Maryland Snowflakes - The Coaching
October 6th, 2018 at 4:35 PM ^
Would really wish Harbaugh would stop electing to receive when Michigan wins the coin toss.
October 6th, 2018 at 4:44 PM ^
Maybe Harbaugh is aware that our defense gets off to a slow start and would rather kick off to them in the 2nd half after halftime adjustments.
October 6th, 2018 at 4:55 PM ^
This would be a good strategy if the offense also did not get off to a slow start.
October 6th, 2018 at 5:02 PM ^
Well the defense didn’t spot us an early hole today, so the strategy worked. I’m more worried about early scores against our D than an early drive or 2 when the offense stalls.
October 7th, 2018 at 12:46 AM ^
....but is he fully aware???
/you have been Hoke'd
October 7th, 2018 at 9:52 AM ^
This. We elected defense to start season and...ND hit us early. And the offense needs the most reps, so he wants to get them in the game and pounding the defense early.
For Harbaugh, he has two goals against smaller defenses with speed: score if you can, but also start beating down the d-line by halftime. Notice how tired Maryland’s line was by end of second quarter? By end of third?
With Wisconsin, he will adjust. He will still run to try and establish dominance if we can, but he will also start to break tendencies.
The one call he made that made me question a call was the 4th and 1. We knew he was going fullback dive—Shea would’ve had the first and more if he kept it on the roll out. Perhaps a score with Higdon our front. Yet, I see that Harbaugh is still establishing tendencies for the better teams to overplay in the big games.
If this is what Harbaugh is doing, however, I would rather he do more breaking now. I think the better DCs today will teach for both tendencies and the options out of those formations. My fear: we break from the fullback dive at a crucial moment against a rival who has accounted for the fake dive options.
October 6th, 2018 at 10:46 PM ^
My assumption was that it was weather related. Better to take the ball early when it's dry than risk deferring into a potential storm in the second half.
October 6th, 2018 at 4:36 PM ^
Finally a game where I loved the play calling! I'm so happy!!!!!!
October 6th, 2018 at 4:37 PM ^
Desmond Morgan spotted on the Maryland sideline coaching the wrong team. That is my only gripe.
Oh and stop taking the ball after winning the coin toss.
October 6th, 2018 at 5:21 PM ^
Sooo...you actually have 2 gripes?
October 6th, 2018 at 4:38 PM ^
I thought the play calling was way better. There were more formations and wrinkles. We saw less zone read which was good because Shea never keeps it. Offensive line has gotten better and better. We still could be 11-1 or 7-5. It just looks like we are opening up the playbook which makes me optimistic.
October 6th, 2018 at 4:40 PM ^
Better OL play. Using all our depth on D Line, hope we get Gary and Kemp back next week. Hope Solomon back soon. Less penalties today, but we were fortunate D. Bush was not called for targeting early. Good win today. Maryland has some talent and plays hard.
October 6th, 2018 at 4:55 PM ^
Good point on Bush.
October 6th, 2018 at 4:42 PM ^
Not sure about DPJ going back in the game after being speared but i trust the training staff.
October 6th, 2018 at 4:44 PM ^
It's clear Michigan is well coached. They have a resilience that is really impressive, and they are slowly meandering toward a really strong offense to go with the elite D and kicking game.
October 6th, 2018 at 4:45 PM ^
This game never felt like it was in question. Just a nice October afternoon. Congrats to the team on a solid effort, and to the 5th year senior for grabbing his first touchdown.
October 6th, 2018 at 5:08 PM ^
Yup--stress-free game, except for the injury concerns.
October 6th, 2018 at 4:50 PM ^
Did better with penalties!
October 6th, 2018 at 10:07 PM ^
Did we ? Singleton had that stupid personal foul on special teams... Wilson had one that took six points off board. DPJ had a clipping penalty... Bush had a personal foul.
I don't think we improved at all, when it comes to stupid mindless amateur penalties, if those were the ones youre referring to...
The lack of PI calls were improved...
October 7th, 2018 at 12:25 AM ^
Wilson penalty was another phantom hold.
Are you on PCP?
October 6th, 2018 at 4:57 PM ^
Another come from behind win. Staff and players not panicking.
October 6th, 2018 at 5:25 PM ^
Maryland had the ball with a lead for precisely three snaps. The outcome never felt in doubt to me at all.
October 6th, 2018 at 5:07 PM ^
Dominating win against a solid team. I'm happy. The d kept them on lockdown till the 4th; the offensive coaches made nice adjustments to get the ball moving.
October 6th, 2018 at 5:12 PM ^
Seemed to flow better - was that my imagination or did the commercials really get rolled back a ton?
October 6th, 2018 at 5:25 PM ^
70 minute weather delay and a difference of network.
October 6th, 2018 at 5:18 PM ^
Really like our progress at OL, Coach Ed gets an A+ grade so far. More better is coming down the road. Think about that friends. Go Blue !!!
October 6th, 2018 at 5:37 PM ^
Glad they honored Mike Gittleson, named the weight room after him, and had Greise mention him on the broadcast. Legend.
October 6th, 2018 at 10:09 PM ^
lets not forgot all the morons here who dissed gittleson when we got barwis. it was beyond belief. maybe now they know their ass from their hole.
October 7th, 2018 at 9:53 AM ^
Reader71 would know best here, but ..
It apparently hasn't occurred to you and others that there might have been some basis to the "dissing." Some people suggested that time had somewhat passed Gittleson by and that his methods weren't well matched to the current demands of college football.
Remember how favorably impressed the USC players were by the UMich size after the '06 season? Remember the final score of that game?
That's just one example. Did you you enjoy watching our big, manly, run-stopping linebackers futilely chase slot receivers?
