Yes We Have No Quarterback Discussion
9/3/2022 – Michigan 51, Colorado State 7 – 1-0
There's no real way around it, folks: the main talking point coming out a shellacking of a very bad team is who did what at quarterback. I extend a grumble towards the AP for framing a not quite generic enough press conference answer from Cade McNamara like so:
McNamara unhappy after No. 8 Michigan beats Colorado St 51-7
One grumble, extended.
But also I, like everyone else, was extending grumbles when Michigan's offense did not seem like a well-oiled death machine. Instead it was more or less last year: hiccups, moving the ball between the twenties, red zone difficulties. This is not my beautiful house. McNamara started out the season by not doing the things he's supposed to do better than his competition, like complete basic passes to move the sticks.
Three of his throws on the first couple drives were inaccurate. Maybe more alarming is that McNamara did not attempt anything down the field. We're not talking bombs. A seam, a post, a dig, a deep out: these did not happen. This was in part because CSU is running some DJ Durkin stuff with a safety playing in the parking lot, but this was an audition. You don't get the part by mumbling in the background.
Similarly, if McNamara's going to stay in front because he's reading things better that did not show up either. The throw to Erick All that was nearly intercepted probably would have been complete if All hadn't stumbled, but that was a TE angle on third and ten that's getting tackled short of the sticks unless All does something heroic. Meanwhile Roman Wilson is going to be wide open on a corner route to the field:
That play even looks like it's supposed to be ooh shiny for that cornerback to the bottom as he gets Donovan Edwards motioning to him, but McNamara made a pre-snap decision to look left and take a six yard pass on third and ten.
Turn a 61-yard screen pass into a more typical 8-yard one and McNamara averaged 4.6 yards an attempt while completing half his passes. One Bell drop aside this could not be placed on his receiving corps. The operative theory for how McNamara stays in front of the other guy with the cannon arm and Corum speed is that he is a relentless metronome of efficiency. If he's not, it's JJ McCarthy's job to lose.
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McCarthy did nothing to lose it during his second half cameo. It was remarkable how much easier everything suddenly felt. One power play with two DL charging at McCarthy and one wide open arc read keeper, touchdown. The entire stadium goes "hmm," except for the various McCarthy Yahoos in the stands who have been calling for him since McNamara's first incompletion. They are looking around, big-boned and fey, daring anyone to dispute their righteous quest to bench the starter.
Kick a successful McCarthy-era RB run and you'll find a Ram looking up McCarthy well after that is a reasonable thing to do. McCarthy didn't tear it up in the air. He did calmly hit a seven yard out to the field on third and five. He looked calm and collected and generally on par with McNamara when it came to the metronome stuff.
The days here are so early that we can't say much of anything for sure, but if they're at all close when it comes to the basics it's going to be impossible to keep McCarthy off the field.
AWARDS
Known Friends and Trusted Agents Of The Week
CONSUME [Patrick Barron]
![-2535ac8789d1b499[1]](https://mgoblog.com/sites/mgoblog.com/files/images/537fc4d56c20_9177/-2535ac8789d1b4991f1c37dee-a502-44d9-94ed-bee425f87474.jpg)
#1 Mazi Smith. Michigan went out of its way to make this section impossible to determine via box score alone. Seven sacks split between ten players; eighteen catches split between fifteen receivers. The defense rotated incessantly, and the starting QB was kind of meh.
I'm pretty sure Smith is going to come out with a big UFR score, though, because he was crushing back whoever he faced. He picked up 1.5 TFLs and half a sack, and three solo tackles is a meaningful stat for a nose. On a third and six in the second half when Michigan sent an exotic blitz, Smith was tasked with holding an edge and two CSU OL, clearly terrified of him, stuck with him the whole play.
So far so good for massive projections.
#2 Blake Corum. Got more than two offensive touches and hurdled a fool so here he is.
#3 Junior Colson. Also a beneficiary of actually getting a bunch of time. Ten tackles, many of them at or near the line of scrimmage, and as of yet no moments that pop out as him running fast in the incorrect direction.
Honorable mention: uhhhhh… Braiden McGregor, Eyabi Anoma, Derrick Moore and Jaylen Harrell all took turns turning in eye-opening edge rushes that may or may not mean anything. Rod Moore caught the ball thrown at him, very nice. Ronnie Bell had a nice catch and was the key block on the Roman Wilson TD; meanwhile Wilson is fast.
KFaTAotW Standings.
(points: #1: 8, #2: 5, #3: 3, HMs one each. Ties result in somewhat arbitrary assignments.)
