SI: Anonymous Coaches' on the Top 20
Intro
- Here's a link to the article.
- Just to note: the top 20 is based on a previous SI ranking, which placed Michigan at 15.
- The previous ranking was covered on MGoBlog here.
Summary
- From the article, here's what they had to say about Michigan:
There's no question that they are great on defense, where they have everybody back. The Wolverines play tight man-to-man coverage most of the time. You’re going to have to be extremely accurate [on offense]. To beat them you have to find windows, but they are very, very small windows. You get the ball underneath. You get some space between some of those defenders [such as 6'5" junior defensive tackle Rashan Gary and 5'11" junior linebacker Devin Bush] on your slots, and you make plays that way. They’re going to give you a lot of looks. They’re going to get you [at the line of scrimmage]. But you can take advantage of some of that to get some positive runs. When you look at them on paper you think, Man, how are we going to run the ball on these guys? ...
It’s kind of scary, really, that they have 6'2" junior quarterback Shea Patterson. They were already a great football team, and they’re going to be a lot better. I came to a staff that recruited [Patterson], and I know all about him. The bottom line is, he’s a special player, for sure, and he’ll make them a different football team.
- There were some interesting takes. For Penn State, a coach thought that Gesicki was harder to replace than Barkley and that the DL isn't super-talented, though it's 'physical.' For Michigan State, a coach though that they're defense and secondary will be good, though there was no mention of Scott's injury, which makes me think that wasn't factored in. A coach didn't Ohio State's Haskins is as good as Barrett. Reading between the lines about ND, a coach wasn't too enthused, calling them a team with 'sneaky upside.'
Some Thoughts
Boy, that is some high praise for Patterson. Let's hope that guy knows what he's talking about. And I really liked that description of the defense. It seems to align with what we've seen over the years: difficult, inch-perfect throws mixed in with an occasionally overzealous pass rush and fatigue is how you get points.
I don't know about Haskins. He looked good to me, and his less-conservative attitude scares me a bit more against a Michigan defense against which you need to take some risks to score. I'm less concerned about ND because Michigan's experienced defense is designed for running quarterbacks, and no matter how much Wimbush has improved, I don't think he becomes Hornibrook-accurate. I think Penn State's DL will get much more athletic due to their recruiting, though it will probably take another season for that athleticism to materialize.
Thanks for sharing - fairly interesting read though not hugely revealing. I was sort of surprised to see Arizona in the top 20. I get Khalil Tate and all that but they were 7-6, lost the Foster Farms bowl, had a standard crap RichRod defense and have a new coach. Maybe I'm missing something....
August 9th, 2018 at 10:00 AM ^
I would've replaced them with Northwestern or even Purdue.
August 9th, 2018 at 10:06 AM ^
The new coach is Kevin Sumlin who did some really interesting things the last time he had a capable dual threat Quarterback. Realistically, I think most of Arizona's ranking comes from Tate and how dangerous he is. In a PAC-12 South without a dominant team, it's enough to make some noise, kind of like when Denard was here.
August 9th, 2018 at 10:11 AM ^
I think a lot of it's based on schedule. That division isn't top-heavy, they get USC at home, and they don't play Washington. They should be able to outscore a lot of teams and maybe go 9-3.
I don't think it's obvious that Purdue takes another big step forward this season. Their defense was their strength last year, and they lost a lot of those players. Looking at the schedule I think the reasonable ceiling is 7-5.
August 9th, 2018 at 10:00 AM ^
Waiting for September 1 to arrive has been brutal and continues to be!
August 9th, 2018 at 10:09 AM ^
I can't remember a time where the Big Ten was this good from top to bottom. OSU/PSU/Wisconsin/MSU/Michigan you toss in Iowa/NW and improved teams in Nebraska/Purdue/Maryland and you have a bloodbath.
August 9th, 2018 at 10:18 AM ^
Agree. This is why it's a big year for UM because it will be very easy to fall behind with this much competition. As we've witnessed over the past decade it's extremely hard to get back on top once you fall off.
August 9th, 2018 at 10:19 AM ^
I think Purdue is a team to be concerned about in the near future....Good coach and very good recruiting as of late.
August 9th, 2018 at 10:28 AM ^
I tend to agree, however, with the coaching-carousel the last few years if Brohm proves he's good I think it will be difficult to keep him from getting poached by a bigger program. I'm definitely interested to see how they do the next couple years.
August 9th, 2018 at 10:31 AM ^
You are absolutely correct. Same could be said with Nebraska and Scott Frost in my opinion. I know he is an alum but money talks.
