December 4th, 2022 at 12:03 AM ^
Donovan F'in Edwards
December 4th, 2022 at 12:16 AM ^
By my calculations he's only 128 yards away from a 1000 yard season. Considering how little he's played and the games he missed, I'd say that might be one of the best seasons for a Michigan running back ever.
Also it would be cool to have 2 1000 yard running backs on the same team after narrowly missing out on that last season.
December 4th, 2022 at 12:44 AM ^
That is crazy. Has two running backs ever eclipsed 1000 yards in the same season?
Congrats to the team!
December 4th, 2022 at 1:01 AM ^
I would guess we did it in the Bo era, though I'm not certain.
December 4th, 2022 at 1:12 AM ^
Gordon Bell and Rob Lytle, per sports reference.
Denard and Fitz Touissaint, off the top of my head.
December 4th, 2022 at 12:47 AM ^
We have a Run Game post Corum! Edwards is getting better every game as he gets more reps and can instinctively use his amazing talent. AND the Mullings Experiment looks like a success. On each run he looks more and more like a confident Bruiser. Kudos to Mike Hart for developing these guys.
December 4th, 2022 at 11:27 AM ^
It seems like Donovan is reshaping his instincts, as he’s learned to downshift. While he’s not an absolute cutback artist like Corum, once he finds the lane, good luck to the LB trying to outrun him or the safety trying to arm tackle him.
December 4th, 2022 at 11:58 AM ^
Also JJ f’in McCarthy. I don’t mean to take anything from the MVP, but when the run game was bottled up for most of the first half, JJ led 2 TD drives and made some magic happen despite at times pretty iffy pass pro.
December 4th, 2022 at 12:03 AM ^
I like Donovan Edwards.
December 4th, 2022 at 12:03 AM ^
JJ's interception was incredibly annoying but otherwise the pass game looks good.
The run game is very hit or miss. Looks like they're trying to figure out life after Corum.
December 4th, 2022 at 12:06 AM ^
Obviously the staff knows way more than any of us, but It seems Mullins might be a pretty good option for those tough yards.
December 4th, 2022 at 6:34 AM ^
Mullings with a 'G', and YES! looking better each game.
December 4th, 2022 at 8:30 PM ^
Mullins is the type of player we should always have (IMO) on the roster. Having a short yardage battering ram is an incredible advantage sometimes when the other team stacks up the middle of the field. And since Harbaugh is pretty predictable from a play-calling standpoint in these situations, Mullings-like players are very important. It seems our recruiting lately hasn't had luck getting these guys though.
December 4th, 2022 at 4:09 AM ^
It was a bad throw and happened because he got a little too cocky, but I’m glad he’s coming out of the safety-first shell they placed him in. He’ll be at his best as a smart gunslinger. I think the TD passes to Loveland and Bell were throws he might not have attempted earlier in the year because they weren’t open enough.
December 4th, 2022 at 10:32 AM ^
JJ’s QBR 89.1
O’Connell 60
December 4th, 2022 at 10:41 AM ^
Well then QBR sucks as a metric
December 4th, 2022 at 2:42 PM ^
One guy’s TD:INT ratio was 3:1. The other guy’s was 0:2.
December 4th, 2022 at 7:31 AM ^
There were better options, but it was an arm punt. I will take that along with more deep shots. He was looking deep which is good. Wilson was open on the flat, I think...but the camera didn't show it as I recall. Not hitting that, if it really was there, is regrettable.
December 4th, 2022 at 8:56 AM ^
On replay, you can see someone hanging out over the flat ready to break on the route. It was good coverage from Purdue. Hopefully, JJ will learn to be a bit more judicious in directing traffic, and just run that one next time.
December 4th, 2022 at 9:04 AM ^
Wilson was open in the flat early in the play but it looked like a later read that JJ never got to. He also had someone else open right in front of him when he rolled out, wanna say a TE, but the TE had his hips the wrong way so JJ had to redirect whoever it was that was one level deeper.
December 4th, 2022 at 11:36 AM ^
“There were better options, but it was an arm punt. I will take that along with more deep shots.”
It was first down, though. Third and long, not in FG range, sure, have at it.
I’m sure he’ll learn from that, and hope he’ll start to consider his legs as a check down.
December 4th, 2022 at 11:46 AM ^
The run game was hit or miss in this game because they did what they've been doing all season and bubble wrapped JJ against an opponent they didn't feel they needed him for. I'm not sure there was a designed run call for him in the game unless I missed one, my memory is all 5 carries were on scrambles. Another opponent sold out against the run and Michigan didn't care to risk getting JJ nicked up by keeping the LBs and safeties honest by having him read and pull.
I wouldn't say Michigan was super conservative but they definitely were making sure that nothing happened to jeopardize the health of key players for the rest of the season. It's interesting that the CFP seem to have trumped the big ten championship game in terms of importance for this particular team, make me feel confident that this staff believes this team has a better shot than last year.
Edit: maybe poorly worded at the end. I think the Big 10 championship was very important to them, but there's a balance they've shown all season. Illinois was important but beating OSU was more important. That trade off meant risking a close game against Illinois to give them a better chance against OSU. If Purdue were the last game of the season I really think the final score and offense looks a lot different. UofM put everything into Iowa last year, that didn't look like the case yesterday.
December 4th, 2022 at 12:16 PM ^
There were design runs for him. Two. Neither got more than 2 yards.
December 4th, 2022 at 12:04 AM ^
VERY nicely done. The OL will be that much scarier with a month to heal up and rest up.
