September 4th, 2021 at 3:20 PM ^
Mike Hart hire = brilliance
September 4th, 2021 at 3:24 PM ^
Kind of a no brainer. Hope it puts ppl to rest who think not having actual RB and WR dedicated coaching is not a big deal
September 5th, 2021 at 10:36 AM ^
The best RB rotation of the Harbaugh era. Substitutions made sense but yeah, not Hart’s call on in game substitutions. It just miraculously made sense finally.
September 4th, 2021 at 3:21 PM ^
Thoughts on the game:
Five things I liked:
- Only one really bad QB decision (McCarthy should’ve taken a sack instead of trying to throw the ball on his ‘fumble’)
- Attempted two home run passes when the game was close and hit them both. There was some urgency/tempo on offense in the first half
- LB’s seemed to play well based upon the view in my recliner
- Didn’t try to screw around with getting 8 offensive skill players involved before garbage time
- Good team tackling and edge setting on defense
Five things which still need find tuning:
- Still too many downs lit on fire on with first down play calling. Also, no QB’s run out of shotgun - I’ll withhold judgement until after next week on those two as it might’ve been opponent dependent.
- Two stupid penalties, even if the running into the kicker was beyond cheap
- From a clock/timeout perspective the coaches did better at the end of the first half but when they got inside the 10 they holed up. Western was daring Michigan to throw the ball down there and we decided to beat our head off the wall 3 times
- Corners need more reps with zone coverage before they’re going to be comfortable with it against a good opponent. On a positive note, I don’t recall any massive busts.
- I don’t recall a single DT even getting a mention on the telecast
***
Very good performance today overall save the Bell injury. Let’s hope for a sprain and that he can be back soon. Go Blue!
September 4th, 2021 at 3:41 PM ^
There was one obvious bust. On that third and long we gave up. Ross passed off the slot receiver to air after one step. That slot then caught a wide open 26 yard pass. They clearly have a lot of work to do on the zone.
September 4th, 2021 at 4:08 PM ^
You’re right, that one slipped my mind.
September 4th, 2021 at 9:11 PM ^
Maybe not a total bust: Grey got beat pretty badly on a go route, but was bailed out by an underthrown ball and he made a nice play.
September 4th, 2021 at 3:56 PM ^
Hinton had one good pressure, but otherwise I was specifically watching the DTs on defense all game and was underwhelmed honestly.
September 4th, 2021 at 4:54 PM ^
Harbaugh looks slimmer and into the game but under control. Too soon to say anything about the defense, we had a 3 score lead at the half. Met expectations.
September 4th, 2021 at 4:54 PM ^
Doesn’t matter but their punter wasn’t touched. Obvious on replay. Worst call of day, even worse then the OPI on Bell. Best of everything to him. Looked bad.
September 4th, 2021 at 3:22 PM ^
Did.. did Harbaugh just do a game day interview?
Things might actually be changing…
September 4th, 2021 at 3:47 PM ^
He diplomatically corrected the interviewer who opened up with "Michigan had 500+ yds rushing today," and he looked up at the scoreboard and recited the actual numbers. Nicely done.
September 4th, 2021 at 5:24 PM ^
If I was Harbaugh I would've replied "thank you for additional 200 rushing yards".
September 4th, 2021 at 3:23 PM ^
I wanted to see a faster "hurry up" offense. I was pleased how quickly they lined up and made adjustments.
Stupid penalties need to end.
Can't wait for defensive UFR because I did not understand the Xs and Os of what was going on.
September 4th, 2021 at 3:33 PM ^
Yes. The pace of our offense was really good to see.
September 4th, 2021 at 3:59 PM ^
Tempo was great to see. But what's the point of forcing the D to keep personnel on the field if you repeatedly run up the gut? Still, I'll take it as a sign of improvement.
September 4th, 2021 at 6:04 PM ^
Because they were getting large chunks of yards and tiring out the defense. If WMU were to stop them once, they could throw a play action. If you have them in the wrong defensive personnel, you force them to keep that personnel on the field.
Also, it is about giving your QB and coaches a chance to read the defensive alignment and adjust.
September 4th, 2021 at 7:49 PM ^
If you can repeatedly get 5+ yards up the middle of the defense, then that's definitely a strategy you want to keep rolling with. Trapping personnel on the field who can't stop a rush...is a decent tactical win.
The problem is when you're Drevno/Pep, and you think that running into the teeth of the defense 30 times for 2 yards per rush really sets up your one deep shot you take every quarter.
September 4th, 2021 at 3:24 PM ^
They won a game they should win and won it how it should be won. Give them an A after running the same play for the nearly entire first quarter.
September 4th, 2021 at 3:27 PM ^
Score an A. I have no complaints. Product looks much improved.
September 4th, 2021 at 5:00 PM ^
Compared to the last 4 games last year, they better look better. Still concerned about facing the big boys on their schedule.
September 4th, 2021 at 5:00 PM ^
Big test next week and have a very difficult schedule. Many games, especially on the road at Madison and at Happy Valley will be tough to win. Fear our DL will get bullied.
September 4th, 2021 at 3:29 PM ^
Stop the zone read stuff if you're not going to let your QB keep it. But the end arounds were executed so much more crisply than the old McDoom jet sweeps. So there's a noticeable improvement. End of half clock management was great, up until the very end. Overall, I didn't see too much that was different than years past, though they did play a little faster than I remember.
September 4th, 2021 at 3:58 PM ^
1/2 agree with you.
I think if McNamara keeps it on that 3rd down handoff at the end of the 1st half (assuming it was in fact a read) he walks into the end zone.
