That isn't true at all. They will get it from the scout team. The 1s on offense and defense don't go against each other in practice. The scout team doesn't run OSUs stuff. They will run the offense of the team they play that week. That's what every single team in the country does. Even in high school.
The batted ball is a snag concept. Typically a really good goal-line play. Looks like they gave the deep route an option and he took the post because the safety lined up with outside leverage. It's just congested because UConn rushes 4 and drops 7. In all honesty, maybe JJ should have taken the alert to the single receiver on a quick slant. Now, the safety to that side immediately goes eyes to post snap, but there is a window there on a 3 slant if they wanted it. UConn does a nice job being disciplined, but it's not overly difficult to cover 5 over 3 and that's what they did.
The sack is mesh with an option route by the back that turns into follow. Normal play call. Interesting call for 3rd and long, but my guess is UConn was playing soft coverage all day and it was going to be equally or more soft on that down/distance. Hence why the post is covered from the jump. The issue isn't the play call really. Roman actually does a nice job of extending his mesh up the field, likely due to knowing where the sticks were. However, He should have settled it down in the window instead of carrying himself into the safety. That's a staple of mesh. Continue vs. man, sit vs. zone. Had he sat, JJ had a window and it's a likely first down. He didn't and JJ chooses not to make a 5 yard throw to the TE on the sideline that isn't going to net a first down. He actually is trying to direct him there, but the guys in the route don't do a good job on the scramble drill.
Rutgers got what they deserved. You can’t play in a below average baseball conference and have the OOC schedule they do and get in. The Big 10’s highest ranked team got the 15 seed. Most "mid-major" conferences in the south and significantly better in baseball than the Big 10. Rutgers best wins OOC are maybe VCU and Hofstra?
I can’t give you a single at large team that Rutgers deserved to be placed over. Grand Canyon? Beat Arizona, Arizona St, Oregon State and swept Texas Tech. Gonzaga swept Oklahoma State, beat San Diego and beat Oregon St. Dallas Baptist beat Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Maryland x2, TCU x2, La Tech and San Diego. Southern Miss beat La Tech, Alabama, Ole Miss and Louisiana. They don’t belong in over a single at large team from the ACC, SEC, Big 12, Pac 12 or the Sun Belt either. Play in a crappy conference, you better schedule and beat some good teams OOC.
I have a good friend who's son will be wrestling for Princeton. He's already been shown some of the NIL opportunities that are going to be available. So, short answer, yes there is NIL for "non-revenue" athletes.
There are multiple ways in doing this which makes it even more confusing. For example, the high school I coach at goes 0,shade,2i,2,3,4i,4,5,6,7,9. I believe the original dates back to Bear Bryant.
It's done quite a bit. It's a 2 part read. The first read is the stand-up 9 technique. You either give the Counter GT or, if he squeezes, pull the ball. If the QB pulls, there is now a 2nd level read. In this case it's the down safety. If he widens with the bubble, the QB can take off. If he comes, throw the bubble. Teams do this all the time by attaching a bubble to the typical zone read to put the force defender in conflict. In this case it can be done with counter instead of zone.
I agree to an extent, but if you are referring to McVay, he has a traditional track to his job. He was a player in college and then had stints in the NFL, UFL and then NFL again. He moved quickly once there because he had those innovative ideas you spoke of, but he didn't just get handed a position with no experience in the game.
You absolutely do not have to play to be a coach. However, getting a Power 5 GA position with zero experience in the game doesn't happen. Not to mention this isn't a GA job at a low level P5, this is a top 15 program. Then you combine that with the QB GA being the most difficult GA spot there is due to the level of understanding you need and you have a very unusual situation. That's why some are questioning it. Mike Leach did his GA stint at Cal-Poly which is a far cry from Michigan. The 3 typical routes for a GA at a P5 school is you either played in college, you are actively coaching at a high level high school or you were a student assistant during your undergrad. Getting a position at this level goes to people that have grinded their way up in the game because GA's will, at times, actively coach players or run film sessions.
It really has less to do with the specific coach as it does his scheme and terminology. If you bring in a new guy from the outside and his philosophy is different, you have an issue. Players need to learn new terminology, alignments, assignments, auto-checks ect. In addition, a change in scheme can impact recruiting as guys may or may not fit. Plus, an outside DC is unlikely to accept a job where he is forced to keep the existing defensive staff. it's a lot more complicated that "Mac's only been here a year so oh well."
