TCU Snowflakes: The Defense
December 31st, 2022 at 8:44 PM ^
And the refs took one.
January 1st, 2023 at 5:13 PM ^
Man, showing your class all over the place today.
December 31st, 2022 at 8:44 PM ^
They turned TCU over 3 times, which is very solid. But, they gave up 488 yards. It didn't feel like the defense was as aggressive as usual (a byproduct of "contain" on Duggan?). They weren't firing off the line as we usually see them do, and couldn't hold up in short yardage. Red zone defense did not come up big, either. The tackling was pretty yikes. If you would've told me one of the teams rushed for 263 yards, at 6.4 YPC, I would've been like, yep, Michigan does that just about every game. But, it was TCU going for 263 on the ground, and their best RB exited early with a leg injury.
There was some stupid stuff, too, like Mazi falling down. Upshaw jumping offside on a 3rd and 7, and Duggan using the free play confusion to get them rolling. Crucial missed tackles by Rod Moore and DJ Turner. Guys seemed to continually mis-time blitzes so they didn't have good momentum off the edge.
It was an uncharacteristic game for the defense. Credit to TCU, I guess. And also to the UM offense not grinding clock and keeping the defense fresh like usual. Whatever the reason, our defense could have played better.
December 31st, 2022 at 8:46 PM ^
Don Brown consulted didn’t he?
December 31st, 2022 at 8:55 PM ^
Winter did not come.
That said I thought TSU would score low to mid 30s as they have a big play offense. Their QB was horrid vs expectation but they had 2 pick six and a good PR. We were owned on the LOS both offensively and defensively.. I am fine with Minter - this was 1 game he did not do well but 14 pts were pick 6s.
January 1st, 2023 at 2:26 AM ^
Given that 17 points weren’t on the defense at all (3 and out for a FG included), then your expectation was just about right.
January 1st, 2023 at 5:07 PM ^
MINTER is a good coach and I hope he stays. There will be some departure. I figure one of Moore or Weiss.. and a defensive coach, will move on for bigger things. Wish that Poggi hadn't left. Something tells me the crazy calls wouldn't have happened if still here.
December 31st, 2022 at 8:58 PM ^
What's the over / under on shits n fucks tomorrow?
December 31st, 2022 at 8:58 PM ^
Our D line was manhandle and when we tried to blitz we got burned often. Defensive coach get an F----
December 31st, 2022 at 8:58 PM ^
We got owned on the defense and couldn't really make a stop that mattered until late. Sure, the offense wasn't good initially; but, you have to have good complementary football and the defensive side never really did enough. They couldn't stop their run and, while they contained Duggan, their inability to pressure the running back game was an issue all game long. It seemed like we would have been better off running a 3-3-5 compared to what we ran today . . . and when we did back off a bit and kept it in front of us, we had some success. Otherwise, we got owned by them.
December 31st, 2022 at 9:09 PM ^
That’s backwards. Defense only gave up 14 points in the 1st half. We should have had the lead if not for the offense. It was the 2nd half that Minter had his worst stretch at the program. Up until this point, he was a master at 2nd half adjustments.
December 31st, 2022 at 8:59 PM ^
Only 34 of those points were on the defense, but that's still much more than we should give up to TCU. It was an awful, sloppy, Ohio State-like performance.
December 31st, 2022 at 9:05 PM ^
I thought the defense was doing great until we decided to send our LB’s on blitzes repeatedly, which is exactly how we beat OSU on those big plays.
I hope this is the type of game that grinds at Harbaugh and makes his coaching staff get better. We gave this game away. Point blank.
December 31st, 2022 at 9:08 PM ^
Other than those 5 plays, we would have won 😬
January 1st, 2023 at 5:45 PM ^
One. PIck any one of those plays to flip and Michigan wins.
December 31st, 2022 at 9:09 PM ^
What happened to TCU having a shitty o-line?
