Question for coaches and O-line experts (Also, Sunday Snowflake Thread)

I have to respectfully disagree. I think he is correct. Being fired up is definitely part of the issue. If the team came out fired up, we would have been shocked at the brutality in which they punched UConn in the face from the start. There is a reason a coach like Harbaugh can take players that played like bitches the year before and turn them into monsters. It's called motivation.

And make no mistake about it. Michigan played the role of the bitches the last two weeks. They took the punches. They did not give the punishment.

I do think this staff will make some adjustments, they seemingly have done this durng their first 3 years. Devin has got to learn how to calm down, he did a good job of this against ND, but has played "tight" the last 2 games. The film is out there how to defend michigan, Borges/Hoke have got to counter and come up with a way to beat this. I do think a lot of michigan's problems will improve as the season progresses. Our biggest issue right now is turnovers, when you turn the ball over as much as we have, even shitty teams are going to stay close. They need to roll gardner out more, give him some easier progressions, right now decision making is killing him. Seems like last year he rolled out more. I think if someone is close to playing center, this is obviously the week to make the change. I think Kalis and Glasgow will get better each and every game. Luckily, the B1G is not very good. Our toughest games are at PSU, who is not great, at MSU, who is about as inept on offense as we are currently, granted, they have a great defense, but i think that game will be a toss-up, at NW, home vs. Ohio both will be tough tests, but they are later in the season.

this squad simply does not have the horses right now.  all the energy and fire in the world cannot offset the inferior roster.  granted they should trounce akron and uconn but its really tough when one of the only elite athletes in your 2 deep has off games and contributes to massive turnover differentials.  gardner does not get much help from his OL or his skill guys and thats just a fact.  in its current state, UMs travel roster consists of like 35 1st or 2nd year players, many of whom do not possess necessary talent to win 1-on-1 matchups.  maybe the younger kids will get to that point, i certainly hope so considering some of the hype, but the team on the field for 1st 4 games does not have the talent to turn the ball over so much and still dominate.  football is a team game, absolutely, but when broken down it takes guys stepping up and consistently winning 1-on-1 matchups in order to see the expected level of success.  clark and black and lewan and kalis won quite a few 1-on-1s last night but that unfortunately cannot offset the poor or average play of their teammates and results in inability to consistently win at line of scrimmag.  those dellusional enough to believe miller and schofield and beyer and these types of guys are the elite athletes UM needs in order to be the UM hoke and most fans fondly remember and desire are in for quite a letdown.....much of current travel roster are just guys.   in their current 3-deep, UM has about 5-6 difference makers who have proven they can get it done at this level.  hard working, smart, great kids, sure...elite athletes like OSU players, unfortunately not.  hopefully most will admit hoke inherited a very depleted roster and program in unfamiliar territory suffering from weak image in world of big time recruiting.  and look honestly at the 2009, 2010 and 2011 classes, aside from the obvious handful of difference makers....transfers left bc they were not even talented enough or consistent enough to make the current depth chart....guys like raymon taylor and avery and beyer and schofield and gordon and hayes and ash and jeremy jackson and rawls, etc....most of these guys would be playing at central michigan if compared to 2000 UM teams or even the talent as recent as 2006.  hoke and his staff are great guys and will never throw any players under the bus.  but seriously when prior to 2007 or whatever did UM ever have a problem finding a solid C or pass rushing DE or RB or WR?  not in my lifetime.  obviously some recruits miss every year and other hit....but UM never really had such a young team especially considering the lack of talent in upper classes.  i mean its crazy to expect big things from a UM squad that plays jeremy jackson for half the game at WR yet never even looks to throw his way.  or UM team winning big with 6 RBs / FBs that belong in the MAC.  youth looks promising, as it typically does (especially redshirted youth), and UM should be able to win some games but this team will only remain competitive with solid (ND) to great teams (OSU) if their elite athlete under center carries them and their genius D coordinator continues to mask massive holes and talent gaps.  yes they can look great when everything clicks but great teams and championship teams manage to get it done when it does not click, which for those teams is maybe 1-2 times all year.  **i love UM and UM football yet try to be realist....gardner provided some hope for many and rightfully so but hes still a freshman/soph in terms of snaps under center in D1 games, and his supporting cast on O/ D is young or not very talented for most part.  hoke needs to continue bringing in top 100 type players and guys they beleive can compete at their desired B1G title level and hopefully when 2012 and 2013 classes are upperclassmen they can win enough 1-on-1s across the board and will have several genetic mistakes like peppers sprinkled throughout roster to really dominate.  until then, expectations should be tempered and all big ten wins should be appreciated not expected.  and my apologies for the length here, really -- i understand the passion and desire for great team, im there too - but i do not understand the surprise and questions and in some cases even the refusal to accept mediocrity from a mediocre collection of student athletes

A lot of the time on that stretch play our interior line was just "out leveraged" at the point of attack.

