South Carolina 26, Michigan 19 Comment Count

Ace



[Marc-Gregor Campredon]

New year, same Michigan.

In one of the uglier games of an aesthetically unpleasant season, the Wolverines never managed to cobble together a coherent offense, and five-second half turnovers beget 23 unanswered points for South Carolina.

Quarterback Brandon Peters, playing behind a line down three starters by halftime, never looked comfortable. Factoring in two sacks, Peters averaged only 3.7 yards per dropback and missed a number of throws, including two late interceptions to seal the loss. Michigan fared little better on the ground, gaining all of 2.9 yards per carry.

While the Jim Harbaugh takes will reach a level of scorching usually reserved for large celestial bodies, it's fair to criticize the playcalling, which didn't do much to take the pressure off Peters or Don Brown's futilely amazing defense. No single call was responsible for the loss, but the third-and-short handoff to tight end Sean McKeon, fumbled for a South Carolina recovery, defied explanation until Harbaugh, taking responsibility, said after the game that Michigan had the wrong personnel on the field.



[Campredon]

That play was just one in a series of mistakes that turned a 19-3 second-half lead into a 26-19 loss. Karan Higdon fumbled inside the South Carolina five-yard line with the Wolverines leading 16-3 and poised to blow the game wide open. After Michigan added a field goal and SC responded their first touchdown drive, McKeon's fumble gave the Gamecocks the ball on the M 21; they needed one play to score again, with Jake Bentley's pass to Bryan Edwards cutting the lead to 19-16.

Michigan's ensuing drive went nowhere, and the defense—as we've seen too many times this year—cracked under the pressure of supporting an inept offense. Bentley improbably converted a third-and-17 on a jump ball to tight end Hayden Hurst; three plays later, Shi Smith beat Tyree Kinnel clean to the pylon for a 53-yard score.

The comedy of errors continued unabated. After driving Michigan 75 yards in seven plays, Peters committed a cardinal sin of quarterbacking, throwing under pressure across his body to get intercepted in the end zone. When the defense held, SC's punt clanged off Donovan Peoples-Jones's facemask, setting up the Gamecocks with the ball in the red zone, where they'd get a critical field goal to take a two-possession advantage.

Down to one timeout in the waning minutes, Harbaugh decided to go for it on fourth-and-ten deep in his own territory, but Peters's deep shot to Kekoa Crawford wasn't anywhere close to a completion. The defense gave Michigan one last chance, pushing SC back to force a missed field goal. Another interception by Peters, forcing it to a well-covered Crawford, ended it.

Fair or not, this will be a long offseason. The mitigating factors, or excuses, or whatever you care to call them, go away in 2018, when the program will be loaded with talent recruited by Harbaugh. They'll certainly look better than this. They'd better look a whole lot better.

Comments

Eric080

January 1st, 2018 at 8:14 PM ^

will regret signing with Michigan.  Or, I should say, there's two ways this can go:

 

1.  Patterson's anarchic style of quarterbacking will be, begrudgingly (because the staff is manned by stodgy, stubborn purists), allowed to flourish, tempered by Harbaugh & Co.'s NFL-esque "wisdom" in terms of reading defenses and understanding what's happening on the field.  But, by-and-large, Let Shea be Shea.

 

2.  The brain trust forces the square peg into the round hole, trying to mold Patterson into an NFL pocket passer against his skill set, disapproving of when he (successfully) makes plays on his own.  Because making good plays is bad if it's not "grown man" football.  And by the end of it Patterson will be a failed, broken QB, forgetting what it is that makes him good.

JJJ

January 1st, 2018 at 8:17 PM ^

DPJ seems slow and not as athletic as we thought. It would be nice to have some playmakers. Perhaps next year Black will be the man. At any rate we should have depth at every position to deal with inevitable injuries.

michfan25inga

January 1st, 2018 at 8:23 PM ^

Patterson is not our savior by any stretch of the imagination.  His wins came against mediocre teams with I think one big win against a stout opponent.  We need to stop looking at his high school ranking. What if he fails, Joe Milton will be our savior. Just stop the QB nonsense. I still think taking him is a mistake.

