David Pollack: Michigan Doesn't have Enough Dynamic Offensive Weapons to Beat Alabama
This morning on Mike&Mike, David Pollack, in discussing the upcoming CFP rankings, was asked which team could theoretically beat Alabama. His reponse when it came to Michigan's chances, was that they did not have enough dynamic threats on offense to challenge Alabama. This seems like extreme SEC based logic, and sounds very much like a man who hasn't spent a lot of time watching Michigan play this year. I'm not going to say we can beat Alabama quite yet, but to say that we don't have the weapons to do so is absurd.
November 7th, 2016 at 11:09 AM ^
my favorite from this past week was when he declared he didn't even have Jabrill in his top 5 for Heisman but thought Jonathan Allen should win it. The dude is a brainless and seems to try to take a shot at Michigan whenever they come up
November 7th, 2016 at 2:13 PM ^
I'd love to see Allen pancaked by Asiasi at the goal line as he watches the Panda rampage over him laying on his back.
November 7th, 2016 at 11:09 AM ^
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November 7th, 2016 at 11:10 AM ^
They are all douche popsicles
November 7th, 2016 at 11:10 AM ^
November 7th, 2016 at 11:10 AM ^
That's funny, because Alabama's offense looked like shit this weekend. Wisconsin's anemic offense managed to put more points on the board against LSU than Alabama.
November 7th, 2016 at 11:14 AM ^
Da COACHO Factor
He's got them playing meaner than the last guy in line at a crawfish boil
November 7th, 2016 at 11:10 AM ^
November 7th, 2016 at 11:11 AM ^
David Pollack doesn't have enough dynamic brain cells to make a cogent point.
November 7th, 2016 at 11:13 AM ^
November 7th, 2016 at 11:25 AM ^
I agree, but I don't think that's a concern we can't overcome. Harbaugh has shown the ability to put together a game plan that doesn't rely on the OL winning battles against the DL - for instance, see Brian's UFR of the offense from last year's OSU game.
And if any coordinator can take apart Alabama's spread-option attack and confuse a freshman QB, it's Don Brown.
November 7th, 2016 at 11:49 AM ^
November 7th, 2016 at 11:14 AM ^
ESPN is chock full of SEC slappys
November 7th, 2016 at 11:14 AM ^
To David Pollack..."It doesn't matter what you think!"-The Rock
If we win the national championship beating whoever gets there ESPN will be salivating all over us until the end of Harbaugh. Every strength will become the greatest in the nation and every weakness will be glossed over with trust in Harbaugh or "these are highly talented guys they are just young and need to learn Harbaugh's system" to explain away early losses.
Alabama and Ohio State deserve ESPN's slobber based on results in previous years...which will be annoying if they win and it seems to confirm their point.
November 7th, 2016 at 4:24 PM ^
November 7th, 2016 at 11:15 AM ^
If you're looking for media takes that over-value Michigan, wait until this time in 2018.
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November 7th, 2016 at 11:19 AM ^
What's going to happen in 2018? We'll have a senior Speight, senior Higdon, junior Evans, junior Crawford/McDoom/Asiasi/Wheatley, and sophomore DPJ (too soon?) operating behind a line keyed by Bredeson and Onwenu. I don't see much of a backslide coming.
November 7th, 2016 at 11:27 AM ^
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November 7th, 2016 at 11:17 AM ^
People talk about Alabama like they're some kind of Goliath. They're not. They only beat LSU - which lost to Wisconsin - by 10 points, and they only beat Ole Miss, which currently has a losing record, by 5. They were trailing against Texas A&M in the second half.
They're an excellent team, for sure, but they're not unbeatable. And somehow, despite our "lack of playmakers," we're scoring 48 ppg, good for third in the country (and more than a TD more than Alabama, on average).
November 7th, 2016 at 11:17 AM ^
and I certainly agree. But if your team is composed entirely of 4 and 5-stars on both sides of the ball and you are in the hunt for the best running back in the country every year, and usually get him, then asserting this claim seems a pretty safe contention. Not that LSU actually presented any threats other than their primary running back on Saturday night, which Bama simply eliminated from competition. I mean if you want to believe that LSU had a legitimate chance of winning Saturday, and then you argued that if the Tide took Fournette away, what would LSU counter with? And you saw that response: nothing. Their qb looked to throw the ball to one guy all night long when he wasn't getting his butt handed to him.
November 7th, 2016 at 11:18 AM ^
i think JH will try to throw all over Bama.
Saban's defensive braintrust is less well equipped to handle creativity. If they can pin you down and put you in a box, you are done for. They excel at eqiupping their guys to a tightly defined task.
But O$U stomped them pretty hard in the '15 game precisely because Meyer was willing to break tendencies and attack with creativity (would he have done this with Barret healthy? not sure). Harbaugh is capable of that.
Also, we don't have a game breaking RB to lean on. O$U had Zeke Elliott in their game, and that mattered a lot. So I think JH would put the ball in Speight's hands and use our piles of athletic TEs plus the SR wideouts.
I actually wouldn't expect a ton of Peppers on O in that game. Certainly not much at wildcat ... Bama has been there, done that. Would play right into their hands. I just wouldn't see us focusing our attack on near-LOS action ... moreso hit 'em intermediate and downfield.
November 7th, 2016 at 12:40 PM ^
We beat Alabama in the 2000 Orange Bowl by throwing it all over the place. They were the trendy "hottest team in the country" at the time, but they had no answer for Brady and Terrell.
