score: Michigan 42—Northwestern 24.

If we can put four quarters together like we played in the second half, I will have no problem with this team being ranked in the top 10. Both the defense and offense came up huge over and over again those last 30 minutes. But we need more than 30 minutes of play to win a football game.

Coach Brady Hoke knows this and so does the rest of the coaching staff and team. Let’s see how we play next Saturday when we take on Michigan State up in East Lansing.

What should have been an easy victory only stirred up more questions about the depth of the University of Michigan football team. Saturday afternoon in Ann Arbor, they defeated their neighbors from 7 miles down the road, the Eastern Michigan Eagles 31-3. With that score, you would think the game was easily won by Michigan, when in fact; the Wolverines didn’t start playing football until the 2^nd quarter and eventually wore out the Eastern defense to score their points.

After the last second win over Notre Dame in a high scoring and high intensity game, this looked more like a scrimmage than a college football game. The Wolverines have played EMU 10 times and have won each time.

Eastern, which has always been in the shadow of U-M took control of the game early with the first possession. On their first down of the game, they decided to throw the ball deep—I’m sure their Head Coach Ron English who was the defensive coordinator for Michigan when Lloyd Carr was coach, knew that Michigan would not have expected this right out of the gate. Had the receiver gotten one more step on the ball, it would have fallen into his hands and there would have been a leg race to the end zone.

Instead, Eastern, who came into the game with a 2-0 record after going winless last year chose to spend the rest of the game running the ball; mostly up the middle of the field. In the first quarter they ran the ball 20 times and only threw once! The Michigan defense really was not tested–they got in a lot of work on the rush, recovered a fumble on EMU’s first possession, and they held Eastern to only a field goal after getting inside the Michigan 5 yard line twice (the first time EMU lost the ball on downs)! Michigan responded to the Eastern field goal by scoring the next 31 points…

All in all, there were a ton of missed tackles, poorly thrown footballs, and a lot of chaos. I’m not sure if Michigan was keeping the play calling simple because they didn’t want to give away future plays, but even the plays they were calling were executed poorly. You can’t have receivers open down field and Denard throwing an interception…it was like he didn’t even see the guys in white. Denard did run for 198 yards and was 7-18 for 95 yards in the air with 2 TD passes and one interception.

What really confused me was why with the game put away like it was, Michigan continued to let Denard play and risk injury. He kept running with the ball and Michigan was up by 3 touchdowns. It made no sense to me why Devin Gardner didn’t get into the game until there were a couple of minutes left. If anything, he needed more than one series behind center.

In the end it didn’t matter since there were no injuries, but risking the health of a guy like Denard who is everything to this football team, still doesn’t seem worth it. Michigan got away with a lot on Saturday. Next week against San Diego State, Head Coach Brady Hoke’s former team, we won’t be so lucky. The mistakes have to stop—both mental and physical. It’s time to play real football.

Under the Lights

A few years ago Nike came out with “Witness” t-shirts aimed at LeBron James and his journey to win an NBA National Championship. The tag line was we are all witnesses to this great show of basketball. This past year, Lebron James and his “new” team of superstars failed to beat the Dallas Mavericks to win the Championship and LeBron was coined the guy who only has ¾ of a game in him during the playoffs.

NCAA Attendance Record

I have found out where that 4^th quarter has gone—Denard Robinson owns it!

WITNESS

Saturday night was a night to remember. An NCAA record of 114,804 people packed their way into the Big House to WITNESS the first ever Michigan football game played at Michigan Stadium “Under the Lights” with a final score of Michigan 35, Notre Dame 31.

Two teams took the field at just after 8 pm. The Irish who were bruised and confused from the beating they took from the University of South Florida the previous week and the Wolverines who were looking to play an entire game for the first time this year after beating Western Michigan in weather shortened game the week before. Throwback jerseys were worn by both teams.

Desmond Howard, #21

Desmond Howard had just been honored before the game for his acceptance into the College Football Hall of Fame. Michigan did not want to retire his #21 jersey (currently worn by Junior Hemingway, and for good reason!), but they did want to honor him. He received his official plaque and midfield, gave a moving speech about being a student athlete at the University of Michigan, and it was announced that any player lucky enough to wear the 21 jersey will have a patch sewn into the jersey honoring him. His jersey will also be hung in Schembechler Hall with the other retired jerseys.

