Is there a Silver Lining in that Cloud?
I sure hope
so. I tend to be a very optimistic
person. I try to see the best in the
situation. Find ways to see the bright
side. However, based upon what I
witnessed on Saturday, the Glass was only 1/4 Full. My text to some family members near the end
of regulation was “Beautiful Day. Offense sucks.
Defense sucks. Coaching sucks”
And on
Sunday, I started reading the recaps.
This gave me some optimism that the Glass is more than Half Full.
Army
Army is a
good team. I know, they are not a Top 20
Team. But, consider the following:
·
Army had won 10 straight games going back to
2018.
·
Army beat Houston in the Armed Forces Bowl
70-14.
·
In 2018, Army took Oklahoma to OT. The Sooners prevailed 28-21.
·
While Army is One Dimensional on offense, they
do it extremely well. The Triple Option
had not been seen by Michigan in a long time, and we will not see it again for
quite a while.
UM
Defense
As stated
above, Army runs a precise (limited) offense to perfection. Michigan held them to the following lows:
·
243 Total Yards (200 Rushing Yards) – lowest
yardage since 2017.
·
3.7 Yards per Play (3.3 Yards per Rush) – lowest
since 2015.
·
3 Turnovers – most since 2017.
And when it
counted the most, Michigan’s D came up big.
Lavert Hill intercepted the pass when Army was on the 5 yard line. The last turnover ended the game as we sacked
the Army QB in OT forcing a fumble that we recovered.
Two of
Army’s TDs came on short fields. Their
second TD came after we fumbled the ball on our 40 yard line. Army also scored in OT starting at the 25
yard line. We held them scoreless in the
second half as well.
Special
Teams
The Special
Teams were solid on Saturday. Moody made
3 PATs, and a clutch 43-yard FG in OT to win the game. Our punter only punted once, but nailed it
for 61 yards. And the second team punt
returners and kick returners did a decent job.
This should greatly improve when Donovan Peoples Jones
(DPJ) is
cleared from the IR (hopefully against Wiscy)
Offense
I don’t have
much to offer here, except for a gut feel.
Patterson is playing with an injury.
I believe this limited the play calling and affected his passing
accuracy (No clue as to why we didn’t play McCaffrey more). This will improve with the bye-week.
We have yet
to see Speed-in-Space. Not sure why we
run it to the interior of the line 15 times in a row. However, my gut tells me that Harbaugh is not
going to show anything. In years past he
refused to tell the media who is the starting QB the day before the game. We know he has his eccentricities.
Two of our
best players have not played yet. Runyon
Jr. is our best offensive lineman. When
he returns at left tackle, the line will become noticeably better.
DPJ will add
another huge weapon to the offense.
Black, Collins and Bell have been solid, and DPJ will only give opposing
Defensives even more problems. We have
also gotten solid play from TE with Sean McKeon. Charbonnet has proved a solid runner who can
block as well. He should do nothing but
improve week after week.
Chris Knight
(aka Special K, CK or KnightTrain)
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