M vs Utah, Friday Morning Snowflakes

We'll be fine. How many times does a coach come in to a middling team and makes them super in the first year?

Harbaugh's a great coach. Let's give him time and temper the expectations a bit. He's not a magician.

anyone else wonder if the WR could hove dove for the balls?

or i am still drunk?

As Ace put it in his game summary, Hoke doesn't wash off easily.  Harbaugh lost each of his opening games at all his other college stops, and things turned out OK.

I was shocked that Rudock missed at least two, probably three wide open WRs for what should have been touchdowns.  Historically he's not been an INT factory, so I'm guessing that will settle down over time.

We'll be fine.  It's happening.

Fuck

in years.  That's a spectrum I never want to be on, but, IMO, there really were a lot of positives last night.  Big mistakes will always cost you games, and that needs to be fixed.  I think it will.  But, I saw Michigan do a lot of little things that good teams do.  

I know I will be excited for every game this season.  I haven't felt that way the past several years and it killed me.  I have the feeling that the Michigan team we see in November would soundly beat the Michigan team we see in early September.  That development will be an enjoyable process to watch. 

there are some good plays in there on offense -- especially on those quick outside throws (minus the pick six, obviously).  The play where Perry cut blocks the CB was beautiful, it worked great the 2-3 times they threw it out there.  That looks like a much more reasonable play than expecting the slot guy to get out there and block the CB to the inside.  A few throws where Chesson was able to get 5-6 yards by just taking what the defense gave them.  Those plays are the ones that used to drive us nuts under Hoke, where it was just doomed from the start because defenders are right on the line or the blocking was just inept.  The WRs + Butt were much more promising than I expected.

As I said in another thread, the running game picked up slightly in the 2nd half, after being horrible in the 1st half.  I don't think this will ever be an elite OL that blows open huge holes that make it very obvious where the RB is supposed to go, so I like Smith's tenacity in this situation.  Did he miss some holes?  Sure.  But Smith makes sense based on what you have.

Rudock...what can anybody say that hasn't already been said.  He missed a lot of throws and it's disappointing to see our QB play in such a bad state that we just have to accept that because there's nobody better.  There is some incredible lack of talent at QB that neither Morris or Speight can do better than that.

Defense played great, I think.  If you told me they would give up 17 points for the game, I would have taken it in a heartbeat.  There was some sloppy defending and missed tackles out there, but they didn't just flat out blow coverages and give up huge plays.  Some promising play by Wormley in the first half and the run defense looks great.  Still no pressure on the QB, though, with just one sack.

I remember in 2013 when, through the first three weeks of the season, Michigan State's defense had scored more touchdowns than the offense, and MSU had look flat out bad against even worse competition. But they had good coaching and talented players and they improved every week. By the end of the season they were the team no one wanted to play.

Everything is there for Michigan. Even with the mistakes Michigan had every chance to win on the road against a good team. In the first game of the season.

I'm looking forward to watching the BYU game. That will be a good marker of how the team is improving, and hopefully we can get out of ooc play 3-1.

The Good:

- Recievers!  We have some.

- Pass pro looked for real.

- Second half Peppers on D and returns.

- D-Line.  Wormley should be renamed Pythonley.

- Aussie, Aussie, Aussie.  Oy, Oy, Oy! 

- Harbaugh was surprisingly well-mannered on the sidelines and post-game.

 

The Bad:

- O-Line.  Still a big work in process.  Seven years and counting . . . 

- RB.  Smith is great once he gets through the LOS, but it takes him forever to get there.  Drake Johnson, wherefore art thou?

- 1st half play calling. Very 27-27.

- Field goals.  He's right, he should have gone for it.

- D against the zone read spread.  Can we reschedule BYU?   

The Ugly:

- MGoBlog Server.  I had to go to MLive's Sparty troll-infested forum.  Yuck.  If MGoBlog can bring down an imperial AD it should be able to get a server that can handle more than a noon MAC game load.

Ruddock was the difference in the game, in my view.

He was mentally erratic (choking) in the first half. I'd seen enough before halftime and was calling for him to sit at least one series to calm his nerves.

We will never know whether or not Shane could have come in and been more effective. On the one hand, I understand not creating a QB controversy; but on the other hand, Ruddock was the weak link last night.

I love Jim Harbaugh. But sticking with Ruddock in this game hurt the team.

Two unanswered questions after watching the game:

1.  Deep Ball - Rudock hasn't proven at any time in his career that he can hit the deep ball, even occasionally.  If this continues to be a trend, every opponent from now on will put 10 in the box and dare the offense to go over the top.  This issue works hand-in-hand with the run game.  It's going to be harder for the OL to get any push and for the RBs to have big gains if opponents are constantly putting 10 in the box.  Effectively this means we have no chance against teams that have good LBs who can cover the short routes.

