September 16th, 2023 at 10:48 PM ^
How the hell did this, in any way, help determine who the backup QB might be?
Christ this was boring.
September 16th, 2023 at 10:46 PM ^
JJ was peak Bad Josh Allen tonight. Dude needs to learn you dont need to be the hero every single play. Hopefully this was a reality check
I am guessing this is probably the end of any Heisman discussion for him unless he really lights it up through the big ten season. 3 picks on 13 attempts is bad bad
September 16th, 2023 at 10:49 PM ^
Nice to see him not clowning around on the sidelines with that showing. Be a goldfish, JJ.
September 16th, 2023 at 11:20 PM ^
He doesn't play hero ball all the time, though. In fact, his discipline since the beginning of last season has been remarkable. Stuff like this was stuff that we thought we might get a lot of with how he played his freshman year, and it hasn't happened.
Well, until tonight. But he has earned the benefit of the doubt here; I don't think it's fair to suggest that it's a lesson he hasn't learned, because the bad passes tonight were not passes that he has made in the last two years. Basically at all. The three picks were three of the five worst passes he has thrown at Michigan, to my recollection, and from a pure read/decision/accuracy standpoint, the three worst.
September 16th, 2023 at 11:33 PM ^
Jason Avant thought the one to CJ was at least as much on CJ—gave up on it, so wasn’t where needed to be to help his QB. I was listening not watching at that point, obviously, so can’t say. But Jason Avant knows more about football and especially receiver play than I (more than obvious). Would you say, having seen it, that it was Jason being too generous to JJ and too harsh on CJ? Coming out of halftime, Avant upped his criticism to say the play pissed him off that CJ hadn’t done what he wanted to see from WR there
September 16th, 2023 at 11:37 PM ^
Yeah the one to CJ was not that bad, certainly not among JJ's top 3 worst throws. Still a bad decision because Wilson was open for a touchdown but CJ had inside leverage that he completely surrendered. Should have been an incomplete pass at worst.
September 17th, 2023 at 11:58 AM ^
Probably top 4 though.
September 16th, 2023 at 11:38 PM ^
I think JJ really did make the wrong read though. CJ probably knew he was not the primary option on that play.
And anyway he made up for it on the flea flicker.
September 17th, 2023 at 12:00 AM ^
> Jason Avant thought the one to CJ was at least as much on CJ
Thanks for pointing this out. I don't claim to be an expert by any means, but that was my immediate impression as well. Nice to get some confirmation on that.
September 17th, 2023 at 2:33 AM ^
That was a terrible decision and throw by JJ. Sure, CJ may have been able to break up the pick, but we have to acknowledge that JJ’s picks were all his own mistakes. Bowling Green had him consistently confused, he didn’t play well and we have to hope that was a severe anomaly.
September 17th, 2023 at 9:11 AM ^
I was listening on the radio and Jansen said immediately that the first pick was due to Hibner, who had just come into the game, running the wrong route and bringing an extra defender to the area that JJ wasn't expecting to be there.
But whatever, JJ had a bad night, which can happen. How he missed Wilson wide open was bad, but the overthrow to Morris was egregious. All he had to do was loft it up there and let him run under it and it was easy 6. This was a regression to last year where he was trying to hit guys in stride with a laser when the better throw has some air under it and lets the receiver go get it.
September 17th, 2023 at 12:58 PM ^
Our WRs were in close proximity all nite. It happens way too much. Spread out the D.
September 16th, 2023 at 11:35 PM ^
The pick where Johnson (I think, tough to watch in a bar) tried to get behind the DB instead of in front of him looked like a Johnson mistake to me.
OTOH the other two interceptions looked awful and the Johnson TD was garbage.
I don't want to white-wash JJ's bad night, but I think this game was a reminder of why we miss Bell. That dude somehow got open consistently within the constraints of the Michigan offense.
September 17th, 2023 at 1:06 AM ^
I thought the receivers looked fine. Morris got open a ton. Wilson too. JJ was making the wrong read or throwing inaccurate passes constantly. I don't know why Harbaughs qbs always seem to regress and this is just one game but meh. We need to deviate away from the NFL passing stuff to a college style passing game that makes everything easier.
September 17th, 2023 at 6:00 AM ^
Agree, but simplifying things ain't gonna happen with Harbaugh as head coach. I can't speak to what I've seen in these first three games schematically, but -- unlike last year -- this looks like an offense that doesn't have an identity. I think we all wanted to see some new wrinkles added on to what they were doing last year, but this isn't working.
September 17th, 2023 at 8:54 AM ^
"[T]his looks like an offense that doesn't have an identity."
I would say that they've had three games to experiment, and now we're gonna see. Agree that they are running that risk, though.
September 17th, 2023 at 12:36 PM ^
Hopefully JJ just felt like crap/had a bad night and we were fortunate it came against BGSU.
September 16th, 2023 at 11:58 PM ^
It felt like they were trying to feed CJ to keep the stats balanced between him and RW. As RW keeps getting screamingly open, on almost every play, CJ could become the go-to on some of those plays.
September 17th, 2023 at 12:11 AM ^
Inaccurate take. Last year JJ had a number of throws where he was very lucky they were not picked, including that crazy wobbler against PSU that somehow made it over and into Corum's hands that caused JH to shake his head on the sidelines. He made up for a lot of that with outstanding play against Sparty and OSU but then he threw a horrible pick against Purdue and the obvious 2 pick sixes against TCU. This is definitely a pattern and not an exception. Once he sees pressure, where he can't buy easy time or run it out, his decision making goes south fast.
