Michigan Football, Team 138, 2017 Season.

[Pasadena Blue]

generally agree with Jeff's take.

This season has been a pretty big disappointment.
The loss to Sparty was really inexcusable and was really all on the coaching staff and terrible play-calling. Sure O'Korn is limited, but they needed to understand this fact and the elements, and adapt accordingly. Unfortunately, that loss has ruined this season because it has essentially eliminated any reasonable path to the title game. I am still seething about this game. Would be happy to see the Bucks take Sparty to the woodshed next week.

The PSU blow-out looked ugly, but we were in shape to make it competitive at 14-13 and then things just snowballed as can sometimes happen in college football. I give full credit to Franklin and co for taking advantage of the bye and having their team prepared. They did a nice job of exploiting the two major weaknesses of this D --> 1. Still susceptible to the scrambling QB --- now due to aggressiveness/over-pursuit (as opposed to lack of team speed as in the past), 2. inability to stop the slant (as Jeff also noted) due to sub-standard safety play, esp. from Metellus. Don Brown needs to take a look at some of the younger guys in this role to see what they can do. Kinnel needs to stay in since you need someone to organize the back-end, but somebody who can get in front and knock away the slants is critical --- esp since it is the best pass to go against our D-Line since you can get it off with little time.

Unfortunately, these two weaknesses in our D play to the wheelhouse of the Bucks, which could make for a disappointing afternoon in 3 weeks.
On the other hand, our D matches up well with Wiscy ... this game will come down to whether we can handle a hostile road environment against a legitimate opponent.
So we are looking at an 8-4 or 9-3 season. I do expect us to win our bowl game this year.

Overall, I was going to be disappointed with anything more than a 2-loss season, and so in the end this is a failure year for Harbaugh.

Having said that I think there are positives:

1. Mo Hurst is an awesome player, and someone is going to make the mistake of passing on him early on in next year's draft. Best interior DL at M since Alan Branch in my view.
2. Khaleke Hudson is finally turning into the player we were hoping for.
3. OL finally rounding into shape in the run game (still can't pass protect worth beans)
4. JH may have finally found a QB who can actually run his awe-fense

[whodean]

What's the consensus on Peters?

Rah rah and all but he didn't do squat throwing the ball against Minnehaha

[Jeff Buchanan]

No way to judge based on Minnesota. He completed 8/13 passes for 56 yards.

Notable that on the first scoring drive, he was 4/5. The opening play of this series was a first down pass for 5y followed by a 5 yard run. Next series was the same. He looked good. After that drive, it was abundantly clear that the passing game was put back in the tool box.

Also notable was the lack of throws apparently called on standard downs later in the game. I thought that if they were going to ask peters to pass, don't do it on a third and long down. Peters was sacked twice off of one edge and one CB blitz doing this. One of those sacks looked like it knocked him out momentarily.

Not smart to put your third starting QB at risk with that approach.

[WingsFan]

Rah rah and all but he didn't do squat throwing the ball against Minnehaha

Not a turnover machine like the other 2 guys.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Not a turnover machine like the other 2 guys.

True ..... There's a guy at mgoblog that has done a video of selected plays where he goes over what he thinks is supposed to happen v. what happens. He did one of these for for both JOK's and Peter's passes.

For whatever reason, in live action v. Purdue and PSU, if JOK's first read wasn't open, he'd bail. While he's got good mobility and did scramble for some gains, he'd never see wide-open down field guys and passed up the bigger play on multiple occasions because he lost track of his check-downs.

Peters v. Rutgers, OTH, stays in the pocket, has awareness there, steps up and one can see he's making reads and checking down in a methodical way. He does pass up longer balls regularly but you can't tell from the video if the receivers are open or not; you have to assume they are not.

I'm thinking that JOK was sharper than Peters in practice but, as has been his MO, he does poorly in live action. I think the staff just waited until it was clear as day the O'Korn wasn't going to carry the team. They may have put Peters out there v. Rutgers knowing he may not have been fully ready but was going to be better than whatever JOK had to offer in live games.