8: Mazi Smith (#1 CSU)
5: Blake Corum (#2 CSU)
3: Junior Colson (#3 CSU)
1: Braiden McGregor (HM CSU), Eyabi Anoma (HM CSU), Derrick Moore (HM CSU), Jaylen Harrell (HM CSU), Rod Moore (HM CSU), Ronnie Bell (HM CSU), Roman Wilson (HM CSU)
Who's Got It Better Than Us(?) Of The Week
JJ McCarthy enters and immediately crumples the CSU run defense, first by drawing two guys when he's a decoy and then by scoring an easy TD on an arc read. Hits different.
Honorable mention: Any of seven different sacks. McGregor flushes the QB up in the pocket and Rod Moore takes advantage. Ronnie Bell's first catch matches up with a fortuitously timed review to allow Michigan Stadium time to offer their appreciation.
MARCUS HALL EPIC DOUBLE BIRD OF THE WEEK.
McNamara throws behind a Cornelius Johnson drag route with a good shot at a touchdown and Michigan ends up kicking a field goal, giving off vibes that McNamara is pretty much what he was last year.
Honorable mention: Various commercial breaks. Erick All stumbles and CSU nearly gets a pick. Will Johnson gets beat on a fly route for the CSU TD.
OFFENSE
[Barron]
On the running quarterback. There's been some discussion on the wonkier parts of Michigan football twitter about whether a quarterback who runs a lot is even a thing anymore, really. It's true that there's been a shift away from the Tebow/Denard types who are runners first and foremost. OSU has gone from a team with run-first QBs to pass-first QBs to guys who are almost entirely pocket passers. CJ Stroud rushed for –20 yards last year.
But if you've got the guy who can throw and he also brings another element that is a major boost to even the most talented offense. OSU didn't have to run Justin Fields but he ended up with ~500 yards on 60 non-sack carries during his final, abbreviated year in Columbus. Adding 8.3 YPC on 7-8 carries a game is a significant chunk of efficiency in and of itself without even considering the impact that 11 v 11 run game has on the rest of your offense's efficiency.
A 2011-era QB with rudimentary passing ability isn't going to get it done a decade later, but if you've got the guy who gives you both it remains a huge advantage.
mountain goat [Patrick Barron]
Welcome back. Ronnie Bell caught a pass, sure. The above was the most Ronnie Bell thing executed on Saturday. Putting his guy in the sideline was the difference between the touchdown Roman Wilson collected and a nice gain of 10-15 yards. One lost step for Wilson is all CSU would have needed to close down the angle.
Very odd portion of the game. Michigan's grinding all-runs touchdown drive was made possible in part because CSU was reacting to McNamara like he was McCarthy. The easy Corum chunk to set up first and goal saw a DE fly way upfield of the split zone blocker and a linebacker hold outside in case the QB survived the DE:
topmost CSU DE and LB
A version of this happened on the previous two plays for reasons that are obscure. This is also unhelpful to McNamara because the chunk of the game where Michigan ran the best with him on the field was also a demonstration of how a QB you have to account for opens things up. Even if the guy you have to account for wasn't on the field.
Bumps. The offensive line did not perform up to expectations, in part because Ryan Hayes was held out. (Harbaugh said that he would be back for Hawaii.) That saw Karsen Barnhart enter at left tackle, and then a few snaps where Gio El-Hadi played guard and Keegan kicked out to left tackle when Barnhart was dinged. That'll hamper your performance. Barnhart is out again next week:
On how Karsen Barnhart is doing after leaving the Colorado State game injured:
He's got a sprained ankle. And yeah, probably not gonna be available this week. But he played really good.
As always with OL you really have to wait until UFR to make any definitive pronouncements. Trente Jones had an up and down day. On the one hand, he is apparently able to pull from right tackle.
On the other he got torched on two pass rushes, giving up a clothesline sack on McNamara. After Jon Runyan Jr I never make any OL proclamations until the player in question has retired from football. We'll see how it develops.
Short yardage back: unknown. Michigan's only short yardage play of the day was a fourth-and-one tempo sneak, so your guess is as good as mine. We did see the Cat Orji a couple times; Orji got stuffed on second and five and then scored Michigan's last touchdown. That might be your answer if Mullings is needed on defense and they apparently don't rate Dunlap.
Could work, especially if JJ gets the job and the Cat Orji is just a bunch of stuff Michigan is already repping a bunch.
[Barron]
Ok but not like that. "Donovan Edwards should try to make guys miss" was our offseason TL;DR on him, and yes he should. Just not on third and five when he has picked up five yards. That's how you pick up four yards on third and five.
RPS enjoyment. I liked this variation on arc read:
Instead of trying to block a guy you run a route and the guy blocks himself. Not something new, but it certainly seems like the McCarthy run package has a significant amount of depth.
