Toussaint certainly looked like a starter yesterday.
I'm not sure if there is another thread floating around here following the runnings backs' performance yesterday, but I was really impressed with Fitz's game yesterday. No slight against Shaw, obviously -- he ripped off a couple of great runs. I was pleasantly surprised to finally be able to see what Fitz has to offer for this team, and he has the look of an every down back.
September 4th, 2011 at 2:00 PM ^
i felt shaw made more + plays in about half the carries. toussaint appeared tough between the tackles, but shaw either broke a tackle, juked a dude, or outran someone i don't think fitz would have in every one of his runs.
just my epinion, no sugarcoat.
September 4th, 2011 at 4:34 PM ^
Fitz is billed as the back with better wiggle, but when opportunities were presented yesterday, it certainly looked as though Shaw has better ability to make a defender miss. Not to say that Fitz isn't a good back, because he is, but his advantage is physicality rather than speed and/or wiggle. To be totally honest about it, I actually thought Shaw looked slightly better overall.
September 5th, 2011 at 1:21 PM ^
I too thought Shaw looked slightly better overall and I think Shaw is faster than Fitz. What I liked was the sweet jump cut that Fitz made on one of his runs. I don't think we can go wrong with these two. We should just give it to whichever one is hot.
September 4th, 2011 at 1:52 PM ^
If you take away Ftiz's 3 goal line carries and 1 long run he averaged 4.7 yds/carry with only 1 negative play. If he can bring that sort of consistency every week Michigan will be in great shape.
September 4th, 2011 at 1:59 PM ^
and all that, obvs. because you're only talking about 7 carries when we're in an 11 carry game. but yeah, that is encouraging. it is what made hart one of the all time greats.
September 4th, 2011 at 1:55 PM ^
Interesting too: Borges said he wanted to go with a single back, yet on some series Fitz, Shaw, and Smith all carried (I think sometimes on successive plays). All looked good, too.
September 4th, 2011 at 2:04 PM ^
He has never said that he has one. He's also been consistent that even with a main back, he will use Vincent as the 3rd down back, and he will need to rest his main back on 1st and 2nd downs to keep everyone fresh.
Also keep in mind that this game was the first time they got to look at their team in a real live situation. I think they were trying all kinds of combinations out there with all they players who have showed they can start. This happened on defense as well. When I saw Jake Ryan's hand in the dirt (#90) I thought he somehow had replaced Roh/Black, but it was just the fact that I'm not used to seeing Michigan present a 5 man defensive line by having the SAM put his hand down in a 3 point stance. I think the rain completely robbed the coaches of some quality exhibition testing of their players. The score separation had just reached the comfortable 3 score difference and there was only one quarter left.
I mean, did I still think I was dreaming when I saw what I think was 8 people rushing the QB and only 3 in coverage.?!? I have to go watch that game again. I wonder if MGoVideo has it up online yet?
September 4th, 2011 at 2:05 PM ^
He didn't say he wanted one guy to take ALL the carries.
Fitz was the starter, and played well. Shaw was the backup and got a backups amount of carries. And Smith is the 3rd down back and only went in on earlier downs when the game was in hand.
September 4th, 2011 at 1:57 PM ^
This is an enormous boost to the team. To go from having all of these guys banged up, missing games, and nursing long-term injuries last year (when the fourth option was a true freshman with ball security issues) to now having all of them healthy, strong, and at top speed (i.e. really fucking fast) should take the offense from "ridiculously potent" to "damn near unstoppable".
September 4th, 2011 at 2:11 PM ^
What did you think of Denard's game, yesterday? From what I saw, which was limited, it looks like he still has the same accuracy issues as last year. I saw a lot of passes thrown behind receivers and a lot of mid air adjusting where a pass thrown on time and on target would have meant a big gain. One to Koger really stood out as he had to lay out mid air to catch it and got hammered as a result.
September 4th, 2011 at 2:27 PM ^
Hard to complain about accuracy when he goes 9/13 without a pick. He did miss some throws (I thought Dileo had an easy TD on that OOPS! play) and he wasn't able to get out in space and use his legs. For a first game (nerves, jitters, etc.), newish system, and only 39 plays I thought he looked fine.
The bomb to Hemingway was to me the most exciting thing about the new offense. If we can get the backs going early (still a little puzzled we opened with so many designed Denard runs), play action paired with Denard's ability on the ground is going to result in a ton of big plays. Borges loves those one-on-one match-ups with a big receiver (Farmer and Poli-Dixon at UCLA, Ben Oma-something or other at Auburn). Hemingway is about as good as it gets in that jump ball situation and should get lots of chances to outmuscle corners and make big plays down the field.
September 4th, 2011 at 3:07 PM ^
He also just barely overthrew one to Koger (or Grady, can't remember which) on 3rd and long. It was a good pass, just about a yard overthrown.
