Never Too Late: 2021 Michigan Football

Zososoxfan

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With Michigan's 63-10 curb-stomping of NIU over the weekend, Michigan moves to 3-0 and creeps into the top 25. Michigan faces a 3-0 Rutgers team at home next week before heading to Wisco. Rutgers has wins over Temple, Cuse, and Delaware, so they're probably not that good, but it's still a step up in competition. If Michigan takes care of Rutger, Wisco will be a real test.

Starting with the micro, the run game looks potentially elite, the pass game is...existent, and the D looks to be learning on the job quickly. The RBs are far and away the biggest strength of the team and Corum fulfills the prophecy of 'Mike Hart, but fast'. What an incredible player. And to have Haskins there to use 15 additional touches well just means JH/Gattis can protect this OL by keeping them in running plays. The OL doesn't have the crazy good athletes of years past, but the weakest link is potentially stronger than years past. All 5 (sometimes 6) OL know what they're supposed to be doing and they're doing it well. The WR corps is still smarting from the loss of Bell (goddamn he looked good in the handful of touches we got to see SMH) but Cornelius looks very good, and hopefully a bona fide #2 and #3 emerge from the Baldwin, Henning, Sainrisill, Wilson group. The TEs are good blockers and hopefully All can lose the case of the dropsies from last year. Cade looks OK in the 2 non-Washington games. He has better deep ball accuracy than Shea did and that might be enough to keep this offense moving.

On D, it starts with Hutch and Dax. Hutch has been killing it, and he immediately ruins half the field on every play. Dax has found a role worthy of his athleticism as the slot/nickel CB/Viper S. He basically does everything needed of him. The NTs/DTs look OK, with Hinton and Smith leading the way, but surprisingly with some players behind them getting real snaps. The LBs are being asked to do a lot. Sometimes they're up for it, and sometimes they're not. The paper thin secondary looks much more comfortable now that they're working out of both man and zone instead of man exclusively.

Big picture, the only real test thus far was supposed to be Washington, but they didn't hold up their end of the bargain. Nevertheless, 3-0 is 3-0 and none of these outcomes were in doubt. Rutgers likely wont put up much of a challenge but hopefully they're organized and talented enough to make Michigan work, which they haven't really done yet. I still think @Wisco, @PSU, and OSU are losses, but IU is looking surprisingly bad, so that's nice. @MSU and @Maryland are tossups. Going into the year, I think 8-4/7-5 was where this would land (leaning more towards 7-5), but now I'd say it's 8-4/9-3. If the team can't pickup 1-2 wins from Wisco, MSU, PSU, MD, OSU then that will suck.

Has to be said that the coaching has just been eons better than the last couple of seasons. The D is actually multiple and disguising concepts and the O looks alright.
 

tims4wins

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Over 1,050 rushing yard through 3 games. 350 per game. The competition hasn't exactly been good, but that's a crazy number.
 

SoxJox

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Don't look past Rutgers. Schiano has these guys believing in themselves - regardless the competition they've faced so far. They landed QA Noah Vidral from Nebraska through the transfer portal last year. He's a bit more than competent.
 

Zososoxfan

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Don't look past Rutgers. Schiano has these guys believing in themselves - regardless the competition they've faced so far. They landed QA Noah Vidral from Nebraska through the transfer portal last year. He's a bit more than competent.
Oh I'm not. This team hasn't earned the right to look past anyone yet. That being said, they should be able to out-athlete Rutgers on a bad day, and it does seem like the coaching has improved to the point where it should at least be an advantage against a team like Rutgers. FWIW, the lines I just looked up have Michigan -19.
 

Humphrey

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What's the Michigan fans' take on the linebacker from the Boston area, Martin, jumping to Arizona with Don Brown?

Turning down the Maize and Blue for a program like that, doesn't say that much about the player. On the other hand, the new coordinator at Michigan might have told the kid he was better off somewhere else.

In any case, "committing" to any program in the 8th grade, like this kid did, is silly to begin with.
 

