What will be the narrative when we beat Penn St

Submitted by ldevon1 on

Will they give us credit, or will they just call Penn St over-rated? I honestly don't care, because we will still have work to do, but after this weekend, the talking heads making excuses for Clemson just astonishes me. We lost to a rival with a back up QB, after only giving up 14pts, and they lost to Syracuse giving up 27pts with what we keep hearing is the best defensive line in football. Their starting QB played most of the 1st half and they replaced him with a 4 star dual threat QB, but they still get credit for losing the game. I think we take this game this weekend. I'm nervous as hell, but I'm nervous no matter who we play. 

TrueBlue2003

October 18th, 2017 at 12:30 AM ^

beats UGA next weekend, they'll be very hard pressed to climb back into the top 25.  If they lose, they'll be sitting at 3-4 with only 4 games left, all against unranked teams (including UAB and absolutely horrible Mizzou). Doubt winning them to go 7-4 gets them ranked.

Purdue miiiight have a better chance to finish 8-4 which might get them there. Both long shots certainly.

Squash34

October 17th, 2017 at 1:13 PM ^

Clemson got owned by a 3-3 team. The score may have been close but the refs gave Clemson a 14 point swing on 2 consecitive plays with a bad OPI call that wiped out a TD that would have put Syr up 14 early. Then they got a fumble six the next play that was aidded by a clipped. which they were flagged on and it was picked up after the fes huddled.

I am soory, but you can not lose like that and get the benefit of the doubt. It is a bad lose, a really bad lose.

dragonchild

October 17th, 2017 at 8:45 AM ^

Our defense is. . . amazing.  Each day I get more and more impressed with what Brown, Mattison, Zordich, the players et. al. have created.  Sustaining the level of success against such varied offenses throwing everything they've got at us is damn difficult.  Regression to the mean is very much a thing when we're talking about the constant back-and-forth of adjustments by coordinators.  You can win a drive or two, but you just don't get the better of Doc Brown for very long.

But that means every game is going to be close by today's standards in terms of point margin.  Deficits we can feasibly come back from paint an entirely different picture.  Our offense. . . woof.  MSU needed only 14 points to win, and our best chance to beat Indiana with a 10-point lead was to crawl into a shell.  If we lose 20-9 that will be an effin' blowout.

jabberwock

October 17th, 2017 at 10:11 AM ^

if (& probably when) the offense doesn't hold up their end.

Part of being an elite defense is the O allowing you to rest, regroup (without using a time out)

and giving you enough points to be able to take risks when you want to.

We often think of them as seperate entities but they really to need each other to be at their best.

youn2948

October 17th, 2017 at 10:03 AM ^

I think he's going to be fired up as hell, run more than he should, but in a good way. Get us a lead, then get knocked out of the game on an obvious targeting penalty that isn't called.

Then Peters is going to come in and milks the lead\clock and no fewer than 100 fans have cardiac events before we win on a last second miraculous defensive stand.

Squash34

October 17th, 2017 at 1:22 PM ^

JOK seems to be a guy that plays better when he is emotionally fired up. Maybe it is when he feels disrespected, IDK. However, he was fired up to prove is former HC that he made a mistake benching him and he was throwing dimes all over the place.

His sister graduated from PSU and his mom works at a college dinner there and she is no doubt hearing how bad his is.

I think he will lose his shit too, in the form of playing like his hair is on fire like he did verse Purdue.

SugarShane

October 17th, 2017 at 7:33 AM ^

the narrative will be that we did not beat them....

 

You can't compare our loss to Clemsons.  We were at home, and we have looked completely dysfunctional throwing the ball through 6 games regardless of which QB is in there

Everyone Murders

October 17th, 2017 at 7:39 AM ^

O'Korn looked good against Purdue.  That is looking like a bit of fool's gold after MSU and IU, but still - we looked pretty good after Speight took the filthy hit from Purdue's DE.

Also, Speight looked pretty good against Florida at times.  Tarik Black is looking like more and more of a loss as the season progresses.

1VaBlue1

October 17th, 2017 at 8:05 AM ^

Not sure what version of JOK you've been watching the last two weeks.  The one I saw had zero pocket presence and didn't look any better than the Sheridan/Threet duo that kicked off RR's tenure...  Just stop with the unqualified Spieght Hate already, will ya?

bamf16

October 17th, 2017 at 10:00 AM ^

John O'Korn looked damn good against Purdue (not perfect) and it was good enough to dismiss a lot of the poor throws against MSU in the monsoon. But that's what happens when you run the ball well and your idiot play-caller goes rogue. But there was no excuse at IU. He went in with starter's reps and preparation, and had picture perfect weather.

 

I've gone back and watched the YouTube highlights from Houston. He did ok in a passing offense that looked a lot like UM's passing under RR. Quick, short drops, quick release. If it's not there, tuck and run b/c the OL isnt' holding many blocks past 2 seconds. Many of his good throws at Purdue and in the first drive against MSU were quick timing throws and he looked strong on many of the hitch patterns with Perry and the TE's. He's out of his comfort zone when he drops back 5-7 steps or he has to make secondary reads from play-action, even when he has all day like he did at IU.

 

It's really all he's effective at in a passing game, and if UM thinks they need to throw to win, the quick hitting RR style or West Coast style patterns & throws are what we're going to need to see. Read the linebackers. If they're jumping those hitches and flats, it's going to allow Kugler and the Guards to get to the second level and open up the run game. If they're filling the gaps and "run blitzing", O'Korn's quick throws can take advantage and neutralize.

 

So the narrative after the win will be the effectiveness of UM's ball control passing attack and the renewed emphasis on power run blocking. If they try the more pro-style long developing plays with multiple reads and/or try more zone blocking, the narrative will be the stupidity, arrogance, and stubbornness of Drevno & Hamilton.

Squash34

October 17th, 2017 at 1:43 PM ^

I think it is unfair to say it only lasted one drive. The two fades on the left sideline should have been catches, and I think losing Black hurt Michigan there a lot. There were also also like 2 or 3 more critical drops.

With drops like this is is extremely hard for any QB, or passing offense, to get in rhythem. Without all the drops the way most veiw Okorn is way different imo.