Godzilla Ate The Bridge
12/31/2021 – Michigan 11, Georgia 34 – 12-2, Big Ten Champions, season over
When you travel almost the breadth of a continent to go to a football game you want to win that game pretty badly. Failing that, you'd like to watch a game that's worth watching. You know, goes into the fourth quarter competitive, sort of thing.
This game was not that.
It in fact took one play for me to think "that's a bad sign"—Georgia ripped off a nine-yard chunk on the ground from their first play from scrimmage—and then various tight ends and running backs got isolated against Michigan linebackers in ways everyone had been extremely afraid of going into the game. One of Michigan's more productive first half plays was a flea-flicker on which both guys downfield were comprehensively blanketed and McNamara had to check down. Jordan Davis tracked down Blake Corum on a zone stretch. Nakobe Dean got stuck in man to man coverage on a Corum swing pass; my brain anticipated fireworks when I saw that and instead got a two-yard TFL.
[After THE JUMP: adios, season]
That latter was the resignation point for myself.
This is like playing a defense with Devin Bush, Jabrill Peppers, and fucking Godzilla on it all at the same time https://t.co/nlMi0CY2Wa
— mgoblog (@mgoblog) January 1, 2022
When Blake Corum can't get one yard on a scheme win swing pass, it's time to get a boat and some straw and a bow so we can put this season on the pyre of honored dead. In the span of two games Michigan has beaten Iowa so comprehensively that a two-score lead was all she wrote and also been Iowa. The score wasn't quite the same but when Michigan got stopped early in the second quarter and kicked a field goal, it was 17-3 and also game over.
And, like, okay. The Vegas over/under for wins this season was 7.5. Virtually everyone predicted 6-6 or 7-5; I spent most of the year refusing to contemplate the possibility they would beat Ohio State, let alone bludgeon them with four second-half touchdowns that barely required a passing attempt. The way the year ended leaves a sour taste in your mouth, but in the same way eating chocolate does.
When this season is remembered, its end will be a minor footnote. Michigan is not on the level of a Georgia team that's recruited like Alabama and has an insane peak roster year. Michigan just joined the ranks of pretty much everyone outside the usual suspects:
CFP semifinal games on New Year’s Eve:
— Steve Helwick (@s_helwick) January 1, 2022
2015 Clemson 37, Oklahoma 17
2015 Alabama 38, Michigan State 0
2016 Alabama 24, Washington 7
2016 Clemson 31, Ohio State 0
2021 Alabama 27, Cincinnati 6
2021 Georgia 34, Michigan 11
None have ever been decided by fewer than three scores.
They did that without the kind of quarterback who can overcome stacked decks (if JJ McCarthy is that, he's going to be that down the road, not as a scantily-deployed true freshman). They did that after entering the season wondering if their back seven would be able to check anyone, if their new defensive coordinator was going to be able to install anything coherent, if their coach's new contract was an invitation to get fired after the Nth consecutive loss to Ohio State.
Going in, you have hope, otherwise you would not have flown over most of a continent. When that hope is exposed as ill-founded, the many and diverse pleasures of the season up to that point do not go away. They remain there, eliminating annoying takes and bathing you in a warm feeling of reward, finally, for sticking around in whatever capacity you managed to. To better days.
A NOTE
I'm in Miami for a couple additional days and more in-depth programming can wait until then. Thank you to everyone who's made this place possible, from Tim, Paul, and Ace to Seth and Alex. Thank you to our photographers Patrick, Bryan, and Marc-Gregor, and Raj and Bryan, and to the athletic department people who have suffered our foolishness for extended periods of time. Thank you to our readers, who are the financial backbone behind a truly remarkable, independent internet writing endeavor. See you soon.
January 1st, 2022 at 1:17 PM ^
Appreciate this epilogue to FB2021 and you and the team's hard work all year. I hope I'm in the stands when this BIG10 championship team gets invited back in 20 years to a home game and gets thunderous applause at the Big House.
January 1st, 2022 at 1:17 PM ^
Thanks, Brian. Win or lose, I always look forward to your write-ups.
