Coaching / Special Teams - Snowflakes
January 2nd, 2024 at 12:18 AM ^
Best display of Michigan coaching I have seen!
January 2nd, 2024 at 12:18 AM ^
Special teams were so bad, but the win - it was So Good!
Harbaugh and friends absolutely dominated Bama from a scheme standpoint. Hats off to the best coaching staff in America! Michigan vs everybody!
January 2nd, 2024 at 12:22 AM ^
Give Jesse a raise. The defense was incredible and much of the credit goes to a few critical RPS wins by him.
January 2nd, 2024 at 12:22 AM ^
Special teams played poorly. Better get it straighten out when we play Washington.
January 2nd, 2024 at 12:24 AM ^
Special team questions:
It used to be the punt returner stood on the 10 yard line and waved furiously for a fair catch but did not try to catch it inside the ten hoping the ball would bounce into the endzone for a touchback. Why are teams now having the returner actually catch the ball inside the 10? Nothing good could have come from having a cold Jake Thaw come into the most important game of the year and have him fair catch a punt inside the 10. Would have been better to not even have a returner back there.
That being said, if the returner fumbles the punt and the ball bounces into the end zone but the returner falls on it, is it a touchback or safety? What if the ball hits the returner but bounces out of the endzone out of bounds?
January 2nd, 2024 at 12:27 AM ^
Why are teams now having the returner actually catch the ball inside the 10?
They're not. It was dumb. It happens on kickoffs because if you fair catch it you start at the 25.
If Thaw went down in the end zone that was a safety. If he knocked it out of the back of the end zone that was a safety. If Bama recovered in the end zone that's a TD.
January 2nd, 2024 at 8:26 AM ^
We were screaming at the TV more than once about catching the ball inside the ten. Sometimes it makes sense if a defender is right there and can down it even closer to the goal line. But Thaw should not have fielded that ball and I think Semaj did the same. Let it go guys!!!
January 2nd, 2024 at 1:53 PM ^
Best case ball at the 8
Worst case game over worst loss in playoff history
No return guy at all:
Ball bounces out of the endzone for a touchback
January 2nd, 2024 at 12:31 AM ^
Special teams WTF?
January 2nd, 2024 at 12:33 AM ^
I'm gonna give kudos to special teams. But for their screwups, this would have been a boring ~17 point win in regulation.
Now, don't do that again. Ever.
January 2nd, 2024 at 12:39 AM ^
Looked like a long layoff for the special teams. Reps reps reps and the magic will be back.
January 2nd, 2024 at 12:47 AM ^
A lot to clean up.
January 2nd, 2024 at 1:04 AM ^
If Michigan had lost the game due to:
(1) Semaj Morgan's muffed punt that led to Alabama's first touchdown,
(2) William Wagner's bad snap and Tommy Doman's hold on the extra point after Michigan's first touchdown that gave Alabama the chance to avoid the loss in regulation after Michigan's third touchdown,
(3) James Turner's missed 49-yard field goal that gave Alabama the ball with good field position and led to Will Reichard's 52-yard field goal that put Alabama up 20-13 with 4:52 to play and
(4) Jake Thaw's muffed punt late in the fourth quarter that might've led to a safety or Alabama touchdown,
we might've been focusing on Michigan's special teams having had a BLUNDERFUL performance that caused another defeat in the playoffs.
But Michigan WON! Hail to the Victors Valiant! GO BLUE!
January 2nd, 2024 at 8:16 AM ^
Just to add, Semaj had an additional poor rep after his first muffed kick where he let the ball bounce dangerously instead of fair catching it. Fortunate to avoid another disaster.
And, while you can’t knock this as a negative, it was a bummer that we couldn’t make Alabama pay when they had their own fumble on a punt return by way of glancing contact that made the ball live.
Trust in Jaybaugh to get it cleaned up. Go Blue!
January 2nd, 2024 at 9:23 AM ^
Yes goodness gracious it was awful lol
If Thaw hadn't recovered that muffed punt it would be an all time low moment. Crazy how 1 play can change the game.
