Pretty well played game. 

OFFENSE:
The Good.     After watching the game today, I think Threet has just about as much running ability as Sheridan.  Threet's play fakes were very well executed.  The new Mikey ran hard and made the most of his opportunities as well.  Sam I Am had some very nice runs once he got into space. 

The Bad.  Threet AND Sheridan both missed wide open receivers multiple times throughout the game.  There were a lot of over throws.  I don't understand why Brandon Minor doesn't get a whole lot of playing time.  Sure he isn't quite the home run hitter of McGuffie, but he's much better running between the tackles than Sam as we saw during his short time on the field.  We need to utilize his power/speed blend more than what we have been.  McGuffie is great out of the flats and on pitches/tosses. 

DEFENSE
The Good.   We played pretty well most of the game.  B. Graham/Jamison had a great game and once again did a wonderful job creating pressure.  John Thompson also did a good job flying around the field. 

The Bad.    There weren't many glaring spots of weakness.  The coverage could have been better on several occassions and Stevie Brown once again seemed to over-pursue and take bad angles. 

I thought Thompson missed 3 or 4 tackles in the first half, but they didn't hurt too bad. Good to see that he is flying around the field though and in position to make the plays.

"To be a leader, you've got to play your role in the fray."

I am happy because we look better then we did a week ago. The running game looked good but the passing game isn't completely there yet. I hope thats something we work on alot this week in practice. What concerns me is the ability to throw the long ball along the sidelines. 

on the darkest of days the sun still shines. 

I thought there where some good progress in todays matchup. I thought the D was still playing a little soft even know we held the to only 6 points. I also thought that the 2nd quater play calling was almost predictable at times and it was driving me nuts.

I echo your thoughts section43! 

One other thing I forgot to mention... While he's a great player, Donovan Warren isn't really cutting it as a punt returner.  He's had several big chances with good blocking and space to make something happen, he just hasn't.  I know Woodson didn't appear to be that great of PR either until the tOSU game. 

I'd like to see Boo Boo back there with his quick burst.

This game looked like it'd be a blowout early, but a win is a win, even against Miami OH. 

I do think that there are again a number of positives to take out of this week, along with a few items that still cause me concern... 

We definitely came out with a focus of running the football, and the first and last drives of the game were absolutely gorgeous, nice mix of plays to a different number of guys.  Great play to start the game with Odoms and Threet's TD was just beautiful.  McGuffie is special, there's just no other way to explain it, the guy knows what he's doing on a football field, he got the corner a number of times today when it looked they had the defender had the angle.  Minor also came through HUGE when it mattered, I think he'll start to see a few more carries, particularly if we continue to use the I-form like we did today.  170 some odd yards on the ground, and that was with Minor and  Shaw only touching the ball a few times, Shaw's also a heck of a back; hopefully he's not too dinged up.

Now the ugly... we cannot continue to miss wide open receivers.  How many times did Threet have a guy WIDE OPEN in space down the sideline today and absolutely over-throw him?  We can't afford to miss those opportunities guys, this offense is *this close* to really being able to do some things with the football, but we must improve our execution.  We connect on a few of those passes today and this is a different game entirely.  All those people who dumped on Sheridan... that's just foolish.  Both guys led nice drives today, and once again Sheridan threw a much nicer looking short ball (in my opinion).  If Threet can start to make those throws down the sideline, by all means he should start, but nobody has really jumped out and claimed the job yet if you ask me.

Hard to say much about the O-line without taking a closer look at some of possessions, but there were definitely some nice holes to run through today and the protection was pretty solid as well.

Defense had their hands on a number of passes that they should've probably picked: one by Stevie Brown that was tipped to him (yeegads Stevie) and another that Donovan Warren jumped over by the Michigan sideline and had both hands on.  That said, there were a number of times where a Miami receiver got WAY behind our secondary... Stevie Brown continues to take some rather poor angles to the football in my opinion, and that MUST improve as we move along in the schedule. 

The D-line once again got some solid pressure in the backfield, and holding them to two field goals when they were inside our 10 twice is a solid accomplishment.  6 points is 6 points any way you cut it. Another nice job on limiting their rushing game as well.

Now that said, there were a number of times where I saw linebackers flash in front of a guy getting a ball at the line of scrimmage and not make the tackle.  We have to be sure tacklers out there and not give teams big gains when we can stop them at the LOS, there were a couple of times where we gave up the middle of the field for slants and curls on 3rd down that were just killer in terms of not getting off the field.  I had a hard time seeing on the broadcast, but did anyone notice if we used some more bump and run today?  If not we should be...

I think the conditioning of this football team is really evident in thefourth quarter, we've looked very strong on both sides of the ball atthe end of both games so far this year.

KC's kicks today looked odd to me, no other way to describe it but the flight of the ball just looked "off".  Hard to complain when you make another long one, but something I noticed.

http://www.maizenbrew.com/

What the mind can conceive, the mind can achieve; and those who stay will be Champions.
GO BLUE!

