October 9th, 2017 at 12:53 PM ^
This is not good.
October 9th, 2017 at 12:54 PM ^
The last two have gone so well.
October 9th, 2017 at 1:00 PM ^
This was already going to be a tough game, but playing at night in Beaver Stadium during a White Out will make it even tougher.
Not saying we're going to lose or anything, but if you have to play Penn State, this is the toughest scenario to do it.
October 9th, 2017 at 4:05 PM ^
Indiana (a distinct possiblity) they'll move the game time to noon and air it on ESPN.:)
October 9th, 2017 at 4:20 PM ^
Has Harbaugh ever won a game in which Michigan was the underdog?
It's about damn time he proves it.
October 9th, 2017 at 4:24 PM ^
Lol, have you seen our offensive line??
October 9th, 2017 at 4:39 PM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 12:57 PM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 12:59 PM ^
We have played 5 games and came out with a whimper in every single first half. Maybe it will happen at Happy Valley at night in a white out game, but forgive me if I'm not getting my hopes up.
October 9th, 2017 at 1:07 PM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 2:00 PM ^
How do you know that the weather stopped us but our defense "downloaded" their offense. Isn't it possible that there defense had "downloaded" our offense or the weather at least helped in keeping them contained?
October 9th, 2017 at 2:03 PM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 2:08 PM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 1:38 PM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 12:58 PM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 5:08 PM ^
He's simply going to say "beat Indiana"
October 9th, 2017 at 7:09 PM ^
And you nailed it!
October 9th, 2017 at 12:58 PM ^
Excellent! This gives me a solid 7 or 8 hours to drink myself into a stupor, then take a valium, a xanax and snort an ambien before the game. This way, if we lose, I won't really notice, and if we win, I won't really notice...and if I get my testes caught in a lawn mower, I won't really notice that, either...
October 9th, 2017 at 1:25 PM ^
Somebody's been hanging out with the Dolphin's coaching staff...
October 9th, 2017 at 1:54 PM ^
Ha, is that what the guy was sniffing? I just assumed it was cocaine...
October 9th, 2017 at 1:26 PM ^
You and Tiger Woods should be friends
October 9th, 2017 at 1:48 PM ^
Well, just don't get them caught in a mulching mower then. I mean, the garden might appreciate it, but waking up on Sunday morning (afternoon?) in the backyard and under the lawn mower only ends up being the most grotesque / amusing story of the century perhaps that would be related to football fandom.
October 9th, 2017 at 1:03 PM ^
We'll see if GameDay is there. I'm not sure on that.
I think they may finally do a Pullman, WA trip that day. Long flight from Pullman to State College but its theoretically do-able as both cities (1) have airports with runways that are long enough, and (2) have airports basically right next to campus.
Colorado is WSU's opponent and they aren't particularly good in 2017. But WSU only has 2 more Saturday home games and the day of their other home game (4-November) is pretty stacked schedule-wise.
October 9th, 2017 at 4:17 PM ^
Had we won, Game Day would have been there. They may go anyway because they won't have another good reason to go to Happy Valley this season, but a win by us would have assured it.
October 9th, 2017 at 1:02 PM ^
on National TV at night. Let's go...
October 9th, 2017 at 1:05 PM ^
Hope the offense can find a way to get some things figured out before then. I have no doubt that Don Brown will have the defense ready, but if the offense keeps going three and out or commits turnovers, the defense will only be able to hold Barkley back for so long.
Right now, this game just feels like if we had even an average offense, we'd have a great shot of winning. But until I see otherwise, it's a game where the defense does everything it can, but the offense stalls on drive after drive after drive.
That and combined with the fact that winning at night in Happy Valley is an extremely tall order.
October 9th, 2017 at 1:22 PM ^
My outsider, but non-ground-breaking, view on things: Michigan's offense has neither right now.
But there's still a game prior to PSU. An opportunity to gain confidence/momentum.
Have some success against Indiana, and the offense will be feeling good about themselves in 12 days. Michigan, given the defense, arguably becomes the favorite in that game. 21 points can win that game.
If it's the "same old offensive thing" against Indiana (who in a big turnabout from 2015/early 2016 now has a relatively stout defense: 22nd in S&P+) --- a single-digit scoring performance in Happy Valley is fairly probable. That's unlikely to be good enough to win.
October 9th, 2017 at 1:23 PM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 1:39 PM ^
hard to see any overly plausible scenario whereby PSU isn't the Vegas favorite at kickoff.
