GBMWolverine: Match-ups comparison — Mississippi State vs. Michigan
Posted at 8:00am — 12/30/2010
GBMWolverine: Match-ups comparison — Mississippi State vs. Michigan
GBMWolverine Readers:
Here are some match-up comparisons for the big game of New Year’s Day at the Gator Bowl. Some of us consider the match-ups to be difficult for Michigan.
The Quarterbacks:
The quarterback’s are key to both team’s offensive success. Even so, the opposing signal callers offer a stark contrast. UM’s Denard Robinson at 6′, 180 pounds is an elite level talent and the Big Ten Player of the Year. He rushed for 1733 yards and passed for 2300 yards. Denard’s skills led to a combined 30 touchdowns and he is as fast as anybody playing college football today.
Chris Relf of Mississippi State is physically a near opposite of Robinson. Standing at 6’4” and weighing 240 pounds, he is a load to bring down. Relf is a good athlete but not on the same level as Denard Robinson. Relf rushed for 831 yards and passed for another 1500 yards. He combined for 14 touchdowns.
Advantage: UM
Running Backs:
UM’s three-headed monster of Vincent Smith, Michael Shaw, and Stevie Hopkins combined for 1200 yards rushing, caught 23 passes and 18 scored touchdowns.
MSU running backs Ballard and Perkins combined for almost 1600 yards and 19 touchdowns. They also caught 15 passes.
In our opinion Ballard is the best of the backs mentioned.
Advantage: MSU
Receivers:
UM’s Roundtree and Stonum combined for 105 catches. Those two, and Hemingway, also caught 14 touchdown passes.
MSU’s receiver corps is a three-headed monster of A Clark, B Heavens, and C Smith, who combined for 62 catches and 5 touchdowns. MSU will miss leading receiver Chad Bumphis, a true talent.
Advantage: UM
Offensive Line:
UM is lead by All Big Ten center Dave Molk. The entire group has played solid all season. UM’s offensive line has had some obvious problems with bigger, physical defensive lines.
MSU’s offensive line is led by All SEC, left tackle, Derrock Sherrod. Each group member is 300 pounds or bigger. They are a physical group capable of moving the LOS backwards.
Advantage: MSU
Overall:
UM’s Robinson, in our opinion, is the best player on the field. He is a difference maker type of talent His ability gives UM the advantage on the offensive side of the ball.
Advantage: UM
Defense:
Defensive line:
UM is lead by 2nd team, All Big Ten, nose tackle Mike Martin. When healthy he is a handful for any offensive line. UM’s defensive line combined for 12 sacks and 23 tackles for loss.
MSU is lead by All SEC, defensive end, Parnell McPhee. He will challenge UM’s offensive tackles all afternoon. The MSU defensive line combined for 28 tackles for loss and seven sacks. The sack total is misleading since Manny Dias’ defensive calls for the defensive line are designed to stop the run and allow blitzing LB’ers to harass quarterbacks. This philosophy is very similar to Jerry Glanville’s Gritz Blitz scheme.
Advantage: MSU
Linebackers:
UM is led by Jonas Mouton’s 111 tackles, 8.5 for losses, and 2 sacks. The linebacker play picked up when Demens stepped in at MLB’er. Demens and Ezeh combined for 125 tackles.
MSU is lead by 2nd team All SEC linebacker Chris White. He had 105 tackles, 15.5 TFL, and 6 sacks. KJ Wright chipped in 9 tackles and 7 tackles for losses.
Advantage: MSU
Secondary:
UM’s secondary is led by team tackling leader Jordan Kovacs. He is solid in run support as a box safety, but can get blown out of the play by big linemen. The rest of the secondary is very young and prone to youthful miscues.
MSU is led by pre-season All SEC safety C Mitchell. He had 14 tackles and is also solid in run support. The MSU secondary is sufficiently tested having played against some of the best teams and quarterbacks in the nation.
This match-up favors experience in the secondary.
Advantage: MSU
Special teams:
UM’s field goal kicking has been an adventure all season. Broekhuizen is 3-9 in field goals and Gibbons is 1-4. Hagerup has been a solid punter, averaging over 43 yards. He is prone to a few gaffes, but also has hit some bombs! The return game has been an adventure all season long with some good efforts, but some costly SNAFU’s.
MSU- D DePasquale is 9-11 in field goals and perfect on extra points. Punter H Hutchins averages 41 per attempt and the return game is solid. The punt return game will miss Bumphis’s ability.
Advantage: MSU
There are several GBMWolverine areas of major concern in this game regarding Michigan’s chances against MSU. Our biggest concern for UM is the size of the MSU lines. Football games are still won at the LOS with physical play.
The UM O Line versus the MSU D Line- MSU’s defensive line is on par with the best UM has played against this season. They are big and physical, the very type that has given UM problems all season. This offensive line of Mississippi State may not be on par with Wisconsin but are strong, perhaps more like Michigan State.
Advantage: with these two match-ups- MSU
Written by GBMWolverine Staff
Go Blue — Wear Maize!