Did anyone watch Army yesterday?
December 23rd, 2018 at 10:03 AM ^
Scheduling a service academy is a lose lose situation. They run an offense that we will never see again throughout the year. Army is a legitimately solid team. I would not be surprised if we won or lost a close game, particularly because it’s early in the season and we replace a lot on defense. What we return on offense comforts me though as I don’t think their front 7 will be able to stand up against our OL
December 23rd, 2018 at 10:08 AM ^
It's unique but I feel with all the zone read nowadays it's not like it's completely different from what the defense needs to learn anyway.
December 23rd, 2018 at 10:24 AM ^
Actually it's a bit different than just pure shotgun zone read. They do triple option but also do a lot of counter, belly, pitch, etc. It requires the defense to be a lot more sound in their reads/assignment against Flexbone offense as opposed to shotgun
December 23rd, 2018 at 10:41 AM ^
You do know Army doesn't actually run zone read much don't you?
December 23rd, 2018 at 11:55 AM ^
This is where the Harbaugh offense helps as Army won't have an answer for Michigan's size, physicality and depth. This is what Notre Dame does to Navy every year - they just run us over. Navy usually makes it a game and has upset ND when they had some bad teams, but they just can't hang with them over 4 quarters.
December 23rd, 2018 at 10:05 AM ^
Watched last night. They are a damn good team. Defense attacks the football hard to cause fumbles. Wish our D did that.
December 23rd, 2018 at 10:08 AM ^
AUTONATION CURE BOWL
RAYCOM MEDIA CAMELLIA BOWL
CHERIBUNDI BOCA RATON BOWL
DXL FRISCO BOWL
BAD BOY MOWERS GASPARILLA BOWL
MAKERS WANTED BAHAMAS BOWL
FAMOUS IDAHO POTATO BOWL
JARED BIRMINGHAM BOWL
DOLLAR GENERAL BOWL
SERVPRO FIRST RESPONDER BOWL
QUICK LANE BOWL
CHEEZ-IT BOWL
ACADEMY SPORTS + OUTDOORS TEXAS BOWL
CAMPING WORLD BOWL
NOVA HOME LOANS ARIZONA BOWL
BELK BOWL
If one of the side effects of playoff expansion is the death of some of these, that's a good thing.
December 23rd, 2018 at 10:18 AM ^
But there are so many bowls, we are this close to an MGoBlog Bowl.
Don't kill them off until we get that.
December 23rd, 2018 at 10:28 AM ^
"But there are so many bowls, we are this close to an MGoBlog Bowl."
The inaugural MGoBlog Bowl will be played at Hollway Field and will feature the Fighting Trolls of Maizen Junior College versus the Coyotes of Space Coyote University.
December 23rd, 2018 at 12:45 PM ^
Wouldn't a mgoblog bowl cheapen mgoblog?
Asking for a friend.
December 23rd, 2018 at 10:27 AM ^
Why, exactly? I don’t see how they hurt you in any way. And the teams playing in them get practice time, a free trip to a new (probably) place, another game to play. Oh, and the swag bags.
Yes, they enrich some men in blazers. But I have to assume the players enjoy them. Bowl games have existed for decades. And most of those didn’t impact the nat’l title. So if there are 5 bowls or 50. What the f do you care? Just don’t watch them if they offend your sensibilities.
December 23rd, 2018 at 10:14 AM ^
For everyone wondering if Harbaugh will ever open up the offense, the Army game should answer that question. You get up by 2 TDS early on a team like that and it’s a mountain for them to climb because it takes them so long to score grinding it out on the ground.
December 23rd, 2018 at 4:00 PM ^
Does it take a team who scored 70 points that long to score?
December 23rd, 2018 at 10:15 AM ^
I've been meaning to make a post about this but I don't think they actually return 19 starters. If you go to this depth chart from Ourlads it says 19 returning starters, but if you go to their official depth chart there's a lot more seniors listed. I think Army does the same thing as us and doesn't list redshirts so it messes up depth charts in that sense.
For example, DT Raymond Wright for Army is listed as a junior on Ourlads and senior on the official depth chart. According to his Army bio he's played in at least 5 games in 4 seasons, so I don't know how he'd be a junior. Maybe I'm missing something with service academies or medical redshirts but it seems like he's clear cut done now.
