BIG TEN CHAMPS!!! A lot of people doubted this Michigan team - including yours truly - but they're right where almost everyone wishes they could be. They beat the brakes off Ohio State and then the Big Ten West opponent, and now they're headed to the playoffs. I thought they would be 8-4, so I certainly didn't think they would be 12-1 and in this spot, but I also never lost faith in Jim Harbaugh's ability to coach. That 2-4 season in 2020 made a lot of people forget that this guy turned around two other college programs, returned the 49ers to the Super Bowl, and made a 5-7 team into a 10-3 team immediately upon arriving in Michigan. He now averages 9.8 wins per season at Michigan if you give him a full year.
Hit the jump for more.
I love that Michigan has some juice now. It's really tough to be successful on offense if you don't have something to hang your hat on. When Michigan can't run or pass the ball consistently, defenses don't overplay certain things. Michigan is finally to the point on offense where their runs and swing passes are making people overplay those things, which has opened up double passes, flea flickers, etc. Michigan got a 75-yard touchdown off a double pass that ended up in Roman Wilson's hands, and that was set up by Michigan running orbit/swing motion and throwing backward passes to Donovan Edwards, A.J. Henning, Roman Wilson, etc. After Michigan ran certain motions with Edwards and Wilson in the first quarter, you could tell they were setting up the double pass. Michigan also hit a flea flicker to Erick All that was set up by the constant H-back motions and the respect for Hassan Haskins in the run game.
The defense was excellent. I thought Iowa might have found a little something early in the game when they were attacking the middle of the field, which Michigan State did earlier in the year. However, the Hawkeyes just couldn't sustain it. The offensive line couldn't hold up to the pass rush, and quarterback Spencer Petras just isn't good enough to make Michigan pay for an entire game. Iowa did a good job early of bootlegging and challenging Michigan's aggressiveness off the edge, but once the coaches made an adjustment and told the edge guys to play the bootleg, Iowa's best play was defeated. I thought Jaylen Harrell (4 tackles, 1 tackle for loss) played a solid game, and maybe that's why the coaches put him in there, to play that bootleg. Aidan Hutchinson also took a ton of attention, and he notched a sack despite Iowa trying to chip him with a running back.
Attacking Iowa's edges is the thing to do. I thought Michigan did a great job of game planning to defeat Iowa. As ballyhooed as Michigan's offensive line is, they weren't going to be able to consistently run up the middle on the Hawkeyes. So Michigan attacked the edges of their 2-high defense. If you can do that successfully, you can make Iowa try to do something different and go with a 1-high look, and that's not what they're most comfortable doing. The swing passes, the end around to A.J. Henning, the 67-yard run by Blake Corum, the double pass, etc. were all ways of attacking Iowa's edges and forcing defensive backs to come up and tackle. Iowa's defensive backs are capable tacklers, but they're 200-pounders who don't major in it, rather 240 lb. inside linebackers who do.
Donovan Edwards can throw the ball? Edwards threw a beautiful 75-yard touchdown pass to Roman Wilson (it went about 45 yards in the air), and some people were surprised. Edwards was a do-everything high school player who ran the ball, caught the ball, and threw the ball some from the "Wildcat" spot at West Bloomfield High School. Even though he's not a great runner at this point (3 carries, 1 yard, 0.3 yards/carry, 1 TD), he can do other things to help the team. With Michigan bringing in X factors like Edwards and J.J. McCarthy, it has really opened up Michigan's offense with some unpredictability.
Blake Corum's 67-yard run. I have to admit that I was not too happy when I saw Corum look for that cutback on his 67-yarder, because I thought he was going to get tripped up and/or be unable to get up to full speed, considering his recent ankle injury. Boy, was I wrong. He makes some ridiculous cuts, and then his ability to tiptoe down the sideline was impressive, especially with McCarthy sprinting from Corum's blindside downfield to try to throw a block. That was just a fantastic, exciting play for all involved.
What happens next? I don't want to see Georgia and Alabama play again in the national championship. They did it a few years ago, and it was boring. They played yesterday, and it was an exciting single game . . . but seeing it again would be boring. The College Football Playoff committee needs to realize that the whole country does not want to see two SEC teams facing off in the national championship again. I don't really care where Michigan is seeded (though it should be #1 or #2, not #3 like stupid Joey Galloway said), but if I had to pick, I would say:
- Michigan
- Alabama
- Georgia
- Cincinnati
My reason for putting Michigan #1 is that their only loss came against #11 Michigan State, while Alabama's loss came against #24 Texas A&M. Sure, Alabama beat #1 Georgia, but Michigan beat then #2 Ohio State (which since dropped down to #7). Georgia actually has the best loss, but they just lost yesterday, so you can't realistically keep them ranked above the team that beat them.
