Bye Week: What Changes Are You Making MGo(Sofa)Coach?
Okay, it's officially the bye week and an opportunity to heal up, make adjustments, and reshuffle the depth chart. Onward!
If you are the head coach, what changes are you making?
I'm sure this is going to lend itself to snark like the students who can't help but scream "you suck, bitch," but let's try to keep it to real responses. I'm genuinely interested to read the changes many of you would make (if any).
For discussion sake, let's assume everyone will be healthy for Wisconsin except Stueber. This way we don't get a bunch of "if Shea is hurt, start Dylan." Shea is healthy, as is Wilson, DPJ, Runyan, the DL and Ross.
September 8th, 2019 at 10:08 AM ^
Nico and Tarik had to of tag teamed Gattis’ wife during the off-season. Why the fuck else would not get them atleast 15 targets combined a game??
September 8th, 2019 at 10:18 AM ^
Because Shea can’t get them the ball
September 8th, 2019 at 11:17 AM ^
Dbacks were 10 yds off on most trips formations. Easy pitch & catch, bubble, stops.
September 8th, 2019 at 10:12 AM ^
I'm making Patterson carry a football everywhere he goes for the next two weeks and paying students to randomly try to knock it out of his hands throughout the day.
Also installing a heavy package for short yardage situations.
September 8th, 2019 at 10:24 AM ^
Better yet. Bring Harbaugh the football and you can be the RB coach.
September 8th, 2019 at 11:09 AM ^
hahaha I love this take. This is something the military would do.
September 8th, 2019 at 10:17 AM ^
Keep every under performing “under the radar” player off the field until it’s a blow out. There is zero reason for Bell or BVS to be out there.
September 8th, 2019 at 10:27 AM ^
Bell should be 4th receiver.
No idea why BVS gets meaningful carried in the middle of the field.
Good post.
September 8th, 2019 at 11:01 AM ^
Thanks.
It’s not a knock on the players. The coaches are putting kids into positions that they’re either not good enough, or not prepared, for. Then the kids fail spectacularly and everyone gets pissed.
September 8th, 2019 at 12:17 PM ^
Did I miss where Bell underperformed spectacularly? Didn’t he lead the team in receptions and yards and have at least one very good grab on a not great throw?
September 8th, 2019 at 10:17 AM ^
Bench Shea and give the reigns to Dylan
September 8th, 2019 at 10:33 AM ^
We aren't going to let Dylan reign just yet. Shea deserves a go at WI, but if he has the dropsies and shows mental issues again early, he needs to hand over the reins to D-Caff.
September 8th, 2019 at 10:17 AM ^
I have no information, just a feeling that Shea was told to hand the ball off, on what would normally be reads, largely due to some lingering injury. If we're saying everyone is healthy, all I would change are the calls to go for fourth down instead of taking points.
September 8th, 2019 at 10:35 AM ^
I think it has to be that, or perhaps he is banged up and was trying to avoid getting hit. In either case, would have preferred to have Caffrey out there, esp once it became clear the game was on the line. Shea has always been pretty decent at making the correct read when he is actually given the option, so I find it very hard to believe he suddenly lost the ability to notice large swathes of open green.
September 8th, 2019 at 10:53 AM ^
Then that is a coaching failure to either play him or call plays that only work if there is a real read. Otherwise you are giving the defense an extra second to get in position
September 8th, 2019 at 3:21 PM ^
So you’d prefer “Caffrey” be out there? This post tells us all we need to know about your knowledge regarding Michigan football!
September 8th, 2019 at 10:46 AM ^
If he is injured to the point of being told not to run the ball, then he shouldn’t be on the field. The RPO is a key part of this offense. Take that away voluntarily, and you limit your potential. If Shea is hurt, then it seems like an ideal time to give the backup some playing time, especially if he is as good as everyone has been saying he is.
In other words, i don’t think this is an injury problem.
September 8th, 2019 at 10:19 AM ^
Dylan starts at QB. He runs better. He runs the RPO’s better. And I find it hard to believe he does not see the field at least as good as Shea on passing plays. He throws it well enough to make plays.
Shea is the governor on this offense in so many ways: fumbling, missing reads, not seeing and throwing to open receivers, and then throwing inaccurately at other times.
September 8th, 2019 at 10:27 AM ^
Unfortunately, I don't see many changes to make other than throw the ball to your NFL caliber receivers. If they don't have the offense down in six months of preparation, they are probably not going to improve in two weeks.
September 8th, 2019 at 10:28 AM ^
Coach needs to CEO and stop meddling
September 8th, 2019 at 10:29 AM ^
Can we try to convince people that a) things aren’t as bad as so many think and/or b) way too many fans are completely unaware of how little they know?
