Shout out to the MGoStaff for accurate UFR commentary
I might as well join the explosion of posts since yesterday afternoon with a quick shout to Brian and Seth. They called it last week - Michigan was overlooking Illinois and practicing for OSU. The defense we saw yesterday, from my untrained eye, looked pretty similar to what they ran against Illinois. We largely didn't hear anything about the safeties until late in the game, except for Moore (who is becoming quite the playmaking, rangy dude back there). They had to have been in the same cover-2 shell that Seth pointed out against Illinois - and they BLANKETED a fantastic, NFL-like passing game. The DL also did what Seth pointed out last week - forget the rush, we don't have it, so cover up the running lanes. Stroud was moved a round a little, but he had no scramble lanes and no QB run game whatsoever. Not much of a pass rush, but an excellent outing for the DL without Mike Morris. Braiden grew up right in front of us yesterday, just like JJ did!
For the last several weeks, as JJ's accuracy and timing seemingly diminished each week, Brian kept telling us that it's still there. Just that the dime-perfect throws against good coverage were off an inch or two. We mostly didn't believe it, but he just kept saying it and backing it up with video evidence. He also pointed out that defenses were giving the run to stop the deep shots. But the misses kept coming, Brian kept believing, and we mostly lost faith. He was spot on. OSU sold out to stop the run thinking we couldn't throw it past them. The result? We beat their corners and safeties deep all day long! On the first TD to CJ, Roman Wilson was screamingly wide open over the middle because he absolutely TOASTED the safety over him. That guy is still wondering where he went! Next time you see that replay, watch Wilson in the right slot.
Point is, we all love the UFR's, and Alex also does a fantastic job with the FFFF's. And they called it all year long. They just kept pointing out everything that happened yesterday, even when we started not believing it so much. Keep it up, boys - you deserve your own muppets for those UFRs!
November 27th, 2022 at 9:50 AM ^
They are who we thought they were!
November 27th, 2022 at 9:50 AM ^
MGOBLOG FTW!!!! Go home blogger team!
November 27th, 2022 at 9:53 AM ^
Minter is a home run hire and i hope that he will stay at least a few more years.
November 27th, 2022 at 9:57 AM ^
Jesse Minter, you mean?
November 27th, 2022 at 10:55 AM ^
No, but Minter is one hellavu blocker!
November 27th, 2022 at 1:39 PM ^
This response is fantastic!
November 27th, 2022 at 4:05 PM ^
Minter, of course, fixed
November 27th, 2022 at 9:55 AM ^
UFR is what makes mgoblog the very best college football fan site.
November 27th, 2022 at 10:12 AM ^
That and the mgopoints rewards program. I'm saving for a jet!
November 27th, 2022 at 10:35 AM ^
7,000,000 and the Harrier is yours!
November 27th, 2022 at 9:55 AM ^
Yep. Brian was behind JJ the whole time. UFR scores reflected how good he is and he pointed out how good JJ can be even with the issues we had in the passing game the last few weeks. Seth was pointing out how good we are at DT position and about Will Johnson. Seth was a huge fan of Mike Sanristil. How we contained them and made it difficult for Stroud with excellent coverage and push up the middle.
Alex did not think this WR group is as good as last year and that showed.
There is no site like this and MGoStaff are the absolute best. Hats off to them.
Edit: I forgot to mention their opinion on WRs pre season. Many fans were throwing shades at them for claiming CJ to be a stud. And then CJ goes on to have the best game of his life on the biggest stage. Great call there.
November 27th, 2022 at 10:44 AM ^
I am still not impressed with C Johnson, but he came through when it mattered. Biggest thing this program had been missing was players making plays when they were there to be made. Not yesterday.
November 27th, 2022 at 10:59 AM ^
He runs great routes and can move with the ball in his hands, but he catches every ball with his chest, which leads to drops.
I heard the announcers on thanksgiving day, saying that Amon-Ra St. Brown doesn’t leave practice until he’s caught 202 balls in a row off the jugs. If Cornelius starts doing that he’d be incredible.
