Mattress Talk Comment Count

Brian

10/21/2017 – Michigan 13, Penn State 42 – 5-2, 2-2 Big Ten

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I'm still trying to figure out how this is a wicked burn [Patrick Barron]

Got a new mattress. Wife had been saying we should get one, and then I read this article about the crazy Online Mattress War between dudes who had gotten millions of dollars in affiliate sales as mattress reviewers and a leading mattress company that sued them. The company was kind of right that the mattress guys were not fully on the up and up, but neither was the company. The twist ending: company just bought the site and magically their problems were over, man.

Everyone wins, except the average Joe just looking for an honest mattress review. Insofar as that is possible. Which it's not for an idiosyncratic product that is supposed to hold up for years and years.

This article still convinced me that I should just buy a mattress online, because any industry that has people in that level of desperate hand-to-hand combat is a place where The Online is legitimately disruptive. Also I went into an Art Van once and felt like I needed a shower after I left. I bought one office chair. Guy said I was making an amazing choice buying this office chair. I had an incredible eye for office chairs. Nobody in the world could have picked out an office chair finer than the one I had just acquired, and at such a price. And so forth and so on.

So: I am sold that mattresses are vastly overpriced and open to disruption. Also I am the kind of person who would rather roll the dice on Amazon reviews than talk to someone who works on commission. So I went with the company at the beginning of the article that purveyed a mattress the vaguely shady review guy returned. They were not mentioned again and thus seemed to be more on the up and up than everyone else. I dislike angle shooters.

Here is an internet mattress. It comes in a white box that seems far too small for a mattress. After you hack through an Amazon's worth of plastic coverings to unroll it there is a final layer of protective covering. Pierce that with the steak knife you've commandeered and the mattress will take in a great gulp of air, like a drowning man who suddenly finds himself at the surface. Then you have a mattress.

It's springy. Good? I don't know? I slept on it. It was fine.

It is odd somehow, but that's probably not its fault. It's probably always odd to get a new mattress. It's doubly so for us since the monstrosity we are replacing is an old hand-me-down "pillow top" that's like a foot taller than this thing. The hand-me-down is the 1955 Buick of mattresses. It could double as a boat or siege weapon. You couldn't put it in a trebuchet unless you wanted to flatten something three feet away, but it would do quite well as a battering ram. Nice and roomy underneath. The padding above would mute the impacts of various rocks, arrows, and other sundry implements of murder being flung at your head. The tag you're not supposed to take off swears that flammability is not an issue. And when you get that thing going, momentum is going to take you right through that door. Have fun storming the castle!

Anyway, the placement of the reading lights in our bedroom now makes way more sense.

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The child—who goes by Denard Robinson Cook on the internet because I want his Google results to be his fault, not mine—lost his mind at this whole procedure. One of the great challenges of deploying the internet mattress was getting the little goober off the box spring long enough to simultaneously have a bed and an un-suffocated child.

He bangs the box spring and finds its texture pleasing. "BANG," he says, sort of. Getting the plastic off the mattress is a longer than expected, so he runs off to look at the old mattress, which is not in the spot it's been literally his whole life. "OH WOW," he says, distinctly and repeatedly. When the mattress arrived he pointed at the box and exclaimed "OH WOW" for two solid minutes, at varying levels of intensity. The intensity varied from much to lots.

Perhaps he has been raised to find beds and bedding to be a delight. Later I would discover that when my wife makes the bed there has evolved a certain strange ritual. There are four pillows, and after each is sheathed in its cover the wife will promise the child a "boof," which consists of whacking him surprisingly hard in the face with the pillow and throwing it on the bed. The child falls to the ground, cackling merriment, and gets up demanding to be boofed again.

After the pillows are all on the bed the child is thrown onto it, whereupon he flings himself onto every nook and cranny mutter-yelling "boof." Should an adult have the temerity to join the child on the bed, he or she will be shooed away. The child will cry "ah-weigh" until the offense is repaired, and then resume boofing itself.

This was the only part of the mattress procedure with an unpleasant whiff. It is now clear that the child enjoys throwing himself headlong at things, and having things hurled headlong at himself. He thus might want to play football, which is a sport of no account whatsoever that all thinking people rightly condemn.

AWARDS

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Higdon, not Long above[Eric Upchurch]

Known Friends And Trusted Agents Of The Week

-2535ac8789d1b499[1]you're the man now, dog

#1 David Long? I guess? Long intercepted a pass on PSU's third drive, forestalling the beat down until the second half. He was considerably assisted in this endeavor by a Penn State miscommunication, but the other choices here are guys with under 50 yards of offense or other members of a defense that didn't do great. On a day when Michigan got bombed, just one tackle for Long is probably a good thing.