August 9th, 2018 at 10:58 AM ^
If Frost proves good enough to return Nebraska to the elite, he won't go anywhere. He'll own that entire state like Harbaugh owns Ann Arbor - there is literally nothing else in Nebraska to root for. Unless they have corn growing races between farmers. I dunno. They might.
An elite-ish Nebraska is in the college football blue-blood conversation, and would have plenty of money to keep a homegrown native son...
August 9th, 2018 at 11:09 AM ^
Completely agree. I live in Omaha and everyone is expecting Nebraska to surprise the CFB world this year with the "unstoppable Scott Frost offense and greatly improved defense". He's already been anointed, so if he does reasonably well he's going to be the king around here and they'll pay him whatever he wants. If he leaves he'll be shunned harder than any coach in history.
August 9th, 2018 at 11:48 AM ^
True, but Lane Kiffin set a pretty high bar for fan hatred
August 9th, 2018 at 11:12 AM ^
You may be correct....If Nebraska were still in the Big 12. They have too much competition in the B10 now. The B10 top to bottom is a much stronger league. The Big 12 only had UT an Oklahoma. He may be King there...I just feel is much harder to win. If offered another high profile job in say the Pac 10.....its just more appealing.
August 9th, 2018 at 11:52 AM ^
The questions wasn't "will be have success?" Who knows the answer to that. The question was "if he has success, will he get poached by a bigger program" and that's what the posters above are saying won't happen. If Brohm has success, some bigger name program might poach him, but if Frost does, Nebraska will pay out their ass for him and he'll have celebrity status in Nebraska unlike anywhere else.
100% this. It isn't 1995 anymore. Nebraska's recruiting outside of the state and their development of their in-state line is no longer cutting edge. They were 5+ years ahead of EVERYONE in strength and development in the Osborne era. They aren't anymore. Combine that with a more difficult league and the days of going 10-2 or better every year are over. Add to that fact is that Frost won at the best non-Power 5 job in college football. It's not like Central Florida had sucked for a decade and he turned it around. 5th year seniors in that program went to TWO New Years Six bowl games in their careers (O'Leary and Frost) sandwiched around an 0-12 shitburger.
The other team like this is Tennessee. That job might not rank in the top half of SEC jobs right now and they were a top 5-8 program in the 1990s.
August 9th, 2018 at 11:13 AM ^
Unless they have corn growing races between farmers. I dunno. They might.
Until you've experienced it, you don't know the rush you get from coming out into the fields and finding out the stalk grew 1/8 inch taller...
August 9th, 2018 at 11:28 AM ^
Oh, I know the rush of finding out my stalk grew 1/8 inch taller....
August 9th, 2018 at 12:32 PM ^
Nebraska has the money to keep him. They've certainly had some lean years, but that's still a fervent, fiercely loyal, and extremely large fanbase (almost inexplicably so for a state that sparsely populated) that wants nothing more than to see it's football team succeed again. They will pony up for him if push comes to shove, so if Frost ever leaves it will never be about the money. And as someone above me said, what else does Nebraska really have? Every other sport at that school is playing for a very distant second place. Frost has and will always have everyone's undying attention at that school.
Nebraska has everything it needs to get back to blueblood status. And if they get back there, they're in the playoff discussion. Not this year, probably not next year. But by year three, I think Frost will have that program in the playoff discussion.
Sounds like a coach I’m familiar with.
They are as long as Brohm stays. And if he continues to improve at Purdue over the next year or two, it won't be shocking to see him leave for the SEC or ND if they decide they're ready to move on from Brian Kelly.
I think Purdue will be good with Brohm there, but he's not staying long-term.
August 9th, 2018 at 10:30 AM ^
You mean preseason or when the season was over? It's not that uncommon for teams with a lot of hype to crash and burn. No one expected Staee to be bad in 2016. Michigan had decent hype going into last season (I think we were ranked in the top 15). There are always surprises.
August 9th, 2018 at 10:17 AM ^
With a number of questions on many teams offenses this year (ours included) I think we are set up nice with our Defense. PSU has too many positions to replace ( WR, 2 OL, RB & TE) MSU has 2 OL and young WR group, like us. OSU has a new QB, TE, 2 OL .....I think with our Defense, it allows us to be in every single game this year. We were in every game last year other than PSU. I think with Patterson and players a year older, will put us over the hump.
Absolutely, a defense of this caliber immediately puts us in playoff contention with just a mediocre offense. "God willing and the creek don't rise..."
