M vs Utah, Friday Morning Snowflakes
I figured I'd start a thread for those that either went to sleep after the game or couldn't get MGo to load last, or to simply discuss the game after a night of sleep and sober minded, figuratively and literally.
Mine:
It went about how I expected, honestly. Thinking the team from last year, or even the one from the spring game for that matter, was going to enter Jim Harbaugh's submarine like a catepillar entering a cocoon and then re-emerge a month later as an ass-kicking butterfly was really just asking for disappointment. Even under Harbaugh, this was always going to be a work in progress.
The signs of incremental improvement, as a direct result of the coaching change, were there however, even if you had to squint a little more than expected. We played a good team tough on the road, at night, and looked better as the game went on. The staff seemed to make the necessary adjustments and find success despite the obvious deficiencies in RB and OL that we're now all too familiar with. Even the futility in the run game would have paid dividends in some RPS +3 plays downfield if Rudock could only hit the pass. Special teams looked solid to good, and even with the miss, it at least wasn't ugly (the extra point on the other hand....). This game is fairly analogous to the ND game last year in terms of the who-what-when-wheres, but I think we can all agree both the outcome and the feel of the game were totally different.
We left a lot of opportunities and very probably points on the field, and handed the opponent points as well. In a tight, winnable game, that always stings, but at the same time, I have full confidence it Harbaugh to make the corrections and I expect this team to continue to clean those up and make incremental improvements through the season and be on the verge of legitimately good by the end.
September 4th, 2015 at 10:06 AM ^
And Peppers...holy crap that kid can play
September 4th, 2015 at 9:30 AM ^
The most encouraging thing about this game was the way the team held together in spite of misques here and there. Against excellent D-lines (Utah's is probably the best we'll face until the last two weeks of the season against PSU and OSU) the playcalling and passing game need to correct a bit sooner and I'm not sure we're putting some of our best players on when we need to (Bunting or Hill vs. Williams on a few of those passing downs would've been good).
Some small sample-size high-varience things went wrong in a road night-game environment. The turnovers are what ultimately killed us. Had the pick-six drive gone for a fieldgoal I think we would've won this game. But the lower variance things - like grinding out yards, sustaining drives, and bottling up big plays from key opposing players - were very promising.
It was also highly exciting to see a 2-minute drill that actually looked and felt like a 2-minute drill.
September 4th, 2015 at 9:32 AM ^
September 4th, 2015 at 9:37 AM ^
My apologies
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September 4th, 2015 at 9:50 AM ^
Had high expectations for Drevno to improve the OL and limit turnovers. That did not happen. Beat the Beavers!
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September 4th, 2015 at 9:54 AM ^
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September 4th, 2015 at 10:00 AM ^
September 4th, 2015 at 9:52 AM ^
The defense looked really good. I expected them to play well but not to hold Booker to 21 attempts for 63 yards. Wormley was outstanding last night.
Offensively, well, it's about what I expected. Rudock looked a bit rusty (nervous?) and Perry did freshman things. Chesson and Butt looked very good. .
The run game needs improvement...a combined 24 attempts for 65 yards from the running backs.
They're still figuring it out. It looked mostly like football though. It wasn't soul-crushing
September 4th, 2015 at 9:58 AM ^
September 4th, 2015 at 9:57 AM ^
I was very impressed by Utah's in-game adjustments on offense. They started out using Booker as a decoy. When we figured that out they started running him, to no avail. So they got Wilson going in the pass game and scored a TD. When we settled down on that, they started using Wilson on zone read keepers for another TD.
Three times they made in-game adjustments on offense. And when one of them did not work, they adjusted their adjustment.
Conversely, I was very disappointed in Michigan's in-game adjustments on offense. We stayed in 27-27 mode way too long. When we did adjust a little in the second half, it was with the waggle which you can only go to so many times before that well dries up.
I hope the lack of flexibility and adjustments on offense are the results of new coaches and a new system and not an inflexible rock-rock-rock mentality from O-Line coach turned OC Tim Drevno. But even in this game, it seems like he could have done more to help his offense when it stalled like Utah did for theirs.
September 4th, 2015 at 10:06 AM ^
September 4th, 2015 at 10:24 AM ^
I wish we would have done a little of that on offense ourselves. Utah had a Plan A, Plan B, Plan C, Plan D.
