MGoPodcast 13.1: The Cover's Cursed
1 hour and 38 minutes
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1. Offense vs WMU
starts at 1:00
Do we start with the good news (they can run), the bad news (Bell), or the future news (McCarthy). #SpeedInSpace is over—there were no reads and lots of fake reads that burned downs or delivered safeties and linebackers to the running backs immediately. In this game at least the RBs could put those defenders on their asses. JJ seems to be erratic.
[The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]
2. Defense vs WMU
starts at 28:58
One drive of bleeding plus a Not Angry About That throw over Gemon Green (and a taunting on Ojabo) and then not much. Just a few gashes from LBs getting out of position. Hinton looked like their best DT, Hutchinson got to spend a lot of time on the sideline while they rotated a lot of guys. Mike Morris, hello there. Secondary looked okay but shaky—they’re better as a zone team.
3. Hot Takes, Special Teams, and Game Theory
starts at 44:45
The hot takes are half the segment even though there was a lot of special teams, because the only game theory stuff was at the end of the 1st half (learn to manage a clock!). Much of the game was spent waiting around for Brad Robbins punts to land. Using Bell as a returner. Foug’ing it.
4. Around the Big Ten, wsg Jamie Mac
starts at 1:00:35
We go long this time of year because there are so many games. Jamie does not recognize the existence of Iowa.
MUSIC:
- “Stop Making This Hurt”—Bleachers
- “Stay High”—Childish Gambino
- “Nothing Else Matters”—cover by Phoebe Bridgers
- “Across 110th Street”
THE USUAL LINKS:
Pour a cup of coffee and sit back.
September 7th, 2021 at 8:33 AM ^
Looking forward to listening to this, but appreciate the call out on #speedinspace. We've seen it over the years, saw it again Saturday, and even had the announcers emphasizing what Harbaugh had told them re: power running team. Either your goal is to get playmakers into space and let them make plays, or you decide to (try to) push people off & control the line of scrimmage damn whatever the numbers say. Seems they have decided on the latter...
September 7th, 2021 at 9:59 AM ^
Those things aren’t mutually exclusive, in fact, ideally they compliment each other. I agree that Michigan is underutilizing screens, RPOs and other reads to get their fast dudes in space but you can absolutely do all those things while pushing guys off the line in the run game and running power. Hopefully what we saw Saturday was opponent-dependent (because, hey, it worked)…
September 7th, 2021 at 11:36 AM ^
I agree, as we could point to OSU and Alabama as power-based run games that also put their outside skill-position players in position to #makeplays. But I don't think we will see anything substantially different from an offensive play calling perspective against Washington or other Big 10 teams. We have a few years experience proving that point.
End of the day, happy that we had a productive offensive game and hopefully we can see similar offensive performances throughout the season. If we can beat Wisconsin and Penn State with this offensive game plan than most of the fans will be happy. Problem is the marketing: don't sell Speed in Space, multiple level reads, putting defense in conflict, etc when - given the opportunity to put your skill players in space based on defensive numbers - you don't do that.
September 7th, 2021 at 11:52 AM ^
The data fits the trend, but the caveat is they probably were intentionally vanilla in this game because Western.
September 7th, 2021 at 12:19 PM ^
I dont know man….the end arounds and Blake’s first TD (possibly his second too?) were every bit of speed and space. I haven’t listened but I’m assuming that Brian is emphasizing speed and space as in getting little slot receivers the ball in space on pass plays. I think the jury is out on the RPO’s as to whether that will become more of a thing going forward. One game in a QB’s second start against a low level team is hard to make a big judgement like that. I get it, Shea sucked at it and last year sucked, but maybe Cade is actually smart enough to start making those reads better
September 7th, 2021 at 8:56 AM ^
The curse may be real.
Bell - Season ending knee injury
Nico - Opted Out
Shea - Became a semi pro golfer
Gary - Shoulder injury
Hurst - Diagnosed with a heart condition tanking his draft stock.
Maybe it is time to put an OSU player on the cover.
September 7th, 2021 at 10:31 AM ^
Curses don’t work when you try to exploit them, dummy. Evil spirits also know to hide when the skeptic shows up.
You need to watch more horror movies.
September 7th, 2021 at 12:26 PM ^
No to the curse because I refuse to believe in that stuff, but you forgot Jake Butt tearing his ACL before the draft too
September 7th, 2021 at 2:40 PM ^
I thought about that one also but Jake Butt wasn’t on the cover that year.
