Gone In Sixty Minutes
9/23/2023 – Michigan 31, Rutgers 7 – 4-0, 1-0 Big Ten
On Saturday I looked at my watch halfway through the fourth quarter and said "what?" It was 2:50 PM. Michigan would strangle out the last seven minutes with a series of punishing Kalel Mullings runs and go home in an NFL time window. Which is nice, I guess, if the alternative is the networks finding a way to stick in another 10 minutes of commercials in there. It's also nice if you have to do a UFR. But it's not so nice if you're used to a certain amount of football and then there's far less of that.
Michigan's approach to the first third of the season has been to land some body blows and then get the heck out of dodge. This tweet is a week out of date now but that means it it overstates how many plays per minute Michigan is getting in after Michigan and Rutgers combined for 105 in 60 minutes, a play rate of 1.75:
Who plays fast and who plays slow in college football? Here's an updated look at the plays per minute data through Week 3:
— Chris Hummer (@chris_hummer) September 21, 2023
1. Tennessee - 3.06
2. TCU - 2.82
3. South Florida - 2.81
131. Michigan - 1.91
132. Rice - 1.77
133. Air Force - 1.77https://t.co/Inp8DhJ7Mu
The average FBS team is averaging 2.3 plays per minute, so the Rutgers game, in its entirety, was just the first three quarters of an average FBS game. It was barely more than half your average Tennessee game.
This fact combines with the second straight year of cupcake nonconference scheduling and Michigan's tendency to pull anyone with so much as a hangnail to lend the season an air of unreality. Michigan feels like they're simming this season until the Penn State game. We have not left yet the preseason portion of the schedule.
----------------------------------------------------
Various members of the media have issued condescending little pieces about how the new clock rules aren't making a major impact and that commercial time hasn't increased. The argument appears to be that commercial breaks are only as intolerable as they were last year, when they were completely intolerable. Hooray?
The Alabama-Texas game officially lasted three hours and 24 minutes, of which approximately 45 minutes (not including halftime) were commercials. We compared that broadcast with three 2022 SEC games on ESPN. They followed the same format and averaged between 45 and 46 minutes. No noticeable change from last year.
This article then goes on to detail how the networks have eight commercial breaks per half of football, which is the same number of breaks an entire college basketball game has and eight more than any soccer game ever broadcast. Then were are expected to feel grateful, somehow, that there are the same number of commercial breaks being inserted into less football. I'm not sure why the authors of these pieces can't divide.
Meanwhile I've watched halftime shows in back-to-back weeks in which 1) BGSU brought their band for a full halftime and 2) Michigan had their extended homecoming halftime show; both of those events ended with 8 minutes on the halftime clock. If they wanted to cut time they could easily have adopted the same 15-minute halftime that the NFL does. But if a TV exec calls up a sports journalist these folks jump at the opportunity.
In Michigan's case, the way they play their games exacerbates the clock issues. Teams that have four-play scoring drives are seeing a bit of time roll off the clock before it stops for a touchdown or an incomplete pass or whatever. Michigan's tendency to go on long, grinding marches means there are more instances where the clock is running when it otherwise would have been stopped. This effect was even more pronounced in the Ohio State-Notre Dame game, which was largely bereft of explosive plays but featured a lot of first downs. Those teams racked up 129 plays, barely over two per minute. There were 39 first downs in that game; if 30 of them saw the clock run when it otherwise would not the new clock rules lopped the last five minutes off that game. Five minutes are reputed to be forever late in games, so while we're being told that the new rules aren't really doing anything, you could be forgiven for feeling like they're having an absolutely massive impact.
In Michigan's case this can be spun as a good thing since guys are less likely to get hurt… except apparently they're getting hurt in practice a bunch. If most of your hitting occurs when you're getting ready for the game, then the injury benefits of fewer plays are marginal. Personally, I'd like to see more things happen and fewer insurance commercials, but maybe someone who went to Medill can tell me why that's wrong.
AWARDS
Known Friends and Trusted Agents Of The Week
zing a zang zoop [Barron]
#1 Mike Sainristil. Jumped a tunnel screen(!) for an interception. Then flipped Junior Colson over his head, kept his balance, burst out of the pack, and ran for a 71-yard touchdown. He even switched the ball to the appropriate arm. Also had two QB hurries, bringing his pass rush win rate up to 36% this year. Took the blame for the Rutgers touchdown even though he was responsible for maybe 15 of those yards because he's a captain.
