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Its hard to judge the first game under the Brady Hoke Era of Michigan football. It was a little like the weather at times sunny and at times nasty looking. One thing that stood out was the coaching staff making adjustments to slow down and stop the WMU offense. Overall I would give the team a B on today’s performance.

looked very similar to last years with Denard taking snaps out of the shotgun. Denard did lineup under center though a good amount and looked comfortable. He seems to be improving overall in the passing game which is a nice sign for the offense. Toussaint and Shaw each looked impressive touting the rock. Toussaint had 2 TD’s while Shaw also chipped in one. If these 2 can continue to be effective in the run game it will limit Robinson’s carries and likelihood of an injury. It would have been especially nice if the weather could have held off so the game could have actually been finished. This way the offense could have continued to get reps and even get some younger guys some game experience.

The defense looked very suspect early in the game and one couldn’t help but look down on the sidelines to make sure Greg Robinson wasn’t there. The coaching staff made nice adjustments though and were not only able to stop the Broncos offense but were able to create more points then allowing. Some of the problems early on looked mental with guys lining up wrong or not being in the proper position and that stuff will be worked out as time goes on. Mattison really started dialing all kinds of blitzes for Michigan and it frustrated and confused the Broncos offense.

Western Michigan is expected to contend for a MAC title this year so they are not as bad as some of the lower MAC teams which is why they were able to hang around for a while. There are definitely things to improve on in all aspects of the game. The special teams looked shaky at best. Michigan’s kickoff coverage was a dismal. The Wolverines also had an XP blocked which reminds us all of the horrible kicking debacle last season. Hopefully that will not be a sign of things to come. Overall Michigan looked pretty good but they have room for development which is a good thing.

Michigan will need to improve as they face the Fighting Irish next week at home which will be Michigan’s first night game held at the Big House. Notre Dame struggled today and ended up losing to South Florida. Hopefully the blitzing and correction to mental mistakes will allow Michigan to create more turnovers and win the game. If the Wolverines can win the turnover battle it makes them that much more likely to win the game.

GO BLUE!

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