Early M v. Utah preview at SB Nation
Ok, this is a bit early but still welcome--actual football content and analysis in July, from SB Nation, with x's and o's and attempts at predicting Harbaugh's approach in the game.
http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2015/7/21/8951765/michigan-uta…
"Some of the talent Hoke recruited might finally be experienced enough to find answers against the kinds of teams that have given Michigan fits, teams with perhaps lesser athletes but sounder systems. Utah has been that kind of team."
I think it missed the fact that our OL should be taking a huge step forward this year. But maybe I'm a little biased.
I think the OL took a huge step torwards the end of last year even. Last couple games and especially against osu you could see the improvement. We did an above average job running the ball against osu. Hopefully that carries and grows into this year.
Johnson helped. I look forward to his emergence more than any other player.
I agree. I dont know how much the line improved as the year moved on as much as a running back who actually hit holes hard appeared on the field. I find it hard to believe that within 1-2 weeks the OL made such a leap - it seemed the same blocking schemes that were mostly not working for Smith and Hayes early Oct "worked" in late October for Johnson.
Yeah, I agree . . . I think a lot of it has to do with Johnson's running style. He's quick, he's slippery, he has a little wiggle at the point of attack, and he can squirt through holes that are only open for a half-second. it plays to the strength (or weakness) of our O-Line.
OSU really had no answer for him. I am convinced to this day that if he had stayed in the game, we would have won.
I hope he returns this year fully healthy and stays that way. He could be a surprising difference maker at RB the way Hart and Morris were.
especially considering that sacks are factored into rushing totals. It was comparable to our 2006 team. It all comes down to the QB play. If our QB can keep teams honest our running game should be even better.
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
Booker is going to be interesting. IMO he will be the 2nd best rb we face all year and last year when teams wanted to run on us (and were good at it - Minn, MSU, OSU) they could pretty much at will. Our rush D was great against mediocre to average rush offenses and last year Utah was not that good early but Booker exploded as the season went by. After the UM game Booker went off for 150+ in 4 of the next 5 as he grabbed the starting role.
Not as worried about Wilson - he is a bottom end P12 QB (would be middle tier in Big 10) but it will be interesting to see how we do against their rush offense.
Orchard is a huge loss for Utah - cannot even imagine someone getting 18.5 sacks in a P5 conf but the fans seem very high on Dimick who had 10 himself. Must be nice to have so many guys who are sack heros.
As for offense it's just a mystery on our side. Guys like Kalis and Ben B just need to take a step up and be better than average. Cole and Graham I am confident in, everyone else is still a mystery. Even with the "improvement" last year UM OL still ranked #50 in football outsiders ranking - for comparison BYU was #7 two years ago and an injury wrecked unit last year still finished #18. Ohio State had to rebuild an OL almost completely from scratch and finished #2. Even Utah was #42 and their offense was very simple and limited last year.
As I wrote in comments in my BYU preview as I watched Utah v UM last year I saw a team that was well coached, whose talent was solid but not great but whose sum better than it's parts... then I saw Hoke's team across from it. Can't wait to see that crap change.
Utah played Wash St, UCLA, Ore St and USC in their next 4 games.
Michigan ended the year ranked 15th in rush defense.
Wash St. - 40th
UCLA - 42nd
Ore St. - 51st
USC - 26th
Was his explosion the product of playing mediocre rushing defenses?
There are 128 teams so I dont consider teams whose rush defense was 30-40th rank to be mediocre. Once you get to the 60s you could be a "meh" defense and 80s and higher below average to poor.
The Pac 12 defenses as a whole will be ranked lower because you know - they have a plethora of guys who can actually throw the football and do so at will. Line up all the Pac 12 QBs last year vs Big 10 QBs and its sad once you get past Cook and (any OSU QB). Hack had a horrid year, Devin had a horrid year so you are talking Gary Nova as the next best QB - meanwhile the Pac 12 has 9 guys better than Nova.
The Pac 12 offenses hurt Pac 12 defense rankings just like Big 10 offenses help Big 10 defensive rankings. I did a whole piece on this few months ago.
http://mgoblog.com/diaries/are-big-10-defensive-stats-inflated-bad-offe…
UM had a good rush defense but when push camed to shove against good rush offenses it flailed. It did what it needed to do against mid tier and lower rush offenses.