August 9th, 2018 at 10:35 AM ^
I may eat my words but would rather face Haskins than Barrett. Dual Threat guys have just wrecked us over the years. I always wished Michigan had a dual threat guy. It just seems like college football has shifted that way with spread offenses. It seems like almost all the elite teams have someone that could hurt you with their legs as well as their arm.
August 9th, 2018 at 10:43 AM ^
We tried going that way with Forcier (Good Grief) D. Robinson, Devin Gardner....Just didn't seem to fit the mold of what Michigan had personnel wise. If you look at our QBs now (Patterson, McCaffery, Milton) they are all athletic. May not be listed as Dual threat....But if unchecked....could hurt you with their feet.
August 9th, 2018 at 10:56 AM ^
I stand by my word that if Barrett hadn't gotten injured the The Game this past season, Michigan wins
August 9th, 2018 at 11:05 AM ^
I'm way more worried about Haskins, because he can throw. With a guy like Barrett, if you shut down his running (which, granted, was incredibly hard to do), that was all she wrote. See their losses to Clemson, MSU, and the past couple games against us (where an even slightly competent offense would have won both, probably handily).
It's actually funny, I'd say that the best QB Urban has had at OSU has been Cardale, and the fact that he was third string and only reluctantly played after everyone else got hurt summarizes the argument that while Urban is an elite recruiter (you could argue even better than Saban), defenses have adjusted to his system and he hasn't adjusted in turn. Cardale, unlike Barrett and Miller, actually had the arm to punish the few teams that could stop their rushing attack, as that Bama game demonstrated, and it's that potential ability that scares me about Haskins.
August 9th, 2018 at 12:47 PM ^
Really? I'd take facing Barrett over Haskins all day. Haskins could make the throws that Barrett couldn't.
OSU already had an abundance of guys who could run with the ball, so Barrett didn't add a whole lot of additional value (in my eyes) in that department. But what OSU's offense has been lacking since Meyer arrived is a QB who could consistently throw the ball, and throw it accurately. Because of that, they've never had any great WRs during Meyer's tenure, aside from Michael Thomas and MAYBE Devin Smith. Most of OSU's WRs over the last 6 years have been kind of meh. Not bad by any stretch, but not the superstars you'd expect a guy like Meyer to churn out.
They've already got more than enough athletes to hand the ball off to. If I'm OSU, I'm more than happy to have a QB who might be slightly less athletic but MUCH more accurate. The ceiling for OSU's offense goes even higher. Haskins definitely isn't as good an athlete as Miller was, probably not as good as what Barrett was. But he doesn't have to be. And I think he could be an even more dangerous QB than either of them.
Meyer's system relies on a running QB. He tried going pro style with John Brantley and it led to an 8-5 season, his last at Florida. While he caught lightning in a bottle with Cardale in the playoffs, the following year teams adjusted and OSU's offense disappointed in 2015 until Barrett took the reins again. So yeah, I'd rather face a guy who is less of a threat to run when it comes to facing an Urban Meyer team.
I agree with this. I think his offense sputters with a pure dropback QB. Though I'm not sure Haskins is quite that.
Another cause for concern is that Zach Smith will no longer be coaching receivers. This should improve OSU's passing game markedly.
August 9th, 2018 at 10:44 AM ^
A lot of this reads more like standard talking points than actual insight. I think MSU is the prime example of that, which described the offense as "ball-control" and talked mostly about the RBs, despite the fact that they were poor last year at running with the RBs, and relied heavily on Lewerke to make plays with his feet or arm. Likewise, they talk about Dowell, who put up big INT numbers, but was probably the weakness of their secondary. Better deep insight would focus more on the reality than the talking points.
And that sort of thing is dribbled throughout the article, including Michigan. "Patterson had recruiting hype...", "defense is tight man", etc. That's fine, there is truth in the stereotypes typically, but these are the standard talking points for each team, not much in the way of insight.
August 9th, 2018 at 10:53 AM ^
Yeah, I think reporters are scraping the bottom of the barrel right now for any relevant college football articles. Everyone is chomping at the bit for some real football at this time of year.....
August 9th, 2018 at 10:45 AM ^
Play a Game.
August 9th, 2018 at 11:13 AM ^
Just win.
August 9th, 2018 at 11:19 AM ^
He said Haskins wasn't as good a runner as Barrett but isn't a liability.
August 9th, 2018 at 12:09 PM ^
I'm just excited to see what our defense can do to a basically brand new OL at ND. I'm hopeful that ND struggles to get past midfield on offense alone (which wouldn't count special teams or TO's by our offense).