Best and Worst: PSU

Submitted by bronxblue on

Best:  A Picture is Worth a New Coach

I’ve been writing these diaries in one form or another for over 3 years; if you go back for enough, you’d find me making recaps using old Bruce Willis movie titles.  Those were heady times, to say the least.

But this “version” of the game recaps has been kicking along for a bit now, spanning a national championship game run by the basketball team, most of the Hoke era, and now the Harbaugh reign.  And one of its hallmarks, along with promises to keep things short and then writing 5,000 words, references to professional wrestling, and dumb header titles, are images and gifs.  Usually I try to pick out images that embody the point I’m trying to make, such as watching UM play UConn in 2013

and then later obliterating IU.

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For a time, sorting through them was easy on my computer, and if I couldn’t find one that fit I’d just Google image search until I did.  But like all pack-rats, over time I accumulated (and this is the most internet thing I think I’ve ever written) too many animated gifs and dumb images to sort them quickly.  So I built a small utility on one of the sites I maintain to upload and view all the images, scaled and paginated for easy traversal.  When I come across an image or gif I think is funny or interesting, I upload it to the site, even if I don’t have an immediate use for it.  And before you ask, yes, I’m a software engineer.

So I’ve had this site for over a year now, and by default I sort the images by the day they were uploaded.  So I went back and looked at last year around this time, to see if any images might be relevant or particularly humorous given how this weekend played out.  And what I realized, beyond the fact that I’m on WAY too many message boards and reddit threads, is that it was f’ing DARK around this time last year.  I mean, some of the first images that pops up is a dog literally shitting during a competition

and of a motorcyclist running into a car while an interview is going on.


It wasn’t just that UM was losing; that had unfortunately become a common occurrence years before.  The losing, sadly, I could live with as a fan; it ruins your day, but rarely do teams go a whole season without blowing a game or just running into a better opponent.  No, what these pictures made so clear was how much melancholy and ennui surrounded the program.  It became such a chore to watch these games, to see a team with top-20 talent and bottom-20 coaching sludgefart their way through 12 games a year, that I’m honestly not sure I’d have continued writing these had that malaise carried on to this season (and yeah, I know a couple of you probably wished I had stopped).  It just felt like an unnecessary strain, watching this program further devolve and looking for the fool’s gold of “progress” in crude accomplishments such as “they nearly broke 200 yards of offense”, “Devin Gardner walked off the field in one piece”, and “they almost won on the road this time”.  And by its very nature, my goal is to keep these articles upbeat and rarely serious, not a dour litany of the failings everyone already watched on Saturday.

Frankly, it’s how I imagine most logical PSU fans must feel like watching the Nittany Lions these past couple of years, knowing that your ceiling is one of those mid-tier Florida bowl games against an 8-win SEC outfit.  You hear about the recruiting classes, you see the all-world defensive linemen, you (apparently) believe your QB to be a future NFL signal-caller despite evidence to the contrary, and then you look up and all you have are a bunch of 7-win seasons with few signs of actual growth.  That was life watching UM football under Brady Hoke, a guy who checks off a number of the boxes you want in a coach (strong connection to the program, ace recruiter, good human being) except the ones that really matter (beating rivals, winning seasons, demonstrative improvements during the season as well as between them).  And once the afterglow of that 2011 season faded and it was just season after season of mediocrity (or worse), well, you welcome in a nice little otter into your heart and he doesn’t seem to be in any hurry to leave.

But right around the time Harbaugh made it clear he’d be coming to UM, I noticed that the tone of the images I uploaded changed rather dramatically.  Gone were the depressing images, the painful gifs, and the general resignation that were the hallmarks of lost seasons.  It wasn’t that I suddenly started to download rainbows, unicorns, and silly cat pictures, only that I didn’t need to find ever more ludicrous pictures to display my exasperation with the direction of this program.  UM did and will continue to lose games and the coaches and players will do “bad” things on and off the field, but these foibles no longer feel embedded in the DNA of the block M, in the same way that “Sparty No!” seems to have left the Spartan hemoglobin (though its devil pact replacement ain’t too fun either).

