We all thought about it: What did this game make you think about our team?
I usually hate-watch national title games because they're important to a sport I love but they wind up just reminding me how disappointed I am that Michigan is not good enough to be there. And they're harder to skip now that the coaches film room is must-watch viewing every year.
But if you're like me you watch these games with one eye on the teams we all jealously wish weren't there and one eye on the strengths and particularly the weaknesses of our own team.
So let's just get right out and admit stuff that the title game highlighted for us about Michigan in the past and going forward.
What sort of things about our team came to mind when you watched the national title game?
January 9th, 2018 at 10:27 AM ^
January 9th, 2018 at 10:28 AM ^
Go Blue!
January 9th, 2018 at 10:37 AM ^
January 9th, 2018 at 10:40 AM ^
Youth is no longer an excuse! Lots of true freshmen were making huge plays on a huge stage. I'm tired of the youth excuse.
January 9th, 2018 at 10:50 AM ^
That while I don't expect M to be anywhere near as good as those two teams, there's also no excuse for our offense to be as incompetent as it was.
The team looked lost just like they did under borges. Playcalling wasn't mediocre, it was terrible. Harbaugh had no fire, the team had no fire, everyone just looked so "meh" out there.
I would love to know what was up with Harbaugh ths year. His fire and "crazy" is what, imo, pushed 2015-2016 to be what it was. Did he know this team wasn't going to be good? Did they obviously fuck off too much in the offseason? I mean, peters didn't even know the playbook.
Also, pretty sure Larry Foote was right, been agreeing with this for many years.
“We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.”January 9th, 2018 at 11:22 AM ^
#1 QB
#2 Lack of playmakers on offense
Michigan brought in Patterson to alleviate #1. Hopefully he is eligible next year.
Regarding #2, I'm not sure there is a quick fix. The WRs as a group are very dissapointing thus far despite all being very highly rated. The TEs are average in my opinion, no one is really a difference maker. RBs are solid, but again nowhere near what Alabama or Georgia has. Even within the B1G, Wisconsin, Iowa, OSU, PSU and MSU all had/have superior RBs.
January 9th, 2018 at 11:23 AM ^
With a good QB, a solid offensive line, and receivers who can get open, we could compete with either of those two teams. The other thing that came to mind was, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, PLEASE add the back shoulder throw to our passing game.
January 9th, 2018 at 11:25 AM ^
We likely have a good enough defense.
But our offense needs to be better all around. Those teams had better QB, RB and O line play. We may be comparable at receiver and TE. I think it is the coaching more than the talent. As others have posted, we have highly rated kids and we have also put quite a few in the NFL. We need a Don Brown level OC. And position coaches like Mattison. Maybe we get there, maybe not. Just depends how cutthroat Harbaugh wants to be.
I think the biggest difference is that college football is near life or death in the South. Not so in Ann Arbor. I am not sure the Southern approach is right, but it does drive accountability. Just look at the last 10 champions: Bama 5x, Florida, Clemson, FSU, Auburn and OSU. Thats 9 teams from the deep south. And OSU borders on having that near life or death approach.
On the bright side, our kicker seems much better than Bama's!
January 9th, 2018 at 11:30 AM ^
January 9th, 2018 at 12:02 PM ^
Agreed that pulling top talent out of Ohio, Florida, Georgia, Texas, etc. is and will continue to be a challenge, but I'll die the day that we are worried about competing with Rutgers in New Jersey or Maryland in northern Virginia.
January 9th, 2018 at 11:55 AM ^
January 9th, 2018 at 11:59 AM ^
Frankly, what yesterday's game made me think about is how nice it would be to have a coaching staff who can make in game adjustments. How often have we been playing well in the first half only to watch a lead crumble in the second half? We seem to do a good job of identifying opponent's weaknesses and game planning was to exploit these, which is reflected in our first half performances. For some reason at halftime (at least against our good competition) our opponents add wrinkles for which we have no response. I don't remember the last time we made a palpable change within the course of the game that resulted in us getting a win. Blaming the S&C preparations for our second half shortcomings is ridiculous.
January 9th, 2018 at 1:52 PM ^
made me think I won't see Michigan win another national championship in my lifetime.
January 9th, 2018 at 3:15 PM ^
Our blog: "We are one of the youngest teams so that's why we sucked."
The Bama-Georgia announcers: "True freshmen throws to true freshmen who is tackled by true freshmen."
January 9th, 2018 at 4:50 PM ^
They are getting much much better freshmen than we. Two freshmen qbs in a row for both schools. Impressive.
January 9th, 2018 at 3:15 PM ^
Our blog: "We are one of the youngest teams so that's why we sucked."
The Bama-Georgia announcers: "True freshmen throws to true freshmen who is tackled by true freshmen."