Indiana Snowflakes: The Offense
October 15th, 2023 at 10:31 AM ^
Not only is BC getting fewer carries, it seems like a great many of them are in short yardage situations, either near the goal line or on 3rd and short. He has 12 rushing TDs on 96 carries (a TD every 8 carries) in 7 games. I'll take it. Last year after 7 games he had 11 rushing TDs (5 against UConn) on 146 carries.
October 14th, 2023 at 4:02 PM ^
I think Edwards biggest issue is dancing far too much before he just makes his decision to go forward.
He is a hit the hole and go runner and not a shifty runner like Corum. For whatever reason he just seems to not want to make a decision fast enough. Edwards is fast but he isn't quick where Corum is the opposite. I feel they should use him more in the passing game out of the backfield. At this point for me anyway the 2 backs I like are Corum and Mullings with Edwards as 3rd.
October 14th, 2023 at 5:13 PM ^
“For whatever reason he just seems to not want to make a decision fast enough.”
I think he’s trying to live up to his own hype and tries to hit a home run with each carry instead of getting the yards that are there.
October 14th, 2023 at 7:27 PM ^
Edwards is also the kind of runner who, if he was the bell cow would run for more short gains but have more home runs. Both Corum and Edwards are running behind a line that is strong but nowhere as good as last year at the center and tackle positions. We also lost a really good TE who was a better run blocker than Loveland or Bredeson.
Edwards is thinking way too much. He needs to trust his god-given talent and just be a one cut and go dude.
October 14th, 2023 at 4:14 PM ^
The OL isn't as good this year so far
October 14th, 2023 at 5:02 PM ^
Bingo.
October 14th, 2023 at 5:23 PM ^
This is the correct answer. However they still have time to gel.
October 14th, 2023 at 6:03 PM ^
This is correct. There were tines last year when Edwards/Corum would make it to the 3rd level before a defender even came near them. This year 2nd level is getting them
October 14th, 2023 at 6:23 PM ^
I feel like Olu is the best OL Michigan has had in like 20 years
October 15th, 2023 at 12:12 AM ^
Oh, I thought Ruiz was the best recent center by far. Great player. Olu was a lot better than Nugent though. Whole line is a step back. Maybe things will gel by the time we play someone.
October 14th, 2023 at 8:09 PM ^
This is the answer
October 15th, 2023 at 3:31 AM ^
I completely disagree with Blake. He has a 200 yard game coming.
Its our oline thats not what is was last year. Its still very good especially pass pro but center n left tackle not moving the los.
October 15th, 2023 at 7:12 AM ^
He really should come back for 1 more year to claim that 1st or second spot.
October 14th, 2023 at 3:32 PM ^
RT play is concerning.
Great final 3 quarters by everyone else though.
October 15th, 2023 at 10:51 AM ^
I think we know why Hinton was getting work there now
October 14th, 2023 at 3:33 PM ^
I don't "get" Corum's numbers. I'm not complaining about it at all, I'm simply saying I don't get it.
October 14th, 2023 at 3:33 PM ^
J.J.: The Sweet Smell of Success...
October 14th, 2023 at 3:35 PM ^
JJ is remarkable. Kid can make every throw. Feels weird Michigan being a passing team more than last couple of years. JJ deserves it and he is just that fucking good. Please stay healthy and don't run when you don't need to.
For me the highlight was DE TD and excellent running by Hall. Man that felt good. DE needed that and I fully expect him to be a different player next week. Go Blue!
October 14th, 2023 at 3:35 PM ^
3.9 yards per carry. Very meh (and the worst against IU all year), but so much of that is from the lackluster first half. Overall, great after the first 10 minutes.
edit: lackluster first quarter.
October 14th, 2023 at 3:52 PM ^
4.3 you if you take out Edwards.
The Barry Sanders/Walter Payton hybrid cost the team almost a half yard per carry.
I like him better as a slot receiver, especially after the way Mullings ran the last couple games and the showing from Benjamin Hall today.
October 14th, 2023 at 4:02 PM ^
The team would reject your conditional stat, especially the way they celebrated his 1st TD of the season. Win as a team, lose as a team.
October 14th, 2023 at 4:05 PM ^
Agreed, though by that logic, we should just shut down all game analysis from here on out. Or at least when teammates celebrate with a guy.
October 14th, 2023 at 4:13 PM ^
By your logic, I could also argue we're 100% passing without JJ.
October 14th, 2023 at 5:25 PM ^
If there were posts bringing up a concern regarding completion percentage, have at it.
I’m more concerned about the lack of production from Edwards than I am the overall performance of the running game today.
I’m not concerned about McCarthy’s completion percentage.
October 14th, 2023 at 6:07 PM ^
It's a red herring argument. Sure, Donovan has been struggling, but 3.9 ypc vs 4.3ypc is so negligible for you to single him out to make another point, which is his declining production. I get it and t's no secret he's been lacking, BUT there's no need to unnecessarily kick him when he's down, especially when there is no statistical anomaly that influences the outcome.
October 15th, 2023 at 9:19 AM ^
I’m not sure you know what negligible and red herring mean.