2.  LB Play - Just find it incredible that Michigan defenses are still highly vulnerable to any sort of spread offense.  The LBs are too slow in coverage and can't catch guys going to the edge.  Utah did this the entire night without much speed and without going deep.  I'm not sure this can be fixed except for maybe bringing the safeties closer.  Just a talent issue.  BYU with Taysom Hill is not looking very good right now. 

17-24 points thrown away last night: 1) 1st overthrow of Chesson 2) Missed FG 3) Pick-6 in the 4th quarter There's 17 points there. That tilts the score to 27-17 good guys. Then there's the very questionable 4th and 1 where we ran Smith up the middle for absolutely nothing. These mistakes were completely self-inflicted. Also, we've got a big problem on the interior of the line. I noticed on Rudock's sneak right before the ill-fated 4th and 1 that Braden got shoved 3 yards into the backfield. I wonder how the UFR is going to shake out for him.

Good point about the final touchdown. This game in many ways felt like ND 2012 where we made multiple turnovers and mistakes and still only lost by 2 to the eventual BCS runner up. (I still think 2012 was an under-appreciated season, but I digress.) 24-17 was universally in the range of most predictions, whether it was for Utah or UM to win. Saw lots of those, 24-20's, 28-24's, etc. So in a vacuum, in a first game on the road in what appeared to be a very hostile environment, with a new coaching staff (no matter how awesome), against a senior 4-year starter quarterback and a Heisman candidate — geez, I'm feeling a little better now. This is about what we should have expected, minus the INT's.

since last night's thread was so long, you probably wouldn't have missed out on seeing my thoughts, so..."

the frustration we feel this morning is based upon the fact that last night was a very winnable game. If a healthy Drake Johnson comes back, we'll see a productive running game again. If Jake can start finding the range with Chesson, we'll score enough points. Special teams are already light years ahead of last year, and the defense will improve each week. Reevaluating our schedule based upon actual game evidence, I now predict losses to BYU and OSU, but I saw enough last night to convince me we're going to be fine. What was most impressive was how Peppers got better in the second half, and the way we responded after going down 17-3 and then again after the pick-six. Mentally, the team appears tough and disciplined.

This is not a snowflake on the game, but rather on its effect on the fan base.

In Hoke's first year, we all ran around like nut jobs because we were winning games we had "no right to win". After losses, things were quiet because the ineptness was embarrassing.

This morning, I got two "Go Blue"s when I stopped for gas. Everyone seems satisfied with the game. They lost, but they had every right to win, rather than winning with no right.

I posted this morning there that given all the animated gifs of Harbaugh on the sideline as a crazyman, I was impressed with his demeanor on the sidelines. Especially after the picks. It was the Hoke-like, clappy, we'll get 'em next time nor the Brian Kelly purple monster. The arm around the shoulder leaning in gave the vibe of one QB talking to another about what went wrong, what he saw and how can it get better the next time.

I'm still drunk 

We can still win the big ten! *ducks*

The receivers and pass protection looked surprisingly good.  Until Drake Johnson comes back, we will need to pass to set up the run, instead of the other way around.  Two straight interior runs for 2 yards and then a third and 8 pass under pressure is not going to get it done.

Open it up . . . put Rudock in the shotgun more and let him hit his go-to short throws and get in a rhythm.

 

Obviously the most dissapointng aspect last night was Rudock.  They had 10 guys in the box and our WR's did get open deep and he just missed them, generally without pressure in his face.  He also got happy feet a couple times and bailed out of a perfectly sound pocket.  Deveon Smith got good yards after contact but has never seen a cut back he likes and that is a problem.

 

The thing I was most dissapointed with on the defensive was the handling of the read option, both by the players and coaches.  We were totally unprepared for it going into the game and never really adjusted either.  I'm a big fan of what the Ravens do to stop it.  Hit the QB every time.  You take away the reading part and have the unblocked guy hit the QB every time. Trust your defense to not give up more than 3 yards 10 on 10 and eliminate the threat of the QB running.  Just look at the TD run, the whole defense was flowing to the running back, if it had been a hand off would probably have been a 4 yard gain and a DE can generally take a QB on flat feet shuffling horizontally. If they just attack.

I saw a team that was prepared, tough on D and the moment wasn't too big for them. They could've easily packed up shop after the pick-6 but they kept on fighting. I liked what I saw especially on the road in a hostile environment.