MGoPodcast 13.9: The Gods Demand Couches
1 hour and 26 minutes
The Sponsors
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1. Offense
starts at 1:00
It's almost basketball season! Michigan can't get away from shooting itself in the foot, especially on substitutions and ill-timed false starts. Cade's passing game emergence in this game was an unexpected but pleasant surprise. The Andrel Anthony show results in an all-time hot take from last week. Is he the new number one receiver? Does any of this matter? Seth's best guess on the JJ fumble is that Corum might not have had the correct playcall. Erick All has 10 catches!
[The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]
2. Defense
starts at 22:13
Defense takes a step back, particularly at defensive tackle. Lots of rotation at defensive tackle and leaving the starters off the field. Michigan was not prepared for Michigan State's tempo. Linebackers were fine, cornerbacks held up for the most part. Moten had a great shot at an interception and Dax Hill got beat deep on the MSU 4th down touchdown on a tip-of-the-hat throw.
3. Hot Takes, Special Teams, and Game Theory
starts at 34:36
Hot takes so hot they would be sitting innocuously on a Michigan message board. AJ Henning Punt drop one of only a few missed opportunities on special teams. Moody kicks seven field goals, four of them count. Robbins' botched fake punt run should've just been a called fake punt run. Frustration about field goals and red zone decision making, including a Charlie Weiss comparison (miss you big guy xoxoxo).
4. Around the Big Ten, wsg Jamie Mac
starts at 52:57
Michigan fans may be miserable, but so is most of the Big Ten. Nebraska pulled a Dave Brandon ticket sale scheme and Adrian Martinez got booed en route to four interceptions. Minnesota rows the boat to their own destiny. Wisconsin starting to look like Wisconsin as they also control their own destiny. Jamie has few notes about his Hoosiers losing to Maryland as Seth attempts to pronounce Tagovailoa correctly. Rutgers vs Illinois, happened. Does Ohio State have holes in the secondary that Michigan could exploi- nope, not even going to finish that sentence. Penn State actually getting the benefit of the doubt on holding non-calls.
MUSIC:
- “How Not to Drown”—CHVRCHES feat. Robert Smith
- “Not”—Big Thief
- “Down on the Bottom”—The New Basement Tapes
- “Across 110th Street”
THE USUAL LINKS:
Not enough to get you fired, not enough to make you happy.
October 31st, 2021 at 9:45 PM ^
Huzzah for Patrick! Thanks for taking this on.
November 1st, 2021 at 9:54 AM ^
By default, the most I've ever written for front page #content
November 1st, 2021 at 8:15 AM ^
I'm still pissed. Hope is a dangerous thing.
November 1st, 2021 at 8:20 AM ^
I usually listen to all of these but turned this off after 13 minutes. I get you are having life issues Brian, but if this is the way you feel about Michigan football, please find a new line of work. It is impossible to listen to you or read your takes at this point.
November 1st, 2021 at 8:49 AM ^
I was wondering if I was the only person feeling the same way as I listened to it this morning. Glad to know I wasn't... And I'm glad you posted this because I'm not sure I would have, but probably...
I get the life issues, but that isn't what this is. I also get being down on the team after a prototypical Harbaugh loss. But quitting on them like he has is for losers. The team hasn't quit, like they did the last three years. I expect the message board tough guys to spew the same shit over and over, regardless of result - and that's what they're doing. I don't expect the site owner to publicly quit and egg on the others that want to give up.
You don't like the way its going? Fine. But maybe protect your business by walking away from it. Either sell it, or let Seth, et all, run it in your place, and just manage it. Get out of the public profile - quit fucking twitter (which is most likely 80% of your problems, anyway); leave the podcasts to people that do care; stop writing. Get the fuck away from it if you're going to be just another whiny asshat...
I was in the 'Fire Harbaugh' camp last year. Not anymore - he's done what I (and everyone else) asked for this year. Going forward, if the team quits like they did in previous seasons, I'll reconsider joining that crowd. But not right now. Not after the first loss in 8 games and still being a legit top 10 team. We wanted a competitive team... Having a good shot at winning, on the road, against another top 10 team, despite all the shit thrown at them during the game by the other team AND the refs, is what being 'competitive' is. The previous three teams would have melted in that game and lost by 17...
November 1st, 2021 at 9:00 AM ^
Or maybe, just maybe -- if you don't like the content he puts out on his website that he built from fucking air - you can go find another one.