Second some heads need to roll on the offensive side of the ball, Drevno can’t be this surprisingly bad with developing talent, his successes in the past are astounding but the past doesn’t not necessarily mean that success will continue. Hamilton I think needs to go period.

Finally we play like spoiled rotten brats.  They talk a big game, “we have improved so much over the break”, either they are blind or just dumb.  We don’t know how to win and spoiled kids don’t know how to win.  We pretend we are great, we say the right things but at the end of the day we are just pathetic.  These players have had all this extra curricular activities handed to them on a silver platter, ie Rome and where ever the hell they are going next year.  I think it all needs to be taken away and then EARNED, forget the recruiting tool jargon because winning should be your recruiting tool.  However we have been laying some big eggs on the field and the last time I checked top rated kids are going to places to win, not go 9-5, 10-3.

I am no longer optimistic because I remember Harbaugh calling Peters the next Luck.  I think Peters is still young and he is so tentative on throws.  Where is this great arm?  Why is he throwing so tentatively?  Does he lack he confidence because every off season we are bringing in transfer QB’s? Does he not know the playbook and is unsure of the throw or does he think the play calls suck and is AFRAID to make a mistake.

Finally Harbaugh needs to be honest, with us the fans.  All this nonsense, about getting better and iron sharpens iron.  Tell us we suck and start putting it on the players, stop all of this coach speak BS.  Call players out if they are performing.  Zordich did that and look what the hell happened this year with your DB’s, holy crap, lights out.

 

blueday

January 1st, 2018 at 8:43 PM ^

- No guarantee on the quarterback for the future
- Freshman receiver Cody White was superior to People’s-Jones - Still no stud running back -
- Can't develop an offensive line
- Team is regressing
- Offense is old fashioned and predictable

Serious changes are needed for 2018. Never thought this was possible with the coaching payroll

uncleFred

January 1st, 2018 at 8:29 PM ^

bitching, whining, and calling for firings. So I thought I'd drop by to remind all of you of a couple simple facts. Even with Peters back the team is still reliant on a red-shirt freshman backup QB who played less than half a season and was injured in November. While he played pretty damn well for a red-shirt freshman, he made red-shirt freshman mistakes. Did you all really expect that fifteen practices would flush that out of his system between the end of November and today? 99.99% of the time if a team turns the ball over five times in the second half they're going to lose, and generally lose by far more than 7 points. 

A youngish team, with a young backup QB and an Oline that was missing some hard earned key experience. They had a shot, but couldn't close the deal. Nothing I saw in this game makes me less nor more concerned about next season. The defense will be better, especially the secondary. I expect that special teams will be better, although I have no ideas about how to address punting. Which leaves us with the offense. There will be a QB competition in 2018. Assuming Patterson is eligible, I have no doubt that the quality of our QB will improve. There were a lot of snaps in this game where Peters had all day to throw, had he been a touch more accurate or if his receivers had been able to get a bit more separation, the game may well have ended differently. I expect both of those qualities to improve next season. 

As for coaching changes. I have no doubt that Harbaugh will make the changes he believes are needed, if any, to get a staff that will optimize his ability to get the team where he wants it to be. Period. I would have far preferred for the team to have won today. I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I knew a loss was at least as likely as a win.

A final note to all you buttercups. Very very few college teams have the depth to go through three QBs in a season and win. Michigan is two or three years from having that kind of depth. Who are you going to get who is better to coach football at Michigan than Jim Harbaugh? Nobody.

Blue Sharpie

January 1st, 2018 at 8:36 PM ^

Dont forget 4 star Malzone, 4 star Morris, many highly ranked walk ons that weren't developed. Including Speight and O'korn, there are too many undeveloped qb's.

Look at Kirby Smart with young Eason and Fromm, both playing very well. Look at MSU who develop lower rated qb's than ours.

There is an alarming trend going into year 4 with our qb's. I think it boils down to too much to learn in his offense. Takes a qb a lot longer to get proficient.

