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Holy shit. Every person…

Holy shit. Every person creating a new thread about Warde is the Worst Person of the Day, regardless of which side they're on.

This right here. The way…

This right here. The way some people talk about recruiting here is as if it should be a point of pride for the program to make the acquisition of talent harder than it has to be. Nothing is guaranteed. There's no rule saying M will find the Mason Grahams and Kenneth Grants of the world at a consistent enough rate to keep up its current success. Recruiting is ultimately a variance game. Get as many high-level bullets in the chamber as you can get and your team will benefit from it over 3-4 year windows. 

As someone who's been around…

As someone who's been around here since 2010, Michigan getting good and the influx of users that I'm guessing it created has absolutely had a negative effect on the quality of the message board. 

Not going to read your reply…

Not going to read your reply, but since you did reply: there are plenty of legitimate reasons to critique Moore's hiring if it does happen. But implying that he's getting the job because he's black is deeply, unabashedly racist. Go fuck yourself.

How about you stop being a…

How about you stop being a fragile little snowflake and state exactly what you mean here. 

The number of people who…

The number of people who still seem genuinely surprised that Harbaugh is going to the NFL and believe "if only there was a different AD, Jim would've stayed!" is wild. Anyone with a shred of credulity could see that Harbaugh was leaving. Whatever contract "negotiations" were happening with M were just leverage. And that's fine. Manuel is a bad AD but not because of this.

NIL hasn't been in place…

NIL hasn't been in place long enough for it to have had a obvious meaningful effect on the current M roster. We'll know how sustainable M's approach to NIL is starting a year or two from now. 

If this is the attitude of…

If this is the attitude of people in the AD and potential donors, then the football team will be losing 3 games a year in very short order.

This is how it goes when…

This is how it goes when rooting for a championship team. If you're an informed fan, the year that it happens is often less fun to watch as it occurs because you know the team is capable of playing at the very highest level and expect it all the time. The build up to that is often more enjoyable because you're surprised when the switch gets flipped and realize you're witnessing something new. I remember this about the Cubs' World Series run. 2015 was more fun as a fan than 2016.

OSU actually did adjust this…

OSU actually did adjust this year following 2021 and 2022. Their defense was way more hard-nosed and physical than the past two years, and that was a direct reaction to getting stuffed in a locker by M.  

Don't know how you could…

Don't know how you could watch that game and think Haskins won it by playing out of his mind. Almost every run play of the second half he was 6-7 yards down the field before any OSU player had a chance to touch him. That was one of the most dominating team wins you'll ever see.

Yeah, Johnson made a…

Yeah, Johnson made a sideline tackle in the 2nd half where he and the receiver were the only two players on that half of the field.

5* recruits don't have…

5* recruits don't have successful NFL careers at an 80% clip. Do you know who brought in some of the best recruiting classes (by stars) in Michigan's modern history? Brady Hoke. There are maybe 2-3 players a year who are so talented that the coaching they receive in college will make little difference in their success as pros.

Saban is easily one of the…

The sport is flooded with sanctimonious people and Saban doesn't strike me as being anywhere near the top of the list. For someone who is the greatest college football coach ever, he drew relatively little attention to himself. And even when considering the recruiting advantages, Bama developed talent better than any program when Saban was in his prime (M has taken that spot over). The huge number of NFL rosters filled with his players isn't the result of Alabama boosters buying cars for recruits. 

Michigan doesn't utilize…

Michigan doesn't utilize money in the way it would have to if it were going to try and take over the Bama spot. But this does create a vacuum at the top that isn't going to be easily filled. Saban is probably the best football coach ever, at any level, and there's almost zero chance whoever replaces him will be able to replicate that. The worry is that this all favors Georgia far more than any other school. 

Genuinely curious why people…

Genuinely curious why people on here talk about Saban like he's Urban Meyer. 

JJ is going to be a top…

JJ is going to be a top three QB in this draft? Where are you seeing that? He absolutely isn't going to be one of the first three QBs taken this year. Williams, Maye, and Daniels will all get picked before him. Penix and Nix are mocked before him in most places, too. He's by no means projected as a consensus first round pick. And coming back next year would have as much to do with getting drafted in a QB class that isn't as deep as this year's. 

And I also think it's entirely possible that the offense could be tweaked next year, because I don't think Harbaugh will be the head coach. Even if it's Moore, I don't know that he wouldn't choose to throw more, whether out of choice or necessity. It depends on what the team's strengths are and what differences of philosophies there are between coaches that we just aren't privy to. 