If you don't like his takes on the podcast -- stop listening! He has a right to his own opinion and takes on this team.
November 1st, 2021 at 9:11 AM ^
He has a right to his opinions - he also has the right to our empathy and even the most minimally observant reader/listener would see that he needs some help and maybe time away at this point in his life.
We all have the right to self destruct - I'd rather he not flush down the toilet what has been the source of the best UM sports content over the past 2 decades because other parts of his life feel like they are spinning out of control.
I hope he is getting the help and counseling he needs at this difficult time in his life...
I hope the community can show some empathy for what he is going through...
I hope he gets good advice and steps away from work for a bit lest he sabotage something great he created here at MGOBLOG.
November 1st, 2021 at 9:37 AM ^
I think we should leave his personal shit out of it.
Its hard enough to deal with life and whatever is coming with it --good and bad -- without a bunch of message board posters using it to justify this or that or thinking the scarce few things you've shared about your personal life invites us to comment on what you need.
I applaud anyone who can remove this game from the context of the last 20+ years of Michigan football. I can't and clearly BC can't either. I can't tell the future but it sure fucking feels like this will be paired with a road loss to PSU and a home pantsing by OSU for a wonderful fucking cocktail of mediocrity.
November 1st, 2021 at 10:50 AM ^
1) Everything you are saying about UM football is true to me and it sucks. We have the resources and brand to expect much more than the mediocrity we've seen during the Harbaugh era and the garbage we had under RR and Hoke. For many reasons, including poor coaching, preparation and being snake-bitten by some shit luck in key games and moments, Harbaugh does not look like he's getting us over the hump and continues to shit the bed in big games.
2) One can also acknowledge that the site creator sounds detached and perhaps depressed relative to his prior on-line persona/interactions. Is it possible that he has simply and finally reached a point of nihilism in regards to UM football after 20 years of this shit?...absolutely. However, given that nothing happens in a vacuum and it has been shared that there are complications in his personal life right now- it's not a leap to suggest that there may indeed be some cross over in how his personal and work life are colliding.
3) If you read my post, I simply suggested that the board show some empathy and perhaps - so he doesn't damage the site and the 20 years of incredible content that has been aggregated, he could take a step back. Whether it be counseling or simply some time away, it's good for people to get a break - specifically from something that causes such detachment and frustration consistently. I don't need to feign concern for Brian, essentially a stranger, for my own kudos on an online forum.
4) Ultimately it's his site, his personal life and his decision on how to cover UM sports - I simply provided an opinion on how it appears from afar, how we should show some empathy in general for whatever is going on in his life, and how time away can often help in many aspects of life. I don't feel there was anything disingenuous about it - and this is coming form a blog reader/member for well over a 15 years who is absolutely gutted by what has happened to UM football - so I'm by no means trying to sweep that mess under the rug.
November 1st, 2021 at 9:45 AM ^
Sure, he's entitled to his opinions. People are also entitled to point out that he seems really detached and disinterested in football and that perhaps there are people on the staff who are into it that could speak on it instead. Like, the game recap from Alex was pretty angry and pointed against UM and the coaches but it seemed like he actually gave a shit; Brian saying "nothing about this season matters to me" isn't really good content or shows some thoughtful analysis of the game.
There's actually a ton of content on this site not written by Brian, and I find that equally as enjoyable to read those. While I don't always agree with Seth's UFR analysis, for example, there's real effort put into it and you can tell he's passionate about the sport. After the Rutgers game Brian wrote "Michigan lost future games after this win" and that's been his doomsplaining approach since. He's entitled to do that but save me the "love it or leave it" response to credible disagreement with the quality of his analysis.
November 1st, 2021 at 9:54 AM ^
the original post that I replied to said he needs to sell the site or hand it over to Seth and calling him a loser.
That's not credible disagreement. Wrapping critiques of his content with real or feigned concern for his personal life is pretty fucking out of line.
I respect you, your input, your critiques - dickheads bringing up shit that has nothing to do with this and making personal attacks can go back to 4chan or wherever the fuck they spawn from.
November 1st, 2021 at 10:31 AM ^
"You don't like the way its going? Fine. But maybe protect your business by walking away from it. Either sell it, or let Seth, et all, run it in your place, and just manage it. Get out of the public profile - quit fucking twitter (which is most likely 80% of your problems, anyway); leave the podcasts to people that do care; stop writing. Get the fuck away from it if you're going to be just another whiny asshat..."
