Day after thoughts and reflections: A revisiting of the ND game, with video
So my sorrows have faded enough that I wanted to revisit the positives from the game and gather a sober prospective; shame there wasn't much difference.
What was apparent:
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The cards were stacked against us as always, and the state of IN did everything it could to insure that the game was close enough for excitement while staying firmly in Irish control. (Seriously half the offensive plays, the ball was spotted almost a full yard short).
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The soft spots of the D will improve as Dwumfour showed promise but lacked consistency (the depth I observed was hopeful as well, Hawkins hype was legit, bummer though, and that drop ugh, but still)
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QB looks good for the future. McCaffrey was great and I cannot imagine Petters entering ahead of him from here out (though I bet my brother a sushi roll Petters doesn't transfer at years end)
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The O-line looked better than initial impressions, though there were some serious errors there was also a noticeable improvement (interested to see how the line will grade out for this one)
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I think our next true test will be Wisconsin (maybe because its the next game I'll be back for, and/or maybe because I'm not that confident in NW)
I found this entertaining as well (it's probably buried in the board but wanted to share it in conjunction with the ND highlights, makes it easier to stomach seeing other difficulties around the league):
September 2nd, 2018 at 11:49 PM ^
No one wants to revisit that shit fest. I’ll pass.
September 3rd, 2018 at 12:02 AM ^
That was hilarious when penn state won their game
September 3rd, 2018 at 1:07 AM ^
Lol, right? Remember that time Penn State was really struggling but still found a way to pull out a win instead of crapping the bed. Hilarious.
September 3rd, 2018 at 8:14 AM ^
They won, but they still crapped the bed.
September 3rd, 2018 at 9:06 AM ^
They played a markedly inferior team at home and damn near lost. UM played a team that is at the least their equal on the road.
September 3rd, 2018 at 12:09 AM ^
Peters is ahead of McCaffrey on the depth chart, Harbaugh said that Peters had an injury & didn't practice most of the week which is why he was slotted behind TMac. That makes me feel even better because McCaffrey looked pretty good so if Peters is ahead of him then that means we have 3 legit QBs. Now if Pep can call a better, quicker game we should be ok on offense. If the OL can keep improving then we'll be good on offense
September 3rd, 2018 at 4:47 AM ^
Wrong..the OP was talking about the qb PETTERS..
#howdoesonemisspellpeters
September 3rd, 2018 at 10:22 AM ^
Well, he's sure to be right in his bet then. Petters ain't going to transfer!
September 3rd, 2018 at 12:10 AM ^
Please explain and point out the improvements from the offensive line... I’ll wait...
September 3rd, 2018 at 12:14 AM ^
JBB looked surprisingly good. Not great still, but much better than last year. They picked up stunts much better too. My bold prediction is the non-Runyan OL will grade out better than expected in UFR. Runyan not only got worked physically but made a couple of big mental errors too. I imagine we'll see Hudson next week.
September 3rd, 2018 at 12:25 AM ^
I was hoping to see Hudson in the second half. Next week should be a no-brainer. #Meritocracy
September 3rd, 2018 at 12:43 AM ^
It's not a meritocracy. If it truly is, then harbaugh has no idea what the fuck he's doing.
September 3rd, 2018 at 9:48 AM ^
There is a pretty big built in assumption in your statement that Hudson is actually better. How do we know that? We wish it was true because logically accepting that fact that ND game represented the best we can do in the OL is uncomfortable.
September 3rd, 2018 at 10:22 AM ^
Why did Runyan, Jr., the Wanglers, etc get football scholarships at UM?
They are not good at football.
It seems schollies to play at UM have been used like 529 plans for the kids of legends. Add Jaybaugh to the list as he has a $300K/year apprenticeship.
Yeah, meritocracy, sure...
September 3rd, 2018 at 10:30 AM ^
Does trolling come easy to you, or do you have to work hard at it? Because everything I've seen you post has been complete shit...
September 3rd, 2018 at 10:33 AM ^
Jack Wangler was a walk on and Jared was a 3 star that's now on the 2 deep at FB. Runyan is not a bad player, he's just playing out of position.
Jaybaugh seems to be pretty good at his job despite his name, but feel free to bitch about things you have no idea what you're talking about because your team lost a game.
September 3rd, 2018 at 11:04 AM ^
Jared is a 5th year guy, right, who hasn't even gotten a sniff of playing time. He's in the two deep at age 22-23 at a position that gets limited snaps? Who cares?