We only had Plan A and Plan A-. I hope we can change that quickly. Had Utah been as rigid as we were, they would have only scored 3 points.
September 4th, 2015 at 9:58 AM ^
I just don't understand how a starting D-1 RB can have no vision whatsoever. "Oh, look; an opening to the left where I could jog to a fifty yard gain! Hmm.... nah.... I'll just run right into this huge mangle of players and lose a yard. Yeah... that seems like the right idea."
September 4th, 2015 at 10:04 AM ^
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September 4th, 2015 at 10:05 AM ^
Try to remember how you were feeling after the Utah game last year.
Now compare that to this year.
If you're not feeling 10x better this year, you're just a sad-sack. Last year's game was a perfect example of how big of a mess that team was. This year's game showed that the team isn't great, and in certain facets isn't even good, but is certainly better overall. I'm optimistic that if there is a similar type of game towards the end of the year, Michigan wins that one.
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September 4th, 2015 at 10:13 AM ^
Is it reasonable to expect a collegiate QB to look off defenders and/or use the pump fake? I can't remember seeing Rudock doing either last night. Is it something only the elite of the elite do? Can it be coached? Guess I never paid much attention but I feel those two tools are invaluable.
e.g. Watch Aaron Rodgers and Big Ben use their eyes and pump fakes to steer defenders where they want.
And no, I am not calling for Morris to be brought in whatsoever.
September 4th, 2015 at 10:29 AM ^
I'm sure there were some, but I do not recall seeing any Rudock look-offs.
He locks on big time. He gets away with it more than Gardner did because he releases quick and is accurate.
How was he at this at Iowa? Does anybody know? Is this just a first-game-in-a-new-system thing, or is it who he is . . . one read, quick accurate throw, hope it's open?
September 4th, 2015 at 11:33 AM ^
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September 4th, 2015 at 1:49 PM ^
I thought he did a good job rolling though his progressions on any play downfield. But it seemed on every single third and short, he decided the result before the play and locked on. That would be understandable if he saw an opening the defense gave him based on alignment, but it didn't even seem like that was the case. His read was made in the huddle.
September 4th, 2015 at 10:16 AM ^
Special teams, play calling, tempo, smart time outs, to name a few. Harbaugh knows what he has now and the guys can hit the film and start working to improve. The passing game will be better than I expected, especially once Rudock gets in sync with his receivers. New QB to true frosh receiver looked about what you would expect for that scenario. Yeah I was disgruntled at the turn overs and shoulda coulda wouldas, but I could see that they had a coherent gameplan and offensive direction. Let's tee it up against OSUw and see some improvement.
September 4th, 2015 at 10:16 AM ^
Just about every time it went to commercial and random other times during the game the feed I was watching would freeze. I broke out my tablet and the app was freezing on there as well. Didn't see either TD. When it worked the picture was great.
About the team, Rudock seems like a good backup Qb but since we don't have a true starter on the roster he is Da Man. Team seems solid enough to win but the biggest hole was at Qb. I think Gardner would have been a star playing for Harbaugh.
September 4th, 2015 at 10:16 AM ^
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September 4th, 2015 at 11:09 AM ^
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September 4th, 2015 at 10:18 AM ^
square on. I think a lot of people expected or thought that would emerge from the submarine and be spectacular, forgetting how bad we were last year, and assuming Harbaugh would turn it around in basically 6 months, just not possible. The team has some deficiencies obviously. I have felt that we would improve each and every game and predicted a loss last night due to the fact that we were bad last year, new system, 3rd one for the lineman, new qb with a new system, a quality opponent on the road...all of these things make it difficult to win. I would much rather have played Utah the way we did last night then to have opened with EMU or some other MAC school and rolled them.
This team will get better each week. I think last night will give the staff a lot of good film to make adjustments. Rudock will be fine this season, he won't be spectacular, but most knew that. Defensively we will keep getting better, the oline will also improve. Hopefully Drake or Ty emerge from the RB's. I liked a lot of things offensively...we couldn't get the run game going, but we at least called the right pass plays to get yardage, something the previous regime never did...the bubble screens, etc. I liked that we have some WR who can get down field and that we tried to stretch, again, something the previous coaching staff never did. Like I said, I think you will see a great improvement between week 1 and week 2, and then again between week 2 and week 3. By week 4, we will be much improved, still not great, but don't forget how bad this team was a year ago. Most who were predicting between 7-9 wins seem to be about right with this talent.