What I mean by this is that UCONN's interior defensive line were positioning themselves to explode into the gaps. The stretch and the zone blocking scheme that goes hand in hand with the stretch is supposed to take advantage of an aggressive defense by "putting them on skates" once they're off balance.

In our game last night it seemed like several times UCONN would shoot the gap and ride the Offensive lineman back into the play or stretch it out to the point of no cut back for the RB.

When we did block the stretch well on the interior line it seemed like the play side TE would find a way to get beat and stop us for little to no gain. When both units blocked well we had some nice runs.

If any change at all needs to be made it is jack miller. The kid is smart and he knows all the calls and adjustments in the running game but he is physically being dominated by players that are not from great schools. Dude did better vs two soon to be NFL players.

Pass protection has been a mess. It appears as if we have several missed assignments and missed communications per game. Honestly I'm not sure how it will get any better. Moving Glasgow to center May provide a boost in the running game initially but I'm not sure about its effect elsewhere.

My main concern really isn't with the line at all but with the turnovers and Devin Gardner. Devin has zero ball security and absolutely has no idea when to throw the ball away. I have counted 5 instances this season where instead of throwing the ball away Devin has taken a terrible sack or committed an egregious turnover. I would have thought all of the camps and QB coaching gurus would have taught him the importance of ball security. You can't win the big ten or even the mountain west while turning it over at his rate. He tries to do to much and also I am not sure we have an identity on offense.

I said 12-2 prior to the season and I think we take losses vs NW on the road, MSU also on the road, home vs ohio, and one more. I say we go 9-4 at best unless we find ourselves offensively and stop with the turnovers. Thank god we played Akron and UCONN cause if we dropped that effort vs NOtre dame or NW we lose 31-10, 28-7.

Needless to say, changes are needed both schematically and fundamentally. Coaches need to coach better and our players need to understand there is a standard at Michigan that has not been met two weeks in a row. A win is a win, yes. However our flaws have been greatly magnified to the extent of which I'm not sure we can fix in time before a great team comes calling.

It's all on Devin, i've decided. His turnovers and poor play are killing M. It's not the O-Line or D-Line or receivers because they were the same week 1 & 2. M just made the most of their possessions in the first 2 games. Devin turning the ball over and just making poor decisions means M is wasting more drives than they did earlier in the season. Drives M usually got points on. That's as big a reason as any for the close games. If he stops turning the ball over and stops panicking at the first sign of adversity then M will be fine.

Also, I like that this team has had 3 straight adverse games so early in the season. Now we've seen what this is made of. It'll do the young guys a lot of good.

Michigan has made quite a hull the last two years on talented (at least on paper) OL men!  But I guess it takes experience to break into the starting line. I know we have good center prospects, should the coaches just bench Miller and Glasgow, who have shown no improvement in blocking. They are getting dominated by mighty mights! I would put Bryant in at LG and hell even put Kugler in at C.  These two will improve through the season. I don't think Miller and  Glasgow are going to improve much. The OL will be a major liability come B1G play!

Few things jump out at me, the OL seems to do well in certain situations as we are picking up double-digit yards on some plays, Fitz has to be tackled by the secondary.  However there is some obvious combination (I haven't identified it yet) of defensive stunts or delayed blitzes that confound our young OL.  Plus the usual sprinkle of OL blocking fails.

I think the pass blocking really needs work.  UConn was rushing 3 at times and getting pressure.  If you watch Gardner when he has time to make his drop, set his feet, he's deadly....when he makes his drop and feels the need to scramble it seems like he's watched too much Denard laying waste to defenses...and Gardner does not have that level of foot speed.

As far as the solution...in my mind its back to critiquing game film and hammering out fundamentals....I don't believe we are going to find better athletes on the team at this point.

i don't think it is going to be as bad as some think, the bye week comes at a good time. we will get healthy and work out some kinks. i truly believe this team will be a LOT better come november when the tough schedule really kicks in. The defense will continuet to get better, jake ryan will help this bunch a lot. devin and the oline will settle down and start making plays again. both devin and oline just need experience, and they will get that.

I thought Lewan looked hurt in this game--only slightly surprising since he wore a boot all week--and I'm surprised I'm the only one writing about it. He misplayed several downs early and the whole left side seemed to fold. He improved in the second half. Based on his first half playing speed (slow), I think he stepped up and played through a LOT of pain.

I do think moving Glasgow to center and Bryant to guard is something the coaches should try in practice.