Vanderbilt at No. 14 Michigan, 12:00 pm EDT

ANN ARBOR, Michigan (Ticker) - After Michigan's worst season in more than two decades, Lloyd Carr shook up his staff. He will get his first look at his new team when the 14th-ranked Wolverines begin their 2006 season against Vanderbilt on Saturday.

I believe the line on the game was Michigan favored by 13.5 last I saw.

I predict a Michigan victory, of course.
Final 38 - 10.

I reeeeeeeeally wish I was going to be in The Big House Saturday. RoJo is going to be there and I wanted to holla at my boy when he walked down the tunnel.

I think Meeeeechigan will be very impressive, but won't show too much. Apparently the "big change" you've been hearing about will be a new zone blocking scheme, a la the Denver Broncos and Iowa. Hart goes for 125 and 2 TDs and Michigan rolls.

Michigan-38
Vanderbilt-13

I'm going to be there tomorrow enjoying the smack down.

So I've been looking at Vanderbilt's lineup. Their QB has very little experience. Cutler's replacement threw 3 passes last year, but yet he ran the ball 15 times. Mobile QB? Look out Michigan. In addition to that, Vandy returns their two top RB's. They combined for about 1,000 yards and 15 TD last season as sophomores. Now as juniors without Cutler the focus will likely be on the ground game.
They do return their top WR, sophomore Bennett who had 876 yards and 9 TD last season. The next 2 graduated, but they have two others - White and Smith - who combined for 637 yards and 8 TD.
So, offensively the new QB has some tools around him. I expect them to try an offensive game plan similar to what has beaten Michigan in the past. A 3-headed running game with 2 backs and the QB in rollouts and draws. When the defense creaps up to stop the run, just dump it short over their heads to Bennett, White and Smith. There may not be a huge game-breaking pass but they can certainly get a number of first downs and march down the field.
It looks like Michigan could get a test that will prepare them for some later games, and us fans might get to see if that leaner defense is truly quicker and capable of stopping that type of offense, if in fact Vandy runs it that way.
Meanwhile, when Michigan has the ball Carr will certainly want that run game to go. Fans will also want to see if Hart is truly back, if a healthy and lean line featuring Jake Long again is going to do some nice blocking to free him up. We'll probably get a chance to see Grady a bit in the first half, especially if Hart can manage some longer runs (20 yards +) and needs a breather. If we get a decent lead, it would be nice to see Carlos Brown as well so we know how much he can change the pace. So that's Michigan offense the way we know it. However, it would be nice to see the passing game thrive as well. I'm not sure if DeBord will open up the book if he doesn't have to, but Vandy had a bad pass defense last year, and I havne't read anything to indicate they'll be much better. In addition to Manningham, Breaston and Ecker, I hope to see some nice things from Arrington and/or Savoy.

Bottom line: I don't want to spend much time worrying about this game, but it could happen for a while. However, there shouldn't be any reason to think Vandy can win. So hopefully the lead will get to the point early enough that we can see some of the newer contributors do some solid things.

I think Carr has the best scheduling timing in the world, Vandy like Miami of Ohio of a few years ago tried to get Michigan as a late scheduling add when they had top rated QB's Cultler (Vandy) Rothlisberger (M of Ohio) but only after the Qb's were gone did MIchigan agree to play.

I am not a fan of Michigan despite going to school there, but I really like Hart and a few others, so I hope Michigan does well this year just not better than MSU but that wish has been only granted once in 1987-88.

Well, they got the win 27-7. The defense impressed me a lot. The only score they gave up was on the gimmick 30 yard TD. I wish someone, anyone would have stayed back in coverage on that, but I can't be terribly upset. The line was a beast and Woodley looks VERY good.
Offensively, Hart is back. That's a good thing. The talent is there behind him as well. Grady fumbled again and Minor may see more time because of it. He looked good (Minor that is). Brown I think only got in there once for a direct snap as a QB and turned it into 5 yards I think. I was thinking they would use him more this season, but maybe they're just waiting for the right spots.
Henne was better than his numbers look - since there were at least 5 dropped passes - but he wasn't amazing. More than his personal issues was the fact that pass blocking wasn't great either. I'm not saying he would have had 400 yards and 5 TD if the wideouts caught everything and the line blocked better, but his numbers aren't an accurate reflection of his play. But I have to be a bit dissappointed considering how bad the secondary of Vandy was supposed to be. The passing game could have been much more of a weapon.
Michigan is still struggling when they get near the red zone. DeBord is going to have to make some things happen there.

Overall I give the team a B today. We get one more game to get things figured out before we head to Notre Dame. I expect more next week against CMU.

Vandy hung around for most of the game against Michigan, but I think the new timing system and Michigan's lack of being a quick score team attributed to that. I liked how Michigan opened it up a little with play-action. I couldn't believe Henne went downfield...to a tight end!!! I never thought Lloyd would allow something like that. Still, Michigan needs to get better offensively if they want to win the Big 10.

Michigan is my sleeper National title game pick. Of course i expected Henne, hart, and breaston to grow into stars. that doesnt happen, then nevermind.[smilie=running.gif]

What Michigan really needs to do is learn to convert. I heard on the radio the guy said this game was much closer than the final score indicated. One on hand, that's true. For a long time it was 13-7 and Vandy had several chances to take the lead.
On the other hand, the exact opposite was true. Statistically Michigan dominated. Henne didn't have good numbers at all, but Michigan still seemed like they had almost 3 times the yardage. Woodley was in the QB's grill all day and Vandy most of the time couldn't move the ball at all. Meanwhile Michigan did have trouble finishing drives, but usually got at least one or two first downs and moved it. Turning FG attempts into TD's, completing those dropped passes, and not turning the ball over will be key in 2 weeks when Notre Dame suddenly looks very beatable.

I'm hoping Hart doesnt get noticed, i'd love to have him as a raider. Little power monster runner with a touch of breakaway speed and is great at running hard and knowing when to make minor moves to get free.

I give them a C.

27 points against one of the worst teams in division 1-A football? I watched the game, and was not too impressed.

may or may not be a big deal, but i think i saw more gang tackles saturday than i've seen since our championship in 97. no more one on one tackles, no arm tackling.

hopefully, thats the trend, and not a fluke. i think its a trend though. lloyd said we'd be leaner and meaner this year. quicker, fitter defense. i like it.

You'll see more one on one tackles when Michigan plays against MSU, ND, Penn St., and OSU. The teams that open it up and spread you out create situations where you will have to make a lot of one on one tackles. If the opposing offense goes 5 Wide, you've got to make those 1 on 1 tackles.

So Michigan is catching a bunch of heat for "only" winning by 20 points and letting Vandy hang around. Well, the spread at game time was 14 points. So Michigan covered the spread by 2 FG's. What's the problem?