Keys to the game
November 25th, 2021 at 2:43 PM ^
I'm gonna make a bold predication, even a hawt take! I think if they score more points than tOSU, they'll win.
November 26th, 2021 at 12:13 AM ^
Keys to the game, according to every single sports talking head analyst- Make Stroud uncomfortable. Run the ball. Don’t get beat deep. Etc, etc, genius stuff
November 25th, 2021 at 2:45 PM ^
Terrorize their QB. Push it on offense. Win the game.
November 25th, 2021 at 6:10 PM ^
That's a huge key, making Stroud uncomfortable. Between Ohio States lineman and whistle swallowing refs, I don't know how much impact Aidan and David will have. Does anyone know who the referees for the game will be yet?
November 26th, 2021 at 7:51 AM ^
Debbie Downer here, but I think they will take away Aidan and David. They know how good they are, and more importantly, know that our DT's are not much of a threat
November 25th, 2021 at 2:49 PM ^
Lots of X and O coverage which is obviously important but I think showing up and truly, deeply believing you can win is going to be a huge hurdle given all the recent history and I hope they got some positive juju going on in that locker room.
November 25th, 2021 at 3:45 PM ^
The thing is I believe this team believes they can win. I don’t think that will be a concern. It’s down to Xs and Os. Can we scheme a win on one side of the ball? If so we can do it.
November 25th, 2021 at 4:00 PM ^
And we have to have players execute the schemes.
November 25th, 2021 at 8:14 PM ^
Bingo. Staff can call a great game and make timely adjustments but it boils down to athletes executing and making plays
November 25th, 2021 at 10:25 PM ^
No athlete goes into a contest without the belief they can win. Especially at this level. Every player dressed on that field will be geared to go and everyone knows they gotta have their A game. Keys for me will be who gets an early lead and makes halftime adjustments regardless of score which we've done poorly or not at all the last buncha years but seems a little different this year. Like to play D first and knock Stroud on his ass. Hutch and DO will be shot out of a cannon.
Position groups, misc. and who has advantage in my opinion and then what team stats say:
QB's - ? / stats Ohio
RB's - edge M / stats M
Receivers - adv. Ohio / stats Ohio
O-Line - EVEN / stats M
D-Line - edge M / stats M
LB's - adv. M / stats M
DB's - EVEN / stats Ohio
Kicking/Punting - adv. M / stats M
Misc:
Turnovers - edge Ohio / stats Ohio
TOP - EVEN
Penalties - adv. M
SOS - edge M / stats edge Ohio (to date both teams are 4-1 vs. bowl eligible teams. M had the tougher road schedule)
Field - adv. M
Weather - EVEN
They aren't invincible and they've proven that.
November 25th, 2021 at 2:55 PM ^
My prediction is I have no clue how they are going to do it, but when the clock says :00 at the end of the 4th quarter, we will have more points than OSU
November 25th, 2021 at 7:39 PM ^
Yes, I have that feeling too.
November 26th, 2021 at 2:25 AM ^
Hope is a dangerous thing.
November 25th, 2021 at 2:55 PM ^
If we're being honest, the key to the game for us is probably luck. Some fortunate calls by the refs, a fumble, a tipped pass INT, dropped passes, and so on. We can't match up with them player for player, especially our defense with their skill position players. I would say the best things we can do that are within our control are (1) make them sustain drives offensively and increase the odds of mistakes and turnovers, rather than letting them hit home runs, and (2) don't pretend like you have a chance to make this a 13-10 game. OSU is going to score a lot. There's no reason to conservative offensively. Any drive that doesn't end in a TD is as good as a turnover. Call plays accordingly.
November 25th, 2021 at 4:02 PM ^
Pretty much. But Michigan and good luck go together like the Lions and competence.
November 25th, 2021 at 4:15 PM ^
Rob_M
please post this everywhere for the next 32+ hours. This is the definitive of what it will take to win The Game.
