October 24th, 2020 at 11:11 PM ^
That was fun. And plenty of room to grow.
October 24th, 2020 at 11:11 PM ^
Joe Milton is a good football player
October 24th, 2020 at 11:18 PM ^
Water is wet.
October 24th, 2020 at 11:11 PM ^
Milton definitely has accuracy issues. But looked competent. About all we could have asked for.
If this was a regular year, there would be a huge outcry around here for burning redshirts. How many true freshmen played tonight?
October 24th, 2020 at 11:14 PM ^
This season doesn't count for eligibility.
October 24th, 2020 at 11:15 PM ^
Like I said "if this was a regular year"...
October 24th, 2020 at 11:22 PM ^
See that now. I've been drinking.
October 25th, 2020 at 12:31 AM ^
Even in a 'regular year' now they can play in 4 games without burning a redshirt
October 25th, 2020 at 1:46 AM ^
Solid point.
October 24th, 2020 at 11:16 PM ^
His accuracy was really good. There were quite a few drops. What were you watching?
October 24th, 2020 at 11:27 PM ^
He was pretty good. There weren’t a lot of major biffs where he just flat missed open guys. There were a few passes that were catchable but not optimally places; sometimes the receivers made the catches, sometimes they didn’t.
It wasn’t an accuracy disaster by any stretch, and he did not make any total boneheaded reads.
October 25th, 2020 at 8:42 AM ^
This was the most pleasing part of his performance to me. There were completions that weren't DO+ caliber. But his decision making was excellent. And having the QB run when he should run was so nice to see. And you can see the potential with that arm combined with good decision making......don't get too excited, Bill.
October 25th, 2020 at 12:00 AM ^
His deep ball was 10 yards too far but if you’re going to miss that throw, it better be long.
October 25th, 2020 at 1:29 AM ^
Depends on the receiver. If you have a jump ball guy like Hemingway or Nico, definitely want to make sure they can come back to it if it's off. Probably unlikely our small guys will be able to get in position to come back to the ball
October 24th, 2020 at 11:14 PM ^
Even in a normal year wouldn’t the 4 game rule apply?
October 24th, 2020 at 11:14 PM ^
I didn’t see the accuracy issues.
October 24th, 2020 at 11:16 PM ^
We must not have watched the same game. I think he was below 50% on throws that went beyond 10 yards. In the first half, I am not sure if he hit a single guy in stride.
October 24th, 2020 at 11:20 PM ^
Yeah, you most definitely watched a different game than everyone else. He had absolutely no accuracy issues in tonight’s game.
October 24th, 2020 at 11:23 PM ^
So the last few throws that was not even close to the receivers are not accuracy issues? OK...
October 25th, 2020 at 1:16 AM ^
I get what you're saying, but lets look at this statistically.
he was 15-22 in passing,
7 - incomplete
2 of those passes were good passes that were dropped by the receivers,
5 - incomplete.
So out of 22 passes, 5 of them were incomplete (2 were 10 feet incomplete, but at least 10 feet over the head)
I think you're grasping for negativity here, but if thats how you want to live your life - go hard.
October 25th, 2020 at 1:28 AM ^
Are you sure you're not thinking of Cade's passes here? Cade missed Jackson somewhat badly in the end zone. But Milton's last drive was the drive where he made two passes to Ronnie Bell, both quite accurate, and then had one incompletion, also attempted to Bell, before the missed FG. He didn't play again. The drive before that was the 96-yarder, and he only attempted one pass (a completion to Roman Wilson) on that drive.
October 25th, 2020 at 8:47 AM ^
Cade also ate a max blitz on that throw. So. Have cut him some slack.
October 24th, 2020 at 11:31 PM ^
Not true. He had misses. He had a couple drops in there too, but some of his passes were definitely off the mark.....but the potential is insane!
October 25th, 2020 at 9:16 AM ^
I definitely agree that a sweeping "he had accuracy issues" is wrong and probably confirmation bias related, since we know he did have accuracy issues in HS. Having said that there were two passes that were way off the mark and might have made some watchers say uh oh. But if you were watching him for the first time and had no idea about his HS stat line you'd say "good game for a first start, he looked good."
October 24th, 2020 at 11:22 PM ^
I saw some accuracy issues too. He threw behind guys a couple of times and seemed to be off a touch. Still looked good to me though. He wasn’t asked to do much, but he did enough.
October 24th, 2020 at 11:48 PM ^
Not every ball is gonna hit guys right in the chest man, he was a lot more accurate than I was expecting.
Much more accurate than Shea usually was
October 24th, 2020 at 11:52 PM ^
I don’t disagree and you don’t want every ball to hit the guy in the numbers haha
I was just paying a lot of attention to it tonight because it was discussed a lot this off-season. I am excited about his potential, he just needs a little more game experience to polish himself up a bit.
