denard robinson killed tacopants

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WITH SPECIAL GUEST DENARD ROBINSON. FOR THE WHOLE THING! Big thanks to Bryan Fuller for setting that up. Please listen to Part 1 first if you haven't already.

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Previously: 1879, 1901, 1918, 1925, 1932, 1940, 1947, 1950, 1964, 1973, 1976, 1980, 1985 p.1& p.2, 1988, 1991, 1999, 2011 p.1

Special Guests: Craig Roh, author of The Pass Rush Bible and Denard Robinson

[Writeup and player after THE JUMP]

press correspondent heiko had a pretty, pretty good view at the end [Heiko Yang]

Previously: Krushed By Stauskas (Illinois 2014), Introducing #ChaosTeam (Indiana 2009), Revenge is Terrifying (Colorado 1996), Four Games In September I (Boston College 1991), Four Games In September II (Boston College 1994), Four Games In September III (Boston College 1995), Four Games In September IV (Boston College 1996), Pac Ten After Dark Parts One and Two (UCLA 1989), Harbaugh's Grand Return Parts One and Two (Notre Dame 1985), Deceptive Speed Parts One and Two (Purdue 1999)

Week One: 1993 Washington Part OnePart Two2002 Washington Twitch stream

This Game: Condensed gameWH highlightsbox scoreMGoPreviewDenard After DentistOffense UFRDefense UFRa Notre Dame fan's live blog

Part One: Click here

REMINDER: WE WILL BE STREAMING THIS GAME WITH COMMENTARY AT NOON EASTERN TOMORROW ON TWITCH, THERE WILL BE A POST ON THE FRONT PAGE

Michigan is down 17-7 at halftime and without a couple Tommy Rees interceptions it could be much worse. David Pollock says the Wolverines have "gotta go sandlot" in the second half, which every M partisan agrees with wholeheartedly. ESPN airs highlights set to "Something to Believe In" by Parachute, a band not memorable enough to place this game in its time from the segment alone.

To make matters worse, Notre Dame receives the second-half kickoff and immediately reestablish two themes from the first half. Michael Floyd gets a quick first down, prompting Kirk Herbstreit to state "he’s a tough matchup for any secondary but especially this Michigan secondary," which isn't particularly subtle. Then Cierre Wood bursts for another chunk gain as Mike Martin and Ryan Van Bergen are clubbed out of the hole. Brent Musburger notes ND is now leading in total yardage 298 to 90.

Following back-to-back short completions to Floyd, though, Van Bergen breaks through for a third-down TFL. Brian Kelly chooses to punt on fourth-and-three from Michigan's 43, a conservative call that nearly backfires in two ways: punter Ben Turk salvages a bouncing snap and bobbles it just long enough that he technically isn't down while he picks it up. Instead of Michigan getting the ball near midfield, Jeremy Gallon fair catches the ball at the ten.

Denard Robinson immediately picks up 39 yards on a zone read keeper—of sorts, since Al Borges has his offensive line block both defense ends, so the read is more a hope that Manti Te'o will choose the wrong gap, and he obliges.

"So the Irish better get ready," says Musburger. "Here comes number 16."

[After THE JUMP: Here comes number 16.]

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There was once a dream that was called Denard Robinson: Accurate Passer. You could only whisper it; anything more than a whisper and it would vanish…it was so fragile. And I fear that it will not survive the fall.

Last Saturday while watching Andrew Maxwell derf another derpity doo, I half-rhetorically asked the assembled a room full of Spartan fans who's the best passing quarterback in our conference this year. Answers, in order of appearance:

  1. "CHHIIIRP CHIRRRP" –insects with that leg-rubbing noise
  2. "Howl" –wolf in the distance
  3. "How about that little dude on Northwestern?" – a Sparty
  4. "No he graduated." –another Sparty
  5. "Shit. Really?" –first Sparty

After three weeks the stats (min=25 attempts) say it's Denard and ol' Tyranno-arm:

Rk Player Team Att Cmp Yds Yds/Att Ys/Gm TDs INTs Rating
1 Denard Robinson Mich 75 41 699 9.3 233.0 6 4 146.3
2 Taylor Martinez Neb 79 56 713 9.0 237.7 7 1 170.7
3 MarQueis Gray Minn 44 26 398 9.0 132.7 5   169.2
4 Reilly O'Toole Illini 48 38 394 8.2 131.3 6 2 177.3
5 Braxton Miller OSU 78 48 611 7.8 203.7 7 2 149.1
6 Robert Marve Pur 56 41 414 7.4 207.0 4   156.7
7 Tre Roberson Ind 50 33 368 7.4 184.0 2   139.8
8 Cameron Coffman Ind 57 40 410 7.2 205.0 3   146.4
9 Matt McGloin PSU 104 59 688 6.6 229.3 8 1 133.5
10 Danny O'Brien Wis 71 44 454 6.4 151.3 3 1 125.5
11 Trevor Siemian NW 47 32 292 6.2 97.3 1 0 126.7
12 Andrew Maxwell MSU 114 65 710 6.2 236.7 2 3 109.3
13 James Vandenberg Iowa 103 59 593 5.8 197.7 0 2 101.8
14 Kain Colter NW 56 37 321 5.7 107.0 2 0 124.9
15 Caleb TerBush Pur 43 24 237 5.5 118.5 3   123.0

His interceptions are dragging down the passer rating, but half are explained by an accurate throw Vincent Smith deflected, and Roundtree getting shoved into last Tuesday by a Bama cornerback. It's just three games in, and the Big Ten competition this year isn't exactly the NFC South, but raise your hand if four weeks ago you thought there might be even a flimsy statistical case for saying "Denard is the best passer in the Big Ten right now."

In last week's Mailbag article Brian remarked upon a Mike Rothstein study that claims Denard has been way more accurate under center than from the shotgun. The Power Rank made a chart:

Denard_Robinson_completion_percentage1_thumb

We've been over his higher efficiency as a runner from the gun ad nauseum, and charted his regression last year as of December, but is he really a better passer when dropping back? Brian's suggested explanations were Pressure, Situation, or Luck (ie sample size). Let's dig into the UFR database and see if there's an answer.

[ROLL'D OUT AFTER THE JUMP]