September 15th, 2018 at 7:08 PM ^
Play calling is ass
September 15th, 2018 at 7:46 PM ^
And not a nice ass
September 15th, 2018 at 9:19 PM ^
SMU has a bad passing defense. Michigan has an accurate former 5* quarterback. The SMU linebackers 9 out of 10 times run straight to the line of scrimmage leaving the middle of the field open, and are very susceptible to play action. Michigan had their first string running back out of the game. SMU had 8 in the box. Michigan went to their jumbo package and pretty much ran it the entire first quarter. This did not work. I am not sure why they thought it would work. I am starting to think that Michigan's offensive game plan was made by this guy.
September 16th, 2018 at 1:55 AM ^
Didn't we hear the same thing last year about vanilla play calling when we were scoring 36 and 29 points against cupcakes? This year it's 49 and 45.
And then last year Harbaugh's play calling so thoroughly kicked Urban Meyer's ass that one of the youngest teams in all of college football was only a C- (or better) quarterback away from beating OSU.
I know I could be going out on a limb here, but Harbaugh's play calling might improve when the quality of the opponent improves.
September 16th, 2018 at 10:43 AM ^
Yeah, it seemed pretty clear that he was running into a 9-man box for some reason. Some kind of method to the madness.
In Harbaugh We Trust.
September 15th, 2018 at 7:09 PM ^
All the cramping strikes me as a fundamental coaching issue. What's up with that?
September 15th, 2018 at 7:20 PM ^
Yeah, why isn't Harbaugh using the secret weather controller on top of East Hall to lower the humidity!
September 15th, 2018 at 7:25 PM ^
Seriously though, nutrition (at the least) should be looked at in the wake of this. Maybe it's luck, but it's very possible that there's something that can be done.
September 15th, 2018 at 7:33 PM ^
Saw a comment from the ND game that cramping was an issue with Herbert at Wisconsin too
September 15th, 2018 at 7:41 PM ^
This might be true. On the other hand, in interviews players have mentioned a greater emphasis on hydration under the new s & c staff, and, at least during the ND game, more of the Irish players were going down with cramps than our players were. (Not that this rules out an issue that needs to be addressed) .
September 16th, 2018 at 7:00 AM ^
Have you watched any other football games this year? Cramping has not only been an issue for Michigan...
September 15th, 2018 at 7:10 PM ^
We look like a team trying not to lose in 1994.
September 15th, 2018 at 7:24 PM ^
1994 was painful.
September 15th, 2018 at 7:32 PM ^
Was that Lloyd's first year, or Drinky McDrinksalot's last year? I think it was Lloyd's first, and it was, in fact, painful
September 15th, 2018 at 7:42 PM ^
Mo's last. Losses to Colorado and OSU, amongst others.
September 15th, 2018 at 8:10 PM ^
OSU was PETRIFIED of Mo despite that loss .
September 15th, 2018 at 9:50 PM ^
This fan base is starting to suck. This game was fine. None of you remember AF or Cincy from last year. I hope you all get Chlamydia
September 16th, 2018 at 1:49 AM ^
Chlamydia is better than gonorrhea. GC is nothing to clap about.
September 15th, 2018 at 7:12 PM ^
Can we solve the cramping?
September 15th, 2018 at 7:14 PM ^
So far, I'm not impressed with the S&C staff this season. No excuse for cramps late in the game. Happened at ND, and again today.
September 15th, 2018 at 7:25 PM ^
Same. It was hot.today, but not that hot.
September 15th, 2018 at 10:33 PM ^
Disagree. I've been going to games for decades and today, on the east side where I sat, it was the hottest I can remember in a long time. On the field, with no breeze, wearing a bunch of gear, and running around would seem almost intolerably hot.
September 16th, 2018 at 12:05 AM ^
Indeed... it was super HOT!
September 16th, 2018 at 10:02 AM ^
I’m guessing the team pulled a Varsity Blues and spent the entire night out at the strip club. All that alcoholic beer caused some serious dehydration.
September 15th, 2018 at 7:12 PM ^
Sad to say but at this point this is a average.
September 16th, 2018 at 12:19 PM ^
What’s average? Certainly not this comment, nope, not even close to average.
September 15th, 2018 at 7:14 PM ^
With all the bad karma in the B1G today, I'll take a 25 point win.
Refs were terrible. 13 penalties for 137 yards. Please.
SMU played better than expected.
Offense is improving. Not sure what's going on with Higdon.
Defense struggled - the DBs are very grabby and some crews will call them on it like today. Maybe need to mix in a little zone?
Not terrible but we got a ways to go before we are better than OSU.
