Maized and Confused
Shock and Awe
Photo: Larry E. Wright - Ann Arbor News
The debate will be whether Michigan’s loss to Appalachian State is the biggest loss in school history. It’s hard to think of a bigger loss that was more shocking, and this victory was completely earned by the visitors. It was the first time Michigan lost a season opener since 1998 when they lost to
The Wolverines had a chance to steal a victory from the Mountaineers when Chad Henne hit Mario Manningham for a 46 yard pass to set up a 37 yard field goal attempt with 6 seconds remaining. But Appalachian State made yet another big play by blocking Michigan’s field goal attempt as time expired.
Mike Hart carried the Michigan offense
Photo: MGoBlue
The Wolverine offense was effective when Mike Hart was in the lineup. The senior offensive captain ran for 188 yards on 23 carries and scored three touchdowns. He gave Michigan a 32-31 lead when he broke free for a 54 yard touchdown run. But Chad Henne had a poor game, only completing 52.6% of his passes, throwing 1 touchdown and 1 interception and only 6.2 yards per attempt. ASU sophomore quarterback Armanti Edwards completed 74% of his passes, averaged just under 10 yards per attempt and threw 3 touchdown passes.
What can Brown do for you? Put your team down 7, that’s what
Photo: MGoBlue
Michigan’s defense was atrocious early on, ceding three touchdown drives to the Mountaineers in the second quarter. Stevie Brown - who played like Stevie Nicks - continued the Wolverines’ string of poor safety play and was removed at halftime and was replaced by Brandent Englemon. Englemon recorded an interception and looked much better than Brown and should take over starting duties.
Crable was Michigan’s MVP on defense
Photo: MGoBlue
The one standout on defense was Shawn Crable, who was all over the field and made several tackles, including sacks. The defense improved during the second half, holding the Mountaineers to two field goals. It’s shocking the coaching staff didn’t realize Brandent Englemon was the better player at free safety as it was glaringly obvious in game action that he is a better defender at this time.
On special teams Johny Sears’ play was subpar. He gaffed a kick-off in the end zone and also had a fumble that was recovered by Appalachian State but was overturned after the play was reviewed. When he actually fielded the ball cleanly and returned the kick he did well, returning kicks 26, 25, 20, 25 and 10 yards. Placekicker Jason Gingell went 2-4, missing his last two field goal attempts of 43 and 37 yards. He did convert the two point-after attempts he kicked.
Michigan is looking squarely at the potential of starting off 0-2 as they play Oregon at home next week. The last time Michigan lost their season opener to Syracuse they went on to lose the following game. A season that looked promising on paper is now in danger of becoming a huge disappointment. This is entirely on the coaching staff. Here are my grades for the three key coaches.
Mike DeBord - Offensive Coordinator: F. Take away Mike Hart - something great defenses have proven capable of doing and actually happened for most of the 2nd and 3rd quarter - and his offense has nothing. That just shouldn’t be the case with players like Chad Henne, Jake Long and Mario Manningham. You cannot overstate how poorly the offense played in this game. Michigan would have been blown out if not for Mike Hart’s heroics.
Ron English - Defensive Coordinator: C-. Deserves an F for the first half but his defense played better in the second half. With that being said, playing Stevie Brown for the entire first half and not being able to shut the door on the Mountaineers during their last drive is simply unacceptable. This also comes on the heels of his defense being completely outclassed by Ohio State and USC last season. Both of those teams have some of the best talent in college football. That isn’t the case with Appalachian State.
Lloyd Carr - Head Coach: D. The team was poorly prepared to play this game. Perhaps they didn’t take Appalachian State seriously, which is hard to believe but might be the only explanation. Brown should have been pulled much earlier, special teams shouldn’t have been so inconsistent, and the number of penalties on the offensive line late in the game simply killed drives.
The improvement the defense made in the second half gives you reason to believe the team could improve. However Michigan’s offense was a huge disappointment outside of Mike Hart’s brilliant play. There’s really no reason to believe Mike DeBord is capable of improving the offense, particularly against great defensive teams like Wisconsin and Ohio State.
Appalachian State Mountaineers Armanti Edwards Lloyd Carr Michigan Football Mike DeBord Mike Hart Ron English Shawn Crable2 Comments
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If Earle Bruce called our loss to Indiana in the 80’s the darkest day in Ohio State history, what was this?
The only reason UM’s defense looked better in the second half was because App State played by the book, as if they were playing a team of equal ability, and pulled in the reins. As soon as it was “we need to score” time, they put back in the spread, and Michigan showed again, they have no clue how to defned the spread or contain the quarterback.
As a Big Ten fan, I’m ashamed.
Lloyd, you’ve had since the USC loss to get your team prepared for a I-AA team. And this was it?
Wow.
Michigan did force two turnovers when you suggest Appalachian State reigned things in, so I am somewhat skeptical.
Then again there’s no question the Mountaineers were able to move the ball with no problems when they needed to score on their last drive.
Any way you put it this is simply a terrible loss. It’s got to be the worst loss in the program’s history.