Orange Bowl Snowflakes: The Coaching

We had first down from the one and the hammering panda, and we got hit for a five yard loss with Smith. We kept running routes under the sticks on third down that Speight threw like he loved them. It wasn't a great game. In part because Speight was inaccurate. However, they ran the ball on pitches way too much, and they also routinely didn't leave guys in to block when it was clear they couldn't block FSU. They should have kept guys in and then hit them deep on throw. It was a questionable, at best, game plan. I'm disappointed that this group, which will rival Bama for draft picks, is going to end up at 10-3. It's hard to watch Chesson become a virtual non-factor after roasting guys last year. Losing 3 of 4 to end the year feels like a step back. I know it may not be, but it's hard to not feel that way. 

Maybe Wilton was still injured? I don't think any deep ball was attempted again.

I guess he could be worried about burning his timeouts with Speight getting destroyed and not having any. I think that it is more on the defense playing great all game but fucking up the last drive and special teams fucking up msu and fsu.

I cannot understand Harbaugh's love of Deveon and ESPECIALLY the love of running pitches with Deveon which probably average 0 yards. Evans was a clear upgrade in everything but pass pro I guess

Smith would have made a bad ass fullback.

The drevno hate amazes me. Guy is nfl level coach. Our online talent was outmatched by Two NFL type players. We eventually tired them out and coached around them. Actually had lead. We kick last ball out of end zone we win.

One of those posts where someone thinks they are so smart...but, he should have called timeout ASAP on third and nine. FSU had multiple time outs which meant they could throw underneath, which was extremely unlikely, or to the end zone. That just wasted 26 seconds. It definitely is one of those kids playing Madden scenarios. Harbaugh screwed up, and I hope he learns. Use those timeouts to preserve time just in case. It was a big mistake in this game. 

MCL or ACL injury to Butt. Fucking sucks!

When they showed Jabrill up in the booth I was looking for Al Borges. I swear he was making some of the run calls. Good effort to fight back. Too bad the refs couldn't see all the holding. I still love my team. I may be disappointed, but they never quit.

I don't like the 3 tough losses better than anyone else, but this team played with grit all year and the second half comeback tonight was exceptional, especially when you consider it was without Peppers or Butt.  Would have been poetic justice to win this after trailing 58 minutes considering how we lost the other two.   The late return hurt.  FSU has big play makers.  Really tough loss tonight, but our guys played hard the whole 60 minutes and very nearly pulled it out. FSU made some good play calls too.  Even though disappointing, Michigan football is light years ahead of where it was two years ago, and I like how our guys play hard the whole game. 

 

Obviously the O-line wasn't blocking anybody.  I love DeVeon's heart and toughness, but in this game he was just too damn slow and lacking the quick shiftiness that Evans has.  There's no way that DeVeon is able to make that play that Evans made on the TD run.  Of course, the O-line wasn't blocking anybody, so all of the RB's were having to make something out of nothing, which I think Evans is more suited for than DeVeon.  

I like Evans better in the run-for-your-life Offense that we were running tonight.  Damn O-line.  Couldn't block anybody.   

No.

But when the o-line is simply not capable of generating an inside running game at all, and cannot hold up the passing pocket, then what plays are you going to call? 

Play calling always looks bad when the 0-line get beaten badly the entire game.  Simple as that.

I think this game is strong evidence that Peppers would have been better served on offense. Outside the first drive, we didn't miss a beat without him on defense (and he struggled against good rush offenses a couple times this year anyways.)

What we missed was a game changer on offense. Peppers has been poorly utilized on offense as a two-way player, but he could have been dominant had he been used solely on offense.

so this may have been said, but the best I can figure is a) Speight still isn't 100% because the number of downfield shots against a suspect secondary were few with none (that I can recall) set up by play action and 2) Peppers may have been a big part of the gameplan on both sides as a farewell.

The O plan seemed incredibly vanilla and in many respects represented the definition of insanity for much of the game.  I can't recall any misdirection of note.  Very little to affect the D's aggressiveness.  And the OL was ravaged by their DL.  That's why I think Peppers was expected to have a big role tonight.

To lose him 5 minutes before kick-off hurt all three phases.

Getting out of this place is reason in itself not to go. Never complaining about football traffic in Ann Arbor again.

i don't know the break down, but it seemed there were way more runs to the left side with a struggling braden/bredenson.  i would have like to see more to the right side. i like the kalis/mags combo better for the run.

Coaching is plenty good. Excellent adjustments at half time to make up for an overmatched offensive line.

The athleticism/speed gap and overall talent gap on that field tonight would have turned that thing ugly by middle of the second quarter with lesser coaching. 

This program needs to keep injecting better football players into the mix. When Florida State needed plays tonight, they got 3rd and 22 from an NFL first rounder. A highly rated recruit jumping over Lewis for a big score. Harbaugh would have traded quarterbacks with them back in August and never looked back. Plays from playmakers. Michigan needs more of those guys. Better Oline too. 

It's coming but not as fast as we all want. 

Coaching is plenty good. Excellent adjustments at half time to make up for an overmatched offensive line.

The athleticism/speed gap and overall talent gap on that field tonight would have turned that thing ugly by middle of the second quarter with lesser coaching. 

This program needs to keep injecting better football players into the mix. When Florida State needed plays tonight, they got 3rd and 22 from an NFL first rounder. A highly rated recruit jumping over Lewis for a big score. Harbaugh would have traded quarterbacks with them back in August and never looked back. Plays from playmakers. Michigan needs more of those guys. Better Oline too. 

It's coming but not as fast as we all want. 

too many wasted first downs. other than that, they probably did the best they could with what they had to work with. I didn't think they should've gone for two in the third, but whatever...

I don't understand why Crawford was in all the time without a catch , and Drake Harris didn't even get a chance and get in on one play.  Shame on the coaches!

I think Harbaugh is good at getting the most out of his players. He teaches them, they learn, They apply it to the games as best they can.

Im not sure if its him or Drevno, but I think the offensive play calling has been pretty bad this year. Its been too predictable . Now, this could be because something is wrong with Speight . Which , if that is the case , I ask why not go with O Korn and let him improve ?

Which is worse , a beat up Number 1 who cant use all his tools , or a number 2 Qb who may have the tools but doesnt know how to use them yet ?

I also question Harbaughs game management . I think better clock management at the end of a few games turns those L's into W's

Thinking about the game in retrospect, the playcalling was the right way to go. If your QB cannot hit consistently mid-to-long range throws and you have no running game then selecting plays that can keep the offense on the field and the defense off the field is the right move. Michigan started running the ball with consistently in the fourth quarter and that is because they won the time of possession battle all game.

The two most dishearting aspects of this game was the mental errors on special teams and the defense. Our coaching staff made far too many right moves inspite of weaknesses. I know some might even blame the offensive line and they didn't look great but if Wilton had played with some constency early on then this is a blowout win. 

I am not going to blame Spieght either as he is still young. Really just a bunch of bad breaks for the team this year.

so many carries while Isaac and Evans are on the sideline. At some point Wheatley must be shedding Isaac from the program - he is 10x better option for toss sweeps than Smith. Drevno either pieced together a bunch of low-level players or he failed to leverage this group because the OL was mediocre at best this season. Certainly the top handicap for the team to reach elite status. Mix in a just OK quarterback in Speight with great tutelage from JH and this O was top of the middle tier.