J.T. Floyd gets start, records 4 tackles for Michigan football team
On Thursday, Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez announced that freshman cornerback J.T. Floyd would make the first start of his career at Michigan State.
He replaced cornerback Boubacar Cissoko in the first quarter against Indiana, held his own and did the same a week later.
The 6-foot redshirt freshman from Greenville, S.C., finished with four tackles and one pass breakup.
“They were able to eat up chunks of yards, five here, four there, three there, first down,” Floyd said. “We kind of cleaned that up, manned up the second half and were able to control them a little bit more.
“But we still didn’t come out with a victory, so obviously it wasn’t enough. We have to go back to the table to get better.”
Michigan defensive coordinator Greg Robinson, though, wouldn’t rate Floyd’s play after the game.
“I’ll wait until I see the film,” Robinson said.
Bump in the road
Rodriguez is the first Michigan coach since Chalmers "Bump" Elliott to lose back-to-back games to Michigan State. The Spartans, who captured the Paul Bunyan Trophy with last year's 35-21 win in Ann Arbor, secured their second consecutive win over the Wolverines for the first time since 1967.
After Saturday's overtime loss, Rodriguez didn't seem fazed by losing back-to-back games to the Spartans.
"Last year's last year," Rodriguez said. "What are you going to do about that? There's no do-overs from last year. We're disappointed because we lost this year. … I'm not a revisionist. I'm not going to look back in history. This one hurts, it's gonna hurt and it better hurt everybody in our program for 24 hours."
Clock chatter
Michigan had the ball for 7 minutes, 22 seconds of the first half, keeping its defense on the field for much of the first quarter. Michigan State ate up 10:02 on its first scoring drive after Michigan was forced to settle for a field goal after Stevie Brown picked off an early pass.
"I've always said we have to make the other team play some defense," Rodriguez said. "They did, but they didn't have to play it for any extended period of time because we weren't getting first downs and we weren't stopping them."
Injury update
Safety Mike Williams' return from the ankle injury that kept him out of last week's game against Indiana was brief.
Williams started and played the first few series, but spent most of the final three quarters on Michigan's sideline with his helmet off. Walk-on Jordan Kovacs played in Williams' place and made a career-high and team-leading 17 tackles. Kovacs forced one fumble and had 2 1/2 tackles for loss, including a big third-down stop on Larry Caper to set up Michigan's game-tying touchdown drive.
Quarterback Tate Forcier showed little effect from the sore right shoulder that limited him in practice last week. He finished 17-of-32 passing for 223 yards and two touchdowns.
"Didn’t affect me too much," Forcier said.
Extra points
The Michigan-Michigan State series has had three games going into overtime in the previous six years with Saturday's 26-20 win representing the first overtime win for the Spartans. … Michigan State out-gained the Wolverines 197-28 on the ground, marking the 38th time in 42 games in the series that the team with the most yards on the ground went on top win. … Michigan State's win over the 23rd-ranked Wolverines represents the Spartans' first win over a ranked opponent since beating Notre Dame in 2005. The Spartans had lost 11 straight games to team ranked in the AP Top 25.
- Jeff Arnold contributed to this article.
Comments
Txmaizenblue
Sun, Oct 4, 2009 : 5:14 p.m.
Molk is a bigger factor than most people are recognizing. This make-shift offensive line - since he went down - has the offense out-of-sorts. And they are clearly unable to withstand a defensive front that can bring it. This does not bode well for some of the Big Ten power teams coming up on the schedule. I'm still impressed with Robinson's ability to make adjustments at halftime. Every 2nd half this year has been better defensively, than the 1st. Unfortunately, the 1st halves have not been too impressive. Wolfolk had a clear shot at taking down Caper and blew it. Poor tackling fundamentals are becoming epedemic, not just at Michigan, but country wide. I'm tired of seeing guys go after the ball, grab at running backs/wide receiver, or try to either arm tackle them or pull them down by the jersey....its pathetic. Does anyone teach how to make a textbook tackle anymore? I didn't really think Michigan would win this game, so I'm not too upset, but I am very concerned [for the above reasons] going into Iowa. I hope this game puts a bit of a chip back on the shoulders of the team. I feel like they've slowly lost that sense of having to prove something, especially at 4-0. Hopefully, we will see some raised intensity & swagger in the Iowa game. If they can pull off the Iowa upset it will make the Penn State game huge! I really hope Molk is back for that game.
