I've been to a Bama game. The fans in the stands grumble the whole time. Gattis was co-OC. They growled about not running enough and not being able to run it in from 1st and goal on the 4. All while beating Mizzou 39-10, and even when getting to sing to Dixieland Delight (which had been banned due to the added foul lyrics).

My impression by the way, is Bama will take the top off you, because they have receivers who can get separation against most other teams' backfield. (Lamenting the loss of Bell for sure here, but maybe others will emerge.) They also do not go fast between plays.

Anyway, I was upset about the passing during the first half, and settled down to enjoy the hamblasting after the first series in the second half.

No one expecting beating Washington soundly - they did. Most people's dire predictions for the season (including mine) may have been too pessimistic.

This season is going to be an interesting developmental ride.

"Michigan struggles to run the ball gaining just 44 yards on the ground, the team abandons the run and throws for 343 yards in a 31-10 win. Does anyone even bat an eyelid? Perspective."

I think one of the major gripe regarding the lack of a passing offense even though the team won is that JH was supposed to be a quarterback whisperer. the QB was supposed to be solid.

i agree with the perspective argument but for me personally, i can't remember the last time seeing the QB launch one and thought automatically 'that looks good' instead of 'omg omg please don't be an interception.

Jim Harbaugh believes that you limit the number of plays, not maximize the number of plays.

If you look at the tournament teams, Clemson, Ohio State, Alabama, Oklahoma (and then a few other one offs)... they do not share this philosophical belief.

When you're the more dominant/favorite team, you should want to speed the game up and get in as many plays/possessions as possible. Law of Averages, more plays/possessions will lessen the impact of randomness in the game. Randomness favors the underdog.

From Michigan's perspective, if the goal is to beat Ohio State, we should want to go as slow as possible. Does anyone think we can compete in a shootout? But if each team only gets 8 possessions the entire game, one pick-6, fumble, special teams play, etc. could be enough variability to result in a win.

Trying to beat the perennial playoff contenders at their own game when you're less talented is not the way to beat them.

When Saban started winning at Alabama they were exactly what you described Jim Harbaugh to be. Then other teams basically said, fuck this let's just try to outscore them no matter how many points we give up because it will wear out Alabama's defense and Alabama's offense couldn't keep up. 

Saban, hated this. He publicly lashed out against this style of play. Tried to get the SEC and NCAA to pass new rules to prevent it. Then he decided, I better change and change he did. He now fields a team predicated on putting up points without being pissed off if he gives up 17, 21, 28 points in the process. True, he still has all of the elite talent to field a great defense, but how he builds his team and manages a game has changed.

My question with Harbaugh is if he can come to the same realization. Figuring out 100 different ways to ram into a brick wall will not get you through the wall meanwhile all you have to do is open your eyes and see you can walk around it. 

I also think that there is simply a fan bias towards passing because (1) passing is exciting and (2) there's a perspective that successful modern teams pass the ball.

If we are talking about the team we appear to be right *now*, there's a ceiling to how far it can go, and we know that secondhand from repeated head trauma trying to bash our heads through.  

The thing is, you have to walk before you can run and the bottom fell out last year and we couldn't even walk.  Right now, we appear to be indisputably good at running the ball, if nothing else.  And not just good, but potentially historically good with perhaps the best 1+2 punch of RBs in the country.  By itself, it's not enough to reach the top tier of the sport or even the their below.  But it's something the team can hang it's hat on and it's tangible improvement from last year's worbegotten whatever-that-was.  

Ultimately we won't know anything until we play a fully functional team with a pulse, and yes we've seen this movie before.  But at this point in the season with this team, it appears we have a mauling ground game and that's as good a place to build from as anything.  It's not sufficient, but it IS necessary.

There is some irony that the people here who are complaining the loudest about the lack of passing even though we beat Washington by 21 in a dominating performance, are the same people who pegged Washington as a likely loss preseason. 

We’re not going 12-0?! Ya shoulda at least written “spoiler alert.”

