Michigan Wolverines 35 - Notre Dame Fighting Irish 31

I said what I had to say about the game already, so on with the numbers.  I've put together the game numbers and the full season numbers to this point.  Also added penalties, completion percentage against, and something I'm calling "explosion plays."  Basically this should be self explanatory, but it's just the number of good or "explosive" plays.  This would include things like forced fumbles, big runs, nice defensive plays overall etc.  It would also include things like fumble recoveries that a guy returned a little ways or made a nice play to recover, but not something like RVB's recovery against WMU where the quarterback simply fumbles the snap and the guy fall on it.

Offensive breakdown

Passing

Denard Robinson VS. ND	Short	Intermediate	Long
Comp/Att	3/6	5/7	3/11
TD	1	2	1
INT	1	0	2
Totals	3/6, 50%, 1 TD, 1 INT	5/7, 71.4%, 2 TD's	3/11, 27.3%, 1 TD, 1 INT

Denard Robinson overall	Short	Intermediate	Long
Comp/Att	9/14	7/10	4/13
TD	1	2	1
INT	1	0	2
Totals	9/14, 64.3%, 1 TD, 1 INT	7/10, 70%, 2 TD's	4/13, 30.8%, 1 TD, 2 INT

Short passes are anything under 10 yards, intermediate is from 10-20, and long throws are anything over 20 yards.  Note that this is all plays, plays negated by penalty included.  This to try and get an accurate idea of what the offense is attempting to do in the passing game.  Also be aware that the distances can be subjective, as this is where the ball was caught, not where the play ended up, ie. a bubble screen that the receiver breaks for 50 yards is still a "short" pass.

So 25% short passes in this game is about the exact opposite of last game.  I think some of the criticism of the way the offense was run in this game is a little off base.  Denard finished the game 11/24 (45.8%) so that's bad.  But I counted 5 open receivers that Denard saw but completely missed with the throw, two drops (maybe three), and at least two instances of receivers running wide open that Denard didn't see.  One of those ended up being the second interception.  So now you're talking 20/24 (83.3%) and a pretty damn good day.  The offense isn't the problem.  Denard had a bad day.  Simple.  I love Denard, but if you're saying that he can't complete screen passes or anything longer than 10 yards regularly so you just shouldn't call those plays then I'm sorry, he shouldn't be a quarterback.  I also realize that Denard is the best runner on the team, but if you can't at least make the offense think that someone else might be able to get some yards running the ball, it's going to limit his effectiveness in the long run anyway.

Rushing

	Yards after contact VS. ND
Stephen Hopkins	3
Vincent Smith	2
Denard Robinson	25

	Yards after contact overall
Denard Robinson	37
Fitzgerald Toussaint	17
Michael Shaw	13
Stephen Hopkins	3
Vincent Smith	2

	Negative run plays VS. ND
Denard Robinson	1
Michael Shaw	2

	Negative run plays overall
Michael Shaw	3
Denard Robinson	1
Fitzgerald Toussaint	1

I'm only tracking guys that actually got some yards after contact, so Vincent Smith is not on the chart.  Again, this is subjective, just like all these numbers are going to be.  If a guy slipped a tackle, or ran through a weak arm tackle, I gave him yardage after "contact."  If he got hit and stopped, but momentum let him fall forward a yard, he doesn't get anything.  If he pushes the pile a couple yards, he'll get some yardage.  If he's hit behind the line he get's the YAC from where he was hit, not the line of scrimmage.

We all know Denard Robinson is the best runner on the team.  Vincent Smith was probably the best running back on the day.  I would have liked to see Shaw more.  I'm not sure why he didn't get more run.  Hopkins is simply not explosive.  I liked his tape coming out of high school, but his lack of acceleration is pretty evident.  It's not really his long speed.  Plenty of slow guys have been great running backs (you could time Mike Hart's 40 time with a sundial).  Hopkins problem is he's not what scouts and coaches call "sudden."  He doesn't hit the hole hard and doesn't have great vision to see the hole anyway.  At this point I'm not sure he can or should be the guy at RB. 

Fitz Toussaint is made of glass and yarn, like every other back of the last 3+ years.  Minor, Shaw, Toussaint, Carlos Brown, Sam McGuffie, it goes on and on.  I can understand Minor.  He's a violent runner that relishes contact.  He runs angry as the old saying goes.  But it's not like the other guys are exactly a hybrid version of Adrian Peterson and Earl Campbell out there.  Unless you're talking to Coach Fred Jackson, in which case they absolutely are a hybrid of Peterson and Campbell created in a secret government lab only faster and with more power and better vision and far more tenderness when making love to a woman (like Barry White here people).  They taught me how to love and cured cancer and made peace in the Middle East and once stopped an alien invasion as a team of superheroes named the X-Ray Men ba dum bum.

Receiving

	Run after catch yardage VS. ND
Junior Hemingway	76
Jeremy Gallon	31
Vincent Smith	24
John McColgan	12
Kelvin Grady	8

	Run after catch yardage overall
Junior Hemingway	76
Jeremy Gallon	36
Vincent Smith	24
Kelvin Grady	16
John McColgan	12
Roy Roundtree	1

	Drops VS. ND
Junior Hemingway	1
Roy Roundtree	1

	Drops overall
Junior Hemingway	1
Roy Roundtree	1
Drew Dileo	1

Just like the RB's above.  Players are only charted if they gained RAC yardage.  If they caught a ball behind the line and then picked up 2 yards, they get RAC from where they caught the ball, not the line of scrimmage.

