How good is Michigan? ESPN Insider conducted an anonymous survey of coaches
Not sure how much of paywalled stuff I can put here so I will just leave the link
The expectations for Year 1 of the Harbaugh era are being rapidly revised. Can Michigan challenge rivals Ohio State and Michigan State in the Big Ten East Division? How much should we buy into the past four weeks, as Michigan has defeated only one opponent (BYU) with a winning record? What's Michigan's ceiling this year, and what could stop the Wolverines from reaching it?
We asked coaches who have faced Michigan -- or soon will in the Big Ten -- to assess Harbaugh and the Wolverines as they prepare for their Big Ten home opener against No. 13 Northwestern. Coaches were granted anonymity in order to speak freely.
October 7th, 2015 at 7:50 AM ^
October 7th, 2015 at 6:41 AM ^
We asked ten B1G coaches what their finger smells like. You'll never guess what happened next.
October 7th, 2015 at 6:50 AM ^
+1 I laughed
October 7th, 2015 at 8:03 AM ^
October 7th, 2015 at 8:09 AM ^
October 7th, 2015 at 10:26 AM ^
where is the fucking link, man? I can't take it...
October 7th, 2015 at 6:47 AM ^
optimistic or maybe the word is not getting overhyped yet. I've said this in a few other threads, while the defense still looked good against Maryland, it looked like they found some weaknesses in it but just were so bad they couldn't exploit it. I believe the run defense is for real, my concern lies with the secondary still and our linebacker's in coverage. I think a team that makes our LB's move from sideline to sideline a lot could give us trouble.
The other thing is I feel like our offense is going to eventually put so much pressure on our defense. Particularly over the next two games, Rudock has to he good. I want to see him hit one deep. That being said, I know Coach Harbaugh knows Rudock is limited and will call plays that get TE's and some of the WR's open fairly quickly allowing Rudock to make quicker and easier passes. We saw incredible play-calling against BYU that allowed Rudock to use his strengths and made him look pretty good, I expect the same in the next two weeks, except it will be tougher defenses. Rudock will have to play well because I worry, particularly against MSU, we won't be abe to run the ball worth a shit and Rudock will force things and make mistakes...that's why I am hesitant against MSU. We know they will probably play their best game of the year against us.....Against NW, I think our defense will be slightly better and we'll win like 12-10 or 13-6....MSU still scares me. Like others have said, we will learn a lot in the next two weeks.
October 7th, 2015 at 7:27 AM ^
October 7th, 2015 at 7:22 AM ^
I keep hoping this is a repeat of the 1997 season (minus the Utah loss). Defense is shutting everyone down and the offense is progressing slowly. Greise couldn't hit a long ball to save his life that year until the end. Rudock could progress the same way.
October 7th, 2015 at 7:38 AM ^
October 7th, 2015 at 7:43 AM ^
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October 7th, 2015 at 9:37 AM ^
When you gain about 120 yards vs Maryland and have 6 points in the first half, you have work to do. When you can't get a first down on UNLV in the third quarter, you have work to do. This team still has a lot of work to do. Fortunately, they can make me and A LOT OF OTHERS around the country believers in the next two weeks. \
Unfortunately, they could also be 4-3 after the next two weeks if the offense is not ready to go. We'll see what happens. I'll admit to being wrong if we take down Northwestern and Sparty.
October 7th, 2015 at 10:24 AM ^
People act as if good or effective offenses score on every drive. They don't. Especially in this offense. The strategy to wear down defenseses, control the ball and manage field positon while probing the opposition's defense until it breaks.
October 7th, 2015 at 11:42 AM ^
Mostly agree. I'd like to see the offense find some consistent balance betwen first half BYU and first half Maryland.
October 7th, 2015 at 10:34 AM ^
1997 Griese >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Rudock.
1997 Griese was an NFL quality Quarterback. Rudock has very little chance of playing in the NFL. That is the biggest difference between the teams.
Griese in 1997: 193-307 (62.9%) 17 TD, 6 INT. And we had a very thin WR corp that year.
Rudock this year: 89-148 (60.1%) 5 TD 6 INT. And the completion % is buyoed with more screens than our offense did in 1997 if I remember, though I do think Griese threw short a reasonable amount in 1997.
That's a BIG difference for the offense.
October 7th, 2015 at 10:13 AM ^
Our offense in 1997 only scored above 30 points three times the entire season. Against Baylor (not today's Baylor), Indiana, and Penn St (where we went in and just destroyed them in every stage of the game). This is a HUGE if, but if our defense shuts teams down all year like in 97 and our offense continues to progress, this may be a special season. No one thought we were that good in 1997 either. I agree though... in two weeks this may be a totally different conversation.
October 7th, 2015 at 7:47 AM ^
Good enough with a large and weathly fan base so that internet media gets lots of clicks if they write anything about Michigan.
October 7th, 2015 at 10:21 AM ^
to the results of an anyonymous coach's poll. And since we only get so many weeks of college football I welcome articles about my team. I am confident in my own ability to discern hyperbole and form my own opinoion. Hence, I don't get the venemous backlash about articles saying we are good. Lighten up Francis and enjoy!
