Losing to MSU always stinks, but: 1- Tucker played the transfer portal and won the lottery. Walker=Russell Wilson 2- Harbaugh can't catch passes, recover fumbles, and he can't help defense contain, gap fill, and recognize matchups, but he must work on tempo. 3- There will always be this burning paper bag on our porch filled with inexplicable calls when UM plays MSU. 0-6 on reviewed calls makes you wonder if Ron Snodgrass had Tim Donaghy in the replay booth.
BiSB: "Like good job, buddy, you totally did that".
Your sarcasm is noted, and the only thing more amusing than insinuating that the president had everything to do with this is insinuating that the president had nothing to do with it. I'd give his intervention more stock than "rapid testing". "Oh, we can know 24 hours sooner who can't play Saturday. Let's do this!"
At some point, we're going to have to own this and admit that we as a country are here because we ridiculed and defied leadership on every level to the point where the wise decided to have nothing to do with it. We are left to ourselves.
Obligatory BPONE post: Remember this is Michigan, where we can't have nice things (Michigan basketball recruiting is nodding). To paraphrase the late John Candy, "Six bucks and my right nut says we're not landing both of these guys". Alabama, OSU, Georgia, and LSU probably already have their Venmo account number and the offers are flowing in.
Brian, Seth, thanks for the great work. I don't even know what I'm having for lunch today, and people are asking you to tell us who's going to be standing on the sideline in September, who's going to be the starting lineup, and what's the first play called. Just keep doing your job. Criticism is like snowmen. If there's any substance to it, it'll stay, but most of it will just eventually go away when the season changes. (Insert Lloyd Carr's Pakenham Beatty quote here).
Agree. There's a story that while Coach Howard was at Miami, the team self-assigned a "pre-practice" practice where young players and those who needed to work on their game would come in before practice to work on improving or correcting their game. This story was told with the hope that this would happen at Michigan. I'm guessing it hasn't happened yet. Coaching transitions are tough.
ESPN= Emporer's Shirt & Pants (are) Nice. Their summary: "Iowa Surprises #19 Michigan". Really? Is that what happened last night? Or, did a soft playing Michigan team get out-worked, become content to shoot from the perimeter, and the officiating was terrible? Are these results surprising? To Michigan? To anyone?
Exactly. It was a defense of one 5 star defending an offense loaded with 5 stars. Same challenge with our offense of one 5 star (who didn't throw like a 5 star) against a defense loaded with 5 stars.
Talen to be Top 6? SB Nation has a 4 year ranking of college football teams (based on their average from the past 4 years). Michigan came in at #12, behind both Penn State (#11) and Ohio State(#5). Alabama was #1. LSU was #3 and Oklahoma #4. Michigan has gotten the 3rd best recruits in the Big Ten East and "viola!", they came in 3rd in the Big Ten East behind OSU and PSU. With the Wisconsin game being an anomoly (in my opinion) due to changing to a new offense, this season played out how the last 4 years of recruiting went. We were very close to PSU and still far away from OSU and Alabama. Guess where the Michigan class of 2020 is currently ranked? #11. 2021? 15. PSU is still 10-15 range, and OSU is still Top 5.
Talen to be Top 6? SB Nation has a 4 year ranking of college football teams (based on their average from the past 4 years). Michigan came in at #12, behind both Penn State (#11) and Ohio State(#5). Alabama was #1. LSU was #3 and Oklahoma #4. Michigan has gotten the 3rd best recruits in the Big Ten East and "viola!", they came in 3rd in the Big Ten East behind OSU and PSU. With the Wisconsin game being an anomoly (in my opinion) due to changing to a new offense, this season played out how the last 4 years of recruiting went. We were very close to PSU and still far away from OSU and Alabama. Guess where the Michigan class of 2020 is currently ranked? #11. 2021? 15. PSU is still 10-15 range, and OSU is still Top 5.
Talen to be Top 6? SB Nation has a 4 year ranking of college football teams (based on their average from the past 4 years). Michigan came in at #12, behind both Penn State (#11) and Ohio State(#5). Alabama was #1. LSU was #3 and Oklahoma #4. Michigan has gotten the 3rd best recruits in the Big Ten East and "viola!", they came in 3rd in the Big Ten East behind OSU and PSU. With the Wisconsin game being an anomoly (in my opinion) due to changing to a new offense, this season played out how the last 4 years of recruiting went. We were very close to PSU and still far away from OSU and Alabama. Guess where the Michigan class of 2020 is currently ranked? #11. 2021? 15. PSU is still 10-15 range, and OSU is still Top 5.
