Ace appreciation thread
No this isn’t Ace’s back up profile or his mom...So settle down. The dude puts in some serious work on the blog and on the podcast. He brings so much value and knowledge to this blog. The dude is entitled to an opinion of our crybaby fan base. He’s just saying what most of us fans are thinking. Ace my man you are an incredible asset to this place and I hope you are here for a long time.
We knew heading into this season it was going to be a rebuilding year, most of us thought 8-9 wins. But what we didn’t know was Wilt being a former shell of himself + injury and O’Korn being less than serviceable outside of Purdue. Enter Peters, who by all account managed the games well and started to connect with more than RBs and TEs. I think we saw a flash of the future before he was driven into the ground. Things will be okay. Things will get better. Harbaugh needs to shuffle some of his offensive coaching staff and continue to recruit the way he has since arriving in AA. It’s all good baby.
November 19th, 2017 at 1:31 PM ^
I don't think that "Fire Harbaugh, Bring in Mike Leach!" was even close to a common take on this blog, lol. I also don't think that saying that Harbaugh is "overrated" is some sort of stupid MLive take. We thought he was a top 5 coach in all of football when he got here and that he was our Urban/Saban. So, maybe we overrated him.
The vast vast majority of the posts on here were bitching about the program choking/not winning important games for the past 20 years. There was very little if any "Fire Harbaugh!!!111" stuff.
November 19th, 2017 at 1:50 PM ^
Michigan didn't "choke" yesterday, they lost to a better team. And again, for the 324th time, Urban's situation coming in is not comparable to Harbaugh. Harbaugh inherited the awful 2014 and 2015 classes. The jury is still out if he is "overrated".
November 19th, 2017 at 2:02 PM ^
Disagree. That Wisconsin team is not that good. Michigan was dominating the game for about 35-40 minutes but failed to capitalize on key opportunities and execute in key situations to build a lead. And then they failed at executing basic pass protection concepts which resulted in getting their QB knocked out, after which the team gave up.
That wasn't some epic talent and ability mismatch where we had no chance, but by the end we were getting blown out and going through the garbage time motions. Even if we were outmatched, you'd expect a top 5 coach to level the playing field by out-scheming the opponent. If anything, the opposite appeared to happen.
I agree that the Urban/Harbaugh scenarios aren't the same, so that Harbaugh shouldn't be held to the standard that Urban set his first couple of years at OSU. However, we aren't even within the same stratosphere of that, which makes me believe he is not at that level.
November 19th, 2017 at 2:08 PM ^
You honestly don't think Wisconsin's front 7 was a clear talent mismatch in respect to our O-Line? You don't think that the reason Michigan couldn't capitalize is because Michigan is inexperienced on offense, thus not that good? There are inexpereince in key positions, and inexperience means not as good.
You cannot "outscheme" a team on offense if your O-Line cannot hold a pass rush. You cannot "outscheme a team" if you cannot establish a running game. I know it sounds really good in your head that we lost because of being out-coached, but that is not the case.
Yes, we are not in the same strastosphere of OSU, because their incoming circumstances are not the same. Look at Michigan's 2014 and 2015 classes. Harbaughs 2016 and 2017 classes are in, but those players are Freshmen, RS Freshmen, and Sophomores. Guess what? Teams that young do not win.
November 19th, 2017 at 2:16 PM ^
I think this is dead on. Check out the experience discrepancies here:
Wisconsin's defensive depth chart:
DE: RS SR
NT: JR
DE: SR
OLB: RS SR
ILB: RS JR
ILB: RS JR
OLD: RS SR
CB: SR
SS: JR
FS: JR
CB: RS JR
Michigan's offensive depth chart:
QB: RS FR
RB: SO
FB: RS SR
LT: SR
OG: SO
C: RS SR
RG: SO
RT: RS JR
WR: FR
WR: JR
TE: RS FR
TE: RS SO
Wisconsin's offense may not be that great, but their defense is outstanding and absurdly experienced. Most of them will be gone next year.
November 19th, 2017 at 2:43 PM ^
Sure. Wisconsin's front 7 is better than our OL. But our Front 7 is better than Wisconsin's OL. They made 2nd-half adjustments and roadgraded our "elite" front 7 in the second half.
Every other team does it man. Wisconsin doesn't have a single top 30 recruiting class on this roster. Penn State has been a dominant offense while scheming around an absoutely horrible OL (which is worse than ours) for two years now. Hell they even managed to blow out our DL. MSU is coming off a 3-9 season and is literally just as young as us with way less talent. And yet they will have a better season.
Every other team in the country deals with adversity and has flaws. Great coaches can hide those flaws and win big games despite inadequacies. Michigan is the only "high-end' program in the B10 to not manage to do this.
Tired of excuses. If you're great you get results as we've seen with TONS of other programs. I don't think it's reasonable to expect Michigan this year to win the B10, but we have simply floundered and underachieved all year, getting our asses beat by any decent team we play.
November 19th, 2017 at 2:47 PM ^
They roadgraded our d-line because our defense was on the field for the entire second half, because of our inferior offense, which is inexperienced.
I am getting really frusturated with you and other people on this blog giving an incomplete picture of the circumstances that Michigan is in. Name me a team that wins a NC after losing 19 starters, OSU is the exception, not the rule.
I feel I am going to say something really rude, so I am going to stop this back and forth with you.