September 7th, 2021 at 9:10 AM ^
I am curious to see the UFR on D. My eye test said Hinton was the worst, but i may be wrong. Anyone have the PFF of our DL for that game?
September 7th, 2021 at 11:52 AM ^
I thought jeter was the worst and hinton was solid. Will be interesting to see UFR.
September 7th, 2021 at 9:18 AM ^
#SpeedInSpace is over—there were no reads and lots of fake reads that burned downs or delivered safeties and linebackers to the running backs immediately.
Feel like we need the astronaut meme here. It never existed in the first place.
Just quickly rewatched the every offensive snap video that was posted a few days ago and hoo boy, the number of times WMU had an unblocked guy in the hole at the LoS was... too damn high. Their motion even brought a guy into the hole on one of Corum's run and they were just lucky he overran the gap because otherwise he would have ended up right in Corum's face (though Corum dusted about 4 of those guys in the same situation throughout the game). As a general rule, you can ignore the motion Michigan implements. They had those 2 jet sweeps with Henning and Wilson, but otherwise whenever there was motion bringing a DB across the formation, you could assume the play was a run back against the motion and the DB could almost just stop at the snap and be in the right place.
Also too high was the number of times they just lurched forward in a mass of bodies and slammed the RBs into the butts of the OL a yard downfield. I don't have a trained eye, but the blocking scheme looked like "just move forward with the guy next to you." No one took a LB or S coming down, the RB had no hole to cut through, it was just an amorphous blob for a gain of 1.
Also also worth adding I think it was the very first run of the game, that went for like 2 yards, was against a 3 man front. No OL got downfield to a LB, which allowed the MLB (I think) to meet the RB after a yard. How is that even possible? The 3 DL needed the attention of all 5 OL?
September 7th, 2021 at 9:56 AM ^
although part of my agrees with you, part of me says lets keep doing it because we ran for over 300 yards.
September 7th, 2021 at 10:17 AM ^
Well yeah, against an overmatched MAC school. Corum putting 3 guys in ankle braces after juking them in the hole is awesome to watch, but it's against MAC level LBs and Safeties. I fear that when it comes to a Wisconsin/MSU/OSU LB, he won't go 4/4 in those scenarios. And if that's the case, instead of a 1st down or 2nd and short, they're in 3rd and 9. Which has been the problem for years now. Terrible 1st or 2nd down runs for a yard and then they struggle to pick up 1st downs.
What I did think was good, and hope will continue, is there were instances of guys popping open downfield and Cade/JJ didn't see them or didn't feel like they had enough time to load up and hit them. One was Wilson and I'm pretty sure Cade saw him but had already hitched up once and dumped it off to Haskins for no gain. That will need to continue to be a threat if they are to avoid falling behind the sticks and just burrowing for 3 yards and a punt. Much better than last year when I could only remember the occasional schematic "win" getting someone open downfield (Johnson's TD against Rutgers comes to mind). But in the back of my mind I also remember the Minnesota game with some schematic wins followed by absolutely nothing for 3 weeks after that.
September 7th, 2021 at 10:18 AM ^
It worked because Haskins could run the LB over and the others made him miss. I couldn’t count how many times WMU got a free hitter in the crease and the RB just made it not matter.
That absolutely will not work consistently against P5 opponents (speaking of which, Yoodub might not be one this season). Against OSU, at least half the plays Gattis called will be TFLs.
September 7th, 2021 at 9:55 AM ^
The lack of reads and passing on essentially easy yards is what I noticed on the negative side of things. People will trot out the same old excuse about they were just keeping it vanilla for an inferior opponent but we have heard that before and it has always turned out to be BS. When Gattis was brought in we were told that one of the fundamental changes would be threatening the edge frequently with either QB keeps or WR action. Unfortunately it is just time to admit we were bamboozled and whoever has the final say in playcalling and the gameplan still believes trying to overpower teams is the only way to play. McNamara may not be a blazer but he has enough athleticism to take the free yards when teams overplay.
Also there were still two extremely conservative decisions made in this game, running a draw on 3rd and 15 from WMU 25 and not going for fourth and one or two inside their 20 on another possession. It is the same old we are going to bang our heads against wall against stacked boxes and conservative risk adverse mentality and I'm not going to believe this will actually change against better opponents unless we actually see it.