Kickoff was as highly anticipated as you would think. As Notre Dame kicked the ball down the field and lights from cameras all over the stadium could be seen. The student section and most of the crowd were decked out in maize and had maize pom poms they were waving. Most sections where sitting down is normal, chose to stand for the game! The atmosphere was truly electric. Similar to when Michigan hosted Michigan State last December for the Big Chill hockey game, yet very different because the weather was a nice 70 degrees for starters and the green grass of the football field displayed so nicely under the lights!

One would have thought Michigan would have come out of the gates swinging, taking full advantage of an Irish team that had been embarrassed a week before. The Irish defense held on strong the first 42 minutes of the game limiting Michigan to series consisting of four plays or fewer until the 4^th quarter.

The Irish offense came out strong scoring 2 touchdowns and taking a 14-0 lead. That score looks awful on paper, but quite honestly, the Michigan defense had a ton of good plays to keep the score that low. They kept the Wolverines in the game while their offense looked confused and sluggish. Robinson looked confused, didn’t see wide open players down field, and when he did see them, they dropped the ball. Notre Dame was routinely putting 8 guys in the box and Michigan was choosing to run the ball up the middle. And you wonder why they couldn’t put more than 4 plays together…

I thought one of the game changers occurred when Notre Dame intercepted Robinson’s pass on the third series. The Michigan defense held them on the Michigan 37 yard line. A field goal was out of the question and they were faced with 4^th and 7. Instead of going for it with a 14-0 lead, they decided to punt the ball. I thought it was going to be a trick play. There was no way they wouldn’t go for it up by 14 and sitting on Michigan’s 37 yard line. They punted!

With a just under a minute remaining in the third quarter is when the game really got interesting. On a third and long, Denard made a huge throw to Junior Hemingway with an Irish defenseman wrapped around his legs. The play ended with Hemingway being tackled on the Notre Dame 1 yard line. There is no way in the world Denard should have gotten that pass off, Witness!

From the one yard line, we fumble the ball trying to run in up the middle. Denard picks it up and scoots into the endzone. All of a sudden it’s 24-14, the the 4^thquarter left to play and the stands are jumping. Energy had been restored in the stadium.

Denard's Offense

Notre Dame got the ball back and easily moved it down field. Then after a cheap “pass interference” in the endzone call (there was none!) the Irish are gifted a fresh set of downs on the 2 yard line! If you’re a Detroit Pistons fan, you will remember the saying Rasheed Wallace gave on more than one occasion, “Ball don’t lie!” All I could think about as the Irish were lining up for that first down was “Ball don’t like, and you know something will go in Michigan favor to balance out this injustice. Seconds later, Irish quarterback Tommy Rees fumbles the ball and Michigan recovers…

A few minutes later, Jeremy Gallon catches a 14 yard Robinson pass for another touchdown. Witness! It’s 24-21.

Again, the stadium is jumping literally. The sound is echoing throughout amongst the new suites.

The Michigan defense held the Irish and soon after our offense got back onto the field, Vincent Smith caught a 21 yard pass from Robinson. Witness! It’s 28-24. Michigan has their first lead of the game with less than 2 minutes remaining.

Of course that lead was not save, because Notre Dame marched back down the field and scored their own touchdown in response, their first points of the 2^nd half, on a 29 yard pass from Rees. Maybe they rushed it because they left Michigan with 30 seconds on the clock to work with.

Gallon ran the ball back to the Irish 8 yard line with 8 seconds left. Instead of immediately kicking a field goal to tie the game (we all know Michigan’s kicking game has been sketchy the last couple years), Head Coach Brady Hoke made the decision to try for at least one play in the endzone. They had 2 timeouts to call if Denard was tackled.

With 2 seconds left in the game, Roy Roundtree made the catch of his life from Robinson to score a touchdown. Witness.

Game over: Michigan 35, Notre Dame 31. Witness.

The celebration went long into the night. Robinson jumped into the student section! The students stuck around for so long after the game, the police were telling them to leave. This was well after midnight.

We all woke up this morning questioning if last night truly happened. Of course it did! We WITNESSED it!

GO BLUE!