U of M thread (in the Lions Forum) :)

[froot loops]

They need to win - beat Ohio, win the Big 10 championship and get to the playoff. That will amp up the recruiting and help close the gap. You just can't keep having years where Ohio pulls in 3-5 5-star players and 12 top 100 guys and M gets 0-1 5 stars and 5 top 100s. it perpetuates the gap.

But it's a bit of a catch-22 because you need the talent to win. So they need a year where they get some 3-4 stars that develop into elite players and get them over the hump. Or a guy like McCarthy becomes a world beater and puts the team on his back.

Some of that catch 22 is Michigan has to be the worst underdog in college football. It seems like if they are getting points you can go to the money line that they will lose.

[chemiclord]

I just kinda love how Jaad insists the problem is the coach (for like the seventeeth time or something), and not inherent problems in the structure Wolvy insists on. Nope. The guy who has managed conference champions at every level suddenly forgot how to coach. It's just SO unlucky that Wolvy gets these guys and they all wind up with crippling amnesia once they stop in Ann Arbor.

[froot loops]

The last three coaches have been brutal in games where it's a pickem or underdog. They haven't had good coaching for awhile. It's not like they are rolling over everyone when they are favorites. Since Lloyd left they have been a front running program with a glass jaw. Right now they can't even be counted on to be the once every 4 year power Iowa is with Ferenz. Everything about the Harbaugh regime has been subpar. They have rarely looked well coached and seem determined to play offense the old traditional way in an era when teams pile up the points and yardage. The ceiling for that approach is getting drilled in the first round of the CFP but you have to be able to pull off an upset of OSU which seems unlikely.

That's a different point than the one chemiclord is trying to make. The program that is really good but ultimately falls to OSU is probably the third bridge they have to cross.

[chemiclord]

They are determined to play an "old-fashioned offense" because that is what the people hiring (and firing) these coaches insist on. The one time they tried something more "modern" half the damn Athletic Department engaged in such internal sabotage that even if RichRod was the coach that West Virginia made him out to be (and no, he probably wasn't) he wasn't going to be able to get his feet under him.

The people running the show have a vision that "three yards and a cloud of dust" is the only real way to play the game, and that it can still win conference championships (spoiler alert: it can't). They've been insisting on it since Bo retired. And when they don't get their way... holy hell do they pitch a fit. A lot of old men in Ann Arbor are going to need to die before you can hope to see change.

[Niffla]

Anyway, as far as this season goes, I love the running game. Looks like they have a legitimate run game and a formidable one-two combo in Haskins and Corum.

But yeah they're going to have to have at the very least a competent passing game. Even after losing Ronnie, they still have a very talented WR room. Thing is, none of them are proven. And they're going to have to step up and display it consistently on the field as the season progresses. Wilson and Henning were both four star guys. Daylen Baldwin was a very coveted transfer nationally. The WRs are talented, and that's not a question, but the question is who is ready (if any) to step up and try to capably fill Ronnie Bell's shoes. And those will be pretty big shoes to fill. Because I think Ronnie was primed to be one of the better impact players in the conference this season. And of course this is all assuming that Cade McNamara can be solid and continue to improve as the season goes on.

Go Blue

[jaadam4]

Corum is a really good RB. The holes the OL were crazy yesterday but he's still a talented RB. Mike Hart looks like he's going to be a very good coach. He was always one of my favorite players, i'm glad he's doing well in the coaching ranks as the running game at M has been less than stellar over the years.

[Mainevent]

I was saying to a friend yesterday that Corum has the same type of feet that Hart had in traffic, makes these quick little adjustments and small steps in amongst all the bodies at the line of scrimmage and finds space. Not ready to say he's quite as good as Hart was at that, but he has the ability, plus the explosiveness and long speed Hart didn't have.

[jaadam4]

Hart was one of the toughest small RBs I’ve ever seen. He was something else.

[Niffla]

Mike Hart was fantastic. Just an all-around great running back His vision and the way he followed his blocks was elite.

[The King]

He stuck around in Indy. Good to see him stick. Sort of reminds me of CEH. Good college RB, but not much translation to the NFL. A hard working churner without any elite traits.

[Fraquar]

Mike Hart was fantastic. Just an all-around great running back His vision and the way he followed his blocks was elite.

His story about wanting to quit Michigan, his talk with his mom and returning to do what he did - that was what I'll always remember about him.
Mom set his ass straight at a time where his ass was all over the place.

[jaadam4]

Well.. that was something I guess

[jaadam4]

McNamara is going to have to start holding the clipboard or
this team is in trouble this year. We need a play maker not a game manager

[Mainevent]

Despite the horrid play calling, there were plays to be made in the second half and McNamara did not get it done. He was real sharp before the big roughing the passer and was pretty much shit after that. I don’t know if that was the reason but he started out really well.

But the play calling was brutal after the half. Stopped using play action, never tested the edges with speed, no runs to the outside, no jet sweeps, too much swapping of personnel. My friend who coaches OL said that Rutgers adjusted their technique on the DL and M kept using the same techniques that played right into the scheme.

[jaadam4]

Never testing the edge was terrible. McNamara should have been pulled. He was clearly shook