September 17th, 2018 at 3:53 PM ^
+1 for the thought of 70+ on Frost.
September 17th, 2018 at 5:03 PM ^
This exactly! I can't understand why the fanbase is not able to comprehend that the season is a story. Each game is situational and has to be game planned using information only from previous games. We have quite obviously had growth over the last 3 games. We have seen that we are multidimensional with our offensive threats (i.e. DPJ, Collins, Gentry, and a moderate run threat in Higdon). This forces other teams to hedge in their defensive strategy, and gives us better opportunity to win. I admit that I would like to have us perform at an elite level right now, but I think that can still be possible by the time we hit our last game in November. Despite our history, I maintain that we do not need to be elite to beat MSU.
September 17th, 2018 at 5:52 PM ^
Because dammit - we should be like Bama and Ohio State, with 5 stars stacked like firewood, not seeing playing time until they are ready because why .... because we have even more starzzzzz ...
People don't get that we are coming from behind, and therefore have to ramp across a season, and it will continue to be that way until we break through like Clemson or Georgia lately. Oh and it is even harder for us if we intend to be holier than thou at the same time.
This fan base needs to R-E-L-A-X!
September 17th, 2018 at 3:42 PM ^
use it against ND ?
September 17th, 2018 at 3:45 PM ^
They tried but Runyan couldn't fake block a screen pass that would have scored.
September 17th, 2018 at 3:45 PM ^
It's because they don't even know the other half yet.
September 17th, 2018 at 3:50 PM ^
Could be possible that it's in the playbook but they haven't practiced the plays enough yet to run them. Or they're attempting to master a smaller set of plays before expanding. Either seems like a practical approach given the youth on the line. If you put in the whole playbook for Notre Dame they probably look a lot worse than they did.
September 17th, 2018 at 4:00 PM ^
This is so obvious to me. It's a work in process. They were likely trying the same thing last year until the quarterbacks exploded into little bits.
This offense has a ways to go to complete the evolution. Now it looks like we have 3 more weeks to keep working the basics against live competition before the real season gets here.
September 17th, 2018 at 3:47 PM ^
The offense that Alabama used to put up 62 (49 in 1st half) on Ole Miss? Harbaugh gonna use that one starting with the Wisconsin game...
O.k., so Michigan does not have Bama's current offense. But I am pretty sure that this year will be the best offense since Harbaugh arrived, and really the best offense against good teams since...a long time. O-line will improve every week and end up good enough to allow Patterson to fully exploit his potential.
September 17th, 2018 at 4:18 PM ^
2016 offense was pretty darn good and will probably beat this one. Beat up on Hawaii & UCF (similar to '18 WMU/SMU) by scores of 63-3 and 51-14. We beat down the Pac12 South Champs Colorado 45-28. We beat the B1G Champs 49-10. We beat Rutger 78-0. Illinois 41-8. Maryland 59-3.
I believe that offense finished around #40 in S&P or so. So we aren't off the pace in terms of advanced stats, but without a lot of improvement there is no way we score 496 points this year. We are on pace for 444 thru 3 games, with our 2 easiest games already off the schedule. If we score in the 40s against Nebraska, Northwestern, and Maryland I will start to change my tune. Otherwise I'd adjust your expectations down a notch.
September 17th, 2018 at 4:27 PM ^
Wow, I honestly forgot how hard we hammered some of those teams. 2017 rewrote history in my head lol.
September 17th, 2018 at 4:48 PM ^
Recency bias is strong. But as much as our offense sucked Iowa '16 - ND '18, it was REALLY REALLY GOOD Rutgers '15 - Maryland '16
September 17th, 2018 at 4:50 PM ^
I see 2017 so differently then most UofM fans. 8-5 is the floor for this program under Harbaugh. Yeah it sucks all we did was hit the floor last year, but damn that is a hell of an improvement over what Michigan became under RR and Hoke.
I don't get how people can point to 2017 as the new normal for Harbaugh output when it is an outlier compared to his career to date. Even just looking at Michigan, that 8-5 record shouldn't erase what he accomplished in year 1, and year 2 we were an inch away from the B1G title game while noted OSU fans literally reffed the game.
September 17th, 2018 at 5:03 PM ^
Too many fans cannot put their PT(RRH)D aside and realize that JH has to rebuild the roster.
September 17th, 2018 at 6:56 PM ^
People want to be outraged these days. Look at the political climate. Everyone is pissed about something, most of it meaningless crap. This is the age of narcissism where people run to the internet and blow a nut about inconsequential matters in a vain attempt to make other equally narcissistic people feel bad about themselves. Its a neverending vicious cycle of pissed off losers.
September 17th, 2018 at 7:21 PM ^
It also means that when there are things really worth being offended and/or pissed of about people don't take them as seriously.