Jack got a schollie pretty early on. My point is we can't afford to waste schollies on guys who have no hope of ever being productive P5 players.
Runyan was a turnstile on Saturday. Looking at his recruiting profile, I am not at all surprised.
We have gone from a former NCAA All American, 10+ NFL RB vet, with an extensive coaching history of having earned his coaching hops the old-fashioned way to someone who came to UM with ZERO experience as a player or assistant coach as our RB coach.
What make you think JayBaugh is good at his job? Please cite some specific examples. Like his dad, he's got the PR part down but the product on the field stinks. The optics of him being at UM are even worse.
Those who buy the "meritocracy" line have swallowed the hook. I was all-in on Harbaugh at one point but my comments above are direct quotes from friends who were All-Americans at UM.
The program is a joke right now and there is no fix in sight. Even high school kids get it -- why do you think we have been striking out on top OL recruits?
Harbaugh will likely be out at the end of the year but feel free to continue driving your head deeper into the sand.
September 3rd, 2018 at 2:51 PM ^
Are you suggesting Michigan doesn't need a backup at fullback, a position they feature prominently?
As far as I can tell Jack Wangler never was on scholarship. Maybe for a season when one was available but not outside of that.
Jaybaugh turned out a 994 yard rusher and his RBs were together well over 2k yards last year. All behind a mediocre line.
But please, feel free to continue to shitpost nonsense until you feel better. We're here for you buddy.
September 3rd, 2018 at 12:42 AM ^
I rewatched the game and JBB is still bad. He gets pushed back into the QB almost every time he’s in pass pro.
September 3rd, 2018 at 12:45 AM ^
But last year he would always wif on a DE. At least he is sustaining more of a block in this game.
September 3rd, 2018 at 12:56 AM ^
In your world, how many is a couple?
September 3rd, 2018 at 9:18 AM ^
I didn’t think the interior line did much better; I thought they struggled against the stunts
September 3rd, 2018 at 12:42 AM ^
We only had to go to our 2nd string QB and not our 3rd?
September 3rd, 2018 at 7:49 AM ^
Just for cramps. Plus the 2nd QB was uninjured. Real progress this year ...
In related news, UCLA will ride their 2nd QB after their first was injured. Maybe the curse went with Wilton.
September 3rd, 2018 at 11:04 AM ^
Patterson hurt his ankle. JDue on twitter just showed it
September 3rd, 2018 at 2:28 PM ^
Looked like he did it on the roll out when he cramped up and had to go out the second time. He rolled it pretty bad right before he fell down.
September 3rd, 2018 at 12:43 AM ^
Too bad app st missed that FG in the closing minute of the 4th to win the game.
September 3rd, 2018 at 10:04 AM ^
App State had the game won but celebrated their victory instead of covering their kick-off.
September 3rd, 2018 at 9:54 AM ^
Not great Bobovich.
September 3rd, 2018 at 10:39 AM ^
Non sack adjusted numbers are meaningless, between patterson and the holder we lost 32 yards, which takes 1.5 yards off the YPC. Our backs were 3.3 YPC, which isn't great but not nearly as bad as the raw numbers suggest, especially considering they didn't crack any long ones.
September 3rd, 2018 at 11:25 AM ^
Considering the landscape of CFB, anything under 4 ypc is bad. In the NFL, it's acceptable, but not in CFB where you see RBs avging 5-7 ypc for the season.
September 3rd, 2018 at 11:09 AM ^
Yeah, I'd love to see the apologists try to explain that away.
September 3rd, 2018 at 8:17 AM ^
This is why you play CUPCAKES to build confidence in those players who need it.. The whole offensive line needs a game or 2 where they can just maul an opposing team Dline.. That’s all they need is a few games against cupcakes,Build that confidence over the first few weeks before Big Ten season..Instead people want to play hard teams
September 3rd, 2018 at 8:56 AM ^
Agree. I am all for a good non conference game, but not before week 3.
September 3rd, 2018 at 10:06 AM ^
I was looking over the schedules 1980-89. Michigan "built confidence" at the expense of Power-5 opponents. That included 2-4 at ranked opponents.
September 3rd, 2018 at 10:32 AM ^
I 100 percent agree. Our schedule is difficult enough. No upside to taking this game. You can't work out the kinks. Even if you win ugly against an inferior foe (MSU and PSU), you are 1-0 at the end of the day.
September 3rd, 2018 at 11:07 AM ^
But fans love these type of games because the interest and excitement is better than playing a cupcake.
My response to these fans is always this how big would you interest and excitement be getting into the playoff??