These would be good starts.
September 8th, 2019 at 11:30 AM ^
This....I am always shocked at how quickly we become a “the Sky is falling” fan base.
The coaches are privy to info we are not, they have forgotten more about football than 99.99% of this blog will ever know.
When it comes to sports especially at this level nothing is ever as bad or as good as it feels 24 hours after your last game.
College football games, especially against Army, come down to a few plays which can dramatically change score lines.
Throw slants to our receivers!
September 8th, 2019 at 10:31 AM ^
They need to either getting Patterson healthy / get his head right...or give McCaffery a chance to run the ship. We WILL NOT BEAT WISCONSIN and probably a handful of other teams in the schedule the way Patterson played yesterday.
We need to get this “fastest defensive line ever” tuned up also. Wisconsin will bring the heavies in two weeks and we will get run over.
Finally, offensive line seemed tentative yesterday as well. Didn’t seem to dominate smaller front like I thought they would. What the hell is going on there?
A lot to fix I know...but life in the big ten east is brutal. That’s reality.
As of now now I can honestly see a loss to:
wisconsin
MSU
Iowa
PSU
Maryland
OSU
maybe we beat MSU and Iowa? Maybe we beat ND? This schedule is brutal and right now Michigan makes everything look hard.
September 8th, 2019 at 10:33 AM ^
More screens, just overall, quicker passing routes. Drag routes, etc.
September 8th, 2019 at 10:42 AM ^
Bench Gardner. Morris throws a cleaner ball and makes better decisions. Surely he will lead us to the promised land!
It'd be real cool if the entire issue with the offense is the QB, but it isn't that easy. In week 1, we saw multiple RPOs, deep balls to our massive receivers, little dump-offs to our skill positions (y'know, the whole "speed in space" thing), passing on downs where it wasn't blatantly obvious we were going to pass... and all those things were completely abandoned in favor of smashing our faces into a brick wall repeatedly.
If Shea is injured and can't run the ball, stop running plays where the threat is the QB's ability to run the ball. If these plays must be run, put in McCaffrey.
I'd continue to start Shea, but we also are lacking some data on McCaffrey because when they did put him in, they put him in for ONE PLAY. Either give him the entire series to show what he's got, or don't put him in at all. It'd have been nice to see if McCaffrey could have gotten some work done with the zone read, but he was never given the chance because they yanked him right after the first play.
September 8th, 2019 at 12:21 PM ^
In particular, on the last series where all they did was run. That is what they did in week one and it worked
September 8th, 2019 at 11:03 AM ^
Rein in turnovers, get everyone on the same page on offense. If that means simplifying things then so be it, but execution at this point is a bigger issue than anything else. It's far too late for any major conceptual changes.
September 8th, 2019 at 11:09 AM ^
Take away Harbaugh’s headset.
September 8th, 2019 at 11:53 AM ^
Its so funny to see how many people are convinced Harbaugh is meddling or holding things back. Seems like a much more likely reason for the lack of sharpness is the installation of a new offense (without its best player - DPJ) under a first time coordinator/play caller...you know, simplest explanation is the most likely and all that.
September 8th, 2019 at 12:34 PM ^
I think the Harbaugh explanation is the simplest one. No efforts at “speed in space” were made yesterday, so the issue is not the relative sharpness of the install. Throwing your talented young running back 33 times into a brick wall better not be the new offense.
September 8th, 2019 at 12:44 PM ^
Maryland and LSU don’t seem to be struggling with installing new offenses.
September 8th, 2019 at 11:26 AM ^
Better short yardage game. That includes runs and passes as Shea's screens and swing passes have been brutal so far.
September 8th, 2019 at 11:28 AM ^
If I was the head coach I would have to wonder what the point was of hiring someone like Gattis to be my offensive coordinator/play caller, if I was not going to let him loose.
If I was the head coach and I knew that my first-string quarterback was not 100% and and my second-string quarterback was right there, why not play the second-string quarterback?
If I was the head coach I would take a couple of time management courses at the University where I am the coach of their football team.
September 8th, 2019 at 11:49 AM ^
Fairly simple - don’t listen to us fans. We don’t have the benefit of knowing all the information they know....chill out and enjoy 2-0.
September 8th, 2019 at 11:57 AM ^
Hold on to the football and cut out penalties. These two games are completely different in our favor if we do so.
I like two running backs, not 5. I like one QB not 2. I like one kicker, not 2.
We are 2-0. All wins are good.
GO BLUE!
