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2023 nebraska
2023 rutgers
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WTKA Roundtable 9/27/2023: Greetings from Sokovia Comment Count

Seth September 28th, 2023 at 10:29 AM

Things Discussed:

  • Offense vs Rutgers: Double SZ returns, that's going to work well with Arc. Zone reads add an outside threat to Duo.
  • Defense vs Rutgers: Missed Mason Graham: his absence nerfs Grant; Goode and Benny are decent players but opposites and can't play together.
  • Rutgers thought they could Iso Barrett and he was was awesome. Harrell's been awesome, Stewart has to stop giving up edges.
  • What's so sad about that Rutgers TD is McGregor was dropping back into that slant.
  • Nebraska's defense: After seeing Colorado's OL it's an ain't played nobody situation. Colorado had answers for all the things Nebraska was doing. Michigan is going to have to gameplan for them though because they like to play Rock, Paper, Scissors. Loveland is the difference in this game: they have nobody who can match up with him.
  • Is Nebraska's defense like TCU? Different: Nebraska's LBs are fast and small; TCU's LBs were slow but thicc. They're very "Don Brown" in that they have runts who are going to be flying to the ball.
  • You've made it when you've got a haterz name. Nobody ever wrote "$eth" before.
  • One bad half. Marcus Freeman: why are you insane?
  • Penn State vs Ohio State: Craig thinks it's an OSU blowout. Seth thinks PSU has a QB who's making up for their OL issues and they've got the DBs to hang.
  • Iowa: Poor Cade, at Michigan he was sitting on his ass behind one guy he hates, now he's sitting on his ass behind five of them.
  • Brian: If I was an Iowa fan I'd be done with Kirk Ferentz, who put his son over the whole program.

[Hit the JUMP for the player, and video and stuff]

Seth was on early to talk Lions here (it's not Michigan so it didn't make the podcast version). Segment 2 is here. You can watch the video here:

The Usual Links:

That walking Just for Men ad is gonna get pissed.

Comments

readyourguard

September 28th, 2023 at 10:59 AM ^

McGregor’s only issue was how he dropped - to a spot where he initially saw the receiver rather than anticipating where the receiver was going to be.  Frankly we’ve had issue with linebacker drops for as long as I can remember.  We’ve covered a lot of grass over the years lol.

Joined: 08/21/2008

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Logan88

September 28th, 2023 at 11:07 AM ^

Okay, something which I have always wondered and will now ask:

Aren't most decent Tight Ends matchup nightmares? They are too tall/physical for DBs and, often, too fast for many LBs. This is assuming we are talking about a "catchy" TE (Loveland) and not a "blocky" TE (Barner), of course.

Joined: 01/05/2009

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Seth

September 28th, 2023 at 12:46 PM ^

They are in that a typical power forward is going to be a matchup problem for a typical guard, but it's always a question of which guard and power forward, and what degree. Nebraska plays small but can usually get away with it because the degree of difference is not so big. They have a hybrid guy who is 6-2 and a LB who is 235, and either one of them can keep it close with a normal tight end. But I don't think the 235 pounder can keep up with Loveland which means they have to put the 6'2 guy on him, and Loveland is too big for that guy.

Joined: 10/14/2008

MGoPoints: 149219

gasbro

September 28th, 2023 at 12:01 PM ^

Interesting options in terms of football competition.

2 more would make 20. They could have two 10 team divisions each year with rotating schools in each division aside from 2-3 protected rivals. Play the other 9 in your division. 2 division winners can face off in BIG championship (or just both go to CFP). You would face each school at least once every 3 years and most at least  2 times in 4 years

Joined: 01/09/2012

MGoPoints: 2470

elm

September 28th, 2023 at 2:01 PM ^

FSU will likely be one soon. The only thing really stopping them is the lack of a university hospital and they’re in the process of creating one. The meet all the other criteria for membership. Clemson, I don’t know. They’re probably much further behind. At the least, they’re ranked much lower academically.

Joined: 05/11/2011

MGoPoints: 1902

bronxblue

September 28th, 2023 at 2:28 PM ^

Yeah, this pass was a bad one that nearly got picked off and this one was directly into a DB's chest.  He also had some clunkers against Illinois.  He's a solid P5 starter but their passing offense is very screen heavy with minimal downfield shots and that absolutely feels due to the fact he's still not that accurate downfield and is a young starter.  

Joined: 11/22/2008

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StateStreetApostle

September 28th, 2023 at 12:21 PM ^

I was today days old when I realized that "the player" in the jump header meant "the audio player", not like 'a michigan player that we talk more about after the jump'

 

it's one thing to be stupid but another to admit it on the inter--

 

d'oh.

