Didn't watch game live but just watched replay...
Ducks we lost but:
- Shea is the real deal. They way he moved to evade rushers, side arm throw accurately and bomb to Nico...yea with Okorn this is 24-7 (Ambry return the only points)
- I saw multiple times line picking up stunts. Improvement ! I am not a coach and only a fan watching the game without much X ans O knowledge but line struggled with extra rushers. Runyan did get beat but so did ND line against M defense. I thought that Wimbush was actively coached to step up as pretty much every snap Winovich and Gary were in the backfield...which from our end out interior O line didn't get enough push or else shea wouldve done the same
- Shea vs Wimbush ? No question Shea is the better QB. Wimbush runs real well though. I thought ND td and long passes were a bit fluky on replays. That should've been interception. Also he just chucked it up as a prayer...wtf ! Shea long ball to Nico was a nice calculated pass not a heave.
- felt like M start to catch rhythm in late third and fourth quarter. Kinda like Utah game. It may be coaches underestimated ND defense and overestimated their improvement. What I saw was improvement. Lots of spread sets...why not screen more ? Seemed to gain 4 yards atleast.
- DMcaf did well in spot duty.
Overall encouraging. Not Bama. For whatever reason we cant seem to put it together but I think wariner is the right choice and line will improve. I think O line becomes strength NEXT year (have not heard next year before...) unfortunately we lose our DEs etc. I think we beat MSU and probably Penn state with this performance.
September 3rd, 2018 at 11:43 PM ^
Sorry its typed on phone with typos. I would love to get Coyote or other coaches take. Felt like ND and M were even tbh.
September 3rd, 2018 at 11:57 PM ^
I meant to post as a thread NOT a diary. Mods please delete. Apologies to the board. I also didn't read any other threads or b ko oy posts before posting my thoughts. SIAP.
September 4th, 2018 at 12:10 AM ^
Seriously... What did you see that makes you think we can beat MSU in a road game this year? I saw a team that looked like a carbon copy of last year when faced with a good opponent. There was never a single point in Saturday's game where it looked like we were going to win. How that can install any confidence for the rest of the season is beyond me.
September 4th, 2018 at 8:31 AM ^
I wouldn't say carbon copy. Shea and Dylan were hitting simple passes. That alone is a large improvement over last year.
September 4th, 2018 at 9:10 AM ^
I don't think the defense will get hit like that to fall behind by two quick scores against MSU. If the offense can cut down on some of the mistakes in the red zone, drives that ended with no points or 3 when it should have been 7 can be improved upon. It's not too difficult to see Michigan scoring 24 or 27 points in this game. It's also not too difficult to see them holding Notre Dame to less (Hail Mary luck, Winovich penalty, 3rd and 18 dorf).
On top of this, while everyone here is freaking out about one game...did you see Sparty's one game? They needed a last minute drive to beat Utah State at home. Certainly this is as worrying of a result as losing on the road to a top 15 team by seven.
September 4th, 2018 at 12:52 PM ^
But, but, but ND is worse than Utah State! /s
i don’t understand how we all knew going in that ND was a really good team but as soon as we lost you’d think we lost to App State again. The problems that we had they also had, their receivers just came up with the jump balls. That this game was competitive was a huge improvement. Can you see last years team going down 14 in the first and clawing back into it?
Everything is going to be fine. And if it isn’t, I’ll still cheer for Michigan on saturdays.
September 6th, 2018 at 12:08 PM ^
The strange thing about MSU is they tend to play down to their competition. Additionally, we can always count on them to give their all against M no matter what. For those reasons I don't assume M will roll them next month. I hope it will happen, but can't count on it. Dantonio always has his team 'roided and ready for M.
September 4th, 2018 at 10:50 AM ^
My guess is because MSU looked as bad against Utah State at home, as we did against ranked ND on the road. Their defense was atrocious(gave up 330 yds passing), their running game looked meh and the only thing that looked good was their passing game(mostly the receivers). Which happens to be a strength on D.
September 5th, 2018 at 2:06 PM ^
You're ridiculous. We came out jittery and flat in the first half, against a good football team. It happens. Would have been nice to have a cupcake to warm up against like all our rivals did, but oh well.
Michigan State is good enough to beat us if we do the same in that game. But they are not a better team.