For continuity in scheme (and by extension recruiting), I would imagine you would go with Elston and Clink as Co-DC's. Obviously Elston coordinating the run D and Clink the pass D. That sounds easier than it is though. Calls need to be paired correctly with coverages, DB's often have specific run fits ect.
I'm fairly certain Alabama allows their athletes to use their logo and trademarks in any NIL deal. The university needs to understand that the block M and the brand has deep meaning that reaches far beyond athletics to people that went to Michigan and the administration itself, it does not to the vast majority of people. That block M has international appeal and leads to significant apparel sales because of athletics. So the bottom line is, people buy Michigan gear because they win athletic contests frequently, not because they have world class academics. If the opposite were true, we would see Princeton and Harvard gear everywhere. Past and current athletes made the M recognizable to the world outside of the university itself so they should get a reasonable use agreement for NIL.
As long as the money is not coming directly from the university, what they are doing is perfectly legal. There is nothing that says schools can't facilitate deals between athletes and business owners/boosters. The only issue could be Title IX and there is an easy fix to that. If A&M is supplying boosters with a list of "wants" for the football program, all they need to do is include all other athletes on a list to those boosters. If the boosters choose not to give any money to a member of the woman's rowing team, that's not illegal. It's the business owner's choice.
There is no money stuff if that’s what you are implying. My son coached under Tony the last couple of years. They take a lot of reclamation projects. Kids who got in trouble or struggled academically ect. Now they are winning they also sell kids on the fact that you can go win 8 games at a MAC school or you can play for a National championship at Ferris. On top of that, they have guys playing on Sunday and more on this current team that will be playing in the NFL too.
It's possible. I'm just speaking after talking directly to a high school coach (and rival) that is friends with Freeman and coaches a 5 star that's committed there. Freeman was the guy from the jump. Explains why they immediately said they would not hire a search firm and would handle this quickly.
ND didn’t pass on Fickell. They wanted Freeman from the go. He’s very well respected in the coaching community and most think he’s going to be an excellent head coach. He will keep the majority of their class intact on top of it. As for in-experienced, I present to you Lincoln Riley and Dabo. There are guys like Davies that didn’t work and there are guys like those 2 who did. For ND, it’s a really good choice to be honest.
They did seem to convert a bunch of 3rd downs. Particularly 3rd and long. What was HUGE, however, is that we forced them into 18 3rd down situations. The key to this game from a defensive perspective, was making OSU drive the ball to get their points. Michigan could not afford 3 play TD drives. Doing this shortened the game by default. It was damn near perfect from a defensive perspective. Stroud had about the quietest 394 yards passing I've ever seen.
Really good analysis. Creating extra gaps with multiple TE's is a pain in the ass for defenses. We do it at the high school level. It certainly brings extra guys down into the box, but they can only put 1 in a gap and Michigan just needs to win the point of attack. I imagine we will see plenty of this on Saturday. It becomes a (not-so?) simple matter of execution. They can't wiff or mis-ID and the RB's need to have good vision and feel for the hole. If they score TD's and not stall in the red zone there is a chance. On the defensive end I agree 100%. I've watched a lot of OSU this year. They score on big plays. Limit those and force them to drive the football. The more that happens the better chance Stroud gets impatient and forces something. He's done it before so I have no doubt he will do it again if we take away the quick strikes.
Eliminate Johns altogether. He's not good and has never been good. He certainly isn't likely to suddenly figure it out now. Give Diabate 10 min at the 5 and 10 min at the 4. Also, the comments saying "wait until Zeb is back" are weird. He was not very good last year at all. While he is likely to improve, it seems like people are saying he is the difference maker. We have no idea what he is. He could very well be a similar version of last year.
Michigan football players have an opportunity to take much less rigorous classes than the general student body. There are "do not take" lists that they have. Unless they want it, lets say that football players have a vastly different academic experience than the regular student body.