Monkey Man and Dragonchild, Patterson should have been compensated for advertising for AT&T: "Just OK is not OK". He couldn't make the long throws, allowing Bama's simple half time adjustment to be "stop the run and short throws". The fair Harbaugh criticism is that he doesn't give the understudy at a position the opportunity to come in and see if he can outplay the starter. Gray was either the exception to that or he simply was brought in as an extra back. At 9.4 wins a season, however, that's not a fireable offense.
"....RG Simon Stepaniak .... evidently hasn't cleaned up the more Spartan-ish side of his game".
I was wondering if Sparty Panasushi's alter ego was going to get pointed out for who he is. I don't want dirty play, but this dude needs to be on every defender's radar.
I don't think "giving Patterson time in the pocket" is as much of an issue. After the game yesterday, I hung around BTN land to watch IU and Sparty. I was impressed at how clean IU's QB managed to stay (sacked only once) with quick throws to the boundary, rub routes, bubble screens, a few sideline go routes, and of course, tempo. They were running MSU ragged with no chance to pressure the QB. Patterson needs some of these plays to make that "flood the A gap" blitz pressure pay.
Northern Michigan, that's the best overall take of the season. UM needs to get out on the break more in the second half. Push tempo and look to finish at the rim off tempo. They don't have the horses or the half court consistency to grind for 40 minutes with the likes of MSU, but I think they could pick a few more spots to run to keep their offense fueled. Even off made baskets, MSU was pushing it back quickly to put pressure on UM's defense. Maybe it was just to keep Iggy too busy to do money signs and blow kisses.
I believe that Brian was quoting DD. DD went so far to criticize the officiating that he stated he was getting looks from the officials. Brian is only fault is that he has the wrong route in the picture snuggling with Izzo. It should be Terry Oglesby. He once again guided MSU to a big win today, And MSU is now 6-0 with his support.
The problem- and the good thing- is that Poole is always feeling it. He needs to go Reggie Miller off screens and cuts with a catch and shoot, or hard drive to the rim, instead of "dribble, fake, jab step, contemplate, cross-over to nowhere, lateral drive just inside the 3 point line into a 270 degree fadeaway 18' jumper. I agree with vision on the drives. Teams are collapsing and people are open. Got to trust the entry pass to Teske as well. Go Blue.
Thanks for the numbers, Alex. I enjoy a good run through ambiguous percentages that will have no meaning on the game- and yet they do. Speaking of KenPom, can you do a chance of winning percentage based on the type of official- or the actual official- that is drawn for the game? Like what is our chances given that UM is 5-0 with Bo Borowski, 4-0 with Terry Wymer, and not so successful with the likes of Terry Oglesby (2-2 with the 2 losses being the 30 FT performances v. MSU), D.J. Cartenson (1-3 including MSU and the 24 FT game v. Iowa), or Lewis Garrison (0-3; also at the scene of the crime in Iowa as well as PSU's 34 FTs)?
BTW, Kenpom listed Borowski and Wymer in the top 15 of list of highest rated officials nation wide in 2017 while only Cartenson cracked the top 25. Yes, I get bitter when we lose. Especially when opponent's FT attempts go up 126% in the process. Humor me, Alex. I've already given you 19.6% of the stats needed to do this.
Thanks for the article, Alex. Somehow it scratches an itch to work over ambiguous numbers and statistics that don't factor into the game itself- and yet they do. Can you do some totally meaningless research on chances of winning this weekend based on style of official- or the actual- official drawn? Like how UM is 5-0 with Bo Borowski, 4-0 with Terry Wymer (both Borowski and Wymer were voted top 15 refs in the nation in 2017 according to Kenpom), 2-2 with Terry Oglesby, 1-3 with D.J. Cartenston, and 0-3 with Lewis Garriston and come up with some meaningless handicap (none of these 3 were in the top 15 according to Kenpom- just sayin')?
Oglesby is notable because MSU is 5-0 with him, all wins over ranked opponents (yes he did both UM v. MSU 30 FT games), and they are 4-1 with Cartenson who also did a UM v. MSU game as well as the 34 FT game at Iowa and the weird ending at Wisky.
Yes, I"m still bitter about Saturday's game at MSU. As Bo said, "I've been bitter ever since about it"
I'm with Angelique. I want to know who's calling the plays. I want to know if they are numbered or named after animals. Do they press a button and then call a play in the form of a question like on Jeopardy? Do Pep and Harbaugh ever do that scene from Airplane? I need Angelique to find out, and I don't want her to quit asking until we get some answers!
