Hoke's Mad Magicians Goes To The Magazine Rack (Again)

Photo Credit: Lindy Sports

Over the summer and fall, fans are bombarded with an almost never-ending onslaught of college football previews, in the form of websites, television shows, and magazines.  Well, in an exciting announcement, Hoke's Mad Magicians' writer Thomas Beindit will again be featured in this fall's edition of the Lindy's Sports' college football preview for the 2013 Michigan Wolverines.

Lindy's Sports started in 1982 with a SEC college football preview and is "widely recognized as one of the nation's top preseason sports magazines".  They release preseason magazines covering everything including college football, the NFL, the MLB, and more.  Last year, they released their first ever Michigan specific college football and they are again continuing with "In the Huddle".

Week 8: Top Performers And Underperformers

Snapping the losing streak against rival Michigan State wasn't a clean cut process, but you can't win in a game like that without at least one key performance. The Wolverines found that key performance in Drew Dileo, but who else contributed? And who wasn't that impressive?

Either Way, these players combined together to end a four year losing streak to that other team in the state of Michigan.

Let's take a look.

Recapping Michigan State

Finally, four years of agony and torture has ended. By the hands of Drew Dileo and the leg of Brendan Gibbons, Michigan advanced to 3-0 in the Big Ten and, looking at the bigger picture, won the program's 900th game, the most in college football.

The first thing I will say about this game is I seriously underestimated the ability of Spartan QB Andrew Maxwell. I gave him zero credit and almost looked like a fool for it -- almost. Without the play of Maxwell, Michigan State would not have been in that game.

But moving on.

What's the Dileo? It's been a common theme throughout this season to not really have the same WR step up in back to back weeks, but that's okay as long as the job gets done. This past Saturday, it was Drew Dileo.

2012 Positional Breakdown: Special Teams

Entering the 2011 season, there were some major questions revolving around Michigan's team and specifically, the special teams.  Following last year, many of those questions have been answered and some have even started viewing the special teams as an advantage for the team.  With Michigan's top three kickers/punters returning and both of its specialist returners coming back, there is a lot to be excited about in terms of special teams.  Granted, they don't win the game alone (in most cases), but Michigan fans know as well as anybody from their experiences in 2009 and 2010, that they can be extremely important for a team.

Brendan Gibbons (RS Junior)
The story of the Sugar Bowl and the redemption of Team 132 could almost be an autobiography for Brendan Gibbons.  During Michigan's 2010 campaign, Gibbons appeared in 5 games and started 4 of them.  Not bad for a redshirt freshman.  The problem is that he made just 1 of 5 field goals with his longest being from just 24 yards in the first game of the season.  His play that followed was erratic, unreliable, and scattered throughout the season and in the biggest games of the year.  Few thought he stood a chance in 2011.

However, the year that followed was simply astounding.  Not just because of the massive improvement, but because he did it after undergoing the down 2010 year.  Kickers recovering from those types of performances are mixed.  Kicking takes a lot of mental preparation and taking that big of a mental hit and recovering is quite an accomplishment.  Not only did he play in and start every game for Michigan's Sugar Bowl run, but he also posted career highs in several games including 7 made PAT's against Minnesota and a 43 yard field goal against Ohio State.  Despite this, his most impressive moment was when he made all 3 field goal attempts against Virginia Tech including a 37 yard overtime kick to seal the game.  Gibbons will be back and should be the most reliable kicker Michigan has had in quite awhile.

Lookin' Back On What Was And What Wasn't For The Wolverines

On the drive home from what turned out to be an epic overtime Sugar Bowl victory for Michigan, I couldn't help but looking back on not only the past season, but also the last few years.  Sure, Michigan had just won its first bowl game since the 2008 Capital One Bowl and its first BCS game since 2000, but this win seemed to solidify a lot more than just that.  This was not a perfect team, but when Brendan Gibbon's field goal cleared the uprights, the finish felt perfect.

Since Michigan's loss to Ohio State in 2006, almost nothing has been the same.  Michigan went through, without doubt, the worst period in its history.  Not only did the team end the season with a loss to Ohio State and the loss of long-time coach Bo Schembechler, which is bad enough, but they followed with a loss in the Rose Bowl.  Losing in the Rose Bowl isn't necessarily something to be ashamed of, especially because Michigan faced a great team, but losing by a significant margin is never something that should cause pride.

However, what followed this loss was really what changed Michigan and its culture.  Michigan opened its season ranked #5 and appeared to be set for a great year.  There were some tough opponents on the schedule, but with Notre Dame and Ohio State at home, things looked bright.  Michigan may have collapsed to end the year, but there was no way that happened again.  However, we all know the story.  Michigan loses its first two games to Appalachian State and Oregon and remains un-ranked for much of the year.  The team recovered to finish 9-4 with a victory over Florida and Tim Tebow in the 2008 Capital One Bowl, but afterward Michigan lost a great senior class and Lloyd Carr.

