Michigan vs Hawaii Post-Game Discussion

[Hannibal]

Time for a gameday thread!

Michigan is favored by 41 points. I think that they will just miss covering. 52-17, something like that.

Edited to make this the Game Day thread.

[lineygoblue]

That's a pretty good guess.

[Hannibal]

Hawaii's offense looked better than I expected against Cal. Particularly their ground game. Their scatback looked really good and elusive and their O-line handled Cal's front pretty much all evening. I don't know what that means for us. Cal gave up over 200 ypg on the ground last year so obviously their run defense is abysmal. Their QB looked okay. Moderately mobile, meh accuracy, meh arm strength. He made some nice throws but some terrible ones too. He had one throw on Hawaii's first drive that was so wobbly an eighth grader could have thrown it. Ball security was god awful. I expect that to be a big point of emphasis for them during the week.

I don't know how much to take away from Hawaii's defensive performance other than that it obviously isn't good. 600+ yards and 51 points against an air raid team. They lost their entire passing game from last year, but a decent 5th year senior transferred in. Cal's QB wasn't all that impressive. He hit next to nothing down field. They will be facing a completely different team next weekend. FWIW a couple of defensive players went down with injuries in the game. I don't know whether they'll be back.

[Hannibal]

Chatter on mgoblog today that the starting QB will be Speight for sure. It has been decided.

[Jeff Buchanan]

HARBAUGH!!! will not cover. M probably could put up 70. Not JH's style.

The thing that is making this game interesting is the question of QBs. Other than that, tailgating should be nice.

Another thing maybe worth watching is the use of TEs v. WRs v. Backs in the passing game. That's probably going to tell us something about M's bread and butter offensive plays in 2016. Don't think there is any doubt that M, in Harbaugh's first year, tried to establish a run game without much success. There was quite a bit of passing to the TEs (until defenses doubled Butt) and then the backs and wides running short routes to make up for the shit run game. JH used Rudock to stretch the field, expanding the plays to do that as he got better at it. But, M's O lacked explosiveness in that regard and had trouble finishing drives as the field got shorter in 2015.

Seems to me that if M has a decent back who can get to the second level behind solid OL play, we'll see a limited short passing game because the run game will be better and more attempts to produce big passing plays deep when down, distance and the opposing D warrants. I don't think M will try to hide anything or play vanilla on O. I think they'll work on what JH thinks will be his core offense so, we'll get a glimpse of that. If that approach does seem to work out v. Hawaii, we can expect the explosiveness of the O will improve and so will scoring efficiency. That would be nice to enter conference play with all that sorted out.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Just waded through the two threads involving the starting QB question at mgoblog and I'm not convinced Speight is the one who will take the first snap nor, if he does, that means a whole lot.

My view is that the QB thing is Harbaughesque at its best. If one were to want to play this kind of game with his stable of QBs, the perfect time to play it would be against Hawaii, a team that M should have no problem with, one, because Hawaii is bad, and, two, because that team will have just gotten off an airplane after a 14h flight. Believe me, that is a killer. I've done it more times than I want to remember.

We'll have a starter that plays till JH is ready to let the back-up get some looks but it won't be decided before or probably after Hawaii. I kinda like it.

[froot loops]

It sounds like he's making the best of a bad situation.

[Hannibal]

Just waded through the two threads involving the starting QB question at mgoblog and I'm not convinced Speight is the one who will take the first snap...

It looks like it's a done deal. The chatter is taking place in such a manner that a final decision was made and the word is coming from insiders. Brian is in one of the threads confirming.

[THE STEE]

is Kareem Walker still suspended?

[WM Wolverine]

He never was, just didn't make the team photo.

[lineygoblue]

Walker has an issue with grades. I haven't heard if he's practicing yet. Supposedly, if his grades were acceptable, he was going to be at practice.

[*JD*]

Everyone better be cheering "BAD BOYS!" when jordan gets introduced.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Just watched the Cal/Hawaii game. Here's my meager attempt at a scouting report.:

Defense:

• Lots of man coverage that facilitates a ton of blitzing.
  
• Vulnerable to the screen.
  
• Not much depth, few subs, got soft in the middle late 1st half. Cal feasted the rest of the way.

Offense:

• Shot Gun/Spread 50/50 run pass. Rarely went deep and Woolsey wildly overthrew his receivers most of the time this was attempted.
  
• Careless mistakes/execution errors abounded.
  
• 2 minute drill at the end of the first half (actually 4 min.) ??? play calling/poorly executed. Cal scored with < 2 minutes remaining in theirs.
  
• Woolsey is just an OK QB (a lot like Morris). Not effective under pressure and didn't stretch the field with big plays. Cal played Nickle or 8 in the box and rarely blitzed.

Special Teams:

• Decent punter.
  
• Opened the game with an onside kick.
  
• Weak punt return team with no burners. Easily contained.

As others who saw this game mentioned, Hawaii is not as awful as most have made them out to be. They played hard and I thought their OL looked decent. Their DL lacked size, talent and depth.

If M's DL is as good as the hype they are getting, Hawaii is going to have a hard time sustaining drives. I see lots of practice for M's punt return team and probably one returned for a TD.

Hawaii, despite the travel, will have a game under its belt. M won't. Hawaii will improve on its execution and miscues, M will probably have a few.

At the Half: M 35, Hawaii 0 (unless M turns it over in first game jitters).

Final: M 45, Hawaii 7 (Harbaugh goes to the 3 deep in the 3rd)

[Pasadena Blue]

I expect it will be closer and all the sky is falling types will start talking about how over-rated we are, blah, blah.

[drok]

I expect it will be closer and all the sky is falling types will start talking about how over-rated we are, blah, blah.

Isn't that a given?

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