Zososoxfan

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WTF is going on with the offensive game plan/coaching?? There are issues on D, but they at least make sense from a talent/scheme perspective. But on offense, the playcalling seems to be completely disconnected from what the defense on the field is doing. Doesn't matter to me if it's Gattis or Harbaugh, that's terrible.
 

twibnotes

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WTF is going on with the offensive game plan/coaching?? There are issues on D, but they at least make sense from a talent/scheme perspective. But on offense, the playcalling seems to be completely disconnected from what the defense on the field is doing. Doesn't matter to me if it's Gattis or Harbaugh, that's terrible.

Saturday, even though it was a win, made me as down as I've been since the '16 Ohio loss. I am left feeling that Harbaugh will never get it on offense - we never seem to out scheme anyone, and we can't develop a top shelf passing game which every top program has.

Gattis might be terrible (in which case why wasn't he replaced during the coaching overhaul?!) or Harbaugh might be calling the plays. Either way it just feels like the program will never reach its potential with Harbaugh at the helm.
 
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Jason Bae

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WTF is going on with the offensive game plan/coaching?? There are issues on D, but they at least make sense from a talent/scheme perspective. But on offense, the playcalling seems to be completely disconnected from what the defense on the field is doing. Doesn't matter to me if it's Gattis or Harbaugh, that's terrible.
I just can't believe they made little effort to try to run to the outside. Kept running into a wall. One of the most frustrating halves of Michigan football in a while.

I still think we can beat Wisconsin, their offense has been very underwhelming.
 

Zososoxfan

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Tomorrow's game against Wisco should be an interesting litmus test for this coaching staff. Wisco's strength on D is stopping inside runs, so Michigan will almost assuredly have to do something else if they want to move the ball. Perhaps that's just some more runs and screens to the edges, less likely is that they test Wisco's secondary. But if Michigan slams the ball into the line 50x, they're gonna have a bad time.

Wisco's offense is bad. Mertz has been terrible and the running game isn't at all what it's been like over the past 20 years--very good and consistent. But I also get the bad feeling that Mertz will finally look good against Michigan and this isn't all that close. The line is Wisco -2, so Vegas thinks this is a tossup. I agree, but I don't think it's going to be a close game. One team will blow the other out. I could be wrong though if both teams "agree" to make this a sludgefart game and play hyper conservatively.
 

Jason Bae

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Well, that was unexpected. Pretty happy with how the offense looked against a good defense. Michigan's now 8th in S&P+ (26th in offense, 8th in defense, and 3rd in special teams). Now up to 8th in the coaches poll and 9th in the AP.
 

Zososoxfan

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Yeah, that was a nice enough win to take 7-5 off the table. I think we're firmly in 8-4/10-2 territory (the higher ceiling being a welcome development), with MSU, PSU, and OSU still looking to be dogs going in and Nebraska, Maryland, and IU being legitimate games. NW is terrible.
 

Jason Bae

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I feel a lot better about the Indiana game than I did coming into the season. Penix has been very disappointing, granted PSU and Iowa have nasty defenses.
 
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Zososoxfan

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Very exciting win to keep the record clean going into a needed bye week. I thought the coaching and playcalling were excellent, and some unusual downfield inaccuracy from Cade and some dropped catchable balls from Baldwin kept this closer than it should've.

Nebraska was exactly the same as their previous games--surprisingly good and able to keep games close, but with a penchant for making truly dumb and inexplicable errors that keep them from actually winning their games. Their offensive play designs in the second half will give the team lots to work on over the next 2 weeks. They took advantage of young LBs, picked on the secondary's weaknesses, and kept the DL from attacking for large parts of the half.

I really like how the schedule breaks the ROS. The team gets a week off to get healthy (the OL got banged up this week, but otherwise the team has been fortunate so far) and digest everything that's happened in the first half of the season. Then they get NW at home for a tuneup before taking on a very good MSU team on the road. Then they get IU at home (even though they're not nearly as good as expected this year, I kinda expect them to play much better against MSU next week coming off the bye) before the home stretch of @PSU, @Maryland, OSU.
 

Zososoxfan

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So what does everyone think about that? My Michigan buddies are #harbaughout after that, but other than the defensive subs (which might be a Macdonald thing) I thought the coaching was OK.

