Florida 41, Michigan 15

[Jeff Buchanan]

Back for a week then gone off-and-on again through December. Started this thread and will change it to the actual bowl match-up after the selections.

Looks like M will play UF in the Peach at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Other options include LSU in the Fiesta. Negative comments predominate about another M match-up with Florida. I don't like it either but it's in ATL and, yes, I'll probably go.

[Cody_Russell]

[Jeff Buchanan]

I'm hearing it will be a surprise if M isn't in ATL for the Peach. Opponents other than UF apparently don't work as the bowl puzzle just doesn't work out. Hopefully someone else that UF will pop-up out of the blue and Florida will end up somewhere else. I would not doubt that Manuel might be working that one.

Mercedes Benz Stadium is an awesome football venue. That's one positive.

[Jeff Buchanan]

It's official. Title of the thread changed. Mercedes Benz Stadium, Atlanta GA, is a great venue...... but I can't get too excited about this match-up.

All I want to see is for Harbaugh to essentially abandon his fortress mentality on offense and incorporate a passing game that suits the skill sets of Patterson and his receivers.

On defense, I want to see Don Brown optimize what he's got on his roster like he so miserably failed to do v. osu. If that means blitzing more and playing zone behind it, let's practice it and then do it.

[paul daugherity]

[Jeff Buchanan]

Paul, the only thing worth watching is to see if Harbaugh and Brown learned anything from having put their players in such an untenable position v. osu. The players were juiced for The Game and these two did nothing but put forth a stodgy game plan, straight out of the hackney drawer that was the same old shit that worked for a weak BIG overall and especially for hobbled Wisconsin, MSU and PSU - usually good teams that weren't in 2018. M got pantsed by ufm ..... so, what's new...... other than it is becoming apparent that Harbaugh is not an elite coach.

If M wants to compete for Championships like Harbaugh says he does, he absolutely has to not drop a turd on the playing field like he did v. Usc last season. That loss sent a message to a lot of M fans and that was JH simply can't manage or motivate his staff sufficiently to obtain the results he claims he wants. That message lingers.

I think it is obvious that his approach to the game in 2018 grossly underutilized the talent he had on the roster to play at an elite level. Instead, he let himself and his staff get comfortable and lazy with what they thought they had failing to realize how weak the BIG actually was. Whether that was from talent disparities or injuries making M wins a lot easier than they probably should have been in an up year for the BIG is immaterial.

That he and his staff failed to account for that and come up with a better game plan for osu was damning. That throughout the 2018 season, his failure to innovate in the passing game in such a way that would have allowed practice of such innovation and for a reasonable chance to keep up with air-osu in a shootout was nothing short of incompetence.

If his Michigan team shows up in ATL on 12/29 with the same stale game plan he won games with against bad teams, the one that cost Michigan wins against the two good teams M played, regardless of whether his team beats UF or not, it will seal his fate as an average coach and fans will have to get used to Michigan continuing it's also ran tradition in an era that demands innovative play. M fans, who support ticket sales, donors who support much more than that, and the BIG Ten who keeps getting shut out of CFP bucks by an under-performing Michigan football team WILL DEMAND IT.

[AlabamAlum]

Jeff, get me a ticket and put me up at your place and I will come watch them pay. M is undefeated in every one of their games that I have attended.

[Jeff Buchanan]

AA, the Inn is already full. Your a day late and several hundreds of dollars short. Rooms went in a matter of minutes after the announcement that M would play in this high demand bowl ..... heh!

In other Peach Bowl news.... Harbaugh had a teleconference after the official announcement. In it he said Rashan Gary will not play. No surprise there. Ben McDaniels will coach the WRs. He's been on M's staff for a year as an offensive analyst. He's they younger brother of Patriots OC Josh McDaniels. McDaniels has been QB coach at Denver, and WR and OC/QB coach at Rutgers before this. He also had offensive analyst positions at Denver, Tampa Bay, and Chicago at points in his career.He's got quite a resume:



If Harbaugh does anything well, it's hire background guys who can move up.
??????

[Jeff Buchanan]

Well, Seth's done another good job on detailing Florida's offense under Dan Mullen. Compared to his osu preview whihc laughed at that team, this one is more muted - no surprise there. I agree with this concluding paragraph on the offense but would times 10 it with regard to what Mullen will scheme. Don Brown has a problem that I don't think is easily fixable. He needs to pressure Franks to mitigate the effectiveness of quick throws to speedy crossing receivers that are over-matched v. Watson, Kinnel or Metellus. He couldn't do that with the interior DL he had over what he laughed at was osu's OL. Seth has laughed at Florida's C too. I'm skeptical.

Prior to Urban Meyer Exoneration Day this is the kind of offense I'd say Michigan could pulverize. The experienced back seven mitigates whatever Mullen's cooked up, the talent in the secondary takes away that downfield passing game, and just because he's been skipping out on our Survivors of Jerryworld meetings doesn't mean Franks is past what happened the last time he was chased by rabid men in winged helmets (or what happened to his buddy).

Three things now give me pause. One is no more Gary, which would have been a very nice weapon in the spot Florida most prefers to attack. The second and third are the same problems that plagued Brown's defense all year, and which Florida has the talent to exploit. The best way to beat Florida's offense is to get pressure on Franks from your nose tackle and snuff out their right-side running game with a 3-tech who can stand up to doubles. Getting Solomon in either role could be huge, since Mone isn't a pass rush threat, and Kemp/Dwumfour are hardly run stoppers. And then there's the slants and crossing routes: like his former boss, Mullen has some very fast receivers ready to punish any Brandon Watson, Josh Metellus, or Tyree Kinnel who gives up inside leverage. Adjustments will be made. If the counter to those adjustments brings back the bad ol' slot fade this will be a game.

