(On Location) In the Stands: Iowa 30, Michigan 28

By JOHN SEARS - BIG TEN INSIDER

For the people who don’t know me very well and see me walking around casually in Chicago (the Big Ten melting pot), they ask who I root for. It can be confusing because depending on the day, you can see me wearing: a Northwestern hat, Michigan shirts/shorts/hats, Iowa shirts/gloves/hat, an Ohio State A. J. Hawk jersey, or a Penn State sweatshirt/hat. I have sat in Ryan Field, in my alma mater Northwestern’s student section, rooting against the Buckeyes and in that same season, painted my face black and old gold in honor of Purdue while sitting in that same student section. I’ve Jump(ed) Around wearing Red and White, I’ve gone all White at the Whitehouse, face-painted a block “M” in maize and blue while sitting in the front row at Ross Ade Stadium, and cheered hard to “Play Thirteen” and through Ohio State’s upset of the Miami Hurricanes for the National Championship. So it’s no surprise when I showed up to Saturday night’s affair in Iowa City wearing Hawkeyes gloves and hat with a Wolverine T-shirt tucked under multiple layers. Confused? Me too, I guess.

So was my section (G) for the night, while obviously sporting a majority in black for the home-team’s “Blackout”, we also housed a sprinkling of Michigan faithful, perhaps 100. One comment on the Blackout–it’s always impressive to see an entire stadium decked out in one color and black certainly is dramatic, but I wished the yellow hand-poms and towels were black as well. It would have made for an even more dramatic effect. I kept thinking “bumblebees”.

However, my pet peeve with the yellow-ness didn’t reduce the electricity of the crowd. Had we fronted the cold sans extra thick gloves, the noise level would have been spectacular. The stadium’s decibel level peaked in the second half, particularly early in the fourth quarter (Iowa 23, Michigan 21) when Michigan was pinned at their own one-yard line after Iowa was stone-walled on their fourth-and-goal attempt (a beautiful pass deflection by Stevie Brown who was first caught looking inside on the run). The crowd acknowledged the size of the moment and delivered a thunderous wall of sound—a drown-out A+ for the fans, which contributed greatly to a quick three-and-out for Michigan.

After a rocket 61-yard punt by Zoltan Mesko, who out-kicked his coverage, Colin Sandeman was able to gather the ball after a bounce and scoot 20 yards to Michigan’s 41. The Hawkeyes regained their cushion on the very next play, a perfectly executed play action bootleg fake-left, roll-out right dump off to tight end Tony Moeaki (my vote for POTG: six catches, 105 yards, team’s first and last touchdowns) dragging across the field after the receivers had cleared out the right side of the field. Ricky Stanzi found him on a similar 34-yard catch and run to tie the game up seven minutes in the first quarter—stick with what works. What little Iowa showed in variety, they made up for in tremendous execution.

One would think that the quarterback from the now 6-0 Hawkeyes would have a little more respect from his home crowd that night, but I often heard muddled exasperation, particularly after Stanzi’s pick-six by Donovan Warren and delay-of-game penalties. This was somewhat surprising since Stanzi finished 20-for-38 for 284 yards and two touchdowns. And what was really interesting about Donovan’s interception of Stanzi—one which gave the Wolverines the early lead, 45 seconds in—was the reaction of the Michigan fans behind me. Those fans of the maize and blue fans one row behind me—after hooting and hollering and responding to the cowbell call from across the section—said, “We’re going to get killed.” I found that awfully strange/ironic/fatalistic, so when I turned around to see who was throwing in the towel after his team just went up 7-0, I shouldn’t have been surprised to see a dude sporting a blue and yellow Rey Mysterio, Jr.-style mask. I would hardly ever confuse the terms “Michigan fan” and “crazy”, but that caught me a little off guard–I moved my wallet to my front pocket.

Those of us who have watched enough Michigan football knew that Tate Forcier’s (8-for-19, 94 yards, one interception, one fumble) benching for the final two drives would eventually lead to the team’s demise (Again, a tip of the hat goes to the home crowd for making Forcier’s time even more miserable). Backup quarterback and fellow true freshman Dernard Robinson (nine rushes, 49 yards, one touchdown) did all he could, which means running really fast (and scoring) and hoping for the best when he dropped back to pass–his final attempt was intercepted by Brett Greenwood to seal it for the home team.

