Denard Robinson took a lot of grief in the aftermath of Michigan's crushing loss to Michigan State.
The sophomore quarterback, who had been so exalted nationally for his first five games, told his teammates the result would not happen again if he could help it.
But he can't help everything. There certainly were moments in which he could have been better, primarily on the interceptions he threw into coverage or underthrew. But he wasn't helped much by his receivers, who had been critical to U-M's earlier wins -- particularly at Indiana, when two receivers topped 100 yards.
"We didn't have many drops (before)," slot receiver Kelvin Grady said after the MSU loss, in which the receivers combined for 11 catches and no touchdowns. "I don't have the answer, but it could be us being overexcited. It could have been a lot of things."
The pressure of such a high-profile game might have played a role early, as sure-handed Roy Roundtree dropped a touchdown pass in the second quarter.
"I just lost focus," said Roundtree, who had six catches -- the only Wolverine with more than two. "I realized I didn't have the ball after I was in the end zone. It was a mistake. Lesson learned."
Michigan still scored on the drive when tight end Martell Webb caught a touchdown pass, but Roundtree's drop was a sign of things to come.
U-M's other TD drive, which came while trailing by three touchdowns, featured three drops in a row by Roundtree, Junior Hemingway and Darryl Stonum and necessitated a fourth-down catch by Grady to keep it alive for Robinson's eventual four-yard scoring run.
"Everybody was trying to make a play so hard, we just forgot to focus on the ball," Stonum said after the game.
While none of the drops directly ruined a scoring chance, it's not a stretch to think that they put more pressure on Robinson.
"We've got guys that can step up," Grady said. "We had some balls dropped, and maybe that could have been because we've always had Denard (running) and haven't had to throw as much."
It all goes back to coach Rich Rodriguez's point about Robinson and the young defense: that experience can only come with the players enduring situations. It just happened to catch up to the Wolverines against MSU.
Rodriguez had said before the game that the receivers would be key to breaking big plays if the running game were stifled. Yet they produced only one big play -- Martavious Odoms' 49-yard catch with only a few seconds remaining before halftime.
Now without Odoms for weeks because of a broken foot, Hemingway will take a starting spot, and true freshman Jeremy Jackson will back up Hemingway.
In the first five games, the Wolverines produced 14 receptions of at least 30 yards by wide receivers. Against Michigan State, they had only one. For Michigan's offense to win games by itself -- which seems necessary, given its defensive woes -- that big-play passing game will have to resurface.
Contact MARK SNYDER: 313-223-3210 or msnyder@freepress.com. Read more in his Wolverines blog at freep.com/wolverinesblog.
Join Free Press special writer Nick Meyer for a live blog of the Michigan-Iowa game Saturday afternoon at freep.com/sports.
