Michigan Monday - Kill All the Gophers
A taste:
Michigan’s defense is smart, consistent, and dependable. They are the good child. Jim Harbaugh doesn’t have to give them a curfew because he knows they’ll come home when the library closes.
But one day, some kid is going to move into their town and introduce them to Rock & Roll and then everything is gonna go to hell.
I’m just not sure if anybody in the Big Ten listens to Rock & Roll.
October 10th, 2023 at 1:48 PM ^
This is my favorite stat:
On the season, Edwards has rushed for 177 yards on 51 attempts, averaging 3.5 yards per carry. Against Ohio State last year, Edwards went for 216 yards on 22 carries.
October 10th, 2023 at 5:43 PM ^
October 10th, 2023 at 1:50 PM ^
I typically don't get much from the taeks or the humor in this column, but the "restaurant rescue-steak and milk place" bit got a lol from me on this one.
October 10th, 2023 at 1:51 PM ^
second one in a row where he was both accurate and humorous, no snark. good on him for getting back to his best writing style.
October 10th, 2023 at 2:18 PM ^
He's only really snarky when he's confident that OSU will beat us.
October 10th, 2023 at 1:53 PM ^
Quarterback JJ McCarthy is one of the reasons for the effectiveness of the running game. His ability to keep the ball on reads is going to continue to pay off — at least until he gets hurt.
Is he trying to speak this into existence?
October 10th, 2023 at 2:54 PM ^
That was my read too. Wishful thinking on their part, because OSU knows they don't have a prayer with him healthy.
October 10th, 2023 at 4:52 PM ^
If OSU's running game turns out to be as poor as people like Sam Webb have been talking about, even a Jack Tuttle-led Michigan offense playing at home might actually have a chance against these guys. But I sure hope that we don't have to find out.
October 11th, 2023 at 8:21 PM ^
They don't have a prayer against Tuttle either! Fuck ohio!
October 10th, 2023 at 6:36 PM ^
That was a odd thing to say by him. Hope JJ destroys OSU
October 10th, 2023 at 7:02 PM ^
No, I think it is a legitimate worry. How many times in the past two decades did Michigan go into the Ohio State game with a broken QB?
While depth at other positions has vastly improved, depth at QB is one of my greatest concerns.
This is not new. Last year he and what's-his-name he podcasts with mentioned repeatedly that they wondered what would happen to Michigan's running game and Corum with all the high-usage he was getting earlier in the year, and that worry proved to be accurate - fortunately Michigan had an answer, and they've been using the RBs differently this year.
October 11th, 2023 at 8:30 AM ^
Corum's injury had nothing to do with usage. It was just a freak play where as his foot landed from a hurdle he got hit right on the knee with a helmet, so with his weight on the foot there was no give on the leg/knee.
October 10th, 2023 at 2:03 PM ^
"You may look at the Wolverines and ask how they score 52 points in a game when all they do is walk in a menacing manner towards an opponent. It works for Michael Myers. It shouldn’t work in football."
Admittedly, I chuckled.
October 10th, 2023 at 2:13 PM ^
the minutemen are likely riled up as well. ...this is bob dylan to me. oops, wrong thread.
October 10th, 2023 at 5:19 PM ^
Insta login and upvote. Thanks for the History Lesson (Part II)
October 10th, 2023 at 2:17 PM ^
So much whining about the schedule, and not really paying attention to any actual excellence that is being demonstrated, and increasingly so.
He's doing a poor job of informing himself or his readers in advance of The Game. It's going to make it that much more painful for them when we hand them a rushing rutger in a blowout win. They should be doing a better job of preparing for the 70–10 beatdown.
October 10th, 2023 at 2:56 PM ^
He pointed out how terrible Indiana is, but failed to recall that OSU struggled against Indiana.
October 10th, 2023 at 4:07 PM ^
Michigan is not the only team to play several/majority tomato cans to this point. They're just the only team that hasn't played down to the level of competition.
October 10th, 2023 at 7:04 PM ^
the only team that hasn't played down to the level of competition
...especially in the second half of games so far. That's an excellent point.
October 10th, 2023 at 2:19 PM ^
Someone more Rain Man than me can check me on this -
Michigans D has had one marginal PI flag......in the last 4 games.
And that's it.
Seriously correct me if I'm missing something. No offsides. No late hits. No roughing the passers. No unnecessary roughness. No unsportmans likes. No hands to the face.
Just nothing.
I can't remember ever seeing a team this disciplined. And they've been playing 2nd & 3rd stringers for most of the 2nd halfs.
October 10th, 2023 at 5:55 PM ^
I thought one of the earlier games we might’ve had a hand in the face
October 10th, 2023 at 2:26 PM ^
i do worry that after a season of total mediocrity... especially from opposing offenses.. will our team understand what its like on defense, to have pressure on them to bend but not break and on offense to keep pace and score when the defense underwhelms. last year, we played a couple good offenses in OSU and (im sure someone else). Where are the good offenses that prep us for texas, oregon, usc, etc... osu seems to be trying to figure it out. psu is more d than o.. and maryland is the new purdue.
TCU happened last year for a reason. I just don't see any dynamic playmakers in the conference and those that are there dont have great qbs to put on the pressure.
October 10th, 2023 at 2:57 PM ^
Hopefully the 1s on offense are repping the 1s on defense. Understandably, there's only so much you can do to prepare for teams that don't play like you do. Aside from a Washington or USC in terms of QB, maybe, I don't think that there's anything out there that would take the defense by surprise. The same is true for the offense.
October 10th, 2023 at 2:41 PM ^
Given the gnome reference he's clearly been spending time reading or listening to Brian.
October 10th, 2023 at 4:36 PM ^
Good prose.
October 10th, 2023 at 5:34 PM ^
Thanks for sharing. While at their website, a news item caught my eye. Jim Knowles is leaving JT alone, and planning for everyone else.
Is that a bad thing for Michigan or a good thing?
October 10th, 2023 at 5:56 PM ^
That depends, who is JT?
October 10th, 2023 at 6:39 PM ^
Jack Tuttle? I am guessing JT their DE. He was OK last year but couldn't stop Donovan tho
October 10th, 2023 at 8:30 PM ^
The Titanic was a large, strong ship. It couldn't overcome the iceberg tho
October 10th, 2023 at 10:41 PM ^
Actually, an interesting thing in that analogy is that one contributing problem for the Titanic was that its steel lacked toughness:
https://www.nist.gov/publications/metallurgy-rms-titanic