2016 Disappointments

Submitted by UMVAFAN on
Aside from the outcomes of the Iowa and OSU games, my biggest disappointment has been Harbaugh's deployment of Peppers on offense all year. The wildcat was stuffed over and over again to the point where many of us thought Harbaugh was continuing to run it as way of setting up a big play for the future. The regular season is now over and no such spectacular play resulted. What happened to the misdirection plays of 2015 with Peppers lining up in standard sets as a running back or split out? Frankly, the wildcat ended up being a detriment to the offense because it became very predictable, and in some respects, prevented the offense from getting in a rhythm. There were many times that Speight looked frustrated getting yanked to the sideline for Peppers, or worse, Shane Morris. I hate to say it, but the offense would have been better without Peppers this year given how he was used. But, in the end, this is probably a good thing. After the Hoke years, for Harbaugh to get this program to the point offensively that gimmicks and trickery aren't necessary for offensive success is quite an accomplishment. I just wished we used our generational talent more wisely.
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SlickNick

November 28th, 2016 at 9:57 PM ^

I was hoping for more plays with peppers as a true rb. Just give him the ball with a lead blocker and run off tackle, counter play or a few sweeps. No need to get too fancy..just put the ball in the best players hands and let him make plays.

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LSAClassOf2000

November 28th, 2016 at 9:59 PM ^

David Bowie

Prince

Glenn Frey

Alan Rickman

William Schallert....of ALL character actors....

Morley Safer

Ron Glass ("Barney Miller")

Gene Wilder.....fuckin' unfair, man

Florence Henderson

I could go on, but yeah, 2016 can eat shit.

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Perkis-Size Me

November 28th, 2016 at 10:00 PM ^

The creativity of Peppers on offense. I was expecting Harbaugh to pull out some shit we'd never seen before with Peppers in the OSU game. Or at least use him as a decoy. Whenever he was out on the field, you knew where he was lining up and where the ball was going to stay. Everyone and their mother (and especially the 11 guys playing on the other side of the line) knew exactly who they were going after. Was so predictable.

Chesson falling off the map kind of stunk, but probably the biggest disappointment to me was that there was not as much improvement in the run game as I hoped there'd be. Pass protection was great, but run blocking continued to be meh against better defenses. Would be surprised to see any of the graduating OL get drafted.

Can't say anything bad about the defense though. That unit was ferocious, and Brown earned every single cent of his paycheck. He made his presence felt in Year One. Can't wait to see what he has in store for the years to come.



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doggdetroit

November 28th, 2016 at 10:54 PM ^

Agree 100%. I felt that each time they trotted out Peppers, Michigan was taking carries away from Smith and Evans, who were Michigan's most effective RBs overall. It also took away opportunities for Speight to run more play action since the Peppers wildcat would often get stuffed and ended up putting Michigan in obvious passing situations. 

I think the lasting image of Peppers (on offense) for me will be him getting tackled in the open field on a critical 3rd and goal by OSU's DE, which forced a FG. In that situation, if you are truly a dynamic player, you have to score on that when a DE is the only one capable of stopping you one on one. Instead he got tackled easily. And if he's going to get tackled in the open field by a DE, was he truly your best option in that situation? Why not throw it up to Butt who was a matchup nightmare all season to make a play? I just think far too often, Peppers was not the best option on offense, yet Michigan repeatedly turned to him. 

Peppers was a good LB/DB and a great return man, but he was overrated on offense.  

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Ty Butterfield

November 28th, 2016 at 10:08 PM ^

Trouble getting first downs to win games. Hopefully the O-line will be much better going forward under Harbaugh and this will improve.

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Erik_in_Dayton

November 28th, 2016 at 10:17 PM ^

I just looked at Charles Woodson's stats from 1997 and was surprised to see that he only had seventeen catches + carries on the year (Peppers had 29 this year). Woodson returned punts, like Peppers. But he did not return kicks that season. And it's worth remembering that Woodson didn't face fast tempo offenses like Peppers did...I wasn't thrilled with the use of Peppers on offense either, but it's hard not to yell out "this guy is getting the ball" to the other team without him being on the field a decent amount as a decoy. And the coaches may have rightly decided that Michigan was better off with Peppers getting some rest so he could play defense.

