PennLive writer admits M is better this year -- but only because the B1G sucks
Read the title; essentially the author admits M is the best but it only happened due to timing and dumb luck.
Google suggested this article -- I didn't search it out on my own. Don't @ me.
https://articles.pennlive.com/pennstatefootball/index.ssf/2018/10/penn_state_football_michigan_h.amp
October 30th, 2018 at 12:32 PM ^
Oh man. Was that the year Rutgers beat us?!
I can't believe people actually argue that Franklin isn't awful.
October 30th, 2018 at 12:35 PM ^
We had stupid uniforms too.
October 30th, 2018 at 12:36 PM ^
That, I couldn’t forget. Ugly and they constantly tore.
October 30th, 2018 at 1:47 PM ^
Off all the Dave Brandon alternates, these were the least hideous, IMO....
October 30th, 2018 at 3:00 PM ^
All I remember was the halftime show. That was the most watchable part of the game.
October 30th, 2018 at 12:49 PM ^
3-11 against the good teams in his division. Not great, Bob!
October 30th, 2018 at 12:54 PM ^
But Harbaugh is the choke artist who can't win games.
October 30th, 2018 at 2:45 PM ^
Now you're getting it! That's how media works in this day and age, just say something loud and confidently despite what the facts and reality actually are, and whatever audience you're pandering to will believe it no questions asked because it fits their personal biased narrative.
October 30th, 2018 at 5:41 PM ^
Harbaugh is 7-7 against OSU, PSU, MSU and Wisconsin. And soon to be 9-7. The Harbaugh cant beat the top of the B1G thing is so overplayed.
October 30th, 2018 at 7:44 PM ^
50% is pretty impressive, given that he’s 0-3 against OSU.
October 30th, 2018 at 12:56 PM ^
Yet Harbaugh's record is the only one we ever hear about (although I'm willing to admit there's probably a lot of proximity bias from our perspective).
October 30th, 2018 at 12:58 PM ^
And each of his wins came against the worst team those schools have had during his tenure. 3-9 MSU, 8-5 Michigan, and the OSU team(on a blocked FG for a TD) that got annihilated by Clemson in the playoff after a season of so many close wins they should have been 9-3(doubt OT over MI, OT over WI, 1 pt against MSU, and 4 pts against NW).
October 30th, 2018 at 1:17 PM ^
He beat Harbaugh's worst team. But let's not forget that Field Goal Franklin managed to get out coached by Brady Hoke in 2014 at the Big House.
October 30th, 2018 at 12:25 PM ^
Oh that's why
October 30th, 2018 at 12:27 PM ^
Funny, the guy who accuses Harbaugh of playing "1980s football" is a 1980s sports media hack who is all taeks and no substance.
October 30th, 2018 at 12:28 PM ^
"You're only better than us because we happen to be worse than you."
October 30th, 2018 at 12:30 PM ^
It would be rather ironic if Harbaugh lifts the reigns on Patterson this week to the tune of 3-4 deep bombs to DPJ, Black, or Collins.
October 30th, 2018 at 12:40 PM ^
I think he should. I mean, the worst that could happen is a couple of arm punts. I wouldn’t be worried about Patterson’s confidence, even if he were to throw a pick or two.
October 30th, 2018 at 12:57 PM ^
I think this is exactly what we'll see this week. Harbaugh has been showing different sides of his offense from game to game this season. Each new wrinkle gives opposing coaches more to worry about. A deep threat would somewhat lessen pressure on the run game, which would help support a run-first offense in the OSU game. Plus, I think Harbaugh fully trusts Patterson now, which will give him the confidence to allow Patterson to air it out.
October 30th, 2018 at 12:33 PM ^
I kept waiting for the author to explain how he came to that conclusion or explain what is wrong with the M offense other than saying it's "stuck in the 1980s."
What' does he mean by scrimmage-based?
Is this because we have a full back and throw the ball to the tight-end?
I'm thinking that he hasn't watched much M football.
