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Final 'Spin' on the game

The Spin Meister

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Gold Member
Nov 27, 2012
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An altered state
This was a game of momentum. With apologies to Yogi Berra, 90% of football is half mental. UM jumped to a lead of 7-3 until PSU fought and clawed its way to a 10-7 lead with about 3 minutes left in the first half. A very close game where neither was able to move the ball much but taking the lead just before the half should have a been a huge boost for the Nits. But on that final drive UM marched right down and scored a TD to reclaim lead (more on drive later) That was huge momentum shift. Conventional wisdom says the two biggest possessions of a game on the last of the first half and the first of the second half.

Second half was also very close with the Lions again clawing back into the game despite no running game. After giving up a TD due to a fumbled punt return, they were down 21-13 but they again clawed their way back into reach of a win 21-16 midway through the fourth gtr with another field goal. Then old Mo shifted again. Post Gazette says the KO returner said in huddle before kick, "I'm gonna break their hearts" and he did with a 50 yrd return. That was followed by a 30 yrd gainer down the left sideline, setting up final TD. And it was pretty much game over.

Back to that 2nd qtr TD drive by UM. Almost all the yardage gained were to quick out passes right or left. Seems that Harbaugh looked at OSU film and saw that our OLBs and CBs are lousy open field tacklers. He knew that he didn't have the quick-footed QB that OSU had so or a fast running back to get outside he used the quick outs to expose our outside D. Multiple missed tackles allowed them to move quickly downfield to retake the lead. Our guys missed several tackles for loss because they came charging up too hard and fast to make a big play. They need to learn to come in under control so they make the tackle.

No need for me to rehash what many have.....bad O-line, red zone failures, play calling, Hack inconsistent, dropped passes, special team play. There is an old adage in football........you will lose one game for every rookie you start. Inexperience has its costs. Seems about right.

We couldn't run the ball but neither did UM. We didn't get enough pressure on the QB and he completed just enough.

Proud of the way they kept fighting back in a game against a 12th rated team. Disappointed they made too many mistakes to pull it out. We've lost to four teams, all four in the the top 25, . And we were in every game and could have won each. Pretty good for a very young, inexperienced team recovering from the worst sanctions in NCAA history.
 
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Back to that 2nd qtr TD drive by UM. Almost all the yardage gained were to quick out passes right or left. Seems that Harbaugh looked at OSU film and saw that our OLBs and CBs are lousy open field tacklers.

That was a good offensive scheme from Michigan. We have a stout defense but it is weak in spots --- they found the weakness (on the edge at the line of scrimmage) and attacked it.

A good tactical game-plan. That's what good coaches do.

Meanwhile, I don't have any idea what our offensive scheme was. I think we just rolled dice to come up with our play calls. Not quite so good in terms of tactics.
 
There is a pretty good shot, that at the end of the season, we will have lost to 5 of the top 15 teams in the game. Nobody else can say that.
 
The offensive line will have a break out game this Saturday :cool:
 
That was a good offensive scheme from Michigan. We have a stout defense but it is weak in spots --- they found the weakness (on the edge at the line of scrimmage) and attacked it.

A good tactical game-plan. That's what good coaches do.

Meanwhile, I don't have any idea what our offensive scheme was. I think we just rolled dice to come up with our play calls. Not quite so good in terms of tactics.
'when the line blocks, you have great backs, when the line doesn't block, the line sucks, so you might as well block.' Geno Hummel
 
The offensive line will have a break out game this Saturday :cool:
So, you are saying that the nation's worst offensive line, two years running, is going to go into the house of the nations 5th ranked team, playing for it's playoff lives, with a defensive line that just beat down Ohio State's offensive line, and "breakout"?

Sorry, but you need the cops called on you, you need to get off the shit.
 
Last week was really the first time I thought that Barkley didn't run smart. Most plays were more or less blown up, but he kept trying to bounce outside and ended up taking 3 yard losses instead a 1-2 gain by just fighting forward.

On D tackling was pretty blah.

I really didn't think that Michigan was better. Felt the teams were pretty similar same as Northwestern.

In even games you need to make only 1 or 2 plays more than your opponent to win the game. Penn State did not make those plays.
 
There is a pretty good shot, that at the end of the season, we will have lost to 5 of the top 15 teams in the game. Nobody else can say that.

Not so sure that's something to hang your hat on. I would have preferred a win or two against ranked teams. Until that happens, I'm not so sure we are going in the right direction.
 
Not so sure that's something to hang your hat on. I would have preferred a win or two against ranked teams. Until that happens, I'm not so sure we are going in the right direction.
I'm not citing it as a positive. Just an anomaly.
 
This was a game of momentum. With apologies to Yogi Berra, 90% of football is half mental. UM jumped to a lead of 7-3 until PSU fought and clawed its way to a 10-7 lead with about 3 minutes left in the first half. A very close game where neither was able to move the ball much but taking the lead just before the half should have a been a huge boost for the Nits. But on that final drive UM marched right down and scored a TD to reclaim lead (more on drive later) That was huge momentum shift. Conventional wisdom says the two biggest possessions of a game on the last of the first half and the first of the second half.