Blue Sharpie

January 1st, 2018 at 11:32 PM ^

...have the same starry rating as Eason and Fromm and are in the same 2 recruiting classes. But stars are an excuse. Georgia is in the playoffs in year 2!!

In 3 years we have not developed a good qb and you cannot count the second half of Jake Rudock's year, since he was a mature senior with a lot of starts at Iowa, and it even took him a long time to get proficient in our offense. What is alarming is how many years malzone, morris, okorn and speight have been in the Harbaugh offense with bad results. You just dont see that at OSU, PSU, MSU, let alone the elite playoff teams. Hell, Lewerke and Dwayne Haskins looked great compared to our qb's!

If it took most of the season for Rudock to get comfortable in our offense, what is the chance Peters, Mccaffrey, or shea patterson being proficient against Notre Dame? Doesn't bode well.

btn

January 1st, 2018 at 10:23 PM ^

The idea that only Jim Harbaugh can win at Michigan needs to die.

When is the last time Jim Harbaugh took a less talented team and won a game since he got here?

There are probably 10-20 coaches or elite coordinators that could have gone 8-5 or better with this team. I like a Jim, I cheer for him, I want him to succeed. The 2nd half meltdowns need to stop.

JJJ

January 1st, 2018 at 8:40 PM ^

The one thing we can all agree on is that the QB play has been awful this year. The biggest change was losing Jedd Fisch and adding Pep Hamilton. Heck, even Speight looked terrible this year in comparison to last year. Pep wasn’t a world beater at Cleveland either. Does anyone know if Chip Kelly is keeping Jedd on staff? If not Jimmy better grab him. I always respected Harbaugh’s ability to judge talent and make tough decisions, I hope he hasn’t gotten soft.

YoOoBoMoLloRoHo

January 1st, 2018 at 8:56 PM ^

Just an uninspiring game in all phases - offense, defense, special teams, and coaching.

I was firmly in the camp of "young, injured, inexperienced" for most of the season, but this group had a whole month after a full season to develop some timing and efficiency. Nope.

SugarShane

January 1st, 2018 at 9:10 PM ^

Speight 2016 to Speight 2017 should be the only data point needed to show that Pep is toxic to this teams passing game.  Move around anyone you want, but I cannot see a successful passing attack with him at the helm. 

SD Larry

January 1st, 2018 at 9:14 PM ^

by a Michigan football team.  Like others here I have lost confidence in the offensive coaches.  Don't want to overreact and am afraid I am, but today's loss was really alarming.  I don't think South Carolina was playing their best football today, and they certainly made more mistakes than we did in the first half, yet we lost the game.   Going for it on 4th and 10 putting SC in field goal range, then the 4th and 1 long side line pattern were stunningly strange calls that reeked of desperation.  Just one game, but this was a stinker.  Michigan is still my team and always will be but the way we lost this one hurt a lot and stripped me of any confidence for next season and where the program is at.  Still hoping for the best next season and this was a wake up call we needed. Mo Hurst is a champ.  Go Blue!

J21Stan4

January 1st, 2018 at 10:05 PM ^

Brandon Peters is arguably the LEAST competitive quarterback I have ever seen.  I understand that certain players are "even keel", Jalen Hurts for example.  But this guy just straight up lacks the competitiveness that is needed while being the quarterback at Michigan.  I'm not a huge fan of Baker Mayfield, but I love the way he gets his team riled up, gets the crowd into it.  He's there to play!  And I like that!  Like I said though, not a huge fan of some of the things he's done on the field, off the field, etc.  Brandon Peters just seems SOO DULL out there.  Get FIRED UP and get ready to WIN

Karumba

January 1st, 2018 at 10:22 PM ^

Drank more today then on NYE. Looking forward to BB, softball and baseball, and not thinking about football for another 8 months. I wish Denard was still our QB, those games were fun even when we lost.

AlbanyBlue

January 1st, 2018 at 10:34 PM ^

We didn't get better through the course of the season. The entire offense doesn't just look bad, it looks lost. That's on offensive coaching....3 partial OCs is why the play-calling is disjointed and lacking identity. A grad assistant coaching WRs explains lack of development there. Our nominal RB coach is a family hire and clearly out of his depth. Hell, we have two OL coaches with opposite philosophies - a recipe for disaster.

