Shea Patterson raises the "Ohio State" bar.
“We’ve got to understand we have to play the same every week and approach every game like we’re playing Ohio State. Just come out firing, not starting slow on offense or defense. Just trusting ourselves and trusting the game plan and going out here and playing.”
That was Shea Patterson via his appearance on this weeks Inside Michigan Football radio program (also per Angelique's article https://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/college/university-michigan/wolverines/2018/10/02/michigan-coaches-love-shea-pattersons-leadership-skills/1498943002/). Can anyone on this board remember a player or coach ever publicly signaling the importance of every game this way instead of the canned responses like "take it one game at a time"? I know it's something plenty of fans have wanted to hear, or at least sense from the team(s), that urgency week in and week out like Ohio State was on the schedule every week and that the team(s) wasn't just putting all of their eggs in one basket to either cap off a season or salvage it in the final game against Ohio State.
This program is rising up from the entitled/poor recruiting/bad coaching years and I believe Harbaugh is restoring that "earn it" character that will produce consistent double-digit winning seasons and have Michigan rightfully considered one of the elite programs in college football again. I think what Patterson said is one of the best indications that Harbaugh's message is getting through and resonating with the players. That statement shows a championship mentality that will inspire championship effort and habits. I hope it's engraved on the locker room wall for this team and every team that follows to see.
October 2nd, 2018 at 5:55 PM ^
If we're to beat OSU, this is the year to it. I'm not so convinced that Haskins is an upgrade from JT Barrett. He has an advantage in pocket passing to a degree, but I really don't fear him as much. I don't fear Tate Martell either.
October 2nd, 2018 at 6:03 PM ^
Haskins has been one of the best QBs in the country so far. He tore up our defense last year - I'm not convinced OSU wins that game if Barrett stays in, to be completely honest.
October 2nd, 2018 at 6:26 PM ^
Unscouted throw-y guy coming in for scouted-to-death run guy was definitely bad for Michigan.
Haskins is really good but I'm thinking Don Brown & Co. will have a better game plan for his snaps this year.
October 2nd, 2018 at 8:04 PM ^
that first touchdown Barrett had still burns. Could a CB have turned around and realized, "hey he's running 40 yards untouched into the endzone." Easiest paycheck Barrett ever earned up to that point.
October 2nd, 2018 at 9:29 PM ^
It would have been even better if Metellus would have just picked off the pass that hit him in the hands.
October 2nd, 2018 at 10:40 PM ^
At least they seem to be greatly improved in that area this year...
October 2nd, 2018 at 6:26 PM ^
Doubled. Whoops.
October 2nd, 2018 at 6:43 PM ^
You are correct enough to say it twice.
October 2nd, 2018 at 8:50 PM ^
Really ? Cuz he sucked against PSU big time. Don't let stats fool you, his yards came on screens. He is rattle-able. JT was a threat in shirt yardage pick up.
October 3rd, 2018 at 9:18 AM ^
Unfortunately, I think Haskins might be one of the best QBs OSU has had in the past 15 years, but the Penn State game last week showed that he can be slowed down. Michigan has a tall task trying to take down the Buckeyes in Columbus this November, but not an impossible one.
October 3rd, 2018 at 9:59 AM ^
I'll submit to you that Urban Meyer had a special "Haskins" package put together just in case the Buckeyes Offense with J.T. Barrett was being stymied by Michigan's Defense.
(Which is why they were being shut down, I mean after all why wouldn't you let your senior QB play the whole last game of his regular season career? see winning is the only thing that matters)
I mean it not like J.T Barrett didn't play the very next week in the B1G Championship game amirite?
October 3rd, 2018 at 10:04 AM ^
Haskins was pedestrian at best with pressure vs PSU. The other games he played in he had nice pass pro. Once he gets some heat, he is very average. OSU looking invinceable had more to do with competition. Much like Michigan looked vs SMU, WMU and N. The meat of schedule started last week and will continue for balance of year. We will all know about this Michigan team over the next 3 weeks.
October 2nd, 2018 at 6:07 PM ^
I looked at a statistical breakdown of Haskins. Against TCU and Penn State (the only two decent defenses they’ve faced: #30 and #40 pass defenses) he’s:
46/77 59.7% 614 yds (307 per game) with 5 TDs and a pick. That’s 7.9 yards per attempt.
Against the other three horrendous teams he’s:
63/77 81.8% 850 yards (283.3 per game) 14 TDs and a pick. That’s 11 yards per attempt.
While his stats against decent competition are still very good, it’s obvious he picked on lesser competition to pad his stats quite a bit.