I’ve said this before, but ever since the Utah game Michigan has seemed competent in everything they do.  It doesn’t mean that there aren’t weaknesses and that mistakes aren’t made, only that from the coaches on down, everyone seems, I don’t know, professional about it.  They aren’t scrambling to find answers to obvious questions, there aren’t players finger-pointing when games go badly (and to his credit, Hoke never had this issue either), and there hasn’t been a moment that was truly embarrassing to the program or the players.  Hell, even after the MSU game, the lowest of low moments of the season, everyone associated with the program maintained a calmness and professionalism that was refreshing given the clusterfuck of recent vintage.  The worst of moments was treated like every other; a teachable instance, a chance to reaffirm the mantras of responsibility and camaraderie, of “winning with character and winning with cruelty” and doing the same in a loss, and the choice to move on.  While I dislike the lazy “Michigan Man” meme, if THIS is what it means and is what I can come to expect from the program going forward, then I think Bo would find it agreeable.

Now, there will be speedbumps in the coming years; hell, there could very well be a nasty nut-shaped one next week.  But this program is on the type of solid ground that lets you weather those slip-ups properly, absorbing the lessons and making sure they don’t repeat themselves.  Last year’s contest was an emotional rollercoaster, with Devin Gardner and the defense clawing UM to the victory in a game where Brady Hoke called a timeout to give PSU one last hail-mary throw to end the half.* 

This year, PSU threatened briefly but was roughly as inept as last year’s edition.  And if you squint and look at just the box score, you could make an argument that UM wasn’t much different either – slightly better offensive numbers than last year, but more turnovers and a boatload (13 for 117) of penalties.  But at no point in this game did I expect UM to lose, and from the sideline on down you could tell the team took the terrible penalties, the bad-luck TOs, the offensive miscues in stride.  There are at least two more games in this season and UM has a good chance to win them both, but this season has already been a success, and the future looks even brighter.  Now, if only I had an image…

* I’ll admit to defending it at the time and still thinking it wasn’t a terrible decision even now, but that’s not relevant anymore.


Best:  Playmaker

You hear all the time about how teams need “playmakers” on both sides of the ball.  On defense, it’s usually reserved for defensive backs who pick off passes, safeties who lay bone-crunching hits, and defensive ends who obliterate QBs.  On offense, playmakers are the running backs who turn 2 yards into 50, WRs who make impossible catches seem routine, and QBs who can make all the throws and pilot an offense in amazing ways.  The common thread, though, is that these players are able to improvise, to “make plays” when things break down, to divine success from the chaos surrounding them.  UM has had their fair share of playmakers in this mold, including some of the greatest college football players in history. 

The emphasis, for lack of a better analogy, is on the “maker” part of playmaker, the sense that greatness comes out when structure breaks down.  But you can’t ignore the first part, those players who are able to execute the “play” well enough to win, who can process what’s in front of them and perform their role as perfectly as possible.  Tom Brady is on the short list of greatest QBs in NFL history not because of a fantastic arm, blazing speed, or snake-quick release, but because he executes about as well as anyone who has played the position.  Sure, he can create magic when forced to, but he’s a “playmaker” because he makes the plays that his team needs him to make, in the offensive system he’s helped perfect.  And yet, when you say a player does his job well, it’s almost taken as an insult, as if genius only counts if you are throwing paint at a wall or flicking a ball on a broken play with 300-pound men chasing you.

Jake Rudock looks like your dad’s QB, a smart guy with a clean face and a quiet confidence.  He can run a little, he can throw a little more, but he doesn’t do anything that immediately jumps out at you as spectacular.  Whereas Johnny Football is a whirling dervish on the field, and Denard a bolt of maize-and-blue lightning streaking down the sideline, Rudock is the steady, competent QB who is always looking downfield for his receivers, who isn’t afraid to take the ball and run but isn’t going to sacrifice the offense for it.  And truth be told, he’s always seemed a bit like an anomaly in the current game, a guy who Iowa didn’t want despite putting up basically the same numbers as the guy who replaced him, who plans on being a surgeon and probably will back it up unlike some other collegians

But over the back half of this season, he’s also become a playmaker on this offense.  Whereas against teams like MSU and Maryland he looked timid and lost, he now looks confident and poised, surveying the field, making the right throws, keeping this team moving forward even while the running game evaporates and the defense takes an understandable step back from its dominance.  He’s the reason this team beat IU last week and was a main cog in the grinding win this week.  He’s thrown for over 1,000 yards in the past 3 games, for 10 TDs vs. 2 INTs, and has done so accurately (70% completion percentage) and aggressively (9.4 ypa).  Credit should obviously go to Jim Harbaugh for never wavering in his dedication to Rudock despite early-season struggles, but this is the player UM hoped they were getting when he came on campus, and given the fact that he had only weeks to assimilate a complex playbook and get in sync with his teammates, it probably shouldn’t be a surprise that it took a bit to get there.

