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Love GM Hess.  Donovan…

Love GM Hess.  Donovan Edwards and Ladarius Henderson seem like the two to beat.  Cornelius going to be there too.  This is hilarious and awesome.

He got in for ~4 minutes in…

He got in for ~4 minutes in this game.  Looked fine, but he's not really broken into the rotation yet.  Perhaps he will this year!  But the rotation we do have going looked pretty great today.

The Clemson version of OSU…

The Clemson version of OSU is moreso the Spurrier South Carolina teams.  Dabo lost his first 5 against them as a full-year HC, before finally breaking through and not looking back.  Hopefully our trajectory is similar over the next few years!

Lol, this is a classic…

Lol, this is a classic strategy for rivals coping.  You see it with LeBron all the time.  They have to vacillate between two takes: 1) They suck and haven't done anything 2) They're so good if they don't win it all it's a disappointment.  It's a personal coping mechanism, to avoid having to admit their worst nightmare: a rival massively outperforming expectations, rising to the moment, a coach putting on a coach of the year-type year, etc.

Lol, this comment is gold:…

Lol, this comment is gold: https://247sports.com/college/michigan-state/board/93/Contents/Juwan-Howard-agrees-to-5-year-deal-to-be-UMs-next-hoops-coach-131993764/?page=66#M132644783

 

"No, they won't. Howard's not landing the #1 class in America next year, or the year after, or the year after that. What can Howard offer these kids that other cheating programs can't?"

 

You gotta imagine at the time he made that extremely concrete prediction, it seemed suuuuper safe.  Like what is the chance that Juwan actually lands a #1 class over Calipari, Coach K, Jay Wright, etc.  Then he comes in and does JUST THAT (while leading his 2nd team to a B1G title and the Sweet 16...)

What about Bediako though? ;)

What about Bediako though? ;)

Technically, we're 0.5 games…

Technically, we're 0.5 games up on Illinois, not 1.5 games.

He currently has the 2nd…

He currently has the 2nd best eFG% in the last 33 years of B1G basketball, and is JUST OFF from #1 all time (.6976 vs. 6937).  He's been bonkers good this year so far.

I don't understand.  Do…

I don't understand.  Do people have no concept of game script at all?  If our offense is struggling terribly and we look like we won't score more than 10 points (like MSU), then we may well hold them under 30 points.  Because they will try and bleed clock and secure the win (and likely their spot in the Big Ten Championship) by doing so.

On the other hand, if our offense is actually moving the ball and getting it in the end zone, then of course they'll continue hunting TDs and it's harder to keep them down.  MSU didn't deal with that.  They dealt with the former.  Unless you feel like Indiana and OSU have roughly equivalent quality offenses.

The Game is still far away, but clearly our offense needs to figure a whole lot out to get it into a situation where they FEEL like they have to keep scoring to win the game.  Hopefully we get it there, and then our defense does enough to pull off a home win.  But the nonsense "MSU held them to 34 and we can't hold them under 30!" thing is nuts.

Lol at people downvoting…

Lol at people downvoting THIS.  We beat a ranked team today and completely dominated them on D.  People calling for 6 wins are completely out of their goddamn mind.  9/10 wins by year end seems right.  Breaks go our way and who knows what could happen?

For 6 wins we'd need to lose…

For 6 wins we'd need to lose to either Illinois, Maryland, or Indiana.  Which of those do you see as an L?

100+ yard differential in…

100+ yard differential in Michigan's favor.  No more than 1 turnover.  Efficient days from the QB and run game.  Putting up 27+ points, and winning by 10+ points.  If all of this happens, I'll be excited for the chance to go into Happy Valley and get a monster road win there.

Did Army look like a team…

Did Army look like a team winning the Big 12, beating Texas, and going to the playoff during their Army game last year?  Come on, it's game 2.  Take a deep breath.  We'll learn a ton about this team in 2 weeks.

For a quick comparison point…

For a quick comparison point on Charbonnet's pass-blocking ability, let's get a comparison in here.

Check out his would-be counterpart in the backfield of this year's Michigan recruiting class, Eric Gray, at 20:56 of this clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5alLAo_enI&t=20m56s

Yikes.

59 - 13 Michigan.  Let's go!

59 - 13 Michigan.  Let's go!

