Baumgardner: if this continues, more losses will follow, more than one
Nick Baumgardner take on last night's game. Pretty fair IMO. The most "negative" quote is below, he did acknowledge all the positives (coming back, the complete shutdown, etc)
"A team with a vanilla offense and a defense that, save for about 15 plays in critical situations, is lights out. A team that plays with familiar inconsistent mental focus early away from home. What's that going to mean for this group's final record at the end of the season?
Unless Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh has better answers than he has shown, it'll mean more struggles — and more losses — against the Big Ten's best."
September 30th, 2018 at 10:06 AM ^
Shea, Karan and the defense won that game...not sure what else you want him to do it’s not like he isn’t hitting receivers in the chest in stride to watch them drop it (looking at you mckeon).
September 30th, 2018 at 10:17 AM ^
Tell me again: to whom are you referring?
September 30th, 2018 at 10:19 AM ^
Patterson looked a little shaky last night. Other than that, he's been good-to-great.
You're high on something if you think he sucks and is the reason the offense has underwhelmed at times.
September 30th, 2018 at 10:41 AM ^
Northwestern is a Top 20 defense who had a good gameplan to limit Michigan's chances and still lost because Patterson made plays when it matters. I don't think you can ask for too much more at this point in the program. It's not like we have a dominant Oline than can roll over the opponents
September 30th, 2018 at 10:37 AM ^
Hahahah what game were you even watching yesterday? Patterson clutched the shit out of that game. We lose with anyone else at the helm.
September 30th, 2018 at 12:26 PM ^
Phrase of the day: “clutched the shit out of that game.”
Exactly right. I think he’s been coached to keep himself out of harm’s way because it would be nice to have a healthy #1 QB for once for the whole season. But when the game was on the line, he made all of the throws and put his body on the line. The team will consolidate and unite behind that kind of performance. There will be faith in Patterson’s leadership the next time the chips are down.
September 30th, 2018 at 11:04 AM ^
You should try watching the game with your eyes open!
September 30th, 2018 at 11:27 AM ^
Damn, son, it's pretty early to be that drunk!
September 30th, 2018 at 12:02 PM ^
I listened to someone make this argument on Valenti's show and he gave it a respectful hearing and then agreement. Hmm
October 1st, 2018 at 7:19 AM ^
This is beyond stupid. We lose to Northwestern on Saturday without Shea Patterson under center. Did he have his best game? No. Still, he delivered when it counted.
The guy completed 15 passes for 196 yards for 13.1 YPA for Chrissake, but by all means, lets bench him for the redshirt freshman because he rush a couple of throws.
September 30th, 2018 at 9:51 AM ^
Hot Out-take! Everyone has a voice.
September 30th, 2018 at 9:54 AM ^
Bumgardner LOVES to be a wet blanket and acts like he’s always superior to the fan base because he can make obvious observations
September 30th, 2018 at 9:56 AM ^
You know, if Michigan plays more games, there is a possibility they could lose some of those games. Especially if they spot the opposition a lead. It's time for Harbaugh to be accountable for this fact.
I remember when I realized that newspaper guys were really just people with opinions.
September 30th, 2018 at 9:58 AM ^
It will be interesting to see UFR. I thought Shea passed on a lot of short stuff early in his reads. Don't know if he was looking for bigger plays, but there definitely seemed chances for 3-5 yard gains right away, in quite a few cases.
Also, Ambry being out on the field seems to open some things up, and provide a bit of a spark, even if he doesn't touch the ball. Get him in early and often.
September 30th, 2018 at 9:58 AM ^
Holy fuck some of you people.
September 30th, 2018 at 11:27 AM ^
Right On Walter!!!!
September 30th, 2018 at 10:03 AM ^
He is 100% right this is a 7-5 team unless the coaching staff gets it's shit together. The coaches are not drilling the discipline into the players to stop the foot shooting we keep seeing (penalties) ...and we need an offensive coordinator. Also do we have a hurry up offense? I'd like to see it sometime especially when we're playing from behind.
Finally, ,someone...anyone on the coaching staff...will you please put some effort into firing up our guys before the game? Coming out flat in the first quarter is a pattern. We can't spot good teams a couple TDs and expect to win. This whole "play loose and learn their gameplan" before making adjustments is going to cost us games. Everybody does the same shit now...they script drives that seem to fuckin work...MSU, PSU, NW...I could go on and on over the last 2 seasons. It's like everybody knows what our tendencies are but us?
Honestly I'm shocked at where we're at in year 4 and I lay this at the coach's feet. Compare where Franklin was a year 4 vs us and he had a tougher hand dealt to him!
September 30th, 2018 at 11:28 AM ^
Yeah, I'm sure Don Brown didn't put any effort into charging up the defense.
September 30th, 2018 at 10:06 AM ^
We have zero evidence that Michigan is better than Iowa. Wisconsin should be favored in our game.
If we play like yesterday we lost to Wisconsin, psu, msu, and osu
September 30th, 2018 at 10:30 AM ^
Do you really think MSU this year is better than Northwestern? I don't. They look very similar to me: good QB, not much of a run game, decent defense.
September 30th, 2018 at 11:07 AM ^
Slightly better, but they're going to come out guns blazing just like Northwestern did so if we start like that again it could be ugly. They definitely have a better run defense, so probably gonna need to work on a better game plan for that.