Unrelated to playcalling I was also slightly miffed at Harbaugh for not giving the officials a no holds bar toungue lashing for the Bell call. He needs to actually start sticking up for his players again on calls that absurd.
September 7th, 2021 at 12:05 PM ^
They also went for it on 4th and 2 or 3 on their first drive. And also the draw on 3rd and 15 was fine. They picked up about 7 yards or so to set up a 37 yd FG. A lot of bad things can happen on 3rd and 15 from the 25 when you try to air it out to pick up the first down.
September 7th, 2021 at 12:27 PM ^
UM should not be afraid to throw the ball from an opponents 25 when you have favorable matchups in particular. Scoring points is what wins games nowadays, not being as risk adverse as possible. I said it in another thread but the biggest difference besides talent with OSU is that they fully embrace the notion that the modern game is about burying your opponents with points as quickly as you can, generating big plays and sometimes taking risks to do that. UM is still stuck in the risk adverse ball control mentality. Can that approach produce good results against inferior teams? Sure. But being afraid to make mistakes is not the way to win anything big.
September 8th, 2021 at 2:19 PM ^
RE: A lot of bad things.....
It's this type of thinking, in part, that has kept Michigan from becoming a better team. Michigan consistently has highly-skilled playmakers at WR, but it's putting forth this attitude that keeps them from utilizing the QB as a weapon -- a necessary thing for the better teams in this era. Seriously, if the offense is scared of trying to complete an 18-yard pass on 3rd down, and in plus-territory to boot, what the hell is even the point of competing? We're not going to beat the better teams in the Big Ten with this mentality.
EDITED: I see MGoBlue96 said quite a bit of this.....sorry for the redundancy here. Although maybe reinforcing this point isnt such a bad idea.....
September 7th, 2021 at 9:59 AM ^
The punt discussion was interminable because neither side is going to concede a point that is sort of irrelevant. Most teams use one of their best skill position players to return them because, as Seth noted, you want a guy with sure hands to pull the balls in and not bleed yards. Brian's right that guys can get hurt there and you should spread out the risk. But the Heisman Trophy winner last year led the Tide in returns and was returning multiple punts against an Arkansas team they beat 52-3 a week before the SEC title game. OSU's second WR has been their lead punt returner for 2 years. Clemson's #1 WR was returning punts for them last year. UM put DPJ and Peppers back there. Guys get hurt playing football, and it's weird to debate using a guy who's an offensive weapon in a spot (as we saw with his return) where he can flip the field because of the chance he might get hurt. We can all just recognize it sucks Bell got hurt and then hope the next guy can do as well and Bell can return next year.
September 7th, 2021 at 10:23 AM ^
I mean, the obvious example is Charles Woodson. If he didn’t return punts, we don’t win that game.
Also, if your backup gets injured, you still have the same depth problem.
Also also, it didn’t look like anyone hit Bell all that hard. His ACL was probably hanging by a thread and the moment it decided to snap could’ve been incidental.
September 7th, 2021 at 10:55 AM ^
Yeah, the play he got hurt on wasn't the "guy ran into him at 20 mph while he was fielding a punt" type of play. Bell was effectively running the ball like he caught it and was tackled from behind. That could have happened on any play.
September 7th, 2021 at 10:24 AM ^
We often complain about not getting our best players enough touches (Collins/DPJ/Evans) and then when those same best players get a shot at punt returns we get mad because they're getting extra touches.
That being said, it's not a binary all good players should return all punts or no good players should return any punts. Late game blowouts? Get them off the field. Punt returning is a dangerous part of the game with guys screaming down at returners, but usually when they don't call for a fair catch and get obliterated the second they catch the ball. Bell's injury was no different than catching a tunnel screen and weaving his way through guys left and right.
September 7th, 2021 at 10:35 AM ^
Bell's injury was no different than catching a tunnel screen and weaving his way through guys left and right.
People seem to be missing this central point.
September 7th, 2021 at 12:29 PM ^
More likely, people have an agenda and they are trying to bend reality to fit their preconceived notions.
September 7th, 2021 at 12:39 PM ^
Agreed…we have become the quintessential fan base for complaining. It’s like we are subconsciously, as a fan base, only in our “feel good” mode if we have something to complain about, and I don’t think it matters who the coach is. Complaining is our “binky” as Brian used to cleverly call Jordan Kovacs. I feel like in reality we are just so collectively damaged mentally and emotionally by what Ohio State has done to us 17 of the last 20 years, and especially the last 2 with how much of a true juggernaut that they have become. I choose to enjoy the fact that we are a much improving team from last year. Let’s go beat Washington handily and just enjoy the fact that we are winning and we get to watch college football. We will beat OSU one day, hopefully in a few months.