I don't know that I agree it…

I don't know that I agree it's gotten weaker and weaker.  UNC, Nova, and Purdue all have some losses but UNC taking down Gonzaga and Nova blowing out UConn with wins against FSU, Ok St., Temple, St. Joe's.  For us, those 3 wins are probably a top 10, top 20, and top 30 win respectively.  Optimistically, that's probably where they end the season as well.

I 1000% agree.  And please,…

I 1000% agree.  And please, retire "sack time."  It doesn't even make sense in the context he uses it most of the time.  "And Uche gets sack time!"  What?  It's, not good.

Love Brandstatter, he's just fine on Inside, he's great as a rep of the University.  But he doesn't belong on the radio calls / game calls.

Brandon Watson has been…

Brandon Watson has been pretty outstanding too.  And I'm assuming you're just doing defense because Higdon and JBB are obviously going to be big losses.

It's a great senior class that has led this team incredibly well, but if all we lost were seniors we'd probably be preseason ranked top 3.  Unfortunately, our non-seniors are so incredible that many of them will be lost to the NFL early as well.  Gary and Bush are no-doubters, Hill / Long / Khaleke will all have decisions.  On offense, Shea / Gentry with a decision.  We should have replacements in line for Perry.  It's going to be a very active mgoblog in the football offseason with how large the variance is for what the team is going to look like next year.

The defensive coaching staff is elite at every position.  If we keep all of them, the defense is staying right where it is.

And on offense, we're going to have 4/5 OL come back, all the major receivers coming back, at least 2/3 contributing TEs coming back, and the QB / RB rooms look as strong as they've looked in a decade. 

Overall, Harbaugh has gotten this squad to a point where it is built to last.

 

 

Ditto.

Another fun stat btw…

Ditto.

Another fun stat btw, Shea is now #1 in the Big Ten in QBR at 81.0.  Haskins is #2 at 80.9.

Hahaha, I mean, the general…

Hahaha, I mean, the general point stands.  Don Brown is the king of defensive coordinators.

I imagine we're very similar, since I run to cfbstats every Sunday morning and look at all of these things too.

I think it's more that they…

I think it's more that they haven't had to.  Arkansas put up like 31 on them, probably because Bama had their 4th stringers in cause they had already won the game by 30+.

Still not sure where the …

Still not sure where the -267.5 is coming from.  We've allowed 845 rushing yards, MSU has allowed 645.  So, it'd be -200 yards if anything?  But if it was -200 yards, we'd have allowed 645 through 10 games vs. 645 through 9.  Really, if what we're talking about is getting M to the level MSU is currently at, the number should be -128.33 yards.  Then we'd be giving up the ~71.67 that they are currently giving up.

The math isn't right on the…

The math isn't right on the rushing defense thing.  We don't need to hold Rutgers to -270 yards rushing, unless you think MSU is going to hold OSU to -70 yards rushing.

Through 9 games, MSU has allowed 645 rushing yards, we've allowed 845 rushing yards.  So we need to hold Rutgers to 200 less rushing yards than whatever MSU gives up to OSU.  Or 100 less over the next 2 weeks. Or whatever.  Point is, certainly not impossible.

That justification would…

That justification would still be very week.

It'd be a 1-score loss on the road to another 1-loss team in Week 1, vs. a 20-pt blowout to a 2-loss LSU vs. a 3-pt loss to a 3-loss team in the middle of the season.

And our wins are as good (better) than anybody's.  If ND goes down, we should be the very clear #3.

Well either.  If we lose 2…

Ah yes.  Okay my bad.  If we lose 2 games but beat OSU, the worst case scenario is that there's a 3-way tie with PSU, UM, and OSU at the 2-losses.  H2H would all be 1-1, and then division records would favor OSU (only 1 loss in division).  Similarly, if we lose 2 games but beat OSU and MSU also beats OSU (and wins out), the 3-way tie would be between PSU, UM, and MSU (all being 1-1 head to head), and MSU would get it because they'd only have 1 loss in the division.

But yes, if we lose 2 games but beat OSU, and MSU also beats OSU (and wins out), it'd only be UM and MSU with 2 losses and we'd also have the head to head there.