Thanks for your Fake UV. Sometimes faking is as good as the real thing. 

I think Magnus captured it well. All of us, my grumbling included, had to shut up when Michigan dominated that second half. However, Michigan didn't throw the ball down the field even when it was clear the screen game was going to be a no go. That irritated me. I'm fine if Michigan is run heavy, but they need to find a way to use that heavy run to compliment the pass game. Can we spring a tight end who's pretending to block? Can we get single coverage in the slot with Roman Wilson?

Right now, the issue seems to be that the running game and passing game are separate entities. That said, just stop throwing the ball horizontally. I'm old enough to remember Terry Malone coming in and spending the year throwing the ball sideways and being awful. You need to use all of the field. I think Michigan struggled to do that despite having an ass kicking run game. 

Thanks for the write up and your previous UV submissions.  I really enjoyed them.  So cool that this board inspires others to step up when there is a temporary gap in staffing.

Michigan is not a 12-0 team.  But we are a 2-0 team and I for one, am happy about that.  The Harbaugh conundrum; who is he?  Can he change?  Can he win in todays game?  Not sure I know.

What I do know is that we are not at the same level in talent as the top 4-5 teams.  Not in QB.  Not in WR.  So that means we cannot play at that level or that way.

Maybe he is doing what he thinks his talent gives the team the best chance of winning.  After watching pieces of the two OSU games, grinding out big yards on the ground seems highly plausible and keeps their offense off the field.  Who knows?

Alabama?  That is a high class problem.

My complaint about the complainers is, why can't they wait until it's actually warranted, like when we're losing? I don't get when, ten minutes into the game, people start prophesying the failure of the entire season. I've been around here long enough to know that pessimism is the comfortable norm but seriously, why go there prematurely? 

I echo your sentiment that Harbaugh, at his core, is a coach who believes in control football. Control football, as you’ve pointed out, is not winning national championships in recent years. Therefore, Michigan doesn’t appear to be a national championship contending team as long as Jim is the coach. That is where the fan frustration comes from in my opinion. 

I admit to being in the we need to pass the ball more crowd. But it comes from a deep seated desire to see Michigan have an offense that is capable of keeping up with the OSU, Clemson and Alabama’s of the world.
 

If I step back, I fully understand that passing for passing’s sake against Washington would have been a bad idea. What I fear moving forward, is that our pass aversion comes from the fact that we are not good at it and will not be able to do it against good defensive teams who can neutralize the run. Time will tell. In the meantime, I am enjoying the energy that this team brings to the field and the level of execution that we have seen on both sides of the ball so far. 

Excellent analysis, thanks. I'd only add that many people who were disappointed at our non-existent passing game against Washington -- including me -- actually were grumbling earlier on, when the game was much closer. People sneer, "we won 31-10 -- some people are never satisfied!" Well, yes. But when we got stuffed at the goal line, were still only winning 3-0, and simply couldn't throw the ball downfield ... the anxiety was not unreasonable at that point.

In addition, there's something to be said for making a point even when we are winning, instead of only second-guessing coaches after we lose. 

From me personally, my anxiety stems from the fact that it's simply been a long time since we looked like we had a functioning modern offense against a good team. The last year and a half has been a lot of banging our heads against a wall, ignoring mismatches that favor of us and, often, ignoring the specific skills of the players we have in favor of a predetermined "game plan." And I was disheartened to see the same thing happening here.

Yes, we won. Yes, we won by more than we expected (and many people actually predicted a loss). That's all really good news, and nobody's denying it. I haven't seen anybody sneer that this was a disappointing result. But those of us who were hoping to see a functioning offense, able to threaten both on in the air and on the ground ... are still hoping.

Hell, I'll take it against Northern Illinois, honestly. I'm not asking for 400 yards passing. Just some variety of play-calling, and a sense that receivers can make plays more than 10 yards downfield. If MSU can see a mismatch and spring Ricky White loose against us for 200 yards ... can we do that sometime too? Please?