Two Notes from Bama-Clemson
Two glaring things stuck out during last night's CFP semi-final:
1. To be a non-Bama contender, you must have elite quarterback play. The difference between this year's game and last's year's Bama-Clemson shootout was Deshaun Watson. Kelly Bryant is pretty good, but not elite. So Bama could stuff the box and jam the receivers. . . game over. The number one priority for Michigan, then, is to get elite QB play and until this happens we will not really contend. Yes, this is more important than a better O-Line (which I think we can anticipate) -- QB play affects everything offensively. Clemson has an excellent O-Line, but with average QB play they could not score on Bama.
Fortunatey, we have lots of young talent and Harbaugh is not likely to whiff on them all. So whoever has the moxie, the arm, and the brain should start next year, whether it's Shea or Joe Milton or Dylan McCaffery. (As an aside, notice how many of the qb's who played last night started as freshmen. It's not about youth, but talent.) (As another aside, does anybody think Patterson would have slid short of the first down late in the fourth quarter? Our dudes will have noticed.)
2. Neither Saban nor Swinney seemed all that buddy-buddy with their coaching staffs, at least during the game. Here's to Jim cutting to the chase to pursue real excellence. (I think we can count on him to do this very thing.) A family environment really is great, but shaking things up has a tendency to clear peoples' minds.
Heads up, boys! Things are never as bad as they seem when you are down. This loss may be just the thing to drive us to a championship. In the meantime, we all suffer at work together today.
January 2nd, 2018 at 12:58 PM ^
So his bad game means he can't get better over the off-season? Well at least your avatar checks out...
January 2nd, 2018 at 2:37 PM ^
But if he gets better he will still be average. Don't mean to hurt his feelings or yours, but he has a long way to go and a helluva lot of competition.
I
January 2nd, 2018 at 2:48 PM ^
I guess I have to agree with you, I mean look at all the evidence of the 3? games that he has played. I'm certain the playing calling had nothing to do with it...
January 2nd, 2018 at 3:46 PM ^
January 2nd, 2018 at 8:26 PM ^
playcalling was 'bad' because our qb barely knows any of the playbook still, misses lots of throws, and our OL is bad. Peters has not wowed in the least in his play this year and the bowl game was more of the same.
January 2nd, 2018 at 1:15 PM ^
I admit that I have lost hope for BP. You've got true freshmen putting up numbers all over the country (even in the B1G) and he looked lost. Then there was the slide...
January 2nd, 2018 at 12:28 PM ^
I agree 100%. Based on what we saw yesterday Peters had his audition and failed (UMbig11 said it first).
Thank god Shea transferred or it would only be McCaffrey. Competition is good and I think next year is the first year we have two "good" qb to actually compete.
Peters may be a solid Qb with time, but man he had the jitters early on some throws and it seemed in the second half he had time and just did not have much.
More bad news. My Domer buddies texted that crap out of me yesterday with "sympathy". Not sure on the math but it seems legit, yesterday's loss by M and ND's win gave ND the all time winningest % in CFB. Now we can take it back next year in South Bend. Which BTW I already promised my stupid fucking domer friends we would!!!!
Please don't let me down.
January 2nd, 2018 at 2:42 PM ^
But I can easily come up with WR drops that would add another 55 yards to his totals. I knew we were f'd when Crawford didn't bring a perfectly thrown 35 yard pass in Q1.
January 2nd, 2018 at 2:50 PM ^
Didn't the corner knock it out of his hands?
January 2nd, 2018 at 4:48 PM ^
After it bounce off him
January 2nd, 2018 at 12:08 PM ^
Dude is probably 2 years away at best. The QB competition will hopefully be a 3-way battle between Shea, Peters, and DCaff. If Shea isn't eligible, then you're praying either a) the light miraculously comes on for Peters or b) Dylan is great
January 2nd, 2018 at 12:10 PM ^
January 2nd, 2018 at 12:17 PM ^
Milton probably has the most upside of any QB on the roster, but he's a big-time project who will need at least 2-3 years in the system before he's ready. In fact, depending on how his progression goes it wouldn't surprise me if Harbaugh asked him to switch positions at some point. Whether or not he pans out at QB, he's a big athlete and I know Harbaugh would find a place for him in the offense.
January 2nd, 2018 at 12:47 PM ^
January 2nd, 2018 at 1:17 PM ^
The youth argument can't be made anymore. There are true freshmen QB's lighting up for a large number of programs. We have to be open to the best talent as soon as they step on campus. This said, I do realize that the word on Milton is that he's too raw. We'll see.
January 2nd, 2018 at 8:27 PM ^
not all freshmen QBs are the same, Milton is a project, and most freshman QBs who do OK (they almost never do really well) do so because of their running more than their passing.
January 2nd, 2018 at 12:19 PM ^
January 2nd, 2018 at 8:28 PM ^
Actually you have that backwards. Bama reloads with untested, unplayed 5*s who are good from day 1. The other programs who don't recruit as well win with redshirt seniors.
January 2nd, 2018 at 12:23 PM ^
On defense, sure. On offense, there's no proven evidence on the field, beyond a nice catch or two by Black. Sparkly SPARQ scores and jumping on top of boxes is fine off-season stuff, but it doesn't mean squat in terms of on-field production. All we have on offense are a bunch of guys with glowing recruiting profiles who haven't yet proven they're difference-makers.
* I don't give a shit about downvotes, but obviously there's somebody here who does think that we have young, proven difference-makers on offense. What players have provided such proof beyond perhaps Black?
January 2nd, 2018 at 12:31 PM ^
I think people use the term 'talent' way to much when they should be using potential, and that potential is based upon recruiting rankings.