I can find another 4 guys who fit the same criteria, all on defense, just with a quick look at Army's depth chart. I also know that their starting QB last year didn't officially graduate and leave the team until this past August and could have petitioned to play if they really wanted last year. So while they return a lot, it probably won't be 19 starters a lot.
December 23rd, 2018 at 10:44 AM ^
For Army/Navy the returning starters info is a decent harbinger of quality on the offensive side of the ball. Defense not so much.
December 23rd, 2018 at 10:46 AM ^
They only have 2 people without eligibility next year of those who start. Center and Fullback.
Yes, they have a number of people who have been at west point for 4 years and redshirted (Both TE's for example). What you don't see from service academies (no surprise) is people leaving early for the NFL.
Absent the war years, and some teens/twenties stuff, this is the best Army has ever been. (At a minimum, the best in 60 years). If you think army brass wants to take those 5 RS seniors and send them to korea, afghanistan, OK, NC, TN NY and GA, to be junior officers when they have a chance at a maybe 1 loss season next year.... mkay. If you think those RS seniors want to forgo their final year (War college is a strong motivator for officers, i.e. military grad school), again, they all want to return if they can.
They will be back. While I don't think we will lose, it will be more of a fight than many of you suspect (hopefully not).
December 23rd, 2018 at 10:51 AM ^
The guys I mentioned aren't going to be RS Seniors next year. All of them have played 4 full years, they've exhausted their eligibility.
December 23rd, 2018 at 11:03 AM ^
There are no redshirts at the service academies. You're there for four years, and that's it (barring some type of medical/academic incident, but you wouldn't be playing in that case). The way they "redshirt" is to send a small amount of recruits to a separate, one-year military prep school to play against local community colleges. Since none of them leave early for the NFL, they spend years in the same system, have a good amount of depth and experience, and can reload pretty easily once they have the program established.
December 23rd, 2018 at 12:27 PM ^
That's what I wasn't sure about. If they don't have RS, then they lose a lot more than the 4 I mentioned.
December 23rd, 2018 at 9:12 PM ^
Army absolutely holds on to some guys for a 5th year(extra semester) if it works out for them and the cadet.
Of the two "starting seniors" on the team, one started his first year (FB Darnell Woolfolk). He's graduating in 4 as a true senior.
OT/Center Bryce Holland has been on the roster for 5 years, since 2014, and redshirted as a freshman. Do they call it a redshirt? Not necessarily, but they hold guys from going in that first year if it works out to do so. There's a QB from AA Huron a while back who that happened to as well.
December 23rd, 2018 at 11:33 AM ^
Michigan by 3 touchdowns, minimum.
December 23rd, 2018 at 11:12 AM ^
Do any of the service academies even have fifth year seniors? They are all four year institutions whose primary purpose is to graduate military officers in four years.
Edit: Arb Lover has the answer above. I did find an interesting article on Army and how their numbers are assigned. Quite interesting reading:
https://goarmywestpoint.com/news/2012/10/18/Numbers_Count.aspx
December 23rd, 2018 at 10:17 AM ^
At least it isn't Air Force, amirite?!
December 23rd, 2018 at 10:20 AM ^
I'm just happy that the people who run Illinois or Rutgers or whatever are too stupid to hire Jeff Monken. Heaven forbid Illinois or Rutgers hire a coach who "can't recruit NFL level talent." I just don't know how they'd get on.
December 23rd, 2018 at 10:20 AM ^
Fortunately, Don Brown has seen a lot of triple option from Georgia Tech during his days in the ACC.
December 23rd, 2018 at 10:24 AM ^
Winsipedia says Don never crossed paths with Georgia Tech. Different divisions.
December 23rd, 2018 at 12:14 PM ^
I would have thought he had to play them at least a couple times, the way we play Iowa or Nebraska.
December 23rd, 2018 at 4:10 PM ^
Brown was only at BC for three seasons though and at Maryland for two. Prior to last season, we hadn’t played Nebraska since 2013. So it’s not surprising he didn’t face GT
December 23rd, 2018 at 10:24 AM ^
I'm sure they're going to score against our young defense. It would be foolish to think we will keep them below 20 points.
I don't like the #BodyBlows offense but it will be key to keeping the defense fresh and wearing down their smaller players. It is imperative to score touchdowns early and often in an effort to make it a 2 touchdown game ASAP.
