Just got back from game; Biggest Play, punt to the 1. Biggest Stud Kenny G
Sitting in the N. stands, which was a sea of UM fans, the moment our nerves calmed was Doman dropping the ball at the 1 with ~4 min left. That was a huge play and really unbelievable how it just died, almost like the ball just popped and thudded there. That play was like a shut of morphine and led to the grounding safety. I don't know what to say about that grounding, because watching it live it was obvious he was just unloading it to avoid the sack. But there was a receiver in the greater vicinity. I would have been pretty pissed if that had been my team.
Kenny G. was virtually unblockable the whole day and was terrorizing the QB late, pushing the pocket back. The DL was difference in the late 4th, when UM was completely turtling. I think the DL is going to give OSU problems. For those worried about the DL earlier in the game, much of that was because we were mosh rushing(?- whatever Seth calls it) the for most of the game until the end, to contain Tulia, and it worked well.
I think the D will be fine next week. But we need more from the offense. I'm worried about a mud-slog with them. On the other hand, being nervous about our recent offensive ineptitude is a great place to be as a Michigan Wolverine, because it's exactly where we've been the last two years before The Game.
November 18th, 2023 at 6:50 PM ^
But there was a receiver in the greater vicinity. I would have been pretty pissed if that had been my team.
The WR was 10 yards downfield of the throw. Easy call.
November 18th, 2023 at 6:55 PM ^
I'm with the OP. Easy call if you're Michigan. If you're Maryland you're pissed about that call.
November 18th, 2023 at 7:02 PM ^
If I was pissed, it would only because I was mad at my QB for not throwing it a bit further.
It was clear Tag was just getting rid of it quick. I mean, having watched him play over the years he can be very inconsistent and even careless at times.
November 18th, 2023 at 7:16 PM ^
Not sure if Tag has his feet set, but he could have chucked it over the receiver and out of bounds.
Gus with a pool table reference on the punt with back spin. He got a chuckle from me on that call - even referenced a notable pool player.
November 18th, 2023 at 7:32 PM ^
Wasn’t outside the tackle box. The end.
November 18th, 2023 at 10:15 PM ^
Of course you are. What is new? LOL
November 19th, 2023 at 2:30 AM ^
I know Klatt hemmed and hawed about it...I just don't see any way that call isn't correct. The Michigan defender was way closer to a pick 6 than ANY Maryland receiver was close to doing anything. Not only was it 10 forward yards but probably another 2 or 3 wide. Not close...an intentional throwaway from a clean (but closing fast) pocket.
November 18th, 2023 at 7:28 PM ^
Taulia was also throwing against the wind, so it likely died in the air much sooner than he intended.
Like OP said, great for Michigan, but if it was a call against my team… I’d be pissed too.
November 18th, 2023 at 7:43 PM ^
Anyone saying they would not be pissed if it was called against them better knock on wood or throw some salt or something, because that sounds like delicious irony if it were to happen to UM in a big game.
I always thought it's sort of a nebulous rule, like "in the vicinity" means what? He could catch it, like PI? He couldn't have caught it, but he was close, like holding?
November 18th, 2023 at 8:13 PM ^
That's absolutely grounding, no question at all. The only player in the vicinity was our own McBurrows.
November 18th, 2023 at 9:23 PM ^
Seeing Taulia after the play, I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, in that I think he saw a red shirt and tried to throw it in that direction. But it was intentional grounding — he wasn’t trying to complete a pass; he was trying to avoid a sack.
November 19th, 2023 at 1:03 PM ^
Vs the usual back n forth "yeah he did // no he didn't," I think this post hits the nail on the head... He wasn't trying to complete a pass, he was trying to avoid a sack [and was in the pocket]. YES if JJ threw this ball, I'd be SUPER pissed... at JJ for not putting it where he needed to to avoid the grounding call.