September 5th, 2018 at 4:17 PM ^
Looks like the number crunchers aren't overreacting. In these rankings, U-M dropped from preseason #7 to #9, and ND moved up from 9 to 8. We are three points better than MSU, which makes a game @MSU about a coin-flip.
https://www.actionnetwork.com/ncaaf/2018-college-football-betting-power-ratings-vegas-numbers-odds
In the recently updated S&P, we dropped to #22, but MSU dropped to #27 with their bad performance Friday.
I think there's a good chance we'll be favored in every game until OSU.
September 4th, 2018 at 1:12 AM ^
Thank you for this. It’s nice to not see another “the sky is falling” hot take. Having watched a ton of football this weekend, this game was not nearly as bad as so many are making it seem like it was. Heck, just ask yourself whether you’d rather be a Miami fan or a Florida State fan right now. The fact is, we played a team that is very likely to be a one loss max team this regular season, didn’t play our best, and had a chance to tie at the end. There are a lot of people who are going to look really foolish at the end of this season when these comments can be looked back upon. The biggest growth a football team has happens between weeks one and two and we are about to see how this team grows.
September 4th, 2018 at 8:09 AM ^
I'm in agreement here as well. Obviously the game didn't go as many would have hoped, but this board was absolutely unreadable for the last couple days. I was already pretty drunk by the time the game came around on Saturday, but other than the score I was actually fairly encouraged with play. With the exception of some issues at OT, many of the deficiencies on Saturday appeared to be things that can be fixed with coaching. This team is talented enough to compete with anyone, which hasn't been the case lately.
After watching John O'Korn fail at making even the simplest of passes last year, it's nice to have at least 2 QBs who are substantially better than that.
September 4th, 2018 at 9:00 AM ^
Sincerely hoping Brian is surprised at the end of the season when it turns out we’re actually pretty good.
September 4th, 2018 at 9:34 AM ^
I'm in exactly the same spot Comrades. I watched this game and, while disappointed at the score, saw a lot of improvement. If Warinner can improve the OL, we're going to be very good.
September 4th, 2018 at 10:35 AM ^
OSU has had a history of young O-lines improving greatly over the course of a season, and I'm hoping Warinner can replicate that here. If he does, then look out!
September 4th, 2018 at 9:53 AM ^
I'm glad someone else saw it that way. After watching the full spectrum of games over the weekend, truly we need to look no further than the Sunday and Monday prime time games as a reflection point (Miami and Virginia Tech both looked abysmal on offense and could literally do nothing - which is not what happened in our game). We moved the ball decently well against Notre Dame, but made some key mistakes and just couldn't score. In the early season the defense is always going to be ahead of the offense (both your own and the opponent's) and I think we just ran into the unfortunate spot where a talented team had an entire off season to plan for our defense and their defense (which is talented - something a lot of people are forgetting) was ahead of our offense (no surprise). This was a year where, unfortunately, we really could have used a cupcake like Oregon State to ease into the season to get everything in gear. Now, that said, I personally always found it more helpful to play someone elite early in the season so that you can see where you need to get to for the end of the season, regardless of the outcome of that early game. Point is, we'll be fine.
September 5th, 2018 at 9:11 AM ^
Something that just dawned on me: the “Diaries” can be the refuge for the long tome posters here. The newbies don’t know it exists. I see an opportunity to reclaim actual, rational football talk!
September 5th, 2018 at 10:24 PM ^
And by “actual, rational football talk” Beeks means sitting in a circle and slathering one another with lotion and performing (or “reclaiming”) orgasms of sunshine blowing. We scored TEN points THRU the third quarter. Let that sink in. A whole entire ten f-cking points. But hey, let’s reclaim the circle jerk of singing offensive kumbaya holding hands and criticizing Brian and anyone else for his/her realistic take on the team.
September 6th, 2018 at 8:32 PM ^
Back to the kids table for you...
September 4th, 2018 at 9:24 AM ^
I agree, and will comment on each point.
Shea is good and will get better. He's adjusting to a new system, and the next few weeks should really help in his adjustment. My only issue was the 1st time we were in the redzone he should have thrown that ball away, and avoided that sack. His hot read wad covered, we were on the 3 yd line and he took a sack that made it 3 and goal from the 12 I believe.