But that read needs to be in the playbook b/c it looked like a zone read when McCarthy hit Selzer in the hands down the seam.
September 4th, 2021 at 3:30 PM ^
The win is the most important thing by far and this is nitpicking in the larger context of the win. But seeing Gattis run into the middle of the line on 2nd and 15 and 3rd and 15 after that KO return bordered on absurd.
September 4th, 2021 at 4:22 PM ^
Yes, I had forgotten to be mad about that.
September 5th, 2021 at 7:59 AM ^
Yes, I had forgotten to be mad about that.
the most mgoboard comment ever.
September 4th, 2021 at 4:42 PM ^
yeah, my only issues were a run on 2nd and 15 a couple times. Can't run the ball on 2,d and 12+ and expect to have 3rd and managable.
Draw on 3rd is ok if that's the read based on the defense I guess
September 4th, 2021 at 3:35 PM ^
Where's the assholes from the Minn vs OSU thread who were asking pretty early in that game if PJ Fleck would consider coming to UM to "fix things"?
Here's one:
Here's another:
September 4th, 2021 at 3:57 PM ^
Where's the assholes from the Minn vs OSU thread
Right here
And you're a fucking idiot if you think Minny didn't look better than Michigan has against Ohio State.
September 4th, 2021 at 4:06 PM ^
Ah yes, because I’m sure Ohio State plays their season opener against Minnesota with the same focus and intensity as they do Michigan at the end of the year…
September 4th, 2021 at 7:44 PM ^
You left out the spot, the refs, online state, bagmen, and academicz in your whiny list of excuses.
September 4th, 2021 at 8:22 PM ^
What excuses? Ohio State has owned us. Saying Minnesota played them tougher than us is just ignoring reality.
You’re telling me Ohio State doesn’t play their A game at the end of the year against Michigan? You’re telling me Ohio State plays all of their opponents the same way they play Michigan? You’re telling me OSU doesn’t have a special focus and intensity when it comes to playing Michigan? You think that OSU working out their early season kinks is comparable to what they’re going to look like at the end of the season? You’re telling me the OSU that gets blown out by Iowa and Purdue, or almost loses to Maryland is the same OSU that shows up to play Michigan?
Please. Say yes so we can all laugh at you. There’s no excuses. But you can’t compare how OSU plays against anyone else (outside of the playoff) with how they play Michigan. It’s just not the same. OSU knows they can sleepwalk through most of their games and come out on top. They want to destroy Michigan with every fiber of their being.
September 5th, 2021 at 8:54 AM ^
Refs have absolutely played a part in it. 2016 was the biggest hosejob I've ever seen, and if you actually watched the Gophers take on Ohio st., you'd have seen the refs slurping the buckeyes all night long. Sad sight. The B1G loves their Buckeyes.
Hopefully we get PAC-12 refs for the Washington game.
September 4th, 2021 at 4:38 PM ^
If we're going by raw numbers UM beat Minnesota last year by more (25 vs. 14), with a new QB (like OSU) and put up nearly the same number of yards (478 to 495) while giving up 80-ish yards less. It's a stupid comparison obviously but if we're going to use "first games of the season by Minnesota" as an accurate barometer for performance you'd also have to argue that UM must be the better team.
September 4th, 2021 at 5:24 PM ^
Pump the brakes on the big WMU win.
September 4th, 2021 at 5:48 PM ^
Pump the breaks on the big WMU win.
Nope, I’m going to brake dance.
Brake it down.
Have some brakefast.
It was a back braker.
That’s the brakes ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
September 4th, 2021 at 6:52 PM ^
Oh, gimme a brake.
September 4th, 2021 at 9:45 PM ^
Break me off a piece of that Kit Kat Bar!
September 5th, 2021 at 9:13 AM ^
Break me off a piece of that …
Chrysler car
Football cream
Fancy feast.
September 4th, 2021 at 3:35 PM ^
I give our defensive staff credit for installing a completely new system and the players credit for learning it to a functional degree already. Was impressed that we only had to call one time out on D. Would have not been surprised to see more confusion than we did today. Hated that we did not call time out after 2nd down and goal in first half and re group for a TD, forcing a TO after 3rd down run failed and settling for FG.
September 4th, 2021 at 3:35 PM ^
Ok, I don’t know where else to put this, other than thankful UM coaches didn’t do this…
Wisconsin fumbles on 1st & goal from the 1, recovers back at the 7.
2nd and goal, tries to run up the gut.
Such a Paul Chryst thing to do!
September 4th, 2021 at 3:40 PM ^
At the risk of pissing off Aaron Rodgers, down 6 with 2:20 to go and all 3 timeouts, I’d have strongly considered kicking the FG there rather than 4th and goal from the 8.
September 4th, 2021 at 7:26 PM ^
I would have took that FG too. Only down by 3 then.
September 4th, 2021 at 3:42 PM ^
Well, they didn't do any better on the next two pass plays.
September 5th, 2021 at 11:38 AM ^
I was at that game. Inside the ten they had 2 fumbles, 1 interception and a blocked field goal.
September 5th, 2021 at 2:05 PM ^
Wow.
Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the red zone offense?
September 4th, 2021 at 3:39 PM ^
I don't know WTF they were thinking with that two point conversion attempt. But that far ahead, it didn't hurt anything and I guess they'd planned it.
I get that they wanted to establish the run, and were able to. Whether they did it at the right moment on some plays is a question mark. Other than that, it was a solid performance with very few glaring mistakes and no turnovers. So I'd call that improvement.
September 4th, 2021 at 3:47 PM ^
If they had converted, it would have been a full 4 touchdown lead .