Nowadays, are you enjoying watching our speedy (but hardly wimpy) linebackers stopping spread-oriented offenses?
Sure, Barwis may have been overrated. No one has suggested that he's bad at his job, though. As well, no one has suggested that Gittleson didn't have a good run earlier.
October 6th, 2018 at 5:53 PM ^
COACHING:
Like more trick plays, more TE use, more players being used.
Harbaugh should have GONE NUTS with another phantom RB block "hold" two weeks in a row that cost us another TD.
October 6th, 2018 at 6:09 PM ^
Wish the starters on D weren’t playing w a 3 score lead late in the game.
October 7th, 2018 at 6:03 PM ^
They're going to need to be conditioned enough to play full 4 quarters soon enough here..
October 6th, 2018 at 6:28 PM ^
I loved watching the offensive line dominate for shea, he had a ton of time to let his receivers get downfield.
October 6th, 2018 at 6:37 PM ^
I thought Michigan mixed up run/pass very well. Some interesting/creative plays without showing too much.
It's rewarding to beat up a small team like MD with lots of power - they were toast by the fourth quarter.
Thought Brian Griese said some incredibly stupid things. "Forced to throw to TE's because all our WR's injured or transferred"..."Bad decision to throw high pass to 6'-8 TE". One would think he keeps up with Michigan football.
All-around improvement game to game. It's nice to see the team get better. Hope it continues.
October 6th, 2018 at 7:09 PM ^
Wasn’t Brian Griese’s comment about Michigan having to throw more often to tight ends based on his feeling that there’s a lack of depth at the wide receiver position this year due to the pre-season injury to Tarik Black and the transfers of Kekoa Crawford, Drake Harris and Moe Ways?
He also could’ve mentioned the injury to Nate Schoenle who received a decent amount of playing time last season and was spotted on the sidelines today in uniform, but didn’t get into the game. The principal benefit to the unavailability of those players has been the emergence of freshman Ronnie Bell.
October 6th, 2018 at 8:31 PM ^
Yes, it was. But IMO the comment was dumb and uninformed. Those guys transferred because the players in front of them - who are on the team - are better.
More importantly, Harbaugh LOVES throwing to tight ends. He's been using TE's as primary threats since his Stanford days, probably even before. TE passes aren't a substitute, they're an integral, primary part of his offense.
If Black (and all the transfers) were playing, JH would still feature his TE's - especially when they are excellent, and huge mismatches for opponents.
And that pick was on Gentry - when you've got a 6'8 guy, you should throw it high. It was a fine decision on Shea's part, IMO.
October 6th, 2018 at 9:31 PM ^
Yeah because if there’s one thing Brian’s Griese doesn’t know anything about it’s Michigan football......
October 6th, 2018 at 10:13 PM ^
Several Hoke WRs that'd be seniors now, transferred... Mario Jones, Ways, York, etc...
in addition to last years STARTERS Crawford and McDoom...
So who is the one who is stupid here ?
October 7th, 2018 at 6:20 AM ^
York got kicked off the team... For knocking that kid out.
October 7th, 2018 at 9:57 AM ^
Maryland was not a small team. Look at the numbers here: https://mgoblog.com/content/fee-fi-foe-film-maryland-defense-2018
293-305-290 across the D-line. Two linebackers (236 and 245) along with a 260 "buck." Plenty big for the task ...
Agreed on Griese's remarks. Did he pregame with Marcus Ray?
October 8th, 2018 at 6:50 PM ^
Interesting Jasper - thanks for the correction. I knew MD had a couple of big DL, but didn't realize their whole front 7 was big.
Makes it even better to have worn them down.
To me, that's the downside of playing with tempo all the time on offense; if you're not moving the chains your defense spends a ton of time on the field.
It's a reasonable strategy for an undermanned team to steal a game, but I'm not so sure it's a great idea all the time. You end up like Big 12 teams, with nothing but shootouts.
October 6th, 2018 at 8:06 PM ^
Dialed up a lot of great plays today. Don Brown turned in another gem.
October 7th, 2018 at 1:01 AM ^
Yeah, not bad for a gimmicky defense. It's weird to me that a gimmicky defense like this can keep doing this almost every week...for three years.
October 7th, 2018 at 9:59 AM ^
I'll bite. What's "gimmicky" about Michigan's defense. What would you prefer?
October 6th, 2018 at 8:07 PM ^
Improving every week which is a sign of good coaching. Still making crucial errors at times to kill drives but the overall results are good. Refs need to ref better too. Phantom holding calls need to stop.
October 6th, 2018 at 8:19 PM ^
Coach Ed deserves the f-ing Hesiman !!! Fabulous job making this OL a dominate unit. Not just good, but f-ing really good. Keep the guys ascending to the title ...
October 6th, 2018 at 8:24 PM ^
I think there has been noticeable improvement in the OL. Cowart and the guy whose name I can’t spell are really solid ends. A week after they held The Gaz in check.
October 6th, 2018 at 9:58 PM ^
I read somewhere that Onwenu is our best run blocker... I disagree...for he really struggles when having to pull, and never seems to be on the guy needed.... rather, JBB seems to do very well, every time... I watched him intently today and he really moved the pile... I think JBB is our best run blocker as of now.
October 7th, 2018 at 10:00 AM ^
That (Onwenu pulling) escapes me, too. He seems like the last guy you'd want in that role.
October 6th, 2018 at 10:26 PM ^
There's a certain subset of our fanbase who seem to think teams are good until we beat them-- then all of a sudden they aren't. It's like they think, "Well we beat them so they can't possibly be any good." Talk about "glass half-empty"!