If Harbaugh trots out the same shit on offense he did v. osu, UF gets hot with the passing game and there isn't a plan B to compete in a shootout, Michigan loses two in a row to lay a turd for the second season in a row by losing their bowl game. Don't play your cards wrong ..... again ..... Pep/Jim or whoever the fuck was responsible for the debacle in c-bus..

https://mgoblog.com/content/fee-fi-foe-film-florida-offense-0

[WingsFan]

I have seen some rumors Higdon had a hissy fit after the osu game for some reason (?) and will not play vs FL. Long and Hill mostly like out along with Gary and Bush.

[hack]

Details please?

[WingsFan]

I have no idea (if true) why he would be upset with the way they used him osu. It wouldn't be to his benefit to sit IMO

[Jeff Buchanan]

All these dudes not playing isn't all that big of a surprise given the way CFB players who are likely entrants and will probably get picked up in the NFL draft are protecting their futures.

There's a NYT's article (pay walled) that suggests this is the new norm. Players with a legitimate shot at the NFL are asking, "what do I owe to a CFB program that makes millions off of what I do and I get nothing?" Payback time. It will have a long term effect on CFB's ridiculous post season bowl extravaganza.

For Michigan, it means practice time for new guys who will play in 2019 and more time for the coaching staff to figure out how they'll work out and what scheme changes need to be made to optimize skill sets and minimize weaknesses. Except for the CFP, the bowl season is not much more than exhibition football and there's too much of it, right now, that isn't going to survive in this new realty. Survival of the fittest sort of thing. That's the central point of the NYT's article.

The good that will come out of this (not in the NYTs article) is an expanded CFP and probably some changes (re-alignment and end of the CCGs) over the short term. That will tend to improve the situation that currently exists and plenty of people have posted about it ...... worst post season competition designed to identify the best team in any sport. I don't think the CFP can legitimately expand without recognizing a limit on the total number of games that can actually be played for college football players, their participation controlled by NCAA rules. That too is a source of pressure to expand the play-offs by curtailing CCGs.

Back to guys not playing. I don't think Harbaugh loses any sleep about it. He realizes what's happening to college ball and accepts it. He has a set of values that pertain and other coaches/programs have theirs. This is not a judgement reflecting negatively on other CFP programs. It is mainly my view of where M stands among blue-bloods and M's ability to compete with some of them given differences in where a given program and coaching staff place thier priorities.

I also think that while JH certainly hates to lose, especially to conference foes and more especially to osu, he fully understands why that's happening. He lives with it instead of ignoring how a particular recruit might fit into M's football program and program values. If it isn't a fit, I doubt he goes nuts about it regardless of how much elite talent might improve M's chances to win. We fans, generally, don't ....... expectations given circumstances that I have explained at length are probably out of proportion to reality. I'm learning to live with that reality. Perspective. Things are getting better even though some things are bad. A solid middle, given what that means to M football players, isn't all that awful.

[hack]

I think it's fine too. I'm just curious what happened with Higdon. I'm hoping for maximum blowback on Harbaugh, so maybe he thinks things through a little more carefully.

[maxreturn]

Paul, the only thing worth watching is to see if Harbaugh and Brown learned anything from having put their players in such an untenable position v. osu. The players were juiced for The Game and these two did nothing but put forth a stodgy game plan, straight out of the hackney drawer that was the same old shit that worked for a weak BIG overall and especially for hobbled Wisconsin, MSU and PSU - usually good teams that weren't in 2018. M got pantsed by ufm ..... so, what's new...... other than it is becoming apparent that Harbaugh is not an elite coach.

If M wants to compete for Championships like Harbaugh says he does, he absolutely has to not drop a turd on the playing field like he did v. Usc last season. That loss sent a message to a lot of M fans and that was JH simply can't manage or motivate his staff sufficiently to obtain the results he claims he wants. That message lingers.

I think it is obvious that his approach to the game in 2018 grossly underutilized the talent he had on the roster to play at an elite level. Instead, he let himself and his staff get comfortable and lazy with what they thought they had failing to realize how weak the BIG actually was. Whether that was from talent disparities or injuries making M wins a lot easier than they probably should have been in an up year for the BIG is immaterial.

That he and his staff failed to account for that and come up with a better game plan for osu was damning. That throughout the 2018 season, his failure to innovate in the passing game in such a way that would have allowed practice of such innovation and for a reasonable chance to keep up with air-osu in a shootout was nothing short of incompetence.

If his Michigan team shows up in ATL on 12/29 with the same stale game plan he won games with against bad teams, the one that cost Michigan wins against the two good teams M played, regardless of whether his team beats UF or not, it will seal his fate as an average coach and fans will have to get used to Michigan continuing it's also ran tradition in an era that demands innovative play. M fans, who support ticket sales, donors who support much more than that, and the BIG Ten who keeps getting shut out of CFP bucks by an under-performing Michigan football team WILL DEMAND IT.

Nice summary Jeff. I remember thinking after the MD game that the worst thing to happen to UM was that OSU get embarrassed. Yes, they won but barely. You had to know that UFM and his staff would be working overtime to develop tactics to address their own problem areas and to exploit those of their opponent. It is obvious to me that he and his staff worked much harder and smarter than Harbaugh and his staff. You mentioned they were "comfortable and lazy". True, but he was also arrogant. It is inconceivable to me that he would be this way, especially when he lost by more than 3 touchdowns in his first game against OSU and had lost the last 3 games. I know he recently denied rumors that he would take an NFL job but I'm hoping he does.