The defense is a one-trick pony that doesn't seem to be able to situationally adjust and chokes under pressure across the board. DB is great against tomato cans, but not against quality opposition. He does it his way, no matter what, and with the way offenses change it up, that doesn't work.

We don't have great personnel on offense (we have some on defense), but clearly not everyone sucks horribly. The problems are systemic, and that's on the coaches. Also, and I hate to say it, but we seem dumb on both sides of the ball. Playcalling and execution is far from ceebral on offense, and we get fooled easily on defense.

Gonna be a long offseason, and barring coaching changes, I see 7-5 next year, with losses @ND, @MSU, @OSU, Wisconsin, and one other.

Ugh.

PoD

January 1st, 2018 at 11:35 PM ^

I would really enjoy it if the clownshows that run this website would just admit that there are huge gaping problems in this program and not just brush it under the rug with the "we just didn't have it today" line of bullshit. For starters, our QBs are straight garbage. Speight, O'Korn and Peters are, I'm sure, real sweethearts and high character guys but not a single one can play QB at even a mediocre level. To say anything to the contrary is deluding yourself to the Nth degree. So stop with this line of garbage about how this one game they didn't have it. How about a legitimate autopsy when one of them laid an egg this season? Which happened thirteen separate times this season. Also how about we point the finger occassionally at the $9MM man? The guy played QB in the NFL for 15 goddam years, sometimes at a very high level, and he can't find a single 20 year old kid to play QB? I mean, come the fuck on. I'm tired of the "these aren't his guys" line of crock. He can recruit nationally heralded guys like Gary and Peppers but the position he spent decades playing has completely elluded him? Yeah I'm buying that. Finally I think this program's fanbase needs to ratchet back expectations. It's now been close to two decades of ass whuppings at the hands of the Fucks. Sparty is 8-2 against us in the last decade. Wisky and Ped St have clearly passed us as the cream of the B1G with Sparty and the Fucks. As many women have told me in the past, the problem is us, not them. We are a second rate program. The conference won every bowl game this postseason. Except for us. And that was against a middle of the road SEC team. Let's wake up and smell the coffee. We are Purdue with better uniforms. Stop pedaling anything else. Until there is sustained season after season of success no one is going to buy the bullshit that is sold on this site on a weekly basis. And by success I mean competing for B1G titles and TALKING about making the 'yoffs. I mean beating Sparty more often than not and beating the Fucks more than once a decade. Until that is the new normal the rest of this is just a bunch of coffee flavored crap. Accept it and move on. Stop making Speight, Tom Brady. He isn't. Stop making Gary, Jadaveon Clowney. He isn't. And for the love of everything stop making Baugh, Nick Saban. He most certainly IS NOT.  

 

One final thing, when a commenter says something that comes into conflict with something you (and by you I mean Ace and Brian) say on your website or Twitter how about you don't downvote or block them? When you have the nerve to put your opinions out there in a public forum how about you have the sack to accept some criticism? Especially when your line of thinking is so goddam obtuse. Have a backbone for crissakes. You guys act like a bunch of pussies. Hardly what I would call Michigan Men. 

micheal honcho

January 1st, 2018 at 11:52 PM ^

How does Stanford do it and look anywhere from competent to unstoppable?



I can surely agree that a spread based O is easier to implement & master with the added benefit of being able to use younger players with less if any drop off from vets.



A pro style O takes more time & experience to master and relies on players in 3rd 4th 5th year.



Has CFB passed critical mass where the advantages of the pro style are outweighed by the difficulty in attaining and maintaining the pieces?



I'm seriously coming close to saying yes. The USC teams under Carrol were probably the best teams since 2000 but has that been repeated? That was the last true pro style team that I can recall as dominant. Stanford is a pillar of consistency but falls short of excellence but I assign that to lack of ability to enroll D players.



