Michigan Monday is up
https://buckeyehuddle.com/2023/09/11/michigan-monday-vegas-vacation/
Pretty standard, although I laughed at this, and Tony's tongue-in-cheek humor comes through:
White left East Lansing, but his legend lived on. He transferred to UNLV after the 2021 season, and for the first time since that day, Michigan was finally able to exact its revenge. The Wolverines held White to just two catches for 31 yards, exorcising a demon that nobody was ever actually possessed by.
Michigan’s revenge tour never truly rests.
September 11th, 2023 at 4:13 PM ^
Not his worst post. Everyone in the world sees our running game as suspect
September 11th, 2023 at 4:23 PM ^
Yeah, that is curious. Our receivers and TEs need to shore up blocking a bit, but the oline is doing well. It’s often hard to tell when you have 8-9 in the box and try to run against that. When it 8-on-6, what do you expect?
September 11th, 2023 at 4:31 PM ^
"I can’t believe I’m looking forward to Michigan finally getting to a game against Rutgers."
I will admit that when this schedule was first released, I scanned it and didn't bother much with the non-conference schedule because, well, look at it. I began more substantive contemplation at Rutgers, which is an absolutely weird thing to even do, but that's how uninspiring the non-conference slate is this time around.
September 11th, 2023 at 4:37 PM ^
Rutgers is no longer the worst team in the conference…by a long shot!
I also have immense respect for Schiano’s game planning abilities. If he doesn’t have a plan specifically for us, I’d be shocked.
Remembering how Indiana used to scout us PERFECTLY…and then lose, I expect the same out of Rutgers.
September 11th, 2023 at 6:04 PM ^
Yea I think Rutgers is quietly a functional football program again. A lot has justifiably been made about how they parlayed a program high point into a big ten invite...but the depths to which they fell before Schiano's return probably aren't where they'll normally be. They were the worst Big East program in the '90s, but probably long term aren't that different from your run of the mill Big East/ACC program, a la Maryland (and Pitt, VT, 'Cuse, UVA, GT, BC). All of these programs at their worst get into struggles with good FCS teams, and at their best can win the ACC - but likely will not compete as a top 5 program. I'm looking forward to the Rutgers game because they're as real of an opponent as IU.
That being said - NW is the worst program in the Big Ten.
September 11th, 2023 at 6:15 PM ^
Rutgers might legitimately be the 3rd best defense on Michigan's schedule.
no /s
September 11th, 2023 at 8:24 PM ^
This is absolutely the case, no doubt about it. Who's in the running? Minnesota?
OSU/PSU
----GAP----
Rutgers
----GAP----
PSU's 2nd team defense
----GAP----
Minnesota
----GAP----
Every other B10 opponent
----GAP----
Non Conf opponent
September 12th, 2023 at 11:36 AM ^
I think Minnesota's in the running. I actually think Nebraska's defense has been playing well. And Indiana's defense is BY FAR its better half (IU's offense married up...big time!).
Ironically, all 4 teams mentioned are Michigan's first 4 conference games, so we should have a more clear answer to this by mid-October.
September 12th, 2023 at 12:14 PM ^
Hey Chuck. Eat Shit.
September 12th, 2023 at 5:03 PM ^
I like Chuck being here and like reading his posts.
September 11th, 2023 at 8:59 PM ^
They might even be the 1st best defense!
maybe /s
September 11th, 2023 at 8:55 PM ^
And I’m going to make my first appearance for a game since 2018 for the Rutgers game. Rutgers has been competitive under Schiano against Michigan.
September 12th, 2023 at 1:27 PM ^
Me too. I could have had any of the first 4 games but Rutgers is the only one I would spend money on.
September 11th, 2023 at 4:33 PM ^
I know he came around on it, but he said UNLV threw it better against us than they did Bryant. Mentioned Moore and Paige didn't play, but failed to mention that Will Johnson played 1 series.
Competition caveats obviously apply, but not having your All-American #1 CB affects the rest of the secondary. It's trickle down coveragenomics.
September 11th, 2023 at 4:41 PM ^
Voodoo coveragenomics
September 11th, 2023 at 5:05 PM ^
So what is the status of all 3? We're now 3 weeks in. Are they out longer? Everyone said it was no big deal.. its gonna be one soon if they dont play 1/4 (ideally 1/5th) of the season. They need reps.. these are pros, and even pros need reps. Plus, when the top 3 are down in one unit,... its a problem. If they dont play this week, ill be considerably worried. pearls and all
September 11th, 2023 at 5:43 PM ^
If you own a Prius and a 911 GT3, you use the Toyota for bumper to bumper traffic. You save the Porsche for the Nordschleife.
September 11th, 2023 at 8:29 PM ^
Paige played game #1. Johnson appeared on the field against UNLV. Moore has warmed up both games and is a junior who started his entire sophomore year, plus part of his true freshman year. Reps aren’t an issue, they’ll all be fine
September 11th, 2023 at 8:27 PM ^
Also 68 of their yards (for over 9 YPA) came from their back up, against our 3rd stringers. Their starter threw for 5.3 YPA and 100 yards on the nose. Not really a concern
September 12th, 2023 at 10:44 AM ^
As has been mentioned multiple times on some of the MGo podcasts, Michigan pretty much plays the defense they are going to play against OSU against everyone else. Clearly this results in bleeding yards against teams they could be stuffing in a trash can a la Don Brown, but as we saw with that strategy, man-cover 1 has highly variable results against top end talent and tends to squash low end talent. On the plus side, we don't have to try and completely redefine our defense for The Game, like OSU did last year and got maximally punished for all of their high leverage errors.
This occasionally gets frustrating when they give up an 8 yard out on first down to a future insurance salesman. You won't be quite as annoyed when it's Marvin Harrison Jr catching that out instead of a 50 yard touchdown. With this D line and interior pass rush, it looks like it's only a matter of time before they create a negative play and put the offense behind the chains.
September 11th, 2023 at 4:34 PM ^
He’s as confident as any Wolverine has ever been, except his confidence actually has merit.
🤣
September 11th, 2023 at 5:31 PM ^
Could someone copy-paste it here, my work has suddenly decided that website is "newgroups/forums" and blocked it....Promise to give it a view @home
September 11th, 2023 at 6:21 PM ^
You are not StephenRJKing, I refuse to believe you
September 11th, 2023 at 7:41 PM ^
I am unfit to tie SJRK’s sandals.
September 12th, 2023 at 7:16 AM ^
Love his JJ and the Heisman talk!
September 12th, 2023 at 9:52 AM ^
The Jurassic Park quote is my favorite:
"It also means that even the Wolverines hate their non-conference schedule. They don’t want to be fed, they want to hunt."
September 12th, 2023 at 12:13 PM ^
Can someone explain why we have a thread every week devoted to the mediocre writings of an Ohio State fan? Who cares what this jackass writes?
September 12th, 2023 at 4:05 PM ^
Because he is (or used to be) truth serum for when we get too full of ourselves.
Read his section about run success rate. He will get into the details and point out less-than-rosy, but dead-on, things we often overlook while we are slapping ourselves on the back.
That being said, he has less credibility at this than he used to now that we are an existential threat to Ohio State. Points like Michigan defending the pass worse than Bryant are dumb red herrings that he threw in there to please the home slappies. His own comment: "The (UNLV) quarterbacks completed 15-of-26 passes for 168 yards while getting sacked five times." tells the actually relevant story.
He didn't need to do that mindless OSU-pandering stuff when he didn't think we were an actual threat. But now he does.
If he keeps going down the comic-insult-dog route, he won't be useful. He'll just be another generic OSU hack that we can ignore, like we do the rest of them.