It's a game of inches....

The old saying..."It's a game of inches..." rang true

all over the Big House last night!

Look...I could give you the "relax it's all good" speech but the 

bottom line is...take the bad from this game and learn, take the 

good from this game and be happy!

There was plenty of both!..

First and foremost  "Congrats to Michigan" they 

are a good team...and should easily work their way 

with little to no error through their schedule..

If they stub their toe hopefully it's not against a bad team,

so we can maintain our SOS, allowing our loss viewed as 

a well fought game.

Let's move on to the bad....

We got all the pressure we needed last night...

We didn't contain the QB when he broke the pocket!

PERIOD!

You can't say anything but that..Take away his scrambles

and UM has less than 100 yards rushing for the game!

Once he broke the pocket...it was EMBARRASSING!

Great game-plan to take away our strength of the D line

that penetrated all night...but once Gardner saw them coming...

He broke out like waiter at a Mexican restaurant when INS arrives!

Our Middle Linebackers need work...Grace is gonna be good,

great lateral movement...tackles great...just needs reps!

Our secondary tackled like they were on the sand lot last night at 

times!...The first TD I felt like I needed Benny Hill music, it 

was such a straight botch up of tackling!

CLICK ME!

Special Teams showed up well....good overall, some good returns!

Offense....The quick ten point lead for some reason, it seemed 

like, rattled the play calling!

We had no issue tightening up and tying the game!

But here comes the..

For me the offense looked good...The running game, I 

think could have done so much more damage but 

playing from behind doesn't allow that luxury...

And regardless of how good the freshmen looked 

in practice, it took away our ability to try and get the ball

in their hands.

Even though I do feel we went to 

the air to quickly....

"The Breaking Point" as I see it?

The interception before the half....We had plenty of time,

we were moving the ball well, with no issues... Then, the break down!

Tommy had the pocket break...he rolled to his left, the corner

was in a mid protection playing between the WR and the 

sideline...Tommy threw..and BAM!... Picked and instead of 

moving down field for a TD or FG...we swing and give the ball

to Michigan in their territory...

What could have been 20-16 or 20-20 at half....

Turned into 27-13..

Meaning the stop of UM after the half and the score in 

EITHER scenario would have given ND the lead...

It's a game of inches!....

So...here we are, where do we go from here?

Let's talk about the reality of the situation!

We are 21 and 5 in our last 26 games!

We lost to a good team....and played very 

poorly in certain situations...

And regardless of ALL our errors...

The pick before the half...the poor tackling,

the atmosphere...etc...

In the 4th quarter we were STILL in a position to 

tie the game and turn momentum!

So...What happens when we iron out these issues?

What type of team can this be once we get more of the 

youth involved, and fix some of the VERY fixable problems?

Where can this team finish by season's end if we do?

Cause I'll tell you right now...ASU...Stanford...Oklahoma?

You better get back to the drawing board and realize that 

these teams aren't scared!...

These teams will be ready...and if we aren't?

It's not gonna be good!

So this weekend is gut check time!

This weekend vs Purdue should give us a chance to

throw a bit of caution to the wind and see what 

comes from it!

This season is a marathon...not a sprint!

There are going to be plenty of opportunities for this 

team to rise up and prove some points!

Other teams around us will beat each other up...and there are  

already a handful of really good teams with one loss in week 2!

So...

Let's let the coaches do their jobs...and see what happens 

when we visit Purdue!

GOD BLESS & GO IRISH!