If Matt Millen can get paid to ramble on and make no sense, I'd like my turn to ramble on for free: According to College Football Stats.com, Michigan is 118th out of 130 teams with 9.2 penalties a game, up from 6.6 a year ago. Compare that to some other teams:
MSU- 100th- 7.8 this year up from 6.5
OSU- 109th- 8.4 this year up from 6.9
PSU- 62nd- 6.0 this year up from 4.2
Alabama- 78th- 6.8 this year up from 5.2
Georgia- 60th- 6.0 this year down from 6.6
Clemson- 21st- 5.0 this year , 5.0 last year
While many other Top 25 teams appear to be little changed, the top 4 teams in the Big Ten have seen a good increase- no one more than Michigan. I believe that Michigan is committing more PI than previous years, but we all know that Noah was working in the woodshop the last time Michigan drew a PI call. I'd hardly argue a hold against our O line, but at the same time, Gary and Winovich never notch more tackles in a game than the OL playing across from them. The end line is one side of that Michigan has the opportunity to improve, and that's all they can do.
All this griping about coaching has been adequately proven to be misguided thinking by later posts in this thread, but here's my two cents: I don't know who I would want to even consider to replace Harbaugh and his staff as a whole. Yes, Drevno should be on the hot seat, and perhaps less is more if you eliminate him from OC responsibilities and put him simply as OL coach. Otherwise, this team is severely plagued by injuries and no senior leadership on the OL or QB. I know this is so anti- 21st century college football, but this program and this staff need time to sort this out. We'd be foolish to scrap it and repeat the past 10 years all over again. Although, John Bacon would have more writing material......
All this griping about coaching has been adequately proven to be misguided thinking by later posts in this thread, but here's my two cents: I don't know who I would want to even consider to replace Harbaugh and his staff as a whole. Yes, Drevno should be on the hot seat, and perhaps less is more if you eliminate him from OC responsibilities and put him simply as OL coach. Otherwise, this team is severely plagued by injuries and no senior leadership on the OL or QB. I know this is so anti- 21st century college football, but this program and this staff need time to sort this out. We'd be foolish to scrap it and repeat the past 10 years all over again. Although, John Bacon would have more writing material......
Otherwise, the NCAA is going to get confused whether the tape is about Bush or "captain" Brian Allen's constant cheap shots at Bush. It was more than one time.
5 turnovers against MSU can make even Kate Upton look ugly ...... well, that might be a stretch, uh, maybe, it would depend on- ......anyway, I digress.
Michigan rushed for over 100 yards, and Higdon looked like he could have done more. Easy fix: HIgdon gets more carries. OKorn had 198 yards of passing. These are not stellar numbers, but considering 5 drives got cut short with turnovers, they aren't ugly. What was ugly was that he overlooked wide open options and wide open field in front of him in order to opt to throw to harder targets. Easy fix: OKorn keeps drives going with his feet.
On the two drives where they fumbled, they looked like drives that were going to score points. My take from these interviews is a team that knows their offense is not as bad as 5 turnovers made them look, and those 5 drives can get fixed and more points are there to be scored. Go Blue!
Harbaugh and the coaching staff have a long track record of winning games they should and showing up prepared. I don't like the offense in the red zone right now. That is about the only gripe you can have about this team, and my money says Harbaugh and staff will fix it.
I thought we were going to get suckered into a 6'9" 250 pound workhorse who can defend, block shots, and rebound. 2017 will find us looking for a point guard and someone to get a stop and/or a rebound.
in the modern era of sports where we realize that a team has to overcome poor officiating as well as overcoming the opponent. The last thing this team needs is to be embraced by the "we got srewed by the refs" mentality. Michigan was on their way to a surprisingly gritty win through good defense and hustle until Donnal let a FT rebound drop right in font of him which Wisconsin took, hit a three, and never looked back. I've heard repeated comments about how Wagner and Wilson spent the summer at Michigan working out, but I've never heard any such comments about Donnal. Judging from appearances, I wouldn't guess it either. Nice kid. Not doing much with what he has athletically. Wagner and Wilson have to learn to avoid mental meltdowns that lead to poor shots and fouls.
in the modern era of sports where we realize that a team has to overcome poor officiating as well as overcoming the opponent. The last thing this team needs is to be embraced by the "we got srewed by the refs" mentality. Michigan was on their way to doing both through good defense and hustle until Donnal let a FT rebound drop right in font of him which Wisconsin took, hit a three, and never looked back. I've heard repeated comments about how Wagner and Wilson spent the summer at Michigan working out, but I've never heard any such comments about Donnal. Judging from appearances, I wouldn't guess it either. Nice kid. Not doing much with what he has athletically. Wagner and Wilson have to learn to avoid mental meltdowns that lead to poor shots and fouls.