The game came down to Michigan's D getting got, the JJ fumble, and the terrible ref decision to overturn the strip-sack-TD. Putting JJ back out there seemed like a really bad idea at the time, so yeah Harbaugh gets dinged for that. However, there's some folks saying that Cade was in the med tent at the time, so not sure what else they can do at that point if true. Moreover, it was an option running play--should be executable by the third stringer too. Could've been Corum's fault as well-he had by far his worst game on Saturday. The D was a problem, but the O also settled for FGs when they needed TDs.

Ultimately, I want to see how the season plays out before jumping to conclusions. If they go 10-2 with a competitive loss to OSU, I don't hit the reset button on that. Reasonable minds may disagree. I counter that by admitting I don't expect Harbaugh to get the program competitive with OSU long term, so a 10-2 finish only represents another chance to show improvement next season. I really like the coaching staff they have in place and I'd be willing to give them another go if the team finishes with a strong 10-2 / 9-3.
 

thehitcat

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I think your take is reasonable. See how it plays out. Possible that Cade found something and that JJ comes back stronger after the fumble or it's possible they go into the tank. Since I had no expectations for this team, while I hate losing to State, I have been happy about the year to date. Kind of how I felt with the Sox honestly.
 

baggy5

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So what does everyone think about that? My Michigan buddies are #harbaughout after that, but other than the defensive subs (which might be a Macdonald thing) I thought the coaching was OK.

The game came down to Michigan's D getting got, the JJ fumble, and the terrible ref decision to overturn the strip-sack-TD. Putting JJ back out there seemed like a really bad idea at the time, so yeah Harbaugh gets dinged for that. However, there's some folks saying that Cade was in the med tent at the time, so not sure what else they can do at that point if true. Moreover, it was an option running play--should be executable by the third stringer too. Could've been Corum's fault as well-he had by far his worst game on Saturday. The D was a problem, but the O also settled for FGs when they needed TDs.

Ultimately, I want to see how the season plays out before jumping to conclusions. If they go 10-2 with a competitive loss to OSU, I don't hit the reset button on that. Reasonable minds may disagree. I counter that by admitting I don't expect Harbaugh to get the program competitive with OSU long term, so a 10-2 finish only represents another chance to show improvement next season. I really like the coaching staff they have in place and I'd be willing to give them another go if the team finishes with a strong 10-2 / 9-3.
The coaching staff is an upgrade over last year, though their defensive performance Saturday against Michigan State looked like Don Brown was still there. Too much disorganization. That's on Harbaugh as much as anyone. You're right about them settling for field goals. The wide-open Corum drop early in the game also stung. They squandered too many opportunities like that. On a positive note, Andrel Anthony was outstanding. Unless they can beat Ohio State, I don't know why you would bring/want Harbaugh back. It seems like they've been talking improvement since he arrived. For me, consistently losing rivalry games doesn't constitute improvement.
 
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snowmanny

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Zoso’s take is certainly reasonable, and that’s a not unexpected loss in which they did a lot of things right. But I was pissed. If any program should know you just play your actual best quarterback every snap...
 

Zososoxfan

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Boring win over an imploded IU team on Saturday. Have to hope none of the injuries are serious, as this team starts it's home stretch against 3 good passing offenses. PSU is a lot better than Maryland, but they're a bit banged up with their defensive star Mustipher out for the season (I believe) and QB Sean Clifford not totally back from an injury that has limited his run threat.

We're at the crossroads between a 10-2/8-4 season right now. 10-2 would be a big success (even with the craptastic loss to MSU), whereas 8-4 would be groan inducing. 9-3 would also be a success IMO, but one that won't ramp up the momentum like a turnaround 10-2 season would. I guess the OSU performance could change the outlook on 10-2 vs. 9-3 (e.g. 9-3 but competitive vs. OSU >/</= 10-2 and getting blown out by OSU), but one game at a time.

PSU smells bad, but white outs look cool and Happy Valley is a cool stadium. GO BLUE!
 

SoxJox

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Interestingly enough, per NCAA rules, Penn State wears blue for all home games, including white outs.

As James Franklin explained to the media,

First of all, part of the White Out is the contrast. It helps us if everybody else is in white, it makes our players stand out on the field for our quarterback and those types of things. That’s the first thing. The other thing is, we can’t wear white at home. There’s NCAA rules. We can’t show up and wear whatever we want to wear. We would have to get permission from the opposing team to allow us wear white, and I would never do that for anybody else, so we haven’t even kind of gone that route.
So which "blue" are you rooting for? o_O

However, the game is not a true White Out. The game originally was scheduled as a "Student Section Only" White Out, with Auburn being selected as the [one-per-season] White Out. However, the game was officially reclassified as a "Helmet Stripe" game.

