Acock's Wrap Up: Michigan

[Acockolypse Now]

You youngsters won't get this, but you want to know how far we've come? We went 11-2, beat Georgia, Tennessee, Clemson, Arkansas, and Michigan, and it's just business as usual. Great season, but we've come to the point now that until we win that first SEC Championship, we'll leave feeling like there's unfinished business.

This week the business was Michigan. I admit I underestimated them. Based on watching them against Alabama, I assumed they'd curl up once hit, and that they couldn't handle our speed on defense. I was wrong on both counts. This is a quality team that matured over the year, and they gave us all we could handle.

OFFENSE
QB: A
Our two-headed monster went off. Although Connor is clearly still not 100%, he slung the ball relatively well and still used his feet as a weapon. Michigan did not expect him to throw the deep ball (I didn't either) and yet he did, hooking up for TD passes of 56 and 31 yards. Both guys played extremely well, and even though Connor still has his penchant for not letting go of the ball (I saw Spurrier after one drive yelling, "Throw the damn thing!), his ability to avoid the sack in the 4th kept our drive alive. Great job by two classy guys. We're lucky to have them.

RB: INC
Miles did a nice job blocking, and he had a couple of nice catches. Other than that, you wouldn't know we had RB's on the roster. I'm not going to say we abandoned the run, but we abandoned the run. Which is too bad, because it led to our defense getting worn the hell out in the second half. Incomplete.

WR/TE: B
Byrd, Jones, and Sanders came to play. All of those guys did an amazing job at fighting for the ball and making clutch catches. Bruce had two very important grabs (none more so than the last one, of course) but was held fairly quiet other than that. In truth, our guys, especially the TEs, struggled to get loose in what was, for the most part, pretty soft zone coverage all day. A lot of that can be attributed to the pass rush, which leads me to:

OL: D
Not their best game. Yep, I'm going to get some flak for this, but both Connor and Dylan spent the better part of the day running for their life, and we all but gave up on running on them. This unit needs to develop a mean-streak in the offseason. We had no answer for their blitz packages.

DEFENSE
DL: B
Did a nice job of getting pressure on the QB, but didn't finish enough. Devan should have had at least 3 sacks, but couldn't close the deal. We also allowed 141 yards of rushing. Have to say though, that like the rest of the team, they made plays when it counted. Like... oh, I don't know... the hit.

LB/Spur: C
Not mind-numbingly bad, but not good either. Got sucked in on running plays too much, and allowed Gardner to run free when he should have been contained. Pretty good job in pass coverage when needed, however.

CB/S: A
Akeem played like a man possessed. Our secondary bailed us out more than once. I have no idea why we didn't play press man more than we did, as the soft coverage gave up too many short passes. Overall, strong game, just couldn't stop Gallon on the short slants.

SPECIAL TEAMS
Overall: B
Would have been an "A" if we could KICK A FREAKIN FIELD GOAL. Ace Sanders...SICK.

COACHING
Overall: B
Before the game I wondered openly whether or not our staff would get the players up for this game. They did, which was great. Much like Clowney, people should continue to fool Spurrier into thinking he's doing something for the first time ("they've never won on a Monday night when the solstice is in retrograde coach") as it seems to motivate him. Do not invite this guy to a debutant ball.

Whammy did OK, but it's the first time this year I saw him have no answer for something. Partly because our d got gassed, but Michigan was running over us in the 4th quarter and we just couldn't stop it. It took Clowney going blood rage to stop them.

INTANGIBLES
Overall: A
We beat Michigan in dramatic fashion on national TV. We have a highlight monster defensive end that just dropped jaws all over the country. We'll finish in the top 10 two years in a row. Everything came together beautifully... what a way to end the season.

FINAL THOUGHTS
It was a great run this year. Football season goes by so quick it seems like just yesterday that we were all still trying to figure out what the close win at Vandy meant (turns out it meant that Vandy is pretty damn good). While this will go down as one of our best seasons ever, it's bittersweet in that we lost Lattimore, again. His accomplishments are even more amazing considering that he only played one complete season. It's hard to feel like we weren't cheated out of seeing him accomplish what he's capable of. However, when you think about it, players like Marcus often accomplish more off the field than on. What he brought to the locker room, to the team's work ethic, to the team's chemistry, to the fan base, is impossible to measure. He helped change the culture and turn our program around. He will be missed, greatly. On a more personal note, I remember him going down against Tennessee, and my friend Anna turning to me and saying, "we just watched him score his last touchdown for us." Little did I know that I was actually watching my last football game with her as well. I'm sure Anna enjoyed our Outback win as much as any of us, and it wouldn't shock me if it was her that nudged the TE out of Clowney's way.

We can look forward to 2013, knowing that the foundation has been laid, and that the schedule is as favorable as it ever will be. We still need to find our starting RB, find out which rotation will work the best at WR, and our defense will be a work in progress, but you have to like how 2013 sets up for us.

Now we wait.

[The Yancey]

[trapper82]

I am no coach by any means but it appears to me that if a team does a lot of unconventional blitzing we have a lot of problems with that.

[ra742002]

I watched a different game than you....in regards to our secondary. I thought Auguste played awful, he got touched for two TD's

[uscsec]

[spareparts]

Originally Posted by Acockolypse Now

You youngsters won't get this, but you want to know how far we've come? We went 11-2, beat Georgia, Tennessee, Clemson, Arkansas, and Michigan, and it's just business as usual.

This is the most important thing you have ever said.

Read it again, folks.

11-win seasons are now the norm.

11-win season = NORM.


NORM, dammit. NORM.

[PyroPepper]

"Much like Clowney, people should continue to fool Spurrier into thinking he's doing something for the first time ("they've never won on a Monday night when the solstice is in retrograde coach") as it seems to motivate him. Do not invite this guy to a debutant ball."

I almost spewed coffee outa my nose! That's funny as hell. (By the way, my condolences for your loss of Anna. She sets a mean pick!)

[JTJGarnet]

Originally Posted by ra742002

I watched a different game than you....in regards to our secondary. I thought Auguste played awful, he got touched for two TD's

I agree that Auguste wasn't real sharp. They kept going at him and he couldn't/didn't challenge Gowen in the 2nd half.

[Cock Kool-Aid]

We should just rotate QB's and RB's next year... that would be interesting.

[Legalman72]

Acock, you're definitely one of my favorite posters here. Great summary! The debutante comment is all-time. And, again, sorry for the loss of Anna. I noticed on FB that a number of people I know knew her.

Only one thing I differ with you on and that's Auguste. Are you sure you don't mean Hampton? He played, IMO, his best game of the year. Auguste, unfortunately, did not have a good game. Again, JMHO.

All in all, a great win and you nailed it. We're in rarefied air...and I hope we stay here!

[LegalCock]

Great summary/post.

[Acockolypse Now]

Well, I did see Hampton play an exceptional game, but they were throwing at Akeem all game. Yes, he gave up a few (especially inside slants) but he made a few great plays too.

Perhaps I was too generous with my grades...but we won!

[Flameout12]

STs: Were not a B...one missed FG, one blocked FG, one fake FG that was ran against us for a 1st down and the fake punt that yielded the bad call. That's 4 bad plays in one game.

We got outcoached on STs....they were not ready for this game, except Ace.

Also, if UM's QB could hit someone with a pass, this game would not have been close...way too many of their guys wide open.