If you're Harbaugh, then you need to wring hands and get ahead of these things. If somebody wants to send $10 mil my way, I'll split it with all of you and we can all wring hands together and worry about whether this is true or not. Since Webb has never stated a gut feeling for any of us to get $10 mil, how about we wait until Mr. Wheatley makes a statement or move. At that point, we can declare the sky is falling. Any more of this nonsense, and I'll start sending your names to Coach Brown and tell him you shared his defensive schemes.
I know it will never happen on a Beilein team, but would it be so wrong if we had one big man who just wanted to rebound, send your shot to the 5th row, and kiss your girlfriend while he dunked on you?
I know it will never happen on a Beilein team, but would it be so wrong if we had one big man who just wanted to rebound, send your shot to the 5th row, and kiss your girlfriend while he dunked on you?
From the video evidence, it appears that Donnal has the edge with technique, while Wagner has an edge in strength. Donnal seemed to give too much ground in the second half. Wagner just seems to go mentally blank sometimes. Maybe if Donnal had stayed to bulk up with Wagner through the summer...... maybe if Teske does so next summer.....sad, I'm already in "next year" mode. Overall, I'd say they are underachieving while exceeding expectations. I'm not sure what I mean. Still burned out from football.
Neither team was shining in this game. Speight 3 TO's and OSU with 1 pick and 3 special team gaffs.
So, when that happens, you're left with officiating and the result shouldn't have surprised us. In games with the 3 other contenders in the Big Ten (PSU, OSU, and Wis), opponent penalties were 2, 2, and 3 respectively, while ours were 7, 6, and 7 respectively. We have the most dominate defensive line in college football, and it drew 0- count them- 0- holding penalties all season ( our defense drew 3 total- 1 declined). Contrary to Blaha, UM definitely does not own the Big Ten, and it appears to be the red-headed stepchild to its officials.
....the holding calls stopped. This has been called by so many sources the best D-line in America. Tell me the last time they were the beneficiaries of a holding call? I'm not denying we have a line backing deficiency that has been exposed against two good RBs (MSU and Iowa), but watch some tape and the lack of respect for this line by officials is just as glaring. Getting held lets more blocking get to the LB level, and to me, it's becoming more obvious.
I couldn't agree more. My first reaction while watching the game live was "this color commentary guy seems to really have something against Michigan" for all the reasons and evidence you mentioned. After hearing Harbaugh's comments post-game, I went back to listen to the game again because I didn't remember anything that stuck out in my mind. Cunningham makes multiple attempts to get to a Lewis discussion and it appears he really wants to make a statement. Even after being cut off and more relevant topics surface- including the continuance of the game, he persists in getting back to the Lewis issue multiple times until he is able to make a comment about disciplinary issues. The conversation regarding Lewis immediately dropped until Dr. Punch comes in with a comment verifying that Lewis is indeed injured. Awkwardness ensues. There is no further discussion about Lewis and no apology either, which I believe there should have been at that point. You've accused a young man of violating team rules and now it has been shown to be otherwise. You apologize unless your focus and goal is on being the first to break a news story even if it means false accusations. There, now you shouldn't feel so bad about your long post. Go Blue!
The final line on Norfleet: 94 returns for 2,203 yards, becoming the program's all-time leading kickoff returner, and hauled in 15 passes for 111 yards last season- 0 touchdowns...... ever. When you set the record for most return yards, that only means the other team kicked off to you- alot. If he had been Michigan's all-time punt return leader (see Steve Breaston), then we might be looking at something different.
On the personal side, I am wishing Norfleet all the best. I hope his decisions will improve his education and future.
On the football side, there just wasn't enough production by Norfleet to warrant a lot of weeping and wailing about his exit. On top of that, if he was offered a chance to stay with the team (and I'm assuming earn his way back on), and he turned it down, then all I can say is best of luck to you Denny boy.
So much whining. When did so many State fans switch over to being Michigan fans? Maybe we need to revisit the "The Team" speech: "if we think that way, all of us, everything that you do, you take into consideration what effect does it have on my Team? Because you can go into professional football, you can go anywhere you want to play after you leave here. You will never play (or cheer) for a Team again. You'll play (and root) for a contract (or wins or a high national ranking or bragging rights over your friends and co-workers). You'll play (or cheer) for this. You'll play (or root) for that. You'll play (and whine) for everything except the team, and think what a great thing it is to be a part of something that is, The Team.....We're gonna believe in each other, we're not gonna criticize each other, we're not gonna talk about each other, we're gonna encourage each other. And when we play (and be fans) as a team, when the old season is over, you and I know, it's gonna be Michigan again, Michigan."