Second half was also very close with the Lions again clawing back into the game despite no running game. After giving up a TD due to a fumbled punt return, they were down 21-13 but they again clawed their way back into reach of a win 21-16 midway through the fourth gtr with another field goal. Then old Mo shifted again. Post Gazette says the KO returner said in huddle before kick, "I'm gonna break their hearts" and he did with a 50 yrd return. That was followed by a 30 yrd gainer down the left sideline, setting up final TD. And it was pretty much game over.

Back to that 2nd qtr TD drive by UM. Almost all the yardage gained were to quick out passes right or left. Seems that Harbaugh looked at OSU film and saw that our OLBs and CBs are lousy open field tacklers. He knew that he didn't have the quick-footed QB that OSU had so or a fast running back to get outside he used the quick outs to expose our outside D. Multiple missed tackles allowed them to move quickly downfield to retake the lead. Our guys missed several tackles for loss because they came charging up too hard and fast to make a big play. They need to learn to come in under control so they make the tackle.

No need for me to rehash what many have.....bad O-line, red zone failures, play calling, Hack inconsistent, dropped passes, special team play. There is an old adage in football........you will lose one game for every rookie you start. Inexperience has its costs. Seems about right.

We couldn't run the ball but neither did UM. We didn't get enough pressure on the QB and he completed just enough.
Proud of the way they kept fighting back in a game against a 12th rated team. Disappointed they made too many mistakes to pull it out. We've lost to four teams, all four in the the top 25, . And we were in every game and could have won each. Pretty good for a very young, inexperienced team recovering from the worst sanctions in NCAA history.

Just a point of clarification on what our coaches saw (on film and during the game) that lead to them going to the quick (east/west) passing game...they explained it after the game so this is not me guessing....

They said they saw that your linebackers where being (overly) aggressive. This helped you stop the run up the gut but left you vulnerable to the quick hit to the outside (treated it like a running play)...they felt your LBs were essentially taking themselves out of the play and all they had I do is get one block on the db to spring someone...with at worst putting the runner in a position where he only had to make one guy miss (again with you LBers out of the play there was no support)...I will not say that your takling wasn't an issue but it wasn't the reason for the scheme...your coaches decided to be aggressive and that was a counter punch to that
 
This was a game of momentum. With apologies to Yogi Berra, 90% of football is half mental. UM jumped to a lead of 7-3 until PSU fought and clawed its way to a 10-7 lead with about 3 minutes left in the first half. A very close game where neither was able to move the ball much but taking the lead just before the half should have a been a huge boost for the Nits. But on that final drive UM marched right down and scored a TD to reclaim lead (more on drive later) That was huge momentum shift. Conventional wisdom says the two biggest possessions of a game on the last of the first half and the first of the second half.

Second half was also very close with the Lions again clawing back into the game despite no running game. After giving up a TD due to a fumbled punt return, they were down 21-13 but they again clawed their way back into reach of a win 21-16 midway through the fourth gtr with another field goal. Then old Mo shifted again. Post Gazette says the KO returner said in huddle before kick, "I'm gonna break their hearts" and he did with a 50 yrd return. That was followed by a 30 yrd gainer down the left sideline, setting up final TD. And it was pretty much game over.

Back to that 2nd qtr TD drive by UM. Almost all the yardage gained were to quick out passes right or left. Seems that Harbaugh looked at OSU film and saw that our OLBs and CBs are lousy open field tacklers. He knew that he didn't have the quick-footed QB that OSU had so or a fast running back to get outside he used the quick outs to expose our outside D. Multiple missed tackles allowed them to move quickly downfield to retake the lead. Our guys missed several tackles for loss because they came charging up too hard and fast to make a big play. They need to learn to come in under control so they make the tackle.

No need for me to rehash what many have.....bad O-line, red zone failures, play calling, Hack inconsistent, dropped passes, special team play. There is an old adage in football........you will lose one game for every rookie you start. Inexperience has its costs. Seems about right.

We couldn't run the ball but neither did UM. We didn't get enough pressure on the QB and he completed just enough.

Proud of the way they kept fighting back in a game against a 12th rated team. Disappointed they made too many mistakes to pull it out. We've lost to four teams, all four in the the top 25, . And we were in every game and could have won each. Pretty good for a very young, inexperienced team recovering from the worst sanctions in NCAA history.

Here's the issue. Yea we were in the game against a good team, but we were out coached. Harbaugh came out throwing
Just a point of clarification on what our coaches saw (on film and during the game) that lead to them going to the quick (east/west) passing game...they explained it after the game so this is not me guessing....

They said they saw that your linebackers where being (overly) aggressive. This helped you stop the run up the gut but left you vulnerable to the quick hit to the outside (treated it like a running play)...they felt your LBs were essentially taking themselves out of the play and all they had I do is get one block on the db to spring someone...with at worst putting the runner in a position where he only had to make one guy miss (again with you LBers out of the play there was no support)...I will not say that your takling wasn't an issue but it wasn't the reason for the scheme...your coaches decided to be aggressive and that was a counter punch to that

In game adjustments, imagine that.
 
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