Why as a program do we refuse to embrace the passing game?
We've had some pretty good QBs and wide receivers come through here have we not? How many all Americans did we have in the 90s and 2000s? We even had some pretty good ones in the bad years of the 2010s in Greg Mathews, Junior Hemmingway, Jeremy Gallon, Roy Roundtree, and Devin Funchess (what a waste between him and Devin Gardner). Darboh and Chesson we're probably the best. It seemed like the first two years under Harbaugh we embraced the pass more with those guys, we just didn't have a running game that was good enough to pick up a few yards when we needed it. Now we have one and we're bound and determined to run it up the middle no matter what, despite having Nico Collins, DPJ, and Tarik Black.
What is it where coaches are bound and determined to run the ball? Nostalgia? The only coach to really embrace the pass seemed to be Gary Moeller and that's just based on watching old games as he was fired when I was only 1.
Even Tressel who ran primarily MANBALL knew what he had in Troy Smith and Pryor and scored 42 on our vaunted defense in 2006. Urban has just taken that and made it even better. OSU fans don't have some nostalgia about running manball, they just want to win.
Like I said earlier, I think we embraced the pass more when we had Fisch, and the route combinations seemed to make more sense. I just hate to see the guys we have now be wasted by nostagia of a time where we were considered underachievers, the same thing we are now.
November 25th, 2018 at 9:25 PM ^
That mindset works for the first couple games, but as the season progresses the gameplans need to change as players emerge. This year DPJ, Collins and Gentry emerged, so get them the ball. If you play to the previous season you'll always be behind.
November 25th, 2018 at 1:43 PM ^
Lack of WR depth? WTF. We have
Jake McCurry
DPJ
Nico
Black
Martin
Bell
Clearly, Jake should have been targeted more in this game, being our #1 receiver.
November 25th, 2018 at 2:35 PM ^
Couldn't agree more, need to make this passing attack elite. The loss of Higdon will be hard to replace next year unless that new 5 star is all the hype. He's not close to a five star on some other sites. He's middle of the pack of the top 30 or 40 in the country and he's from California so you cant say there isn't exposure. This offense could be kick ass if they open it up though in the passing game. It should help the defense in pass defense too in practice. There's a win-win huh? In all honesty, look at where this offense has came in the past year. They were horrific last year. To say they could be awesome next year isn't a stretch.
November 25th, 2018 at 1:20 PM ^
Harbaugh's stubbornness cost him a Super Bowl vs. his brother. They got the ball down inside the 10 with plenty of time, with Frank Gore and a good OL and refused to run it in to win the game.
https://247sports.com/nfl/san-francisco-49ers/Article/Joe-Staley-still-…
"Staley wound up getting his hopes up too soon, unfortunately. Following a two-yard run on first down by LaMichael James, the 49ers called three consecutive passing plays, with wide receiver Michael Crabtree being the target on each. Despite having Gore, a running quarterback in Colin Kaepernick and a strong offensive line, the 49ers moved away from the run on that drive, much to the dismay of Staley.
"Our offensive line was rolling that year," Staley said. "We had Mike Iupati, Jonathan Goodwin, Alex Boone, Anthony Davis. We felt like we were just going to call four straight run plays and get into the endzone from the seven-yard line. And we went on to run one run play and then threw three fade routes to Crabtree. I still shudder when I hear that playcall – ‘Q8.’”
After that game, I shook my head and started doubting whether Harbaugh was a good in-game coach or not. I think he is a decent in-game coach, not great.
November 25th, 2018 at 1:26 PM ^
Seems like that game scarred Harbaugh as well. Now he runs 3 times and kicks a field goal
November 25th, 2018 at 1:41 PM ^
so he blew the super bowl by throwing too much but yesterday he blew it because he threw too little. got it.
November 25th, 2018 at 1:44 PM ^
Yeah. It's almost like it's possible to make multiple sorts of bad decisions at different times in your life.
Amazing, I know.
November 25th, 2018 at 1:27 PM ^
oh, for fuck’s sake. we didn’t lose yesterday because we “didn’t embrace the passing game.”
November 25th, 2018 at 1:56 PM ^
Probably true.
But the offense all year was below what it should be able to produce.
Don;t be fooled by the 39 points Michigan scored yesterday. Garbage time scores and a gifted 6.
Fact is on yards per play yesterday Michigan gained substantially less than OSU D's season average.
