Gopher Football
Michigan Backfield vs. Minnesota Linebackers:
The Michigan backfield got a big boost last week when sophomore running back Mike Hart returned to the lineup after missing a couple games with an injury. Without Hart the Michigan offense was stagnant, scoring just 10 points against Notre Dame and only 20 a couple weeks later against Wisconsin. But with Hart back in the lineup Michigan is a different team. The Wolverines went to Michigan State and scored 34 points while racking up nearly 500 yards in total offense. Hart definitely did his part in rushing for 216 yards (on 36 carries) and coming out of it with the Big Ten Offensive player of the week award. At 5’9″ 193 pounds Hart is a bit on the small side for a Big Ten running back, but he is surprisingly physical for his size and has good quickness to go with it. When Hart takes a breather, true freshman super-recruit Kevin Grady or sophomore Max Martin will see some carries. While Hart was injured, Grady and Martin split the carries pretty evenly, with Martin having the better numbers.
Chad Henne is in his second season as Michigan’s starting quarterback. The super sophomore has already been through a slump this year, but appeared to be finding his way out of it last week against the Spartans. Henne is a great passer, but thus far in his career he hasn’t quite shown the ability to put the team on his back and carry the offense on his own. Last season much praise was reaped on Henne, but this season it didn’t take long to see that departed Wolverine wide receiver Braylon Edwards was a big factor in Henne’s success last season. On top of that, Henne’s game seemed to take a bit of a nose drive when Mike Hart got injured. Not only did he lose his trusty runner when Hart went down, he also lost one of his favorite receivers. But with Hart back and Henne gaining confidence, I’m sure he’ll be ready for Minnesota this week.
After several strong outings to begin the year, the Gopher linebackers definitely got a bit of humbling last week against Penn State. There was virtually no help to speak of when Penn State ran up the gut, and the LB’s did appear fast enough to keep up with Penn State’s great athletes when they decided to run wide. The good news for this unit this week is that Neither Mike Hart, Chad Henne, Kevin Grady, or Max Martin has the speed or explosiveness that Penn State’s players did. Michigan plays a more “œstraight at you” game, and I think this more plays into the strength of the Gopher linebackers, so perhaps we’ll see some improvement and confidence building.
Summary:
As a true freshman last year against Minnesota, Hart ran for 160 yards and a TD. The bad news is that Hart hasn’t gotten any worse from last year. There is a always the chance that he may be less than 100% coming off his injury, but I think his 36 carries last week proves that he’s healthy enough for the grind. If I hadn’t seen the Penn State game last week I would’ve been a little more confident in the Gopher linebackers to help contain him then I am now. Penn State ran for over 350 yards last week, and though it was a total defensive collapse that led to this, the linebackers had a big part in it. All in all I would probably say that stopping Hart is the single biggest key for the Gopher defense this week. If Hart has his way, then Minnesota will need to keep devoting resources to stopping him, and then we all know what the Michigan’s passing game can do. If the linebackers can improve their play and do the job against the run, then the safeties can stay back playing pass defense where they belong. In the end I do think that the Gopher linebackers will improve their play over last week, but again I think Michigan’s backfield is just too talented for us.
Advantage: Michigan
Michigan Offensive Line vs. Minnesota Defensive Line:
As usual, Michigan was heading into this season with an outstanding offensive line. But as was the case at several positions the Wolverines started suffer some setbacks with key injuries. The worst of them was to junior right tackle Jake Long. After finishing his sophomore season as a second team All-Big Ten player last season, many Wolverine fans considering Long the best player on their O-Line for this season. But a serious ankle injury suffered in practice in late August will put Long on the shelf for most of the year. Matt Lenz, a senior and first team All-Big player, has missed some time but is back in the line up. Finally, Mike Kolodziej, a key backup and a possible starter when Long went out, did not make the trip to Michigan State last week due to injury and his status is uncertain. Besides having Lenz back, the other positive for Michigan is that they also still have left tackle
Like the linebackers, the Gopher defensive line is also coming off a forgettable performance last week. Despite over 30 pass attempts, the line did not record a sack. They were able to get some pressure on the Penn State QB on a few occasions, but they were not quick enough to be able to finish the job. What was even of more concern was the way tackles Anthony Montgomery and Mark Losli were controlled by the Penn State offensive line. Several times during the day the Lions were able to run up the middle with little resistance from the Minnesota tackles. This was a problem last year, but is an area that had done pretty well until last week.
Summary:
Minnesota had better fix its breakdowns in a hurry if they want to be able to help out against Mike Hart and the Wolverine rushing game. Besides the tackles having problems, the defensive ends had issues of their own with stopping the outside rushing plays, so giving up all those yards was a total line effort. The bad news for the Minnesota front four is that not only does it not get easier this weekend against Michigan; it may actually become more difficult. Year in and year out Michigan is always regarded as one of the top schools when it comes to producing top offensive linemen. Though they’ve had a few struggles and injuries this year, they still are plenty capable. Mark Losli and Anthony Montgomery will need to have the games of their careers and make their presence felt in the Michigan backfield. I haven’t really even addressed the pass rush every much, because I’m not sure there’s a point. If the defensive ends had problems getting pressure on Michael Robinson, they’ll probably have even more problems getting pressure on Chad Henne.