Joined: 01/18/2012

MGoPoints: 36404

Logan88

September 28th, 2023 at 1:31 PM ^

Yeah, I had Michigan losing at PSU in a heartbreakingly close game before the season even started and I was expecting Allar to be much worse than he has been. While PSU has done a nice job of not overloading him (he seems to throw a LOT of short passes) he still is an upgrade on what I was expecting; add in the fact that UM has looked worse than I expected, particularly on the OL, and I am pretty confident that UM is going to lose to PSU. Sadly, I think this means that UM probably won't win the division this year even if they beat OSU.

Joined: 01/05/2009

MGoPoints: 8078

bronxblue

September 28th, 2023 at 2:34 PM ^

I'm not as sold that PSU is better than they were last year on offense even with Allar playing better than expected; they still can't run the ball with any consistency against anyone with a pulse and they haven't faced a single team with double-digit sacks thus far.  It's sort of crazy - Iowa, WVU, and Illinois have combined for 15 sacks on the year, which is 5 more than Rutgers has by themselves.  So yeah, Michigan's OL has struggled a bit but has faced teams with competent pass rushes and come out fine.  Nebraska will actually be an interesting test; they've got 14 sacks in 4 games and if UM can move them around that's a good sign.  

Joined: 11/22/2008

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Koop

September 28th, 2023 at 3:30 PM ^

Uh 🙄 m’kay. 
 

Predictions are what they are. That’s why they play the games, right? 
 

But in the category of confirmation bias, judging Penn State on a dumpster fire of a schedule to date—and yes, I’m looking at you, 2023 ILL and IOWA—and concluding that somehow validates that Penn State is better than Michigan this year is … speculative.
 

The best one can say is that neither has played serious competition yet, and that both show promise and have unanswered questions. PSU has a date with some judgment sooner than Michigan does. We’ll see, pretty darn soon—like in a few weeks soon. 

Joined: 08/16/2022

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JBLPSYCHED

September 28th, 2023 at 1:07 PM ^

Great discussion, both about improvements/advances we showed against Rutgers, how we match up w/Nebraska, and the ancillary B1G stuff about OSU/ND, will PSU really stand up against the big boys and the mess at MSU. Hysterical exchange about Marcus Freeman's attempt to cover his egregious errors that cost ND the game last weekend--including Brian's comment that Freeman would be a good fit at MSU b/c they don't care!

Joined: 11/27/2010

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DennisFranklinDaMan

September 28th, 2023 at 1:40 PM ^

Ryan Day's comments honestly didn't bother me. He was understandably excited after the game — beating an undefeated Notre Dame team in South Bend on the last play of the game will do that to you — and stood up for his team against repeated accusations that they were "soft." Maybe he could have been more diplomatic, but emotions were running really high there, and I'm ok with a coach standing up for his team.

Eh, I dunno. I get it. Whatever Ryan Day does or says, we need to make fun of him for doing. Ok. But please please don't tell me we've moved to a point of over-confidence against OSU yet. That, it seems to me, is way premature, and I want Michigan to prepare for a war, not a cupcake.

Joined: 01/23/2021

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rc90

September 28th, 2023 at 3:01 PM ^


Iowa: Poor Cade, at Michigan he was sitting on his ass behind one guy he hates, now he's sitting on his ass behind five of them.

His pride and his various body parts are hurting now.

Joined: 02/15/2016

MGoPoints: 8513

Koop

September 28th, 2023 at 3:47 PM ^

This year’s Michigan team is proving maddeningly hard to follow to me because it feels like we’re increasingly in meta-analysis owing to the weak schedule.
 

We know Michigan will likely cruise to a win in most of the games; the coaches know it, too.

Are players seriously injured, or are they just being rested? Is a player like Miles Hinton the best option right now at tackle, or is his ceiling that much higher that the coaches expect he’ll get where he needs by the time the schedule requires it by basically using games as practice reps? Is outside zone a legitimate part of the offense, or is it just the coaches using September as extended fall camp? I mean … yes, I guess? 🤷‍♂️ 

Maybe if there had been a serious non-conference game, then Michigan would have shown what it “really” is. Or, maybe if all but two other teams in the B14 weren’t horrifically dysfunctional this year, then Michigan would have real tests outside PSU and OSU. 

But, there wasn’t and they aren’t. So, we’re left likely maintaining this same uncertainty about How Good Are They Really until … mid-November?

🤦‍♂️

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