September 17th, 2018 at 10:58 PM ^
Like Urban?
September 17th, 2018 at 10:10 PM ^
Did you just get outraged about other people getting outraged? The recursion is exactly what you posit in your last sentence. If it's any consolation, I'm completely in agreement with your point. I've reached outrage fatigue, if there is such a thing.
September 17th, 2018 at 4:51 PM ^
2016 offense was good overall, and scored on average 40+ per game. But it sputtered against better teams (except injury riddled Penn State's D).
I think the 2018 offense will be better than 2016 because it will do better against the good teams, mostly because of Patterson. He alone will make 4 to 5 plays against teams like OSU, Wisconsin, Penn State, that Speight was not able to make in 2016.
The offense is not there yet, but the ingredients are better than in 2016 and by mid-October the 2018 offense will be pretty good.
September 17th, 2018 at 5:00 PM ^
The big differences between 2016 and this years offense are the OL, weapons, and QB. So, in other words, the two offenses are nothing similar! 2016 had a very good OL, and mediocre QB/WR/RB play. I think this year will end with a decent OL, and very good QB/WR/RB play. Hopefully, the majority wins out, like it did in 2016! I'm still looking forward to a dynamic offense...
September 17th, 2018 at 3:51 PM ^
That sounds about right. With a new signal caller, a slower roll out of the offense is to be expected. You essentially want to find some core plays that work, and build off of those. You want to see what the offense executes well, and what needs to be scrapped. For example, in the ND game, the offense took only 2 shots deep downfield, and the majority of passes were short to intermediate. Against SMU there were a few more shots downfield, and quite a few 20+ yard throws.
After stubbornly attempting to establish the run against stacked boxes against SMU, I think Coach Harbaugh is now comfortable with what the offense can do, and we should see more playcalling diversity over the next several games.
Go Blue!
September 17th, 2018 at 3:58 PM ^
I've said it in other threads, but to repeat here...
It's an open question whether Harbaugh was (1) being stubborn with running between the tackles into 8-9 man fronts for 1.5 quarters, or (2) just decided to rep his o-line on base running plays into 8-9 man fronts for practice and film teaching, knowing that M would win the game no matter what.
Probably a little of both.
September 17th, 2018 at 4:08 PM ^
Yeah, I can definitely buy into Coach Harbaugh wanting to get the O-line some game reps, some "time on task" with the running game. He understands the need to build their confidence going forward. And, he's probably right! There was a run in the first half that was not blocked correctly and gained no yards. In the 2nd half, they ran the exact same play, against the exact same front, but it was blocked better and gained 7-8 yards.
Although I found myself screaming for Coach Harbaugh to pass the ball on those first couple of drives, I understand the need for game reps over simply blowing an opponent out early. After the first few drives, Michigan seemingly scored at will.
September 17th, 2018 at 4:30 PM ^
But let’s not kid ourselves...that was a ballgame until our final score. If it weren’t for Mettelus’ pick six, that game could have been terrifying. That’s the problem I have with running stubborn plays while “knowing” (assuming) you’ll pull away.
September 17th, 2018 at 7:51 PM ^
Lloyd Carr (or his OC) would usually run a super predictable offensive game plans even though he has the roster to do so much more. Way too often this allowed inferior teams to stay close into the 4th quarter, and then weird flukey fumbles, interceptions, etc. would happen...and Michigan would lose.
Harbaugh has done that too. Examples: MSU game in 2016. Plus his offensive play calls in the 4th quarter against OSU in 2016 were also way too conservative. He failed to dial up any form of offensive creativity when 1 more first down would have put the game away.
September 17th, 2018 at 3:55 PM ^
I'd rather have an extra win than secret plays.
September 17th, 2018 at 5:09 PM ^
Secret plays may not have been ready 2-3 weeks ago.
September 17th, 2018 at 3:57 PM ^
Bust it out against MSU only. Screw Wisconsin and Penn State.
September 17th, 2018 at 8:38 PM ^
Bust out 33% of the remaining 50% against each of Wiscy, MSU and PSU. Then bust out 85% of the remaining 28% against OSU. Then bust out 93% of the remaining 16% in the B1G championship game. Then let er ride with all 168% of our playbook in the CFP. THAT, my friends, is the key to running the table in the B1G and winning the CFP championship.
September 18th, 2018 at 9:21 AM ^
I think Scott Steiner is on MGoBlog.
September 17th, 2018 at 3:58 PM ^
The rest is hiding behind Onwenu. It's between the Buick & a Honda we also haven't seen.
September 17th, 2018 at 4:02 PM ^
Loose lips sink ships, kid.
September 17th, 2018 at 11:48 PM ^
reverse psychology...there is nothing else hidden away but our enemies think there is.
September 17th, 2018 at 4:04 PM ^
Anyone who has shown over half of their offense at this time in the year has a small playbook.