I'm happy for Jim Harbaugh. I'm happy for everyone involved in Michigan's football program, but Jim Harbaugh represents a lot of great things about the university. He stresses academics and competing to be the best. He gives back to the community - such as his donation of his post-season bonuses to other members of the athletic department - and he prioritizes the student athletes. And he does all this while being vilified by members of the media and other football coaches. And I know some people don't like his post-game interviews, but I think he does a great job of deflecting the spotlight toward the players and the school rather than keeping the focus on himself.
They only folks who thought this was a championship team were those in Schembechler Hall. Just a wonderful season of exceeding expectations. Everyone in the program bought in, and delivered!
ReplyDeleteI picked 9-3, but an ugly/boring season, and was wrong about Cade, Vastardis, All, and most of all Gattis. On D, I was wrong about how much our interior DL could improve (Mazi was fun to watch in person), and that our Corners would be a liability. Mostly though, I was wrong about trusting a brand new DC from the Ravens!
What a great season. I'm ready to go to Arlington or Miami ... let's keep this thing going!!!
I was also terribly wrong about M fans. I've been to a bunch of venues, and never thought M fans came close to southern teams (and Oregon). But this year, Washington, The Game, and the B1G Championship fans were simply out of their minds! Only close comparisons would be aTm, LSU, and the NOLA Saints, but I think - this year - we got em
ReplyDeleteGO BLUE!
Harbaugh is a very strange man.
ReplyDeleteI love him to pieces, because he's our very strange man, and when he shouts out "Go Blue!!!!!" You know it means something to him.
Enough of that, I got questions.
So, Seth periodically makes a big deal about offensive linemen being smart enough to go past the guy who can't make the play in order to go past and block on somebody else.
Ok, here's Parkinggod's highlights, I have been watching this play all morning, over and over and over and .....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk6f9knRqsc&t=268s
At 1 minute 42 seconds on the vid and at 1:26 in the first quarter, we run the reverse to Henning that goes for 25.
Watch Keegan #77 pull from the left guard position, and come face to face with a crashing DE ... I think it's even their stud dutch DE ... they arrive at nearly a face to face position and Keegan says, "Excuse me please." does half a little dance step left to get out of the guy's way and continues on his way.
But wait, there's more. Now comes Haskins who very clearly has to bend his path to the right in order to avoid running into the guy. He doesn't bother with excuse me because he's in a hurry, or maybe he's just not as polite as Keegan is. Not sure on that part of it.
The guy keeps crashing and runs himself out of the play while Keegan and Haskins head downfield and make big blocks on a Safety and a Linebacker in order to extend the play another 10+ yards.
Watch it, it's amazing!!!!!!
So, here's my question. Was don't hit the DE in the play design, or did they both feel the guy running himself out of the play?
Both?
Honest to God, I've watched the thing 12-15 times. It's an incredible thing to me.
That's what you do to teams who crash their ends and/or wrong-shoulder pullers (which most college programs do). Make them think they're going to blow up the play, then have the pullers run right past them. Michigan tried that one other time on a counter sweep in this game - and ran it against Ohio State last week - where they got the DE to bite down. It worked against OSU but not so much against Iowa. But those were on counter sweeps with the running back, not reverses with Henning.
DeleteIf you block/reach the end, it tends to be a little bit of a giveaway, so that's the guy that the runner has to beat.
Interesting. That's a fair amount of discipline to actively avoid hitting a guy standing a yard deep in your backfield.
DeleteIt's actually using Iowa's discipline against them. You can't run that stuff on Michigan because the outside linebackers will run straight upfield and blow it up, but Iowa's ends are disciplined and don't run straight upfield, so you can count on a reverse getting around them.
DeleteIowa's defense was so disciplined. They have a gap/responsibility & stick to it, which makes up for lack of "stars" making plays - the play comes to them. Kudos to Gattis & Harbaugh for scheming enough plays to score SIX TDs and demoralize yet another highly touted defense
DeleteFIRE HARBAUGH! Year 7! Matt Campbell is better.