October 25th, 2020 at 2:16 AM ^
The thing that I like is he delivers the ball on a frozen rope. If you're gonna miss or throw an INT, I would rather that ball be delivered with confidence and strength than a parabolic banana ball.
Now, I will say that his short touch needs to be developed. Some of the short throws looked a bit awkward. Sort of arm lunges rather than the precision thing that is expected from a top caliber FBS QB. Milton needs to work on that. Otherwise I think he carried himself with poise and a swagger that has been sorely missing since a really long time ago.
October 25th, 2020 at 12:34 PM ^
This is the key. After 1 game, 2020 Milton is an upgrade over 2019 Patterson.
October 24th, 2020 at 11:34 PM ^
"Definitely has accuracy issues" is...nope. Saw 2 +10 yard passes to Wilson that were on the mark, 1 +10 yard pass to All that was dropped, 1 +10 yard pass to Bell where he could have led him but it was on the numbers (literally).
3rd and 9 to Bell with 3:42 to the end zone on the sideline was whatever; much rather he miss out of bounds as opposed to putting in play. Don't recall seeing any issues with short passes but those apparently don't count.
There were 7 incompletions, so it will be pretty easy to see what's up when Brian shows us the...
October 25th, 2020 at 1:42 AM ^
Plus the accuracy of his short throws enabled receivers to catch in stride and get yards.
October 25th, 2020 at 11:45 AM ^
The out route to Sainristil was a laser and good on 19 to make that catch with his hands. Actually saw several encouraging signs with some of the new receivers making catches look easy, especially Roman Wilson. It's great to have speed out there, but more important to have hands.
October 25th, 2020 at 12:00 AM ^
He doesn’t have accuracy issues, Idk how you came to that conclusion cause he barley threw 20 times.
October 24th, 2020 at 11:11 PM ^
Think we got us a QB! Damn, Joe Milton ran the field like a general!
Offensive line was very impressive as well. They opened holes and gave great pass protection!
Great win - Go Blue!!!
October 25th, 2020 at 11:13 AM ^
Game 1 Joe looks better than game 26 Shea. By a good margin.
October 24th, 2020 at 11:11 PM ^
JOE MF MILTON! That is all.
October 24th, 2020 at 11:12 PM ^
Haven’t seen a UM offensive line open holes like that since literally maybe Hoke's first year
Milton is who Gardner could have been with better coaching, guy has obviously put in work
Solid B+
October 24th, 2020 at 11:15 PM ^
Warinner is good at coaching the offensive line. Let's keep him.
Also, our guards are fucking enormous.
October 24th, 2020 at 11:21 PM ^
Milton's got the strongest arm I've ever seen on a Michigan QB and honestly probably one of the strongest I've ever seen in college. Dude just zings passes in there likes its nothing. He's got an NFL arm without question
October 24th, 2020 at 11:44 PM ^
You're probably forgetting freshman Ryan Mallett
October 25th, 2020 at 12:00 AM ^
Not really. I also think Milton has a stronger arm. That flick on the run to Jackson was nearly effortless and went about 45 yards.
October 25th, 2020 at 1:24 AM ^
Demetrius Brown had a cannon too.
October 24th, 2020 at 11:23 PM ^
Milton worked with Gardner in the off-season.
October 24th, 2020 at 11:38 PM ^
I’m high on Milton, but by God, if Devin Gardner had the same exact opportunity with the same level of coaching...wow...he would have been a legend. That guy had unreal potential.
October 24th, 2020 at 11:56 PM ^
Well Devin had a terrible OLine for sure but he did not have the arm that Milton has and Joe seems to have a great sense of the pressure, when to accelerate and when to slow up a bit.
But.... Devin is a great guy and made a significant contribution to Joe's progression and for that, he is a legend.
October 25th, 2020 at 2:23 AM ^
All due respect to Devin Gardner but he did not have nearly the arm strength that Milton has. But Milton does not have Devin's speed or elusiveness. I think if you package Devin and Joe into one guy it could be the best Michigan QB in the history of the program.
October 25th, 2020 at 3:43 AM ^
This blog overrates Gardner.
October 25th, 2020 at 7:51 AM ^
ironically coached by Gardiner. Maybe we have found a new QB whisperer...
October 24th, 2020 at 11:12 PM ^
I think the offense looked good, they tried some things . I noticed the play calling didnt seem very vanilla . We ran the ball well. Milton looked steady , some over throws but he did manage the game well .
October 24th, 2020 at 11:38 PM ^
At the same time it feels like there’s so much more in the Arsenal doesn’t it? Great feeling when the team just put up 49 points. if they can hit on a couple long balls a game, this offense can be incredible. That said, I will temper my expectations since we don’t know how good Minnesota really is.
now do not let the foot off the gas and beat up State