I hesitate to jump on a wagon because it's what everyone else is doing but if CFB has changed so much that there are now real barriers to building a certain style team(think how 1&done has changed basketball) then we have no choice. Bo's fullback & TE be damned. It's basketball on grass & a race to 60.

buckeyefan1980

January 2nd, 2018 at 12:09 AM ^

Michigan sucks.  Gawd dammmm, this team sucks.  The Big Ten had a chance to go undefeated in their respective bowl games, but oh no! Oh no!  Michigan just had to crap the bed! 7 - 1, I suppose that's pretty good for the conference.  Michigan is not back, and it will never be back. Go Bucks!

Wings9798

January 2nd, 2018 at 2:16 AM ^

If UM does not win this game nor @MSU or @OSU The seat for which Mr Harbaugh sits will be very hot. The next QB he brings in could be the kid that saves his job. Please get it right, another head coach will add years to this sadness.

ca_prophet

January 2nd, 2018 at 2:07 AM ^

... especially when everyone had a hand in coughing up that lead, but I do know that if you adopt the Soviet Russia system of shooting the losing leaders/firing the losing coaches, you'll get Soviet Russia results.

 

Hotroute06

January 2nd, 2018 at 2:59 AM ^

Does anyone else not know what to say besides " i told you so smug ann arbor cunts".  " hey brian is an asshole who knows how to throwout statistics and make things look  good when there not.

Year of Revenge II

January 2nd, 2018 at 6:36 AM ^

I have not been able to face my feelings about this loss until now.

Some people have something to say, while others just need to say something. Some writers have a special way of connecting the truth with their audience.  Ace Anbender is one of those people.

I would be proud to have written the words he wrote above, as they demonstrate a quality of talent that is not commonly seen by man nor dog. 

This one will hurt for a good long while, a strange thing to ensue from a game that meant so much less than others I can recall that hurt just as much. 

For it really shone the light on JH's flaws, and reminded me of who his mentor and teacher was, and in that sense, he has fully learned the tragic side of what made Bo so great, yet so fallible at the same time.

Thanks, Ace, for helping me move on.

Todd92

January 2nd, 2018 at 8:03 AM ^

Peters slide short of the 1st down to keep the clock running pretty much sums up the poor coaching, lack of awareness and lack of toughness that has become Michigan football.  I lost interest early this year when it was obvious how awful the O-line was.  Our recruiting class is 2nd rate, there are no OL solutions for next year.  Harbaugh should be on the hot seat right now.  The students stopped caring 10 years ago, I'm about to do the same.

Icehole Woody

January 2nd, 2018 at 8:06 AM ^

No way to sugar coat it...that was one of the worst bowl games I have ever seen Michigan play.  Somewhat like the 2001 Citrus vs. Tennessee. Maybe not quyite as bad but close.   Worse than the 2005 Alamo Bowl.

Not sure if the problem on offense was all the youth or something more systemic or both.  I remain confident that Coach Harbaugh will get it fixed whatever the cause.

Go Blue! 

thevetdoc1

January 2nd, 2018 at 8:30 AM ^

This is a real problem. What we have learned. 

1. We thought we were getting an elite coach. We got Jeff Fischer. This offense no longer works in this day and age. 

2. Peters is not the answer at QB. He is not a good enought athlete and does not have the moxie it takes to win. Before you say it, there are sophmores playing all over the country. You have to make plays with your feet and arm. Peters does neither. 

3. The offensive coordinators and Harbaugh are total failures this year. F. If Pep and Drevno are retained, then it tells us this coach accepts failure. Not just failure but total disorganization. Three QBs and they all look the same - don't throw on time, look confused, and make poor decisions. Lord, they don't even give their receivers a chance to make a play. And lets call that read option again as that D end pays NO attention to the QB because the QB NEVER runs. It is sure to gain a half yard. 

4. You must have a wide receivers coach. The receivers are clueless once they make their first cut. Before you say it, we do not have a receivers coach. Look at the product. 

5. Drevno is worthless and paid a milliion. Offensive line was a mess with his coaching. Offense is a mess with his coaching. Not poor, A MESS. There is no excuse for keeping this coach. 