I'm saying this with 100%…

I'm saying this with 100% sincerity: JJ should absolutely come back next year. This year's QB class is loaded and he needs to show more consistency on tape. He was incredible for the first eight weeks or so of the season but wasn't nearly as sharp after that, probably because the competition got better. He needs to get half a click quicker in making reads, because there's no doubt he can make all of the throws. If he takes even a half step forward in coming back next year, he could easily be the first QB off the board in 2025. 

Mason Graham

Mason Graham

I'm legitimately…

I'm legitimately disappointed that SP+ includes the non-CFP bowl games, because Connelly was obviously far more accurate than Vegas when it came to predicting M's two playoff games. I'd be curious to see the rankings with the CFP games as the only postseason games included, because they're the closest we could probably get to assessing everyone at the top in relation to each other. 

Also, I'm pretty sure he said on Twitter that M finished ahead of Georgia by one-tenth of a point. That's skewed by the Orange Bowl, but a M - Georgia matchup this year would have been epic (and I'm quite happy that it didn't happen). 

This was the best passing…

This was the best passing offense Michigan has faced in the last three years. They played as perfectly tonight given the level of the opponent as one could reasonably expect. 

I had not doubt that…

I had not doubt that Sainristil, Will Johnson, Graham and Grant were really, really good defensive players, regardless of opponent. But I'll shout out Jaylen Harrell, who I was never entirely sure how to rate because of how bad a lot of the offenses Michigan faces in the B1G are. No doubts after these last two games. That guy was relentless and really good against good teams.

Thank you, Brian. 

Thank you, Brian. 

"Generational talent" and…

"Generational talent" and five star recruits aren't the same thing. You know who else has a roster full of five stars? Alabama. Yet none of the skills guys who they signed out of HS outside of McClellan would be considered in the same breath as JSN, Olave, Garrett Wilson, or Harrison, Jr. Just because you have five star recruits doesn't meant that they turn out to be as good as those players. In fact, they very rarely do, and that's what OSU is more than likely facing on top of a bunch of other problems/pressures that they aren't used to facing. 

Bama, Georgia, USC, Texas,…

Bama, Georgia, USC, Texas, Michigan--all of these programs have made poor/bad/terrible coaching hires and suffered periods of irrelevancy (relatively speaking, of course) over the last 25 years. The only blue-blood program that has avoided it is OSU. They are long past due experiencing a serious downturn over multiple years, and with Day rolling with a worse QB situation next year than this year, minus the generational skill-position talent he's enjoyed the last three years, in a season where he can't lose more than one game or else he's gone... It might finally be coming. 

Basically every screen pass…

Basically every screen pass/throw to the flat is inches from being tipped. 

The tackle by Moore was one…

The tackle by Moore was one of the biggest/best plays of the game. When Milroe broke into the secondary I looked away from the TV because it 100% looked like he was scoring. I looked back a split second later and he was on the ground. Since Bama had to score a TD, you'd almost prefer that they have to play from a shrunken field as opposed to from the 25. The next four plays showed why.

This is a fair comparison,…

This is a fair comparison, but Deboer is a much better coach than Day.

This is the answer. In…

This is the answer. In conjunction with that, Texas had very little edge rush. Penix is a much better QB than Milroe, but I think M can create a lot more pressure than Texas did tonight and hopefully at least rush him into throwaways where Milroe was getting turtled. Either way, M will have to score four touchdowns to win, I think. Washington's D is beatable, but there can't be long stretches (like the 3rd Q tonight) where the offense is completely ineffective. 

Unfortunately, Harbaugh is…

Unfortunately, Harbaugh is the last coach I'd expect to deviate from his chosen approach based upon the opponent. I'm pretty sure doing so would be an affront against his entire philosophy of life. 

This is the defining…

This is the defining narrative of discussing Michigan's offense on this website. Writers and posters alike all assuming that Michigan is just waiting to unleash a different look on offense, when in reality, what we've seen is almost certainly what we'll get. 

They've already done that…

They've already done that. It doesn't make a difference. 

This stuff is so tired, but…

This stuff is so tired, but not surprising. This is a fan base with a fair number of people who still believe only a "Michigan Man" can be a successful coaching hire.

Whatever people's heavily moralizing feelings are about paying recruits, the fact is that not doing it will make it harder and harder for Michigan to repeat the past three years of success. Not doing it will make it easier for OSU to ring off another long streak of wins. At which point everyone here will be begging for the NIL cannon. This will especially be a problem if the policy remains once Harbaugh leaves (which is coming, regardless of one's personal feelings on the matter) and whoever's hired has to establish themselves with one arm tied behind his back.

This is not the 2021…

This is not the 2021 Michigan offensive line. They weren't playing at near that level even before Zinter got hurt.

Anyone who thinks M can repeat the 2021 OSU game against Alabama, in a playoff game, at a neutral site, is completely high off of their ass.

