MGoPodcast 12.8: Pavlov's Claps
1 hour and 16 minutes
We are, as always, presented by UGP & The Bo Store, and if it wasn’t for Rishi and Ryan I might be doing a podcast on how the election might affect environmental regulations in water & wastewater. Our associate sponsors are also key to all of this: HomeSure Lending, Ann Arbor Elder Law, the Residence Inn Ann Arbor Downtown, Michigan Law Grad, Human Element, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, FuegoBox, and Information Entropy.
1. Emotional Check-In
starts at 1:00
How much did you watch? The problem with hiring Jim Harbaugh is what does Michigan do if he doesn't work? Is it just us? It's us.
[The rest of the writeup and the player after The Jump]
2. Hot Takes and Offense
starts at 20:52
Joe was fine, the running game was not. Why are you turning your quarterback's back against THIS TEAM? Why are you trying to test the edges of a defense that blitzes the edges? Do you even watch opponent film?
3. Defense
starts at 41:12
What was it about those specific claps that were different than all the other claps? Was it the tone? I don't understand. Tom Allen put some sort of deep sleeper in the program and had them hypnotize Michigan defensive linemen
4. Around the Big Ten wsg Jamie Mac
starts at 57:41
The scouting is good. Michael Penix-Peyton Ramsey grudge match.
MUSIC:
- “Deadlines (Hostile)"—Car Seat Headrest
- “Coming Down From Love”—Bobby Caldwell
- “Let Yourself Go”—Syl Johnson
- “Across 110th Street”
THE USUAL LINKS:
Every time they clapped it was like oooh it's Trainspotting and they have heroin.
November 9th, 2020 at 7:58 AM ^
Disorganized and unprepared ... after 6 years this is a theme and characteristic of Harbaugh teams.
Why do other coaches constantly out X and O JH?
Does Michigan not emphasize game film or study opponents? It's perplexing
Are discipline and playing penalty free not being coached?
Why are Michigan teams so flat every single first quarter in every single freaking game?
What happened to the mental toughness of the first 2 years of Harbaugh teams?
November 9th, 2020 at 10:57 AM ^
Everyone including MGoStaff are saying "after six years" but c'mon, this is really weird.
We've seen this program put together some amazing gameplans. It wasn't too long ago that they completely destroyed Michigan State (44-10), Notre Dame (45-14), oh, and Indiana (39-14) -- yeah, that was just last year. Don't throw out facts to create an overly simplistic narrative just because it mixes better with your chaser. These were good moments for M fans, and they happened, so knock it off with this "other coaches constantly out-X-and-O JH" nonsense or calling this "characteristic".
But that's what makes this season's breakdowns so baffling. Sure, we have holes in our roster. It's indefensible that a press man defense has neither recruited a press man corner, nor adjusted to their incoming talent, in 3-4 years. We'd seen that before with the offensive tackle situation. I have no idea why they wait so long to address these issues, BUT. . . this year's roster holes don't explain the playcalls on offense.
Something's going on this season that's particularly uncharacteristic. Sure, Minnesota's defense is bad, but remember, the most encouraging takeaway from week "1" was how they didn't test the strength of Minny's defense, opting to take whatever free yards they offered instead. That Minnesota gameplan was not a mirage. They have since completely abandoned that approach and are now Borges-ing it up. It doesn't suffice as an explanation to just say the coaches suck. And I know COVID is making things weird but that doesn't explain a sudden, full-blown meltdown after the season starts. I simply. . . I don't, man. WTF is going on in Schembechler Hall? I have absolutely no idea, and don't anyone here pretend they do, either.
November 9th, 2020 at 11:50 AM ^
The defensive issues are very easy to diagnose. They don't have the talent to run the man scheme they want to run. Period. And they have always gone all in on this philosophy since Brown's arrival. The switch to some zone last week was arguably worse--they don't know how to run it effectively. I think there is very little that can be done about this in the near term.