#2 Karan Higdon? Averaged three yards a carry and this felt sort of noble in the circumstances, with half his carries buried at the line by a defense with no respect for the pass and another fair chunk actually decent.

#3 Khaleke Hudson? I guess? TFL, PBU, and a QB hurry, whatever that means in the box score. Notably did not get torched by anyone unless my memory has failed me, which, thanks, memory. Doin' me a solid.

Honorable mention:

KFaTAotW Standings.

8: Devin Bush (#1 Florida, T2 Cincinnati, T2 Air Force, #1 Purdue)
5: Chase Winovich(#1 Air Force, #2a Purdue), Mo Hurst (#1 MSU, #2(T), Indiana), Karan Higdon (#1 Indiana, #2 PSU)
4: David Long (T3 Indiana, #1 PSU)
3: Mason Cole (#1, Cincinnati), Ty Isaac (#2, Florida, #3 Cincinnati), Lavert Hill(#2 MSU, T3 Indiana))
2: Quinn Nordin (#3 Florida, #3 Air Force), John O'Korn (#2 Purdue), Rashan Gary(T2 Indiana), Khaleke Hudson (T2 Cincinnati, #3 PSU).
1: Tyree Kinnel (T2 Cincinnati), Mike McCray(T2 Air Force), Sean McKeon(T3 Purdue), Zach Gentry (T3 Purdue), Brad Robbins(#3 MSU), Brandon Watson (T3 Indiana).

Who's Got It Better Than Us Of The Week

Michigan punches in a touchdown from the six by loading up in a three-TE set and manballing it in with power. This briefly saw Michigan come within a point and was the last event in the game that could be read as hopeful.

Honorable mention: David Long's INT; other touchdown; several plays on which PSU did not score a touchdown.

imageMARCUS HALL EPIC DOUBLE BIRD OF THE WEEK.

Quinn Nordin misses an extra point, which made it clear that it was about to be that kind of night.

Honorable mention: Most of the rest of the game. Saquon Barkley's opening touchdown rather stands out amongst the writhing mass of events. About one minute in to the game everyone was like "okay this is a huge loss," and they were eventually correct. Would rather that did not happen.

[After the JUMP: mattress SEO mattress links mattress reviews mattress coupons mattress mattress]

OFFENSE

Another year, another abomination. The story of Michigan football over the past decade in a sentence: their offensive line sucks. I was bracing for suck in this game and the suck outpaced my ability to brace: seven sacks and 2.5 YPC, and while that includes those sacks that feels close to fair since John O'Korn scrambled for about as many yards as he lost.

Any assertion that a position group on offense can be responded to with "yeah but what about those other guys," and yes, the OL problems are exacerbated by O'Korn's inability to read a defense and the wide receivers being (largely) freshmen. The suck reinforces itself. But the original sin on offense is an OL that starts a turnstile at right tackle no matter who's in the game.

I can't say I've reviewed what happened on the ground; there it might have been something more like the past two weeks where the blocking is mostly okay but a combination of one guy making a big error and a total lack of respect for Michigan's passing game nerf a bunch of plays near the line of scrimmage. As hopes go that's about as faint as it gets.

It's time. John O'Korn looked significantly improved from his last two outings and was still under six yards an attempt despite a defense that largely dared him to throw. He even had some help from his receivers, for a change, and nyet. A fair number of those sacks were on O'Korn sitting the pocket for four or five seconds without finding anyone—one particularly memorable incident saw O'Korn wait for a bunch of deep routes to break before throwing, with predictable results.

Michigan should look at Brandon Peters. This probably won't help, but neither is it likely to hurt much.

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help from the wide receivers [Barron]

Only fair. This site has bagged on Kekoa Crawford's season quite a bit so we should point out that his diving, over-the-shoulder completion to set up one of Michigan's touchdowns was very nice.

Game seven. Nico Collins burned his redshirt irrevocably by playing on a wide receiver screen to DPJ. If you're going to burn a redshirt it should at least be for a route, right? At least he looked burly.

Other stuff? I feel this section should be longer but what is there to say, really? Michigan doesn't have a passing game and is caught between two different approaches on the ground. They're bad.

DEFENSE

The silver lining! Joe Moorhead is 100% getting a head coach job thanks to that game. His worst case scenario is landing at UCF after someone hires Frost, right? He has to be the Hot Coordinator Du Jour along with Brent Venables. That's the ticket.

