OT: ESPN story re. Saban's offensive shift
"I remember him saying, 'I feel like our offense is a Lamborghini, but it's headed off a cliff,' meaning we've got these great players, but are behind the times in what we're doing," said Kiffin, recalling their first meeting after he was hired. "So we needed to change directions."
Not old news but just a rehash about adapting an offense to the modern times, something that has been seemingly attempted (Gattis?) to be implemented here...but not really.
September 30th, 2021 at 4:37 PM ^
Got it
September 30th, 2021 at 4:40 PM ^
i'll save you the time and condense all the possible replies into one post:
WolverFan13: fire gattis
StadiumYolo: hire kiffin
TimBeLikeABazooka: Seriously? This is Michigan, for God's sake.
StadiumYolo: look i used to have standards too but we have got to compete
Multiple People All Saying: whatever it takes to beat ohio state
WolverFan14: fire harbaugh
WittyCannabisPun: look we tried innovating on offense once. it got us rich rod.
WolverHistoria: AKSHUALLY Michigan has been innovating on offense since before Crisler, way back in Aught Seven when we introduced the "snap" and
ThePonyConqueror2: hey anybody miss me
Multiple People All Saying: nope
ThePonyConqueror2: see that's funny because i've been so busy trying to date one of the assistant coaches' daughters, whom you wouldn't know but i bet you would like to because in the back seat of a volvo she is like shea when he broke away against Wisconsin and remember? in case you don't pick up what I'm laying down she(a) went all. the. way, but only once. anyway, but i hadn't flossed that day and
WolverFan15: fire EVERYONE
Maizen'sLatest$5: it doesn't matter because we CAN NOT RECRUIT, like ANYONE
Mods: ban
TheSaneMGoBlogger: Look I would rather talk about your opinions on masks and vaccines than about your theories on our offensive issues
WolverFan19: hire matt campbell
September 30th, 2021 at 4:42 PM ^
Thinking about changing my username to WolverFan21 now.
September 30th, 2021 at 5:06 PM ^
I feel like ThePonyConquerer would also relay an unrelated anecdote that was, at best, marginally appropriate for mixed company, and at worst, insanely awkward and far more revealing than anyone would have cared.
September 30th, 2021 at 5:25 PM ^
GOOD POINT editing now
September 30th, 2021 at 7:04 PM ^
Where has TPC been? Banished?
September 30th, 2021 at 5:25 PM ^
Haha, dude this is pure gold
September 30th, 2021 at 9:42 PM ^
It's like you've boiled the essence of the last few years into a single post.
October 1st, 2021 at 10:41 AM ^
I feel like Eric Clapton did when he heard Hendrix play the first time. He thought his career was over.
Most of us post what we think are pithy comments, you are a force of nature.
Edit - deleted this part here:
September 30th, 2021 at 5:28 PM ^
But seriously, yes, we attempted with Gattis, and it was a miss. Happens when you make a high risk hire like that. Surprised he's been given a year three, but Harbaugh either needs to go for his inability to hire a good OC, or he's not going to be fired and would then need to give it another shot. Not even sure what the lesser of two evils is there.
Imma enjoy what Hutch and Corum and Haskins can do this year.
Shrug emoji.
September 30th, 2021 at 11:58 PM ^
Every time I see comments saying Harbaugh doesn't know how to hire a good OC I always think something like, um, hey, Jedd Fisch.
October 1st, 2021 at 12:30 PM ^
Pretty sure Fisch was never the OC. He was just passing game coordinator, which seemed to work pretty well. Also if you want to count him as an OC, 1/4 isnt very good.
September 30th, 2021 at 9:28 PM ^
Maybe we are thinking about this all wrong. He hire an OC to give us ‘speed in space’ but we get ‘run up the middle’ football. Maybe we should hire a ‘run up the middle’ OC to get ‘speed in space’.
September 30th, 2021 at 10:37 PM ^
All kidding aside, I mentioned this and it should be said again:
Gattis may be a bad OC. It seems he is if this is his work. However, who believes that the guy that studied under Morehead, was a part of a revamped Bama offense and has a moniker for his offensive philosophy dubbed "Soeed In Space" is also a guy that just so happens to think exactly like every previous OC under Harbaugh (maybe outside of Jedd)?
Who could seriously buy that? Did he recruit Wilson, Henning and Worthy with the promise of zero catche games, TONS of blocking and an occasional end-around? Or did he recruit them with a plan of wide-spreads, targets and open fields to work in?
I doubt it to the point of laughing at the notion. He is either incompetent as an OC (possible), just happens to suffer from the same issues as all of Jim's past OCs or is being asked to do things he wouldn't choose to do himself.
Everyone swears it's all Gattis so I'll believe it but it's amazing how no matter who Jim hires the offense suffers the exact same problems.
September 30th, 2021 at 11:27 PM ^
Worthy is getting lots of targets and open fields!
September 30th, 2021 at 11:31 PM ^
It’s called being consistent
October 1st, 2021 at 6:31 AM ^
Gattis has absolutely ZERO power run DNA in him. There are no blocking TE's in his offense. There are no fullbacks in his offense. There are no dive's in his offense (all of this via his own words). Yet, we see multiple TE's in the offense today, two of which (Honigford, Schoonmaker) are all about blocking. Fer crissakes, Honigford should still be an OL!!! Erik All lines up at FB almost as much as he does at TE. We probably have more snaps with three TE's on the field than we do with 3 WRs! Most of the offense consists of no reads, no play action, and lots of runs between the tackles. None of this has anything to do with anything Gattis has ever talked about, but it sure is remarkably consistent with Jim Harbaugh offenses going back through history.
This isn't a complaint - I think the team has been largely outstanding this season. Aside from 2nd half Rutger (which I chalk up to a helmet crown meeting Cade's chin), I love what they've been doing. I really think Cade is a solid thrower and will bounce back with a decent/good game against Wisconsin.
But the guys that swear this is all a Josh Gattis offense... I mean, he might be calling the plays, but he sure as hell didn't design them and come up with scheme and games plans on his own. But I don't really care what's being run, so long as it works. And it's been working...
October 1st, 2021 at 6:52 AM ^
My takeaway from the article is that it's refreshing to see an already winning head coach being willing, indeed eager, to make some drastic, visible changes to make sure that his offense is more productive and up-to-date than ever.
It's also telling how much control over the play-calling Saban appears to give his OCs. When you don't let people that you hire do a job that you hired them to do, there probably isn't a reason to have them there.
I don't respect how Saban gets players, but he sure knows what he is doing once they get to the program.
September 30th, 2021 at 11:52 PM ^
I do think Jim Harbaugh did legitimately have modernizing the offense in mind when he hired Josh Gattis. I think he envisioned a potent passing game like Alabama had. The issue I have is, it is clear Josh Gattis is not producing it, and he has stayed with Gattis for this long.
Like the saying goes, Change isn't change until it is change.
October 1st, 2021 at 7:03 AM ^
As stated by others above, I find it hard to believe that this is the offense that Gattis would run if this were his team. TE's? FBs? WR's that do little more than block?
Several years of similar offensive woes spanning several OC's suggests to me that the problem isn't all with the OC's. The buck stops at the top.
October 1st, 2021 at 10:35 AM ^
Well, the offense wasn't like that under Jedd Fisch.
October 1st, 2021 at 8:04 AM ^
Speed in sp… a closet.