On Further Review: A review of the Michigan football team's win against Western Michigan

OFFENSE:

3 WR single back set on opening play. Good presence on roll and quick throw by Tate Forcier on the first play.

First drive the offensive line did a good job dominating the Western front. It’s a smaller front.

Three different formations on first play.

On the first touchdown, again, great read by Forcier. He had time and a well-crafted pocket around him which opened the hole for him to move. Also, Junior Hemingway made a really good move on an improvised hook-and-go. The Western DB had him covered on the hook, but he broke back well.

Forcier did a good job with the misdirection on the first play of the second series.

Third play of the second series and it’s the first time Forcier got pressure. Center David Molk got beat by a Western defender. Molk had a rough day with a couple of holding calls.

Forcier showed pretty good speed carrying the ball in the third series. Had four defenders following him as he ducked out of bounds.

Forcier first mistake was maybe throwing a little hard and high to Kelvin Grady. Next play, he overthrew Webb, who had a step. Carlos Brown, mentioned it yesterday, but he had the best block of the day on No. 99 from Western.

First Denard Robinson play, Mark Ortmann fell for a jump by the Western defensive end, causing a false start. One of the few mistakes by Ortmann on the day.

Robinson’s touchdown was clearly supposed to be a reverse to Martavious Odoms. Great block on the play by Odoms, too, who came all the way from the left side to the right side. There was another good block in there, which helped spring Robinson after he froze, but couldn’t catch the number. Wide receiver blocking was pretty good all day.

Robinson had blocking most of the time he was in there but bounced around a little too much, showing his youth. Robinson also needed to settle down. He was rifling balls in there without much touch and didn’t seem to read too much. But, man, is he fast. Robinson looked much more like a freshman than Forcier. Robinson, right now, seems to be committed to whatever is going to happen. The flashes are there (that touchdown) but his talent is still very, very raw. Still a bit bouncy.

DENARD ROBINSON'S TOUCHDOWN RUN:

• Carlos Brown had good patience running with the ball and worked with even the smallest holes. Both guards opened up holes pretty well, especially David Moosman.
• Forcier’s ability to throw on the run is pretty good. He was right on the money on the run to an open Kevin Koger for his second touchdown pass. Koger appeared to be his first read, too, because he locked on him the entire time. Also helped he was wide open. Later in the game, Koger showed he has the chance to be a pretty nice target for whomever is Michigan’s quarterback, snatching a ball out of the air one-handed, almost palming it like a post player in basketball snatching it down.
• Forcier is really good on the run reading, recognizing and throwing the ball. He made some mistakes, some overthrows but when he threw it long, he outthrew everyone, not enough to be intercepted.
• The touchdown pass to Hemingway (second one) good protection, great throw dropping it in Hemingway’s arms with two defenders around him. Hit Hemingway in stride. If it was off, could have been picked or definitely not a touchdown. Hemingway seemed to help out, too, by going a bit faster as he saw the ball coming. Hemingway had an impressive day, he just beat No. 25 from Western right away.
• Opening play of the second half that was a bad fumble by Carlos Brown. A defender slapped at it while he was running, and he dropped it.
• Michael Shaw wasn’t bad when he was in. Showed good instincts. Good third or fourth option to have.
• Moosman’s hold on the failed Nick Sheridan touchdown was away from the ball. Dumb penalty, especially since Sheridan threw an interception to end the drive. Will say, though, that Sheridan didn’t look terrible on that run. Made a nice read. Much slower than Forcier or Robinson, though.
• Sheridan’s interception was really, really bad. He threw on the run and Sheridan looked down Mathews the whole time.
• Vincent Smith, when he got in during the fourth quarter, showed some real speed. He has a good burst and quick acceleration. Not much by way of holes for him when he got in, but he has promise.

THIS GUY GOT REAL EXCITED ABOUT TATE FORCIER'S FIRST TOUCHDOWN:

DEFENSE:

• Defensive end Brandon Graham, from the first snap, was able to dominate the right tackle. If he had another second on the first play, he would have gotten to Western quarterback Tim Hiller. Mike Martin also seemed to be around the ball a lot early. Batted pass, too.
• Linebacker Obi Ezeh also stood out to me. Instinctual and patient. Was in the backfield a bunch and was quite disciplined in his tackling.
• A lot of 4-3 fronts. It’s almost like a 4-2-5 because of Stevie Brown, who did a good job in coverage most of the day. Brown dropped into coverage a lot, giving Michigan an extra DB to double. Almost every time Hiller tried to throw downfield, multiple Michigan players were around the receiver and the ball.
• Even when Hiller had time, he threw it off. … Midway through the first quarter, Nunez had Donovan Warren beat but Hiller overthrew. Warren also missed tackle on West when Western went to the Wildcat formation.
• Announcers gave Donovan Warren a lot of love early, but I'm not seeing it. Warren drilled Nunez, but it was really a drop. Ball was going through his hands before Warren even touched him. He also sat back on the coverage. A rough day for Warren, with a personal foul and two PI calls. All legit, too. Cissoko was the much better cornerback Saturday.
• Showed a three-man front in the third series.
• Craig Roh also stood out in his first game. He got into the defensive backfield a bit.
• Some depth at defensive line? A Renaldo Sagesse sighting.
• On Cissoko’s interception, he would have gotten it either way as the ball was heading right to him even if it didn’t hit off a diving Nunez’ hands. Good work by Stevie Brown there, too. Cissoko stood out. He was in on breaking up passes besides the interception.
• No William Campbell yesterday, but defensive line showed there was still some depth there. Played seven defensive linemen, six of them, at least, in the first half.
• Jonas Mouton’s pick in the fourth quarter wasn’t the easiest interception, but Hiller made it easy as it just slipped out of his hands. No effort needed to pressure him. No one was around him. Yikes.
• On Western Michigan’s one score, J.T. Floyd misread the coverage (couldn’t see on the TV feed, but he very well could have bit on Hiller’s play-action fake, his best of the day). Troy Woolfolk also looked out of position to pick up Nunez. Didn’t matter, of course, but that was a bad read all around. One of the few times, too, that Hiller tested Michigan’s defense deep.

SPECIAL TEAMS:

• Good assignment coverage on opening kickoff. Most of the time good staying in lanes. Leach missed a tackle on the fourth kick return, but still in lane.
• Good punt protection and also good coverage on the punt. At least five Michigan players were around the ball after the first punt.
• Greg Mathews fair caught a lot of balls, but when he did return one he showed shiftiness and the ability to make defenders miss.
• Jason Olesnavage had good booting there on the field goal.
• Zoltan Mesko, unsurprisingly good with his punting.