December 31st, 2022 at 9:09 PM ^
You better develop some real pass rush defensive ends in the off season. If you can't get pressure this is always going to happen and there would be a drop off from Aiden and David but my God this drop off was bad for a supposed top 10 program level
January 1st, 2023 at 9:03 AM ^
It’s amazing that Michigan was even able to reach the CFP and hold every team under 30 including and especially holding Ohio State to 23 pts in Columbus prior to yesterday considering this was always going to happen for a so called Top 10 program. That’s the same Ohio State, btw, that just dropped 41 on Georgia and were a Jake Moody away from making it 44.
And totally. It’s absolutely embarrassing that Michigan loss two elite talents who were coming off the best and 4th best sack seasons in school history and could only muster up 19.5 sacks from their DEs this year compared to the 26 they got last year. It was bound to cost them. Fake elite program.
One of the nicer things that going 13-0 leading up to yesterday was that it made me forget how ridiculous this board is after a loss. I mean it’s bad even after many wins, but my God the drop off after a loss is bad.
And for the record, do I think there’s room for growth for a position group that includes a borderline Top 100 kid who was essentially seeing his first significant action after a bad injury from years past, a Top 100 true freshman, and a former 5* who arrived here two weeks before the season began? Yeah, I do. And I can promise you that Ben Herbert does as well and will use yesterday’s disappointment to fuel that.
December 31st, 2022 at 9:10 PM ^
It's not even the fact that Minter absolutely shit the bed today, it's the fact that those designed safety blitzes were choreographed so much that even my wife noticed they were sending the blitz 3 seconds before the ball was snapped.
Fuck.
January 1st, 2023 at 2:27 PM ^
On the other hand, it was pretty obvious which LB TCU was sending and we didn't pick them up. Hard to fathom with a month to prepare. (Too many backups playing on offense.)
December 31st, 2022 at 9:14 PM ^
Baffled by some of the cover zero errors, bad run fits and poor tackling. Just seemed like the defense lost their confidence when the offense couldn’t produce in the first half and played from behind.
Good news is the defense will be even better next year, but wow they laid an egg tonight.
December 31st, 2022 at 9:18 PM ^
We seemed to do TCU a lot of favors today. Outside of the zero blitzes, we suddenly had a lot of difficulty defending runs up the middle. They regularly gashed us for 8 yards tonight.
December 31st, 2022 at 9:23 PM ^
Michigan played light in the box, blitzed from the outside and got gashed up the middle. Rough day for minter as he seemed to panic
December 31st, 2022 at 9:31 PM ^
Minter had been so good and just… however, the offense spotting TCU 14 points was the difference.
December 31st, 2022 at 9:31 PM ^
Blitzing a mobile QB is not a good idea
December 31st, 2022 at 9:33 PM ^
B1G offenses suck
December 31st, 2022 at 9:42 PM ^
My take: we were bad, but the offense could not take advantage of the stops the defense created to get us a lead. Complementary shittiness I guess.
December 31st, 2022 at 9:48 PM ^
Was there any to even comment on?
December 31st, 2022 at 9:56 PM ^
Big game fuck up like usual.
December 31st, 2022 at 10:51 PM ^
Made it hard on Duggan but missed tackles were huge, gave up 37 to their actual offense. Disappointing was enough to win give our offensive output.
December 31st, 2022 at 10:51 PM ^
Maybe not blitz a god damn safety in that situation
January 1st, 2023 at 12:11 AM ^
Offense, defense, coaching, meh, it was all poop stacked on top of poop, smothered and layered in poop. Basically Harbs has become Bo: win the B1G, then shit his pants in the bowl game ..but that seems to be good enough for many folks🤷♂️
January 1st, 2023 at 3:15 PM ^
Its the Michigan way except with Mueller who still was going 8 4 on a regular. Can't blame Harbaugh its the program. Always loses our bowl game. Always loses a shootout. Please stop complaining and enjoy the process. We have never been an elite program despite what a lot of yall think. TcU have had more success than we have since 2010 so they were due. Can't ride Minter all season and shit on him for one bad game despite being the big one. We need a new LB coach though, they been terrible all year. We need some big fast LBs for the middle. Stop underestimating ur opposition and stop listening to the radio guys, they have no clue on game play speed.
January 1st, 2023 at 12:40 AM ^
Let’s just never blitz safeties against teams who are utterly dependent on big plays ok?
