MGoPodcast 13.1: The Cover's Cursed
1 hour and 38 minutes
The Sponsors
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This episode was supposed to be recorded at Prentice 4M, on the other end of The Bridge, started by a couple of readers to have the perfect, affordable, safe, and clean living/renting/working space near campus.
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 11:30 AM ^
rawpower.app better be a nod to Iggy Pop and The Stooges.
September 7th, 2021 at 11:53 AM ^
I think a lot of criticism on the lack of reads is overblown.
We know Milton sucked at them. Shea did too (or was instructed to not keep because of his injury). We have literally seen Cade execute them before. Michigan with these same coaches has had a few decent #speedinspace moments (think: Michigan v. PSU 2nd half two years ago)
I guess one game against Western isn't going to concern me too much in that department, especially when they cruised to an easy victory. If they decide to not ever do reads, then fine, fire them into the sun. But it's game 1, against a team they literally out-talented to victory, damn the numbers in the box. I'll choose to be encouraged that they got over 300 damn yards on the ground despite no reads and minimal #speedinspace. They ran a pretty vanilla gameplan and scored 47 points. That's a major improvement compared to last year.
September 7th, 2021 at 12:22 PM ^
I guess my question is what is #speedinspace anyway? Because I saw swing passes to RBs, WR end arounds, shots down the field, etc. That feels like speed in space to me. We have a lot of speed on the offense, and it felt like we utilized it.
Were there a bunch of fake reads? Honestly I don't remember seeing anything like that, though granted I was at the game and it's hard to pick up some of that stuff from the stadium. But I was pleased with how we were utilizing our offensive weapons, and I see a lot of potential from the passing game for games where our starting QB throws more than 11 times (which we had no reason to do here when we're running over WMU on the ground), which should open up the running game even more.
September 7th, 2021 at 12:25 PM ^
We know Milton sucked at them. Shea did too (or was instructed to not keep because of his injury).
According to who actually? They had Milton make "reads" against Minnesota last year and then against MSU he just stopped. They started 2 QBs across 3 years who couldn't make a read? With McCaffrey sitting right there? Doubt. It's not 1 game against WMU with no reads. It's 14/20 games with this offensive coaching staff with little to no reads.
When Pep was the OC, the argument was he didn't run a RO/RPO offense so there were no reads. Then when Gattis got to town it was Patterson who didn't know how to make a read. Stepping out on a ledge here, but maybe neither Pep nor Gattis run an actual RO offense, regardless of QB. Against WMU, they had Cade turning his back to the "read" multiple times. That's not just taking the reads out of the offense, that's running an under center handoff out of the gun. Their QB reads are planned plays, as in they actually tell them to make a read or they tell them to keep the ball and run that arc keeper that has been successful at times. Read Option is not their default.
Michigan with these same coaches has had a few decent #speedinspace moments (think: Michigan v. PSU 2nd half two years ago)
A few, across less than 1/2 the games they've coached together in. That doesn't instill confidence. Moreover, I'd argue when Patterson did keep the ball in 2019, it was probably as I described earlier - a planned QB read or keeper.
Major improvement over last year is good. Full stop. Last year was bottom of the barrel so I'm more interested in improvements over 2019 output than I am over improvement over literally the worst offense we saw at Michigan since Steven Threet or possible Devin Gardner with no ribs.
September 7th, 2021 at 12:51 PM ^
Yeah I would say there were two camps on this board coming into the season, one who thought last year was some sort of new baseline and not just an aberation and those who figured the team would at least return to normal Harbaugh form. Sure if you are in that first camp you are fricking overjoyed because your expectations were literally rock bottom. If you are in the latter you are probably just kinda meh because you expected UM to dominate an outclassed team. The first group was just happy to see a blowout cause they weren't expecting it, the second was more looking at are they doing things that will actually be successful against better opponents.
I think both groups can agree they would need to do and show more against better opponents, one is giving the coaches the benefit of the doubt that they will, the other is skeptical based on past seasons. Hoping the folks in the latter group, myself included, are wrong cause this team even without Bell clearly has a good amount of offensive talent with big play potential
September 7th, 2021 at 2:06 PM ^
HEY! Watch it! Vince Lombardi played for Fordham!
September 7th, 2021 at 5:16 PM ^
Curse #1 Lloyd Carr taking reps from an NFL Hall of Fame QB and giving them to a Yankee farm system scrub.
September 8th, 2021 at 2:39 PM ^
Quite a good discussion here. Overall, it was an excellent win over an outclassed school.
The most important point, though, is that some of the things we saw ARE NOT GOING TO WORK against better teams. Our excellent RBs getting by unblocked guys in the hole? That's not going to happen as much. End-arounds being home-run plays? That's not going to happen against speedier, more talented defenses. Counters to many of the obvious plays? Here, I am hopeful that Weiss will make a difference, but otherwise this staff has not shown the desire for many counters / tendency-breakers.
Overall, it's still Harbaugh's Michigan. It's going to be predictable, vanilla, and safe. At least until we get down by 14-17 points. And then we're going to have to try things that we haven't repped in games much and hope for the best.
Might this stuff get us to 8-4 this year? Sure. Will it get us much farther? I say no.
September 9th, 2021 at 4:39 PM ^
GD Brian is an anchor. Can we please move on with Alex and Seth in the future? I know he is going through some shit, but please spare us the monotone fun damper.
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