September 4th, 2015 at 10:29 AM ^
First off, hats off to the defense. They played their tails off last night and did what they had to do. Only giving up 17 points on the road against a team that most likely had a chip on their shoulder, you really couldn't ask for much more.
The receivers look like they will be able to get the job done. We finally got a glimpse of Chesson's speed that we were raving about when he signed, Jake Butt is awesome as expected, Darboh looks like another reliable person to move the chains when needed, and Grant Perry will only get better as the season moves along.
Pass protection wise, the offensive line is much better than last season. We still need work in the running game, but you can see the improvement.
This brings me to the backfield. This wasn't the same case as Devin where he was beaten to a pulp every time he dropped back. Ruddock had more than enough time, but just couldn't get the job done last night. Outside of the first interception, there was the four throws that pretty much doomed our team from winning. I'm not calling for Shane to come in now, I just hope they go back in and emerge from the submarine next week and play more to Jake's strengths.
That is all moot though when the running game is still as bad as it was. The run blocking isn't at "Jim Harbaugh Ass-Kicking" levels yet, but when you get some of the holes we had last night, you have to hit them, and the RBs just didn't. Maybe Utah's run defense is just that good, even with what they had to replace, but I'm leaning towards the side of these guys just don't have it.
September 4th, 2015 at 10:31 AM ^
Too many mistakes to win. I've been trying to figure out how many points we left on the field.
Final Deficit: -7
First INT: +3
First Overthrow: +4 (we ended up kicking a FG on that drive)
Second Overthrow: +7
Second INT: 0 (Not really in position to score)
Third Overthrow: 0 (This was a good play by Utah)
Third INT: +7 (Biggest play of night)
Dropped Slant + Missed FG: +3 (being conservative here, should have had a first down, and possibly even a TD at the very least should make the field goal).
Utah made mistakes too:
2 missed FG by normally reliable kicker: -6
Dumb PF penalty on what would have been 4th down: -4 (I assume we would have kicked FG)
Net Result: Michigan by 7. Now game situation would have changed a lot of the circumstances, but Michigan made too many mistakes to win.
On Defense: No the offense didn't help out the defense, but neither did the defense help out the offense. No meaningful turnovers. If we could get a turnover or two, maybe the offense doesn't have to work so damn hard to score points.
September 4th, 2015 at 10:40 AM ^
Michigan is a few to several years away from being an elite team again. I only see 7 to 8 wins this season and next. May be in 2017 when we have MSU and OSU at home again we'll have a chance to win the B1G east. I think some fans are expecting to much from Harbaugh during his first season. I think the team will improve in play but we may still get our clocks cleaned when playing more elite defenses.
September 4th, 2015 at 11:00 AM ^
from some but most people realize it's a rebuilding year. I also think 7-8 wins is most likely this year. But otherwise I'm much more optimistic. We could still do significantly better than 7-8 wins this year if Harbaugh gets better QB play - which is likely with his track record. And going forward, I think we will do very well once Harbaugh has his type of players in place. I don't think it will take "a few to several years."
I see at least 9-10 wins next year and a top 20 finish. And I see a top 10 caliber team by the following year. And I wouldn't be surprised if the time table for these predictions are moved up by Harbaugh.
September 4th, 2015 at 10:47 AM ^
First, the reports of a greatly improved OL (in the run game) were greatly exaggerated.
Second, it was a little too old-school Bo for me in that we kept trying to bully a good front with extra safeties coming down into the box. Would've loved to see more PAP on 1st down from heavy sets.
Third, Coach Baxter deserves a raise. Complete 180. And Peppers should have the green light to bring KOs out even 9 yards deep.
September 4th, 2015 at 1:54 PM ^
Does kicking at altitude make that much of a difference? Both kickers were booming kickoffs out of the end zone. I know it was a bit windy, but they did it in both directions.
Or are college kickers just that strong these days and coaches are happy to give it up at the 20?