September 4th, 2011 at 4:07 PM ^
Definitely.
9/13 with at least two of those passes coming in the downpour.
I know he has to be able to throw in weather conditions and all, but yesterday had to be tough out there. And MOST games will feature crisp, cool, and dry fall days in Michigan.
I like what I saw overall. ND will be a test, because I think gound yards may be tough to get. So Denard will definitely have to put it up some.
September 4th, 2011 at 4:44 PM ^
All of the early Denard runs were mostly the coaches playing politics to the fanbase. There has obviously been huge fan emphasis on playing to Denard's strength. I think they were just doing that to ease our anxiety. Seriously, there wasn't much danger in doing it, Western isn't a serious threat to us over the course of a game.
September 4th, 2011 at 2:28 PM ^
September 4th, 2011 at 2:29 PM ^
It was still a big improvement over the spring game. I've kind of come to terms with my feeling that whenever Denard drops back, something scary could happen. But I thought he was being safe with the ball all game, made some good reads and when he misfired, it was still on the body of the receiver. I'll take it.
September 4th, 2011 at 2:35 PM ^
The pass to Koger was as good as it was gonna be. Denard is 6ft at best and that is probably being on the generous side. Some of those short throws he has to throw over the top of the LB. It's gonna be like that for the next 2 yrs. Him sitting in the pocket will result in a fair amount of high throws simply because Denard cant get a great view over top of the lineman. So, I think I'll take nothing from that and wait to see what happens in better conditions next week.
September 4th, 2011 at 4:52 PM ^
Drew Brees.
September 4th, 2011 at 7:13 PM ^
There were some clear accuracy issues, but nothing that we haven't seen before from Denard -- passes slightly off-target, lack of touch on the ball, etc. Denard is big enough of a threat on his feet that it probably doesn't matter that he rarely hits a receiver directly in line. It appears that Borges is not reluctant to use Denard to the best of his skill set, which I think is the most important bit of information to take from this game.
September 4th, 2011 at 4:09 PM ^
We got downfield in the air to a degree, but we were able to punch it in between the tackles at the goalline. All offensive td's by running backs. I'm sure things will even out a bit more as the season progresses, but the defense showed up and we have a non-Denard running game now too. :))
September 4th, 2011 at 1:59 PM ^
Fitz And Shaw Both Looked Pretty Damn Good. Maybe 15 carries each a game for them. I just dont see how you can only use one when there both so talented. Would love to see 15 carries each and see V. Smith in on 3rd downs.
September 4th, 2011 at 2:45 PM ^
Obviously only one guy can start, but I see them both getting shots at making plays every game early and then Borges starting to lean towards whichever one seems to be 'hot'/making big plays that day.
September 4th, 2011 at 2:47 PM ^
Yep That Would Be The Best Situation I Think.
September 4th, 2011 at 2:03 PM ^
It was awesome when Fitz lowered his shoulder into that guy. It was nice seeing a bunch of guys run the ball fairly well
September 4th, 2011 at 2:06 PM ^
Hooray for actual running backs! Toussaint didn't like a superstar, but he looked solid. And Shaw looked good, too. Both have the talent to start at Michigan. It's just a question of whether they can stay healthy.
*crosses fingers*
September 4th, 2011 at 2:06 PM ^
September 4th, 2011 at 2:10 PM ^
With the way the offensive line was playing it didn't matter who was running the ball they were going to get at least 4 YPC. I think Fitz and Shaw both had great games but honestly our offensive line just looked unreal. Just two TFL's and no sacks and Lewan didn't make any horrendous drive killing mistakes. If they can keep that up manball might just become a possibility.
September 4th, 2011 at 4:53 PM ^
and that was with Schofield playing out of position in place of Barnum.
September 4th, 2011 at 2:14 PM ^
but it's really hard to judge the team or any individual after >3 quarters. maybe the 4th would have been "garbage time," but it might have shown us something. i think the starters would have seen another series or two followed by a lot of rotation on both sides of the ball. clearly we still wouldn't have a large enough sample size, but i hate to miss the opportunity to see another quarter of action. one of the few intelligent things i heard from the commentators yesterday was to treat the wild weather as a chance to learn and get a new experience. seems like they made a smart call to just end it, but we lost out on a few snaps for the backups.
