Let's Talk About our Next Game: Sparty is Coming to AA
Mates,
I know most of us are still on a high from last night, but in the strange reality of 2020 it is now a 'rivalry' week - Sparty is coming to town on Saturday. Many of us watched Sparty biff it pretty badly vs. Rutgers and show big problems on both sides of the ball. In prior years even when Sparty wasn't good we still needed to be careful with them, but with dantanna retired will Tucker even appreciate or have focused any energy on the 'hate' for U of M? Even if he does, will it make a difference?
Last night I took a look at RCMB for a few minutes and they really were saying we were going to hang 50 to 100 on them this week - which would be wonderful if it comes to pass. It would be great to run them out of the stadium again but you wonder if they can muster a solid effort or if we get a rash of Covid hold-outs, and suddenly our team and that game look a lot different.
So the questions are these:
1. What do you think the opening line will be in Vegas (assuming they haven't published one yet)?
2. How do you think that game looks next week, predictions of notable events and the score?
Have a great Sunday. (the Lions are winning again...for now)
XM
October 25th, 2020 at 1:57 PM ^
There will be blood
October 25th, 2020 at 2:17 PM ^
60 minutes of unnecessary roughness by the Wolverine defense!!!
October 25th, 2020 at 2:53 PM ^
I'm hopeful the defense is only on the field for 20 minutes of 3 and outs and scope and scores.
October 25th, 2020 at 1:58 PM ^
Slightly off topic, but I like how the league schedulers took this opportunity to get Michigan back in a one home/one away game with our two primary rivals. This two home then two away the next year crap had to go...
October 25th, 2020 at 2:02 PM ^
Pretty sure that I saw that next year it goes back to pre-COVID. Possibly I imagined that, but I'm too lazy to check.
October 25th, 2020 at 2:04 PM ^
The schedule has been fixed but may not be updated on the UM site.
October 25th, 2020 at 2:11 PM ^
Penn State will be a much tougher game than MSU going forward. It also worked out so that we will be alternating years going to Columbus & Happy Valley
October 25th, 2020 at 2:53 PM ^
The big thing is that MSU and OSU are, year in and year out, the games most in demand for tickets. To sell a season-ticket slate with neither one on it is a tougher task.
In 2014, the year of the famous "two Cokes" discount, this was our home schedule:
Appalachian State
Miami (Oh)
Utah
Minnesota
PSU
Indiana
Maryland
October 25th, 2020 at 3:48 PM ^
That schedule is ass
October 25th, 2020 at 1:58 PM ^
I hate Sparty, but I don't know if I'll get as much satisfaction out of beating them without Dantoni on the sidelines. The coward quit to early.
October 25th, 2020 at 2:04 PM ^
All that is true... But silver lining, the fan base and friends or acquaintances you may have who support msu will still feel the pain and embarrassment of an 0-2 start with woodshed beatings back to back.
October 25th, 2020 at 2:20 PM ^
I will still enjoy annihilating them by a million. Dantonio recruited most of these players and will be watching this game. His defenses were dirty and he acted like a 2 year old through his tenure there. We can send their recruiting even further into the abyss (where is the bottom) with another blowout.
October 25th, 2020 at 2:31 PM ^
I think those of us who have been around for a while have at gotten a glimpse of the bottom. I'm fine with showing sparty the way.
October 25th, 2020 at 2:24 PM ^
Wasn't it a matter of either quitting or getting fired?
Not sure he had a choice.
October 25th, 2020 at 2:33 PM ^
Dantoni or no Dantoni, I'll get immense pleasure out of pounding them into the dirt. That program spent so long being smug while we were down that I'll never tire of seeing them flail and suck
October 25th, 2020 at 2:35 PM ^
As a Michigander, I get enough Spartanfreude watching my Sparty friends' mental gymnastics as they come to grips with their program identity.
October 25th, 2020 at 3:00 PM ^
It would be nice to deliver him another beating, but he is still associated with MSU in some capacity, and this team is made up of his recruits.
Regardless, I had a prime view of . . . that play in 2015 and I'm going to require many more beatdowns of MSU before I get over it.
October 25th, 2020 at 4:24 PM ^
I'm with you - the last 2 Paul Bunyan games i attended were '15 and '17, and while i vow to no longer attend in person for a while, need at least 2 more in a row to wipe the stench
October 25th, 2020 at 1:59 PM ^
They were straight up bad. The TOs didn't help them, but they got straight up outplayed for most of the game regardless and there's really no one unit or player that worries me.
