Klatt: Good Luck with Michigan... Who Can Stop Them?
It's such a pleasant day for Michigan content. The good guys were extremely good this weekend. They're also extremely good guys, which I love. "Buttery and sweet" is the positive adjective du jour for me right now.
I enjoy Klatt. His analysis is very good—not only in clips like this one, but impressively so in real time on telecasts. He's understandably a little over-excited for Colorado. The first three minutes of this are his raving praise of the real good guys.
Michigan is his new number one.
He even says that Georgia would have a hard time beating us.
The second part of the quote in the title is given specifically in the context of the run game, after noting that the run defense that we just crushed was previously #2 in the nation.
But the first part, he says over and over again. Man, is that enjoyable to listen to/watch!
October 2nd, 2023 at 3:30 PM ^
I loooooved his line about the boa constrictor. "Playing Michigan leads to death. Eventually.... and... inevitably."
October 2nd, 2023 at 3:47 PM ^
Reminds me of something about drowning a ferret in a bathtub.
October 2nd, 2023 at 4:06 PM ^
Watching Michigan this year has been like watching a psychopath drown a ferret in a bathtub. At first there’s a lot of thrashing around, the ferret draws some blood, and you start to think “Hey, that little guy just might make it out of here.” But then the psychopath’s grip doesn’t loosen, in fact it tightens. The thrashing about slows and the ferret begins to accept its fate, culminated by an anticlimactic gurgle.
Anyway, this game is going to be more like drowning a slug: absolutely gross, but at least no laws will have been broken.
October 2nd, 2023 at 4:18 PM ^
You mean the marmot? I think it was a marmot man…
Ve vont ze mony Lebowski!
October 2nd, 2023 at 5:42 PM ^
Anyway, that's gotta be, like, you know, a zoning, uhh, like, keeping a rodent for, you know, domestic?
October 3rd, 2023 at 11:43 AM ^
The entire genus is sensitive.
October 2nd, 2023 at 9:14 PM ^
Hello r/cfb buddy
October 2nd, 2023 at 4:35 PM ^
I said that of last year's team and this year's. Michigan chokes the life out of you slowly and all you can do is give in to your slow inevitable death.
October 2nd, 2023 at 9:51 PM ^
Except that against Nebraska (and UNLV) we crushed them from the outset.
October 2nd, 2023 at 10:51 PM ^
And if you go all-out to try to resist the boa constrictor's coils, the fangs get you.
October 2nd, 2023 at 4:42 PM ^
Just think if the FOX hosts start plugging the Reddit ferret meme... the internet may very well break.
October 2nd, 2023 at 3:36 PM ^
Oh stop Joel you're making me blush
October 2nd, 2023 at 9:10 PM ^
October 2nd, 2023 at 3:41 PM ^
Klatt is a known Harbaugh/Michigan fanboy.
I could easily see the CFP going sideways for the third year in a row if we faced a strong passing attack.
For once, though, Georgia at least is not a sure defeat.
October 2nd, 2023 at 3:47 PM ^
Said passing attack would also have to have an OL that could fend off his DL, but to your point Washington, Oregon and Texas look like the potential candidates to cause concern. Penn St, USC and Georgia are not. osu just cause, but I also don't think they're any great shakes this year.
October 2nd, 2023 at 3:56 PM ^
Georgia looks like a team this year where if you stop Brock Bowers, or can find a way to slow him down, you can beat them.
Granted, Brock Bowers might be the best player in college football not named Caleb Williams so I don't know that you can really stop him per se. But Georgia does not look like the unstoppable monster (yet) that they have the past two years. Carson Beck does not look like he has the same "it factor" that Bennett had, and the defense, while still extremely stinking good, is not the generational defense it was two years ago.
I'd probably still favor Georgia if they matched up with Michigan, but if we get the "locked in" JJ that we saw this past Saturday, Michigan can beat them.
October 2nd, 2023 at 4:00 PM ^
Texas definitely looks like a tougher challenge then Georgia. I think we can handle the Penix.
October 2nd, 2023 at 5:28 PM ^
**@TuckComin has entered the chat**
October 2nd, 2023 at 7:03 PM ^
Could you imagine what @tuckcomin could have done with Penix at msu?
