The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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The Good, The Bad And The Ugly Of 2012 regular season, here is a look at a few of the positives, some of the negatives and those aspects worth forgetting. Good — Beating Michigan State: The Spartans' coach Michigan has one game left to play, but taking stock of the and their fans had grown insufferable after winning four in a row against the Maize and Blue — matching MSU's longest streak of success in series history — and while Ohio State was, is and always will be Michigan's chief rival, the Green and White needed to be dealt with. U-M took the lead on a 38-yard field goal with five seconds remaining, securing the much-needed win while Michigan State finished 6-6. Bad — Losses to Notre Dame and Ohio State: Outside of the Rich Rodriguez era (2008-10), Michigan had suffered a losing record against its three rivals in nine of 24 seasons since the Notre Dame series became a staple in 1978. That tally now increases to 10 losing records compared to 15 winning records. What makes it difficult to accept this year is that both the Notre Dame and Ohio State games were win- nable, but costly turnovers — six against the Irish and four against the Buckeyes — and ineffec- tive offensive play resulted in narrow defeats. Good — Denard Robinson: The senior quarterback became just the fourth Wolverine in program history with three 1,000-yard rushing cam- paigns after hitting the milestone with 1,166 yards and seven touchdowns on 154 carries (7.6 yards per rush). He wowed fans with his home-run plays, rushing for 20 yards or more on 14 individual snaps (44 in his career), in- cluding gains of 40, 46, 49, 58, 59, 67 and 79 yards in 2012. Robinson's 7.6- yard average stands to rank first for a single season, and his 6.28-yard career average is just 0.01 from No. 1. Ugly — Turnovers: Michigan relying on the blitz. However, U-M failed to generate that pressure all year, finishing with 19 total sacks, including a mere 11.5 from its defensive linemen. The Wolverines fin- ished 87th in the NCAA averaging only 1.58 QB takedowns per game. Bad — Running Backs: In 2010, Michigan's running backs finished with only 1,299 yards rushing or 99.9 yards per game, representing the lowest average since U-M's half- backs and fullbacks combined for 95.3 yards per contest in 1963. This year's ball carriers — largely junior Fitzgerald Toussaint (514 yards) and sophomore Thomas Rawls (242 yards) — have combined for only 940 yards or 78.3 per game. That total stands be the lowest since Michigan began keeping track in 1936. Ugly — Offensive Line: Asked about the poor perfor- mance by the running backs this year, Brady Hoke pointed to the effort up front, noting the difficulty in evaluating U-M's ball carriers because of how badly the line struggled. Despite three seniors and three returning starters (not nec- coughed up the football 25 times, in- cluding 18 interceptions that rank as the most by the Wolverines' passers since U-M threw 21 in 1959. The Maize and Blue finished the regular season ranked 100th nationally in turnover margin at -0.67 per game after record- ing just 17 takeaways. In its four losses, Michigan had 16 turnovers and forced just eight, losing the battle by eight. Good — Pass Defense: Despite losing sophomore cor- Senior quarterback Denard Robinson ran for 1,166 yards and seven touchdowns on 154 car- ries in the regular season, marking his third 1,000-yard rushing campaign, something only three other Wolverines have ever accomplished. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN nerback Blake Countess in the opener against Alabama, Michigan's secondary would prove to be one of the nation's stingiest, finishing ranked No. 2 nationally in allowing just 155.2 yards passing per game. Only one U-M defense since 1980 — the 1997 crew (133.8) — surrendered fewer, with these Wolverines not allowing a single 200-yard passing ef- fort all year. Not even the 1997 defense could say that. Bad — Pass Rush: Michigan felt with some position changes in the spring, plus the emergence of sophomore rush ends Frank Clark and Brennen Beyer, it would be able to put consistent pressure on opposing quarterbacks without essarily the same), the offensive line likely ranks among the most ineffective in the past 50 years. Good — Linebackers: Returning three starters, the line- backer position was a perceived strength before the year began, and the unit lived up to its preseason billing with redshirt sophomore Jake Ryan (84 stops), fifth-year senior Kenny Demens (81) and sophomore Desmond Morgan (78) ranking as the team's top three tacklers. That marks the first time U-M's top three tacklers were backers since Andy Moeller, Andree McIntyre and Dieter Heren achieved the feat in 1986. — Michael Spath DECEMBER 2012 THE WOLVERINE 23