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nevermind [Barron]

Another silver lining! Instead of lingering on as a haunting what-if, that near pick-six by Hudson is instantly forgotten.

Eviscerated. I don't know if Penn State had been playing rope-a-dope for a month or what, but... yikes, man. The Saquon Barkley go route against Mike McCray was the grim capper on an RPS disaster that has to be Don Brown's worst outing since early days at Boston College. Michigan got rocked in many ways; tactics were foremost among the ways.

Moorhead clearly thought that inverted veer (or "power read" as it's often referred to these days) was an excellent way to attack Michigan's defense but didn't want the default runner to be his quarterback, thus the direct snap tweak. That paid off immediately as Michigan totally vacated the backside of the play on a long touchdown that came so quickly ABC didn't even cut to commercial afterwards.

After that faded somewhat Penn State went back to bombing it downfield, finding Michigan's safeties to be largely helpless. I'm not sure how much of that was on them. One deep corner route against Metellus was inch-perfect to the point where Charles Woodson himself couldn't have done anything about it; another was Penn State remembering that Mike Gesicki is seven feet tall and other people are not. Tyree Kinnel could have done better on the first one but still had his face in his guy's chest, providing a tiny window. Sometimes you just get got if you're a defense, and sometimes this happens about sixty consecutive times.

How much of that is Michigan's plan being bad and how much is running into a buzzsaw I'm not sure. Some of both, surely. Opposition defenses facing Penn State have made them drive the field, save for the occasional Barkley outburst, by playing zones with a lot of guys deep and making it easier underneath. This has sort of worked. Michigan refused to back off and got ripped.

Okay that sucks, but... if they do back off and make Penn State be the boring Barkley dumpoff factory they've been so far this year, what does that look like? Still a loss, because Michigan had under 300 yards of offense and scored 13 points. Playing balls to the wall was hypothetically more likely to result in turnovers that could swing the game? I don't know. Asking Don Brown to back off is like asking Denard Robinson to run a pro-style offense. I do know that.

Survey says. Yes, PSU was playing rope-a-dope for the past month. Andy Staples:

That Wildcat formation was the most obvious, but the Nittany Lions unveiled several new formations and motions Saturday just for Michigan. They had practiced all of these earlier, but they didn’t want them on video, so they avoided using them in games. This included starting with an empty backfield and staying empty through the snap of the ball. (Previously, someone had motioned into the backfield from an empty set, or someone had motioned out of the backfield to create an empty set.) Barkley’s juggling 42-yard touchdown catch came out of one of these formations.

It also included the occasional game of skill player monte, using pre-snap motion to disguise Barkley’s location at the snap for as long as possible. The less time the Wolverines had to adjust after determining where Barkley would start each play, the better for Penn State. But while the Nittany Lions had saved some scheme specifically for Michigan, the Wolverines had opted to stick mostly with what they’d already shown Penn State on film. “They stayed true to themselves,” Barkley said. “They changed a little bit of stuff, but they played us how they played a lot of other teams.”

PSU is coming off a bye week, and prior to that they'd had blowouts over Indiana and Northwestern. Michigan has been in dogfights the past two weeks in which they had to bring more stuff out of the shadows, notably that counter run that got them a free touchdown against the Hoosiers. PSU spent the fourth quarter of their game against Indiana doing basic stuff with their backups. That's a luxury you get when you have an offense that can put games away.

On that long touchdown. Michigan's in their 4-2-5 package; they're running a 3-3-5 with Winovich in the Furbush role. But the main issue with the play is Gary getting lost way upfield:

That cutback lane is Gary and Winovich getting split, and it's mostly Gary treating this like it's third and 20, not second and four. With Gesicki in a route-type substance Hudson's gone and once the first level is breached you're asking a safety to find a cutback and do anything with Barkley in the open field.

The actual point of attack is jammed, and was pretty consistently jammed when PSU ran this. But give Barkley any window and you're screwed.

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poor damn Mike McCray [Upchurch]

Solve your problems with anything other than Mike McCray on Saquon Barkley. Michigan mostly got away with putting their linebackers on running backs lined up outside after the Dalvin Cook event last year, but trying to get away with that crap when the opposition's running back is both a Heisman candidate and the team's leading receiver was always suicidal. Run a zone against empty. It's fine. Go ahead.

Wiping the LB level. PSU hit Michigan with Trace McSorley at the perfect moments, letting Barkley fakes draw the vast majority of the defense while McSorley got to pick through the remnants of the DL en route to seven yards a carry.