January 1st, 2022 at 6:30 PM ^
I find the last paragraph intriguing. Is Brian feeling sentimental on New Years Day thanking co-workers past and present? Or is Brian looking to his future which may not include doing what he's been doing.
Either way, Brian has accomplished something special that we have been privileged to partake in. Whatever the future may bring Brian and all the rest of us, may it be one with peace, happiness and fulfillment.
Happy 2022 everyone!
January 2nd, 2022 at 7:14 PM ^
No doubt Brian has had a tough year but I'm so happy he was able to enjoy this game, and this season. Now isn't the time to leave; I assume HTTV sales next year will set records.
January 1st, 2022 at 1:21 PM ^
The game reminded me of this saying ( I'm probably getting it wrong in detail) about how coming up against someone much bigger than yourself makes you simultaneously feel much smaller than you really are.
In truth there's just a huge talent gap between teams like Michigan and your modern day behemoths enriched by near annual playoff participation. We're really just making the same experience teams like Notre Dame or even MSU made when they got into the playoffs.
It also - in a roundabout way - shows that we're still a good bit away from parity with Ohio State. Ohio State is the one non-Southern team that has shown its ability to occasionally vanquish those super teams.
There's much left to do - the win this year in Ann Arbor was really just the first step on the ladder rather than the 'arrival' that perhaps the more enthusiastic parts of the fanbase imagined it to be.
January 1st, 2022 at 2:15 PM ^
I think there were simultaneous problems among both players and the schemes employed by the coaching staff. Hopefully, Harbaugh, Gattis, MacDonald, and the others are much more learned about what they must do in a future game against the likes of Georgia, et. al. That M was burned so badly by Georgia makes no sense in the aftermath of what happened to Ohio State and Iowa. There have also been similar results in some Rose Bowl games in the past. But the past is past. Look to the future!
January 1st, 2022 at 11:33 PM ^
That M was burned so badly by Georgia makes no sense in the aftermath of what happened to Ohio State and Iowa.
Yes it does. I think Ohio State would have performed better but still lost, but that's just because of how they match up (the key to beating Georgia is a high-powered passing attack, as Alabama demonstrated). Iowa would have been absolutely crushed by Georgia. I'm talking Rutger-type crushed.
The difference was that we are a very good team that has strengths and weaknesses. The Georgia defense has strengths and extra-strengths.
We're still the third best team in the country this season. There just happens to be a pretty big gap between 1-2 and 3. How we feel now is pretty much how Iowa fans felt after the B1G championship game.
January 3rd, 2022 at 10:05 AM ^
You're spot on. I'll also add that we had such a cinderella season, it's hard to recalibrate after all of our goals were accomplished.
This team was wholly focused on beating Ohio State and Winning the big ten. This team just wasn't prepared to take the next step yet.
The major difference every year is OSU makes that effort to go to the National championship.
Our sites are focused on that now. Especially after hearing Blake Corum as he left the field.
January 1st, 2022 at 3:15 PM ^
David beat Goliath against OSU. Us in the playoffs this year was David trying to go best of three against Goliath, when he knew what was coming. The odds were really slim due to the talent gap. It would have required our best performance and some big breaks/bounces. We got neither.
Still a great season and the future is bright. Go Blue!
January 1st, 2022 at 3:47 PM ^
Fwiw, I think there are about three versions of David vs Goliath in a row in Chronicles 2. So there is mythical precedent on our side.
January 3rd, 2022 at 12:38 AM ^
I agree. It's going to be difficult to win three straight of these types of games unless UM fixes this somehow:
January 1st, 2022 at 4:54 PM ^
The danger is thinking we "caught up" because we beat OSU once. Auburn beats Bama every so often (more often than UM beats OSU that's for sure) - hell they were a guy staying in bounds away from beating them a month ago. And still Auburn is mostly a nothingburger in the big picture ex having a transcendent QB that one time. There is a gap still - we were in a rivalry game - at home, with a perfect group of outside ends to cause havoc in OSU scheme. So even with their 3 super hero WRs we were able to take the day as their defense is nothing like Georgia or Bama this year. We played nearly perfect that game. That rarely happens in a season - see PSU week just before.
