One game at a time. That is how I have taken this Michigan season for the most part. I have tried not to look ahead at all. I did look ahead to BYU just due to the situational aspect and was scared of Taysom before the injury. Other than that, it has been baby steps and enjoy the process.
Now, we are here to Michigan State week. This has always been a bigger week for the Spartans due to their status in the state. This is their rivalry game. Michigan has theirs with Ohio State. Well, for the better part of 7 years, Sparty has had the upper hand. As someone that lives 1 hour and 15 minutes from both campuses I get to see both worlds. I actually live in an area that is more Pro-Sparty than Michigan. It is awful. You never saw anyone wearing Michigan State gear around in my lifetime that much until about 2010. Now, you see it everywhere. They are all out of the closet. All the kid's born in the mid-nineties are Spartan fans. It is something else. I just try and keep quiet and not get ragged on, lol.
Now, the new Sparty narrative is this...and I heard this a lot last night. First, they are 'shocked' that Michigan has turned things around this quickly with Jimmy. Second, they are mad because they thought they had one more year to be the Big Brother, so-to-speak. Another theme I heard a lot yesterday was that they were playing conservative and the Rutgers game was where they would 'turn the dogs loose'. Well, you saw the game, and I lost a bet so you know how that turned out.
Lets go back to the 'shocked at turnaround' comments...Listen, one game at a time for me. I knew this team would have a GREAT defense or close to it. Despite what Cubsker and others touted all offseason, this team does have talent. These guys are also becoming upperclassmen. But, most of all, they are being coached up. That is huge. That defense is nasty. Easily the nastiest since the National Championship year of 1997. The 2006 team defense was very good but I favor this squad. Brady Hoke was not a good coach and was a puppet for the Pizza Boy but he could recruit. Parents loved him and players did as well. Much like when CUM took over at Florida for Zook, the cupboard had been stocked up a bit. Fair-weather fans of UM and looking in from the outside would not get this though.
Impressive victory by UM today. They were due to score in 3rd phase of game. It has been so close and today it happened. That helped big-time for the defense to be very aggressive with a nice lead. Again, Michigan showed a couple wrinkles on offense we haven't seen. They are slowly rolling those out. Chesson has been awesome this year. We still lack playmakers but with that defense, just make a few plays and we be good. Three straight shutouts, first time since 1995 in NCAA and 1980 in BigTen. That is pretty good when two of the teams were ranked at time of playing them.
I bet Sparty at Rutgers. I thought last night they would get their heads out of their asses. They did not. First, they have a lot of injuries. It happens. They also have been pretty over-valued(imo, until this week) on spreads. People are learning. The run defense is average. Conner Cook still makes odd plays(totally regressed in last 12 months). I still want to know why he wasn't voted a captain. The RB's and WR's are very good. They can get beat deep. They easily coulda lost the last two games. Their special teams are AWFUL...Missed FG's, Blocked FG's..shanked punts...punt returns..(I knew this capping that game and my bad for dismissing it somewhat)
Oh, and that 'landmark' win that MD called Oregon...well...might want to think about that again.
Now, for this coming week, I have no idea. There is no shutout coming here. This is going to be a great battle imo. Game day will be down in the Duece for the game. That is great. I am sure MD will have his team ready to roll against Um as always. I am excited for the new wrinkles that UM will show on offense. If it comes down to ST's, Michigan wins. We shall see. I will be in thread all week, lets please discuss, should be pretty interesting.
And lastly, for now, JH presser notes after NW...
- Jim Harbaugh says he is pleased with all three phases of the team. Says the offense played good football. Jabrill Peppers' fielding of punts is making him less nervous about it.
- Harbaugh said the blockers were nearly perfect.
- Harbaugh said the coverage was in the "hip pocket" of Northwestern receivers.
- Harbaugh praises D.J. Durkin and the defensive staff. Said they called a near-perfect game.
- Harbaugh calls MSU a tremendous opponent, says the team demands a tremendous week of preparation.
- Harbaugh says it was good to have Smith back, didn't want to put too much on him. Says the fullbacks are blocking well. Mentioned Houma and Kerridge doing a good job blocking and running the ball.
- Harbaugh says Higdon has been improving every day, thought there were some specialty runs that he would be good at.
- Harbaugh says no turnovers, very little turnovers were good to see.
- "Congratulations, it was impressive. Next, onward."
- Harbaugh says his team is doing a good job. "This team likes to work"
- Harbaugh says it was meaningful to get the shutout. The most meaningful thing to him was that all phases of the defense has been good.
- Harbaugh mentions the pass rush has been really good.
- Harbaugh says the team wants to be plus on turnovers. Northwestern had one but they're not there yet.
- Harbaugh says Rudock was playing his best week of football this week in practice. Had his best practice of the year on Wednesday.
- "execution fuels emotion, fuels confidence. I expected them to be confident and wanted them to know that execution does do that."
- Harbaugh says every week is a test. Thinks the team will do well preparing for MSU.