November 27th, 2022 at 9:56 AM ^
Agree, though ... I didn't think our defensive line played all that great, and for the life of me I don't know how we held that team to 3 points in the second half. Actually, a lot of it was them shooting themselves in the foot. They absolutely dominated our defense in the first half, and in the second half Stroud put a perfect pass off his back foot to his tight end in the endzone, before Sainristil made what I think was the play of the game to knock it out. They then get a chunk play against us ... brought back by a holding call and a personal foul, which effectively ends another drive.
Stroud makes that crazy underhanded pass play at the end ...
I mean, I'm not meaning to downplay Brian, Seth, and Alex -- Seth in particular almost exactly predicted the final score, which I think is outright amazing -- but OSU's offense's consistent screw-ups in the second half is, I think, the most mind-blowing part of the game.
November 27th, 2022 at 10:05 AM ^
Those mistakes were because of pressure. They weren't getting anything easy, which they're used to doing. Couple that with their defense not holding up, and they had more pressure on them than they've seen since last year. And they didn't handle it well... The goal all along was to keep everything in front and make them go the length of the field. We knew they'd get their plays, yards, and points - but they did not get the easy points they're used to getting. That was the difference.
November 27th, 2022 at 10:24 AM ^
Great point. I think everyone could see Stroud getting tighter each series, and the 4th & 4 where he wanted to stay on the field almost looked like a guy who didn't want to fight but was being held back by his buddies as he was feigning "Come on!"
November 27th, 2022 at 11:08 AM ^
Same gameplan (philosophically) as last year, really. Make them go on long drives, they're not actually good enough/patient enough to do it.
The thing that changed first half/second half is we did a much better job of limiting their running game, preventing 2nd and short.
November 27th, 2022 at 10:38 AM ^
You make your luck. I enjoyed OSU air leaking out of the balloon - a deflation that was spurred by play failures that also made them tight and desparate. I’m looking forward to the recaps this week - on defense I thought the line did well - gaps were filled - Stroud mostly stayed in the pocket - and the drop backs were deployed well.
November 27th, 2022 at 11:10 AM ^
OSU really shot themselves in the face quite a bit yesterday. To me, that's just a sign of a not very well coached team that was barely challenged over the course of the season.
But I agree. Michigan was not as down to down dominant as the final score indicates. Play this game 10 times, and I think we're trailing going into the 4th quarter more often than not. It felt like we were on the brink of getting run off the field in the 2nd quarter especially.
That said, the dominance in the 4th quarter was complete and unequivocal. OSU didn't want the smoke as Brian likes to say
November 27th, 2022 at 10:13 AM ^
Yes, well done fellas !
November 27th, 2022 at 10:21 AM ^
Certainly they are known friends and trusted agents
November 27th, 2022 at 10:29 AM ^
Seth has pointed out over and over again why Harrell is getting playing time. When Harrell was close enough to the tight end to disrupt OSU’s 4th down attempt, I thought of Seth. None of our other defensive ends make that play. That failed conversion got stuck in Day’s head the rest of the game and he ended up punting multiple times on 4th when he should have gone for it. That also kept us within striking distance when OSU was controlling play early. Huge, HUGE play by Harrell.
November 27th, 2022 at 11:12 AM ^
I concur, Seth nailed this one with Harrell 100%
November 27th, 2022 at 12:32 PM ^
Every time I see Harrell "rush the passer" I wonder how he gets any playing time. Then he makes insane coverage plays and pursuit tackles that are true game savers. He has a limited toolbox, but he's had heroic contributions in the last two games and deserves credit for them!
November 27th, 2022 at 10:31 AM ^
I watched some OSU reactions after the game and they still don't get it. The difference now is that Michigan is the tougher team both mentally and physically. Yes, tactically on defense we've adjusted to keeping them in front of us, but this game has always been about physicality at the point of attack and Michigan is just tougher, particularly offensive line where as Harbaugh said after the game the run game just eventually wears you down. Ohio State has lost its way embracing the 5 stars and the glitz of basketball on grass--in the old days you feared a team of tough Ohio kids who grew up with the rivalry and wanted to take your head off.
