The bouncing ball was certainly alive yesterday, wasn't it, Sports Fans? And the Irish got all the bounces, it would seem. Ball control was not the word of the day for the Wolverines.
After we went up 21-0, camera panned to "Coach Rod" and either Tom or Pat said: "Coach Rod looks shocked". Coach Rod never quite lost that look, did he?
Let's establish that we didn't play a great game, OK. U-M left their game in Ann Arbor and we capitalized. The points off turnovers tells it all: Good Guys, 21, Bad Guys, 3. That 18 points was the difference. If we were playing great, the final differential would have been double that. We could have done that. Got some good field positions off turnovers that we didn't convert. And the defense does still tend to give up big plays. And there were a few that got taken away from UM on penalties and a close INC call in the end zone (good call) that could have changed the complexion.
But boy were there some good signs. We do have some deep threats, especially Golden Tate. And in addition to being a deep threat, he had a 60 yard reception that was all Yard After Catch, breaking at least 3 tackles along the way. Running was almost good, although in the 4th quarter we got really vanilla and that brought the YPG down. We were at a 4.0 ypg clip until our last 10 runs.
And the defense seems to be playing well as a unit. Much better tackling than in the last few years, and our 27/28 combo (Bruton and McCarthy) were our top tacklers by far. And just when I was down on Sergio Brown on that one drive, he recovers a fumble, snuffing out Michigan's last hope of getting back in to the game.
We cause UM turnovers in the red zone. A good thing. We had several good stops on third and fourth down. Good fake punt by UM, but the punter high stepping on the sideline down 14-0 or 21-0 (can't remember) looked pretty darned silly.
We didn't waste time scoring when we got deep. That was helped by two U-M penalties in the end zone. But overall our red zone offense was very very good. And JC's arm is certainly strong enough to be very successful this year.
And our very own 12-year old assassin, Mike Annello (he looks 12, I swear), recovered a fumble and forced another on kicks.
TODAY'S QUESTION FOR THE GODFATHER: Don, glad to hear the crowd was into the game, especially early. It did sound loud on TV. Actually, I have two questions that your "on the scene" perspective can help with:
1. What's your sense of JC's relationship with his line and other offensive teammates? Hard to tell if "the bond" is there. To be honest, when I see him, he looks part Dash (from The Incredibles), part Chucky, and part Dennis the Menace. Can you sense if the offense is "sharing the love"?
2. At the end of the game, when they were interviewing Charlie, the team was over by the student section before the Alma Mater and the crowd and team were doing a 3 word cheer. Sounded on TV like "Yan---kees---suck!". I'm pretty sure that's not what they were saying, but I replayed it several times and couldn't read the players' lips. What were they chanting?
Two perspectives from me from TiVo-land: I was on the golf course for most of the game, helping my boss celebrate his 50th birthday. I was watching by Blackberry, sporadically. Greatest moment was when U-M fumbled on the 5 trailing 28-17 in 3rd quarter. I saw "first and goal on ND 5" and the next time I checked, we had the ball and UM hadn't scored. That made me feel good. Second perspective: while watching the tape late last night and today, once UM hit 17 points, it was fun knowing they weren't going to score again!
So it's on to East Lansing, where we know the Spartans have played a wonderful role of Season Spoiler. Of course we've done the same to them. When Brady and boys came back big two years ago, they went right into the tank. They've already lost (to Cal) and have beaten two patsies. No predictions on the game yet, but if we win Saturday, we'll beat Purdue at home too.
One more item, which I'm sure is a repeat. Twenty years ago, when Reggie Ho kicked all those field goals, including the game winner with a little more than a minute to go, Jill and I were on our Pre Cana weekend. No TV allowed. We found a TV. Five weeks later we gathered for Band Alumni Weekend to watch that year's Game of the Century against Miami. Not a bad weekend as I recall, as we also gathered at Jenny's to watch Kirk Gibson hit his limping hero home run in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series.
Dodgers are doing well again this year...
OK this is way too long, sorry. Enjoy the week all. Dry out if you got hammered by Ike and remnants. I think it rained here in March; I don't remember.
GO IRISH!!! BEAT SPARTANS!!!
The Colonel
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2 comments:
Thanks for the analysis Colonel.
The new cheer is "Crank me Up". I guess some football player blurted it out at the first pep rally as a song or jingle he liked and the students have adopted it as a rallying cry. It does sound like Yankees Suck from any distance but it is clean in reality. I appreciate any cheer that gets the vocal chords involved; unlike the stupid Celtic Chant thing where everyone poses with the fists going up and down. Nice music but no crowd sound. I hate it. Crank me up will do instead.
As for the JC bond with linemen, cannot really say. My sense is that there is a some energy in the huddle. Not Brady Quinn energy yet but much better than last year.
Incidentally, I stood the whole game this week. Did not want to, but the crowd would not sit down in our section. Pretty cool in a way. Gives you a sense how high the energy was in the stands.
Ok, now I can understand why it sounded like "Yankees Suck". So here's the challenge: figure out a way to incorporate "Crank Me Up" into the Celtic Chant. It is kinda dumb in its current state, I would agree. Haven't seen mimes scare a visiting team into submission lately.
Hey, we actually got some votes in the polls this week. Still a way to go, but keep winning and it'll happen by week 4 or five.
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