- Harbaugh says the team came out healthy. Developing a good "callous" by playing physical football. Says the callous is hardening. Like the callous on a foot "not soft and pussy"
- Harbaugh says Drake Johnson was "working through something"
Now, we are here to Michigan State week. This has always been a bigger week for the Spartans due to their status in the state. This is their rivalry game. Michigan has theirs with Ohio State. Well, for the better part of 7 years, Sparty has had the upper hand. As someone that lives 1 hour and 15 minutes from both campuses I get to see both worlds. I actually live in an area that is more Pro-Sparty than Michigan. It is awful. You never saw anyone wearing Michigan State gear around in my lifetime that much until about 2010. Now, you see it everywhere. They are all out of the closet. All the kid's born in the mid-nineties are Spartan fans. It is something else. I just try and keep quiet and not get ragged on, lol.
Now, the new Sparty narrative is this...and I heard this a lot last night. First, they are 'shocked' that Michigan has turned things around this quickly with Jimmy. Second, they are mad because they thought they had one more year to be the Big Brother, so-to-speak. Another theme I heard a lot yesterday was that they were playing conservative and the Rutgers game was where they would 'turn the dogs loose'. Well, you saw the game, and I lost a bet so you know how that turned out.
Lets go back to the 'shocked at turnaround' comments...Listen, one game at a time for me. I knew this team would have a GREAT defense or close to it. Despite what Cubsker and others touted all offseason, this team does have talent. These guys are also becoming upperclassmen. But, most of all, they are being coached up. That is huge. That defense is nasty. Easily the nastiest since the National Championship year of 1997. The 2006 team defense was very good but I favor this squad. Brady Hoke was not a good coach and was a puppet for the Pizza Boy but he could recruit. Parents loved him and players did as well. Much like when CUM took over at Florida for Zook, the cupboard had been stocked up a bit. Fair-weather fans of UM and looking in from the outside would not get this though.
Impressive victory by UM today. They were due to score in 3rd phase of game. It has been so close and today it happened. That helped big-time for the defense to be very aggressive with a nice lead. Again, Michigan showed a couple wrinkles on offense we haven't seen. They are slowly rolling those out. Chesson has been awesome this year. We still lack playmakers but with that defense, just make a few plays and we be good. Three straight shutouts, first time since 1995 in NCAA and 1980 in BigTen. That is pretty good when two of the teams were ranked at time of playing them.
I bet Sparty at Rutgers. I thought last night they would get their heads out of their asses. They did not. First, they have a lot of injuries. It happens. They also have been pretty over-valued(imo, until this week) on spreads. People are learning. The run defense is average. Conner Cook still makes odd plays(totally regressed in last 12 months). I still want to know why he wasn't voted a captain. The RB's and WR's are very good. They can get beat deep. They easily coulda lost the last two games. Their special teams are AWFUL...Missed FG's, Blocked FG's..shanked punts...punt returns..(I knew this capping that game and my bad for dismissing it somewhat)
Oh, and that 'landmark' win that MD called Oregon...well...might want to think about that again.
Now, for this coming week, I have no idea. There is no shutout coming here. This is going to be a great battle imo. Game day will be down in the Duece for the game. That is great. I am sure MD will have his team ready to roll against Um as always. I am excited for the new wrinkles that UM will show on offense. If it comes down to ST's, Michigan wins. We shall see. I will be in thread all week, lets please discuss, should be pretty interesting.
And lastly, for now, JH presser notes after NW...
- Jim Harbaugh says he is pleased with all three phases of the team. Says the offense played good football. Jabrill Peppers' fielding of punts is making him less nervous about it.
- Harbaugh said the blockers were nearly perfect.
- Harbaugh said the coverage was in the "hip pocket" of Northwestern receivers.
- Harbaugh praises D.J. Durkin and the defensive staff. Said they called a near-perfect game.
- Harbaugh calls MSU a tremendous opponent, says the team demands a tremendous week of preparation.
- Harbaugh says it was good to have Smith back, didn't want to put too much on him. Says the fullbacks are blocking well. Mentioned Houma and Kerridge doing a good job blocking and running the ball.
- Harbaugh says Higdon has been improving every day, thought there were some specialty runs that he would be good at.
- Harbaugh says no turnovers, very little turnovers were good to see.
- "Congratulations, it was impressive. Next, onward."
- Harbaugh says his team is doing a good job. "This team likes to work"
- Harbaugh says it was meaningful to get the shutout. The most meaningful thing to him was that all phases of the defense has been good.
- Harbaugh mentions the pass rush has been really good.
- Harbaugh says the team wants to be plus on turnovers. Northwestern had one but they're not there yet.
- Harbaugh says Rudock was playing his best week of football this week in practice. Had his best practice of the year on Wednesday.
- "execution fuels emotion, fuels confidence. I expected them to be confident and wanted them to know that execution does do that."
- Harbaugh says every week is a test. Thinks the team will do well preparing for MSU.
- Harbaugh says the team came out healthy. Developing a good "callous" by playing physical football. Says the callous is hardening. Like the callous on a foot "not soft and pussy"
- Harbaugh says Drake Johnson was "working through something"
