Michigan must improve in one crucial area before it can become elite.
August 24th, 2017 at 11:26 AM ^
Thought it was a clickbait joke but it was actually a great article to read. Thanks for sharing.
August 24th, 2017 at 11:30 AM ^
I think a lot of people have been making this point for quite a while, both in the media and on this board, that the run game (and OL in particular) needs to improve for Michigan to get where it wants to be. Not a real promethean observation in this article.
August 24th, 2017 at 11:31 AM ^
It's still cherry picking. The loss to MSU was freaky, and OSU could have gone either way.
Clemson averaged 2.2 YPC vs. Alabama and won (Alabama had 6.5 YPC), 3.5 YPC vs. FSU and won (FSU had 5.8 YPC), 3.0 YPC vs. NC State and won (NC State had 4.0 YPC), and 2.0 YPC vs. Pitt and lost. They weren't a great rushing team in close games last year and won the national title.
August 24th, 2017 at 12:52 PM ^
...you are the one that is cherry picking.
The article is correct.
Your counter examples are not persuasive. Clemson had Watson at QB, so that makes the difference when running the ball is not productive. And Alabama had a superb run D, so it makes sense for Clemson with a superb QB to try to win through the air.
Your other examples are also weak, but I am not going to waste time, other than to say that you have cherrry picked a few anecdotes of games where the team that had less YPC won. Big deal. More importantly, YPC average was not even the point of the article.
The fact is that M had a very medicore running game last year (last several years) and the inability to pick up 4th quarter first downs on the ground is the common denominator in all 3 losses last year as well as the MSU loss in 2015.
August 24th, 2017 at 1:07 PM ^
August 24th, 2017 at 11:33 AM ^
It's a good sign then that most of those covering the team think the running game will improve this year as the part the OL struggles with is pass blocking. Whoever wins the RT job should be a plus run blocker but struggle in pass protection.
August 24th, 2017 at 11:35 AM ^
I'll admit I didn't read the article, but Michigan being elite comes down to one thing: beating OSU. We will never be taken seriously as an elite team if we can't beat our own rival. In just about any given year (as long as Meyer is around), if we don't beat them it pretty much means we're not going to Indy.
August 24th, 2017 at 11:44 AM ^
Michigan might’ve caught a few unlucky bounces, but it wouldn’t have been in those situations if it could’ve gotten the running game going earlier. More than anything else, that’s what kept the Wolverines from reaching the B1G Championship the last two years.
Yeah, that last paragraph I think sums it up nicely, and it is something we've spent millions of words and almost as many collective man-hours discussing here and probably offline too. Thanks for sharing.
August 24th, 2017 at 11:45 AM ^
Good read! Even if I knew all the information therein it was still nice to read it all laid out like that. I'm expecting an uptick in coming years.
August 24th, 2017 at 11:49 AM ^
..I have to agree, a burn the clock run game is needed this year.
August 24th, 2017 at 11:58 AM ^
August 24th, 2017 at 11:58 AM ^
We no longer have Fred Jackson coaching the running backs!
August 24th, 2017 at 12:01 PM ^
August 24th, 2017 at 12:27 PM ^
I agree with the poster who said our problem is not enough 5 stars. We should have a 5 star recruit starting at every position on the field. If I can do it playing NCAA on Xbox then it should be super easy for Jim Harbaugh. Why doesn't he just change the recruiting difficulty when 3 stars are interested!?
August 24th, 2017 at 12:51 PM ^
Top 5 recruiting classes year after year tend to lead to top 5 rankings at the end of the year.
August 24th, 2017 at 1:07 PM ^
...the correlation is not perfect, and some non-elite position groups have more negative impact than others.
And if your o-line is just average, no matter how good the overall recruiting ranking is, the team will tend to underperform its overall recruiting ranking.
Assuming the same recruiting overall ranking of the roster, and a pretty good but not elite QB (i.e. Speight) which talent mix is better?
1. Elite receivers and RBs, but a middle of the conference o-line.
2. An elite o-line, but middle of the conference receivers and RBs.
I'll take no. 2 every time.
August 24th, 2017 at 1:21 PM ^
Recruiting is not an exact science of course. But if the roster is full of 4 and 5 star dogs, it's not as big of a hit when you get a miss. Plus practices are more competitive, and injuries don't kill as much. It's a correlation for a reason. Bama is the top team every year pretty much because on average they just have better players than everyone else. They have had the number 1 recruiting class someting like 7 years running. It adds up.
August 24th, 2017 at 2:38 PM ^
But my point was that even if you have top 5 recruiting classes every year, if you also end up with a mediocre o-line, then that is really going to be a drag on the whole offense and the W-L record will likley underperform expections.
If your blue chip linemen recruits turn out to be just middle of the pack for the conference (and all of your other blue chippers more or less end up performing in accord with their stars), it is a lot worse than if your blue chip RB and WR recruits are just middle of the pack for the conference (assuming your o-line in fact ends up elite).
That remains true even if your program ends up with top 5 classes overall most years.
August 24th, 2017 at 2:46 PM ^
College football games are won on the liine, both O and D. I guess the question could be asked about the development of blue chip linemen that are underperforming.
August 24th, 2017 at 1:06 PM ^
a much less overrated coach would help!
/s
August 24th, 2017 at 1:28 PM ^
August 24th, 2017 at 1:33 PM ^
Duh, must win in November... but our schedule this year finishes with Wisconsin (at Camp Randle) and the $uckeyes. No gimmes there.
August 24th, 2017 at 1:55 PM ^
2015 = Rutgers (4-8) - Indiana (6-7) - Penn State (7-6) - Osu (12-1)
2016 = Maryland (6-7) - Iowa (8-5) - Indiana (6-7) - Osu (11-2)
I see exactly 1 really good team each year.
August 24th, 2017 at 1:47 PM ^
August 24th, 2017 at 3:02 PM ^
I couldn't agree more. We have to be able to run the ball against athletic, powerful defenses. And this is more on our OL than the RB group.
Baumgardner has a nice article yesterday on the OL:
LINK: Time to see if Michigan's new offensive line talent can provide a shot in the arm
It is worth going to the link just to salivate over a GIF of a simple power run during Harbaugh's final game at Stanford, dismantling Virginia Tech. The hole is absolutely massive. No juking needed there. I look forward to runs like that. They are Harbaugh's bread and butter. In this particular formation, there are SEVEN guys on the line (two TE's?), one guy a half step back, along with the QB and the RB in an I formation, presumably a single WR out of the picture. When you can run like that, it opens everything up.
Baumgardner also makes the observation that Kalis, Magnusen, and Braden were ok on the OL last year, but none were athletic enough against the best DL's, and none ended up in the NFL. It is his opinion that Michigan has the horses for an upgrade on the OL this year. My personal opinion is that the OL has been the team's achilles heel for a long time.
August 24th, 2017 at 5:26 PM ^
In my opinion Harbaugh needs to learn to coach better at the end of games . Thats the only crucial area they need right now .