Monday, December 21, 2020

Michigan Monday: Weekend In Review

The College Football Playoff system is one of the most predictable things in sports.  If you want to know next years teams, I'm going to give you 3 out of the 4 right now!   Alabama, Clemson, and Ohio State.  Want to know the teams 2 years from now? How about 3 years from now?


Something has to change with this system, we have to let more teams in to make this more exciting.  ND get housed by Clemson on Saturday and gets into the playoffs.  Texas A&M is #5 and they got blown out by Alabama already this year.   Alabama is an 18 point favorite over ND.   The only thing that will get this system to change is ratings.   If people don't watch the Alabama Clemson re-run again, they might consider a change.  

If your wondering, Michigan was beating one 2020 playoff team at half-time and blew out another playoff team last season.  Crazy how much things have changed this season.  

In three moves that didn't surprise anyone, Michigan lost 3 players from next years team (please remember, players don't lose eligibility this year).

-Kwity Paye and Jalen Mayfield both declared for the NFL Draft and signed with agents.  Hat tip to both for coming back this season and trying to make a go out of it.   Both of these departures were expected and planned for. 

-Christian Turner who originally opted out for the season, opted back in, didn't play and is now in the transfer portal.  Would Turner's career been different in Ann Arbor if he didn't step out of bounds against Florida in the Peach Bowl?  He also struggled with ball security.   

I was wondering if anyone watched Northwestern's and Clemson's defense on Saturday? I had two take away's that I haven't seen Michigan do. 

1) Northwestern's defense played a match zone where the CB's played man and the rest of the defense played zone.  Worked well against the pass but opened a ton of holes in the running game, once the Buckeye coaches figured it out.   Still they held OSU to 22 points.   

2) Clemson's defensive line, didn't rush Ian Book and stayed in their lanes to confuse him and not let him run.   That put pressure on him to throw the ball away or rush into a sack.  

When have we ever seen either out of a Don Brown defense?  

  • No update on Jimmy's contract talk, rumor is he is in California on vacation with his family.  

  • I thought there was an outside chance the Big Ten was going to force Michigan to play in a bowl game, glad that didn't happen.  

  • The Big Ten lowered their 21 day quarantine to 17 days.  Another rule change that helps the Buckeyes who were down 22 players on Saturday.   

  • Illinois hired former Arkansas and Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema. 

  • Michigan graduate coaches started to follow both Joe Moorhead and former Vandy head coach Derek Mason.  Joe was the OC at PSU, former Head Coach at Miss State, and now OC at Oregon.  He would be a grand slam hire as Co-OC's with his good friend Josh Gattis, but that seems like a pipe dream.  Mason is from the Harbaugh coaching tree and could make a very good DC.   Want to change the Harbaugh perception? Hire Joe Moorhead to run anything on offense. 

  • Big Ten Basketball conference games are going to be a killer this season.  MSU lost to Northwestern and Rutgers beat Illinois.  

  • Michigan Football also secured an instate DT commit to the 2022 class in River Rouge Davonte Miles.  Yes a DT! 

10 comments:

Goose said...

Fun fact during Saturday night's bama Florida game the commentator mentioned that both kyle trask & mac jones were 3 star prospects out of high school. Yet they developed into heisman candidates. This is my issue with Harbaugh in 6 years I haven't seen much player development & I cant understand why.

EzmoB said...

Bob did you hear the rumors that Daxton Hill is not happy at Michigan and could be looking to transfer. Any truth to thus rumor?

Unknown said...

The "Best 4 Teams" thing is total nonsense. Who knows who those teams are ? March Madness is fantastic. Do the "Best 4 Teams" every make the Final 4 ? NEVER ! It's "win and advance" not lose and advance like it is in CFB. When a team LOSES THEIR LAST GAME BY 4 TOUCHDOWNS AND ADVANCES TO THE PLAYOFF IT'S A TOTAL FARCE ! If the CFB committee ran CBB a team in March Madness could lose the regional final and still go to the Final 4 because the committed decided it was one of the "Best 4 Teams". NONSENSE

MichiganMan said...

Guys just relax we are already in the playoffs....matter according some of you we are national power house and won the national championship....You want to know something that is more predictable Michigan will not making the playoff next year...we will go 8-5 at best....Fire Don Brown already...

Goose said...

Has there been any evidence that warde is looking at other head coaching candidates through back channels or agents?
This situation feels like Harbaugh is dragging this out as long as possible in the hope perhaps an nfl team will come calling. Just curious if anyone closer to the program is hearing anything.

EzmoB said...

Goose I think the longer it drags on the more chances that coach H will depart for the NFL. Also on the other hand coach H lives Michigan university and he wants to be successful here. As an NFL team why would you want to hire a coach who failed at his current stint?

Goose said...

I guess that's my point, Harbaugh's holding out for something that probably is not coming. Warde is holding out for Harbaugh to get something that probably is not coming. That leaves only 1 option he returns to a fan base that's fed up with him. To an AD that didn't want him in the last year of a contract. Who would want to coach under those circumstances? Why not just fire him pay him & move on I just dont understand the sense in doing things this way.

szanreno said...

I bet good money that he is staying. Warde may not be doing what some folks want him to do but he's not stupid. He knows the dangers of dragging this out. At this point he truly believes Harbaugh is not going anywhere as do I. Of course Jim could make an 11th hour move and leave us at the last second high and dry. That's the danger. However I'd have a hard time believing he would do that to his alma mater. I don't know of anything in Harbaugh's past that would lead us to believe he would do this. At this point he is our coach.

Goose said...

I'm guessing he's staying as well. But for entirely different reasons. I believe he stays because no else offers him a position you believe he stays because he is loyal and genuinely believes hes doing a great job that no one can do any better. What's best for Michigan plays out 2 ways.
1.if he's staying it's best if he signed the extension long before nsd. So if he's as loyal as you believe why is he hurting the program with this game of chicken?

2.He wants to leave and is holding out for an opportunity elsewhere. Again hurting the program you claim he's loyal to to.

My conclusion he absolutely loved ( past tense)Michigan but not enough to damage his reputation by taking a pay cut. And not enough to walk away without another job. The situation has soured and there are inevitably hurt feelings at this point. He is no longer looking out for the program he's in it now for what he can get out of Michigan and that's it. Time to move on. He will never be the Harbaugh of old it's a toxic work place for him & its toxic for the program as well.

Just my opinion. Merry Christmas all.

szanreno said...

I do believe he is loyal to his alma mater. But please cut and paste where I said I thought he was doing a good job.