2012 Week 4

Michigan came into their game with the #9 Florida State Seminoles expecting a dog fight and a likely offensive shootout. When it was all said and done, the Wolverines would walk out of Doak Campbell Stadium with their 2nd shutout in 3 games, 30-0.

FSU's defense played fairly well as they did a decent job of taking away what Michigan's offense does best; run the ball. Yards were very difficult to come by on the ground which forced Michigan to pass much more than they are comfortable doing. Luckily, the Michigan QBs were very proficient in the passing attack today. They completed 20 of 27 passes and threw 1 TD pass with 0 INTs. Due to the driving rain which was prevalent all game, Michigan played it safe and thus the QBs only averaged about 11 yards per completion. Despite the difficulty to run on the ground, Michigan stuck to their running game down the stretch and managed to gain 124 yards and 2 TDs on 34 carries. Michigan was also fairly difficult to get off the field as they converted 8 of their 14 3rd down conversions and scored on all 5 red zone trips.

While Michigan's 331 yards of offense seems like little, it towers over what their counterparts were able to achieve against our defense.

* They only allowed 167 yards of offense.
* They didn't allow FSU to convert a single one of their 8 3rd and 4th down conversions.
* They only allowed 8 first downs in the entire game.
* They never let FSU enter the red zone.
* They forced 3 turnovers.
* They only allowed the Noles to possess the ball for 9 of 28 minutes in the game.

As is usually the case with this Michigan defense, they weren't on the field long enough to rack up many stats so coach Jello gave the game ball to the entire defensive squad.

It didn't seem to matter what FSU tried on offense, Michigan's defense seemed to be 1 step ahead of them and their players just seemed to outplay their counterparts. FSU employed the help of the former Oregon Duck's O.C. for this game and mixed things up nicely. They tried various things from the wildcat. They tried a lot of pistol formation. They tried going 5 wide with a DB taking the snap. They tried using their SG wing formations. None of this worked. Michigan held both of FSU's QBs to under 81 QB rating and under 40% completion percent. They held the scarily dangerous Marcus Baker to less than 3 YPC.

Michigan will now begin their trek to try to win back the Big 10 title after failing last year. They open up in Ann Arbor against Indiana.