Just because the D was terrible yesterday should not distract anyone from the offensive under performance all year and also yesterday.
November 25th, 2018 at 3:10 PM ^
I think most people are shocked by how good osu's offense looked compared to ours. Change in tempo, big plays both running and passing, attacking weaknesses of the defense, freshmen receivers wide open and making our vaunted defense look stupid. We all wish our offense could compare. We are also looking for a reason why the No.1 defense got shellacked by the No. 2 offense.
November 25th, 2018 at 1:46 PM ^
I'm pissed. I've never bought into Harbaugh'. This season was shit. We didn't beat a good team the whole year. The best team we beat is probably northwestern... The good teams we did play, we lost to.
This season is how all of Harbaugh' seasons will go. He coaches to manage games and keep them close. We dominated MSU but one big play by them and a three and out by us and they would have been right back in it. He coaches to manage the clock but we tend to be poor in the red zone. Who cares if we have the ball for 20 minutes in the first half if it results in a touchdown, a fg and a missed fg. The other team just has to have a fg and it's a one possession game and we dominated that team in the first half according to Harbaugh' and yet we don't it doesn't show up in the score. Playing that way will get us a winning season every year but will get us a couple losses every year two which means no conferences championships or titles.
Harbaugh, what has he done? Our defense carriess this team unless we play teams with true speed that get their playmakers in space, ala PSU last year and OSU year. Harbaugh doesn't have anything to do with our defense he clearly doesn't have anything to do with our OL, he doesn't have anything to do with the receivers or TEs, he only deals with the QB and probably has a huge deal to do with play calling. Well, those have sucked.
Michigan games are boring to watch. Thank God I don't have kids because how can you have them watch a game like Saturday and not have them come out OSU fans?
November 25th, 2018 at 1:52 PM ^
I remember the first drive of the game we ran Higdon deep in OSU territory.
He gained 7 or 8 years on the run. Mind you it was 1st down.
Then all of a sudden he is on the sidelines.
I was so confused. 2 yards. Two shots at it and they ran some bullshit.
Ended up with a field goal. Shit like that makes me question Harbaugh and Pep.
When you should run, you don't.
When you should pass, you don't.
Through out the year I have always wondered why our great WR core would never get open.
I have come to the conclusion that Patterson isn't making the reads. Also he isn't tall enough to see above the DL at times. Causing him to rollout.
I don't know if it was OSU strategy or not, but when Patterson rolled out, it was to the left side. Being a right handed QB this almost always resulted in disaster.
Play action on 3rd and long was some dumb shit. Why not just snap it in shotgun formation?
Look at Chris Evans. He isn't a run down the middle back. Not sure why was in there for that shit.
I was hoping they would get him in the flats.
Or more of that wheel route that worked on the short TD drive after the muffed punt catch.
I remember the ND game. They slanted us to death. Same with the crossing routes in general.
I think to myself, why don't we try that?
The slow tight ends arent going to have 15 YAC.
Don't think I saw too many screen plays. If we did they were busted real quick. Big time blocking issues. It seems that Harbaugh and company didn't watch any of the Maryland tape.
A high level comparison I can make is the attitude.
I saw some interview videos a couple days before the game. Haskins said he watched Michigan tape every week. Shae basically said that he didn't. That Harbaugh said this is just another game. That every game is a championship game.
Peter's was in the game for 1 snap and hit a perfect pass for a TD. Shea had balls thrown short. Same as he has done all year long. I don't think Shea is good enough for the NFL so I don't understand why there is talk of him leaving. Either way, I'm glad that we have McCaffrey and Milton. They are the future.
I want to see some wild cat. Or triple option. Anything that is different.
Kliff Kingsbury is now available. Replace Pep and go get him. I am very worried about next year. Higdon gone will represent a terrible running game.
Sorry for all the rambling.
November 25th, 2018 at 2:36 PM ^
Not rambling good insight. OSU made it simple, hitting cross routes and watch their yacs. Patterson should hit our wr and do the same, not at their feet. The blame goes to the coaches here. On d if brown didn’t know OSU had burners on wr shame. USC did more with less last nite.
November 25th, 2018 at 1:53 PM ^
Two words: body blows.