ReplyDelete------------------
I didn't expect this either, but the point that the "9-3 is failure" people missed that the first step to success is putting yourself in position to do so.
Harbaugh deserves some coach of the year consideration. His defenders over these last 4 years and especially the last year are vindicated.
The recruiting approach of the last 4 years is vindicated too.
No shame in the preseason predictions Thunder, nobody expected this. Except the team itself it turns out.
Those riding with Harbaugh through the negativity can pat themselves on the back.
Big Ten Champs! HAIL TO THE VICTORS
Harrell is going to be good. Ostensibly a speed guy he's playing well against the run. He's on the early career Winovich track. Watching and learning from the studs ahead of him, getting bigger and better.
DeleteTurner has turned into a stud. Gray is legitimately good. Some of the keys to the season lie DE and OL being elite and CB and QB being not bad have really turned into best case scenarios.
The Corum run was beautiful. A microcosm of the run game as a whole. That was a GAPING hole, A-train era sized, but Corum made that slick cut. But the best part, not most important but best, was the downfield blocking. Not just the highlight of JJ jetting past Corum way downfield, but Sainristil being way down there knocking that guy on his butt.
Credit Gattis for finally making the RB a major part of the pass game. Speed in space is Wilson in the FB spot at the snap with the defense having no clue which direction he'll go. Edwards a triple threat. Haskins catching passes and blocking downfield. Michigan doesn't have a single superstar offensive player, probably no guy who will even go in Round 1, but they're getting it done. 42 points on a high end defense and the heels of demolishing OSU. whoa.
This OL is the biggest reason this offense is successful all year from G1 to G12, but you can't say enough about the consistency of the blocking from the All and Sainristil as well - that's been contagious. Haskins too, when he doesn't get the ball, is getting after it.
Schoonmaker -- tip of the cap. I didn't know you could do em like that. The one player personnel decision I was dubious of this year and he showed why yesterday.
Upshaw - settle down my man. reign it in. between the DUMB personal foul yesterday and the sketchy behavior vs MSU someone needs to have a talk with the kid, who is a pretty good player otherwise.
Figures. Just like after an epic win over ohio, the first post following a historic conference championship is for Lank to conflate, then argue with an amalgam of his own making
DeleteBut others are trolling, right?
Sorry pal, you can't rain on my parade.
DeleteIf you mean the fire harbaugh comment... Harbaugh's redemption is part of the narrative. Nationally, locally, everywhere. The very vocal critics - You want to pretend like I invented them?
http://touchthebanner.blogspot.com/2020/12/addressing-michigans-coaching-situation.html
I gave my strong agreement with Thunder's take. It was warranted then and it's been proven correct now.
You wanted to "start over" aka fire Harbaugh. You were wrong. Always wrong. I can see why you would be annoyed about somebody bringing up the hot-take Harbaugh-doubters.
No "others" are trolling here. Just you.
Either your reading comprehension is as bad as you accuse others, or you're a liar
DeleteI did not say fire Harbaugh. I did lean toward starting over, and we did. Harbaugh changed more than half his staff, took a pay cut, lost weight, scrapped speed in space & straight Man coverage, and reset the culture
The most competitive of men, Harbaugh wasn't satisfied either; he'd scoff at internet guy who accepts losing seasons, subordinance to ohio, and the concept of playoffs being unrealistic
Thank God James Joseph Harbaugh is a competitor, and has higher expectations than any of us
LOLOL. By "start over" you meant keep Harbaugh and ask him to work out, change his diet, and undermine the core philosophy of his Broyles-winning OC. Anyone who didn't get that can't read!
DeleteJust like when you said Milton would transfer if Patterson stayed healthy. Obviously you meant he would beat out Peters and McCaffrey to earn the starting job and then transfer after 2 more seasons on the team. Any fool can see that.
No wolverine here, all wriggling weasel.
...when the Walmart Wolverine shows up with no ability to grasp the difference between a coach's role and a guy on a message board. Now he's authoring inane fan fiction mutterings.
DeleteThe guy you wanted to move on from is "the most competitive of men". LOLOL
Back to back insults, without being able to make a point. More lies
DeleteMan, this is too easy
You already got it. You were ready to dump Harbaugh. You jumped ship. No resilience. No vision. Bad fan. Wrong again.
