NC Game. M 34, W 13.

[Cody_Russell]

The Athletic and their anonymous coaches have been quiet today. Come on! I want to hear Greg Schiano and James Franklin anonymously own up to their dumbassed/ cowardly thoughts!

[WingsFan]

Yea are they texting Bruce Feldman?

[THE_WIZARD_]

Flip Texas and FSU.

[THE_WIZARD_]

I worked the chain crew for six years, a total of 12 state final games at Ford Field when I was still officiating. No pay, it was an honorary thing. I had a blast.

Well I did some pretty big games in the PAC-12 and some decent ones in the MWC...and was honored to do two bowl games. When I did high school I did two state title games in Memorial Stadium as well as the Shrine Bowl. It's was always a rush no matter the level.

[edindetroit]

[lineygoblue]

I watched Rich Eisen's entire show today on the Roku channel. Probably his best ever. The video of the entire show is on You Tube for anyone who wants to watch it. Good stuff for M fans. The Blake Corum interview is top notch.

[lineygoblue]

417235538_748795227295344_943935951658456078_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_p180x540&_nc_cat=109&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=3635dc&_nc_ohc=TKlkrw9JwD4AX-dZEVN&_nc_ht=scontent-ord5-1.xx&oh=00_AfBYqf0P4fKpLcO5BBKCwA5tnj2uE2M3613fZ-0AuUxl-A&oe=65A2E040.j

The Motor City Casino in Detroit salutes the National Champion Wolverines.

[THE_WIZARD_]

That's actually really cool.

[Mike]

I watched Rich Eisen's entire show today on the Roku channel. Probably his best ever. The video of the entire show is on You Tube for anyone who wants to watch it. Good stuff for M fans. The Blake Corum interview is top notch.

I haven't watched the whole show yet but watched a few of the interviews. Loved the Bill Burr bit on sign gate. My god, it's just the dumbest. Deflategate 2.0.

[Hannibal]

I rewatched the game last night. I have been mostly singing Sherrone Moore's praises this year and he really was great at dialing up some good playcalls alll year to spring big plays, but if there is one major complaint that I have from all year it would be that we did not use JJ's legs nearly enough. The 3rd and 2 early in the 2nd half when Corum got stuffed is a perfect example of a play where we could have burned UDub with a zone read. It made sense not to run McCarthy much for most of the year , but in the 2nd half of the NC game when the margin is 7 points? What are you waiting for?

I wonder where that running game was all year. Maybe mgoblog's UFR will identify if we brought any new tricks to the NC game. We ended up with over 300 rushing yards for the only time this year -- we hadn't even broken 250 before. We were ranked in the 50s in rushing ypg nationally despite playing mostly cupcakes and our ypc was very unimpressive. It was really not a good year for the running game but they picked the right time to show up. Despite winning it all, there's more than enough stuff to work on in the off season. Especially with a completely rebuilt offense.

Michigan, for the most part, brought their A game, but there were a few blown coverages on defense that UDub failed to take advantage of. With the exception of one miss on W's opening drive, tackling was really good and it seemed like we had the better athletes, with the one exception being Odunze versus almost anyone. A few blown tackles could have changed the complexion of the game.

Pennix did not bring his A game or even his B game. Getting pummeled frequently by the likes of Mason Graham and Kris Jenkins was probably a big factor in that. That was just a bad matchup for Washington. We're a team built specifically to make OSU kick field goals. A team that wants to toss the ball 30 yards downfield all day is who we want to play. They had only one play longer than 20 yards.

Funny I wasn't aware that we were #1 in the nation in TO margin. That does help explain the big difference between the final scores of lots of our games and how the tended to "feel'. I still think that our 2022 was better overall, but that's life.

Everyone on offense, I thought, had a good or great game with the exception of Cornelius Johnson. Woof. Some timely pass breakups by Washington kept our output down quite a bit. JJ was better than his numbers showed. In between the drop by CJ and one or two pass breakups, he could have easily averaged 9 ypa.

Special teams were pretty bad. I don't know what happened there. Morgan looked like he was out to lunch or something.

The refs let as much holding go as I have noticed in a long time. Lots of little sneaky jersey tugs everywhere by both teams. If you watch UDub's O-line and the blockers on all of their screen passes, they were doing it all night long. But so were we. There were two pretty bad calls in that department that went in our favor though. Orji's run should have been called back and the hold that negated UDub's downfield completion to Odunze was criminal. At least given the trends the rest of the game. It wraps up the enigmatic "Year of Michigan Getting the Calls".

If that game gets replayed 10 times, I think that UM wins 7 of them, but probably by less than 21. On the bell curve of outcomes, we finally came out on the good side this post season, not just once, but twice.

