Michigan destroyed Minnesota in its Big Ten opener

It was all Michigan, 58-0.   They outgained Minnesota 580 to 177.   Denard Robinson was 15-19 for 169 yards with 2 TDs.  He rushed for 51 yards but on a season low 6 carries.  He did have a TD.  Michigan used its backs to take most of the load off of Robinson.  Fitz Toussaint rushed 11 times for a career high 108 yards and a TD.  Thomas Rawls rushed 10 times for 73 yards.  Vincent Smith rushed for 60 yards.  He ran for a TD, caught a TD, and threw for a TD.  Michigan piled up 363 yards on the ground.

Michigan also kicked 3 field goals today, after having only 4 coming into the game.  Effective field goal work after the atrocious field goal kicking during the Rich Rodriguez era.

The win was their largest margin of victory in a shutout since beating Indiana by the same score in 2000.  It was their first shutout since beating Notre Dame 38-0 in 2007, and their first shutout in Big Ten play since beating Penn State 20-0 in 2001.

All the offense was nice, but the defense was nicer.  They stifled Minnesota overall, got to the quarterback for a sack, and had an 83 yard fumble recovery and return for a TD.  The defense is showing the ability to make some plays.  That's the biggest thing of all since the offense can't score 58 every week.  They have to have the ability to grind out a 17-14 win for example, something that was not possible the last  2 seasons.

In Game Update: Minnesota at Michigan

Vincent Smith is also putting on his own show.  He's rushed for a TD, caught a TD pass, and thrown a TD pass in the game.  He rushed for a 3 yard TD to open the scoring, caught at 28 yard TD pass from Denard Robinson, and threw a 17 yard TD pass to Drew Dilleo.

In Game Update: Minnesota at Michigan

Michigan is rolling 28-0 in the second quarter.  Denard Robinson is 10 of 10 passing for 129 yards and a TD.  He has 4 carries for 43 yards and a TD, but it's Fitz Toussaint doing the heavy lifting in the running game.   5 carries for 74 yards. 

If someone else has the hot hand in the running game give it to them.  It looks like there was an early focus to get Robinson into a passing rhythm since he's completed less than 50% of his passes the last two games.  Other than his explosion against Notre Dame he hasn't broken 100 yards in a game passing all season.

Granted, lesser opposition.  And he ran for 198 and 200 in two of those games so he was doing plenty.  But the competition gets tougher from here.  Minnesota is bigger and more physical than all the teams they've played so far except Notre Dame.

But it's always looked to me that if Denard didn't get into an early rhythm with passing because he was emphasizing his running game, it's been hard to turn that back on.  He's got some good wide receivers.  Vincent Smith is a good receiver out of the backfield, and Brady Hoke has put the fullback and tight end back into the passing game.  So they have options for giving him some easy short passes to get him going early.

Most importantly the defense is stepping up and stifling the Golden Gophers.  More signs of an improved defense so at least Michigan hopefully doesn't have to score 50 points to win games in the Big Ten.

seen in the Social Mediaverse during the Minnesota-Michigan...

    @UMGoBlog minnesota switching up the play at the line of scrimmage -> re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

Michigan cruised over Eastern Michigan yesterday

Denard Robinson rushed 26 times for 198 yards and 1 TD.  He didn't throw much, completing only 7 for 95 yards, but added 2 TDs.


Vincent Smith rushed 9 times for 118 yards.   Michigan cruised 31-3.

 Their defense, which will be under the microscope all year, held Eastern Michigan to 236 total yards.

MICHIGAN MAGIC!!!!!!

Denard Robinson throws his 4th TD pass of the game with 2 seconds left!  Michigan drives 80 yards on 2 completions in 28 seconds!!  Michigan wins!  Classic game!  Classic Michigan moment!  It took Brady Hoke 2 games to etch himself into Michigan legend for all time.  Denard Robinson furthers his.  He lit up Notre Dame for 502 yards last year, mostly on the ground.  Tonight it was 446, mostly through the air!

In game observation: Notre Dame at Michigan

WOW!!!  Notre Dame's secondary commits its own total breakdown.  65 yard yard pass down to the 15.  Michigan has 8 seconds in order to try to win it!

In Game Update: Notre Dame at Michigan

Crappy Michigan late game defensive secondary breakdown #594959699593.   Denard Robinson threw his third TD pass of the game to give Michigan its first lead with about 1:12 to play.  Notre Dame marched right back down and scored a TD with 30 seconds to play.  No pressure on the quarterback.  Gaping holes in coverage and wide open receivers.

Can Denard drive Michigan into field goal range from their own 20 to send the game to OT?

In game observation: Notre Dame at Michigan

Michigan has clawed back into things.  Denard Robinson is running the ball a bit more and that's setting up the passing game.  Michigan was down 24-7 but it's now 24-21.  The big play Michigan offense has come to life a bit, and the defense is finally stepping up as well.

In game observation: Notre Dame at Michigan

It's the first night game in the history of the Big House.  You'd think the Maize & Blue would be fired up.  Instead they seem to be sleepwalking on both sides of the ball.  Notre Dame is up 14-0.  Their QB hasn't thrown an incompletion yet.  Denard Robinson just threw a horrible one for Michigan, lobbing up a screen pass blindly.  The back wasn't at the spot yet and it was an easy Notre Dame pick.