Gotta clean that up if we are to sniff the expectations this year. Love the kid and glad he is our QB, but his window to show out as a top 5 national QB is shrinking.
September 17th, 2023 at 7:43 AM ^
You could do this with every QB that's ever played tackle football.
Acting as if JJ is the only QB to ever throw almost ints is ridiculous.
JJ had a bad game it happens. I'm more interested at how JJ responds to adversity.
September 17th, 2023 at 10:09 AM ^
Agreed. This is definitely a pattern anyone saying otherwise is either not watching the games closely or not willing to take their maize tinted glasses off. I had hoped through the first two weeks we’d seen JJ mature and grow out of these sorts of things and I was willing to ignore one pick, maybe even 2 on something like 30 passes. But 3 picks on 13 throws is awfully scary. Here’s to hoping this is an anomaly and not a sign of things to come.
September 17th, 2023 at 9:00 AM ^
one would think he would have ALREADY known this.
September 16th, 2023 at 10:48 PM ^
Haven’t seen a QB performance that bad since O’Korn. Very concerning.
Offensive line also looks shockingly bad. The tackles are turnstiles.
September 16th, 2023 at 10:50 PM ^
Easy with O'korn comparison.
September 16th, 2023 at 10:57 PM ^
O'Korn was probably better than JJ tonight.
September 16th, 2023 at 11:09 PM ^
You alright man?
September 16th, 2023 at 10:58 PM ^
No no no. Do not let time diminish the absolute suckitude that John O’Korn brought to the field.
This was a post-injury Wilton Speight performance: not good, but with flashes of brilliance, and ultimately the running game is going to decide the outcome.
September 17th, 2023 at 12:13 AM ^
for a dude with 54K points i'd think you'd be above denigrating young men who chose to play for michigan and tried to give us their best. you're better than this.
September 17th, 2023 at 6:37 AM ^
I’m not casting aspersions on his character; just his level of play. Which was bad.
I don’t think people remember just how terrible our QBs played in 2017. Or how bad our offense as a whole was. Or how our team wasted a BRILLIANT game plan from Harbaugh against Ohio State due to the inability to complete passes to wide open receivers.
September 17th, 2023 at 10:36 AM ^
That game plan really was a work of art.
September 17th, 2023 at 1:04 PM ^
Still had a chance to win until that final wounded duck pick.
September 17th, 2023 at 1:09 AM ^
A random mgoblog reader wouldn't be as bad as okorn that day.
September 16th, 2023 at 10:49 PM ^
eh it's hard to be on every night.
our reward for the bad performance: this thread, full of "hot" takes on JJ, the season, etc.
September 16th, 2023 at 11:23 PM ^
FSU/Travis barely escaped Boston College. Texas/Ewers were tied with Wyoming in the 4Q. Georgia struggled. Bama struggled. Tennessee got wrecked. Sanders is having trouble with Colorado State.
It's just one of those weeks.
September 16th, 2023 at 11:49 PM ^
Correct take.
September 17th, 2023 at 1:18 AM ^
Wrong. Show me a game that JJ dominated. 12/24 against OSU with horribly busted coverage? TCU with 2 pick sixes?
I really want JJ to be a heisman level qb. His non-con numbers were WAY better last year than they are this year so far. Everyone is just hoping he’s going to be the guy they think he is.
September 17th, 2023 at 12:16 AM ^
did any of their QBs throw 3 picks in less than 15 throws against MAC level competition? this was not "one of those weeks" as much as this was a very timely wake up call against a lesser opponent that certain key positions on this team need to clean up their shit fast.
September 17th, 2023 at 12:25 AM ^
Cade was 5-13 with 2 picks against Western in the first half. He did pick it up in the second half end ended up 9-19
September 17th, 2023 at 7:37 AM ^
This is the danger of having 3 cupcakes in the OOC. Getting an ND game would sharpen and focus the team. Everyone is up for game 1 no matter what, game two you really get corrections fixed. By game 3, you need something more than BG and a light show to get you focused in and playing sharp.
IDK, the whole team seems to have the same feeling the fans have re: the schedule. Top 2 RBs aren't getting live acting/hit in practice. Offense is installing OZ bc reasons? We're holding back 2-3 starters in the secondary bc they don't need them. Then again what do I know.
September 17th, 2023 at 10:02 AM ^
It's dangerous but they won by 25. The hope is they are focused next week because Rutgers is gonna smack them in the mouth.
Complacency with the whole team coming back isn't surprising.
September 18th, 2023 at 11:03 AM ^
It's the Week Three Trap - you've beaten a couple of tin cans, maybe lollygagging a bit in prep while meanwhile the other team has two full games on tape and plenty of weaknesses they can go after.
September 16th, 2023 at 11:23 PM ^
Tell that to Penix…
September 16th, 2023 at 11:25 PM ^
Penix always comes through
September 17th, 2023 at 2:46 AM ^
Penix was really solid.
September 17th, 2023 at 9:15 AM ^
Penix rose to the occasion once again.
September 17th, 2023 at 12:41 PM ^
Penix penetrated the D over and over
September 17th, 2023 at 1:02 PM ^
I don't think you can fault Sparty's D for not touching Penix. They didn't want to get suspended.
September 17th, 2023 at 10:40 AM ^
I don't have a penis pun (no longer in middle school) but UW did at least play a B10 team, so that kind of makes the case regarding level of competition.