September 4th, 2015 at 10:54 AM ^
but reasons for optimism. We were playing a quality top 25-30 level team on the road. Unexpectedly, we had horrible play from the QB position which literally cost us the game.
Our defense played very well. Our receivers played well. Our o-line provided execllent QB protection.
And we are already benefiting from a more intelligent coach in Harbaugh. The only quibble I had was with the unimaginative plays on 3rd and 4th downs late in the game on the drive where we were stuffed on 4th down.
QB play will improve and we should have a good year. And every year should be better. We will be elite again and it won't take more than 1-2 years.
September 4th, 2015 at 10:58 AM ^
September 4th, 2015 at 11:01 AM ^
anyone else think he missed a lot of blocks?
September 4th, 2015 at 11:51 AM ^
September 4th, 2015 at 11:03 AM ^
In not trying to be too reasonable in the loss, but I must say the difference from last year to this year's team is astronmical. They actually looked like a competent football team and that is a huge step up from last year. Ruddock even with the three picks looks like a legit QB that will be a huge step up from recent years. He definitely passed the eye test, now the three picks aren't ideal but at least he looks the part. Yes, the pick six was killer but they were driving down 7 late in the fourth with a chance to tie the game and I honestly thought they were going to do so. The other killer scenario that I thought had a huge impact was the decision to not go for it on 4th down opposed to kicking the field goal. Utah went down and scored a TD after the missed field goal. Who knows how it would have played out if they were successful on the 4th down opportunity. I believe this team will get better week to week and could very well go into the MSU game with one loss. Good chance both Michigan and MSU will enter that game each having one loss.
September 4th, 2015 at 11:20 AM ^
I thought JH and staff were a little stubborn last night in trying to establish the run against a strong, quick, aggressive defensive unit that was committed to stopping the run. The reason why Chesson was so open on the overthrow...too many people committed to stopping run and short stuff.
I would have liked to have seen more passing on first down given their alignment and aggressiveness. Thought the staff was a little Bo-like in this regard. Thought maybe we might see Morris come in at some point and go long, which is what the defense was daring us to do, but I am not going to question how JH handles qb's. That would be silly. He must not think Morris is ready for that, or capable of other things the position demands.
Otherwise, our backs are not fast, they are all lumbering types who will get yards if we can create holes, but there were not going to be any until we made them respect a deep threat. That never happened.
I am sure the staff recognized this, but chose to proceed as it did as the best option. This will be a continuous isse against better, aggressive defenses (MSU, PSU, Ohio St for sure), and either Morris will have to be ready, or Rudock will have to get more comfortable with going downfield more. We'll see, but we won't see a defense as good as this one until MSU, a game which I would kind of like to win....
September 4th, 2015 at 12:27 PM ^
September 4th, 2015 at 11:25 AM ^
I thought overall the LBs looked slow and confused on passing downs. Thought Ross played okay but Royce-Jenkins Stone, Bolden, and shockingly Morgan looked pretty slow.
September 4th, 2015 at 11:32 AM ^
be popular, but I thought Peppers struggled with pass defense all night. He only has 1 game under his belt basically. He is a beast on run support but struggled with pass defense I thought.
September 4th, 2015 at 11:42 AM ^
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September 4th, 2015 at 12:06 PM ^
Anybody else get the feeling the writing is on the wall for Derrick Green? If Smith's vision is still as bad as he displayed last night and he is the clear number 1....that says bad things for Green. Isaac atleast has the 3rd down back role, and is newer to the program than Green. Just feel like if Green can barely get carries behind Smith as this point when everyone is fully healthy, not sure what the future is for him at UM. WIth Drake coming back hopefully in a few weeks, really think Green might look to transfer after this year.
September 4th, 2015 at 12:49 PM ^
September 4th, 2015 at 1:47 PM ^
Think they were doing some unbalanced line stuff in the first half to see how Utah reacted.
September 4th, 2015 at 12:51 PM ^
I'll wait for the UFR, but I'm not ready to pile on the OL just yet. First half, the run blocking wasn't there for sure as they were getting bullied. But in the second half, I yelled "How did you miss that hole?" at DeVeon Smith at least three times. The most egregious one on which even the announcers were like, "ummmm, he should've cut that back" was the play right before the Pick 6.