Recent Comments
Losing to MSU always stinks, but: 1- Tucker played the transfer portal and won the lottery. Walker=Russell Wilson 2- Harbaugh can't catch passes, recover fumbles, and he can't help defense contain, gap fill, and recognize matchups, but he must work on tempo. 3- There will always be this burning paper bag on our porch filled with inexplicable calls when UM plays MSU. 0-6 on reviewed calls makes you wonder if Ron Snodgrass had Tim Donaghy in the replay booth.
Milton throwing 80 yard ICBM's in practice against Vincent Gray and a screen door =
Ace: "People are thanking the president".
BiSB: "Like good job, buddy, you totally did that".
Your sarcasm is noted, and the only thing more amusing than insinuating that the president had everything to do with this is insinuating that the president had nothing to do with it. I'd give his intervention more stock than "rapid testing". "Oh, we can know 24 hours sooner who can't play Saturday. Let's do this!"
…
"I won't even debate it"
(debates sarcastically and fails)
"See, I told you"
Ah, you sly dog, Chuckie.
At some point, we're going to have to own this and admit that we as a country are here because we ridiculed and defied leadership on every level to the point where the wise decided to have nothing to do with it. We are left to ourselves.
Obligatory BPONE post: Remember this is Michigan, where we can't have nice things (Michigan basketball recruiting is nodding). To paraphrase the late John Candy, "Six bucks and my right nut says we're not landing both of these guys". Alabama, OSU, Georgia, and LSU probably already have their Venmo account number and the offers are flowing in.
Brian, Seth, thanks for the great work. I don't even know what I'm having for lunch today, and people are asking you to tell us who's going to be standing on the sideline in September, who's going to be the starting lineup, and what's the first play called. Just keep doing your job. Criticism is like snowmen. If there's any substance to it, it'll stay, but most of it will just eventually go away when the season changes. (Insert Lloyd Carr's Pakenham Beatty quote here).
Agree. There's a story that while Coach Howard was at Miami, the team self-assigned a "pre-practice" practice where young players and those who needed to work on their game would come in before practice to work on improving or correcting their game. This story was told with the hope that this would happen at Michigan. I'm guessing it hasn't happened yet. Coaching transitions are tough.
ESPN= Emporer's Shirt & Pants (are) Nice. Their summary: "Iowa Surprises #19 Michigan". Really? Is that what happened last night? Or, did a soft playing Michigan team get out-worked, become content to shoot from the perimeter, and the officiating was terrible? Are these results surprising? To Michigan? To anyone?
Exactly. It was a defense of one 5 star defending an offense loaded with 5 stars. Same challenge with our offense of one 5 star (who didn't throw like a 5 star) against a defense loaded with 5 stars.
Talen to be Top 6? SB Nation has a 4 year ranking of college football teams (based on their average from the past 4 years). Michigan came in at #12, behind both Penn State (#11) and Ohio State(#5). Alabama was #1. LSU was #3 and Oklahoma #4. Michigan has gotten the 3rd best recruits in the Big Ten East and "viola!", they came in 3rd in the Big Ten East behind OSU and PSU. With the Wisconsin game being an anomoly (in my opinion) due to changing to a new offense, this season played out how the last 4 years of recruiting went. We were very close to PSU and still far away from OSU and Alabama. Guess where the Michigan class of 2020 is currently ranked? #11. 2021? 15. PSU is still 10-15 range, and OSU is still Top 5.
Talen to be Top 6? SB Nation has a 4 year ranking of college football teams (based on their average from the past 4 years). Michigan came in at #12, behind both Penn State (#11) and Ohio State(#5). Alabama was #1. LSU was #3 and Oklahoma #4. Michigan has gotten the 3rd best recruits in the Big Ten East and "viola!", they came in 3rd in the Big Ten East behind OSU and PSU. With the Wisconsin game being an anomoly (in my opinion) due to changing to a new offense, this season played out how the last 4 years of recruiting went. We were very close to PSU and still far away from OSU and Alabama. Guess where the Michigan class of 2020 is currently ranked? #11. 2021? 15. PSU is still 10-15 range, and OSU is still Top 5.
Talen to be Top 6? SB Nation has a 4 year ranking of college football teams (based on their average from the past 4 years). Michigan came in at #12, behind both Penn State (#11) and Ohio State(#5). Alabama was #1. LSU was #3 and Oklahoma #4. Michigan has gotten the 3rd best recruits in the Big Ten East and "viola!", they came in 3rd in the Big Ten East behind OSU and PSU. With the Wisconsin game being an anomoly (in my opinion) due to changing to a new offense, this season played out how the last 4 years of recruiting went. We were very close to PSU and still far away from OSU and Alabama. Guess where the Michigan class of 2020 is currently ranked? #11. 2021? 15. PSU is still 10-15 range, and OSU is still Top 5.
blueday, you saw zero receivers on the field. You must have the same optometrist as Patterson.
