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The read option of Rutgers…

The read option of Rutgers is much different than what Wisconsin does, plus we should have Josh Ross back to both cleanup the interior run and make actual defensive alignment calls which it seemed was a major problem with him not in. I see our run D having a pretty good day. Wisconsin is a better Washington offensively, what Rutgers did to us was an extremely poor mans version of what JT Barrett or Braxton Miller would do to Michigan on the ground. 
 

Im sacred to predict the game flow and the score anywhere but inside my brain, but since everyone else is writing there’s out I will too. I will say we get go up 13-10 late in the first half, playing pretty good run D, a couple bend don’t break drives. We force one turnover in a sloggy second half for both teams which is a great sigh of relief for us. Then either Corum breaks the game open with a big run where he breaks one tackle and he’s gone, or we have one very Harbaughy 10ish play drive because Wisconsin’s d gets a little tired and maybe we hit a couple passes, and either Corum or Haskins runs it in from short yardage. We all collectively breathe a sigh of relief as this happens around the 4 minute to go mark of a slow paced game, we win 20-10. 
 

this could all happen totally differently and just be my overly wishful thinking. 

??

??

Hope you’re right 

Hope you’re right 

I think the biggest thing…

I think the biggest thing about Cade is that he’s still a bit of a mystery as to what he will do with more attempts, his small sample size this year is making everyone think he might suck (at least what I’m hearing in a few podcasts). I still see 10 YPA, no turnovers, and 4-0 and am encouraged by that as a fan, and it’s hard to come down on him too hard for 5 bad throws in one half, but I certainly hope he and the coaches are working to improve those several bad throws and that doesn’t become a trend over several games. 
 

My bigger concerns after mulling over the Rutgers 2nd half is that the coaches butthole is still too clinched to unleash Cade a little more against stiff competition (especially after a few failed attempts in one drive) and that the receivers are going to become a little demoralized since they are getting very few chances to make plays. Hopefully the coaches put more faith in Cade and receivers to make some plays in tighter windows that push the ball downfield and create more points and wins against Wisconsin, Nebraska, Penn State, MSU and hopefully OSU. Also, let’s see a couple designed runs for Henning each game, starting tomorrow I hope, although their may be a contentment tomorrow playing for a 14-10 win (although as a fan I hope they truly play for more). 
 

However, I still see Harbaugh in NFL mode where he approaches each game against stiff competition as a chess match which is often a good thing, but hopefully he overcomes SOME of his old ways and takes a few risks that create wins, instead of stalemates where we don’t get the last laugh. I’m not in the camp that wants to throw baby Harbaugh out with the bath water, he is still a great coach who has had a few real clunkers in the last 7 years (2018 OSU,2019 Wisconsin, 2019 OSU to an extent, and 2020 MSU being the ones that really stand out), and also a few times with just shit luck (2015 MSU, 2016 and 17 OSU, 2016 FSU, 2017 MSU, most of the 2017 season really, and then drawing Alabama in the citrus bowl where we did compete well for over 4 quarters). Hopefully he has the humility to adapt over this year in a few ways, but certainly not hand over his identity of the team or as a coach. 
 

Lastly, I could be wrong here, but I don’t see us getting blown out in any games against good teams including Ohio State, which I know isn’t saying a lot, but would certainly be an improvement on how we’ve looked in a few big games since Thanksgiving weekend of 2018. 
 

And that’s my overly long rabbit trail post that started out as merely a deeper look at Cade. 

I mean, they would have…

I mean, they would have several weeks less film on Michigan and much less of that “extra Michigan practice time”

Must be nice to have your…

Must be nice to have your biggest rival be Pitt. 
 

Question: I know Frames has beaten OSU at least once in the Meyer era, but do your fans call for his head every time they lose to them? 

Yes 100x yes 

Yes 100x yes 

I guarantee you the coaches…

I guarantee you the coaches notice this, and I think the small sample size of plays due mostly to Cade not getting into no rhythm at all second half is the biggest part of our offensive woes. All of Cade’s incompletions second half were there from a route running/being open standpoint, he was just off. Guarantee you the running game opens up more if he hits those passes, especially the one across the middle to All, or they continue to stack the box but Cade gets his confidence back and punishes them for a few more big pass plays. Hope Cade can get out of his own head and play loose, the plays are there in the passing game, and if those go, the backs will find ways to punish in the run game too against anyone. Wish we had Ronnie Bell. 

