Purdue Snowflakes: The Offense
November 4th, 2023 at 10:56 PM ^
There was almost zero handshake at the end. Guess the Purdue coach was mad the signs didn’t really matter as much in O.
November 4th, 2023 at 10:59 PM ^
Perspective required. We all wanted 100-0, but 41-13 -really 0 will have to do.
November 4th, 2023 at 10:59 PM ^
I was wondering if there was going to be a handshake or if the Purdue coach would make a point not to do so because Michigan is just a bunch of cheaters.
November 4th, 2023 at 11:02 PM ^
Walters is going to get even more pissy when Purdue is relegated to the lower division.
November 4th, 2023 at 11:35 PM ^
They’re already in the lower division
November 5th, 2023 at 4:04 AM ^
Rutger has been trying to relegate to the west for years
November 5th, 2023 at 11:07 AM ^
Purdue went to the B1G Championship Game last season. In a relegation system, the lower division wouldn't be eligible.
November 4th, 2023 at 11:24 PM ^
Candy ass bitch.
November 4th, 2023 at 10:57 PM ^
Not exactly a hot take but the run game needs to improve and quickly.
Third and long over and over isn't going to cut it with the remainder of the schedule.
November 4th, 2023 at 11:00 PM ^
That might be a problem against Penn State next week.
November 4th, 2023 at 11:11 PM ^
Blake, Donovan or Kalel really need to get better yardage on 1st & 2nd downs if a run play is called.
November 5th, 2023 at 4:06 AM ^
If a run play is called then run for more yards. Got it!
November 5th, 2023 at 11:07 AM ^
Could you tell those other guys to get out of the way?
November 4th, 2023 at 11:11 PM ^
This by far is my biggest concern about the offense. It has to be a combination of things:
- O line is nowhere near as good as the last two years.
- Donovan has admitted he doesn't attack as quickly as he should, most of his runs can be counted on to only be 1-3yd. Don - you have enough speed, the edges are not a bad place to run to.
- Blake is off about 1/4 step which is just enough.
- Feels a lot like they haven't practiced much run blocking.
At least Kalel is back and looks decent - that has to help a bunch in taking pressure off the other two. Now it comes down to Sherone using the backs more effectively.
November 4th, 2023 at 11:18 PM ^
It's the OL. Our tackles are just not good (as the last 2 years). Henderson is clearly a step down from Hayes. No wonder why the coaches tried out Hinton early in the season and we all saw how unprepared he is.
November 4th, 2023 at 11:46 PM ^
Wondering if Trente is such a liability in pass pro that he doesn’t get some snaps at Tackle. He’s good in the run game.
November 5th, 2023 at 6:39 AM ^
That could explain it. Henderson got torched by one of Purdue's DE's on one play causing a sack of JJ. But the difficulty in running the ball is probably the biggest surprise with this team.
November 4th, 2023 at 11:23 PM ^
Donavan could be playing two hand touch and get the exact same results. He needs to break tackles.
November 4th, 2023 at 11:34 PM ^
I feel like Donovan is getting tackled low a lot by guys diving at his legs. He needs to keep those legs moving through the initial contact.
November 5th, 2023 at 12:11 AM ^
I noticed he almost never uses his off arm. Not sure if it's because he broke his hand last year or if he created the habit while his hand was broke. Either way he can't get past first wave, ever.
Michigan isn't committed to running the ball this year like last...no body blows which leads to big runs in 2nd half.
I think Blake is fairly close just oline is off.
Bottom line teams are still loading the box so cont run the offense through JJ
November 4th, 2023 at 11:34 PM ^
Yeah, all season I've kind of been taking a "we have time to get it together, we know it will be good" approach but....its umm not been good at all and if anything it's getting worse. I saw BC have a couple carries where I know he would have made a cut and get significantly more yards last year and this year he's just not. Donovan mostly crumbles at first contact. Mullings has actually looked pretty good but not sure if he can handle 15+ carries a game.
We can overcome a bunch of 3rd and 7's against Nebraska and Minnesota, but PSU and OSU can make us pay for being in those situations*
November 5th, 2023 at 12:46 AM ^
Hopefully next week we will see our offensive run game "wake up." I have a feeling it will, but we'll see.
November 5th, 2023 at 7:09 AM ^
Hate to tell you the run game isn't getting fixed. This oline is average, Corum doesn't look great and neither does Edwards.
November 5th, 2023 at 10:37 AM ^
It just seems like both Blake and Donovan went down on first contact immediately last night. Granted the line didn’t help them too much and Purdue loaded the box, those are factors too. But until he broke his big runs in big games last year we had our reservations about Edwards. Let’s hope when it counts he will show up big again.
November 5th, 2023 at 3:12 PM ^
Seems unlikely that happens in game 10 once we play the best team we’ve faced all year.
