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| Drake Johnson (image via CBS Detroit) |
Move De'Veon Smith to the bottom of the depth chart. Michigan has been struggling to get big plays all season, and Smith is not the guy who offers big-play potential. You can see that he is either coached to get upfield, or he just doesn't trust his speed - which he shouldn't, because he's slow. Smith is a between-the-tackles runner who isn't quick enough to get through the generally small cracks that the offensive line is opening up inside. If Michigan wants a more diverse attack - one that can attack both inside and outside - the coaches have to use Johnson and Justice Hayes more.
Devin Gardner played like Northwestern 2013. Gardner threw just one interception in this game, but it was an ugly one where he missed the free safety sitting in the middle of the field and tried to soft-toss a post into the arms of Devin Funchess. The ball never even came close. Gardner had several other throws that could have or should have been intercepted. He did enough to win the game, but if Indiana had capitalized on some of the mistakes, it could have been another ugly outcome. His mechanics are all over the place, and his decision-making has been questionable for a while. He has lost trust in his offensive line to keep him healthy, and he has lost trust in his body after being so beaten up. Gardner (22/29 for 220 yards, 2 touchdowns, 1 interception) still looks gimpy after spraining his ankle three weeks ago, so he may not be fully healthy for the rest of the year.
Michigan needs safety help. Safety is a position that does require experience, in my opinion, so you can't rush success. However, I am deeply concerned about the safeties here in 2014 and going forward. Jarrod Wilson has been pretty solid as an in-the-box safety, but Michigan's free safety position continues to leak yardage. I thought Delano Hill's angles and tackling were once again lacking in this one. He has taken over for Jeremy Clark, who had some of the same issues. Other options include freshman Brandon Watson (who is redshirting), sophomore Dymonte Thomas (who is injured), and 2015 commit Tyree Kinnel. With Wilson graduating after next season, I don't know which one of those guys will step up, but those two spots have been big question marks for a good chunk of the past 15 years or so. You would think Michigan could develop a star safety at some point, even if just by accident. Any discussion of the best safeties in that time probably includes names like Thomas Gordon, Jordan Kovacs, Jamar Adams, and Ernest Shazor. That's a solid group, but nobody stands out.
Indiana is kind of just bad. I wanted to watch this game, see Michigan win, and come to the conclusion that the Wolverines just put it all together and demolished a decent team after realizing the error of their ways in a 35-11 loss to Michigan State. Unfortunately, that's not the case. The defense is pretty good, the special teams are mediocre, and the offense is bad. Indiana is essentially on its fourth-string quarterback (Nate Sudfeld and Chris Covington are injured; Tre Roberson transferred to an FCS school before the season) and played the fifth-string guy for a stretch in this one. The offensive line is decent, slot receiver Shane Wynn is pretty good, and running back Tevin Coleman is very good - when not fumbling the ball - but the rest of the team is bad. Glen Mason kept saying that Indiana's defense looks more aggressive, but it didn't add up to much. I think head coach Kevin Wilson is a great offensive mind, but he doesn't have much to work with.
It's fun to watch Jake Ryan. Ryan had 11 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, and 2 forced fumbles in this one. He's as fun to watch as any Michigan linebacker in my memory. The guy is now up to 79 tackles (#5 in the conference) and 12.5 tackles for loss (tied for #2) on the year.
What does this mean going forward? Nothing. Michigan has a pretty good defense, no consistent offensive playmakers, and lots of injuries and issues to sort through. They need to win two of their last three against Northwestern, Maryland, and Ohio State to be bowl eligible. They have at least a good chance against the Wildcats and Terrapins, and I guess anything can happen against the Buckeyes. I still don't think Brady Hoke can save his job at this point, but it would be great to see him - and the program - save some dignity by earning bowl eligibility.
I think Johnson did a much better job of reading his blocks on a couple of shorter runs than our other backs. I like his decisiveness and the fact that he runs like he wants every last yard. He also has superior speed and acceleration, so I'm not really sure why he's gotten zero action. Indiana's pretty terrible, but it's not like Smith was going ham or anything.
ReplyDeleteGardner's clearly playing hurt, which doesn't bode well for the team with the least explosive offense in the league.
My grandmother could have run against Indiana late in that game. This game means nothing.
DeleteDrake is the best back available. Hoke doesn't play him because Drake does not try to run people over, which imho is over rated as the best RB are elusive.
DeleteGranted, it was vs. IU, but this was the best performance by a UM back since Fitz a couple seasons ago and makes you question the staff's talent evaluation. Drake is the only back who even approaches NFL athleticism and we really need to recruit more guys who combine speed and power( particularly when our power backs aren't breaking tackles).
One of my first thoughts after seeing a backup RB blow through an overmatched defense in the 4th quarter of an already-decided game was – Thunder’s gonna love this guy.
ReplyDeleteJohnson didn’t “rescue” anything. Indiana’s D packed up shop once the score hit 24-3. Before that Johnson’s carries were basically the same as Smith & Hayes; 2, 0, 4, and 10 yards. For those 4th quarter drives Hayes or Smith would have looked good too. If Johnson breaks even 4 ypc in any significant sample of carries against Ohio State I’ll eat an egg.
That said, Johnson did show nice speed. There’s a possibility that he and Hayes are the two best RBs on the team and that Hoke and staff are just too size-obsessed with old-school visions of “downhill”, “physical”, “punishing” backs to see how much speed matters. “More of slasher” Hoke says of Johnson, almost dismissively, as if avoiding tacklers is a weakness.
In your season countdown you ranked Smith #21, ahead of any other eligible backs. “With a young offensive line, Smith should probably be the choice to get the plurality of carries”. While not a ringing endorsement of awesomeness, you’ve been just as critical, if not more critical of all the other backs.