Five years ago, I think that conventional wisdom was that the days of "running game and defense are how you win" were over. Point forward, you were supposed to win by throwing for 400 yards and winning 49-35. Since then, three teams who play neanderthal football have won the national championship. Food for thought. Maybe part of our recent success is not abandoning old school principles when it seems like a lot of teams have done that. The advantages that we have had against most teams in the trenches has been huge and obvious.

[Mike]

Five years ago, I think that conventional wisdom was that the days of "running game and defense are how you win" were over. Point forward, you were supposed to win by throwing for 400 yards and winning 49-35. Since then, three teams who play neanderthal football have won the national championship. Food for thought. Maybe part of our recent success is not abandoning old school principles when it seems like a lot of teams have done that. The advantages that we have had against most teams in the trenches has been huge and obvious.

I think it proves that certain principles of football are non-negotiable. Primarily, controlling the LOS. Remember, the whole spread/read option offense was created to negate an opponent's advantage up front. It was gimmicky at first, then teams with superior talent got in on the action and offensive output exploded.

We've come full circle now. Nick Saban said they were fooled by Michigan in the Rose Bowl because Michigan... huddled. They hadn't played a team that huddled all season and Michigan went to the LOS much later in the play clock than the Bama defense was used to which, in turn, left much less time for them to recognize the offensive formation and make any adjustments.

Huddling, pre-snap movement, and running the ball became Michigan's answer to the modern Air Raid offenses. And I fucking love it. Not only did we smash the entire CFB universe, we did it exactly the way I prefer. It's just amazing.

[WingsFan]

Loved watching Harbaugh and the players talking and celebrating with the crowd last night. JJ had to stop talking for a moment as the chant "One more Year!" was loud.

Pennix started out fast till the Red Zone stop, Michigan rush was in his head all game.

When you break it down, and watch the replays the hits and rushes had him uncomfortable and missing some open receivers. Minter's plan worked perfectly. Pennix walked off the field beaten and broken, like he just left the battlefield.

There is a long list of records for this 15-0 team, they didn't allow 25 points to any team all year.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I'm on a cruise in the Caribbean and it started from Fort Lauderdale, FL on Monday January 8th. An ordinary Monday except for one thing: Michigan crushed Washington in the Rose Bowl and became CFBs 2024 National Champion.

The Rose Bowl game was carried on the ship's Satellite TV system and displayed on a huge big screen in an outdoor area of the ship on the the top deck designed for movie watching. It was also carried on the ship's TV system. It was windy and cold (for FL) and I watched in my cabin. At one point, near the end of the 2nd quarter, I felt pretty sure M was going to lose the game. That sense continued when the game turned into a punting contest in the third quarter and continued well into the 4th.

Then M, facing 2nd & 7 on the Washington 12 yard line, gave the ball to Corum who headed for the interior line. Alphonzo Tuputala, had a free run at him. Corum saw Tuputala to his outside and making one of his great cutbacks juked Tuputala who whiffed on his tackle attempt. With no safety help behind the box that the Huskies kept loading all game, Corum sprinted into the end zone That snapped a long Michigan offensive drought and gave the Wolverines what turned out to be an insurmountable 27-13 lead. The whole game changed.

What I began to realize was that the apparent unwillingness of the offensive brain trust to have McCarthy use his legs running a zone read was actually a whole lot of patience waiting and setting up for the big play that was sure to come given Washington's defensive scheme. It happened. The other thing was that the frustrating punt fest that came before Corum's game changing big play, was taking it's toll on Penix. He was getting pounded by M's defense. That turned out to be critical in that obviously injured, Penix couldn't mount the comeback Udub was famous for. Game over.

There's been endless commentary on what this M win means. I'm certain most of you have had a chance to read that commentary and I'm also sure most of you here have experienced similar emotions as those expressed by those that have written about them. For me, it's a big fuck you over the people that tried to destroy Jim Harbaugh and tarnish M's football program. It is also a magnificent example of the value of leadership to team building and it applies to all manner of teams both inside and outside sports.

What's ahead for M football is a big unknown and depends on what several individuals decide to do going forward. My bet is that the transformation in program culture that Jim Harbaugh has accomplished will persist well into and past team 145. The outlook is good.

Hail

[lineygoblue]

And ... Michigan is not going to be forced to vacate the title they just earned.

https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/39282077/ncaa-president-says-michigan-earned-football-national-title-fair-square

In a rare moment of sanity, the NCAA president said Michigan won the title 'fair and square"

[Mike]

A development that will surprise only the haters.

I watched Joel Klatt today and he addressed this nonsense. Said guys were showing up to signing day a few weeks ago in Lambos and Bentleys who’ve never even set foot on a college field. But Michigan got a NOI for having a guy on campus during the Covid dead period?? It’s laughable stupid nonsense and anyone who isn’t predisposed to hating Michigan knows it.