Joel Klatt's Thoughts on Michigan Winning the NCG

Submitted by Ballislife on January 9th, 2024 at 10:07 AM
https://youtu.be/qn3jbkQleuQ?si=YIULbcIAUEgQ2_f-

 

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The Fugitive

January 9th, 2024 at 10:14 AM ^

13 points on 13 drives. 

Edit: first team since 1903 to hold all opponents under 25 points

Best defense in UM history

also had halftime lead in each game. First team since Miami (YTM) in 2001

Joined: 01/26/2016

MGoPoints: 77432

WestQuad

January 9th, 2024 at 11:21 AM ^

Will Johnson, Graham, Grant, Sanristil and several others are awesome, but it really is a cohesive unit.  The no name moniker from 21 is applicable.  Sure Will Johnson, Mason Graham, Kenneth Grant and Sanristil are superstars, but it is all of them working together that makes them great.  When have you seen the #1 offense completely shut down with only one sack?  I feel bad for Penix but that dude felt it. His pained walk into the locker room should be the [symbol/icon/mascot/representaion] of our defense.  

Joined: 07/22/2011

MGoPoints: 31146

JHumich

January 9th, 2024 at 11:41 AM ^

Klatt spends a fair amount of time on player development. But scheme is above even that.

Start watching/listening around 16:45. He's talking about production meetings with coaches, and how sometimes he hears their scheme for the week and just knows they're going to lose, but frequently when listening to Minter, he simply realizes ahead of time that Michigan is going to win, because of how good the scheme is.

Signs be damned. Stalions scheme be damned. It's Minter's weekly scheme that is the difference. Genius applied with diligence.

This should be required listening for the talking heads who just don't know ball. We know it because of this insanely great site we have that no other fanbase has. It's too much to hope that those "journalists" would put in the time to get educated at MGoBlog. But they should at least take a couple minutes and listen to Klatt. 

Joined: 02/18/2017

MGoPoints: 52926

WolverineHistorian

January 9th, 2024 at 10:33 AM ^

That is rather shocking, even knowing how good Michigan’s defense is.  I’ve watched several Washington games this year and Penix just threw up bombs it seems every other play.  Everything always looked so easy.  He barely broke a sweat against Texas.

I just assumed this game would have to be like the Ohio State game two years ago where it’s going to be impossible to shut them down completely.  Never did I think holding them to 13 points was even obtainable.  

Joined: 08/10/2009

MGoPoints: 55466

The Homie J

January 9th, 2024 at 11:25 AM ^

I watched some film, and while he has great timing and puts the ball right where it needs to be a la CJ Stroud, he often threw right into coverage and his amazing WR's bailed him out all the time with incredible contested catches.  I didn't think we'd expose him, but in the back of my mind, I was wondering if he was just getting lucky with all those shots or if they actually just thrive on contested catches.

Turns out, that strategy wasn't sustainable against an NFL style defense

Joined: 01/11/2018

MGoPoints: 17408

oriental andrew

January 9th, 2024 at 11:49 AM ^

Penix was both lucky AND very good. He was lucky enough to have great receivers who can go get those contested catches, but when he's on, he's ON. 

That stat that stood out to me most in FFFF and the game preview is Penix's completion percentage when under pressure vs. not pressured - something like 43% vs 75%. That's a huge disparity. It all started up front with the DL - they dominated at the point of attack and got to Penix. IIRC, there was just one sack, but tons of hits, hurries, and pressures. It was a masterful gameplan by Minter and execution by the front 4. 

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 56088

Derek

January 9th, 2024 at 12:17 PM ^

No. He's a legitimately great QB who happened to run up against an elite pass defense. This defense is even better than the ones that nullified CJ Stroud's OSU squads. If Odunze's on the same page on a couple of those uncovered routes, the narrative would be similar: great effort but not enough to overcome that defense.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 24022

Gohokego

January 9th, 2024 at 1:31 PM ^

Best michigan defense in my lifetime. Lucky that a couple coverage busts were not capitalized on. Both were the same play by Washington.

The called hold on McGregor was not egregious but from angle the ref had it looked much worse. Mason Graham and Kenneth Graham are absolute beasts. 

I'll have to look at snap counts but it looked like Graham and Grant plated more then Jenkins. 

Jesse Minter is a phenomenal coach. I hope he really likes AA and just wants to stay and forever be a legend. 

