ND @ Michigan, Saturday, October 26th, 7:30 pm, ABC/ESPN 3 Video

[lineygoblue]

The HARBAUGH!!!! Death Star is back and running. They'll be 9-2 and in the top 10 when OSU comes to town.

Well, he got his team playing on all cylinders for a full game. Good offense and defense, plus good ball security in bad conditions. I'm thinking the home field may have helped a bit. IMO, they played at a level they should have been at, when they landed in Madison. They're still off schedule by a few games.

But, never look a gift horse in the mouth. It was a well played game by the players, and the coaches had them well prepared. Got to give them props for the W.

Maybe 10-2 Bama can play 9-3 Michigan in a NY6 bowl somewhere.

That would be one sure way to get Bama to 11-2 and Michigan to 9-4.

[AlabamAlum]

[lineygoblue]

If you are pretending to be a Razorback fan this morning, then you are correct.

Teams with no defense do not win games 48-7, and go 10-2.

And yes, I'd still love to have Naji Harris. He would have had 300 yards rushing last night against the Irish.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Watched the entire game from the club seats, INSIDE. Tickets are actually outside and not undercover. Got there two hours before kick and instead of sitting in the rain, grabbed the bar-stool seats that line the field side of the upper level corridor. Slght lines were excellent for viewing coverage but not blocking/line play.

ND's offense is pure Brian Kelley- he hates the run game so, how ND played it, even in the bad conditions, didn't surprise. The biggest defensive take-away from watching this game - and probably the key to the win - was how confused Ian Book was by the coverages. M would line up in C1- Man on standard downs and almost routinely jump in to this Trap Coverage people have been talking about. This brings a LB, almost always McGrone, into pass coverage. Your Ss drop into what looks like C-2 Zone and CBs play press - Man. Brown then sometimes risked bringing a blitzing LB through the A-Gap hoping to flush Booke. This risk was increased as it became clear that ND's DL couldn't ID these blitzers, pick them up or give Booke a clean pocket to step up into.

What this does to Kelley's offense is it takes away the short to mid passing game (slants, drags, screens, outlet passes to a RB and hook/hitch routes to TEs). This is what has killed M's pass defense recently. The D executed all the switches that Trap Coverage requires seamlessly. Their very good TE, Cole Kmet, was virtually shut out in his underneath routes or hammered by McGrone, Dax Hill or Hawkins as soon as he got the ball. That was true as well on screens and slants. Kmet had two catches on seam routes, one, a throwback pass for the garbage time TD v. M's 2s. Chris Finke their speedy slot guy was also shut out. Their deep threat, Chase Claypool, got over-under coverage on deep routes on every play where I watched.

It looked like Kelley did exactly what we've been complaining about Harbaugh ...... bang head into wall over and over despite the fact that it hurts like hell. Finally, he just resorted to arm punting hoping Claypool would win jump balls. That failed too despite classic John O'Neil crew fucked-up PI call on Hawkins. I don't get why this crew remains on the field refereeing games. Stunningly incompetent making bad, potentially game changing calls.

This was a quality win over a top 10 opponent and not just a win but a virtual butt kicking. Can't emphasize enough how good it felt to watch M's final drive to close out the game executed against an opponent that had just given up. Classic Shembechleresque final drive cruelty, delivering a humiliating last dong punch to a hated rival. Very, very long time since I've enjoyed that.

[lineygoblue]

Good to know you got to stay dry, Jeff. Early on in the game it looked fairly miserable.

This was a quality win over a top 10 opponent and not just a win but a virtual butt kicking. Can't emphasize enough how good it felt to watch M's final drive to close out the game executed against an opponent that had just given up. Classic Shembechleresque final drive cruelty, delivering a humiliating last dong punch to a hated rival. Very, very long time since I've enjoyed that.

I admit I enjoyed that too, because if the roles were reversed, and we were in SB, Kelly would have relished sticking another 2-3 TD's on a defeated Michigan team. He wouldn't have thought twice about it. Harbaugh stuck in the knife, and twisted. If ND doesn't like it, then they need to petition the Big Ten for membership, like they should have done decades ago, and play a REAL schedule every year, that would include Michigan on a regular basis. Instead, their next opportunity will have to be when today's 4-5 year old Irish fans grow up and head to South Bend. See ya then ...

It was good to see the guys put together 4 quarters of good ball. Should have happened earlier in the season, but I'll take it.

[edindetroit]

Michigan football grades: Jim Harbaugh gets a perfect 10 for Notre Dame beat down

Coaching: 10

https://www.freep.com/story/sports/college/university-michigan/wolverines/2019/10/26/michigan-football-score-notre-dame/2476206001/

[Jeff Buchanan]

I'd give him an 8.

The hidden yards and points thing detract form a 10 so did some signs of sideline confusion:

(1) The last possession of the first half with a chance to do a coffin job on Kelley and his fucking Irish minions was a missed opportunity.

(2) The number of very catchable punts that STs (People Jones and Johnson) let drop/weren't caught and/or advanced put M's starting positions on drives 20 yards or more in the hole than they could have been for a fair catch or catch and run. DPJ looked either scared to try to field a punt or was coached to let them drop because of the risk of a wet ball fumble.

(3) A nit but I still saw evidence of some sideline disorganization although I was looking closely for it so, maybe over magnified in my mind. At the end of the game, there were 39 seconds on the game clock and the play clock had ticked down to 34 seconds - the players started celebrating and walking off the field with arms raised in victory thinking the clock would run to 00. One play still needed to be run and after a few more ticks of the both clocks, someone on the sideline figured that out, tried to get a play in but, instead, got an illegal procedure call. Sloppy end to an otherwise pretty well done game from the coaches/sidelines.

[Tom W]

Good to know you got to stay dry, Jeff. Early on in the game it looked fairly miserable.

The odd part is that it wasn't quite cold enough, at least in the stadium, to be completely miserable. But still, it was a mess getting there and a mess leaving.

These late October night games just need to be written off as a failed experiment.

[lineygoblue]

These late October night games just need to be written off as a failed experiment.

Yeah, I agree. the later in the season that you play a night game in the Midwest increases the likelihood that the weather will be even more miserable than in the daytime.

The old timers knew what they were doing when they scheduled football games to be played at Noon on Saturdays.

[Rob F]

" Good to know you got to stay dry, Jeff. Early on in the game it looked fairly miserable."

I think Jeff directed the attendants in his club section to aim their siphon hoses in our direction. Even though I dressed in several layers, topped off by a rain poncho, by halftime I was soaked thru and trashed my first poncho for my emergency backup poncho. Too little, too late.

When I arrived home in the wee hours of the morning, I could actually wring water out of the my jacket and top layer sweatshirt.

[Rob F]

BTW, it was great to see and talk with Jeff, Mike, and Doug over at Doug's tailgate early yesterday afternoon. Very nice to see you guys again!

[lineygoblue]

Rob: Here's a photo of Jon and Doc Hodgeman at the tailgate before the Army game. Thought you might like to see it.

[Rob F]

Great picture, thanks! Is that you in the background on the left edge of the photo, Liney? Without your striped referee shirt, I couldn't tell for sure

[lineygoblue]

Yea, that's me and my belly. :-)

[Kstat]