#2 JJ McCarthy. It says something about how distorted our expectations got after the first two weeks when I thought McCarthy had kind of a rough day and then the box score says he averaged 10 YPA and ran for 60 yards. After a couple hiccups early he was locked in.
#3 Junior Colson, Ernest Haussman, and Michael Barrett. Each of Michigan's linebackers came in for an eyepopping play; my favorite was Barrett shooting up into a free-releasing OL and then ripping him to the ground. Hausmann got to the sideline on an early lead stretch and blasted the RB back into Wimsatt; Colson was again ably tackling in space. Two points each.
Honorable mention: Quinten Johnson had a third-down stick and a PBU. Blake Corum was doing Blake Corum things. Max Bredeson continues to thump linebackers. Colston Loveland had a buttzone catch down the seam and several other catches besides. Semaj Morgan got a tunnel screen early and a back-shoulder TD late. Kris Jenkins blew up two short yardage conversions, though the first was called back for a false start.
KFaTAotW Standings.
(points: #1: 8, #2: 5, #3: 3, HMs one each. Ties result in somewhat arbitrary assignments.)
21: JJ McCarthy (#1 ECU, #1 UNLV, #2 Rutgers)
14: Kris Jenkins (HM ECU, T2 UNLV, #1 BGSU, HM Rutgers)
11: Mike Sainristil (T3 ECU, HM BGSU, #1 Rutgers)
8: Blake Corum (HM ECU, HM UNLV, #2 BGSU, HM Rutgers)
6: Kenneth Grant (T3 ECU, T2 UNLV), Roman Wilson (T2 ECU, HM UNLV, HM BGSU), Cornelius Johnson (T2 ECU, HM UNLV, HM BGSU)
5: Mason Graham (HM ECU, T2 UNLV), Junior Colson (#3 BGSU, T3 Rutgers)
4: Ernest Hausmann (T3 ECU, T3 Rutgers)
3: Mike Barrett (HM UNLV, T3 Rutgers)
2: Josh Wallace (T3 ECU), Braiden McGregor(T3 UNLV), Derrick Moore (T3 UNLV), Jaylen Harrell (HM UNLV, HM BGSU)
1: Tommy Doman (HM ECU), Donovan Edwards (HM ECU), Tyler Morris (HM UNLV), AJ Barner (HM BGSU), Semaj Morgan (HM Rutgers), Max Bredeson (HM Rutgers), Colston Loveland (HM Rutgers), Quinten Johnson (HM Rutgers)
Who's Got It Better Than Us(?) Of The Week
Sainristil's weaving pick-six closes the door on any reasonable chance of a Rutgers comeback.
Honorable mention: Colston Loveland grabs a seam route, demonstrating the Ups. Michigan stuffs a fourth down emphatically, even if it didn't count.
MARCUS HALL EPIC DOUBLE BIRD OF THE WEEK.
Rod Moore misses a tackle to stake Rutgers to an early lead.
Honorable mention: JJ McCarthy's first two passes are not real great, leading to momentary doubt. Marcus Freeman doesn't put 11 guys on the field.
OFFENSE
[Fuller]
They took Rutgers seriously. Congratulations, Rutgers. You're a real boy now. Unfortunately, this means that Michigan's bringing out their Tecmo Super Bowl reverse flea-flicker:
It also meant that JJ McCarthy keeps were on, much to the bafflement of a program that has come to rely upon the certainty that Michigan will not risk their QB against them. The first one:
A subsequent third and one saw the relevant DE check McCarthy, turning a 2-yard belly play into nine yards. Then they brought in Mullings after (another) bad spot saw Edwards ruled down short of the line to goal and McCarthy kept on the belly play for what would have been a big chunk if he didn't turn 90 degrees and get out of bounds after about ten yards.
Corum: back. Edwards: not. Blake Corum is doing all the Blake Corum things and appears to have knocked the rust off. Donovan Edwards not so much. Edwards had six carries, one of them a third and short dive on which you're not allowed to do anything except go straight forward. On three of his other five carries he left yards on the field. This was the most egregious:
Michigan's running power by pulling two tight ends, there's a huge lane up the middle, Bredeson gets a kickout, and Edwards runs right into the force player for a yard. Ironically, it was this game last year when Edwards seemed to have it click; he was patient and on play like this he'd set up a block and then burst.
