Michigan Wolverines 2009
Season Report Posted: September 06, 2008 07:05
After a very unspectacular year, the Michigan Wolverines now look ahead to the 2009 season. With one year under their belts, the offense should be looking to improve on what was a dismal performance the whole year.
OFFENSE - The QB position was a sore spot all year long and 2009 could bring a new starter. Coach RR has been very quiet about what is going to happen here so I guess opening day we will know more. The starting HB looks like it will be McGuffie. He was the only sparkplug of the anemic offense. Minor should be the backup especially since Michael Shaw decided that Ann Arbor was not the place for him. At WR and TE, everyone returns so look for the pass catching group to improve and hopefully someone will emerge as a leader. The OL needs to get better. There were very few running lanes to go through. Steve Schilling is the anchor of the line.
DEFENSE - If not for the defense, Michigan might not have been bowl eligable. Gone are key players from the 2008 group so someone needs to step up and take charge. The DL looks to Brandon Graham to be the major force. The rest of the DL will need to replace the production that Tim Jamison and Terrence Taylor provided. Obi Ezeh returns and is the leader of the unit. Mouton returns but losses of Taylor Hill and Marcus Witherspoon leave the unit a little short on experience. The secondary returns Warren and Brown. Cissoko will replace All-American CB Morgan Trent as the other starting CB.
Special Teams - True Freshman Luke Campbell will handle all the FG and XP opportunites while Mesko will take care of the punting. Keep and eye out to see if Campbell struggles that Mesko will take FG as well.
Schedule - Probably the toughest in the nation. They will face both BCS national title teams in FSU and OSU. The other three non conference games will include highly ranked USC and up and coming Navy. A trip to Autzen stadium will be extremly difficult as Oregon will be looking to continue to make strides to becoming a top 25 team.
Regular Season Ends on a Sour Note
November 22, 2008
Game Report Posted: August 25, 2008 04:39
In what could have been a bright building block for the Wolverine future, instead was just about as awful an ending to the regular season as you could have. If you were told that Michigan outgained OSU in total offense, that OSU would only have one total offensive TD, and that Small never got on track, you would have thought the Wolverine won or at least gave the Buckeyes all it could handle. Well, let me throw the one statistic that completely wipes all that out. Eight, yes EIGHT Michigan interceptions let to 3 defensive TD's and setting up their only offensive TD as well. Threet was victimized for 7 of the eight picks. Threet spoke after the game and said,"I never felt comfortable out there. It seemed as if there were 22 buckeye defenders on the field at all times." While the game was still close at 6-0, Michigan had a chance to get in to it, but a perfectly called screen pass which no buckeye defender was in front of any Michigan blocker, was picked off by a lurking Marcus Freeman and returned for a TD to put the Buckeyes up 13-0. Coach RR said,"That was the momentum changer right there. We were still struggling up to that point offensively, but a pick six really put us in a hole we couldn't dig out of." Michigan now awaits a bowl invitation and it will probably be the Alamo Bowl.
Michigan falls to Clemson 41-14 in Champs Bowl
December 28, 2008
Game Report Posted: September 02, 2008 01:46
One final chance for Michigan to show some promise for the next year, ended up being an all to familiar result. Clemson turned in what was a close into a route as they converted two Michigan miscues in the first half into defensive touchdowns. The first came on a perfectly executed screen pass to McGuffie who had one man to beat, but ended up getting stripped and Miller picked it up and scampered 37 yards for a touchdown to give Clemson a 10-7 lead. The second big turnover was the game changer. With time running out in the first half in field goal range, Threet tried to get cute and force a pass into the endzone but ended up getting picked and returned all the way for a huge momentum swing score. Coach RR said "Those are just plays that cannot happen. We were looking to at least cut the defecit in half with a fg, maybe take the lead on a TD, but to get nothing and give up 7... Inexcusable." The third quarter was another disastrous quarter for Michigan. It took the opening drive looking for points as they marched right down the field to the clemson 3, only to get denied on three rushing attempts and then Kicker of the year KC Lopata missed an 18 yard fg. Lopata, "I just missed it, no excuses." The fourth quarter had Michigan defense taking chances and Clemson capitalizing. A double corner blitz left Kelly wide open for a TD, Michigan stacked the line vs Spiller but he reversed fileds and out ran everyone for a 27 yard TD, and the final TD dagger had Ford make a diving catch for a 23 yard TD with only 4 seconds left in the game. RR "I thought our defense played well. Obviously the big TD plays weren't good but overall they played good. We kept Spiller from running crazy except that one run and Kelly to two catches." When asked what will happen at the QB position next year, RR said "Every position will be competed for. Whomever wins will get to play."