The crowd came to a crescendo with the game-clinching pick and hung around for celebrations, albeit with a modicum of cautiousness—two older Iowa fans were wondering after the game if this win was better or worse than last week’s slim win over Arkansas St. The woman quipped, “We played a high school team last week!” I almost got the sense that the Hawkeye faithful were in need of nothing less than a romp to feel good about their team. Again, it was strange and ironic. As for me, did I come out of Kinnick Stadium feeling better or worse you ask? The real Rey Mysterio, Jr. has yet to unmask himself, and neither have I. Wait, he has unmasked himself and his name is Oscar Gutierrez? Uh oh, gotta go.

Photos Courtesy of Iowa Sports Information

Game Preview: Notre Dame @ Michigan

By JOHN SEARS - BIG TEN INSIDER

Last year, I suggested that the Notre-Michigan rivalry was far from dead, which was received about as well as a wet ball on a punt return for the Wolverines. But here we are, looking at this year’s match-up as a tell-all for who might be in BCS contention this year. Has the hype begun to over-inflate worse than the American dollar? Obviously, yes…but even if it is after only one game, both teams look like they are ready to put on perhaps the best, or at least most intriguing, show of the week.

When Notre Dame has the ball

Being on this side of the rivalry, it’s very hard to ignore the potential this year’s Fighting Irish has heaving the ball down the field. Albeit against WAC opponents and reaching back to last year’s Hawaii Bowl, Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen has combined for 37-for-44 passing (84 percent), 716 yards, nine touchdowns and zero interceptions in his last two starts. The bread and butter for Clausen and company is stretching the field vertically with Michael Floyd (last week averaged 47.3 yards/catch and scored three times) and Golden Tate (19.7 yards/catch last week). Look for them to match up with Michigan’s heralded junior cornerback Donovan Warren and upcoming sophomore Boubacar Cissoko. Defensive coordinator Greg Robinson, who's Orange upset the Irish in South Bend last season, is installing an attacking approach on all levels of the defense, demonstrated nicely in the Wolverines lock down of Western Michigan’s NFL prospect Tim Hiller, who finished 22-for-38 for 258 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. This newfound aggression, however, led to several Michigan mistakes in the secondary last week, including multiple pass interference calls on Warren, and a horrible bite from the secondary on a long play-action pass, leading to the Broncos only score. Michigan faces a serious upgrade in Notre Dame’s receiving corps, which also includes five-star tight end Kyle Rudolph (6-6, 260). Rudolph finished last week as the second-leading receiver with four grabs and a touchdown. Expect him to be matched up against an undersized opponent in Stevie Brown (6-0, 211), now playing the hybrid linebacker/safety position.

If I were calling the shots for Notre Dame, that is, if I were to score a coaching internship, I would line up in 11 formations (one running back, one tight end, three receivers). Michigan showed a lack of depth in their cornerbacks–when Cissoko went down with an injury last week, Hiller had success passing. Cissoko’s replacement, red-shirt sophomore J.T. Floyd, did not have a good opening day, looking lost in coverage. I would then stretch the field on the outside and counter Michigan’s aggressiveness with double moves and play-action. With the defense stretched, Rudolph and their third receiver (possibly Deion Walker?) should be open all day and in mismatches. Michigan’s safety position has not been solid since Ernie Shazor in 2004, and Michigan is working with inexperience back there with Troy Woolfolk and Michael Williams.

When Michigan has the ball

I think the two people who forgot that true freshmen were starting for the Wolverines were the freshmen themselves–Dernard “Shoelaces” Robinson and Tate Forcier. They played about as well as anyone could have asked, combining for 197 yards passing, 111 yards rushing and four touchdowns. The positive signs after week one were 1) surpassing their game-high rushing total of 2008 on opening day with 242 yards and 2) winning the turnover battle with a +two margin. Expect Michigan to continue to shuffle in speed and playmakers, especially with wide receiver Junior Hemmingway (five receptions, 103 yards, two touchdowns) listed as questionable. Greg Mathews must step up at the X on the outside if Hemmingway is unavailable. If Brandon Minor can return to the backfield, he will only add to a stable of backs loaded with game-breaking potential. I would expect Michigan to establish the run with a mixture of Carlos Brown, Minor, and Kevin Grady between the tackles, complemented by Michael Shaw, Vincent Smith, the slots and the quarterbacks stretching the field horizontally. Notre Dame wreaked havoc on a Nevada offense that is traditionally solid, limiting them to 149 yards passing and two interceptions. The advantage Michigan would seem to have would be their speed and playmaking ability on the ground. I don’t suspect a repeat performance by Forcier with the aerial attack, as Notre Dame’s secondary is solid and augmented by the zone blitzing scheme of a John Tenuta defense.

