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2019 season preview

The MGoPodcast 11.0.a: Call Him O'Doul McShanty Comment Count

Seth August 19th, 2019 at 7:58 AM

1 hour and 29 minutes

The Sponsors

This show is presented by The UGP & The Bo Store, and if it wasn’t for Rishi and Ryan, instead of 11 years of MGoPodcasts this would be entirely about salsa takes.

Our other sponsors are also key to all of this: The Residence Inn Ann Arbor Downtown, The HomeSure Lending, The University of Michigan Alumni Association, The Ann Arbor Elder Law, The Michigan Law Grad, The Human Element , The Phil Klein Insurance Group, The Peak Wealth Management, The Fuegobox, and introducing The Randy Wise Chevrolet, and The Perrin Brewing.

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1. The Quarterbacks & Running Backs

(starts at 1:00)

Shea is elite at finding a guy when running around, and elite at keeping the ball in his back's basket until a linebacker has to commit to that. Real quarterback competition? This guy is gonna play is about how good McCaffrey is, and what if Patterson gets hurt.

The running backs: are you worried more about starting a walk-on, or the fact that Charbonnet was ranked so highly, because we're totally the other thing. Brian doesn't know Anthony Thomas is A-Train. Christian Turner is compared to Clarence Williams, whom I remember as C-Will but if A-Train provokes a response I'm not doing a –Will name.

2. Receivers & Tight Ends

(starts at 27:25)

Not hearing enough about DPJ for our ears, different takes as to what that means. Nico is awesome: same take as to what that means: THROW IT UP THERE! Ditto Black and DPJ. If safeties are up Michigan should go deep. Ronnie Bell is a hit and it sounds like Cornelius Johnson is one too. The slots have arrived, they are fun, they are freshmen, and two of them will play lots immediately.

Positive about Sean McKeon despite a rough year when he was learning a new offense on the fly and a great year when he locked on. Needs to make more use of his speed—2017 he was a crossing route maven. Eubanks is a weapon that we want to see used more often. Decent or bad blocker depending on your starting point. Erik All can catch, we're still asking him to be a Funchessian receiver instead of a Funchessian tight end, but that depends on what they have in Schoonmaker and Muhammad.

3. Offensive Line

(starts at 55:40)

How good does it feel? Best OL in the conference? The interior is elite and huge. Runyan…wow, still an NFL guard at tackle, but an NFL guard—take it! Mayfield is at the start of a jumping off point—so athletic. Backups are viable, even with Stueber's injury. Might see a couple of the kids.

4. Offense: Holistically

(starts at 1:16:36)

Best since Denard (yes we know it's 2010). Remember when they put Denard under center for the Crimes Against Manpanda? RPOs! Modern football! Not being the slowest team in the country! Running game and passing game that actually play off each other! Running the same offense all year! Comps to 2000, Mad Magicians, Point-a-Minute, various top ten offenses.

MUSIC

  • "Vida 23 (Let's Have a Real Good Time)"—Pitbull ft. Faye
  • "Timber"—Pitbull ft. Kesha
  • "International Love"—Pitbull & Chris Brown
  • “Across 110th Street”

THE USUAL LINKS

Are there wolves? Are there demons? I don't know but here we go!

Comments

1VaBlue1

August 19th, 2019 at 8:20 AM ^

I haven't listened, yet, and won't (can't) until this afternoon.  But, from the synopsis, Brian didn't know that Anthony Thomas was nicknamed A-Train?

I'm sorry, but I cannot believe that.  I'm pretty sure I've heard him mention 'A-Train' on various occasions, along with other people mentioning same.  And there is just no way that Brian Cook, the founder of the largest, most successful, college sports fanboy site in ever, does not know that one of the all-time best RB's for the football team he adores was nick named 'A-Train' (an epic nick in its own right).

There is no way.  I will not believe this until I hear it on the podcast.  And when I hear it, I will immediately assume that he has fabricated a story for listener interest.  Of which there is no reason!  NONE!!!

Not believing it...

Joined: 01/31/2016

MGoPoints: 126893

814 East U

August 19th, 2019 at 9:14 AM ^

Brian is usually pretty fair (maybe even pessimistic) about Michigan football. Thinking the offense will finish top 5 SP+ seems crazy to me. Hope I'm wrong because the defense will need a lot of help.

Joined: 10/24/2012

MGoPoints: 20279

1VaBlue1

August 19th, 2019 at 9:23 AM ^

LOL!!!  I get the worry about the defense, considering where it's been since Harbaugh was hired.  Durkin's defense was really solid, except for a game he didn't care about.  And Brown's defenses have been #1 - literally - in two of the last three years, and #3 the other year.