LakeErieMaize/Blue
Sun, Oct 4, 2009 : 4:56 p.m.
The lack of depth is very disappointing!! And if the D is going to live on the field like they are doing,then we better have some bodies to sub. for the tired players!!But hopefully we will recruit some BETTER(4&5 star recruits) to fill in for the defense next season b/c this season we are gonna have to play with what we have!!!Good luck next week.GO BLUE!!!
michboy40
Sun, Oct 4, 2009 : 1:02 p.m.
The further we get into the season, the more problems we are going to have. Our lack of depth will continue to give fits. So, I think we are improving, but I don't think it is all that visable on the field. Tate Forcier's will to win is very impressive though, and he will have us to at least 7-5, maybe 8-4. And that's OK with me. To expect anything better would be unrealistic and homerish.
heartbreakM
Sun, Oct 4, 2009 : 10:22 a.m.
The thing that struck me when watching the game is how unprepared Michigan looked for the entire game. It was only in last 5 minutes that they played with urgency, spirit, and I think a lot of it had to do with desparation and the good ol' prevent defense. Where was the offense in the first half? I mean, Michigan runs that same play every time--QB next to RB, either fakes a hand off or hands it off, and the player either gets smothered in the backfield or around end. Why not use an I formation periodically? Why not a 2 tight end set? Why not a fullback? No screens? No quick hitches? And by the way, we find out more about M's start--Western is getting killed by everybody, so is Eastern, and Indiana gets killed by OSU. That 4-0 start was much better than last year, but we won't know a whole lot about M until the end of the year when all the cards fall into place. One thing, though--for all the unpreparedness for the team that was apparent through the first 55 minutes, the coaching staff should get credit for rallying its team in the last 5 minutes. The OT, though, was horrible. What running plays did they choose? And the tackling was just atrocious.
BlueinIN
Sun, Oct 4, 2009 : 9:44 a.m.
It looked an awful lot like M from last year. Defense is especially bad - not getting better but worse. The only difference is the QB. Physical teams coming up will pound them - Iowa, Penn State, Wiscosin, Ohio State. And they will probably make Illinois look like a Big Ten power. The best case looks like 6-6. Here's a concept - how about having DB's show some press coverage. The big cushions they give up allow opposing teams to just walk down the field. I guess in the big picture it doesn't matter - the Big Ten is a laughing stock nationally, and M is a 6-6 team in that conference. Rich Rod has us on our way to the promised land - 6-6 in the worst conference in America!
81wolverine
Sun, Oct 4, 2009 : 9:41 a.m.
The defense actually improved in this game despite being on the field for almost 40 minutes. I am REALLY impressed with Jordan Kovacs. Despite not having the greatest speed, he plays with tremendous intensity and excellent fundamentals. 17 tackles with 2 1/2 for a loss is amazing for a former walkon. It kind of says something about the play of the recruited athletes, doesn't it? The biggest disappointment was the poor, uninspired play of the offensive line. They were awful. It's hard to get running yards when there are no holes.
tulsatom
Sun, Oct 4, 2009 : 8:48 a.m.
I thought the defense played pretty well overall under the circumstances. It's hard to win ballgames when your defense is on the field two-thirds of the time because eventually you're going to get tired, Barwis or no Barwis. What I didn't understand was why Tate Forcier acted so tired. The U-M offense was only on the field one-third of the time, but the offense showed some moxie and fire late in the game by scoring two quick touchdowns to tie the game and put it into overtime.
LakeErieMaize/Blue
Sat, Oct 3, 2009 : 11:20 p.m.
Hopefully we can show up(defense and running backs)next week against Iowa. We are suppose to be improving from week to week but it just doesn't seem to be happening!! Defensively,can we coach these guys up? Can we get them to tackle better? To cover better/anticipate passes? Get them to get MEAN!! I hope so!! We gotta do something other than what we are doing week to week!! All In For Mich. GO BLUE!!
LakeErieMaize/Blue
Sat, Oct 3, 2009 : 11:19 p.m.
Hopefully we can show up(defense and running backs)next week against Iowa. We are suppose to be improving from week to week but it just doesn't seem to be happening!! Defensively,can we coach these guys up? Can we get them to tackle better? To cover better/anticipate passes? Get them to get MEAN!! I hope so!! We gotta do something other than what we are doing week to week!! All In For Mich. GO BLUE!!