Dreaded Judgement's One Month Birthday

(Note: there won't be anything new up here for a few days.  I will be traveling back to Michigan by car tomorrow for a wedding on Saturday   seriously, what is the deal with fall weddings?  I will try to have my post game piece up late Sunday or early Monday, then jump back into regular posting (hopefully bringing back Midwest Madness and Coast to Coast now that we have more competitive games).  Enjoy your weekend everybody.)

((Let's celebrate!

At the end of August I decided that I would start a blog to find a positive output for all the time I spent reading and thinking about Michigan football.  Drawing inspiration from the header at mgoblog "hope is a many dreaded thing" and the movie Judge Dread for my title, I started writing, hoping that I could find an interesting and unique take on the team, players, and games.  Now, one month later, this site has just climbed over 10,000 page views on 35 total posts.  The feedback from friends, family, and commenters has been incredibly supportive.  I am thrilled and humbled to have this much success this early.

I owe this success in large part to the wide community of Michigan fans online.  First and foremost, Brian at mgoblog, who has provided me with a much larger audience than I could have ever gained on my own.  Dave at Maize and Brew has also liked my work enough to spread the word, as well as the guys at The Wolverine Blog and  MVictors for providing a link to my site.  I can't forget the guys at the WLA for getting me through a rough 2007 offseason and introducing me to the wide community of Michigan fans online with links to Varsity Blue and mgoblog.

Most of all, I want to thank everyone who has taken time to read something over here at Dreaded Judgement.  I hope you have all enjoyed reading this stuff as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

Thank you, everyone.

And most importantly:  Go Blue!

The Match Up Rundown: Indiana

Runaway success was not something Indiana
saw a lot of last year.

While I was doing a bit of research for this weekend's game, two things became abundantly clear:

1. Indiana will have success passing the ball against Michigan's inexperienced secondary.
2. The most intriguing match up will be between the two rush offenses.

We have all seen this secondary bleed yardage against Notre Dame and UMass.  It is safe to say that the same would have happened against UConn if the quarterback and receivers would have executed at all, and against Bowling Green had the starting quarterback not been injured.  The fact of the matter is that this Michigan defense can only hope to slow down Ben Chappell and his talented group of receivers.  However, the game won't be won in the air.  It will be won in classic Big Ten fashion.  On the ground.

Can Indiana find a way to slow down the dynamic Michigan rushing offense, and can Indiana find a way to establish a run game against the Michigan defense.  The answer to these two questions will most likely decide who walks off the field victorious on Saturday.

Grades from the First Third: Offense Part II

(Find Part I of the offensive grade here.  Find the defensive grades here.  On with the show.)

The star of the show.

Grades from the First Third: Offense Part I

Let's look back on the offense so far, shall we gentlemen?

Yesterday I tackled the defensive side of the ball and came away impressed, but still not entirely comfortable moving forward.  Now we shift things to the other side of the ball and examine the offense.  Same rules apply.  I will be grading each unit based on my best and worst case ideas from this off season's preview   links to the original articles will be provided.  Lets not waste any more time.

The Offense.  (One more reminder for those of you who missed yesterday's piece, my analysis relies on the UFR's done over at mgoblog.  If you aren't familiar with these, I would suggest spending the rest of your afternoon at mgoblog.  You can thank me afterward.)

Grades from the First Third: Defense

Before the season began, when this blog was still in its infancy, I decided the best way to jump in to my Michigan football blogging career short of doing a full season preview would be to look at the best and worst case scenarios for each position group.  I called this series "Half full/Half empty" and I used it to lay out what I thought this season might have in store.

Don't get too comfortable with this defense yet,
lest something like this happen again.

Now that we have made it through the first third of the season, it is time to offer some initial reactions.  Since I have already used the gimmick of "Half full/Half empty" I am just going to stay with it   dance with the one that brought you and all.  I will provide links to the original posts in case you feel like reading them for a little background.

Naturally, disclaimers abound.  This is only my estimation of how each position group has done compared to my preseason hopes and fears.  While we have some answers, a lot more will become clear the further this team gets into the Big Ten season.  (Offense Part I, and Part II found here).

Let's start with the defense.

(One note for those unfamiliar with UFRs, I will rely heavily on this performance based recap of the game done at mgoblog.  Any discussion of player performance is incomplete without taking into account Brian's UFR data.)

My Favorite Things: Bowling Green

Some weeks this postgame recap almost writes itself.  In fact, the Wolverines pitched such a perfect game on Saturday that I am having a hard time limiting myself to just three favorite things.

Mike Hart/Chris Perry but fast, is that what you said Fred?  I'm not buying it.

The offense was on another plain of existence Saturday, only failing to score on two drives.  One of those drives ended with an unfortunate fumble by Stephen Hopkins.  The other drive was a turnover on downs that was preceded by not one but two beautiful touchdown passes   the "I can't believe I'm this open" drop by Junior Hemingway, and the great catch and run by Kelvin Grady on the seam route that was called back after a personal foul.  The defense also had a largely productive day, only allowing two sustained touchdown drives and a total of 283 yards while stifling the Falcon's rushing offense to a measly 1.2 ypc.  The 251 yards passing is a bit of a red flag, but take away the long tunnel screen touchdown (77 yards) that was aided by a hold on James Rogers, and the numbers are even more impressive, especially for a team that makes its living passing the ball.

This was the kind of game that most felt should have happened the previous week against UMass, and while that game still leaves a bad taste in everyone's mouth, it is great to see the Wolverines play vintage dominating football.  This Bowling Green team might not be great, but they are not the level of the baby seal that was clubbed last year for nearly the same ridiculous stats.  If there is anything to be concerned about from Saturday, it is that Denard Robinson doesn't need to take bone crushing hits to risk injury, but we all knew that already, even if we didn't want to admit it.  So lets jump right in to my favorite things.

Fanaticism and Football

I was bouncing back and forth on mgoblog yesterday for about the thousandth time in the past week when I came across Zone Left's belated response to Brian's conclusion of his 2010 team preview.  The final piece of the preview dealt with an email that had been floating around his inbox for months from a wayward philosophy student at Trinity College who was trying to come to terms with his love of Notre Dame football in relation to "urrybody else."  Both Zone Left and Brian go over the great pains that their fandom has put them through, and ultimately come to admittedly insufficient conclusions about why this team means as much to them as it does.

Probably the first player I ever really remember.

I feel compelled then to take a stab at this question as well, if only to in some way justify to myself the inordinate amount of time I spend thinking or reading about Michigan football to the detriment of almost everything else in my life.  It is either that or I shrug it off, mutter "fuck it", and go back to worrying that Bowling Green's backup quarterback will be an effective replacement on Saturday, Ezeh will play passive at MLB, and Mouton will continue his regression to 2009 levels of linebacker play.  I would like to think asking myself why I would spend all day worrying about this is more productive than simply worrying about it.

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