KC Wolve

February 9th, 2018 at 11:22 AM ^

I was wondering about this. I don’t listen to the podcast. He hasn’t written a thing about football in a while with all of the coach shuffling, recruiting fails, etc. I know he doesn’t get involved with the rumor mill much, but I would like his take on some of these things.

CarrIsMyHomeboy

February 9th, 2018 at 11:29 AM ^

I wish he'd snap out of it and more actively engage a career choice he made that is incompatible with "not wanting to talk about it."

For now there's nowhere better for me to go, but as his malaise continues, he creates a vacuum. Sure, there isn't presently a competitor poised to supplant mgoblog, but the longer that Brian remains hypersensitive about football talk and, therefore, avoidant, the more likely it is that a supplanter will finally find room to arrive.

In that sense, Brian is not only behaving in a manner that is (at least temporarily) incongruent with his vocation but he likewise risks taking his readership for granted.

Realus

February 9th, 2018 at 1:18 PM ^

This is really for Brian:

Yeah the QB play was quite bad, especially at the end of the year.

Yeah the OL play was bad, especially in pass blocking.

But those of us writing for and reading this blog for a long time have all "gone to hell" (like 3-9, apology to MSU, 5-7, etc) and been back.

8-5 this year was a bad thing.  Does it put on more pressure for 2018?  Yep.  Would a "mediocore 9-4" in 2018 put on even more pressure in 2019?  Yep.

But we have been here before.  And we know it can get a lot worse.  So, get up and attack the day.  Generate some optimism.  Look at past recruits like Devin Bush (national rank #312) and Khaleke Hudson (national rank #386) or the fact that Notre Dame sucked ass at 4-8 last year and that MSU sucked even more ass at 3-9 last year AND they both bounced back to 10-3 this year.

And we just have to recover from 8-5?  Jeesh.  Don't be a such a pussy.

Signed,

The JMFH Fan Club

CarrIsMyHomeboy

February 9th, 2018 at 2:19 PM ^

That's right. Mgoblog's origin story is half about Brian's writing style (and his obsession for M football and penchant to meld that with quantitative logic and, even, philosophy) and the other half is about the readership, which flocked to and joined this space because what it was serving matched the readers' voracious appetite far more closely than any other platform at the time.

But in recent months those married halves have - in places - peeled apart. And it's for a very fundamental reason. Readers still obsess over consuming the maximum allowable dose of great content. But Brian has at least temporarily demonstrated that he can turn off that obsession and write much less of it.

One way or the other, market forces will correct this. And we all hope it happens the fun way -- with Brian returning to frequent offseason editorials that obsessively flesh out minute details of the M Football machine.

CarrIsMyHomeboy

February 9th, 2018 at 3:18 PM ^

That's true, but the rational and productive way to combat that isn't to get emotional and stop writing.

Perhaps - and when I say perhaps, I mean it - Brian could solve the same problem by writing *more* often while making the content more esoteric, nuanced or highbrow. Then he could go back to having a positive influence on the readership and the comments below his pieces would be less likely to fry the happiness from his face.

UMxWolverines

February 9th, 2018 at 3:35 PM ^

I mean, you can only milk the hype train for so long. We've done it with three coaches in a row. It's getting old when the same thing keeps happening. Especially when we landed the hottest coach on the market the third time around. Disclaimer, I'm not saying Harbaugh won't get it done, but the way things are right now doesn't give me much confidence, and it's clearly the same with a lot of fans, including Brian.

CarrIsMyHomeboy

February 9th, 2018 at 3:42 PM ^

I don't come here for hype material. I come here for good material, period. I don't care if it's negative so long as that is real/deserved.

I want to consume whatever is real/deserved. I want to be forced to think harder about football and roster building than i knew an amateur could. And that is compromised not when the material becomes depressing but when it stops existing.

ST3

February 9th, 2018 at 3:39 PM ^

If everyone is a fool but you, maybe the actual fool is you. You should join Maizen in seeking out professional help. They have medications now for people with your condition.

P.S. Brian seems to be doing most of his writing for Twitter. If you want to talk about a cesspool of fools, look no further.

taut

February 10th, 2018 at 11:55 AM ^

While I enjoy Brian's writing, if he's at a point where he just can't bring it on a consistent basis, for whatever reason, I'm fine with reading some well-written insight by someone (anyone) else. Maybe Brian needs to be more of an editor-in-chief for a while and have a couple other writers provide content. Or maybe I just look further than MGoBlog to get my UM sports writing fix. Nothing punitive on my part, but if I go to my favorite bar and they're out of beer, I'm heading down the road.

kurpit

February 9th, 2018 at 4:36 PM ^

I think the whole "generate some optimism" idea is contrary to what most people would like to achieve through their writing an analysis. I think the reality of Michigan football is that it doesn't appear to be improving to a level that we should be predicting wins over rivals, or titles of any kind. What you're asking him to do is more of the same old "things will be better next year" type of nonsense that so many people have been spouting on these boards since mgoblog became a thing.

