Remember when we were mad Harbaugh was involved in the offense?
After the Army and Wisconsin games, a major sentiment on the board was that Harbaugh was getting too involved in the offense and this was causing our offensive problems. Cut to the ND game and it's clear that one of the major components of our offensive success the last couple games was returning to run concepts that were successful last year--in Harbaugh's offense. We saw several run concepts from last year, even a trap. Cesar Ruiz said as much after the game (paraphrasing) "we went back to some of the things we did well last year, watched some previous games."
I'm being critical of no one, the early season was brutal emotionally on fans. What the staff did obviously was the right call, and makes me feel more hopeful for the rest of the season. It just goes to show, there are a lot of swings in a football season and the wisdom of crowds is not always a thing.
October 28th, 2019 at 9:56 AM ^
Would this be a correct use of the word ironic?
October 28th, 2019 at 9:57 AM ^
Obligatory:
It's like rain on your wedding day.
October 28th, 2019 at 10:05 AM ^
Obligatory:
not an example of irony, as is the case with most of the things in that song.
October 28th, 2019 at 10:06 AM ^
But isn't it ironic that it actually rained on Saturday? Don't ya think?
October 28th, 2019 at 10:24 AM ^
It rained on my wedding day. And it was a Saturday.
October 28th, 2019 at 10:08 AM ^
Is it ironic that you might have missed the joke?
October 28th, 2019 at 10:19 AM ^
is it obligatory that you ask that?
October 28th, 2019 at 10:22 AM ^
Indubitably.
October 28th, 2019 at 10:42 AM ^
Ironically, it is. Or it isn't. Whichever one makes the use of "ironic" unironic. Or ironic.
Am I doing this right?
October 28th, 2019 at 11:02 AM ^
+1. Touche.
October 28th, 2019 at 12:54 PM ^
and who would've thought, it figuuuuuuuures
October 28th, 2019 at 8:28 PM ^
Isn’t that the irony tho? A song called ironic, singing about a bunch of ‘ironic things’ that really aren’t all that ironic.
October 28th, 2019 at 9:56 AM ^
"Keep running the ball down their throats because they can't stop it, and oh look it's raining" doesn't seem like rocket science, no matter who is running the offense. This game was won in the trenches, not on the clipboards.
October 28th, 2019 at 9:59 AM ^
So the coaches calling the plays were in the trenches ? Interesting..
October 28th, 2019 at 10:07 AM ^
Winning the battle up front goes a long way. If your O-line is dominating and consistently opening up big holes for your tailbacks, you'd be foolish not to take advantage of that. No doubt that this was a well-coached game, but if there's a coach on the staff I would single out for praise, it would be Warriner. That kind of performance from our O-line would have been unimaginable two years ago.
October 28th, 2019 at 10:13 AM ^
So your argument is that the players were well-coached and therefore Harbaugh doesn't deserve credit?
Got it.
October 28th, 2019 at 10:17 AM ^
And the game plan and run scheme to use for the game also has nothing to do with the head coach or even the OC, but rather the O-line coach.
Just to be clear, I believe it's collaborative and they all get credit, but the head coach makes the decision about the approach heading in. Gattis did not go running to Harbaugh saying please let Warriner take over half of my job.
October 28th, 2019 at 12:09 PM ^
I never said Harbaugh doesn't deserve credit. But he (and Warriner) deserves more credit for the dominating performance by the O-line than for the playcalling. The playcalling was secondary.
October 28th, 2019 at 12:46 PM ^
But I imagine that the loss to Wisconsin falls squarely on Jim Harbaugh's head, despite poor line play on both sides of the ball?
Just saying, if we're going to blame JH for the losses, we also have to give him credit for the wins.
October 28th, 2019 at 5:56 PM ^
Um...he's giving Harbaugh and Warriner credit for line play, not playcalling, in this win. How is that difficult to understand?
October 28th, 2019 at 10:38 AM ^
This take is almost (not quite) entirely besides the point
October 28th, 2019 at 10:01 AM ^
There are a lot of different running plays, Frank. In light of your comment, I wonder if it's a great mystery to you how the players decide who to block and which way to run from play to play.
October 28th, 2019 at 10:43 AM ^
I know that, but my point is that the dominating performance of the O-line and its consistent ability to open up holes, coupled with the weather conditions, simplified playcalling significantly.
October 28th, 2019 at 11:33 AM ^
But it wasn't just that, it was the return to run concepts from last year that helped the run game be so successful. The OLine was so dominant because they returned to blocking schemes that were familiar to them and bring out their best qualities. One of the biggest reasons the run game hasn't been successful this year is because we've been trying run concepts that don't mesh with the strengths of our OL.
October 28th, 2019 at 11:45 AM ^
In general this passing spread change didn't make sense to me. I was hopeful of course. I thought it because clear by the Army game it didn't make a ton of sense to move to an offense that emphasized the pass, which was our weakness last year, and de-emphasize something we were very good at.