November 9th, 2020 at 12:24 PM ^
Exactly - this coaching staff used to be great. It is Year 6, but it's not like this has been happening for six years - it's been happening for three. The trends that have surfaced in the losses first popped up in 2017 when Michigan had no QB and everyone else was hurt - but the defense still played great in many of those games. The ugly losses at 2018 ND and Ohio St were the beginning of the poor play and bad gameplans which are much more frequent now (I keep forgetting they lost a shitty but winnable game against ND that year and then crushed everyone before losing in a debacle to Ohio St.).
Harbaugh is a great coach but something is wrong. I don't want a new coach - I want the old Harbaugh back.
(But I agree with UMProud - the mental toughness is almost completely gone. Sometimes, they seem like the most mentally weak team in the world . No team "deals with adversity" ( I hate that term) worse than Michigan. They definitely were not always like this.)
November 9th, 2020 at 8:01 AM ^
Glad I didn’t watch. Final score sounds about right. Hopefully the season is canceled soon.
November 9th, 2020 at 8:11 AM ^
I have not watched a single play from the past two games...thank goodness-don't plan to. I wish these games were an exception in the Harbaugh era-they are sort of...except now we are losing to anyone and everyone. The lose to MSU remains stunningly unacceptable-that team is awful.
November 9th, 2020 at 8:29 AM ^
Didn’t watch either. So long Saturday college football obsession, hello world.
November 9th, 2020 at 9:14 AM ^
"Jim Harbaugh had a 20-4 record at Michigan heading into the 2016 Ohio State game. He's 28-16 since."
This is the most telling stat of all. Something happened during / after that game, and it hasn't been the same since. Enthusiasm, coaching, preparedness, schematically... whatever it was, that thing got in Harbaugh's brain and has been eating it since then and now it's affected the team as a whole.
[WARNING-- SARCASTIC POLITICAL JOKE BELOW.. WARNING.. just take a deep breath and laugh]
Well, akshually, if you want to get technical about it, Harbaugh was 19-3 before he went to the Hillary Clinton rally hosted by Obama in Nov 2016 on campus... then they proceeded to lose 3 out of the last 4 that season and hasn't been the same since. So I guess you could call this the Curse of Obama. THANKS OBAMA.
November 9th, 2020 at 9:57 AM ^
That was bad, but I think 2017 finished the job. He outplanned and outcoached a better OSU team...and still lost.
November 9th, 2020 at 10:13 AM ^
Hoke recruited really well, Harbaugh had his best teams with Hoke's recruits being the core of the team.
I realize our fan base is probably the most obsessed with recruiting stars in all the country, but I simply do not see much talent on this year's roster, especially along both lines. I realize Filliaga and Stueber were 4 stars, but they are so far below the talent of Bredenson, Ruiz, and Onwenu, it's like night and day, those 3 guys were all top 50 recruits. Mayfield being out really crushes the talent level on the O Line. Hayes too. We're rolling with high 3 low 4 star types across the line right now, the team we want to compete with, Ohio State, is rolling with this:
LT Thayer Mumford, low 4 star, 285th in the country in the composite
LG Harry Miller, 5 star, 30th in the country in the composite
C Josh Myers High 4 star 53rd in the country in the composite
RG Wyatt Davis 5 star, 24th in the country in the composite
RT Nicholas Petit-Frere 5 star, 7th in the country in the composite
And they're giving their backup tackle, 5 star Paris Johnson, plenty of snaps right now too, 9th overall in the country.
And they have a 5 star QB throwing to three 5 star WRs in their rotation, another 3 top 80 WRs, and a 5 star TE, and another top 50 overall TE are all their core skill positions.
There is a massive gap right now, massive.
November 9th, 2020 at 11:45 AM ^
I know OSU fans are reveling in the dominance right now, but I think it would be healthier to stop thinking of OSU as a rival, at least for the foreseeable future.