Prediction The keys to the game for Michigan are to contain Notre Dame’s passing game, to control the offense on the ground and limit quarterback mistakes. This will be a fun one for everyone to watch, but in the end, not so fun for those pulling for the maize and blue.
Notre Dame 41, Michigan 35

Big Ten Week 1 Review: Signal Callers Driving Outcomes Early

By JOHN SEARS * BIG TEN INSIDER

As it stands, the Big Ten’s identity, or identity crisis, has recently been described politely as “smash-mouth” or impolitely as “slow”, “vanilla”, or “pig-wrestling in a corn field”. Last year further supported such monikers as only one quarterback passed for over 3,000 yards (Illinois Juice Williams with 3,173) or more than 20 touchdowns (Williams again with 22). Big Ten quarterbacks yielded only two members of the 1,000-yard receiving club (Minnesota’s Eric Decker with 1,074 yards, Illinois’ Arrelious Benn with 1,055). In contrast, six teams were represented by running backs that racked up at least 1,100 yards rushing, maxing out at 1,850 by Iowa’s Shonn Greene and 2,045 yards by Wisconsin’s tandem of P.J. Hill and John Clay. Five backs rushed for over ten touchdowns and two (Greene with 20 and Michigan State’s Javon Ringer with 22) hit pay dirt at least 20 times. Let’s just call 2008 a year that slanted toward the run. Fair enough?

Check opening day, 2009, for these same teams and you will find that quarterbacks are taking center stage in piling up notable statistics and more importantly, driving their team’s success. Against modest opponents to be sure, but the quarterbacks showed they may be destined take the spotlight off of Big Ten running backs. Consider: Michigan State rolled out unproven quarterbacks that just so happened to combine for 318 yards, five touchdowns, and zero interceptions (Keith Nichol: 9/18, 135 yards, 2 touchdowns, Kirk Cousins: 10/17, 183, 3) in a 44-3 drubbing of Montana State. The Spartans seem to have a most delightful quarterback controversy to start the season, but the maize and blue also swapped out a pair of freshmen who dazzled in complementary fashions. Tate Forcier, in what amounted to a half a game, completed 65 percent of his passes (13/20) for 179 yards, three scores, and no giveaways. Dernard Robinson, on the other hand, scored by fleeted foot, seemingly (un)tied to an ACME rocket as he scorched the Western Michigan defense on a 42-yard quarterback keeper. Michigan trounced the Broncos, 31-7.

And let’s not forget that the leader of last year’s conference champs, Penn State’s Daryll Clark, has returned for one final go-around. Despite losing his dominant receiving trio of 2008, Clark played well in a breezy win against Akron (31-7) in the presence of a sluggish running game, tossing the pigskin for 353 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. Even the perennial ground-grinders in Madison managed 281 yards throwing (Scott Tulzien 15/20, 257 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions) in their opening 28-20 win over Northern Illinois. Indiana’s Ben Chappell did eclipse 300 yards (27/36, 326 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions) in a sleepy victory over Eastern Kentucky 19-13.

Iowa’s Ricky Stanzi (242 yards) and Minnesota’s Adam Weber (248 yards), in pedestrian performances in sloppy wins over Northern Iowa and Syracuse respectively, still managed almost 250 yards through the air and one touchdown apiece. Northwestern pieced together 264 yards through the air and a score between Mike Kafka and Dan Persa in a 47-14 runaway victory over Towson. And Joey Elliott of Purdue showed magnificent technique handing the ball off 36 times for 320 yards, mostly to Ralph Bolden (21-234, two touchdowns). When needed, Elliott also tossed three touchdowns in a score-fest 52-31 victory over Toledo. All this success by Big Ten quarterbacks without mentioning the two (Williams, Ohio State’s Terrelle Pryor) picked to be top performers and potential award winners at season’s end? Pryor, in a too-close-for-comfort win over Navy, combined for 204 yards and two scores…but it would have been nice to see him go without an interception on opening day with a Trojan invasion coming quickly. Williams, with the potential excuse that his number one target (Benn) and running back (Jason Ford) were unavailable for the second half, struggled to combine for 206 yards and one interception in a disappointing loss to Missouri, 37-9.

I am confident Williams and Pryor will improve upon their numbers last week and provide game-changing abilities week-in and week-out in the coming months. What’s more intriguing are the abilities shown by the rest of the conference’s gunslingers. Can the signal callers help the conference turn the corner offensively with some high octane, or will the Big Ten still be sitting around in the pig pen asking, “Who’s next?” come season’s end?

Photos Courtesy of University of Minnesota Athletic Communications, Iowa Sports Information