UM just does not recruit the same so without having the same recruiting (which without UM going haywire in the NIL which they look like they have no interest in) it will need to be the Clemson model here to take the next and final step. That is "very good but not top 3 classes stacked on top of each other" and a Lawrence or Watson type at the helm.
Those models leave little room for error. Bama Georigia and OSU can play their B to B+ game and get away with it most of the time. Even in a semifinal game. We cannot. Need to play nearly flawless and hope the other team has a bad day. Yesterday Georgia played an A to A+ game and even with our A game there is just a difference in athletes. Now imagine Georgia with one of the elite QBs at the helm. That was them with a "game manager" (who was great last night) surrounded by 19 five stars and a crap load of 4s as well.
Talent matters in the end. Seeing their 360 lb DT catch up to our RBs in 6-8 yard space and then Nakobe Dean go hash to hash like Carl Lewis. It's just damn. You can scheme away from 1-2 of those guys - but not 8.
We still need to upgrade the skill positions - we have nice players. We don't have that first round talent that is gushing out at these schools.
With that said, this is the current landscape. The championship is for 3-4 teams in the country really at this point (and LSU can be thrown in there if they ever put it together) Everyone else is realistically playing for the 4th spot and a bludgeoning. See Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Oregon, and the rest. At this point IMO Michigan has pretty much done what they can do and at their peak (and everyone else's peak aside from those at the top of the country club).
January 1st, 2022 at 5:57 PM ^
Yes UGA was big and fast, but people need to calm down and re-watch that play where Dean tracks down Corum. Corum is NOT running full speed and has to throttle down considerably to take the swing pass from McNamara. Meanwhile, during that whole throttle-down process, Dean is sprinting all-out to where he knows the ball is going.
Blake Corum is faster than Nakobe Dean. Period.
The biggest reason Michigan looked so shitty last night is because they had no fire. They had that fire against OSU and Iowa. It's hard to manufacture that type of fire. Georgia had that fire after being embarrassed by Alabama and suddenly everyone questioning whether or not they're frauds.
Michigan spent the last 4 weeks doing TV interviews and hearing how amazingly great they are.
January 1st, 2022 at 8:26 PM ^
No fire is such a crock of bad excuse. Michigan played with intensity. They simply got outclassed. Simple as that.
January 3rd, 2022 at 9:43 AM ^
I think it was pretty obvious that Michigan couldn't match Georgia's talent on the field. That's not all she wrote though.
On top of that, our players did not come to play like we expect. OL false starting - including the center... Receivers dropping balls. RBs fumbling. Gray mentally reverting back to 2020. Green reverting back to 2020 with the multiple PI (that only didn't get called out of pity).
Gattis called this game like it was just another B1G game. We never attempted to establish the run, and it was a very vanilla running game at that. A month of prep and we get a couple schemed passing plays and far too many attempts to edge Nakobe Dean. (Idk how many times we've seen this blog write "Cackle with knowing Glee if x team tries to edge Peppers, Bush, or Dax Hill" - then here we are doing exactly that to "Devin Bush but faster".
We get the ball back with just under 4 mins to play in the half. Defense is doing what it needs to and forcing red zone FGs from Georgia. Michigan has a chance to flip momentum by scoring as we head into the half and then get the ball to start the 3rd. It was our chance to get back in the game and after a month of prep we had zero answers. The next 6 drives go:
3 and out
Interception
Interception
Fumble
Turnover on Downs
Turnover on Downs - a pass 4 yards behind the LOS on 4th & Goal from the 5 '___'
We weren't simply outclassed. We were outclassed, and we didn't bring our best game. That's a bit disappointing, but not disappointing enough to cast a cloud over a wonderful season. I'll remember the feeling of standing in the Big House as we beat OSU 42-27 for the rest of my life.
January 1st, 2022 at 11:56 PM ^
That is such a sports radio take. What makes Mgoblog so great is that, with the use of video, diagrams, and articulate writers, they are able to cover the sport without gibberish such as "fire."
Motivation can certainly be a factor, but if participating in a playoff for a championship doesn't motivate you, what can? Unlike in sports movies, in real life all the motivation in the world often isn't even close to enough.
