azee2890

September 16th, 2021 at 12:20 PM ^

After the work that Haskins and Corum put in the first two games, i'm hoping neither of them eclipse 10 carries each this weekend. Give them some rest as we move into the meat of our schedule. Hopefully the game is secured by half and Donovan and Tavierre get to give us a preview of Lightning and Thunder version 2022-2024

azee2890

September 16th, 2021 at 5:22 PM ^

Alabama's rushing distribution last week against Mercer (RB only)

Brian Robinson - 10 carries, 70 yards, 1 TD

Trey Sanders - 7 carries, 30 yards

Jase McClellan - 4 carries, 13 yards, 1 TD

Roydell Williams - 4 carries, 11 yards

 

Georgia's rushing distribution last week against UAB (RB only)

Zamir White - 7 carries, 34 yards

Daijun Edwards - 7 carries, 29 yards

Kendall Milton - 8 carries, 26 yards

Kenny McIntosh - 4 carries, 20 yards

James Cook - 5 carries, 18 yards, 1 TD

Anthony Summey - 4 carries, 14 yards

 

Nick Saban and Kirby Smart are bad coaches.

outsidethebox

September 16th, 2021 at 9:54 PM ^

Whoa...Mercer and UAB!!! Saban and Smart would, literally, not have had to show up for this game. Those two "contests" should not count on the schedule.

And, here, we are talking about Michigan. Our roster is solid but we ain't Georgia-yet alone Alabama...very different situations.

azee2890

September 17th, 2021 at 9:27 AM ^

"No (good) coach does that to their starters-or the team. At least 15 to 20 carries each. And no game is over at halftime-not from a coaching perspective...and you sure as hell do not want to send that message to your team."

I just proved two of your statements wrong, that no good coaches rest their players when the game is in hand (see above). So you move the goalpost saying Alabama and Georgia are too good and their opponents were too bad! Okay, here are some more examples to kick through your new goal post. 

 

Cincinnati vs Miami (OH) ** Who is ranked 3 spots ahead of Northern Illinois in the SP+

Jerome Ford - 12 carries, Charles McClelland - 4 carries, Ryan Montgomery - 3 carries, Ethan Wright - 2 carries

 

Florida vs South Florida ** Who is ranked 19 spots behind of Northern Illinois in the SP+

Damon Pierce - 5 carries, Nay'Quan Wright - 7 carries, Demarkcus Bowman - 4 carries, Malik Davies - 7 carries, Lorenzo Lingard - 5 carries

 

Ole Miss vs Austin Peay - Peay is bad but Ole Miss shouldn't be as good as Michigan

Henry Parrish - 8 carries, Kentrel Bullock - 9 carries, Jerrion Ealy - 4 carries, Jarod Conner - 5 carries

 

Auburn vs Alabama State

Jarquez Hunter - 8 carries, Cartavious Bigsby - 11 carries, Sean Jackson - 10 carries, Jay Sharp - 5 carries, Jordan Ingram - 2 carries

 

Now that i've proved that coaches (good ones and bad ones) rest starters on their easiest games, explain to me why you think it is a bad idea to rest starters when a game is at hand? If you predict that NIU is going to give us a run for our money then obviously keep the starters in to give us the best opportunity to win. But we are heavily favored and if we have to run Haskins and Corum another 20 times each, that means were in trouble. I assume you were also against bringing in JJ for the majority of the second half against Western Michigan.

NIU might be the last time we have an opportunity to give our running backs some well deserved rest. Pretty sure a good coach would make sure his guys have enough left in the tank to make it to the end of the season rather than padding stats for starters against and overmatched opponent (assuming we take care of business like we should tomorrow). Young players and recruits also want to see players like Donovan and Tavierre getting playing time. So not only is it good for the durability of the starting unit but it helps recruiting and player retention. Your take gets worse and worse the more I dive into it. 

 

outsidethebox

September 17th, 2021 at 12:43 PM ^

Oh dear lord. This is a message board. This is my opinion. Informed people have differing opinions. Your general points have merit but your examples are very weak-that's being kind. As a coach I surely pushed the envelope schematically/strategically but from the playing of personnel side I was very risk aversive. 