September 30th, 2018 at 11:13 AM ^
Lewerke is better than Thorson and their front 7 is better. It’s also their super bowl so every trick they have they will use.
September 30th, 2018 at 4:39 PM ^
Yes, lewerke is better than NW’s qb. Plus msu’s Front on defense is much better than NW. we better play much better.
September 30th, 2018 at 10:10 AM ^
If Baumgardner had predicted Michigan will win the east, he'd be hailed here as a genius of unusual insight.
September 30th, 2018 at 10:24 AM ^
I think people get mad about negativity when there isn't much to back it up. There really isn't anything insightful about Nick's column. Any of us could have said the same thing.
OTOH, certain people do get cranky about the positivity, and their reason is usually "I've been watching Michigan football since I got home from fighting in WWI, and we've been a disappointment every year, so all you youngins are just delusional for thinking we are going to be good."
September 30th, 2018 at 10:10 AM ^
Heads up, this year they're going to WIN the Outback Bowl!
September 30th, 2018 at 10:12 AM ^
To be clear:
After the first two drives, the offense put up 370 yards of offense and 20 points. This doesn't include 20 yards that should have counted if not for a holding call that caused a Joel Klatt aneurysm. It also doesn't account for the fact that Michigan was trying to run out the clock the last drive and were screwed on field position by another terrible call on a PR.
Northwestern wasn't really stopping Michigan after the first two drives, Michigan was stopping themselves. For all the talk about "vanilla" play calling, Michigan had guys open in the end zone. They had guys open for easy completions that weren't caught (Collins and McKeon). Their second touchdown was a play call that walked Higdon into the end zone. And even when they were running out the clock and everyone's screaming about Higdon getting the ball over and over again, he was incredibly close to a first down that would have iced the game.
This team is good. They can be better. The only real complaints from this game boil down to the penalties and the incredibly sluggish start on the road, both of which appear to be trends.
September 30th, 2018 at 10:43 AM ^
Couldn’t have said it better. Great, level-headed take.
September 30th, 2018 at 10:51 AM ^
Sure, let's go with that.
September 30th, 2018 at 10:56 AM ^
No, let's go with your take: Everything sucks, this team is 7-5, every other Big Ten contender will beat us because they play perfect football every game.
September 30th, 2018 at 12:31 PM ^
Save for a few times that Mason should have been the choice to run the football, I agree.
September 30th, 2018 at 10:13 AM ^
The offense runs at a pace that suggests it is running a teaching drill. There often appears a lack of tempo that could stress a defense. Instead it suggests precision over all else, including athletic talent. Would prefer some tempo and rhythm.
September 30th, 2018 at 10:26 AM ^
Our offense does absolutely nothing to make things difficult for opposing defenses. We are slow, plodding and utterly predictable.
September 30th, 2018 at 10:50 AM ^
Dunno, Northwestern seemed unable to predict Higdon's second touchdown, a number of wide open play action passes, the receivers being open in the end zone that Patterson missed, etc.
I could go on but what's the point? You want to be a miserable human being, be a miserable human being.
September 30th, 2018 at 11:17 AM ^
We scored 20 points against a team that gave up twice as many to..excuse me...Akron?? What was Akron doing that we can't? We put ZERO pressure on their defense. Lousy execution just made it worse.
September 30th, 2018 at 11:27 AM ^
Akron scored three defensive touchdowns.
September 30th, 2018 at 12:01 PM ^
Shhh. Do t let fact get in the way of his rant.
September 30th, 2018 at 11:33 AM ^
By your dumb fuck logic, is Appalachian State 1 point worse than Ohio State in regulation? Basically, just as good as Ohio State and Penn State?
Because that's what you're saying, right?
September 30th, 2018 at 11:33 AM ^
NW QB was terrible against Akron and Duke for that matter. INT's that were just bad throws and reads and not the result of pressure.
September 30th, 2018 at 10:17 AM ^
He’s correct. UM has come out flat in several games this year. ND, SMU, and Northwestern. UM needs to start faster period.
September 30th, 2018 at 10:36 AM ^
Harbaugh needs to hire an oc and delegate. PSU has a bad OL but has a much better offense. Everything is too nflized and we dont have the personnel to run it.
September 30th, 2018 at 10:38 AM ^
Agree 100%.
If we play badly, we could lose. If we play good, we just might win
September 30th, 2018 at 10:52 AM ^
We scored 20 points. Last Saturday, the Akron Zips from the MAC scored 39 against Northwestern on the same field. I see 2-3 more losses on the schedule.
September 30th, 2018 at 10:57 AM ^
By dumb fuck logic, Ohio State should be feeling miserable that they only beat Penn State by a single point. After all, Appalachian State took them to overtime.
September 30th, 2018 at 11:21 AM ^
So what did Akron do on offense that we can't? And why can't we?
September 30th, 2018 at 11:27 AM ^
They have a college minded OC. We have a head coach with a playbook from the fucking 70s.
September 30th, 2018 at 11:37 AM ^
Truly, he is a great offensive mind. His mind is so offensive that it has spread to the defense which accounted for three touchdowns.
September 30th, 2018 at 11:35 AM ^
not much, but they did score 3 defensive touchdowns. before you use it as a comparison maybe try to watch the game or at least look a box score
September 30th, 2018 at 11:36 AM ^
Akron scored three defensive touchdowns. They put up less than 300 yards of offense. It was a fluke game. Honestly, at least try to have a clue you miserable troll.