Observations on the win over the Commodores, 27-7!

1-Michigan has improved their running game, but is no threat offensively! Henne finished 10 of 22 for 135 yards, 2 TDs and one sack. His seven scrambles netted 20 yards. Breaston had 4 catches for 68 yards, Manningham had 3 catches for 44 yards and one TD, Ecker caught the other TD for his only catch of the day. Michigan had 20 first downs, 381 yards in net offense on 73 plays, was 11 of 19 in 3rd and 4th down conversions and converted two of three red zones for 14 points. Time of possession favored Wolverines by 7 minutes thanks to a great defense.

2-Michigan netted 246 yards rushing. Mike Hart ran 31 times for 143 yards, Kevin Grady added 30 yards on 5 carries including a TD. Brandon Minor contributed three carries for 30 yards and Carlos Brown ran a quarterback draw for 4 yards. Running game looks good! We ran for 246 yards on 51 attempts. The fumble by Grady killed a potential scoring opportunity.

3-Special teams looked mediocre with Rivas hitting two of three field goal attempts including a 49 yarder. Mesko started as punter with three punts for 125 yards including one inside the 20. Ross Ryan punted once and his kickoffs were unimpressive with only one touchback. Breaston looked dismal on punt returns fielding three punts for seven yards. Two kickoff returns by Tabb and Breaston averaged 17 yards. We did a decent job limiting their one punt return to 5 yards, and 4 kickoff returns to 91 yards. Anton Campbell was impressive on kickoff return stops. We had 6 penalties for 54 yards with Mitchell for false start, holding on Riley, roughing the punter on Stevie Brown, and three others. Vanderbilt had two penalties for 20 yards.

4-Defense was solid! It took a trick play to convert their TD. Woodley and Biggs had two sacks each, defense had 6 six sacks and 11 overall tackles for loss. Nickson was 11of 25 for 99 yards and rushed for 22 yards. It was unreal that he could play after an appendectomy two weeks ago. Bennett had 6 catches for 58 yards. Their offense managed only 9 first downs, 4 of 17 in 3rd and 4th down conversions and 171 net yards in 52 offensive plays. Branch forced a fumble that we converted into three points. Chris Graham, Prescott Burgess and Jamar Adams had a nice pass deflections, and Terry Taylor almost had a sack. Rondell Biggs and Jamar Adams led our defense in tackles with 6 each. Vanderbilt could establish no running game, we did; that was the story.

5-Our offense has not shown it is a threat to opposing defenses nor that it can possess the ball when we need to so we can keep opposing offenses off the field. Thank God we have Ron English and a stalwart defense!

6-Player participation notes show Mathews as the first receiver in behind Manningham and Mitchell moving to right tackle (before Zirbel) to give Schifano time at Right Guard. Brandon Graham did see action at defensive end. Brandon Harrison nor Willis Barringer played in the defensive backfield. Tim Jamison did not start nor did he play; I hope he isn't injured or suspended.
Observations on the first half with Vanderbilt, 13-7!

1-Michigan looked great in the first quarter, but dismal in the second quarter! Henne started out fine, but looked quite bad in the second quarter with overthrows and poor leadership in the two minute drill just before the half. He finished 7 of 14 for 83 yards with one sack and four other scrambles amounting to a net of 2 yards. Breaston has 4 catches for 68 yards. Michigan has 13 first downs, was 5 of 9 in 3rd down conversions and converted one of two in red zones for 7 points. Time of possession favors Wolverines by over 7 minutes.

2-Mike Hart ran 15 times for 92 yards, Kevin Grady added 27 yards on 4 carries including our only TD. Brandon Minor contributed two carries for 27 yards and Carlos Brown ran a quarterback draw for 4 yards. Running game looks good! We ran for 153 yards on 28 attempts. The fumble by Grady killed a potential scoring opportunity.

3-Special teams looked mediocre with Rivas hitting two of three field goal attempts including a 49 yarder. Mesko started a punter with one punt of 45 yards, but it was a short kick with good hang time that resulted in a 10 yard roll. Breaston looks dismal on punt returns fielding two punts for negative two yards. Two kickoff returns by Tabb and Breaston averaged 17 yards.

4-Defense looks strong! It took a trick play to convert their TD. Woodley has two sacks and three tackles for loss. Nickson was 5 of 8 for 37 yards. Bennett only has two catches. Their offense managed only 4 first downs, 2 of 6 in 3rd down conversions and 88 net yards in 21 offensive plays. Branch forced a fumble that we converted into three points. Chris Graham had a nice pass deflection, and Terry Taylor almost had a sack. We have 5 tackles for loss with 2 sacks.

5-Team needs to get it together for the second half.