January 2nd, 2022 at 8:48 AM ^
I think motivation is definitely a factor, even in a playoff game, and you need look no further than to players, who consistently talk about those factors being important.
I'm not saying we didn't have "fire," but I suspect that the team had the same correct attitude that we all had going into this game, "the season is a huge success no matter what happens against GA." Meanwhile GA's attitude was "we are going to show everyone that Bama was a fluke," and also, importantly, to GA a loss to us would have made the season a failure. Those are two very different attitudes going into a game.
We lost because GA is more talented than us, full stop. But I suspect the result would have been closer and more to our liking if the teams were in more similar mindsets for example, if GA would have beaten Bama.
January 2nd, 2022 at 9:03 AM ^
No "fire"? I suppose, in keeping with similar lazy sports-talk thinking, the logical excuse is to "sit them down for a while."
January 2nd, 2022 at 1:09 AM ^
I agree with caup and I swear I watched a different game than some people. Dean was fast, but Jordan Davis did not run down Corum. The left guard let him right through, practically untouched. Re-watch the play. The Michigan players looked flat and there were quite a few individual screw-ups where 10 guys did their job and 1 guy let up a big play. I didn’t care for the first half play calling, and then we had to throw a bunch in 2H, but at least the D stepped up in 2H. I think that bullshit no-call PI really killed any chance of a comeback. The CB completely mauled Wilson and I couldn’t believe that wasn’t called. I’m sure the players felt the same way. These were my takes and I saw a very prepared UGA team grab a big lead and Michigan was totally off their game afterward.
January 2nd, 2022 at 9:25 AM ^
Shit post. -1
January 2nd, 2022 at 9:25 AM ^
Great post. +1
January 1st, 2022 at 5:24 PM ^
Look on the bright side: we won the second half!
January 2nd, 2022 at 1:39 AM ^
This is no little point. Sure UGA likely throttled back, but they left 1st stringers on the field. Michigan guys executed better, the glaring scheme issues were fewer and UGA executed less well - and the half was basically a draw.
Our true frosh (JJ, Edwards. Anthony) belonged on the field with their 1st string D. Yes, they looked a tad lighter but they showed the athleticism and skill to play at that level. The offense can be elite the next couple of years.
January 1st, 2022 at 1:21 PM ^
Well said, Brian. Thanks for all you and Seth and Alex and team do.
Go Blue!
PS: kudos to UGA for a brilliant offensive gameplan. They weren't just a ridiculously talented team (even though they are that) that leaned only on that talent. They repeatedly exposed Michigan's two weakest links (Colson and Gray) while mitigating the pass rush in ways that we were unprepared for and to an extent that other teams couldn't/didn't do. Lot of plays yesterday that were just tip of the cap type plays while also being reminders that Michigan had youth and mediocre talent at some positions that couldn't be patched over at this level.
January 1st, 2022 at 5:02 PM ^
Kinda unfair to pick on Colson - what other LB do we have that is going to match up with Cook? We have a nice Big 10ish LB core - it's not suited for that sort of speed. Any and all of our LBs would have got rocked - Colson just was the unfortunate one.
Gray was back in 2020 unfortunately. Bad day. Again we have no room for error like these juggernauts do.
p.s. agree they schemed very well - don't think they played towards Hutch until well into the 2nd on that screen pass that he sniffed out. And everything else in first half was quick plays before the pressure could get home.
January 3rd, 2022 at 1:03 AM ^
If there's a UFR, it will be very unkind to Colson for a large number of mental mistakes. The one long pass v Cook wasn't his fault, you're correct. Almost every other big play UGA had was on Colson other than the couple of Gray plays.
Their first TD Colson just lets Bowers go out to the flat for the easy TD despite Obajo already taking the gap that Colson sat in. Most of their successful runs he was in the wrong spot. The Cook TD he ran up without realizing he needed to defend him at all.
He was true freshman that struggled with knowing what to do all year and got picked on massively. He should get a lot better as he gets the mental part of the game down.
January 1st, 2022 at 1:21 PM ^
Happy New Year Brian et al.
yeah, it sucked...for me it was like Game of Thrones - riveting until that last season, which was a terrible letdown... that said, I watched the hell out of that show the previous seasons and enjoyed every minute of it.
