OSU wrap

The Game:

I am disappointed. I had hoped that Chad Henne would be healthy. He was not. While the first pass left me thinking he might be healthy, a bomb down the west sideline, the next floated pass as quickly proved he was not. The Game continued that way. When Chad threw the ball was high. It was also thrown with virtually no velocity. Chad has a great arm, but there was just no "pop" in the passes.

I am also disappointed that Jake, Henne, Hart, and mostly Lloyd couldn't go out with a win. I really wanted Lloyd to go out with a win. Really. Badly. He deserved it.

In the second half, Chad came out. Mallett came in. There was such a difference in the velocity of the passes, it was really amazing. Mallett has a strong arm, but no stronger then Henne when healthy. Of course, the coaching staff doesn't trust Mallett, nor did I, and I cheered with the rest of section 6 when Chad came back onto the field from the tunnel. (Speaking of tunnel did anyone notice the extended video of the lockerroom to tunnel to field before the game -- pretty cool). While I hoped that the cortizone would help, it didn't.

Of course, neither did superimmatureMario. But, despite superMario's failure's it is doubtful it would have made a difference. Henne's subpar health gave us really no chance. Michigan has been woefully bad at sustaining the run this season. With a gimpy Hart, that ineffectiveness was amplified.

The offensive and defensive lines crushed Michigan. I was a little surprised not to see more of Minor and Brown after it was clear that Hart wasn't 100%. But it would not have mattered without a passing attack. Our line simply couldn't effectively run block. Which is something that will certainly change next year once we abandon the zone blocking scheme. So, next year, I look forward to greater confidence in the run game, particularly short yardage running.

Said and done, the story of the game was told by the offensive and defensive lines. We were pounded. Our sole chance of success in light of that pounding was our passing and outside skill players. Chad wasn't up to the challenge, as you saw.

The Good

I give Ron and the D credit. While tofu blew up out defensive line on numerous occasion, we actually held tofu to a respectable yardage and point total. Some of that was due to conservative playcalling (2 passes) some due to the rain, and some due to the D. The only big play of the day was Wells run. A run that could have been stopped without a missed tackle (subject to my review of the replay, it looked like the backer should have had him, or at least slowed him down enough to allow help). So, Ron, I again spare you the spankboard. I also must mention the Englemon interception, which was a nice play and should have set up a score.

Zoltan the Inconceivable. I am buying a shirt for next season.

The Crowd. I stood (with the rest of my section) the ENTIRE game. While we stand a lot in section 6, it is typically only OSU for which we stand the entire game, and stand and clap and yell we did. Even the 3rd and 4th quarters, which all things considered for this game, was pretty damn good.

The Bad

Line play. Mike Hart. Mario Manningham. Carson Butler penalties. The weather. Uggh.

The Ugly.

Ghoston is ugly good. How did we let him get to Colombus. Not good. Oh yeah, and the twelve Buckeyes in the three rows either side of me, really ugly. One dude, who called Zoltan the Inconceivable a "European Gypsy" on 13 separate occasions during the game. Zoltan proceeded to kick a 70 yard punt inside the Buckeye 10 yard line. This guy was wearing 70's style white rimmed glasses with red tinted lenses -- LLLOOOOOOOSSSAAAHHHHH!!!

Observations.

The coaching staff does not trust Ryan Mallett. He got his head chewed off after the only series he played. By looking at Henne, you know that if they had any faith in Mallett, he would have played. They don't. He didn't. While I hope he can get his head out of his ass because it appears he has all the physical tools to become an exceptional quarterback, I doubt his mental and emotional ability match his physical skills. Steven Threet may be competition next year, which would truly be a shock considering the fanfare with which Mallett entered.

There is a realistic chance that tofu will be in the MNC. They are not that good. They are a shadow of an Oregon team with Dennis Dixon. That said, I would like to see our future coach kick some Buckeye ass in the MNC. Would be nice, wouldn't it.

If Penn State gets taken ahead of us after losing to us and to little brother, there is something seriously wrong. I will boycott the Outback Steakhouse or Capital One if that happens. In the case of Outback, I would actually be kind of bummed because their sirloin, filet, and tuna appetizer are all very good. As for Capital One, not so muc . . . . Wait! I mean I control millions of billions of dollars, capital one. Yeah, and sure, they happen to all be stuck with a foreign bank in Nigeria, but I have a way to get that out if you can just send me a check. Not that San Antonio is all bad -- they really cook some fabulous food down there. And, hey, the odds in are in our favor this time if we need our tight end to do anything other than run out of bounds on the last play of the game. On second thought, our tight end is Caron Butler.

Bye Guys. Beat OSU v7

Thankyou.

I am heading to the game this afternoon, and this will be my last post til post game. The season comes down to this game. A victory will mean another successful season and a Rose Bowl bid. A loss, well, I'm not going to talk about it. After 3 seasons having lost to the Tofu, the seniors need to pull this one out for themselves, for Lloyd, and for Michigan.

Prediction: Mike Hart and Chad Henne play all four quarters. Carlos and Brandon Minor both get some time, but Hart rushes for 150-160 yards on 25 carries. Chad for 300 yards on 25 completions. Michigan scores 3 touchdowns and 2 field goals for 27 points.

This is scary b/c to only score 27 means that our D must play well. Play well they do. Beanie Wells runs for 80 yards in the first half and is shut down the remainder of the game from his injury (come on, it's time our opponent suffered from some injuries). In an inspired outing the D line sacks Boekman 7 times, and gives 190 passing yards. Tofu scores 2 first half touchdowns on the ground, but manages only 2 more field goals the remainder of the game. Boekman and the bucks have the ball with 5 minutes left on their own 30 to try to make it a 3 point game. Boekman is drowned out by the crowd and forced to call his last timeout on 3rd and 10 with 2:30 left. Sack. On 4th and 17 incompete across the middle.

