dj durkin

Things discussed:

  • Nate Stanley: Dude!
  • Maryland: Dude! Once you have a certain level of money and power you think you lose accountability. How to check this: have a legitimate 3rd party making medical decisions. Any donor who wanted to pull their money: pull your money.
  • MSU-Purdue: dude! State gets the rain again, Blough had his bad day.
  • Penn State: At their most potent when Trace McSorley is running the ball. Make him throw! Alan Robinson wanted to come to Michigan badly—they don’t have anyone like that anymore.
  • McSorley healthy? He ran a 51-yard TD after his knee got banged. He’s performing at a better level than his stats imply but his receivers are his receivers.
  • Their DL has five guys who can get after the quarterback. Two Michael Dwumfour types at DT and three dynamite DEs, including Yetur Gross-Matos who’s playing out of his mind.
  • Nobody can say Oruwariye, nobody in the linebacker level looks like a Linebacker U guy. Can PSU stand up against Michigan’s ground game? Pull out all the Harbaugh and grind them down.
  • Jansen: Brian explains why you don’t run much power against an odd man front. Here’s a graphic from me:



    image
  • Ed Warinner has a play sheet now—Michigan didn’t know what they’re doing with Shea against Notre Dame; maybe Ed’s teaching them how to not suck at spread
  • We want Bama…to win against LSU? Don’t trust the committee to leave out a 1-loss Alabama that doesn’t go to the SEC Championship over a Michigan that wins out.
  • Ferentz still brings up the fact that Chris L. Rucker got out of jail and played against him.

You can catch the entire episode on Michigan Insider's podcast stream on Podbean.

Segment two is here. Segment three is here.

THE USUAL LINKS

Not every school sells their soul.

THAT is why Joe Flacco is not elite and I swear to God if Mongolia brings up QBR one more time

Come on the podcast, Mahmoud. The former president of Iran is on team Harbaugh:

The replies to this tweet are all the same joke but it still works. Because the former president of Iran is on twitter, offering takes if Allah wills it.

That's a shame dot gif. Nick Bosa has peaced out permanently, per Tim May:

Ohio State defensive end Nick Bosa and his family apparently have decided to focus on the next phase of his football career, which means his emphasis will be on training for the 2019 NFL draft once he is cleared to do so, several sources told The Dispatch on Tuesday.

That means he will not try to return to play for the Buckeyes this season.

The preseason All-America suffered a core muscle injury in the win against Texas Christian at Arlington, Texas, on Sept.15. He underwent surgery in Philadelphia late the next week to repair the injury, and he has been on the mend since.

The sources said that Bosa met with OSU coach Urban Meyer and some of his staff on Sunday to let them know of the decision he, his father John Bosa and the family had reached about his future.

They elected him captain. Whoops. If 74 more OSU players get injured by the time the Game rolls around then we'll be even in the recent history of the series.

A defense that can be had. Post-Bosa OSU defensive performances have been getting steadily worse, culminating in a game against Minnesota where the Gophers moved the ball most of the day only to shoot themselves in the foot at crucial moments. OSU's seemingly total unfamiliarity with RPOs was a major contributor:

Minnesota is an RPO team, and the Golden Gophers used that to great effect all day, slicing Ohio State up in the middle of the field and forcing the linebackers to feel like there were wrong no matter what they did.

Minnesota hit slant after slant, the Gophers throwing for 218 yards and putting together four drives of at least 58 yards.

"We knew the looks we were going to be able to get," Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck said. "They played the exact looks we want to be able to get, and we took advantage of that."

All those inside throws were RPOs, or run-pass options. The Gophers go to the line with two options on a play, and decide whether to hand off or execute a quick pass based on how the defenders, often the linebackers, react.

With Ohio State's linebackers typically playing close to the line of scrimmage, and the OSU secondary playing man defense, Minnesota threw to open windows inside with no defender in a passing lane. When Ohio State's linebackers stayed back, they ran.

Hopefully there's another long con in progress from M.

[After THE JUMP: S&P+ items!]

[Bryan Fuller]

Aftermath of a decision. Spencer tackles the boggling end of the Penn State-Ohio State game. Two timeouts and two checks to the sideline resulted in this:

image

This is the PSU version of that one screenshot from Lloyd Carr's last Ohio State game.

It is truly boggling even aside from the stunt that eats the play whole. Penn State's left tackle doesn't let the backside end go! PSU options nobody on fourth and five! Trace McSorley had 175 rushing yards! This is after two timeouts! And two checks to the sideline! Three different guys are utterly unblocked! What!

In related news:

FFS, James Franklin. Next year is going to be real interesting for PSU. McSorley is the thing propping them up right now in their Moorhead Wile E Coyote year. Could be very different next year. PSU fans can console themselves on 24/7; Franklin is recruiting his ass off. Which he'd better since he's the gameday equal of Brady Hoke. Except with more yelling at fans.

Someone please stop EMU. This looks like Pleasantville State taking on Generic Green Opponent That Has Frenched A Lady's Bosom*:

I am mesmerized, but it feels like NIU folks entering the endzone should suddenly burst into color.

*[I don't quite remember the plot of Pleasantville. Or, apparently, what to do in the boudoir. Boudoir. Boodwah.]

[After THE JUMP: Maryland's culture is screwed all the way to the boosters]