What's to Blame: Lack of Playmakers, OL, Scheme (or all of the above)?
As I was attempting to work myself out of my depression about another ugly Michigan loss and sort through the emotional reactions from other fans, I landed on what really has struck me about Michigan this year. The lack of playmakers. When the game is on the line and you have to make a play, there is no one that comes to mind. Someone who can singlehandedly change the game, make the play, or spark the team. There is not a go-to play or player that you can count on with the game on the line.
I am a Pittsburgh Steelers fan. And the obvious example this year from the Steelers is Antonio Brown. Both early in the season when they were trying to get a talented offense in a rhythm and on the same page, and in October and November when they went on an 8-game winning streak, Brown made critical play after critical play to help them win games. Many times, this came during ugly games against inferior opponents. The Steelers found a way to win close games late; in large part due to AB.
Now, I know what you are thinking. How can you compare a talent laden team like the Steelers to a young Michigan team? Well, the point isn't to compare rosters but to point out that winning teams have players that they turn to with the game on the line and who make plays even when the team is struggling. The Steelers easily could have lost 3-4 games if not for Brown’s clutch play. When they absolutely had to have a first down or a big play you knew who they were going to turn to and he made the play.
When I look around at the Big Ten and beyond I see the same thing. Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin, even Michigan State have playmakers they rely on when the game is on the line. Obviously QB is critical. And all those teams have QBs who have handled pressure better than any on the roster at Michigan. And those teams also have quality playmaking ability at RB. Frustratingly, OSU and UW have freshman RBs who have been game changers.
This was never clearer than in all our losses this year (and in years past as well). When Michigan had to have a play, no one stepped up. The QBs weren't good enough. The RBs or WRs couldn't make a play (think critical drop against MSU). In key situations, instead of making plays we had turnovers (five against SC!).
You could, however, argue that it isn't so much the playmakers but the lack of a consistent offensive line on which to build. It is hard for QBs to make plays when pressure is constantly in their face or when they are getting knocked out of games. It is hard to make plays when there is no room to run, or openings for the RBs, etc.
And I definitely think if Michigan is going to play at the highest level, particularly with Harbaugh's offense, they will have to develop a quality offensive line. I don't think it has to be dominant, but it must be competent; it can't be a glaring weakness.
Others might point to scheme as the culprit. Harbaugh's offense is too complicated or too old fashioned (requires pro style QB etc. when spread is dominant at HS). Or maybe play calling is to blame. Why throw in a monsoon? Why handoff to TE on 3rd and 1 in critical point in the game? Why throw deep on 4th and 1?
I am not an Xs and Os guy but am open to criticisms of the play calling. And there is a sense that Michigan's offense lacks an identity; something they can hang their hat on.
But if I had to pick an explanation, I would still go with the lack of playmakers. Michigan has come up small in big games this year repeatedly. Whether it is the QB, the RBs or the WRs, when they had to have a play no one stepped up and made it.
At critical junctures yesterday, far too many players made critical mistakes when the game was on the line. Karan Higdon fumbled in the Red Zone. Brandon Peters threw an interception in the end zone. Donovan Peoples-Jones muffed a punt deep in our own territory. Given chance after chance to put the game away, Michigan instead gave the game away.
The one element not discussed yet is experience. As noted above, and by many on the board across the site, youth has not prevented other teams from making plays. Note the fantastic years of J.K. Dobbins (OSU) and Jonathan Taylor (UW). Heck, for the second year in a row the National Championship Game will feature a freshman QB! So hard to say experience alone is to blame.
I think it is likely a combination of talent, experience, and situation (scheme, play calling, etc.) that has resulted in the misery of Michigan football in the Harbaugh era. The question is whether the current roster, or as it will look in 2018, has the playmakers to win big games. As has been noted ad nauseum, the schedule will offer a great many opportunities to find out with road games against ND, MSU and OSU.
