Observations on the win over the Chippewas! 45-7

1-Steve Breaston will be our best offensive player this year; he is extraordinary and exciting. His punt returns have been awesome! He had one run on a reverse for 6 yards, four catches for 72 yards (one off a batted pass from Edwards) and 3 punt returns for 79 yards. He had 157 yards of total offense. He looks like a gamebreaker every time he touches the ball, much like Anthony Carter.

2-615 yards of total offense on 82 plays with 31 first downs (7.5 yards per play); 342 yards on 46 rushes and Navarre was 19 of 33 for 245 yards (2 TDs and one pick). Eight receivers caught 22 passes. Edwards led the receivers with 5 catches for 78 yards and 2 TDs. Michigan was 5 of 11 on 3rd down; 2 of 2 on 4th down. Gutierrez looked good with 3 of 3 for 28 yards in leading the 2nd team offense to a score. It was nice to see Tabb catch his first two passes. Gonzales didn't catch a pass.

3-Perry had 22 rushes for 232 yards and two TDs! Offensive line looked better in the second half. We had no sacks. Underwood also looked good with 11 rushes for 64 yards. Both Perry and Underwood look good on screens. Perry's went for 17 yards and Underwood's for 10. Rembert, Jackson and Bradley played in the second half; Jackson looked the best with 4 rushes for 22 yards. We did fumble twice, but recovered both.

4-Defense looked good, but the Chippewas have 368 yards in 74 plays and 20 first downs. No red zone points in one attempt; one pick by LeSueur and a fumble recovery by Van Alstyne took away two scoring chances. We forced 6 punts, and held them to 5 of 15 in 3rd down. We held them to 218 yards on 45 rushes. Terrence Jackson led the Chips with 104 yards on 21 rushes. Perry was 18 of 29 for only 150 yards. Willie Hall led the Chips with 53 yards on 5 catches. The defensive leaders who stood out include Markus Curry and Jacob Stewart with 9 tackles each, Carl Diggs with 7 tackles, Scott McClintock with 6, Roy Manning with 5 including one for a loss, Kashama with two tackles for loss and LeSueur with one pick. Barringer didn't look all that great (he still had his thumb wrapped); Stewart played almost all the second half and looked quite good. Shazor didn't play a down. Both Watson and Harrison are logging a lot of playing time at tackle until Harrison was injured. Watson made a nice tackle on a screen which shows his mobility, and looked very good overall. Larry Stevens didn't do much, he wasn't very active and only was in on one tackle. Time of possession was almost equal. We only took two penalties: one personal foul and one illegal procedure when we were in the red zone.

5-James King had 19 tackles for the Chippewas! He was awesome in stopping a lot of plays, and keeping the score from reaching the sixties.

6-Kicking game looked o.k. Finley had one punt for 50 yards; Breaston and Curry did a nice job returning punts. LeSueur does a nice job on kickoffs, but all of us would like to see Breaston back there. Nienberg has consistent in kickoffs to the 5, but put none in the end zone. Finley was only one of three in field goals. Rivas kicked the last two PATs.

7-I will guess that when Marlin returns, he and Shaw will be the starters at safety with Barringer and Stewart as backups. Shazor, Burgess and Mundy will all look for playing time behind these four. Diggs, Reid and Woods started at linebacker, but Manning and McClintock were more impressive than Woods or Reid. Neither Stevens nor Massey were as involved or present during plays as Kashama, Van Alstyne or Woodley. Watson and Bowman were more active than Heuer or Harrison. Ofili looked good when Harrison went out. Curry and LeSueur were solid at the corners, Hall made it in and looked o.k., but Hood didn't make it in. I didn't see Crable on defense at all. Kaufman did make it in and looked decent. Joe Sarantos did come in and he looked pretty good making one real hard hit.

8-Christopfel came in ahead of Bihl at center. Fisher didn't play at all at tight end; in fact, after starter Massaquoi, Mingery and Ecker, the next tight end in was Mandich. Murphy and Studenski also made it in.

Observations on the First Half-Michigan 17 Central Michigan 0:

1-Steve Breaston will be our best offensive player this year; he is extraordinary and exciting. His punt returns have been awesome! He has one run on a reverse for 6 yards, two catches for 44 yards (one off a batted pass from Edwards) and 2 punt returns for 74 yards. He has 124 yards of total offense in the first half.

2-Four red zone opportunities resulting in 17 points! Two missed field goals! 293 yards of total offense on 40 plays with 14 first downs; 146 yards on 16 rushes and Navarre is 13 of 24 for 147 yards (and one pick). It sounds quite similar to last year's offense. There were several dropped passes, two that could have resulted in TDs by Edwards and Avant. On the bright side, eight receivers have caught 13 passes. Edwards leads the receivers with 3 catches for 18 yards and 1 TD. Michigan is only 2 of 6 on 3rd down.

3-Perry has 13 rushes for 128 yards and one TD! Offensive line looks o.k., but not great. We have no sacks. Underwood looks good with 2 rushes for 12 yards. Both Perry and Underwood look good on screens. Perry's went for 17 yards and Underwood's for 10. Hopefully, we can see both Rembert and Jackson in the second half.

4-Defense looks good, but the Chippewas have 167 yards in 41 plays and 10 first downs. No red zone points in one attempt; one pick by LeSueur and a fumble recovery by Van Alstyne took away two scoring chances. We have held them to 88 yards on 23 rushes. Terrence Jackson leads the Chips with 56 yards on 11 rushes. Perry is 12 of 18 for only 79 yards. Willie Hall leads the Chips with 53 yards on 5 catches. The defensive leaders who are standing out include Markus Curry with 6 tackles, Roy Manning with 5 including one for a loss, Kashama with two tackles for loss and LeSueur with one pick. Diggs and Barringer have 4 tackles each. Woods, Jackson and McClintock have 3 each. Barringer doesn't look all that great so far; Shazor hasn't played a down except perhaps on special teams. Both Watson and Harrison are logging a lot of playing time at tackle. Watson made a nice tackle on a screen which shows his mobility. Heuer took a stupid personal foul penalty.

5-Perhaps we can give Rivas some playing time since Neinberg hasn't put the ball in the end zone on kickoffs and Finley is only one of three in field goals. Finley punted once for 50 yards. Perhaps some consideration may be given to also having Breaston return kickoffs.