Big Tex is Adequate | Michigan Musings

Once again K.C. Lopata had a great game, including a 42 yard field goal that makes Lloyd Carr look like the fool he really is for not starting K.C. earlier in the season. The young Michigan defense is slowly and noticeably getting better throughout the season. They are able to adapt more quickly as the season moves on and they see more offensive schemes. In the past two games versus Illinois and Minnesota they seemed to be stunned very early in the game. Illinois ran an option offense and Minnesota ran a sort of modified spread, both of which the young Wolverine D hasn't seen very much. In both cases they were able to adjust accordingly and pound both teams. The one stat against the Golden Gophers that I like was holding them to 2 of 13 on 3rd down conversions and no 4th down conversions. As for Ryan Mallett, he was adequate. Granted he had a career best 233 yards on 11-20 passing, and he looks like Jesse Owens next to Chad Henne with his superior mobility. However, he is still making stupid mistakes. He made a number of poor passes, but most importantly, at his height (6'5''), he shouldn't have as many passes tipped by the defensive line as he does. The other thing that has plagued him is the handling of snaps. Michigan uses two centers, Justin Boren and Adam Kraus, who are left and right handed respectively. Given that fact, they both snap the ball a little differently. Mallett hasn't been able to get the handle of that yet. The past two games especially he has bobbled a number of snaps. Against Minnesota he fumbled one that was returned for a touchdown. Now you can't tell me that this is something they can't work on in practice. They could and probably should even do it on their own time in their dorm or house, it's not like they need the whole team to practice this. And finally, kudos to Coach Carr for sitting Henne and Mike Hart. I think this will prove to be a wise move in the coming weeks when he will need them to be at the top of their game. There are no steroids in football, just players Chuck Norris has breathed on.

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November 10, 2007 09:57 AM ET

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I don't get that last sentence.

I don't understand some of the things Llloyd Carr does. Why would he start two centers? Is one of the injured?

It seems the "Fire Carr" bandwagon has died down considerably. What's the latest out of Ann Arbor on the security of Llloyd's job?

I am really interested to see how UM does vs. Wisky. They have a lot of injured players(cause Ohio State banged them up a bit), though.

If I was Carr, I bench Hart and Henne for this game also.