There are only so many plays that can go in the gameplan for a given week.
September 17th, 2018 at 5:56 PM ^
Right plus I know a college team that pretty much has 10-15 plays in the playbook with lot of different formations to change up the look but still run the same type of plays. They were a pretty successful offensive team. The main thing is you have the core plays that you want to execute well and use other plays as constraints so you can get back to using the core plays without defensive players cheating on certain plays.
September 17th, 2018 at 4:06 PM ^
I mean that's great but I guess the coaches just decided to treat the ND game like an exhibition game.
September 17th, 2018 at 4:15 PM ^
Yeah, I'm sure they just said "fuck this game, we don't care".
So sick of idiotic "opinions" around here, and the internet in general.
September 17th, 2018 at 4:28 PM ^
Well you would hope that they’d pull out whatever it takes to win that game, unless they weren’t confident that the players could run those plays. I get hiding plays against WMU or SMU but ND is a little different. I don’t know why I see the “rational” fans flaming every opinion that they don’t agree with on here. No constructive dialogue. In every single post I’ve seen where someone may critique a player or coach all I see is “OH MY GOD YOU FUCKING IDIOT, YOU DON’T KNOW HARBAUGH’S A GOD?!!” Lol settle down. They’ve shown nothing to make us have a blinded faith in their decision making. There’s probably only two head coaches in CFB who have that luxury and we don’t have either.
Yes I’m happy we’ve won the past two games, but look at the competition. Don’t get too confident now.
September 17th, 2018 at 4:53 PM ^
The offense was doing it's best to execute what it could against a top 5 defense and had the ball with a chance to tie at midfield with a minute left in the game....
September 17th, 2018 at 5:02 PM ^
Notre Dame is not a top 5 defense. Above average? Maybe, but not top 5. Vanderbilt had more yards and touchdowns than us at ND’s stadium, and Ball State put up a performance that basically replicated ours. Their D will get lit up later this season. They are by no means elite, just overrated.
September 17th, 2018 at 5:18 PM ^
https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/ncaa
They are ranked 5th according to S&P+ right now.
September 17th, 2018 at 5:27 PM ^
The statistics don’t paint an accurate picture. But if you really want to base your full opinion off of these stats would you rather have ND’s defense or Alabama’s? Alabama’s 4 spots back and I would take them every single day of the week, and I think almost anyone would.
Are you telling me you think Iowa has the best defense in the country?
September 17th, 2018 at 7:04 PM ^
They had a very good defense last year, and returned everyone. They're good, and that's okay.
September 17th, 2018 at 5:02 PM ^
There's plenty of rational debate. But it doesn't start with a "...exhibition game..." comment... Timmmmaaayyyyyy was correct - that was a shit post.
September 17th, 2018 at 5:23 PM ^
I agree that was a dumb comment, but you get his sentiment. I think it’s obvious he didn’t literally mean an exhibition game, there was some sarcasm involved. But this is just one example - people have freaked out for much less. I just don’t think every disagreement warrants getting cussed out and getting 100 negs. But that’s just me.
September 17th, 2018 at 4:20 PM ^
First game, on road, hostile environment, new center, new QB, suspect Oline ......yadda, yadda, yadda
September 17th, 2018 at 4:36 PM ^
Come on man. Notre Dame was Shea's first game in a pro-style offense, taking snaps under center. It was his first game with this coaching staff and playbook. No way it would be 100% downloaded. it was also the first start at C for Ruiz. The first game for the whole line under Warriner. Not to mention, Michigan ran 70 plays in the Notre Dame game. They literally could not run 100% of their playbook.
Furthermore, Michigan has only ran 181 plays this season. If we didn't duplicate a single play all season I'd hope our playbook was less than halfway emptied. Now I'm sure Michigan's playbooked is dumbed down compared to an NFL one, but I doubt it's not one of the largest in college football. For reference, here's an example of an NFL playbook length:
Back when he was coaching, Jon Gruden had a playbook thicker than the Los Angeles Yellow Pages — remember those? — so I asked him your question. He said that while there are hundreds of plays in a typical playbook, most teams select between 75 and 100 pass plays for a game, and 15-20 running plays when assembling a game plan for a given week.
September 17th, 2018 at 8:43 PM ^
Gotta agree here -- at some point the AD has to be smart. Don't schedule a tough game first. Find some way to straighten out the schedule so we don't have an *impossible* task every two years. Seems Warde is soft as ten-ply. I wish Hackett would have stayed on.
September 17th, 2018 at 4:17 PM ^
Probably cuz they can't block it properly to show it.
September 17th, 2018 at 4:18 PM ^
It's quite possible - based on empirical evidence - that a) we haven't seen half of this season's offensive playbook and b) we will continue to not be shown said half of playbook.