I've played a whole lot and I've coached plenty. I love to win. As a player I expected my coach to play me until there was no doubt that a win was ensured and, subsequently, this guided me as a coach. Winning isn't everything but it defines a whole lot about a whole lot of things. A team deserves every chance it has to win.

There will be ample time and opportunity for Edwards and others to get on the field. The youngsters certainly need to be introduced to the demands of "live-fire"...so they can practice in a manner that better prepares them for the opportunity. As the season wears on and Edwards gets readied for the task at hand, Hart may well transition into a 3 RB rotation. This next game may well provide significant opportunity for taking the next step.

That's all.

The Baughz

September 16th, 2021 at 11:27 AM ^

Corum and Haskins were in such a great rhythm, but I was surprised Edwards didnt get a handful of carries.

Would have been nice to see him run some with he way the OL was dominating.

We should (hopefully) see him quite a bit Saturday.

Hail_Yes

September 16th, 2021 at 11:27 AM ^

You know a position group is good when one of the best Freshman at his position struggles to see the playing time.  I just hope they don't try to force him into carries and disrupt the flow of Thunder and Lightning.  Compared to last year, the way the RB workloads have been assigned this year has been impeccable.

MarcusBrooks

September 16th, 2021 at 11:38 AM ^

agree, 

BUT, once the game was in hand there was ZERO reason NOT to give him carries unless he was messing up in practice. 

Harbaugh said they would see a lot more of Edwards in the Washington game, instead we saw less. Are we trying to hide him for a big moment? 

this isn't the 80's or 90's, we NEED him for the future, give him some carries. 

ahw1982

September 16th, 2021 at 12:11 PM ^

Game wasn't really in hand until we scored to go up 3 TDs with 2 minutes left in the game, and we didn't have a real possession after that.

You can argue that Washington's offense was woeful and the game was in hand when we were up 14 in the 4th Q.

I would argue the Lions offense was woeful and they were down 24 with 2 minutes to go and made a game out of it.

MarcusBrooks

September 16th, 2021 at 11:36 AM ^

that was alarming to me, WHY didn't we put him in for 6-10 carries? 

game was over and we kept running Haskins and Corum 

Hope he can take over the punt return duties, he has to earn it obviously by Kolesar was iffy at best back there. 

carolina blue

September 16th, 2021 at 12:50 PM ^

Yeah, people seem to forget there was a little pucker up time with about 4 minutes left. Washington was crossing midfield and moving the ball pretty well and it was still only a 14 point game. A TD a few plays later seemed very possible and suddenly it’s a 7 pt game with 3 mins to go. 

MGrether

September 16th, 2021 at 12:00 PM ^

The the rhythm and effectiveness of Corum & Haskins was the reason the game was decidedly ours. They kept making the plays needed to keep the ball and limit Washington’s opportunities to claw back - especially with their late surge of desperation throws mixed with our DBs “Freshman Jordan Lewis Luck”. 
 

it would have been nice, but thinking back over the game and how it unfolded - I can’t think of a particular place or even play in the game that I would have seriously wanted any other RB to take that place. I expect 1-2 full quarters or Edwards in this one. 

BigJohn

September 16th, 2021 at 11:58 AM ^

I love that they are feeding 2 guys and giving Edwards the scraps. If one of them is injured or stops producing, next man up. Until then, do what it takes to win football games. 

And I'm not sure I ever felt comfortable until it was 31-10 late. Just win games and stop worrying about feelings. 

readyourguard

September 16th, 2021 at 12:04 PM ^

Mike Hart is a genius.  By making this statement, he gives Michigan fans something else to complain about other than the passing game.  Mike Hart out here playing chess to Michigan fan's checkers

 

mGrowOld

September 16th, 2021 at 12:16 PM ^

And he placates his stud Freshman RB at the same time.  My guess is we'll see quite a bit of young Donovan this coming Saturday if things go as expected.

And then we might not see much of him again this season unless somebody gets hurt

Oh, completely unrelated to this topic (but funny none-the-less) several callers to 92.3 sports talk radio in Cleveland this morning were calling for Day to bench his Redshirt Freshman QB that threw for almost 500 yards.  You know, because obviously he's the guy responsible for their defense being ass.  Oh, and they all want their DC fired immediately too.

Gonna be REAL interesting around here if the hallowed Buckeyes lose another game.  I mean real interesting.