Actual vs Projected Starters
No excuses at all, the product on the field is inexcusable ans Harbaugh should be fired. At the same time, we can still acknolwedge how young this team is and how many players are new / out of position. I am hopeful that this will pay dividends down the road.
From Touch The Banner:
November 29th, 2020 at 8:55 AM ^
Seems like just another excuse for the coaches not being able to get the job done. BTW there is a lot of evidence over the last 6 years that pointed to this point in Michigan football that most wanted to ignore
November 29th, 2020 at 10:10 AM ^
You mean to tell me all those kids transferring ended up hurting Michigan in the long run? Didn’t see that coming.
November 29th, 2020 at 10:36 PM ^
People keep saying this but show me any of these guys being demonstrably better elsewhere? Maybe Michael Dwumfour at Rutgers, but even there it seemed like he was unhappy with the coaches identifying his limitations and Rutgers being happy to accept him. Yes, sometimes guys transfer from programs and you wished they were still around, but honestly Michigan wouldn't be demonstrably better with most of these guys back.
November 29th, 2020 at 10:29 AM ^
What evidence besides what is provided above?
November 29th, 2020 at 10:54 AM ^
Off the top of my head. Gunners against MSU punt block, throwing in a monsoon, Pepcat and never having anything off of Pepcat, No Wr coach for the freshman year of huge WR haul, moving on from multiple OCs with same result, allowing Mattison and Washington to leave(fans then thought they weren’t needed Hahaha), inability to win on the road vs any team that’s was considered good(I think MSU away in 16 was best win they barely snuck into top 25 at 25), not telling Matt Dudek to shut up on Twitter(ok that’s a personal one because that tub is garbage), not fixing the OL situation immediately when he was hired. His second class, first full OL class was a major disappointment.
I got another. The use of TOs and understanding time management.
November 29th, 2020 at 5:05 PM ^
Massive losses due to injuries arent excuses. We don't have the depth of talent.
November 29th, 2020 at 8:58 AM ^
Looks like they should have recruited and or developed better. Coach's fault.
November 29th, 2020 at 9:05 AM ^
Indeed. Harbaugh is paid handsomely for roster issues not to be such a problem. His record is abysmal after 6 seasons. Fire the entire coaching staff and get some new blood.
November 29th, 2020 at 12:47 PM ^
BuT CoViD!!
November 29th, 2020 at 9:05 AM ^
Strange how COVID and Injuries only impact Ann Arbor, and other programs never need to face those issues. We just need to wait till year 8 when Vincent Gray is a 5th year senior and experienced enough.
November 29th, 2020 at 9:16 AM ^
Covid isn't only hurting UofM. LSU, PSU, Maryland, FSU, Vanderbilt, and other teams have been hit hard by Covid this year with many players opting out.
College football’s 2020 All-Opt-Out Team (so far) (saturdaytradition.com)
With that said, I agree that Harbaugh is paid a massive salary to have a deep roster and it isn't there.
November 29th, 2020 at 11:37 AM ^
I think you missed the sarcasm
November 29th, 2020 at 9:08 AM ^
Yes, everything is the coaches' fault and they should have recruited / developed better. I am not trying to make excuses, and I stated that I think Harbaugh should be fired. It's a no brainer at this point.
I'm simply pointing out that there is some hope for 2021 and 2022. Lots of guys were thrown into the fire and should come out stronger. Experience is a huge factor in college football (unless you only recruit top 50 players which we don't).
November 29th, 2020 at 9:10 AM ^
Yeah, I kinda jumped the gun on my comment. Sorry about that. I think the o-line should be better next year, as will the secondary (no where to go but up there). However, I have pretty strong concerns with that d-line next year. The new staff will need to hit up the transfer portal.
November 29th, 2020 at 9:42 AM ^
Let’s see.
No depth.
Poor QB play.
Insane RB substitutions.
Bad play calling.
Defensive scheme that coaches have figured out how to beat with no adjustments
inability to rush the QB, force TOs, or tackle
yup lots to look forward to
November 29th, 2020 at 9:42 AM ^
The roster is young, but that isn't the excuse for losing to State, Penn St, triple OT to Rutgers, and not winning a game at home this year. He is the highest paid coach in the B1G, and not once in his tenure has he won a game on his coaching. When can we say the coaching won us a game we weren't expected to win? Win has the coaching won us a game in the late minutes of a game? We have benefitted from other coaches mistakes, but he has never won a game and it was said, the coaches pulled that out.
November 29th, 2020 at 10:43 AM ^
You can say that the team has never won as an underdog, but just last year they blew out ND and MSU using 2 completely different offensive approaches. That suggests the coaching staff can identify a weakness and take advantage of it.
