Michigan vs Central Florida - Game Day/Post Game Discussion Thread

[UMStan White]

Yeah the little shit. Comes in a 36.5 underdog and can't cover.

[Jeff Buchanan]

?.......Dymonte Thomas being overly aggressive was mostly responsible for the 80+ yard TD, that was a play that Thomas should always make the sure tackle rather than the big hit. Jarrod Wilson always made the sure tackle and I wish we still had him as a safety net.

That's what I saw from the stands., WM. It was right in front of us. But what made that play go was a massive hold on McCray that went uncalled. I think that was because it developed quickly and the referee over there was watching to see if the ball carrier was going to step out of bounds. He did tip toe the side line there for a moment.

If Thomas doesn't over run the play and stays put, there are three M helmets there to make the tackle. Instead, there are only two players. McCray is one and gets held. He makes the tackle probably for a loss if there's no hold and I'm not sure who got lost in the wash during pursuit on the zone stretch play. I don't think there was anything wrong with the defensive call or the pursuit. The hold combined with Thomas overrunning the play combined for the TD run.

[hack]

It was disgusting when Griese defended Frost.

[Jeff Buchanan]

IVO's Hanni's concerns about the OL, this seems pertinent from PFF:

After some initial struggles in the first quarter, Michigan?s offensive line put together a really dominant performance. Grant Newsome and Erik Magnuson, the two starting tackles, did not allow a single pressure on 89 combined pass-blocking snaps. In addition, with the exception of left guard Ben Braden, all members of the unit were solid in run-blocking, too. Center Mason Cole was the best player on the Michigan offense, as he had only one negatively graded run-blocking snap and had multiple plays where he drove UCF linemen several yards downfield.

Speight, according to PFF, also answered the question in the affirmative of whether or not he can make throws under pressure.

Michigan QB Wilton Speight seemed to be confident and in control throughout the entire game, as he passed for 312 yards and four touchdowns. He was especially lethal when he was provided a clean pocket, as 303 of his passing yards and all four of his touchdown came on plays when he was not under pressure. The Michigan signal-caller was a very good game manager in the positive sense of the term ? while he did not have any big-time throws, he did not come close to turning the ball over, either. Check out his passing chart below:

wilton-speight-passing-stats (go to the link below to view):

https://www.profootballfocus.com/college-ucf-michigan-grades/

Frankly, It's really hard to evaluate the OL from the TV (where Hanni was), impossible from the stands (where I was). I'm assuming the guy doing the grades is watching the ABC TV video which, IMO, has its limitations so, take these PFF grades with a grain of salt. I thought interior line play was weak. Whatever.

[hack]

I think they grade out well in part because they didn't run a lot. Pass protection hasn't been the concern. They would have looked worse if they had done more of what they struggle at, which is something we're gonna need.

Speight impressed me when he shook off that tackle and threw out to whomever at some point in the third. Strong guy with quick reaction there.

[Jeff Buchanan]

...... Speight impressed me when he shook off that tackle and threw out to whomever at some point in the third. Strong guy with quick reaction there.

If you're talking about that throw to Poggi while going down in the arms of a UCF DT, I'd not want to see him make that throw again. Against better LBs/Ss playing their positions and not focused on jamming the interior, that's going to result in an INT most of the time.

Maybe he knew there were no LBs or Ss there because they WERE jamming the middle, maybe he didn't but based on the throw v. Hawaii that was intercepted by a LB he didn't see, I'll go with he probably wouldn't have seen that guy and thrown it right to him.

[WingsFan]

It was disgusting when Griese defended Frost.

Yes it was, I usually like Griese doing the games, but him and Levy were almost unbearable to listen. Beyond the Speight references being in the game, Griese telling Levy how Michigan will be playing Arkansas coming up? Then later after showing a Notre Dame highlight, said Michigan really should work on getting that series again. Do they not do research the game they are calling? How about someone correcting Griese whats going on?

As far as the run game, yea it wasn't there and CFU was loading the box. LLoydBall and Hoke would have the attitude we need to run anyway! And people 'really' would have been complaining after drives stopped. Harbaugh even said "they loaded the box intent on stopping the run, so we passed" good strategy if you ask me.

[Pasadena Blue]

There's always an excuse.

UCF went 0-12 last year but they have found the special secret formula for shutting down a potent running game that nobody else has ever discovered. If only Alabama had run this defense against OSU in the pllayoff!

You are not being reasonable. PFF and just about every other analysis has corroborated Jeff's dissection. The one area where we may have done better which does need to improve is run blocking by the TE's ... Especially Butt who was god-awful in this regard. I am told you are not going to beat 8-9 man fronts with 5 OL unless your TE's actually through a block and not whiff. Butt seems to be a liability in this regard, but taking him out means losing a great option in the pass game. If they did better we may have gotten a few more yards, but Harbaugh's solution was the right one.

What is more concerning in the 5 big runs that UCF had which accounted for 212 of there 275 yards ... Nearly all featured mistakes by our D, including Dymonte who is not having the year I hoped. That's what worries me about Colorado.

[hack]

I appreciated the strength and the awareness of where his outlet was, Jeff, but yours is also a good point.

[Hannibal]

You are not being reasonable. PFF and just about every other analysis has corroborated Jeff's dissection. The one area where we may have done better which does need to improve is run blocking by the TE's ... Especially Butt who was god-awful in this regard. I am told you are not going to beat 8-9 man fronts with 5 OL unless your TE's actually through a block and not whiff. Butt seems to be a liability in this regard, but taking him out means losing a great option in the pass game. If they did better we may have gotten a few more yards, but Harbaugh's solution was the right one.

I'm not totally shocked that some of the individual linemen graded out well since our offense has tons of perfectly executed 3 and 4 yard runs.

[The Oracle]

If only Harbaugh wanted to beat our rivals as bad as Hannibal in the Detroit Lions forum.....

[THE_WIZARD_]

"http://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/college/michigan-state-university/2016/09/10/central-floridas-frost-we-outhit-michigan/90202632/"

Scott Frost "bragging" that his team hit hardest during the first half and continued to do so into the second half, talking about how he brought his boys into the Big House and kicked the shit out of a Harbaugh coached team. What a gargantuan dick! UNFUCKINGBELIEVABLE.

[WM Wolverine]

Nice to see PFF confirm what I saw on the field, UCF completely sold out to stop M's ground game. We had 6 or 7 blocking 8 or 9.