mitchewr

January 8th, 2021 at 8:42 PM ^

Yup. The offense has never felt or looked cohesive since he was hired. We’ve seen bits and pieces here and there but the last two years have just felt off on offense from top to bottom. I don’t know if that’s because Gattis just wasn’t ready and doesn’t quite know what he’s doing, or if it’s because Harbaugh wants to blend his style of offense with what Gattis wants to do and the two aren’t meshing together.

Either way, they need to get things figured out quickly if they want to have any chance at accomplishing anything. 

Joined: 08/29/2016

MGoPoints: 13774

2morrow

January 8th, 2021 at 10:00 PM ^

Agree - something has not been right. My main issue has been we have a stable of good to excellent running backs, yet it seems we can't bring ourselves to give anyone the bulk of the carries. It seems the most important thing with running backs is to get into a rhythm - plus getting our running game going makes it easier for the OLine to block.

I've never understood our playcalling in this regard.

Joined: 06/27/2015

MGoPoints: 506

Watching From Afar

January 8th, 2021 at 9:19 PM ^

His offenses have gone from bad (pre-halftime 2019 PSU) to good (post halftime 2019 PSU) to terrible this past season. While some of it is due to graduations and injuries, the scheme itself has been disjointed at best. The easy stuff has rarely been executed (bubbles, RPOs, any run that doesn't involve 7 guys piled up 1 yard downfield) and overall it makes 0 sense half of the time.

Some people will say Harbaugh hasn't handed over the reigns. Which, we have no idea for sure, but the offense has been successful and coherent under Harbaugh before. There were questions last year as to whether or not Harbaugh and Warinner took over the offense during the PSU game last season because the ND paving was vintage Harbaugh on the ground.

Joined: 10/10/2016

MGoPoints: 15981

bamf_16

January 9th, 2021 at 8:48 AM ^

Excellent points.

 

We don’t know for sure what’s happening, but the good play = Gattis, bad play = Harbaugh narrative is a bit too prevalent. Besides, the HC has a track record of offensive success whereas the OC doesn’t really

 

It’s also amazing how QB play can make a coordinator look really smart or really dumb (see 1st half of 2019 vs OSU vs. 2nd half of OSU) though there’s a balance between execution and adjusting to what a defense is doing. Joe Milton made a lot of people look really dumb going into the Rutgers game, only to have McNamara make them look really smart really quick.  (27-36, 4 TDS at Rutgers and then 4-5 in 2 drives against PSU pre-injury) only to then look really dumb again when going back to Milton or watching McNamara try to throw with a bad shoulder.

 

This will be McNamara’s 3rd year with Gattis, hopefully being pushed by a 5* early enrollee. While like many, I’m not sold on Gattis, the talent at the skill positions was only made better this recruiting class, and the OL issues can’t be much worse than they were last year with injuries and what not, I can see the logic of keeping Gattis around, but I can also understand the rumored push to bring in someone to supplement what he does and help where possible.

Joined: 11/20/2010

MGoPoints: 14204

Watching From Afar

January 9th, 2021 at 9:09 AM ^

Agreed. If we're to assume that the problem is Harbaugh, that means that the good things that happened on offense since he arrived were due to Fisch, Drevno (just no), and Hamilton (I still think we was ok, but not good) while the bad things were due to Harbaugh. Coaches don't go from good to dog crap in a couple of years. Even if Harbaugh's system became outdated, the inability to run the stuff from 1990 now makes no sense. Look at Miles. He was always riding along a razor's edge heavily dependent on talent and occasionally finding a competent QB (along with the gambling-man risk taking). The second he couldn't find a QB and his players couldn't stay out of trouble, he fell off a cliff. Saban was always a better coach than him and the second Saban got Alabama stable, Miles had no chance because he wasn't a great tactician nor could he consistently hire good coordinators. It wasn't shocking, it made sense.

Even in 2017, with no QB and a bad OL, they could pile together coherent game plans and pave people when it wasn't Wisconsin or OSU. 2018 they were too slow and not all that innovative, but they were still competent. Rarely was there a game where you couldn't make heads or tails of a single half or even quarter.

This is my problem with Brian's continued descent into despair. Harbaugh may have lost some of that "fire" that he used to show on a weekly basis, but he didn't become stupid. If Harbaugh's offenses were unique and quirky (as proclaimed by Seth and Brian) in the past and are not now, how is it that he became a pumpkin?

Joined: 10/10/2016

MGoPoints: 15981

yossarians tree

January 9th, 2021 at 11:17 AM ^

Since Harbaugh's been here we've had a half season of very good quarterback play (Rudock) and a smattering of games where the QB was really good (Speight, Patterson). We have still not had a full season where we were confident that the QB was excellent. Until we have that, thoughts of winning the B1G are pure fantasy. It doesn't matter what the offense is or who is calling it. Developing QBs was supposed to be JH's calling card. McNamara showed promise until he got hurt, but the sample size is miniscule on him. McCarthy has 4 years to become a star and save Harbaugh's job. He'd better hope that he figures it out this season because if we go 7-5 I think Michigan will buy him out.

 

Joined: 08/19/2010

MGoPoints: 22292

Gulogulo37

January 8th, 2021 at 7:11 PM ^

I was always extremely skeptical of that. Frankly I think Harbaugh should have stuck with his more WCO offense. It's what he knows. You can still get talent like Michigan had under Carr, maybe even more easily the way teams recruit now. The problem with those offenses was the terrible playcalling. Michigan destroying Urban's Florida team in Carr's last game was amazing but also kind of infuriating after seeing him underutilize the talent for years. Have that talent with Stanford Harbaugh's playcalling.

Joined: 03/16/2010

MGoPoints: 28318

Gulogulo37

January 8th, 2021 at 8:53 PM ^

Less underwhelming than Gattis/Harbaugh fusion. They were running out mediocre QBs. They were doing dumb shit like running the most basic zone reads with Peppers. The OL was still digging out of a massive hole, they still had guards playing at tackle. RB talent was underwhelming. A little talent upgrade at key spots and they would have been much much better. The problem Bama had this year with Ole Miss was the defense. I also hold the controversial opinion that having a good defense helps actually.

Can things get better with Gattis? Sure, but you could say the same about the earlier Harbaugh offenses. You're critiquing Bama's old offense, but I'd absolutely take that right now with a better QB than they usually had. OSU's offense is way more like Harbaugh ran earlier here than Gattis' offense. Space Coyote has talked about that sometimes on Twitter.

Joined: 03/16/2010

MGoPoints: 28318

mpbear14

January 8th, 2021 at 7:17 PM ^

It doesn't matter who the Offensive Coordinator is when the head coach allows hand-offs to Tight Ends and read options with Ben Mason.

 

Harbaugh is a train wreck and has created a culture he cannot fix.  Fire Gattis, retain him, it won't matter.  This ship is sunk as long as Jim is here.

Joined: 09/09/2009

MGoPoints: 3495