Oline was OK. They have to hold their blocks a second or 2 longer, and they have to pick the stunts up better. Straight line run blocking was good
Dline was a little disappointing. I didn't see what all the hype was about with Dwumfour. He was bad, and maybe he's a little banged up. The 1st ND touchdown we didn't have 1 starter from the dline in the game. Solomon didn't play a lot, not sure what that's about, but Marshall and Mone played well. Hell I thought Marshall was the best dlineman. Chase was a beast and we need more from Gary. He continues to get up field too much and takes himself out of plays. The reserves have to play better.
Saying Shea is better than Wimbush is kind of homerish. Shea is a better passer, but for what Brian Kelly needs from Wimbush, he is better suited for that offense.
The offense had a rhythm is the 1st half but shot itself in the foot a few times. The oline needs to be more consistent, and the offensive imagination needs to change. We got out schemed offensively and defensively. There is absolutely no reason for that. It was n't as much the play calling as it might be the scheme. Maybe they just don't have the plays.
We do have a QB in the wings, if not 2 or more, finally. McCaffrey looked good, especially considering the circumstances.
I have a lot of optimism going forward. Jim and this staff didn't forget how to coach over night, but they were not prepared in this one, which is unbelievable.
September 4th, 2018 at 10:35 AM ^
did you see dwumfour on that first TD run? interesting technique. not that he was the only one as armstrong ran thru a 10 yard hole - just disappointing to see the #1 hyped player at such a key position look so futile. hell prob turn it around but not a great start
September 4th, 2018 at 11:53 AM ^
Yeah, that was bad. He went low and the guy just laid on his back. Didn't need to do much on that block. Dwumfour didn't start and neither did Solomon.
September 4th, 2018 at 9:45 AM ^
This post ducks
September 4th, 2018 at 10:03 AM ^
Maybe he watched MSU struggle at home against utu.
September 4th, 2018 at 10:12 AM ^
Watched it live and despite the loss, I didn’t think it was that bad of a performance. The OTs struggled badly and we couldn’t get anything going on the ground, but the offense was at least able to move the ball. They had only one three and out IIRC. Defense wasn’t lights out, but they got him with a few armpunts and some Wimbush scrambles and that was enough. Total yards were close which is usually a better indicator of how the game actually went.
September 4th, 2018 at 10:37 AM ^
Watched today, as I also couldn't watch live. What I saw was significantly better than expected based on all the taeks. Yes, OTs are a huge issue that will derail the season if not somehow fixed.
I will say that this team fought to recover like last year's never did. (Winovich also addressed this in his post-game comments.) McKeon fumble vs MSU, Peters getting KO'd vs Wisconsin, pick dropped vs OSU, Hidgon fumble in the bowl game - after all of these moments, the team seemed to crumble. There were many similar moments in this one, and they didn't collapse.
Yes, they need to start winning more of these opportunities. But the game was nowhere near as bad as people are making it out to be. ND is not a superb team, but if this game were at home, I imagine it all would have flipped. Let's see.
September 4th, 2018 at 11:12 AM ^
Who the Hell doesn't watch this game live?
September 4th, 2018 at 11:15 AM ^
went camping and it was great. I love M football but its not the center of my life.
September 7th, 2018 at 12:05 PM ^
i was in positano, 6 hours ahead. i didn't watch live.
September 4th, 2018 at 11:15 AM ^
What I really want to know if the takes that "ND went into a shell" is the reason offense started to move the ball is true (any coaches here). To me it seemed like offense was moving the ball all game but shot themselves in the foot and in the end (4th quarter) urgency set in (nvm taking forever and huddling ... see harbaugh response) but in general Michigan was handling it better than Notredame. A little too late though.
September 4th, 2018 at 11:41 AM ^
That's what I saw offensively. We moved the ball OK but left points on the board due to one disastrous play that ended each drive.
Patterson looked good for a kid in a new offesne. He made all the throws when he wasn't hurried and our WR's caught the ball.
September 4th, 2018 at 11:50 AM ^
No that's a bullshit take by negative people.
September 4th, 2018 at 11:31 AM ^
"yea with Okorn this is 24-7 " No. With O'Korn this is 40-7 at a minimum. Pick's and never getting past our 20 would have added several points.
September 4th, 2018 at 11:34 AM ^
Great point. Yes it would've been worse...D put in terrible place all game long. Would've been last years PSU fest.
