Rewatch Snowflakes

Submitted by stephenrjking on
I was rewatching the game this afternoon in the "BTN in 60" format and using my DVR's rewind feature to examine some plays a bit more closely. It occurs to me that it would be good to have a thread where people who are re-watching can place thoughts that are the result of more careful observation than is possible watching the game live. A place for more details and rational thought, rather than the guesses and hot takes that come after the emotions of seeing the live games.

I'll start: the OL was uneven, but some of the issues are things that I think they will fix. But the biggest blocking problem that Michigan had was Jake Butt, who got blown out several times. They're not going to be able to run behind him.

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sunday snowflakes

champswest

September 4th, 2016 at 5:21 PM ^

in terms of being a playoff contender, was if we had enough guys that could make game changing plays. I figured we had about 3 on each side of the ball. Yesterday gave me hope that we could have even more.

Joined: 10/04/2009

MGoPoints: 25921

reshp1

September 4th, 2016 at 5:34 PM ^

My biggest take aways were the FBs were very good. Poggi didn't seem to have any targeting issues and Hill thumped some dudes very hard. Peppers at SAM will be interesting to keep an eye on. He go caught in the wash quite a bit as a box defender, but also had some spectacular plays knifing through small gaps. It'll be interesting to see if he can hold up to better competition.

Joined: 10/31/2011

MGoPoints: 34177

Steves_Wolverines

September 4th, 2016 at 5:50 PM ^

That deep ball from Speight. Woof. My big concern from qb was who could throw the deep ball. So far we only have 1 data point, and it's an ugly 0-1. Having a qb hit that throw makes us a championship team. In Harbaugh I trust!

Joined: 01/17/2013

MGoPoints: 4673

maize-blue

September 4th, 2016 at 5:57 PM ^

They are going to need to hit deep balls from time to time. Hopefully they work on those over the next few games. Eventually they are going to be in a game where a defense is bottling up the run game and they will need to burn them deep to soften it up. 

It took Rudock a while to get that down last year so hopefully Speight will get it too. Sooner would be better.

Joined: 01/10/2013

MGoPoints: 44662

UMForLife

September 4th, 2016 at 6:47 PM ^

It was slightly underthrown. He definitely seems to have the arm to do it. I will not be surprised if he hits a couple next game. If I remember correctly and I could be wrong, Rudock had some throws earlier in the season that were not even close. Agree that we need to see more. Even Tom Brady misses a few.

Joined: 11/04/2013

MGoPoints: 63393

Rasmus

September 5th, 2016 at 10:13 AM ^

As thrown too soon. Linebacker [?] breaking through up the middle -- he had to get rid of it early, before Darboh broke and got the step.

Nothing to worry about. He will learn to throw that away (deep, so no IG), or maybe to move in the pocket, risking a sack to gain a second for the route. They ran it as the first play of the drive, just to keep Hawaii honest. Otherwise, they didn't show anything deep, surely by design.

Biggest problem on the play was the pass protection breakdown, but even that would have been good for most other routes.

Play is at 17:04 in the MGoVideo 2nd Quarter clip. Ignore the commentary.

Joined: 07/02/2009

MGoPoints: 2412

carolina blue

September 4th, 2016 at 7:24 PM ^

One thing the horrible announcers were correct about was that Speight was holding on to the ball one, sometimes two ticks too long. That should get better as the season progresses.



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Joined: 02/12/2014

MGoPoints: 30259

Zarniwoop

September 4th, 2016 at 9:54 PM ^

We just overwhelmed them with talent/size.

I'm not sure what we can take from this game except we are beating cupcakes into the ground just like the old days. In other words, like we're supposed to.

It's nice to not stress about the total mismatches anymore.

Joined: 09/10/2013

MGoPoints: 10498

Eskimoan

September 4th, 2016 at 10:16 PM ^

Holding by Hawaii O-Line. It was pretty bad, they were holding so bad our guys were literally getting turned around and no calls. But if your looking for a positive from it, they're QB is hurting a lot less today because of the no calls

Joined: 12/11/2011

MGoPoints: 7631

Caesar

September 5th, 2016 at 12:22 AM ^

Did Michigan get much action on the inside? I remember being concerned about a general lack of holes leading to consistent interior running. 

