We all thought about it: What did this game make you think about our team?

Submitted by stephenrjking on January 9th, 2018 at 1:56 AM

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?

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Wolverine4

January 9th, 2018 at 10:27 AM ^

It made me think, that Michigan is extremely mediocre, and not well coached. Also, a lot of the young players, are way overhyped!!

Joined: 01/08/2015

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WolverineMac

January 9th, 2018 at 10:28 AM ^

Georgia in 2016 was us this year, but with more experienced players. We are, and will be, fine. I am neutral on a new OC as my biggest gripe is that we need just one OC so that there is an identity. Except for a game or two in previous seasons play calling was good and so was creativity. The staff didn’t forget that, clearly they were limitations this year that none of us are or were aware of.

Go Blue!

Joined: 02/14/2010

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Toasted Yosties

January 9th, 2018 at 10:37 AM ^

All those freshman QBs killing it out there really hurt me.

Joined: 06/05/2013

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mrkid

January 9th, 2018 at 10:40 AM ^

Youth is no longer an excuse! Lots of true freshmen were making huge plays on a huge stage. I'm tired of the youth excuse.

Joined: 09/12/2011

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PapabearBlue

January 9th, 2018 at 10:50 AM ^

That while I don't expect M to be anywhere near as good as those two teams, there's also no excuse for our offense to be as incompetent as it was.

The team looked lost just like they did under borges. Playcalling wasn't mediocre, it was terrible. Harbaugh had no fire, the team had no fire, everyone just looked so "meh" out there.

I would love to know what was up with Harbaugh ths year. His fire and "crazy" is what, imo, pushed 2015-2016 to be what it was. Did he know this team wasn't going to be good? Did they obviously fuck off too much in the offseason? I mean, peters didn't even know the playbook.

Also, pretty sure Larry Foote was right, been agreeing with this for many years.

“We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.”

Joined: 07/19/2011

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GeorgetownTom

January 9th, 2018 at 11:22 AM ^

#1 QB
#2 Lack of playmakers on offense

Michigan brought in Patterson to alleviate #1. Hopefully he is eligible next year.

Regarding #2, I'm not sure there is a quick fix. The WRs as a group are very dissapointing thus far despite all being very highly rated. The TEs are average in my opinion, no one is really a difference maker. RBs are solid, but again nowhere near what Alabama or Georgia has. Even within the B1G, Wisconsin, Iowa, OSU, PSU and MSU all had/have superior RBs.

Joined: 10/08/2017

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ST3

January 9th, 2018 at 11:23 AM ^

With a good QB, a solid offensive line, and receivers who can get open, we could compete with either of those two teams. The other thing that came to mind was, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, PLEASE add the back shoulder throw to our passing game.

Joined: 09/11/2010

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g_reaper3

January 9th, 2018 at 11:25 AM ^

We likely have a good enough defense.

But our offense needs to be better all around. Those teams had better QB, RB and O line play. We may be comparable at receiver and TE. I think it is the coaching more than the talent. As others have posted, we have highly rated kids and we have also put quite a few in the NFL. We need a Don Brown level OC. And position coaches like Mattison. Maybe we get there, maybe not. Just depends how cutthroat Harbaugh wants to be.

I think the biggest difference is that college football is near life or death in the South. Not so in Ann Arbor. I am not sure the Southern approach is right, but it does drive accountability. Just look at the last 10 champions: Bama 5x, Florida, Clemson, FSU, Auburn and OSU. Thats 9 teams from the deep south. And OSU borders on having that near life or death approach.

On the bright side, our kicker seems much better than Bama's!

Joined: 10/03/2010

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chatster

January 9th, 2018 at 11:30 AM ^

Apart from academics, Michigan has another inherent recruiting problem for football. Considering that today’s high school football players might have to ask their parents to tell them about the last time when Michigan had an “elite” football program, managing to attract a top-15 recruiting class without having more than two or three highly-rated high school players within the state of Michigan could be considered miraculous.

Having the third, fourth and fifth best players from Michigan in the 2018 recruiting class might be like getting the 30th, 40th and 50th best players from one of the talent-rich states.

Signing OT Nicholas Petit-Frere from Florida (3rd best recruit in that state), WR JaMarr Chase from Louisiana (4th best recruit in that state) and DT Tyler Friday from New Jersey (2nd best recruit in that state) in the 2018 class would be a coup for Michigan's recruiters IF that were to happen, but according to 247 Sports rankings, Michigan’s current, top-rated recruit in the 2018 class, LB Otis Reese, is rated as only the 12th best player coming out Georgia, and he might not even wind up at Michigan.

Michigan’s other recruits from Georgia, CB Myles Sims and RB Christian Turner, are rated the 21st and 52nd best players from that state. Michigan’s 2018 recruiting class has the 14th, 47th and 176th best players from Texas, the 31st, 95th and 101st best players from Florida, and no players from Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey or California.

Competing against division opponents Ohio State and Penn State for elite recruits in their states might present an insurmountable problem. Michigan State often will get the elite Michigan high school football players who won’t meet Michigan’s academic or character standards.

Getting top-rated recruits out of Florida, Texas, California and Georgia also poses a problem, and if Rutgers ever gets its act together, it might find that it could score a top-20 recruiting class just from the top Catholic prep schools in that state that have started to play national schedules. If Maryland shows improvement, they’ll also have a recruiting advantage over Michigan with players from Maryland and northern Virginia.

Joined: 09/14/2010

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Lloyd's Boy

January 9th, 2018 at 12:02 PM ^

Agreed that pulling top talent out of Ohio, Florida, Georgia, Texas, etc. is and will continue to be a challenge, but I'll die the day that we are worried about competing with Rutgers in New Jersey or Maryland in northern Virginia.

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Hotel Putingrad

January 9th, 2018 at 11:55 AM ^

that we're fucked

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Lloyd's Boy

January 9th, 2018 at 11:59 AM ^

Frankly, what yesterday's game made me think about is how nice it would be to have a coaching staff who can make in game adjustments. How often have we been playing well in the first half only to watch a lead crumble in the second half? We seem to do a good job of identifying opponent's weaknesses and game planning was to exploit these, which is reflected in our first half performances. For some reason at halftime (at least against our good competition) our opponents add wrinkles for which we have no response. I don't remember the last time we made a palpable change within the course of the game that resulted in us getting a win. Blaming the S&C preparations for our second half shortcomings is ridiculous.

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