September 4th, 2011 at 2:17 PM ^
|
|
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CAR | YDS | AVG | TD | LG | |
| B. Herron | 2 | 122 | 61.0 | 2 | 94 |
| F. Toussaint | 11 | 80 | 7.3 | 2 | 43 |
| M. Shaw | 4 | 54 | 13.5 | 1 | 44 |
| D. Robinson | 8 | 46 | 5.8 | 0 | 12 |
| V. Smith | 2 | 11 | 5.5 | 0 | 7 |
| -. Team | 1 | -1 | -1.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Team | 28 | 312 | 11.1 | 5 | 94 |
September 4th, 2011 at 2:21 PM ^
you have a loose definition of what rushing yards are
September 4th, 2011 at 3:47 PM ^
September 4th, 2011 at 7:49 PM ^
Tough but fair analysis. I think we all expect more from team. I know I do.
September 4th, 2011 at 2:17 PM ^
September 4th, 2011 at 2:19 PM ^
2 21 98
September 4th, 2011 at 2:19 PM ^
September 4th, 2011 at 2:19 PM ^
Running backs as a whole did very well. My problem is still the defense... the defense is still atrocious in my eyes. The ND game is very scary... I'm trying to figure out if its possible to stop Floyd considering we couldn't stop WMU WR.
September 4th, 2011 at 2:24 PM ^
Woah Waoh Woah...We couldnt stop Jordan White in zone coverage but in man and press we done pretty good against him and all of the recievers for that matter. Maybe just maybe if we let troy follow him around for the game he can contain him. I dont see why not. Are zone coverage is just so shaky.
September 4th, 2011 at 2:33 PM ^
Assuming he is healthy enough to at next week..
September 4th, 2011 at 3:09 PM ^
Yea I agree. I was talking to a buddy and I changed my thought about how we played when we were in man, but we couldnt stop the out routes while in man. I'm hoping Woolfolk is alright for next weekend, so we can slow down Floyd. The kid is a freak and will most likely get his. I hope the blitzing ability we showed is legit, so we can get to the Q.
September 4th, 2011 at 3:12 PM ^
Yeah..Those out routes are really hard to stop especially sense there timing routes with a quarterback of that level. Alex Carder is the truth.
September 4th, 2011 at 2:25 PM ^
Probably not going to happen. I think the game is going to look a lot like last year. Winning is going to be about getting pressure on their quarterback and our offense making more big plays and less mistakes than theirs. Hopefully home field advantage swings that in our favor.
September 4th, 2011 at 2:28 PM ^
Michael Floyd will dominate any team he faces this year. He is an NFL receiver. We just need to try to limit the level of domination. If we can hold him under 10 catches and not give up the big plays to him I think that will be a successful day against him.
September 4th, 2011 at 3:00 PM ^
You limit Michael Floyd by sending blitzes against the QB (i'm assuming thats Rees) and not letting him have all day in the pocket. If the front four can get in the backfield better than they did this week and if the blitzing schemes look like they did yesterday they should be able to effectively marginalize Floyds output.
September 4th, 2011 at 3:00 PM ^
You limit Michael Floyd by sending blitzes against the QB (i'm assuming thats Rees) and not letting him have all day in the pocket. If the front four can get in the backfield better than they did this week and if the blitzing schemes look like they did yesterday they should be able to effectively marginalize Floyds output.
September 4th, 2011 at 2:31 PM ^
They had one (by all accounts very good) receiver who caught a bunch of underneath throws (long was 20 yards) from a (by all accounts very accurate) veteran QB.
Their second leading receiver had 22 yards. This is not cause for alarm, especially considering our #1 corner missed most of the game.
Playing our #1 corner on kickoff coverage, on the other hand, is a little worrying.
September 4th, 2011 at 2:38 PM ^
Yes the D is still bad at this point. I think it will improve slowly over the season, but more talent is needed to get it where it needs to be. I'm scared of ND's offense as well. From what little bit of the ND-USF I saw I think that USF's defense is much more athletic than UM's.
<br>
<br>For the original topic, I think that Fitz is much more complete of a player than Shaw. Shaw looks the same to me as when he first arrived. Great straight line runner with little power and questionable vision.
September 4th, 2011 at 3:44 PM ^
Carder is probably one of the top 3 qbs we'll see all season and Jordan White is a very good reciever. Even though it's Western, their passing attack is no joke. We tackled well and swarmed to the ball, not to mention we made HALFTIME ADJUSTMENTS. How many times in the past 3 years has a game been close going into halftime and the other team came out and dominated the 2nd half? Too many.
September 4th, 2011 at 4:12 PM ^
Floyd definitely could go nuts against us.
But you have to remember that we have beaten him the past two seasons, and in 2009 they had Tate. Both those guys tore us up, and we still won the game.
I think the key against Floyd, and ND in general, is to avoid the big play.
If we are giving up 50+ yard TDs similar to what the New Math did to ND in 2006(?), I think we are in trouble.
But when you keep Floyds catches contained to less than 20 yards, it forces ND to march down the field and get other players involved.
And if the last 2.1 years are any indication, they don't have the horses to deliver a victory with the rest of their offensive weapons.