November 7th, 2016 at 11:25 AM ^
November 7th, 2016 at 11:26 AM ^
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November 7th, 2016 at 11:26 AM ^
He was asked his opinion and gave it. He has a point. We don't have as many elite, future NFL players like some of the championship teams of the past. Please don't whine to him on twitter. It makes us all look bad.
November 7th, 2016 at 12:24 PM ^
I'd say we have as much NFL talent as about the average championship winning team. Which is to say, we have a lot of NFL talent.
November 7th, 2016 at 3:39 PM ^
...and there seem to be plenty of expected elite future NFL players: a cornerback, a safety/LB hybrid, a defensive tackle, a defensive end....
Ohio State's got a free safety and two corners. Alabama's similar, and pitched a bit higher on the chart: a corner, a defensive end, two linebackers, an offensive tackle. Maybe O.J. Howard, but I don't think that's the kind of playmaker Pollard's talking about.
On the flip side, some are projecting Kizer to be the first pick. By itself, I don't think a dynamic offensive playmaker gets you very far.
November 7th, 2016 at 11:26 AM ^
I think part of the problem is Michigan has so many weapons, not one sticks out. We have 4 running backs who get significant carries, plus McDoom and Peppers. So even though we have large team rushing totals, we don't have a workhorse back. Same with receivers, Darboh and Chesson split the load. So to outsiders, it probably seems like we don't have weapons because no one has big numbers. But we can beat you a lot of ways with a lot of different personnel.
November 7th, 2016 at 12:46 PM ^
And what a great problem to have.
November 7th, 2016 at 11:27 AM ^
One advantage of being a fan, we can talk about this. Harbaugh is more interested in figuring out how to beat OSU which may be more of a challenge. I think as other posters have pointed out UM's skill players are more than adequate and useful. Even if you make an argument that the vast majority are not the five star blue chips that Bama excepts it is more than enough for Harbagh and his staff to scheme with. UM is also the more experienced team. Thus we have players who are more capable of grasping and running more RPS stuff.
My biggest concern with Bama is not that we do not have skill players but will our line hold up against probably the best Dline in the country. The good news is that our offensive players are used to going up against this kind of talent as UM is probably top 5. If they hold up and Speight plays a good game I think our offense has a decent chance to score adequate points to compete in such a game.
November 7th, 2016 at 1:59 PM ^
"Probably top 5"?
November 7th, 2016 at 11:30 AM ^
I love Darboh and Chesson, but don't think they are super explosive. They will not take over a game (like say Braylon), but are sneaky fast and can slip ahead of DBs.
I think the point is that other than Butt (and Peppers, but lets call him a defensive player for a second), Michigan doesn't have a skill player that would be rated as a top draft pick, even though they have the measurable attributes (height, speed, experience).
November 7th, 2016 at 11:47 AM ^
I agree in the sense that we don't have any exceptional offensive players sans Peppers... however, we have a lot of good players and I feel the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
November 7th, 2016 at 11:52 AM ^
I also think this is why Harbaugh has so much variety on Offense, because he knows he can't beat OSU or Bama on talent alone.
November 7th, 2016 at 11:34 AM ^
Let them keep on poking the bear. We play and take no prisoners. We like hitting there quarterbacks! GO BLUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
November 7th, 2016 at 11:35 AM ^
November 7th, 2016 at 11:37 AM ^
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November 7th, 2016 at 11:41 AM ^
The only thing he has familiarity with is being on an overrated team with alot of talent but a lack of leadership (QB and coach)
We have both so F#$& David Pollack and Mike&Mike.
GO BLUE!!!
November 7th, 2016 at 11:41 AM ^
Personally, I think that this is even more true for Alabama's offense and, like'Bama, we shuffle in a lot of players on defense, so we won't get that tired and 'Bama doesn't have that bruising running back
November 7th, 2016 at 11:41 AM ^
I guess we should just end the season, then.
November 7th, 2016 at 11:43 AM ^
Does Alabama have the offensive weapons to beat Michigan's defense? They mustered 10 points against LSU, who is ranked 15th in total defense. Just sayin'
November 7th, 2016 at 11:44 AM ^
Am I the only one who thinks we are getting wayyyy ahead of ourselves with this Bama talk?
November 7th, 2016 at 12:16 PM ^
sure. As fans, I think we can afford to lose some focus on the Iowa game, no?
November 7th, 2016 at 12:36 PM ^
As fans, we should know how UM has faired at Iowa. But as fans, we can affort to lose focus, for we have no impact on the game. Let's just hope the team doesnt lose focus.
November 7th, 2016 at 2:01 PM ^
Irrelevant. This Michigan team has never played at Iowa.
November 7th, 2016 at 2:23 PM ^
Hmmmm, you beat me at my own (personal) logic. I'm always complaining to myself about people saying things like "Michigan traditionally doesnt do [x] well." Well done, I concede the point.
November 7th, 2016 at 11:46 AM ^
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November 7th, 2016 at 11:53 AM ^
We have 4 solid RBs, but we would need a near-heisman-caliber RB to beat Bama. Along with that, we would need perhaps one of the best OLs in UM history to beat Bama. We aint got either of 'em.
November 7th, 2016 at 1:06 PM ^
Ole Miss put up 43 and Arkansas put up 30. We have the best D in the country. I think we have an excellent chance of beating Alabama. Its a good thing we actually play the games since so many have M written off.
November 7th, 2016 at 1:07 PM ^
EDIT DOUBLE POST