Some actual reasons why we lost to OSU again
I've never posted anything on the board before, but the amount of ridiculous responses to why we keep losing to OSU is getting old. If you want actual reasons, it really comes down to execution. Here's just a sampling of mental and physical mistakes that either directly or indirectly cost Michigan precious points as well as momentum. I'll go in order for everyone:
First half:
1. Nordin misses extra point - 1 point
2. Patterson fumbles the snap - 3 points, possibly 7
3. Multiple players jump offsides on the punt - 7 points
4. DPJ drops TD at end of first half - 4 points
Second half:
1. McGrone hits Fields 4 yards out of bounds (would have been 3rd and 9 with decent chance to force field goal) - possible 4 points
2. Eubanks drops 20 yard sideline throw on UM's first drive (Patterson sacked on next play) - possible 3 points by getting in FG range
3. Sainristil gets spastic and can't down the ball inside the 5.
4. Down 42-16, here's the next two series: DPJ drop, DPJ drop (first down), Patterson misfire, OSU muffs punt, Sainristil drop (first down), Charbonnet falls down, Collins drop (first down), FG....anybody else feel like the offense had quit at this point?? - not sure how many points it could have cost us, but it was rather embarrassing to watch
5. Haskins doesn't follow lead blocker on 4th and 1 (big play, possible TD depending on how the single high safety would have reacted if Haskins had read the play correctly) - a chance to extend the game ended
6. No other mistakes past this really mattered
Honorable mention: untying Dobbins shoe for yard penalty (why??), Khaleke and Ambry running into each other on 2nd and 18 giving Wilson 40 some yards (and why were we blitzing on 2nd and 18??)
Sorry if this should have been a diary. I get it, OSU is more talented and has better players at most every position. But Michigan is undisciplined in so many ways and lacks fundamental execution to compete in high stakes games. The mistakes I outlined cost Michigan upwards of 20 points. I understand you can't retroactively change anything, but Michigan is ahead 24-21 at the half if they erase the dumb mistakes in the first half.
I'll always be a fan, but for once I'd like to see Michigan play a clean game against a top-tier opponent and lose because the other team just played better. Go Blue!!
December 1st, 2019 at 1:03 PM ^
Not against Ohio State, though
December 1st, 2019 at 11:12 AM ^
The number one reason we lost is because our D line did not match up well with their O line. Same fucking thing that happened at Wisconsin. They ran over us and pushed our D line out of the way. Fields was sacked once but otherwise was pressured very little. And, like last season, our secondary busted coverage and/or could not match the speed of the OSU receivers. We were counting on Fields missing on most of his deep shots. Unfortunately he hit most of them, as he's done all year.
The two games where the opposing OL overmatched our DL were the two games we were blown out. It's a major obstacle for Michigan to overcome if it wants to join the B1G elite club with OSU.
December 1st, 2019 at 12:01 PM ^
Look at Auburn's win ... who was the difference-maker? Derrick Brown on the interior D-line. Unless and until Michigan has a disruptive interior defensive line, the rest of the defense won't help against good teams.
December 1st, 2019 at 11:23 AM ^
Off the top of my head:
Lloyd lost to App State
Crable late hit OOB vs OSU in 2006
December 1st, 2019 at 11:24 AM ^
Ugh, bad history. Delete delete delete.
December 1st, 2019 at 11:31 AM ^
Don’t rush three and have slow linebackers standing in no mans land.
December 1st, 2019 at 11:35 AM ^
You mean that Lloyd team that lost to Appalachian St? OK.
December 1st, 2019 at 11:44 AM ^
Shawn Crable says hello.
December 1st, 2019 at 11:58 AM ^
"Lloyd's teams never made mistakes like this."
You serious, Clark?
December 1st, 2019 at 10:56 AM ^
I hear OSU score considerably more than we did.
December 1st, 2019 at 10:58 AM ^
This doesn’t explain losing every year. We lose because they are better players. Better players execute better.
December 1st, 2019 at 11:23 AM ^
There is a lot of factors in why OSU has been so much better the last 15 years. But better players is far and away the main reason. People Point to all these mistakes and act like other teams don’t make mistakes. The OSU muff punt and dobbins dropping the ball on one of his first carries were both giant blunders. But it doesn’t cost them since they are much better.
December 1st, 2019 at 11:32 AM ^
The oblong ball bounced perfectly back into Dobbins’ hands because he is better at football? And how was his 40 yard gain a massive blunder?
December 1st, 2019 at 10:59 AM ^
Better players make less mistakes.
December 1st, 2019 at 10:59 AM ^
We made more mistakes than they did, but they made mistakes that led to loss of points or points off us too. Their best deep receiver let a perfect ball bounce off his face mask that led to a punt when points would have resulted. They had P/Fs that keep our drives going more than once. They fumbled a punt. Fields started the game spotty at best and missed some guys.