Ugly Win, but it is a Win
November 15, 2008
Game Report Posted: August 23, 2008 17:59
In what was suppose to be a tune up for Ohio State, instead looked like a sputtering engine. The offense never really looked like it had any rhythm and the defense looked a step slow. Somehow, the Wolverines managed to pull out the win. Morgan Trent made 2 big interceptions and McGuffie ran for over a 100 yards for the only Michigan highlights. The rest of the game was Northwestern seemingly converting every third down it faced but not being able to score. Michigan is limping it's way into the Ohio State game, and may just get knocked out by the Buckeyes. Salvaging the season and ruining OSU season is on the line next week.
The Jug Stays with Michigan
November 8, 2008
Game Report Posted: August 20, 2008 01:50
The battle for the little brown jug was over by the time it started. Michigan jumped out to a 28-0 first quarter lead and never looked back. Michigan did benefit from numerous Gopher mistakes and the Wolverines capitalized on them. Doug Dutch had a monster game recording two picks and a fumble recovery. It was his first pick that set up the onslaught. He took the pick and easily raced to endzone to add to the Michigan lead. After the first quarter, the game seemed even if not a little on the Gopher side. After Michigan was up 31-0, the Gophers outscored the Wolverines 14-6 in the second half. Coach RR wasn't pleased with the second half let down, and said he doesn't care if we are up by 100, we need to keep pushing it down their throat. RR was pleased to see that his offense did have some life after some lineup changes. Three freshman saw a lot of playing time. Feagin, McGuffie, and Stonum all showed flashes of what could be something special in the coming years. McGuffie who has already proved he can play on this level led the Michigan attack once again. Michigan now heads to Northwestern where they better not be looking ahead to OSU or they could get upset.
More Posts...
| 2008 Schedule | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WK | Opponent | Rank | COV | Result |
| 1 | Utah | NR | L 21-20 | |
| 2 | Miami (OH) | NR | W 42-6 | |
| 3 | @ Notre Dame | NR |  |
W 23-10 |
| 4 | ||||
| 5 | #6 Wisconsin | NR | |
W 19-13 |
| 6 | #12 Illinois | NR | L 48-31 | |
| 7 | Toledo | NR | W 27-17 | |
| 8 | @ #9 Penn State | NR | |
L 35-30 |
| 9 | Michigan State | NR |  |
W 31-19 |
| 10 | @ Purdue | NR | L 21-17 | |
| 11 | @ Minnesota | NR | W 37-14 | |
| 12 | Northwestern | NR | W 16-10 | |
| 13 | @ #2 Ohio State | NR | |
L 34-6 |
| 14 | ||||
| 15 | ||||
| 16 | ||||
| 17 | #17 Clemson | NR | |
L 41-14 |
| Passing | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nameplayer_name | COMPcomp | ATTatt | YARDSyds | TDtd | INTints | ||||||||
| Threet Steven | 237 | 327 | 2791 | 10 | 24 | ||||||||
| Rushing | |||||||||||||
| Nameplayer_name | ATTatt | YDSyds | TDtd | LONGlong_run | FUMBfumb | ||||||||
| McGuffie Sam | 179 | 827 | 7 | 47 | 6 | ||||||||
| Receiving | |||||||||||||
| Nameplayer_name | RECrec | YDSyds | TDtd | LONGlong_rec | DROPSdrops | ||||||||
| McGuffie Sam | 61 | 802 | 6 | 72 | 7 | ||||||||
| Defensive | |||||||||||||
| Nameplayer_name | TKLStackles | SCKSsacks | INTints | FFff | Def TDdef_td | ||||||||
| Brown Stevie | 77 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Preseason Coaches Poll | |
|---|---|
| RNK | Team |
| Preseason Media Poll | |
|---|---|
| RNK | Team |
| Final Coaches Poll | |
|---|---|
| RNK | Team |
| No Final Coaches Poll has been set. | |
| Final Media Poll | |
|---|---|
| RNK | Team |
| No Final Media Poll has been set. | |
| Final BCS Poll | |
|---|---|
| RNK | Team |
| No Final BCS Poll has been set. | |
| Big 10 Conference Standings | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RNK | School | Record | Conf Record | PF | PA |
| 1 | Ohio State | 12-0 | 8-0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | Penn State | 10-2 | 6-2 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | Michigan State | 9-3 | 5-3 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | Illinois | 8-4 | 5-3 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | Michigan | 7-5 | 4-4 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | Wisconsin | 8-4 | 4-4 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | Indiana | 6-6 | 3-5 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | Northwestern | 6-6 | 3-5 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | Purdue | 5-7 | 3-5 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | Minnesota | 5-7 | 3-5 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | Iowa | 2-10 | 0-8 | 0 | 0 |