2019 Michigan Season Thread

[Anonymous Coward]

Sounds like the injury concerns from the first game are not long-term (yet):

• WR Tarik Black went out in the 1st half with cramps, not an injury
• LT Jon Runyan sat out but is likely to return for Army
• DT Dwumfour sat out with a hand injury (club cast) and is expected this month (seemingly soon)
• DT Donovan Jeter sat  out with [not sure], is likely back this week
• RB Tru Wilson has a hand injury but is expected to play through it

• WR Donovan Peoples-Jones sat out with a foot injury (is in a soft boot) -- that isn't, per se, good but his return sounds close and we're glad he wasn't held out with the groin/hamstring issue that plagued him in the spring/summer, as it would be a worse sign if we knew that issue were lingering

[Temp430]

On defense Michigan looked OK as far as the edge rush goes but not so good in the middle of the DL.   The problem was exacerbated by the mobility of Middle Tennessee's QB.  Not sure what you can do about that if Dwumfour and Jeter remain sidelined.   Michigan's depth issue at CB evaporated in my mind given the play of Thomas and Gray.  Linebacker play was fine.

On offense it looked like a first game.  Charbonnet was better than I had hoped.  The fumbles and dropped passes will get cleaned up.  The offense will be scary good when Runyan and DJP return and they all have another game and two weeks of practice behind them.

Special teams were good with the exception of Hill muffing a punt.  What are they thinking?  

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, on the basis of AT's colitis (apparently it was even a 35-lb weight loss then gain, not the +/- 20, I've previously shared) and Vincent Gray struggling in the spring game, my #1 concern shifted hard from DT to CB this summer.

And now it seems that the CBs are in contention to be as good as they've been any of the last 4-5 years.

But that DT depth is rough. Granted we have Kemp, Dwumfour and Jeter in front but behind their top three or four tackles a team like OSU has Jashon Cornell and we have ... Ben Mason. That's trouble.

We really need the touted true freshmen to not be busts. Even then that's more for the future than for this season. Though I won't be surprised if Hinton is getting Mason's back-up snaps by late November.

[Anonymous Coward]

I really like the LBs, though. If it hadn't been for Ambry, I think we'd be calling Josh Ross the best defender of the week. His sideline to sideline speed comes awfully close to replacing Bush. At times, it was hard to tell the difference.

[Anonymous Coward]

Lavert and  Khaleke synchronized to let us know football is back:


Josh Ross impersonating  Devin Bush:


Nico Collins sits on a guy in the endzone:


Ambry is fully weaponized:

[Anonymous Coward]

With Runyan and Spanellis returning, the 2-deep is changing back:


https://twitter.com/orion_sang/status/1163828291964481541?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1163828291964481541&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmgoblog.com%2Fcontent%2Funverified-voracity-already-pass-pro

I'll be interested to see the thirid party player grades that come out ~Thursday. Many fans are describing Hayes day as slightly better than Mayfield's. Either way, boy is it nice to be able to rely on OL back-ups to do just fine, especially freshmen OTs.

[Anonymous Coward]

This came a play or two before the play action TD to Nico. It appears to have been the most satisfying drive for fans.


https://twitter.com/CoachDanCasey/status/1168632871151710208

[Mdot21]

Josh Ross impersonating  Devin Bush:


Nico Collins sits on a guy in the endzone:


Ambry is fully weaponized:

Josh Ross is going to be very good. He’s taller and longer than Bush. Doesn’t have that 4.4 speed that Bush had, few LBs do- but he’s plenty fast enough for an ILB. Ross’ older brother was a very good LB for Michigan. Josh is going to be even better. He’s a future NFL draft pick at LB imo. He won’t replace Bush- no one can- but he will be one of the best ILB in the B1G. 

Nico Collins’ ability to play the ball in the air and go up and get it is ridiculous. He is a future NFL draft pick at WR. Might be a pretty high one. Urban Meyer was right- Michigan has 3 legit high NFL draft choices at WR. 