Advantage: Michigan
Michigan Receivers vs. Minnesota Defensive Backs:
Fairly or unfairly, 2005 will always be known as the Y.A.B. (Year after Braylon) to Michigan football fans. Edwards made such a huge impact during his career the performance of every receiver (and even quarterback) will always be gone back and compared to as if he was still here. Edwards is not here, but it’s not all bad for Michigan fans because Jason Avant still is. The senior wideout was expected to become the go-to guy for Chad Henne, and so far things have played out that way. Avant has 39 catches for 514 yards and 5 TD’s; all three team leading. The over hyped player of the year award so far goes to Steve Breaston. After electrifying crowds as a punt returner over the past two seasons, Breaston was tabbed by some as the second coming to Anthony Carter this year and even mentioned as a Heisman candidate by others. (This despite having less than 750 yards receiving through two years). Not surprisingly, Breaston has not been nearly as effective as predicted so far. On the season he has just 6 receptions for 43 yards, and he didn’t play in the Michigan State game because of an injury. His status for Saturday is uncertain at this time. The real next-great WR for Michigan is probably Mario Manningham. The true freshman didn’t play very much through the non-conference portion of the schedule, but in two Big Ten games so far, he has 8 receptions for 172 yards and 2 TD’s. He is a big play threat that the Gopher secondary can’t forget about. Also of note, Wolverine TE Tim Massaquoi played last week for the first team this year after breaking his arm before the season began. Oh yeah. Tyler Eckert, the TE who caught the game winning TD pass against us last year; he’s still around.
The lone bright spot for Minnesota last week was the play of the secondary. Despite being seemingly overmatched in speed and athleticism, the whole unit did a good job in pass coverage, especially when came to limiting the big plays that Penn State had become so proficient at this year. The best of the best was sophomore cornerback Jamal Harris. The sophomore had an outstanding 4 pass breakups last week, most of them of the highlight variety. He also may have been credited with another if not for an iffy pass interference call against him. After his performance last week, Jamal has to be as excited as anyone with the challenge of Avant and Manningham lying ahead. The bad news from last week is that Minnesota lost strong safety Brandon Owens for a minimum of several weeks, and possibly for the year to a shoulder injury on a hit from Michael Robinson’s helmet that landed under the chin. Owens was really coming on in the secondary and will be missed. Owens injury is the first serious early-season injury to a key Gopher starter in at least a couple years. If that wasn’t bad enough, his backup Terrance Campbell is also banged up. Terrance did not dress last week and his availability for this week is uncertain. That leaves sophomore Dominique Barber (who actually was playing free safety a couple weeks ago) as the likely starter if Campbell isn’t ready to go.
Summary:
This matchup is not as one sided as I might have thought coming into this year, mainly because Steve Breaston has not lived up to the hype and so far Gopher corners Jamal Harris and Trumaine Banks have exceeded my expectations. I still expect Michigan to hold the upper edge, but it will be close. What concerns me though is the loss of Brandon Owens. Though Brandon hadn’t done a great job in pass coverage, I’m more worried about Dominique Barber being thrown into a new position with so little time to prepare. I think Michigan will win this matchup, but it won’t be by as much as people will think.
Advantage: Michigan
Overall Summary:
This looks like it could be another long day for the Gopher defense, at least if last weeks performance in any indication. This isn’t the best offense that Michigan has ever had, but they are still pretty good with guys like Henne, Hart, Avant, Lenz, Stenavich and Manningham. In my opinion, the best chance for Minnesota to slow down the Michigan offense will be concentrate most of the defensive numbers on stopping the run and blitzing to provide some kind of pass rush, and then hope that cornerbacks Jamal Harris and Trumaine Banks can hold down their own with the Michigan wideouts. It may very well be a suicidal plan, but with the way they both played last week I think you have to at least consider it. In the end, save suddenly a pass rush or DL & LB’s get serious about stopping the run, I’m not sure there’s much Minnesota will be able to do to hold Michigan to less than 28.
Overall Advantage: Michigan
Special Teams
Garret Rivas is still a Wolverine, and for those of you hoping to exorcise the demons of 2003 forever, I have bad news”¦. Rivas is still only a junior. Rivas has established himself as one of the better kickers in the Big Ten. This year he is 8-10 on FG’s and 15-16 on XP’s. Gopher kicker Jason Giannini seems to be improving, but he is still having problems. Last week he was short on a 51 yard FG attempt, but did make both of his XP’s. Michigan could be hurting on returns if Breaston doesn’t play; they rank just 9th in kickoff returns and 6th in punt returns. Minnesota’s coverage units have been very good, so advantage Minnesota there. After a couple bad performances, Gopher punter Justin Kucek got back on track last week with a good game against Penn State with a 45.5 yard average.
Advantage: Minnesota
Talk about the match-up on the Gopher Football Message Board.