MGoPodcast 15.12: The Taulia Experience
2 hour and 13 minutes
The Sponsors
Thank you to Underground Printing for making this all possible. Rishi and Ryan have been our biggest supporters from the beginning. Check out their wide selection of officially licensed Michigan fan gear at their 3 store locations in Ann Arbor or learn about their custom apparel business at undergroundshirts.com.
Our associate sponsors are: Peak Wealth Management, Matt Demorest - Realtor and Lender, Ann Arbor Elder Law, Michigan Law Grad, The Phil Klein Insurance Group, Winewood Organics, Human Element, Venue by 4M where we recorded this, The Nose Bleeds, which is the Sklars Bros’ reboot of Cheap Seats on UFC Fight Pass, and INTRODUCING TO THE PODCAST: Sharon's Heating & Air Conditioning.
1. Offense vs Maryland
Starts at 1:00
The annual "play like butt before the Ohio State game" game! JJ is banged up, how much did that effect him? Michigan turtled in this game after taking a convincing lead. The sun was brutal, looked like it made things difficult for receivers. Michigan's calls have been a bit predictable and they're not weaponizing play action as well as they could. The guards had a great game, the tackle situation just got more interesting.
[The rest of the writeup and the player after THE JUMP]
2. Defense vs Maryland
Starts at 33:30
This game was the full Taulia Tagovailoa experience - he does a few amazing things and then a couple terrible things. Ohio State's run offense isn't going to be much better than Maryland's. How much will Kyle McCord run against Michigan? Michigan rotated a lot this game but it feels like a lot of these guys deserved playing time. Would you rather go up against Taulia Tagovailoa or Kyle McCord next week?
3. Hot Takes, Game Theory, and Special Teams
Starts at 1:02:15
Takes hotter than a Michigan fan watching a competitive game for the first time this year. It doesn't actually feel like the refs are out to get Michigan. The intentional grounding in the endzone never gets called so it was surprising. The two targeting no-calls felt right, the contact was not intentionally forceable on either. Tommy Doman earned 2 points on his punt that landed on the one. 31 points is too normal in a game where you scored two safeties. The wind must have been a factor on 4th down decision making for them not to kick field goals.
4. Around the Big Ten with NOT Jamie Mac
Starts at 1:29:03
Iowa - 15
Illinois - 13
Iowa scored a safety to start the game. Iowa has clenched the Big Ten West despite having lost all their offensive weapons. Tory Taylor punts for 413 yards in an emotional senior day. If Michigan plays Iowa in Indy it will probably be like two years ago.
Penn State - 27
Rutgers - 6
This game was about what you would expect. Drew Allar only has 79 passing yards but Rutgers was just never going to move the ball on this Penn State defense.
Michigan State - 24
Indiana - 21
Michigan State's win expectancy in this was 12% with less than three minutes left. This has to be the end of Tom Allen. Who does Indiana get after this (or Michigan State for that matter).
Northwestern - 23
Purdue - 15
Northwestern is bowl eligible! Purdue turns the ball over four times.
Wisconsin - 24
Nebraska - 17
Chubba Purdy and Tanner Mordecai are back. Nebraska needs to beat Iowa to get bowl eligible now.
Ohio State - 37
Minnesota - 3
This was the Michigan games sans that one big throw. Can you name the Ohio State backup QB that threw twice? Michigan could have a lot of new packages for Ohio State becuase we've seen so few all season.
MUSIC:
- “Debris”— Reigning Sound
- “Loving Cup”— The Rolling Stones
- “Unthinkable”— Alicia Keys ft. Drake
- “Across 110th Street”
THE USUAL LINKS:
- Helpful iTunes subscribe link
- General podcast feed link
- Direct Download Link
- What's with the theme music?
"Doesn't seem like a healthy relationship."
November 20th, 2023 at 7:49 AM ^
Iowa “clenching” the west is either an allowable pun or the best Freudian slip around here in a while.
November 20th, 2023 at 8:16 AM ^
FWIW, I saw it as a typo on a Reddit post Saturday; everyone decided it was spiritually correct and should stay.
November 20th, 2023 at 8:14 AM ^
“Michigan could have a lot of new packages for Ohio State”
LOL I’ve been hearing this assertion for decades. It’s almost always bunk—we’re Michigan so we’re not going to surprise you with anything new. What you see on game tape is what you’re gonna get.