DEFENSE
graaargble bargle [Barron]
Too good to be true? The bulk of the offseason fretting was about whether Michigan would get any pressure. It would have been a real bad sign if Colorado State's QB was permitted to sit in the pocket and survey; instead he was under siege to the tune of seven sacks and plenty more hits.
Some of the pressure is stuff we anticipated preseason. Mazi Smith crushed guys backwards, and Jesse Minter dialed up some unusual blitzes. That was within the realm of expectation. Four different weakside ends turning in +2 UFR pass rushes—and Braiden McGregor getting three—was not. I think I'm in pump-the-brakes mode, though. When seemingly everyone Michigan runs out at WDE is knocking CSU tackles over like they're weeble-wobbles that might say more about the opposition than Michigan's edge guys. Should Jaylen Harrell be knocking over a 325 pound guy with one arm?
I mean, this effort by Harrell is the stuff wins are made of.
— Due# (@JDue51) September 4, 2022
That's a 325# 5th year senior at tackle who's played 45 career college games, and Harrell puts him on his keister.
Glorious. pic.twitter.com/8ZEJSIOGLu
That guy is big and experienced, but last year he was a guard for FIU. Since Harrell hasn't even flashed something like that before I'm reserving judgment… possibly for a month.
FWIW, Harrell did get around the left tackle (a redshirt sophomore in his first start, so who knows) reasonably quickly a couple times. Possible he's made a leap.
git em [Bryan Fuller]
All that said. That performance does alter expectations. McGregor's INT-forcing flush was opposite Taylor Upshaw, who the season preview noted was a guy who gets around at nine or ten. McGregor gets around at eight:
both DEs
McGregor's successful rip-through lets him bend around the corner and that's a forced fumble a decent chunk of the time. Later he came back with a rip inside:
Bad RT and all that but prioritize vibes: that looks like something that's going to work on much better OL. McGregor rips the arms down and swims through that guy in a flash.
somehow this is a freshman [Bryan Fuller]
We knew they were listing Derrick Moore at 279 but seeing him in person is remarkable. To say he doesn't look like a freshman doesn't quite cover it. He is in the Taco Charlton first-off-the-bus mode. And he flashed more than just the speed rush that was purportedly his only move; his best rush in this game was a speed-to-power moment where he flung the LT backwards and won inside.
Anoma looked big and fast and much more impressive than the guy who was a bit player in UT-Martin's playoff games last year. Unfortunately, his sack was greatly aided by the RT having the wrong snap count. He did turn in a couple of good moments in the fourth quarter, with a rush around the corner that was close to a sack and then driving a guard into the QB's lap on the Johnson TD allowed.
Depth chart clarity. The DL rotation cleared up a lot of confusion about who's where. I'm going to stick with 4-3 nomenclature since that was the vast bulk of the deployment:
- ANCHOR: Morris, Upshaw, Welschof
- WDE: Harrell, Anoma OR McGregor OR Moore
I don't think we saw a passing-down package with two of the rush edges but you have to figure that's coming as soon as they have enough faith that's not going to result in massive scramble lanes.
Also helpful in sacking the QB: weird stuff. Michigan threw a lot of looks at CSU and displayed a propensity for late checks after the opposition set their protections:
There might be 2 people that were excited about this play. And it's not the result, but rather the disguising of the coverage.
— Due# (@JDue51) September 4, 2022
Michigan lines up in a certain look, lets the QB & line make their calls, then gives a late shift. And then a later shift lol
Me likey. pic.twitter.com/4BDNfrvoCm
CSU's QB was frequently forced to come off his first read because Michigan dropped someone unexpectedly. This is all slants and the QB has nowhere to go because Upshaw backs off into a short zone underneath the primary read:
Like the pass rush this is something we have reserve judgment on until such time as Michigan plays a reasonably competent QB. Which is Taulia Tagovailoa, I guess?
[Barron]
File away for later. At the beginning of the second half CSU got a first down and went tempo, snapping the ball at 30 seconds. Michigan was lined up and not looking at the sideline; also they did not run a vanilla defense but had Will Johnson blitz from the boundary and Makari Paige from safety. CSU's off tackle run gained two yards.