Still, Rudock is a big reason most of the team’s goals remain in play, and why they just swept their conference road slate for the first time in decades.  He’s never going to go down in Michigan lore or be honored at halftime of a future game, but he’s been the steady force at the helm for this team, and I fully expect him to perform up to this level for as long as UM season keeps going.


Worst:  Just Stop Running

 

Another week, another dispiriting performance on the ground.  At least this week it was understandable, what with PSU’s dominant defensive line (even without Carl Nassib for part of the game).  Zettel and Johnson can stop a rushing attack by themselves, so I wasn’t surprised that nobody really broke out.  And even if there were the occasional openings, well, as Patches O’houlihan would say about the UM rushing attack, “they’re too good and you suck something awful”.

But what was disheartening was how quickly the coaches recognized this futility and really didn’t try to come back to it until the game was salted away.  On the one hand, credit to the coaches for calling plays that would have the maximum probability of success, not just fulfill some chest beating about “toughness”.  Brian is fond of saying that when a game is like one from the 1950s, you call plays like its the 1950s, and that usually means caveman football with 2 yards and a cloud of dust.  But Harbaugh isn’t like most coaches, and so when it was clear PSU wasn’t going to be able to do much offensively and there weren’t many yards on the ground, he aired it out and found ways to move the ball semi-effectively. 

For what feels like the umpteenth time since the MSU game, De’Veon Smith recorded about 3 yards a carry with a long in the single digits, while a WR (Chesson), a mini linebacker (Peppers) a fullback (Houma), and a QB (Rudock) were the next four rushers.  Heck, the only other back to get a carry was Higdon, who had one carry for 0 yards on the first drive of the game.  It is my understanding that Smith is dealing with a foot/ankle injury he suffered against BYU, and if you look at his game log it’s pretty clear that something is wrong. 

But this team is supposedly full of other competent performers in the backfield, at least by reputation if not actual performance.  I know I harped on the same thing last week, but the fact nobody has seemingly even sniffed carries after Smith, Houma, and Johnson despite their limitations is damning for the rest of the guys on the roster, much in the same way Rudock’s early struggles didn’t even seem to remotely improve the stock of the guys behind him.  MSU just beat OSU running the ball for over 200 yards and barely passing, so perhaps there is hope that UM will be able to somewhat replicate that performance.  But when your head coach looks at his roster and feels it more prudent to throw against the nation’s leading sack defense than try to establish a rushing attack, that’s pretty damning.


Meh:  Blocky-type guys

On the one hand, the pass blocking was pretty solid this game; outside of the strip-sack by Brandon Bell Rudock was mostly kept clean (only 2 sacks and no hits according to the stat sheet), and as noted earlier Rudock was taking shots down the field and had time to do so.  On the other hand, this was another week where the running game seemed barely functional for long stretches, and while I just heaped a decent amount of blame on the backs it wasn’t like the line graded out particularly well against IU and, I’m guessing, the same will play out this week.  The good news is that they are absolutely making strides and, with the exception of Glasgow’s graduation, should return with everyone next season.  But at some point this unit needs to take that step forward and start imposing its will on teams the way Stanford used to, and you’d have expected that to happen as they became more comfortable with the offense.  OSU will be another major test, though who the hell knows what team will show up on Saturday.  But next year this line must make the next step forward for UM to have a chance at great things, and thus far it seems somewhat incomplete.