This game definitely concerns me. The PSU O vs. U-M D matchup will be what it is: Some but not a ton of points/yards for PSU. U-M D is very good of course but PSU also has a couple huge structural issues with their offense. (1) Inability to convert on 3rd-and-shorts. PSU runs the shotgun formation for everything, and the conversions aren't happening with the QB/RB starting the play 5+ yards from the first-down line. (2) McSorley is decent enough at making the correct RPO read but he's pretty lousy as an actual runner.
Game, IMO, will be decided by U-M's offensive success (or lack thereof) vs. a solid but not-elite either PSU D.
October 9th, 2017 at 1:24 PM ^
Cool. Thanks.
October 9th, 2017 at 2:02 PM ^
Michigan could blow the frickin doors off of Indiana and I still wouldn't feel very confident going into PSU at night. Those two opponents, and stadium environments, are basically apples to oranges.
Unless the offense all of a sudden wakes up that night, I feel pretty confident in saying what's going to happen. Michigan D makes some good stops against Barkley and doesn't let him run wild for a good chunk of the game. Maybe even forces a turnover. But the offense constantly puts the defense in bad spots, and they're just gassed by the fourth quarter. At that point Barkley does Barkley things and takes over the game.
I have a feeling that Barkley will also be out for blood in that game considering Michigan is the only team he's ever played in college that has stopped him dead in his tracks. He's going to have something to prove that night.
October 9th, 2017 at 2:32 PM ^
(1) guy seems pretty grounded. I was at the Northwestern game Saturday - Barkley was getting completely stifled as NU really keyed on him. But I didn't see any frustration/anger/loss of energy/et cetera. I was specifically watching for that sort of stuff - fine drawing the attention as it gave his teammates more ground to operate.
(2) PSU played 13 foes not named Michigan in 2016. Barkley actually gained less total yards in 9 of those games vs. what he gained vs. Michigan. The team got blown out, of course, but I don't know if he was "stopped dead in his tracks' either. Maybe one can argue that's revisionist "number-plucking" on my part. But I remember thinking the same thing in the immediate post-game of leaving Michigan Stadium --- that he did alright in that game all things considered (OL vs. DL match-up was about as bad as it gets).
(3) I still remember a 4th quarter run from the 2016 U-M game where Barkley ran about 70 yards to gain 2. He could have easily quit there but didn't - I liked seeing that. Goes back to (1) above.
October 9th, 2017 at 3:15 PM ^
I didn't mean out for blood as in he'd be violent. He's never struck me as being a bad guy at all. But he'll be running with a purpose that night. Michigan is the only team (or one of very, very few teams) that has found a way to contain him each time he's lined up opposite them. I remember he had one big run against Michigan in 2015, but after that his impact was minimal.
I'm probably one of the biggest cynics on this board, but I won't be surprised if his "Heisman moment" comes in the Michigan game.
October 9th, 2017 at 4:23 PM ^
(PSU) OL vs. (Mich) DL match-up was about as bad as it gets
How is it that Penn State's OL got better? It does not seem like a liability this year. What was the path to that OL improvement?
/asking for a friend
October 9th, 2017 at 4:33 PM ^
Do you REally expect me to giVe away that secret at NO cost? that IS very NOn-smart of you To PreSUme I would give away that Secret. hOpefulLy you and your COmpAnion friend Can sympatHize with my stance.
:-)
October 9th, 2017 at 10:02 PM ^
Harsh but fair.
October 9th, 2017 at 1:11 PM ^
Still not buying PSU as a top 5 team. Beating them by 6 touchdowns last year, they will be fired up. There is absolutely no need for anyone to call this a loss-We will get up for it! Hopefully the offense will be able to overcome these glaring deficiencies and allow our defense to win us the game. Will be there in person and I am not any less excited about this one than I was last week.
October 9th, 2017 at 1:14 PM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 1:20 PM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 1:23 PM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 1:30 PM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 1:34 PM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 1:50 PM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 2:57 PM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 3:08 PM ^
October 9th, 2017 at 1:21 PM ^
The way this offense is playing maybe we should focus on getting past IU 1st
October 9th, 2017 at 2:33 PM ^
You're right. Without the collective focus of the MGoBlog community, we're not going to get past Indiana. Forgive the MGoBlog community for discussing a game further into the schedule, one which absolutely none of us will be playing in. We need to focus on the Hoosiers instead.
October 9th, 2017 at 7:07 PM ^
May have mis-worded my comment. My point was we are already sizing up penn state and we havnt even played indiana yet.
October 9th, 2017 at 10:33 PM ^