November 29th, 2020 at 1:00 PM ^
Blowing out a tire fire of an MSU team is your example of good coaching? Damn it’s worse than I thought
November 29th, 2020 at 1:33 PM ^
When your only real option is to run the ball in a monsoon and beating a terrible MSU team is your idea of a coaching staff identifying a weakness you don't really understand the problem.
November 29th, 2020 at 9:09 AM ^
I actually think the DBs have improved since game one. The LB play has been the most disappointing. Watching yesterdays game you can see the current LBs just lack instinct. They freeze up when the QB or RB makes a cut and theres nobody inside the box to make the tackle.
The complete lack of Depth on the DL is just as bad.
You see a lot of passes at or behind the LOS, not sure if thats on the WR, QB, or coach.
The OL has been impressive considering their situation.
November 29th, 2020 at 9:34 AM ^
Yes, and even though he is raw, I like the spirit Gemon Green plays with. He has improved since first game. Unfortunately he had to make tackles on downfield runs by the qb yesterday
November 29th, 2020 at 9:52 AM ^
I hope Brian summons the courage to do an UFR on the defense - no bother doing the offense due to the idiocy of coaches /injuries. The LB's were a hot mess yesterday: Running the same direction at the snap the way the DLine was gap shooting, Running forward at the snap on RPO plays when their spot vacates the slant route area on Zone Defense, being poor in coverage, scraping outside to set the edge and not tackling Franklin on draws.
It's baffling. I thought this staff did both a great job working with not athletically superior LB's early in their tenure (other than putting McCray on Barkley) and recruiting LB's that could attack 2020 offenses. WTF happened (other than injuries)?
November 29th, 2020 at 10:08 AM ^
All the other linebackers transferred because Harbaugh is a dumbfuck
November 29th, 2020 at 11:22 AM ^
Or they transferred due to being low on depth chart. But you can continue to believe that the coaching staff is actively trying to get rid of players.
November 29th, 2020 at 12:35 PM ^
Where is the depth at then? Ross looks terrible out there, who is the replacement we’re trotting out there to get a try? Shibley is not a BIG level player, I don’t care if he is assignment sound in practice. He is supposed to be assignment sound, and stay on the scout team where walkons belong.
November 29th, 2020 at 10:56 PM ^
Or, and hear me out, Devin Gil, Jordan Anthony, and Drew Singleton all realized they were deep on the depth chart and went elsewhere. In Gil's case he then decided to sit out 2020 anyway, so he's doubly irrelevant.
November 29th, 2020 at 9:10 AM ^
Let’s put the coaching thing aside because regardless of this roster it’s the last 4 year trend and compounding of issues to why I believe it’s time to move on.
That said...with the right coach I do believe the 2021 and 2022 seasons could be very good. Lot of young guys on this team and there are guys coming in that could play immediately and be stars by their 2nd year.
November 29th, 2020 at 9:12 AM ^
Everything points toward coaching failure-everything. It is sad. Wish it were not so. So unfair to the players.
November 29th, 2020 at 9:13 AM ^
Looks like just another form of coaching failure, or is this the point you were trying to make?
November 29th, 2020 at 9:14 AM ^
The point I'm trying to make is that there is hope for the future... ideally under a new coaching staff. There is talent here that is young and getting thrown into the fire, especially on the offensive side.
November 29th, 2020 at 9:16 AM ^
Understood, the team is young and still learning their way. The level at which Michigan recruits should allow them to handley dispatch of teams like Michigan State, Rutgers and to a lesser extent Penn State (despite their record).
Young players making mistakes is not really the issue in my mind. It's the nonsensical and telegraphed play calling, undisciplined penalties on defense, poor personnel and clock management, and overall lackluster effort displayed across the team.
That is not necessarily an indictment on the young players, it is an indictment of the coaching staff who's job it is to put those players in the best position to be prepared and have success.
November 29th, 2020 at 9:18 AM ^
These problems are caused by highly rated recruits who would be upperclassmen transferring out.
November 29th, 2020 at 9:25 AM ^
I don't think this team is significantly better with Michael Dwumfour, Drew Singleton, Aubrey Solomon, and Tariq Black on this team. There is a reason those players transferred, it is because they were getting passed up by other talent. None of them are becoming All-American or even all-conference players at their new homes.
November 29th, 2020 at 9:41 AM ^
I pretty much agree overall on this, although I would say having specifically Aubrey Solomon and Michael Dwumfor on this team would make this defense significantly better.. meaning like middle of the road defense, not unmitigated disaster defense
November 29th, 2020 at 9:59 AM ^
“Passed up by other talent”
What talent? This year’s talent?