Best:  The Toast of the Town

Sadly this probably isn’t a cultural milestone for a portion of the readership, but there was a time when a screensaver was one of the “coolest” things about PCs.  After Dark, a collection of screensavers for Windows, featured a variety of cool, animated screens to display on your system while you were away.  There was animated fish tanks, flocks of birds, and enough geometric explosions to tease out a smile from even the most jaded systems admin.  And the most iconic of these screensaver was the famed “flying toasters”, featuring a seemingly random number of slices of toast and winged-toasters floating across your screen.  It was mesmerizing, funny, and creative in that un-ironic way that is almost impossible to comprehend in 2015, and even today its legacy lives on.

Well, in this game Amara Darboh was the toast of screen passes.  With the running game struggling, these plays were as much long runs as they were passes, and given Darboh’s stiff arm and strong running style, they consistently picked up first downs and helped to keep the offense from getting bogged down.  The first TD of the game was a great pitch-and-catch by Darboh, helped by a great block by Grant Perry (he might not have had the freshman year some expected on the stat sheet, but Perry has been one of the best blockers on screens and runs this whole season), and Darboh never failed to turn these passes in nice chunk plays. 

It was brilliant playcalling by Harbaugh, as it got the ball in space and let Darboh grind out those couple extra yards his strength and size afford him.  It also demonstrably loosened up the PSU front 7, which served them well later on in the game when the offense started to take shots farther downfield.  With Butt and Chesson also having solid games, it was another promising performance from a receiving core that should hopefully be back next year.  I’m particularly interested in how Butt’s senior year plays out, as the coaching staff is clearly starting to take advantage of his “uncoverability” with more deep routes against coverage.  And perhaps unsurprisingly, as Rudock came into his own so has Chesson, who seems to finally be the deep threat/stretch offense that always seemed to be bubbling just beneath the surface of his game.


Best:  A Return to Form

I always thought the IU game would be an aberration in terms of the defense’s performance this year, so it was nice to see the team bounce back and hold PSU to about 200 yards of total offense.  They gave up that first big run to Barkley but otherwise bottled him up (12 yards on 14 carries after that 56-yard run), and Hackenberg looked absolutely lost out there for most of the contest (41% completion for 4.3 ypa) .  PSU wasn’t helped by playcalling that was beyond passive for long stretches The tone was set when, after getting inside the 10 on their opening drive, PSU ran the ball 3 times and then kicked a FG; if a team can throw in the towel on their first offensive series, that red zone series was it.

Charlton was in the backfield seemingly all game, picking up two sacks and helping to compress the pocket whenever the Nittany Lions weren’t grabbing jerseys.  I expect both Wormley and Henry to grade out really well in addition, especially on the pressure metrics, as they were consistently getting in Hackenberg’s face even if they didn’t record a sack.  There were a couple of times when he just turfed balls because hands were in his face, and that type of disruption won’t show up on the official scorecard but is just as important as a TFL or a sack.

I’m honestly not sure about the LBs anymore.  Bolden was absolutely manhandled on that first long run, but otherwise it seemed like him, Morgan, and Ross made the plays they needed to.  They were very good at stringing along PSU outside run plays, and rarely did you see gaps open up for Barkley (a really talented guy) to slip through, unlike last week.  I think Morgan’s departure will be felt next season, but beyond that it’s hard to tell what the drop-off will be with Gedeon and the collection of young guys beyond them.  My guess is that a couple of “athletes” in search of a position will be getting reps there in the offseason, and so it’ll be interesting to say the least.

And the secondary was its typical lockdown self.  Lewis was challenged a couple of times but without much success, though his trip in the first half was nearly disastrous except the Wilson or Thomas came over to break up the pass in the endzone.  Beyond that, the corners were mostly in the receiver’s pockets all game, and you could see Hackenberg become increasingly despondent as he surveyed the field.  Thomas had a solid outing, though he dropped another near-INT on an overthrown ball near the sideline.  Wilson had a great open-field tackle on Barkley that kept a second-down run from breaking big, and was his usual steady self.

It was clear that PSU thought they could pick on Peppers, and he responded pretty well.  Yes, he did give up the TD pass to Blacknall that briefly gave PSU the lead in the 2nd quarter, but he also had three PBUs and had some nice tackles in space.  And on that TD, had he turned his head around quicker he’d have had a good chance at picking the ball off, as it was a bit underthrown and he was between it and the receiver.  He remains, as always, a terrifying weapon designed to destroy any offense he sees. 

