WTKA Roundtable 11/5/2020: Give State Credit
Things discussed:
- We eat our crow.
- Where was the QB run game?
- Fake Craig on Twitter
- Ben Mason and Chuck Filiaga missing assignments
- Minnesota's defense is just awful
- Slow corners: what to do? Not much they can do.
- What were they seeing in practice?
- Don't blame the refs for DPI/DHolding—those weren't close calls.
- Where were the downfield throws?
- Pressure and coverage go hand in hand but MSU was looking at the fly route immediately and nobody's pass rush gets home in time for a first read like that.
- What can they clean up, what's just missing (e.g. a downfield passing game).
- Why didn't we test MSU on the edges???
- I sneak in a little Indiana preview.
[Hit the JUMP for the player, and video and stuff]
You can catch the entire episode on Michigan Insider's podcast stream.
Segment two is here. And you can watch the recording here:
MGoBlog Roundtable https://t.co/T8XTUvoqoa
— The Michigan Insider (@michiganinsider) November 5, 2020
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The reality of the situation is it's extremely unlikely that any of this changes in the near future
November 5th, 2020 at 11:50 AM ^
I’m not so frustrated the corners we have are slow. I’m not so frustrated they held, grabbed and were ultimately torched Saturday. I am frustrated that the coaches basically got 10ish weeks of practice and either didn’t realize this was a problem or think to spend a good chunk of time implementing (and then using) Cover 2, 3 & 4 schemes. Forget MSU - WTF would Penn State or OSU done to us on Saturday? Michigan arrogance at its finest.
November 5th, 2020 at 12:50 PM ^
Same for me. The corners were bad but it's not their fault primarily.
Basically the defense was extremely predictable, and MSU kept doing what they knew they could do to exploit it. Michigan at no point threw in different looks to throw off MSU from their primary "chuck it up to the man-covered WR right after the snap" approach. That's all on coaching to me. I'm not against a pressure-centric approach that Brown likes, but when it becomes so predictable that they exploit you all game long then it's on the coaches to mix it up in game...and if they can't it's a failure in preparation.
This is basically along the lines of the failure against OSU two years ago and crossing routes. We still have ptsd about crossing routes. Except this time it came from a team with much less talent, so really there is very little excuse.
November 5th, 2020 at 12:10 PM ^
My only take for the coaching malfeasance of that game is that they looked at MSU film against Rutger, at the personnel they had available, and at the extreme athletic division between the two teams, and determined that they could afford to not practice or come up with anything new. It feels like they sat back and congratulated themselves, looked around, and collectively said 'give the guys a break, we can beat them like a drum with our base packages'. And so they did nothing but rely on base plays w/out frippery. Can't adjust at halftime (or any other time) if you haven't practiced anything all week. Maybe the practice time was spent on walk-through's and self-paced video sessions to reduce Covid impact?
I dunno, man. I got nothing else...
November 5th, 2020 at 12:32 PM ^
Craig Ross looks exactly like I imagined except he doesn't have mustache. How does he not have a big bushy mustache? If he had a mustache he would be Donald Sutherland's Springfield character from the classic Simpsons episode.
November 5th, 2020 at 1:19 PM ^
Thank you for being reasonable those PI's were legit and not close. You want to put those guys on an island you need to get to the QB and we had zero sacks. That is directly on Dr. Blitz.
The corners that is their technique. We just watched Lavert Hill give up one PI a game for 3 years. The officials are probably sent a tape by every opposing coach of our corners grabbing and holding.
The coaches need to adjust unfortunately never had shown they can do that.
Has Durkin been in exile long enough to get another DC job?
50/50 on Harbaugh 50/50 on Zordich because this might be the year he can land a recruit but Brown 100% has to go
November 5th, 2020 at 7:15 PM ^
Durkin is the co-DC at Old Mrs. He's be recuperated.
November 5th, 2020 at 5:51 PM ^
The thing about football is that after a number of years facing the Don Brown defense, the B1G coaches have figured him out. Also, the huge complaints to head office of the way his CBs grab and are physical is paying off. Thus far this year, Michigan is the most penalized team in the B1G and the number of PI calls shows he is being targeted. Michigan is being penalized at a rate of 70% higher than their opponents. It is only two games, but the inequity in with the whistle thus far is glaring.
November 5th, 2020 at 10:31 PM ^
Because it should be called. Flagrant holding every play. Sparty did this with Narduzzi..would tackle the guy instead of giving up a long pass. And we went further. Am surprised Jim went this route.
November 5th, 2020 at 7:17 PM ^
I thought this game was basically a toss-up til the bit where y'all started trashing on Indiana's offense. Fully expect to watch Penix light our secondary up now.
November 8th, 2020 at 9:12 PM ^
Lol! It happened. It's like every time you guys talk trash the world throws it back in your face!
November 6th, 2020 at 8:59 AM ^
About the mental side of things, MSU messed around with their fronts to generate confusion, but I also think when you have well-coached players (if you disagree, please check out the M00N game again), and you bury your face in statistics, that it's easy to forget that sports are very much an emotional experience. Not just for fans, but doubly so for the players. The great ones will lock in regardless of circumstances, but most mortals can't compartmentalize to the point of fanaticism. You can tell yourself "we got this" all day but niggling doubts (are we really going to run power again?) will turn into small mistakes (crap I blocked the wrong guy), mistakes into lost opportunities (great, now we're punting), lost chances into more self-doubt (and I doing this right?). . . next thing you know, the entire team is in a slump, without any drop-off in effort.
The coaches did not prepare. Both the offensive and defensive gameplans were predictable. The kids didn't need any motivation to give 100% come game time, but they're not dumb. Heck, my cats can sniff out my emotional state. The players -- who'd never say this on record -- knew the coaches had basically taken the week off. It's inconceivable that the coaches' lack of preparation wasn't noticed, at least an instinctive level. And that makes it really hard to focus.
The coaches' laziness hurt not just the gameplan, but the quality of play. I've gone through this during the nadir of the Hoke years. Players know when the coaching is shit. Now, UFR (which birthed such memes as "poor damn Fitz" and "the Jibreel situation") is savvy enough to tell the difference between bad playcalling and bad play. But when the coaching is obviously shit, don't be shocked if the players also play like shit. Anyone who's worked for an incompetent manager knows it's hard to keep your head down and work when you're being told to execute lunacy.
November 6th, 2020 at 11:00 AM ^
Congratulations to Sam Webb never changing, blaming the refs for the secondary issues. Thank god im not in listening distance to WTKA.
Why cant people realize that Jim got Aspergers the moment JT got the 1st down in 2016 and is a shell of himself and has no clue of whats going on.
November 6th, 2020 at 12:02 PM ^
I used to listen to WTKA years ago but Sam and Ira are such delusional clowns that I stopped listening outside of the Mgoblog roundtable. Those guys aren't interested in talking reality. They're cheerleaders who just lick the boots of Michigan's staff.
November 6th, 2020 at 3:19 PM ^
I really don’t want to hear about how we have young guys out there so mistakes are gonna happen. So does every other team.
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