Monday, December 31, 2018

Michigan Monday: More Changes Needed

After a Michigan loss, its basically throwing my entire weekend out the window.    If you include a loss to OSU, its like throwing 4+ days out the window.   My stomach hurts and my attitude goes from "fun Bob" to "pissed off Bob".

Saturday didn't even give me an hour of football depression.   I wasn't joyful, but the outcome is what I expected.  The score was a bit one-sided, but it was a movie I had seen before.    You know what I found funny?   Having a Harbaugh team get blown out is media gold and with ESPN's two playoff games, they barley mentioned the Peach Bowl.  Which was a bit refreshing.

What now?

When Jimmy was hired, we hoped he brought in toughness, defense, and a NFL offensive scheme.   He did just that and it isn't good enough.   The problem is Jimmy is playing chess and everyone else is playing checkers.  I believe for Jimmy's system to work, he needs NFL quality offensive lineman and a very smart QB.  He hasn't had that at Michigan.  Yes, Michigan has a better QB but I don't believe 4-5 NFL lineman are walking through Schembechler Hall right now.   Even the god of college football, Nick Saban realized he needed to make some changes on offense and he is getting the best of the best in recruiting every year.

Yes, you need to be able to run the football, but you have to have a dynamic passing game that leads that running game.   This isn't the NFL and by the way, the NFL is trending more towards the dynamic passing game then the power run game.  The only team that is doing the power run game in the NFL, is Jimmy's brother, which is a different problem.

Jimmy needs to hire an OC that doesn't agree with his offensive system.  Pep is rumored to be out the door and was strangely on the Detroit Lions sideline for Sunday's game at Green Bay.    If Jimmy, does have an opening he better be creative with that hire.

Don Brown's problems are just the opposite.  

Don runs a very college oriented defense.   He plays man to man and pressures the QB.   If you have talented players, that will win you a lot of football games.  The issue is, if the other team has time or a talented OC, they can scheme an NFL type of approach to beat you.

For example, OSU beat Michigan with a quick hit NFL type passing game.   Which is very hard to cover in a man to man defense.  They worked on that offense all year and had it perfected by the time Michigan came to town.  That scheme alone is going to get Haskins drafted high in the first round.   (BTW, OSU showed this offense all year and for Don not to have defense prepared for it, is terrible work)

The other issue is, if Michigan is in Man to Man, the DB's have their back turned to the QB, which gives the QB chances to gain chunk running yards.    Don't get me started on the Dline not saying in their rush lanes and going wide and giving the QB huge holes to run through.

Michigan needs a defense to be just as good in zone as they are in Man to Man.    Its not even a question, its a mandatory situation and it been that way for at least two seasons.  If Don, can't teach a zone, then he needs to hire a new assistant that can or he needs to look for other work.

The Temple job all of a sudden is open again and who knows if Don would be a candidate again.   Please don't get this wrong, I don't want Don to leave, but Michigan needs a more flexible defense.

After ND, Michigan beat 10 bad teams.

This isn't rocket science

Florida's offense is not complex and it looked like Don was coaching against Sean McVay.  Everyone knew QB draw was coming and Michigan still left the middle of the field wide open.

It's also obvious when this team throws in the towel.   After the pick early in the second half, I knew this game was done for Michigan.  Outside a blocked punt safety, Michigan didn't do anything worth while the rest of the game.

After one of Florida's TD's the TV flashed to Don's face.  He wasn't surprised, he wasn't mad, he also expected the outcome.

It's not fair to the seniors 

Chase Winovich decided to play through pain and basically one handed.  He needs surgery and instead of going under the knife, he dressed and played one more game.   The way the season ended isn't fair to him or others players that played hard.    It's not fair and a bit dangerous to have a game where everyone is not bought in.   This photo by David Turnley shows the emotion of a final game loss as a senior in a private moment.

  • Michigan got some good news when Hill and Metellus decided yesterday to come back to Michigan for their senior year.  Now its up to David Long to make a decision.  

6 comments:

szanreno said...