Again, game balls to everyone for keeping PSU bottled up.  Even when the Nittany Lions did get close to scoring, the defense typically stiffened and either held them to FG tries or, as in the 2nd quarter, drove PSU out of FG range with timely sacks.  I’m fully expecting OSU to pull out every play possible next week, but based on the performance I saw this Saturday by both teams I’m feeling a bit more confident about how this team will cope with the Buckeye attack.


Best:  James Franklin is Terrible

Seriously, I don’t even have anything funny or witty to say.  I DO wonder if he was replaced on the sideline with Bernie Lomax for stretches of this game, though, as some of these playcalls felt like he just flopped down on the playsheet and didn’t care a lick for down and distance.  As I noted above, that first drive featured 3 consecutive runs in the redzone, and for the game PSU kicked FGs of 23, 24, and 18 yards, while also averaging 32 yards a punt, including punting when he was on UM’s side of the field late in the 2nd quarter.  Woof. 

Hackenberg isn’t close to the QB he flashed during his freshman year, which is probably due to a combination of coaching and the fact he was throwing to Allen Robinson all year, and about midway through the first half he looked like the Undertaker given how far his eyes rolled back into his head as he listened to the coaches on the sideline. 

I’m not one to read too much into body language, especially during a game, but Hackenberg looked like a guy who was absolutely sick of this coaching staff and this team, and its hard not to put a lot of that blame on Franklin.  Franklin’s rep as an offensive “innovator” always struck me as odd, as PSU has rarely looked overly competent on that side of the ball, and even his Vandy teams, while explosive against the dregs of the schedule, never looked particularly dangerous against the better teams on the schedule.  Vanderbilt caveats and all, it seems like Franklin is a good recruiter and a competent offensive thinker, but it still feels like he is playing checkers on the sideline while guys like Harbaugh are playing battle chess.


Meh:  Special Teams

On the one hand, UM had a punt partially blocked that set up PSU’s only TD, which continues a disturbing trend of special teams issues.  At the same time, O’Neill was able to drop a punt deep deep into PSU territory that UM recovered on the fair-catch fumble in part because the PSU receiver was surrounded by 4 Wolverines.  Also, Lewis had a couple nice returns, including a 55-yarder to set up the final points of the game after PSU had pulled within 5 at 21-16.  I know the shiny advanced stats are going to go down again, but the performance of this unit remains light-years better than last season’s, and helped keep this game from possibly going in PSU’s favor.

Worst:  These F***ing Refs

PSU had a total of 14 first downs in this game, 6(!!!!) of which due to penalty.  For long stretches of this game, PSU only moved forward because of penalties.  While UM was definitely undisciplined with the offsides and false starts, it just got silly when you looked up at the scoreboard and saw UM had 13 penalties for 117 yards.  I get that UM does interfere with passes and holds players like everyone else, but when Peppers is getting dinged with a PI because the PSU receiver punched him in the face, or Henry is being called for defensive holding, it gets hard to keep watching. 

And as is usual with B1G refs, we had another semi-clear targeting situation that went against UM.  I’m not sure if Anthony Zettel was targeting Rudock with his hit, but I am 100% certain that if we live in a world where James Ross and Joe Bolden can be sent off for their transgressions, old tree-thumper thereshould have been sent off for cracking Rudock on the chin with his helmet. 

Toward the end of the game Harbaugh just seemed beyond perplexed, and for good reason.  UM needs to fix the procedural penalties that kept PSU drives going or stalled out UM’s, but at some point you have to wonder if they’ll get a better shake when bowl season comes around and another conference’s crew gets ahold of them.


Next Week:  The Game

You had one job, OSU, and you couldn’t do it.  That was a comically bad game, a war crime to college football fans covered by the Geneva Convention, and beyond the fact it gave MSU an undeserved inside track for the division title, it sucked so much juice out of what was probably one of the more important final games in this rivalry’s recent history.  One can always hold out hope PSU plays inspired football to spoil MSU’s bid, but I’m not holding my breath.  The Spartans remain perhaps the luckiest team in college football (beyond the fact that they didn’t lead against UM OR OSU until the last second, they still have an absurd turnover margin), but at this point I expect them to win the entire damn conference and then get destroyed by Clemson or Alabama.