Michigan wasn't quite lined up on the next snap, which was also tempo, but Sainristil was able to beat a block on a WR screen and get it down for a similarly minimal gain. I'll take one clear win and one sort of dubious but ok event over last year. Harbaugh on Minter:
On his first impressions of Jesse Minter:
Really good. I mean, the headsets were clean, smooth. The operations were clean, smooth in all three phases. Thought it was really good. He's a calm, cool, collected guy. And just the whole operation, signaling, communication was A-plus-plus, from what I saw
Minter's been around the block in college so hopefully we see a meaningful improvement against College Crappe.
eep [Barron]
Welcome to college football, Will Johnson. Hotshot freshman corner Will Johnson got attacked over the top twice and got out of phase twice. On the first he was able to make a last ditch swat at the ball and contribute to an incompletion; on the second Colorado State scored their only touchdown.
Drag issues. Michigan's only consistent issue in this game was getting beat on drag routes for chunks despite playing zones that should be good against them. Moten and Sainristil appeared to get sucked out of position by other routes and gave up leverage.
SPECIAL TEAMS
[Barron]
Guy finds role. Eamonn Dennis was a punt gunner and managed two tackles on two returnable punts against a tricky slot guy. Harbaugh said he'd be special teams player of the week, which sounds like it will be good for morale.
Specialists are specialists. Perfect impeccable gentlemen.
The Henning thing was fine. CSU touched the punt but did not down it. At that point it's a freebie for the returner. If he touches it and gets obliterated and turns the ball over it just goes back to the spot where the punting team touched it. If he picks it up and runs for a touchdown he gets a touchdown.
Mr. Rugby Guy has some hideous luck. I don't think I've ever seen three consecutive line-drive rugby punts check up immediately upon hitting the ground. That could easily have robbed CSU of 50 yards of field position. Not sure there was anything Henning could done about those hypothetical rolls, since we're eyeing him owlishly until such time as he establishes himself as a person who does the right thing on punt returns all the time.
MISCELLANEOUS
Now there's a guy with a hat. Chairs now have hat guy:
[Barron]
I'm sure we'll find out what's the deal with this guy at some point. He's got a hat.
Polish. Michigan was hit with one penalty in this game, a holding call deep into the second half. The offense got to the line promptly. Michigan spent no timeouts on organizational issues. I compulsively check the playclock when Michigan gets a check from the sideline, and if there was a snap that even approached a delay of game I don't remember one. This was an exceptionally un-frustrating opener.
Iowa facts! A 7-3 win for the Hawkeyes but not, you know, the usual way to win 7-3:
so i dug into newspaper archives and, at least in Division I, every team that's a) won a game b) with 7 points c) since 1981 has done so by scoring a touchdown.
— Ryan Nanni (@celebrityhottub) September 4, 2022
except iowa today. https://t.co/0NtR5HN6LF
The Big Test in week five now doesn't seem like that big of a test. Iowa has two scholarship receivers and lost Tyler Lindenbaum and Tyler Goodson. But they do have Spencer Petras back, so they've got that…
Worst Total QBR in a W since '13 (started, min. 10 dropbacks, P5 only):
— Bill Connelly (@ESPN_BillC) September 5, 2022
1.1: S. Petras, Iowa (2022 vs So Dak St)
2.2: H. Johnson, Northwestern (2021 vs Ind St)
2.7: R. Finley, NC St (2016 vs ND)
2.7: T. Rodemaker, FSU (2020 vs JSU)
2.8: S. Thompson, K-State (2017 vs UCLA)
Nevermind.
HERE
Rest assured I’ll give a (moderate) amount of oxygen to the (couple) of sports talk HAWT TAKES that have emerged from this game, but I really want to remind all UM fans how they felt this time last year. This was the vibe on this very site heading into the season, which had a hint of optimism (read the “I’ve got 2006 feelings around this team rallying with the talent”) but mostly floated around 7-8 wins and the fear that Harbaugh’s odometer was reading “irrelevant” and Michigan was along for the ride. While Harbaugh’s tenure at UM hadn’t come close to approaching that of other fallen golden sons like, say, Scott Frost, there was still a concern that he had settled into “pretty good”, the zone UM has largely occupied for the past 30+ years. Not really a contender for the conference title or playoff bids, though still better than all but a dozen or so college football teams.
As for yesterday, the thread was dominated by the "Cade" and "JJ" talk - 247 mentions to 138 mentions. Now, we know what Jim said, and of course, being astute fans, we went ahead and provided our thoughts on who should start all the same.
Various GIFs from the game featuring hell yes:
What would have happened if the twelve-team playoff was in place for the duration of the Harbaugh era.
BYTCOM
It is time to enjoy football again by embracing the Northwestern Football Lifestyle: strive every year to make the Oh No We Commited to the Cartoon Ape NFT Naming Rights For Five Years in 2021 Bowl and also to make an opponents' fans extremely angry for losing to you.
September 6th, 2022 at 12:32 PM ^
Great stuff, thank you!