For UM to win the division:

For UM to win the division:

  • Win out
  • Lose 1 game to PSU, IU, or Rutgers, and beat OSU
  • Lose 1 game to OSU + OSU loses 1 game (to Nebraska, MSU, or Maryland)
  • Lose 2 games + beat OSU, and PSU finishes with 3+ losses in conference

For OSU to win the division:

  • Win out
  • Lose 1 game to Nebraska, Maryland, or MSU and beat UM
  • Lose 1 game to UM and UM loses 2 of 3 vs. PSU, IU, and Rutgers

For MSU to win the division:

  • Win out + PSU wins out + OSU wins out except for MSU (PSU and OSU beat UM).  4-way tie at 7-2 in conference, MSU and OSU have the better intra-division record, MSU has the H2H tiebreaker vs. OSU
  • Win out + PSU wins out + UM loses another 1 to IU or Rutgers but beats OSU (3-way tie at 7-2 in conference, MSU has the divisional tiebreaker)

For PSU to win the division:

  • Win out + OSU loses 2 more (UM and MSU) + MSU loses one more (Nebraska, Maryland, or Rutgers) + UM loses 1 more (to Rutgers, OSU, or IU).  PSU and UM tied at 7-2 in conference and they have the head to head, OSU and MSU finish with 3 conference losses.

These may be missing some possibilities but I think these are the most likely scenarios for any of the "big 4" to win the division, at this time.

I hate auto-bids for…

I hate auto-bids for conference champs.  Would devalue the non-conference so much.  A team could literally have a Purdue non-conference, win the B1G... and be in the playoff with Bama, Clemson, Oklahoma, Washington/Oregon/Wash U, etc.  Best part of the sport is how crushing every loss feels and how important every week is.  If every conference champ gets in, that'd go away.

This.

He's been a…

This.

He's been a phenomenal student, athlete, and teammate.  Embraces coaching the young'ns in the offseason.  Kwity and Aidan and the whole DL talk glowingly about him.  Harbaugh talks about what a privilege it is to have your best player do everything right in practice, go all out in every drill, and how it sets the tone for the team.  Gary's been awesome for Michigan and hopefully Michigan has been equally awesome for Gary.  I believe he will come back and play again, hopefully as soon as PSU.  And that the know-nothing "fans" will chill with the couch criticism.  Look at people who actually watch every play and know what they're talking about (Brian, PFF).  Go check out his grade from 1 quarter of the Nebraska game this year, or last year against OSU.  Dude is a baller, the team loves him, the coach loves him, and he's an incredibly high-character representative of the University and will be for a long time to come.  #GoBlue 

Uh, truth.

You're not wrong…

Uh, truth.

You're not wrong that it would be good for all to view it as a "quality" win if we beat them.  That should show you that there's not nefarious means to this.  Bill Connelly is not a Michigan fan.  He's purely a numbers guy.  It's not just some made up narrative by the UM or PSU fan base.  They got repeatedly, incredibly, lucky in that game.

And like Bill C stated, they don't ALWAYS only get lucky.  They got unlucky against ASU when they were in the RZ and a tipped pass got intercepted in the end zone.  They get fortunate bounces and unfortunate bounces, their fortunate bounces just happen to have occurred in high leverage games for them consistently.

Honestly they probably bring…

Honestly they probably bring in a 6th OL instead of a TE and just mash people.

We have 3 former top-40…

We have 3 former top-40 recruits on the DL that aren't playing or are clearly hobbled.  Imagine what this DL would like with a healthy Gary, Solomon, Vilain for spot duty.  Clearly we have some great depth in there, and it developing is nice.  Just wish we had our full contingent, especially for this stretch coming up.  Hoping for a Solomon return but haven't heard anything.

Not to mention Black and Evans, maybe our 2 most dynamic offensive weapons.  All teams are banged up, and I'm feeling good about our depth.  But really hoping some of these guys can make a return during this stretch.

Would like to see a balanced…

Would like to see a balanced, dominant offensive attack.  Something that gets scores on about 8/10 offensive drives, with 5/8 scores being TDs.

Defensive game will be interesting if Martinez can go.  Good practice keeping contain against a QB who looks like a great runner.  44-16 Michigan.

Part of that is Ws and Ls…

Part of that is Ws and Ls beyond just him though.  If we had managed to secure a pick against OSU last year, prevent a TO, and came away with the win, his 2 sacks against them would've been lauded more.

I want to think there's some…

I want to think there's some element of believing we don't need to stray from man defense to beat teams like SMU and Western Mich, and when we get to MSU and PSU and OSU with QBs who we need to keep an eye on, we'll add some elements in.  I know that we haven't necessarily shown that in the past.  Keeping faith in Harbaugh and Don Brown.  This is the year.