Accordingly,

Penn State Athletics is inviting fans that are attending the Michigan game on Nov. 13 to participate in the first-ever "Helmet Stripe Game. A slight variation of the "White Out," the "Helmet Stripe Game" requires most fans in Beaver Stadium to wear white, but those sitting in sections EEU, EE, WE, and WEU will be asked to wear blue.
I can't get the graphic from the linked article to load, but those sections basically comprise seats in all 50-yard line sections fro filed-level and up. Hence, the "stripe".

Rain is expected Friday night, and there's a chance of rain for the game, but not much. 44-degrees game time temp with light wind.

Should be a good game.
 

Zososoxfan

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Credit it where it's due, this team showed a lot of heart winning a game that they almost lost a handful of times @PSU on Saturday. This keeps the big goals for the season alive and there were some fairly big developments in the game.

First, Cade had himself a day going 19/29 for 3 TD/0 INT. With Corum out, Haskins got the full workload and delivered the goods, going for 156 yards on 31 carries (good for 5 yards/carry). The receivers shared the spotlight but badass and hobbled TE Eric All likely takes the headlines with 4 catches for 64 yards and a TD coming on a 47-yard run and catch for the winning score. Roman Wilson showed up big and nabbed 2 TDs getting 3 catches for 31 yards. Corn Johnson had a nice game going 3/51 and Haskins quietly also had 5 catches for 45 yards to add to his big day. Andrel Anthony also had an insane catch but otherwise was kept quiet.

On D, Hutch and Ojabo are officially A PROBLEM for bad OL. They combined for 5 sacks, 5 TFLs, and a couple of QB Hurries. The DBs held up against legit WR Jahan Dotson, although Parker Washington had himself a day. It also felt like TE Theo Johnson had a good game, but his stats tell a different story as he only got 4 for 28. Big ups for Michigan's CBs that had such a bad time last season but have been pretty solid all year--Turner and Gray seem to be the wide guys, with Dax as the primary slot/space CB. Rod Moore got some real PT and Barrett's increasing usage has definitelygot my attention.

Michigan's LBs are functional but they all have strengths/weaknesses that leave the D susceptible when getting locked on. Ross is the oldest and the leader of the bunch and he had a great day clogging passing lanes and cleaning up, but he doesn't have the speed necessary to do all the things Macdonald wants. Colson does have the attributes and filled out the statsheet nicely, but he's a true Frosh (I think?) and still can be fooled at times. All that said, and it looks like it's Bush and Colson since NHG didn't get a ton of snaps.

Michigan continues to rotate NT/DT a lot--like far too much--but it still seems to me that Hinton and Smith can and should be the starters, and having passable backups with Morris, Jeter, and Welschof coming on for more limited snaps. Maybe/hopefully the idea is to keep the starters healthy for the GAME and then let them go for real, but who knows.

Michigan plays @Maryland on Saturday, who started off the season promisingly rattling off 4 straight wins before running into a buzzsaw of a schedule and losing lots of games (vs. Iowa, @OSU, @Minny, vs. PSU, and @MSU).

The other big game in the Big 10 East this coming weekend is MSU @OSU. I'm rooting for the meteor, but barring that I'm rooting for OSU (yuck!) because even though I abhor MSU and think OSU will pummel Michigan once again in the Game, I still want the stakes for the Game to be as high as possible and if OSU beats MSU and Michigan takes care of MD, then the Game will be for the Big 10 East title.

GO BLUE!!
 

SoxJox

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I saw something in that game that I've never seen in Beaver Stadium. People walked out early - even with the outcome in doubt - because of the weather. Yeah, I mean it wasn't exactly balmy, but there have been much worse days and the stadium remained full. Especially since it was the inaugural "Helmet Stripe" game.

