OSU Snowflakes: The Offense
November 26th, 2023 at 8:41 AM ^
After the game Sam Webb said he clearly wasn't healthy. That's why the were no designed runs called for him. Didn't practice the week before going into the Maryland game either.
November 25th, 2023 at 4:16 PM ^
I'D LIKE TO KNOW WHERE LOU HOLTZ IS.
Eat my ass Ryan Day. Today you got to see what a real tough team looks like
November 25th, 2023 at 6:28 PM ^
It wouldn’t surprise me if Day took a shot at Bo in his post game comments!
November 25th, 2023 at 4:21 PM ^
From the ESPN game summary:
"Ohio State’s inability to generate stops or make game-changing plays on defense proved to be glaring down the stretch. The Buckeyes allowed scores on six of Michigan’s seven possessions before a kneel-down. A defensive line that entered the season talking openly about being the nation’s best got pushed around by a Michigan front missing star guard Zak Zinter. Coordinator Jim Knowles, who told me he had sleepless nights after the way last season ended and simplified what he did schematically, ultimately was outflanked by Sherrone Moore, Michigan’s 37-year-old offensive coordinator and acting head coach."
November 25th, 2023 at 4:28 PM ^
Blake was truly Great. JJ excellent, turnover free. O Line got the job done. Zak, God speed man. The team was inspired by you all year. CJ, Roman, Colston all had big clutch catches. 30 points on an excellent defense. Better team won. Well done Michigan football.
November 25th, 2023 at 4:29 PM ^
Am I the only one who wants the Edwards flea flicker run every other run of his? It's so effective and it'll strike fear. And have Corum throw it too...
November 25th, 2023 at 4:38 PM ^
The receivers seemed to do a very good job of catching the ball today.
November 25th, 2023 at 4:54 PM ^
My hot take: we won! That is all that matters to me. Don't care about play calls, the spread, or things that could've been done differently. We won The Game. Go Blue!
November 25th, 2023 at 5:29 PM ^
We did cover though!
November 25th, 2023 at 4:55 PM ^
What.A.Game! Feel for Zak, that ankle looked terrible from the stands. Blake scoring the very next play was just incredible.
crowd chanting Let’s go Zak was the best.
The last drive was earned in the first three quarters. Would have been perfect to end it there with a Td, but good enough.
onto Iowa. Oh and welcome back Jim 😊
November 25th, 2023 at 5:03 PM ^
A win is a win. They did just enough.
Rejiggered OL actually seemed better with Barnhart inside and Jones at tackle - maybe OSU was just getting tired.
Onward to B1G championship.
November 25th, 2023 at 5:06 PM ^
I thought SHERRONE called a great game the end
November 25th, 2023 at 5:08 PM ^
There is a time when "What are you doing to beat Ohio State today?" becomes a reality. That reality was when Michigan was driving for 7 minutes in the 4th quarter.
November 25th, 2023 at 5:10 PM ^
We just won a game we were not able to dominate, vs our 11-0, #2 ranked hated blood rival. On the way we had to overcome significant adversity, make plays in key moments, and make the final big play at the end.
JJ should get the game ball. No really big plays, just lots of small ones, running and passing, that kept chains moving and MHJ sitting.
What a great day to be a Wolverine!
November 25th, 2023 at 6:29 PM ^
Blake with the TD right after Zak went out was HUGE.
November 25th, 2023 at 10:51 PM ^
November 25th, 2023 at 5:38 PM ^
At the end of the day, they won the rushing battle and put up 30 points yet again.
I'm watching Bama and Auburn with matching 3-play, 80+ yard touchdown drives and just laughing at SEC defense
November 25th, 2023 at 5:53 PM ^
Playcalling took probably 15 mins off my life but we got it done! Too much playing not to lose calls.
November 25th, 2023 at 6:05 PM ^
McCarthy threw some darts that I am going to watch over and over again this upcoming month of December
November 25th, 2023 at 6:15 PM ^
I still think our avoidance of the passing game is pathological but it worked again. Eventually we’re going to play someone who can actually play offense but it wasn’t today and won’t be next week.
November 25th, 2023 at 6:48 PM ^
They can’t play offense while we have the ball
November 25th, 2023 at 7:52 PM ^
That seems to be the prevailing sentiment. Any year now it will work outside of the B1G.
