• I would pass deep against them.
• Michigan wants to run.

Sigh. . .

Edit:

You don't go from seeing [a run-first "offense"], feeling that, practicing that, and then you do something different on game days.

Thing is, Sam, that's exactly what Michigan did back in the Jedd Fisch days.  They played what I called "SunTzuball".  They'd leak out one thing, do another, drop something as soon as defenses prepared to stop it, and pull something else out.  And the changes weren't desperate; they were evolutionary.  They focused on player strengths like Rudock's short-range accuracy, or the NFL-caliber FBs, or Jake Butt, or AJ Williams' development.  They punished opponents' tendencies.  And for those who keep crying for Michigan to establish an "identity", they didn't do that either.  They were, at various times, a (what Brian called) "hippopotamus-shaped Air Raid", an FB dive (!), a screen team, and when Rudock finally developed a long ball they unleashed it without mercy.  The week you prepped for something, they were preparing for your answer.

IIRC, BYU flat-out said after losing 31-0, "That was not what we prepared for."

They were an undermanned hodge-podge unit with all kinds of limitations yet they kept gashing opponents because they got the absolute most out of their players, right up until they literally ran out of them.  Take this juicy bit from the 2015 Maryland UFR, when Rudock laid a 50% DSR egg and the O-line had targeting (NTT) issues and won with pure RPS:

Braden gets an excellent block on EMLOS; Johnson cuts right off his butt, and you've just popped a 20-yarder based on one good block.

That is the huge and excellent difference between this offense and Hoke offenses. Michigan is getting freebies and finding successful plays on which only a few blocks have to succeed, and this is propping up their offense even when the QB is bad, the linemen can't target, and the running backs are missing cuts. This execution would have been a grim day the whole way through under the previous regime. Under [Fisch] they find ways to make it work because the coaching staff is operating at a high level.

That's what it'll take to win nine games this year, but I haven't seen that level of ruthless cunning in at least five years.

I've never seen what Ira looks like, but I always envision him as Dee Snider from Twisted Sister because they sound the same.

Man, this did not give me much confidence going into the season.  Lowering expectations accordingly.

is nothing more maddening then watching talent get wasted  because Harbaugh wants it to still be 1985

This game has all the hallmarks of being Army. Hopefully, not as close but just as frustrating and irritating. Gattis will show his dedication to the run but hamstring himself by keeping the QB out of the fray. There will be all manner of motions and fakes and interesting things that everyone, including the offense, ignore.

Unless Michigan can break some big runs to get into the end zone this will be a brutal watch. It isn't that hard to run effectively but still not score that much. Unless you can break really big runs.

I've been feeling pretty good about the potential of this offense the last few weeks, but this is really concerning.  I understand wanting to play to our strengths, but I can't take another year of us refusing to capitalize on our opponents weakness.  

ESTABLISH THE RUN!  Yay for coaching via cliche!  Man this season might really fucking suck.

So Harbaugh brought in new faces on his staff only to do the same tired shit he has been doing? What is the damn point. Watching Michigan keep wasting talented players and consistently getting out coached is going to drive me into the looney bin. It reminds me of a line from Dr. Death, “it is like he knew what to do but for some reason did the exact opposite.” I mean maybe the coaches really are dumb. But I have to believe that at least one person on the coaching staff would realize what kind of things need to be done to play to the strengths of the team. I don’t understand why Michigan seems to purposely try and score as few points as possible. Sounds like another season wasted. What a joke.

Establishing the run is the most outdated thing in football since "the spread offense won't work in the big ten because it is cold".

Smashmouth into stacked boxes. What a surprise.

Doing what "we want" instead of scheming to attack an opponent's weaknesses. What a surprise.

As someone mentioned, this might be 2019 Army all over again. Do we break Haskins this time? Or Corum?

Dammit.

I usually don't watch/listen to these.  This lowered my expectations for the season (and I'm surprised by the predicted scores at the end -- the scores were more optimistic than the discussion).  The comments here don't seem to pick up as much on Sam's statements about practice and the fact that some really poor passing days apparently coincided with the renewed emphasis on the running game.  In other words, the decision to focus on the running game is based not just (or maybe not even primarily) on ideology, but also on the weaknesses with our passing game (as least at this point in the season).  I'm simplifying things, and I'm sure the panelists have developed these ideas more fully elsewhere, but this is not great news.  Hopefully our QBs surprise to the upside, and we incorporate the passing game, play action, reads, etc., in an effective, strategically impressive manner.  

I don't care if they "establish the run" as long as they have the same definition of what a running play is as Urban Meyer. Specifically, that includes the P in an RPO, as well as the flare route to the back side of the zone read.

We’re going to lose to Wisconsin 47-0

Sam mentioned some issues with passing game in practice.  One cause for possible optimism is that I assume Cade wasn't a world-beater in practice last year either as it seemed clear they preferred Milton, and yet I would argue that other than the 2nd half of Penn State when he was injured he was very effective last year.  It could be that he is just better in game setting vs. a practice setting.