Not a relaxing day for Hawk fans

D

DowsHawk

Well-Known Member
Based on what happened to teams we've played and how Michigan & MSU looked.

I'm not sure we can count on Michigan throwing two end zone picks, dropping a sure TD pass, and missing a wide open receiver in the end zone. Their D didn't impress, but our offense isn't exactly a proven dominant unit. The Michigan wide receivers do look tough to tackle.
I still think we're okay, but Michigan has more weapons on offense then I'd given them credit for. Their strengths match up to our weaknesses IMO on that side of the ball. We'll know a lot more about how our back seven tackle after this game. Offensively, we should be able to throw on them pretty easily.

It's critical to beat MSU as their schedule looks pretty soft other than the Iowa game. You have to like their chances of being a 1oss Big Ten team.

Wisky looked more beatable IMO, Indiana offense wasn't very impressive, and NW will have to improve by leaps and bounds if they hope to continue their success against us. Ohio State will be ready to play us and they have talent as always.
 
???

I am much more confident now than I was before, and I wasn't really too worried before. If Denard Robinson can not beat MSU's defense, wait til he gets a load of Iowa.

Iowa's offense may not be quite as flashy as some, but they get the job done. Everything at Iowa is about being solid, sound and dependable, not flashy or "sexy."

That said, against Michigan's defense... might just make KOK's boys look a little "sexy."
 
I honestly think Michigan's defense is comparable in many ways to Iowa State's, and we dominated ISU's D. If we can stop Michigan just 2-3 times, I think the game is in the bag.
 
Iowa is the best team in the Big Ten and nothing that happened today changed my opinion of that.
 
DowsHawk said:
Based on what happened to teams we've played and how Michigan & MSU looked.

I'm not sure we can count on Michigan throwing two end zone picks, dropping a sure TD pass, and missing a wide open receiver in the end zone. Their D didn't impress, but our offense isn't exactly a proven dominant unit. The Michigan wide receivers do look tough to tackle.
I still think we're okay, but Michigan has more weapons on offense then I'd given them credit for. Their strengths match up to our weaknesses IMO on that side of the ball. We'll know a lot more about how our back seven tackle after this game. Offensively, we should be able to throw on them pretty easily.

It's critical to beat MSU as their schedule looks pretty soft other than the Iowa game. You have to like their chances of being a 1oss Big Ten team.

Wisky looked more beatable IMO, Indiana offense wasn't very impressive, and NW will have to improve by leaps and bounds if they hope to continue their success against us. Ohio State will be ready to play us and they have talent as always.
Click to expand...



You're right we can't count on that happening because we won't be letting them get that far down the field :cool:
 
I don't really get why you are so worried, especially based on what happened today. It was very satisfying to have Arizona and ISU lose today.

I was getting really tired of Michigan and Denard Robinson being prematurely christened as being "all that and a bag of chips," when they have played no one with a defense worth anything. Stanzi and ARob would run up Heisman caliber numbers if Iowa played the Sisters of the Poor every week as well.

Michigan plays a legitimate Big Ten defense and, hey, Mr Robinson looks a lot more average- didn't break 100 yards rushing and threw 3 picks. Oh Snap! I guess you DO need to play defense after all!

Very satisfying day, and I must say I relaxed quite well.
 
I guess I'm not to overly worried either. I think the mich/msu game proved that Denard can be beaten and makes mistakes when a good team is present. Msu worries me a bit as I think they're a team A LOT like Iowa (very physical and they play assignment ball, with possibly a bit more flashy of an offense although I do like what Iowa has been able to do on O for the most part). OSU was dominant as always. Minnesota should be moving down to AA based off what I've seen from them other than against usc. Wisky is very beatable. NW needs improvement and Indiana is a decent team that got destroyed by a very good osu.

Now outside the big ten I saw some things I liked. Oregon won, but didn't impress voters. Alabama and Arizona losing was great. I was actually pulling for ISU yesterday even though i knew there was no chance and it didn't take long to have that game wrapped up. screw boise st. and tcu (play somebody). Praying Missouri or whoever in the big 12 title game has an answer for Nebby b/c that's the only 2 options to knock them off right now.

I was glad to have a few of the undefeated teams have a hickup. Gives me some hope.
 
DowsHawk said:
Based on what happened to teams we've played and how Michigan & MSU looked.

I'm not sure we can count on Michigan throwing two end zone picks, dropping a sure TD pass, and missing a wide open receiver in the end zone. Their D didn't impress, but our offense isn't exactly a proven dominant unit. The Michigan wide receivers do look tough to tackle.
I still think we're okay, but Michigan has more weapons on offense then I'd given them credit for. Their strengths match up to our weaknesses IMO on that side of the ball. We'll know a lot more about how our back seven tackle after this game. Offensively, we should be able to throw on them pretty easily.

It's critical to beat MSU as their schedule looks pretty soft other than the Iowa game. You have to like their chances of being a 1oss Big Ten team.

Wisky looked more beatable IMO, Indiana offense wasn't very impressive, and NW will have to improve by leaps and bounds if they hope to continue their success against us. Ohio State will be ready to play us and they have talent as always.
Click to expand...