I also saw a breakdown of every pass against Penn State. It marked where each pass went, so yards after catch weren’t included to skew the stats.
Notably he was 1/7 on passes over 10 yards. He was 5/14 on passes over 5 yards.
October 2nd, 2018 at 8:09 PM ^
Hard to extrapolate how Haskins looked against PSU to how he might look against Michigan.
PSU zone blitzed him all game, in cover 3. Michigan will blitz him a ton, but will play man behind it. I think Haskins, in his first road start, really struggled to read the zones and find open guys against PSU. You could tell the pressure was rattling him, and he was uncomfortable going through zone progressions in the face of that pressure.
He won't have that problem vs. Michigan.
In any event, if Michigan mans up OSU's WRs well, Haskins is no threat to tuck and run for big yards. That is very clear. So much of how Haskins looks against Michigan will depend on how well OSU's WRs get open 1-on-1.
October 2nd, 2018 at 8:32 PM ^
Appreciate the viewpoint from the other side. Haven't been able to watch much of OSU's games except highlights and some of the PSU game.
October 2nd, 2018 at 9:02 PM ^
I 100% agree with this take. My guess is OSU will try to have some quick hitters early to se how that separation is going and then adapt from there. There is no doubt, most of OSU’s passing yards came from screens against PSU taking advantage of their aggressive game plan. Haskins definitely got rattled with pressure so if Michigan can get that with man to man coverage, it will be a game. If not, I believe Haskins will find guys if given time.
Go Blue!
October 2nd, 2018 at 9:09 PM ^
I doubt that Michigan plays as much man in this year's game as they have in past years.
It won't really matter much what they play if Michigan's pass rush gets to Haskins.
October 3rd, 2018 at 7:35 AM ^
Well we're playing in Columbus, so no worries - OSU will get their first downs on roughing the passer, targeting, and PI calls.
October 3rd, 2018 at 9:35 AM ^
Unfortunately for Michigan, our man-to-man coverage hasn't been great this season. We've seen lots of breakdowns in coverage in the first 5 games and Haskins definitely has the arm strength and accuracy to make you pay for letting the WR get a step on you. Michigan' secondary will have a huge challenge in front of them.
October 2nd, 2018 at 9:26 PM ^
His yardage against PSU was almost solely from screens. And he’s not a runner. Michigan has a chance if they pressure him.
October 2nd, 2018 at 10:28 PM ^
This comes across as a knock, but it shouldn't. PSU took away everything deep, Haskins took what they gave him underneath. Do you want him to throw it deep into safety help?
October 3rd, 2018 at 1:23 AM ^
I do, yes.
October 3rd, 2018 at 10:00 AM ^
Thats fine but I was NOT impressed with Haskins in that game. On the other hand OSU knobslobbers are on his nuts. Your OC made the adjustment, not Haskins so give me a break. He didn't " take what defense gave him". He got sack in the face.
Pass to Dobbins, pass to KJ Hill, arm punt to B. Victor were plays by WRs and arm tackles by PSU. He won't have those miscues against M. Sorry but M defense > PSU. M can also play zone.
Contrast that with Shea actually rifle-ing seam route throw to Gentry. Or the PA bomb to Nico against ND. Yea...big difference. Even in TCU game (TCU not that great....) he has screen to campbell that he ran for 90 yards to TD.
Point is: he is a good QB at OSU. Not some fire throwing god. Now go back to craphole of 11 warriors.
October 3rd, 2018 at 1:00 PM ^
Yea, only real QBs are schemed to go 13/19 for 185 yards every week like yours. Give me a break. Not one single college football fan outside of Ann Arbor would trade Patterson for Haskins.
October 3rd, 2018 at 1:20 PM ^
Cool. Didn't say Shea is a world beater but your assertion that Haskins is is total BS. But hey its your opinion. He sucked in PSU game. Also he'll be a bust in NFL. Not his fault, its OSU scheme.
Now scurry along.
October 4th, 2018 at 12:33 AM ^
wow! you already know he will be a bust in the NFL? Thats clairvoyant! Even though Deshaun Watson said he is NFL ready at QB camp last summer.
He didn't suck in the PSU game - He couldn't hear in the whiteout and took some first year lumps. If I'm not mistaken he already is 1-0 against your vaunted "D"
I think your animosity shows your fear and anxiety of this years upcoming game and we both know the outcome of that already :> )
October 5th, 2018 at 2:09 PM ^
Yea he will be a bust. Suck it.
Boo hoo couldnt hear it blah blah excuses. He could see though right? Throwing ducks didn't require hearing.
