2012 Sugar Bowl: Meet Michigan

Denard has very fast top speed (4.3 40), but that’s not what makes him so dangerous. He has some of the fastest acceleration I’ve ever seen, if a gap is open for half a second within 5 feet of him, he’s gone through it before it can close, and that’s what makes him so dangerous on the ground. Near the middle of the season, he seemed a lot less inclined to tuck and run than last year, which had us a bit worried, especially coupled with some horrible reads and throws. However, he’s dramatically improved over the last few games, turning in phenomenal games against Illinois, Nebraska, and OSU (which, even considering the second half of Notre Dame, is in my opinion his best performance so far this year, and best passing performance ever). In addition, as the announcers mention in his first collegiate snap, broken plays are Denard’s time to shine (here he turns what should be a 3rd and 15 into a 3rd and 1).If OSU wasn’t a fluke and he really has come that far along as a passer, you guys should watch out, because I don’t think there’s a team in the country that could stop him when he’s playing like that. Still a pretty big if, but his improvement over the latter half of the season seems to indicate that Borges is really getting through to him as a passer, and he seems to be feeling a lot more comfortable in the new offense (I’m guessing the emergence of Toussaint has something to do with that).

I can’t say enough about Toussaint either, one of the smartest runners I have ever seen. He sees creases on the field that I don’t see watching top down on TV, and is really good about waiting for his blockers to open something up for him (here’s a good example of him just waiting for blocks and working his way through traffic). Our running backs coach is hilariously prone to hyperbole, and in the past was quoted describing Toussaint as “Mike Hart but fast”, but now that he’s healthy and getting some action, you can really see the comparison. He has the same ability to come to a complete stop and cut that Mike Hart did, as well as a knack for yards after contact and ball security, and he is significantly faster (and bigger!) than the notoriously slow Hart (here’s an example of his cutting ability and the speed he can put on after).

On defense, the players to watch are Mike Martin, Ryan Van Bergen, and Jordan Kovacs. Martin is a very talented tackle, and can really do a good job of both shedding blocks to stop the run and getting great pressure on the QB. However, due to his play, he frequently gets double or triple teamed. Thankfully, that’s where RVB comes in. Not quite at Martin’s level, but he definitely takes advantage of the attention that Olines give to Martin to make some great plays on his own. Kovacs, on the other hand is our most reliable tackler, with a real knack for getting the ball, both on jumped routes and popping out fumbles. One more player to watch is our RS Freshman LB Jake Ryan. He’s capable of making some great plays (like this one), but is really prone to losing contain.

Finally, our OC is very bipolar. Sometimes he calls amazing games (Illinois, Nebraska, OSU), and other times you wonder what the hell he’s thinking (running the ball 12 times, throwing 45 in 40+mph winds at MSU, the whole Iowa game). If you see an inordinate amount of our ‘Fritz’ package (Devin Gardner at QB with Denard at wideout/tailback) be excited, because we run one, maybe two good plays from this (throwback screen and jet sweep to Denard, also potentially the halfback pass by Vincent Smith, but that’s only been used once, and against Minnesota, so I question it’s validity), but we’ll get maybe one decent play out of it for every 10 horrible ones, and Borges likes to call it at the worst possible times to stall drives and mess with Denard’s rhythm. When it works it works, but that is very rarely.

Games/highlights to watch to see our offense in top form: Illinois, Nebraska, OSU, second half of ND
Game/highlights to watch to see our defense in top form: Minnesota*, Purdue*, Illinois, Nebraska

*Take these with a grain of salt because their offenses are pretty horrible

Now hopefully that gives some background on us, but I don’t know too much about you guys either. What VT games would you guys recommend I check out to get a good idea of what we’re up against?

Denard is from Florida, along with scatback Vincent Smith and slot receivers Martavious Odoms and Jeremy Gallon. Also from Florida: the cover guy in our two-man WLB platoon. I agree about the root juice myth in general (Toussaint is from Ohio) but if you’re looking for proof that Big Ten boys are slower than the tiny smurfs on jetskates who develop a ludicrous speed gear chasing rabbits in the muck of Pahokee and Apopka, well, we’re probably a bad example for you because our fastest guys are all tiny Floridian smurfs on jetskates who developed a ludicrous speed gear chasing rabbits in the muck of Pahokee or Apopka.

-Seth from MGoBlog.

Has he cooled off, and why?