Get the W, get the young guys some garbage time reps, and get out of the game healthy.
October 25th, 2020 at 2:02 PM ^
I feel like this game will be close until about middle of the third quarter. As usual Sparty Superbowl they'll come ready to play.
October 25th, 2020 at 2:50 PM ^
What a dickhead.
October 25th, 2020 at 10:34 PM ^
It looks a little cockeyed
October 25th, 2020 at 2:03 PM ^
1. UM minus 16.5
2. Michigan 42 - sparty 14
Michigan's O line and Bench crush MSU for 4 quarters. Joe has another efficient game where the focus of the offense is running the ball down their throats. Rocky gets rocked by Paye/Hutch/McGrone/Barrett/Welschof, and one or two other friends.
You can't spell MeL with out an L.
October 25th, 2020 at 2:26 PM ^
Minnesota didn't teach you last night that "running the ball down their throats" was useless?
Have the same game plan as last night, score 40 asap and put sparty's lights out, and let the backups get a bunch of reps.
October 25th, 2020 at 2:35 PM ^
We rushed for 256 yds @9yds a carry. I’d say that was pretty useful.
October 25th, 2020 at 2:54 PM ^
It was. In the context of a 50/50 split with multiple big plays in both the running and passing game.
Minnesota ran the ball ten more times than us in a game they trailed most of the way by double digits. They killed a bunch of clock for us, good for them. They lost by 4 scores.
October 25th, 2020 at 2:57 PM ^
Michigan punished Minnesota on the ground last night, are you saying their 5 rushing touchdown's were 'useless'? I do not understand exactly what your disdain for running the football is, but it's pretty much been demonstrated time and again that having a strong rushing attack correlates with more successful offenses. Michigan appears to have a good-to-elite rushing offense. As a Michigan fan, you should be happy about that.
As for the Michigan State game, I think you give Milton a chance to do more with his arm in this one. The MSU offense is abysmal and shouldn't put a lot of pressure on the defense, which in turn gives the offense a low-leverage situation to experiment with the playbook. I say open up the playbook and let's see what Milton can really do.
October 25th, 2020 at 3:01 PM ^
My disdain is not for running the football. It's for prioritizing anything on offense other than scoring points as quickly as is reasonable. The only way Michigan is going to complete with the nuts is to have an offense that routinely scores 40. I see no evidence that is currently possible for a run first team.
October 25th, 2020 at 3:13 PM ^
Have a look at the top 10 offensives from college football last season:
https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/years/2019-team-offense.html
There are exactly two teams, LSU - best passing attack in college football history, and WSU - Mike Leach, that did not run the ball more than 50% of the time that made this list.
Of the remaining 8 schools, 5 of those schools ran the ball more than 55% of the time. All 4 of the teams that made the CFB made this list. LSU is the only school - at 47% R/P - that did not run the ball more than they passed.
This is a pretty strong indicator that a modern rushing attack is still an effective way to play offense in 2020. Don't conflate this as calling for three-yards-in-a-cloud offenses from the 90's. If the path of least resistance to the end-zone is on the ground, you should run the football. It lays the ground work for everything else you want to do on offense.
October 25th, 2020 at 3:20 PM ^
The key is to be balanced. When the game is in question, a great offense needs to be able to both pass and run effectively. What brings great teams up to more than 50% running is running clock at the ends of games. I’d like to see close to a 50-50 split at halftime of most games.
October 25th, 2020 at 3:29 PM ^
What's that split in non-garbage time?
October 25th, 2020 at 5:24 PM ^
Here is my point ultimately - in my admittedly unprofessional opinion, when designing the offensive game plan for a match up, it is important to understand what your offense does well and what appears to be exploitable against an opposing defense.
In the case of the match up against Minnesota, it was pretty apparent that the interior defensive line and in the front seven were the weak spots of their defense. We know we have a big and powerful offensive line. We have a stable of talented running backs that can bring a variety of different skill sets. We have a talented, but inexperienced quarterback making his first career start. When you look at the totality of these variables, it makes a lot of sense to attack Minnesota's defense on the ground. It would be tone deaf to go out there and ask Milton to throw the ball 50 times.
Is that to say that this is the correct approach against every opponent on the schedule? No, not at all. You're going to have to approach the play calling differently against Wisconsin, or IU, or Maryland, or OSU.
Against Minnesota, leaning on the ground attack made perfect sense. Just because it doesn't fit your narrative that a quick-strike and explosive passing game is the only way (I acknowledge it is certainly one way) to play great offense in 2020, doesn't mean it's wrong. More likely, it means you need to re-adjust your narrative.