November 4th, 2023 at 10:58 PM ^
I'm not sure if anything can be done schematically to fix the run game. The O line is mediocre and Corum and Edwards are shells of their former shelves. Until those guys can break a tackle, Mullings needs to get equal carries with Corum.
November 4th, 2023 at 11:00 PM ^
Worried about the run game.
November 4th, 2023 at 11:22 PM ^
Agreed. Where is the run blocking?
November 4th, 2023 at 11:36 PM ^
Was Purdue not geared towards stopping the run? Seemed like their D was pretty stacked towards the line but I could be wrong.
Passing game was open and available per usual.
November 5th, 2023 at 3:04 PM ^
Every team for the last 3 years has geared their defense to stop UM's run game. It's not like teams were game planning to stop UM's passing game in 2021 and 2022. The difference is teams are having more success stopping UM's running game this year. Moore at least is using the passing game to keep the offense moving.
November 4th, 2023 at 11:06 PM ^
If M is going to run out of the shotgun, they need the live option reads. Otherwise they could try more downhill running, but then you’re taking JJ out of the shotgun where he’s most comfortable.
November 4th, 2023 at 11:40 PM ^
Mullings has been really effective in short burst which makes me even more perplexed about Corum and Edwards inability to run the ball. Mullings comes in and all the sudden I see him making the type of runs that I expect to see BC make. Then BC comes back in and hes getting tripped up after a 4 yard gain.
November 4th, 2023 at 11:43 PM ^
Shells? FFS that is ridiculous hyperbole
November 4th, 2023 at 11:52 PM ^
They actually sort of HAVE been shells of their previous selves. Very few chunk plays. None for Edwards as an RB. He’s been a disaster. Blake, while still pretty solid, looks much less shifty and elusive — you can tell the injury has slowed him. He doesn’t have that Barry Sanders thing anymore. He’s still solid at the goal line, though. But he was the best back in cfb last year. He’s not close to that.
November 5th, 2023 at 3:44 AM ^
Or perhaps change the RB from a committee to Blake and see what happens. At some point trying to give Donovan his fair share may not be the way to go.
Perhaps it is just our O-line that is off and not fixable. Thank heavens we have JJ.
November 5th, 2023 at 8:44 AM ^
Edwards’ runs into any gap and it just sets a down on fire. All year. Like clockwork. A stiff breeze (a sneeze?) knocks him over. Use him in the passing game. Either the holes aren’t there or the player has lost his edge or some combo of things… it’s been ugly stuff.
I feel they’re letting him “get his” carries too much. If Corum and Mullings are better… run them. When Edwards runs into a wall and falls over repeatedly vs. PSU and OSU… clearly stubbornness is calling the plays. And they WILL be tempted to have Edwards torch OSU again… yet we have zero signs of that player this year.
Literally not a single carry over 15 yards… all year… against a pathetic schedule. Totally unexpected and truly baffling. But insanity is doing the same thing over and over… etc.
November 5th, 2023 at 4:43 PM ^
Mullings should be RB2 and Edwards should be 3rd down specialist/slot RB at this point.
November 4th, 2023 at 10:58 PM ^
JJ needs sideburns
November 4th, 2023 at 10:59 PM ^
I mean, this felt like a bad game. But if this is a bad game then I'm here for it. Oh far we've come
November 4th, 2023 at 11:12 PM ^
Most teams come out of their bye flat, for whatever reason. Edwards is an automatic tackle. He still has excellent speed, great hands, as a wr...but can we please stop running him between the tackles?
Run the offense through JJ.
November 4th, 2023 at 11:00 PM ^
No more shotgun for 4th & short plz
November 5th, 2023 at 8:59 AM ^
And Darius Clemons is not a TE (I believe it was Clemons unable to make that block anyway)
November 5th, 2023 at 9:06 AM ^
Flea Flicker would have been great
November 5th, 2023 at 4:14 PM ^
No more going for it up 17 from our own 30.
November 4th, 2023 at 11:00 PM ^
Run game is a legit concern at this point. Very few explosive plays.
November 4th, 2023 at 11:25 PM ^
Just doesn’t feel like we can grind a team into dust, burn clock and choke the life out of the opponent. I hear the boa constrictor comparison all the time. But that’s not what I see on the field.
November 4th, 2023 at 11:48 PM ^
We may be able to against Ohio State, but not Penn State. Lucky for us, both of their QB's are interception generators, so we should be able to steal some possessions back.
November 4th, 2023 at 11:55 PM ^
Agreed. It feels like Harbaugh is playing as if we have Haskins to grind em down all game. But we’re actually becoming a pass-first team, so there’s actually not as much need to grind. I know they’ve had nothing but blowouts. But they also haven’t played a good team yet.
November 4th, 2023 at 11:00 PM ^
Time to start Trente Jones and move Barnhart to the left side.
November 5th, 2023 at 10:36 AM ^
Wish we could. My eyes say Jone is the best tackle we have.