October 7th, 2015 at 7:48 AM ^
A lot of the hype on Harbaugh is that he's a Bo guy that's looking to over power you at the point of attack with Man Baw. "You know what I'm going to run, I'm just going to beat you."
I don't see it that way at all. Through formations, motion, and play selection I see it as a power style but using a spread mindset of constantly creating and exploiting matchups.
It’s sort of like inverting the spread where we don’t spread the field to exploit match-ups, instead we bunch you up at the line-of-scrimmage and exploit matchups. Those long plays that you see as lucky strikes I see as a boxer landing the left hook that’s open in round 3 because of the body blows landed in rounds 1-2. No fluke.
October 7th, 2015 at 8:09 AM ^
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October 7th, 2015 at 8:46 AM ^
He just runs the offense that takes advantage of the abilities of his best players. That's hard to understand in an era of system coaches in college.
Also, look at the TD's against Maryland. They were on creative plays with motion and were set up by prior plays, not runs up the middle where we ran over the opponent.
October 7th, 2015 at 9:14 AM ^
He moved Poggi to offense and is actually using all his FBs a lot. He's starting the most physical of the RBs. And those TEs weren't blocking very well in the past. Another coach might have moved one of the DBs and Bunting to WR, started a RB that he could also split out (Isaac) and played a completely different style with the same roster. It'd be easy to imagine that Butt might be the only FB/TE seeing a lot of snaps.
October 7th, 2015 at 10:17 AM ^
pre snap motion. Soon they will be able to go Stanford Orange Bowl on opponents.
October 7th, 2015 at 8:24 AM ^
October 7th, 2015 at 8:41 AM ^
October 7th, 2015 at 9:00 AM ^
October 7th, 2015 at 11:08 AM ^
Let's not be precise here.
October 7th, 2015 at 9:05 AM ^
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October 7th, 2015 at 8:49 AM ^
And I mean that in the best way possible. It's obvious we are well-coached, everyone is on the same page, and this start feels sustainable in a way the other recent ones did not. The team is improving each week, when we make mistakes we don't often repeat them, and we have a physical presence that's been absent for a while.
It wouldn't shock me if we lost to Northwestern, or MSU, or OSU. However, I am confident we won't get manhandled and bullied as MSU has done to us in the past few years. We have a really good defense, know what we're about on special teams, and our offense is decent with a chance to improve to above average. You can win a lot of football games that way...
October 7th, 2015 at 9:09 AM ^
October 7th, 2015 at 9:43 AM ^
And if they were smart enough to start Griese instead of Rex......I think they win that SB and Peyton ends up with zero SB wins.
October 7th, 2015 at 8:58 AM ^
October 7th, 2015 at 9:08 AM ^
October 7th, 2015 at 10:05 AM ^
Be 1-0 each week.
October 7th, 2015 at 10:11 AM ^
don't give them a fucking cent. Instead, spread the content freely. Fuck them.
October 7th, 2015 at 10:12 AM ^
That was interesting to read from the coaches, but not much different than many fan opinions. I did wonder about the identity of the coach who said:
"When you put their style of play and how it's coordinated, it's going to give them a chance against every opponent that they play. I've seen their schedule and who they're going to play, and Michigan State and Ohio State, if Michigan's defense plays the way I think it can, who knows?"
October 7th, 2015 at 10:14 AM ^
These are your official notices:
1. HARBAUGH is good.
2. Media is following HARBAUGH closely.
3. Other coaches realize HARBAUGH is good.
October 7th, 2015 at 12:34 PM ^
"Harbaugh is washed up," said one Sun Belt coach. "My sources say he's leaving for the NFL next week anyway."
"He can't motivate," said a husky former coach turned radio host. "He doesn't clap enough."
"Sure, they beat Oregon State, but you have to remember that Oregon State stinks," said a former Wisconsin coach we'll call ... Gary ... A. (to protect his anonymity ... no no wait, that's too obvious) ... we'll go with "G. Andersen."
"Their defense is OK but their offense is sluggish," said an offensive guru coaching in the B1G West division.
"We were tired, banged up, had our worst game of the year, and we still shut them out in the 2nd half. In the 1st half the breaks just went their way," said a coach of a Major Independent located in the west.
"They were much tougher to beat than Oregon was for us. But then again, Oregon isn't tough to beat unless you're -- for instance -- a mediocre team looking for a 'signature' win."
"I will send you the answer to your question re: Michigan via my personal e-mail," said one division rival coach. Follow-up questions were not returned.
"We're just laying in the weeds," one rival coach scowled. "Like a rotting, maggot-infested corpse."
October 7th, 2015 at 1:48 PM ^
If De'Veon Smith and Drake Johnson stay healthy, I can see them being a pretty big problem for a defense. With both of them taking turns running the ball they could wear down a defense. I think this team will rely on both of them to move the ball for us and only ask Rudock to throw the ball a few times. In my opinion this is how we will win games this season. Johnson looked good on Saturday and I think he is a big key to this teams future success this season.
I'm not sure if we are good enough for the playoff. It's still a little early to go down that road. It is great to have positive news coming out about the program. The attitude has changed and you can tell with the way these games are being played.
This weekend will be a good test for offense.