October 2nd, 2023 at 7:12 PM ^
Hope he wouldn't have rubbed Penix the wrong way.
/I'll show myself out
October 2nd, 2023 at 8:01 PM ^
I suppose it would depend if there was a phone involved.....
October 2nd, 2023 at 4:02 PM ^
All those teams you mention do not have a top defense comparable to ours.
October 2nd, 2023 at 4:23 PM ^
Ergo, they are the 'potential candidates to cause concern'. I'm in agreement with you and want to see Oregon-Washington before declaring someone in the driver's seat there, but also either of those teams against Utah to see how they hold up against an actual defense.
I don't see Texas getting challenged in the b12, and they did hold Bama down (OC caveats aside).
All that said, there's a reason M is the clear SP+ #1 right now.
October 3rd, 2023 at 6:16 AM ^
Texas? Maybe. What little I’ve saw of Oregon impressed me. Maybe it was just Lanning wanting to make a statement against Colorado, but they looked extremely fast and physical with a cohesive, very well coached team. FSU doesn’t concern me and Penn state and OSU are, who knows. Everyone keeps leaving Maryland out of the picture, not even ranked. I think they take it to OSU this weekend and shock college football. I’d take Marylands O over ND, defense not so much. Maryland will score on OSU so the question is, will OSU match?
October 3rd, 2023 at 9:32 AM ^
Yup, you cant ignore Maryland anymore. They played both osu and Michigan tough last year and they have a pretty good offense. Thats why I hate that they play @ Maryland the week before osu. It's not even a trap game. It should be a dog fight until the 4th quarter. I'm with you about this weekend though- I think Maryland beats osu. They don't play scared against good teams like they used to.
October 2nd, 2023 at 4:59 PM ^
I'm sure someone in the field knows the specific metrics/numbers.
But, Michigan absolutely has one of the largest online-presences (we for sure have one of the largest living Alumni bases). I'm sure that has to do with the alum-base/size being in more white-collar jobs, vague-internet/tech-ey jobs, and being in higher managerial positions, etc. who will be more online in general, and have time/convenience to click around.
Not to mention Alum in some very high/influential/public positions in sports/business/marketing, etc.
The big ivies have this even moreso of course, but they don't have #2-ranked football teams, going to the CFP 2x consecutively, and looking good for a 3rd straight trip.
So covering UofM is always, always, always going to bring more clicks than all but a handful of universities, and if those few universities' teams are not #1 or #2, going to the CFP, etc. then you don't even have to make the ostensible "dark horse" argument to convince your boss/editor/reputation to get more clicks.
This is assuming good faith, which we know doesn't exist for a majority of the internet as-is, it's all clicks and whatever-bleeds-leads, so UofM will draw attention/stories in bad faith either way, so when they can get it in good faith it's no-holds-barred.
Like in 2021, when we beat OSU, the media was covering us for a week like we won the Superbowl. It was hard not to imagine all the alum strewn about ESPN, marketing departments, editors, high-rises in the New York, Boston, studio production-crew, etc not being influential in that coverage.
October 2nd, 2023 at 7:31 PM ^
Klatt/Johnson did a bunch of Michigan games over the last two seasons, so he's gotten a ton of exposure to Harbaugh. Think of him like the younger, smarter version of Gary Danielson for Bama/Georgia.
October 2nd, 2023 at 10:36 PM ^
He absolutely is our Gary Danielson. Dude is all over our knob, but we earned it from him.
And he's a lot smarter than Danielson, so that's a tough earn.
October 2nd, 2023 at 10:58 PM ^
Plus, Klatt really fell in love with Michigan at The Game in 2021. Said it was the best college football experience he'd ever had (playing days aside).
October 3rd, 2023 at 6:20 AM ^
Having my feet froze to the concrete and walking away catching covid, I concur with his take. Even the geriatrics were standing the whole time and losing their shit. We turned into the rabid fans for one glorious day. I haven’t heard the big house like that since Woodson returned the punt.
October 3rd, 2023 at 9:37 AM ^
TV does the sound at the games no justice. You could tell it was loud that game but so much of it is drowned out by the mic.