October 30th, 2018 at 1:41 PM ^
I'm wondering if he meant that it was focused on winning the line of scrimmage. He makes a later statement that to beat Michigan you have to win both lines... I would agree with both of those statements, but suggest that it is true of all football. Unless the future is to sacrifice the line to spread it out and air it out all the time with a mobile quarterback.... but then, that's also the past ala 2000s USC and Vince Young.
October 30th, 2018 at 4:00 PM ^
All the gameday threads lead me to believe the offense sucked because it was stuck in the 70s. So it has advanced since then? Cool.
October 30th, 2018 at 12:34 PM ^
Hey Dave, 2015 called. They want their takes back
This guy writes like his only knowledge of Harbaugh is other people's hot takes. All these comparisons to neolithic offenses and channeling the 1980's. Dude might as well have saved himself a few hours of typing and just written "I haven't actually watched Michigan play, but I assume they suck"
October 30th, 2018 at 12:46 PM ^
To be fair, complaints about the Michigan offense being archaic were all over this forum up to the Wisconsin game and probably in every game thread even thereafter..and those were presumably made by people who watch every single Michigan game. I know that I didn't exactly jump for joy when we saw a run up the middle into the teeth of a D expecting a run up the middle several times in a row.
Sure, we've seen some wrinkles of unpredictability thrown into the mix over the last few games..and oh boy did it feel like seeing the first flower blossoms after a long winter. And yet there is still some merit to the idea that if our offense was as productive as our defense we'd be a powerhouse rather than just a good team.
October 30th, 2018 at 12:52 PM ^
Hot takes by frustrated fans don't mean much. Also, our defense is so statistically good BECAUSE of the style of our offense.
Remember what happened last year when the offense couldn't stay on the field? The defense collapsed late in games. That would happen regardless of our offense shitting the bed or scoring Oklamoha quick. Our offense grinds other teams and that's 1000% by design - even the "run up the middle" that so many people complain about.
If we took Don Brown and all the defensive players and gave them to Oklahoma, the defense would still look good. It would NOT look otherworldly though.
October 30th, 2018 at 3:06 PM ^
It would seem that there would be a happy medium where they were a little bit more aggressive but not Oklahoma quick but may that's coming or maybe there isn't really a happy medium.
October 30th, 2018 at 1:04 PM ^
Let's see how the rest of the season shakes out and then return to this thought.
October 30th, 2018 at 12:37 PM ^
I am trying to imagine this guy reviewing films in the 1980s or something.....
"Leonard: Part VI" is good, but only because "Ishtar" sucks.
October 30th, 2018 at 2:56 PM ^
He states (before Michigan has played either team, mind you) that Michigan will beat Penn State and Ohio State with a throwback physical team only because the clearly superior modern Penn State and Ohio State are not physical enough this year.
You gotta try real hard to complete the contortion that heals an inner child this broken.
October 30th, 2018 at 12:41 PM ^
The author of that article doesnt know what hes talking about. Harbaughs offense is hardly from the 80's. He runs a proset, multiple formation offense that is very modern. Its almost the same thing that Alabama runs. What dont people get about that. Were not a "5 yards and a cloud of dust" type of team these people think we are. Just because he learned from Bo does not mean thats what hes doing. The writer of this article either doesnt really watch our games or just doesnt know anything about football.
I think some people must think throwing the ball 60 times a game is "modern" and what teams are doing. Well good luck with that keep throwing it and have defenses start teeing off on you and getting interceptions lol
October 30th, 2018 at 12:42 PM ^
what an idiot, penn state backed their way into a big ten title as the third best team that year in the big ten. what if Michigan gets in a shoot out? um that's why they have a top 3 defense in the whole country, bring on Oklahoma. And harbaugh is old school? Alabama has won 5 national titles the last 9 years by doing what? playing great defense and a pro style don't turn it over offense, how many spread teams have won? ohio state once, auburn once......?
October 30th, 2018 at 12:47 PM ^
Clemson once and FSU once. All had generational QB talent to run that offense. That’s what it takes to win with that system.