January 1st, 2023 at 12:41 AM ^
Will Johnson, Mason Graham. Where the fuck were they
January 1st, 2023 at 1:57 AM ^
January 1st, 2023 at 8:56 AM ^
It wasn't a criticism. I'm asking if they were hurt. After seeing Johnson early, they stopped putting him on tcu's top guy.. the only time I saw Graham was when he leveled the kick returner.
So I'm asking because I legit thought they were injured
January 1st, 2023 at 1:01 AM ^
There's a word in the title of this thread that probably shouldn't be there. It implies something was present during the game when it clearly wasn't.
January 1st, 2023 at 12:13 PM ^
Minter definitely screwed up, and TCU went after whoever Johnson wasn't covering. Pretty bad indictment of DJ Turner when TCU would rather throw at you then a true freshman. Goes to show that having speed at CB doesn't mean a whole lot....Turner has his moments but he certainly has been beaten or missed big tackles more often than not. And what exactly happened to this rush defense going back to Illinois?? OSU was gashing Michigan running the ball as well, but thankfully Ryan Day is pass happy or that might've been a tighter game. Idk if Michigan just didn't respect TCUs run game or what, but especially that 2nd and 8 on TCUs last possession and you give up 7 yards up the middle? That was the game right there. Targeting or not, Michigan wasn't scoring with no timeouts and a Harbaugh led 2 minute drill. Downvote me all you want, but Harbaughs 2 minute offenses are atrocious.
January 1st, 2023 at 1:34 PM ^
13-0 beat MSU OSU and won the Big Ten title I hope everybody enjoyed it just like 1997 when they were 12-0 because those seasons don’t come up very often, because all the talk we’ll be back is just talk they had a huge opportunity yesterday and came up small in a lot of areas.
January 1st, 2023 at 2:11 PM ^
Ya after a few days/weeks most Michigan fans will be overall happy with the season, but still you have to be frustrated because i'm not sure Michigan will get an easier semifinal opponent. And frankly, Michigan could've beaten Georgia or OSU in the title game. No team this year is dominant. I don't know if Michigan will get a better chance to win it all honestly. With Harbaugh's bowl history, and the fact that in a 8 team playoff idk if Michigan is capable of winning multiple bowl games in a season. It sounds silly to say, and i'm not trying to slight TCU, but does anybody here really think we would've still been in the game if we made those mistakes against OSU or Georgia yesterday? Personally I think they both destroy us with all the mistakes we made. Yes I know TCU turned it over as well, but TCU didn't come up with 0 points at the goal line twice, or throw 2 pick 6s. TCU needed ALL of those things to happen AND uncharacteristic defense to win.
January 1st, 2023 at 2:52 PM ^
I totally agree with you. And I hope people see why we were only letting JJ throw it about 20 times a game because he is a game manager not a big time QB. I know a lot will disagree but the proof is there.
January 1st, 2023 at 4:47 PM ^
Can't agree with you there man. JJ threw it only 20 times a game because thats their offense. Are you trying to tell me that JJs performance against OSU/Purdue/TCU was nothing more than game manager stuff? Michigan basically abandoned the run in the 3rd quarter and Michigan's offense was on fire. Yes, JJ made 2 huge mistakes, its his first year starting.....I'll say it right now I don't think Michigan has ever had this combination of running and passing abilities. Please dont say Denard, who I used to call Woopsie because of the amount of fumbles/interceptions he had. I'm not sure what you expect out of a true Sophomore that played sparingly as a freshman and who's only 19. Dude he outplayed Stroud and then outplays the Heisman runner up. Oh and with recievers who routinely couldn't get open or catch passes. Ronnie Bell is the only one who might catch on NFL wise. This isn't Chad Henne days with Braylon, Avant, and Breaston 3 NFL recievers.