Junior Hemingway was out of his mind in this game.  Personal opinion here, but he's clearly the best receiver on the team.  He has an incredible ability to high point the ball and always fights for yardage after the catch.  If not for him there's no way Michigan is even close in this game.  Gallon made a couple huge plays, but he is much slower than I thought he was.  Still, he plays big.  Vincent Smith is fantastic in space.  He isn't big, he isn't fast and he doesn't break tackles.  But he slips tackles easily and he is just a great option out of the backfield.  I'd love to see him get even more run in the passing game because he can be a real weapon in that respect.

Offensive line

	Pressures allowed VS. ND
Patrick Omameh	2
Mark Huyge	1
Taylor Lewan	1
Ricky Barnum	1

	Pressures allowed overall
Patrick Omameh	2
Mark Huyge	1
Taylor Lewan	1
Ricky Barnum	1
Michael Schofield	1

	Sacks allowed VS. ND
Ricky Barnum	1

	Sacks allowed overall
Ricky Barnum	1

Obviously the line had a tougher day this week.  ND was massively overplaying the run so it's not much surprise the run game outside of Denard struggled.  It would be nice to get to the point where you can slam it down an opponents throat regardless, but that will come.  I put the sack on Barnum but it could have been on Vincent Smith as well.  A little more pressure but overall I thought the line played pretty well.



Defensive breakdown

	Pressures VS. ND
Jake Ryan	2
Brandin Hawthorne	2
Ryan Van Bergen	1
Jordan Kovacs	1
Mike Martin	1
Desmond Morgan	1

	Pressures overall
Kenny Demens	5
Jake Ryan	4
Jordan Kovacs	3
Ryan Van Bergen	2
Mike Martin	2
Brandin Hawthorne	2
Desmond Morgan	1

	Passes attempted against VS. ND	Passes completed against VS. ND	TD's against VS. ND
J.T. Floyd	11	6	0
Thomas Gordon	5	3	1
Troy Woolfolk	4	2	0
Courtney Avery	4	2	0
Brandin Hawthorne	2	1	0
Kenny Demens	2	1	0
Marvin Robinson	1	1	1
Jared Van Slyke	1	1	1

	Passes attempted against overall	Passes completed against overall	TD's against overall
J.T. Floyd	13	7	0
Thomas Gordon	8	4	1
Troy Woolfolk	5	3	0
Courtney Avery	7	4	0
Brandin Hawthorne	2	1	0
Kenny Demens	2	1	0
Marvin Robinson	1	1	1
Jared Van Slyke	1	1	1

Pressure numbers include sacks as well.  The passes targeted/completed against are obviously not complete.  I only included plays I could be relatively sure who was in coverage or who should have had the zone.  Some plays have three guys around one receiver, and I don't want to blame one specific player if I'm unsure.  Obviously this left out a decent number of plays.  Hopefully as time goes on I'll get better at determining who was the guilty party.

As you can see Floyd was targeted early and often against ND.  He's simply too slow to be a starting corner at a BCS school.  He did a good job on the INT, but overall ND's receivers got open against him on a regular basis.  Woolfolk was good when he was able to play.  Hopefully he can get/stay healthy because he vastly improves the secondary.  Avery only gave up two catches, but the other two targets resulted in pass interference calls (although the second one was pretty week, and the first one would have been a good job of redirecting the receiver if the ball wasn't in the air).  Not much pressure this week even with the blitz but they seemed to get it when they needed it most of the time.  ND did a good job of throwing quick passes against the blitz, mostly to Floyd.  The good news is Michigan won't face a receiver the caliber of Floyd again this year.

Explosion plays

Denard Robinson	5	William Campbell	2
Kenny Demens	4	Vincent Smith	1
Jake Ryan	4	Roy Roundtree	1
Brandin Hawthorne	4	Thomas Gordon	1
Junior Hemingway	3	J.T. Floyd	1
Mike Martin	3	Desmond Morgan	1
Ryan Van Bergen	3	Frank Clark	1
Jibreel Black	3
Jeremy Gallon	3
Jordan Kovacs	2

Brandin Hawthorne looked good.  He should see more time and looks like a playmaker.  Hopefully he'll help shore up the WILL position.  If they can develop a little bit Ryan/Demens/Hawthorne could actually be a pretty decent albeit inexperienced LB group.

The fact that Will Campbell actually looked decent makes him even more frustrating.  If he was just terrible at all times and never got off the bench you could at least forget about him and move on.  But then he comes out and makes a couple plays and you know that's what he's capable of.  He basically throws the RT out of the way, and while the guy is on the ground clinging to his leg like a chick on the cover of Conan the Barbarian, Campbell takes on the lead blocker as well:

  But then he'll get blown 5 yards off the ball on another play.  If he can just be a little more consistent, he could really improve the defense.

The rest of the numbers VS. ND

Full season statistics

Tomorrow: Senior draft breakdown