Washington Snowflakes: The Offense
September 12th, 2021 at 12:55 AM ^
Ok but it's not like other teams don't commit penalties. Michigan is going to get a drive extended by an opponent penalty most games.
September 11th, 2021 at 11:51 PM ^
Won by 21. No interceptions. Great win. Buckeyes lose.
September 12th, 2021 at 12:33 AM ^
I would hope we would have no interceptions after throwing the ball down field like 5 times. The bigger win in my book was NO fumbles. There were a shit ton of RB carries in this game and to not put a single football on the ground is pretty damn good. Yes, we do have a really good running attack. The passing game needs to catch up quickly if we are to beat Wisconsin, PSU and OSU.
September 11th, 2021 at 11:53 PM ^
No need to pass until you have to. Tonight they didn’t have to. Good win.
September 11th, 2021 at 11:53 PM ^
Losing Ronnie Bell will cost Michigan at least one game. The receivers are not great.
September 12th, 2021 at 12:36 AM ^
There’s no way all of these highly rated receivers are poor. Not again. I don’t know if it’s coaching, scheme, scheme and coaching but something is broken.
September 12th, 2021 at 4:05 AM ^
Johnson, Baldwin, Wilson, Henning, Sainristil are all great.
September 12th, 2021 at 11:55 AM ^
Every team in the B1G, save OSU, would kill for that WR room, even without Bell.
September 11th, 2021 at 11:54 PM ^
Smashing a pretty good defense into a fine paste and winning by 21 feels nice. I do not care one iota about the playcalling - you run plays to win and Michigan did so here. And yes, if Michigan runs into a team that can play better defense than UW and their two NFL corners they'll have to adjust, but right now I'll take a dominating win however UM gets it.
September 11th, 2021 at 11:54 PM ^
This WIN will cost Michigan wins in the future due to a total lack of QB and WR development.
September 11th, 2021 at 11:55 PM ^
We out gained montana
September 11th, 2021 at 11:56 PM ^
Washington had the best secondary Michigan will face this season by far. It’s funny that everyone wants a coordinator who will play to Michigan’s strengths and the other teams weakness. But when we do that, everyone is mad because we’re not modern.
Michigan beat a P5 team and scored over 30 on offense by just running it down their throats. They knew it was coming. They stacked the box. They had beefy defensive lineman. And Michigan still said we will ruin you. And they won. But Michigan didn’t throw for 500 yards so now everyone is mad.
You all would have been a lot more mad when they went away from the run, that was very successful mind you, to a passing attack that wasn’t successful and Michigan would have lost.
The game plan should always be to attack the weakness of the defense. That is what happened tonight. Michigan didn’t try to prove they could throw for 500 on the best secondary they’ll face. They took what they could. Cade is a good passer. No other team has DBs like Washington. I guarantee the passing offense will have over 200 yards in every other game. And 90% of the games it won’t matter because they won’t need it. The running game will carry them.
September 12th, 2021 at 12:14 AM ^
Oh come on. It’s one thing to respect a team’s cornerbacks. It’s another then to test hem virtually never. Imagine how much easier it would’ve been to run if M had occasionally attempted to stretch the field. We have receivers. You have to try to use them. We won’t run for 350 yards against Wisconsin. They will stack the line and crush us. Thank 44 yards passing is pathetic.
September 12th, 2021 at 12:21 AM ^
That’s what Washington thought too. Michigan won’t run for 350 on us. We’ll just stack the box and stop them. And yet here we are. You can be as mad as you want, but successful coaches utilize their playmakers.
It’s what the fan base here supposedly always wanted. Well here we are. Sounds like what the fan base really wants is a Heisman QB that passes for 400 yards every game. I guess we’ll see what happens with Wisconsin. Washington is a very good defense. Some would argue better than Wisconsin. I guess we’ll see.
September 12th, 2021 at 12:14 AM ^
Oh come on. It’s one thing to respect a team’s cornerbacks. It’s another then to test hem virtually never. Imagine how much easier it would’ve been to run if M had occasionally attempted to stretch the field. We have receivers. You have to try to use them. We won’t run for 350 yards against Wisconsin. They will stack the line and crush us. Thank 44 yards passing is pathetic.
September 12th, 2021 at 12:19 AM ^
Oh come on. It’s one thing to respect a team’s cornerbacks. It’s another then to test hem virtually never. Imagine how much easier it would’ve been to run if M had occasionally attempted to stretch the field. We have receivers. You have to try to use them. We won’t run for 350 yards against Wisconsin. They will stack the line and crush us. Thank 44 yards passing is pathetic.
