Spath report on offense: There is a disconnect on gameday

Submitted by Wolverine Devotee on September 11th, 2019 at 11:00 AM

Link to full article

https://mavensports.io/michigan/api/amp/michigan/football/michigan-football-insiders-there-is-a-disconnect-on-game-days-ZqQHJBnP8kGrencxBowAzA/?__twitter_impression=true

On the offense so far: "I saw enough in the spring and in fall practices to know that what they wanted to be and what they have been are two very different things. And it's incredibly concerning. I think a lot of our fears about 'control' are coming to fruition. All the offseason talk about this being Josh Gattis' offense has thus far been talk. Jim's fingerprints are all over this. There's no aggressiveness. Certainly no speed in space. This is a ball-control, heavy reliance on the running game, limit mistakes, win-with-defense approach. That's how they went into the Ohio State game last year, and we know how that turned out.

"They're doing it out of different formations, out of a shotgun, no-huddle, and with zone reads instead of power, but it's still a run-first, conservative mentality.

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theyellowdart

September 11th, 2019 at 11:02 AM ^

A friendly disclaimer:

Michael Spath doesn't know jack shit and has no current connections to the program.   I'd take anything he says with an extremely high level of skepticism. 

Joined: 09/03/2008

MGoPoints: 1570

jblaze

September 11th, 2019 at 11:08 AM ^

This is correct. I met Spath a few years ago at one of Harbaugh's travelling coaches clinics. He's a super nice dude and I enjoyed chatting with him, but when he want to talk to the coaches, they ignored him. 

He's a good writer and dude, but has (unless it's on the DL) no connections to the team.

Joined: 08/29/2008

MGoPoints: 19353

MichiganTeacher

September 11th, 2019 at 12:01 PM ^

I mean, how would you know that he has no connections to the team?

I'm not saying Spath is great or that he does have connections to the team.

But I am saying that Sam Webb only says what the AD wants him to say, and maybe the coaches don't like Spath and ignore him because he tells the whole truth.

Maybe? I don't know. But it seems like a possibility to me.

Joined: 10/06/2011

MGoPoints: 9263

MGoStrength

September 11th, 2019 at 12:41 PM ^

It's possible, but more than likely he tends to take a skeptical, negative, I'll believe it when I see it approach to UM football.  He tends to focus more on the negative than the positive.  In some ways, it's hard to blame him based on the last 15 years of UM football.  There is probably some truth to what he's saying, but he's usually assuming the worse.  He has no idea if it's JH or Gattis making the play calls.  He knows it was a discussion point and he knows last week in the second half it was very conservative and run heavy.  From there he is simply extrapolating and assuming the worst.  He's not considering the version that Gattis gave in his presser is also possible... that Shea didn't keep it very often, but that it was Gattis' decision to run the ball and control the clock.  Now, that still warrants if Gattis is being too conservative, but that still remains to be seen.  But, Spath is not giving anyone the benefit of the doubt.  He's immediately calling for the worst case.

Joined: 07/29/2010

MGoPoints: 20002

gmoney41

September 12th, 2019 at 11:34 AM ^

After the constant shit shows and talk talk talk, shouldn’t we all be skeptical. We don’t have to be negative but an I’ll believe it when I see it approach with cautious optimism is the way to go.  Everything in that article is spot on and it’s just repeating the same shit we are all thinking. 

Joined: 07/13/2009

MGoPoints: 3938

username03

September 11th, 2019 at 12:43 PM ^

You're trying to claim this dumb offense makes sense in the context of a particular game. I'm pointing out that they do this in every context, so that seems unlikely. Where you are being silly is pretending like you didn't know what I was talking about, although I suspect that's because you know your argument is bullshit.

Joined: 02/12/2016

MGoPoints: 14528

LDNfan

September 11th, 2019 at 1:39 PM ^

Not at all...

Its the fucking preseason and this guy is writing like a fanboi...not a single bit of that is insightful...just an emo rant.

The team won the game with a massive negative turnover margin and what certainly seems to be a banged up QB and two first year Tackles. And it was against a quality opponent. People are acting like this army team is Rutgers or something (they'd beat most teams in the B1G esp, if given a 3 TO advantage). This a team that was riding a major win streak all the way back to a similar loss to what ended up being the top offense in the country with a Heisman QB. So...maybe UM will end up being in the same boat as last years OU team. Army is unorthodox, disciplined and hard as nails on both sides of the ball. They deserve more respect IMO. 

I'm proud of what I saw from this team..they fought hard and got the job done. 

 

 

Joined: 09/28/2014

MGoPoints: 10443

AreYouNew

September 11th, 2019 at 1:16 PM ^

Well, no one with any "current connections" to the program will criticize anything (Sam Webb and Jamie Morris are both unlistenable), so I'd say proclaimed insider analysis is pretty worthless all the way around. All we can go by is what we see on Saturday, which in the case of the Army game, was ass.

 

 

Joined: 08/21/2019

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Red is Blue

September 11th, 2019 at 11:12 AM ^

I randomly happened to catch a bit of the Spath show the other day for the first time in months.  Spath was talking about how despite MI actually winning the game v. Army, it should be effectively counted as a loss.  His co-host/producer then hit him with, well if that is how we're counting things, does that make Harbaugh effectively 2-2 v. OSU, (ie, even though OSU won the game, MI outplayed/outschemed them in 2 out of 4).  Spath had no answer.

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