Yes, but I literally read a…

Yes, but I literally read a comment on this blog today blaming Harbaugh for their lack of success at other schools as well, saying that Harbaugh just “breaks” every quarterback he touches.

It’s probably why Andrew Luck retired from the Colts early and unexpectedly as well, just too broken by Harbaugh 10 years earlier……

/s

 

I want someone that will…

I want someone that will sustain a winning tradition and be able to take the next step towards a team that pretty regularly gets us into the B1G champ game. I don’t want anyone to break the foundation of the program a la Rich Rod

This….I’ve got a lot of…

This….I’ve got a lot of faith in Clinkscale. Being in Lexington, I was amazed at how many good DB’s they seemed to have for several years and wondered who was coaching them up (although didn’t care enough about UK football to actually look up the coach). Glad we got him and the rest of the staff we have.

Man, I want to replace our…

Man, I want to replace our wins with stats that would look good on my EA NCAA2012 dynasty……

 

/s

“You’re going the wrong way!…

“You’re going the wrong way!” 
“How do they know where we are going?” 

The other good news though…

The other good news though is that in the overall larger sample size (not one half with 5 throws) Cade has been mostly good and not turned the ball over. 
 

I don’t think every half is going to involve the other team possessing the ball for 75% of it and us only having like 18 snaps. Also, Cade has proved otherwise he can hit those throws and that will also help open up the rushing attack….also, i have to believe we will attack the edge more in the future as well (hoping)

So 9-3, which was pipe dream…

So 9-3, which was pipe dream optimism 4 weeks ago, is now a fireable offense? 
 

look, l will be as frustrated as any with any loss and lack of better passing attack, but there were many preseason projections of 5-7, 6-6 for this team (which I think would be better conversation for firing Harbaugh)

I agree with most of your…

I agree with most of your take, but I do think that we have a bit to be desired from Johnson, Baldwin, Wilson, Henning, Sainristil and All from a putting players in position to succeed on the receiving end. Some of that’s on Cade, most of that’s on the playcalling 

Thank you for saying this…

Thank you for saying this joke on behalf of everyone, hope he wears #2, and hope a barrage of toilet paper rains down from the student section if he gets a sack or interception (at least on one occasion haha, would hate to put that pressure on a cleanup crew) 

You do a great service for…

You do a great service for us Michigan football junkies! Thank you 

You guys have no sense of…

You guys have no sense of nuance. In a mostly defensive game (or half for this matter) where there are literally no big plays or quick offensive drives, Time of Possession does matter, as it increases your number of opportunities for more points and keeps the other team from having opportunities. Also in games like this field position and turnovers matter more also. In fast paced defenseless shootout games, and or one sided blowouts where one team has all kinds of big plays and the other has a million possessions due to the opposing offense scoring so fast (last week vs NIU), yes of course TOP is pretty meaningless.
I would be fine if Michigan was to be the fast paced team with a defense that also forces tons of 3 and outs so we could win every game by 40, but there are like 3 teams in the country who do that on any consistent basis year to year. 

MSU needed the most gifted…

MSU needed the most gifted Punt return TD I’ve ever seen to beat a pretty mediocre to bad Nebraska team 

This right here. 

This right here. 

Agreed. Like I said,…

Agreed. Like I said, allowing them to easily stay on the field for 80% of the half and trying to make your defense defend like 10 different 3rd and shorts is a recipe for keeping your D on the field, getting them tired, and not giving the offense near enough reps to find any rhythm. Also, the Rutgers D is fresh every time they step on the field. 
 

Maybe the silver lining here is they have pretty of film on how to correct both the front seven and the cushion given by the DB’s. Also, lots of 3rd and short practice. Hopefully all the above and Cade improves from this second half showing, I believe they will. 