December 23rd, 2018 at 11:13 AM ^
There might be 8 total possessions in the entire game!
December 23rd, 2018 at 10:27 AM ^
Not super excited to play them but here’s a little tidbit you’ll probably hear next year: Two FBS teams that have played Michigan more than 4 times have a winning record against them.
USC is 6-4 (a lot of Rose Bowl losses)
Army is 5-4
Cornell is the only other team of any classification at 6-12 which will probably stick.
December 23rd, 2018 at 12:19 PM ^
I'm amazed our record against USC is actually as good as it is.
I recall beating them only once, in the 1988 season Rose Bowl. And then there is the 49-0 Mad Magicians victory in the 1947 season Rose Bowl. Don't recall where the other two wins came from without looking it up.
December 23rd, 2018 at 10:29 AM ^
Taken a long time, but Army finally has a great coach and a great team. They’re not going to be intimidated by Michigan (hell, if I was going through the grind of being a cadet at West Point, I wouldn’t be intimidated by anything Michigan does, either), and they will come in expecting to win.
That game is going to be a grind. Why in the hell would you ever schedule a service academy? Why?
December 23rd, 2018 at 10:45 AM ^
Beat OSU, win the rest of the games.
December 23rd, 2018 at 11:07 AM ^
Meh. I'm not too concerned. Most of those starters will be needed in Tehran by September.
December 23rd, 2018 at 11:08 AM ^
Too late to dump them? They look like they belonged in the NY6 and they scare the hell out of me.
December 23rd, 2018 at 11:31 AM ^
As an Oklahoma fan,
I've had my fill of Army this year.
December 23rd, 2018 at 12:12 PM ^
The Army game next season is going to be ugly. The message will be just get a win. It'll be close.
December 23rd, 2018 at 12:22 PM ^
Hey, how we gunna win against tanks and shit?
That's just mean ....man.
December 23rd, 2018 at 12:39 PM ^
You ever seen Red Dawn? A bunch of kids who called themselves Wolverines fought back against a bunch of tanks and soviets.
December 23rd, 2018 at 2:12 PM ^
Well played!
I did, I even wrote about it this year:
https://mgoblog.com/diaries/saturday-morning-psycho-7-unamerican-activities-ed
December 23rd, 2018 at 12:37 PM ^
I predict we will beat them with an elite passing offense.
December 23rd, 2018 at 1:50 PM ^
This game was more support for my belief that if a team could get even a nice handful of 4* and majority 3* athletes to commit to a system offense like Army, they would win championships. Army was simply abusing Houston’s superior athletes with discipline and strategy. Army’s lineman could have told Houston’s front where the play was going and they still wouldn’t have stopped it.
December 23rd, 2018 at 2:15 PM ^
When Michigan beats em by 20 people will still be pissed
December 23rd, 2018 at 3:09 PM ^
This post is bad OP. You should feel bad.
Houston has no quality wins against anybody. They scored a lot of points against the worst of the American and a bunch of other poor non-conference opponents. They are awful and gave up a lot of points to any team with a pulse.
Michigan will have to exercise gap discipline but will otherwise offer way too much in the way of defensive speed and offensive mauling.
Man, the concern troll is high of late.
December 23rd, 2018 at 3:24 PM ^
I don't even care about next years schedule. Look at what happened with this years schedule. We thought Wisconsin, PSU, and MSU were going to be a gauntlet yet they were all relatively easy wins
December 23rd, 2018 at 3:27 PM ^
I noted a while ago that the Army offense is JH-ball with the pass attack.. Army took Okie to overtime before losing the road game. So why was everyone bashing JH for a ball control offense yet praising Army for the same?
December 23rd, 2018 at 6:24 PM ^
Because their's actually scores.
We don't hate ball-control offenses. We hate ball-control offenses that don't score points.
If JH wants an offense that has 15 play 10 minute drives and finishes with TD's, we're all for it.
But fergodsake, don't have an offense that produces just 2 field goals for the entire first half against anybody good.
December 23rd, 2018 at 3:31 PM ^
Yikes, they might actually be our 3rd toughest game next season after OSU and PSU.
December 23rd, 2018 at 3:39 PM ^
surprised? let's see. a peach bowl, spring practice, summer conditioning, fall practice, a game against middle tenn. state, and 256 days until the army game. but we should be thinking about that game, why?