November 25th, 2021 at 7:43 PM ^
Luck? Real competent referees might be a miracle but that doesn't qualify as luck. Tipped passes and forced fumbles come more from effort more than luck. If Macdonald has mastered the college game (tempo and substitutions) and brings some elements of a confounding NFL defense that might be miraculous but not luck. The CBs and safeties are good enough to get an INT. Maybe this time Hutchinson gets the strip sack for the TD and it wouldn't be luck. No dropped balls and no pre-snap penalties wouldn't be luck.
I wish people would stop using scores from the 70's as a discussion point as both teams are likely to break 30 and this is relatively normal for college football today. PSU and Nebraska held OSU to 26 (33 with defensive score) and 26 but they have slightly better defenses than Michigan.
The team and coaches need to deliver their best game of the year to win. This isn't 2019 where even that wouldn't have been good enough.
November 25th, 2021 at 8:59 PM ^
The more that you remove luck and human error from the equation, the higher OSU's win probability gets. Their perfect game is much, much better than our perfect game. The belief that we can just play our style and "execute" is what gets us beat 14 out of 15 times or whatever it is. You need to take more risks. You have to score more points than you do against other opponents. And you need some luck.
November 25th, 2021 at 2:57 PM ^
Lol are you really expecting the refs to call holding on OSU?
They will be lucky to draw one or two max.
Maryland held every time and a lot of those were obvious and I think they only called it 2-3 times.
November 25th, 2021 at 2:57 PM ^
The key to the game is to have Stroud's view of the field look like this....
November 25th, 2021 at 3:06 PM ^
^^^ Winner!
November 25th, 2021 at 10:52 PM ^
Turkey dinner
November 25th, 2021 at 5:34 PM ^
I saw a wolverine in Alaska this summer, crossing the road near Denali National Park at dusk. It took me by surprise, I didn't think I would ever see one in the wild, even in Alaska.
They are majestic animals.
They will also rip your face off.
November 25th, 2021 at 9:25 PM ^
This is my idealized view of the Wolverine FB team from childhood.
Majestic and will rip your face off.
Let's be that and do that on Saturday.
November 25th, 2021 at 3:05 PM ^
Pressure on Stroud. Win the turnover battle. Make the throws, catches, blocks and tackles. Establish the running game. Score more than OSU. Win the game.
November 25th, 2021 at 3:12 PM ^
My keys to the game are the linebackers. They need to play better in coverage in the middle of the field. Coverage has been terrible (Ross) They also cant let Henderson run wild like Kenneth walker either.
Corners need to keep everything in front of them. Don't let receivers beat you.
Offensive play calling needs to be creative...NOT conservative- Run, Run Pass. We have to be able to pass on early downs. KEEP DRIVES GOING. keep them off the field. Score TD's not FG's.
Need to win the turnover battle.
Most importantly. I hope the officiating is not going against us.
Just please win.
I have a good feeling as odd as it seems....
GO BLUE!! Beat those A**holes.
November 25th, 2021 at 5:42 PM ^
Yep. Linebackers, DTs, and TEs will make or break this game.
November 25th, 2021 at 3:13 PM ^
Hold them to FG’s we know they’re going to move the ball.
November 25th, 2021 at 3:17 PM ^
DB post
November 25th, 2021 at 3:21 PM ^
We won’t win a shootout with them, we simply don’t have the talent to keep up with them.
We need to get a couple 4th down stops and forced them to settle for field goals. Ceding them yards is fine if they aren’t getting TDs. A positive turnover margin would go a long way. We need to be able to pressure Stroud.
We need to drag them down into a high-20s/low-30s affair.
If we win the toss I hope we elect to receive (unlike MSU last week) and work to establish an offensive identity. Methodical drives that end in TDs and limit the number of possessions the OSU offense will have.
We saw a good gameplan in 2017 for The Game that set us up for a game winning drive, but unfortunately O’Korn threw the int. We fired the DC who got absolutely abused by OSU two years in a row in favor of someone who, hopefully, gives us a better chance.
November 25th, 2021 at 5:46 PM ^
I agree with you, except for this:
If we win the toss I hope we elect to receive
No, defer. We want to limit Stroud's possessions. especially in the second half. Receiving the kickoff and marching down for a score after the half puts Michigan in a better position to win the game.
