December 31st, 2021 at 10:59 PM ^
Attacked UGA's strength instead of their weaknesses. They did the opposite. Results speak for themselves.
December 31st, 2021 at 11:14 PM ^
Because the #1 defense in the country has lots of weaknesses?
December 31st, 2021 at 11:16 PM ^
Secondary is exploitable. It's not awful, but you can make something happen there. The front 7 is arguably the best I've seen in college. Them or like '11 Alabama. We attacked that and even more specifically we attacked Dean horizontally which is just dumb. That dude should have been in New York with Aidan and Anderson.
December 31st, 2021 at 11:26 PM ^
The secondary might be exploitable if you can protect your passer long enough. But Cade practically got eaten alive on every deep drop. No surprise that we tried to roll with JJ after awhile, but he's not quite there yet.
December 31st, 2021 at 11:32 PM ^
The alternative you're proposing is throwing it 70% of the time with a not-so accurate JJ and a not-so-gamebreaking Cade.
Michigan is what it is, and that's a team that runs the ball at least a fair amount of the time, and tries to get guys like Corum and Edwards in space. Failing to do *that* would be foolish, and Michigan made sure to try to get touches to both them and to Erick All. And they tried some deep stuff, and it was either blanketed (I remember one play on the All-22 where there were three guys that had gone deep and Georgia had them blanketed with like 5 defenders taking away every throwing option) or there wasn't time for Cade to get the throw off. There were actually a decent number of longer pass calls. But Georgia is good.
January 1st, 2022 at 10:49 AM ^
Remember when Michigan did have a sophisticated passing attack they could fall back on in games like this? This game looked a lot like the Alabama Orange Bowl in 2000. In that game we were hammering pointlessly into a wall only to unleash Brady and high quality receivers to pull out a stunning comeback. Sure, there was Brady, but Michigan used to have this kind of bilateral offense in the Carr years, through multiple QB’s, which is certainly why the Carr years saw several of the biggest comebacks in school history. Sadly, Carr underutilized this asset. Harbaugh doesn’t quite design the offense that way, or perhaps he hasn’t had the QB yet to do it.
January 1st, 2022 at 1:55 PM ^
Those teams also had fantastic offensive lines that gave those extremely good, but not mobile, quarterbacks time to throw. Our line was dominated last night.
January 1st, 2022 at 5:27 PM ^
I agree with this.
January 1st, 2022 at 4:40 PM ^
Georgia was getting the ball out quickly to neutralize our pass rush. We seemed to think slow developing plays would work because our OL would give the QB time. Even after it became clear that wasn’t the case, we did not appear to adjust to getting the ball out more quickly.
December 31st, 2021 at 11:00 PM ^
Trash
December 31st, 2021 at 11:01 PM ^
We have coaches?
January 26th, 2022 at 8:32 AM ^
We do, and we also certainly have a seriel negger, don't we?
December 31st, 2021 at 11:02 PM ^
Wow. Unprepared. Just wow.
January 1st, 2022 at 10:37 AM ^
Surprised to wake up to the negs. I left the comment as if it were self-explanatory, but apparently it needed a little more explaining.
Both teams knew there'd be pressure. One of them prepped a ton of screens to the boundary in order to mitigate it.
Both teams ought to have expected said screens. The adjustment with Dax to get him in place to knock it down if necessary was too little too late.
The O-line seemed physically and mentally unprepared.
Ditto for the the guys whose repeated shoulder-tackle attempts made everything that much easier for the GA offense. And for Vincent Gray.
The theme seems to be talent gap in the coverage this morning, but the product on the field suggests that preparation gap was much wider.
/snowflake
January 1st, 2022 at 11:02 AM ^
Leading up to the game I noticed the difference between both team's players and coaches: Mich guys were all smily, giggly, laid back, and happy; meanwhile GA guy's all looked pissed, serious, and didnt really seem to want to say much...hell, Davis looked pissed off and just kind of grunted and snarled during one of his interviews. All week long, GA came across like they were on a mission; Mich came across like they were going out for a day at the beach. This is what concerned me most leading up to the game. Nothing wrong with being loose like Mich was, but clearly they werent in the same headspace GA was in...and it showed come game time. Oh well, still a great season...but maybe next time if/when Harbs get's to the CFP again, he (and his team) approaches it differently. Mich looked to have a "just happy to be here, playing with house money!" mindset. GA looked to have a open a can of whoop ass and not screwing around mindset.
January 1st, 2022 at 1:04 PM ^
That’s the same sentiment I was expressing, but apparently you have to explain it. Our coaches didn’t prepare the team well for this game. Georgia’s coaches obviously did. Leaving Colson one on one on an island vs Cook was a travesty. The offense looked unprepared for anything but man ball, nothing to stop the lb’s from blitzing every play. Slants, TE crossing routes in the voids left by the blitzes, There is obviously a talent gap, but the OSU offense was better than Georgia’s and the D was prepared for that game.
December 31st, 2021 at 11:02 PM ^
I just realized that this will be the last Snowflake Thread for football this season.