If I had to rank the concerns I would list them as QB, OL, WR, RB. We don't have the QB who has the athletic ability or mental discipline to win games. Does She Patterson change that? Our OL, both in terms of talent, injuries and experience, has contributed to the poor QB play and limited the running game. A young and depleted WR corps has also turned the passing game into a joke. I think the RBs played quite well at times despite the mess around them. Hard to find holes when the OL is poor and the downfield threat is non-existent.
To me the QB and OL or the unknowns. I can see the line improving some just through experience but how much better? I can see the WRs improving quite a bit as that is often the case with that position (learning the offense, running better routes, etc.). I don't think we have a game changing RB but I can see them being reliable components of an effective offense if there is a passing game to speak of. But having a true leader at QB who can make the plays with the game on the line looms large.
What say you? Is the primary problem talent, the OL or the play calling? And how confident are you that things can come together next season?
January 2nd, 2018 at 7:29 PM ^
January 3rd, 2018 at 12:10 AM ^
Our "expectations" were based largely on Harbaugh's history of quick turnarounds at USD, Stanford & in the NFL. They were certainly NOT based on whoever Bill Connelly is, or whatever his assumptions or projections were, and were dearly held despite spartoon & bucknut assurances that JH is a self-promoting False Messiah.
NOW - some will pay closer attention to Connelly's S&P going forward, but ALL of us will doubt that whatever magic Jim worked before accompanied him here, and MOST of us will argue a little less defiantly when opponents mock JH.
That's the very definition of a Honeymoon being over, right?
January 2nd, 2018 at 2:41 PM ^
January 3rd, 2018 at 4:37 AM ^
January 5th, 2018 at 2:02 AM ^
Look the O-line has been our weak point for a solid decade. The coaching staff has to have insight or at least recognition (see Fry hiring) into this issue. As a leader you have to have contingency plans so that when SHIT goes wrong, which it most certainly fucking will, you have a plan to mitigate damage. Moreover, O-lineman learn multiple positions for a number of reasons including the aforementioned. This team had a full season and a full month of bowl preparation to prepare for any number of scenarios. The offense was lost, again and again. This is a systemic problem that needs to be addressed. There is far too much bull-headedness, arrogance, or otherwise general rigidity of thought for these scenarios to be repeated time again. Our players are NOT being put in a position to succeed, and that is a true issue warranting remedy.
We passed 44 times, because it was Peter's 'audition' and SC-D was loading the box. Regardless, execution did not occur. And, when Peter's went out with injury (again) I was actually somewhat excited for JOK just because I thought he would bring up the energy and make the most of a "second" chance for sucess.
January 2nd, 2018 at 2:42 PM ^
I watched the Georgia/OK game and all those athletes getting into open space running for the goal line and having other athletes chase them was great. I thought, I want that. I want nice things.
Seriously not sure if lack of defense on OK/Georgia? Scheme on offense? But it was fun to watch. In the end, right or wrong, I just concluded that we have B1G, smash mouth, run the ball offense. It'll work if we get a big bruising oline, but we don't quite have that yet. I'm convinced that Harbaugh will get it right.
January 4th, 2018 at 1:13 AM ^
It was sickening watching SC DBs out run our WRs and SC WRs outrun our DBs. Was it Crawford the WR that Peters overthrew so badly? Well, Peters didn't overthrow the SC defensive back who managed to get a five yard lead on our receiver.
January 5th, 2018 at 2:23 AM ^
The league is built around offense, points are exciting, makes for more $$$$$, holds people's attention longer. Any team that is primarily defensively focused is at a significant disadvantage in todays game. It's BS and wrong but thats the game today.
January 2nd, 2018 at 3:02 PM ^
"As noted above, and by many on the board across the site, youth has not prevented other teams from making plays. Note the fantastic years of J.K. Dobbins (OSU) and Jonathan Taylor (UW)."
Look at the examples given. The notion is more accurately stated "youth at ONE SPOT has not prevented other teams from making plays". Is it really suprising that either Wisconsin or OSU was able to plug in a freshman running back and have them suceed given the OL (Wisconsin) or the overall offense (OSU) around those players?
