Spath report on offense: There is a disconnect on gameday
Link to full article
On the offense so far: "I saw enough in the spring and in fall practices to know that what they wanted to be and what they have been are two very different things. And it's incredibly concerning. I think a lot of our fears about 'control' are coming to fruition. All the offseason talk about this being Josh Gattis' offense has thus far been talk. Jim's fingerprints are all over this. There's no aggressiveness. Certainly no speed in space. This is a ball-control, heavy reliance on the running game, limit mistakes, win-with-defense approach. That's how they went into the Ohio State game last year, and we know how that turned out.
"They're doing it out of different formations, out of a shotgun, no-huddle, and with zone reads instead of power, but it's still a run-first, conservative mentality.
September 11th, 2019 at 11:02 AM ^
A friendly disclaimer:
Michael Spath doesn't know jack shit and has no current connections to the program. I'd take anything he says with an extremely high level of skepticism.
September 11th, 2019 at 11:08 AM ^
This is correct. I met Spath a few years ago at one of Harbaugh's travelling coaches clinics. He's a super nice dude and I enjoyed chatting with him, but when he want to talk to the coaches, they ignored him.
He's a good writer and dude, but has (unless it's on the DL) no connections to the team.
September 11th, 2019 at 12:01 PM ^
I mean, how would you know that he has no connections to the team?
I'm not saying Spath is great or that he does have connections to the team.
But I am saying that Sam Webb only says what the AD wants him to say, and maybe the coaches don't like Spath and ignore him because he tells the whole truth.
Maybe? I don't know. But it seems like a possibility to me.
September 11th, 2019 at 12:41 PM ^
It's possible, but more than likely he tends to take a skeptical, negative, I'll believe it when I see it approach to UM football. He tends to focus more on the negative than the positive. In some ways, it's hard to blame him based on the last 15 years of UM football. There is probably some truth to what he's saying, but he's usually assuming the worse. He has no idea if it's JH or Gattis making the play calls. He knows it was a discussion point and he knows last week in the second half it was very conservative and run heavy. From there he is simply extrapolating and assuming the worst. He's not considering the version that Gattis gave in his presser is also possible... that Shea didn't keep it very often, but that it was Gattis' decision to run the ball and control the clock. Now, that still warrants if Gattis is being too conservative, but that still remains to be seen. But, Spath is not giving anyone the benefit of the doubt. He's immediately calling for the worst case.
September 11th, 2019 at 1:53 PM ^
we threw 3 times in a row....in 2 OT (yeah I get that the failure of #1 and #2 necessitated #3 but still)
September 12th, 2019 at 11:34 AM ^
After the constant shit shows and talk talk talk, shouldn’t we all be skeptical. We don’t have to be negative but an I’ll believe it when I see it approach with cautious optimism is the way to go. Everything in that article is spot on and it’s just repeating the same shit we are all thinking.
September 11th, 2019 at 1:40 PM ^
I met Spath more recently. He is not a super nice dude. Not at all.
September 11th, 2019 at 11:09 AM ^
Dude suuuuuuucks
September 11th, 2019 at 1:16 PM ^
Great hot take, Spicoli
September 11th, 2019 at 11:10 AM ^
Yeah, I don't think Spath was that great when he was at Rivals, but now he has no connections at all. He's just desperately trying to stay relevant with HAWT TAKES and clickbait at this point.
September 11th, 2019 at 11:34 AM ^
I agree with you. This is click bait bullshit.
If there's any "disconnect" it's because they don't game plan for them to repeatedly fumble all game, and then have to turtle so the team doesn't fumble the game away.
September 11th, 2019 at 12:27 PM ^
Have to turtle? Why did they have to turtle all last year?
September 11th, 2019 at 12:39 PM ^
I didn't realize we were talking about last year - I was under the impression that we were talking about the first two games of THIS season. Silly me.
September 11th, 2019 at 12:43 PM ^
You're trying to claim this dumb offense makes sense in the context of a particular game. I'm pointing out that they do this in every context, so that seems unlikely. Where you are being silly is pretending like you didn't know what I was talking about, although I suspect that's because you know your argument is bullshit.
September 11th, 2019 at 12:52 PM ^
What gives you the impression that they turtled all last year?
September 11th, 2019 at 12:55 PM ^
I watched the games.
September 11th, 2019 at 1:19 PM ^
So you somehow didn't recognize what you were seeing when UM played Wisconsin and PSU. Okaayyy. You should get that checked out.
September 11th, 2019 at 1:32 PM ^
You somehow didn't recognize their defense won those games? Okaaayyy, blah blah blah derpy derpy.
September 11th, 2019 at 2:26 PM ^
Having the offense "turtle" doesn't lead to blowout wins. Look again at Patterson's passes to Collins and DPJ in the PSU game--and then explain how that was turtling. Or just continue to make assertions that have no basis, because that's what you do.
September 11th, 2019 at 2:41 PM ^
I wasn't aware we knew each other. You, of course, have what is always a sign of logic based assertions, personal attacks.
September 11th, 2019 at 11:39 AM ^
Yup I love how everyone (rightfully) bashes the guy, but when he says something that aligns with our personal thoughts suddenly he's not so bad. A broken clock is still right twice a day.