[Barron]
Semaj, the little bad wolf. Semaj Morgan was the target on Michigan's first tunnel screen in living memory and then caught a back-shoulder fade whilst being interfered with:
Nice. Let's see the quote tweets:
Semaj Morgan on his first Michigan touchdown:
— Alejandro Zúñiga (@ByAZuniga) September 24, 2023
“No. 16 that was guarding me, he was a great DB. He was someone we were keying on all week. I'm glad I got to terrorize him.” — @1dubshow pic.twitter.com/fg01pLWYyj
Oh hell yes that's going in next year's season preview. Extremely good sign for Morgan that Michigan dusted off the obscure crannies of the playbook to find something to fit him and then told him to go be Jeremy Gallon for a quick sec.
Tackles: they're probably "mid." It's probably time to resign ourselves to the fact that the tackles are coming it at the bottom of reasonable expectations. This game saw Hinton and Henderson rotate again, with Henderson getting the second and fourth quarters. By this point in the year if you have three tackles you don't have two, and it looks like they're still searching for answers there. One third down near the redzone saw McCarthy sacked when both tackles got beat; the run blocking from the spot has been inconsistent at best.
Because this is 2023 Harbaugh, the bottom of reasonable expectations is still having two guys who are solid Big Ten players. I was still hoping for more.
[Fuller]
Team Mullings. I continue to be impressed with what Kalel Mullings is able to do on the ground. This run features Mullings picking through a hole, chopping his feet to avoid an ankle tackle, plowing through a tackle attempt, and then plowing through a second until a guy just gets him down by the ankles:
A couple of plays later he'd take a third and two carry and rugby scrum his way to six yards after contact.
The consistency with which he's been able to make extra yards bodes well for his prospects for next year. Both of his main competitors have been hurt on and off, so juries are out. I got my money on the jump pass guy.
DEFENSE
[Barron]
It's pretty good. In the course of revising this I realized this section is a lot of crabbing for a game in which the opposition scored zero net points. Let's stop and survey the carnage via the lens of SP+, which has Michigan #1 this week on the strength of their also-#1 defense:
Ain't played nobody, sure, but this accounts for ain't played nobody. Also of note is a reason that SP+ is down on Michigan's offense relative to other efficiency metrics:
Maybe the most interesting thing here is that both Notre Dame and Ohio State dropped quite a bit after Saturday night's gripping rock fight. Both teams were hurt by the increased weight of opponent adjustments, and since both teams' offensive ratings were driven by impressive explosiveness numbers heading into Week 4, a complete lack of explosiveness -- the 17-14 Ohio State win saw just three combined gains of more than 25 yards -- dragged the teams' offensive ratings down more than their defensive ratings rose.
Michigan has not been explosive this year and SP+ will privilege explosives over pure efficiency. FEI, which is a pure efficiency metric, has Michigan's offense ninth.
oops [Fuller]
The bad event. Three bits to this:
One is that Sainristil slips as he's trying to mirror Dremel. Two is that Braiden McGregor, who's dropping into this area specifically to nerf a slant, appears to get moved by Wimsatt looking at the outside guy first. That gives Wimsatt just enough window; the ball goes about three inches over McGregor's hand. Then Rod Moore completely airballs a tackle on his first action of the year. The latter is the very bad part, as it takes a ten yard completion to sixty. We've seen enough of Moore to believe that this is an outlier for a player who was getting his first snaps of the year.
The other things that got yards. One: Wimsatt ran a bit and Michigan didn't do a great job of playing both sides of a mesh point. They repeatedly crushed the running back and gave up smallish chunks. Two: irritatingly soft coverage when Michigan DBs lined up nine yards deep would backpedal on the snap, dropping to a deep third and opening up easy hitches:
I can't really explain this defensive approach against a team that doesn't have a lot of athleticism at WR.
Three: a brief period on one second-half drive were Wimsatt was possessed with the spirit of Trevor Siemian and became an unstoppable-throw God, nailing several shots on the sideline before reverting to pumpkin status.