January 2nd, 2018 at 3:17 PM ^
Other than that, change to Pep offense and some playcalls were iffy.
January 2nd, 2018 at 10:42 PM ^
Agree - look at all the seniors UM lost - this was going to be a rebuilding year no matter what.
January 2nd, 2018 at 5:00 PM ^
- JH did not seem to carry the same "swagger" that he did in his first two seasons. His sideline demanor seemed more aloof this year and it felt like his players - offense especially - feed off of that energy as well.
- It seemed pretty obvious the offensive line struggled with cohesion, and that would seem to make sense given the fact they were getting their instruction from two different coaches steeped in two different run blocking principles.
- The passing game was bland compared to what we saw from Jed in 2015 and 2016
- Offensive game planning appeared fragmented in a number of big games. OSU I thought was good. MSU and the Bowl Game were completely nonsensical. A logical explanation is having too many people meddling with the play calling.
If you add all this up, I think what you get is Harbaugh needs to get back to being Harbaugh, an intense in your face coach so his players know what the attitude expectation is and follows suit. Need to pick your offensive line coach and stick with it - sounds like that is Drevno, which.. okay fine. Eleminate his play calling duties and have him focus on DEVELOPING the players on the offensive line. If he doesn't want to do that, he is free to leave. Find a place to ship Pep Hamilton. I thought the passing concepts in this offense were - quite frankly - below average. If Dan Enos is your guy, that's fine too. But Pep needs to go, enough with this co-offensive coordinator stuff. Too much potential for confusion and disorganization. Move Jay back to TE, hire a RB coach, hire a WR coach.
January 2nd, 2018 at 5:22 PM ^
and NONE of those things got solved. Since QB and WR are coached by Pep Hamilton I put a blame there as others have done. Oline is a combination of Hoke's recruiting failures and a questionable coaching arrangement with Drevno and Frey splitting the duties. They need a whole new offensive staff with clear roles and responsibilities. Harbaugh needs some Ross MBA consultants to teach him some management strategy because this shit is stupid.
January 2nd, 2018 at 5:46 PM ^
Clearly, the lack of playmakers at the WR position greatly hindered the offense. This is not to say that in the future the WR position won't be a strength for Michigan but it is fair to say it was not in 2017. On top of a novice WR corp you compound that issue with injuries at QB and then poor play from Okorn. While this season was a disappointment the good news is a significant improvement will be seen at the WR position alleviating many of the issues on offense. Many coaches will agree that players make their greatest leap in skill freshmen to sophomore year. If this holds true and I see no reason it won't all this misplaced bellyaching will cease. Many of you seem to think simply calling for the jobs of the offensive staff will somehow magically solve the problem Michigan faced. It's lazy and beneath any true Michigan fan. I suggest stop relying on the sports dorks and nerds aka sports bloggers and journalists. Somewhere along the line, these nerds began thinking they were the authorities on all things sports. I find it hard to take the words of some flute playing pencil pusher seriously. They were not forged in the fires of 100-yard sprints in 100-degree heat. Go Blue
January 2nd, 2018 at 6:48 PM ^
When you can get to the red zone all year and then fail to get into the end zone against all levels of teams, it speaks to coaching. What changes from the rest of the field to the red zone? The play calling and coaching. Find an OC the caliber of Don Brown, (kudos to those already suggesting this,) and let him find the rest of the O staff. The best players help. But when those same players get to the red zone and then don't make it in, it's the men in charge.
January 2nd, 2018 at 7:55 PM ^
with NO KILLER INSTINCTS
January 2nd, 2018 at 9:51 PM ^
January 2nd, 2018 at 11:55 PM ^
Everyone will hate this suggestion, but Lane Kiffin is making $1.0MM per year to coach FAU. They were 6th in offense this year per S&P+. Last year they were 75th. Give him $1.5MM as the sole OC and allow him to bring a guy or two along and we're in business next year. Just think about it. Michigan was 86th in offensive S&P+ this year. Where would we have been with a top 10 offense?