Rich Rodriguez entered the scene and frankly, never had a relevant team after September.  He finished with the horrid career record of 15-22.  Along with this, he never beat Michigan State or Ohio State.  The only ranked teams he managed to beat collapsed over the course of the year, removing all relevance.  The defense and special teams were in ruins and even the hailed offense didn't put up as many points as desired and seemed to rely far too much on one single player (though it was still a solid unit).

So what's the story? Why am I bringing up things that happened in 2006?  Michigan entered "The Game" ranked #2 and undefeated (11-0).  However, from that game until Brady Hoke's first game at Michigan this season, the team was 24-28.  Over that period Michigan never finished with more than 9 wins, were 1-2 in bowl games, never defeated Ohio State, and ultimately finished 4-9 in rivalry games.  I bring up these facts not to torture Michigan fans, but because I want to show the significance of this team..  Over that period, the culture of winning had largely faded from Schembechler Hall.  The team and fans wanted to win, but their expectations seemed to drop every year.  The team had national championship hopes in 2007, which faded to bowl hopes in 2010.

So what changed for a team that went a combined 24-28 from the 2006 Ohio State game to 2011?  Well, that culture changed.  The team finished 11-2 this year.  Along with this, the team went 2-1 in rivalry games (beating Notre Dame and Ohio State) and beat Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl.  This team certainly wasn't perfect, losing to Michigan State and Iowa, but they were exactly what Michigan needed.  Michigan desperately needed something to return the team to its winning ways and Team 132 fit the bill.

To me, the losses against Michigan State and Iowa do nothing to taint what was a spectacular season.  Sure, it would have been great to play in the Big Ten Championship Game for a shot to go to the Rose Bowl, but this team still made a great bowl and capitalized on that opportunity.  In fact, Michigan actually finished with the best winning percentage of any Big Ten team.  Yes, Michigan State also finished with 11 wins, but they also had 3 losses, giving Michigan the best winning percentage.  I doubt this will do anything to remove some of the hurt from the loss to Michigan State, but it's still significant.

So what was this team?  Bottom line, it was a WINNING team.  Something Ann Arbor hasn't seen since November 11, 2006 against Indiana.  I fully admit that the 2007 Michigan Wolverines were not a complete failure, but a 9-4 season with losses to Ohio State and Appalachian State are certainly not something to be proud of, at least in my opinion.  Will next year's team win like the Team 132?  I'm not sure, a tough schedule with a lot of road games may interfere with that, but what's great is I believe they can.  To me, that's what this team brought back to Michigan, that "belief" in winning.  Most people used to assume and expect Michigan victories.  However, that seemed to fade away over the last few years.

By not only winning, but winning with players the media and previous coaches have referred to as "busts" or "un-coachable", it made this season even better.  Doesn't it say something when the roster is virtually identical yet the results largely differ?  I say so.  I believe in Brady Hoke and this coaching staff and I believe in Michigan.  I think most fans supported the team even during the darkest times, but it's even better when the team is assumed to win.  To steal a quote from the infamous Charlie Sheen, I think Brady Hoke will be doing a lot of "winning" in the future.  This team has returned the bright future to a trouble fan base and frankly restored order.

Photo Credit: Michigan Daily  

Previewing "The Game"

Michigan fans often debate with each other about who their biggest rivals are. Many of our opponents consider us their biggest rival while we don't feel the same we back. (I'm looking at you Illinois). We debate amongst ourselves whether we would rather beat the Golden Domers or Sparty more. One thing is certain amongst us all. Nothing tops "The Game."

The 4 W's

What: #15 Michigan (9-2, 5-2) vs Ohio State (6-5, 3-4)

When: 12:00 p.m. EST

Where: Michigan Stadium, Ann Arbor, Mich.

Weather: 50s with a 10 percent chance of rain. Wind at about 15 mph

Series History

Michigan leads 57-44-6 (includes vacated wins by Ohio State).

Last 5 meetings:

2010: Ohio State 37*, Michigan 7 @Columbus

2009: Ohio State 21, Michigan 10 @Ann Arbor

2008: Ohio State 42, Michigan 7 @Columbus

2007: Ohio State 14, Michigan 3 @Ann Arbor

2006: Ohio State 42, Michigan 39 @Columbus

When Ohio State has the ball

Ohio State's offense has struggled with true freshman QB Braxton Miller taking the majority of the snaps for the Buckeyes. They rank as the nation's #67 offense in FEI and average only 315 yards per game. They pass only when they deem it to be absolutely necessary. Miller has completed under 50 percent of his passes this season and only gets 7 yards per pop when he puts the ball in the air. Only one Buckeye has managed even 200 yards catching the ball this year, but they did just get star WR DeVier Posey back last week (4 catches, 66 yards). Posey at least affords Ohio State the ability to keep Michigan from loading the box to stop the run, at least until so long as they prove they can actually utilize Posey.

