Where and what is to blame? Not Jon Runyan Jr.
It's become clear that blame, by some individuals, has been put on Jon Runyan Jr. for the loss on Saturday Night.
But, that's just wrong. And wrong in more ways than one.
Look at the big picture: the team didn't come out on fire. Notre Dame DID come out o fire! And they knocked Michigan back on their heels. I was stunned watching it. There just looked like there was no fire in the team. Who's to blame for that? That's on the coaching, not the players. The coaches needed to get the players in the right frame of mind to come out firing on all eight, with hot fire, in all areas of the game, going into the first moment of the game.
It's true Runyan could have done better. I bet he would say it himself. But Michigan didn't lose because of him. There were things throughout the coaching staff, and team, that could have been better. No one can say they did the best they could have in all areas. Everyone, coaches and players, can look at their overall game, and see things they could have done better.
If you want to look at the offensive line for how it played, you have to look first at the coaching, not the players. And by coaches, I mean Jim Harbaugh and Ed Warinner. Like Jim Harbaugh said in his message to Braylon Edwards, "Come after me." And he's right. It starts with the coaches. Ed Warinner is new to the job. This game is his biggest piece of proving ground he'll probably have all year. He probably won't learn as much from any game for the rest of the season as he will from this one. Things are not going to be the same from now on. Ed Warinner will change things. He is the kind of guy who will not let things stay the same. And Jim Harbaugh is not the kind of guy to let things stay the same either. Together, they, and the rest of the coaches, WILL make the team better.
I am looking forward to improvement in all areas from now on. I especially want to see the offense have cadence, modulation, eleven players looking like a team with focus. That firstly, to me, will give a real spark of hope that the team is heading upward, like they say, that "the arrow is up!" Will I see it?
Photos: Mike Mulholland/MLive Brandon Brown
September 4th, 2018 at 9:56 PM ^
I hate this argument. I dont even have the energy to rebuttal. Just... Fuck this post. Beat WMU.
September 4th, 2018 at 10:01 PM ^
"Look at the big picture". A team coming out flat is not the big picture. It's a dumb shit description of the small picture. If anything, some on the D were a bit too jacked and lost gap integrity or over-pursued. Nobody on that team was popping Xanax before the game.
Nobody is pinning the loss on one or two players (except the dumbass who thinks he owns #1 jersey), but rather the events that led to those players being put in a position to lose battles.
Appreciate your optimism, but save the revisionist history.
September 4th, 2018 at 10:13 PM ^
But I think Ed Warinner was not clear on how the players would do in a real game. He saw it, and will make changes. If we see the same offensive line, playing the same, then this will be a long, awful season. But with Ed Warinner's great success in his history, I can't believe that the quality of offensive line play we saw on Saturday will stay the same.
September 4th, 2018 at 10:25 PM ^
I think Ed will come out Saturday on fire: like a dragon, breathing fire, hot fire. That and a nice cadence with some supreme modulation & the team should be running on 8 cylinders. If things start to break down Ed will just open the hood, pour a little gas in the carburetor and get that 8 cylinder monster fired back up on hot fire.
September 4th, 2018 at 11:53 PM ^
BANG! EXPLOSIONS! KER-PAAAHHHH!!!! FIIIIAAHH!!!
September 4th, 2018 at 10:15 PM ^
Thanks for the pictures. Without then I wouldn't know who you were talking about.
September 4th, 2018 at 11:05 PM ^
He forgot the picture of Bradley Cooper though.
September 4th, 2018 at 10:19 PM ^
"Look at the big picture: the team didn't come out on fire. Notre Dame DID come out o fire!"
"There just looked like there was no fire in the team."
"The coaches needed to get the players in the right frame of mind to come out firing on all eight, with hot fire, in all areas of the game, going into the first moment of the game."
"I am looking forward to improvement in all areas from now on. I especially want to see the offense have cadence, modulation, eleven players looking like a team with focus."
I honestly can't stop laughing. You might want to stick with links and pictures.
September 4th, 2018 at 10:22 PM ^
Nobodies blaming Runyan for the loss but when you give up ALL 3 sacks on the QB and 8 QB hurries then you deserve a lot of criticism.
Lavert Hill also deserves criticism. He was a huge reason ND came out firing on offense as he got beat by his man numerous times in the 1st half
Hawkins missing two interceptions, one of which was a TD in the endzone, is something that cant happen.
Gil missing a relatively easy sack cant happen
Theres blame to go all around but Runyan was probably the worst player on the field that night
September 4th, 2018 at 10:26 PM ^
I'm 40! I'm a man!
September 4th, 2018 at 10:32 PM ^
Blame scheduling. Knowing our road track record someone thought it a good idea to start the season on the road against ND...
September 4th, 2018 at 10:44 PM ^
very strange post...
a player's performance can and should be evaluated...personal attacks on kids shouldn't be. But if you are going to accept adulation for having a great game, one has to accept that negative reviews will happen as a result of poor games.
let's not go crazy pumping up ND's talent either... they were 46th in total defense last year and had a brand new DC this year...
Wake Forest had 587 total yards versus ND last year at South Bend...
September 4th, 2018 at 10:53 PM ^
I read a bunch of stuff, but I feel like I didn't read anything. Strange...
September 4th, 2018 at 11:11 PM ^
I eagerly clicked on the thread thinking someone with coaching and/or playing knowledge broke down the film and graded his performance.
Then I got here and read with extreme disappointment.
September 4th, 2018 at 11:26 PM ^
Hoping the Mods can put this dumb thread out of its misery.
