Michigan Football, Team 140, 2019 Season

[hack]

He confirmed the existence of said rabbit hole, though. When players say they aren't going to talk about that, you can be sure there is something to talk about.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Ehhh ..... a rabbit hole is an analogy that suggests in the context of that specific interview that the line of questioning being pursued was complex and would be come more complex as one started to answer questions, getting dragged deeper into said rabbit hole.

I took from his comment that he wasn't going to get into being negative and pointing fingers. I commented about that up thread.

You and I both know that when things go to shit one starts looking for something blameworthy as unproductive as that sort of activity is. Just move forward, learn from the past but forget about it.

[hack]

Couldn't agree less. The players are telling us they aren't happy with the coaching, and that some of them are less happy than others. Winovich was quite explicit about it, though less so than Patterson. Woodson's ``players have to demand greatness from their coaches'' line was a particularly artful way to say it in a publicly acceptable way.

[Hannibal]

[hack]

Harbaugh's leadership is in question, there's no doubt. Ain't no steel in those spines.

[*JD*]

Seems like a lot of pessimism in this thread. I'm more optimistic.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Agree ..... there may be all sorts of issues within the football program but none of us know what they are with any degree of certainty. Moreover, we can't do much about them if they do exist. One reasonable option is to eliminate Michigan football as a source of sports entertainment. That way you won't worry about it or speculate about what's wrong with it.

I'm considering that. Disappointment that comes with unmet expectations and the negativity usually associated with it can be consuming.

[froot loops]

When you are processing players like Harbaugh has, there will be all kinds of discord unless you win big.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I think this is particularly true in the case of Michigan football - for both fans and players. Fans are in their 4th going on 5th year of high expectations. Unmet they produce this BPONE that Brian at mgo has so articulately described. I know that term has gotten a bit overused here but it fits the typically engaged Michigan football fan. So, indulge me.

Harbaugh getting hired raised expectations really high. For the most part and considering all the circumstances, M fans were satisfied with his first year at the helm. Harbaugh's second year provided another quantum leap in expectations after finishing the season with 10 wins and a bowl win v. Florida in the Citrus Bowl. Michigan was rising under Harbaugh. Harbaugh's third year was a set back and a frustrating season with losses to Iowa and osu in November and a loss to FSU in the Orange. 2017 was pretty much a disaster but the reality of the 2017 QB situation mitigated much of the anguish associated with it. However, the loss to Usc in the Outback caused a lot of discontent. Michigan football was not moving forward and getting ahead. A pattern was starting to emerge. Good but not good enough.

As usual, hopeium fed expectations for 2018 - 5 star QB coming in, potential for an explosive offense, what was thought to be the problem within the program, eliminated with the departure of Tim Drevno - all of that stoked the fire of expectations and 10 wins going into the osu game flamed the coals. Everyone expected M to win The Game by double digits. That expectation along with a berth in the CFB was crushed in a record defeat of the Wolverines at the hands of the hated buckeyes. Then, adding insult to injury, M gets pounded by UF in the Peach and Harbaugh, everyone points out, is 1-10 against top 10 ranked opponents. I don't think heretofore, I have been so emotionally devastated by the osu loss - and that is nearly 50 years of being an M football fan. The ass-kicking by UF just made the devastation worse.

......... and then the finger pointing begins. The list of alleged reasons for M's stunning collapse in 2018 are legion. My view is that WTF do we know? We don't with any certainty. I do think there are a few common themes. At the top of my list is the appearance of inefficient and disorganized play calling stemming from an offensive scheme with little variability but I'm not going to try to describe an underlying cause. Theories abound. I'll grant there is discord within the team but is that unusual after player expectations were so high and so dramatically imploded? I don't think so. I'll add, the processing thing is going to happen. The best thing I've heard said about that is if Harbaugh recruits with the best of the elites, he better learn how to manage it well. There are indicators he may have stumbled a bit in 2018.

[froot loops]

Patterson as a 5 star qb is one of the more puzzling aspects of the whole situation and an idictment of the star system.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Dunno ..... I'm not convinced the star thing is that accurate either. In Patterson's case, he was pretty good his first year at Ol' Miss except against good competition. Then he made mistakes. Not unexpected for a first year guy. The kinds of mistakes he made at Ol' Miss reared their head again at M but steadily declined as the season went on. IOW, he got better in Harbaugh's system. I think a good case can be made that Pep Hamilton and Jim Harbauth coached him well in their system, like it or not, and you won't here many people say good things about Hamilton.

I thought he was a solid QB in Harbaugh's system. His QBR was among the best in the nation and he didn't have a lot of turnovers although the ones he had were spectacularly inconvenient.

My take is that he was hamstrung by the play calling and the system he was playing in. Why? I don't know and people that offer the varying and speculative reasons don't know with any certainty either. Trust? Got in his head he cannot turn the ball over? Coaches protecting him? They all make sense to me but WTF do I know.

There's all kind of hopium laced talk that there are signs that Harbaugh is going to "open up the offense in 2019." I don't know what that means and, to me, it's idle talk. Suggestions abound. None of the people making those suggestions, including me, are coaches. We don't know shit and I'm pretty sure Michigan coaches and players would tell us that straight to our faces. Knowing that, I've deliberately toned down my criticisms.

Anyway, I'll believe in a more efficient, varied and "opened up" Michigan offense (whatever that means) with Shea Patterson at QB when I see it...... and that's assuming I'm tuned in for the Middle Tennessee Blue whatever they are on August 31st.

[hack]

Patterson as a 5 star qb is one of the more puzzling aspects of the whole situation and an idictment of the star system.

Yeah. Looks to me like a high-four star kind of player.

[Hannibal]

Tough to say. He had a sieve for an OL at Ole Miss and at UM he's in the wrong system.

[WM Wolverine]

Shea performed just below my high expectations, made some bad decisions when pressured. His counting statistics would've been much higher in an offense that attempted to throw the ball more.

[hack]

A five-star QB misses fewer throws, no?