Smith, clearly, has his limitations, but he’s not significantly worse than Green, Johnson, or Hayes. Against Notre Dame and Minnesota and Ohio State last year he looked a lot better than Green. Other times he has looked worse. Cut the kid some slack – he’s been the most consistent back on this team over the last two years.
On the contrary, I don't love Drake Johnson's game at all. What else don't I love? The choices at the running back position. I have never been a big fan of Johnson's abilities. What I realize is that Smith keeps getting chances and doing very little with them. Hayes gets some chances and does okay, but he has yet to make a great play in his college career that I can recall. You say that their carries were all basically the same, but Johnson had 4 carries for 16 yards (4.0 yards/carry) while the other guys had 3.0 and 3.5 yards/carry, respectively, for the whole game. That doesn't mean everything, but it's pointing in the right direction.
DeleteI also believe that if someone isn't getting the job done, someone else at least deserves a shot. Smith missed some big holes, and he also just flat-out failed to hit some holes that were open. Smith is slow, and that has long been my belief.
Throughout my history of talking about the current available backs, I think I have probably been most critical of Smith. You might see that he was my lowest ranked running back out of Green, Hayes, Johnson, and Smith (and Ty Isaac would have been higher ranked, too, if he had committed to Michigan out of high school). My comments on Smith over the summer were partially based on practice buzz and the OL's failure to gel. To be honest, the offensive line is doing a little better than I expected in the running game, and I think there are holes to be found. Smith isn't finding them, and Green was hit-or-miss, too. Johnson found them on Saturday. Will that continue? I don't know.
I might disagree that Smith has been the most consistent back over the past two years. He ended last season well, and he started this season pretty well. Otherwise, he's been questionable. Regardless, all the running backs have been pretty inconsistent, so it's probably pointless to argue about which one has been the best/worst in that department.
A lot of guys have gotten carries this year. Yeah, no one has stood out and you can quibble with giving any one of them more or less carries, but like you said it's pointless when the entire O is struggling to find any consistency.
DeleteI’m not too worried about our safeties. I thought they looked good this game and Wilson may end up in the conversation of best Michigan safeties since the 90s.
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Agree on Indiana being bad. Very bad. It wasn’t so much our guys making plays as it was their guys failing.
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I think this is the last win of Hoke’s Michigan career. Based on the performance to date against common opponents, Maryland and Northwestern are far better teams than Michigan. Northwestern’s fallen apart a bit but it’s still on the road where Michigan has struggled badly under Hoke and I don’t think you’ll see the same Chicago-area alumni presence as in years past in Evanston.
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Getting bowl eligibility would be a great thing for this team, so I’ll be cheering for it. The practices will help the OL and other young players get better, which will benefit the 2015 team significantly. But it's very unlikely.
At this point, dignity is irrelevant. The program will be far better off in the long run if Hoke is gone as soon as possible (i.e. the day after the OSU game. Having him lingering another month will just make the transition a mess.
DeleteMichigan and Maryland have two common opponents. We beat Penn State by more (5 points to 1) and Indiana by more (24 points to 22).
DeleteMichigan and Northwestern have two common opponents. We lost to Minnesota by more (16 points to 7) and they beat Penn State by more (23 points to 5 points). Regardless, Northwestern is a 3-5 football team without a couple key pieces of their team over the last couple seasons (Venric Mark, Kain Colter, etc.). They aren't a terrible team, but they're very beatable.
I see them losing 2 out of the next 3 and then Hoke gets terminated. Thank goodness.
DeleteLosing 2 out of the next 3 sounds right. Also, lose one they should win. Either NW or MD. OSU loss will be ugly.
DeleteDignity, it's tradition, is all michigan has left. If that is gone, what do you have at Michigan?
DeleteWe're still struggling to lift the stink of App State and the 3 win season in 2008 off. Every win for Michigan is a good thing and helps, even if only a little.
With 3-4 extra weeks of practice on the table with a bowl invite, Michigan has plenty to play for still.
I'm not saying Maryland and NWU are juggernauts. I'd like our chances a lot better against NWU at home. I'm skeptical we can compete with Maryland. Both those teams have far better wins than Michigan has. Both of them have fought harder against good teams. Inconsistent - yes. Beatable - yes. Worse than Michigan - doubtful.
DeleteMagnus, one qualm I have with this coaching staff is, since they started here a few years ago, I don't really think they've made many players better than when they got here. I think our exceptional players (i.e. Jake Ryan, Devin Funchess, etc) seem to just be talented and that gets them playing at the level they are. My question to you is, do you think the coaching staff has made many players better?
ReplyDeleteAlso, for getting to wear #1 Devin Funchess seems to have struggled this year. I'd be surprised if he gets drafted in the first 2 rounds.
Funchess will go pro but slip into the 3rd or 4th rounds at least. The pro's have a ton of guys with great potential who can't hold onto the ball. Couple on the Lions in fact.
DeleteFunchess is being viewed as a TE at the NFL for a reason. He's not fast enough to get consistent separation as a WR. He needs to learn to block. On that pass to Kerridge he left an unblocked defender straight ahead of Kerridge (the guy that tackled him) to block a trailing defender.
DeleteThe drops have been a problem too of course, but the bigger issue is separation.
Funchess does not have time to get separation. Gardner is sacked or he throws an INT by the time Funchess is two or three strides downfield.
DeleteThe pass protection is not good, but the OL has improved in it since the beginning of the year. Some of these sacks are coverage sacks because our guys are not open or Gardner is not seeing them or both.
DeleteIndiana's defense looked more aggressive because we kept running stupid plays that said "Here. Tee off on our dude as soon as they get the ball." The Darboh "who's yo daddy" play comes to mind, which ended up being a fun play, but I still wanted to flip tables.
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