Not seeing it with Stewart. Josiah Stewart was part of the second team DL most of the day; he didn't generate pressures and he continues to make some serious mistakes on the ground. It seems like 80% of all events where Michigan doesn't set an edge are traceable back to him:
DE #5 to bottom
He got bailed out a seriously weak holding call; the OT was controlling him and did not take an excessive amount of time to release him. Aidan Hutchinson, who could wave around his own arm after it had been ripped from its socket and not get a call, probably ate a parrot after seeing that flag come out.
Anyway. PFF has him with just two pressures on 32 pass-rush snaps against mostly G5 guys; this isn't a guy who is struggling with a step up in competition, it's someone not playing anywhere near their established level.
Also! That's also a pretty rough crack replace from Johnson on the previous play. Obviously I do not know what the injury situation is but this will-he-or-won't-he for 3/4ths of the starters in the secondary has been about as irritating as anything can be during a series of huge blowouts over overmatched opponents.
Meanwhile the other WDE. [baby gronk voice] Is this the best pass rush of Jaylen Harrell's career?
DE #32 to bottom
Do you think Jaylen Harrell will lead Michigan to a National Championship? [/baby gronk voice]
It is probably unwise to take too much from this dataset, but FWIW Harrell is grading out as Michigan's best pass rusher at PFF with a 90(!) grade. When things get serious I will not be surprised to see Harrell out there pretty much all the time.
Show them the McGregor tape. Makari Paige blitzed into the backfield scot-free and ate the running back… who did not have the ball.
When you're doing this you need to form up. I probably do not need to tell anyone reading this that; it's 2023.
aaaah, snakes! [Fuller]
Lookit the big guy go. Can you imagine throwing a pick on a tunnel screen and then, moments later, being rudely greeted by Kenneth Grant?
DT #78 just above C
This is the DT equivalent of watching JJ McCarthy catch up to Blake Corum in the Big Ten championship game. That should not be so, but it is.
[Barron]
Coming along. Nice game for Quentin Johnson in relief of Moore. He had a third down stick and a PBU, with nothing in particular that looked like a Johnson problem. Might say something about the pecking order that Keon Sabb didn't play much despite Moore going in and out of the lineup.
SPECIAL TEAMS
I'm not sure what we're doing here with punt return. Surely it should be Tyler Morris's job at this point. Thaw was unable to field a punt when the opposing punter had rolled out and taken absolutely forever to get the ball out; he was in the area but should have had plenty of time to get to the sideline given the inevitable direction of a punt (to the right) on a rollout to the right. If Thaw's not the catches-all-the-punts guy what's the rationale for continuing to play him?
Kickoff shenanigans. Rutgers tried the pop-up; Joe Taylor did not fumble and Rutgers declined to give up the field position on kickoff #2. That one hit the ground and Semaj Morgan had to return it.
Meanwhile Rutgers called a fair catch, allowed the ball to hit at the two, and then had to frantically attempt to field the ball when it did not land in the endzone. They ended up with the ball at the five because once you call a fair catch anyone picking up the ball for your team means the ball is dead, and if it hits the ground you don't get the touchback.
I've noticed a few teams around college football try long squibs that are designed to get to the returner near the goal line, but in such a way that a fair catch touchback is impossible.
Field goals. Turner missed one from 42 and made one from 46; the one from 42 would have been good from 37, but a dubious delay of game penalty pushed it farther out. I'm relatively unconcerned about a miss that barely curved out.
Also unconcerned. Tommy Doman's first punt may have grazed a satellite. Got dang.
MISCELLANEOUS
The larger picture. Opponent adjusted EPA/play:
This does not have any priors, like SP+ does, FWIW. Interesting notes:
- Michigan's offense is actually more efficient than OSU's.
- Penn State's offense doesn't look super competitive right now.
- Ye gods, MSU, Iowa, and Indiana.
- Illinois == Colorado
- Wisconsin == Alabama?!
Spotting the ball is hard. Michigan got a number of horrendous spots in this game, none more so than the Loveland conversion that wasn't. You can easily piece together the fact that this lunge from Loveland…
…was in-bounds from the other camera angle:
Despite this the call stood and Michigan had to convert a fourth and one. Then in the ND-OSU game OSU got an ND fourth and one conversion overturned on far more ambiguous evidence. Some consistency would be nice.
