Michigan’s Mike Keller says Saturday’s loss against Illinois showed the importance of maintaining momentum in college football.
I think on Saturday there was a multitude of small break downs that led to a big result. It was dropped passes and missed blocks and poor tackling. On their own they don’t mean much but when you put them all together then it leads to a lack of momentum.
When Michigan couldn’t get into the end zone on fourth and goal they missed a real opportunity for a gut-busting play. Then when Illinois turned around and broke off a long one it was like a boxer finding his mark with a right and left hook and you saw the wind coming out of the sails of the Michigan players.
Emotion and momentum and taking charge of a game is huge in football. And, let’s face it, Illinois played at home, got the fans behind them after the goal line stand and it all added up to a couple of crushing blows.
Anything that could go wrong, did go wrong and then it was just a matter of momentum that took over.
I think we have playmakers on defense but they’re undersized. They’re moving to the ball and doing many things right but at times they’re missing tackles and getting themselves out of position because the other guys are pushing them around.
From my defensive memory, you always keep the opposition in front and inside and somehow opponents are breaking containment, getting outside and making long runs. You don’t allow big plays. If anyone is going to beat you, they should have to go the long route. Then you can rely on your ability to make the other team make mistakes.
Granted, all Illinois has been able to do is run the ball. (Editor’s note: Illinois currently has the 20th best rushing attack in the country) They have a talented team with some talented athletes. And the time was coming when those guys could break out and unfortunately Michigan let them.
You never like to see your team lose. But I guess that the older you get and the longer you’re in the football business, you don’t take losses as hard and as personally and you don’t lose sleep over it.
As disappointing as it was and to be 2500 miles away and watching the game, at times it was hard to watch and I flipped to another game. But that’s about as emotional as I got.
But it’s disappointing. You hate to see it. From my standpoint it looks like we’re on the way to putting the game away and then that turnaround happened. You start thinking, if only this had happened or if only that had happened then you wouldn’t be in the situation that the team was in.
Unfortunately in football that’s the way the ball bounces. You really need to take control of that momentum and I don’t think Michigan did that.
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Mike Keller is a former DE/LB that played under Bo Schembechler at Michigan.
Got a question or comment? E-mail him here
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