Sorry i took something completely different away from the Michigan/MSU game. force denard robinson to beat you with his arm and he will make a lot of mistakes. MSU is a mirror image of Iowa on offense with the way they go about their business; physically running the ball and keeping the offense off the field. the michigan game against Iowa will go a lot like the Msu game for michigan. they will get some yards, denard won't break anything big, they will make a lot of mistakes when they get behind, and they will lose by a similar number.
 
I think we'll lose a heartbreaker up in AA on Saturday. Our line is going to be all over Denard, but MSU's LB's did a great job shadowing him or nailing him in the backfield before he could blow anything open with his legs. Given our propensity not to blitz and how much better Jones is than any of our LBs, I don't know that we will be able to hold Denard in check as well as MSU did even though our d-line is sick. I just see us losing on like a missed XP or chip shot FG or something totally ridiculous like that.
 
Iowa will need to be prepared for Mich to come with agressive blitzes. As long as Iowa handles those and makes them pay for them. And as long as the Mich Defense doesn't all of the sudden figure oput how to stay home, take better angles and wrap up, Iowa will be fine IMO.

I get the OP's concerns as Mich cost themselves chances to stay in that game. Iowa's front 4 will disrupt better than Mich States did yesteday. Iowa's LB's will likely not play as well as Mich States LB's did, but should still make for the best front 7 UM has seen to date.
 
okeefe4prez said:
I think we'll lose a heartbreaker up in AA on Saturday. Our line is going to be all over Denard, but MSU's LB's did a great job shadowing him or nailing him in the backfield before he could blow anything open with his legs. Given our propensity not to blitz and how much better Jones is than any of our LBs, I don't know that we will be able to hold Denard in check as well as MSU did even though our d-line is sick. I just see us losing on like a missed XP or chip shot FG or something totally ridiculous like that.
Click to expand...

I agree that our LB's are not as good at this stage of the game as MSU's and that could spell trouble bt i think our front 4 will bne abl;e to change the direction of plays and leave our LB's in a position where they just need to wrap up. I think they can and will do that ok.

I worry more about plays silping a TE out behind a LB with no protection than I do about Robinson blowing us away on his feet.
 
IATrainMaster101 said:
I agree that our LB's are not as good at this stage of the game as MSU's and that could spell trouble bt i think our front 4 will bne abl;e to change the direction of plays and leave our LB's in a position where they just need to wrap up. I think they can and will do that ok.

I worry more about plays silping a TE out behind a LB with no protection than I do about Robinson blowing us away on his feet.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I'm still a little worried about what we'll see from Nielsen, too. Edds was darn near as good as Greenway by his senior year when they put him out on the slot guy, but he took some abuse his first two years to really develop that killer 6th sense that he seemed to have last year. Let's hope he has spent a lot of time playing NCAA 11, errr, um, in the film room learning what to do against UM.
 
bhawkn30 said:
Care to elaborate a bit?
Click to expand...

I'm guessing he's referring to Strength of Schedule. Everyone we played thus far, lost yesterday...which lowers our strength of schedule. But SOS gets way too much attention relative to it's actual significance. Just win.

If we win out, we're in a BCS bowl...period. If we lose another we'll still get the second BCS slot given the Big Ten if we finish in the top 2. Otherwise we're out. SOS would be more important if we're hoping for a shot at the NC game but that's a very long shot at this point.

As for yesteday, I loved it. We saw that Michigan is not invincible. The clones got their clock cleaned. And an overrated Bama team finally was unmasked. I slept great. (Oh yeah, Lane Kiffin took it in the shorts again too....that's always good)
 
The thing I got out of yesterday more than anything is that this season there is far more parity than in most years. There aren't any teams that look unbeatable at all.
I think we will see a lot of upsets all season long and no one will be able to point to this team beating that team to make a case without opening a vicious circle.
 
hawkdrummer1 said:
I'm guessing he's referring to Strength of Schedule. Everyone we played thus far, lost yesterday...which lowers our strength of schedule. But SOS gets way too much attention relative to it's actual significance. Just win.

If we win out, we're in a BCS bowl...period. If we lose another we'll still get the second BCS slot given the Big Ten if we finish in the top 2. Otherwise we're out. SOS would be more important if we're hoping for a shot at the NC game but that's a very long shot at this point.

As for yesteday, I loved it. We saw that Michigan is not invincible. The clones got their clock cleaned. And an overrated Bama team finally was unmasked. I slept great. (Oh yeah, Lane Kiffin took it in the shorts again too....that's always good)
Click to expand...

If we win out that SOS won't matter and with all the undefeated teams left still I don't know if we are going to the BCS with two losses so I'm not too concerned about SOS anymore.
 
bhawkn30 said:
Care to elaborate a bit?
Click to expand...

I was referring to SOS. I was still clinging to a small thread of hope for the NC, perhaps foolishly, but if Arizona had continued to win, and Alabama lost like they did, it would have been a very strong set-up for a one loss team to play in the NC game. I think we will beat OSU, who will likely be #1 when we play them, just one week before the end of the season. That could have propelled us to #2. But when your one loss comes to a team that loses like AZ did to a very mediocre Oregon St., bye bye NC.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Share this page

Top