When life hands you lemons you paint that sh*t gold
Title taken from one of my favorite hip hop artists Atmosphere.
With about 4:15 left in the third quarter Michigan was poised to draw to within four points of Notre Dame by staging an improbable comeback. True freshman running back Sam McGuffie had been brilliant all afternoon and quarterback Steven Threet just hit a big pass to Martavious Odoms a few plays eariler during the drive to move Michigan deep into Notre Dame territory. The Wolverines had the ball at the Irish 6 yard line with four shots at narrowing a 28-17 deficit to 28-24 or maybe even 28-25 if they decided to try a two-point conversion.
The Wolverines truthfully had no business being in that position given how the first quarter played out but there they were, within striking distance of turning an abysmal and brutal performance into what could have become an entertaining football game that just might have gone down to the wire. That all became moot when Kevin Grady fumbled the football and Notre Dame recovered the ball inside their own five yard line. It was just that kind of day for the Michigan football team on a soggy field in South Bend: one step forward, two steps back, and then a fumble that results in an easy touchdown for the opponent.
The Wolverines fumbled the ball away all game and it played a huge role in Notre Dame winning the game going away by a 35-17 score. The fumbles? Here we go:
1. Michigan fumbled the opening kickoff before recovering the football which put their offense in really bad field position. 2. That culminated in a Brandon Minor fumble at the Michigan 15 yard line that resulted in a Notre Dame touchdown.
3. Michigan fumbed the ensuing kickoff and Notre Dame recovered the football. That also resulted in a Notre Dame touchdown and a quick 14-0 lead before the game was even four minutes old.
4. Donovan Warren got into the act and fumbled a punt return that Michigan recovered, but the lost yardage put them even closer to their own goal line.
5. Then came Kevin Grady’s fumble that put an end to a scoring drive very deep inside Notre Dame territory.
6. The coup de grace happened on the next drive, when Steven Threet fumbled a snap in terrible weather conditions near midfield at the start of the fourth quarter, which was returned by the Notre Dame defense for a touchdown to close out the scoring at 35-17.
The kick and punt return teams were horrendous. Michigan fumbled two kickoffs and one punt and had 55 net yards across all of their return teams, which includes -2 yards on punt returns. Just to emphasize how bad that is: Notre Dame kicked off six times and punted six times as well. 55 yards. Michigan has got to get those units straightened out.
Putting aside the obvious special teams and defensive issues Michigan had, the best sign for the Wolverines is it looks like their offense is finally starting to hit their stride. Steven Threet made a case for being the main signal-caller as he had a brilliant first half, hitting over 70% of his passes. He followed that up by plaing well in the second half while injured and as the weather detriorated rapidly. Sam McGuffie demonstrated just how ideally suited he is for Rich Rodriguez’s spread offense as he rushed for 131 yards to go with 47 receiving yards for 178 yards of total offense.
Michigan’s offensive line was serviceable although the Wolverines struggled to run the ball between the tackles, particularly in short yardage situations. Nearly all of McGuffie’s long runs were a result of him getting the corner or starting wide then cutting back to find a running lane. Notre Dame blitzed a corner early on but a nice adjustment by Michigan put an end to that when the Wolverines had McGuffie sprint from the backfield to a position behind the receivers to take in a screen pass. That play resulted in a 40 yard touchdown for the freshman tailback. I don’t recall seeing corners blitz after that play.
Notre Dame came out with a good gameplan as they max protected to neutralize the pressure Michigan and defensive coordinator Scott Shafer tried to bring, which allowed them to go after Michigan’s secondary. Play action also helped to draw Michigan’s safeties out of position so the Irish could go up top for big pass plays or draw a pass interference penalty. They also ran the ball effectively late to kill the clock and help keep their defense off the field as Michigan had a 10 minute advantage in time of possession during the first half.
I never really expected Michigan to win this game. I suggested that back in March when I first took a look at the schedule:
The most likely losses in my opinion are the games at Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Illinois, at Penn State and at Ohio State…If my scenario above proves accurate…that would mean they’d be 2-3, and would be 3-4 before facing off against Michigan State.
I didn’t expect Michigan to lose to Utah but I did think Illinois would be a loss; however the Illini don’t look all that great right now so perhaps the Wolverines will be able to win that game. Regardless a 2-3 and 3-4 record seem like real possibilities with Wisconsin and Penn State [in Happy Valley] on the horizon. In the meantime the Wolverines will eventually get Terrence Robinson on the field and the team will hopefully have a second running back to compliment Sam McGuffie. Michael Shaw had a few carries but wasn’t a factor and Kevin Grady had mixed results. Brandon Minor and Carlos Brown have largely been non-factors.
If the Wolverines can improve their defense and take better care of the football they will be in much better shape heading into the Big Ten season. The good sign is that they came back from being down 21-0 and almost got back into the contest despite having an offense with a ton of question marks. This could turn out to be the game where the offense really started to grasp Rich Rodriguez’s offense.
Michigan Football notre dame sam mcguffie steven threetNo Comments
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