Maryland Snowflakes: The Coaching
November 20th, 2021 at 7:05 PM ^
Fuck Ohio.
November 20th, 2021 at 7:06 PM ^
Beat Ohio.
November 20th, 2021 at 11:05 PM ^
...and fuck them.
November 20th, 2021 at 7:06 PM ^
This has been such a fun season.
I didn't have high hopes entering the season, and I don't have high hopes against Ohio State. Maybe this team proves me wrong again.
November 21st, 2021 at 8:04 AM ^
Three gritty road wins were amazing. And only two embarrassing games, Rutgers and MSU that showed the fatal flaw of the JH offense, not putting teams away. Major colonoscopy coming for OSU next week.
November 20th, 2021 at 7:08 PM ^
When you are a 15-point favorite and win by 41 (which could have been more) … that’s a solid job.
November 21st, 2021 at 7:50 AM ^
… especially on the road, Maryland or not.
November 20th, 2021 at 7:09 PM ^
Game was otherwise great. And it’s worth enjoying it. So I’ll lodge my one reservation here:
The offensive gameplan was varied and fun. And a nagging part of me feels like this is Gattis running what he wants because this week’s plan was “just win and we’re getting ready for OSU” and Gattis got to run the stuff we’ve already shown but with freedom to do it how he wants.
That is, we’re seeing first down passes and cool play actions and some genuine goal line creativity… and it’s Maryland. I’ll be very frustrated if Michigan is running on first and second down next week trailing by 14.
All this is just a nagging concern. *Probably* Michigan comes out with tons of creative stuff next week, and if so this complaint should be considered invalid. But this might be the most fun this team has been all season and I hope they keep it up.
November 20th, 2021 at 7:13 PM ^
My gut is telling me they go the way of the Michigan State game and move beyond what we saw in the first offensive series today. I don't know if it'll work but Harbaugh seems to be more open this year to breaking out of the rut when the situation calls for it.
November 20th, 2021 at 9:37 PM ^
Yes, breaking out of the rut is progress. But to have any chance next week, we need to avoid the rut.
The rut puts us down 14 points in a HURRY. Let's not get in a rut.
November 20th, 2021 at 7:14 PM ^
Understand your concern - but I'm also thinking: do need to run the ball to beat Ohio.
November 20th, 2021 at 7:24 PM ^
Sure, but running will be more effective if it is not so predictable and if there is a lot of tendency breaking play calls...
November 21st, 2021 at 7:56 AM ^
Whatever keeps OSU’s offense off the field for the maximum amount of time possible is what we need to do.
November 20th, 2021 at 7:17 PM ^
The offensive gameplans for OSU have generally been creative. I’m not too concerned about that. One of Harbaugh’s best was the O’Korn game. The plays were there but JOK couldn’t consistently make them.
I worry much, much more about the other side of the ball.
November 20th, 2021 at 7:21 PM ^
Defense isn’t there. Hutch and Ojabo cover up a lot of warts. I’m not a fan of McDonald. Don’t think he is cut out for DC at the college level.
November 20th, 2021 at 7:36 PM ^
What about Macdonald? Do you think he’s any good?
November 20th, 2021 at 8:02 PM ^
Mc and Mac mean the same thing.
November 20th, 2021 at 9:09 PM ^
Show him some respect and learn how to spell his name. Otherwise, you appear to be a casual fan whose opinion is not worth listening to.
Regarding your original comment, considering that OSU is essentially a professional team, maybe an NFL coordinator is what we need. I dare say he can’t do worse than Don Brown’s last misadventure against them.
November 21st, 2021 at 9:18 AM ^
I don’t care about your opinion nor should you care about mine.
Mike MACDonald isn’t good at his job. The run defense is mediocre at best and the defense has real issues with substitution. His defense cost Michigan the game vs MSU. Hutch and Ojabo cover up a lot of flaws. They won’t be here next year.
Michigan needs to find an experienced DC who can also recruit, another thing MACDonald isn’t particularly adept at.
November 20th, 2021 at 7:48 PM ^
Is it Michigan’s 8th overall ranking in total defense that leads you to this conclusion? Or is a 4th overall ranking in scoring defense the clear cut sign that Macdonald is not “cut out for DC at the college level”?
November 20th, 2021 at 8:04 PM ^
When they get torn apart by OSU next week those numbers, fattened up playing some atrocious offenses, will get exposed.
The run defense is substandard for a Michigan defense. They will get shredded by Henderson next week.
November 20th, 2021 at 8:32 PM ^
If OSU tears her up, it’s because their offense is really good, not because we are really bad on D. OSU is an O juggernaut. It will be a challenge.
November 20th, 2021 at 9:24 PM ^
We have up 180 yards to Maryland
anout that much to Rutgers, 200 to state and made their RB a heisman candidate and who osu just smashed
our D IS A CONCERN both run D and passing D and they ARE the best offense in football.
I hope we win but we will need to create turnovers and score over 40 points to do it because they will easily score at least 35 on us
November 21st, 2021 at 6:44 AM ^
Walker got 6 carries against OSU but sure yeah they totally smashed him
November 21st, 2021 at 7:44 AM ^
Fascinated you chose to emphasize ARE in caps instead of best. I've never seen a linking verb emphasized.
November 21st, 2021 at 1:57 PM ^
You ARE easily fascinated, aren't you? Now you've seen it twice.