Commercials! Michigan gets one point for preventing a commercial break in the last seven minutes of the game by griding that time off the clock without replay, injury, or timeout. God's work, gentleman. This week's indignity was a commercial-kickoff-commercial sequence.
HERE
Let's take a look at one more - the normalized values for select words. This is usually a good measure of how we felt about a game:
That's more or less what you would expect - the first two games were easy on the eyes, then the final non-conference game passes with some uneasiness, then Rutgers, which we win, but now we're on edge with eight games left.
Best: Tough Catches
A big reason last year’s game was competitive at halftime was because Michigan’s receives simply didn’t make McCarthy’s life easy on catchable balls. While I think some of that was just due to McCarthy going through some growing pains as a first-time QB (it was in the middle of a stretch where McCarthy completed about 50% of his passes for a month), he was absolutely let down on a couple of throws that could have bailed him out. By comparison, this game featured some tough catches made by his receivers to keep drives. The highlight was the Semaj Morgan pulling in the eventual game-winning TD while being interfered with, and later on Loveland climbed the ladder to bring in a tough throw between defenders that led to another score. And beyond those tough receptions, Michigan’s passing offense broke out some nifty plays like the an Edwards screen and a unique flea flicker to Loveland that further stretched an aggressive Rutgers front. It felt unlike last year where Michigan took it almost as an offense if the opposition sold out to stop the run and spent downs imposing their will 2 yards at a time. Instead, they knew the Scarlet Knights couldn’t match up with Michigan’s receivers and simply exploited those deficiencies, which then opened up running lanes later on. It definitely felt like a more coherent offensive philosophy than last year’s matchup, and when combined with better receiver play the offense hummed along without really needing to rely on Rutgers just messing up.
Iowa lost to Penn State 31-0 in a game that wasn’t even that close. Old Frenemy Cade McNamara completed 5 of 14 passes for 42 yards, fumbled twice, and got hit so many times that Sean Clifford, who probably hasn’t left his ice bath since Penn State’s Rose Bowl win over Utah, undoubtedly winced in sympathy. Old Frenemy “Leading Receiver” Erick All caught 3 passes for 35 yards and fumbled away a drive. The team had 4 first downs in the entire game. The team had 4 fumbles lost (and 2 more they recovered) in the entire game. 76 total yards. FOR THE GAME.
If DC Phil Parker doesn’t murder “Offensive” “Coordinator” “Brian” Ferentz this week, I’ll consider it a minor miracle: Iowa’s defense was on the field MORE THAN 45 MINUTES, was obliged to notch 100 tackles, and STILL allowed less than 4 yards per rush and less than 5 yards per passing attempt. Iowa lost their #1 ranked SP+ defense yesterday (to Michigan!), but dammit they keep it in our hearts.
September 25th, 2023 at 4:37 PM ^
Pharma ads too...personally think they should be banned...showing actors acting weird like they have something but now are happy they are all pilled up
September 25th, 2023 at 5:20 PM ^
We are one of the only countries in the world that permits pharmaceutical ads to the general public.
September 25th, 2023 at 6:06 PM ^
I agree - those ads are extremely annoying and really, flat-out ridiculous. However, I think there's too much money in it at this point - there's no going back to the pre-2000ish era where those ads weren't allowed. At least we can rest assured that they'll take up 10% or so of every college football broadcast from here on out... (/s)
September 25th, 2023 at 6:17 PM ^
It's so odd to have an ad that says, "Ask your doctor about 'Chemical X.'"
Aren't I paying my doctor to figure out the best medicine/remedy for me?
September 25th, 2023 at 6:51 PM ^
I read something that doctors hate hate ads because patients come in asking for drugs when they don't need and are pushy cause the ad said how much will help whatever condition it is
September 26th, 2023 at 1:02 AM ^
I want to have a general poll asking people, "How many of you have actually asked your doctor about Chemical X and received the response 'OMG, I never knew about Chemical X which is being advertised during virtually every commercial break!'"
September 25th, 2023 at 6:23 PM ^
Yea but THINGS ARE GETTIN' CLEARER, AND I FEEL FREE....
