The excuse of Age
One of the big things we have heard all year was how age would be a huge problem for this team. It's roundly said here and pretty much everywhere, and is also roundly decried by opposing fans from their coolers and farm yards. I was considering doing a breakdown on age and it's true effects, but before I wasted any of my time was curious if anyone had already done something similar. We saw a very young QB in GA and AL play in the national championship, but are those aberrations, or does age really have little to do with the outcome.
January 11th, 2018 at 10:34 AM ^
January 11th, 2018 at 2:18 PM ^
all our Freshmen will be 5 stars too. Until then we have to do this the hard way, growing experienced, skilled players who can execute with precision over several years.
Saban and Meyer get so many 5 stars because they have the rings.
January 11th, 2018 at 9:46 AM ^
QB1 Speight: 3-0. QB2 Peters: 2-1. QB3 O'Korn: 1-3. Combined start /finish: 2-1.
January 11th, 2018 at 9:54 AM ^
January 11th, 2018 at 10:36 AM ^
January 11th, 2018 at 10:48 AM ^
Yes, you get a hell of a lot more players at this level, but even at the h.s. level I had to install quick fix offenses from week to week when we'd get hit with someone we threw to 70% of the time, ran behind the same pct., ran the ball, threw the ball the same pct., etc. Shit happens that are quickly labeled debacles,but when looked at event by event, make a whole lot more sense. That in no way is a defense of the staff because I agree they made some head scratching decisions, but in hindsight I wouldn't want to fuck up a freshman qb that i might have been too high on when I recruited him.
January 11th, 2018 at 2:13 PM ^
Are you saying we changed the offense so much due to personnel changes? If we tweaked the offense to best suit our players from game to game I'd be ecstatic that we are able to adapt so well. Sadly I think we kept changing offensive schemes due to nothing working as well as we expected it to.
I think our injuries get overstated. Your number 1 QB going down is always huge but it has to be noted how much he was struggling before injury. Black getting hurt sucked before we knew what we had in him. Crawford and maybe Perry were dinged up at one point but neither were doing much anyway. Isaac going down isn't a huge loss as he was likely the 3rd best RB on the team. Walker also had and ankle thing I believe but again he was 3rd or 4th on the depth chart.
Also every team has to expect injuries every season. Maryland was on like their 5th string QB this season. Things could have gone much worse for us on the injury front.
January 11th, 2018 at 4:29 PM ^
QB1 Speight: 3-0. QB2 Peters: 2-1. QB3 O'Korn: 1-3. Combined start /finish: 2-1.
January 11th, 2018 at 9:47 AM ^
Dude, no research necessary. Age DEFINITELY matters. When I was 18, I could get it hard just by thinking about shit. Now it takes medication, 45 minutes of concerted effort, and oftentimes, videos featuring a woman with severe daddy issues...
January 11th, 2018 at 9:49 AM ^
And even after all that there are no guarantees
January 11th, 2018 at 10:15 AM ^
Nope, no guarantees. Sometimes I'm pushing more rope than a sailor
January 11th, 2018 at 10:25 AM ^
Hey man, this isn't a regular occurence. We're talking about, say maybe, a 10% failure rate. For airplanes, that's awful. For 40+ year old genitalia, that's not terrible!
January 11th, 2018 at 3:29 PM ^
January 11th, 2018 at 11:48 AM ^
January 11th, 2018 at 12:00 PM ^
I once lasted 4 hours doing nofap
#winning
January 11th, 2018 at 9:53 AM ^
January 11th, 2018 at 9:50 AM ^
Look at it this way: Michigan replaced 9-10 starters on defense (depending on how you classify Chase and Mo) and the defense didn't really look that much worse, except maybe the safeties.
The offense replaced a few guys on the OL and all receivers yet they couldn't find a rhythm all season.
January 11th, 2018 at 10:04 AM ^
Whereas on offense black and dpj are true freshmen and the offense evolved with the addition of pep and Frey.
January 11th, 2018 at 10:42 AM ^
January 11th, 2018 at 3:39 PM ^
MSU kicked 4 4* recruits off their team from the same class.
that is insane
January 11th, 2018 at 11:52 AM ^
January 11th, 2018 at 3:58 PM ^
Don Brown runs one hell of a college defense. By throwing multiple blitzes the opposing offense doesn't know where its coming from. It wouldn't work in the the NFL.
