Sunday, November 13, 2016

Our Dirty Little Secret

We all have a side of us we try to keep away from family and friends.  It might be we have a few too many drink at parties or like to bet on the ponies.   It's something that is always there but we hide it from our everyday life. 

That something for the Michigan Football team, came out on Saturday for the entire world to see.   Michigan's kryptonite has been playing road games against any type of teams.   Good Defense and a running game is supposed to "travel", Michigan is yet to find that winning combination on the road.  It doesn't even have to be competitive teams, we all remember the Hoke and RR years where we struggled to beat teams like UConn.   We started to see it in the Michigan State game, whether we wanted to believe it or not.    The other thing that  had us worried is that Wilton would have a terrible game in him.   I didn't know if it was going to be the weather, the location or the opponent that would make him struggle but we all worried a performance like that was coming.  

Iowa is not a good football team and Michigan made them look like world beaters on Saturday night.  Iowa on offense was one dimensional in running the football.   The QB's only job was to hand off the football, he wasn't going to throw the ball.   This is exactly what the Michigan's defense wants and they could barely stop it.    As alarming as that sounds, that wasn't the story of the game.  

Michigan lost this game on offense. 

  • The Iowa defense has two good players and Michigan couldn't seem to block either one of them all game.  

  • Wilton had his worst game of his career, he looked like the guy that came into the Minnesota game for the first few series.   Darboh was living behind the Iowa defensive backfield all night  and Wilton couldn't get him the ball.   Some of his other throws were just ducks.  I don't know if it was the location, night game or the colder conditions, but that wasn't the same guy we have seen.

  • Kyle Kalis was getting pushed around by Johnson all night.   For Kalis to let him free on the safety is just ridiculous.   Those two points change momentum and ended up being the difference in the game.  (there is some talk that was actually Hill's blown assignment)

  • Even though Smith ran hard, I thought he continued to miss holes.

  • Chesson had 3 balls that I thought he should have caught

  • The offensive line had the worst performance of the year, they couldn't run or pass block.

  • Michigan needed points with about 4 minutes to play and Wilton throws into double coverage and behind Darboh and it gets picked.  That can't happen.

  • Hill's fumble on the second half kick off was another game changing moment. 

  • Michigan was one first down away from winning this game and the offense couldn't get that done.  Stribling's interception ended up being a curse because the offense couldn't get more then a couple of yards.  

  • Harbaugh seems to have an Iowa City curse, he gets hit by a mail truck in kindergarten, loses 10-12 as a QB and now 14-13 as a coach.

  • Side note:  That Big Ten officiating crew is terrible.   Is it possible for them to stop doing Michigan games? 

The Michigan defense did not play great, but they played well enough to win this game.   The offense gave up points to Iowa and basically couldn't move the ball at all.

The other thing this game showed me, is this team is not ready to beat Ohio State in Columbus.   I can't believe we have gone from talking about the CFP to maybe having two losses this year in the regular season.    What a terrible night.


4 comments:

Renegade said...

Time of possession: UM-27:15 Iowa-32:45. This is a measure of the defense … and not a good one.

Last possession: 2 runs and a pass. Really conservative play calling. And Peppers playing QB on second down; will he run with the ball??? That only happens about 90% of the time. Teams have adjusted to him being in on offense. Time to stop that experiment.

“That Big Ten officiating crew is terrible.” Very similar to the baseball saying “the sun was in my eyes”. As you noted, Michigan lost this game not the refs.

“I can't believe we have gone from talking about the CFP to maybe having two losses this year in the regular season. “ Perhaps it would be best for this team to focus on Indiana. Wouldn’t want it to be three losses.

ScottyDoggs said...

Well said Renegade. I think the cold and night game had something to do with it. Also, all the little things that go against you, penalties hurt (severely).
Yep, that Peppers run from quarterback, is starting to get too predictable since he almost always goes right.
Was are offense, defense getting too predictable or Iowa wanted it more?
If you want to hear some awful luck is Texas tech losing 4 big time games in the final minutes of each game (close).
Losing to Iowa and Trump victory makes for a bad week, just hope for a better future. Off subject, but I wish Trump to do well but "fear the worst"
Want a victory against Ohio State, but not seeing it...

Chowman said...

Great posts Gentlemen! Peppers needs to just focus on D and punt returns. The Heisman talk was just that talk. It wasn't reality and he needs to focus on less things and do them better. Agreed, this team is NOT ready to go into C-bus and do anything but get rolled. The D has shown some kinks in the past few weeks and we glossed over them due to the hype and perfect season. Now it's gut check time. All phases of the game, players and coaches need to re-focus and dig deep for these final 2 games.

Tim said...

Our dirty secret of us not playing well on road and not being able to run when needed against good teams.

I felt like our offense never got in synch and at times tried harder to get peppers highlight reels than move the chains.

I hope this loss wakes up the players and coaching staff and they make applicable changes.

Loss sucks, not going to sugarcoat, but I think this is worse for Ohio state. Before the game we held our own destiny, now, after the loss we still do but if we lose then next up is penn state. We always knew we'd have to beat Ohio state at c-bus. That is still the case.

For Ohio state to win Big ten east they need to beat us AND have penn state lose. The big ten champ will make playoffs but doubtful they take a second B10 team. As bad as this loss is for us, it make Ohio state's path to championship and playoff very very hard.