January 3rd, 2018 at 12:27 AM ^
brought in Kendall Briles from Baylor. He married WCO with Baylor offense. FAU offense went from bad to explosive offense with great run game. Kiffin may be a douchebag but he adjust his offense to the personnel while sticking true to WCO core concepts.
If FAU win 10 games next season, I would say that Lane might be a hot name for P5 openings.
January 3rd, 2018 at 5:07 PM ^
January 3rd, 2018 at 12:03 AM ^
January 3rd, 2018 at 12:46 AM ^
I posted earlier how disappoited I was.
-OL of course, RB's can't block, young WR's were lost.
-Disjointed play calling - was the play calling new for Drevno? It appeared that way.
-Pep had no pep in his step in the passing calls.
The D is thriling to watch detroying lesser teams, but I think they need more variety against the better teams. More zone, spy JT Barret part time, we need a few more suprises and different looks than 100 percent pressure which the other teams expect.
January 3rd, 2018 at 9:02 AM ^
All of the above.
Coaching a complicated scheme is great when the players understand it. It takes a while for them to understand it. I was nervous about the freshmen saying that Harbaugh was talking about running 5-wide sets. Let's try getting things down before getting crazy. In hindsight, it's pretty clear that Drevno & Frey weren't quite on the same page with the line. The line NEEDED full-time attention & never got it between two coaches that were involved with either game planning or coaching the TE's. Then are they doing this or that? WR's also obviously needed a coach devoted specifically to them. They got a guy splitting time with the QB's & coordinating the passing game, for whatever that was worth. It's hard to develop playmakers when they're trying to do too much. Get good at one thing, then learn the next.
Of course Harbaugh is going to have final say on offensive play calling. Identify coaches who do specific things well and have them do what they do best. Too many cooks spoil the stew.
You have 3rd & 1 with a QB who has been throwing at guys knees all day & you don't try to run it on either attempt at moving the chains? I didn't feel confident in picking up that 1st on either dropback. The team didn't look it either.
Remember when Harbaugh was at Stanford running the same play over & over against SoCal, daring them to stop it & they couldn't? The players knew what they were doing. The coaches seemed to as well. I have yet to see anything like that. I want that. Manball, but effective & smart.
January 3rd, 2018 at 10:34 AM ^
Play calling was challenging to understand. Running plays that did not produce over and over again. Sometimes 3x in a row.
Coaching was poor. Players looked lost at times.
OL play poor for the most part.
QB play poor.
WR/TE play piss poor.
Special teams piss poor except for Nordin.
No one thing but numerous facets to one big offensive maize and blue cluster fuck.
January 3rd, 2018 at 12:08 PM ^
the true cause of any single event with so many moving parts. Even isolating the relevant facts and reaching the correct conclusions is a whole lot less easy than it sounds.
There are many interesting themes or categories of thought that make for good discussions though. Reading these now, in light of the coaching staff changes comments also gives an added layer of perspective to the bowl game.
When SC stopped making mistakes, we started.
January 3rd, 2018 at 1:01 PM ^
As bad as Speight looked early in the season, I think a lot of the problems came because of the loss of Wilton. Early in the season, it makes sense to have the training wheels on, especially with a young WR group. Had speight stayed healthy, I have to believe that some of these things would have progressed. Would it have made Michigan a title contender this year? No, but it could have made the difference in two more wins sitting at 10-3 and the sky would no longer be falling. What Monday proved to me was that Speight was really the best option going into the season, and it is always difficult to win without your starting QB.