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this didn't work for PSU [Upchurch]

Thunderdome did not materialize. The anticipated Bush/Barkley matchup didn't really happen, with only two memorable incidents. Barkley shook Bush to turn a modest gain into about nine; a bit later Bush shut down what looked like another chunk run by demonstrating what "sideline to sideline range" means. Both guys are good at football.

SPECIAL TEAMS

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a moment of respite [Barron]

Uh, I guess there were some. Ambry Thomas had a nice kick return. Michigan buried Barkley at the 13 on one returnable kickoff, though that might have been an attempt to inflate Penn State's stats.

Oh: the punting. Blake Gillikin's punting was not a decisive advantage because he barely did it, but if the game had descended into a slog it probably would have been. He averaged 50 yards on his two kicks; Brad Robbins was at just 39, and he managed to give up 20 yards on returns despite that. He's been pretty meh since coming in for Will Hart.

MISCELLANEOUS

Eat at Arby's. Eat at Arby's.

Advice for message-boarders. The best way to get yourself banned is to start a dumb thread in the aftermath of a bad loss. That's just asking for a mod to look at your posting history and decide you're a jerk. RIP several people Saturday.

HERE

Best and Worst:

The only way Michigan was going to win this game was if it got into a rock fight, a boring-ass game from a bygone era where the space between the 30s was a muddy battleground and every run or pass looked like an NFL Blitz tackle.

But PSU was too good, too prepared to let Michigan ugly it up, and then it became an exercise in PSU's talented, experienced playmakers on offense matching up against Michigan's talented but inexperienced/ill-positioned defenders, and we all saw how that played out.

Michigan had it's moments, especially after picking off McSorley, driving down the field to score a TD. They nearly got another on the ensuing PSU possession, and McSorley again threw a bad pass, this time a screen directly into the arms of Hudson in the end zone, but who dropped it. And Michigan's second scoring drive was much like their first; a grinding affair featuring a nice mix of straight-ahead runs, a little O'Korn scrambling, and some nice pitch-and-catches. There were some subtle shifts on the line, a nice mix of zone and power, and basically the type of offense you hoped to see.

But as Ace noted in his recap, it did feel a bit smoke-and-mirrors. Michigan still hadn't figured out how to exploit the mismatches they had (mostly along the defensive line) or compensate for PSU's, chief amongst them Saquon Barkley on the move. I'll get into it later, but this was Dalvin Cook and FSU all over again, with McCray consistently losing in foot races with Barkley he could never expect to win, and PSU rightly using McSorley as a counter to Michigan's slanting by having him run through some gaping holes left by the flowing front 7. Sometimes you just get got, and when you have upperclassmen across your offense and probably the most complete back in the country (it's either Barkley or Bryce Love), it can get ugly.

The meta-state of our open threads:

ELSEWHERE

Thinking about trying this pastrami recipe out. A few weeks ago I thought about, like, curing my own meats, but then the article I was reading veered into a discussion about which molds are good and which molds are very, very bad and I decided that I would definitely give my entire family food poisoning if I tried that.

Comments

MH20

October 23rd, 2017 at 12:31 PM ^

When PSU sang their alma mater?  Specifically, this part:

May no act of ours bring shame
To one heart that loves thy name,
May our lives but swell thy fame,
Dear old State, dear old State.
 
Creepy.
 
Also, I don't even know why PSU has a band.  Other than touchdowns (/sigh) and pregame/halftime, I think they played three times.  Everything else was piped-in music on par with your average minor league hockey team.

wolverine1987

October 23rd, 2017 at 12:30 PM ^

won't be starting anytime soon. Either he's not as good ad JOK, or, my gut is saying that Harbaugh is teaching him some kind of lesson to get him to embrace the Harbugh approach. Either way we won;t see him start.

jdemille9

October 23rd, 2017 at 1:18 PM ^

Wrong.. just because a RS Freshman is not better than a bad RS Senior does not mean Peters won't improve between now and next fall. Nor does it mean that the true Freshman (McCaffery) won't improve and win the job. 

We all know the physical ability is there with Peters, and some people take longer to learn/develop. Don't jump off the bridge yet, he's only been here a year and a half. Yes, I get it many other schools are playing RS or even true freshman QB's and having success.. such is the plight of the Michigan fan. 