Things were bad last year and very little has happened since the end of last year to point in the direction that things will be fixed in the face of the hardest schedule in the country next year. So, sure, he could blow smoke up everybody's ass and say that Patterson is our savior and he'll fix all our offensive woes, but that'd be disengenuous and pandering. Is that what the readers here want; another mouthpiece for the athetic department telling us our recruits are just underrated, and that next year is the year (just like every year?)

HAIL-YEA

February 9th, 2018 at 7:59 PM ^

This is also for Brian:

 

We have sucked at football from the first day of this blog's existence. I have tried very hard to ignore it and I keep repeating correlation is not causation, correlation is not causation, correlation is not causation but enough is enough. It is time to shut this website down and start over with something new. If you really loved Michigan you would do it.

kurpit

February 9th, 2018 at 12:31 PM ^

Understandably so. They lost their last 3 games, including blowing a big lead to South Carolina in completely embarrassing fashion, follow that up with changes to the coaching staff that instill no confidence for offensive improvement, and top it off with a piss poor finish to the recruiting class by whiffing on all the biggest targets and landing a class between Tennessee and Nebraska.

What's the upside? Fingers crossed really hard that a transfer QB will fix everything?

UMxWolverines

February 9th, 2018 at 1:18 PM ^

I gotta be honest, I'm as down now as I was going into the 2014 season. No championships, major bowl wins, an offense that didn't get better all year, blown lead in a bowl game, a meh recruiting class, and barely a better record overall than Hoke. If you thought any of that is what was gonna happen when we first hired Harbaugh, you're lying to yourself. This past year reeks of something really off. People can dismiss it as a HOT TAKE all you want, but the Harbaugh we saw this year was not the same as the one for the first two years. And not having a plan for the offensive staff still this late doesn't make anything better.

Blau

February 9th, 2018 at 1:41 PM ^

Harbaugh said let's figure out who the best defensive coach out there is and get them to Michigan. So... why not recognize dead weight and do the same thing for your offense?

What exactly is the post-season evaluation process like and what did our staff to produce to get these mulligans?

Blau

February 9th, 2018 at 4:33 PM ^

Agree with the Durkin note because they hit the ground running with an open spot.

But why the fuck are we fixing issues with the same o line coach going into year 4? I mean smaller-ish things like learning a new QB cadence or trying to learn a trick play or two is understandable as they come with time. Playing musical chairs with our lineman (who by Drevno's own admission have been poorly served) without landing top quality recruits is just baffling. The longer we wait to "fix" these problems will only put us farther behind the top power teams and let those beneath us catch up as witnessed last year.

dcloren2121

February 9th, 2018 at 2:05 PM ^

I would love to see Brian put together a "state of the program" type piece to lay out all of his thoughts and rationale on them and where he thinks things stand and are headed.  I'm sure we have something of an idea what that is but it would be nice to see those really fleshed out.

Chalky White

February 9th, 2018 at 11:25 AM ^

Brian is not a fan of Drevno. You can tell that makes Sam Webb uncomfortable when he brings it up on the air.

You would think Sam would get tired of having to apologize for a bad staff in order to maintain his access to the program. At some point it has to get old.

bronxblue

February 9th, 2018 at 1:30 PM ^

I thought both Ed and Craig made good points.  The guys seeing the field this year will mostly be from those two top-10 classes.  And Craig rightfully pointed out that due to the sheer number of 3* players, you will see some of them outplay their rankings.  

Nobody is arguing that recruiting higher-rated guys isn't the goal, but there has been staff turnover and you have to assume some of that will pay off.  But having a bad season hurts recruiting.  I don't particularly love Drevno as a coach, but people are shitting on him and Hamilton quite a bit based on a whole lot of speculation and assumptions that may or may not be valid.  I mean, this very blog thought Hamilton would be pretty good not that long ago.

 

hvsiii

February 9th, 2018 at 11:30 AM ^

No disrespect to Sam but he has to be careful because is basically the mouth piece for the Football and Basketball teams now it seems.  He can't and won't say anything to hurt his standing, which I understand. 

That being said, I believe his information must be taken with a grain of salt because it is what they want to get out. 

Just my opinions and obviously I could be way off base.

WeimyWoodson

February 9th, 2018 at 11:57 AM ^

They're the cheerleaders for inside Michigan information, they are not 100% crediable information.  That's fine if you know that going in.  The last thing I'm sure they do to do is lose their inside track.  I get where they're coming from but at this point its ringing way hollow.  I can hardly listen anymore because they're just team apologists, and can not give an honest take.

Laser Wolf

February 9th, 2018 at 12:30 PM ^

Brian and Sam operate under different business models. Brian’s is one of objective critique, whether it be good or bad. It does not entail access and he has always been careful to keep a distance between himself and the athletic department



Sam’s business model entirely depends on access to coaches, players, and the administration. He needs to preserve that access, which means you won’t get the unfiltered truth from him. That doesn’t mean it’s wrong. They both serve a vital purpose in the MGoEcosphere.

Wolverine91

February 9th, 2018 at 2:25 PM ^

Yup, always thought that. Sam is not really honest when it comes to the athletic department which is really annoying. And what's worse is that, nobody in the local media has ever directly asked Harbaugh why he values drevno so much when he is not worth a damn. Meritocracy right? My ass