That clip of Ross on the long pass is maybe partially on him. It's definitely Quarters coverage. The field safety should take 2 vertical. Of course, PSU makes that tough by running a sluggo there so his initial read is in. I think all Ross could have done better is wall him off and collision and then carry the drop deeper to allow help to come. He had no crosser threat once the slant turned into a vertical route. If he robs that a bit, the field safety, who should be maintaining leverage inside and on top of #1, can flip his hips and work back over top of that. I think more blame is on him. It seems he gave up on any potential vertical out of the slant too early. The boundary safety has no #2 so he is going to automatically rob 1 on most occasions. There are answers, as you stated, where the boundary safety will get eyes on #3 and if he gets a vertical push will make a call to the corner to let him know he has no help and work over top of that route.
I question how many they make, yes. 85 football players, a portion of whom are excellent students anyway, aren't going to drag down Michigan's academic standing. There are over 32,000 undergrads. 85 out of 32,000? Even if you want to count all athletes, that's about 900 out of 32,000. Michigan certainly hammers transfers. It's absurd too, since 2 of my kids transferred there after injuries ended their D2 playing careers. Not transferring credits is likely a money grab from the university to force you to pay for their classes instead.
Don't....In all seriousness, we lived in Fenton and it's a really nice small town. You are on US 23 and close to I-75. It was maybe 90 min to Toledo, 50ish to Detroit, 35ish to Ann Arbor. There are tons of lakes. Some really good restaurants and some nice crafty cocktail establishments. For Michigan, taxes aren't terrible as long as you are outside city limits though significantly more expensive than Hilton Head Island (where I live now), I hate the cold and love the ocean so I got out, but you could certainly do worse than the Fenton area.
Admissions strikes again. Even the Ivy's make some pretty serious admission concessions (based on Ivy standards) to get athletes into the school. There is a limit on how many the football team can take, but there is a number set aside every year to help the program get some kids in.
pants have zero bearing on a passing game. You aren't looking at them. Helmets and jerseys are the only things that matter so there is plenty of contrast.
This game is a must win for the obvious reasons. It's also a should win. PSU is not all that good. A win moves the needle away from the "Harbaugh can't win when it matters" narrative. A loss continues to prove that point and rightfully so.
Have you asked yourself why Mel Tucker, in year 2 after taking over such a disaster he had to run over 30% of his roster in a single offseason, is ahead of Jim Harbaugh in year 7? What mental gymnastics do you need to perform to make that ok? Mel is also recruiting at Jim's level in 2022. Michigan has a significantly more talented roster than MSU this year and lost. In fact, all 7 years Michigan had more talent and Jim is 3-4. How is that justifiable?
Admissions didn't prevent Worthy from enrolling. That was an issue with unfiled paperwork from the football department which prevented him from enrolling early. Also, turning over 30% of your roster and getting them acclimated to your program and your system in one summer is incredibly difficult. the bottom line is Mel Tucker, in 2 years, has beaten Jim twice and is recruiting at the same level in the 2022 class.
"Firing Harbaugh would be dumb. It would be dumb because doing so would be based on the belief that we can do better. The reality is if Harbaugh can't win at the highest level here, no one can."
What are you basing this on? Feelings? He didn't win a PAC12 at Stanford. He hasn't won anything at Michigan. He has a .659 winning percentage at the FBS level in 11 years and counting.
" It's irrational to think any program can overcome all of the aforementioned built-in disadvantages in player acquisition while adding in some of the worst officiating anyone has ever seen."
Even with the transfers (and by the way, getting that many new kids to learn your system and go 8-0 is an incredibly difficult proposition) are you saying MSU's roster is equal to Michigan's in talent? It's not. As for officiating, that's a losers take. Score touchdowns instead of kicking field goals. In 17 years I haven't lost a single game due to officiating because I can find you at least a dozen plays a game where if we do what we are supposed to do, officiating doesn't come into play.
"So, can we do better than Harbaugh? Years of Rich Rod and Hoke say no."
Yes, because 2 bad hires means it can never happen. I present to you Mike DuBose, Dennis Franchione and Mike Sula. The 3 coaches that came before Saban. Or I can give you Tommy Bowden, Tommy West and Tommy Bowden. The 3 coaches that came before Dabo. Oh, how about Bobby Williams and John L Smith. You know who they are. Yeah, 2 bad hires means you can never get it right.
Oregon beats Oregon St at least 8 out of 10 years. Clemson has won 6 in a row against South Carolina. If Jim could beat MSU 8/10 times, I don't think there would be near the complaining to date. We get it OSU is vastly superior though I would argue we are getting to the point where he has to beat them too. Auburn has beaten Alabama multiple times and Auburn isn't any more talented than Michigan.