September 7th, 2021 at 10:07 AM ^
The punt return question is moderately interesting. But Desmond Howard and Charles Woodson cemented Heisman seasons by returning punts. It's okay to have good players returning punts. Sometimes football players get injured.
I agree that the lack of reads is going to be an issue against better teams, probably starting next week. I think Corum is great on the edge, and he showed some nice wiggle in the hole. I still think splitting carries 47th Haskins makes sense because Haskins will still get you extra yards.
I mean, leaving a game that Michigan effectively won by 40 when most people predicted 14, is peak Michigan football fan.
September 7th, 2021 at 10:12 AM ^
Yeah, it's very Michigan fan to be mad Michigan demolished a decent MAC team but not in the way we wanted.
September 7th, 2021 at 10:21 AM ^
I mean some of it is dependent on expectations, some people on this board believed last year was closer to the new normal in terms of level of play expected. Those people were the ones who doubted if this team would handle Western easily. Others like me realized the level of suckiness was probably an aberration and expected a return to a normal Harbaugh type team. A normal Harbaugh type team smashes an opponent like Western regardless of what they call on offense. Does not mean just like past years that the sort of predictable and conservative playcalling will work or win games against better teams. They will absolutely get suffocated on offense if they don't show alot more against defenses like Wisconsin. And I just don't buy the you will see the real offense against better teams explanation anymore cause we have heard it too many times.
September 7th, 2021 at 11:06 AM ^
I mean, Wisconsin's defense doesn't look all that stout, but I get your larger point. But Michigan absolutely does have different gears against different opponents; if they can't run the ball for 9 yards a pop against someone they'll throw it, and probably pretty effectively. They had largely the same team last year and threw the ball 55% of the time, and that ratio wasn't much different before they inevitably got down and had to catch up.
And in this game, until Bell got hurt Michigan's run-to-pass ratio was 12-8, and 8 of those runs happened on that first drive when it was clear they just had scripted all of those runs to establish whatever they planned on doing. I'm not sure if the Bell injury spooked them about throwing as much in the second half or the score dictated they just get out of there with minimal more injuries, but they weren't going into some 1970s 3-yards and a cloud of dust offense forever.
Do I think they'll rely on their backs to be the focal point of the offense? Sure. But I think this place is pre-determined to assume the worst about everything at this point. Like, 27-for-27 did not, in fact, happen under the Harbaugh regime, and while I'm not sure this offense is going to be hyper-dynamic I do think the offense we saw out of Cade vs. Rutgers and PSU last year (before the injury) is what we should expect to be the steady state this year, and that's a pretty robust, dynamic gameplan.
September 7th, 2021 at 10:24 AM ^
Just so I understand the pod: we rushed for 335 yards with over 9 yards per play, but those numbers should have been higher?
This is the sort of discussion I'd hear during peak Bo.
September 7th, 2021 at 10:32 AM ^
They rushed for 335 yards because they simply have far better athletes then Western and could have run anything. They still left points on the field with their approach as well. Easiest example of that is having to settle for a field goal on the one drive because they tried pounding it into the middle when something outside would have had someone walking into the endzone. The point about reads is that better teams with better athletes will be able to stop power if UM does not utilize them. And the excuse of you didn't see them because of the opponent is something we have heard before and many of us are justifiably skeptical this time will be different. Hopefully it is, won't believe it till I see it though.
September 7th, 2021 at 10:37 AM ^
And yet despite our impressive offensive counting stats, we somehow eeked out a 47-14 victory.
Yes, I'm sure other weeks will be different. But you'll excuse some of us for feeling good about a decisive win against football players.
September 7th, 2021 at 10:42 AM ^
I mean but that is the crux, what evidence do we have to believe that it will be different? Alabama and OSU were pretty well called games but games like that have been rare not the rule. For the most part, UM has just been a vanilla offense under Gattis and never truly embraced the things they said were going to be emphasized when he came in.
Also as others have pointed out alot of those yards were made by UM backs making MAC defenders look silly as you would expect not because there were massive holes. Three of Corum's longer runs there were guys he made miss who were unblocked at the line.
