Observations on the win for last place in the Big Ten, 42-48!

Michigan Rewind: Purdue

Player Participation: Purdue

Official Depth Chart: Purdue

Press Conference: Purdue

1-Purdue earns 6 red zones for 42 points while Michigan earns 3 red zones for 21 points. Michigan twice blows two touchdown leads, and allows the Boilermakers and incredible 15 minute time of possession advantage. After tying the game at 42 with 1:20 to go, the defense allows Purdue to go 72 yards in 4 plays for the win.

2-Threet looked absolutely terrible! He overthrows open receivers, underthrows open receivers, hurries plays and tries to force throws to covered receivers. He ends up 9 of 21 for 109 yards, 2 TDs, and 3 sacks. Offense ends up with 300 net yards, 15 first downs and 6 of 14 in 3rd and 4th down conversions. Offense did enough to win, but defense gave away the game. Ryan Kerrigan has 10 tackles, 3.5 for loss including 3 sacks, a forced fumble and a pass break up. Anthony Heygood added 9 tackles.

3-Minor is a tough son of a gun! He is a Michigan man! Minor ends up with 24 carries for 155 yards and 3 TDs. What a great performance! It is too bad we don't have more players like him. Stonum, Savoy and Odoms score their first Michigan TDs of their careers.

4-Justin Stiller was 21 of 34 for 266 yards, 3 TDs, no sacks and 15 rushes for 77 yards and a TD. Kory Sheets had 30 rushes for 118 yards and 3 TDs plus 3 catches for 43 yards and another TD. Greg Orton hauls in 8 catches for 89 yards and a TD. Desmond Tardy grabs a 48 yarder for a TD, and returns 2 punts and 3 kickoffs for another 87 yards. 4 rushing TDs against an absolutely horrid defense that has given up 48 to Purdue, 46 to Penn State, 45 to Illinois, and 35 to Michigan State and Notre Dame.

5-Purdue came into this game as the #10 scoring offense, #11 rushing offense, #10 red zone offense, #9 in time of possession and #9 total offense in the Big Ten. Purdue's pathetic offense puts up 522 net yards, 10 of 19 in 3rd and 4th down conversions with 25 first downs while dominating the time of possession by over 15 minutes. Twice the defense gave up two score leads, and allows the Boilermakers to go 72 yards in 4 plays after tying the game with 1:20 to go. We give the #11 rushing offense in the Big Ten 256 net rushing yards and 4 rushing TDs. Purdue's offensive line "cleaned our clock." Our defensive line was completely defeated by the Purdue offense. No heros or notable efforts by the defense today. This pretty much says it all:

Possession Time...............22:18 37:42 42-48 (The worst defensive effort I've every witnessed by a Michigan football team in 50 years)
1st Quarter................. 4:24 10:36 (Fumble and punt return give us a two score lead, but Purdue comes back to tie)
2nd Quarter................. 4:51 10:09 (Two Big plays give us a two score lead, but Purdue comes back with a score by halftime)
3rd Quarter................. 3:10 11:50 (Purdue dominates the 3rd quarter by adjusting at halftime, and takes the lead)
4th Quarter................. 9:53 5:07 (Michigan comes back to tie the game, but with 1:20 to go, Purdue goes 4 plays to win the game; Hail, Mary doesn't go)

6-In the end, the difference with special teams was a great coaching call by Joe Tiller that resulted in a 61 yard romp by Linebacker Anthony Heygood resulting in the final Purdue red zone that they converted. Mesko punted 6 times, Gingell had 7 kickoffs, Cissoko and Odoms had some nice runbacks; however, the fumbles and fake punt gave Purdue two scores that they wouldn't have had otherwise. Better coaching and turnovers gave Purdue the special teams edge.

7-Coach Shafer should resign! I've never observed a Michigan defensive coordinator coaching a defense from the press box; obviously, this is ineffective. He doesn't prepare the defense, and doesn't adjust the defense; he doesn't get the most out of his players and his players aren't performing up to potential. His switch to a 3-3-5 scheme as a game strategy for Purdue was ineffective just as he is as a defensive coordinator.

8-I am so sick of hearing Michigan football fans say "In Rod, we trust," and other blind comments of misplaced loyalty and faithfulness. Yes, Coach Rod is in a rebuilding phase; however, he still continues to demonstrate a lack of preparation and adjustment as a head coach, and his players aren't playing up to potential. That is his fault! We are losing winnable games! That is simply poor coaching! Those people who think that everything will be o.k. in two or three years with new recruits and Coach Rod's "system" being fully implemented are ignoring the truth. The truth is that other teams are doing a better job than us in recruiting, coaching and they also have great strength training coaches. Other Big Ten programs will also be improving, too. We will lose to Minnesota, Northwestern and Ohio State to finish 2-10 and we'll look back at a lucky Wisconsin win avoiding an 1-11 season because Wisconsin is a better football team than we are.

9-Even when Bump Elliot was coaching in the 1960s, and we had some poor seasons; we never were the laughing stock of the Big Ten finishing last. Coach Rod has catapulted us into the worst football program of the Big Ten with a last place finish. This is another reason why we have more recruits de-committing, and potential recruits looking elsewhere for more successful programs with a better chance of winning. Who will be our next decommitment?
Observations on the battle for the Big Ten cellar, 28-21!

1-Michigan comes up with 3 big play TDs of 45, 73 and 51 yards, but the Boilermakers come back twice with two score deficits against our sieve of a defense with 3 red zones and convert all for their 21 points. Both teams get 7 points off turnover.

2-Threet was 4 of 8 for 71 yards and 2 TDs to Stonum and Savoy. Offense was 2 for 5 in 3rd down conversions with 161 net yards of offense and 5 first downs.

3-Minor had 8 rushes for 76 yards and a TD. Shaw and Threet had 8 yards each on 7 other rushes.

4-Justin Stiller is 9 of 16 for 95 yards and 8 rushes for 50 yards and a TD. Purdue's pathetic offense looks great against our high school defense getting 206 net yards, 4 of 9 in 3rd down conversions and 13 first downs while dominating the time of possession by over 10 minutes. Kory Sheets has 18 rushes for 61 yards and 2 TDs. 3 rushing TDs against a poor red zone defense. Tim Jamison had 6 tackles and a pass batted down, Mouton had 5 tackles, but nobody led the defense since the defense has no leadership. Twice the defense gave up two score leads.

5-Odoms had a great 73 yard punt return for a TD, and then gave Purdue a fumble in the red zone that they convert for a TD negating his TD. Mesko has punted 3 times for a 52 yard average while Purdue's punter, Summers, has a 32.8 yard average on 4 punts. Cissoko has 4 kickoff for a 33 yard average, and almost a breakaway.

6-If Coach Shafer can't get these guys to adjust and get the job done, we'll lose. Our defensive backfield is as bad as any ever at Michigan.