 

thevetdoc1

January 2nd, 2018 at 8:30 AM ^

This is a real problem. What we have learned. 

1. We thought we were getting an elite coach. We got Jeff Fischer. This offense no longer works in this day and age. 

2. Peters is not the answer at QB. He is not a good enought athlete and does not have the moxie it takes to win. Before you say it, there are sophmores playing all over the country. You have to make plays with your feet and arm. Peters does neither. 

3. The offensive coordinators and Harbaugh are total failures this year. F. If Pep and Drevno are retained, then it tells us this coach accepts failure. Not just failure but total disorganization. Three QBs and they all look the same - don't throw on time, look confused, and make poor decisions. Lord, they don't even give their receivers a chance to make a play. And lets call that read option again as that D end pays NO attention to the QB because the QB NEVER runs. It is sure to gain a half yard. 

4. You must have a wide receivers coach. The receivers are clueless once they make their first cut. Before you say it, we do not have a receivers coach. Look at the product. 

5. Drevno is worthless and paid a milliion. Offensive line was a mess with his coaching. Offense is a mess with his coaching. Not poor, A MESS. There is no excuse for keeping this coach. 

 

thevetdoc1

January 2nd, 2018 at 8:30 AM ^

This is a real problem. What we have learned. 

1. We thought we were getting an elite coach. We got Jeff Fischer. This offense no longer works in this day and age. 

2. Peters is not the answer at QB. He is not a good enought athlete and does not have the moxie it takes to win. Before you say it, there are sophmores playing all over the country. You have to make plays with your feet and arm. Peters does neither. 

3. The offensive coordinators and Harbaugh are total failures this year. F. If Pep and Drevno are retained, then it tells us this coach accepts failure. Not just failure but total disorganization. Three QBs and they all look the same - don't throw on time, look confused, and make poor decisions. Lord, they don't even give their receivers a chance to make a play. And lets call that read option again as that D end pays NO attention to the QB because the QB NEVER runs. It is sure to gain a half yard. 

4. You must have a wide receivers coach. The receivers are clueless once they make their first cut. Before you say it, we do not have a receivers coach. Look at the product. 

5. Drevno is worthless and paid a milliion. Offensive line was a mess with his coaching. Offense is a mess with his coaching. Not poor, A MESS. There is no excuse for keeping this coach. 

 

W0LVER1NE D4VE 76

January 2nd, 2018 at 2:18 PM ^

That was a brutal 2nd half. Young players coughed up the ball, coaches made some bad decisions and we lost the outback bowl. I know that sports has the ability to turn us in to emotional lunatics...but in the grand scheme...who gives a sh1t about that game? We were essentially missing 3 OL and the line isn't that great when in tact....yet. The defense is in great hands under Don Brown obviously, the offense is a work in progress. We all knew it would be this year. Speight and OKorn are good kids and fine Michigan men now, but neither is an elite qb. Peters looked like a freshman yesterday...however, I'm not writing him off because of one (pretty awful) performance. We have McCaffrey waiting in the wings, Patterson coming in...we are in a much better spot than most teams at qb moving forward. The O Line will absolutely be better next season, we are loaded at WR, plenty of talent at RB and I still have faith that we have the right man coaching this team. The WR do need some refinement obviously, the SC secondary made our kids disappear at times and the route running was brutal the last few games. With all that said, we are fortunately still a huge "destination" school for elite talent, we have the JumpMan deal (which means nothing to me, but kids seem to dig it)...and we are still Michigan!! The TE run...brutal but Hill was hurt and the wrong personnel was on the field. The one coaching decision from yesterday that I thought would take more heat is...why not try to convert the 4th and 1 with a run play and spike the ball? When Peters dropped back, I fully expected it to be a designed draw. I thought it was the wrong decision to put that qb in the pocket on 4th and 1, with the game in his hands...considering how he played in that game. My coaching resumé is absolutely zero, maybe I'm missing something...but I thought it was a bad decision. We will be fine, hopefully we are all on here next year talking about how pumped we are to watch the Maize and Blue in the NC game ;) Have a great offseason everybody. As always 〽️ Go Blue!!