October 07, 2003

Note To Lloyd: The 'Special' In 'Special Teams' Is Not A Euphemism For 'Short Bus'

<SARCASM>Y'know, I'm beginning to think John Navarre has trouble winning big games on the road.</SARCASM>

That's always been the knock against him, but I thought he'd gotten over it after last year's Outback Bowl, where he played very well and managed not to lose to Florida. And maybe it's no more fair to blame him for the Oregon loss than for last Saturday's loss to Iowa, but the situations were very similar: if you have the ball first down at midfield with over a minute left moving for a game-winning score, y'gotta close the deal! Brian Griese could. Tom Brady could. Hell, even Scott Driesbach could!

    But there are plenty of other questions I'd like answered:
  • How can a defense as tough as Michigan's is (alleged to be) blow a 14-point lead? Answer below.
  • How can the Michigan receivers pull a rabbit out of their collective hat on one throw, and then have the next bounce right off their numbers?
  • Did Ochoa really have control of the ball for Iowa's final touchdown? (I don't think so, but it should never have come to that point)

So how do you blow a 14-point lead with the #3 overall defense in the country? Not-So-Special Teams, that's how! What the hell was that wide-split rollout punt formation? Carr said it allowed better downfield coverage (about which I am skeptical), but you actually have to get the punt off for that to come into play! Michael Rosenberg of the Freep summed it up beautifully:

"A true freshman placekicker was asked to punt out of an odd formation while rolling to his right -- with an option to run the ball -- on the road in a crucial Big Ten game."
What could possibly go wrong?

I originally thought they were setting Iowa up for a fake punt where the snap would go to the middle short man and he would run it up the middle. Then I remembered the lovely job they did on the fake punt against Oregon and I was glad they didn't do it. Then I remembered that they lost to Iowa anyway, and, hell, it couldn't have gone any worse than what they actually did!

After the Oregon loss, I said they should be 10-1 going into the aOSU game. If their special teams don't step up pronto, they'll be at best 8-3 and maybe as bad as 6-5!

Posted by Chris at October 7, 2003 03:27 PM

Category: Michigan Football
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