What I’m gathering is that Harbaugh has a similar problem to RR
RR’s draft classes were higher ranked than the classes that enrolled/made it thru their 1st fall camp
How much has attrition reduced the ranking of Harbaugh’s classes
November 29th, 2020 at 11:08 AM ^
There is a reason those players transferred, it is because they were getting passed up by other talent
I don't think this is necessarily true though. Our staff doesn't have the best history of actually playing the best player
November 29th, 2020 at 11:49 AM ^
Don’t forget Jordan Anthony. That’s 2 LBs right there who were almost 5 stars. Instead we have Shibley.
November 29th, 2020 at 9:33 AM ^
The lack of preparation, lack of an offensive identity, lack of defensive cohesion, lack of care on the field... Those are not problems caused by a few guys that transferred out. They are systemic problems the coaching staff is 100% responsible for. Quit blaming the players! They have no idea what to do on the field because the coaches aren't preparing them for it. Case closed.
November 29th, 2020 at 9:53 AM ^
I'm not blaming the players. I'm saying we'd be better with Singleton out instead of Sibley and Dwumfour and Solomon at DT, Peoples-Jones staying another year--and yes, Tariq Black.The guys playing in those spots are good kids who are doing their damnedest but veterans could've been out there in their place.
November 29th, 2020 at 10:45 AM ^
This makes more sense - thanks for the clarification! I agree with this, BTW...
November 29th, 2020 at 5:49 PM ^
It's quite the deal. What do you prefer, poorly coached veterans or poorly coached neophytes???
November 29th, 2020 at 9:22 AM ^
Thanks for sharing the list. Its real. Injuries have been brutal, and we have a young team, but agree with the point that with the resources Michigan puts into the program cupboard should be more competitive. Playcalling and schemes have tons of room for improvement. We were out coached by MSU this year and lost to a PSU team that makes more than its share of mental mistakes. That bothers a lot of people on this blog, myself included.
November 29th, 2020 at 9:25 AM ^
https://touch-the-banner.com/penn-state-27-michigan-17/
Why didn't you just link to the article?
November 29th, 2020 at 12:06 PM ^
I forgot, and wanted people to see in pic instead of have to click. I'm a big supporter of TTB and have donated over the years. Certainly not trying to siphon clicks from Magnus. Hopefully this gets more people going there for the rest of his write-up.
November 29th, 2020 at 9:26 AM ^
Penn State was down several RB and played a freshman who had a career day. Not interested in these kinds of excuses. When you recruit well and develop players, they step up. Our guys looked as if they were just learning the game for about 40 of the 60 minutes yesterday.
November 29th, 2020 at 9:35 AM ^
PSU also had their OL intact - makes a world of difference.
November 29th, 2020 at 9:45 AM ^
Hasn’t PSUs OL been a disaster for many years running? Yet they paved us
November 29th, 2020 at 9:39 AM ^
Having a young team, the vast majority of whom have been in Ann Arbor for at least one season, is not an excuse for what we've seen on the field. They aren't ready to play - that's on the coaching staff. They don't know what to do when something isn't perfect for them - that's on the coaching staff. They have no scheme fundamentals to fall back on when things go south - that's on the coaching staff. They show very little ability to think on their feet and diagnose what's going on - that's on the coaching staff. They don't appear to try very hard - that's on the coaching staff. They are put into positions where all of the above get highlighted (ie: not put into a position to succeed) - that's on the coaching staff.
Playing young guys (a euphemism for 2nd stringers) isn't the problem. Not having them ready to play, even if they make occasional mistakes, is the problem. And that is 100% on the coaching staff.
November 29th, 2020 at 9:51 AM ^
Agree on all points. It almost looks like to me the players are over coached? Almost mechanical in a sense, especially on defense and at quarterback. The players look like they are laser focused on executing the play as it's designed for a skeleton drill rather than just going out and making football plays using the technique as a guide. I will say the technique we saw from the corners is markedly improved, but still not great. I don't know what the hell they were doing against MSU and Indiana.
November 29th, 2020 at 10:56 AM ^
When Milton came in, they called three outs for him. The first was dead on. The second was high and wide. Bell jumped for it and got a hand on it, but couldn’t bring it in. The third one was turfed. I could almost see Milton over-thinking this in real time. “This pass is going to be intercepted and returned for six. Must not throw to receiver.” After that, I started counting passes that traveled beyond the first down marker. I counted 2. It’s hard to convert 3rd and 7 throwing a 3 yard out. Perhaps both QBs are injured. That’s why you have to go into a season with more than 2 options. Roster management strikes again.