December 4th, 2022 at 12:43 AM ^
They were scary enough in that final drive tonight. They plowed Purdue play after play.
December 4th, 2022 at 12:04 AM ^
THE DON
December 4th, 2022 at 1:24 AM ^
It was Barzini all along
December 4th, 2022 at 11:28 AM ^
...Gus just kinda made that up last week, right?
Because I've seen videos and read articles where his teammates clearly, consistently nickname him "Donno".
Like...where TF did "Chuck Sizzle" come from, for that matter? Charlie Jones deserves one HELL of a better nickname than that.
December 4th, 2022 at 1:24 PM ^
Gus has been calling him that for half the season. He can always change it when he gets drafted in the late rounds and becomes a star possession receiver.
December 4th, 2022 at 12:04 AM ^
Don “The Man” Edwards!!!
December 4th, 2022 at 12:05 AM ^
Screw criticism, it’s a repeat! I love you and I love THE MICHIGAN FUCKING WOLVERINES.
December 4th, 2022 at 12:05 AM ^
Play calling was bad. Athletes overcame coaching. Won’t cut it in playoff
December 4th, 2022 at 12:13 AM ^
Well that's certainly a hot take.
December 4th, 2022 at 12:30 AM ^
That's a bad comment and you should feel bad for making it.
December 4th, 2022 at 12:34 AM ^
You are hating more than sparty. There is a thread for coaching and would love to hear your thoughts about our coaches who has won back to back B1G championship for the first time in this format.
December 4th, 2022 at 12:47 AM ^
Shut the fuck up.
December 4th, 2022 at 11:32 AM ^
I think this is a step too far.
Personally, I was VERY annoyed at the whole "running into stacked boxes" thing. Which we do pretty much every game. I expect some RPS minuses on the UFR.
But you can't say that athletes overcame playcalling. Because they didn't. There were dudes running wide open which either JJ didn't hit, or they didn't bring the ball in.
If anything, you could say that the athletes UNDERPERFORMED the play calling.
My hot take is that the coaches called an amazing game, with many MANY plays being juuuuust short of breaking big.
December 4th, 2022 at 12:05 AM ^
They got it done again. Good to see JJ hit Ronnie and Loveland for those contested TDs. those will be needed against GA, we won’t be opening holes for the RB easily as we saw last year.
Pass Pro was excellent from the Oline.
The Don… Nuff said
December 4th, 2022 at 12:07 AM ^
Opening drive of the second half was awesome.
Edwards with another Barry Sanders type run demoralized them!!!!!!!!!!
December 4th, 2022 at 12:08 AM ^
It was the Donovan Edwards show. JJ made enough critical throws to Loveland and Schoonmaker and a great catch in the end zone by Ronnie Bell.
It wasn't as pretty was hoped for but it was efficient
They still scored 43 points for big MEEEEECHIGAN VICTORY!!
December 4th, 2022 at 12:08 AM ^
JJ made a handful of throws we haven’t really seen this year. Most were jaw-dropping: the back-shoulder “go win this” pass to Loveland. The downfield passes between the low and deep zones. The end zone pass to Bell, beating a zone, middle of the field.
Exciting stuff.
Also a pass he hasn’t made this year: that deep arm punt to nobody. It’s notable that this is the only really terrible pass I can remember all season. He has been really good and he’s getting better.
Edwards looked terrific. He’s not as consistent at grinding 3-5 yards and that can be a challenge (though he was often facing stacked boxes) but he is getting better at taking what’s there and exploiting space.
Loveland is turning into a monster.
Overall, I thought we threw away too many drives. But 40+ points again and 13-0 B1G champs.
Georgia’s still the favorite. But maybe we can do this.
December 4th, 2022 at 12:20 AM ^
I thought that touchdown pass to Loveland was the best throw JJ's had all season. He put it where only his guy could catch it. Perfect. Asked his receiver to make a play and he was rewarded.
Just a liiiiiiiiiittle bit more consistency from him and I think this team has a chance to win it all. The next month will be crucial for JJ.
December 4th, 2022 at 1:55 AM ^
JJ could have taken the mid range throw on that. But I am glad he got that bad read out of his system in this game.
Purdue didn't make the OSU mistake of playing too close to the LOS. Still Michigan was a couple of ankle tackles short of breaking some more open.
December 4th, 2022 at 11:54 AM ^
Yeah, Edwards is still too boom or bust. He's a great player, no doubt, but more like Corum was last year. Key to a dominant run game is getting at least a few yards every run, not how many yards overall.
Haskins did that last year and Corum turned into that this year. I would have loved to see Mullings or someone else used more to establish consistency.
December 4th, 2022 at 12:09 AM ^
Love that O-line. They are monsters. Maulers.
A beautiful thing to see.
December 4th, 2022 at 12:09 AM ^
Wooo!
Also, I was at a party so didn’t hear much commentary, but did Andrel Anthony not play? Was he there?
December 4th, 2022 at 12:13 AM ^
He played. We went 3 tight ends a lot, and there weren’t many offensive snaps to begin with. JJ mostly looked to Ronnie and Schoonmaker. CornJohn only had 1 reception after destroying OSU.
December 4th, 2022 at 12:19 AM ^
He was definitely out there.
December 4th, 2022 at 12:10 AM ^
Kalel Mullings, Michigan Legend. That is all.
December 4th, 2022 at 12:10 AM ^
The O line
The Don
JJ will learn from the int