Thought at the moment:
I never liked Harbaugh promoting Michigan football as a breeding ground for the NFL. For a top five team, which Michigan is not, I understand that there is a correlation.
It it is an interesting thread on mgoblog, "What happened to Jim Harbaugh?" First we will get the non-contenders out of the way. One cannot call it legitimate public opinion or fact, but some vocal and addicted posters have mentioned nonsense including the following.
"The spot" is one. Harbaugh, although he may be edited in some fashion, has a right to complain. I would not call it a clear stop by Michigan. Nonetheless, one football call did not change that football coach's career.
Other wild thoughts on Harbaugh's personal transitions include reflections on a gay son, trips overseas, a toddler at home, and of course his salary.
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It was an unusual week. The prelude was a nonevent and I have rarely seen Michigan as a consensus underdog. I wondered if that air about the program would bring out something special. I have never seen Michigan players give up. I have come to realize, why do the same few players play all the time? They are the ones who will fight.
I did not watch the game live, save for the first few minutes. Saturday night I read read about it, including some opinions. Since the full game is not up anywhere, I could only watch a 35-minute, every play, quasi-game. For the first time ever I actually wanted to listen to the commentary between plays. And, as always, I wanted to see the whole atmosphere.
I had read that Michigan looked lethargic, didn't care, and other criticisms. Losing is one thing. I had not seen that before.
Before I looked at anything late Saturday I estimated the score at 30-14, Wisconsin.
The score was 35-14.
I still have not seen the whole game. I saw almost all of the plays.
The first time DPJ was mentioned in a game it was for a personal foul.
The team, we saw it in the first two games, they are not great. The biggest reason for optimism before the season was the best quarterback in the Big Ten and that clearly is not the case. Patterson is not moving the offense. He is not that big anyway, he throws sidearm, and he is OK at it but pocket passing is not his forte. Last year at his best he was optioning and rolling out. If he is hurt, play McCaffrey. It is doubtful health is the only thing holding him back. Without a QB leader (e.g., someone like Brandon Peters, who played but did not lead), the offense is nothing.
Dylan showed energy and strength running and a pocket presence. Many of his passes were forced and off target. But he did not miss open targets; the receivers were not open For whatever the reasons, the passing attack was not working with him either.
Nothing was worse than the Shea Hail Mary. And he gets tipped balls and interceptions because the throws are low.
The running backs? Charbonnet would not have played at all if he was not able. There is no running attack. I did not see any holes or runs at all (except McCaffrey and an occasional scramble). Putting Mason back at running back for anything more than a one yard effort is a sure sign of desperation.
First time I looked at the score and saw 40 yards rushing and I knew. Ronnie Bell leading in receiving (81 yards) is not good new either.
Nick Eubanks showed some fire. We have heard it before: Collins and Black are talented. DPJ was in the game but I did not see anything in the offense taking advantage of him. Ronnie Bell is slow.
There are some newsworthy comments about Josh Gattis, offensive coordinator. Saban was OK with him leaving. It is curious why his vision is so different than Locksley's. He has never called plays nor has he been an offensive coordinator.
What is also coming out is that he was hired pretty quickly. Harbaugh needed an approach after Drevno and Pep.
The O-line does not look great either. Not a ton of sacks, but no particular holes. Lots of QB hits.
The Defense
Michigan's punter is one the few players I would say is really good at his position. I don't recall his name.
Michigan's defense is average to good; the are not great and they are certainly not elite. Michigan against Wisconsin... What do you do if your offense has no drives?
The score could have been a lot worse. Paul Chryst is never one for controversy. And he has always been a really good playcaller.
We did not see a lot of Uche in this game. What can you say about Kemp, Hutchinson, and Paye? They are pretty good. They play hard every play and they do it all game. Hutchinson played inside. Dwumfour and Jeter played too.
Wisconsin ran for 359 yards.
#31 Vincent Gray is terrible as a run defender. McGrone played. The backup safety, whatshisname played. Josh Ross was injured, but he did not stop things when he was in. Some plays they were out of position; Wisconsin fooled them. Ambry Thomas makes some good plays and some bad ones; Lavert Hill, I sure do not know why he was returning punts at one point earlier in the season.
Josh Metellus and Brad Hawkins play all the time because they are good (not great) too and they play hard.
All told the defense did not have the personnel to stop Wisconsin.
Coaching? Michigan has had a ton of attrition; attrition combined with recruiting's failure to keep up. There is little to no scheming, gameplanning, or development to overcome it. Michigan does not have the horses this year.
Probably the biggest disappointment is Shea Patterson.
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