We all thought about it: What did this game make you think about our team?
I usually hate-watch national title games because they're important to a sport I love but they wind up just reminding me how disappointed I am that Michigan is not good enough to be there. And they're harder to skip now that the coaches film room is must-watch viewing every year.
But if you're like me you watch these games with one eye on the teams we all jealously wish weren't there and one eye on the strengths and particularly the weaknesses of our own team.
So let's just get right out and admit stuff that the title game highlighted for us about Michigan in the past and going forward.
What sort of things about our team came to mind when you watched the national title game?
January 9th, 2018 at 5:10 AM ^
January 9th, 2018 at 6:47 AM ^
Have a blessed New Year and GO BLUE!
January 9th, 2018 at 9:19 AM ^
We knew when Harbaugh was hired this would be the down year for the reason you said, projecting the recruiting classes.
Yet the view is that after going 10-3 twice with Hoke teams suddenly Harbaugh can't coach, recruit or run an offense.
How'd Bama or OSU do against us if we had rolling top 5 classes while they were mostly only able to play first and second year players? Not well
January 9th, 2018 at 6:17 AM ^
January 9th, 2018 at 9:25 AM ^
We have a bunch of young players who played well.
The difference at Bama was they only needed to play the young ones who were ready now. For the other positions they had depth of established upper classmen.
We had to play other young players who weren't ready to start. For example, we had no right tackle. No good, experienced WRs. Bradeson has been growing but has been dubious as a starter. We had a three star, transfer and RS freshman QB.
That in turn makes their freshmen better because they are playing with those established players instead of ones who aren't ready like us.
Alabama's not dealing with that
January 9th, 2018 at 6:40 AM ^
January 9th, 2018 at 6:45 AM ^
January 9th, 2018 at 7:05 AM ^
January 9th, 2018 at 7:17 AM ^
and it might help to move to Orlando, too.
January 9th, 2018 at 7:37 AM ^
January 9th, 2018 at 9:32 AM ^
January 9th, 2018 at 11:02 AM ^
January 9th, 2018 at 7:15 AM ^
I'll try to enjoy each game as a seperate event. I am implying exactly what you think.
January 9th, 2018 at 7:17 AM ^
January 9th, 2018 at 7:22 AM ^
January 9th, 2018 at 7:24 AM ^
I think we're 2 OLs and a QB away from the CFP. could happen next year. likely happens in 2019.
actually I really think the sched. sets up well in 18- the ND game is a classics early loss that everyone forgets by the end if M is 11-1 or 10-2 and gets into the BTT game. W, PSU are at home. We have to beat one of MSU, OSU no matter what - I don't care if we play them on the moon.
January 9th, 2018 at 7:31 AM ^
January 9th, 2018 at 7:45 AM ^
1. Michigan would have made Da'Shawn Hand a starter from the day he arrived on campus. Alabama redshirted him and then he was a reserve for the rest of his career. That tells you how deep Alabama is and how desperate for top talent that Michigan is.
2. Despite this, Clemson beat them and Georgia was right there with them. I admire what Smart did in two years and at times watching their season felt like 2016 Michigan with good bounces but the real difference is their OL and RBs. They rushed for close to 100 yards in the first half.
January 9th, 2018 at 7:51 AM ^
is dead to me....I choose to focus on Basketball A Program that actually has produced RESULTS over the past 5 years...We are NOWHERE near those 2 teams last night..Kirby Smart in year 2 gets to the NC game...we cant even finish higher than 3rd in our Div...FB is dead to me
January 9th, 2018 at 7:55 AM ^
January 9th, 2018 at 9:59 AM ^
Hmmm, Vegas seemed pretty wrong about U of M most of the games this year
January 9th, 2018 at 7:59 AM ^
1. Two freshman QBs able to come in and play well enough to win a NC. Our's seem to take forever to develop and/or regress. What's the problem, the QB, the playcalling, the o-line, etc.? They should be able to do more considering they compare favorable in recruiting rankings.
2. We lack playmakers at WR. Hopefully this year's freshman will develop.
January 9th, 2018 at 8:00 AM ^
Tua Tagovailoa threw more TD passes last night than John O'Korn did all season.
That's Michigan's problem.
January 9th, 2018 at 9:54 AM ^
it was only in the second half of last night's game
January 9th, 2018 at 8:15 AM ^
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My first thought, sadly, was that Otis Reese is goooooooone. (No insight to back this up, just a plausable outcome to watching your other potential school being in the NC game).
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If you look at the players for Bama and Georgia, those guys look enormous, especially their OL and DL. Michigan has had historically good DL play the last few years, but those dudes were other level large.