Agree abut the conditioning and the effort, well played.  I also would like to see Minor in there more and if the QB is not going to be a big threat to run, I'd like to see 2 backs split back there to have more options, another blocker, and another guy to fake to for misdirection.  A wins a win, go get em next week.  Really exciting to see this team go down the field that last td drive when needed to close the game, really good momentum to carry over to get it done when needed to put the game away.

The special teams was not very good today.

Mesko is in a funk.  I can't understand it.

There has to be someone else who can return punts.  Warren does move north and south enough.

We need to sure up our tackling on both sides.

Cissoko was impressive on kick returns.

Defense played better then last week.  We should have had a couple of interceptions, the secondary played better.  Lack of experience at QB is showing.   McGuffie is really going to be a good one.

Let's Go Blue!!

I didn't really think Mesko was in a funk... can you explain Scottsdale? He was definitely outshined by Miami's punter, but can you elaborate a bit?

"To be a leader, you've got to play your role in the fray."

The good:

1. McGuffie is a "gamer."

2. Threet needs to be the starter ad ONLY qb.

3. the run defense was tough.

4. WR held onto the ball better.

The bad:

1. DB's out of position.

2. O-line still struggling

3. Sideline throws non-existant.

John 3:16 

mazebacker70


2. Threet needs to be the starter ad ONLY qb.

3. Sideline throws non-existant.

How you can say the first and then go on to say the second is beyond me.  Sheridan took the team down the field at the end of the game for the sealing touchdown did he not?  As long as Threet continues to throw for under 50% and miss wide open receivers he does not deserve to have a lock on the position.

http://www.maizenbrew.com/

What the mind can conceive, the mind can achieve; and those who stay will be Champions.
GO BLUE!

Pretty true sc. We are gonna need some 'splainin'

"To be a leader, you've got to play your role in the fray."

Happy the O line did well overall, not perfect but definitely not Notre Dame of last year.

Grady was effective, I think we have a beer truck.

I thought Threet's upside was his throwing ability! I know Miami could say the same thing but if he would have completed some of those overthrows this game would of been well in hand.

Need more progress...saw the ending of the ND game...we have a chance to win that one but Claussen looks a little improved from last year.

Wasn't it odd to see the I formation, lol!

I'm amazed that people are STILL saying Threet's the guy and Sheridan is chop liver. How many wide open receivers did Threet miss? The first game was deceptive considering Threet came in late and that is when we scored, but I genuinely don't understand what some of you are watching.

Neither guy has separated himself.

Hey, someone give some prop to my buddies on the MiamiU football team, they gave a pretty good effort today. If it weren't for some missed opportunities, it would have been a tighter game I bet.

One thing I noticed from MiamiU/Michigan is that the passing routes over the middles are rare, and it seems like every passing route is either a go route or something short on the sidelines. You would think a slant route or a stop rout over the middle might open some things up.

Mwolves25


Hey, someone give some prop to my buddies on the MiamiU football team, they gave a pretty good effort today. If it weren't for some missed opportunities, it would have been a tighter game I bet.

One thing I noticed from MiamiU/Michigan is that the passing routes over the middles are rare, and it seems like every passing route is either a go route or something short on the sidelines. You would think a slant route or a stop rout over the middle might open some things up.

I'm sure that they are coming but until we see a QB that can actually hit his recievers going down the sideline then I don't really want them throwing over the middle. If the timing and aim is off throwing out then it'll probably be incomplete, but if the timing or aim is off something coming over the middle it's a turnover.

Many people don't think Threet is ahead in the battle but if he could just get some of his throws down then he'd have the job I think. Sheridan might have been the QB to get the sealing TD but it was Threet that started to do the things that apparently RR wants done. (more QB running) If he could have gotten some of those throws down there is no way we see Sheridan this game. Threet might be throwing for 50% or less but he's the only one of the two that I've seen take shots down the field.

The offense needs to stay away from that 3rd and long situation, we saw it waaaaayyyy to much the past two weeks. It has already been said before but execution, execution, execution. I think we'll see some surprises next week in South Bend. There were quite a few plays that we saw last week that we didn't see this week (TE seam route, screens of any kind)

BEWARE the South Side Stench of Colonbus!!!


So this is what Duncan McCloud feels like.

Did anyone else notice that McGuffie was better out of the pro-set than he was out of the spread formation?  It seemed when he got the pitch he was a lot more explosive than when handed the ball out of the shotgun.  

I don't feel either qb has played better, but i really challenge you, bigblue, to go back and find one pass where sheridan overthrew a wide open receiver. I could be wrong. Please let me know if I am.

As I keep saying Threet is the better qb. Sheridan while nice looks lost out there at time.

As I've said before. It is what it is. Take the better layer and develope them.

John 3:16