October 4th, 2018 at 12:33 AM ^
wow! you already know he will be a bust in the NFL? Thats clairvoyant! Even though Deshaun Watson said he is NFL ready at QB camp last summer.
He didn't suck in the PSU game - He couldn't hear in the whiteout and took some first year lumps. If I'm not mistaken he already is 1-0 against your vaunted "D"
I think your animosity shows your fear and anxiety of this years upcoming game and we both know the outcome of that already :> )
October 2nd, 2018 at 6:08 PM ^
URrr - he put up 31 points on us last year?? Now he will have a year more experience?
October 2nd, 2018 at 8:31 PM ^
Haskins put up 31 points on us? You sure? I recall Barrett scrambling for a TD on a play where Hurst was clearly held.
October 2nd, 2018 at 9:30 PM ^
With three minutes to go in the game, we had the ball down only 24-20. That game was not lost on the defensive end.
October 3rd, 2018 at 11:46 AM ^
Actually 2:41 to go and we had the football. Damn you to hell O'Korn.
October 2nd, 2018 at 6:09 PM ^
I looked at a statistical breakdown of Haskins. Against TCU and Penn State (the only two decent defenses they’ve faced: #30 and #40 pass defenses) he’s:
46/77 59.7% 614 yds (307 per game) with 5 TDs and a pick. That’s 7.9 yards per attempt.
Against the other three horrendous teams he’s:
63/77 81.8% 850 yards (283.3 per game) 14 TDs and a pick. That’s 11 yards per attempt.
While his stats against decent competition are still very good, it’s obvious he picked on lesser competition to pad his stats quite a bit.
I also saw a breakdown of every pass against Penn State. It marked where each pass went, so yards after catch weren’t included to skew the stats.
Notably he was 1/7 on passes over 10 yards. He was 5/14 on passes over 5 yards.
Note: I don’t think Haskins is at all a bad QB or anything, I just think he’s currently being overhyped by picking on lesser defenses (to put it lightly). He’s much more pedestrian against competent defenses and as the passing chart showed, most of what he did against Penn State was very short passes and YAC
October 2nd, 2018 at 6:24 PM ^
I posted this before but he was 11/12 on screens for 152 yards and 2 TDs Saturday. His last TD was a 47 yard TD that he arm punted 10/15 yards and then PSU missed 3 tackles.
October 2nd, 2018 at 7:42 PM ^
Penn State's defense gift wrapped that game for Haskins. They lost that game. Haskins did not win that game.
October 2nd, 2018 at 7:06 PM ^
Michigan1984, franklinhatchett, mineralking, orlando etc... is back.
October 2nd, 2018 at 8:11 PM ^
October 2nd, 2018 at 8:18 PM ^
Didn't he beat us last year?
October 2nd, 2018 at 8:51 PM ^
I agree with you. Not sure why you are getting negged
October 2nd, 2018 at 9:50 PM ^
Is this serious? He’s been tourching teams and is one of the best QBs in the country
October 2nd, 2018 at 5:55 PM ^
Coach Patton was pretty hard on his players during the Sicily Game....
October 2nd, 2018 at 6:08 PM ^
Remember, Shea and Woodson had a long talk this off-season. The OSU game is definitely being emphasized this year.
October 2nd, 2018 at 6:18 PM ^
Great point! Here's Woodson's reply to Shea's statement - https://twitter.com/CharlesWoodson/status/1047195401013682176
October 2nd, 2018 at 8:11 PM ^
So is Shea making bread or leaving practice?
October 2nd, 2018 at 8:47 PM ^
Honestly, I am tired of all the talk. Just shut up and beat a decent Ohio State team more than 1 time in what...15 years. SHUT...UP...AND...BEAT...A...TEAM...YOU...ARE...NOT...EXPECTED...TO...BEAT!
October 2nd, 2018 at 9:07 PM ^
Oh please, just don't read the quotes if you're going to respond like that.
October 2nd, 2018 at 6:14 PM ^
This is going to piss off Mork so much.
Get ready for some threats and weeds on October 20!
October 2nd, 2018 at 6:30 PM ^
There's a Bo speech where he says basically the same thing "THE MOST IMPORTANT GAME IS THE ONE WE'RE GETTING READY TO PLAY."
I think it's the "we've got BIG goals, BIG dreams.." speech.
October 2nd, 2018 at 7:31 PM ^
Yup, before the 1971 Iowa game:
"We've got to win this game and there is no game on the remainder of our schedule more important than the one you're going down the tunnel to play today. Now let's go!"