October 30th, 2018 at 1:09 PM ^
The year osu won they were more like what UM runs this year than Meyer’s typical spread. Cardale wasn’t a runner and Elliot was a back that would fit nicely into Harbaugh’s system. And that team would’ve been in the playoff a second year if it wasn’t for Dantonyee’s weather voodoo
October 30th, 2018 at 12:43 PM ^
You can tell the author hasn't actually watched us play, he just doesn't like Harbaugh. Insinuating we have a 3 yards & a cloud of dust offense is telling on yourself. That was essentially the premise of the entire article. "Harbaugh approaches offense like Bo. Won't work in the future". Shea Patterson just picked apart Wisky & MSU on zone reads.
October 30th, 2018 at 12:44 PM ^
That analysis is, as they say, a mile wide and an inch deep. Dude needs to spend some time over here at MGB and get smart.
October 30th, 2018 at 12:44 PM ^
I just read this article out of curiosity and it really goes to show you just how lazy most sportswriting is out there. Our implicit bias aside, I want you to tell me where he makes anything resembling a coherent point in this article.
What you see with Michigan football now is as good as it's going to get. Under Harbaugh, the Wolverines will never maximize their weaponry on offense and will never cut their quarterback loose. They won't be able to win games different ways, only their way. I've seen this movie before under Bo Schembechler. And Harbaugh is his willing spawn, his twin in style.
Utterly devoid of content. Harbaugh absolutely runs a different style of offense and to be totally honest, it does frustrate me sometimes when we decide to go TresselBall for a game. But, nowhere in the article does he offer an explanation for why this offense would somehow be unable to win the B1G. OSU, Wisconsin, and MSU basically dominated the 2010s by running one form of power offense or another. OSU is the only team you could even generously describe as "spread" but as has been discussed on this site, it's largely a power offense from the shotgun. To further illustrate my point:
Penn State and Ohio State have contracted the same affliction at the same time - a lack of physicality and tackling skills on defense and erratic running games on offense. I can't see either beating Michigan this year; both teams are bad matchups.
Oh gee wiz you're saying that both PSU and OSU have structural deficiencies that play directly into the way Michigan is playing this year? Wow! It's almost like going manball when the whole world is going spread gives you some level of competitive advantage because teams aren't prepared for it! If this schmuck read his own article all the way through and thought one iota harder about it maybe he'd realize what a hack he was.
In sum, I believed Harbaugh's old-school methodology would never be versatile enough to both negotiate the East and then overcome the champion of the West in Indianapolis. I saw Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Iowa and Northwestern and thought, somebody's always going to get him. Because he's so predictable that someone will figure him out every year at exactly the wrong time.
Again, utterly devoid of content. This argument could be made for any of those teams. What is he even trying to say here? I know I'm getting annoyed at something that really isn't worth my time, but I think it is worth noting just how good we have it on this site with Brian and friends providing us with real, tangible analysis that isn't just a regurgitation of talking points and narratives. There are very few fansites on the internet that come anywhere close to what MGoBlog does.
October 30th, 2018 at 12:47 PM ^
What you see with Michigan football now is as good as it's going to get.
Yes, top 5 in the country entering November sure sucks.
October 30th, 2018 at 1:14 PM ^
And he’s done that 2/4 years. It’s not a fluke. Ppl just don’t want to acknowledge 2016. Didn’t they go into the bowl season ranked higher than PSU that year too? Or was that the week before the Big10 championship?
As long as he closes out the season with no more than 1 conference loss he will have had 3 10 win seasons and the one season he didn’t he was on his 2 or 3 QB most of the season and had one of the youngest teams in the country.
October 30th, 2018 at 2:18 PM ^
I have no clue, other than apologizing for Penn State and the rest of the league as not being physical enough to compete with Michigan and Michigan being lucky enough to succeed in a down year. What a load of crap.