Monkey Man and Dragonchild, Patterson should have been compensated for advertising for AT&T: "Just OK is not OK". He couldn't make the long throws, allowing Bama's simple half time adjustment to be "stop the run and short throws". The fair Harbaugh criticism is that he doesn't give the understudy at a position the opportunity to come in and see if he can outplay the starter. Gray was either the exception to that or he simply was brought in as an extra back. At 9.4 wins a season, however, that's not a fireable offense.
"....RG Simon Stepaniak .... evidently hasn't cleaned up the more Spartan-ish side of his game".
I was wondering if Sparty Panasushi's alter ego was going to get pointed out for who he is. I don't want dirty play, but this dude needs to be on every defender's radar.
I don't think "giving Patterson time in the pocket" is as much of an issue. After the game yesterday, I hung around BTN land to watch IU and Sparty. I was impressed at how clean IU's QB managed to stay (sacked only once) with quick throws to the boundary, rub routes, bubble screens, a few sideline go routes, and of course, tempo. They were running MSU ragged with no chance to pressure the QB. Patterson needs some of these plays to make that "flood the A gap" blitz pressure pay.
Northern Michigan, that's the best overall take of the season. UM needs to get out on the break more in the second half. Push tempo and look to finish at the rim off tempo. They don't have the horses or the half court consistency to grind for 40 minutes with the likes of MSU, but I think they could pick a few more spots to run to keep their offense fueled. Even off made baskets, MSU was pushing it back quickly to put pressure on UM's defense. Maybe it was just to keep Iggy too busy to do money signs and blow kisses.
The problem- and the good thing- is that Poole is always feeling it. He needs to go Reggie Miller off screens and cuts with a catch and shoot, or hard drive to the rim, instead of "dribble, fake, jab step, contemplate, cross-over to nowhere, lateral drive just inside the 3 point line into a 270 degree fadeaway 18' jumper. I agree with vision on the drives. Teams are collapsing and people are open. Got to trust the entry pass to Teske as well. Go Blue.
Thanks for the numbers, Alex. I enjoy a good run through ambiguous percentages that will have no meaning on the game- and yet they do. Speaking of KenPom, can you do a chance of winning percentage based on the type of official- or the actual official- that is drawn for the game? Like what is our chances given that UM is 5-0 with Bo Borowski, 4-0 with Terry Wymer, and not so successful with the likes of Terry Oglesby (2-2 with the 2 losses being the 30 FT performances v. MSU), D.J. Cartenson (1-3 including MSU and the 24 FT game v. Iowa), or Lewis Garrison (0-3; also at the scene of the crime in Iowa as well as PSU's 34 FTs)?
BTW, Kenpom listed Borowski and Wymer in the top 15 of list of highest rated officials nation wide in 2017 while only Cartenson cracked the top 25. Yes, I get bitter when we lose. Especially when opponent's FT attempts go up 126% in the process. Humor me, Alex. I've already given you 19.6% of the stats needed to do this.
Thanks for the article, Alex. Somehow it scratches an itch to work over ambiguous numbers and statistics that don't factor into the game itself- and yet they do. Can you do some totally meaningless research on chances of winning this weekend based on style of official- or the actual- official drawn? Like how UM is 5-0 with Bo Borowski, 4-0 with Terry Wymer (both Borowski and Wymer were voted top 15 refs in the nation in 2017 according to Kenpom), 2-2 with Terry Oglesby, 1-3 with D.J. Cartenston, and 0-3 with Lewis Garriston and come up with some meaningless handicap (none of these 3 were in the top 15 according to Kenpom- just sayin')?
Oglesby is notable because MSU is 5-0 with him, all wins over ranked opponents (yes he did both UM v. MSU 30 FT games), and they are 4-1 with Cartenson who also did a UM v. MSU game as well as the 34 FT game at Iowa and the weird ending at Wisky.
Yes, I"m still bitter about Saturday's game at MSU. As Bo said, "I've been bitter ever since about it"
I'm with Angelique. I want to know who's calling the plays. I want to know if they are numbered or named after animals. Do they press a button and then call a play in the form of a question like on Jeopardy? Do Pep and Harbaugh ever do that scene from Airplane? I need Angelique to find out, and I don't want her to quit asking until we get some answers!
