That was awesome!
Michigan 30 - Connecticut 10
And here we go--the season that's going to vindicate or destroy Rich Rodriguez. In the upgraded Big House--the third largest (non-racing) stadium in the world and holding the biggest football audience in the world, too.
By great coincidence, the first game of the Season is against Connecticut, so I was pretty sure it would be televised but ABC/ESPN made it one of the big games of the day.
It was a joy to watch Robinson--he passes, he runs, and he's clever. (Robinson made a great head fake and connected with Robinson for a big gain in the 3rd quarter.) He's definitely grown this year. We've got a good stable of backs that he connects with, too. Shaw, Smith, Koger and that other Robinson, to name four. (It turns out there are four Robinsons on Michigan's roster this year.) He made a record today for the most rushing yards by a quarterback.
And that's the big thing Rodriguez needs: a quarterback who will be quick and run his kind of offense. That's probably why Forcier was dropped to 3rd quarterback, behind the freshman, Gardner. Forcier isn't the kind of quarterback that Rodriguez really wants to use. Denard Robinson is. Granted, that's a single point of failure. We haven't seen Garnder do much of anything yet and Forcier probably hasn't improved that much. But other teams do great with hero quarterbacks.
(They showed pictures of Forcier sitting behind the crowd on the sidelines, hiding his expression in a towel. Will he stick around, I wonder.)
Our defensive line leaves a little bit to be desired. Connecticut is a pretty good team (and will probably do well in the Big East) but our line is a little porous to their running game. That's something to watch out for.
But seeing this year's team I've got more than just blind faith that we'll have a good season this year.
Next week is Notre Dame--who beat up Purdue this week and has a pretty solid defense to go with a strong offense that their new coach was supposed to bring. That's going to be a nailbiter. And for the breaks that went our way in this game--not that we needed them--Touchdown Jesus will probably make sure that karma is still a bitch.
This is the best I've felt in several weeks.
And here we go--the season that's going to vindicate or destroy Rich Rodriguez. In the upgraded Big House--the third largest (non-racing) stadium in the world and holding the biggest football audience in the world, too.
By great coincidence, the first game of the Season is against Connecticut, so I was pretty sure it would be televised but ABC/ESPN made it one of the big games of the day.
It was a joy to watch Robinson--he passes, he runs, and he's clever. (Robinson made a great head fake and connected with Robinson for a big gain in the 3rd quarter.) He's definitely grown this year. We've got a good stable of backs that he connects with, too. Shaw, Smith, Koger and that other Robinson, to name four. (It turns out there are four Robinsons on Michigan's roster this year.) He made a record today for the most rushing yards by a quarterback.
And that's the big thing Rodriguez needs: a quarterback who will be quick and run his kind of offense. That's probably why Forcier was dropped to 3rd quarterback, behind the freshman, Gardner. Forcier isn't the kind of quarterback that Rodriguez really wants to use. Denard Robinson is. Granted, that's a single point of failure. We haven't seen Garnder do much of anything yet and Forcier probably hasn't improved that much. But other teams do great with hero quarterbacks.
(They showed pictures of Forcier sitting behind the crowd on the sidelines, hiding his expression in a towel. Will he stick around, I wonder.)
Our defensive line leaves a little bit to be desired. Connecticut is a pretty good team (and will probably do well in the Big East) but our line is a little porous to their running game. That's something to watch out for.
But seeing this year's team I've got more than just blind faith that we'll have a good season this year.
Next week is Notre Dame--who beat up Purdue this week and has a pretty solid defense to go with a strong offense that their new coach was supposed to bring. That's going to be a nailbiter. And for the breaks that went our way in this game--not that we needed them--Touchdown Jesus will probably make sure that karma is still a bitch.
This is the best I've felt in several weeks.