So yes. Improvement.
September 4th, 2018 at 3:31 PM ^
Completely agree. Not to bag on one guy, but this is a PSU level beatdown with last year's QB's. The D actually got a chance to rest and sort things out, throw a couple 3 and outs and short fields into that game and it could have gotten out of hand quickly.
September 4th, 2018 at 11:34 AM ^
and to re-iterate the obvious, we were at our own 44 driving to tie it with over a minute to go. We were not out of this game even at the end.
September 5th, 2018 at 5:17 PM ^
They were not literally out of the game, but for all intents and purposes they were out of it as soon as it was apparent that the offense still couldn't produce after halftime adjustments. The game was only within grasp early in the first quarter and neither side of the ball was doing absolutely anything to keep it competitive beyond that.
September 4th, 2018 at 11:38 AM ^
I can't imagine watching a replay of a loss. Not into masochism....
September 4th, 2018 at 11:48 AM ^
True but I literally just youtubed snap replays as soon as my phone got signal coming back home without checking ANY score etc. Hence my post above.
September 4th, 2018 at 6:49 PM ^
After watching the game a second time, I honestly didn't think Runyan had that bad of a game outside of a couple plays. It will be interesting to see the UFR. Also it didn't appear that Gary could do much against ND's left tackle who I think is a first year starter.
September 4th, 2018 at 11:36 PM ^
September 5th, 2018 at 11:13 AM ^
Yes I have been saying this to my "sky is falling" UM friends, if you actually rewatch the game (I have it DVR'd and watched it stone sober), there is some light in the tunnel. The D got hit in the mouth, but shored up in the second half. Shea is 1000% better than what we had last year, he was hitting WRs in the chest instead of throwing over their heads or into the dirt. The WRs were actually catching the ball well too. McCaffrey looks like he's going to be good and is a safe bet for the future as well. Nico and Oliver look like they could be studs this season, even with the unfortunate injury to Black.
The day after I was upset we lost, but the past 48 hours, I've realized that even though we have issues, we still had a chance that whole game with the stupid mistakes that we had made in the first half.
People need to chill out, let the season play out. If in a few weeks, the Oline doesn't help out Shea with some time and they are still picking him up off the ground, then I'm going to worry.
September 6th, 2018 at 12:40 AM ^
I preferred Durkin's D to Browns, the latter plays out of control and overpursues, and good teams will exploit it.
September 5th, 2018 at 2:35 PM ^
I agree that we'll should be fine and won't have a big test for a few weeks to see if that's true. One of the biggest issues I saw was tackling. ND made tackles on the first attempt in many cases while Michigan guys were swings off ND players. Eubanks, DPJ and a few others could've had decent YAC if they just broke the initial tackles.
September 5th, 2018 at 2:50 PM ^
I hate taking solace by comparing our loss to a shaky Sparty win. But I thought the same thing Saturday night and hate myself for it. Ashamed that Michigan football has come to that. PS f..k Sparty and Mork Danteeny.
September 5th, 2018 at 5:20 PM ^
I really don't understand most peoples' perspective here. It's so fucking hypocritical that the fans here love to trash MSU for the "defeated with dignity" thing but that is this fanbase after every loss.
It's always about how they hung in there and made it competitive. People want to pat them on the back for losing a close one all the time. At what point do we ask more of the team? Is it too much to ask that they win a big game?
September 5th, 2018 at 6:06 PM ^
We are looking for improvement over last year and found it. What does that even mean to "ask more of the team"? Do you somehow think that if we just communicate to them that we fans really, really want them to win they'll step it up a notch?? Don't you think they want to win even more than we do?
September 5th, 2018 at 9:19 PM ^
We improved from last year. Going on road and winning against top 10 team AT night as a FIRST game is Fing hard. That's what happened imho. We will see improvement and Michigan beating their foes soon.
September 5th, 2018 at 4:45 PM ^
I agree that in retrospect it felt like the 2015 Utah game. The offense will improve as the year goes on; the only questions are how much and how quickly.
September 5th, 2018 at 5:45 PM ^
You thought that performance was encouraging? I'll have what you're having.
And to everyone else who didn't think Saturday was that bad, it's year 4, enough with the moral victories it's unbecoming.
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