Ambry Thomas is a freak athlete. That pic was a thing of beauty. I am excited to see what he can do in this defense in a featured starting role. Vincent Gray looked excellent as well. He looked very fluid and long and lanky and just looked like a natural at CB. CB should be a real strength of this defense. 

What scares the hell out of me on that defense is the safeties and the defensive tackles. Metellus, Brad Hawkins, and JKP all played bad games. I’ve seen enough. START DAX HILL. Ben Mason playing DT over Chris Hinton and Mazi Smith is a bad joke. Who cares if they are rookies. They are true defensive tackles. Ben Mason is barely a legit scholarship player and he is that as a fullback- not an interior defensive linemen.

[Honestbuckeye]

https://www.elevenwarriors.com/skull-sessions/2019/09/106588/ohio-state-football-urban-meyer-fox-television-analyst-justin-fields-elusive-extend-plays-joe-burrow-beat-texas

Go to the analysis by Meyer of Michigan running double and triple option.   Hate urban all you want- but this is good stuff, and why you should feel Michigan is just going to get harder and harder to defend as they get more experience at this.  

[CatsbyAZ]

Well, sports media is at it again, waiting in the weeds to rail on Harbaugh, and last weekend’s Army game is the latest rallying point. Last year it was the season opening loss to Notre Dame that became the season-long excuse to rail on Harbaugh. Is there some sort’ve background movement rooting for Michigan to move on from Harbaugh? Perhaps the same journalists blindly linking every NFL opening to Jim Harbaugh? Yea we know Harbaugh is “polarizing” as every last columnist labels Jim ad nauseum, but name anyone reasonable worth moving on to.

[CatsbyAZ]

I mean the LA Times lead their sports section with a hit piece on Harbaugh earlier this week.

https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2019-09-07/college-football-michigan-jim-harbaugh-army-shea-patterson-zach-charbonnet

The most brainless critics are the ones who bring up how hot Harbaugh’s seat is without having the balls to name anyone Michigan should move on to. There’s isn’t a better coach for Michigan out there. Besides, only about 4 current coaches have botched more wins during Harbaugh’s time there.

[MrNubbz]

Yea we know Harbaugh is “polarizing” as every last columnist labels Jim ad nauseum, but name anyone reasonable worth moving on to.

I'd take Matt Campbell in a second

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, sports media is at it again, waiting in the weeds to rail on Harbaugh, and last weekend’s Army game is the latest rallying point. Last year it was the season opening loss to Notre Dame that became the season-long excuse to rail on Harbaugh. Is there some sort’ve background movement rooting for Michigan to move on from Harbaugh? Perhaps the same journalists blindly linking every NFL opening to Jim Harbaugh? Yea we know Harbaugh is “polarizing” as every last columnist labels Jim ad nauseum, but name anyone reasonable worth moving on to.

I didn't see this until now. Harbaugh came to Michigan as a celebrity and flew in hot. He had a thousand silly one-liners (chicken being a nervous bird) and hyper-competitive strategies (large-scale satellite camp popularization) that became daily fodder for readers. For a while the turnover on fodder may have been close to hourly. And readers lapped it up, almost unprecedentedly. Even the people who hated the "content" still clicked through and then popped onto a message board to vent their spleen, ultimately guaranteeing their involvement in the machine.

As much as or more than any other coach, people know about Jim Harbaugh and have an opinion. Which means that his name drives as many clicks on its own as any coach -- college, pro, or national. So these articles are just typical business economics. I don't identify as cynical, but bet I'm going to come off that way here: I am skeptical that more than 50-60% of these articles are completely informed or completely sincere. Because no matter the message of a Harbaugh article, writing it is a good business decision -- it's picking a subject that is guaranteed to drive up the stats that their employers will focus on when the calendar spins to job performance evaluation day.

[Temp430]

If Rodriguez or Hoke had Harbaugh's record they'd likely still be coaching in Ann Arbor.  For the vast majority of Michigan fans there is no one they would rather have coach Michigan than Harbaugh.  If you feel otherwise, please let me know who you'd like to see as coach.  I like to laugh.