Eleven Warriors

"no-huddle, up-tempo"  Yikes this is going to have a different feel to it.  And by yikes, I mean hell yes.

I'm sure the conditioning will address some of those issues, and I think I also recall Coach Meyer saying there would be significant rotation on the D Line.

I'm excited to see the new Offense in action.

You've all heard about last year's resurrgence on defense at Michigan.  What you (at least I) didn't hear anything about, is the offense moving from a RR spread to a Borges pro style hybrid having an effect on it.  The average scoring drive two seasons ago was under 2 min long.  I think we averaged around 33 ppg (at least 5 scores).  The average 3 and out you'd have to figure is 3 min or less of game time...throw in a very poor turnover margin.  What does that add up to?  Defense on the field A LOT, which makes for a very tired defense, which leads to a very bad defense.  This year, our average drive was 6-8 min and we averaged more ppg and our defense was in the top quarter in most categories, nationally.

Not saying that Urban's conditioning plan won't produce a bunch of warriors and that the rotation will spell the fatigue.  I'm just saying, IMO, I think that Michigan's defense (almost all the same guys) would have been a lot better, as a unit, two years ago, if they didn't run the spread.  Now, if OSU's defense is a top 30 defense like normal, then it's probably a non-issue.  And, of course, number of running vs passing plays and plays that go for a first down, and coaching would show different results.

@ Hail, that does a lot in explaining some of the failures of Mich's D and the turn around in Hoke's first year. However, RR's defenses were bad in general and playing tired only took them from bad to atrocious. IMHO, they'd still have given up a lot of yardage and points had the offense's TOP been greater.

@Hail I don't think Michigan's defense experienced the resurgence you are talking about. Giving up 34 points to an abysmal Ohio State offense is nothing to be proud of.  Yes, much better than the previous year but still suspect. Furthermore, OSU usually rank in the top 5-10 range nationally, not top 30. 

As a side note, Michigan hasn't competeted for a national title in the modern era.  This must be hard for you to handle.   

@fail
I'm doing just fine. I think we were pretty darn close (a shawn crable hit out of bounds on troy smith away) to playing for a national title.

If you look at just The Game, then yes, you are right. But some games are just shootouts and some are defensive struggles. I think that moving up a 70-100 spots in all defensive categories is a good sign.

@seth
Defenses still may have been bad, but it was basically the same group of guys the last two years

   Im fierd up to see the Buckeye offense and could care less about the defense up north this year, last year or any of the previous years.

GO BUCKS

BEAT TSUN

@hailtovictors

You had a good team that year, for sure, but you were a lot more than a Crable hit out of bounds away. Our center gifted you two short fields off of bad snaps. I was at the game and it didn't feel nearly as close as the final score indicated. 

It was a great game, but I've never had any doubt how a rematch would turn out.

BTW, I also think that OSU team AND that Michigan team were both better than Florida, Urban's 41-14 bashing not withstanding. That was the wrong day, wrong time, wrong attitude for OSU on a day where Florida was well coached, ready, and Chris Leak was more accurate than his usual. Kills me that what was in my mind a great Big Ten year started the SEC hype-train I have to listen to now days. 

I'm looking forward to this team. People should be cautious about associating up-tempo and a spread offense with meaning short time of possession. Certainly it is a danger, but the two terms do not mean short possession by default- the base of the offense is still power running.

Besides, Urban is aware- hence the massive number of talented D linemen. That's where Richrod went wrong. In the Big East it was fine to have a mediocre defense and a killer offense. In the Big ten you have to have both and he never recruited the right horses or played the right scheme. And also there are worlds of difference between what Herman is talking about and richrod's offense.

Thanks everyone, I'm feeling better now.  I'm gonna dig on the D-line rotation: my Bengals rocked that to supreme effect this last season.  Guess I was just a little shocked, but I didn't really study Florida's offense, I never really equated their play being akin to Oregon's "blur" offense.  

Though it is true that Meyer's spreads run power, Oregon thrives on zone reads almost exclusively.  

@CONROY - Time of posession may be overrated, but I'm pretty sure that Oregon absolutely hated us in the Rose Bowl.  I believe they defined "Tresselball" as "Clock Nazi."

@HAIL - I wouldn't care too much about giving up 35 points to our terrible offense, people fail to realize that Bollman actually opened up his playbook for that game (which I don't think anyone expected), not to mention that performance in rivalries are often not indicative of a team's overall ability.  Mattison is a beast, and nothing discounts his ability.  Now, if you'd given up 34 to Purdue...

You don't know how much it pains me to admit that they were our closest equivalent last year, at least during the Big Ten season.

@HAIL - Dude, I feel you on the shoulda/coulda/woulda's, bottom line is that we lost.  I'd make a clever remark here about Denard throwing a jump ball with 90 seconds left, but he did just that against Notre Dame and won the game (that still boggles my mind, by the way, I just stared at the TV and laughed).  

But yeah, I agree on Mattison not being prepared for the gameplan--everyone here hoped that Bollman would let Miller play like that all freaking year.  And sure as Hell, though we almost beat you guys, we went right back to Dave against Florida--big suprise as to why we lost, right?

It would have been interesting if you'd have beaten us in '06.  Though I think we might have had a slightly better shot at a rematch--only because of a pretty convincing win over then #2 Texas in Austin, and even with Michigan as #2 we were a consensus #1--it would have been interesting to see Urban coaching against Carr in the championship--especially when you consider how Carr would fare a year later against him.

@Run

The question is did Beamer take responsibility for all of his coaching blunders in the Sugar Bowl?  We definitely escaped with one. 

@Hodge

I was pulling for a rematch.  Was okay with it until the Alabama/LSU rematch happened this year.  Still one of the best editions of The Game ever, if not the best (even if we came up short).

@HAIL - Undoubtedly.  I remember going down to campus and hanging out in the crowd for ESPN gameday...still the most electric atmosphere I've experienced.