Credit where credit is due. Big Blue played a very fine game. Impressive defense. Well-executed offense. Well done.
 

snowmanny

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The other big game in the Big 10 East this coming weekend is MSU @OSU. I'm rooting for the meteor, but barring that I'm rooting for OSU (yuck!) because even though I abhor MSU and think OSU will pummel Michigan once again in the Game, I still want the stakes for the Game to be as high as possible and if OSU beats MSU and Michigan takes care of MD, then the Game will be for the Big 10 East title.
Is that right?

If Michigan wins out
Ohio State beats Michigan State
Michigan State beats Penn State

There is a three-way tie for first. I could not figure out the tiebreakers.
 

Average Reds

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Is that right?

If Michigan wins out
Ohio State beats Michigan State
Michigan State beats Penn State

There is a three-way tie for first. I could not figure out the tiebreakers.
In the scenario above, there is a two-way tie between Michigan and Ohio State. (MSU will have two conference losses.) And Michigan would hold the tie breaker.
 

Zososoxfan

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This season has been an unmitigated success. This team is one horrendous overturned TD from being undefeated. They'll get rolled on Saturday because such is tradition, but coming into the season I thought 8-4/9-3 was optimistic. I was listening to a podcast this morning and they were talking about how based on SP+ Michigan is ranked 4th behind UGA, OSU, and Bama but that the gap was SIGNIFICANT between 3 and 4. Moreover, in college football there's lots of teams that are all pretty similar and Michigan is a good college football team. The team they play on Saturday though, is not a college football team. It's one of 3-4 dominant programs (Clemson is down this year, but remains elite) that is playing as men amongst boys. They also talked about how the only other program that has a similar position and rival in the NCAA is Auburn, but that even Auburn has gotten lucky and won a couple of matchups against Bama.

In short, it's all very depressing feeling like there's so little hope of winning, even though it's been a great and entertaining season.
 

Jason Bae

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I want to believe but it is going to be a monumental task for this defense to keep OSU under 40 points and 500 yards. Just hope they can control the clock and limit their possessions. They also need to finish drives with touchdowns, we saw how much that hurt us in 2019 against OSU and Bama before the offense stalled.

That MGoBlog chart of the OSU offense is terrifying.
 

Average Reds

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Given how much shit he takes - and what a colossal dick Day is - Harbaugh should be feeling himself.

Michigan controlled that game start to finish. A very satisfying victory.
 

Zososoxfan

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Well hot damn! Michigan went out and did a thing! It wasn't even that close--Michigan dropped an easy INT and had several opportunities to kick OSU off the field in the second half but OSU converted several 3rd/4th-and-longs. So many thoughts as the surprise and glee hasn't even begun to wear off.

1. I can't believe there's another game to play this week. It feels surreal. I hope JH can get the team refocused because I sure as shit can't.
2. Hutch really should be considered for the Heisman. He was making play-changing plays on every third or fourth defensive snap.
3. Props to the secondary for keeping those insane WRs in check while the rush got home. I don't watch enough ball to say how this game was reffed, but Michigan played off coverage so I don't think this was a case of Michigan allowed to be grabby.
4. Huge props to Macdonald who was brought in to solve the OSU offense and he did so glowingly. This was the biggest part of the equation.
5. The DTs also deserve a ton of credit for playing their best game against the best opposition. Same for the LBs.
6. Hassan Haskins perhaps also should get some consideration for the Heisman. He fucking owned this game and OSU could do NOTHING to stop him, even in the second half when Michigan threw on very few downs. Bonus points for hurdling fools.
7. Related to HH's big day, BIG MF props to the OL and the TEs for paving OSU. This has been a strength for most of the season, but to do it against OSU 5*s deserves extra mention.
8. Props to Cade for playing a damn good game, despite throwing an INT that would've broken many other Michigan teams. JJ gets some love too for doing very well with limited snaps.
9. Props to Gattis for calling a great game. The scripted drive to open the game was a beauty and set the tone for the rest of the day.
10. PROPS TO JIM MF HARBAUGH for getting this program turned around in the biggest way possible. The offense especially took on the best elements of Gattis' speed in space and combined them with hilarious JH run blocking schemes to get Michigan's elite RB corps delivered to the LOS and beyond cleanly.
 