November 19th, 2023 at 10:34 AM ^
Hopefully that call doesn't make anyone upset. If that's not grounding you'd have to throw it the other direction to achieve this grounding.
He either releases the ball that split second or gets clobbered in the end zone by the lineman charging right at his face. He gets away with it if he puts enough into the ball to get it in the vicinity. He didn't. He was also just aiming for the sidelines and throwing while he fell backwards to avoid the sack.
November 18th, 2023 at 8:06 PM ^
They kept citing 10 yards down field as “10 yards away,” but it was also 10 yards toward the middle of the field. This means the receiver was actually about 15 yards away, which is definitely not the greater vicinity. It was towards a receiver, but not even remotely close to a receiver.
November 18th, 2023 at 10:32 PM ^
Like the rest of the rules in college football, it doesn’t have to be illegal so long as the conference THINKS it might in some way be illegal
November 18th, 2023 at 11:14 PM ^
Should have been called last week against PSU too
November 18th, 2023 at 6:50 PM ^
Kenny G? A stud? Little guy, big hair? Sax player, right? 🙂
November 18th, 2023 at 7:17 PM ^
…it’s not a saxamaphone like Lisa plays.
November 18th, 2023 at 10:17 PM ^
How awesome/hilarious would it be for Michigan Stadium to play some smoooooth Kenny G whenever our man makes a play?!!
DO IT!
November 19th, 2023 at 10:07 AM ^
or just start it when he is chasing and tackling a running back.
November 18th, 2023 at 6:50 PM ^
Kirk Campbell should be calling plays next week. We’ve seen enough of “head coach Moore.” way in over his head
November 18th, 2023 at 6:52 PM ^
Do you hate winning??
November 18th, 2023 at 7:09 PM ^
We all like winning, and OP here worded it poorly. But I also wonder if Sherrone isn't a bit overloaded with all of his duties. Seems like he can't really concentrate on the offense tempo and calls. He certainly can't sit with them and talk between series'. IMO, I'd like to see someone like Mike Hart take over and let Moore handle the offense the way he has all year.
November 18th, 2023 at 6:57 PM ^
You know, I thought about that too, but how in the world could Harbaugh make that switch without completely humiliating Moore?
Better move is to bring the coaches together — as I assume they do, of course — and walk through multiple situations and circumstances that might call for variations on offense. Prepare Moore better than I feel he's been prepared the last two weeks.
But you can't call one downfield pass, have it not work, then give up on passing for the rest of the game.
November 18th, 2023 at 7:06 PM ^
JJs numbers when Moore is the head coach this season is bad. Really bad actually. He’s not the same qb for some reason. Common sense tells you it must be moore. Idk why it’s such a terrible take letting Kirk call the plays. You play to win the game. And Moore won’t get that done against osu. Not the way he’s handled his duties so far.
November 18th, 2023 at 8:36 PM ^
Common sense tells me you need to let the adults running the program run the program.
November 18th, 2023 at 9:26 PM ^
Your “common sense” doesn’t make the slightest bit of sense, though. Moore makes better play calls when he’s forwarding them to Harbaugh first? It doesn’t pass the sniff test.
If I were to blame something for today’s performance, I’d think (a) being down a starting tackle and (b) the stiff, swirling wind might have had somethign to do with it.
November 18th, 2023 at 7:05 PM ^
You need to frickin' relax.
November 18th, 2023 at 9:33 PM ^
You're getting down voted here, but it's clear three games now that asking Moore to handle the Oline, OC and HC duties is a massive ask and the team is better when he's asked to just do his normal workload. Of the interims this year the team and JJ specifically has looked the worst under Moore. It's not a dog on his ability as much as it is there's a rhythm missing when he has to focus on multiple duties. I'd say the same for Minter. The coordinators should be coordinating and let Hart or someone else handle the HC duties.
November 19th, 2023 at 1:04 PM ^
does this site allow someone to take down their posts after they sober up?