[hack]

It would have been nice to see them give him more passing drills. Needs to work on sensing the pass rush.

[Jeff Buchanan]

It would have been nice to see them give him more passing drills. Needs to work on sensing the pass rush.

Well, the first sack he senses just fine after McKeon (I think), who is on the left side of the formation appears either to miss an assignment or think either Pogi or Higdon needs to pick up this blitz on a PA. Either way, I don't like the play design's formation. Given the PA, both backs are out of position to cover a blitz from the left side of the formation. I think this play got RPS'ed.

OTH, it might have been on Peters to see this guy before the snap and audible out. No telling.

[ame]https://youtu.be/S9SzumirKsA?t=2385[/ame]

Here's the sack were Peters gets rocked. You'll see a Gopher DE lined up over Ruiz. Ruiz initially steps to his right but then inexplicably back to his left where Bredeson at LG has moved in front of Kugler and has that DT engaged. Was he to double? I don't think so, I think he got confused and got pulled for Runyan after this mistake.

You'll see Ruiz give up his gap for the DT to penetrate. Meanwhile, Peters is making his reads to his left and does not see the Ruiz error. Boom.

[ame]https://youtu.be/DqB0Pv_u6tk?t=649[/ame]

Maybe he should have sensed the free rusher but I had to step this through to see it. It happens really fast. To me it's a blown block by Ruiz that almost costs JH another QB.

[Detroit Dan]

Let's take a look at Dan's post in the context of our preseason predictions. These ranged from 7-4 to 12-0 with 8-4 as the most probable occurrence; 9-3 not far behind that.

Good idea!

So we are doing about as well as expected, with the big surprise being that Michigan State was much better than expected (plus the weather in that game). Our passing game has been much worse than expected, but the running has improved to the point where it is now a pleasant surprise. The defense has been better than expected.

[Hannibal]

Harbaugh clearly has no trust in his O-line to pass block, as evidenced by the fact that he has only called a handful of actual drop back passes the past couple of weeks. Almost everything is a rollout. He has gone full Debord.

[WM Wolverine]

One of those hits was a helmet-to-helmet hit by the Gophers that could've knocked him out of the game, or worse...

[Jeff Buchanan]

Michigan failed to make the CFP's top 25. Last I checked, M was slated for the Holiday Bowl v. Washington State, I love Mike Leach but I would personally hate to have M play against his team.

If M wins out and beats much higher ranked Wisconsin and osu, where will they end up on the CFP ranking and what bowl and what opponent would you most want them to be in/play?

I'd say they'd crack the top 15.

For me it's the Outback in Tampa v. LSU and not because I want M back in FL, I don't.

If M does win out to close at 10-2, I'd like M to meet OU in the Fiesta or TCU in the Cotton. That get's M out of FL.

[Hannibal]

This is the one year where I'd prefer to play an SEC team. After Alabama and Georgia, there is a significant dropoff to Auburn, and then another siginficant dropoff after that.

[hack]

Anyone have any thoughts on Chris Evans as a receiver? I looked up his stats, 12 career catches for 12.6 yards, but much of that from one 56-yarder. I like his elusiveness and so much was made of his versatility, but it's not something the team has really looked to exploit. Maybe it's time to put that idea to bed.

[Detroit Dan]

Worked against Rutgers (Chris Evans as a receiver).

Speaking of receivers, I noticed Kekoa Crawford was back last week, but I'm not sure he's the top wide receiver these days. Perry and DPJ should get the bulk of the wide receiver looks, with Schoenle and Collins in the next tier. Crawford just didn't show much when he was the starter, so let's see what the others can do.

[Hannibal]

I don't remember Crawford even getting targeted. What a disappointment the receivers have been this year, as a group. I really hope that we bring in a wide receivers coach next year. We can't afford to piss away another year of the greatest WR recruiting haul that we have ever had.