November 25th, 2018 at 1:59 PM ^
Well after losing Higdon now and no bell cow in the rushing attack, I'd say the offense becomes more of a passing attack next year. Hopefully the o-line keeps improving and the talent at wide receiver and tight end can be exploited. That's only going to attract better recruits on that side of the ball. It's what the kids want to see. Give it to them. If terrible defense Oklahoma and the entire Big12 can, then so can Michigan. You can say it's going to wear the defense down but I say it'll make them more in shape over the length of the season. They'll get to see more looks and test their will. Gotta be able to outgun these high powered offenses. Pass to run baby. Just get it done!!
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November 25th, 2018 at 2:55 PM ^
With our luck that means targeting McKeon and McCurry more.
November 25th, 2018 at 2:07 PM ^
This is a great question.
November 25th, 2018 at 2:32 PM ^
I’m sitting on both sides of this argument because I think both sides are right. I do think the defense lost this game. After the Notre Dame game and this one it’s clear Harbaugh built this team specifically to play with the lead all year. I think a couple factors really hurt that. The running game while improved is nowhere near where it needs to be. Our RBs are good to average and the Oline is a year away from being really good (opinion).
The passing game specifically is suffering from Shea, while being the best QB since Henne, having been hit too many times. He throws off his back foot with little too no pressure, bails on the pocket too soon, and something I can’t say definitively but am starting to believe is having trouble downloading the offense. We have all seen Harbaugh scheme a winning plan in this series twice 2016 and 2017. This year we saw none of that creativity. That makes no sense after the last two games. I think Shea may be a year away from having a fully functional passing game.
Where I agree is I think Jedd was clearly better and more creative in his play design. I don’t ever feel like we have concepts that get our receivers running wide open very often. Whereas we have in the past under Harbaugh. In other words I’d be happy to see the passing game coordinator replaced.
November 25th, 2018 at 2:50 PM ^
Can't be elite if you cannot win a shootout in this day and age. OSU's offense was a thing of beauty. Our offense is an ugly old crone. Play action no one believes, and endless third and longs. So ineffectual in the red zone. No explosiveness. Good enough against most of the big ten, and out of conference patsies.
November 25th, 2018 at 2:57 PM ^
No shit. Yeah, the defense lost the game. However, the offense was incapable of going toe to toe with OSU in a shootout. There's a whole lot of blame to go around.
November 25th, 2018 at 3:50 PM ^
You're right about both units playing awful.
I believe many people are complaining about our offense, because we knew OSU had a great offense that could possibly score well against our defense, of course not to the degree they did.
Though we still thought our offense would totally destroy OSU's terrible defense and make it a shootout if it had to be that kind of game. We really couldn't do what some other teams did to that OSU defense.
Michigan managed to get 39 points, but it wasn't from good consistent offensive play. If our offense had played better, we could've possibly kept OSU off the field for 14 of their points.
The game could've been a shootout with both teams scoring in the 50's, just like OSU vs Maryland.
Michigan might have lucked up and won.
November 25th, 2018 at 3:02 PM ^
Woody is long dead, and both his offensive scheme and his glasses should be buried.
November 25th, 2018 at 3:13 PM ^
The passing game feels underutilized. It seems this Harbaugh guy is a MANBALL man. Also, the sky is blue.
Regardless, the continued runs yesterday on 2nd and long were mind-boggling and, generally, pass plays take too damn long to develop. Seems they need some screens, shorter routes, quick-hitters. This complaint has popped-up all year, for good reason. The passing attacks of UM’s heyday appeared to be far more consistent. The talent is there, somehow, but I have no idea how they keep selling this wonky system to elite recruits.
That said, the painfully glaring reason Michigan lost yesterday is because the D gave up the most regulation-time points in the history of the UM program. A historic beatdown. The vaunted pressure never left Ann Arbor. And everyone else looked like a MAC-level player.
The blame falls squarely on the D’s total inability to hang with or adjust to OSU’s attack.
That all said, I love this Charbonnet kid’s reel and feel he could be a difference-maker. Maybe not on 2nd and long though...
November 25th, 2018 at 3:23 PM ^
Because you live in fantasy land and want to relive the glory days of no national titles and horrible bowl record Bo.
November 25th, 2018 at 3:50 PM ^
Because they prioritize TOP over scoring points.
November 25th, 2018 at 4:07 PM ^
Because our coach thinks the year is nineteen hundred and eighty five
November 25th, 2018 at 6:08 PM ^
A better question is: why do we use the word “Vaunted” so much all of a sudden
November 26th, 2018 at 6:25 AM ^
Stop lining up our pussy hands TE’s on the outside is a start.