September 12th, 2021 at 12:26 AM ^
This take is probably wrong, unfortunately. First, anytime you cannot even muster 50 yards of passing, there is very likely something wrong. Second, even if Washingon has good CBs, a team that is able to run like Michigan did tonight can manage some pass plays to a TE in the middle of the field, and/or ue motion to get a slot matched against the LB.
Either Michigan does not think they have the personnel to pass (which means losses against better teams), and/or JH just does not want to pass unless and until he runs into a team that can stop the run and Michigan is two scores down (which means Michigan will have very few real game reps when they have to call those pass plays).
September 12th, 2021 at 11:42 AM ^
Everyone who is arguing that we need to give McNamara an opportunity to develop is right. But it’s not like there aren’t opportunities in the next couple of weeks. What’s better, giving him opportunities to develop against a secondary that looks much more vulnerable, or doing your best to develop him against a secondary which may make us regret that, and really damage his confidence? I will withhold judgment until two weeks from today, but today I will enjoy victory over a team that was ranked coming into the season.
September 11th, 2021 at 11:57 PM ^
I’m hoping Vastardis is ok. Seems like it was a minor ding. Let’s hope at any rate.
September 12th, 2021 at 12:36 AM ^
Hope it's not his back again. As a guy with a history of back ISSUES, I know it's no fun dealing with those, every move you make with any part of your body hurts.
September 11th, 2021 at 11:57 PM ^
We must of spent all spring and fall practice only running the ball. We’re just now getting to the passing section of the playbook. That’s gotta be it, there must be some whacky reason why they don’t want to pass the ball I’m clearly not in denial.
September 11th, 2021 at 11:58 PM ^
The "They didn't throw the ball because they didn't have to!" takes are beyond stupid at this point. They didn't throw the ball because they're bad at it, and it's going to result in losses down the road.
September 12th, 2021 at 12:17 AM ^
Well, they threw the ball 55% of the time last year and struggled to run the ball and went 2-4. They've now matched that win total already.
Michigan isn't going undefeated this year but it's insane that people are super angry that they beat UW by 21 in a game they never trailed in because they didn't stop doing the thing that was working really well for the sake of some sense of "balance".
September 11th, 2021 at 11:58 PM ^
I’m not even sure how to explain feeling awful yet winning by 21 against a good team. Maybe it’s because I now have zero confidence we can throw the ball ten yards down the field. Coaches will say we didn’t need to throw but you have to show you can. Tonight we couldn’t and it wasn’t only because they had good corners. 8-4
September 11th, 2021 at 11:58 PM ^
Good performance from the O-Line. Hopefully Vastardis is back to healthy ASAP.
Really pancaked a defense that, by all accounts, is pretty competent. The pair of large Polynesian men in the middle, the tackle machine at the 2nd level, and the NFL talent in the secondary were all concerns. It was pretty clear the game plan was to have the UW front 7 needing to be scooped up off the ground with a spatula by the 4th qtr. That worked well even if we were all gritting our teeth for lack of a passing game. The minimal stuff tried in the passing game were some failed screens/bubbles that the WR blocking and overall timing looked poor--that's my only gripe. Haskins and Corum were both outstanding...again. Rushing for 340 yards per game and zero turnovers through 2 games while scoring 39 ppg (and being 2-0) is fine by me. Let's hope for a more balanced attack against teams that don't present as many problems in the secondary.
September 11th, 2021 at 11:59 PM ^
Fire HARBAUGH. He plays this joke style of football. It was like when we played Wisconsin a couple years ago. One of the most boring games I've ever watched. We were a fumble or one big play from Washington away from losing. Obviously at the end of the game they just had nothing left but he does this crap where he keeps teams in the game that shouldn't be in the game.
We can't beat a well rounded team, there is no way. I guarantee we will still have temp issues in the two minute drill and at the end of games just like always.
September 12th, 2021 at 12:09 AM ^
Jesus Christ dude, we just won 31-10. Shut up.
September 11th, 2021 at 11:59 PM ^
Most of you are idiots.
September 12th, 2021 at 12:25 AM ^
I wonder how many idiots up-voted your post. "Surely he must be talking about those guys."
September 12th, 2021 at 1:52 AM ^
I don’t know if half of us are half as idiotic as I should like; or if I like that less than half of us are half as idiotic as we deserve.
September 12th, 2021 at 12:00 AM ^
Anyone who understands line play well think it is plausible they have been so pass hesitant because Zinter has the club on his hand? Like is it really really hard to pass pro in that circumstance?