September 3rd, 2018 at 8:33 AM ^
Watching that game again.....wow Runyan was bad in every sense of the word. I know he is playing out of position but there was zero positive from him. Our interior didnt exactly show strength either.
September 3rd, 2018 at 8:41 AM ^
Btw, where is the podcast? It’s usually up first thing Monday morning. I know it’s technically a holiday, but i thought it was usually up anyway.
Maybe because it was night game?
September 3rd, 2018 at 8:54 AM ^
Neither tackle looked good, that is a major Achilles heel right now!
September 3rd, 2018 at 8:54 AM ^
Since I had to watch the game with a group of ND fans, I decided to take another look last night....and it still amazes me how many mental errors they made. For all the problems we had Saturday night, we should have won that game. The penalties and bonehead plays in the first half were unreal. (Although, its become a hallmark of Harbaugh's Michigan teams to keep making mental errors). However, it's worth noting that the offense at least moved the ball on a few drives that ate some clock. Not great by any means, but a marked improvement. Shea had 20 completions and Dylan 4 for 250 yards passing. The only game last year where we had 20 completions was Peters against S. Carolina (20 of 44 for 186 yards). Most games, we had under 15 completions and under 200 yards passing (under 150 yards a lot). So our QB play has improved, and it appears, so have the WRs (Nico looks good).
So the house isn't quite on fire at the moment. Yes, there are STILL o-line issues and the play calling is questionable, but this "might" have been a case of an offense with a lot of new starters getting used to each other under the lights and on the road in South Bend in the season opener. I'm glad we had this early road test. It's a wake up call for sure, but IF they clean up the mental errors and the O-Line can improve with more time....we can compete against the likes of MSU, PSU, Wisconsin and OSU. Now, we've been saying that a lot the last few years, but it seemed different on Sat night. They reminded me of Harbaugh's first year around mid season before Rudock went on a tear. There are some signs this "could" turn around. But they need to make the mental leap...maybe its confidence, coaching, etc...but, we could have won that game. Now, they must show that they can. These kids don't know how to win yet. (The coaching staff might not either).
September 3rd, 2018 at 10:37 AM ^
Also, what is crazy from the game is that Wimbush was 6-9 passing with an INT. Out of those 6 completions, two should have been picks. Guy was extremely lucky to not have thrown 3 INTs. Yeah, he tore us up with his legs, but some bad luck and not finishing, bailed that guy out.
September 3rd, 2018 at 1:42 PM ^
The "bad luck" plagues M agsinst every team that has a pulse. At some point it's no longer luck, it's a failure to execute when it's most important. That points to poor coaching.
September 3rd, 2018 at 2:32 PM ^
Agree. Teams that fail on the little things ALWAYS boils down to coaching problems. It's like the basketball team that never blocks out or doesn't hedge out properly on D. Only thing I can think of is that JH is trying to coach these kids like professionals when they are not. Either fundamentals, or discipline, are not being emphasized enough. The system he is trying to run requires close to perfect execution to succeed. It works for the NFL because those guys are professionals who work on their game all day long (and are elite talents). If they don't execute, they are cut, traded, etc. Can't do that in CFB obviously.
September 3rd, 2018 at 9:03 AM ^
Mind you it appears as if Gary and winnovich have one move, speed-bull Rush, but I’m shocked our tackles aren’t better seeing how I’d think they’d be facing Rashan and Chase everyday.....I can’t believe our best LT is Runyan who is a guard...
September 3rd, 2018 at 9:40 AM ^
This. I’m concerned for this against the better teams. They will scheme around his quite easily and any QB that can readily step up in the pocket will shred us. They have to develop a more diverse skill set.
September 3rd, 2018 at 9:12 AM ^
I know we're not supposed to complain about officiating but could we at least get a 50/50 game one of these days? I'm not asking for home cooking but we can't catch a break in big games. I wonder if refs just hate Harbaugh or something.
September 3rd, 2018 at 9:38 AM ^
Winovich late hit doesn’t get called 9/10 times pretty much anywhere. Also, the consistent spotting of the ball issue was so bad that replay had to give us a first down like “yeah, we can’t be THIS obvious.” I’d say, on average, we were spotted at least a half yard short and ND a half, and often full, yard long. I’m not saying conspiracy either. I just wish spotting in Ann Arbor is that favorable.
September 3rd, 2018 at 10:03 AM ^
I can’t believe the review took as long as it did. His foot was on the spot to gain and the ball was clearly beyond. I still can’t figure that there was not a delay of game on their FG. Man that was obvious.