Sorry if some of these have been pointed out before...
1. Relf was even better than I remembered. He did a great job of buying time when needed and was extremely smart with the ball. He only had five incompletions. One was the INT at the end of the half. Three were throw-aways under pressure. His only poorly thrown ball was on a flare route to a back coming out of the backfield. That's pretty incredible. I know Michigan's D isn't that great but for Relf to only have one bad throw in a game just shows how much he has progressed. He also did a good job of spreading the ball around to several different receivers. I hope he can keep it going next season.
2. I thought Diaz did a great job calling the defense, especially in the second and third quarters. There were times when it looked like we knew exactly what they were going to run.
3. On a similar note... I made this comment after the game but it bears repeating: Our linebackers did a great job playing sideline to sideline. Michigan really didn't beat us outside at all.
4. We only had three penalties in the game. Our first penalty came midway through the third quarter and it was, I believe, an offsides call on a LB who was blitzing and just missed the snap. Even the facemask call on Wright was simply the result of him being aggressive and his arm being a little too high on a tackle, not stupidity. The sheer number of stupid penalties that some of Jackie's teams used to have (even the good teams) drove me crazy, so only having three was very refreshing.
5. More defense: Michigan entered the game averaging 251.5 rushing yards per game, good for tops in the Big 10 and 11th nationally. Robinson entered the game averaging 136.9 yards per game rushing, which was 4th best in the nation. We held them to 88 yards rushing as a team and Robinson to just 59 yards rushing. Let that sink in. I hope Diaz is getting a raise, too.
6. I know this has been mentioned, but how about that block by Heavens on Perkins' catch/run? I could watch that play over and over.
1. Relf was even better than I remembered. He did a great job of buying time when needed and was extremely smart with the ball. He only had five incompletions. One was the INT at the end of the half. Three were throw-aways under pressure. His only poorly thrown ball was on a flare route to a back coming out of the backfield. That's pretty incredible. I know Michigan's D isn't that great but for Relf to only have one bad throw in a game just shows how much he has progressed. He also did a good job of spreading the ball around to several different receivers. I hope he can keep it going next season.
2. I thought Diaz did a great job calling the defense, especially in the second and third quarters. There were times when it looked like we knew exactly what they were going to run.
3. On a similar note... I made this comment after the game but it bears repeating: Our linebackers did a great job playing sideline to sideline. Michigan really didn't beat us outside at all.
4. We only had three penalties in the game. Our first penalty came midway through the third quarter and it was, I believe, an offsides call on a LB who was blitzing and just missed the snap. Even the facemask call on Wright was simply the result of him being aggressive and his arm being a little too high on a tackle, not stupidity. The sheer number of stupid penalties that some of Jackie's teams used to have (even the good teams) drove me crazy, so only having three was very refreshing.
5. More defense: Michigan entered the game averaging 251.5 rushing yards per game, good for tops in the Big 10 and 11th nationally. Robinson entered the game averaging 136.9 yards per game rushing, which was 4th best in the nation. We held them to 88 yards rushing as a team and Robinson to just 59 yards rushing. Let that sink in. I hope Diaz is getting a raise, too.
6. I know this has been mentioned, but how about that block by Heavens on Perkins' catch/run? I could watch that play over and over.