But go ahead though, wait until the year after next. Your options will still be the same; Peters or McCaffery.. so basically you're already assuming one of them will have improved enough by then. Why is it so inconceivable to think that that improvement will happen by next fall?

username03

October 23rd, 2017 at 1:32 PM ^

I've seen O'Korn play QB, if Peters can't overtake him now I fail to see how nine months of not playing is going to lead to significant improvement. I guess you're right about McCaffery at that point but since all I've heard for the last nine is that there is no way a redshirt freshman could run this offense...

Maynard

October 23rd, 2017 at 2:49 PM ^

He may have only been here a year and a half but he may not be here much longer. If he doesn't get any snaps while down 42-13 with 5 minutes to go, then why would he think he was ever going to? My guess is if he doesn't start a game this season, he transfers. Hope not, but wouldn't blame him a bit. 

Think about it. If JOK is so much better than Peters and McCaffrey right now, then why would you endager your only quarterback by keeping him in with a few minutes to go in a beatdown? If you're Peters, what does that say about where you are with your coach? There are a lot of schools who will be glad to give him a shot whether he is "quiet" or not.

BlueMan80

October 23rd, 2017 at 2:19 PM ^

and, maybe he won't hold the ball forever and take a sack.  O'Korn isn't getting the ball out on time.  Sometimes, not at all.  If you are waiting for these receivers to be wide open, you'll spend a lot of time buried under defensive lineman.  We have 3 easier games coming up.  Peters needs to get experience now, because he'll be competing for the starting job next year and JOK will be graduated and gone.  I'm not sure it's a wise investment of time to put more effort into Project JOK.  I suspect Harbaugh is coming around to that, too.

sarto1g

October 23rd, 2017 at 12:32 PM ^

Sports are supposed to be fun.  Admittedly last year was one of the more stressful years that I can remember watching M football.  When every win feels like relief instead of joy and every loss crushes me to the point of moping around until Tuesday, it's time to take a step back and learn to enjoy it.  I accept that I have zero control over the program and that any anger I have gets shouted into a void anyway.

Michigan has its guy.  Unless you are Alabama or Clemson, it takes a LOT of luck to go to the playoff.  They will still play football next Saturday.  They will keep recruiting their guys in years to come.  We only get ~3 months of the year to enjoy football, so I'm not going to call the season a waste.  

In the end, it will only be a footnote on the journey to success.  8-4 sounds pretty darn good to Fall 2014 me.  

Mgoczar

October 23rd, 2017 at 3:13 PM ^

Great take. I agree. I have come to similar conclusion. Actually its better to just read blog posts quick and move on. I think much of the problem is this fantastic image that the team will score at will and stone all other teams for less than 100 yards every game while producing a championship and a stud skill position player/heisman. 

Great in the head, hard to do on the field. Then we all argue. 

Lost is the fact that CF is so precious. I hate PSU, but I can appreciate Barkely and how electric he is etc etc. Before long it'll be over. 

markusr2007

October 23rd, 2017 at 12:33 PM ^

Michigan should win the next 3 games (vs Rutgers, vs Minnesota and @Maryland) and be 8-2 heading into Madison.

8-4 and a bowl win to 9-4 isn't the end of the world you guys.

It's pretty much Carr for the course.

 

JFW

October 23rd, 2017 at 12:40 PM ^

I see people having. I thought going into this year that it might be a rebuilding year, and I was fine with that and with trusting the process. 

The Florida game upped my expectations. 

The MSU game whacked them right back. 

PSU is a legit team. It sucked, but we did the same to them last year. 

In short, while I want them to go 12-0 and win the universe, I'm back to 'Okay, this is a rebuilding restocking year. I'm good'. 

Most of the people having meltdowns seem to be listening to other fan bases and/or internet guys. I'm old enough that I don't care about those news sources anymore, and I'm actually just enjoying the season as much as possible with reset expectations. 

I'm also for the first time glad Rutgers is in the B1G. 

funkywolve

October 23rd, 2017 at 12:52 PM ^

is the oline is a tire fire, and the QB play has left a lot to be desired.  I was expecting a rebuilding year too but what I've seen from the oline has been bad.  it doesn't inspire a whole lot of confidence that it's going to be better next year.  There should hopefully be 6 games left to play so hopefully we will see some semblance of improvement from them.

JFW

October 23rd, 2017 at 12:55 PM ^

And I agree it's more disappointing than I expected. But they also have started to run block better. But the Newsome injury and the recruiting whiffs really hurt us more than expected. 

I'm hoping they shore stuff up in recruiting this year. I do bleed to have an offensive line like the mid to late 90's. 

Cranky Dave

October 23rd, 2017 at 2:14 PM ^

my problem.  Basically we're looking at the old Communist era 5 year plan to return Michigan football to elite status.  2019 might be the year but I don't feel like we're gaining ground on the top national programs. 