Major exception was the gaping hole that paved Evans' way into the endzone. 

Joined: 03/25/2009

MGoPoints: 7711

gord

September 5th, 2016 at 3:24 AM ^

There's something weird about Speight's mechanics.  I'm not a QB guru but when all the good QB's have a similar motion there must be something to it (Brady, Rodgers, Brees, Wilson, etc.).  Reggie Miller has horrible mechanics so who knows.

vs.

Morris and O'Korn do a good job of getting the ball pointed straight back and they couldn't win the job so I'm hoping it's not that big of a deal.  

 

Joined: 11/02/2013

MGoPoints: 8104

gord

September 5th, 2016 at 12:29 PM ^

He has a weird motion.  Sorry.  He has yet to hit a deep ball or throw a frozen rope through a tight window which are the throws we'll need to win against better competition.  Sure, he can dink and dunk and drop a pass into the hands of a wide open receiver (Grant Perry TD) but we'll need more than that.  

Joined: 11/02/2013

MGoPoints: 8104

Ron Utah

September 6th, 2016 at 1:43 PM ^

  • The RB position is VASTLY upgraded from last year.  We didn't get to see much of Smith, and the blocking was shaky when he was in, but every other back looked like an improvement over last year's group.  Isaac looks faster and stronger, Evans is quick, fast, and seems to have good instincts, and Higdon looked even faster and stronger than last year.  We will be fine at this position
  • The OL also looked like it was significantly improved.  Even down a starter (Braden) they were opening big holes and executing complicated blocks.  Bredeson is going to be a great player.  Kalis looks like a new man, and even Magnuson looks stronger.  Running right is an option.
  • I was disappointed in the separation our WRs were getting.  There were some nice throws and catches, but I didn't see a WR hand-wavingly open at all.  The one exception is probably the Grant Perry TD, which was an amazing route.  Not sure if that's attributable to the vanilla offense/routes or if Hawai'i's secondary is better than expected.
  • I was hoping for more penetration from the interior DL on pass plays.  There was some, but it was not consistent.  Don't get me wrong--the DL had a good day, but I was hoping for more.
  • The LBs--especially McCray--looked amazing.  I kept watching him make plays and expecting to see #5 on his jersey when he got up.  He is much more athletic than I expected.
  • Way too much is being made of Stribling's "struggles" in coverage.  He got beat a couple of times, but that's the life of a CB.  One out route was just a great route, perfect throw, and tough catch with Stribling's hand trying to knock the ball free.  Yes, Stribling could be better and I would expect he'll have some coverage lapses this season, but he did not have a bad game at all.
  • Delano Hill is a beast.  Thomas is a flashier player, but Hill is probably our most underrated defender (other than the oft-forgotten Ryan Glasgow).  I believe Hill will be All-B1G this season.
  • I actually believe we could beat UCF more soundly than we defeated Hawai'i.  What's striking is how vanilla the play calls were on both sides of the ball and how successful we were in spite of that.  I expect more of the same vs. UCF.

Joined: 02/28/2012

MGoPoints: 8375

Zarniwoop

September 6th, 2016 at 2:44 PM ^

I watched the game 3 times so far.

- Speight is still throwing a hair late sometimes. Hopefully just first game jitters, but it happened more than twice.

- McCray is way better than anyone suspected. Yeah, Hawaii caveats apply, but he looked fast and furious.

- I love what they are doing with peppers except when he has to cover someone when the CB goes zone.  He still is arriving late when the ball is in the air.

- Hill is not Siome Houma with the ball in his hands.

- Pleasantly surprised by Sean McCeon.

- Pleasantly surprised by Dwomfor's speed sideline to sideline. He outran one of our backup linebackers.

Basically I loved the game, I think there are challenges and learning opportunities, but the potential is there for a really good year.

Joined: 09/10/2013

MGoPoints: 10498