September 12th, 2021 at 12:01 AM ^
Happy we got the W! I’d be feeling better if those screens hadn’t got blown up by bad blocking. But that’s a legit defense we ultimately dominated.
September 12th, 2021 at 12:03 AM ^
The first half looked pretty ugly, but they did pay that off in the second half with a Peak Harbaugh running game. That second half run game was beautiful and we should appreciate having that ability.
I just hope they can build the throw game quickly enough to go to it with confidence when they need to later. They seemed to be afraid of the passing game again today.
September 12th, 2021 at 12:03 AM ^
A far cry from 27 carries for 27 yards
September 12th, 2021 at 12:04 AM ^
The offense was offensive, that Is not a recipe for success, especially with the talent on the side lines
September 12th, 2021 at 12:05 AM ^
Amazing running game. Wish we used play action. Hope we are not saving that for Sparty, or later. Great job by Oline, Corum and Haskins. Tremendous. Washington must be shocked we ran for over 340 yards against them. Washington has a good secondary. Cade managed the game. Wish we threw more, but happy with a big quality win over a desperate Washington team.
September 12th, 2021 at 12:06 AM ^
I feel seen
September 12th, 2021 at 12:07 AM ^
Cade McNamara handed the ball off good as fuck.
September 12th, 2021 at 12:29 AM ^
He did miss 1 handoff.
September 12th, 2021 at 12:10 AM ^
Anyone watch the OSU game? They gave up 269 yards to Oregon. Maybe Harbaugh’s onto something.
September 12th, 2021 at 8:52 AM ^
- Oregon also has the speed at the skill positions that most of the Big Ten doesn't have (except for maybe Michigan with Corum/Edwards)
- Orgeon also threw the ball 31 times, so had a balanced attack that kept Ohio State off balance
- Ohio State played strictly man coverage the entire game.
So yes, Oregon won the game by running the ball BUT did that in a balanced attack (31 pass attempts)
We are NOT beating Ohio state by passing only 11 times...
September 12th, 2021 at 10:44 AM ^
I don't think it's reasonable to expect Michigan will have the same game plan or play calling against every opponent. I think this will be the most run heavy game they play all year, but if your opponent can't stop what you're doing, ruthlessly exploiting it is exactly what I want to see Michigan do.
Michigan clearly wanted to lean on the run today, but I doubt they went into the game thinking they would run as much as they did.
Michigan played to their strength while avoiding Washington's strength. I'm into that. Props to the O-Line for putting on a clinic.
Ohio State ran man-to-man all day because Moorhead runs an RPO based offense. We'll see if Gattis turns up the RPOs at some point, but so far he hasn't needed to. When they play Ohio State, I'm going to guess they empty the playbook.
September 12th, 2021 at 12:11 AM ^
This was some old school Bill McCartney football - dominate line scrimmage, pound it, demoralize the defense. ‘I’m going to put my balls on your forehead and there’s nothing you can do about it.’
We have decent receivers, good enough, this wasn’t about confidence in the passing game.
September 12th, 2021 at 12:11 AM ^
This was some old school Bill McCartney football - dominate line scrimmage, pound it, demoralize the defense. ‘I’m going to put my balls on your forehead and there’s nothing you can do about it.’
We have decent receivers, good enough, this wasn’t about confidence in the passing game.
September 12th, 2021 at 12:11 AM ^
This was some old school Bill McCartney football - dominate line scrimmage, pound it, demoralize the defense. ‘I’m going to put my balls on your forehead and there’s nothing you can do about it.’
We have decent receivers, good enough, this wasn’t about confidence in the passing game.
September 12th, 2021 at 12:11 AM ^
Giles Jackson and Xavier Worthy going down? Priceless.
September 12th, 2021 at 12:12 AM ^
Not sure what JH is thinking, but even Bo's early 70s teams passed more that Michigan tonight. Great win. But this is not the kind of offense that can beat better teams.
Michigan needs to be way more balanced next week against NIU and thereafter. McNamara needs to read the D and make passing down decisions and throws in live games. Not going to run like that against Penn State, Wisconsin, or OSU.
September 12th, 2021 at 12:21 AM ^
I get it but… why pass when your run is unstoppable?
September 12th, 2021 at 12:33 AM ^
Because this is 2021 and you don't get to 10 wins with an offense that is below 50 passing yards per game. Because McNamara is inexperienced and he needs to read Ds on pass plays and make passes against live game competition early in the year so he can do it later against Wisconsin, MSU, Penn State and OSU.