WTKA Roundtable 8/15/2019: Operaman
Things discussed:
- Concern about quarterback? No.
- Tempo: nice to have the option.
- Not happy with Nua's talk about Dwumfour—if this is the same injury that bothered him since Maryland…
- If Uche is getting sacks at that rate you gotta get him on your field. Problem is you're not going 3-3-5.
- Paye didn't bring a lot of pass rush.
- Fickell's mad that Harbaugh won't make up a story to get his guy eligible?
- Sam doesn't block people.
- MSU: best DL in the country, putrid OL.
- Sam on Michigan: not sold on the defense yet, thinks offense is solid.
- Safety position scares him but they're bullish on Brad Hawkins.
- Shifted fear to cornerback—JKP is not going to be David Long.
- Nervous about Wisconsin? That game was closer with adequate coaching from UW.
- Did OSU's linebackers get good last year or did Michigan not put them in conflict?
- Brian very sad about guys on Iowa who should be at Michigan.
You can catch the entire episode on Michigan Insider's podcast stream on Podbean.
Segment two is here. Segment three is here.
THE USUAL LINKS
- Helpful iTunes subscribe link
- General podcast feed link
- Direct download link (right-click/save as)
- What's with the theme music?
Now you're trying to agitate me.
August 16th, 2019 at 8:15 AM ^
Sam Webb saying he is, “not sold on the defense” is stoking the fires of my BPONE. I’m picturing a team that racks up statistics against the bottom of the schedule and can’t get stops when it counts in the most important games.
August 16th, 2019 at 9:48 AM ^
Use of the phrase 'BPONE' is a thing that I wouldn't mind seeing dying permanently, regardless of the performance of UMs football team. It's just..... grating.
August 17th, 2019 at 9:56 AM ^
Unwavering,
I agree but people here know what it means so it’s easy to describe my feeling of negative expectations.
August 16th, 2019 at 9:56 AM ^
So basically the same as last year?
August 16th, 2019 at 10:54 AM ^
Which I wouldn't mind so much if the O is truly head and shoulders better than last year.
August 16th, 2019 at 10:39 PM ^
So, a typical Pony defense is what you're predicting?
August 16th, 2019 at 8:51 AM ^
It is my understanding that Dwumfour will be fine, he is not practicing right now due to an upper body injury not related to anything from last year
August 16th, 2019 at 9:52 AM ^
Thanks for getting these posted early in the day so I can listen to them on my drive to work. Appreciate it!
August 16th, 2019 at 10:25 AM ^
The defense just doesn't have the secondary to be truly elite and compete with an elite offense. The beginning of the schedule is going to convince everyone otherwise because we won't play a team with more than 1 good wr until the middle of October but we better hope the offense can put up 50 on a good defense or we aren't beating OSU.
August 16th, 2019 at 11:06 AM ^
I think you're overstating when you say 50 points, but yes, at some point our offense is going to have to outscore someone. The good news is I think they are more than capable of that.
August 16th, 2019 at 12:46 PM ^
Another good point made on the podcast is WHEN those points are scored. If--for example--we can jump out to a 3 or 4 TD lead by the 2nd or 3rd quarter (as opposed to just scoring evenly throughout the game), it really helps us out in at least three ways.
First, some teams will just not have the weapons to have a successful passing game. Second, even if they do, it'll allow our defense to compensate for some of their own shortcomings by having the luxury of defending against a significantly narrowed playbook skewed strongly towards pass plays. Third, we aren't totally abandoning the ability to do a 7-8 minute drive drill to bleed the clock. As much as people will hate Michigan going into "Lloydball Mode", it's a very legitimate strategy if our D is suspect & we are up several scores in the 3rd/4th quarter.
No matter what, it'll be nice to be able to run a hurry-up and score from behind in the 4th quarter if needed. But in order to protect that defense, scoring (for example) 35 or 42 points in a game is FAR more valuable if we can do it earlier in a game & open up a lead than it is if we have our scoring back-loaded or evenly spread between the 4 quarters.
August 16th, 2019 at 1:05 PM ^
I kinda hope our offense outscores everyone on the schedule
August 16th, 2019 at 3:24 PM ^
Uh....yes.
But our odds of outscoring everybody on the schedule is markedly improved if we can SIGNIFICANTLY outscore our opponents in the first half of football games, as it gives our relatively weak defense a large advantage when the other teams are forced to play from a large deficit.
August 17th, 2019 at 1:48 AM ^
I have noticed a change in the perception of Don Brown as The miracle worker. When he first got here there were very few people, very few, that would criticize Brown for his schemes. Now, reality has set in. He does some good things but hasn't lived up to his billing as the next Buddy Ryan.
We will see this year. The offense needs to be the engine of this car. It may take most of the season but the defense should improve. I will be watching Brown against the better competition to see if he continues to minimize the blitzing. That OSU game last year was an indictment on his lack of adjustments against high level teams.
We will see. I am not overly pessimistic or optimistic. I will wait to see how this season progresses.
August 17th, 2019 at 9:58 AM ^
Pony is great at throttling bad to average offenses. Really good offenses pretty much own him so far.
But Benedict "26 seconds" Mattison was a pretty atrocious DC and a large segment of this fan base thought he was awesome. He held TUOS to 42 in consecutive years, and one of those he held them to only 400 yards rushing.
August 19th, 2019 at 10:22 AM ^
Nebraska beat MSU last year 9-6 in Lincoln
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