Indiana Snowflakes: The Coaching
October 8th, 2022 at 3:47 PM ^
Which half?
October 8th, 2022 at 3:47 PM ^
Halftime adjustments for offense? ✅
Halftime adjustments for defense? ✅
Dominating road win? ✅
Go blue!
October 8th, 2022 at 3:48 PM ^
Hope Hart is doing well.
Felt like the coaches were not prepared in the first half but pulled it together for the second half.
October 8th, 2022 at 3:59 PM ^
Michigan's ability to do their coaching in game is really impressive, and I hope it means they're spending a lot of each week prepping for Michigan State and Ohio State.
October 8th, 2022 at 5:05 PM ^
and Penn State
October 8th, 2022 at 3:48 PM ^
Hats off to Minter and the defense for the incredible halftime adjustments. They completely dominated the 2nd half. Offense was frustrating but ultimately came alive when it mattered and made this a comfortable win in the end like good teams do.
Also, I called this exact score yesterday in my comments under the Indiana preview post. So go me!
October 8th, 2022 at 3:48 PM ^
Please break some tendencies next week. Good job figuring out the college crap on the fly, Minter.
October 8th, 2022 at 3:49 PM ^
2nd half 》》》 1st half.
Brilliant insight. 😜
October 8th, 2022 at 4:24 PM ^
Made me laugh +1
October 8th, 2022 at 3:49 PM ^
Very tough after what happened with Coach Hart. But to pull the team together AND make the necessary adjustments, etc... play-calling may have been frustrating at times, but my overall takeaway is that our coaches served well today.
October 8th, 2022 at 3:49 PM ^
I like the defensive adjustments in the second half. I am hoping the offense was saving something for next week because the play calling was uninspiring.
October 8th, 2022 at 4:01 PM ^
The 98 yard drive was exciting, and I think once they got that they once again felt a little too comfortable.
loved that the defense played relentlessly the second half after a pretty pourous first half.
October 8th, 2022 at 4:03 PM ^
We suffered a specific setback before this game just as we did against Maryland. Edwards killed Maryland last season but missed the game and it hurt us (Stokes fumble in scoring position). Our WR depth had people feeling good about our chances with Wilson out but he is the straw that stirs the drink in the pass game. Not that Bell and Johnson aren’t fast but Wilson is different. He opens things up with his ability to run right by guys. I am sure he was saved for PSU out of an abundance of caution but we definitely missed him. The couple of deep passes with guys draped on Bell look different with Wilson a full two yards past them. Great adjustments and a great win in the end. Glad my yelling throughout the first half paid off.
October 8th, 2022 at 3:50 PM ^
Going to choose to believe they were hiding stuff for PSU + Coach Hart’s health were on their mind thus needing halftime to get back on track.
But people need to give Minter props today. Adjustments were made.
October 8th, 2022 at 3:55 PM ^
concur with this take on both ends.
also, Joel Klatt made the good point that IU comes out of the gate screaming on offense but can't really sustain it. that rang very true here.
October 8th, 2022 at 5:24 PM ^
Agree on not showing their hand; also, wouldn't surprise me if this were just kind of a trap week, knowing that a huge PSU game is on the docket.
October 8th, 2022 at 5:25 PM ^
The concept of sitting on the playbook and not wanting to get too much on film for our opponents is something I've hoped was true, theorized was true, but could never verify through any trustworthy source.
Anyone with more football IQ than me who can validate my thinking?
October 8th, 2022 at 6:22 PM ^
Seth documented this in detail in 2018, discussing the aformentioned zone read arc play that Shea ran against Wisconsin.
October 8th, 2022 at 6:20 PM ^
Clearly many of us had the same thought.
But IF it's true, imagine the courage doing that against a team capable of being tied and even ahead in the first half.
October 8th, 2022 at 3:50 PM ^
Ugly IU game victory by three scores is good.
October 8th, 2022 at 3:50 PM ^
I'll bite.
Everyone- "This opponent has glaringly obvious holes on both sides of the ball that any team with a pulse has been able to exploit with ease. This game shouldn't be remotely competitive. Michigan will cruise to victory, and cover the spread."
Michigan coaches- "Hold my beer."
October 8th, 2022 at 3:57 PM ^
Those same coaches also have to prepare for PSU next week. How much do you want to put on film?
October 8th, 2022 at 4:55 PM ^
This take bothers me. Maybe it's valid, but it's tough watching Blake Corum get a beating because the opposing defense is geared to stop him. It seems like bad-coach-brain to think about saving plays at the expense of your best player.
October 8th, 2022 at 4:12 PM ^
Stop gambling and the anger will melt away
October 8th, 2022 at 3:50 PM ^
Coaches adjusted after the half. Stomped them and turned Bazelak into a human bowling pin. JJ doesn’t have to hit the home run every time.
Also… JJ is awesome.
Schoon!
Best wishes, Coach Hart.
October 8th, 2022 at 3:50 PM ^
Coaches cannot let this team come out flat and play from behind next week. Need to find a way to play above your competition from start to finish. Back to back tough games coming up.
October 8th, 2022 at 3:51 PM ^
T'was a tale of two halves. Gotta love the halftime adjustments on both sides of the ball. They did get it right and that's all that matters. These games do happen. We won though, so I'm happy.
October 8th, 2022 at 3:52 PM ^
Hope and pray Coach Hart is ok. That said, there was A TON of criticism of coaching on the blog today. So at this point, 6 & 0, 3 & 0, great second half, and 31-10 conference road win for Michigan after a 10-10 first half are my only observations. While I have more confidence in the coaches than many on the blog, everyone is entitled to their opinion.