January 2nd, 2024 at 1:00 PM ^
Right - if we limit it to a mere 3 disastrous special teams gaffes, we win that in regulation. Let me add, Tommy Doman had six punts for an average of 39.5, while his season average had been 44.0 yards. It seemed like after amazing games vs. OSU and Iowa, maybe he was trying to get cute? Booming those kicks into the end zone would have been better than what was delivered.
Whew! Put it behind you, and next week play the way you did all year long!
January 2nd, 2024 at 1:21 AM ^
ASS!
January 2nd, 2024 at 2:11 AM ^
Alabama's defense was confused or in conflict much of the game. The offensive play designs were masterful.
January 2nd, 2024 at 1:55 PM ^
The first 26 minutes of the second half would like a word with you.
January 2nd, 2024 at 2:38 AM ^
Honest take, they played tight. I was saying that (it seemed like) everyone made a terrible mistake on their ‘first’ play. JJ’s first pass, the first XP was shaky, the snap on the 2nd XP, Morgan’s muff. Then we had the dropped passes, (it looked to me like) Colson filling the wrong gap and Mikey getting a whiff on that first TD. The throwback lateral to JJ. (Not sure if we should include the pitch back on the flea flicker) Those all looked like nerves more than anything.
When Thaw went back for the last return I thought oh boy, this will be his first touch…and then…
so not sure if the revised practice strategy worked.
But great game plans on both sides. on to next week, let’s win a title
January 2nd, 2024 at 4:07 AM ^
In hindsight I'm glad we got our special teams mistakes out of the way in a victory. Now they know what to clean up for the big stage. Also got Turner some more big game prep to calm his nerves.
January 2nd, 2024 at 6:22 AM ^
I was a little worried that Michigan would come out and try to establish the run and make Alabama stop it, before branching into move and countermove. And that they'd try to have a (slower) LB spy Milroe.
But instead, they came out throwing angle routes to Corum, using motion to confuse the LBs, attacked Milroe and confused the heck out of the Alabama offense.
In short, that was not Uncle Fluffy.
January 2nd, 2024 at 6:24 AM ^
The special teams were not special today. But they've had the team's back all year, from Morgan's return in the B1G championship back through Doman's punt drop on the 2 against Maryland and Turner hitting all of his tries against OSU.
They'll have the team's back again when needed.
January 2nd, 2024 at 8:22 AM ^
Much to like in the offensive game plan - JJ was not super sharp however and that hurt.
Thought there were a few too many trick/wrinkle type plays, particularly the Orji package. How about just run JJ more there?
Defensive game plan was excellent. Arguably, they could have gone a little heavier in the box late third/early fourth quarter?
Execution on special teams was...so unexpected from this team. Yips can be contagious. About the only positive was the two times they gained field position by kicking short of the goal line and making the tackles.
January 2nd, 2024 at 8:22 AM ^
The game plans on both sides of the ball were masterfully designed. I've been hoping for play calling on offense like those two touchdown drives forever and what a perfect time to unleash them. Harbaugh, Minter, Moore, and all the assistants deserve a ton of praise.
January 2nd, 2024 at 8:31 AM ^
They were inches away from a safety and bama celebrating the last few minutes of the game. The close calls and momentum swings in this game was something my heart is not supposed to take anymore.
January 2nd, 2024 at 10:26 AM ^
Minter was fabulous. Great schemes all night.
Offense was impressive as well. Loved how they balanced their tendencies to throw Alabama off guard. A few too many gimmick plays for my taste that didn't come off due to the defense not being fooled.
Overall a great game-plan. JMFH and staff out coached Saban.
January 2nd, 2024 at 12:47 PM ^
Worst special teams play in a long time. We were fortunate that we didn't lose because of it.
January 2nd, 2024 at 5:16 PM ^
Does anyone know what was going on with the timeout after we took a knee at the end of the 4th quarter? I know Bama took their timeout after first down to make us snap it again, but then the broadcast made it look like we took a timeout after kneeling on second down for some reason. Was that a Bama timeout that the broadcast just got wrong, or did our coaches call some sort of phantom timeout?