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.