I suspect this is what you're talking about. There are options available if someone doesn't like the way things are. Stepping away - in whatever form that takes - is one of the best. I don't have any "feigned concern" over his private life - I have no concern. I do legitimately hope that he gets things sorted out however its best, but it's really none of my business (or yours). However, it's apparently affecting his business - this blog - because it requires page visits. And telling your customers that 'there's no point and it all sucks' doesn't grab me as a great way to keep business.
BTW, your last sentence seems straight out of 4chan and reflects nothing whatsoever that I wrote.
November 1st, 2021 at 10:50 AM ^
you called him a loser and a whiny asshat.
November 1st, 2021 at 10:55 AM ^
>BTW, your last sentence seems straight out of 4chan and reflects nothing whatsoever that I wrote.
That is absolutely rich coming from the same person who said this in reference to Brian a few posts above.
Get the fuck away from it if you're going to be just another whiny asshat..."
November 1st, 2021 at 11:46 AM ^
It feels like Brian just doesn’t like Harbaugh’s style of play and that makes it hard for him to enjoy Michigan football even when we’re winning. He was all-in for Rich Rod and then in the next couple of coaching searches was proposing guys like Frost, Herman and Mullen, coaches with similar offensive philosophies -none of whom have exactly panned out themselves.
I can understand this to a degree, but he seems to write off the Harbaugh era altogether. We were 46-42 under Rich and Hoke. Harbaugh is 56-23. We haven’t climbed the mountaintop but we’ve been pretty good and honestly, how often has Michigan football been in the national title picture in recent memory? (1997 isn’t that recent of a memory anymore…)
November 1st, 2021 at 2:41 PM ^
There is something infuriating about Harbaugh's style. I don't know if there is any team in college football that is more painful, discouraging and frustrating to watch than Michigan. Even many of their wins are unsatisfying. I blame this on Harbaugh's weird tendency to 'body-blow' opponents instead of crushing them from the get-go. He prefers slow-motion blowouts and that often results in Michigan taking a dominant first half into the lockerroom with a 10-7 lead. That can be stressful and too often Michigan doesn't put the game away when they have the opportunity to do so.
I feel for Brian and he's having a real hard time on multiple levels. Lately, I've been thinking that everything in the world (and a lot of things in my life) totally sucks and it's even depressing that college football and Michigan are depressing now, too.
But, it's important to remember this is just a game. College football can bring us incredible joy but, honestly, it's really just an infuriating and vexing interest (the inverse quadfecta just happened, UM lost and their chief rivals, State, OSU and ND all won). It's actually rarely rewarding and the joyful moments can be few and far between.
And while this is easier said than done, we shouldn't let it bring us down as far as it can raise us up. Let the great moments carry us, but don't let the bad moments drag us down. If they lose - especially due to some bullshit by the refs or Harbaugh's idiosyncracies - just dismiss it and let it go. I went on with my weekend after Saturday and it was pretty nice.
But also, try to keep hope. Maybe this is too naive of a take and I sound like a dorky loser at the casino who thinks his luck is bound to change sometime, but, have hope that Michigan can win out. The odds of beating Ohio State don't look good but who knows? Anything can happen. And that's why they play the games. GO BLUE!
November 1st, 2021 at 9:24 AM ^
Stop listening and stop reading his writing. Maybe go pay someone to write content about Michigan football with opinions you agree with.
Just a tremendous amount of whining over hearing opinions that reflect the thoughts of a significant portion of the fanbase. This has little to do with Brian’s personal problems and everything to do with you and your ilk being entitled children. Get over yourself and quit bitching.
November 1st, 2021 at 9:36 AM ^
Have to agree. It got to be a bit much talking about how meaningless it all is. Well, it's just a game. Yes, it is meaningless but not because Michigan is unlikely to win the conference this year, which NO ONE expected. Hell, I was thinking they'd be back to a kind of 9-3 season and I was a lot more optimistic than most of the board. They've looked about as good as I thought they'd be, although I thought the offense would be better (maybe would be with Bell) and the defense worse.
November 1st, 2021 at 11:40 AM ^
We probably should have just come out and said what was going on, which was Brian was recording this while suffering from a migraine. We cut out a lot of stops because he couldn't go on or lost the thread of what we were talking about. I don't think he believes it was his best effort, or even reflects where he is, except it wasn't in a pillow where he needed to be. We fought through it for three segments then I let him go before the Jamie segment.