Average Reds

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While every major college coach is scrambling to maximize their salary during the gold rush - either by leveraging their existing deals or switching programs before the conclusion of the season - Harbaugh has donated potentially millions in bonus money to a fund set up to benefit the employees of the athletic department who were forced to take salary cuts or be laid off due to the pandemic:

https://www.mlive.com/wolverines/2021/11/jim-harbaugh-to-redirect-bonus-money-to-michigan-athletic-workers-who-took-pay-cut.html?outputType=amp
 

thehitcat

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While every major college coach is scrambling to maximize their salary during the gold rush - either by leveraging their existing deals or switching programs before the conclusion of the season - Harbaugh has donated potentially millions in bonus money to a fund set up to benefit the employees of the athletic department who were forced to take salary cuts or be laid off due to the pandemic:

https://www.mlive.com/wolverines/2021/11/jim-harbaugh-to-redirect-bonus-money-to-michigan-athletic-workers-who-took-pay-cut.html?outputType=amp
I just read that. Good for him. Understanding that everyone in that building is part of the reason for your success is more self aware than I think most of D1 coaches are.
 

Average Reds

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I just read that. Good for him. Understanding that everyone in that building is part of the reason for your success is more self aware than I think most of D1 coaches are.
I would probably give more credit to his wife. (Which Harbaugh does in the article.) I’d also give some to Blake Corum:

The moves come a little more than a week after Michigan running back Blake Corum garnered national attention for spending a rainy Sunday afternoon distributing Thanksgiving meals to Ypsilanti communities, paid for through money Corum made leveraging his name, image and likeness (NIL).

Harbaugh, asked about the gesture, said he was “blown away by it, really.”

“I know what kind of gesture that is, and it’s genuine, heartfelt,” Harbaugh said. “My second impression was, why wasn’t I doing something like that? I was just watching film all day.”
 

Zososoxfan

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I somehow inadvertently did a medium-dive into some Iowa stats. I'm trying to remain stoic about the matchup, but apparently vanquishing OSU has not nullified my pained Michigan fanbrain.

I don't think Iowa is THAT good, but it's not too relevant to Saturday. It's about matchups and Iowa is a lot more like Michigan than OSU. IOW, Michigan's not going to run over them like OSU. They have great LBs and a good DL. Secondary is a bit of ? because of health (I think?). Overall, their D is 4th (!) in F+. However, their O is not good (91st in F+). Michigan is much more balanced at 10th on D and 8th on O. Overall, Michigan in 4th and Iowa comes in at 25th.

Nevertheless, it's not hard to see a close game develop on Saturday. If their O can manufacture some points with creativity, turnovers, or general mistakes, their D should keep them in it. Of course the converse is also true--if Michigan can get some points early, Iowa will have a hard time keeping up and chasing the game.

Game script will be huge against Iowa just like it was against OSU. Early points for Michigan and things could unfold well and quickly. If the game turns into a slog or if Iowa scores some early points, then we may get a tight game.

It seems like the D should setup slightly more to defend the run, but since the front 7 is better than the secondary it's probably best not to put too much pressure on the DBs. On O, Iowa's D seems to be pretty good with pass completion against (7th) but they do give up 210 yards/game (38th). For comparison, Michigan is 21st and 23rd respectively. With more time I'd look at air yards to confirm this (anyone have somewhere to look this up for college?), but I suspect that taking shots downfield is the name of the game when passing. Iowa is tough against the run both in yards/game and average/rush.

Michigan is elite at sacks allowed with only 9 for 81 yards (T-3rd w/r/t # of sacks--actually the yardage is a bit alarming)--not too surprising given run-heavy approach. Iowa however, has given up 31 sacks (!) for 200 yards, 92nd nationally. Michigan is first nationally in TFL allowed, whereas Iowa is 123rd (!!!!).

Iowa is 4th nationally with an average of 4 penalties against/game, while Michigan is 22nd.

Perhaps most importantly, Iowa is 4th in turnover margin at +13, while Michigan is 28th at +6. They have a TON of INTs with 22 (most in the country I think) but they're merely good with turnovers lost at 14. Michigan is darn good with only 9 turnovers lost this season.
 

