Wolverine247 Board

242-3 Michigan wins, we let off the gas in the 3rd, though.

From another poster:

Ten Reasons Michigan Wins

Sorry, but there is no need for pessimism. This is a great opportunity for Michigan and the Wolverines really have nothing to lose.

1) Because we are Michigan and we are prepared for this game. All the reasons below shouldn’t matter in the face of the fact that our kids practice too, our kids prepare too, our kids work hard as well and because our coaches are amongst the best in the nation.

2) Because Denard Robinson is the type of player who makes Nick Saban afraid. When Saban says he is the best player he’ll face all year, he is dead serious. Anyone who doesn’t realize how dangerous a healthy Denard Robinson is is out of their minds. The kid is a once-in-a-generation type of athlete. But besides that, Alabama struggles when they can’t “play fast”. Multi-purpose QBs like Robinson and Cam Newton are very tough to defend against because of the added dimensions they bring to a game. The only way to beat a Nick Saban defense is to slow them down on the field and having a player like Denard instantly causes linebackers and safeties to hesitate as we have seen over the years.

3) Alabama has no pass rush. That’s not who they are. They had one seriou threat to rush the passer last year: Courtney Upshaw (9.5 sacks). Dont’a Hightower and Nick Gentry both had 4 sacks (both gone). After that: nothing. C.J. Mosley had 2 and everyone else had less than that. Denard won’t have a clean pocket, per se, but the best way to defend against Denard has been collapsing the pocket around him and playing tight man coverage behind. VTech and Michigan State had the defensive lines and secondary talent to allow them to do this. As strange as this sounds, Alabama may not (though the secondary does have some potential star talent).

4) Speaking of coaching, Alabama does have a new offensive coordinator. It always takes a little time for these things to work out; even if it is just a little.

5) Again, speaking of coaching, Borges is the type of coach that can pull a lot of rabbits out of his hat for a game like this. Now that he has an experienced team, I expect to see a lot more chicanery.

6) They are not a difficult offense to scheme against, but they are difficult to execute against. I guarantee a loss will not be because we were outcoached on D.

7) On defense, Courtney Upshaw, Dre Kirkpatrick, and Mark Barron aren’t replaceable. Expecting sophomore Vinny Sunseri, JC transfer Deion Belue, and Xzavier Dickson to simply “step up” for the team’s three best defenders is ridiculous (Upshaw in particular for reasons explained).

8) Last year’s leading receivers for Bama: Marquis Maze-56 Brad Smelley-34 Trent Richardson-29 Darius Hanks-26

Number of those players returning: 0

A.J. McCarron is good at finding open guys underneath, but is not someone who is going to pick UM apart downfield.

9) You can’t replace experience, even if you can replace talent. Jake Ryan is an incredible player but how many games did it take him? Fitz Toussaint may not have been our best back until he stepped up during the season. Can’t buy experience. Getting them in Week 1 is a LOT better than getting them in Week 10. Our team outside of anyone on the defensive line not named Craig Roh has been set since last year for the most part. Alabama’s depth chart is going to look very different by Week 10, I can almost guarantee that.

10) Eddie Lacy isn’t healthy and he is by far their most dangerous skill position player.

BTW key play for Michigan: Being able to run PA out of the zone read. If we can do that successfully, I think we are good.

I think we really can pull this off, but my prediction is Alabama 31, Michigan 24.

I just really hope we make it an interesting and competitive game. I think we will.

30-10 Bama

24-13 bad guys.

Michigan 27
Alabama 24

Their OL against our DL is the only spot we have a major disadvantage IMO. But that is quite a major disadvantage.

I believe so, but not for all the game that I can remember. I am all for a few experiments with the unis, however please leave the helmet alone. I was cool with the #'s on the side of the helmet last year with the grey face mask.

No, those are just the jerseys for the Michigan/Alabama game.

Thanks for the clarification. Guess getting too lazy for my own research...

Me too man. I may get some heat for this from my fellow Wolverine fans but I like to see ND succeed.

They were good under Woody Hayes, but other than that meh.

They are as delusional as they come, and I'm not just saying that because of the rivalry UM and OSU has. They REALLY are a disliked fanbase by most, if not all of CFB. That's just how it is.