Joined: 09/21/2013

MGoPoints: 2475

UMAmaizinBlue

January 9th, 2024 at 10:17 AM ^

Props to UW and all but I didn't see the best OLine in the country wearing white and purple last night. The boys opposite them in maize and blue were WHOOPIN' DAT ASS all night! Jesse Minter stole UW's soul.

Joined: 09/23/2009

MGoPoints: 36258

oriental andrew

January 9th, 2024 at 11:56 AM ^

I wrote the same on a reddit post earlier. You can shit on UW's Joe Moore award-winning OL all you want, but they deserved it based on their body of work this year. Our DL was just better than the best OL in college football and they proved it over and over again all season. 

We may have had the best OL in college in 2021, but the reality is that UGA's DL was just that much better than any OL that year. They had FOUR first round picks from that DL (Jalen Carter, Travon Walker, Devonte Wyatt, Jordan Davis). That's insane. That's how good they were. Doesn't even account for the LBs on that roster, three of whom (Nakobe Dean, Quay Walker, Nolan Smith) were first round picks. They literally had an NFL front 7. 

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 56088

ChuckieWoodson

January 9th, 2024 at 10:17 AM ^

Thanks for posting.  I've been really enjoying Klatt's content as of late - great analysis, interesting insights. 

Also, quite interesting to hear his thoughts on JH specifically and his attitude change after the covid year and how that has positively impacted the team. 

Joined: 01/13/2012

MGoPoints: 26175

PopeLando

January 9th, 2024 at 11:16 AM ^

It matches the eye test. I was one of the people who was very down on the team in 2020 - I think my exact take was "it's clear that Harbaugh is CAPABLE of coaching greatness, but that's increasingly in the rearview mirror and it's not clear WHY."

Something was wrong, and I was flabbergasted by the departures of Milton and McCaffrey, with only 5 starts, 4 of them absolute disasters, to show for it.

2021 Harbaugh was CLEARLY a different person. We all remarked upon it. Glad to hear that came through behind the scenes too. If Harbaugh needs a Life Coach, and this is what happens when he gets one, then dammit let's pony up for it.

[I can't necessarily fault Harbaugh for getting a bit down, if that's what happened. 2016 was a heartbreak of a year at the end, and I'd actually pick 2017 as the nadir of the Harbaugh era, at least on offense. 2018 and 2019 made it clear that the newfangled guy he brought in, Josh Gattis, was a bullshit artist and out of his depth, and Don Brown's scheme wasn't holding up either. Then 2020 hits and a guy who loves football more than anything...was denied the ability to play football. Put all that together, I can empathize with anyone who was feeling down. And of course, I won't blame anyone who broke a little in 2020.]

Joined: 08/01/2015

MGoPoints: 68293

HateSparty

January 9th, 2024 at 10:30 AM ^

Was listening to Dan Patrick this morning.  What a set of douches on that show.  they seem to hang tight onto the Astros winning (likely Yankee fans??) and were connecting their "cheating" to the Michigan "cheating".  They manipulated the truth and the facts.  It is amazing how hard some in the media will try to taint the work of others.  

Even went as far to say that Michigan sent Connor Stallions to CMU to scout a team (MSU).  That is stupid, inaccurate and without merit.  Yet, these asses are promoting it as fact and truth.  Disgusting.

Thank goodness for Klatt and Cowherd (that felt gross).

Joined: 12/17/2014

MGoPoints: 27141

Lorch Hall

January 9th, 2024 at 10:42 AM ^

Hear, Hear! Nothing will change the fact that those kids did it on the field. If you want to use the fact that one guy along with 105,000 others in the stadium made a shaky iPhone recording or that Coach bought a kid an overcooked cheeseburger at Brown Jug, then go ahead. I don't care what the coneheads at the NCAA office or B10 HQ do.

Joined: 01/09/2011

MGoPoints: 834

M Go TCAUP

January 9th, 2024 at 11:18 AM ^

The DP show has disappointed over the past couple of months with their opinions of Michigan.  I don't know if it's a purposeful distortion or just sloppy ignorance, but the CMU comments this morning, as you stated, were simply inaccurate and helps drive the "cheating" narrative. It seems like they perpetrate being a sports talk show, but it is slowly turning into a variety show as Dan inches toward retirement.

Joined: 11/06/2015

MGoPoints: 443