Maryland Snowflakes - The Offense

Submitted by LSAClassOf2000 on October 7th, 2018 at 12:00 AM

Here is your thread for hot takes and snowflakes regarding the offense and offensive playcalling. 

FatGuyTouchdown

October 6th, 2018 at 4:29 PM ^

Offensive Line looked very good at times, the rhythm is starting to come along, Tru Wilson is an animal, Shea is very good, the receivers are good, we were all wrong about Ronnie Bell, and I'm excited for the next few games.

FatGuyTouchdown

October 6th, 2018 at 4:59 PM ^

I actually feel very optimistic. The offensive line has gotten tangibly better, and while Maryland's DLine isn't great, there weren't many missed assignments and there was some real get off. Tru Wilson is a fucking player. He may very well be our best running back in terms of all aspects of the game. 

ldevon1

October 7th, 2018 at 11:34 AM ^

Maybe he isn't open. Maybe they don't think he's explosive enough to specifically design plays for. Maybe the 3 TE's we use are getting his catches. Does it really matter, the offense is getting better and more diverse each week. 

YoOoBoMoLloRoHo

October 6th, 2018 at 8:17 PM ^

Speak for yourself regarding Bell.  Any guy who delivers those stats playing big city talent can play ball.  His b-ball clips also showed quite an athlete. [I still want Ford this cycle.]

The upside - he will probably improve significantly with the offseason of S&C along with working with the QB for months before 2019.

Onward.

Ghost of Fritz…

October 6th, 2018 at 4:29 PM ^

Lots of improvements today.  Passing game was showing some good things today. 

Still not there yet.  But progress.

Should be better in the red zone. 

And M isgoing to have the also beat the refs phantom holding calls every Saturday, apparently...

mitchewr

October 6th, 2018 at 4:30 PM ^

This might have been the best game our offense has had all season.

And props to the defense for actually drawing a couple of holding calls. 

But once again, we get screwed out of a touchdown by a bullshit holding call on the RB. Someone punch these dipshit refs please. 

Atrained

October 6th, 2018 at 4:31 PM ^

Shea missed a couple but continues to look like a difference maker that could swing some close games our way.

Run game wasn't explosive but was consistently able to at least grind out a few most carries, which is a big upgrade over the many TFLs we've become accustomed to.

Pass protection again looked pretty good, Warriner is earning his paycheck.

Atrained

October 6th, 2018 at 4:34 PM ^

Also, I think one of the completions to Gentry in the middle of the field was an RPO. That, and the play action pass that got Wangler a touchdown seem like an effective way to punish overeager LB crews like SMU and Northwestern. Hope we see more of this moving forward

CompleteLunacy

October 6th, 2018 at 5:20 PM ^

I mean slightly flat I guess, first drive went 40 yards and then punted, 2nd  drive got into FG territory and only stalled because an opponent actually was ready to stuff the FB dive. 3rd drive got points (forget why it stalled though). They only got better from there...yes it’s still a concern moving forward, but it wasn’t as big of an issue today as we’ve seen in the past.

Ghost of Fritz…

October 6th, 2018 at 9:13 PM ^

Not sure why this is a debate.  Whatever people want to call it, the fact is that it was 17-7 at the half.  That is not terrible.  But it is not really great either.

D was pretty good from the start.  But the offense did not really dominate until sort of later in the 2nd and then in much of the 2nd half.

Overall, the offense was pretty good.  But it still has to get much better to really compete for the Big Ten championship.

Why is this controversial? 

Ghost of Fritz…

October 7th, 2018 at 6:50 AM ^

Please re-read the post.  I said the D was great from the start.  So your response makes no sense. 

The issue is whether the offense had a 'slow start' (as a poster above argued).

And, whatever you want to call it, the offense was good but not outstanding until about mid-way through 2nd quarter. 

Fact:  Michigan has scored a total of 3 points in the first quarters against ND, Northwestern, and Maryland, the best three teams Michigan has played so far.  Not an average of 3, but a total of 3 points in first quarters. 

So the offense overall played well against Maryland.  But there is a problem with getting the offense in gear early. 

 

wolverine1987

October 7th, 2018 at 10:00 AM ^

I'm with you. Maybe I'm still in BPONE but I didn't think the offense qualified as impressive in this game or any game this year. This is what we should have done against Maryland, and that's an accomplishment. And the pass protection seems much better. Another accomplishment. But I don't think anyone left on our schedule fears this offense one bit.

Ghost of Fritz…

October 7th, 2018 at 10:33 AM ^

I don't want to be misunderstood.  I was happy to see the offense take a real positive step forward yesterday.  And this offense is already way better than at any point in 2017.  And it has gotten much better over the month of September, which is what you want to see (and we did not see in 2017).

But it is not yet at the level that will be needed to give M a 50%+ probability to beat PSU or OSU. 

I can see this offense getting to that point, especially based on what we saw yesterday.  Not there yet, however.

3 total points in first quarters against ND, NW, and Maryland...shows us that the offense still has to get better.  Still too many deep red zone drives ending in FGs.  Too many 3rd and five, six or seven situations. 

You can complete with scores drives that include 3 or 4 third and 5 to 7 yards to go against the Marylands of the world.  Against Maryland M if going to convert enough of those 3rd downs to easily win the game.  Against better Ds, those sorts of drives will stall out way too often.   

 

Ghost of Fritz…

October 7th, 2018 at 11:26 AM ^

This could be part of it.  Several have suggested that JH does this intentionally to set up plays later in the game.  Probably true. 

Offense was successful in getting first downs, even early in the game.  But they nonetheless did not score in the 1st quarter.

Whatever the reason, scoring just three points in the first quarters combined against ND, NW, and Maryland is...not ideal.

Will that work against Penn State and OSU offenses, which have the potential to score a lot early? 

Patterson is really good;  RB group is deep and pretty strong; WR group is deep and pretty strong, and the OL has now become pretty solid.

The offense has the players...so why not set a goal of getting better scoring results early in the game?   

Ghost of Fritz…

October 7th, 2018 at 11:51 AM ^

Holy cow!  You are correct!  How could I possibly have made this terrible error? 

I will be more careful going forward in my careless use of the words "pretty good."

/s

Geez, the post was about the lack of scoring from the offense early in the game.  Saying the D played pretty good from the start was just a way of saying that the D was good from the very first snap.

The offense, in contrast, scored no points in the 1st quarter, etc.

J.

October 6th, 2018 at 5:04 PM ^

If you don't think Maryland is trash, you haven't been paying attention to any of the reports out of College Park in the past two months.

They may have talent individually, but they are undeniably trash as a program, and it's reflected in the dirty way they played.

brad

October 6th, 2018 at 4:34 PM ^

Michigan's throw game is careening toward an explosive excellence we haven't seen in quite a while.  It's not there right now, of course, but you can see it taking shape.  When a couple of things fall into place, mostly Shea's familiarity with the scheme and his timeliness, they will be really really good.  I hope to God it happens in the next couple weeks.