September 15th, 2018 at 7:15 PM ^
Yes, SMU played better than perspective. Like, when they forced a terrible snap on the goal line when we were going in for an easy TD. Sneaky bastards
September 15th, 2018 at 7:25 PM ^
"Grabby DBs" This drives me nuts. Our WRs get tackled, no call. Then our DBs get called for a fraction of the same thing. Same thing with our DEs.
September 15th, 2018 at 9:38 PM ^
Oh boy, if that drives you nuts, just wait until you see what's lying in the weeds for the team up in E. Lansing. You're going to have to change your name to FuriousMatt. Only sort of joking, but I am fully expecting their DB draping our WRs like backpacks and getting 1-2 PIs only because the refs just won't have it in them to call it on every, single, play.
September 15th, 2018 at 7:17 PM ^
Vanilla, as usual. This is Harbaughall. He may ramp it up in the bigger games. Maybe not though.
September 15th, 2018 at 7:17 PM ^
I am just north of 100 points, so I don't want to start a topic until it is truly worthy, so I will place this here. I noticed the cramping issues this season seem disproportionately Michigan. It has been humid in the games this year, but that doesn't seem to have affected the opposition as much as us. I wonder if something is amiss in conditioning/hydration, or is it scheme/lack of player rotation???
September 15th, 2018 at 7:21 PM ^
ND cramped a lot late in that game. SMU is from Texas and doesn't have an indoor facility to they are very, very used to humidity.
September 15th, 2018 at 7:46 PM ^
Yeah... I don't get this take. We've indeed had a lot of cramping... but ND's players were dropping like flies.
September 15th, 2018 at 7:59 PM ^
+1 Insightful.
September 15th, 2018 at 9:08 PM ^
Can't wait until he ramps it up!! Like he did with Pep-Cat in C-bus. /s
September 15th, 2018 at 7:19 PM ^
This felt like we were trying to win with our Vanilla, while SMU threw the kitchen sink at us. We acted like it was a scrimmage, they acted like it was the Super Bowl.
On a day when Wisconsin, Maryland, Nebraska, Illinois & FSU all lost... I will take the 25 point win.
September 15th, 2018 at 7:40 PM ^
Pretty spot on take, though I thought we looked and played flat in the first half.. The SMU receiver was outstanding, and maybe TCU and SMU are better than we think.
September 15th, 2018 at 8:00 PM ^
Yeah watch OSU drop 60 on TCu... that’s what makes me more upset about all of it. We just aren’t on the same level as the top tier yet we keep hearing how the team wants to compete for national championships. Reality is we’re a 10-2 team yearly with the chance to beat OsU maybe once or twice every 5 years.
We don’t have their talent not depth and the offensive staff isn’t creative enough to make up for (clear) deficiencies. Need big wins to get top recruits but need top recruits to get big wins... chicken and egg.
September 15th, 2018 at 9:14 PM ^
Boom - perfectly said
there is a large % of posters here who don’t fee this or even want to hear it
I won’t be surprised if at least 2 people tell you to get lost even though is is 100% true
September 15th, 2018 at 9:44 PM ^
Get lost!
There...feel better now?
September 15th, 2018 at 7:21 PM ^
The more I see from that fella, the less reason I see to believe that Pep Hamilton is a good coach.
September 15th, 2018 at 7:22 PM ^
I’ve lost my love for D Brown....can we please solve a mobile QB
September 15th, 2018 at 7:34 PM ^
If that freshman SMU QB played the entire game, we would have had some trouble on our hands.
September 15th, 2018 at 7:23 PM ^
Michigan O. coaches too stubborn trying to establish a tone with the run game early in games. I love it concept but it is clear the OL isn’t up to the challenge yet.
On D . I hope Brown wanted to use this as teaching and growth against a lesser opponent, BUT would hope we would create a scheme to cover better against a tougher opponent WHEN THEY ONLY HAVE ONE FUCKING RECEIVER! — On the plus side they won’t be overlooking Nebraska with their Mobile QB after this game.
Ref’s sucked.............After clearly giving M a bogus first down on the early Evans 4th down carry they seemed to spend the rest of the game trying to make it up to SMU. Not all the PIs were bogus but they were calling things very ticky-tack. The targeting, late SMU spot (over turned), and the late PI on the QB hit were just awful though.
September 15th, 2018 at 7:24 PM ^
This is more META than coaching but: I think we need to start a GoFundMe for Brian having to do the UFR this week. That was an awful, boring, frustrating slog of a game. I do not envy those who have to rewatch it again.
September 15th, 2018 at 7:24 PM ^
Looks like an 8-4 team to me. JH is the architect of a very boring offense. Nebraska will be a test as injuries mount.
September 15th, 2018 at 7:27 PM ^
This is about as negative as I've seen you be... and I agree. I expected more out of the offense.
Although with Wisconsin losing, maybe our schedule isn't quite as tough as we thought. So maybe 9-3?