November 25th, 2023 at 6:52 PM ^
How about a little love for our kicker? The guy has barely kicked all year and came in and hit 3 clutch kicks.
November 25th, 2023 at 6:56 PM ^
A couple of weird calls (Semaj Morgan Screen). But the late runs Moore dialed up were awesome. Also, the Orji package could have gone very wrong, but was decent.
November 25th, 2023 at 7:17 PM ^
Ill say this about the offense. We actually now know that Barnhart had no business playing tackle. He look much better at Guard. If he has an NFL career, its at Guard.
November 25th, 2023 at 8:15 PM ^
I've said it before but I think the coaches were surprised when both Zinter and Keegan came back. $100 the plan was to move Barnhart inside this year and find 2 tackles from the 3-4 guys they had.
When Zinter went out I think it probably improved the line. No offense to any of those guys, they just have 3 all-pro guards.
November 25th, 2023 at 7:25 PM ^
Ill say this about the offense. We actually now know that Barnhart had no business playing tackle. He look much better at Guard. If he has an NFL career, its at Guard.
November 25th, 2023 at 7:39 PM ^
Not sure why we ddidn't see more of Semaj Morgan in this game.
Not sure if anyone is watching UW-WSU game, but Washington faced a 4th and 1 from shotgun, where they put their version of Semaj Morgan on an end-around motion while faking to the running back (who the entire defense were sucked into stopping up the middle) and the QB flipped to the wide out for a big gain on the end around (with QB blocking along the way).
November 25th, 2023 at 9:48 PM ^
I thought the same thing. Really highlights how conservative our play-calling is.
On the other hand, Pennix almost threw two soul-crushing INTs at the end, so super-aggressiveness has its drawbacks too, needless to say. Sometimes playing it safe makes sense. And our defense, of course, is much better. It's clear Michigan's strategy is: No mistakes, rely on your defense.
And it's worked so far! Don't know if it'll work in the playoffs, but ... we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. :-)
November 25th, 2023 at 10:03 PM ^
That guy is a top wr in the country. And Washingtons offense is far more dynamic.
He trusted his team. They took 7 minutes off the clock, including all 3 timeouts. . They did their job. The time to throw, imo, was on 2 and with JJ rolling out
November 25th, 2023 at 10:13 PM ^
Seemed like OSU was keying in on every play to Semaj. The one fake sweep we did with him would've been a TD if Edwards cut outside quicker.
November 25th, 2023 at 7:41 PM ^
Go blue! Loved being at the game.
Moore didn’t let JJ throw on either of the last two drives on third down. I think that was a mistake that almost cost Michigan, but it didn’t! Go blue
November 25th, 2023 at 8:12 PM ^
SETTLING FOR A FG ON THAT LAST DRIVE WAS THE MOST BUTT CLENCHING LLOYD CARR SHIT, BUT IT WORKED, THANK GOD FOR DEFENSIVE PRESSURE AND INT.
BUT FUCK, COULDA CALLED A 2PT PLAY FOR THAT LAST 3RD DOWN AND PUT THE GAME AWAY.
November 25th, 2023 at 8:25 PM ^
There’s a lot to be said about making it a more than 3 pt lead with 1 minute left. They have to score a TD and, I don’t know if you’ve been watching, but that’s really hard to do against UM…especially in the red zone - which is where that drive likely stalls with the prevent chunks basically given. Didn’t matter with the pick but you set up easy OT if you come away empty handed
November 25th, 2023 at 9:49 PM ^
Ish. OSU did score twice today in the red zone, both times making it look fairly easy. If your idea was, "eh, let them get into the red zone and then we'll stop them" ... I'm not sure I share your confidence. :-)
November 26th, 2023 at 12:07 AM ^
Oh the math makes perfect sense. But MHJ scared the shit out of me. Being up only by 6 when he is perfectly capable of going all the way in one play was not really ideal for by stress levels.
That's where a head coach needs to step in and make decisions based on game feel and not just %s.