November 1st, 2021 at 11:51 AM ^
I'm sure his reasons are much more legit than mine. I would just like to point out that, as embarrassing as it is to admit, I was (and still am) physically beat from that game. I can't remember the last time I had a headache and I just couldn't shake it until like 4 hours after.
As usual, thanks for all the work you (and Brian) put in here. The storm will pass as some point.
November 1st, 2021 at 12:40 PM ^
Thanks for the clarification Seth.
UM football been giving me a migraine for 20 years tbh, and sometimes I use the pillow just to yell into it so i don't scare the shit out of the dog.
November 1st, 2021 at 1:50 PM ^
Appreciate that and hope he gets through it soon. All of it. Having said that, you are wasting your time with this group. There is a loss and incoming doom against OSU means it is pile on everyone. Brian, Harbaugh, who else can we find. Brian made it clear on that podcast that what are we doing if we are not beating MSU and OSU. Well, isn't that what we have been reading in every goddamn thread from everyone? And I agree with him to an extent.
I love Harbaugh. I love this site. I understand people go through stuff and I have a lot of tolerance. Obviously others don't. I am ok with being upset about a game for a bit, but spewing shit towards people is absurd. I should follow my own advice and stop right here. Get a grip everyone. It is just a game. Neg away. Don't care.
November 1st, 2021 at 8:44 AM ^
I don't get the depression about this one. We lost to a very good team on the road by 4 points with every coinflip going against us. This feels nothing like the last two Ohio State bloodbaths. Tough to say they were better than us in this one. Unless your default belief is that we should win absolutely every game, this was a stumble but not an implosion.
November 1st, 2021 at 9:07 AM ^
We lost because it's 2021 and we have a head coach who not only can't integrate tempo into the offense, it's now quite apparent he doesn't even know what tempo is. He was repeatedly pantsed by MSU's tempo like they invented it.
That's a level of incompetence that's quite astounding, considering his high profile. How do you get to coach any college football program in the 21st century and not know what tempo is??
November 1st, 2021 at 9:33 AM ^
I agree. I am not mad about a loss in a vacuum. I am absolutely upset that Michigan loses games because the head coach is a relic of the NFL or a bygone era of college football where after a play ended the coach called some elaborate play, the QB had the team huddle up to go over the snap count and the play and then they walked to the line and checked the defense and adjusted the blocking accordingly.
I don't expect Michigan to score five star recruits. I don't really expect them to win the conference that often. But my goodness, college football these days is about frippery. I am not saying I like it anymore than Harbaugh does, but if you're going to run a program in 2021 and beyond tempo has to be a healthy part of your offensive game-plan and playing defense against it has to be something you spend a lot of time prepping for. I thought that maybe moving on from Brown would help on both of those fronts since he always preached 'limiting the snaps' but then we brought in an NFL guy to run the defense and I wondered what would happen the first time a good opponent used tempo against us. Well, Saturday I got my answer.
In some ways, I do have empathy for Harbaugh. I firmly believe he would be running an elite program if we could get in a time machine and go back to 1998. With that said, how is it possible that the same issues that plagued the late Lloyd years are basically the same issues that got Hoke fired and are holding back the Harbaugh regime? Why is this program so arrogant to its own way of doing things that they refuse to engage in the majority of modern football tactics? I suspect I know the answer to this (Bo didn't do that way!) but I just do not understand why we cannot move on.
November 1st, 2021 at 9:42 AM ^
"I am not mad about a loss in a vacuum. I am absolutely upset that Michigan loses games because the head coach is a relic of the NFL or a bygone era."
Sorry, but I have to call BS on this. People would be just as mad if Michigan lost just as many games for different reasons. It'd just be something else. If the offense was too wide open and pass heavy it'd be that the coach got too cute or doesn't instill toughness. I wouldn't feel better if they lost because Michigan utilized tempo, but couldn't run the ball to save their lives. How would that feel better?
November 1st, 2021 at 10:13 AM ^
I can’t speak for everyone, certainly. But on a personal level, this what I wrote on September 2nd about my expectations for the year in the following post: https://mgoblog.com/comment/244230365#comment-244230365
To summarize, I personally wanted to see proof this coaching staff was prepared to play college football 2021 style. I knew this team wasn’t going to win the conference before the season started and it doesn’t appear Harbaugh is going anywhere. I’m cool with. I just want to see improvement on game philosophy. Are there people that bitch no matter what? Yes. Has Michigan made strides on some schematic things on both sides of the ball this year? Yes. Has Michigan been better than I thought? Yes. Credit to the coaches for both things.