November 20th, 2023 at 8:25 AM ^
Likely true but we did bust out a 7 OL set against PSU for example,
November 20th, 2023 at 8:27 AM ^
Peppers will throw out of the wildcat we’ve been saving it all season long !!!
November 20th, 2023 at 8:59 AM ^
But it hasn’t been bunk the past 2 years against OSU: The Henning reverse (motioning Edwards and running opposite, to play off Edwards’ catchapalooza against Maryland), the flea flicker to Sainristil (think the first of ‘21?), the Mullings jump pass last year, etc.
The coaches have actually been aggressive in deploying new plays in creative fashion in high leverage situations.
*caveat: applies to OSU ‘21 and ‘22 only. Before that, yeah not so much. Hoping it continues this year…
November 20th, 2023 at 9:04 AM ^
In every home game vs OSU in the Harbaugh era, U-M has had some new offensive wrinkles in the game. Here area a few I remember:
'15: a couple trick plays involving Peppers
'17: a couple trick plays, including the fake-left, fake-right, throw-to-TE-in-the-middle (O'Korn missed it, I believe).
'19: roll-out reverse to Sairistil on opening drive (TD).
'21: fake swing to Edwards with end-around to Henning on opening drive; flea-flicker to Sainristil in 3rd quarter.
November 20th, 2023 at 10:12 AM ^
The 2017 Game featured a BRILLIANT tendency-breaking offensive plan from Michigan.
Shame that O’Korn couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn. That game is a win with even a mediocre QB
November 20th, 2023 at 9:49 AM ^
Football people see the nuances this game brings out, and non football people don't. Same as it ever was!
November 20th, 2023 at 4:44 PM ^
This, right here, is an understatement.
November 20th, 2023 at 3:40 PM ^
Yeah, I see others giving one play examples, but one play is not a "new package". How about a "death by crossing route to Edwards" package, or consistent play action to TE package?
November 20th, 2023 at 4:56 PM ^
'21 featured any entire suite of JJ/Corum plays that we hadn't run all year. And all of them worked.
November 21st, 2023 at 12:18 PM ^
I used to assert this as well, and it's been shown on here to be kinda wrong. There have been new things, at least some, and at least going back to the 2017 game, which was an inspired game plan without the QB able to execute.
This year, though, I don't have a great deal of faith that Sherrone will have a great game plan. As has been said on here, it's pretty clear he has a lot on his plate -- maybe too much to call plays effectively.
To wit, the plan against PSU was okay -- their DEs made passing hell, and controlling the clock was viable since that offense wasn't doing anything against our D. But against Maryland? That was just Lloyd Carr-esque hold-on-and-pray. Once we got the lead, turtle time. Thankfully it held up, but Maryland had their chances.
Also, the rumblings about a JJ injury make it less likely that he will be dynamic with his legs, which is vital for this game.
So, I am hopeful we see some cool shit, but it might be back to that old refrain of "we have to out-execute them". Which we still may do, but still......
November 20th, 2023 at 8:31 AM ^
Has Michigan ever "had something special" on offense for OSU?
It seems like a thing fans hope for every year, but it never comes true. Even the last 2 years, UM didn't do anything different than the rest of the season, they were just better.
November 20th, 2023 at 9:10 AM ^
2017 was, interestingly, one of the best offensive gameplans I've ever seen from us. We had receivers open all day long, and O'Korn just couldn't take advantage. I also feel like we've opened things up more the past two years.
November 20th, 2023 at 4:52 PM ^
Yeah. I think at least QB runs will be turned on, which could be a game changer in itself
November 21st, 2023 at 3:35 PM ^
2017 was an awesome gameplan that we would've won with a better than JOK (sorry John). That one really hurt. We had em
IIRC in 2021 we had a few things like the end around TD on the first drive, the flea flicker, and a few other things that I'm forgetting
2022 had more downfield shots than we usually take and of course the Mullings pass
I'm sure they've got several things teed up for this one
November 20th, 2023 at 8:38 AM ^
I have updated my 2023 MGoBlog music playlists with the songs from this episode - here are the links:
-
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/2023-mgoblog-music/pl.u-11z0ofMkqvL
-
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2a7Hw0FHtgqw351LwW8wPz?si=8690043244a24050
Go Blue! BEAT OHIO!!
November 20th, 2023 at 8:46 AM ^
Taulia.