OSU is run like a Silicon Valley giant and Michigan's got some dysfunction, but what's going on right now goes way beyond that. There's a new tier of haves, and as fans there's nothing to be gained from asking ourselves why not. I kind of saw this coming some years back; this generation of kids have a "success breeds success" mentality and created a positive feedback loop where talent follows success to such an absurd extent that a 5-star would rather warm the bench at OSU than be "the guy" at another program for 3-4 years. By definition there can only be a few schools that benefit, and unfortunately OSU and Michigan were in difference places when this started. Suffice to say, while someone ought to be asking Harbaugh some tough questions about the last two weeks, this isn't an issue that can be fixed by just swapping coaches.
And, I mean. . . we're now losing to MSU and Indiana. Gotta get back to walking before you can run.
November 9th, 2020 at 1:05 PM ^
I completely disagree with the idea that Michigan should not focus on beating OSU, but your point about have's and have not's is valid also. For that purpose, I think it is safe to say Michigan's expectations should be the best Big Ten team outside of OSU. So, here's how Michigan has performed under Harbaugh within the Big Ten only. I'm looking at losses and wins against ranked teams.
2015: 6-2 in conference
- Beat #13 Northwestern (38-0)
- Lost to #7 MSU (23- 27)
- Lost to #8 OSU (13 - 42)
2016: 7-2 in conference
- Beat #8 Wisconsin (14 - 7)
- Lost to unranked Iowa (13-14)
- Los to #2 OSU (27-30)
2017: 5-4 in conference
- Lost to unranked MSU (10 -14)
- Lost to #2 PSU (13 - 42)
- Lost to #5 Wisconsin (10 -24)
- Lost to #8 OSU (20 - 31)
2018: 8-1 in conference
- Beat #15 Wisconsin (38-13)
- Beat #24 MSU (21- 7)
- Beat # 14 PSU (42 - 7)
- Lost to #10 OSU (39-62)
2019: 6-3 in conference
- Lost to #13 Wisconsin (14 - 35)
- Beat #14 Iowa (10 - 3)
- Lost to #7 PSU (21 - 28)
- Lost to #2 OSU (27 - 56)
Except for 2018 that is not the record of the best team in conference outside of OSU.
Take away 2018 and that is pretty crappy now that I think about it. Harbaugh is 3 - 11 against ranked teams in conference with 2018 removed.
Look at the scores. Individual game scores are an anomaly but in total there is a trend. Again, remove 2018 and the wins are pretty close scores but the losses are not really that close. That collectively tells me, other than one magical season, Michigan is trending behind the better teams just in the conference.
November 9th, 2020 at 9:51 AM ^
I see we've reached "detached, rueful irony" stage for the site. Looking forward to it.
November 9th, 2020 at 10:35 AM ^
It sucks and I'd rather have a good football team, but a silver lining is that sad/angry Brian writes some amazing things.
November 9th, 2020 at 9:58 AM ^
Every time they clapped it was like "OOO its Trainspotting and they have heroin!!"
Good shit, Jed. Now, just replace being Scottish with a michigan fan:
November 9th, 2020 at 10:03 AM ^
hey guys. if M is stuck in the past and we all think that we are. why do you still have Bo Michigan Replay music? You might consider a break with the past. I'll be honest, I still like it, but I'm a 68 year old guy.
November 9th, 2020 at 4:09 PM ^
Penn State sucks big time this year too. They are like us. Poorly coached, disorganized, and totally unmotivated.
This year's UM vs. PSU will be most years' Maryland vs. Rutgers.
November 10th, 2020 at 12:26 AM ^
Crapping on Dashi! She’s awesome. A computer science major for sure. A great surfer. Did you see those moves with those bubble snails? Saved the day. And what about when she got in the Gup Max Suit and saved Prof Inkling and the Gulper Eels?
Honestly, the way this season is going, the Octonaut commentary might be the best part.
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