Question for those who know…

Question for those who know more about the rules in re: to what Fitzgerald is complaining about:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZZwFMHRJvo&t=9m7s

This play right here, should this have been an illegal man downfield call?  It looks like at least 1 of the Ole Miss players is blocking further than 3 yards downfield.  It seems like this would be a very hard call to identify and make in the moment.  If it is an illegal man downfield, is that a call that refs can make on review?

Thanks in advance!

I'm with Marvin, Toledo, and…

I'm with Marvin, Toledo, and GoBlue. 

Keep growing, keep building…

Keep growing, keep building.  Develop Mayfield and Hudson into All-B1G level tackles, and this team will be great for years to come.

A lot of early entry…

A lot of early entry candidates.

Winovich addressed this in…

Winovich addressed this in his postgame comments too.  Talk about how they max protected and chipped with RBs, which is gonna minimize the pass rush counting stats, but "you saw the overall result" (a team that got held to the low 200s in total yardage and scored 3 points).

They gave up 1 sack (backups…

They gave up 1 sack (backups gave up another I think), and averaged about 9+ yards a carry.  Yes, the OL did dominate.  And yes, OTs are still the trouble spot for the entire team.  They may be improving and still be the trouble spot.  And if that continues to be the case, and the improvement persists, we'll have a shot in every game.

1) Rutgers

2) Karan Higdon

1) Rutgers

2) Karan Higdon

3) Jonathan Taylor Tailback

4) Devin Bush, Jr.

5) Rashan Gary

Have you seen their schedule…

Have you seen their schedule this year?

This is a Louisville team that just lost Lamar Jackson.  They may not play a ranked team until November.  They could very easily go 12-0 this year.  Wake me when they are an underdog to literally a single team on their schedule, in any year.

Edit: Didn't mean for this to be a specific reply to you, just a comment on the OP.

All the best to you Ace.  We…

All the best to you Ace.  We'll continue to thoroughly enjoy your perspectives on the podcasts and on Twitter.  Looking forward to you getting healthy, happy, and getting back to writing about Michigan football.

F*** James O'Keefe forever. …

F*** James O'Keefe forever.  Seriously.  I get that some of us want to see Urban taken down (I'd love to see Harbaugh whoop on him this year before they can him), but nothing O'Keefe has ever done has been honorable.  He's crazy deceptive and has actually ruined the lives of 2 people I know, by doctoring footage and then sicking fanatics on folks.  He's been sued successfully multiple times.  He is the opposite of a reliable source.

Definitely not.  Another one…

Definitely not.  Another one:

  • Mike Hart: 206lb, 4.69s 40, ~85.15

I mean, it seems quite simple to say "if you're big and fast that's good".  There's clearly a lot more than that which goes into being a great RB, as recent history at UM shows quite well (Mike Hart / Vincent Smith vs. Derrick Green / Ty Isaac).

Hello to all the NSA folks

Browsing mgoblog today thanks to this!

0:20

At 0:20 of that video, is that Brendan Dawson getting pissed at Keith Appling for losing the ball, and Izzo futily trying to calm them down?

Three Point Game

1/15 from 3 after hitting our first 3.  That'll turn around.  Gotta keep up the defensive intensity, and get Mo in the game on offense.

Quadrants

As of right now they're #75 in RPI so this is a Q1 win but their loss probably knocks them down into Q2 territory.

Hmmm

1) Saquon Barkley | RB | PSU - Obvious.  A dynamic 1st round RB in a Harbaughffense would be awesome.

2 & 3) Billy Price | OC | OSU & Jamarco Jones | OT | OSU - Start a line of Cole / Bredeson / Price / Onwenu / Jones with Kugler, Beatty, Runyan, Filiaga, Ruiz all around for depth.  Yes please.

4 & 5) Nick Bosa | DE | OSU & Sam Hubbard | DE | OSU - Yeah, this would be an ultra-dominant DL.

Both our OL/DL would be unstoppable.  OSU's lines would both be decimated.  PSU without Barkley is an average team.  This isn't saying much since you're essentially adding 5 all-stars from a power 5 conference but yes, we'd win the natty with all of this.  Don't need to take anyone's QBs or DBs with these lines.  Speight, Long, Hill, Washington, etc. would be fine.  Speight would have 11 seconds to throw on every down and opposing QBs would have < 3.5.  

Thinking about this has me looking forward to a seasoned Gary, Solomon, Vilain, Hudson, DL next year.