October 25th, 2020 at 5:27 PM ^
They didn't lean on the running game though. They ran a balanced offense that seemed to prioritize scoring points. Minnesota leaned on the running game and they got their ass kicked.
October 25th, 2020 at 3:52 PM ^
I’d definitely take -16.5 for this weekend. I can’t imagine being anywhere near that close
October 25th, 2020 at 6:55 PM ^
DTF said the line is 24. So if you got in on -14 or -16 you were lucky.
This game doesn't have the cache of the Dantonio era. They hated each other. Made worse by that classless field walk stunt.
Then Harbaugh left the starters in last year up 34 with 3 minutes to go. - great stuff!
With Tucker, the state of MSU and their abysmal recruiting, it doesn't feel like much of a rivalry anymore.
October 25th, 2020 at 2:03 PM ^
Prediction: pain
Dantonio's MSU confused "playing hard" with "playing dirty." So we could be absolutely certain that MSU, with less talent and worse coaching, would double down on the cheap tactics.
Also, Dantonio could put together a gameplan specifically for Michigan. Or failing that, one masterful drive.
You'd think that if MSU had any tricks up its sleeve, they would have used them to, you know, NOT lose to Rutgers
Michigan -14
October 25th, 2020 at 2:09 PM ^
What influence do you think Dantonio still has? Other than players who were on the roster last year?
October 25th, 2020 at 2:11 PM ^
This is a guess, but he got the "brand ambassador" positon, which to me says two things:
1) still involved in recruiting and university/donor relations
2) straight up ongoing hush money. "Your job is to not tell people what you know" kind of stuff
October 25th, 2020 at 2:04 PM ^
I think we all saw this coming. MSU was a 3-9 team last year, plus a handful of good players (and a decent QB).
They have lost that handful of good players and QB, and are now a 3-9 team without any of those guaranteed wins that usually come with a non conference schedule.
Look at their recruiting. They are so, so depleted of any talent, and they don't have a coach who is known for doing great things with a talentless team. This is going to be a bloodbath.
October 25th, 2020 at 3:01 PM ^
I had to look it up because I couldn’t believe they were 3-9 again last year. They weren’t. They were 7-6 AGAIN last year. I guarantee MSU won’t lose 9 games this year...
October 25th, 2020 at 2:04 PM ^
How many of our guys caught Covid from the gophers? That was the biggest threat in last night’s game.
October 25th, 2020 at 2:06 PM ^
This isn't going to be respectable, let alone close. Don't believe for a minute that Harbaugh will show any mercy to an obviously overmatched team. There are still players on MSU that spewed shit from years back. It is still MSU - and JH remembers this rivalry from the days his dad was coaching. Doesn't matter how bad they look, Jim MF'in Harbaugh is going to skull fuck them.
What Michigan just did to a legit top 20 team was real.
October 25th, 2020 at 2:26 PM ^
I know one thing Harbaugh won’t forget (I certainly wouldn’t) is the shameful treatment of his wife by members of MSU’s staff after the blocked punt game.
October 25th, 2020 at 3:41 PM ^
I've sat next to Ohio State fans at various bars who treated me and my girlfriend with respect after OSU beat the tar out of us. Sure they gloated, but nothing was said that crossed the line.
It's pretty clear what kind of program Dantonio put together. Not just classless, but a lack of basic human decency. 1990-era Harbaugh would have gotten in a fistfight over that shit.
October 25th, 2020 at 4:19 PM ^
I still kind of wish we had gotten mid 2000's Harbaugh when the opportunity arose... but I'm pretty happy with where we are today. Just have to get over the OSU hump, but I'm not nearly as down about that as some. Should've had '16 (JT was short), and '17 I thought we should have won. He's a great, great coach, and I'm happy he's here now. It's probably best he came when he did, better shot at him retiring here now.
October 25th, 2020 at 2:09 PM ^
barring injuries and covid, this team will be a headache for msu.
October 25th, 2020 at 2:10 PM ^
They lack talent. They just got Rutgered at home by 11 points.
They are in year 1, game 2 of a new system and coaching regime. They are still trying to get their system in place. They don’t have the ability to generate some awesome game plan and pull it off, like Mike D’Antoni did from time to time.
This will be a 4+ TD win for Michigan.
October 25th, 2020 at 2:20 PM ^
i’d always aim for that logo. urine and blue make green.