November 19th, 2017 at 3:00 PM ^
Their defense was on the field almost literally the entire first half. They only had 3 or so first downs in the first half. And yet we couldn't take advantage of tiring out their defense at all. It goes both ways man. The difference is Michigan couldn't take advantage and make plays.
I don't expect a national championship this year. I expected a competitive team that fell short in some tough road games because of coin flips and luck so that I could be excited for next year's potential.
That is not how this year shook out.
November 19th, 2017 at 5:17 PM ^
November 19th, 2017 at 2:03 PM ^
Right, any comparisons to Urban are insane. Jim Tressel did not stop coaching because of poor performance. He was winning 10-12 games every year and never failed to recruit top ten classes. Additionally, Urban was hired when he was "retired" and was able to fully devote an entire fall to bring in his first class.
Last year, Harbaugh's team was loaded with juniors and seniors and we barely missed the playoffs despite having a virtually empty depth chart at QB. This year? Who are our upperclassmen? We started 14/22 first or second-year players yesterday. All of those guys could have freshman eligibility right now. That level of inexperience on a starting lineup is unprecedented.
November 19th, 2017 at 2:05 PM ^
dude is a winner everywhere he ever coached and most of the places he played. he is not overrated, he is the best we could ever hope for and he will win here. importantly, he is much like beilein in his honesty and integrity. that is indeed the michigan difference.
November 19th, 2017 at 5:50 PM ^
November 19th, 2017 at 1:35 PM ^
November 19th, 2017 at 1:20 PM ^
All the Upvotes for the mgowriters. Y'all should have supplimental health insurance for having to read some of your own fans.
Keep it up fellas.
November 19th, 2017 at 1:27 PM ^
November 19th, 2017 at 1:33 PM ^
I like the insight, sense of humor, details, etc.
Since the Florida game, this has been a bummer of a season - minus the emergence of Peters.
No need to slaughter our own.
November 19th, 2017 at 1:37 PM ^
1. The defense remains good - not perfect but good despite losing Jabril Peppers.
2. We see real break away threats at RB - Karan HIgdon, Chris Evans and Ty Isaacs all have shown they can break a long run.
3. Heart - we don't see the team cracking up after adversity. We don't see a purple faced coach making things worse.
November 19th, 2017 at 1:59 PM ^
November 19th, 2017 at 1:38 PM ^
November 19th, 2017 at 1:39 PM ^
Here's to you, Ace, for all you do. MGoBlog Club Supports You!
November 19th, 2017 at 1:40 PM ^
November 19th, 2017 at 2:02 PM ^
November 19th, 2017 at 1:46 PM ^
November 19th, 2017 at 2:21 PM ^
November 19th, 2017 at 7:10 PM ^
November 19th, 2017 at 7:19 PM ^
8-4 was about the expectation level of most fans. A reasonable worst case scenario would have been something like 5-7 or 4-8.
November 19th, 2017 at 7:21 PM ^
I disagree. 8-4 was not the worst-case scenario. Assuming losses to PSU, MSU, Wisconsin, and OSU, there were still known dangers like Indiana and Florida. Florida was a toss-up game going into the season, and Indiana has given us trouble in recent years. Realistically, the floor was probably about 5-7. We will end up somewhere in the middle of reasonable expectations.
November 20th, 2017 at 10:08 AM ^
Take it up with Brian. He said that "barring extreme injury scenarios" 8-4 was the worse case scenario. I don't think we hit extreme injury scenarios, but it has been close. People were calling for Speight to be benched in September and thought O'Korn was the guy after the Purdue game.
http://mgoblog.com/content/preview-2017-heuristics-and-stupid-prediction
November 20th, 2017 at 10:59 AM ^
November 20th, 2017 at 12:59 PM ^
How about one where we trash our starting QB and clamor for the backup and then heap all kinds of praise on the backup after he comes in...
November 19th, 2017 at 2:11 PM ^
Ace. Love your stuff.
November 19th, 2017 at 2:16 PM ^
In all serousness though, the blog puts in a lot of work and you aren't going to get better writing and analysis of Michigan football from anyone who isn't named Brian Cook. That being said, Ace and Brian really go over the top with denigrating the fans. I don't see the point of the bigheaded, snarky remarks. Constant complaining about "my mentions" just make me roll my eyes... The worst thing about this program is not the fanbase. The worst thing about this program is it has lost 12 of 13 games to its supposed arch-rival :(
November 19th, 2017 at 10:26 PM ^
Ace and Brian, and others, maintain the quality level of a damn good free site. If it makes you roll your eyes, there are so many other choices out there.
It's not accurate for you to say they are "denigrating the fans." Not true. Anyone who uses their real name to fire back at anonymous attackers is not denigrating anyone.
November 19th, 2017 at 2:31 PM ^
November 19th, 2017 at 3:55 PM ^
November 19th, 2017 at 4:05 PM ^
So true ...
November 19th, 2017 at 9:05 PM ^
November 19th, 2017 at 6:09 PM ^
Thanks Ace!
November 19th, 2017 at 7:47 PM ^
November 19th, 2017 at 8:43 PM ^
November 20th, 2017 at 10:59 AM ^
Just wanted to say I was listening to the podcast and I am one of the mythical Michigan twitter fans that intentally didn't @ you. Don't lose faith, the fanbase isn't entirely made up of trolls.
November 21st, 2017 at 3:00 PM ^