September 11th, 2019 at 11:46 AM ^
I like him on the radio and he seem reasonable, but on Twitter he is an insufferable chicken little.
His football knowledge does not strike me as vast.
I think this conspiracy theory on Jim running the offense or dumbing it down makes no sense to me. Let's give it some time before we proclaim that.
September 11th, 2019 at 12:33 PM ^
Does the play calling so far make sense to you?
As Brian wrote: "Two games in and Collins has one more catch than Charbonnet. He's on pace for a 33-catch year. That's without DPJ playing. What are we doing?"
September 11th, 2019 at 11:47 AM ^
And yet, everything he wrote certainly rings true, does it not?
September 11th, 2019 at 11:58 AM ^
It did the day of and after the Army game but everything is back to normal now and the offense is humming again during the bye week.
September 11th, 2019 at 12:05 PM ^
He panders to your prejudice. You don’t seem to understand that.
September 11th, 2019 at 1:39 PM ^
Not at all...
Its the fucking preseason and this guy is writing like a fanboi...not a single bit of that is insightful...just an emo rant.
The team won the game with a massive negative turnover margin and what certainly seems to be a banged up QB and two first year Tackles. And it was against a quality opponent. People are acting like this army team is Rutgers or something (they'd beat most teams in the B1G esp, if given a 3 TO advantage). This a team that was riding a major win streak all the way back to a similar loss to what ended up being the top offense in the country with a Heisman QB. So...maybe UM will end up being in the same boat as last years OU team. Army is unorthodox, disciplined and hard as nails on both sides of the ball. They deserve more respect IMO.
I'm proud of what I saw from this team..they fought hard and got the job done.
September 11th, 2019 at 1:53 PM ^
Turnovers were even, which even considering its excuse week is not a massive negative turnover margin.
September 11th, 2019 at 2:20 PM ^
OK...but still the parallels between this game and the Army-OU game are numerous which is why I don't think you take much away from this game other than UM beat a tough opponent that just may be underrated given what they've done over the last year.
September 11th, 2019 at 2:47 PM ^
If we go to the playoffs I will be happy to agree with you but that isn't what is going to happen. Unless there are massive changes in offensive philosophy this game is a sign of things to come, not a fluke.
September 11th, 2019 at 11:49 AM ^
This was also posted a few days ago.
September 11th, 2019 at 1:16 PM ^
Well, no one with any "current connections" to the program will criticize anything (Sam Webb and Jamie Morris are both unlistenable), so I'd say proclaimed insider analysis is pretty worthless all the way around. All we can go by is what we see on Saturday, which in the case of the Army game, was ass.
September 11th, 2019 at 1:35 PM ^
He and 111,874 saw the offense look like shit Saturday.
September 11th, 2019 at 3:23 PM ^
Yeah, I've noticed him and guys like Gregg Henson have sorta the same "connections" and while Spath does seem like a good guy, the fact he's writing for a site called mavensports.io makes me think he's not super-connected.
September 11th, 2019 at 11:01 PM ^
When you cant attack the message, attack the messenger.
What Spath says is not wrong, everyone can see that JH is still in charge of the offense, and our offense is struggling. However, we won both games, and ultimately this is all it's about.
September 11th, 2019 at 11:02 AM ^
https://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/wolverine-maven-insiders-pov posted yesterday - think you missed it WD
September 11th, 2019 at 11:13 AM ^
Maybe he was starting a thread today with a comment from that thread yesterday?
September 11th, 2019 at 11:06 AM ^
Anyone who follows or listens to spath is a moron. He's the worst of the worst.
September 11th, 2019 at 11:07 AM ^
This sounds like stuff random fanboys on message boards say all the time. And that's probably who's being quoted here.
September 11th, 2019 at 11:37 AM ^
He probably read the snowflake threads on Sunday and wrote this piece of shit based on those.
September 11th, 2019 at 11:10 AM ^
Spath sucks.
September 11th, 2019 at 11:13 AM ^
I got clearance with Seth before I posted this article because I’ve heard many say this.
I did not see this posted yesterday however so I will take my negs like a man.
September 11th, 2019 at 11:18 AM ^
Don't worry. We are all cloaked with the mgoshield of non-functionality that saves us all from negs.
September 11th, 2019 at 11:53 AM ^
Is that what the offense was wearing on Saturday?
September 11th, 2019 at 12:15 PM ^
There’s always Bolivia
September 11th, 2019 at 1:40 PM ^
Considering you have 136k points I'd say you can handle a few negs. lol
September 12th, 2019 at 10:55 AM ^
Mom said it was okay!
The negs don't even count, you know this.
September 11th, 2019 at 11:12 AM ^
I randomly happened to catch a bit of the Spath show the other day for the first time in months. Spath was talking about how despite MI actually winning the game v. Army, it should be effectively counted as a loss. His co-host/producer then hit him with, well if that is how we're counting things, does that make Harbaugh effectively 2-2 v. OSU, (ie, even though OSU won the game, MI outplayed/outschemed them in 2 out of 4). Spath had no answer.
September 11th, 2019 at 11:48 AM ^
Yes, let's could the MSU botched put game as a win as well.
September 11th, 2019 at 1:24 PM ^
Ha Ha. Good one.