Sorry I brought up the…

Sorry I brought up the dreaded “TOP” argument, which is auto negs on this blog, but it’s at least one of the elephants in the room of the story of the second half. Having 16 total opportunities to run offensive plays certainly puts a damper on your chances of scoring points. Having the ball longer clearly keeps the other team from scoring, especially in a game that played out this way. I’m not forgiving all the play-calling, clearly they were overly conservative, which aided in us not possessing the ball, but Cade did not help with all his wide open missed, keeping the ball when he shouldn’t,  Haskins taking an unneeded cut, and the defense did not help by staying on the field for 80% of the second half. 

We hit those few easy passes (also the TD at end of half), the run opens up a bit, and we likely score at least one more touchdowns or another FG, maybe 2, and we are probably talking about something like a 28-10, 30-10 or 34-10 victory that left a little to be desired instead of an entire dumpster fire of a half. With all that said, yes, I also think we abandoned the outside run a bit too much, but the narrative for this game is being overblown on the offensive side. Cade started yipping, the defense did a lot of sucky things up front making for too many 2nd and shorts, they got off schedule. 
 

Important to note how hard…

Important to note how hard it was for the defense to get off the field, hampered the offense big time.
16 total offensive plays (minus kneel downs) in 2nd half. 3 first down pass plays missed bad on one drive, including a big gainer across the middle.

I counted 5 successful run plays due to down and distance in second half (5 out of 11 runs I believe) A near miss with the bad RPO and one very bad left cut by Haskins when yards were up the middle.

Missed opportunities for big plays were there even with vanilla playcalls.

This is a game where I actually think TOP makes a big difference in final score….however, still much to be desired from the 16 chances they did have in 2nd half, especially runs to the outside mostly abandoned.

Agreed, I think story of the…

Agreed, I think story of the half offensively was Cade’s issues, whatever they stemmed from completely throwing off the offensive schedule the coaches probably foresaw, and then the defense struggling with RPO. Missing those easy throws on plays that were there were so critical. A few no gainers up the middle and play-calling to me are more of a secondary concern, again, to me. 

(Copy paste from what I…

(Copy paste from what I wrote in the offensive every snap video thread, this to me tells a huge story of offensive production in second half)

16 total plays the second half. 16!

I think 5 had real success considering down and distance, 3 others were sure first down if the ball was thrown well, 1 of those 3 was probably at least a 30 yard gainer had he hit All over the middle. 
 

4 run plays actually worked pretty well considering down and distance, another Cade should have not kept and we probably have 6-8 yards from Corum. 
 

Haskins i think made a cut to the left on one run where he should have kept going to a lane in the middle and probably gets 5 yards on either 1st or second down. 
 

I think we are going to see more story of this game was defensive confusion and not getting off the field. Again, I don’t think we can stress enough how important from a leadership, assignment and alignment perspective it was when Josh Ross isnt out there calling the defense on the field. 
And also Cade had 3 bad missed throws that were all relatively easy first downs, one a huge gainer. 
 

this is all fixable, the defense will be a major focus I think in practice, as well as Cade’s timing, and maybe feeling the heat from JJ too. 
 

and again this is all just me looking at the second half, I have no real concerns from the first minus the missed TD throw in the end zone 

i have a feeling based on sheer number of plays in second half, offensive UFR comes out better than expected overall considering the score and perception of second half offense. Defense UFR up front another story in second half.

16 total plays the second…

16 total plays the second half. 16!

I think 5 had real success considering down and distance, 3 others were sure first down if the ball was thrown well, 1 of those 3 was probably at least a 30 yard gainer had he hit All over the middle. 
 

4 run plays actually worked pretty well considering down and distance, another Cade should have not kept and we probably have 6-8 yards from Corum. 
 

Haskins i think made a cut to the left on one run where he should have kept going to a lane in the middle and probably gets 5 yards on either 1st or second down. 
 

I think we are going to see more story of this game was defensive confusion and not getting off the field. Again, I don’t think we can stress enough how important from a leadership, assignment and alignment perspective it was when Josh Ross isnt out there calling the defense on the field. 
And also Cade had 3 bad missed throws that were all relatively easy first downs, one a huge gainer. 
 

this is all fixable, the defense will be a major focus I think in practice, as well as Cade’s timing, and maybe feeling the heat from JJ too. 
 

and again this is all just me looking at the second half, I have no real concerns from the first minus the missed TD throw in the end zone 

i have a feeling based on sheer number of plays in second half, offensive UFR comes out better than expected overall considering the score and perception of second half offense. Defense UFR up front another story in second half.