"to some extent" lol you don…

"to some extent" lol you don't say.

NIL and the transfer portal…

NIL and the transfer portal change the calculus. Committing to a school for developmental reasons makes less sense if you're a top recruit. If the school is going to bring in older, more established transfers every year and isn't going to dish out top $ to top recruits, most 18 year olds aren't going to see the incentive of going to that school.

Lmao everyone on this…

Lmao everyone on this website was begging for NIL because Michigan was supposed to have more money than any other school. And no one here should want the NCAA muddying the waters.

Nothing's going to change on this front as long as Harbaugh is HC.

The ACC is dead. The CFP…

The ACC is dead. The CFP committee made that clear.

I think bringing up…

I think bringing up individual plays to try and prove a point is mostly just disproving your point. Good offenses move the ball against good defenses without wowing the viewers, whether via trick play or some unique scheme. They do it because the players and the play design are consistently better than the defense, which shouldn't be some unsolvable conundrum against a defense that is undoubtedly good but that, nevertheless, plays a bunch of guys that Michigan's coaches didn't consider good enough for a scholarship offer. 

When it comes down to it, this team couldn't gain more than 20-30 yards at a time tonight and has been incapable of creating a truly explosive play for the past month. I really doubt the coaches were hiding a bunch of killer play calls that would solve those problems considering a conference title and a playoff spot were on the line. 

Oh, you're talking about…

Oh, you're talking about trick plays. You post on here all the time about how Michigan is saving things for future opponents. Didn't realize you were referring to trick plays. 

Michigan isn't going to beat Alabama or outgun Washington or Texas because of a trick play. 

"Multiple moments where the…

"Multiple moments where the run game looked like it had a big gap only for it to close down almost instantly."

What do you think is going to happen in the playoff?

I have some frustrations…

I have some frustrations that I'm voicing in the offense snowflakes thread about just how good this team could be. And, to be completely honest, I think Brian and Seth have gotten a little soft in the Harbaugh era. However...

What an incredible experience as a fan to watch M win three straight Big Ten titles. I started reading this blog on a regular basis in 2010. What a difference, to say the least. From the depths of the Hoke era to this, what a change. And if John Bacon or someone else can explain what exactly happened between 2020 and 2021, I'd love to read about it.

Stephen, what is the basis…

Stephen, what is the basis of your assumption that Michigan has a "break glass in case of emergency" set that would work against an Iowa-level defense? Do you have an example to cite where something of that nature has occurred? 

JJ was making NFL-level…

JJ was making NFL-level throws before the bye. For the most part, he hasn't since. There were a couple of hugely important exceptions last week, and that gives me some hope. But he peaked with that seam pass for a TD to Loveland against MSU at the end of the first half and hasn't had the same form since. 

It didn't seem like they…

It didn't seem like they were "sleepwalking" at all. It seemed like they were struggling to run their base offense and had few effective answers to what Iowa was doing.

The amount of people on MGoBlog who act like the offense plays at like 67% for 11 out of 14 games a season for "strategic" reasons is astounding. The more likely answer is that they're just an OK offense. 

This is one of the enduring…

This is one of the enduring problems of fandom on this blog. Everyone thinks that coaching staff is playing things vanilla in order to set up some amazing "Gotcha" moment. But then the "Gotcha" moment doesn't happen. 

I like to think that I'm…

I like to think that I'm pretty measured on here, and I'm gonna say that it's really hard to justify that conclusion. The two TD drives began inside of the redzone. The offense that played tonight struggled to put more than two good plays together at a time and has, for several weeks now, been unable to create anything resembling an explosive play. These are not good data points for predicting future success. 

They gave up 31 points to…

They gave up 31 points to Penn State. Whatever "opponent adjustment" that goes into SP+ and other similar metrics isn't enough to capture reality. 

It is what it is at this…

It is what it is at this point. The last two offensive lines were generationally good, especially the 2021 run game. No one should ever take for granted what that o-line did to OSU in the second half of the game that year. It's pretty much impossible to keep up that level of line play, and we're starting to see that now. They're still good but the scheme requires them to be great if this team's gonna compete with schools that sign 5-6 five starts every cycle. 

It's not good enough to win…

It's not good enough to win a national title, which is all that matters from this point forward. The offense lost something over the bye week. The passing game in particular has been much less efficient and JJ has thrown many, many more turnover-worthy balls than he did before (minus BGSU).

The bigger problem is that this team cannot run the ball like the last two Michigan offenses. You pair this year's version of JJ with the 2021 run game, and you've got the 1997 team. But that's not where we're at and beating some combination of Texas/Bama/Washington is going to be really difficult with this offense.