While they struggle to air it out in the rare events that Miller actually does put the ball up, the Buckeyes offense does have some strengths to it. Miller is very good at taking care of the ball (just 3 Ints all year), and they do manage to run to some degree of success. Miller has put up 595 yards this season (4.6 ypc). Don't expect a running style like we see in Ann Arbor on a weekly basis though. Miller likes to improvise. He is very dangerous when trying to create on his own. Often, he won't even follow the design of the play. You can see great examples of this is the front paged story by BlueSeoul over at MGoBlog. Teaming up with him is Boom Herron. Boom has put up 565 yards on 5.2 ypc in just 5 games after returning from his tatgate suspension.

Defensively, Michigan features the country's #10 rated FEI defense. While sometimes it struggles with the pass, the Wolverine defense has been pretty good against the run lately, completely smothering Illinois on the ground and limiting the dangerous Nebraska duo of Taylor Martinez and Rex Burkhead.

The keys for the Michigan defense are to stay locked onto OSU's mediocre WRs (and Posey) for as long as possible to avoid Miller improvising his way into open targets. Maintaining gap integrity is absolutely essential if you want to avoid Miller busting a long run. Boom Herron will likely get his yards, but that's okay. Michigan needs to stay on Braxton Miller from the opening kickoff and make the true freshman try to beat them on his own in his first trip to Ann Arbor for "The Game."

When Michigan has the ball

While the OSU offense has struggled to adjust to life in the post-Tressel/Pryor era, the defense has remained stout. Ranking 12th in America in FEI, they go up against Michigan's #14 rated offense. This is likely to be one of the toughest defensive lines the Wolverines have seen all year. John Simon is a dangerous end and mountain Jonathan Hankins (who would be a Wolverine had the previous staff offered him), is a sophomore who has over 60 tackles and 9 TFLs. He'll be someone Michigan will want to avoid. In the linebacking corp, Ohio State might be without star player Andrew Sweat. If he can't go, or if he's limited in what he can do, the Bucks may be staring at a freshman manning one of the linebacking spots. This hasn't worked out so well for them. If this happens, look for Al Borges to attempt to expose this spot with some misdirection to see if he can get a freshman moving the wrong direction. If Michigan can get Denard and Fitz Toussaint into the 2nd level and past an inexperienced linebacker, OSU's mediocre safeties are susceptible to missing tackles. Keys here are as usual. Take care of the ball, avoid putting Denard under center (stay in the damn gun!), and run the ball as much as possible.

Special Teams

The Buckeyes feature a strong special teams, rated #11 in FEI compared to Michigan's #71 ranked unit. Jordan Hall is the dangerous man returning the ball. He averages 28.6 yards a return on kickoffs. Compare that to Michigan's top kick returner. Tay Odoms averages just 22.3 per return. Field goal kicker Drew Basil has connected on 13 of 16 for the Bucks, including 4-7 from over 40. While Michigan has improved on FGs this year, Brendan Gibbons has a career long of only 42 yards. Special teams figures to be a big advantage for OSU.

Five Keys to winning The Game

1. Maintain gap integrity and edge contain vs. Braxton Miller running the ball

2. Al Borges fights the temptation to want to bomb it deep and run plays from under center. You will not win by running power at Jonathan Hankins.

3. Attacking Andrew Sweat's backup and the Ohio State safeties. David Molk against some linebackers to get Toussaint into the secondary plz!!

4. Avoid getting bombed in special teams. Michigan has been much better here of late, but Ohio State does still have an advantage. If Ohio State can win the field position battle, it can limit the Michigan offense and set its own offense up with short fields.

5. Get an early lead and force Braxton Miller to win in the air.

What's on the line for Michigan

By now, we've all seen the projections saying Michigan is playing for a BCS bowl bid, perhaps to the Sugar Bowl. So there's that, but there's so much more in a game like this. The pride of not letting your arch-rival come into your stadium and win (again). This would be their 4th straight win in the Big House and 8th overall in the series that Michigan leads. So not only is the BCS on the line, but so is our pride. If this streak doesn't end now, when Ohio State is down and Michigan is playing well, when will it ever end?

Five predictions sure to backfire because I'm not a football coach and don't know what I'm talking about

1. Denard throws at least 1 bad interception

2. Toussaint gets 27 carries for 126 yards

3. Jake Ryan makes a momentum changing play

4. Brendan Gibbons makes a 40+ yard FG for the 2nd week in a row

5. Luke Fickell coaches his only game in Ann Arbor

Finally, the score

Michigan, 21-17