Talent to me is someone who has proven on Saturdays they can play at a high level. Potential is someone who hopefully will be a talented player.
January 2nd, 2018 at 1:08 PM ^
January 2nd, 2018 at 8:29 PM ^
More like the BP fans were talking more before the game and the BP doubters are talking more after the game.
January 2nd, 2018 at 1:19 PM ^
Well, there actually is a lot of talent on offense. Black and DPJ have real talent. We have talented TE's. Big Mike and Ruiz are talented. (I hold out judgment on Bredeson.) Higdon and Evans are talented dudes. I think that there is every reason to think the interior of the O line will be quite good next year. Admittedly, tackle is a question mark. But that' why we have coaches. What we really need is a cocky, laser-eyed QB.
January 2nd, 2018 at 8:31 PM ^
January 2nd, 2018 at 12:09 PM ^
I truly believed we would see Brandon blossom yesterday and that he would keep that momentum going to the starting job next year. Now, I think that if Shea can get even mostly to Brandon’s level of mastery of the system (not necessarily even with BP), that he will be the guy by the end of spring ball. I think BP has all the talent necessary, but the second half yesterday makes me think he just doesn’t have the mindset to be THE guy.
January 2nd, 2018 at 12:18 PM ^
Peters did not look like a guy who had taken 1st team reps for the last several weeks. He didn't seem in control or command the offense. He looked exactly like he did against Minnesota and Rutgers. He dropped back, looked at his first read and threw mediocre passes.
He is QB3 at best next year.
January 2nd, 2018 at 12:26 PM ^
January 2nd, 2018 at 1:15 PM ^
Yes, however, I would have expected Speight to improve with the offense, and probably help them mature more/quicker.
We can only look at Wilton's season through those first few games and he wasn't good. But the O Line and WR were better in the back half of the season and having JOK and BP only stalled that progress.
But in the context of the entire year, I agree with you. It feels like Harbaugh should have a few pages in his playbook to make some chicken shit into chicken salad.
January 2nd, 2018 at 1:20 PM ^
Which brings us to Pep. It really may be that his pro offense was just too complicated for college players, many of them just out of high school. I'd really like to see a college-specific passing scheme for next year.
January 2nd, 2018 at 2:11 PM ^
After the fact that we just didn't have a QB who was healthy and ready to run a power five offense, I think the team's biggest issue this year was Pep insisting that a crazy-young WR group run advanced, NFL-style route combinations. I thought the OL was actually sufficient to win 2-3 more games. I thought the talent on O was there too. The defense was obviously sufficient to win every game. Pep should be held accountable for such a bullheaded season (and he doesn't give us much in the way of recruiting, so what is long-term benefit here?).
January 2nd, 2018 at 1:36 PM ^
January 2nd, 2018 at 1:37 PM ^
I think so too. I would like to see a birdseye view on all of the routes run by our receivers to see what is actually there. It is easy to criticze Peters based on yesterday's game, but how many times were there open receivers that were missed? I surely didn't see many. Whether it is the receviers not getting open (Young WR's are notoriously a recipe for disaster in college football), or the playcalling is simply subpar, we have got to find a way to get more receivers open. I am not saying Peters is blameless, but no matter who the QB is, we will have to be better going forward at getting WR's open if we have hopes that the offense will improve.
January 2nd, 2018 at 5:39 PM ^
that's where you're wrong. Speight can process and do quick progression reads. That's a big reason why he won the starting job.
January 2nd, 2018 at 8:30 PM ^
and then he would promptly throw it late, and/or behind, and/or nowhere near the receiver....not that BP fared any better considering he was too uninteresetd to learn the playbook over two years.
January 2nd, 2018 at 12:11 PM ^
January 2nd, 2018 at 12:19 PM ^
January 2nd, 2018 at 12:29 PM ^
Staff changes are pretty much the only thing I am watching closely at this point. I remain very play optimistic for our young receiving crew with the provision they receive solid coaching and calling. Oh, and someone who can get the ball to them.
January 2nd, 2018 at 12:39 PM ^
January 2nd, 2018 at 1:19 PM ^
January 2nd, 2018 at 1:22 PM ^
Well, apparently Bama likes a lot of our talent since they tried to recruit an awful lot of them.
January 2nd, 2018 at 3:33 PM ^
January 2nd, 2018 at 2:13 PM ^
The percent of our starters who held an offer from a team that finished the year in the top 6 would disagree with you.
January 2nd, 2018 at 12:14 PM ^
Oklahoma AND Georgia look heads and shoulders better than any team in our league...
January 2nd, 2018 at 12:16 PM ^
What evidence have you seen to suggest that our OL will ever be anything more than mediocre under the current staff?
January 2nd, 2018 at 1:23 PM ^
I think there's every reason to think the interior of the line will be really good next year: Bredeson, Ruiz, Onwenu. The tackles? Well, that could be more difficult. But alot of effective lines have problem spots.
January 2nd, 2018 at 2:19 PM ^
I think an S&P Rushing Offense rank trend of 61st to 49th to 9th in 3 years is pretty telling of progress on the OL, at least in half of their duties. The two positions in the worst shape when Jim took over were QB and OL - they were total projects. The OL has gotten better, even if its not close to where it needs to be.
January 2nd, 2018 at 12:20 PM ^
Looking back it looks like losing Jedd Fisch was more significant than I initially thought.
January 2nd, 2018 at 12:20 PM ^
January 2nd, 2018 at 12:26 PM ^
Maybe not, but MSU and WIsconsin have proven they can win division titles and conference championships with lots of players from the midwest. Maybe we should start there first.
January 2nd, 2018 at 12:30 PM ^