It's been a ride with these, as usual.
January 1st, 2022 at 1:31 AM ^
i'll miss this team, but i won't be missing snowflakes.
January 1st, 2022 at 9:53 AM ^
Seconded, the “our coaches may have pulled the program out of a nosedive and won all sorts of awards, but they are clearly ass” crowd is tiresome and mentally unstable.
MgoBlog Snowflakes threads approach ’talking politics with my uncle’ levels of unhinged.
December 31st, 2021 at 11:02 PM ^
Harbaugh is a weird guy. We all know that, but he was just out talented tonight. He wasn't out coached. Too much speed for Georgia.
December 31st, 2021 at 11:30 PM ^
While it is true that Georgia had a Jimmies and Joes advantage in their D front 7, it is also true that Georgia had better game plans on both sides of the ball too.
Getting blown out that bad was not just a talent gap thing.
It was more about Georgia (1) having better game plans on both sides of the ball AND (2) Georgia playing near flawless ball (especially in the 1st half) while Michigan had poor tackling, dropped passes, bad angles to the ball, terrible QB decisions and throws, DBs who just stopped running, etc., etc.
January 1st, 2022 at 12:01 AM ^
Yeah. Once M went down 14-0, the team looked rattled and stunned and that was that.
January 1st, 2022 at 5:10 AM ^
Having much better players helps put together a better gameplan. Jim Harbaugh rolled out a gameplan that utilized his teams strengths over everything. Which is how playoffs should be played
December 31st, 2021 at 11:04 PM ^
Georgia is just more talented, I think thats obvious. I dont think we're as far away from Georgia as we looked today. Just not quite there at some positions. It's okay to be irritated and disappointed in a pretty bad gameplan though.
This team with less talent has done something the 2016, 2018, and 2019 teams couldnt do which is beat OSU plus win the Big Ten. That is a start and hopefully something can be learned from this and be built on for the future.
Thank you for a great season guys, Go Blue!
December 31st, 2021 at 11:04 PM ^
Meh. Pretty disappointed in the game plan tonight. We got blitzed and it was over quick.
December 31st, 2021 at 11:04 PM ^
Should have played JJ from the start
January 1st, 2022 at 4:46 PM ^
I thought he should've been in from the 2nd drive of the 3rd quarter, if not to start the second half. Cade was shook in the first half. If there isn't a stark change after halftime, you have to move on to somebody who can give you a chance.
December 31st, 2021 at 11:05 PM ^
Out-coached both in this game and on the recruiting trail. The latter might be a bigger issue tonight as UGA just had superior talent on the two lines and in key spots.
Surprised by the lack of execution by this squad, but beat by a better team.
December 31st, 2021 at 11:09 PM ^
You can see the younger players on offense at least have the kind of talent that's needed. At least at the skill positions, hopefully the line we see the same. Defensively...we're not there yet. Need to get much faster, especially at LB.
December 31st, 2021 at 11:06 PM ^
Thinking about the social media posts showing the team at the beach. When Alabama’s seniors self imposed a bubble for game prep ours were hanging out with a giant orange
December 31st, 2021 at 11:06 PM ^
This was still a GREAT season for Michigan. Like it or not, the ceiling for Michigan right now may still not be at the highest level nationally, but next year could be different. This was a disappointing game against an elite team, but Gattis and Harbaugh redeemed themselves a bit this year. Hoping they build on this next year and I think they will
December 31st, 2021 at 11:42 PM ^
You realize that they are only allowed to practice a certain number of hours a day. You don’t think the Alabama players take breaks? Come on man. Going to the beach wasn’t the reason we got killed. Georgia being loaded with insane talent is.
January 1st, 2022 at 10:00 AM ^
Harbaugh implemented that strict business trip bowl game strategy for the previous 6 years. How did that turn out? Spoiler, they still lost. Let the players enjoy the experience.
January 1st, 2022 at 10:49 AM ^
Good grief! You really think a couple of hours would have made a difference? They are college students, not professionals....and in case you didn't notice we didn't play AL last night.
January 1st, 2022 at 11:06 AM ^
Can't tell if this is a serious post or what, but I'm pretty sure that was a media appearance. Do you want our players to be holed up 24/7 prepping? Because that's not really rational or sustainable, or even effective. Nobody can be always working, breaks/periods of rest are helpful and necessary in any kind of work. Put another way, do you really think a few extra hours of prep was going to make the difference?
January 1st, 2022 at 7:45 PM ^
You can't go swimming before an event it makes your legs weak and tired.
December 31st, 2021 at 11:07 PM ^
All credit to Harbaugh, Gattis and McDonald for the excellent game plans and play-calling for 90% of the regular season. Still a great season.
At that same time, tonight they really had poorly conceived plans. Very weird, given that smart game plans and adjustments were a strength all year. But tonight Georgia clearly had much better plans for attacking the Michigan D and taking away Michigan's base running plays.
Future is still bright.