September 25th, 2023 at 6:53 PM ^
Then the putz starts dancing banging a tamborine cause he is happy all clear
Now I can't stand that one with the heavier woman singing while pretending to be filming another ad..
September 25th, 2023 at 2:16 PM ^
I hate being amongst the slowest paced teams in college football for a number of reasons.
- I enjoy watching our team play, and playing slow means I get to do less of that
- Shortening the game is dangerous when you are the more talented team...the fewer possessions the more outsized impact fluke plays can have on the outcome (i.e. the bust on Rutgers first possession)
- Recruiting...less stats and chances could certainly impact skill position player decisions
- Less reps and experience moving quickly for when you invariably will need to move quickly (i.e. the TCU game last year)
Now...you could say that going slow allows our key players to be fresher and helps to counteract the lack of 5* depth we have compared to an OSU or UGA...but man I'd like to see us go turbo and boatrace a few cupcakes every once in a while.
September 25th, 2023 at 2:41 PM ^
To my perception we're essentially trading 2 "explosive" play TDs for one drawn out TD drive comparing last year to this year. If Mullings in garbage time breaks that one tackle for a long TD, I don't think we're worrying about the clock taking away possessions that much. To me the bigger problem is that we haven't really seen CJ or Edwards hit that home run ball yet.
People forget we also scored 1 defensive TD (and had another fumble return by the D hat put us on the 12 yd line) against ColoSt.
September 25th, 2023 at 3:55 PM ^
I'm not trying to be a d*ck, but I am really not sure what you are saying? The data indicates that we play at a slow slow slow relative pace based on number of plays per game. That isn't because we are running 12 play drives instead of 2 play drives...it is because (1) we huddle up and take our sweet time before snapping the ball with 3 seconds on the play clock and (2) we run the ball more than we pass the ball (ensuring the clock is always moving).
September 25th, 2023 at 2:55 PM ^
Shortening the game is dangerous when you are the more talented team...the fewer possessions the more outsized impact fluke plays can have on the outcome (i.e. the bust on Rutgers first possession)
MGoBlog has dogmatically maintained that playing slow and limiting possessions is an underdog strategy for several years. Stated simply, superior teams want more possessions, because each additional possession represents another opportunity for the superior team to leverage their talent. Reducing the number of possessions increases the potential of an unlikely run of outcomes to your detriment.
I wonder if Michigan's staff has taken this theory in a slightly different direction. MGoBlog has built its underdogma* on a per-possession frame of reference. But shouldn't the same logic apply on a per-play basis? That is, superior teams should want to run more plays because they are more likely to string together a chain of successful plays that result in a score. Likewise, they should also want inferior opponents to have run more plays because each additional play lowers the overall chance of a successful drive.
I just started kicking this alternate hypothesis around today; I have no data to back it, but it makes a certain amount of sense.
*I am unreasonably pleased by this portmanteau.
September 25th, 2023 at 3:29 PM ^
+1 “underdogma”
It’s the classic Michigan State strategy: turn the game into a slog and hope for wacky shenanigans.
Shame we play right into that strategy
September 25th, 2023 at 4:14 PM ^
While it is not pretty to watch, I think this is Harbaugh's response to the rules changes. It basically moves to a more NFL like model which he is familiar with.
In a game with fewer possessions, be the team that can more consistently convert those possessions into points. Explosive plays have a higher variance of success. Anything inside 25 yards has a lower variance. Live to convert 3rd and medium or 4th and short to keep the drive alive as long as possible. It works against the lesser teams, it will be interesting to see how it plays out against PSU, OSU, and in the playoff.
September 25th, 2023 at 5:52 PM ^
Stated simply, superior teams want more possessions, because each additional possession represents another opportunity for the superior team to leverage their talent.
While that's true, it's also true that throwing more adds more chaos too. And, once you have a lead, you absolutely want fewer possessions.
We've seen what happens when you start throwing more. Interceptions. It happened against TCU, and even against BGSU we started to see the downsides of throwing.
Harbaugh has a winning formula, there's no reason to mess with it. Running the ball is fundamentally sound, even if the NFL sees some great teams throwing a ton because they have QBs who were absolutely exceptional in college and several years of improvement since their college days.
September 25th, 2023 at 6:57 PM ^
He has a winning formula in the B1G... Michigan can certainly win the conference again with a slow-paced, manball strategy, though obviously we will see how the games play out.