And it worked for me the first time.
November 20th, 2021 at 8:47 PM ^
Nowadays there really are no elite defenses. I'm not sure what more he could have done to impress you considering how awful they were last year.
If it makes you feel better (doubtful) Michigan's defense is 14th in FEI while OSU's is 39th. OSU has 5 stars at every position. Michigan has two 5 stars on our defense.
November 20th, 2021 at 8:52 PM ^
How much of that is on Macdonald vs on what Don Brown left him?
November 20th, 2021 at 7:59 PM ^
You are right. You can tell by all the downvotes you get from the mindless that don't really understand football. Our talent level is lacking. And our discipline is lacking because our coaching is lacking. Watch the discipline that OSU plays with next week. They have talent , discipline ,and coaching. The slappies that have their heads up their asses will see the gap between us and the elite.
November 20th, 2021 at 7:59 PM ^
You are right. You can tell by all the downvotes you get from the mindless that don't really understand football. Our talent level is lacking. And our discipline is lacking because our coaching is lacking. Watch the discipline that OSU plays with next week. They have talent , discipline ,and coaching. The slappies that have their heads up their asses will see the gap between us and the elite.
November 20th, 2021 at 8:35 PM ^
You get down voted for having bad takes. Do not put that on others.
November 20th, 2021 at 8:42 PM ^
Yeah you've spent a lot of time on the field. I can tell by your defeatist attitude and feelings ball posts that you were one hell of a player.
November 20th, 2021 at 8:49 PM ^
We all know this team isn’t as talented or explosive as OSU and will be heavy underdogs. The difference between us is that you get off on pointing this out as if you’re the sole wise man who realizes that. It’s probably because you secretly lust after the OSU football program with an intensity that borders on the sexual, which I personally find to be a perverse and and repulsive fetish, but it’s 2021 and we should all be above kinkshaming
November 21st, 2021 at 7:24 AM ^
You sick fuck
November 20th, 2021 at 9:20 PM ^
The thing you're forgetting is that teams like Texas A & M beat teams like Alabama. We've all seen it happen over the years, and when a team clicks, like we can click, we can win. Wins happen for all different reasons and it isn't always because of superior talent.
November 21st, 2021 at 2:33 PM ^
Think Home Field advantage will play a part in this game. Stadium not full of harassing buck nut fans. Think we can be competeive here with the crowd at our backs.
November 20th, 2021 at 10:36 PM ^
go be a miserable sonofabitch somewhere else. nobody will miss you.
November 20th, 2021 at 7:22 PM ^
I agree and have made this argument consistently: Michigan always has gooD stuff ready. But a nagging part of me wonders why it’s this of all weeks that the gameplan deploys stuff this way. Like, the plays themselves aren’t that unique, but they’re using them in the perfect spots. This week.
November 20th, 2021 at 7:28 PM ^
Perhaps Gattis has grown as a play caller? Perhaps he trusts this group of offensive players more than in prior years?
November 20th, 2021 at 7:40 PM ^
I've actually seen an uptick in play calling quality after the loss. It feels like it was "Play it conservative until it stops working, then open the book."
November 20th, 2021 at 10:56 PM ^
I'm hoping they set aside the big-game butt clench and just open the book all the way. It's our only chance. Our O has to keep up.
But I agree -- why bring all this out against Maryland? OSU will be ready for DE out of the backfield now.
November 21st, 2021 at 2:23 PM ^
According to Jon Jansen, who is probably closer to the program and The Game than I am, they always want to put a lot of things out there for OSU to have to prepare for this week. The more the better. I'm sure Michigan showed a lot of plays yesterday that they have no intention of trying against OSU. OSU probably does some of it, too, unless they are so overconfident that they didn't bother with it. Neither team can prepare, however, for anything they haven't seen. Could be that some of the biggest changes will be not in the actual play calls, but how they're blocked or who the primary receivers will be or plays that are being set up by previous calls. Whatever happens, I know this team will give their full effort, and that's all we can ask of these kids.
Even better, it's good to see that we will have Corum back for next week and that he was available for this week. He never would have been making those practice cuts he was making before the game if he was at all concerned for his ankle. He could be a real X factor for us.
November 20th, 2021 at 7:31 PM ^
So you think Harbaugh was like "Gattis, go ahead and call the game you would like this week because I haven't let you all year and won't let you next week"?
November 20th, 2021 at 7:09 PM ^
Trap game. Coaching staff can't get the team up for it.
/s
November 20th, 2021 at 7:12 PM ^
Team is fun to watch. Full stop.
It's worth stopping to consider that the team is having fun again. They're playing with energy again. They're meeting/exceeding expectations again. The result isn't always perfect, but damn it is fun to watch if you let it be.
Another thing worth mentioning is the true freshmen (JJ, DE7, AA, Rod Moore, Colson) making real contributions. It's good to see the coaching staff not only adapting to the Portal Era, keeping guys happy and in the fold, but also getting them to ball out in the process.
November 20th, 2021 at 8:15 PM ^
And they aren’t saying stupid things in post game interviews like sometimes in the past. They talk about not falling in love with a victory. The mindset is right so that is about half the battle.
November 20th, 2021 at 7:13 PM ^
There looks to be a lot of hits in this freshman class, which is a bonus of this house-money, shoudla-sucked-but-they’re-really-good, year. Really needed to get lucky and they did.