It was an amazing season. A season no one saw coming.
People will remember it, and the the players and coaches that made it possible, in time.
January 1st, 2022 at 1:28 PM ^
Thanks, Brian. Appreciate all the work of you and your staff. Happy New Year.
January 1st, 2022 at 1:28 PM ^
If you're playing Godzilla, you'd better be King Kong.
Alas, we were not Kong. Not even close.
January 1st, 2022 at 1:51 PM ^
You need to be Mothra. Remember the Japanese shows with Godzilla vs. Mothra?
January 1st, 2022 at 3:46 PM ^
Their combination of size and speed was. Incredible.
January 1st, 2022 at 8:12 PM ^
I'd have even taken Ultraman
January 3rd, 2022 at 10:07 AM ^
King Kong Ain't got nothin' on me!
January 1st, 2022 at 1:29 PM ^
Great season. Nothing to be ashamed of today. It sucks, true, but the team accomplished so much.
January 1st, 2022 at 1:30 PM ^
Always look forward to your perspective Brian.
January 1st, 2022 at 1:31 PM ^
Brian, I fucking love you man. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for MGoBlog. I love this place so much.
January 1st, 2022 at 1:34 PM ^
You do you, Brian. Thanks for the blog for the past umpteenth years.
January 1st, 2022 at 1:38 PM ^
Thanks Brian and thanks to everyone on your thank you list as well.
I can't imagine being a Michigan fan without this blog, through the good times and bad, quite simply it rocks.
Enjoy your days in Miami.
January 1st, 2022 at 1:39 PM ^
After a good night's sleep to get rid of the aftertaste, I'm feeling pretty good about the season. Beating OSU and winning the B1G is still huge, and they can't take that away. (They'll just put up stupid talking points about Harbaugh being 1-7, instead of 0-7, against Ohio State.) Brian, I hope things are looking up in your personal life too.
Not that anyone cares, but I think I've found the solution to most of the off the field things that annoy me about CFB on television (jejune announcers, Dr Pepper commercials, SEC marching bands playing the same GD music over and over again until it becomes the sound track of the 4th circle of Dante's inferno...) Mute the damn sound! Works wonders; you should try it. I'm going to hate-watch the Rose Bowl later today using that method.
Oh look, some other team is also having trouble covering Iowa's bootleg pass to the TE.
January 1st, 2022 at 2:08 PM ^
Next year, try listening to the M announcers (whoever they are then) on iHeart radio (WTKA)! Though the audio wasn't always synched with what was on TV, it was still knowledgeable without the garbage audio you have described thrown at you during TV commercials and otherwise. I am hoping for Jon Jansen as one of the new guys. He was good/honest about what was going on last eve.
January 1st, 2022 at 2:26 PM ^
1-7?
January 1st, 2022 at 3:39 PM ^
I also feel like that 2018 game was worth three losses.
January 1st, 2022 at 3:54 PM ^
Truth.
January 1st, 2022 at 4:02 PM ^
1-6. Tie in 2020.:)
January 1st, 2022 at 2:51 PM ^
Harbaugh’s 1-5 against OSU. Are you writing off the next two games?
January 1st, 2022 at 4:43 PM ^
I was thinking 1- 6 but there was no game last year. So he's is 1-5 against osu.
January 1st, 2022 at 4:01 PM ^
You are right on! Muted the sound for the entire game and found I was much less stressed although still disappointed. In the future, picture only. There wasn’t one instance during the game I needed the talking heads to help me understand what was going on. Good bye Herbie, Fowls, Reece, Pollack, forever! Follow me to freedom.
January 3rd, 2022 at 1:51 PM ^
Been there for years. Haven't had the audio on by choice (occasionally I have to in a group setting) in forever. Most of the time I also start watching about an hour behind the live broadcast. Forward through all the commercials and replay non-sense.
January 1st, 2022 at 1:45 PM ^
Well, I guess we outperformed the other B1G teams on CFP New Year Eve games. There is that small consolation.
January 1st, 2022 at 3:17 PM ^
We became the first Big Ten team besides OSU to score a point in the CFP so at least we have that going for us!
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