Should Michigan get to the playoff again, the strategy raises questions. Based on the prior two seasons, seems like Michigan might need to win a shoot-out, and it's sort of unclear if they are comfortable in that mode.
September 25th, 2023 at 10:21 PM ^
The numbers don't match your hypothesis. From the tweet at the top of the article, it shows that Michigan has the 3rd-fewest plays per minute in CFB. That is the opposite of what you want to do if you want to run more plays, or want your opponent to run more plays. And of course, if we ran more plays just as efficiently, our drives would be over more quickly, leading to more time for more drives and increasing the number of drives we would have per game.
Number of drives per game and number of plays per game seem pretty correlated, and the coaching staff doesn't seem to be doing much to maximize either. Which seems like a poor strategy decision for a team that's going to be superior to its opponents the vast majority of the time.
September 25th, 2023 at 11:18 PM ^
Of course, going quickly means your defense has no rest. Wasn't that a big part of the problem with RichRod? I'd prefer to let Jim coach the way he wants to.
September 26th, 2023 at 7:37 AM ^
I think the problem with RichRod was that we moved fast AND couldn't get any first downs! So the defense basically got zero rest. If you go fast and move the ball, you mitigate the problem a bit.
September 25th, 2023 at 11:56 PM ^
I hate playing slow because there most likely will be a time in a game where we will need to go faster and we're just not repping that at all. It would have been nice to see an up-tempo, hurry-up drive in the non-con schedule, maybe even more than once.
September 25th, 2023 at 2:16 PM ^
I'm a little sad that Donovan Edwards didn't get an honorable mention for wearing the Jeremy Gallon Cloak of Invisibility© on his big catch and run.
September 25th, 2023 at 2:25 PM ^
When play changes in baseball resulted in shorter games and baseball fans pointed out that they prefer more baseball, everyone else celebrated and told baseball fans to shut up because no one likes their stupid sport.
Now that pace of play changes have come to the HOLY GOD OF FOOTBALL, it's a terrible thing.
September 25th, 2023 at 2:30 PM ^
The rule changes did not change the amount of baseball being played. It changed the amount of time that pitchers balanced their check books on the mound and batters adjusted their completely unnecessary elbow pads in between pitches. It isn't really complaining about the new clock rule so much right now as it is wishing Michigan would do less elbow pad adjusting.
September 25th, 2023 at 2:35 PM ^
The two changes are not comparable. Baseball's pace-of-play changes targeted and removed the not-baseball parts of the game. Football's pace-of-play changes targeted and removed the football parts of the game.
September 25th, 2023 at 2:41 PM ^
This is a very bad comparison, and parts of your first paragraph are very wrong.
September 25th, 2023 at 3:32 PM ^
your profile icon is everyone's reaction to your comment
September 25th, 2023 at 4:22 PM ^
Baseball is not a sport, its a game.
September 26th, 2023 at 12:42 AM ^
This is just so obnoxiously edgy for the sake of being edgy that it flat out makes me laugh.
September 25th, 2023 at 9:38 PM ^
Avatar checks out
September 25th, 2023 at 2:29 PM ^
Jason Day should get a point for having a tough team. What a tough display of toughness being toughened out in a tough environment while THE (Tough) Ohio State (maybe that's the new trademark?) Did I say tough?
September 25th, 2023 at 2:54 PM ^
It was shades of Fredo's attempted rationalization with Michael. "I'm smart! Not stupid like people say!"
TOUGHNESS!!!!!!!!!!!
#ohiotuff
September 25th, 2023 at 4:22 PM ^
Jason Day needs to work on his iron play
September 25th, 2023 at 4:40 PM ^
Those back issues are a killer on his swing
September 25th, 2023 at 2:30 PM ^
Borges used to call the tunnel screen. Just not bubbles as Heiko knows
September 25th, 2023 at 2:38 PM ^
Watch Kenneth Grant in the pick 6 video AFTER he blows up the QB. He's skipping! It made me laugh out loud at the fun a big man was having. Love to see it.
September 25th, 2023 at 5:06 PM ^
Kenneth Grant should get an Honorable Mention for that play. Freak athleticism plus pure joy should be rewarded.