So how do you explain being below .500 against MSU? Michigan has 32 players on NFL rosters. MSU has 10. Alabama has 53. So actually, the talent differential between Michigan and MSU is greater than between Michigan and Alabama.
Uhhhhh newsflash. Washington, Wisconsin and Nebraska are bad football teams. If those are your measuring sticks then your expectations are pretty hilarious.
From what I gather that was a paperwork issue not a can’t get into school issue that screwed up his early enrollment. Also, there will be a player here or there but do you really think we don’t recruit the same guys as Alabama and OSU? Go look where the top 100 recruits offers are from and you will see it’s the same teams for the most part. Finally, if you think football players at Michigan, generally speaking, have the same academic experience as the rest of the student body then you don’t know any football players.
Are you serious? Lloyd was 20-8 against teams ranked in the top 10. Jim Harbaugh isn’t even on the same planet as Lloyd Carr in terms of beating quality opponents.
Expecting to beat a vastly inferior MSU with a 2nd year head coach is not Alabama expectations. Michigan should beat MSU 7 out of 10 years at least. That's the talent gap between the two programs. To be happy with the chance of Harbaugh "evening" the series out next year, in year 8, is a losers mentality. Nobody can say, with a straight face, that MSU is equal in talent to Michigan. Therefore, they have superior coaching.
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That isn't true at all. They will get it from the scout team. The 1s on offense and defense don't go against each other in practice. The scout team doesn't run OSUs stuff. They will run the offense of the team they play that week. That's what every single team in the country does. Even in high school.
The batted ball is a snag concept. Typically a really good goal-line play. Looks like they gave the deep route an option and he took the post because the safety lined up with outside leverage. It's just congested because UConn rushes 4 and drops 7. In all honesty, maybe JJ should have taken the alert to the single receiver on a quick slant. Now, the safety to that side immediately goes eyes to post snap, but there is a window there on a 3 slant if they wanted it. UConn does a nice job being disciplined, but it's not overly difficult to cover 5 over 3 and that's what they did.
The sack is mesh with an option route by the back that turns into follow. Normal play call. Interesting call for 3rd and long, but my guess is UConn was playing soft coverage all day and it was going to be equally or more soft on that down/distance. Hence why the post is covered from the jump. The issue isn't the play call really. Roman actually does a nice job of extending his mesh up the field, likely due to knowing where the sticks were. However, He should have settled it down in the window instead of carrying himself into the safety. That's a staple of mesh. Continue vs. man, sit vs. zone. Had he sat, JJ had a window and it's a likely first down. He didn't and JJ chooses not to make a 5 yard throw to the TE on the sideline that isn't going to net a first down. He actually is trying to direct him there, but the guys in the route don't do a good job on the scramble drill.
Rutgers got what they deserved. You can’t play in a below average baseball conference and have the OOC schedule they do and get in. The Big 10’s highest ranked team got the 15 seed. Most "mid-major" conferences in the south and significantly better in baseball than the Big 10. Rutgers best wins OOC are maybe VCU and Hofstra?
I can’t give you a single at large team that Rutgers deserved to be placed over. Grand Canyon? Beat Arizona, Arizona St, Oregon State and swept Texas Tech. Gonzaga swept Oklahoma State, beat San Diego and beat Oregon St. Dallas Baptist beat Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Maryland x2, TCU x2, La Tech and San Diego. Southern Miss beat La Tech, Alabama, Ole Miss and Louisiana. They don’t belong in over a single at large team from the ACC, SEC, Big 12, Pac 12 or the Sun Belt either. Play in a crappy conference, you better schedule and beat some good teams OOC.
I have a good friend who's son will be wrestling for Princeton. He's already been shown some of the NIL opportunities that are going to be available. So, short answer, yes there is NIL for "non-revenue" athletes.
There are multiple ways in doing this which makes it even more confusing. For example, the high school I coach at goes 0,shade,2i,2,3,4i,4,5,6,7,9. I believe the original dates back to Bear Bryant.
It's done quite a bit. It's a 2 part read. The first read is the stand-up 9 technique. You either give the Counter GT or, if he squeezes, pull the ball. If the QB pulls, there is now a 2nd level read. In this case it's the down safety. If he widens with the bubble, the QB can take off. If he comes, throw the bubble. Teams do this all the time by attaching a bubble to the typical zone read to put the force defender in conflict. In this case it can be done with counter instead of zone.
