Michigan 33, Florida 17

[hack]

Any UM receiver wearing # 1 catches that ball. At least for the last 20 years or so.

Well said.

[WM Wolverine]

Run game benefited from excellent play calling, Onwenu pulled a couple times to the left to spring big runs when the Gators were already weak on the left side. 6 guys blocking 5 should be a big play.

[hack]

I'm not sure it was excellent play-calling as much as it was deciding to be more risk-averse on 3rd down than on the others and getting very lucky in the process, i.e. that 3rd-13 first-down run by Isaac. Surely they were ready to just be safe and punt there. But, either way, a set of plays and constraints behind the left side of the line, and with Onwenu pulling, is where I'd like to see this offense head. Make them stop it.

[WM Wolverine]

Yeah, the multiple 3rd and long runs were conservative plays that turned out great netting first downs. Part of those was seeing the defense was soft in the middle but they were just as fortunate/lucky to convert those.

There were others like Isaac's 30+ yd rush that were great RPS calls.

[Hannibal]

It looks like RPS will grade out very well for this game.

[WM Wolverine]

M is very well coached in many aspects, very different than most of the last decade. The conservative aspects offensively were by design to protect Speight plus the Gators offense were rarely a threat to cross the 50.

[THE_WIZARD_]

shaddup

[Jeff Buchanan]

........the key to this game is..." sayings about football is that you have to run your bread-and-butter and succeed when the other team knows its coming. This year that could very well be Evans or Isaac behind Cole and Bredeson, and perhaps Kugler and a pulling Onwenu. I like how Isaac runs hard and physical in a straight line and makes you pay for tackling him, and that's a nice contrast to Evan's speed and use of angles. Have a few key plays and constraints off that and it could and should go a long way.

I want to drill down on this a bit .......

If you've read anything about Harbaughffense since he started head coaching at SDSU in 2004, it's that he is a pure NFL style, power offense advocate. Sure, there are a lot of variations but fundamentally he is that.

So, his bread and butter plays are (1) any form of outside zone, power, sweep or whatever jiggered name there is for running to the field boundary on the play side and then taking the ball up-field when the opportunity presents itself. That can be as close in as off the OT's outside hip to tip toeing up the sideline. (2) the constraint to that, or vice-versa, is the inside run between the tackles - zone or power. (3) The long ball when the D gives it to you. Prettyy simple, chuck it up there and let your receiver run under it. He'll probably be in man worst case or uncovered completely - as in blitheringly wide open WR (see the Crawford reference below and the ). (4) The dig route (again nomenclature) to a TE. The TE runs straight downfield then arcs or digs into the center of the filed and immediately looks back to the QB for the ball coming his way (the Eubanks catch).

We saw all of those and a bit more v. UF. I may be overplaying or oversimplifying this but IMO, JH wants to run the ball inside/outside playing on the constraint aspects of these two plays, i.e., how it affects the LBs and DL. This approach produces situations where one misread by a D, say for example a WR steps back and then crosses the formation left to right dragging a LB or S with him, creates numbers advantages and/or player mismatches as the play develops. Harbaughffense does a lot of stuff like this that is more complicated than I can understand let alone describe. It's intended to be confusing for defenders on the field. You can't see it live unless you've got a trained eye for it but it's seeable watching post game video in slow-motion.

This didn't work in 2016 and Harbaughffese had an anemic run game. The end result was a one dimensional team that put a lot of pressure on Speight to move the chains. IMO, that pressure is what got Speight injured and rendered mostly ineffective during the Iowa game and after it.

The UF game wasn't conclusive enough to say, yeah, the OL has got this shit down. But you can see it and it appears to me to be better executed in 2017 than 2016. Frey! The next two opponents will give M a chance to get better at it, assuming Don Brown and his boys can stop the AF option ..... yikes!

Speight's long ball is kind-of nice to have stuff, great if the D gives it to you and you can hit it. The throw to Crawford (OOB and hi) with the UF S's up to stop the run creating a barren back side is an example of it being there but not completed. Not a big deal. It's like the offense is going to consistently hit these and score 40+ or not and settle for a score something in the upper 20s, assuming the run game is working to move the chains and shorten the game.

This sort of approach usually doesn't produce gaudy scores unless and of course your QB and receivers are flat out hot and the D they're playing against sucks. What it does do is play to your defense in case the passing game is faltering for any number of reasons - good coverage, good pressure, bad QB or receiver play. It makes a lot of sense given what JH has in Don Brown. That part of Harbaughffense is definitely in place.

Harbaughffense therefore is just as likely to score 21-28 points while holding an opponent under 20 or less (thank you Don Brwon) as it is to score 50 points in a blow-out. It's a football strategy with life insurance. It can be uncomfortable though when the score spread is in the 3-7 pt range and you're playing osu. Frankly, I don't think JH likes it either but it appears he'll take it ..... that bothers me just a bit.

[hack]

I just don't know. If that's what he really wants -- and that's nothing new; what he wants has been covered plenty -- I don't know how to square it with what we're getting, which is not much of that. I know the OL hasn't been there to allow it, sure. But you'd think that on second downs with anywhere from 4-7 yards to go, we'd see a lot more running than we do. Harbaugh doesn't seem to want to stick with the running game when it works. He passes in those situations a lot more than you'd need to just to establish run/pass doubts. I don't know who he really is yet.

[WingsFan]

It all good with Speight (with a selected few) b/c we won the game. When he shits the bed vs PSU im not saying a word.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I think the head scratcher stuff we've mentioned, Hack, is like a pitcher's change-up. He believes in it so therefore he runs it. He likes to go unexpectedly off script at times. But fundamentally and as the bread and butter plays go, he is as I described.

[hack]

It all good with Speight (with a selected few) b/c we won the game. When he shits the bed vs PSU im not saying a word.

Can you really and truly make the case that there is a better option the coaching staff is incorrectly ignoring?

[WingsFan]

Can you really and truly make the case that there is a better option the coaching staff is incorrectly ignoring?

No I cant, hes the best we have at this point (and im not happy about it). If Peters is truly the future, I would start grooming him vs Cincinnati.

[hack]

Right - best we have. If Peters were to be the future, that'd be a consideration. But Peters is where Speight was at when he started. Speight beat out a more-experienced guy -- two, actually. Peters just had the chance and didn't do that. No reason to expect much from him. I think the guy that succeeds Speight is either McCaffrey or a guy that isn't in A2 yet. In the meantime, Speight isn't a death sentence.

[WingsFan]

No not a death sentence, also not the guy to get us where we want to be. I did a lot of whining about Speight in the off season - with the attitude maybe he will prove me wrong vs FL and would have admitted I was wrong. The only reason we won was the outstanding defense, if we lost the game everyone, (and outside here) is about 70% would be echoing my words. He is what he is, a 3 star, 22 year old qb over his head.