Wake Me Up When September Ends

Listen, there was no way that this week wasn't going to be a disappointment.  After last Saturday, the remainder of your life should be a disappointment.  

The first three offensive possessions (interception, punt, punt) were the perfect examples of square pegs not fitting into round holes.  Even against the most inferior opponent, the Borges pro-set passing attack is not going to work with this personnel.  But the great news is that while I think we will continue to try to make Denard into a three-step-drop drone, the Hoke-Borges regime does not seem to be willing to lose to make a point, unlike RichRod circa 2008-9.  It was as if Calvin Magee put on the headset when the second quarter started, and Michigan basically scored on every possession but one from that point forward.  I don't have any confidence in the standard passing game catching up with what Denard can do by himself, but I don't think that it's going to be permanently abandoned anytime soon either.  So while the stubbornness of Hoke-Borges trying to shoehorn in the "pocket Denard" package is frustrating, at least they have the humility to bring in the Rodriguez package when they see the passing game's ineffectiveness.  The question is, at what point (if there is one) will they give up on "pocket Denard" altogether?  Will it be before a crappy first quarter or first half becomes insurmountable?  I hope so.

The defense followed the offense's pattern, crapping the bed for the first quarter before deciding to show up.  Eastern's inability to score during that period was based on their own inadequacies, up to and including an ill-advised double pass trick play that resulted in an interception...when they should have just ran it down our throats.  But I distinctly remember looking up at the scoreboard with 8+ minutes to play in the first and Eastern already had 100+ yards.  They would only amass 136 yards in the final three and a half quarters.  After drives of 55 and 72 yards (fumble, turnover on downs) to start the game, they never got more than 20 yards on any of their final 8 possessions.

In both cases, offense and defense, that's called adjusting.  In a desperate search to find something that makes this year different than last year or the year before, "adjusting" may be it.  But we won't know that until October.  For now, the fact that we are the #22/#21 ranked Wolverines means very little other than it's easier to find our scores on ESPN.

Tailgate pics mañana (see, I'm gearing up for Mexican theme already!)...