November 25th, 2023 at 8:23 PM ^
Orjicat went better than I thought it would
November 25th, 2023 at 8:24 PM ^
they brought out a few nice calls today - including the fake edwards wheel TE delay, which they timed really well.
no turnovers was huge. ditto the 4th downs. great execution. and great calls by moore.
loved the corum TD after zinters injury. hope he can heal up and present healthy to nfl docs. those violent rollups are often nasty tib/fibs but i guess well see. rough way to end the year but what a michigan career for zinter - he and keegan anchored some excellent OLs, racked up serious wins!
November 25th, 2023 at 8:32 PM ^
Wanted to see a lot more play action
November 25th, 2023 at 8:50 PM ^
Tommy Two-Thumbs couldn't cover Loveland even if he had 4 thumbs. Great game
November 25th, 2023 at 9:38 PM ^
That crossbody 5yd pass to CJ on the last drive when JJ was scrambling…not sure what it looked like on TV but from my section, that was a 45yd TD to ice the game if he hit him in the numbers. Looked like he was about to take off on a LONG run after catch.
November 25th, 2023 at 10:01 PM ^
Blake mother Effing Corum!
November 26th, 2023 at 1:26 AM ^
At the start of Michigan's last drive, I saw Mccarthy and Corum share a few words with eachother as they lined up.
Knowing them, I imagine it was something along the lines of:
JJ: "Blake let's go close this out"
Corum: "Bet"
November 26th, 2023 at 2:35 AM ^
Just finished my rewatch and I was pretty happy with the overall plan on offense. It was a good mix of run/pass, nothing super predictable. No turnovers. Won the time-of-possession battle handily. Not great on 3rd down, but 3/3 on 4th down. The O Line was much sturdier than many of us thought after a couple of tough weeks against PSU/Maryland. The TEs got into the game in important situations. The PA pass on 4th down to Loveland in the flat was a ballsy call. The RB pass by The Don to Loveland iirc was the biggest gainer of the day.
The running backs seemingly almost busted about a half-dozen big runs. Some missed cuts, but credit to anOSU for some shoestring tackles (especially Eichenberg just nipping The Don) that kept the game close. McCarthy was pretty nails out there, too. The laser beam to Roman Wilson to go up 14-3 is one of my all-time favorite throws. That throw will figure into McCarthy's NFL draft scouting for sure.
Least favorite? In the first half it seemed like we were a little too conscious of trying to break formation tendencies. Lots of runs with Donovan Edwards in there, some passes with Corum in there. It wasn't awful, but maybe we were going away from our strengths a bit. Also didn't like the screen pass to Semaj Morgan with Denzel Burke lined up right on top of him. Morgan is a feisty gamer, but Burke is a 1st round NFL talent. That 3rd and 5 play call could've been a backbreaker up 24-17. Settling for the FG kept anOSU hanging around.
Another favorite play? I believe it was 3rd and 1 with about 3 min left. The entire O Line SURGED forward and knocked anOSU 5 yards off the LOS, so Corum just had to shimmy forward for another huge set of downs.
Honorable mention to Cornelius Johnson making some incredibly difficult catches for very minimal yardage lol. The sideline catch early in the game. The catch where Klatt wanted OPI (I did not agree with Klatt). Then, there was the catch where McCarthy threw across his body into the middle of the field that kept UM ahead of the sticks. Corn-Jo wasn't as WIDE OPEN as he was in the '22 game, but he made the veteran plays necessary to add up to a win.
Also, shout out to an enemy player--Steele Chambers. Rewatching the game, I noticed a couple instances on the long UM 4th quarter drive where he was helping our RBs up off the ground after the play. It's nice to see that sportsmanship is not totally dead!
November 26th, 2023 at 5:38 AM ^
It's fine to run it on 3rd and 4 if you're going for it on 4th and 1. And we did.
They didn't call the Touchdown Play on the last series, but I suspect that it was still charging from the series where Corum scored.
I was wondering why our WR didn't seem to get targets. I went and watched The Game again, and it was because they largely were not open. We like to rag on OSU's DBs, but they were *tight* in coverage today. JJ threw some dimes to people too.
One minor complaint: I do not like the wide screens for us, as it relies on WR blocking and ours are not great at that. Both Edwards and Morgan got blown up on those passes. For us, running the middle screen, or just steal a page from OSU's playbook and run the screen with lead blocker they scored with Egbuku.