I agree to an extent, but if you are referring to McVay, he has a traditional track to his job. He was a player in college and then had stints in the NFL, UFL and then NFL again. He moved quickly once there because he had those innovative ideas you spoke of, but he didn't just get handed a position with no experience in the game.
You absolutely do not have to play to be a coach. However, getting a Power 5 GA position with zero experience in the game doesn't happen. Not to mention this isn't a GA job at a low level P5, this is a top 15 program. Then you combine that with the QB GA being the most difficult GA spot there is due to the level of understanding you need and you have a very unusual situation. That's why some are questioning it. Mike Leach did his GA stint at Cal-Poly which is a far cry from Michigan. The 3 typical routes for a GA at a P5 school is you either played in college, you are actively coaching at a high level high school or you were a student assistant during your undergrad. Getting a position at this level goes to people that have grinded their way up in the game because GA's will, at times, actively coach players or run film sessions.
Correct. They can be co-DCs in terms of game planning on Sunday/Monday. On game day, one guy has to make the calls.
It really has less to do with the specific coach as it does his scheme and terminology. If you bring in a new guy from the outside and his philosophy is different, you have an issue. Players need to learn new terminology, alignments, assignments, auto-checks ect. In addition, a change in scheme can impact recruiting as guys may or may not fit. Plus, an outside DC is unlikely to accept a job where he is forced to keep the existing defensive staff. it's a lot more complicated that "Mac's only been here a year so oh well."
For continuity in scheme (and by extension recruiting), I would imagine you would go with Elston and Clink as Co-DC's. Obviously Elston coordinating the run D and Clink the pass D. That sounds easier than it is though. Calls need to be paired correctly with coverages, DB's often have specific run fits ect.
ON3 and Balas isn't "somewhere on the internet." They are pretty damn plugged in most of the time.
Word on another site is he will be offered the job, likely today and will accept. He's gone
Born Royal Oak - John Wangler or Jim Seymour
Raised - West Chester, OH - Ken Griffey Jr.
Currently live Hilton Head Island, SC - Dan Driessen, Poona Ford or potentially Jalen Sneed if he lives up to his 5 star status
I'm fairly certain Alabama allows their athletes to use their logo and trademarks in any NIL deal. The university needs to understand that the block M and the brand has deep meaning that reaches far beyond athletics to people that went to Michigan and the administration itself, it does not to the vast majority of people. That block M has international appeal and leads to significant apparel sales because of athletics. So the bottom line is, people buy Michigan gear because they win athletic contests frequently, not because they have world class academics. If the opposite were true, we would see Princeton and Harvard gear everywhere. Past and current athletes made the M recognizable to the world outside of the university itself so they should get a reasonable use agreement for NIL.
As long as the money is not coming directly from the university, what they are doing is perfectly legal. There is nothing that says schools can't facilitate deals between athletes and business owners/boosters. The only issue could be Title IX and there is an easy fix to that. If A&M is supplying boosters with a list of "wants" for the football program, all they need to do is include all other athletes on a list to those boosters. If the boosters choose not to give any money to a member of the woman's rowing team, that's not illegal. It's the business owner's choice.
There is no money stuff if that’s what you are implying. My son coached under Tony the last couple of years. They take a lot of reclamation projects. Kids who got in trouble or struggled academically ect. Now they are winning they also sell kids on the fact that you can go win 8 games at a MAC school or you can play for a National championship at Ferris. On top of that, they have guys playing on Sunday and more on this current team that will be playing in the NFL too.
Are they the exceptions though?
Worked well: Dabo, Riley, Day, Fisher, Stoops, Smart, Richt, Carr
Worked poorly: Davie, Weiss, Muschamp and?
Along with Bob Stoops and Kirby Smart
Or he could be Dabo, Lincoln Riley, Ryan Day, Bob Stoops, Jimbo Fisher or Kirby Smart.
It's possible. I'm just speaking after talking directly to a high school coach (and rival) that is friends with Freeman and coaches a 5 star that's committed there. Freeman was the guy from the jump. Explains why they immediately said they would not hire a search firm and would handle this quickly.