It's pretty likely that this year's defense will not be #1.  It may fall all the way down to #10.  At worst, it will be a top 20 defense.  That's still a pretty fucking good defense! 

"...a lot of help" can mean many things, granted.  In relative terms, a lot of help to get to #1 is very different from Minnesota's version of 'a lot of help' to get to competitive fluency (in comparison to Michigan's defense).  Relax...  The defense is still pretty damn good.

Joined: 01/31/2016

MGoPoints: 126893

dragonchild

August 19th, 2019 at 9:43 AM ^

When the defense has been solid it has started with an embarrassment of riches at defensive line.

The well has dried up.  Now, Brown may be best in the country at mitigating weakness along D-line, but OSU exposed how there's only so much he can do.

I think Brown & Co. will coach up the defense to, statistically, top 25.  It will be enough to win most games.  The worry isn't that.  The worry is that while his stuff will work against most teams on the schedule, and Wisconsin is likely to obligingly self-implode (gottdamn their HC is an idiot), his gimmicks don't work against top talent that's wary of it -- by that I mean, OSU.  This isn't BC catching FSU with their pants down.  OSU is going to spend a ridiculous amount of time prepping a game plan to exploit the tenders spots on our defense.  And against an opponent like that, Brown has been known to implode catastrophically.

It's pretty much the one big shadow being cast on the upcoming season.  It's not a knock on Brown to say he needs NFL talent at DT to have a chance against OSU; that goes for everyone.  But unless Kemp has suddenly gotten a lot twitchier (very unlikely at this stage), we're facing a season-long problem with interior pass rush.  I daresay the reason for moving Ben Mason to DT is to do something about that, which is anything but encouraging.

Joined: 10/13/2011

MGoPoints: 60848

Reggie Dunlop

August 19th, 2019 at 10:16 AM ^

2016 - OSU scored 17 points and gained just 280 yards in regulation

2017 - OSU scored 24 points and gained just 284 yards.

(Then O'Korn threw the game-sealing INT and OSU tacked on 66 yards in 3 plays as everybody headed for the exits. Count that if you want, but if Michigan drove the field for the winning TD instead of throwing a back-breaking pick on the first play of what was supposed to be a game-winning drive, that never happens. Brown's D put us in position to win.)

It's incredible how many Michigan fans forget about two very good defensive outings against Ohio State. One bad outing last November and people without the ability recall information say things like Brown's schemes "don't work against top talent". That's just dumb. I can't put it any other way. Penn State got us two years ago in the infamous slot-fade game. The next time we saw them they scored 7 points and gained just 186 yards of total offense.  

It is possible to let one game be one game. It happens. Everybody has bad days. Don Brown and Michigan's defense is that good because we don't have as many bad days as everybody else. I'm not dismissing OSU, because that would be foolish, but let's see if Day's offense can do it again, without a First Round NFL draft pick at QB. Without Urban Meyer holding his hand. Because other teams haven't been able to duplicate success against a Don Brown defense.

Have a little more faith.

Joined: 10/24/2018

MGoPoints: 4389

dragonchild

August 19th, 2019 at 10:09 AM ^

Top 5 in the country.  I can see the case.

The talent is there; it just wasn't utilized last season.  Shea was largely running a zone read attack where we knew he wasn't keeping because we were trying to avoid yet another QB injury. Evans was also used conventionally; the receivers were practically ignored.  I likened last season's offense to a high-end sports car being used to haul dirt.  Sure that V-12 has enough power to do the job, but you can't see the poor thing with a trailer hitched to it and say it's meant to be.  The offense eventually put away most teams, but it often looked like the path of most resistance.  I didn't think blowouts could look so painful and labored.

Throw off that gorram load of dirt and we're looking at a stupidly good offense.  Top 5?  That'll take a little luck, sure.  That's a very valid caveat, but any elite team has to be at least a little lucky.  The key here is just how little luck we actually need.  The O-line is a proven commodity, so that takes a lot out of the equation.  Wilson is a walk-on but if he just takes the yards the line gets him (something he's quite good at), that's all he needs to be.  Advanced stats indicate we have two, maybe even three NFL receivers.  If the tackles merely aren't disappointments, Gattis is everything as advertised, and Shea (in an offense that suits him) is as good as we hope, we're looking at close to an actual NFL-grade offensive roster with a Mooreheadian OC.  An offense that needs only two, three already encouraging things going right (and nothing going wrong, natch) to be potentially the #1 offense in the country is starting from a pretty solid point.

Joined: 10/13/2011

MGoPoints: 60848