Announcement

**Jeff Buchanan** · April 28, 2018, 10:16 PM

Per 5dimes via mgo, M has moved from a 1 point dog to 1 point favorite v. ND. The move coincides with the announcement that Shea Patterson is eligible to play in the 2018 CFB season.

Obviously early line but it suggests the spread my widen in M's favor going forward. Does that mean they'll handle ND? I don't know but my read on ND is that they are not as good as last year and M is likely to be a whole lot better ..... no matter who starts at QB. Nice problem to have.

**Hannibal** · April 29, 2018, 01:58 PM

LMAO. Lay the point. Jesus.

**Hannibal** · April 29, 2018, 02:07 PM

Originally posted by Rocky Bleier View Post

Some guy on ESPN radio this morning said that Shea was owned by the better defenses in the SEC, and that he only threw for 300 + yards versus Auburn after they were up 35 - 0 and essentially quit playing. Patterson was 14/29 against Alabama for 165 yds. Guy also said that Shea would have been behind Jordan Ta'amu this season anyway, so don't assume he'll beat out Peters and McCaffrey. I'm just the messenger.

So -- John O'Korn 2.0.

Prepare for lots of condescending commentary coming from mgoblog this fall about how we need to be patient after the sacks, interceptions, and losses continue to pile up.

**AlabamAlum** · April 29, 2018, 03:01 PM

He's a good QB. He can sling it. Ole Miss was in disarray. Alabama's defense (healthy) was the best in the nation. Auburn had a top 10 D. Coach him up a bit, have a competent supporting cast around him, and he will win you some ball games.

**klondike** · April 29, 2018, 06:20 PM

Tha,k you SEC for suffocating the flames that seem to have started flickering already.

**iam416** · April 29, 2018, 07:33 PM

I think M fans should be more encouraged if Shea doesn’t start and, you know, the Quarterback Whisperer actually develops a QB for M.

**AlabamAlum** · April 29, 2018, 08:06 PM

You can't make chicken salad with chicken shit.

**Rocky Bleier** · April 29, 2018, 09:14 PM

Originally posted by Hannibal View Post

So -- John O'Korn 2.0.

Prepare for lots of condescending commentary coming from mgoblog this fall about how we need to be patient after the sacks, interceptions, and losses continue to pile up.

Just passing along what was said. He has to be better than Peters.

**iam416** · April 30, 2018, 07:02 AM

You can't make chicken salad with chicken shit.

Concur. But perhaps, then, you shouldn't buy chicken shit to make chicken salad.

**Rocky Bleier** · April 30, 2018, 07:06 AM

You get what you pay for?

**iam416** · April 30, 2018, 07:11 AM

Correct. Except for when it comes to head coaches? Heh.

All good fun. I'm sure Shea will lead HARBAUGH!!!! to his first ever top 2 finish in the B10 East.

**Jeff Buchanan** · May 2, 2018, 04:25 PM

If you like post mortems and admittedly, I usually don't, this is a good mgo piece (Brian). The comment section though is the best part assuming you pick and choose.

Brian, as correctly done as it has been so far, nails the impact of the poor play of the OL in one YouTube segment of a muffed Issac run play...... guys on the OL not only doing wrong things (we know this) but the compounding effect of them.

He also explains the problem with zone (finesse) and gap (power) blocking schemes namely that the OL was terrible at executing zone blocking schemes; the complexity of the terminology in the line calls to accomplish a mix of these schemes in Harbaughffense probably contributed to fan perspective, probably not completely deserved, that Kugler was a bad C.

There's a good discussion in the comments section about how this fundamental problem on OL play developed during JH's tenure, how it was addressed in 2017, why M's offense looked so completely lost on offense (objectively and subjectively) last season and the off-season changes made to improve OL play in 2018.

I thought one of the best comments made on Brian's piece was that smart people have blind spots and make mistakes. In the case of JH, he might have over-estimated the capacity of his 19-22yo OL players to grasp the NFL level terms and blocking schemes that he had been used to in the NFL. When it was clear to JH that there were problems on the OL he did make changes (switch to more power). But once you've decided on an offensive scheme and by extension the kinds of things the OL needs to do to execute it, reped it in the limited practice time of the off-season, it's really hard to make those kinds of changes mid season.