Our passing game didn't make sense last year, and I think replacing Pep was the right idea, but I don't think it made a ton of sense to then lean on a part of the offense we were restructuring.
October 28th, 2019 at 12:42 PM ^
Objectively true. Lock the thread
October 28th, 2019 at 12:42 PM ^
this is precisely backwards from the truth
October 28th, 2019 at 10:05 AM ^
Certainly wasn't won on Brian Kelly's clipboard....
Just give Harbaugh one iota of credit for destroying a top ten ND squad in prime time. I promise that it won't hurt you.
October 28th, 2019 at 10:55 AM ^
Actually, I bet it was won on Brian Kelly's clipboard. It just didn't translate to the trenches.
October 28th, 2019 at 11:21 AM ^
They tried that approach in the second half against Army with the same players, and it didn't work. The difference is they only called two run plays all game against Army whereas here they had a full complement of counters and counters to the counters that Notre Dame couldn't respond to. Oh and they actually ran it with the QB a few times.
October 28th, 2019 at 9:59 AM ^
I agree as each week of the football season is sort of like a chapter in a book. People seem to place way too much weight and overreact into one game. That's not just Michigan fans but all college and pro football fans.
You have a whole week to digest what we last saw and it gets overanalyze to death. This to me is what makes football the best sport as every game feels so important.
October 28th, 2019 at 1:00 PM ^
True - but unlike most sports, college or pro, you can get shut out of the championship from one bad game early in the season. So there is a reason to put a lot of weight into each and every game.
October 28th, 2019 at 10:02 AM ^
I don't know about anyone else but I'm really looking forward to a week of positive dumb hot take threads for once.
October 28th, 2019 at 10:08 AM ^
I think we'll maintain our usual unhealthy balance of "reasons for optimism/perspective" vs "but what about army/wisconsin/psu and oh yeah we're gonna die vs OSU"
October 28th, 2019 at 12:07 PM ^
You forgot about "Harbaugh isn't going to get Michigan to Indianapolis and it's Year 5 and we should expect more for the money we're paying the coaches!"
October 28th, 2019 at 12:15 PM ^
"we're gonna die vs OSU"
Fact:
Ryan Day has never beaten a Top 10 team
Ryan Day has never beaten a ranked team on the road
Start the narratives!
October 28th, 2019 at 1:19 PM ^
It may be multiple years before Ohio State even has the opportunity to beat a top 10 team on the road.
October 28th, 2019 at 10:03 AM ^
My hat is off to JH for keeping this team together ...& the beat down Sat night. Was so nice waking up yesterday after that win...!
October 28th, 2019 at 10:14 AM ^
Absolutely. Before the Penn State game, I feel like there had been a ton of times we actually looked like a team that folded easily. Just this season, the players even pointed to the Mason fumble at Wisconsin as a turning point. And I think there are other examples from recent seasons as well.
But the 2nd half fight at Penn State and then the response to 1) our roughing the punter and 2) Notre Dame's first touchdown are starting to turn things around as far as what the team's mental toughness looks like.
October 28th, 2019 at 10:17 AM ^
Scored 0 points in the first half because JH was calling the plays then Gattis called the plays in the second half.
October 28th, 2019 at 10:19 AM ^
I have no idea what you are saying.
October 28th, 2019 at 11:11 AM ^
Because Michigan had scored 17?
October 28th, 2019 at 10:09 AM ^
I think it may be a Warriner effect more than Harbaugh, meaning that they handed back the run game to him.
October 28th, 2019 at 10:15 AM ^
(That would have been Harbaugh's decision to do that.)
October 28th, 2019 at 10:16 AM ^
Maybe they all had a hand in it.
October 28th, 2019 at 10:20 AM ^
Well it wasn't a unilateral decision by the O-line coach. Ultimately it's the HC who says what to do.
October 28th, 2019 at 10:18 AM ^
It's probably a combination of Warriner, Gattis, and Harbaugh. At least that's how it should be in a functional coaching environment.
I was extremely pleased to see our offensive game plan grow and evolve. We smashed ND on an evening when an effective running game was an absolute must. Great job on both the offensive and defensive game planning and execution.
October 28th, 2019 at 10:15 AM ^
I agree, but that doesn't explain some pass blocking breakdowns, and it's still a concern that they weren't able to execute some simple blocking schemes based on what they faced early on. Looking at film, they just couldn't recognize where the blitz was coming from, and were caught flat footed on simple line stunts. That was yesterday, and let's just keep it going.
October 28th, 2019 at 4:08 PM ^
You must be fun at parties
October 28th, 2019 at 10:15 AM ^
I heard from a student assistant that he turned the play calling over to Gattis in the 2nd half of Penn State game and it's remained that way.