Penn State was lucky to have beat Iowa last week surviving only after a stupid audible play mishap that led to a TD-saving interception that snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, after an earlier Hawkeye blunder on a wide open TD incompletion, on a short yardage play gone awry. And that was a week after We Are terrible in the last two minutes, couldn't kill the clock with its rpo offense when a first down would have sent Michigan State packing for the season instead of the Saquon Barkley-less Lions.
If their offense is the thing of the future, it certainly scuttled their future this season.
The fact that Penn State runs an offense with spread concepts and multiple run pass options and their qb is still in one piece at this point in the season is not a testament to the effectiveness of their offense. You notice that the vanilla clad warriors aren't scoring in the 50's and 60's against teams like they were in the Happy Valley salad days of September.
As the weather turned, and they faced teams with a stingier defensive mindset, McSorely has become his namesake and left last week's game for a time after getting killed on a passing attempt against Iowa.
Yeah, he returned to run in a TD from 51 yards, but Michigan had three qbs run like that in the nation's most-watched game of the season against Wisconsin after their defense practically eliminated the Badgers passing game altogether in a physical blowout that they repeated on the road in East Lansing a week later.
You only spread the field to set up favorable matchups when you can't beat your opponent consistently at the LOS for 40 plays and only gain 94 yards of offense. And that included running a trick play from inside the five in theri only red zone posseaaion of the game. MSU got the message. Maybe this stupid ass will get it this Saturday when the Lions come inside the lions den at the Big House.
October 30th, 2018 at 12:44 PM ^
Great story, full of comedic value! I'm guessing the author hasn't watched UM in a game recently. or, if he has, he didn't know what he was looking at. Herbstriet called it against UW - 'this is a really interesting hybrid offense', because Harbuagh is using ZR, spread to pass, spread to run, manball, and pistol concepts with several different blocking schemes. And it's a balanced attack - rushing and passing yds/gm stats are within ~50 yards of each other.
I'm also not sure what he means by a 'complete team'. I mean, if Michigan's offense, defense, and special teams rankings don't constitute a 'complete team', then I'm not sure who's does!
This guy is a tool living off Bo's memory...
October 30th, 2018 at 1:01 PM ^
If Harbaugh can replicate 70% of Bo's success this is going to be viewed as the modern golden age of Michigan football.
October 30th, 2018 at 12:52 PM ^
"scrimmage-based idea of the game"?! This is just desperately inaccurate.
October 30th, 2018 at 12:57 PM ^
I guess I didn't realize there was so much arrogance in the Penn State camp and I definitely don't understand why it's the case.
October 30th, 2018 at 12:57 PM ^
This gentleman spent his whole article building a straw man to kill, and then the straw man killed him.
October 30th, 2018 at 12:57 PM ^
no comment other than:
Fuck Penn State and their delusional Joepa loving fans!
October 30th, 2018 at 1:00 PM ^
It's a David Jones article. Not surprising.
It's okay - if I was PSU and I just watched the past couple of weeks under James Franklin's non-Moorhead regime, I'd be worried about my future as well.
October 30th, 2018 at 1:02 PM ^
O, I don't know, maybe if there was some year in the past in which we could look to and see Harbaugh taking a transfer QB, massaging the offense with a stubborn run game through September and October, only to open up the passing game when it's needed most in November.
On a related note, what was Harbaugh 's record his first year again?
October 30th, 2018 at 1:05 PM ^
From two weeks ago:
Couch: After 8 wins in 10 years, Michigan State football doesn't have to beat Michigan
October 30th, 2018 at 1:12 PM ^
I'm glad Spartans feel that way because a fully functional Harbaugh/Michigan team against a Mork/MSU team is going to look very similar to what they saw this year.
MSU will probably sneak one in the inevitable down years, but Harbaugh is at 50% versus Mork and that's only going to improve.
October 30th, 2018 at 2:10 PM ^
and yet msu has a losing record against michigan over the last 17 years. oh thats right i forgot, history started when mork got there. i will guarantee about 5 years from now when michigan has won 7 out of 9 games, those slackjaws will still talk about nothing but, remember when we beat michigan 8 out of ten?