Zososoxfan

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That was another thorough beatdown. The defense gets credit for acing the easy test. Iowa's TEs did have some legit success in the first half, but Mac shut that down right quick once he had a chance to counter after HT. The offense was a bit underwhelming in the competitive portion of the game in the first half. Obviously the Corum run and the Don Edwards trick pass were awesome, but after that Michigan was mostly happy to try and establish the run against stacked boxes and a good LB group. Only other thing that stood out about this one was the appearance of DE Jaylen Harrell. I assume he's slightly better at stopping the run than Ojabo (who's no slouch himself) or he just had a great week of practice. Pretty cool to see a true Frosh emerging. BIG 10 CHAMPS WOOHOO!!!

Next comes UGA in the Orange Bowl on NYE. I'll be in Miami for this one, but still working on childcare coverage from extended family to see if I can get into the house. I'm thrilled that Corum will get some more time to get healthy, and that Bama put out some tape of beating that D. I believe Michigan opened as 7 points dogs, but this is all house money at this point. Even a competitive loss won't get me too worked up. The good feels are back for Michigan footbaw (borrowed from bball apparently) and that's all that matters.
 

Ale Xander

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Huge congrats and props to Aidan. Finished 2nd in Heisman, pretty impressive for a defender. What is it with Michigan defenders . . .
 

Zososoxfan

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Jul 30, 2009
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Michigan reeled in a top 10 class yesterday with a few late flips and surprising commits. The strength of the class is clearly the defensive backs, headlined by 5* Will Johnson out of MI. But Michigan was also able to pickup Keon Sabb out of IMG and Zeke Berry out of De La Salle (CA). Most people also expect TN Kody Jones to stick as a DB. Michigan also had a strong showing with WRs, nabbing former JJ McCarthy teammate Tyler Morris (IL) and Darrius Clemons (OR, but grew up in MI). The DL also got a nice class with Derrick Moore (MD) and Mason Graham (CA). The one area I wish they had done a little better is LB, but they did manage to get Jimmy Rolder (IL) who should fit in nicely at the program. Michigan under Macdonald is playing a very NFL-lite type scheme so I hope that becomes more attractive to recruits going forward.

Nationally, Bama, TAMU, and UGA cleaned up, with at least 3 5* each (UGA had 5!). OSU pulled in another excellent class, with Texas, PSU, ND, UNC, and OU rounding out the top 10. Kentucky finished 11. The Big 10 East is a monster overall--all 7 schools are the top 30 nationally, and obviously 3 are in the top 10. Iowa at 26 leads the Big 10 West, which is just a nose ahead of Maryland and Rutgers.
 

Zososoxfan

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Jul 30, 2009
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Disappointing end to the season, but overall a rousing success. Even besting OSU, Michigan has years of top tier recruiting to go before they can reasonably expect to challenge Bama, UGA, or competent LSU, Clemson, etc. Next year's class has a handful of solid bets to be multiple year starters in Will Johnson, Derrick Moore, Tyler Morris, Darius Clemons, Keon Sabb, and Zeke Berry, but the '23 class needs to bring in some elite LB, OL, another QB to get the train running. Hopefully this year's run provides the necessary springboard.

First credit needs to go to UGA. I thought our D could hang with, if not beat, their O but that was decidedly not the case. Their WRs showed up big and allowed them to stay away from the Michigan pass rush with screens and eventually open up everything in the playbook. Another Orange Bowl, another Cook terrorizes Michigan. At least I wasn't in the house for this one even though I was in Miami. The UGA D lived up to the hype. I wanted to be upset about the continued attempts to run between the tackles, but then I remembered Dean running down Blake friggin Corum across the field--that's just like, not normal, man. Hopefully the Pats or Bucs draft him. The DL was stupid big and good. The DTs were NFL caliber and insane. Both could be first rounders if eligible.

This team will likely lose a lot on both sides of the ball, but especially so on D. Aidan Hutchinson, Brad Hawkins, David Ojabo, Josh Ross, Andrew Vastardis, Andrew Stueber, Jake Moody, and Hassan Haskins are all likely gone. I'm not sure if Dax Hill is eligible for the draft or if he would declare even if he is. In any event, that's a lot of elite edge-setting and pressure to replace, with lots of young guys coming up behind. Hopefully Hinton, Smith, et al. step up next year and the strength of the DL flips. Improvement from Jenkins, Harrell, Speight, and Morris is crucial. Ross was a solid LB who was limited by his poor fit in the system, but he leaves a sizable gap for Colson, NHG, and others to fill. Since Michigan really only plays 2 LBs most of the time, hopefully that can be papered over. There is more talent and bullets ready to fill in for Hawkins, who really put in an excellent year and I will remember him fondly.