Seems like the QB names might have gotten a bit scrambled in the open.
September 6th, 2022 at 12:36 PM ^
I went through and cleaned it up for Brian, thanks for the catch
September 6th, 2022 at 3:23 PM ^
As a loyal MGoBlogger, I feel I'm required to express an opinion on the QB Qerfuffle.
So, Cade or JJ, JJ or Cade?
After reading reams and listening to loads, I've finally decided—someone alert Coach Harbaugh—that it should be . . .
. . .
Mac!
September 6th, 2022 at 4:57 PM ^
Bowen or get off my lawn!
September 6th, 2022 at 5:01 PM ^
Then again, ORGI IN THE END ZONE!!!
September 6th, 2022 at 4:37 PM ^
I saw one of those reading at about 4:30pm.
September 6th, 2022 at 5:38 PM ^
BYTCOM should be BYCTOM.
TMYK!
September 6th, 2022 at 12:34 PM ^
Iowa is playing the long con, that game at Kinnick will be a dogfight! :-D
September 6th, 2022 at 4:58 PM ^
We’ll go full OSU and get into a rock fight because…of course.
September 7th, 2022 at 12:20 AM ^
This is not funny for anyone who remembers 2016.
/s
/mostly
September 7th, 2022 at 8:55 AM ^
All we had to do was win 1 of our last 2 and we were going to Indy...
September 6th, 2022 at 12:34 PM ^
I am one of the biggest Cade-stans here. I live in Reno, so I always want to see the local boy do well. Last year, he didn't take sacks, he didn't turn the ball over, he put the team in a position to succeed. He lead the team to a B1G championship and a CFP berth.
He was bad on Saturday. Easily the worst games he has played at Michigan. His comments were worse (even if correct) -- it makes me think he has started his last game at Michigan.
The rest of the game was a slow motion blowout and not much to say otherwise.
September 6th, 2022 at 12:41 PM ^
I think his comments seemed taken out of context.
That being said, I argued most of last season that A) Cade was winning B) We do not see practice and therefore cannot make that call. I still think that is true but Cade is losing momentum.
September 6th, 2022 at 12:46 PM ^
I'm in the same boat. I did think there were a couple more biffs that were on the receivers (beyond Bell's) but the fact remains that this wasn't a good game for him. I was pulling for him but it seemed his nerves got to him. Maybe competition within the team just hits him differently.
September 6th, 2022 at 12:57 PM ^
Eh, maybe. But Cade has shown lots of composure in some pretty rough situations. He's a proven leader. Even if he is being unfairly yanked around... well, life is tough, and he needs to deal with that.
I think I can see in his responses why Harbaugh wants to come to a final decision at some point soon and name a starter, just like he did with Speight, just like he did with Cade last year. He wants the QB to have confidence that he can go out and play. Thing is, Harbaugh gave Cade the start this week, he got to practice all week as the starter, he got the opening play script, and they drew up plays that would move the sticks, and Cade missed some throws that he absolutely should be able to make. And Cade didn't get benched; he got to go back out.
I hope Cade sticks it out all season even if he loses the job. The chances that JJ gets through a whole season without getting dinged up are very small. I don't mind if Cade vents some frustration in public as long as he is committed to the team for the year, even if he isn't the starter. We'll need him.
September 6th, 2022 at 1:35 PM ^
This is largely where I'm at. I think Cade is a solid quarterback that has a great presence about him and solid leadership skills. That said, everything seems soooo dang hard when he's at the helm. The efficiency goes does. The big plays go down. Sure he can dink and dunk his way down the field and put points on the board but he's bad in confined spaces which is why the red zone struggles keep showing up. Football is hard and its harder when you have to routinely put together 12-15 play drives in order to score points.
When JJ is in there the offense just seems to open up. Things get easier and the spacing gets better. You can start a quarter at 0-0 and then all of the sudden you look at the scoreboard halfway thru the quarter and its 21-0 and the opponent is looking around with a "what the fuck just happened" face. It just looks like what its supposed to when you have a championship level offense.
Lastly, please JJ, LEARN TO SLIDE.
September 6th, 2022 at 3:23 PM ^
Cade enrolled early (Jan-19), if he does decide to transfer I'd expect it to be after the season and potentially after spring if that gets him to finishing his degree.
September 6th, 2022 at 4:27 PM ^
He might graduate by December depending on his workload. That would be 4 full years at school.
September 6th, 2022 at 7:03 PM ^
I thought someone posted on here (some other board post) that he had already received his degree.
September 6th, 2022 at 5:09 PM ^
“unfairly yanked around...”?
dude, this is the most transparent QB process anyone could hope for…show me in live action or stop talking.
unfortunately, all he’s doing in week 1 is talking.