September 8th, 2019 at 12:04 PM ^
Misdirection and more hot reads. Feed Nico and Tarik. Stop running into walls. Be aggressive.
September 8th, 2019 at 12:06 PM ^
I let Gattis run the offense fully. No more handcuffs. If Shea can't execute it fully and correctly, put in Dylan or whoever can. You can't run this awful hybrid of spread and manball. It combines the worst of both schemes.
September 8th, 2019 at 12:15 PM ^
work on running true RPO/IZ/SZ reads and if the starter is too banged up to pull it and run sometimes, then get the next guy up to do it.
i work on how we might use much of what army (defense) did to neutralize a much bigger opposing M O-line and get ready for the badgers host of 330 lb hogs. firing A gap blitzes, of course study tendencies like always, and make sure you've got john taylor accounted for every play.
as others have said, lets air it out to our fantastic receivers. shea is a good enough QB, if not injured, to put balls where only our guys are likely to climb high enough/outside shoulder/back shoulder to get it. start doing that and obviously our run game opens up.
i take down the snowflake posts earlier
i change couches.
September 8th, 2019 at 1:55 PM ^
We tried changing seats. Hat on. Hat off. Hat on backwards. Rally cap. The final winning combination at our place was rally cap while holding the new puppy Charlie.
Charlie...btw...didn’t know wtf to think of our family yesterday after that game. Poor little guy. He slept like a rock after the game tho...
Sucked the life out of him too, apparently.
September 8th, 2019 at 6:07 PM ^
love the commitment. your k-9 should be proud of his masters.
September 8th, 2019 at 12:23 PM ^
I already made my change. Moved the 1997 NC coffee mug downstairs to the workshop. It is now a pencil holder.
Coaching change? I would work on Shea's happy feet.
September 8th, 2019 at 12:26 PM ^
Eliminate fumbles, eliminate forced turnovers.
Eliminate fumbles, eliminate forced turnovers.
Eliminate fumbles, eliminate forced turnovers.
Do that, and this is a different offense.
September 8th, 2019 at 12:28 PM ^
Utilize the RPO game more, utilize combo routes in tandem with RPO’s, and make the defense defend the whole field. A good offense stretches the field vertically and horizontally. Michigan does not utilize the entire field which is egregious. You’ve got to break tendency on first down by switching up the play calls as well as the snap count. Utilizing play action on first down keeps the defense honest. I’d like to see at least 3-4 jet sweeps per game as well as some toss sweeps to stretch the field horizontally. Then I’d like to utilize the fake jet sweep & fake toss sweep Play action pass just to keep the defense honest. If the offense does these things, our bread and butter plays will be much more efficient, and we will be a difficult team to stop. I’d also like to see some back shoulder fades when our great WR’s are in single coverage. The most maddening thing for me as someone who is fortunate enough to coach offense is that we have the talent to compete with anyone, but the scheme we run doesn’t utilize the talent we have on the roster.
September 8th, 2019 at 12:37 PM ^
More arm punts to our giant receivers please. Circa Penn State 2016. It works.
September 8th, 2019 at 12:40 PM ^
Under center snaps with Ben Mason as FB needs to be back in the playbook. So many short yardage caused problems yesterday that shouldn’t be with this roster...
September 8th, 2019 at 3:03 PM ^
Bringing Mark Emmert and the board of directors of the NCAA on RICO charges. It is obvious the NCAA is a corrupt organization bordering on organized crime. They routinely look the other way as big money university boosters exploit student athletes in the major money making sports of football, men's basketball, and ice hockey.
September 8th, 2019 at 3:42 PM ^
In a tie game, at home, against army our coaching staff thought it was a good idea to run the ball 10 straight times to end regulation. The gained 24 yards on those ten carries. This was their we have to score offense, the return of the kill the clock two minute drill. 2.4 yards per play is their go to, the best they got. It doesn't matter what gets changed if 2.4 ypp is what they got when the game is on the line.
September 8th, 2019 at 9:04 PM ^
IF Shea is healthy he gets the start. If he is nursing injury and can’t run this RPO offense as it should be then start Dylan. If Shea turns the fucking ball over one more time his ass sits the rest of the game. Why is his leash so god damn long?
September 8th, 2019 at 10:03 PM ^
Throw the ball to Collins, Black and DPJ.
Run the read option with an actual option. If Shea can't pull, or won't pull, then Dylan has to be in there.
Run the RPOs
Score as many points as fucking possible and let the TOP / defense fatigue / what the fuck ever else happen as it happens
Bench Nordin. Roll with Moody. Bench Haskins. Roll with Charbonnet and Turner.
Take the free yards in the passing game.