Michigan Daily: First Team Rushing Stats - 20 for 33
Welp. It's an improvement on 27 for 27.
http://www.michigandaily.com//sports/offensive-line-issues-continue-run…
The rotation Saturday was more stable in comparison with last season, but the three running backs gained just 33 yards on 20 carries with the first team, and the blocking issues haven’t gone away.'
Story says Kalis should be back Monday.
Gardner stat line:
Gardner finished 9-for-18 with 110 yards, a touchdown and an interception. He was also sacked twice, fumbled once and was forced to throw the ball away several times against an aggressive defense that did not let up.
August 17th, 2014 at 12:34 PM ^
We should all keep in mind that on zone running plays, there tends not be huge holes, and it's the RB's job to make a very quick decision and find the crease when it presents. While it's not in question that the OL needs to improve, the RBs becoming more comfortable in making those decisions will be of equal importance.
I fully expect the running game to become at least decent by midyear. I just hope the D and specialists can carry the team until that happens.
August 17th, 2014 at 12:45 PM ^
I just watched a few of those scrimmage clips from the other thread and in the small subset of plays I watched the pass protection was actually pretty good. If we have an RB problem more than anything else, it's time to hope like crazy that we have Isaac this year. My memory of his high school clips is that those kinds of fast decisions and cuts were among his primary strengths.
August 17th, 2014 at 12:47 PM ^
Hoke was talking well of the run game, I think it more than likely the D made some adjustments in the meanwhile and Saturday was the result. I think you are correct, running the IZ does mean the RB has to make timely and decisive cuts and if the D has adjusted to the OL, those expected cuts may no longer exist.
If what Hoke said during the Wednesday presser is true, that the running game was looking good, I believe that more indicative of what to expect than giving the D a three day adjustment period. Certainly no opponent will have the same luxury of three days to analyze their D against our O and make same game adjustments.
August 17th, 2014 at 12:52 PM ^
game, he said the running backs were much better in the scrimmage Wednesday. He was not happy with the running backs last night.
August 17th, 2014 at 3:44 PM ^
I noticed that the RB's were sometimes not patient enough to wait for seams to open up. There were several running plays where a slight hesitation or cut back would have turned 2 yards into 7. Still I felt that the O line had no push against the D line and the LB's and DB's were able to fill. The O line seemed more solid on pass plays and I noticed as Matti dialed up the blitzes that the O was more successful rolling the QB out and making completions. Multiple great catches by WR's with DB's all over them also. My brother mentioned to me after the scrimmage that he remembers Vikings teams from the late 70's that used a lot of short passes to the RB (Foreman) to get into open space and this substituted pretty well for a weak running game.
August 17th, 2014 at 12:36 PM ^
Again, the consensus after last night is either it's too soon for full panic mode, that average is better than just plain bad or there is no chance the line gets better gvien the leadership and players on hand. All we can hope for is the defense will give up fewer than 100 points like in 1997 and the offense gets lucky once in awhile.
Alrighty then. At least we know what to expect.
August 17th, 2014 at 12:43 PM ^
August 17th, 2014 at 12:44 PM ^
August 17th, 2014 at 1:04 PM ^
August 17th, 2014 at 1:17 PM ^
August 17th, 2014 at 12:48 PM ^
August 17th, 2014 at 12:49 PM ^
If the Defense was getting consistently gashed by our offense would their be similar calls to fire Smith, Mattison, and Hoke?
August 17th, 2014 at 12:53 PM ^
I was thinking about how if you're the coaching staff, one of the lessons here might be that you're asking for fan panic if you have a public scrimmage and (1) your OL and DL aren't about equally matched and (2) your WRs and DBs aren't about equally matched. That's not to say they shouldn't hold these - to the contrary, this seems like it was pretty awesome - but they probably know what to expect now. Seeing it in spring is one thing. Seeing it a couple of weeks before the season freaks people out.
August 17th, 2014 at 1:12 PM ^
August 17th, 2014 at 1:29 PM ^
Smith didn't coach a bad DL last year - he was a LB coach. He actually coached the best unit on the D last year. Along with Manning.
Mattison has 2 very good years and last year it fell off. The track record is there.
Hoke is another issue altogether - he is responsible for the whole team. He fired himself from the DL in fact.
Funk had 2 NFL players on his line incl a 1st rounder and couldn't produce even a benign OL. No other coach on this staff had this luxury. And the year before that he didn't coach a very good line again with 2 NFL OL on it and a bunch of upperclassmen. The year he did well (2011) he had just taken over a bunch of OL who for most of their career had been trained under another staff. Maybe his guidance made some difference but it is difficult to tell if his 8-10 months with those guys were more important then the 2-4 years they had under other coaches. i.e. Molk was pretty darn good before Funk arrived in AA.
The only position coach with comparable (somewhat) talent to Funk is Hecklinksi (Gallon/Funchess) and no one is afraid he is going to screw up all our WRs or the WRs are going to deliver sub MAC level this year. The # of threads devoted to "Why can't our WRs develop???" numbers in the zeros...