Borges Disease And You | mgoblog

http://mgoblog.com/content/borges-disease-and-you#comments

TOO MANY COOKS [Bryan Fuller] Today's hot topic is a statement from President in waiting Grant Newsome on last year's offense: The offensive line? Players talked about how much new position coach Ed Warinner made simplifications this spring, mainly because he had no other choice. Grant Newsome told reporters Tuesday that Warinner stripped down the complex language and overall concept because it was overwhelming. "He said he was even confused by the amount of terminology and different plays we had in the playbook," Newsome said. The internet's talked a lot about the excessive complexity of Michigan's offense in the aftermath, and I feel like I have to interject. Michigan's OSU gameplan wins the game if it doesn't draw the worst QB performance in living memory. Michigan's ability to tweak and screw with people's heads has been a trademark of Harbaugh's best offenses. It can and should be Michigan's approaching going forward for the same reason RichRod shouldn't have run a pro-style offense in his first year in Ann Arbor. I'd like to separate out the offensive approach in general from a particular problem on the offensive line that Newsome highlights above. Michigan's 2017 OL, and by extension the team, suffered from a terminal case of… borges disease BORGES DISEASE BORGES DISEEEEEEEEEEASE Borges disease is when you try to do everything without doing one thing well and everything falls apart in a morass of beautiful-on-paper plays that are executed with the balletic grace of a drunken donkey crashing his ex-wife's wedding. Borges's special power was containing all bad-idea multitudes within himself. Michigan created their own version of this by importing former Indiana and RichRod OL coach Greg Frey for a single disastrous year. This wasn't Frey's fault; he remains a well-regarded OL coach and jumped to his alma mater FSU before a serious inquest could result. Because Frey's hire was a half-measure on Harbaugh's part, it blew up in his face. Publicly, Michigan split OL duties between Frey and a still-extant Drevno, handing Frey the tackles and TEs while Drevno coached the interior line. I'm not sure that's the way it actually worked, because Michigan went from a power-based run offense in Harbaugh's first two years to an inside zone team with some power sprinkled in. Then they went to a 50/50 split, and finally they returned zone to an occasional constraint play, because they were immensely bad at running zone. So not only did Michigan spend a bunch of time trying to get good at IZ and burn a bunch of snaps grabbing two yards a pop, they retarded their growth as the mashing power team their personnel certainly pointed to. Post-MSU UFR, which was in the 50-50 phase: Michigan ran 11 zone plays versus 14 gap-blocked plays. (FB dives, crack sweeps, and the reverse are excluded from this analysis.) That is a significant shift away from zone. That still remains a part of the playbook, obviously... but a crappy one. Those 11 plays gained just 25 yards. Michigan suuuucks at zone. There were costs to the returning diversity. Michigan had a couple of plays on which it looked like someone busted an assignment. Onwenu appeared to be running a trap on a play that was not a trap, and either Hill or McKeon busted on this Isaac TFL. Michigan blocks a big cavern in the middle that has an unblocked LB, and then Hill runs outside. Isaac follows him, because follow your fullback: I gave that to Hill but that could be what he's supposed to do; in that case McKeon needs to be doubling on Cole's guy and leaving the force player for Hill. YMMV. Either way it's a mental mistake that turns a promising play into a TFL. When Michigan focused on becoming the mashing team they were always supposed to be, the results were good. Despite wasting a bunch of time, their S&P+ breakdown stats paint the picture of a bunch of maulers: Power success rate: 7th Adjusted line yards: 20th Rushing explosiveness: 29th Overall rushing S&P+: 14th A #47 stuff rate, #79 success rate, and #90 opportunity rate look like a lot of missed assignments in that context, missed assignments created by Michigan's failed attempt to adopt Frey's approach on the ground. That is dysfunction. Michigan masked it fairly well by pushing the abort button halfway through the season and having a couple good running backs and some Large Adult Sons. But since those Large Adult Sons came coupled with serious pass protection issues, there was no Plan B for the other half of the offense. There the disconnect between Drevno and Frey was easily seen every time Michigan failed to pick up a stunt, which was about every other stunt. Michigan looked like the worst-coached offensive line in the country last year. I started wondering if Patrick Kugler's inability to get on the field until his redshirt senior year was because he couldn't make a line call to save his life. And here's where the Newsome quote comes in. Michigan clearly couldn't execute their pass protection system. An outsider can't know whether that's because two different guys were teaching it, or it was an unholy combination of two different approaches, or it was just plain bad because Drevno is bad and should feel bad. But it all goes back to Michigan importing an offensive coordinator (Pep Hamilton) and an OL coach without telling the guy who thought he was both to hit the bricks.

**iam416** · May 3, 2018, 07:40 AM

There's a reason the zone read has taken over CFB.

**Jeff Buchanan** · May 3, 2018, 03:05 PM

Yes ...... and it's why defenses have changed to defend it.

I think one of the most interesting things to see play out at M in 2018 is what kind of QB play emerges in whoever grabs that spot. There's been some talk that JH was interested beyond a casual level in the Eagles offense v. the Patriots in the SB. Lots of successful zone read plays rom Nick Foles and overall an Eagles offense that went against their regular season tendencies. I wouldn't call Foles a typical zone read QB like Mike Vick, the guy he beat out, clearly is, so, who knows where Peters will stand on the QB depth chart this fall.

I don't think Harbaughffense will abandon zone blocking and the zone read plays it supports. Warriner certainly has some experience with zone blocking having run it in support of ufm's preferred offensive scheme. The off-season shake-up of the M offensive coaching staff is a clear indicator that change is afoot but what kind of change isn't going to clear until we see what kind of QB play emerges.

It would seem, from Brian's perspective anyway, that JH wants to or should run more power than zone in 2018. From what I've seen and read, Patterson and Milton fit the mold of QBs who can execute zone read plays and offer a credible run threat to that play. Peters doesn't fit that mold at all.

**Jeff Buchanan** · May 10, 2018, 05:20 PM

There's a UFR of Ol'Miss's game v Alabama last season at mgo. It's the lead article at the top of the page right now so, easy to find.

Ol'Miss had an OL that actually might have been worse than M's, if that is at all possible. Lot of plays where Patterson is facing free rushers in his face immediately not DEs forcing their way around a left tackle after a 5-7 count that allows a decent QB to make a read and get a throw off. Sound familiar? It is and all of M's QBs faced this kind of pressure in 2017.

Brian thought that Patterson, while his stats for the game were pitiful, seemed to be able to make plays and throw into tight windows in the face of this kind of pressure. Peters couldn't; v. osu, O'Korn made drive killing mistakes facing osu's pressure.

Anyway, if there is modest improvement in OL play that raises it to just OK, all of M's QBs have a good chance of playing well and in Brandon Peter's case, looking much better in Harbaughffense than he did in 2017. I still think Patterson wins the starting job but I also think it's going to be competitive with Peter's holding the edge in knowing and understanding the play book. It seems Patterson has the edge in "it" and it seems also as a play maker when the play goes to shit.

Most of M's plays went to shit in 2017 for a number of reasons previously discussed. In the case of pass plays, facing the kind of pressure Peters faced, he didn't seem to be able to make something happen like Patterson does against Alabama.

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