Penn State Snowflakes: The Coaching

Harbaugh is who he is. I was predicting several plays and they got blown up -- we also put up 41 and rushed for 400 on a top 5 run D. I'm glad he's our coach

A coaching note: Michigan isn't just thumping its head into a wall and happening to win with all of these runs. 

Not unlike last year's Washington game, Penn State respected the pass a great deal on standard downs. They played a lot of 2-high on first down and Michigan said, "ok, sounds good" and shredded them. Executing when you're supposed to execute. 

My point is that many of us, including me, get jittery about Michigan being stubborn about running no matter what, but a lot of the successful runs here were Michigan seeing what Penn State gave and taking it. With force. With our running game running on most downs is entirely rational if the defense is going to invite you to do it. 

What a great set of coaches we have. They have had a different game plan 4 weeks in a row. Total domination by D. We made a great hire. This offense is fun to watch and they are not afraid to run JJ. They turned the 5th best rush defense into a FCS team. 

They continue to make great adjustments during the half. Sky is the limit for this team with these coaches.

https://www.pff.com/news/college-football-top-20-college-football-head-coaches-2021

For your viewing pleasure.

Michigan just beat down the 10th ranked team in the country despite giving up a very unlucky pick 6.    7 & 0, 4 & 0.  Michigan just played their best game of the year.  Second half was the strongest half of the year for sure. 

Take away the two fluke plays, and the score would better reflect the total dominance by Michigan today.  Coaches had this team ready on both offense and defense today.  Two weeks to get geared up for Sparty.

Based on the game thread, there's a portion of our fanbase that just hates running the ball, no matter what.  Even in the third quarter, as we were ripping off 60-yard rush TDs, on every (rare) run call that didn't gain a lot of yards, people bitched about "turtling."

The staff knows what it's doing.  This was a windy day and the PSU secondary is the strength of their D.  Our passing game never fully got going and even gave them seven points.  But it was clear from the start that we had the edge in the trenches and that became more and more decisive as the game went on.

The right game plan, the right coaching and adjustments, great players, a complete domination of a good team.

What's not to like?

It was nice to see JH get animated re: the officials. 

Once again, the refs did everything they could to stop Michigan. Once again, they failed.

The OCs knew early that the running game was working. This reminded me of Mich vs Wash last year. JJ missed a few and batted footballs can go anywhere go; it didn't go our way.

The defense called great plays. Had a new look and it worked.

Michigan certainly outcoached PSU.

I don’t care what anyone says…it always feels great to beat the snot out of Penn State

Some flukey plays, and us leaving some points on the field early, made the score close at the half, even putting us behind to start the second, but the score was no indication of how dominant the game went, and the final result was never in doubt. If this game were replayed 100 times, 41-17 is the closest it would ever get. We could've easily beat them down to the tune of 63-3 today, even with our run focus. Coaches had the team ready to go, and called a good game. Wouldve been nice if they'd run that 2 point conversion play in the 1st half. Next time,  maybe. 

This coaching staff adjusts better than I have ever seen. 

Never punted once, every drive resulted in points (even the PSU pick, unfortunately).

That is indicative of good play calling IMHO, even with stalled drives in the red zone.

This is always the part of the week I enjoy most, going to whatever teams SB Nation page and reading the predictions. They didn't see this coming, they thought they'd edge one out on the road. Thank fuck for that last TD so they can't go the "defeated with dignity" route

Great win.  It is very fun to the able to run the ball that way and just dominate the LOS.  Imagine what then offense can be if JJ is every allowed/needs to pass for 380 yards.  Would like to see Michigan prep JJ to be able to win a game through the air, because the need may arise (shootout very possible in Columbus).  Run and have LOS control like today, plus add in a JJ who can win with a huge passing performance....and nothing would be beyond the reach of this team.

I actually don’t think there were halftime adjustments. We dominated the first half. The score didn’t indicate that because of the FGs and 2 flukey PSU plays. The team stuck to the plan and wore down PSU’s defense. FG drives turned into touchdown drives once PSU’s tackling broke down from being punched in the ribs repeatedly. PSU’s offense was non-existent all day.

This game was, I believe, the perfect encapsulation of quintessential Harbaugh. Stubborn with the run. Punch you in the mouth. Blue collar with just enough panache. Penn State “earned” 10 points and nothing more. I was more nervous about this game than any other but once it started, I felt zen the entire time because of the coaching and play calling. Excellent game. 

Clifford's run and JJ's pick-6. Two plays away from this being a 41-3 game. I have no complaints. 

I'd like to see better red zone play. Settling for FGs is how a dominant first-half performance can lead to a deficit at halftime.

OK, that out of the way, everything else was excellent. PSU seemed to expect the pass often, leaving light(er) boxes. So, the OCs were happy to run often. I have no doubt that if the PSU D acted more like Indiana, JJ would have carved them up, especially at the LB level. Aside from the RZ comment above, I have no issues with the offensive coaching today. We essentially took what PSU gave us and it was a success.

Defensively, Minter had them pretty well figured out from the jump and still made good adjustments as the game wore on. There were, what, three big chunk plays? That was PSU's whole offensive production there. They had something like 270 yards of total offense, and something like 160 came on three plays. In other words, we dominated them on D.

Special teams? Ho-hum. Best in the country. Moody is straight cash. 

These coaches are rocking it out, both in practice and during games.