ND didn’t pass on Fickell. They wanted Freeman from the go. He’s very well respected in the coaching community and most think he’s going to be an excellent head coach. He will keep the majority of their class intact on top of it. As for in-experienced, I present to you Lincoln Riley and Dabo. There are guys like Davies that didn’t work and there are guys like those 2 who did. For ND, it’s a really good choice to be honest.
Double post
They did seem to convert a bunch of 3rd downs. Particularly 3rd and long. What was HUGE, however, is that we forced them into 18 3rd down situations. The key to this game from a defensive perspective, was making OSU drive the ball to get their points. Michigan could not afford 3 play TD drives. Doing this shortened the game by default. It was damn near perfect from a defensive perspective. Stroud had about the quietest 394 yards passing I've ever seen.
Really good analysis. Creating extra gaps with multiple TE's is a pain in the ass for defenses. We do it at the high school level. It certainly brings extra guys down into the box, but they can only put 1 in a gap and Michigan just needs to win the point of attack. I imagine we will see plenty of this on Saturday. It becomes a (not-so?) simple matter of execution. They can't wiff or mis-ID and the RB's need to have good vision and feel for the hole. If they score TD's and not stall in the red zone there is a chance. On the defensive end I agree 100%. I've watched a lot of OSU this year. They score on big plays. Limit those and force them to drive the football. The more that happens the better chance Stroud gets impatient and forces something. He's done it before so I have no doubt he will do it again if we take away the quick strikes.
That’s the dumbest thing I’ve read considering he’s 2-0 against Harbaugh.
Eliminate Johns altogether. He's not good and has never been good. He certainly isn't likely to suddenly figure it out now. Give Diabate 10 min at the 5 and 10 min at the 4. Also, the comments saying "wait until Zeb is back" are weird. He was not very good last year at all. While he is likely to improve, it seems like people are saying he is the difference maker. We have no idea what he is. He could very well be a similar version of last year.
Michigan football players have an opportunity to take much less rigorous classes than the general student body. There are "do not take" lists that they have. Unless they want it, lets say that football players have a vastly different academic experience than the regular student body.
EJ Holland stated as much based on what he has gathered.
We didn't here. It's a fact that coming from JUCO prevented him from coming to Michigan. It's Michigan's transfer policy in this instance.
That clip of Ross on the long pass is maybe partially on him. It's definitely Quarters coverage. The field safety should take 2 vertical. Of course, PSU makes that tough by running a sluggo there so his initial read is in. I think all Ross could have done better is wall him off and collision and then carry the drop deeper to allow help to come. He had no crosser threat once the slant turned into a vertical route. If he robs that a bit, the field safety, who should be maintaining leverage inside and on top of #1, can flip his hips and work back over top of that. I think more blame is on him. It seems he gave up on any potential vertical out of the slant too early. The boundary safety has no #2 so he is going to automatically rob 1 on most occasions. There are answers, as you stated, where the boundary safety will get eyes on #3 and if he gets a vertical push will make a call to the corner to let him know he has no help and work over top of that route.
I question how many they make, yes. 85 football players, a portion of whom are excellent students anyway, aren't going to drag down Michigan's academic standing. There are over 32,000 undergrads. 85 out of 32,000? Even if you want to count all athletes, that's about 900 out of 32,000. Michigan certainly hammers transfers. It's absurd too, since 2 of my kids transferred there after injuries ended their D2 playing careers. Not transferring credits is likely a money grab from the university to force you to pay for their classes instead.
Don't....In all seriousness, we lived in Fenton and it's a really nice small town. You are on US 23 and close to I-75. It was maybe 90 min to Toledo, 50ish to Detroit, 35ish to Ann Arbor. There are tons of lakes. Some really good restaurants and some nice crafty cocktail establishments. For Michigan, taxes aren't terrible as long as you are outside city limits though significantly more expensive than Hilton Head Island (where I live now), I hate the cold and love the ocean so I got out, but you could certainly do worse than the Fenton area.
Admissions strikes again. Even the Ivy's make some pretty serious admission concessions (based on Ivy standards) to get athletes into the school. There is a limit on how many the football team can take, but there is a number set aside every year to help the program get some kids in.
Cade just isn’t good enough. An easy throw on the rub slant. Cade can’t throw an accurate ball to a wide open guy about 8 yards away
pants have zero bearing on a passing game. You aren't looking at them. Helmets and jerseys are the only things that matter so there is plenty of contrast.
