Wisconsin, Penn St, and OSU game concerns?
The prevailing narrative this morning from many fans is that the combination of our poor (?) performance, and the dominating performances from Wisconsin, Penn St, and OSU, foretells likely losses for the Wolverines in those games. Far be it from me to dispel these sky is falling myths, but... Wisconsin, PSU, and OSU played 3 of the worst teams in college football, while Michigan played a team who played in their conference title game last season.
First, Michigan's performance was really poor, underwhelming, disappointing, or any other of the negative adjectives being thrown around on message boards and comment sites. It wasn't perfect, but it shouldn't be panic inducing either.
Secondly, Wisconsin played a team who had lost 6 games in a row by an average margin of 19 points. Plus, they had a run defense ranked in the 100's last season. And, even with that horrible defense, USF had 11 TFLs against Wisconsin. The score was big 49-0, but it was nothing unexpected considering the mismatch.
Next, Penn St played a bad FCS team who sacrifices themselves as cannon fodder for the confidence of FBS teams. In their 4-7 2018 season, the Idaho Vandals gave up 40+ points in almost half of their games (5), including 79 versus Fresno St, and 63 versus Florida, both FBS schools. So, Penn State rushing for 300+ yards, and scoring 79 points is not indicative of a dominant team that should be striking fear into the fan base. I'll reserve judgment on PSU until they actually play a team who can provide at least a modicum of competition (Buffalo or Pitt).
As far as Ohio State, they played an FAU team who managed only 14 points, while giving up 63, against Oklahoma last season. FAU (5-7) also lost to a certain Middle Tennessee State last season. Obviously, they are not a quality football team, and worse than MTSU. The game stats for OSU/FAU and UM/MTSU are quite similar, yet the narrative is that OSU was dominant, and Michigan played poorly.
This seems to be a highly unusual request coming off of an easy victory, but can everyone relax a little and use some perspective. Michigan played a team with a pulse who is accustomed to some measure of success. The other teams basically played cadavers from their med school's freezers!
September 1st, 2019 at 6:00 PM ^
I get all the caveats, but when I see the same kinds of mistakes, year after year, and then see them again at the start of this year, there are concerns. And then the same excuses come from the same apologists.
It's not trolling. It's just pessimism. For once I'd like to see us put it all together. Not perfection, but a good and successful flow on offense, a defense that suffocates inferior teams and plays well enough against the big boys, and few if any coaching / mental mistakes.
But it's year 5, and it ain't here yet. Of course I'm concerned.
September 1st, 2019 at 7:30 PM ^
I don’t know how somebody can take away anything of significance from that game and use it to try and forecast the rest of the season.
That game was played like an NFL preseason game.
September 1st, 2019 at 8:41 PM ^
How many sacks did we have last night? How many times did we pressure the QB? Those stats tell more to me - as we played an undersized MTSU OL.
September 1st, 2019 at 10:11 PM ^
Ohio State ran a very base offense with a first time QB who had a 72% comp rate, 5 TDs and 300 yards of offense. They started out with 4 surgical drives in the first quarter with the 1’s then started toying with their OL, WRs and RBs for a quarter.
We threw the kitchen sink out there and looked like a community college running gimmick plays. We fumbled handoffs, dropped passes, a 4 year starter had a 58% comp rate. We got our QB hit a lot. We faltered in the red zone. We drove 84 yards and got stoned on the 1 yard line. First play in the new look offense: 15 yard run....and fumble. Shea is going to get killed against a legit D the way he runs
FAU returned their starting QB, TE, WRs and OL. Picked as 1/2 in CUSA. MTSU had a first time starter at QB and replaced a ton off last years team. Picked to finish 4th in their division.
September 1st, 2019 at 11:32 PM ^
I expected a bigger one. But not gonna dwell. Shea fumbled on the first play after making a nice run. First game of the season. First game in a new system. We won, no reason to complain. I know Harbaugh focuses on improving every game. With the talent on this team, if we improve every week, can't wait for the rest of the season and especially the Game. Thank God it's college football season again!!!
GO BLUE!!
September 2nd, 2019 at 12:25 AM ^
Too early to tell.....how about we wait for another data point vs Army when we have 2 weeks to discuss with a bye week?
September 2nd, 2019 at 12:40 AM ^
The offense will improve, once we get some of our injured player back. My real concern is the DL, since there was a lack of a rush on a small OL and at times the small MTSU OL pushed our DL around. WI will destroy our line but if our offense can score on WI we could win that game like 42 - 38.
September 2nd, 2019 at 1:51 AM ^
Yeah the DL is gonna be a big problem this year.
September 2nd, 2019 at 1:49 AM ^
My feeling is the same as it was before week 1. Can't make much for judgments based on MOV, especially against cupcakes. But then again, I wasn't really ready to crown Michigan or count out MSU, OSU, or Penn State anyway. I don't really believe in Wisconsin though.
September 2nd, 2019 at 7:14 AM ^
I was at the Wisconsin game on Friday. I'm not too worried. USF was horrible at all phases of the game. Wisconsin played a conservative game and didn't make mistakes. We can't play the way we played on Saturday and win, but let's hope we got the early season yips out our system.
September 2nd, 2019 at 10:36 AM ^
Michigan fans are crazy . Game 1 went pretty well for them.. If I were a UM fan my biggest concern would be keeping my big wideouts healthy if they do this offense can be great. Another concern is this 2 qb thing they have going on .They played the same type game as my Buckeye's. They had a stretch were they both showed the ceiling is very high. Staying injury free and getting some breaks are the key for both.
September 2nd, 2019 at 3:41 PM ^
MTSU beat FAU last year by 1 point. Also, not sure how last year matters. I watched the Suckeyes. It was pretty clear they decided to go dive left / dive right after getting up 28-0 with 6 min left in the first quarter. As for PSU, they did what they were supposed to do vs a bad team.