August 17th, 2014 at 2:04 PM ^
Developing at WR is not the same as developing on the OL, and everyone who has ever known football at all has believed this.
Funk's got some pretty great reviews from Hoke, career-long NFL OL coach Sean Kugler (now a FBS head coach), first-rounder Taylor Lewan, etc. I'll take their opinions over yours.
We can definitely agree that Funk has failed to produce the desired results on the field, but bear in mind the following confounding factors to his results:
1) Borges and his complex schemes
2) His father's illness and passing
3) The OL's performance is defined by its weakest members
4) A lack of players with both talent + seniority at several crucial line positions last year
So let's have a little more patience.
August 17th, 2014 at 12:59 PM ^
August 17th, 2014 at 1:04 PM ^
Aside from Michigan State, who do you see having a better defense than Michigan?
August 17th, 2014 at 1:15 PM ^
August 17th, 2014 at 1:26 PM ^
That's what I was getting at. MSU will still have a good-great defense. ND and PSU will probably have decent defenses. The defense that the Michigan offense faces daily at practice could be the second best, potentially the best, that they face all season. That gives me some encouragement.
August 17th, 2014 at 1:30 PM ^
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August 17th, 2014 at 1:11 PM ^
August 17th, 2014 at 1:33 PM ^
August 17th, 2014 at 6:39 PM ^
Miami(NTM) is worse, I can pretty much tell you that for a fact.
August 17th, 2014 at 1:05 PM ^
August 17th, 2014 at 1:06 PM ^
August 17th, 2014 at 1:10 PM ^
Is that the line basically played without 40% of its starters. We will plug Glasgow in for Miller and then Kalis in at RG. I think that when the dust settles they will grade out a bit better than last year. Once they narrow in on details of blocking a specific opponent/scheme I expect a better performance. I would feel better if Notre Dame were the fourth game vice the second.
I expect the backs to also be better this year...running and in pass pro. The receivers will be solid as well. In a couple of months, the opposing D will have to negate Funchess, Darboh, Canteen, Butt and a very capable scrambling Gardner. Not fun. Throw in some Norfleet screens and this will be a very serviceable Offense.
August 17th, 2014 at 1:12 PM ^
August 17th, 2014 at 1:22 PM ^
"But defensive coordinator Greg Mattison’s unit tightened up, the young offensive line faded and the running backs trudged into the piles they encountered so often last year."
It seems like a fair number of people missed this - Mattison threw a zone blitz, a safety blitz and I believe an LB blitz at that offensive line in fairly close proximity, something you likely would not see in a game situation. The selection and progression of the calls were definitely more indicative of a practice, so if we're trying to get a sense of what the offensive line will look like in the actual flow of game, we didn't see it last night. It's difficult to know where "20 for 33" sits on the spectrum of what the staff has seen in that regard - it's difficult to get worked up about a single data point. Also, we're playing ourselves at this point, which muddles it even further.
August 17th, 2014 at 2:30 PM ^
August 17th, 2014 at 1:23 PM ^
August 17th, 2014 at 1:44 PM ^
They were not calling a game like they would against a real opponent. They wanted to see how the players would react to certain situations.
There is way too much being made of this and because of the scenarios that were being set up, rushing average is meaningless.
August 17th, 2014 at 1:30 PM ^
August 17th, 2014 at 1:31 PM ^
that would have beaten PSU last year
August 17th, 2014 at 1:41 PM ^
This is why I am feeling good about this year. Even the terrible offensive line from last year got us close to beating PSU, Nebraska, OSU, and Iowa. We will probably be better than last year in most, if not all areas.
August 17th, 2014 at 1:41 PM ^
Hoke knows that it's very typical for defenses to be ahead of offenses at this time of the year, and with a still-young OL learning a new offense, it was guaranteed that the OL would look a bit impotent again, especially against the talented and relatively deep DL that Mattison has at his disposal.
The result will be our opposition completely discounting our abilities on offense, and this over-confidence will be the key to several of our big wins this season.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it. For now...
August 17th, 2014 at 3:16 PM ^
I remember that MSU's defense outscored its offense in its first two games, and then their QB went on to throw for 300+ yards in the Rose Bowl.
August 17th, 2014 at 3:52 PM ^
But I get your point.
August 17th, 2014 at 4:41 PM ^
I would be much more worried if the stat line was 150 yds. on 30 carries or something like that.
Your relatively young OL without a presumed starter, and playing many of the snaps without another, in a new system - dominating an experienced and deep LB core, with a deep and stout DL, and not to mention a new ninja SS/Nickel type thingy?
That would be very scary.
I think we should be patient but not expect miracles. The offense was definitely not awesome, but it was able to stay mostly on the positive side of the ledger. Smith/Green/Johnson/Shallman showed some slivers of bright spots.
I think we will be OK.