November 18th, 2023 at 6:51 PM ^
To be fair, Kenny G is always the biggest stud
November 18th, 2023 at 7:00 PM ^
Not sure what is going on with JJ's accuracy. And trying the thread the needle on so many throws is making me want to pull out what ever remaining hair I have on my head.
November 18th, 2023 at 7:01 PM ^
Happen to have any cell phone videos? Asking for a friend....
November 18th, 2023 at 7:05 PM ^
Maryland was walking down the field at will. Missed on some open deep passes too. In the 4th they clamped down as the offense sputtered. Not sure what you mean by the kick being the end. If corum was 1 foot shorter on that 4th, Maryland gets it at the 35-40. I was there. There was a lot of nervousness to the end
November 18th, 2023 at 7:09 PM ^
Maryland had 262 yards of offense - 15 on the ground.
November 18th, 2023 at 8:02 PM ^
No they weren't. I think getting out to the early lead, both this week and last week, has been a false-god for Moore, and made him turtle and play to his defense. To his credit, it worked both times. I think it made more sense last week than this week, as, except for one drive last week, PSU was never less than 8 points behind. But this week, I didn't feel so good about turtling on a 5 point lead against a vaguely competent offense. That seemed dangerous to me. Still, he leaned on the D, and Maryland was never really close to driving the field late. On offense, hopefully, we're saving stuff for OSU, as we def. were last year. And, truth be told, losing today meant nothing for the Big 10 title, so it made sense to play it vanilla. But, for the love of god, could we please throw some screens to Donovan Edwards?
November 18th, 2023 at 8:44 PM ^
Go look at the drive chart. Look from the end of the second through the 3rd. The Mikey pick was critical as well as the punting
November 18th, 2023 at 9:13 PM ^
The way UM was playing their DB against UMD receivers, they had free release all game. By contrast, UMD had their DBs pressing our WRs or at least giving the appearance of press man.
November 18th, 2023 at 7:12 PM ^
I would agree that the grounding seemed like a little bit of a gift. Well a large gift actually. But considering the Refs usually take a large dump in a gift box, put a bow on it, then hand it to us with a big smile and say "enjoy" I will accept it.
No way he was trying to complete that ball. Johnson is right next to the receiver who's standing still. He likely picks it and walks into the endzone if it's anywhere close. I guess it's not clearly defined how close it needs to be but yard markers and geometry says that is 12 yards short but in the right direction.
November 18th, 2023 at 8:19 PM ^
Large? Our player was the only one with a chance to catch it. He deserved the safety.
November 18th, 2023 at 9:23 PM ^
Might have been on but we were owed that safety call. The play prior I think it was, Grant sacked Taulia in the endzone.
November 18th, 2023 at 9:28 PM ^
No he didn’t. The ball has to be entirely within the end zone at the start of the tackle to be a safety. He tackled him into the end zone, which means he’s entitled to his forward progress. The refs had the usual problems with spots, but that wasn’t one of them.
November 18th, 2023 at 9:45 PM ^
That play was not a safety since his fwd progress was past the goal line before KG threw him backwards into the EZ.
Edit: Beat me to it.
November 18th, 2023 at 7:30 PM ^
In the pocket so doesn’t matter.
November 18th, 2023 at 7:38 PM ^
He was in the pocket, the ball did not cross the line of scrimmage, and the nearest receiver was 10 yards away from where the ball landed. That's clear-cut grounding.
November 18th, 2023 at 9:42 PM ^
Agreed that it was "enough" to be grounding, but the ball DID cross the line of scrimmage. It's just that the receiver was past the line to gain, so it was off line by a wide margin.
If the QB is in the pocket, the ball has to be thrown "to" (at?) an eligible receiver, not just past the LOS.
November 19th, 2023 at 9:58 AM ^
I remembered it falling short of the line. You're right, it was about a yard or two beyond the line.
November 18th, 2023 at 8:00 PM ^
Guardian of victory punt!