 

Ross is the guy making the…

Ross is the guy making the calls out there for the front 7, that’s what just about every MLB does, especially ones that are team captains. Corners don’t typically call the defense for the backend of the D, and especially for the front 7. Losing a 5th year senior, captain, playcalling LB mid game after a solid first half defensive performance is a much bigger loss than a sophomore corner who is clearly an idiot lacking in the leadership dept. Also, Avery is probably there best corner as he is B1G honorable mention guy. 

Agreed, many things when…

Agreed, many things went right for MSU for that special teams scheme to work as it did 

Really? And this is being…

Really? And this is being upvoted? You can’t blame the kicker for missing a very makable field goal to put the game out reach? I don’t know if this was sarcasm or something but this is a bad take barring a bad snap or hold. Moody was kicking from the middle of the field and pushed it right. The moment seemed too big for him when things were going bad for his team…aren’t good kickers supposed to a good security blanket when the offense sputters a little?Why does every little thing have to be the fault of the coaches? Even kickers missing relatively routine middle of the field kicks. 
 

FYI, I know based on a distance perspective it’s not the easiest kick in the world, but it was middle of the field and within his range, no reason to blame coaching for this. 

He was specifically…

He was specifically inaccurate in the second half (and last throw first half). Should have attacked edges more with Corum and Henning IMHO

I mean, the throws he missed…

I mean, the throws he missed were not that hard either 

Once Rutgers scored in 3rd,…

Once Rutgers scored in 3rd, on 2 separate drives we tried to get Cade throwing the ball. I believe he had 5 incompletions in those 2 drives, and i believe those were all to open guys…..also not to mention his missed wide open touchdown in the second qtr. I agree that our running up the middle was frustrating and why didn’t we attack the edges more? But blaming the coaches for not calling passing plays when they needed to is a false narrative, Cade just didn’t hit the open guys. If he did we win by multiple scores 

I mean, there were a handful…

I mean, there were a handful of times that receivers were wide open as they should have been and Cade just missed them, so I can’t say they played terrible. 
 

Also, there is definitely something to the way the running game was being called with nothing going to the edges, all between the tackles which was beyond predictable. I feel this team is much better than it’s second half today, especially on offense…..but defense was for sure missing Ross, who is for sure their defensive on field play caller. The guy who came in for him looked lost, might explain a lot of that option stuff that Rutgers got chunks on. 

Their run defense is great,…

Their run defense is great, but they did have like 6 sacks or something, so slightly inflated and ND’s o line is their Achilles heel on offense this year

Feel like Rutgers probably…

Feel like Rutgers probably wins 6 this year. The QB is big step up from the last couple guidos they had throwing the ball, and Schiano gets his boys to play hard and also play a little defense. Also, they have tons starters who are 6th year guys just about in their mid 20’s. 

I’m pretty sure the stress…

I’m pretty sure the stress of BPONE takes years off of ones life, I’ve found it better to just expect the best each game, not get let down too much when things go off the rails. 

Conversely, if Cade had hit…

Conversely, if Cade had hit his wide open receivers for easy first downs and at least one TD, we win easily. 

Also, was saying we should…

Also, was saying we should have run outside because the inside run was there, but the it seemed the outside was, it worked the one time they really went to it. We needed successful plays, and some kind of outside run or misdirection could have helped move the ball. 

Pretty sure MSU had 2 return…

Pretty sure MSU had 2 return men and the other was faking as if he was going to catch it? A designed return fake of sorts to throw off the gunners 

Ehhhhh, maybe a 7 win…

Ehhhhh, maybe a 7 win ceiling for them, I still think they are somewhat Rutgersy. I think we had an uncharacteristically bad half with yips from Cade and sorely missing our captain and play caller on defense in Ross. Perfect recipe for a totally flat half and allowing Rutgers to gain confidence. Have a hard time seeing them have a close game with an OSU that is decently prepared. Had Cade hit 3 or so of those throws in the second half that were easy first downs, we end up winning by at least 2 scores and we are talking about how a mediocre at best Rutgers team gave us a little scare in the 3rd quarter. 