 

I'm really fucking impatient and want to win championships now.  13 years is way too long. 

I Like Burgers

October 23rd, 2017 at 12:55 PM ^

Posted this one of the postgame threads, but to me, it felt like the difference this time was a realization of just how far away they are.  While most of us knew this was going to be a step back this year and that 9-3 or 8-4 was a reality, there was also a lot of hope for next season.  Pretty much the whole team comes back, some of the freshman come off redshirts...2018 felt like the first opportunity for a crack at the Big Ten champ game and the playoff.

But now?  We've seen how this offense look with a ton of underclassment at key spots, and the defense can only get so much better.  They've been a top 10 defense two seasons in a row...their room for growth there is going to be small.  But the offense has a good chance of being even younger next season -- especially if McCaffrey wins the job.  And the offense has been REALLY BAD this season, and expecting them to go from like the 80th or 90th ranked offense in CFB to a top 25 unit next season is a STRETCH.

So to me, the really frustrating part about this loss is that this season clearly isn't the year, and next season isn't going to be the year either.  The schedule is just too damn hard and the team is still going to be really young and inexperienced at winning on the road and in big games.

So now you're looking at year 5...and that's depressing as shit.

JFW

October 23rd, 2017 at 1:31 PM ^

Each year is a discrete event in college football. It's hard to say this will lead to that. So I don't think that the static performance meme works for me. Further, we have seen this staff develop talent. We are seeing it now, even if its slower than we want. 

The O line that looks like crap now could keep developing its run blocking to be good at the end of the year, and get 'meh' on Pass Pro. If by next year we add in Newsome (maybe) after a full summer/spring we might be good. 

Take a good line at Run blocking and an okay line at pass pro, have the recievers start running routes, and we have a competent offense next year with a killer defense. 

And the QB competition between Peters and Speight could be just great. Maybe Mcaffery is in there too. 

As time goes on, the recruiting black hole is farther in the past and things get better. 

It seems all dark right now, but I don't believe it truly is. Right now kind of sucks. But next year isn't as dark as some predict. 

And its not like the RR/Hoke days where we are going 'Akron, Holy shit, they are tough...'

buddha

October 23rd, 2017 at 1:57 PM ^

I don't disagree with much of what you outline. I do feel it's a bit premature to write this team off in 2018.

The concern for me about next year is two-fold: \

  1. Yes, Harbaugh has shown he can develop talent, which is awesome. Unfortunately, we have serious talent gaps at key positions with seemingly few alternatives to improve. Peters or McCaffery as well as the OL will need to take Herculean steps toward improvement for us to have a chance at simply winning our division; and,
  2. Our schedule next year is ROUGH! We open @ ND and play @ MSU, @OSU and have Whsky, Nebraska (who will likely have a new coach), Maryland (with healthy QBs), and PSU. That's not a good schedule for a team that - by all accounts - will continue to be building.

Like I said, I am not writing this team off, but - with the facts on the table - it looks difficult, to say the least!

birdough

October 23rd, 2017 at 1:03 PM ^

Losing while growing is something that can be understood. But is there growth or hope for the future at the QB spot? Or anywhere on the O-Line except maybe Onwenu? Or hope that the passing co-ordinator realizes that the young WRs and QB can't run/decipher complex routes and maybe a simple slant or two would help? 

Is this the start of a 3 year plan? Because that is what it looks like right now. And that seems kinda crummy when they are already in year 3. And after seeing the coaches get owned on both sides of the ball next year does not seem very full of hope either.

I Like Burgers

October 23rd, 2017 at 1:24 PM ^

The crazy thing to me, that I didn't really think about until after this game, is that next season the offense could have all of these players starting: McCaffrey, Black, DPJ, Ruiz, and Filiaga.  Plus, you'd like have Collins and Martin in heavy roles as well.  That's 5 guys, plus two more in supporting roles all in their second year out of HS.  That makes for a REALLY young offense.

Like you said, this looks like year one of a three year rebuild.  Tough to see it any other way.

taistreetsmyhero

October 23rd, 2017 at 1:28 PM ^

you can't just hand-wave away bad play as rebuilding. A rebuilding year means you have major growing pains but there are flashes of promise. Michigan hasn't flashed anything of note on offense.

There is nothing to build on regarding the OL. It is just as likely the OL will be worse next year as it is that it will be the same or better.

There is nothing to build on regarding QB play. It is just as likely the QB will be the same as early-season Speight as it is that it will be better.