January 5th, 2018 at 6:19 AM ^
January 3rd, 2018 at 9:39 PM ^
Jim Harbaugh is a very good football coach folks and he KNOWS that he really screwed up this season. The biggest problem is his STAFF. Losing Fisch and Wheatey was a big deal. Tyrone Wheatey is a MICHIGAN LEGEND who came home to rebuild what Rich Rod and Hoke destroyed and he suddenly leaves? My gosh, he brought his son there to play and left him there. I was troubled by that because there is no way that he was getting a better deal as an assistant in the NFL. He left because of Harbaugh and Drevno's lack if direction for the offense and apparently for the direction of the program as a whole. Harbaugh has not been able to separate frinedships and family among his staff. This is a HUGE problem. Tim Drevno needs to move on folks ON HIS OWN and quit hanging from the shirt tale of Harbaugh. As the OC, he has not developed squat on the offense in three year period. Pep Hamilton has been fired everywhere he has been to my knowledge and frankly the passing game this year really sucked and it was not only on the shoulders of the QB's who were all three not very good to begin with. Don Brown has busted his ass since he was hired along with Zordich who is an excellent coach. There are rumors that Zordich is possibly leaving and I hope this isn't true. Brown and the defensive staff are going to getting real tired of doing their part when the offense looks like a clown show. At this point, Harbaugh's coaching stock is plummeting. He appears to everyone that he is OVERRATED. Hopefully, he gets rid of Drevno and Hamilton and even asks his son to move on to another program like a CMU. Hire some real ball busters and coaches on offense and get into the freaking game like Don Brown is each and every week.
January 4th, 2018 at 9:09 PM ^
First, Harbaugh needs to hire coaches instead of family and friends. Drevno may have been good at one time but he has SUCKED at Michigan as an OL/OC for three years. Pep Hamilton as been fired almost everywhere he coached besides Stanford. Michigan's offense has sucked for the past two years with NO qb development.
January 5th, 2018 at 12:54 PM ^
How many teams in the playoff use a pro style offense? The last time we came close to beating OSU Devin ran for at least four first downs in critical third down situations. We are just not PLAYING TO WIN.
January 10th, 2018 at 5:42 PM ^
What's to blame:
Shitty OL because we didnt recruit enough tackles, missed on every good tackle recruit, and Newsome got a horrific injury.
Shitty QB because our options were 3*Borges just a dude at best Speight, I guess we'll take this recruit because he keeps hanging around Malzone, actually a TE Gentry, 2nd year Peters who was an unfortunate whiff, and skinny freshman McCafrey who is a freshman.
So OL recruiting mistake, bad or unlucky OL recruiting, unlucky injury, horrible previous regime qb recruiting, necessarily but atypically short first year recruting cycle, and 1 disappointing qb recruit.
So maybe blame drevno (or whomever recruits OL) for not closing and not getting enough tackles and thats about it. Can't blame Harbaugh for Peters being bad, nobody is perfect and it's a sample size of 1.
January 11th, 2018 at 9:34 AM ^
The bowl failure and continuing losses to Ohio State and Michigan State didn't have an effect on Harbaugh's salary. I just read today Jim will get an additional $500,000 to make his salary $5.5 million for next year. According to Mlive, this was all built into his initial contract and not a reflection of the team's 8-5 record this season.
January 11th, 2018 at 8:48 PM ^
After going back and watching games from Stanford in 2010... What is missing is the o-line and experience at receiver. Harbaugh got dealt a crap hand @ the Oline, dropping the ball in not taking the right number/amount of OL's right away, and then got hit with key injuries. I see in Ruiz, Bradenson, and O the foundations of the type of Oline Harbaugh developed at Stanford by his fourth year. Hopefully someone else emerges from the crew he redshirted this year. His scheme struggles when you can't run the ball, and have to keep people back in to help max protect. Any advanced scheme is tough with holes and ?? on the oline.
If he switched to a quick passing scheme... there were the sea of freshmen WRs and the erratic core of QBs - one from a previous regime, one frosh, and one who had been demoted at Houston for erratic QB behavior... not the recipe for success.
The flaws at Michigan have been there for over a decade... We started to see a consistent running game by mid-way through this year... Once the oline clicks, the rest of the system will thrive.
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