DeleteInstead of admitting it. You dodge and deflect. Try to rewrite history. No ownership. No honor. No honesty.
Where we agree. It is easy...for you to keep take these Ls.
Maybe ask Thunder to delete the archived comments to make it harder.
None of what you're saying was in that link you shared
DeleteIt's just more of the lies, hyperbole & exaggeration you are reputed for ... like claiming to have played the game (or having done anything competitive) ... why would anyone believe you're a graduate of the University of Michigan? You fail to put together a consistent (or logical) point, make up lies, and then resort to insults. My guess is just some guy on the internet, frustrated with lack of any significance
Oh well, happy holidays and Go Blue
All that yap yap, blown away by one link:
Deletehttp://touchthebanner.blogspot.com/2020/12/addressing-michigans-coaching-situation.html
Saying something is true doesn't make it true
DeleteSpeight wasn't good
Milton sucks
RBs matter
LOLOL. Saying something is true doesn't make it true. And you like to prove that in every post.
DeleteHail Harbaugh!
ReplyDeleteI made the comparison before to people wanting to fire Beilein when he had a couple (relatively) rougher years when hit by injuries to Levert, Irvin, Walton. 2017 and 2020 had similar injury woes for football and people went off the deep end.
Harbaugh is weird and abrasive but most of the elite coaches at this level are some kind of psychopath. Look at Brian Kelly lying to everyone and then thinking he can throw on a southern accent. Look at Dave Aranda's utter lack of humanity while winning a championship. These guys are whacked! But...
Harbaugh gets it. Off the field he does it right and he very much understands and loves Michigan and the culture around the program. On the field he gets it too, and that part should have been obvious to anyone who saw what he did before Michigan and what he did to turn around Michigan, even if that was "only" 9-3 sometimes.
I think Harbaugh and the team should give a tiny little credit to us, the doubting fans. Afterall, a team performs best when they are the "Nobody Believes in Us." team. The last time we won a National Championship, we were also unranked to begin the season. A "nobody believes in us" team. Coincidence? I don't think so.
ReplyDeleteWe also had a defensive player win the Heisman back in 1997. Could we have another one this year? The parallel gives us hope against Georgia and Bama. Do we dare to dream/expect this team to deliver us 2 more victories?
I think this is much closer than the victory lap ...
DeleteThe program turnaround isn't based on injured players returning, or maturing players suddenly figuring things out
No. Harbaugh fired his Broyles candidate DC - who won him far more games than lost - a CB coach who only put guys in the draft, and an OL coach who rebuilt the offense around five guys who started 2018 in shambles, but each got drafted
Harbaugh turned the program around by undoing the madness he created. Many of the gripes were warranted (though not the insults), and Harbaugh went back to his roots
Celebrate the moral courage to bet on himself, and make it work. Be grateful for the upperclass leaders who bought in
But the 'fans' who thought all was peachy, nothing had to change, and now boast of solidarity. Come on, get with reality
Does that mean it's the fans' fault for previous years when expectations were set very high?
DeleteDid that contribute to a culture of entitlement where you were judged not by how you play on the field but the prestige of the program and the size of the coaches paycheck?
My read on the culture and leadership stuff...
DeleteThe fans didn't do this. The people inside Schembechler Hall in February and July did this.
The players have been pretty vocal about the benefits of the POSITIVE energy the new coaches brought in. Warriner and Zordich were hard asses. Brown was carrot and stick, but the new guys were more energetic, supportive, and positive. The players seem to love them. Success breeds that but you notice for example that while Zordich was clearly a HIGHLY productive coach most of the secondary guys were not super enthusiastic cheerleaders of the program after they left. I don't know if mattered but recruiting wasn't going great at CB...
The negativity and doubt has been there all along from fans. Not like saying "yeah but they can't beat OSU" is a new accusation. The difference is that these guys took it and channeled it. Yeah, they figured it out. And it was a veteran led team that did most of that figuring. (Though TBF JJ and Edwards get some credit too it sounds like.)
Harbaugh too, grew, and that's one of the great things about him is that he EVOLVES. He didn't UNDO what he built to improve. He tweaked and modified and enhanced.