September 25th, 2023 at 2:40 PM ^
I confess to wondering briefly during this game if the defense had returned to the bad old days of seeming to believe the QB keeping the ball and running was illegal. Then that stopped and I was happy.
September 25th, 2023 at 2:53 PM ^
RE: the halftime clock:
There are apparently all sorts of new NCAA rules regarding field access and pregame/halftime timing which are dictating all sorts of stupid things to everyone else involved in gameday who are not the football teams. Alumni Band was told in no uncertain terms that halftime needed to end (IIRC) 13 minutes into halftime. A bunch of 60-70 year old people, told that they needed to haul ass off the field if they saw the clock approaching 7:00.
Oh, and because Michigan Stadium operations are what they are (read: no one really knows what's going on), Alumni Band, like every other opposing band that performs at the stadium, needed to walk up the stairs, through the concourse, out of the stadium, and back down the tunnel to get to the field in time for halftime. Reader, imagine a pack of (again) 60-70 year olds herding up the stairs as soon as the second quarter started, then after halftime, waiting around on the field (while the stairs are still there at field level at the entrance to their section!) so they could walk back up the tunnel and repeat the process, missing the first half of the third quarter in the process. There's a very tangible second level of security now, because there are folks in the Athletic Deparment stadium operations gear, and others in the gear for the private security firm they contract to do everything else. They don't seem to be talking to one another, but it does seem like the private firm is running the show. Not that that means much, because it seems like no one really knows the whole picture.
Something is really stupid about all of this. Everyone seems to be passing the buck to someone else. Security and field staff on different pages. The MMB/Alumni Band admins say that it's out of their hands, because there are rules of some kind from someone on high (NCAA? B1G? 1000SSS?) that no one can seem to pin down in any coherent way.
Speaking as someone who has done both the MMB and Alumni Band for a very long time, I never felt more like a number than I did this weekend. Every. Single. Thing. is scripted from on high, and all of it seems 100% subordinate to the Red Hat (er, Polo Shirt?) Man. (Oh, and another fun fact: To do Alumni Band, you need to buy a ticket. Registering for participation takes you straight to an MGoBlue.com ticket office page, because god forbid they don't extract the money from the people who help provide the pageantry of Homecoming).
Remember when college football was fun? When we had spontaneity and all sorts of band shows and such? Remember when it didn't feel like a cold and lifeless product?
September 25th, 2023 at 3:02 PM ^
Holy shit. What a joke. Here's a silver lining though, I no longer have to think to myself: "gee, one of these years I really need to get back to Ann Arbor and do the Alumni Band thing again"
September 25th, 2023 at 3:05 PM ^
I continue to do it for very particular reasons, but I don't know that I've ever left an Alumni Band experience more convinced that it wasn't worth my time and money. An entire day of getting jerked around for reasons that seemed positively inane. That's not why we do this.
September 26th, 2023 at 12:46 AM ^
I've honestly felt this about attending games this year in general... It's a chore instead of an opportunity. Very sad as longtime ticket holders.
September 26th, 2023 at 10:55 AM ^
Really and truly, it feels quite different this year. I can't put my finger on why, but a game day feels as if the Athletic Department is trying to fit the entire stadium into a scripted experience, from the moment you arrive to the moment you leave. And since the B1G and the NCAA and the TV networks seem to control so much of everything, the things that makes college football different are the first to get the ax.
I guess if I had to pick a few words, very generic and eerily cold.
September 26th, 2023 at 7:45 PM ^
Thanks for the color on the stadium experience. As somebody who now exclusively watches Michigan games on screens, I get most information about what gameday is like from here and really appreciate it.
September 25th, 2023 at 3:11 PM ^
He must be imagining that he has a cooler.
September 25th, 2023 at 3:29 PM ^
Or cryin' ryan day's mouth....🫣😱
September 25th, 2023 at 4:07 PM ^
You lot can keep the cooler-pooping. Trust that nobody's trying to take that away from you.
September 25th, 2023 at 4:24 PM ^
You’ll find find out on November 25th
September 26th, 2023 at 2:01 AM ^
+1 to Chuck. I chuckled at that.
September 26th, 2023 at 1:51 PM ^
haha! "chuck"led
September 25th, 2023 at 3:16 PM ^
Seth is going to be happy, Blake Corum hurdled a fool.
Comments