This game is a must win for the obvious reasons. It's also a should win. PSU is not all that good. A win moves the needle away from the "Harbaugh can't win when it matters" narrative. A loss continues to prove that point and rightfully so.
I mean unless you recognize that Jimbo has win at A&M that is light years better than any single win Jim had at Michigan
Jim also has a losing record against P5 teams with a winning record. The list goes on.
Have you asked yourself why Mel Tucker, in year 2 after taking over such a disaster he had to run over 30% of his roster in a single offseason, is ahead of Jim Harbaugh in year 7? What mental gymnastics do you need to perform to make that ok? Mel is also recruiting at Jim's level in 2022. Michigan has a significantly more talented roster than MSU this year and lost. In fact, all 7 years Michigan had more talent and Jim is 3-4. How is that justifiable?
Admissions didn't prevent Worthy from enrolling. That was an issue with unfiled paperwork from the football department which prevented him from enrolling early. Also, turning over 30% of your roster and getting them acclimated to your program and your system in one summer is incredibly difficult. the bottom line is Mel Tucker, in 2 years, has beaten Jim twice and is recruiting at the same level in the 2022 class.
"Firing Harbaugh would be dumb. It would be dumb because doing so would be based on the belief that we can do better. The reality is if Harbaugh can't win at the highest level here, no one can."
What are you basing this on? Feelings? He didn't win a PAC12 at Stanford. He hasn't won anything at Michigan. He has a .659 winning percentage at the FBS level in 11 years and counting.
" It's irrational to think any program can overcome all of the aforementioned built-in disadvantages in player acquisition while adding in some of the worst officiating anyone has ever seen."
Even with the transfers (and by the way, getting that many new kids to learn your system and go 8-0 is an incredibly difficult proposition) are you saying MSU's roster is equal to Michigan's in talent? It's not. As for officiating, that's a losers take. Score touchdowns instead of kicking field goals. In 17 years I haven't lost a single game due to officiating because I can find you at least a dozen plays a game where if we do what we are supposed to do, officiating doesn't come into play.
"So, can we do better than Harbaugh? Years of Rich Rod and Hoke say no."
Yes, because 2 bad hires means it can never happen. I present to you Mike DuBose, Dennis Franchione and Mike Sula. The 3 coaches that came before Saban. Or I can give you Tommy Bowden, Tommy West and Tommy Bowden. The 3 coaches that came before Dabo. Oh, how about Bobby Williams and John L Smith. You know who they are. Yeah, 2 bad hires means you can never get it right.
Oregon beats Oregon St at least 8 out of 10 years. Clemson has won 6 in a row against South Carolina. If Jim could beat MSU 8/10 times, I don't think there would be near the complaining to date. We get it OSU is vastly superior though I would argue we are getting to the point where he has to beat them too. Auburn has beaten Alabama multiple times and Auburn isn't any more talented than Michigan.
So how do you explain being below .500 against MSU? Michigan has 32 players on NFL rosters. MSU has 10. Alabama has 53. So actually, the talent differential between Michigan and MSU is greater than between Michigan and Alabama.
Uhhhhh newsflash. Washington, Wisconsin and Nebraska are bad football teams. If those are your measuring sticks then your expectations are pretty hilarious.
From what I gather that was a paperwork issue not a can’t get into school issue that screwed up his early enrollment. Also, there will be a player here or there but do you really think we don’t recruit the same guys as Alabama and OSU? Go look where the top 100 recruits offers are from and you will see it’s the same teams for the most part. Finally, if you think football players at Michigan, generally speaking, have the same academic experience as the rest of the student body then you don’t know any football players.
Are you serious? Lloyd was 20-8 against teams ranked in the top 10. Jim Harbaugh isn’t even on the same planet as Lloyd Carr in terms of beating quality opponents.
Expecting to beat a vastly inferior MSU with a 2nd year head coach is not Alabama expectations. Michigan should beat MSU 7 out of 10 years at least. That's the talent gap between the two programs. To be happy with the chance of Harbaugh "evening" the series out next year, in year 8, is a losers mentality. Nobody can say, with a straight face, that MSU is equal in talent to Michigan. Therefore, they have superior coaching.
Ok cool. So what's Harbaugh's issue with a clearly inferior MSU?