December 31st, 2021 at 11:45 PM ^
I think it’s easy for you to say the game plan was bad because it didn’t work. I don’t know what you expected them to do? Michigan tried to do many things tonight, but when you can’t block their pass rush, can’t handle their blitzing, can’t get separation from their secondary, can’t confuse their lb corp, it doesn’t matter what you plan up. On defense, we couldn’t stop their run, setting up 2nd and 3rd downs with like less than 3 yards to go every time. That makes it easy for quick passes down the field, preventing Hutchinson or Ojabo from being effective. The rest of the defense has been vulnerable all year, those two covered up so many defensive deficiencies.
This game wasn’t in coaching. Michigan can’t compete with the best in college football right now from a talent perspective. Period.
January 1st, 2022 at 12:16 AM ^
Consider Geogia's approach. They neutralized Hutchinson and Ojabo by getting the ball to the edge on quick passing plays on the fist half drives when they built their lead. They saw the top danger thing on Michigan's (the DEs) and had a plan to neutralize it.
Michigan on offense did not really come in with a plan designed around minimizing the impact of Georgia's front 7. At the same time, I have to give credit to Georgia. When Michigan tried to scheme them into being out of position, they were ready and never got confused.
You are absolutely correct in saying that it becomes very difficult when the opponent's d-line plays so well. But that is not a valid reason to fail to scheme around it as best as possible--short passes, breaking 1st and 2nd down tendencies, using pre-snap motion to put the D in coverage conflict/create favorable matchups, etc... Michigan mostly played on 1st and 2nd downs like they were playing any random Big Ten opponent--the bread and butter inside runs. Turns out those were mostly wasted downs that put Michigan into very bad third downs...
December 31st, 2021 at 11:08 PM ^
Got beaten by a much better team. No reason to complain.
Great season.
December 31st, 2021 at 11:10 PM ^
Great job most of year but this was a head scratcher for sure.
Gattis game plan was sub par but not helped by drops and bad reads by RB’s.
There was a walk-on safety playing and M did nothing to work that OR go vertical.
But even more so was how Georgia repeatedly got the matchup they wanted with TE & Cook.
December 31st, 2021 at 11:24 PM ^
They tried occasionally but Cade usually didn't have time to make the throw.
There were some deep passes called where nobody was open. There were a couple of passes where Cade had a guy that was open, but by the time he could make the throw he was already flushed and the pocket was collapsing. Our pass pro didn't get it done. Again, we're playing an all-time front seven here and it showed.
December 31st, 2021 at 11:12 PM ^
Bad time for the team's worst game of the season, plenty of mistakes by coaches and players' execution was poor. But this was mostly about talent. Anything against a true top tier team is going to be very difficult until the power of the bagmen is diminished.
Still an excellent year.
December 31st, 2021 at 11:41 PM ^
It's more than bagmen. It's academic standards, practice time, classroom time. "We ain't come to play school" is real. If you're a 5 star, you know you're going to be making millions in a couple years as long as you put in the time to get better and stronger.
So your choice is to go someplace where you can spend all your focus on that goal, some place where things outside of that are not likely to take you off the field. Or some place where you can probably still reach that goal, but you also have to put a lot of time and effort into other things. Things which might keep you off the field if you can't keep up with them. Which do you choose?
5-stars, Georgia to Michigan: 20 to 3.
December 31st, 2021 at 11:12 PM ^
Most of the players looked ill prepared and unfocused for most of the game, I put that on the coaches. Great improvements from the staff when looking at the entire season
December 31st, 2021 at 11:12 PM ^
Should be called “the stupid takes snowflakes string”. I am signing off this blog tonight. Great, enjoyable season.
December 31st, 2021 at 11:12 PM ^
Not much you can do about that. Nakobe Dean coming from all the way across the field to meet Blake Corum at the LOS on a well-called and well-executed flare pass? You can't outscheme that.
Georgia did a good job early and it took Michigan time to adjust on defense. But Michigan's defense has some weaknesses, particularly at LB, and Georgia knew it could attack those. Now, leaving LBs singled up on RBs outside? Not smart, but most of the stuff that happened is just stuff you can't scheme around.
Coaches did a great job this year. I've certainly spent time criticizing them in the past, and they've earned the benefit of the doubt... and in my opinion don't even need the "benefit of the doubt" here. Michigan got beaten by a better team.
This was supposed to be, personnel-wise, a rebuilding year. Well, pretty good one, if you ask me. The future is bright.
December 31st, 2021 at 11:41 PM ^
>>Not much you can do about that. Nakobe Dean coming from all the way across the field to meet Blake Corum at the LOS on a well-called and well-executed flare pass? You can't outscheme that.
Oh really? How about not call that play. I’m no coach but apparently I’ve watched more UGa football this year than the Broyles Award winner. I knew that had zero ZERO chance of going anywhere. Nakobe Dean makes that play ten times out of ten. It’s what he does.
Shame on Gattis for either not studying or not respecting his opponent.
January 1st, 2022 at 12:21 AM ^
What play would you call on 3rd and 16?