Michigan beat Western Michigan 34-10

The game was called with about a minute and 20 seconds to play in the third quarter, following the second 30 minute lightning delay in the third quarter.  The first came just a minute after halftime, just after Michigan had a 3 and out in torrential rain. This was the first rain shortened game in Michigan history, and the first football game I've ever seen end early due to weather.

After play resumed Michigan pulled away on its second defensive touchdown.  Michael Shaw then had a 44 yard touchdown run, 2 plays after he's ripped off a 42 yard gain pretty much on the same play up the middle.

I don't know that we honestly learned much.  Denard Robinson was  9-13 for 98 yards. He also rushed 8 times for 46 yards.  His longest was a 12 yarder, and that on a scramble when he couldn't find an open receiver.  There were a couple designed runs but it definitely wasn't All Denard, All the Time.  Fitzgerald Toussaint rushed 11 times for 80 yards and 2 TDs.  That's right, a running back led the team in rushing attempts.

The offense could have used another quarter of reps.   On the defense end, they made a couple big plays.  There is more to the defense than the TDs they score.  They seemed more aggressive in dialing up blitzes and put the squeeze on the Western Michigan passing game by getting to the QB more and more as the game progressed.

How will that translate to better opposition?  We'll find out next week when Notre Dame comes to Ann Arbor for the first ever night game at the Big House.

We didn't get much of a look at Michigan's offense other than the obvious formation and emphasis differences.  Notre Dame also didn't get that much of a look.

In Game Update: Western Michigan at Michigan

The defense strikes again!  Are they better than last year?  Today they are, at least in the big play department.  Michigan's defense delivers another touchdown.  After a crushing sack on the QB it was Brandon Herron again, scooping up a fumble and taking it to the endzone from 28 yards out.

In Game Update: Western Michigan at Michigan

DEFENSE!  DEFENSE!  Michigan's defense makes a stand in the red zone.  They got pressure to the QB and a hand up.  A tipped pass leads to a 95 yard interception return to the house for linebacker Brandon Herron. 

The defense cranked up the intensity on the next Western Michigan possession to force a 3-and-out, almost turning another tipped pass into an INT.

The interception return was the longest in modern Michigan history (since 1948).  It was also their first Pick 6 since 2009. 

In Game Update: Western Michigan at Michigan

I got home just in time for Michigan's first offensive possession.  Michigan scored on their first possession.  The offense looked more healthily balanced.  There were some designed quarterback runs, which is of course going to be a strength with a weapon as dynamic as Denard Robinson.  But there was also a quick out to a wide receiver, a slant, a sighting of a pass to a tight end, and the good old handoff to the deep back.

We know what the offense can do, even if it will look different than the last two years.  What I want to see is what the defense will look like.  So far they're not making any more stops than they did the last couple years.

the first piece of good news for the Brady Hoke Michigan Era

Hoke is saying that Denard Robinson will be staying at Michigan after the two met. Hoke is familiar with a version of the spread offense so it is believed that he's going to run a modified version as he works to transition the player talent again. That is enough to keep Robinson in Ann Arbor, and will utilize his obvious talent. In order to hang in games Robinson will have to throw more.

Speaking of Michigan quarterbacks it was announced during the press conference to introduce Brady Hoke as head coach that Tate Forcier is no longer with the team. Not a surprise after he was declared academically ineligible for the bowl game.

Brady Hoke however will be...

Hours after Les Miles opted to stay at LSU Michigan announced San Diego State coach Brady Hoke as its new head coach. It was Hoke's name that had kept coming up as choice #2 if Jim Harbaugh passed on the job.

Brady Hoke spent 8 years as a Michigan assistant coach. He was the defensive line coach on the 1997 National Championship team, which also led the nation in run defense.

Hoke has authored turnarounds at both Ball State and San Diego State, taking both to bowl games after years of mediocrity. He also has other coaching experience in the state of Michigan. All that will help with recruiting in that area.

Some analysts say that if he brings his San Diego State offensive coordinator with him they have the offensive minds to bridge the offensive system, still utilizing Rich Rodriguez's pieces but in a more multi-dimensional way. We'll see if Denard Robinson stays though.

Les Miles will not be the head coach at Michigan

Despite what the anonymous sources said, Les Miles decided to stay at LSU. He's settled in well there and they have close to, if not outright, national championship level talent there.

Michigan talked to Les Miles today

I have been wondering if Harbaugh didn't work out if Michigan would go after Les Miles again. The second time can be the charm sometimes, as Roy Williams showed UNC years back.

Who knows, maybe the impact of Miles being the #1 candidate, turning down the job, then seeing what ensued when the guy they brought in instead didn't fit, makes it different if the opportunity knocks again. That is almost what it seemed like happened with Roy Williams and UNC.

ESPN says that the Miles-Michigan meeting happened today. The ever popular unnamed sources with knowledge as to what the coach is thinking are saying that Miles is likely to accept the job if it is offered. We'll see.

No Harbaugh for Michigan

Jim Harbaugh signed a 5 year $25 million contract with the San Francisco 49ers. So Michigan will be looking elsewhere for its new head coach.

Okay NOW Rich Rodriguez has been fired

It is official. Let's hope that the search for a new head football coach isn't conducted to the tune of Yakety Sax.