Again, this is just me, but to lose yet another game against a team worth a shit on the road where we didn’t use tempo on drives where we had them on the ropes and looked utterly clueless when the opposition did it is a bridge too far for me. Some people might nitpick the reasons more but I thought we threw the ball better than I expected but we ultimately lost because of a basic 2021 tactic and that seems to be a never ending problem that can be easily fixed - it has 0 to do with real or imaginary problems people think this program has.
November 1st, 2021 at 10:21 AM ^
The same reason USC is where it is, we needed a “Michigan man” and they needed a “Trojan”; our blue haired fan base wants 3 yards and a cloud of dust and thinks the forward pass involves 2 bad outcomes and 1 good one, SC blue bloods think student body right/student body left is the way football works; if there’s one thing that’s true forever about college football it’s that you need to adapt and evolve with coaching, schemes, personnel and tactics. See, Saban, Nick.
November 1st, 2021 at 11:39 AM ^
Brady Hoke was a "Michigan Man" blue hair special, I guess, but Jim Harbaugh had taken Stanford from also-ran to one of the better teams in the country, then taken a moribund 49ers team that hadn't made it to the playoffs in a decade and delivered them to the gawd damn super bowl a couple years later. He never had a losing record in the NFL and fielded some really impressive teams, so of course the braintrust in SF fired him because he annoyed them and was getting more credit for turning the team around than they were. Well guess what - SF has gone to the playoffs one time since he was fired (and lost in the SB) and have had a losing record otherwise.
Jim Harbaugh was hired at UM because he was one of the best coaches of football in the fucking world at the time. He's probably still pretty good, but UM isn't Alabama or OSU in terms of talent, culture, etc. so he's only been as good as virtually all of the best UM coaches in modern history and not transcendent. That sucks to an extent, but save me this revisionist history where Harbaugh was some lazy signing.
November 1st, 2021 at 12:29 PM ^
Harbaugh was the best hire Michigan could make at the time they needed to hire someone. But I learned in the business world, there are no bad decisions, just bad outcomes. Harbaugh's past success doesn't really matter at Michigan. The state of OSU's program (and apparently MSU now) doesn't really matter. The head coach at Michigan is paid to run a good program which competes with the top teams in the country (not always win, but compete with). This is where Harbaugh's outcomes have been bad.
When the outcomes become consistently bad, it's time to make new decisions. I think it is stupid to propose firing Harbaugh now. Despite the 7-1 record, I do think how Michigan performs against PSU & OSU (and a bowl game) should determine whether he is retained or let go.
After 7 seasons if he is sub .500 against MSU and doesn't have a single win against OSU, it's time to go. We all make fun of OSU for keeping John Cooper around so long, why should Michigan do the same thing?
November 1st, 2021 at 9:42 AM ^
Isn't it possible the tempo issues on defense were because we have a 1st year DC in his 1st year in college? I would hope Harbaugh could give him some strongly worded pointers in that regard, but I am guessing it's mostly on MacDonald and secondly on Harbaugh for not dealing with that
November 1st, 2021 at 9:44 AM ^
It's certainly not all on Harbaugh, but it has been an issue before. Brown had tempo issues as well, like against OSU, but this was on a whole nother level. Obviously they need to fix their subbing patterns. Guaranteed OSU is going to try the same thing.
November 1st, 2021 at 9:48 AM ^
Yeah. I mean i'm still hopeful this is a 10-2 team and they've pleasantly surprised me so far, but I don't know how people have any optimism for OSU. The 2 competent offenses we've played so far have put up 29 and 37. OSU is going to be bad
November 1st, 2021 at 10:38 AM ^
That's what competent offenses do - they put up 35-40 points against good teams. It's what Michigan's offense needed to do Saturday, but they kicked FG's and was, ahem, on the unfortunate side of a few calls.
If you don't put up 35-40 ppg, you aren't going to win against good teams. This has been the state of college football for several years now, with very few exceptions.