There is nothing to build on regarding WR play. If McDoom and Crawford have made zero progress from year 1 to 2, what is to think that these freshmen will?

On defense, there are several bright spots. Bush seems to be great but not a gamechanger against good offenses. The CBs are young and solid.

But the safeties are not good enough to fit Brown's scheme. We lose our best defensive player, and it is incredibly unlikely Solomon can match half of Hurst's production.

At the end of the day, this should have been a rebuilding year, but instead it just feels like a waste of a season, and we are back at square 1 next year--and with an even harder schedule.

mgogogadget

October 23rd, 2017 at 1:48 PM ^

Especially when this team's youth is considered, why is it so difficult to imagine Michigan being a very improved team next year? Can you imagine if we were in the midst of a disastrous 4-8 season? Well, that's where Notre Dame fans were last year. Would you have believed they could be a playoff-caliber team the very next season? Michigan has the players, they have the coaching staff (I personally doubt we'll see any major shakeup), and they clearly have a fanbase that reacts on a game-by-game basis in very similar fashion to any other fanbase. Expectations are weird.

taistreetsmyhero

October 23rd, 2017 at 1:56 PM ^

as I know Michigan's. But I don't see any magic answers for the OL waiting in the wings. Our blue-chip recruits are still more than a year away from contributing in a likely good way. The QB situation still appears to be a disaster in the waiting, which will only be compounded by similarly bad OL play.

And sure, plenty of teams get lucky every year like ND and have huge turnarounds. But this time last year, the people wearing maize glasses were saying, "look at OSU, who cares about youth, Michigan will reload not rebuid."

So no, I don't think Michigan has the players for next year to be much better. And the schedule is worse. 8-4, again.

mgogogadget

October 24th, 2017 at 8:12 AM ^

Most fans don't know as much about opposing teams' depth charts. That's kind of the point. We all look at the team we root for under a microscope and set extreme expectations that tend to be very elastic with game-by-game results. What do you think Irish fans thought about whichever unit was their weakest last year? I imagine during the lowest point of their 2016 season, they questioned the coaching staff, the developement of players, the recruiting, and their team's ability to sustain any improvement going forward. And, you're really going to chalk Notre Dame's season up to luck at this point? Just like Penn State was lucky last year? Okay....... is it also possible that some teams are unlucky? Like... say.... 2016 Michigan? Or is that all Harbaugh failure? 

mgobaran

October 23rd, 2017 at 1:36 PM ^

And my season expectations were 9-3 +/-1, and we are currently on track for the -1 route. Who knows, maybe Speight is on the 6 week recovery timeline instead of the season ending one, or Peters comes in and moves to his second read or fires at a guy coming out of his break instead of waiting for confirmation that his WR is running the right route. It's hard to be down on this and turning on Harbaugh or the team isn't a gook look when our worst case scenario is 8-4 right now.

However my fandom was born out of a National Championship season and really we haven't been close to those heights much since. Our best seasons leave us wanting more, and hell we deserve it. I don't need to repeat our history of pain. But when is it going to stop? When are we going to end up on the right side of an upset? I feel like I'm a Lions fan, and IM ALREADY A LIONS FAN! I got two damn teams that never get the breaks. Two teams where, yeah, " but we lost because refs, or we were 5 points from a perfect season, but lost 3 games." 

I'm tired of excuses and waiting and more excuses and coaching changes and being automatic wins on our rivals schedules. 

I know for a fact that if Harbaugh is here for 20 years, we will win a nathional title or three. A fistful of conference titles. We will be happy as a fanbase. But fergodsakes it's year three under coach three and its exhausting. 

JFW

October 23rd, 2017 at 2:00 PM ^

"However my fandom was born out of a National Championship season and really we haven't been close to those heights much since. "

I graduated in '96. While there I saw one nine win season, one 10 win season, and two 8 win seasons. The year later with Carr was a 9 win season. Of course, there were two B1G titles and the year later a national championship. But that was the normal. If that happened today and social media was a thing would people be going nuts? 

We've done better under Harbaugh than we did in my first two years. And are on track to continue being better than what I experienced barring the B1G titles. but the B1G is tougher now. 

Those teams were still fun to watch. I'd say the biggest difference is we were consistently beating OSU and  MSU. 

mgobaran

October 23rd, 2017 at 2:46 PM ^

It's unfair to put 05-2014 on Jim Harbaugh. But what is it? 14 years without a B1G championship? 3-17 against MSU/OSU our last 10 years. That makes it hard to be a Michigan fan, even if we get to a third straight 10 win season with help from the bowl game. 