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translator82

November 28th, 2016 at 10:29 PM ^

From a sports perspective this year, Saturday was the bitterest of disappointments.

From a life perspective, this year also has been a disappointment. The job I moved to NYC for in August ended up being a disaster with a psycho boss who threw me under the bus not even two months there (nothing performance related) and unless I can find a full-time gig within the next month, back to Michigan I come; the end of a relationship for non-legitimate reasons along with the ex's expectation to stay close friends after the breakup; all the notable deaths; other things.

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ih8losing

November 28th, 2016 at 10:31 PM ^

1. I had Grant Perry as my offensive breakout player as I expected us to use the slot a lot this year.

2. Jabrill on offense was forced in hopes of driving him in the Heisman conversation. Odd how we didn't even use Jabrill in similar plays to last year, it was all wildcat and that didn't work after Penn State.

3. Perhaps the most disappointing was the lack of a solid and dependable running game. Good in spurts, thanks to running backs but not dependable. Either OL not that talented or just didn't improve, I'm hoping it's the former.

4. No night game. Missed opportunity against Wisconsin or Penn State. It's ok to have a night game here and there Warde, the atmosphere is tremendous.

All in all a very good season. Can't wait for the bowl game, Signing of the Stars 2.0 and Spring Game.

Go Blue!



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4yearsofhoke

November 28th, 2016 at 10:49 PM ^

I would have liked Peppers to line up as a regular running back (I believe he did against MSU last year) when the offense needed a spark. He had a change of pace from Smith that Evans/Isaac couldn't emulate. (He was faster than Evans and also has some power like Smith).

I'm also a little disappointed Isaac NEVER played like the big back he is. I wish he could have learned to run DOWNFIELD like Forte and put his shoulder into people. Instead he went for the sideline almost every time.

Drake Harris

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4yearsofhoke

November 28th, 2016 at 10:43 PM ^

Him burning the OSU recruiting material or whatever I think forever cursed him. Overall though, I think the O-Line played decent besides against Iowa.

OSU game....I might be an outlier, but I thought the OLINE played lights out besides part of the 4th Q. Speight wasn't touched much during the game.

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DairyQueen

November 28th, 2016 at 11:06 PM ^

The great side of Kalis is that while he could blast people off the line and played with fire (which, for some reason, Michigan teams almost NEVER HAVE---i could literally rant for an hour about how disappointingly little swagger/anger our teams have had lacked post-199--especially compared to MSU and OSU).

But the down side is he let guys go completely unf**king blocked too many times at the seemingly worst times during games, and it really killed out momentum.

His fire and aggression is tremendous, but those whiffs are just plain unacceptable.

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Jason80

November 29th, 2016 at 5:53 AM ^

I remember the excitement when he committed to Coach Yost! How many damn years of eligibility did that guy have anyway? I'm amazed he is on draft boards though.

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laus102

November 29th, 2016 at 12:46 AM ^

so much of this this year!! wtf?? 

i think something we overlook often is how many goddamn unecesary penalties we drew that were very costly.  Yes, some of them were BS, definitely, I was conscious Saturday, but seriously roughing the kicker and just sloppy penalties really bugged me.

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taistreetsmyhero

November 28th, 2016 at 11:02 PM ^

Offensive playcalling. Last year was such a breath of fresh air after dealing with the disaster that was Borges. Play calls and gameplan always seemed to make sense. This year, I have serious concerns moving forward in the competence of the play calling and offensive game planning.



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DairyQueen

November 28th, 2016 at 11:12 PM ^

Totally disagree with everyone disappointed with Gary.

His flashes as a freshman were great. And DL is absolutely one of the positions where it takes the most time to build push-strength/technique.

Remember that only getting PT as a sub means he's only really played 3-4 games worth of starter-role snaps.

He's going to be a beast next year.

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