Okay, but Cade still missed…

Okay, but Cade still missed some incredibly easy throws for a college QB in the second half on those 1st and 2nd down throws that would have resulted in the defense having to respect the pass, therefore helping the run game. This is why every year, the story always come down to QB play and making good on the throws that are wide open and making the right reads. 

I don’t disagree, I thought…

I don’t disagree, I thought after that 3 and out where Cade missed his receivers every throw (all would have been 1st downs) he should have been benched for McCarthy. 

Think they got off schedule…

Think they got off schedule. Cade had one particular drive where he missed 3 straight open throws I believe. Not to mention the missed TD pass at end of first half. I think Cade’s confidence and the captain play-calling LB being out made a lot of difference in this game. That and I’m sure Rutgers and all their 6th year seniors on defense who have been getting their asses kicked on the regular in college have them a little extra want to on their defensive side. 

glad we won, need to have a tough come to Jesus film session with the boys and a super focused week of practice. 

First half seemed just fine,…

First half seemed just fine, and the clock stuff end of half seemed more like some analyst told them to take a TO and do the field goal as it was better to take sure points than try to squeeze 4 second pass play in with 5 seconds left with hopes of a FG if it didn’t work out. 
 

Second half, I think Cade had the yips and put them way off schedule in both TOP and field position (obviously points too). A handful of open passes were totally missed by Cade, as if all his confidence went out the door after his missed TD pass first half. However, when it was clear Cade was off, they should have tried outside runs with Corum and some sweeps and reverses to Henning to move the offense instead of just trying to go up the middle. Disappointing as I think that was probably there for the taking.  
 

Defensively, not having your field general LB probably didn’t help as that’s usually the guy making the call on the field for the D, probably one reason they got gashed by the option so much, Macdonald needs to get that corrected and fast. However, he must have given a good speech those last couple series with a couple big stops and a turnover. 
 

With Schiano, Rutgers will be one of those teams for the foreseeable future. 
 

Also, while this team certainly got exposed in a couple ways the second half, they still won, they looked very well in control the first half as they should, and I don’t believe they are actually as bad as we looked in the 2nd half. Bad juju with Cade’s awful yips and missing your 5th year captain MLB who calls the defense on the field. 

Better be a super focused week of practice to gear up for Wisconsin, still a very winnable game. 
 

 

I will write up a lot of…

I will write up a lot of this one up to their field General, Ross being out the second half. Something tells me #20 (name?) wasn’t up to the challenge of making the defensive calls against a team who was running option much of the second half. 
 

the offense did them no favors either. 

I will write up a lot of…

I will write up a lot of this one up to their field General, Ross being out the second half. Something tells me #20 (name?) wasn’t up to the challenge of making the defensive calls against a team who was running option much of the second half. 
 

the offense did them no favors either. 

Pretty sure Cade had the…

Pretty sure Cade had the yips from his missed TD throw end of second quarter on, they had several open pass plays he just flat out missed on. Stacking the box kept the run game in check, but they certainly tried several passes in 3rd and 4th qtr where Cade just missed the guys 

In harbaugh’s defesne, the…

In harbaugh’s defesne, the pass play beforehand with 2 open tight ends was the perfect call with a bad throw. 5 seconds is a tough tell, get a super quick pass and possibly a TD, but risk a bad throw int, or risk the clock running to 0. I’m sure some analyst was trying to call in to say field goals was the best option 

Wake looked like a very well…

Wake looked like a very well coached ball club, seemed like a lot of buy in there just watching the players body language, sort of like a poor man’s Michigan. I know UVA’s d wasn’t good but the RB’s for Wake looked for real and ran with great patience and drive their feet well at contact too, almost like Mike Hart was their coach, haha. Not sure they are missing Kareem too much as they looked to have a good stable of backs, and I bet Kareem wanted to be “the guy”.