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The ability of skill players to bail out the QB is hugely underrated in favor of heaping the praise on a QB. Both teams had big plays made my RBs, WRs etc that Michigan just hasn't seemed to have lately.
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The crux of a successful offensive outing, bottom line, is dependent on consistant OL play, and Michigan's lack thereof must be fixed for this team to take the next step.
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Anyone who says that recruiting doesn't matter is stupid. Those two loaded teams are proof enough.
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Michigan's D is right there with those elite teams. Our offense is a step behind at nearly every position.
- I want Brandon Peters to be better than all those guys. But I'm afraid that he is not. I really hope he proves me wrong and I have to eat some serious crow. Nothing would make me happier.
January 9th, 2018 at 8:16 AM ^
That we are LIGHTYEARS away from competing for anything remotely resembling a national title. Both of those teams last night would've bludgeoned Michigan to death by halftime. The defense is probably a little bit of depth away from competing for titles, but the offense is struggling just to get to bowl eligibility. That's a problem.
But yeah, both of those teams are bigger, faster, and stronger than anything Michigan has ever put out on the field. I know we have to recruit better to get there, but we need to win first. Right now Michigan is an afterthought in its own conference, much less on the national stage. I enjoy football for what it is, and at the end of the day it's just entertainment. Not life and death. But last night was just another reminder that Michigan is nowhere even close to competing for a national championship. And as long as we have piss poor OL and QB play, it's going to stay that way.
January 9th, 2018 at 8:19 AM ^
would have been killed in that game. literally. They would've taken him out in a body bag. We got a looonngggg way to go to run with either of those teams. In fact I would say every Big 10 team is in the same boat except OSU.
My two cents
January 9th, 2018 at 8:19 AM ^
1. Again, we are running a pro offense with kids. If Harbaugh sticks with it, its going to be a few more years before we can compete. Although if we dont have a good season next year, recruiting is going to be VERY tough in the coming years.
2. Our players look undersized to what Bama and UGA trot out there. We need to hit the weights and explosive building exercises, as well as mointor every meal our kids eat. I think it was an article I was reading about Clemson's new atheltic center. It has its own cafeteria and meals are prepared specifically for each player from their training plan.
3. Its easy to see why 5 Star recruits want to go to Bama and UGA if winning a NC and going to the pros is their goal.
4. The Michigan staff coaches with the mentality that this is the NFL. Its not. They are two different games. Harbaugh MUST understand this or he will fail in the long run.
January 9th, 2018 at 8:30 AM ^
The difference is our offense is horrifically predictable nfl offense, we are not big and strong enough yet to bludgeon a good team (nor can we recruit same type of kid), we are way too conservative and play calling has been an issue, and we have yet to have a q.v. to rise up the errors or skilled players + online to cover for lack of q.v. play.
Just my opinion, could be wrong.
January 9th, 2018 at 9:41 AM ^
January 9th, 2018 at 8:23 AM ^
My thoughts after watching this game was:
If coach harbaugh was coaching alabama this game, would he win this game like saban did? Unfortunately, I dont think coah harbaugh wins that game. Coach harbaugh preaches competition at all position. Would coach harbaugh have benched his starting quarterback that is 25-2 to go for a freshmen to win the game. I think one thing we suffer from here at michigan we are too loyal to players and upperclassmen, even if they are costing the team and not performing. I dont see Michigan ever benching an established starter for a younger player or developing that young player to be able to handle himself in big games.
January 9th, 2018 at 8:24 AM ^
January 9th, 2018 at 8:29 AM ^
January 9th, 2018 at 8:29 AM ^
January 9th, 2018 at 8:56 AM ^
The Alabama defense is both big and fast, and has been for a long time. I only watched the second half of last night's game . #48 threw a punch at a Georgia player on a kickoff, then erupted on his own sideline. Later in the game he made a one arm tackle on a kickoff return. From a distance it looked like a facemask, but it was actually just an arm on the upper body of the runner. I have never seen anything like that in college or NFL. Couuld this guy be clean?
January 9th, 2018 at 2:11 PM ^
January 9th, 2018 at 8:35 AM ^
Conflicting thoughts:
Both teams looked way more talented, faster, stronger, than us.
Alabama I can understand. But Georgia was 6-6 last year and we've out-recruited them for several recent years. What is it they did that we could not do?
Georgia almost became the first non-Alabama team to win the NC with a non-running QB in over a decade. That bodes well for the offense that Harbaugh is apparently rigidly committed to.
However, the key term is almost. At the end of the day, the Alabama QB's ability to run - not just be mobile - was the difference maker.
You still need a running QB these days to win an NC. Even Alabama has bought into this.
So, I'd like to think we are on the doorstep to an NC . . . but deep inside I know we are not. In the meantime, everyone around us seems to be upping their game, making it even harder.