It goes both ways, if they had played perfect they could have won by 45, if we had played perfect we could have lost by 4 or 7 IMO.
December 1st, 2019 at 11:06 AM ^
I completely agree with you that they made mistakes as well (Olave dropped pass off the helmet being the one that most directly led to loss of points).
It just seems that they made far fewer and less critical ones than we did. Their margin for error is undoubtedly greater than ours, but there were many, many plays that could have helped keep or regain momentum for Michigan and keep it a one-score game for much longer than it was.
December 1st, 2019 at 10:59 AM ^
Totally agree with this. These mistakes pretty much add up to the margin of victory or at least make it a close game in the 4th quarter and maybe OSU tightens up or we don't quit which obviously happened. The mistakes are the difference and the talent gap is an excuse.
December 1st, 2019 at 10:59 AM ^
Time to end the blog!!!
December 1st, 2019 at 11:00 AM ^
I'm not sure we make more mistakes than your typical upper-tier college football team--we certainly don't make less. What unfortunately impressed me yesterday and all year (outside of their PSU game) was that OSU did not make any that stood out to me. Their relatively mistake-free play is what I think is uncommon in collegiate football today.
December 1st, 2019 at 11:01 AM ^
Michigan isn’t undisciplined. It’s just one off mistakes - someone on here told me so.
December 1st, 2019 at 11:03 AM ^
Something that hasn't been brought up was when the Buckeyes used up the whole playclock and nothing was called. That very play went for boo-koo yards down to our 4 yard line or so. The Buckeyes scored shortly after that. I think that was their second score. Who knows what would have happened had that penalty been called.
December 1st, 2019 at 11:05 AM ^
Agreed. Total miss on the ref's part. The play clock was zeroes for at least 1 to 2 seconds.
December 1st, 2019 at 11:08 AM ^
I was screaming at the television during this play because it seemed blatantly obvious to me that it was a full second after the play clock hit zero that the ball was snapped.
December 1st, 2019 at 11:15 AM ^
A lot of people at the stadium were irate over that one. It seemed clear.
December 1st, 2019 at 11:16 AM ^
41 yards on that play. Clock was expired by almost a full second. I was screaming at the TV for a few minutes, incredulous. I saw nobody so much as mention it, but it was clear as day.
December 1st, 2019 at 11:27 AM ^
Our whole section was screaming on the clock. That was a huge inexcusable miss by the refs.
December 1st, 2019 at 11:03 AM ^
Nordin's miss was frustrating but we still did what we wanted to do and that was get to the end zone on our opening drive.
Patterson's fumble was big but we were moving the ball well and the game was still very winnable.
The offsides on Hudson was the miscue of the game because OSU was starting to take control. A punt there would've really helped to stop that momentum. I think this one deflated the defense and everything snowballed from there.
28-16 at the half was OK. But once we went down three scores in the 3rd quarter we started forcing things and the mistakes continued. It would've taken a miracle to climb back into it because the D couldn't stop them.
December 1st, 2019 at 11:14 AM ^
I'll have to respectfully disagree with you on this one.
Getting down by 2 scores in the first half was a big deal. You already have to play a near perfect game to beat OSU and being down 2 scores at the half when they get the ball first was not good at all because you have effectively erased any of your margin for error.
Imagine being down 21-20 at the half. An opening drive TD by OSU doesn't feel like a back breaker and the team would still be engaged. Sadly, the whole team seemed to lose interest once we were down 35-16 because in the back of their minds, they knew they stood no chance of overcoming that kind of deficit against OSU.
December 1st, 2019 at 11:22 AM ^
My thought before the start of the third quarter was the D will be somewhat fresh and "Don Brown's second half adjustments". As soon as OSU scored on their opening drive I pretty much knew we were going to lose.
December 1st, 2019 at 11:27 AM ^
It wasn’t over till the failed Haskins 4th down run. That’s when the team knew it was over. Before that I think they were fully engaged and still believing.
December 1st, 2019 at 11:33 AM ^
Nordin probably doesn’t need the swinging gate distraction in such a big game. But he should still make the kick.
December 1st, 2019 at 11:05 AM ^
I'll add that on both of Patterson's runs before the fumbled snap, I thought he could have cut it up inside instead of running straight to the sideline. He doesn't seem to have a killer instinct in those moments.
December 1st, 2019 at 11:10 AM ^
Guys are highly rated not just because they can run a 4.4 or bench 450. They're highly rated because they're good at playing football. Part of that is making fewer mistakes and more plays.
OSU has 60 4- and 5-star players on its roster. We have 40. All else equal, you can expect them to make more plays and fewer mistakes on an annual basis until the talent is equated.
Until either the NCAA actually takes action to stop recruiting violations (LOL, good one) or we decide "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em," that won't happen.