Like I said, we will see some of our best days as a program in the modern era under the guide of Jim Harbaugh. We just need to be patient enough to let him have the time to provide them. But I'm motherfricking sick of being motherfricking patient. 

 

buddha

October 23rd, 2017 at 3:18 PM ^

I do not disagree with what you are suggesting. I do think patience is a virtue and should be exercised as it relates to this team. I think the challenge for me is that the belief that "the best days are ahead" is also somewhat of a hawt take.

Yes, I like what Harbaugh is building, and I'm excited to see that direction materialize. Having said that, it's not like the other teams in our division / conference remain in a vacuum. OSU has built an NFL factory; and, PSU - to their credit - is truly rebuilding their program back to an elite level. Furthermore, Mork is always going to place a premium on the UM game, and other programs - like Maryland - are starting to develop a pulse.

Yes, we are getting better but so is our competition. And - by all accounts - next year's team may have a lot of youth issues still, ushering in lots of new starters / players, with a few obvious questions marks that remain unanswered (e.g. QB).

So - I don't know what to say. I have faith we will get better, but I'm not sure it will be reflected in our record in 2018. We could easily see two more losses to MSU and OSU next year on the road (and a loss to ND as well to start the season). Those aren't hawt takes - - - those are fairly reasonable guesses.

2019?!?! Yay?!?!?!

mgobaran

October 24th, 2017 at 8:21 AM ^

The entire offensive coaching staff could be replaced in the offseason for all we know. Other schools have attrition as well, and Harbaugh going 10-3, 10-3, 9-4 in three years shows stability while he builds his team.

And if we win 2 National Titles under Harbaugh in the next 15 years, that will be the most prolific run for Michigan since WWII. Give him enough time and I'm positive that will happen.

 

pescadero

October 23rd, 2017 at 2:00 PM ^

I didn't expect much for this year... but figured next year would be pretty good.

Now - I don't expect much for next year.

 

QB? Speight who regressed badly this year, Peters who can't beat out O'Korn, or RS Freshman MCCaffrey.

LT? Maybe Grant Newsome who hasn't played in over a year, if he recovers from a devastating injury

RT? Maybe Filiaga... if he isn't a guard? Ulizio or JBB who have looked awful so far?

C - Ruiz, a 1st year starter...

JeepinBen

October 23rd, 2017 at 12:41 PM ^

I'd read anything Brian wrote about. Want to write about total obscura? I'd read it!

 

(As a former hockey player who has realized I like watching soccer on TV I held back from making the USMNT joke I wanted to above...)

dragonchild

October 23rd, 2017 at 12:42 PM ^

Oh Brian, were the next two lines too painful?

"Think it'll work?"

"It'll take a miracle.  Bye!"

As for this game, I largely stayed away from the threads in the ugly, ugly aftermath.  Not sure if some people were just hung over or trying to stir the pot, but I might be still waiting for such time that reasoned discourse can return.

FWIW, my feels for this game were reminiscient of the Tim Wakefield moment in the 2004 ACLS.  Don Brown ought to field a question about why he was comfortable putting McCray on Barkley.  Otherwise, it was obvious early on that Michigan was clearly overmatched in all the ways everyone had anticipated, so once the rout was on there wasn't much to gain by losing with style.

This isn't to defend the loss itself, per se, nor to say that the coaches went into the game intending to lose.  Or even that they gave up on a winnable game.  To the contrary, after two quick TDs they fought back to within a point.  But once I smelled a rout, I stopped caring about the scoring margin and hoped they shelved what little left they might've had.  Try your best, but like Wakefield back then, if all you've got left are meatballs then let the opponent smash them with impunity late into the night.  In the end it's better to write off a single L than burn what you've got left for #DIGNITY.

StellaBlue

October 23rd, 2017 at 12:47 PM ^

Matresses are really difficult to comparison shop.  It is sort of a racket.  That said, you spend one third of your life on one (or should), so don't skimp. I may have overpaid on top of the line 10 years agao but it is still the best matress ever.  I love it.

Oh, I think more slant passes would be good and tackling too.

birdough

October 23rd, 2017 at 2:24 PM ^

What is the answer? Wife wants a new mattress and she will overspend 100% based solely on marketing. And I HATE having to talk to a salesman in what I know is a huge markup industry. So which one is the best?

Those ones where we can each have our own adjustable side seem very intriguing, but what about when you want to "meet in the middle"?

And thanks Brian for all the mattress banner ads now.