Leaders don’t exhibit the body language, or the language, language this dude exudes. Internal controversy isn’t aired in public, especially after you blow your opportunity.
September 6th, 2022 at 10:37 PM ^
There is nothing about Cade that would make think Cade would quit on his team this season if he lost his job. It’s not his character and would be foolish for many reasons.
And yes JJ needs to learn when to avoid extra contact. Move the chains but we don’t need extra yards on every run.
September 6th, 2022 at 1:26 PM ^
I could’ve done without the postgame comments but wasn’t really bothered by them either. He’s a competitor and believes I himself. I’m a patriots fan and during his time here Tom Brady routinely said of himself if he didn’t prepare as intense as he does he would be very average. With this sentiment in mind I wonder if Cade is one of those quarterbacks that needs the reps during the week because his game is that of a point guard calmly distributing the ball because of tall the looks he’s gotten in practice. Perhaps the split of reps is frustrating Cade as a result causing some of the mediocre plays seen Saturday.
September 6th, 2022 at 2:06 PM ^
Watching a longer clip of his comments, I agree that they've been taken out of context. He had a mediocre game Saturday, but he's done everything up until that point to win the job. I thought he was composed and much less annoyed than the vast majority of people would be in his situation.
September 6th, 2022 at 5:13 PM ^
“he's done everything up until that point to win the job”
Says who? They guy trying to win the job?
C’mon man, get yourself together!!
September 6th, 2022 at 5:31 PM ^
I still think that is true but Cade is losing momentum.
yes, but if JJ has a bad outing this Saturday, the competition is back on.
September 7th, 2022 at 12:24 AM ^
You’re correct, but I think the competition never stops. They both will play. The fixation on having to make a false choice is mind-boggling. Love having something to talk about (although it’s getting old fast) but until we have a complete data set (as you suggest) it’s all conjecture.
September 6th, 2022 at 1:06 PM ^
Cade was instrumental in defeating Ohio State with some big-time plays that were overshadowed by Haskins' legendary game, winning the Big Ten, and making the CFP for our best season in a long time. I will always appreciate and root for him no matter what happens from here on out, he is awesome.
That said, even though it feels like things are trending JJ's way right now, Cade has a bit of Tom Brady in him and has experience dealing with all kinds of pressure at Michigan and in HS, and he will not go down without a fight. I would not be surprised at all if Cade comes in for his time next week and just absolutely destroys Hawaii, putting us back at square one on this QB debate.
September 6th, 2022 at 4:59 PM ^
They will both play, depth chart will be full on OR all season
September 6th, 2022 at 12:42 PM ^
No mention of Graham? I thought he looked dominant. Bull rushing his lineman into the QB as a true freshman.
September 6th, 2022 at 1:07 PM ^
I thought that was odd too, especially since Brian tweeted some comments about him during the game
September 6th, 2022 at 4:18 PM ^
I don't get it either—I focused on Graham on almost every snap he was in, and it seemed to me like he was in the middle of the action repeatedly, to the point where the stadium announcer called his name as being in on the tackle several times.
September 6th, 2022 at 12:43 PM ^
I do enjoy nitpicking comfortable wins much more than unexpectedly close games or losses
September 6th, 2022 at 4:41 PM ^
Yes, it saves us from having to do the "Man, CSU is going to be really good and surprise some people this year" thing that we always do. Those never work that way.
Bad performances against shitty teams say more about you being unexpectedly bad than them being unexpectedly good.
September 6th, 2022 at 12:46 PM ^
It's so great to read a game column calmly breaking down a butt whooping of some not so good team. This is what September is supposed to feel like.
Appreciate the love shown to Braiden McGregor here, but there seems to be a disconnect here with the podcast write up?
September 6th, 2022 at 4:23 PM ^
I agree that this McGregor praise feels somewhat different than the podcast take, which lauded his opponent-invariant rush moves like this game post did, but also noted that he did not hold up well to being doubled.
But unlike Harrell/Morris (whose production is somewhat taken for granted as known quantities) and Anoma/Moore (whose production is a bonus from unknown quantities), everyone has been waiting for McGregor to step in to Hutch’s role on the team and Hutch’s role in their minds. The blond/blue, highly ranked, in-state guy heroically making his way back from injury to lead the defense makes for good copy and is a similar story to Hutch’s, minus the legacy. The only thing missing for McGregor was on-field production. Confirmation bias notwithstanding, this game was the clearest indication that he will produce.
That’s great news for everyone. He doesn’t need to lead the team emotionally this year (Mazi and Mike Morris seem to have those roles), but he might next year.