September 7th, 2021 at 12:21 PM ^
I would also add that there have been quite a few MAC teams to beat B1G teams. The last season (2020 excluded as there were no non-conf games), a MAC team did not beat a B1G team was all the way back to 2005. Since 2006, there have been 30 MAC wins against BIG teams. This isn't like playing UMass.
Just this last weekend alone, I believe I heard that there were 5 or 6 FCS teams that beat FBS teams. There is a lot more parity today in CFB amongst the masses than I can ever remember.
September 7th, 2021 at 12:41 PM ^
I mean perhaps but ask yourself who on Western would actually start on Michigan? Maybe their QB and that is generous. Western is not a top tier MAC team, they are middle of pack now, UM is almost always going to outclass a middle of the road MAC all over the field in terms of talent.
September 7th, 2021 at 10:37 AM ^
double post. sorry.
September 7th, 2021 at 10:48 AM ^
we rushed for 335 yards with over 9 yards per play,
Going to focus on very specific things here to try and make my point.
The end arounds/jet sweeps that averaged 58 yards/carry (Wilson and Henning) are not exactly a consistent or highly utilized play in any offense.
On the flip side, Corum will be getting 15-20 carries/game within the structure of the offense, running right at the meat of defenses. In 3 of Corum's biggest runs (including his TD) he was met at the LoS in the hole by a LB who was never blocked. Corum is a ridiculous talent and can manufacture something out of that situation. Put him up against Barron Browning or Micah Parsons (yes they are gone but I don't know OSU or PSU's LBs right now) and it is far more likely he doesn't pop off 30 yard TDs with much consistency.
What's more likely (given everything we've seen over the last 2 seasons) is Corum and Haskins continue to meet unblocked LBs in the hole at a higher rate than Wilson getting a convoy for 40 yards on an end around once every 2 weeks.
September 7th, 2021 at 11:12 AM ^
But your argument breaks down to "if we ignore the two dynamic plays that were successful as well as times when UM's dynamic backs made plays in space, they weren't that good." I watched a lot of college football this weekend and defenses across the country, good ones with better players than WMU, still missed tackles and got juked out by skill players. If your argument is "Michigan will have to be better against top-5 defenses", I concede that point. I assume they'll likely have a different gameplan than the one we saw against WMU against those teams, unless the assumption is that Michigan's coaching staff is full of complete morons who have 8 pages of plays and that's it.
Corum was met at the line because WMU knew Michigan wanted to run the ball and UM made it clear that was their goal; if the defense is dedicating a bunch of guys to slow you down you may not have enough blockers. The way you beat that is throwing the ball into those massive gaps, which UM did to the tune of 9/11 passing by McNamara in about a half and 2 TDs. Maybe they can't do that against better defenses and they'll suffer; maybe they'll play better as be more dynamic. I don't know, but I don't get the argument that people are making that every other team is allowed to evolve and show more than we saw in week 1 but UM is calcified in this failed state.
September 7th, 2021 at 11:36 AM ^
But your argument breaks down to "if we ignore the two dynamic plays that were successful as well as times when UM's dynamic backs made plays in space, they weren't that good."
If you look past the raw box score numbers, which are ballooned by the big plays that are not likely to be replicated on a consistent basis (the end arounds), and look at the actual plays themselves, you will see Michigan's better athletes out-athlete-ing WMU's. Which is what you'd expect from Michigan's 4 and 5 star guys against MAC LBs. The problem is Michigan's athletes HAVE TO out-athlete WMU's because they are put in a hallway with a LB and no where else to go constantly. It's not speed in space, its speed in a closet. That has been the structure of the offense since Gattis got here (and something I've been complaining about for 2 years). There is no reason to believe that Michigan's offense will all of a sudden implement reads and option off LBs/DEs consistently enough to punish them, which would give Corum and Haskins at least 3 yards before they have to beat back a LB.
If your RB has 10 carries for 10 yards and then 1 carry for 50 yards, they are averaging over 5 YPC. Problem is those 10 carries resulted in 3 3 and outs so is the running game all that successful? Or did they get lucky/out-athlete the defense that 1 time? I'm not saying every run has to be for 5+ yards. I'm saying Michigan is getting 1 yard on 1st down and eventually punting because of it way to often.
That's my point. The end arounds could be classified as "trick plays" to some extent. They are not staples of the offense. They are a rope-a-dope that only gets brought out once or twice every other week or so. Meanwhile, Corum getting a hand off with no read allowing unblocked LBs to meet him in the hole with a crashing DE will be called a dozen times per game. He wins against WMU. I don't think he'll win against OSU anywhere close as often.