*sigh*
One step at a time, I guess.
January 9th, 2018 at 8:49 AM ^
What do you mean we've out recruited them? Their last 4 classes have been top 10. We've had 2 top 10 in that span, 1 top 20ish, and 1 gigantic crater.
January 9th, 2018 at 9:05 AM ^
We have not out recruited UGA for several years. 1 maybe. TVH tweeted out that UGA had 57 ESPN 300 recruits. UGA also had 11 247 composite 5 stars on their team compared to Michigan's 3.
January 9th, 2018 at 9:13 AM ^
Alabama I can understand. But Georgia was 6-6 last year and we've out-recruited them for several recent years. What is it they did that we could not do?
Experience and/or highly recruited talent on the O-Line and D-Line.
Per ourlads.com, the starters for Georgia were 16 Seniors or RS Seniors, 7 Juniors or RS Juniors, 8 Sophmores or RS Sophmores and 2 Freshman or RS Freshman.
Alabama had 13 Seniors or RS Seniors, 11 Juniors or RS Juniors, 5 Sophmores or RS Sophmores and 3 Freshman or RS Freshman*
Take that in contrast with Michigan who was the youngest team in the country... I think that speaks volumes.
* I amended the Sophmore and FR counts to show that Tua ended as the starter.
January 9th, 2018 at 8:37 AM ^
Both of the teams have generally the same identity, or try to as M. A strong D, and win the line of scrimmage on O. But they do it way differently.
-Even though their concept was still to run the ball, they did it out of multiple sets, spread the D out more and then still went with the run
-Against that same point though, they both knew each other would try to stop the run, so to start the game the threw a lot of lateral quick passes to get the D to spread out more to open up the middle for them.
A lot of creativity in the sets without losing their identity which was nice to see.
January 9th, 2018 at 8:39 AM ^
January 9th, 2018 at 8:40 AM ^
January 9th, 2018 at 8:48 AM ^
For me it boils down to consistent depth and quality at the quarterback position. For the past decade, Michigan's had spots where they've had one good, competent QB. If something happens to that person, we're SOL. OSU on the other hand has had a decade of high quality depth at the QB position. If something happens to their starter, the first backup is as competent as the man he's replacing. Pryor, Miller, Barrett, Jones, and now Haskins. It's ALWAYS next man up at OSU. It doesn't matter if they're a senior or a freshman, whoever OSU puts out there at QB plays at a very high level. Look at their 2014 team. Miller goes down with an injury preseason so Barrett has to step in as a RS freshman to start the season. He goes 10-1 entering The Game, where he exits with an injury. Jones enters, seals the game, goes on to whip Wisconsin in his first career start in the B1G title game, and then runs through the playoffs for a national championship. This is next man up football that Michigan has not demonstrated an ability to produce for the past decade. Last night's game was another example with Tagovailoa coming in after the half and leading Alabama to victory. Whoever Alabama puts under center plays seems to play championship level football. And there's never any excuses about them being freshman or not having time to learn the offense or whatever. We haven't had that ability to absorb signifiant losses, especially at the QB position, and we've paid the price when the starter goes down or if the starter isn't good enough.
On the bright side, I think we're finally starting to bulk up at QB (but I agree with OP that Peters is behind). Now if we could just figure out that OT position.
January 9th, 2018 at 8:45 AM ^
Number 99 and 94 on bama dline are not human and would have ate up every qb on our roster same with Georgia’s d
The whole playoff as I watching I thought to myself Michigan is not even close to any of these teams. The lineplay on both sides of the ball is superior. The qbs are superior. The running backs superior, the wide receivers superior. That is what I thought.
I am unsure how anyone else could’ve see it any other way. If so please enlighten me.
January 9th, 2018 at 8:52 AM ^
Unfortunately you speak the truth, brother.
January 9th, 2018 at 8:46 AM ^
I was thinking:
1) You can go from decent to great very quickly (Georgia) if all the pieces come together. I.e., we could be great next year.
2) "Youth" is no longer an excuse. Two true freshmen QBs!
3) Harbaugh has to stop being a "nice guy" coach when players aren't performing. I doubt JH would have pulled Hurts the way Saban did, but that's what won Bama the championship.
January 9th, 2018 at 9:05 AM ^
and a team that went 10-4, 12-2, 8-5, 10-3, 10-3 over the last 5 seasons. Georgia did not go from decent to great.
January 9th, 2018 at 9:06 AM ^
and a team that went 10-4, 12-2, 8-5, 10-3, 10-3 over the last 5 seasons. Georgia did not go from decent to great.
January 9th, 2018 at 8:47 AM ^
our team is too young = a bullshit excuse
true freshman play for national championship