The problem is Harbaugh keeps running complicated NFL offense with college players, many being 1st and 2nd year players. Its not whats best for them.
January 11th, 2018 at 11:00 AM ^
"Look at it this way: Michigan replaced 9-10 starters on defense (depending on how you classify Chase and Mo) and the defense didn't really look that much worse, except maybe the safeties.
The offense replaced a few guys on the OL and all receivers yet they couldn't find a rhythm all season. "
in reading the above, you can add, qb to new wrs = new. That qb goes down, new qb who is throwing to another new wr because you're no. 1 went down = new again. He's soon replaced as well. = new. The TEs not mentioned are new. The RB that received the major number of carries last year is gone. There is a rotating door at RT. How in the hell is this supposed to resemble the offense of the year before, no matter how many spoons you try to stir that batter with? Oh yeah, the center......
January 11th, 2018 at 11:16 AM ^
That sounds kind of similar to OSU in 2014. Besides, Michigan rotated heavily at RB and it's not an acceptable to just say "well, a starter went down, so the season is in the tank." I really doubt the coaches look at it this way. Backups are expected to be ready when strarters go down.
January 11th, 2018 at 10:43 PM ^
January 11th, 2018 at 9:51 AM ^
January 11th, 2018 at 10:19 AM ^
Youth + talent = fine.
Youth + normal talent = not so fine.
Experience + normal talent = fine.
Experience + talent = superstar.
Maybe?
January 11th, 2018 at 10:31 AM ^
January 11th, 2018 at 9:56 AM ^
There's no magic bullet. Being old doesn't guarantee team success. Being an elite recruit doesn't guarantee team success. Georgia, Miami, Notre Dame, Florida, etc. have all struggled at times despite getting elite recruits.
It takes a combination of qualities to win the national championship. There's no single right answer.
January 11th, 2018 at 10:00 AM ^
Obviously both a re factors, but the OP wants to know if experience is a factor and it definitely is.
January 11th, 2018 at 10:53 AM ^
Right, but so is coaching, so is fan participation, so is access to proper nutrition, proper physical training, proper depth, good player leadership, injury prevention, etc.
January 11th, 2018 at 11:36 AM ^
Its a symphony, as Magnus alludes to. The conductor needs to be able to identify who is playing out of tune and correct it (by removal or instruction). The conductor has to have reign over every unit and assure cohesiveness.
It's on the conductor to get the music right.
January 11th, 2018 at 1:04 PM ^
What also comes with age is physical development. Many true freshman are not physically ready to compete in D1 football. You are a few months removed from high school and now you are competing agasinst grown-ass men that are a few months away from playing on Sunday.
January 11th, 2018 at 3:18 PM ^
Additionally, I would add that some youngsters develop faster than others; I would bet most 5 stars are advanced in physical development beyond their years..
January 11th, 2018 at 10:15 AM ^
January 11th, 2018 at 10:50 AM ^
This is the internet. There are many single right answers!
January 11th, 2018 at 9:58 AM ^
This board has become a dumpster fire of emo.
Yes, there have been several studies done and experience matters a lot. That's why Phil Steele and many other analysts reference it during season previews. For example South Carolina and Duke were teams that had horrendous seasons in 2016, but had massive amounts of players returning and they did well this year.
Injuries and experience matter a lot.
January 11th, 2018 at 9:58 AM ^
Bill C. does a pretty good breakdown of this every year and has come to find the same trend. On offense the hardest thing to replace is receiving production, which we had to do. Surprisingly, he found that both the OL and DL are easy to replace relative to WR and the secondary. He found that WR experience actually matters more than QB experience. FWIW he found that LB and RB are the easiest to replace.
January 11th, 2018 at 9:58 AM ^
January 11th, 2018 at 10:53 AM ^
January 11th, 2018 at 12:34 PM ^
Michigan simply needs better recruits. Harbaugh can only do so much but it's up to the kids to execute on Satruday. Urbz and Saban are great coaches but they are better recruiters and the kids on Alabama and Ohio State are just better athletes.
January 11th, 2018 at 10:01 AM ^
January 11th, 2018 at 10:05 AM ^
January 11th, 2018 at 10:06 AM ^
age matters.
No, we are not Alabama.
Georgia had a ton of experience.
January 11th, 2018 at 10:10 AM ^
January 11th, 2018 at 10:11 AM ^