Michigan 21, Penn State 17 - Post Game Thread

[WM Wolverine]

Maryland is poop, can't see it being close next week.

[lineygoblue]

November road wins are especially difficult for Harbaugh, but I got to give him credit. It was maddening to sit there and watch so many first-down run calls, and PSU seemingly saying 'thank you' every time Michigan did it, but it worked out in the end. Nit defenders finally quit on tackling Haskins. He wore them out.

I was amazed to see a couple replays actually go in Michigan's favor. The downed punt was a good call, and I would have burned a sofa if All's TD was disallowed. Even though M would have had a first and inches situation, to take that TD away from him would have been horrendous.

Did anyone else get the impression that Clifford was exaggerating his injury? Just didn't seem right to me.

PSU's lack of a real run game, usually one of their trademarks, really hurt them today.

I didn't realize that Franklin's record against ranked teams was as bad as Harbaugh's.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I'm on a cruise ship today ported in Cozumel Mexico and couldn't stream. I'm unwilling to pay the exorbitant amount of money to get only some additional bandwidth to stream. I had it for free recently and it's pretty weak with lots of interruptions. I followed on ESPN's GameCast. Accordingly, the go ahead TD from McNamara to All was a 9 yard pass with nothing but green in front of him due to blown coverage. Not the bomb I thought it was becasue of how it's displayed on GameCast. Most likely a misread of the formation/X and Y receivers and where the routes we're going to go.

I just read mgoboard's Snowflakes Coaching. Not unexpectedly about a 60/40 spread of negs for Gattis and Harbaugh's play calling. McDonald got a 90/10 in favor of his scheme and in game adjustments. PSU tried to tempo M's D and that was handled among other notable calls.

The predominant argument criticizing M's offense is Harbaugh's scheme that appears to plod. Big plays are an important ingredient in winning CFB teams. The offenses that feature them keep stepping up to the plate and trying to run them counting on the numbers to break their way. M has a base run play that gets too often repeated for no gain or small gains leaving the offense in 4th and short that predictably they can't get a first down there. I can't say if the counters (edge plays) we saw v. IU as counters to zone power were present and that got Haskins some of his big gains. He did rush for over 100 yards. The UFR will show whether they were there or not - they are hard to evaluate real time with replay and color commentary being the shit it is on TV broadcasts.

This was a huge win for the program because it chips into the cred of sports writers and fans that are constantly dissing Harbaugh. It's undeserved because he is a genuinely good guy (yeah, I know. So was Hoke) but such is the life of CFB head coaches who are expected to win championships. I don't think there is anyone alive that takes M football losses harder than Harbaugh probably does - especially big game losses.

On the road at Maryland is not going to be easy. The kind of football Harbaugh tends to play can get had by teams that try to be explosive but may lack the talent to make those big plays happen consistently ...... except when they play Michigan. This team, however, has something different from his past teams. It fits with Harbaugh's plodding scheme. They can make it work to produce wins like they should have gotten v. MSU and just got at HV v. PSU in combination with a stand-out defense and M has that right now. M is truly on the cusp of winning the BTE. My wish is that they do that if not to just silence the whining of fans and the hot takes of sport's journalists like Finebaum.

[froot loops]

That was a good win. Harbaugh' has turned the corner and I'm not mocking him on that.

[Obi-Jon]

All I want for Christmas (or Thanksgiving) is for osu to beat MSU and for UM to win out. Two games left in the regular season and we're still in the thick of things. Yowsa.

[WM Wolverine]

"It was maddening to sit there and watch so many first-down run calls"

With Haskins, the lead, and a pretty good OL it's a good call but you've to mix in the PA pass on first down if they are putting 8 in the box and keeping just 1 safety deep. Cade can make the throw and the threat of that keeps the LB's and safeties from cheating the run.

[Jeff Buchanan]

This is pretty cool. JH's post game locker room speech:

https://twitter.com/UMichFootball/status/1459625189579362306

[Tom W]

Accordingly, the go ahead TD from McNamara to All was a 9 yard pass with nothing but green in front of him due to blown coverage. Not the bomb I thought it was becasue of how it's displayed on GameCast.m.

Was going to call you out for not recognizing the difference between a bomb and a cruise missile.. but hell, it’s Veteran’s Week and it worked.

[Cody_Russell]

Wow, incredible game. Go Blue!

I was on a lengthy flight and missed the game. Just watched the 12 min YouTube replay and that game definitely raised my blood pressure a ton. Intense….
Honestly thought M wasn’t going to win after that Penn State FG, but phew. Dat game winning TD! Amazing!

[klondike]

Maryland is poop, can't see it being close next week.

Maybe MSU is too. Hard to tell from this game. Both are lame

[WM Wolverine]

Maryland putting up a lil more fight then the scoreboard shows vs Sparty. I expect M to handle Maryland about as well as Sparty, a 40-20 type game sounds reasonable.

[lineygoblue]

There is supposedly some "controversy" regarding the play where All scored the winning touchdown. Some are saying that Michigan ran an illegal 'pick' play to get him in the open. I've watched the replay several times, and all I saw was two PSU defenders run into each other, and neither made contact with anyone wearing a white shirt. They "picked" each other. M players had nothing to do with it.

Some gonna whine no matter what. M is on the plane headed home singing "Its great to be a Michigan Wolverine". Well deserved. Sing away, guys.

[Da Geezer]

What a big win for Jim Harbaugh on the road vs a ranked team in another hostile environment. Can't remember a pass as big as the one to All that proved to be the game winner, plus the defense after. Very cool, makes up for the Bell drop last time in Happy Valley.

The announcers were setting up the lament that Harbaugh was dropping to 2-10 against ranked opponents when the All pass took place. It will be interesting to see if Harbaugh's alleged "failure" will be 3-9 or 2-9 when next it surfaces. The national press is too negative about Harbaugh.

[Tom W]

Pardon me, but Fuck Penn State and their incessant rants about Michigan getting some unfair advantages against them.

If anything, it looks like they were the team that was getting the benefit of the doubt today.

They still lost. Michigan beat the crap out of their QB, kept their star receiver from running roughshod and made plays when they needed to. Oh, and their coach is still the idiot that USC deserves.

[froot loops]

I generally root against you guys every game, but not against Penn State. PSU is full of phonies.