Michigan Football, Team 139, 2018 Season

[WM Wolverine]

Urban and Saban account for Bama, Ohio state. The two best coaches in this generation coaching blue blood programs with excellent talent nearby...

Dabo dominating an at best mediocre ACC helped build that program to where it is... Not sure how well Clemson would do with a typical SEC or B1G schedule. Dabo wins his big games however...

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Urban stepping down opens a window for Harbaugh, that window will close if Brown gets schooled by Day again in '19...

I didn't have near as high as expectations for the offense this season, OL had major holes that struggled mightily when faced more talented defensive lineman.

Patterson was good, short of my high expectations but he was good enough if the defense does there job against ND, Ohio State... Like most, M wanting to run twice as often as they throw put Patterson in tough situations to throw when they couldn't get yards on the ground on 1st/2nd down. This is an issue thats been at M for all four years of JHs tenure, can't blame Pep.

[WingsFan]

Im fine with winning 10 games a year beating Sparty 3/4 of the time and occasionally osu . Its better than dirty programs run by Saban, Meyer (gone), and even Dantonio.

Bo never had what Alabama has right now, so why do we even think we can complete with outright cheaters?

[hack]

Im fine with winning 10 games a year beating Sparty 3/4 of the time and occasionally osu . Its better than dirty programs run by Saban, Meyer (gone), and even Dantonio.

Bo never had what Alabama has right now, so why do we even think we can complete with outright cheaters?

Define occasionally. Meyer isn't there now; the excuse is gone. Not going at least 5-5 over the next decade would be very disappointing.

[WingsFan]

I really believe it starts next year with a win in Ann Arbor. After that its hard to say, if we're near .500 that would be great.

[hack]

Yeah. No excuses next year. Every lesson has been learned at this point.

[Jeff Buchanan]

WM ...."it's not Pep's fault." I get your point but he's a Harbaugh devotee or yes man may be more appropriate. They seem to think alike regarding the passing game. That's not a good combo. Harbaugh needs to be challenged. Pep isn't going to do that.

I really do think what Harbaugh is dealing with at M is unique relative to his other coaching gigs. There are similarities in his approach in CFB: a run centric offense, long developing deep plays that fit a strategic approach of low risk offense playing to a stout defense and a great kicking game ........ and getting housed by teams that successfully deploy a pass-centric offense. IMO, Harbaugh's approach is particularly appropriate in the BIG and as I said, he can win 10 games most of the time. It seems to me, Harbaugh is frustratingly stuck in that reality for him...... that is what seems to me to be unique. I don't see him changing. He did change his approach in the NFL and was successful doing ti with SF. I don't think he can or will change at the CFB level. He's satisfied. I also think he sees what I explain below more clearly than us fans do and it may be why he won't change..

On Dax Hill....... from an M perspective, you have to ask, why. My view is the answers go beyond a flakey 18 year old. Players with his kind of talent are getting advice from sources that I won't speculate about. They aren't making decisions like Rahsan Gary made for M and Daxton Hill made for Alabama on their own or by their Moms and probably not by their HS coaches - although I think they are a factor. Rashan's history playing for M is informative. Guys like Gary, and probably HIll, are clearly protecting their futures and advancing their earning power by the decisions we see them make.

I think AA is right about why top players sign with Saban/Alabama ..... he wins, he puts players in the NFL. But I think there is an underworld of folks advising these types of players and their families that is driven by their own personal greed and this view isn't some kind of gestalt. It's been around for long time but it's worse in the modern era of football because the money involved in it is huge. They are influencers that put their own personal gain and, in general, the value of money over the potential for development of a more rounded, intellectually equipped human being.

I think their are CFB programs and the people within them that genuinely care about these kids not only playing football and maybe getting a shot at the pros but also about creating an environment for and contributing to the development of men who will make society and the world better. I'd put Michigan in that category of CFB programs. There are others. I think this is an underappreciated difference in the culture of the various programs in the current discussion. Where I think Michigan puts its football program values is different than others. Is it better or worse? That depends on your values and how you see the game of CFB and the student athletes that play the game within it.

Programs like this are probably always going to lag slightly behind programs with different value systems. That is because they are not going to succeed at the same level lacking the consistent attraction of winning and placing guys in the NFL. That is sustained by attracting the top talent that, IMO, is unduly influenced by the underworld of handlers that there is no denying exist. They aren't bag men. They are mostly legitimate business men with goals and objectives that are not aligned with those of these CFB programs I'm speaking of . These programs, M among them, care less about assuring a transition from CFB to the benefit of high NFL draft status and the riches of pro-football contracts that follow.

Oh, and who also benefits from this process? The handlers of course. So, it becomes a cyclical sort of thing that feeds itself ...... football programs and their coaching staffs enrich themselves within it while players, their families and handlers all profit. There's nothing illegal about it, frankly, nothing unseemly. It is what money can do to the higher ideals of some educational institutions. It compromises them.

[WingsFan]

In game coaching needs to be better, Harbaugh has had his lunch handed to him by other top tier coaches to many times now. I'd also like to see better clock management and urgency when appropriate. Not no-huddle, because I doubt Harbaugh can out speed coaches who made their bones with this approach. But burning the play clock when down late in the 4th against ND? Huddling when down 20+ in the second half at osu? That needs to stop - play action when down 3 scores isn't fooling anyone.

We need to beat FL, if for nothing else just to get the bad taste out going forward to next year.

[hack]

Not sure by who other than Meyer, and let's face it there's no shame in that, but overall, I completely agree. I haven't liked in-game decisionmaking, and the clock-management stuff is becoming apparent too.

[WingsFan]

And chasing points, I dont understand this thinking at all. Its doesn't work.

[hack]

He very well be better suited for the NFL. Dunno. Increasingly, and hindsight is 20:20 and all that, but maybe Stanford was just a time-and-place thing. He presented a novel concept in a conference where that was a better idea. Dunno. But I hate that the offense shares some of the brainiac-with-no-common-sense qualities that Al Borges displayed.

All that said, he's not a BAD coach. His game plans are often quite good, and maybe he gets to the spot he needs to with the OL and the QB to run this offense. McCaffrey's development is encouraging. His Drevno-to-Warinner pivot was encouraging. But he does need an offensive assistant he trusts who will challenge him.

[WingsFan]

Being stubborn hardy is to someone advantage. Me - Im always on the right side of the fifty

[UMStan White]

I am always amazed that so many posters who have never even played the game think they can outcoach the coaches.

[hack]

You don't know jack squat about internet-forum posting.

[THE_WIZARD_]

I am always amazed that so many posters who have never even reffed the game think they can outref the refs.

fuckin' refs

[hack]

You're not a writer, yet nobody has had the good sense to outlaw your use of the written word. That would be the best way to MAGA, really.