November 1st, 2021 at 10:58 AM ^
I don't completely disagree you need to score points but MSU beat Nebraska and IU scoring 13 and 16 points on offense. Michigan put up 33 and had that call be correct on the field would have scored 37. That's exactly what MSU did, and UM did it more efficiently and with more consistency. There were two reasonably good teams and somebody had to lose, but being on the wrong "of a few calls" (and "few" is doing some work here) is how you lose 37-33 moreso than kicking a FG with mere seconds left after racing 65-ish yards in 70 seconds because, again, the refs decided to overturn a major call despite no real video evidence to support it.
Again, not blaming the refs for the loss but winning and losing close games often turns on good fortune and waving away a mountain of bad fortune as irrelevant isn't fair.
November 1st, 2021 at 11:28 AM ^
If that's what I did, my apologies - I did not intend to do that. I've made several posts since Saturday saying that those calls absolutely affected the game's outcome. That Michigan could have played better, and that the refs could have been better, are both true.
Those calls absolutely affected the game.
November 1st, 2021 at 11:32 AM ^
Yeah, I don't think you were dismissing the impact of the calls but just wanted to note that UM played pretty well offensively and in a close game those bad calls likely swung the score by a bit.
November 1st, 2021 at 10:08 AM ^
I mean, at some point, through THREE DCs, the consistency of it has to fall back to Harbaugh, doesn't it?
The 2015 season (DJ Durkin) completely ended the moment Indiana exposed that you could lock our bad defensive players on the field with tempo and we couldn't adapt to it; the second we subbed out on the D-line, Kevin Wilson went tempo and it became a nail-biter. Yeah, Michigan won that game, but it foretold bad things against OSU. And then Kevin Wilson went to OSU.
Tempo has been an issue on the defensive side of the ball since Harbaugh got here, whether it was Durkin, Brown, or now McDonald.
November 1st, 2021 at 10:33 AM ^
Sure, but do people really think Jim Harbaugh tells his defensive coaches "don't prepare for tempo and if you do I'll boot you from the field?" And with respect to the various DCs, Ole Miss under Durkin doesn't look like it knows how to handle tempo either, nor does Brown in Arizona. I am not absolving Harbaugh for part of it but it's similar to the complaints about the offense where everyone assumes that Harbaugh is constantly fiddling with the scheme every week but seemingly only to the detriment.
November 1st, 2021 at 11:55 AM ^
My view is they can't deal with tempo on defense because they don't practice against real tempo. Why else would you be subbing your entire DL when the other team is coming to the line and getting ready to snap the ball? I just don't think it's a priority for this team to run tempo -- though they have gone a bit faster this year -- or practice against it. This is very similar to their issues with running QBs over the years. It's not a priority for them in practice.
But it's simpler than that, if you are caught unprepared for the snap, call a TO. Yes, you can only do it a few times, but it would have helped in the MSU game.
November 1st, 2021 at 9:59 AM ^
I do think people are overreacting to the tempo stuff a bit. Michigan sometimes runs tempo, and MSU doesn't run it a ton. Michigan's bigger issue is they tried to rotate guys in when they shouldn't, which as noted in the podcast is probably an NFL thing where you assume the drop-off between guys is less severe (I actually think that's wrong because there is sometimes a massive drop-off between your backups and starters in the NFL versus college, but that's another point) and teams don't tempo as much in the pros.
But Don Brown, for all his flaws, had a decent method of dealing with tempo the last couple of years by keeping his starters out there and getting more guys who were interchangeable. People complained about the lack of big space-eater tackles but the trade-off was you had linemen and linebackers who were schematically more fluid. It didn't always work if the other team had comparable or better talent, but that's true across the board in college football.
But MacDonald is a young guy and he's going to have to figure it out. He's never been a DC and it shows in situations like this, and that's a cost you'll have with taking a shot on the guy. But the idea that Harbaugh doesn't "understand" tempo (especially after he uses it himself more this year than in years past) feels reductive.
November 1st, 2021 at 10:10 AM ^
I think the "NFL guys don't have as much drop-off" is a red herring. The issue wasn't really *who* we were running onto the field in those situations; it's thinking that MSU is going to wait for you to sub *anyone at all* that was the problem. It doesn't matter who's running in if you have 14 guys on the field and/or they're not lined up AT ALL when the ball is snapped.
November 1st, 2021 at 10:28 AM ^
Yeah, but the MacDonald philosophy appears to be all about rotating guys along the line, which does give you fresher guys at the end who, for example, hold MSU from a first down and give your offense a final crack to win. But you can't do that if the other team isn't substituting, and that's where MacDonald got caught up. Michigan hasn't really seen that much this year, and that's a situation where a TO should have been called.