I’d like to say that OSU’s hangover will carry over to this game, but I doubt it.  Even with all the turmoil, OSU will play inspired against UM, and I expect all of the wrinkles and nuances that come with  rivalry game.  It felt like OSU just overlooked MSU a bit once it was clear Cook wasn’t playing, and by the time they woke up they were in a rock fight with the rockiest of teams. 

Right now, I think UM has the advantage even if the game wasn’t at home.  OSU doesn’t have a particularly competent QB on the roster, might still be limited in the running game, and has never been very consistent in the air.  As for the defense, it looks good on paper but was also gashed by a mediocre MSU run game, and it sure seems like a couple of those guys are looking toward playing on Sunday.  I don’t expect UM to run the ball particularly well, but it’s clear that Harbaugh has a number of tricks up his sleeve, and OSU is in enough disarray that I could see them win going away.  Regardless, it’s going to be a fun week and, I hope, and even more fun Thanksgiving weekend.

Comments

dipshit moron

November 23rd, 2015 at 12:53 AM ^

i love reading anything that a person put time into writng like this, even if i dont agree with everything. unlike comments people just threw out like they have never watched a football game in their lives.

   but i feel you are wrong on rudock. from and including the utah game i have never scene him look lost or scared. that is why harbaugh liked him so much. mistakes?  sure, just like every qb that has ever played. but he has always shown a great ability to lead and keep his head.

  i have no fear of him screwing up in a big moment or not being able to lead the team back when needed.

In reply to by dipshit moron

Year of Revenge II

November 23rd, 2015 at 12:37 PM ^

The article is generally complimentary to Rudock, and appropriate IMO, though I agree with you to say Rudock has ever looked lost or timid was a gross overstatement, and just plain wrong.  

He looked good for the most part against Utah, and if he hits a long throw, we win.  Is he more comfortable today?  Why, yes.  He led a win over MSU but for a fluke play at the end.  How did Barrett do?  Quarterbacking is about decision-making, talent helps a lot, but Joe Montana, nor even Brady, possessed the most talent.  They are the best decision makers, and Rudock is good at that.  Denard, Devin...not so much, though I love them both for their sacrifice and loyalty, and they both had good to great Michigan careers.  It is not an overstatement IMO to say both were mishandled.  

To those who were calling for Rudock's neck, and I do not recall bronxblue's position if he had one, they were dreadfully wrong, not that was not evident from the beginning.  Harbaugh knew, Morris probably knew, and now we all know who was best to lead the team. 

Spicyweiner gets kudos from me for starting his  own neg thread for how wrong he was.  

We were very, very fortunate to have Rudock this year.  I am oh so grateful.

bronxblue

November 24th, 2015 at 2:56 PM ^

I will cop to thinking Rudock was injured after the Minnesota game because he simply seemed off throwing the ball downfield for most of the year up to that point.  And as for looking timid or lost, there were lots of games against the likes of UNLV and Oregon St, as examples, where he seemed uncertain about his reads and either tucked the ball too early or failed to connect downfield with players when he should have at least tried.  The balls he's thrown to Chesson the past couple of weeks, deep digs that he launches before Jehu is out of his cut, weren't being made against MSU, Maryland, etc.  

In recent weeks, for example, he started to throw in the "Butt Zone" to great effect; he hadn't done that for long stretches of the season, and I think a part of that was because he was uncertain about taking that risk.  So I don't think he was "scared" in the sense of constitution, but he was uncertain in his decision-making for a variety of reasons.  

I do think he's become quie a bit better as the season has progressed, but that doesn't excuse or wipe away the first half of the year when he was performing like one of the worst QBs at a major college.

Other Andrew

November 23rd, 2015 at 3:21 AM ^

And by far the worst call of the game was the drive-killing "blocking below the waist" penalty for a block in the shoulder. A rarely called penalty that couldn't have been seen in this case because it obviously didn't happen.

And none of this compares to how Wisconsin got jobbed. The league needs to take significant action this offseason. I don't remember the refs in this league ever being this bad. There must be some reason for the constant failure.

 

Also worst: this announcing team. I assume we won't have them next week again!