October 2nd, 2023 at 10:28 PM ^
Glad you mentioned that about Klatt. He is a fan boy of how Michigan looks on paper.
But teams can strategize and develop a few surprises...and interceptions are a killer as we found out last year. And my feeling is that our coaches look confused on what to do in the 1st and 2nd quarter of TCU.
So my one constructive thought is better scheming. Have a few real time (yet practical) audibles on the game plan if necessary. See enough opposing team film to predict potential flaws that still may not have been exploited by lesser teams.
And definitely coach up the QB to recognize more hidden agendas by DBs, CBs and safeties on those throws. I mean, where's Tom Brady's advising when you need it?
October 3rd, 2023 at 6:19 AM ^
He is a fan boy of how Michigan looks on paper.
On paper? The dude's watched us in person a ton over the past couple of years.
October 2nd, 2023 at 3:43 PM ^
"I'm being eaten by a boa constrictor..."
October 2nd, 2023 at 6:04 PM ^
And I don't like it...
October 2nd, 2023 at 10:38 PM ^
One bit.
My kids sang a version of this in preschool. It was adorable.
And very disturbing.
October 2nd, 2023 at 3:45 PM ^
I've watched the Bo teams, the Moeller teams, the Carr teams and all the teams since.
I cannot remember a team so talented, so deep, so fast, so strong, so motivated as this Michigan team.
This Michigan team is what we have all been waiting for. This is a Championship team.
October 2nd, 2023 at 3:54 PM ^
You, sir, either have NOT watched, or do not remember the Bo and Moeller teams.
They were absolutely loaded. I think the Moeller teams were more skilled and had a few more athletes, but the Bo teams were extremely tough. Just frigging hard nosed football players that would play with broken legs all over the trenches.
Yes, this team is very similar, but i think you are forgetting just how deep those past teams were.
October 2nd, 2023 at 4:00 PM ^
Also we recruited consistently in the top five in the country back in those days if you recall. The media was constantly harping why the NC's were alluding Mich.
October 2nd, 2023 at 10:04 PM ^
Why were NCs referencing Michigan?
(Think you mean eluded.)
October 2nd, 2023 at 4:06 PM ^
The Moeller team that beat Washington in the Rose Bowl was maybe the most talented I ever saw. Gary could really recruit, but for some reason his teams played flat too often. I believe the 1997 Carr team had over 30 guys who played in the NFL. I would put the current team behind those two.
October 2nd, 2023 at 4:18 PM ^
Shoot, I'd argue that if they were truly on --- the 1992 U-M team (the one that beat Washington in the Rose Bowl) would have beaten the 1997 team.
Of course, the 1992 team was about as mercurial as could be.
On a side note ---- the actual 1992 National Champion was Alabama. THAT was an ultimate boa-constrictor type team. They never won big, and they certainly weren't flashy outside of George Teague. But they slowly choked every single team out, minute by minute, game by game.
October 2nd, 2023 at 5:36 PM ^
Yeah, that 1992 team was one of the first I watched (I was 9 at the time) and still stands out in my mind as really, really good. They could score faster than any Michigan team I've ever seen. Defense was very tough too. If not for them frustratingly and stupidly blowing 4th quarter leads at ND and OSU to end up in ties, they'd have probably finished as champs.
October 2nd, 2023 at 5:46 PM ^
That 1992 Alabama defense and the 1997 Michigan defense are the best I've ever seen. You could make a few plays here and there, but it was impossible to move the ball against them normally. Simply impossible.
This year's team? I think we have to see a team that can throw and run the ball at the same time first.
October 3rd, 2023 at 8:11 AM ^
2021 Georgia D would like a word.
October 2nd, 2023 at 6:16 PM ^
One of the WRs on that ‘92 Alabama team was Dabo Swinney.
October 2nd, 2023 at 10:54 PM ^
Like we said, Alabama had a good defense.
October 2nd, 2023 at 7:03 PM ^
Question.
1992 was a great team. Undefeated, albeit with 3 ties.
Can anyone here with more knowledge about that season explain why we kicked off the first and second half against ND?