Rich Rod or 1998

There is a lot of talk out there about how these first two games of 2012 are a reminder of RR circa 2010. Get blown out by a highly ranked team (Alabama = Wisconsin/Ohio State) and win a close game against a team M should be much better than (Air Force = Indiana/Illinois/Purdue). But this start kind of reminds me of the 1998 start and I'm not sure if that is better or worse.

In 1998 M was coming off an undefeated season and a share of the MNC. In 1997, Jim Hermann (with some minor help from Charles Woodson) had turned a defense that had been just OK under his predecessor (Greg Mattison) into the dominant defense in the country. Hermann won assistant coach of the year honors and was probably on his way to being Lloyd Carr's ultimate successor.

The 1998 season started with M giving up 36 points at Notre Dame and 38 to Syracuse. M had trouble stopping the Irish ground game as Jarious Jackson and Aubrey Denson led the Irish to 280 yards on the ground. Although turnovers and short field helped the Irish - allowing scores on 5 straight possessions was a drastic difference from the 1997 D for Michigan.

The next week Donovan McNabb pretty much did whatever he wanted against Hermann's D jumping out to a 24-0 lead before M made it close in garbage time 38-28.

Although no one on the 2011 defense had the national acclaim that Charles Woodson did in 1997. The losses along the D-line from team 132 seems to have affected the 2012 defense just as much.


The bight side is M went through 1998 as constantly being the highest ranked 2 loss team (as much a Michigan Tradition as any) and ended up with a 10-3 record, with a bowl win over an SEC school and a share of the conference title.

On the down side - Hermann's defenses were never anywhere near as good as the 1997 squad. This lead to his departure following the 2005 season and relative obscurity as a NFL position coach. Maybe Mattison isn't quite the genius we thought he was in 2011...

The Defense Against ND

I already mentioned the penalties.
-After the first defensive possession, the D did what is was ultimate supposed to do other than a couple of big plays.  They kept ND out of the end zone.  I'd like to think that those big plays are the kind of thing that won't happen again, but we know they are.  Hopefully, the DBs will play smarter than have been, but they really are not fast.
-Even though ND was kept out of the end zone other than the first drive and the two big plays, the D seemed to have a lot more missed coverage assignments, and certainly had a lot more missed tackles.  I figure that is probably closer to what we can expect against good teams this year.  Hopefully, I'm wrong.
-Overall, the conservative defense seemed to be working.  Bend but don't break was somewhat effective.
-I was surprised there weren't any sacks last week.  The DLine (and others) were responsible for a couple sacks this week, and some good pressure causing some passes to thrown badly.
-Mouton had some great plays, but I can't agree with the announcers who said he was one of the best players on the team.  I hope he can become that, though.  Ezeh is frustrating.  He'll make a good play, then you'll wonder on the next play whether he has lead in his shoes.
-The DBs are going to exploited all year.  We know they aren't great, but can they just not be so stupid?
-Basically, if the D front can stop the run and put pressure on the QBs, the D will survive.

Countdown to Kickoff - 16 days

September 16, 2006

Michigan 47, Notre Dame 21

Both teams entered undefeated. Notre Dame was ranked #2 in the country, Michigan was #11. Notre Dame has picked apart a decent Penn State team the week before and were favored against the Wolverines.

I got us tickets through some scalper site online. The asterisk next to one of the seat numbers made me a little nervous. I was worried, they were handicapped seating or something like that, but it turns out it meant it was an aisle seat.

The Irish tried to set the tone right off the bat, Brady Quinn went deep to Jeff Samardzija, but Morgan Trent (Trent Morgan?) broke it up. After an offside penalty Quinn went to the air again. This time he found Prescott Burgess, who took it back for a Michigan TD.

A few minutes later Chad Henne's pass was intercepted an taken back inside the Michigan 5, leading to the first ND TD, and the game was quickly tied at 7.

Late in the quarter Henne found Mario Manningham wide open for the second M TD. The teams traded special teams errors, but it was more costly for the Irish. Michigan's PAT failed, leaving the score 13-7. Then ND fumbled the kick off, giving the Wolverines the deep in ND territory. Mike Hart cashed it in, and Michigan lead 20-7 going into the 2nd quarter.

Early in the 2nd, Henne found Manningham again putting Michigan up 27-7. But Henne and Mannningham weren't done. A third TD pass put Michigan up 34-7 late in the half. The stadium was stunned. Even confident Michigan fans, couldn't have expected this thrashing. When the Irish cut right through Michigan's defense for a quick score right before the half, I admit to thinking, "That was too easy, they're going to come back in the 2nd half and it is going to be an embarrassing result." That was not the case.

Michigan's defense was just too strong for the Irish. Burgess almost had his second interception return for a TD, but was tackled inside the 5. Michigan settled for a Rivas field goal 37-14.

After that the M defense just began teeing off on Quinn. Michigan Left South Bend with a dominating 47-21 victory, and the Michigan fans left Notre Dame Stadium, like few visiting fans get to...

Why the defense played so poorly against Indiana...

From AnnArbor.com

That’s partly, defensive coordinator Greg Robinson said, because Indiana’s offense showed new looks.

“They came out with a lot of things we hadn’t seen, and we had to get a feel for things,” Robinson said.

I'm pretty sure I saw similar comment last week. Are they really surprised teams will try something new against them? If that is truly why, then this could be a long Big T1E1N season.