On paper our o-line is just as good as OSUs and with more experience, but offensive production is another story. That makes me believe either coaching has a lot to do with it and/or our offensive problems are more complex than the o-line. We have inexperience/unproven players at QB, RB, and WR as well. While OSU had questions on o-line, they had talent everywhere else. If we had Barrett, Elliot, Thomas, and Smith and ran OSU's offense would our o-line look just as bad?
I liked this. They seem to be a bit more charitable toward Michgan than some writers. I still think Michigan gets "sleeping giant" status and that having a real offense with no meddling from an unqualified AD will make Michigan finally look like the teams Brady Hoke recruitied.
There are plenty of four and five stars on this team who are aching to prove that they weren't "overrated." You can bet your ass that Harbaugh will put them in the position to do just that.
He will, but can he do it soon enough?
When you actually compress the time, he will only be spending a fairly small amount of hours with the team before Sep 3rd. He's not going completely trnasform them in that amount of time.
What he has to work with is the team we saw at the Spring Game + a few new faces. That's hardly a juggernaut to be molded into a coherent efficient team in about a month.
HARBAUGH! and all, but this will take some time.
Please, no September freakouts.
The main thing I am expecting Harbaugh will do, though, is take what was basically a soft team under Hoke and make them hard. Other B1G coaches have done that in a single off-season. John L Smith's MSU team was all bitches in 2006; Dantonio came in, and suddenly they were a hard-nosed team in 2007. Tressel's 2001 team wasn't very good, but played much harder and nastier than the John Cooper teams that preceded it. Gary Barnett, Barry Alvarez, and Kirk Ferentz also came into emasculated programs and immediately made them more vigorous, even if it may have taken a while for that to translate into wins on the field.
I am not convinced M has enough talent at the skill positions or DE to win the B1G this season, but I do think we'll see much tougher, more puissant squad emerge from the tunnel in game one. I think a single offseason is enough to instill that mentality.
a soft team under Hoke and make them hard
You're right, I could have done much better.
What I most expect Harbaugh to do is take what was a flaccid, impotent team under Hoke and transform them into a virile, penetrating unit--rigid in temperment, if supple in their approach.
Much better.
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
This is getting more intimate than football usually does, but I think this might have something to do with that knuckle in the center of the asshole we've heard about.... jus sayin....
The NCAA should really allow us some extra practice time to make up for the last 7 years of suck.
They owe it to us for fucking us at every other opportunity.
My concern is our offensive skill players just don't seem to have panned out. Morris already seems like a big question mark. Our other big recruiting gets at the skill positions are Green, Harris, and Cole. Green also seems like a big question mark, Harris has not shown he can get healthy, and Cole is a true freshman. I like Butt, but he's not enough. The rest of the offensive skill players are not really 4 and 5-star guys, but are more role players. I'm concerned there are no real playmakers on offense.
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
I have been waiting for an opportunity to use my SSI decoder wheel again.
I'm reading this at work and can't be snickering out loud.
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
I think they'll have an "ah ha" moment too, but asking for it to come the first game of the season may be too tall an order.
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
is still worlds better than middle of the road B1G team. Pac-12 was and still is the best conference in the country.
Satisying "ah ha" moments for me would be:
1) Eleven players on the field (and the right ones) at all times
2) Back-up QB having his fucking helmet on, ready to go
I never had an "ah-ha" moment in my life, but I have had a "Cha-Cha" moment.
#Cha-ChaRealSmooth.
Rice-Eccles is a tough place to play...fans will be very jacked up for that game. Going to be very interesting but I dont expect us roll them at all.
I just cant wait to see Jimmy on the damn sidelines coaching his ass off and yapping in those refs ear.
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
Am I the only one that hates previews that dont come with a prediction? Seems like the whole point of a preview (to me anyways) is to give the reader an idea of what the writer thinks is going to happen and why. And then at the end they need to make their call as to the final score so I can agree (if they're picking Michigan) or think they are biased idiots (if they pick someone else).
Is that so much to ask?
Sent from MGoBlog HD for iPhone & iPad
The main difference being that we now have coaches that know how to coach both offense and defense.
Also Rudock.
The only good unit in '08 was the defense. The OL was a mess along with the QB and RR coaching by going directly to the spread without spread players.
This season Rudock will be much better than the two we had in'08. Heck even Morris could play better. I'm more optimistic about this season though we could lose this one on the road. In my own season projections I have UT penciled in as a loss but it would not surprise me if Harbaugh could pull out a victory in this game.
""...teams with perhaps lesser athletes but sounder systems."
Probably could have just gone with, "teams with perhaps lesser athletes but systems."
"...systems that include having 11 players on the field."