October 8th, 2022 at 3:53 PM ^
2nd half was obviously a huge improvement across the board. I'm willing to chalk up some of what we saw to the team and coaches being rattled by the Hart seizure. That's a scary thing to witness, for his fellow coaches as much as for the players. People aren't robots and it's normal for people to react negatively to an something like that.
Here's hoping and praying for coach Hart to make a speedy and full recovery.
October 8th, 2022 at 3:53 PM ^
These games happened last year too. We just forget because of how well November went. I am actually more encouraged by the pass rush, defense, and downfield throwing game than I was at the beginning of the week
October 8th, 2022 at 3:58 PM ^
I agree, and the other thing you forget is the game flow when you're looking only at the final score. A 31-10 win looks relaxed in retrospect but hides that it was tied at half and a 1 score game at the start of the 4th quarter. The same was true of last year's BTCG to an extent, where it was a slow motion blowout that took until the 4th quarter for the score to reflect the gap in the 2 teams' performance.
October 8th, 2022 at 3:53 PM ^
Hoping that we are keeping a lot of plays under wraps. We have not run a single gadget play this year when we ran multiple for success last year. Also, where was the misdirection today. Indiana was over pursuing something terrible yet not a single misdirection play called. These play callers better get it together and in a hurry.
October 8th, 2022 at 4:37 PM ^
Ronnie Bell was supposed to pass on that one play last week, which Seth said in Upon Further Review was a disaster because it was called too early in game and hadn’t shown the thing yet the D was supposed to overreact to. So, I guess not running a bad-idea trick is better than running one? Progress!
October 8th, 2022 at 3:53 PM ^
Good adjustments from the first half to the second which is great to see. I think we were vanilla on offense on purpose. We dominated them in the second half on the road. We clearly have a pretty intelligent staff. The down the field passing game has to get going, but winning back to back road games comfortably is always nice.
October 8th, 2022 at 3:54 PM ^
A tale of two halves today. Kudos to everyone for making adjustments, getting off the mat and jabbing Indiana in the nose after halftime. There are probably some learning lessons from the first half though.
October 8th, 2022 at 3:55 PM ^
Didn’t see any big coaching issues. I would have preferred a little more passing in the first 3 quarters when Indiana was committing to stop the run, but we ended up winning by 21 one so what do I know.
October 8th, 2022 at 3:55 PM ^
Graded out at B- overall. Agree with what’s been posted elsewhere that this isn’t the same play calling we’ll see vs PSU. 2nd half was outstanding on both O and D.
October 8th, 2022 at 3:55 PM ^
We’re 100% a second half team. We start well, sputter through the second, then drastically improve in the second half.
Imo, this is because the coaches are handicapping their offensive personnel, and in turn stressing a defense that is fatally flawed at linebacker. They need to do a better job of putting this TEAM in position to win with complementary football.
October 8th, 2022 at 3:56 PM ^
1st Half: Punt
2nd Half: Counterpunt
October 8th, 2022 at 3:58 PM ^
Depends on which half you’re asking about.
Bit of a Jekyll and Hyde performance, but I’d rather they adjust and improve in the second half vs. get worse as the game goes on.
October 8th, 2022 at 3:59 PM ^
Michigan pass plays are...not good. Klatt was calling them out for just some real amateur level garbage in the pass play design. He's right. JJ is a generational talent playing with a playbook that saddles him with route trees that are often...just bad. They are. It's true.
Offensive play calling in the 1st half was really bad. It was o.k. in the 2nd half and that is why Michigan did better on offense in the 2nd half.
I am very unimpressed with Michigan's offensive passing playbook and also with remaining too stubborn for too long when an inferior opponent just obviously plays to take away the inside runs. Should not take FIVE offensive series before the adjustment is made, and the play calling adjusts to what they are leaving as easy yards.... At least they did (finally) make adjustments in the 2nd half. And for sure the D took the game over in the 2nd half.
October 8th, 2022 at 11:14 PM ^
Could you say what it was about the route trees that was bad? And what better route trees would replace them?
October 9th, 2022 at 12:00 AM ^
Several plays where all routes ended at the same depth. Several plays where two receivers ended up close to each other (possibly receivers running wrong route). Several plays where the route trees did not have any element of one route clearing out space for another route. Overall just very...easy to defend. Also, often receivers would get to the end of their routes covered and then just...stop.
October 8th, 2022 at 4:00 PM ^
Hope Hart is recovering nicely. Do feel it's a bit of TV announcer melodrama to suggest the offense was a mess because of what happened to Hart. It was a mess because it was a mess.
October 8th, 2022 at 4:10 PM ^
I second your concern for Coach Hart and also hope he’s OK, but the team seemed to have trouble in the first half just getting the right backs on the field. Edwards appeared frustrated once, and another time might’ve cause a timeout if I’m remembering correctly. I think Hart’s absence affected the team both emotionally and executionally. The team appeared to adapt in the second half after hearing from Coach during halftime.
October 8th, 2022 at 4:13 PM ^
Totally disagree. If one of your coworkers collapsed in the middle of an ordinary workday and had to go to the hospital, it would affect you and your coworkers emotionally. It's no different for the players and coaches. That is absolutely the sort of event that gets people out of sorts and out of rhythm, in any working environment.
October 8th, 2022 at 9:10 PM ^
Disagree. This Michigan team prides itself on being close to one another, and when one of them goes down in totally shocking fashion, it's going to take a bit to get heads right to play football at a high level. I'm willing to give them a pass for a lot of the bad in the first half.
October 9th, 2022 at 4:04 AM ^
Edwards was really torn up about it. His gameplay reflected it as he wasnt his usual self. I think if nothing else just deflating a sideline is enough to tip the game in the other direction. Get better Coach Hart!
October 8th, 2022 at 4:00 PM ^
That was fucking Lloyd Carr football.