September 6th, 2022 at 9:05 PM ^
Yeah, if Braiden is even a shadow of Hutchinson in the throw game this year, that would be amazing. He can complete the journey over the next three years, but pass rush right away would be timely indeed.
September 6th, 2022 at 12:47 PM ^
The TE throw that All stumbled through and missed, resulting in a FG, was absolutely bonkers, to me. What are we doing?
I mean, I guess the point is that Michigan was designing plays to make sure that important players like all get touches. The only defense of that throw was that it was designed specifically to get All the ball... when he was surrounded by four defenders and would have gotten tackled short of the sticks.
Meanwhile Donovan Edwards is motioning to the open side of the field and nobody follows him and there are only two defenders on that side, both covering receivers, and the nearest safety would have to scramble to get anywhere near Edwards at all.
The entire premise of Cade starting is that he is the one that knows the offense, that makes the right read at the LOS and makes the right throw.
Either he had the option to check to the flare to Edwards that would result in a TD... or the coaches drew up a one-receiver play, he ran the play they called, and the coaches simply handcuffed Cade with a bad play on a 3rd-and-long in the RZ. I'm not a huge fan of either scenario.
Some of my reservations from previous seasons regarding the QB coaching, reservations I was quite verbose about, remain in some cautious form, tempered by what can only be called validating success last year. Perhaps this isn't being done perfectly. But then, Cade still has to make throws. He has to deal with some unfair pressure, maybe. But that's life in big-time football.
Anyway, it sure does look like JJ has pole position now.
On the plus side:
I wish the offense looked better. My expectations preseason were sky-high. But, let's be fair: I was ranting about how awful the offensive coaching was a good month into the season last year and the offense turned out just fine. Still a lot of time for stuff to come together here.
September 6th, 2022 at 1:04 PM ^
Part of me thinks it's Cade making a pre-snap read and deciding he's throwing to All right off the bat. Which is one of the problems you run into when your QB is a pre-snap read kind of guy. Works great when he gets it right. If he doesn't, at least in Cade's case, you have immediate check downs (worst case is you have a QB that panics and throws INTs or starts running around like a chicken with its head cut off).
But you also can't rule out the OCs calling a play on 3rd and 10 that will most likely only get you 6 yards. All could have been the preferred throw from the get go. I dunno, maybe I'm just scarred from the Carr era where they'd run a 4 yard out on 3rd and 6. Every team has those "give up and punt" type plays on 3rd and 10+ where they just throw to a RB out of the backfield immediately, but in games against inferior opponents in goal to go type situations, give your WR room a chance to do some stuff.
September 6th, 2022 at 1:06 PM ^
Yeah, my issue really wasn't so much with the throws themselves but the decision on *where* to throw.
Like the 3rd and 6 that was incomplete to Johnson; you can make an argument that Johnson should have cut to the outside (where the ball was thrown) as that area was open on somewhat tight coverage. But regardless, I would have hoped an experienced QB would have seen that CB was on Johnson and thrown it to the freaking wide open Roman Wilson in the middle. Sure, Wilson was a couple yards short of the sticks but he was so open, a good, easy throw & a quick turn up field would have been an easy first down. Instead, Cade just locked in on one option; that's first-year stuff.
Unless JJ unexpectedly biffs it against a bottom 5 team on Saturday, Cade needs to get ready to be the backup. As you said, it is quite possible (b/c it's football and b/c JJ is a running QB) that Cade still gets plenty of drives, so I hope Cade realizes this is how competition works and the 3rd game is not the end of the competition.
September 6th, 2022 at 1:17 PM ^
We should be careful not to oversimplify the concept of what reads are. Plays build their reads progressively; there is a priority in what is read first. That first read dictates what happens next.
So it's not simply a matter of the QB looking at every receiver and figuring out which one is the "most open." He is taught to make a primary read. If that read is open, you make the throw. If that read is not open, you go to the second read. Every play is built with an order, a progression. This is true in the NFL as well as college.
Here's an example that got discussed last year: I believe this is either the same play or a similar play to the one called when Cade hit Andrel Anthony for the 90-yard TD at MSU.
The play has a built-in progression. You see the coverage, see what the safeties are doing, and read the receivers in turn.
The whole point is that it has to be accessible to the mind of the QB, and has to be able to be executed rapidly over the course of pre-snap and the play. That means that sometimes the QB will make a correct read, but there will be another guy on another part of the field that is even more open. It doesn't mean the QB has done the wrong thing.
What gets me about the All throw is that the safeties all stay focused on the middle of the field. 9 defenders are centered around the destination of All's route, and Cade threw to him. I don't know why that is. But it wasn't a play that had a good chance of succeeding in that down and distance.