I'm not excusing MacDonald here; you have to be prepared after the first or second time. But I also think people need to accept that this is a cost of a coaching change on defense and that "oh geebus, UM will never be able to crack tempo ever" is a bit unfair. Teams, even ones that practice against super-fast offenses every week, do get tempo'd sometimes, and I guess I just didn't see MSU breaking it out nearly enough to justify the consternation. Sometimes they got UM, sometimes they didn't. We'll see how UM reacts going forward to IU, PSU, and Maryland, who will all likely try to speed up the game.
November 1st, 2021 at 10:17 AM ^
Bronx, forgive me if I’m wrong, but I do not remember a single snap against MSU where we dashed to the line and snapped the ball instantly before panic time. And, if we did, we certainly did not catch MSU with too many men on the field or popped a big play. MSU didn’t do it much either, but when they did we were caught off guard either on alignment and/or substituting.
November 1st, 2021 at 10:53 AM ^
I don't remember if UM did in this game, but in games against Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Washington I distinctly remember them running up to the line and snapping before the defense was set, usually either picking up a nice chunk/TD (near the goal line) or getting an offsides or some other free play out of it.
Again, the substitutions in this game are a problem and have to be addressed going forward, but I don't think UM was caught off guard by the concept of tempo the way people are reacting as much as their response wasn't appropriate at times. But I give a 34-year-old first-time DC more slack there that he'll figure out how to adapt. And in the end UM I still think UM id pretty well against MSU's offense; a couple of the bigger plays were more the result of LBs and safeties taking bad angles on plays against a really good player.
November 1st, 2021 at 9:45 AM ^
I think the depression is that it's Sparty with a 2nd year coach who inherited a disaster of a roster. That hurts. If this same loss happened to a top 10 Iowa, Wisconsin, or Penn State on the road there'd be a lot more silver lining. This is just another game where a lesser MSU team played a great game and beat us. It happens too often
November 1st, 2021 at 12:02 PM ^
I understand what you're saying, but I don't know how much "lesser" this MSU team is. They did a great job bringing on transfers that have led to wholesale improvement. They have an above-average Big Ten QB, home-run threats at WR, and a Heisman candidate at RB. Add that to the in-game coaching advantages they demonstrated and the DISRESPEKT card, and this was going to be a tough game no matter what.
It just sucks that this is now the second rival that is at least at (probably above, this year) our level. Granted, I'll be more than shocked if they find a KW3 every year. That would be a real bummer for us.
November 1st, 2021 at 8:49 AM ^
I've gotten to the point that I sort of speed through the sections where Brian tells everyone football is meaningless and nothing matters so I can listen to Seth and Jamie at least enjoy talking about sports. Brian doesn't owe fans anything but if you really don't want to talk about football this year (and by all accounts that is the case) it's okay to pass that part of the beat to Seth, Alex, etc.
Because I've been joking for most of this season that the tone of this place makes it feel like UM is 3-4, losing future games in wins and generally doomposting for 2 months. And if that's your outlook fine, but why treat wins as loses you just haven't met yet when there are going to be actual losses in the future? Like, testament to Brian to admit that even a win against MSU wouldn't have changed his mind about football but then just wait until basketball and hockey season and don't put yourself through following a team that actively makes you sad.
I feel like I've become more antagonistic toward this site as a whole, which isn't particularly healthy and seems like a massive waste of energy given what else is going on in the world. I really like the people who run this site and think Brian is a great voice in college sports writing. But it's also okay to take a step back when you aren't in a great headspace.
November 1st, 2021 at 12:00 PM ^
I really appreciate your comments and posts. I look for all of them. I see them as bringing water back to its level. If something is overwhelmingly positive, you seem to point out vulnerabilities going forward; it something is overwhelmingly negative, you seem to give it context. You're a good egg, as they say.
November 1st, 2021 at 8:54 AM ^
Football purgatory. That's where we are.
Our head coach is a terrible in-game coach but he's also the best we've had in over 15 years by far.
We don't have enough schematic or talent advantage to overcome all the stupid shit we consistently do to ourselves. Forget Ohio State - we don't have the right leadership to overcome the 2nd tier of the Big Ten.
And that fucking sucks because outside of Harbaugh - I'm pretty happy with this staff and I like this team.
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