When he was good,
he was very good indeed
But when he was bad he was horrid
November 20th, 2023 at 9:00 AM ^
How worried should we be that JJ has yet to have a good game under Coach Moore?
November 20th, 2023 at 9:08 AM ^
Extremely.
November 20th, 2023 at 9:20 AM ^
Harbaugh may be a quarterback whisperer after all. If so, hopefully he can share some of his secrets with Kirk Campbell.
November 20th, 2023 at 10:12 AM ^
I have one quibble with this:
I actually think he played pretty well against Penn State, but it was such a bizarre game it doesn't feel like it. He was effective in everything he was asked to do, what didn't work seemed to be more the OL than anything wrong with the play calls or JJ.
I do wonder if Michigan would have been better served making Mike Hart the head coach and having the coordinators continue on as if nothing were different though.
November 20th, 2023 at 7:34 PM ^
I don’t think you can call PSU a “good” performance for JJ even if he did fine with the limited opportunities he was given.
“JJ throws a normal amount and is mediocre and turnover prone” and “JJ barely throws at all because Sherrone refuses to call passes against a sell-out-for-run-defense even in a one score game” both have the same outcome for The Game - probable loss.
I agree that I’d rather see Hart as the acting HC. Something in the secret sauce isn’t quite right with Sherrone as HC. Whether that’s because he can’t handle the extra duties or because whoever is backing him up and picking up the OC/OL slack is a big step down, is hard to say. But (small sample sizes very obviously apply) 100% of the time, the offense/game plan/McCarthy look off in the Sherrone games.
That’s my main point of nervousness. Otherwise this team at 100% beats OSU at 100%. Just not clear how many points JMFH is worth (weird to say “hopefully not many”, but here we are).
November 21st, 2023 at 12:47 PM ^
To me, it's straightforward. With the extra responsibility, Sherrone is calling a game that is too conservative for the level of offense we have. When Jim was on the sidelines earlier in the year, we were approaching run/pass balance and the plays flowed much better. That needs to happen this week.
November 20th, 2023 at 9:29 AM ^
The play sequencing was bad. I do worry that Moore’s go to is run up the middle when he is worried. Also, the lack of PA is maddening. Campbell had one game as OC and called 7-10. It’s just not something Moore likes for whatever reason.
Michigan is the favorite. Let the guys play loose and to win!
November 20th, 2023 at 9:41 AM ^
Honestly almost every pass should have play action attached. Why not? Call two in a row. Hell call 3 in a row. Call it till they stop it then call it one more time and catch day on the Gamblers Fallacy.
November 20th, 2023 at 9:45 AM ^
Because Barnhart can't block long enough to let the play develop, for one.
November 20th, 2023 at 9:33 AM ^
Please god use some play action against the Buckeyes.
November 20th, 2023 at 10:01 AM ^
“Ohio State's run offense isn't going to be much better than Maryland's.”
Not sure I agree and it’s actually the thing I’m most worried about besides Marvin Harrison, Jr. OSU’s overall stats don’t look great running the ball but they’ve been significantly better with Henderson healthy. He can make guys miss and turn on the jets.
Maryland had success because they were able to avoid being out behind the chains. 2nd and 4, 3rd and 4 is when they hit chunk gains because the whole playbook was open to them. If OSU is able to do that…it’s going to be tough, especially considering they have more talent and home run hitters.
November 20th, 2023 at 10:17 AM ^
Stopping Henderson especially breaking long runs like he can is the MAIN key to winning for me !!
November 20th, 2023 at 4:47 PM ^
Two points about the possibility of calling "Fair Catch" during Kick-off return:
1. This rule came into play on the opening kick-off of the OSU v. M game, 2021. The return man called fair catch, then "caught" it on the bounce. The result was that OSU began its drive on the 4 yard line.
2. I agree with Brain's view that during a squib kick, it is best not to call Fair Catch -- you should try for a return. However, during an onside kick, if one of the hands-men can call "Fair Catch" just as the ball has been kicked, then the kicking team cannot touch him. If the kicking team runs into the guy who called fair catch, that will be a penalty ("Fair Catch Interference"), even if the ball were to bounce.
November 21st, 2023 at 8:33 AM ^
I too, was relieved, when I saw that the refs weren’t co-conspiring against Michigan. I thought for sure that they were going to call targeting on Graham even though it was borderline. So he would miss the first half of The GaXe. I was screaming in the living room that they were certainly going to screw us. Nice surprise.
Comments