If Matt Millen can get paid to ramble on and make no sense, I'd like my turn to ramble on for free: According to College Football Stats.com, Michigan is 118th out of 130 teams with 9.2 penalties a game, up from 6.6 a year ago. Compare that to some other teams:
MSU- 100th- 7.8 this year up from 6.5
OSU- 109th- 8.4 this year up from 6.9
PSU- 62nd- 6.0 this year up from 4.2
Alabama- 78th- 6.8 this year up from 5.2
Georgia- 60th- 6.0 this year down from 6.6
Clemson- 21st- 5.0 this year , 5.0 last year
While many other Top 25 teams appear to be little changed, the top 4 teams in the Big Ten have seen a good increase- no one more than Michigan. I believe that Michigan is committing more PI than previous years, but we all know that Noah was working in the woodshop the last time Michigan drew a PI call. I'd hardly argue a hold against our O line, but at the same time, Gary and Winovich never notch more tackles in a game than the OL playing across from them. The end line is one side of that Michigan has the opportunity to improve, and that's all they can do.
I know there are 5 cents in a N-I-C-K-E-L, but there is no sense in a man who claims to be a lawyer and his work isn't worth a plug nickle.
All this griping about coaching has been adequately proven to be misguided thinking by later posts in this thread, but here's my two cents: I don't know who I would want to even consider to replace Harbaugh and his staff as a whole. Yes, Drevno should be on the hot seat, and perhaps less is more if you eliminate him from OC responsibilities and put him simply as OL coach. Otherwise, this team is severely plagued by injuries and no senior leadership on the OL or QB. I know this is so anti- 21st century college football, but this program and this staff need time to sort this out. We'd be foolish to scrap it and repeat the past 10 years all over again. Although, John Bacon would have more writing material......
All this griping about coaching has been adequately proven to be misguided thinking by later posts in this thread, but here's my two cents: I don't know who I would want to even consider to replace Harbaugh and his staff as a whole. Yes, Drevno should be on the hot seat, and perhaps less is more if you eliminate him from OC responsibilities and put him simply as OL coach. Otherwise, this team is severely plagued by injuries and no senior leadership on the OL or QB. I know this is so anti- 21st century college football, but this program and this staff need time to sort this out. We'd be foolish to scrap it and repeat the past 10 years all over again. Although, John Bacon would have more writing material......
Otherwise, the NCAA is going to get confused whether the tape is about Bush or "captain" Brian Allen's constant cheap shots at Bush. It was more than one time.
5 turnovers against MSU can make even Kate Upton look ugly ...... well, that might be a stretch, uh, maybe, it would depend on- ......anyway, I digress.
Michigan rushed for over 100 yards, and Higdon looked like he could have done more. Easy fix: HIgdon gets more carries. OKorn had 198 yards of passing. These are not stellar numbers, but considering 5 drives got cut short with turnovers, they aren't ugly. What was ugly was that he overlooked wide open options and wide open field in front of him in order to opt to throw to harder targets. Easy fix: OKorn keeps drives going with his feet.
On the two drives where they fumbled, they looked like drives that were going to score points. My take from these interviews is a team that knows their offense is not as bad as 5 turnovers made them look, and those 5 drives can get fixed and more points are there to be scored. Go Blue!
Remember how disciplined and focused you were about doing a job perfectly under the pressure of a national fan base and media? Me neither.
Harbaugh and the coaching staff have a long track record of winning games they should and showing up prepared. I don't like the offense in the red zone right now. That is about the only gripe you can have about this team, and my money says Harbaugh and staff will fix it.
in the modern era of sports where we realize that a team has to overcome poor officiating as well as overcoming the opponent. The last thing this team needs is to be embraced by the "we got srewed by the refs" mentality. Michigan was on their way to a surprisingly gritty win through good defense and hustle until Donnal let a FT rebound drop right in font of him which Wisconsin took, hit a three, and never looked back. I've heard repeated comments about how Wagner and Wilson spent the summer at Michigan working out, but I've never heard any such comments about Donnal. Judging from appearances, I wouldn't guess it either. Nice kid. Not doing much with what he has athletically. Wagner and Wilson have to learn to avoid mental meltdowns that lead to poor shots and fouls.
in the modern era of sports where we realize that a team has to overcome poor officiating as well as overcoming the opponent. The last thing this team needs is to be embraced by the "we got srewed by the refs" mentality. Michigan was on their way to doing both through good defense and hustle until Donnal let a FT rebound drop right in font of him which Wisconsin took, hit a three, and never looked back. I've heard repeated comments about how Wagner and Wilson spent the summer at Michigan working out, but I've never heard any such comments about Donnal. Judging from appearances, I wouldn't guess it either. Nice kid. Not doing much with what he has athletically. Wagner and Wilson have to learn to avoid mental meltdowns that lead to poor shots and fouls.
