Iowa Snowflakes: The Coaching / General Stuff

Submitted by LSAClassOf2000 on

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sdogg1m

November 13th, 2016 at 9:04 AM ^

Jim Harbaugh did not lose to Kirk Ferentz; Michigan lost to Iowa. Games played on the road against MSU, Iowa, Wisconsin, OSU, and even Penn State are going to be tough. Don Brown put the defense into a position to succeed and they only surrendered 12 points. The offensive coaching staff served up plays at several key times that if completed successfully would have given us anywhere from 5 to 19 point victory.

 

The offensive line had a horrible game. Wilton Speight had a horrible game. Khalid Hill who is used to ramming into a whole defensive line fumbled away the first possession of the second half. So many plays went wrong for Michigan because of the environment; our opponent's play; and maybe even the time of day. We played our first tough night game on the road in a hostile environment that Michigan has struggled in recently. Everything needed to go well and it didn't. Every phase of the game will need to be flawless against Ohio State. If Michigan losses it won't be due to coaching.

 

I expect Michigan to bounce back.

Joined: 09/13/2008

MGoPoints: 5790

Steve in PA

November 13th, 2016 at 10:02 AM ^

My only issue has been playcalling.  This team seems to go away from the run too quickly.  I've seen it several times this season.  After the TD where was Ty Isaac?  Higdon didn't have it tonight but they kept trying to run him outside.  Smith get in, has a few good runs, then gets pulled out.  Smith seems to be in more for pass protection anymore.

This isn't like in the past with Hoke or RR when I was angry about a shitshow on the field.  This is more like thinking I aced a test only to find out I got an 85.  Not the end of the world.  Time to move one.

Win out and they are right back in the same place they were pre-Iowa.

Joined: 08/10/2009

MGoPoints: 6327

Sten Carlson

November 13th, 2016 at 10:37 AM ^

I saw a Michigan coaching staff in a pickle last night: their OL was almost completely incapable of sustaining blocks long enough to give the RB's holes/creases, and their QB (for what ever reason) was off. Maybe it was the fact that his team was on the road, at night, and they heard that Clemson lost. I don't know, but Speight is a 1year starter and plays were there to be made. Everyone saying Michigan got outcoached I have to ask, why is it only when plays don't work that it's "on the coaches?" Harbaugh and the offensive staff set Iowa up for multiple kill shots, which were WIDE open, and their QB who had been hitting those with regularity missed them all. People in here ALWAYS seem to assume that there is some other portion of the playbook that the coaches could go to, the plays that work, but don't for some reason. All this Monday morning QB'ing is pathetic. Michigan didn't execute when the opportunities presented. Iowa's offensive scheme was, "get the ball to that RB" and for all the yards he gained their offense only scored 12 points. The problem in this game was simple, Michigan's OL couldn't handle the Iowa DL and our QB was off. Simple. The sky isn't falling, nor was the coaching staff worked. Iowa was exceedingly fortunate in some ways, and executed serval key plays that Michigan didn't. This game was very winnable, if only someone stepped up and made a play. As I see it, Iowa's punter was their MVP ... That says a lot about what kind of game this was.

Joined: 11/16/2009

MGoPoints: -56

SF Wolverine

November 13th, 2016 at 11:01 AM ^

Guh. That is on the coaches. Even with every imaginable break falling Iowa's way, we could have won that game. But a lot of Hokian stuff today. 1. 10 guys on for the game-winning FG try. And, on the play before they took the timeout to ice him. That is a big f-up, and they did it twice. 2. Borgian pitches and deep handoffs run to the boundary side. 3. Continued deep throws when it was kind of clear that the receivers and QB just weren't on track. 4. Some weak clock management. 5. Running PepCat with no real other option but having him run. If we are going to keep doing that, there has to be another option. Otherwise, D sells out completely and not much there. Only bright spot is that we have time to right the ship. This was a team loss, from Harbaugh on down. To compete with OSU, everyone needs to be an awful lot better. Onward!

Joined: 10/04/2010

MGoPoints: 24916

Durham Blue

November 13th, 2016 at 12:05 PM ^

1.  We couldn't run the ball with any consistency.  Putting my tin foil hat on but who else thought Iowa was stealing our offensive play calls?  It was disheartening seeing how often we got stuffed for no gain or losses.  This was the same Iowa defense that gave up 350+ yards rushing to PSU just one week ago?

2.  Speight regressed.  A lot of his throws were wobbly.  Overthrows on deep routes.  Poor timing.  Not sure how much of his poor throwing was caused by apparent issues with his left (non-throwing) arm but he didn't look very good last night.

3.  Really bad penalties at really bad times, especially the roughing the kicker...TWICE!!  Oh yeah, the "facemask" was BS on replay but I can't blame the ref for throwing the flag.

4.  Defense in general was good enough to win.  They played as well as I would've expected.

5.  Need to get our shit back together quick.

Joined: 10/09/2008

MGoPoints: 30114