January 1st, 2023 at 5:34 PM ^
Almost threw a 3rd pick 6, fumbled snap, wrong reads on RPO’s and throws he’s a gunslinger they make a lot of mistakes so we’ll agree to disagree, he didn’t outplay the Heisman runner-up TCU won the game Max threw zero pick 6’s and Max brought his team back multiple games threw the season and didn’t need to do more in this one thanks to gifted pick 6’s, the one we needed JJ to bring us back he couldn’t do it sorry
January 1st, 2023 at 5:43 PM ^
I thought if he had looped the ball, he may have avoided both of the pick-6s. JJ was throwing on a rope. Flat, and fast. The balls simply stuck to the TCU defenders' hands.
January 1st, 2023 at 7:22 PM ^
Max Duggan 14-29 225yds 2td 2int
JJ Mccarthy 30-42 343yds 2td 2int
I understand that JJs were pick 6s and of course they hurt. We can agree to disagree....One is an upperclassmen that finished Heisman runner up, and the other is a true Sophomore that never was put into an abandon the run throw it every down type game. Against an unfamiliar team running an unfamiliar scheme. Credit TCU they were able to confuse JJ at times, these are things to be expected of a young QB. You can't single out the 2 pick 6s but then give him no credit for keeping Michigan in the game. Cuz it certainly wasn't the defense or the running game keeping us in it. I'd like to know what these wrong reads were on RPOs cuz guess what, Stetson Bennett had a huge blunder in the beginning of the Georgia game. He kept the ball for a minimal gain and the RB would've scored. Thats a NC title winning QB making a bad RPO read. And you're probably talking about goal line stuff. The fumbled snap Kalel Mullings took responsibility for, unless you're talking about the end of the game when JJs looking at the sidelines and the ball was snapped. JJ also out rushed Duggan, sorry I wasnt impressed with him...He had 150 yards passing if you take away that ridiculous all out blitz where Johnston caught a 5 yard out and ran 75 yards. JJ "Couldnt do it" in your words because everytime he closed the gap, the defense was an absolute joke. How do you not see that? And it was from running the ball, with their backup RB I might add. Michigan scores 45 points despite the blunders they should win the game. Against ANYONE, with the way the defense played all year. If I told you before the game Michigan scores 45pts but loses, you would automatically say JJ was the reason why? No, the defense didn't show up. TCU has a good offense but are they better than OSU offensively? Hell no they're not.
January 2nd, 2023 at 12:15 AM ^
Bottom line one quarterback moves on and one thinks about the 2 pick 6’s and turnovers I agree the defense didn’t play well but college football now is scoring even Saban has acknowledged that, but your percentages of winning when your QB throws 2 pick 6’s are what almost zero, and should Max win the NC nobody cares that JJ threw for more yards they’ll still talk about the 2 pick 6’s that he threw, plus money downs as coaches call them 3rd and 4th down Michigan was 3 for 15 TCU 8 for 16 and your bringing Bennett into the convo he brought his team back and won yes won and is playing for another NC
January 2nd, 2023 at 10:26 AM ^
Ya i'm making a point that the future is bright for JJ and this team, and brought up Bennett only to convey that even NC QBs can make a wrong read. Don't give me this college teams score more now baloney...Michigan's defense held the best offense in the country(OSU) to 3 2nd half points. They either completely underestimated TCU, or Minter let them down..Probably a combo of both. Thats why Michigan lost. You feel it was JJs fault they lost. How many times was TCU in 3rd or 4th and short dude? Michigan was in 3rd and 8 or more so many times. Again according to you this is all JJ's fault. JJ didn't bring his team back because his defense failed him. Bottom line. Despite the 2 pick 6s, despite all the silly goal line plays and the embarrassing defense, Michigan was down 41-38 and all they had to do was cover a 5 yard out pattern. Not only could they not stop the first down, they gave up a 75 yard TD. Oh by the way what did Stetson Bennett have to do with Ruggles missing a 50 yard kick? That was like Moody missing from that distance. Bennett and Georgia scored too fast and it should've cost them the game.
January 2nd, 2023 at 11:31 AM ^
I agree the future is bright with JJ, but Bennett didn’t score to quick they won, don’t use what ifs, if I would have hit the lottery I’d be a millionaire, Bennett scored and gave them a chance and they won, our last drive basically a 4 and out, no chance at all. Obviously though by Bennett scoring it did but pressure on the kicker did you see the kick?