Other teams have caught the Buckeyes looking past them and not getting nearly their best effort, but we all know that sure as shit ain't happening in The Game.
December 1st, 2019 at 11:18 AM ^
Yeah, but you're discrediting what playing mistake free football can do. It's what Dantonio's teams used to do before they went to shit and it's a big reason why they were able to take down much more talented OSU teams. And no, it wasn't OSU overlooking them. Twice OSU played MSU for the Big Ten title and possibly national title and lost.
December 1st, 2019 at 11:27 AM ^
We need to recruit bigger, stronger and more athletic D linemen. I can't explain 2015 other than the guys were young. But the 2016 and 2017 teams had a bunch of experienced, big, strong and talented D linemen and we were within whispers of beating OSU. I don't think it's a coincidence.
December 1st, 2019 at 2:17 PM ^
Joe Bolden & Desmond Morgan had no chance of stopping JT Barrett & Ezekiel Elliott. OSU ran for ~380. That was a talent gap identified by Urban and exploited mercilessly. And our D coordinary was interviewing for the Maryland head coaching job.
EDIT: That was a typo. It should read D-Coronary ;)
December 1st, 2019 at 11:11 AM ^
This is why I’d be very open to going after a coach like Matt Rhule. We need to bring a Big 12 mentality to this game. Our defense is always going to have a weakness relative to OSU and they will always have the players to ruthlessly exploit it.
But this game gives me hope that a modern offense can score at will against a defense with 5*s at every position. If we get a coach with a gunslinger mentality, I see no reason why we can’t put way more than 27 or 35 points up against OSU.
And once we’ve got them in an actual shoot out, maybe we’ll finally see them make some soul-crushing mistakes.
December 1st, 2019 at 11:20 AM ^
I'm not sure about this one. Until 2 years ago, it didn't seem like our defense had some gaping deficiency that OSU could ruthlessly exploit. We were injured in the middle of our defense in 2015 which OSU did exploit.
DL recruiting hasn't gone the way Michigan would have hoped in the last 3 years and that seems to be one of the primary reasons we have given up 62 and 56 points. That timeline also coincides with Day coming to OSU. His ability to call plays and structure an offense is also a difference maker.
December 1st, 2019 at 11:36 AM ^
Amazingly, our defense looking like shit against OSU corresponds with Ryan Day showing up.
December 1st, 2019 at 11:37 AM ^
OSU has never had passers like Haskins or Fields. JT Barrett was a good college QB, but his arm was not on the same level as these guys.
December 1st, 2019 at 12:31 PM ^
That’s because Ohio State evolved and improved their offense. Michigan didn’t really do much of anything on either side of the ball. Which is why close games have turned into blowouts.
December 1st, 2019 at 11:29 AM ^
God if PSU somehow lucks into hiring him bc of Franklin leaving... it’s only right because the Football Gods hate Michigan. Dude has now rebuilt 2 programs in less than 4 years. He’s a winner.
December 1st, 2019 at 11:45 AM ^
I an very hopeful that OSU draws Oklahoma in the playoffs. It will be a test case of my theory. I think Oklahoma will win in a shoot out with 45-50 points while getting ham blasted by OSU on defense.
December 1st, 2019 at 11:14 AM ^
Good post. Agree with this take.
December 1st, 2019 at 11:16 AM ^
People put so much pressure on the team to win this game they spazz out and make mistakes they didn't make all year.
December 1st, 2019 at 11:24 AM ^
To be fair, Michigan made these kinds of mistakes on offense for the majority of the season. We just hoped they had been cleaned up over the last few games.
December 1st, 2019 at 11:26 AM ^
Except they did, all through the beginning of the season and especially the Wisconsin game.
December 1st, 2019 at 11:16 AM ^
Mental errors also killed the Wisconsin game in many ways. In reality this team was a frustratingly inconsistent edition which kept it from being more than a 9 win OK team. The transition on offense likely hurt a lot on that front, but one also can't help but notice a lack of seasoned playmakers on D stepping up. I think Brown did perhaps as much as you could with this crop.
Now with that being said, all the structural advantages of OSU still do apply, and it's fair to talk about that, too.
December 1st, 2019 at 11:26 AM ^
A very reasonable assessment.
I guess the question I have is why the mental errors are routinely there? They don't cost you ball games against 8-9 teams every year, but they definitely do in the games that we are routinely losing every year.
December 1st, 2019 at 11:19 AM ^
Real reason is they have 5 star 300lb. Plus offensive linemen ragdolling our 3 star 270lb defensive lineman. Then 5 Star Dobbins 4.4 forty speed outrunning our 4.6 forty guys. The math adds up. Add in their obsessive culture of dominating Michigan, and you have the result you saw yesterday. We needed mistake free football. We were not even remotely close in that department.