And yes, you're correct, WMU was loading up around the LoS to stop the run, which allowed Michigan to hit them over the top and loosen them up a bit. Do you think Johnson/Wilson/Baldwin will be able to beat OSU's DBs 1 on 1 enough to make them drop a Safety back to cover the deep shots? Maybe, but more likely I think Michigan will continue to run at 8 man boxes without punishing DEs/LBs/Safeties who cheat to the RB immediately.
I don't get the argument that people are making that every other team is allowed to evolve and show more than we saw in week 1 but UM is calcified in this failed state.
Here's the problem. Since Gattis arrived, how many games has the offense been more than a fake read option hand off into the butt of OL for 1 yard? 2nd half PSU 2019 through the end of that season (and even then they still ran a lot into masses of bodies for 1 yard). That's roughly 6 games out of 20. The offensive output wasn't poor because of 3 freshman OL and the best WR being Grant Perry. They don't run a fake read option/read the wrong side of the DL because their QB is blind. They run it because that's the offense.
September 7th, 2021 at 12:21 PM ^
The blocking wasn't perfect and, yes, the lack of reads was annoying. But Michigan also had WMU guys in the backfield because they absolutely showed they were going to run the ball; I'd counter that Cade McNamara throwing for 12.4 ypa on almost 90% completion rate is a sign that those running plays were effective at drawing WMU in.
Michigan's athletes are going to have to out-athlete guys at some point. That's just a reality. Last year Wisconsin's rushing attack dropped from 5.33 ypc to 3.93 ypc. Do I think that's because Wisconsin suddenly forgot how to block despite returning only upperclassmen in 2020, or because they lost uber-athlete Jonathan Taylor and replaced him with guys who are only pretty good? Probably a mixture of both, but absolutely having worse players at the position contributed to the drop off. Michigan's blocking needs to get better (and I think it will as these guys play more), but also the athletes they have the gameplan they've installed for different opponents will contribute to their success.
Also, end-arounds aren't "trick plays" - they're plays you run to get your best athletes in space. What people consider part of the offense vs. not is somewhat subjective but we can't just discount any play designed to put your better athletes against the team's worse athletes as flippery.
As for OSU's corners, Minnesota was without their leading WR Autum-Bell and had fewer than 40 career catches on the field in that game and yet were still able to pick up 8.2 ypa despite losing their workhorse back in the first half. OSU's corners were actually not great last year; they got away with it because of their defensive line but it's not a strength of the team. PSU's corners look better, and Michigan will have to prepare for that. But we're talking about hypotheticals at this point regarding playcalling. I would point out that UM's offense has been able to move the ball against OSU these past couple of years; the defense was the one that fell apart.
Also, Grant Perry wasn't on the 2019 team; he last played in 2018 when UM smashed PSU 42-7. In 2019 UM threw the ball a ton early on and struggled to run the ball a bit, but it was clear their initial gameplan was to attack PSU's corners and loosen up the middle. Patterson was actually the leading rusher in the first half, I believe, or close to it.
Anyway, we have different opinions. That's fine. But I do think people are being unnecessarily pessimistic about this team because they're mad about Michigan more generally (especially with the staff) and not because the actual results on the field in this game warrant it.
September 7th, 2021 at 12:43 PM ^
The Grant Perry comment was just a reference to Michigan not having the horses randomly throughout the last couple of years. The offense is what it is at this point and it's not a product of the offense lacking the athletes at spots. They're not trotting out a walk-on QB and asking him to throw the ball of them mountains or a true freshman Center with a baby face. They have the athletes and experience to run an offense that doesn't bog down constantly against defenses with a good DT or LBs. Instead, to my eye, they don't run Read Options or RPOs with any consistency but they do put their best players in tough situations more often than not where sometimes it works because Corum is a monster and sometimes it doesn't because he's not an actual god.
September 7th, 2021 at 11:47 AM ^
Okay so take out 116 yards and we rushed for 219 yards for 7 yards per play. Still pretty damn good. WMU is not a bad football team, and we beat the spread by 2 touchdowns. Did we look like a top-5 football team? Of course not. But we certainly looked the part of a top-25 team. I guess I'm very happy with that because last year we didn't belong in the top-50. This is a baseline, we're not a tire fire this year. I refuse to be upset that we are about three or four tiers better than last season already.