November 27th, 2022 at 10:43 AM ^
I’ll say that Brian’s faith in JJ did have a lot of us confused for the past few weeks and i think Brian does end up being the more correct party (obviously he’s much smarter than all of us). But I will contend that while JJ played his best game yesterday, he still only completed 50% of his passes and missed a number of open throws. Now, that’s just me picking nits as a fan and I really don’t care about those misses because of the huge explosive passes that he was able to connect on. However, I actually think that there’s still a lot of room for improvement and growth for JJ to do and that’s a positive. We still haven’t seen the best version of JJ yet and he’s still put up an excellent day against OSU in the toilet bowl. Very exciting proposition for the next year or two of Michigan football.
November 27th, 2022 at 10:54 AM ^
I think there's a good chance we have JJ for two more years, and if not he is so good next year that the prospects for a great season are high.
Should see some improvement in the receiver room and have TEs and RBs returning. Very exciting team to be a fan of this team.
November 27th, 2022 at 12:36 PM ^
Yes! Moreover, it was crucial for him to experience success in a high pressure environment. He struggled early but got better as the game went on. There's a difference between believing you can do it and knowing you can do it. This guy's the limit!
November 27th, 2022 at 10:58 AM ^
Lost in a 3 TD day is that JJ still completed only 50% of his passes. The long ball connecting REALLY changes this dynamic. And it's not like he was routinely hitting NFL windows: guys were wide, wide open.
That's a credit to the WRs and the coached, and definitely kudos to JJ for pulling the trigger. But this wasn't a "pick them apart" kind of performance.
If there's any tarnish on this game, it's that: one more day of 50% completions...which somehow bombed OSU's defense off the field.
I think that something about JJ breaks Brian's DSR calculation.
Interestingly enough, last night I rewatched the WolverineDevotee highlights of last year's OSU game, and saw a striking similarity: both Cade and JJ were their most decisive EVER vs OSU. It really looked like they both made quick decisions and had quick triggers.
November 27th, 2022 at 11:14 AM ^
Two counterpoints:
1) Was very obvious that he was amped up and had a ton of adrenaline in the first quarter. He was missing long a lot early. After the first quarter I think his stats were pretty solid completion percentage wise.
2) That was a don't bunt hit dingers gameplan, so there were fewer high percentage passes to start with.
November 27th, 2022 at 1:53 PM ^
JJ himself said he was “amped up” in the first quarter.
November 27th, 2022 at 5:37 PM ^
He only had 24 attempts so it is hard to put a lot on that 50% completion. 2 of his incompletions were batted down. One was an arm punt on 3rd and long. He also had one where he was flushed out to the right sideline and got rid of it while going out of bounds. And he drew 2 PIs which he doesn’t get credit for in the stats. I think he did great.
November 27th, 2022 at 11:11 AM ^
You can see how open Wilson is on CJ's first TD here.
November 27th, 2022 at 11:17 AM ^
I think somewhere in the back of my mind it bothered me how Roman had nobody to block on that play. Like intellectually my brain didn't process it as a thing that should happen.
Now it makes sense.
That zero coverage nonsense was insane. What on earth.
November 27th, 2022 at 12:39 PM ^
Sweet sassy molassey. Great TD by CornJohn, but maybe give that a look next time.
November 27th, 2022 at 1:54 PM ^
HOLY COW! Yeah. He was really open.
November 27th, 2022 at 11:29 AM ^
I thought the same thing...Illinois was basically OSU prep a week early.
November 27th, 2022 at 5:39 PM ^
Alex totally drew up the successful gameplan in his FFF summary. Crazy to think that not one of those tv experts on ESPN or fox pregame gave the same analysis as Alex did. Great job, Alex
November 27th, 2022 at 8:26 PM ^
Seth guaranteed the win, Brian picked OSU. Don’t forget that.