What we don't want to do is start kind of fast and then fade out at the end.
November 25th, 2021 at 5:51 PM ^
We saw a good gameplan in 2017 for The Game that set us up for a game winning drive, but unfortunately O’Korn threw the int.
I remember that play pretty clearly. I believe there was no Safety in the middle pre-snap, and then quickly there was a pass rusher coming up the middle, in O'Korn's face. He never saw the guy moving into the deep middle late and threw it to where he thought a Michigan receiver would be open.
November 25th, 2021 at 3:29 PM ^
Score moar points than OSU.
November 25th, 2021 at 7:43 PM ^
You mean scoar moar.
November 25th, 2021 at 3:31 PM ^
Fans showing up and supporting would be a huge key. Wearing maize. Being loud.
November 25th, 2021 at 3:39 PM ^
Its going to be tough to get everyone wearing maize. Hardly anyone has cold weather maize gear.
November 25th, 2021 at 8:02 PM ^
Yeah, wear maize over the jacket... Those a holes are going to wear red and stand out.
November 25th, 2021 at 3:32 PM ^
On OSU the over/under on holding calls is 1.5 and I’d take the under
November 25th, 2021 at 3:35 PM ^
Win the damn game....the key is winning. Whatever it takes, just do it.
November 25th, 2021 at 3:49 PM ^
If holding calls haven't been called against subpar tackles, they will not be called against tackles who are considered really good.
November 25th, 2021 at 3:57 PM ^
Nah, here are the REAL keys to the game.
Get turnovers.
Don't turn it over.
Run the ball well.
Pass the ball even weller.
Get the ball in the hands of your playmaker.
Score TOUCHDOWNS.
-every sports analyst ever.
November 25th, 2021 at 7:53 PM ^
I gave up thinking I could predict game outcomes with analytics because it is so hard to predict turnovers and penalties.
November 25th, 2021 at 4:07 PM ^
There will be zero holds called on our DE's, but I bet we get 3 pass interference calls like every year.
November 25th, 2021 at 4:35 PM ^
Be early
Be loud
Wear maize
LFG!!!!!
November 25th, 2021 at 4:38 PM ^
key to the game. We need Michigan to score more points than Ohio state.
November 25th, 2021 at 4:56 PM ^
My Thanksgiving wish?
That 10 years from now I run into irate Buckeye fans who are still pissed off about “the epic screw job by the refs” in the 2021 Game.
November 25th, 2021 at 7:14 PM ^
I want to see thousands of REMEMBER ANN ARBOR bumper stickers all over Ohio
November 25th, 2021 at 5:06 PM ^
If Michigan has their best game of the season in the trenches on both sides of the ball, and they can scheme a way for Ross not to get picked on, and their young LBs turn the corner this week, and MacDonald calls a game which puts the DBs in a position to make a play on the ball once in a while and they don't hesitate in that moment, and the DEs can get to Stroud and make him face a level of discomfort he hasn't faced before, or at least really sell some holding calls....
Then if Cade plays at his level from the MSU game against a much better defense, and one of Haskins, Corum, or Edwards has an outstanding rushing game so that Michigan can be balanced on offense and sustain long drives that end in TDs and limit snaps for their defense...
And the refs don't screw us, and the ball doesn't bounce in a random and unexpected way right to the Buckeyes....
Then it is possible that Michigan may win. That would be a bigger deal than the '69 game, imo.
November 25th, 2021 at 5:16 PM ^
The middle. Not just running up the middle. But pass blitzes and pass rush up the middle, and pass offense/defense in the middle of the field. Interior lineman, deep safeties, and especially LBers.
Both pass defenses (especially their LBers) are vulnerable to throws in the middle of the field, especially the intermediate throws. Unfortunately thus far Cade has been reluctant to throw many there - that will likely have to change for Michigan to win.
Whichever defense can stop the runs up the middle, and prevent the QB from stepping up in a clean pocket, will have the best chance to win the game.
November 25th, 2021 at 7:47 PM ^
It seems like Cade specializes in quick hitters over the middle - intermediate depth.