Misleading title, no analysis, obviously contrived attempt to creatively attack the coaching staff.
September 4th, 2018 at 11:54 PM ^
Good post, John Runyan Sr.
September 5th, 2018 at 12:13 AM ^
Runyan obviously didn't dominate but a lot of the flack he is taking is unfair.
Two perfect examples are the sack on Power Pass at the goaline and the strip sack to end the game.
On the power pass Higdon isn't agressive enough attacking the DE, doesn't allow a window for Shea to get the ball to Mason on the now throw. Down there that's all you have on that play, it's a dick em. If he attacks the DE it's an easy 6 to Mason. When Shea gets pressure that ball needs to end up in the stands because the play is dead if you don't hit the now.
On the final play ND runs a 3 man twist. Ruiz fails to bump Bredeson because he gets no depth in his set. Once that bump is missed Bredeson can't bump Runyan. Runyan has no idea the nose is looping because of Ruiz's set.
Bottom line the whole unit needs to get better, but go back and look at any offense over the weekend that faced a Top 15 team. It's a sprint to the QB damn near every snap. Everything speeds up and your QB better get the ball out on time.
Also upon rewatch it was really disappointing how many times we ran the ball into 7 man boxes out of open sets with Screens & RPO's attached. That's always going to be tough sledding. Blocking 6 on 7.
Not making any apologies but the whole offensive unit needs to get better. Here is to a better showing vs a CPL cupcakes before a moderate test vs Northwestern.
September 5th, 2018 at 12:21 AM ^
Watched Maize & Bleu tonight and it helped bring me back down to earth with my expectations for our young men. I recommend we all watch it.
While JRJ did his fair share of missing last Saturday night--as other players and coaches did--the OP's points are also valid. Where's the FIRE? But also, have you and I had a negative impact on the TEAM since the battle?
So who's to blame? Well, if you live in BPONE, you'll never be satisfied with any answer, so... meh.
The more important question is: what about our job as fans? Are WE helping them win? Especially considering the social media barrage these young men navigate on a minute by minute basis. How about encouragement? How about support? How about instilling confidence when they need it most? This post attempts to shift questions from young men to grown men. But I want to take it a step further and shift the question to you.
WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO INSTILL CONFIDENCE IN THE TEAM, THE TEAM, THE TEAM???
Are you doing that? Can you do that? Can WE do that? We need to. They need us to.
Those who stay will be champions. Those who criticize are Finebaum.
September 5th, 2018 at 9:04 AM ^
the fans have zero affect on a game except when a team is playing at home.
fans had nothing to do with the loss in South Bend, just as they would have had no affect if they had won in South Bend...
September 5th, 2018 at 12:23 PM ^
My point is, it does affect them. Because social media is such a big part of these kids' lives, it's a lot harder for them to ignore the noise. If the fan base is constantly bringing them down, it has an effect on them.
I'm not saying they need to be coddled, but wow, how about not constantly tearing them down. Be encouraging and supportive, especially in regard to individual players.
September 6th, 2018 at 9:22 AM ^
This better illiterates what I’m talking about.
https://wolverineswire.com/2018/09/05/michigan-football-fans-angry/
September 5th, 2018 at 12:29 AM ^
Gibberish
September 5th, 2018 at 12:50 AM ^
It’s a Team sport, the Team lost because the Team played like shit. The coaches lead the Team and thus the most blame goes on their shoulders. But the whole Team is to blame!
September 5th, 2018 at 3:18 AM ^
Great shit post.
September 5th, 2018 at 6:15 AM ^
I understand what “on fire” kind of means but if you are defining it as “jacked up,” i disagree, they looked fine. I put some blame on Brown getting outcoached by Kelly and Long....our defense didn’t adjust until it was too late.
September 5th, 2018 at 7:52 AM ^
Came out way too conservative. It is like we are trying not to lose the game on offense versus trying to get hot and win the game on offense. Need to find a way to get the best players the ball in space - Evans, Perry, DPJ, Collins and Gentry. More creativity in the passing game is needed. We are just way too predictable on offense. Need some Don Brown attitude from the offensive coaches. Come out aggressive and let the players have some fun.
September 5th, 2018 at 10:27 AM ^
While I agree, the throw balls into the defensive backs hands and have our wide receivers take the ball from them, ala ND 1st quarter, probably wouldn't have worked for us.
September 5th, 2018 at 9:32 AM ^
Great look.
Fans cannibalizing one another over their opinions.
The team did not come out looking as if they were amped up ready to hurt somebody. They were flat. They absorbed punches and threw hardly any. They played timid and tentatively. They played tight. They were not 'fired up'.
Why do we attack one another? The team flat out sucked Saturday. Accept it.
September 5th, 2018 at 9:45 AM ^
Define fire.
September 5th, 2018 at 11:02 AM ^
Well, the team that scores more points has more fire. It's kind of a chicken and egg thing, do we need fire to score points? Or just score some points and get fire? Hopefully Harbaugh is working on this.
September 5th, 2018 at 10:26 AM ^
I think this is a good thread that should never need to be posted.
Winning solves everything, can't we get nice things like wins this year Jim?
September 5th, 2018 at 11:02 AM ^
How about the other OT's for not being better than Runyan Jr?
September 5th, 2018 at 12:05 PM ^
Football is a team game no one person looses or wins a game
September 5th, 2018 at 8:25 PM ^
I was happy for Runyan that he had locked down the starting left tackle spot after all the blood, sweat and tears he has put into the program over the years. That being said, with respect to SkyPanthers comment that "It's true Runyan could have done better." ...........