If you're upset that we don't look like we can beat ohio, well, do yourself a favor and save that for rivalry week. Otherwise you'll be upset from now through Thanksgiving, and that's no way to live.
September 7th, 2021 at 11:58 AM ^
Again, WATCH the running game. Don't just look at X yards on X carries. Blake Corum is AWESOME! Love watching him play. He's also shoved in a closet and asked to make something out of absolutely nothing and it's because of the way to offense is designed. It's not tenable and I'm not ok with that.
Could you imagine Corum in a peak PSU Joe Moorehead offense with Barkley's role? Holy shit, it would be awesome. Instead we have to hope he can out maneuver free hitting LBs 3, 4, 5 times a game and for what reason other than they just don't know how to run this offense? When PSU's offense sucked with Barkley, he was getting LBs in his face 2 yards behind the LoS. On this very site, we were laughing at them for putting their best player in a box and saying "be Hercules." PSU's offensive output was crap for half a season until they figured it out and unleashed their monster RB and WRs on the rest of the Big Ten. Michigan hasn't shown the ability to unleash Corum, Haskins, All, etc.
I'm not even concerned with OSU specifically. I'm concerned with Wisconsin, PSU, and MSU. Each week is an opportunity to test theories and see how things develop.
September 7th, 2021 at 12:54 PM ^
I think we forget also that across college football most teams that run for 300+ yards in a game not simply by just pounding the rock with their RB’s, and find other creative ways to get yards on the ground/their RB’s also break off big runs where they have to juke defenders. We used to complain about not getting enough 20+ yard plays, against both quality B1G teams, and lower tier MAC opponents. Now we have a plethora of B1G 20+ yard plays in the run and pass game in one game and we complain that “our yardage is skewed” because we had too many long end arounds/only juked out not talented MAC players for big runs etc….seriously, we just love to complain and nitpick as a fan base. Mark my words, the Oline will improve and get more hats on LB’s at second level and LOS, Corum will juke better more highly recruited players a a good rate because he is a legit shifty RB, Hassan Haskins will still run people over even against better teams as he has shown he can do in the past, and other teams both good and bad will be forced to respect the WR end around game by 2 different very good speedy players. Just freakin be happy we dominated with ease an opponent we were supposed to.
September 7th, 2021 at 1:06 PM ^
Not we have a plethora of B1G 20+ yard plays in the run and pass game in one game and we complain that “our yardage is skewed” because we had too many long end arounds
Not at all what I'm arguing. I'm arguing that the plays that will be called a dozen times per game in every game going forward (the runs up the middle with Corum) are the ones that are riding a knife's edge between no gain and some gain.
Those end arounds will not be called a ton and they will not always be 40+ yard gains. They are great to see, attacking the edge with A/A+ athletes. Keep doing them. But don't expect them to be something that pops every game every time its called. The meat and potatoes of the offense is still ramming into a mass of bodies and hoping Corum/Haskins can break tackles and ankles almost every time.
September 7th, 2021 at 1:14 PM ^
Yes they won’t run those all the time, but the threat of them, out of any formation is there every time Henning or Wilson is on the field, meaning they can run counters, defense won’t put 7 or 8 in the box every time one of them is out on the field. I’m telling ya, we just live to complain. We just do. Things will improve, we are never going back to 27 for 27 Brady Hoke days. I’m sure of this.
September 7th, 2021 at 10:32 AM ^
There was one trivial but unique thing about the WMU game: it's the first game in Michigan history to end up with a 47-14 score, for either team.
47 turns out to be a pretty rare number for any Michigan game: we've scored that number only four other times in our history—1903, 1973, 1985, and 2006.
Our opponent has scored 47 only once: Indiana in 2013.
September 7th, 2021 at 3:31 PM ^
1903: 11-0-1
1973: 10-0-1
1985: 10-1-1
2006: 11-2
With the added bonus that in both 1985 an 2006 we were coming off the worst season of each HC (Bo in 1984 and Lloyd in 2005). I'll definitely take it if that trend continues...
September 7th, 2021 at 11:18 AM ^
This was a hilarious bit (8:04) about the Ronnie Bell punt return question:
Seth: Most of the time you're fair catching it, if you return it most of the time you're actually running out of bounds or you should not have returned it. You know you don't want a guy who's going to pick up a return because he tries to run with it and then gets knocked down.
Brian: What? What? Wait... this game is football. You try to run with it and then you get knocked down.
That's gold, Jerry. Gold.
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