Hall: 9 for 58 (6.4)
Corum: 13 for 52 (4.0)
Edwards: 9 for 20 (2.2)
Not to mention that in real time, comments were along the lines of Edwards missing cuts/holes and going down easy, not the lack of space. And when he caught the ball out of the backfield, he looked significantly better.
But I thank you at least for the information that if said statistic/analysis doesn’t affect the outcome, and the player is down on himself, don’t mention it.
Understood. Hopefully Edwards isn’t down on himself for too long.
October 14th, 2023 at 6:26 PM ^
If it’s really “win as a team, lose as a team,” then no one, including Edwards, would be concerned about who scores the TDS.
October 15th, 2023 at 9:21 AM ^
Seriously. “Down on himself” and “Win as a team, lose as a team”
What is this, the bleachers at a junior high game?
October 14th, 2023 at 3:35 PM ^
After a bad 1st quarter being outplayed by Indiana, JJ sacked 3 times and nothing was working, it was ALL Michigan for the next 45 minutes. It all worked out after 60 minutes of football while playing in rain and wind. JJ had another great game.
Loved the hurry-up drive before the half to go up 21-7. JJ had a great scramble to complete a TD pass to Loveland to go up 28-7. A QB sack/fumble/TO for Michigan while on 4th down by the Hoosiers.
Benj Hall looked very good at RB Edwards finally got his first TD. Tuttle TD pass to English to go up 52-7.
Hopefully, they do not start that slow next week against sparty. Overall, this was a very good game despite poor weather conditions.
October 14th, 2023 at 11:18 PM ^
Acho brought this up in the halftime show, but it wasn’t really a slow start when you consider that IU was running a brand new offense with a new OC for which Michigan had essentially no tape.
October 15th, 2023 at 9:22 AM ^
Another excellent point.
A lot said/written like this about Colorado (especially on offense) going into the TCU game.
October 15th, 2023 at 12:17 PM ^
Sort of agree with Acho, but the new OC sure wasn't in charge of their defensive calls or how out of sync our offense was until IU scored a TD.
October 14th, 2023 at 3:36 PM ^
52 unanswered points, in the rain.
And we beat Indiana much harder than OSU did.
Today was a good day.
October 14th, 2023 at 6:08 PM ^
Hard to believe since OSU is so tough now.
October 14th, 2023 at 10:05 PM ^
Come on, now, no team from south of the mitten should be expected to be able to play football In those crazy Michigan weather conditions.
October 14th, 2023 at 3:37 PM ^
Another great sign for the passing game that they can have a incredible outing without Wilson and CJ making much of an impact.
It's hard to tell what the run concepts are live, but it seems like we should stick with power as the base play instead of duo or split zone. If we can't pave Indiana with zone running, we definitely can't bank on paving PSU and OSU like we did last year.
October 14th, 2023 at 3:53 PM ^
I think we miss Olu. Nugent seems okay but it doesn't feel to me like we're bashing people inside the tackles quite the same way we were last year.
October 14th, 2023 at 9:07 PM ^
I think we miss Ryan Hayes too
October 14th, 2023 at 6:10 PM ^
I think we need to keep calling split and duo for the sole reason that opponents need to spend time preparing for it. We need to stay multiple even if one style is working better
October 14th, 2023 at 3:37 PM ^
JJ is just so good.
A bit concerned about the pass pro early. Some of that was RPS blitz issues that got cleaned up, but not sure how much.
I get nervous whenever JJ gets tackled. He’s the season.
October 14th, 2023 at 3:46 PM ^
Agree with you about JJ getting tackled. Today it seemed like there were two many runs by JJ, and many of those runs were in the middle of the field instead of along the sideline. Am worried about dirty play by MSU next week, since they have little left to play for other than ruin our season.
October 14th, 2023 at 6:28 PM ^
I agree that losing McCarthy for multiple games would end their chances, but I think Tuttle is good enough to give them a shot if McCarthy went down in the middle of one of the big games.
October 14th, 2023 at 3:38 PM ^
Offense really picked it up after the first quarter. Steam rolled.
Really sad for Donovan, though. Can’t help but feel like he may have ended up leaving millions on the table by not entering the draft this spring. Having an awful season. Hope he can turn it around and finish strong.
October 14th, 2023 at 3:40 PM ^
He needs to finish this season before he can throw his hat in the NFL draft ring.
October 14th, 2023 at 3:46 PM ^
What? Edwards was not draft eligible this spring...
October 14th, 2023 at 3:47 PM ^
This is Donovan’s third season. He’s ineligible for the draft until next spring.
October 14th, 2023 at 4:08 PM ^
At this rate, Donovan might need to come back and play for Michigan next year. Hopefully, he'll get good NIL$$ to make it worth his while.
October 14th, 2023 at 5:25 PM ^
Hes gone. His role in the offense next year is unlikely to increase much, and given what happened to corum last year and the decreasing value the NFL places on RBs, there is no reason whatsoever for him to stay.
October 14th, 2023 at 6:14 PM ^
On the flip side, next year we are breaking in a new QB which means they will have a short leash and we will lean on the run game to carry us. That may actually create MORE opportunities
October 14th, 2023 at 6:30 PM ^
There might be, if he isn’t seen as likely to go in the first three rounds. Given what’s happened so far this season, I’d be surprised if he was slotted that high.