Gattis - still here, Year 3 building on the changes that Hamilton brought in from the Drevno/Fisch dinosaur offense. That's Harbaugh moving AWAY from his roots. Moore - still here, replacing the unpopular approach of Warriner. Jay H - still here, year 7, despite the criticism related to nepotism and purported failures at RB. A glue guy, contributing to the culture. Nua - still here, churning out NFL DEs. Herbert - still here, Year 4. New faces? yes - but he didn't tear down what was in place already working. The path from 9 or 10 wins to 12 or 13 doesn't require tearing down.
You can see JH's approach in how he handled the Brown situation. Brown was awesome, but Day had his number. The attempt to adapt to more zone stuff was there, but it wasn't Brown's strength. So JH recognized it, saw the need, gave Brown a shot and then moved on when it didn't work. Similarly, he tried to keep Drevno around as Hamilton modernized things but that didn't work either. Harbaugh builds up.
Some of us who are successful in real life and not just internet trolls know that you can improve, evolve, enhance and refine. You don't just blow shit up the instant you hit a rough patch. That's called resilience. This team has that.
Some fans don't but that's fine, everyone is welcome on the bandwagon. Even those who asked off. Those who spend all year griping about OSU and referencing Charlie Brown? Welcome back. You'll never hear me calling out Walmart Wolverines or any of that nonsense. Michigan football is for everyone who wants to cheer them on. Go Blue!
Absolutely CANNOT overstate the benefit of being healthy in 2021. Michigan avoided a lot of major injuries (besides Bell, which fortunately happened early in the year with time to adapt) unlike 2017 or 2020.
DeleteThink Hutchinson getting hurt contributed to 2020 woes? Think losing multiple guys on the OL was relevant? I do. Think losing Butt and Peppers in 2016 hurt us vs FSU? I do. Think being down to the 3rd option at QB cost us in 2017? For sure.
Health, especially at the most important positions QB, OT, DE, S has been HUGE this year. It was huge last year. It's huge every year.
@FT I do agree FT that fans having reasonable expectations for the season is meaningful. Mostly for our own enjoyment levels. This was a fun ride and it would have been a fun ride even if the last 2 games hadn't played out this way.
DeleteI take a different view of Harbaugh's staffing "evolution." I think it was dis-jointed and chaotic with the hiring of Pep Hamilton and Jim McElwain, the moving of Jay Harbaugh around, and the years where we had no QB coach and no WR coach. 2020 was the wake-up call, and Harbaugh finally took a holistic approach, fixing the overall problems on both offense and defense.
DeleteHarbaugh also seems a reborn person in 2021, which is partly due to winning, of course. I have no evidence or proof, but I suspect there's also something else going on in terms of a change to his personal life and personal health and well-being. 2021 finds him having lost weight and looking fit-and-trim, as well as having greater mental acuity. Whatever catalyst resulted in those changes was a major contributor.
Now, for perhaps the first time since 2016, we have a fairly cohesive coaching staff on both sides of the ball, with a head coach who seems energized and comfortable in the role. The results on the field are because of those things.
Of course the fans didn't do this. I said earlier that the folks in Schemmy Hall navigated the negative expectations AND the acceptance of mediocrity. They bought in, and believed in themselves
DeleteTrying to pretend excuse making and conceding ohio's superiority is weak, and I commend the progr for not thinking like some "fans"
@JE
DeleteLike an abusive father's excuses, "My negativity helped you" is total crap.
A fan's job is to support. A coaches job is to lead, develop, and inspire. A coach can be negative to inspire, and that's a one-to-one judgement. A fan bitching on a message board or booing in a game -- there's nothing positive or productive about it. Deriding successful players as mediocre or bad at their position - not only wrong but unhelpful.
Nobody accepted mediocrity in the program you have nothing to do with. Nobody listened to your garbage takes. The difference between being part of the school and alumni community and being a fan of the football team is evident. You can tell.
Hop on the bandwagon, it's plenty big, but don't jump on and then grumble about the bumpy ride. Or do, free country and the wagon has plenty of room, but don't get mad when you get an invite to see yourself out the back if you act like a fool. Maybe you can catch the L train instead. Again.
Please do tell how to be a fan. What support would Harbaugh welcome? "Everything is fine," or "sh:t is F'd up; we need change?"
DeleteThat's a rhetorical question Lank, because we saw the route he took
Again, too easy
LOL you're still conflating being a coach and being a fan? How delusional are you? Know your role.
DeleteYou're dodging again ... just because I happen to agree with Harbaugh, doesn't mean it's conflating the two ... you're alone on this ... take the L
Delete