Michigan Arrogance

November 23rd, 2015 at 7:55 AM ^

I didn't even see the Wisc game until now - that PR was called correctly, apparently - but WTF? the ball is dead when someone touches it. a FC is if he waves above his head. Wehn did that rule change?

that stuff and the catch rule and now targeting makes me not want to watch the sport anymore. it's like watching blurnsball, all the rules get made up on the fly and who the fuck knows what the point it is?

Jevablue

November 23rd, 2015 at 9:43 AM ^

Good summation and nice to not have these be some kind of extended couch time for bewildered hopeless fans anymore.

btw - I agree with "Other Andrew" above, the most pathetic call, amongst many "strong candidates" was the block in the shoulder somehow anatomically confused with as being somewhere below the waist.  I trust these boneheads to get nothing right.

Everyone Murders

November 23rd, 2015 at 9:32 AM ^

Going for the field goal from very short distance in the fourth quarter when down by 11 (working off of memory here on the score) was Ron Zook-level stupidity.  And several other headscratchers that were refreshingly hilarious, because (unlike years past) Michigan wasn't wearing the dunce's cap.

What the Hell is Franklin thinking about during game time?  My best guess is that he's busy scoping out his assistant coaches' and coordinators' wives in the stands - because we know they're smokin' hot!

74polSKA

November 23rd, 2015 at 9:52 AM ^

I keep laughing at the reaction of the woman freaking out about her dog pooping compared to the guy who just crashed his motorcycle just getting up and shrugging his shoulders. Shit happens.

mgobaran

November 23rd, 2015 at 10:17 AM ^

Look for Harbaugh to run the read option a lot in this game. MSU had a lot of success with both QB's on designed runs, and as for O'Conner doing that, I would say it was more on OSU being surprised than O'Conners ability to run. Expect Rudock to actually pull a few times this game. Pick up 30 or so yards on designed runs, 30 or so yards on scrambles, and Michigan really lay down a respectable 150 yards of rushing between Peppers, Chesson, Rudock, Smith, and Houma.

nappa18

November 23rd, 2015 at 10:27 AM ^

From a fellow Bronx Blue (parent) and former 10463 resident( I think you once noted you live in Riverdale), I look forward to reading your commentary every week. Keep up the good work. Usually spot on and a great read. Yeah, the refs this year, simply hard to believe some of these calls. I may have missed it given that I was beside myself after the MSU debacle but I haven't seen much, if any, about how MSU "blew up" Sypnewski on the last play. I thought contact with the long snapper could not be made for a full second to protect them. I could be wrong. Any info on this.

J.

November 23rd, 2015 at 10:41 AM ^

I was expecting at least one classic animation -- knight takes knight was my favorite, although rook takes queen is pretty good too..

Great work, as always.  I did appreciate Harbaugh using the screen game as the running game, something that never would have happened under our last staff.  Competence!

Edit: first attempt to embed -- not so good; the iframe didn't load. :( https://www.youtube.com/embed/iSnAiXKU7h8

 

Wolverine 73

November 23rd, 2015 at 11:05 AM ^

I don't follow why it was disheartening that the coaches went away from the run when they relaized the futility of trying.  To the contrary, it showed an ability to adapt to a situation that we had not seen much of the last few years under Borges/Hoke.  They went to something else that worked!  That made me feel very "heartened."  Nice write-up, by the way.

Eberwhite82

November 23rd, 2015 at 11:59 AM ^

And if you were listening to the broadcast drone on and on and on about this point, it makes it even tougher to swallow. STFU about it. He kept saying they needed to run to, I dunno, get back to the culture they wanted to create.

Inane. I hate that guy now. After only two games and I couldn't have picked him out of a line-up 15 days ago.

McSomething

November 23rd, 2015 at 1:00 PM ^

OSU doesn’t have a particularly competent QB on the roster

What I love about this part is, at the start of the season Buckeye fans were telling everyone in earshot they had 3 Heisman caliber QBs on the roster. Doesn't look like it now.

Hotel Putingrad

November 24th, 2015 at 4:19 PM ^

with Nessler and Blackledge for The Game. Also best: the Chronicles of Rudock. He is playing with so much confidence now, and it's great to see him being rewarded for taking on the challenge of starting over in a new environment this year. Harbaugh's greatest gift may be his ability to identify leadership.