Indiana Snowflakes: The Offense
October 8th, 2022 at 11:18 PM ^
It looked like Indiana figured out the pistol=run thing, and also figured out that when Edwards is in = ball going to Edwards.
October 8th, 2022 at 11:44 PM ^
In my opinion, it’s not about whether Michigan is saving anything or not. Saving a few plays here or there is great but it isn’t going to win or lose football games. Harbaugh is simply conservative by nature. I’ve waited for years now for our passing offense to look anything like what OSU has going on right now but it simply doesn’t exist. We don’t and never have done a great job of scheming guys open downfield and our WRs are almost never exceptional route runners who create their own space. Today, the vast majority of the passing offense downfield was run and try to get open. The 3rd down before the blocked field goal was a great example. The route running and concepts were both awful and resulted in no one being remotely close to open. On top of that, we hardly ever target potential mismatches and try to exploit it. Glad we won by 21, but it’s frustrating feeling like the offense could be awesome but it just never surpasses being anything but above average.
October 9th, 2022 at 12:28 AM ^
If Schoonmaker continues to catch 7-8 balls a game we are in deep shit.
October 9th, 2022 at 12:31 AM ^
…Unless all those balls are completed down the seams and the offense opens it up a tad.
October 9th, 2022 at 10:19 AM ^
Tell me you don't understand offense without telling me you don't understand offense.
And I see your comment about the seam. If Schoonmaker has 8 catches a game and they're underneath/intermediate (so no big seam plays), that opens up your run game and it definitely opens up things on the outside for your WRs. Give me Ronnie Bell, Roman Wilson, Cornelius Johnson, and Andrel Anthony with no safety help because the safety is bracketing Schoonmaker over the middle like Michigan did with Makari Paige and a LB on LaPorta against Iowa.
JJ has shown PLENTY of times that he can hit throws on the outside. Whether that being on the run, on a go (Anthony vs. Iowa's Cover 2), or an out.
It also occupies a safety so you can hit one over the top. And most importantly, even if you do nothing...those throws to Schoonmaker move the chains!
Even if its just 7 or 8 ypc that's like having 8 successful run plays. A Corum 3 or 4 yard run and a Schoonmaker 7 or 8 yard catch is a first down.
...sigh, ALSO it opens up plays to Donovan Edwards out of the backfield because Schoon dragging across the middle takes LBs or Ss with him. Now that Texas or Angle Route is wide open over the middle and you have Donovan Edwards and a ton of space.
It's all positive yardage, plus it open up the chunk plays for everyone else.
I'm baffled that anyone would think the TE making 7-8 catches in a game is a bad thing.
October 9th, 2022 at 1:02 AM ^
The fact that I really never noticed Karsen Barnhart shows how well he played today.
October 9th, 2022 at 10:12 AM ^
I watched him specifically because I think Jones has been a liability in pass pro all season.
IU didn't offer much of a pass rush, but he played well.
Jones is the better run blocker, but I think it's a wash in the end. I'd always rather have the better pass protector when it comes to an OT.
Jones is like a 9 run blocker, but a 6 in pass pro. Meanwhile Barnhart is like a 7 run blocker, and an 8 in pass pro.
Jones' injury didn't look good. I assume Barnhart starts next week and we really figure things out going forward.
October 9th, 2022 at 2:03 AM ^
i am glad they let mike debord go after the first half...
October 9th, 2022 at 10:08 AM ^
I just watched the game (had to work yesterday).
I must say, you all (and you know who you are) overreacted to a lot of nothing. Michigan looked far worse during that stretch against Maryland.
If you take a step back, that first half was not that bad. For the 2nd time this year, Joel Klatt just said something and got the sheep fired up...the same Joel Klatt that many of those same people complain about. Which I'm like...if he's such a clown, why do you hang on every word?
Anyway, it was just a slow developing win, B1G win. They left some plays out there, but the offense played a solid game overall. Nothing groundbreaking, but everyone was freaking out like it was 27 straight runs.
Michigan's offense just has to continue to improve week to week. Stop looking at OSU. They're a machine.
We don't play them next week. If we improve every week, we'll be where we need to be come late November.