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Michchamp
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Well, here we go... first road game of the season, and it's in Iowa of all places.
From what I'm seeing, younger (and/or dumber) Michigan fans are dismissing this one and predicting an easy win. The rest of us know better (I think). Still, we have won more than we've lost in Kinnick.
I mean, naturally, we are the leaders and best, as you know...
According to MGoBLUE.com, we're 15-8-1 all-time in Kinnick, and 6-3-1 in our last 10 trips there.
This is a NOON (ET) game, and is on FOX again :ugh:
Iowa may be worse this year than last year, and their offense may be a disaster, but they did play better at Rutgers last week. They didn't turn the ball over, and instead let their defense dominate and let the ball come to them. In the second half, their offense did sustain a couple drives, so they're not completely punchless... these are still Big Ten athletes.
How JJ can perform in what's well known to be a very difficult road game is a big question mark here. If he makes mistakes, or gets himself hurt, this could get ugly for us.
Revenge Factor?
I haven't seen anyone talking about this, but I did feel like we ran up the score against them a bit in the Big Ten Championship game. We kept throwing late, at least when I'm sure every Iowa player, coach, and fan was expecting us to run out the clock. They probably have some motivation there. Or maybe we beat them so thoroughly, they'll come out intimidated, like a puppy that's been slapped. Probably not in Kinnick though.
What the Sports Gambling Community Thinks
LINE is currently Mich -10.5, (42 o/u) which seems a little crazy to me. It opened a lot tighter and has moved in our favor, dramatically in some spots. If this was on a neutral field, and JJ hadn't struggled like he did against Maryland, I'd feel a lot more confident. I think we have the offensive talent to blow them out, I just don't see us being able to this week.
Sagarin has Iowa rated such that he'd predict a 6 pt. Michigan win. They've played a tougher schedule than us as well.
Injuries
Iowa has a-LB out for the season, and their starting soph WR out, but that same LB was hurt week 1 and has played little since then, and given their style of football, I'm not sure missing a WR really matters much to them.
Sounds like Donovan Edwards might be back this week, but from what I'm seeing, no word about Cade McNamara. Honestly, I'd feel better with him under center for this game... but I'm hoping JJ has had a bit more of the reckless aggression coached out of him. No hero ball... just win slowly, play-by-play. Not sure who else may be out for us.
Expectations
I figure Iowa is going to play this extremely conservatively, and try to pressure JJ into mistakes. Supposedly, his struggles last week were due to MD dropping 8 into zone coverage, and us not being able to adjust to that on the fly; or maybe because our coaches didn't feel he could adjust like that yet. I dunno... tell him to pull it down and run if he sees that coverage package. Or call a draw play here or there & send that human cannon ball BLAKE CORUM smashing into a bunch of DBs dropping into coverage. This isn't rocket science...
so make your predictions and post a bit of analysis if you so choose, but as always leave the woofing and the barking for other threads.
From what I'm seeing, younger (and/or dumber) Michigan fans are dismissing this one and predicting an easy win. The rest of us know better (I think). Still, we have won more than we've lost in Kinnick.
I mean, naturally, we are the leaders and best, as you know...
According to MGoBLUE.com, we're 15-8-1 all-time in Kinnick, and 6-3-1 in our last 10 trips there.
This is a NOON (ET) game, and is on FOX again :ugh:
Iowa may be worse this year than last year, and their offense may be a disaster, but they did play better at Rutgers last week. They didn't turn the ball over, and instead let their defense dominate and let the ball come to them. In the second half, their offense did sustain a couple drives, so they're not completely punchless... these are still Big Ten athletes.
How JJ can perform in what's well known to be a very difficult road game is a big question mark here. If he makes mistakes, or gets himself hurt, this could get ugly for us.
Revenge Factor?
I haven't seen anyone talking about this, but I did feel like we ran up the score against them a bit in the Big Ten Championship game. We kept throwing late, at least when I'm sure every Iowa player, coach, and fan was expecting us to run out the clock. They probably have some motivation there. Or maybe we beat them so thoroughly, they'll come out intimidated, like a puppy that's been slapped. Probably not in Kinnick though.
What the Sports Gambling Community Thinks
LINE is currently Mich -10.5, (42 o/u) which seems a little crazy to me. It opened a lot tighter and has moved in our favor, dramatically in some spots. If this was on a neutral field, and JJ hadn't struggled like he did against Maryland, I'd feel a lot more confident. I think we have the offensive talent to blow them out, I just don't see us being able to this week.
Sagarin has Iowa rated such that he'd predict a 6 pt. Michigan win. They've played a tougher schedule than us as well.
Injuries
Iowa has a-LB out for the season, and their starting soph WR out, but that same LB was hurt week 1 and has played little since then, and given their style of football, I'm not sure missing a WR really matters much to them.
Sounds like Donovan Edwards might be back this week, but from what I'm seeing, no word about Cade McNamara. Honestly, I'd feel better with him under center for this game... but I'm hoping JJ has had a bit more of the reckless aggression coached out of him. No hero ball... just win slowly, play-by-play. Not sure who else may be out for us.
Expectations
I figure Iowa is going to play this extremely conservatively, and try to pressure JJ into mistakes. Supposedly, his struggles last week were due to MD dropping 8 into zone coverage, and us not being able to adjust to that on the fly; or maybe because our coaches didn't feel he could adjust like that yet. I dunno... tell him to pull it down and run if he sees that coverage package. Or call a draw play here or there & send that human cannon ball BLAKE CORUM smashing into a bunch of DBs dropping into coverage. This isn't rocket science...
so make your predictions and post a bit of analysis if you so choose, but as always leave the woofing and the barking for other threads.
