ND 24, Michigan 17

[hack]

Jeff I do not agree with your position but I will defend to my banning your right to say it.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Here's my position, Hack......

I like the game of football. It's complex and it's enjoyable to try to figure out what's going on, what went right and what went wrong. Some people like baseball, the pitching duels, the management strategies. It's a past time. It's less about winning the game or losing it but how it was played.

I also like to write. I like to research what I write about. I use this space for that purpose and will take whatever flack comes my way about my writing style, that I'm too long winded or that I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about. I try to improve based on the feedback I get. I try to spark discussion and I have no problem with folks who disagree with my viewpoint ..... that's part of writing; its part of the enjoyment of doing so.

I can say with some certainty that I'm not as emotionally attached to M football as I was in the past. Age and perspective does that. I'm not at all where Super Fan, for example, is and I think we are not that far apart in age as he frequently comments about Bo and Don Canham and the glory days of M football. I feel sorry for M fans that have gotten to where he is.

[UMStan White]

For all the pissing I do.i enjoy your commentary especially since we are both from the same generation

[Jeff Buchanan]

'Bout time you said something nice curmudgeon.

[UMStan White]

True Dat!

[CGVT]

CCVT you mean this should have went for more than 3 yards?


DmROH-UXcAE0NPY.jpg

Well, that was the most glaring example. A talented back would have turned that into a huge play, but he ran right into the offensive lineman's ass. I couldn't believe it. I backed it up and called my son into the room to watch it. Ha!

[Jeff Buchanan]

Well, Brian is still, surprisingly, at it and, although late, did his usual UFR Defense. It had to be painful. I pour over these so you don't have to. Cliff notes:

This loss wasn't because of a couple of bad plays with ND getting real aggressive early before M got a chance to take a breath. It was overall a huge step down for the defense from 2017. Expectations about the defense should be lowered considerably.

Dwumfour cannot achieve the same effectiveness that Hurst was able to provide with Brown running his 3-3-5 cover 1 (aggressive pressure D). There should be concern about Soloman not playing (post appendectomy recover?) as Marshall is OK but not great at DT. Depth (rotation) is OK, not great. The spring and fall camp hype was BS. Maybe move Gary to the 3T (inside) to shore up the middle.

Gary graded out adequately at DE but isn't consistent. Winovich on the opposite side has a better motor.

Winovich was his disruptive self as was Bush when he wasn't cramping.

LBs are a pleasant surprise.

The CBs, Lavert Hill and Long who were excellent in 2017, got burned early but did settle in only after ND had the game won and didn't test that part of M's defense again. The Mo Hurst effect may have produced what we thought was great back end play that got exposed v. ND without Hurst's disruptive presence in the middle. Note the Winbush 3rd and 18 QB draw for a first down. That doesn't happen against a credible NT.

The Ss were OK and Brad Hawkins, who pretty much was exactly in the right place to make an INT in the wing and a prayer throw from Wimbush to Finke in the endzone, played well after that. Brian notes that Hawkins tipped the ball into Finke's hands; Finke didn't take it away from him. Still??? M has respectable depth at the safety position.

Since M by most accounts after losing to ND is a mid-MAC level team - and that may not be that far off - is not going to blow WMU out as some anticipate it will (my take, not Brian's).

I hope the critics are wrong and M is actually way better on both sides of the ball than it appeared to be v. ND. But the tale of the tape makes even the most optimistic fans, like myself, pause.

https://mgoblog.com/content/upon-fur...-vs-notre-dame

[iam416]

[AlabamAlum]

Like Bama and Minkah Fitzpatrick. Just irreplaceable.

[THE_WIZARD_]

STFU

[iam416]

Hold that thought.

[AlabamAlum]

What's the most you ever lost on a coin toss?

[iam416]

$100. I bet the Super Bowl coin toss every year. It's now an annual $50 bet with a friend, but it was more in the past. I'm probably the only one who remembers the down's syndrome kid doing the "flip" where the coin literally didn't turn over once. And I lost. Fucker.

Anyway, if I didn't have the opportunity to lose $100 on a coin toss the, well, this would be no country for me, an aging man.

[Hannibal]

It was less optimism about Hurst's replacement than optimism that a handful of remaining elite players could compensate for the loss of that one guy, and that strong recruiting on that side of the ball would mean that we likely wouldn't have any legitimate weaknesses there. There are elite defenses all over the place that don't have a guy named Mo Hurst. Nobody expected Dwumfor to be an all American on day 1 but it was expected that he could hold his own against a rebuilding offensive line. Instead, he looked like a second string MAC guy.

[AlabamAlum]