September 6th, 2022 at 1:38 PM ^
I mean at the end of the day if your junior QB has an issue locking on to his first presnap read and getting to other reads that it is an issue. I figured that it was one of the things Cade had improved upon in the offseason with the positive chatter, but for whatever reason that is not what we saw on Saturday. And uncharacteristically he was also inaccurate on top of it.
September 6th, 2022 at 5:31 PM ^
You’re guessing without all 22 film
September 6th, 2022 at 11:01 PM ^
Often the case, but not for this play. 
Despite the annoying DVR progress bar, you can see all 22 players in this image. Cade is looking right at All's area of the field. The boundary corner is bailing with the receiver, and the strongside LB is moving to the zone underneath the boundary side receiver; if there is a read, this is probably it.
The lower defender is obscured by the bar. But you can see the relevant parts of the defensive backfield. The LBs are in shallow zones. The strong safety is 8 yards deep, dropping to the line to gain but no further. The field side corners are occupied by the receivers. Nobody is zeroed in on Edwards.
Here's where Cade throws. All is open, but he had 3 defenders waiting for him. Michigan's two field side receivers are running patterns and drawing defenders. Edwards is looking back at Cade. He has acres of space to run in, and two guys to beat with receivers willing to block. All, if he does not stumble, would catch the ball at the 10 with 3 defenders surrounding him, and likely meets the weakside LB in zone coverage at the 8 or 7 for a modest gain.
It's a great camera angle, and it tells us a lot.
September 7th, 2022 at 8:38 AM ^
Doesn't really have "3 defenders waiting for him". The guy on the far 10 yard line is a non factor, the Safety would get clipped by Bell. All would have to defeat/bulldoze 1 CB to get a first or hit paydirt.
The bigger point is, Cade had time to scan the field and hopefully see Wilson break free on the corner route since the DB seems to be passing him off to nobody really.
September 7th, 2022 at 12:33 AM ^
Notice in the play description, the QB reads are different if there's a 1 high safety, 2 high safeties, man, or man w/blitz. Cade's problem is when the defense shows--for example--2 high but then it rotates to 1-high post snap. Cade stays with his 2-high pre-snap read instead of recognizing that the coverage has changed, causing contested throws and check-downs, while wide open guys are ignored. He did this again Saturday and this was the thing he most needed to change in his game. If he hasn't, and if JJ doesn't turn the ball over going forward, Cade is done.
September 6th, 2022 at 1:38 PM ^
I just listened to Devin Gardner on Sam Webb’s MMQB and he said his other problem with this play, potentially even more than Cade’s read itself, was Cade throwing his hands up, doing a double take towards All and giving him some choice words after All stumbled. This a play after Cade threw behind CJ on a wide open drag route (third time he threw CJ a bad ball) which would’ve been an easy TD but none of Cade’s receivers reacted the way Cade did towards All.
The other thing that I was chatting with folks in my section about: even if Cade is locking onto his pre-snap first read, he didn’t even try to look off the reads. He was telegraphing most of his throws. He was staring down his receivers.
September 6th, 2022 at 2:58 PM ^
I didn't interpret McNamara's reaction as towards All at all. I thought he was just frustrated the pass didn't work. Maybe I'm seeing what I expected to see, or maybe the collective "you" are.
I also think All would have had the first down easy given his size and speed, so didn't have an issue with where he was going with the ball.
September 6th, 2022 at 5:23 PM ^
You could’ve stopped at “quite verbose about”
They will both play this season, Every game. And we don’t have all 22 film and you’re simply guessing about play design.
He got pulled after a 1st down in plus territory after locking on to a blanketed TE with safety help 1.5 steps away. As in, on 1st down, with a 30 point lead, he tried to throw another INT (1st one overturned), when everyone is calling to open up the playbook (like, passing on 1st down) and we were trying to…
Coaches had seen enough.
September 6th, 2022 at 9:46 PM ^
I was at the game and Cade consistently rushed his reads. He got stuck on one receiver or side of the field while things were breaking open away from where he looked. This happened several times. I have always liked Cade's demeanor, but he seems bothered by the QB competition and is playing (in limited action) below his own usual standard. JJ adds too much to the run game for Cade to not be on top of everything else.
September 6th, 2022 at 12:48 PM ^
The entire stadium goes "hmm," except for the various McCarthy Yahoos in the stands who have been calling for him since McNamara's first incompletion. They are looking around, big-boned and fey, daring anyone to dispute their righteous quest to bench the starter.
that's a great summary of one side of the argument over the last year-plus. just beautiful.
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