Blogger Steve Zander said...
This sitting out crap only started a few years ago. At what point in the season do you start sitting out if your team doesn't have a chance to go to any sort of championship? Yes Jake butt got hurt in the bowl game. But he also said he would do it again if it was given the chance.
As far as the bowl games being meaningless. Ive watched a lot of bowl games over the years and every team that won seemed pretty happy about being the champion of that bowl. I remember for years and years the Rose Bowl being a source of Pride for the Michigan team even though there was nothing more on the line than being the champion of the Rose Bowl. I was at the Peach Bowl and believe me the Florida players and fans seem pretty happy about winning that bowl game. I don't think it was meaningless to them. The Mercedes-Benz stadium was a pretty cool place and I met a few Florida fans that seemed like they're pretty cool as well. I don't think the vibe for this bowl game was that good coming out of the Michigan camp. But you know damn well they wanted to win that game as bad as anybody. I don't think anybody on this message board can say that that team quit. They don't know.

Chowman said...

Players sitting out doesn't address the issues and Bob did so very well. Both the offensive and defensive schemes are limited. Basically when we play bad teams, we look great, when we play good teams, well we get our assess handed to us. B1G isn't a deep conference, maybe 3 or 4 good to great teams, a few middling teams and the rest are garbage. This year the B1G was historically bad. Top to bottom, and the reason no B1G made the CFP. Celebrating a 10 win season when we beat no one with a pulse is foolish. Those games were basically glorified scrimmages and new concepts should of been worked in to prepare for use against better teams. No instead we ran the same stale schemes against less talented teams. Did they work? Sure, but when UoM has better athletes than WMU or Maryland or Rutgers we'll should win no matter what the scheme.

Pblue17 said...

I’ve had to listen to the Harbaugh NFL offense all year and if I’ve said it once I’ve said it 100 times the NFL is more and more spread offenses. Look at the Patriots Chiefs Seahawks eagles all spread offense that exploit match ups. People always here spread and think read option spread which is totally different, the spread has been run in the NFL for years it was called the west coast. Maybe in the off season Jim will go talk to his brother who has adapted and changed his offense for the better. Adapt of die Jim adapt or die

Goose said...

Last year many of us (myself included)
Complained that the O-line was a weakness. Harbaugh fixed that by hiring a good line coach & what many of us thought would once again be a weakness turned into a solid position group. The receiving corps also under achieved last year & again Harbaugh found someone to coach them up. This year the receivers shined as a strong position group. I say that only to make the point that Jim Harbaugh may not be urban Mayer or nick saban, but one thing I believe he does well is evaluate his teams short comings in the off season & make changes as needed. Key words being in the off season. He will not adjust very much during the season. I believe he will self evaluate & adjust where needed. Next year the weaknesses will be harder for other teams to find and Michigan will improve a little more. I would simply encourage a frustrated fan base to be patient. Starting over usually doesn't help speed up success.

Jimmy 4 the Natty! said...

Patient?! This is year 4 and 90% of the team is Harbaughs recruits. Michigan has a ton of 4 stars and majority of the key positions we have 5 star recruits. Yet where is the player development? Leaders know when to continue to teach and when to cut bait.

I believe Don Brown is a solid coach that is missing a zone defense. This is something he can work on in the off season. Now Pep Hamilton is a huge liability and his lack of mid game adjustments is heart wrenching to watch. Shea Patterson looked like a poor mans Johnny Manziel at Ole Miss (no disrespect there) and this year his playbook consisted of maybe 5 repeat plays. Michigan has to open it up.

Your play Mr Harbaugh...

Chowman said...

Hey Jimmy 4 Naty

In year 3 Nick Saban won a Naty. In year 4 Marky D won the B1G. So the patience is wearing thin. Getting high ranked recruits hasn't been the problem, doing something, anything with them is. Getting 10 wins against a garbage B1G, WMU, and SMU ain't sht! Three teams that had a pulse this year all pants us. The ND game wasn't as close as the score indicated.