On O, it will be bittersweet to see Haskins go. I'm excited to see if he can stick in the NFL and he absolutely deserves the shot. I'll drink to him hurdling fools on Sundays. It's the Corum/Edwards show next year and I'm HERE for it! Replacing Vastardis and Steuber will not be easy, but Nua managed an excellent unit this year and Gattis finally showed some chops blending his concepts with Harbaugh's. Hayes and Zinter returning is a very good start, and Filiaga presents at least a high floor for a third OL spot (side note: I'm baffled that his name is pronounced with an 'n'). But the headline for OL has to be UVA transfer and Rimington Award finalist Olusegun Oluwatimi (tremendous name BTW). Barnhart, Jones, and Keegan all got good experience this year, and maybe Gio El Hadi or Persi makes a jump. That's a pretty good OL room. Pair that with the excellent TEs in All, Schoon, and Honingford and it should be alright.

Then you get to the real fun at WR. The fact that Michigan had such a good season without Ronnie Bell is hugely encouraging. Bell was easily the best WR on this year's roster, and his return should open things up for Johnson, Henning, Anthony, Wilson, and Sainristil who each showed serious flashes this year. WR should not be a problem and next year's team should put up tons of points provided the OL can be effective. QB should be very good between Cade and JJ. I have no idea how the team will handle the situation but even though it's easy to fall in love with JJ's tools, he'll have to legit beat out Cade before they give him the keys. With all those weapons, Cade should put up even better numbers and I'm sure they're going to work with him on getting more big plays. I was also encouraged by his few runs in the last 3 games of the season. That being said, I wouldn't be surprised if it was a close to 50-50 split on snaps in the early part of next season with JJ given the chance to take the reigns.
 
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Zososoxfan

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Jul 30, 2009
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So tons of defensive starters have declared for the draft--Hutch, Ojabo, Hinton, Ross, Hawkins, and Hill. That's a lot of talent to replace.

Perhaps more surprising, it looks like Harbaugh to the NFL rumors are starting to pick up. Some folks seem to think that JH is trying to get the school's attention either to force them to take NIL development more seriously or as a jab for the contract restructuring last year, but either way this is very surprising to me.
 

Average Reds

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Sep 24, 2007
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So tons of defensive starters have declared for the draft--Hutch, Ojabo, Hinton, Ross, Hawkins, and Hill. That's a lot of talent to replace.

Perhaps more surprising, it looks like Harbaugh to the NFL rumors are starting to pick up. Some folks seem to think that JH is trying to get the school's attention either to force them to take NIL development more seriously or as a jab for the contract restructuring last year, but either way this is very surprising to me.
After seeing the $$$$ being thrown at Franklin and Tucker, Harbaugh was always going to get a new contract from Michigan. Because of the money involved, that contract is likely to come with a fairly prohibitive buyout number for Harbaugh, so it makes all the sense in the world for him to at least listen to offers while his buyout is ridiculously low. (It’s $2 million in his current contract.)

Harbaugh has been a recruiting dynamo in the past month+. (His recruitment of Andrew Gentry and his efforts to land Victor Oluwatimiis from the transfer portal are good examples of what I’m talking about.) That doesn’t mean that he won’t get bowled over by an offer he can’t refuse, but he hasn’t been acting like a man looking for an exit.
 
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luckiestman

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Jul 15, 2005
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So tons of defensive starters have declared for the draft--Hutch, Ojabo, Hinton, Ross, Hawkins, and Hill. That's a lot of talent to replace.

Perhaps more surprising, it looks like Harbaugh to the NFL rumors are starting to pick up. Some folks seem to think that JH is trying to get the school's attention either to force them to take NIL development more seriously or as a jab for the contract restructuring last year, but either way this is very surprising to me.
i mentioned Harbaugh in the carousel thread last week or the week before. Some rumors of him to Vegas showed up on a podcast (Dan Jeremiah’s show) like the day after that. Now would be the time unless he is looking to stay in college long term.