M wins one for Lloyd and sends him out with a 27-17 victory and Rose Bowl berth, where Michigan meets Arizona State.

Mantonio vs. Mike Hart's Little Brother

As you know, Mike Hart compared the Spartans to a little brother after Michigan came back to lead and went on to victory with 2 touchdowns in about four minutes. Like the brother that you let hang around, and then beat his ass with 4 straight blocked shots and 5 hoops in row in the driveway. You can find the audio of Mike's comment here.

It's hard to tell from the camera angle below, but Dantonio is huge. He's like Jake Long size, really -- or at least inside that very cloudy skull he's 6'6" 280, minimum. I like to call him bigMantonio--or just Mantonio for short. Mantonio comment:



Yesterday, Mike called Mantonio. I have obtained a super secret copy of that conversation between Mike and Mantonio which I obtained with my super stealthy blogger sleuth skills:

Mike Hart: Hey, Mantonio, I want to apologize for comparing you to a little brother. I was just excited to beat you every year of my Michigan career, and heythat's six straight, you know. It's no big deal though, M, I mean you called out my man Terrance, you installed a clock to count down time to your one game season, AND you asked your players all week to refuse to bow down to Michigan.

Mantonio: Well, you see, Mike, I'd really like to hold on to this job for awhile, it's real important for me. I mean, you know, Mike, I don't have a pro career headed my way. I need to milk this baby a little longer than John L. did. I need to build some confidence and kickass attitude here in East Lansing.

Mike Hart: I know how you feel. You know my little brother told me the same thing the other day. I beat him every time we play. He's just an average ball player, and I'm well, pretty good, M.

Mike Hart: The problem, Mantonio, is that while I know you're not threatening, my little brother is pretty offended that you asked whether he existed. Really, M, you should know better. And, he's a tough little bugger. I mean, hey, he's not as tough as me, but he'll still kick your ass, M:

Spring Practice Musings Part I (QB's and RB's)

I could not attend the spring scrimmage. I have read quite a bit. There are several links from which I've pulled this information and the links are listed at the bottom of this post. As we all know, and as the coaching staff reiterates, even this week, the expectation is not for the player but the position. I'll endeavor to update the comments and performance by position. In a glowing report of the individuals, Lloyd gave a typical response of the group effort. While comments of this type are made by every coach, and in every year, I suspect there is genuine sincerity in this comment:

I like the attitude of this team, they've worked as hard as any team we've had. Practices have been very physical."

Physical, yes. Is nice? No. In fact, there are so many injuries, it makes more sense to list them by position. Fortunately, only a hand full are likely still unresolved by August.

Quarterbacks: Not surprisingly, this is one position that, even with Forcier's transfer, we're doing well. In fact, so well that I doubt there is another team with as good a returning senior, with a bona fide (albeit young) player to jump right in behind him. This is reminiscent Tom Brady's time at UM when Henson came in, except, Henne is better at this point that was Brady.
Chad Henne took the Meyer Morton Award for the player who shows the greatest development and promise as a result of spring practice. Greatest development? Since when? If since last year that's really quite an accomplishment. Let's hope the line can give him 2.5 to 3.2 to get the ball out of there. David Cone was said to have made "progress". That was the only comment. Don't expect Cone to make any contribution soon. Lloyd had glowing things to say about Ryan Mallett. While no quotes, Loeffler thinks Mallett may be the most advanced of any quarterback coming in. Lloyd had these comments about Mallett:

He's a very bright guy. He's really picked up the things that we've asked him to do as far as in the huddle and at the line of scrimmage. He's got a lot of poise, and they'll see a guy with a great arm. He's a guy that has such great physical stature in terms of his height and size, he's able to see down the field, and when he lets it go, it's a strong throw.

"(He) picked things up very well, and he got a lot of repetitions throughout the spring, I think his development is continuing. He's a talented guy, a very bright guy.

I think what he has done might not be as noticeable to a fan, but certainly to a coach. Now he still has a lot to learn, but I think he's made a lot of progress. He's done some things that's going to enable him this fall to come into training camp with confidence, knowledge, ability and his understanding of what we're trying to get done."

Running Backs: Mike Hart didn't' practice, so no real word on Number 20. It's hard to tell from the comments whether Minor or Grady would have been second string this spring. With Grady's injury, there's no question that come the fall Brandon Minor will assume the backup role to Hart. Lloyd said of Grady:

The disappointment, of course, is Kevin Grady. Kevin was having an outstanding spring, and he was developing the patience it takes to play at that position.

I think Kevin will have surgery on [April 16th], and I don't know what the future for him regarding next year is. But the good news for Kevin is that he's got such a great work ethic and he's still a very very young guy. So I don't think there's any question that he'll be able to return. The disappointment for us: he was having a great spring. He just had gone to another level, so certainly that's a disappointment for all of us.

Brandon Minor had a very nice freshman year. That should only get better:

'"Brandon Minor has had an excellent spring," Carr said. "He's much more confident because he's been around, and he got a lot of work.

In the long run, Carlos Brown will be happy he stuck with it. If he's as talented and fast as it sounded out of high school he should get playing time before he leaves. It's likely that will include this fall, including in the opener September 1. Run Carlos Run, we can use your speed!

While there was reported enthusiasm about former walk-on Mark Moundros at fullback, enough so to claim he is competing for the starting spot, it's hard to believe that he'll beat out a tight end transferring to fullback, much less Vince Helmuth. Oh, that's right, we haven't a tight end to move. To end the suspense, I announce here that the starter will be . . . Helmuth.