If you're Harbaugh, then you need to wring hands and get ahead of these things. If somebody wants to send $10 mil my way, I'll split it with all of you and we can all wring hands together and worry about whether this is true or not. Since Webb has never stated a gut feeling for any of us to get $10 mil, how about we wait until Mr. Wheatley makes a statement or move. At that point, we can declare the sky is falling. Any more of this nonsense, and I'll start sending your names to Coach Brown and tell him you shared his defensive schemes.
I know it will never happen on a Beilein team, but would it be so wrong if we had one big man who just wanted to rebound, send your shot to the 5th row, and kiss your girlfriend while he dunked on you?
I know it will never happen on a Beilein team, but would it be so wrong if we had one big man who just wanted to rebound, send your shot to the 5th row, and kiss your girlfriend while he dunked on you?
From the video evidence, it appears that Donnal has the edge with technique, while Wagner has an edge in strength. Donnal seemed to give too much ground in the second half. Wagner just seems to go mentally blank sometimes. Maybe if Donnal had stayed to bulk up with Wagner through the summer...... maybe if Teske does so next summer.....sad, I'm already in "next year" mode. Overall, I'd say they are underachieving while exceeding expectations. I'm not sure what I mean. Still burned out from football.
Neither team was shining in this game. Speight 3 TO's and OSU with 1 pick and 3 special team gaffs.
So, when that happens, you're left with officiating and the result shouldn't have surprised us. In games with the 3 other contenders in the Big Ten (PSU, OSU, and Wis), opponent penalties were 2, 2, and 3 respectively, while ours were 7, 6, and 7 respectively. We have the most dominate defensive line in college football, and it drew 0- count them- 0- holding penalties all season ( our defense drew 3 total- 1 declined). Contrary to Blaha, UM definitely does not own the Big Ten, and it appears to be the red-headed stepchild to its officials.
UM wins 38-13
I couldn't agree more. My first reaction while watching the game live was "this color commentary guy seems to really have something against Michigan" for all the reasons and evidence you mentioned. After hearing Harbaugh's comments post-game, I went back to listen to the game again because I didn't remember anything that stuck out in my mind. Cunningham makes multiple attempts to get to a Lewis discussion and it appears he really wants to make a statement. Even after being cut off and more relevant topics surface- including the continuance of the game, he persists in getting back to the Lewis issue multiple times until he is able to make a comment about disciplinary issues. The conversation regarding Lewis immediately dropped until Dr. Punch comes in with a comment verifying that Lewis is indeed injured. Awkwardness ensues. There is no further discussion about Lewis and no apology either, which I believe there should have been at that point. You've accused a young man of violating team rules and now it has been shown to be otherwise. You apologize unless your focus and goal is on being the first to break a news story even if it means false accusations. There, now you shouldn't feel so bad about your long post. Go Blue!
That's all I want for Christmas (in November). Just defense.
The final line on Norfleet: 94 returns for 2,203 yards, becoming the program's all-time leading kickoff returner, and hauled in 15 passes for 111 yards last season- 0 touchdowns...... ever. When you set the record for most return yards, that only means the other team kicked off to you- alot. If he had been Michigan's all-time punt return leader (see Steve Breaston), then we might be looking at something different.
On the personal side, I am wishing Norfleet all the best. I hope his decisions will improve his education and future.
On the football side, there just wasn't enough production by Norfleet to warrant a lot of weeping and wailing about his exit. On top of that, if he was offered a chance to stay with the team (and I'm assuming earn his way back on), and he turned it down, then all I can say is best of luck to you Denny boy.
So much whining. When did so many State fans switch over to being Michigan fans? Maybe we need to revisit the "The Team" speech: "if we think that way, all of us, everything that you do, you take into consideration what effect does it have on my Team? Because you can go into professional football, you can go anywhere you want to play after you leave here. You will never play (or cheer) for a Team again. You'll play (and root) for a contract (or wins or a high national ranking or bragging rights over your friends and co-workers). You'll play (or cheer) for this. You'll play (or root) for that. You'll play (and whine) for everything except the team, and think what a great thing it is to be a part of something that is, The Team.....We're gonna believe in each other, we're not gonna criticize each other, we're not gonna talk about each other, we're gonna encourage each other. And when we play (and be fans) as a team, when the old season is over, you and I know, it's gonna be Michigan again, Michigan."