THE GAME #118: #3 Michigan Wolverines (11-0) @ #2 Ohio State Buckeyes (11-0)

[Motor City Sonics]

33 minutes ago, Hongbit said:

By the 2028 election cycle, he will be out of coaching and into politics as the new face of the Michigan GOP.   

He's been talking about God a lot lately.    He started doing that when more questions about Dr. Anderson came up

[romad1]

33 minutes ago, Hongbit said:

By the 2028 election cycle, he will be out of coaching and into politics as the new face of the Michigan GOP.   

By 2028 the GOP will be arguing over the propriety of witch burnings of uppity women who backsass.

[buddha]

can we please leave the politics in the tire fire that is the political forum?

[RandyMarsh]

Game peaked at 19 million viewers, Fox says it's the most watched CFB in their history and most watched regular season CFB game period since 2011. 

[gehringer_2]

7 minutes ago, RandyMarsh said:

Game peaked at 19 million viewers, Fox says it's the most watched CFB in their history and most watched regular season CFB game period since 2011. 

That's would be about 80% of the total population of Ohio and Michigan. I do wonder what the ratio of MI+OH eyeballs to the total was.

[Motor City Sonics]

47 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

That's would be about 80% of the total population of Ohio and Michigan. I do wonder what the ratio of MI+OH eyeballs to the total was.

I am thinking at the end of the game it was mostly MI

[MichiganCardinal]

6 hours ago, djhutch said:

All the losing M has done to O over the last 20 years has made me a lot less cheeky than I used to be, but I really do think there's something to Harbaugh's quote about "Being born on 3B & thinking you hit a triple."  I believe Ryan Day is a good coach, but he is not NEARLY the coach the media thinks he is - or maybe that HE thinks he is.  There's been a smugness to his demeanor since he took over.  The Big Ten has not forced him to prove it until, as you said, M has.  Harbaugh has brought an NFL mindset to replace the kind of scheme mindset that Don Brown had.  When something isn't working, you stop doing it & try something else.  Day has not had to adjust at all for 3 years & now he's being exposed.  

I think this is exactly right. It's not that Day is a "bad" coach. You don't go 42-5 across four seasons in the B1G as a bad football coach. But he inherited a well-oiled machine that could coach itself if it really needed to.

For more than a decade, it was Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, and the field. From 2009 to 2018, those three schools won 8 of 10 championships. If you were a 5* athlete who wanted to win an FBS national championship, those were your three options to go do it, unless you planned on catching lightning in a bottle. It's why I'm on the record (though maybe on the old forum) as saying I didn't think Michigan stood a chance against Ohio State until the playoff expanded. It was like we were in the Minor Leagues and they were in the Majors. It didn't have to be Day as the figurehead for Ohio State. You could put anyone in that role, and they walk into CJ Stroud's living room and say "look what we do!", you've got a really good chance at securing them.

When Urban left in 2018, that was the machine and system that Day walked into. And he's done a great job of changing absolutely nothing. They continue to recruit exactly how they did before and they continue to walk all over 12 of their opponents in the B1G. It's Michigan - Jim Harbaugh specifically - that has adapted and said "that's who we need to beat and this is how we are going to do it".

Now the ball is in Day's court to show whether he can adapt too in this chess match, or whether being stuck on 3rd base will define his OSU legacy.

[lordstanley]

Some good moments in this one. My favorite might be at the 3:14 mark, with fans getting up and headed to the aisles to leave while Edwards is still in the endzone after this 2nd long TD. I hope the distracted driver didn't drive off the road and up on to a sidewalk or something

 

[romad1]

There is a story on MGOBLOG quoting an OSU fan on Reddit (so yeah, super legit...but hey) that says that the decision to punt in Michigan territory while down 24-20 was botched fake in which the long snapper mistakenly snapped to the punter instead of the guy who was supposed to get the ball.   According to this version of events Harbaugh knew about this from some source and told media that they dodged a big play there.  

Might be a big deal.  Lets enjoy that Fate gave us a gift if true.

Sources for this devilry

https://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/osu-bungled-fake-punt-might-have-changed-game

 

[romad1]

1 minute ago, romad1 said:

There is a story on MGOBLOG quoting an OSU fan on Reddit (so yeah, super legit...but hey) that says that the decision to punt in Michigan territory while down 24-20 was botched fake in which the long snapper mistakenly snapped to the punter instead of the guy who was supposed to get the ball.   According to this version of events Harbaugh knew about this from some source and told media that they dodged a big play there.  

Might be a big deal.  Lets enjoy that Fate gave us a gift if true.

Sources for this devilry

https://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/osu-bungled-fake-punt-might-have-changed-game

 

The quote from Harbaugh from another source

https://247sports.com/college/michigan/LongFormArticle/Jim-Harbaugh-reflects-on-Ohio-State-win-previews-Big-Ten-Championship-Game-198850676/#198850676_5

Quote

We got so lucky. One of the fourth downs, they had a fake on. And they had us. I mean they had us cold. 

We were prepared for it. We knew the fake was coming just by the personnel that was there. We had four practices, four meetings. And not one of us saw it. Nobody on the field saw it, and they had us cold.

I think their snapper snapped to the wrong guy, snapped it to the punter instead of to the faker, but it would have been a huge gain. We got extremely lucky. 

They actually were going for it and would have pulled off a big fourth down conversion.

We're kicking ourselves for not identifying it like we should have. We got super lucky. 

It’s not a question of coaching decision. They had decided — had it really wired to to work. We had it wired to stop. We could have really stopped it. And then when they did snap it to their punter, we really should have blocked it. 

 

[romad1]

So...in the world I live in...a primary source plus another source is generally reasonable corroboration.  SO, I called Ryan Day and ... JK.

[CMRivdogs]

A nice payday for Harbaugh

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/bigten/2022/11/26/michigan-coach-jim-harbaugh-bonus-ohio-state-win/10780731002/

Quote

For a second consecutive year, Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh’s list of incentive bonuses earned will start with a $500,000 payment for winning the Big Ten Conference East Division title —  a goal again achieved with a victory over archrival Ohio State.

Saturday’s win, Michigan’s first in Columbus since 2000, gives Harbaugh the chance to repeat his 2021-22 bonus bonanza of more than $2.2 million. Most of that would come if the Wolverines claim a second consecutive Big Ten championship next weekend. That title gives Harbaugh a $1 million bonus. Because it would also put Michigan into the College Football Playoff semifinals, Harbaugh’s separate bowl-appearance bonus would be $500,000.

Quote

Harbaugh’s bonus structure has its origins in the contract he and Michigan negotiated prior to the 2021 season – a deal also included Harbaugh’s basic annual pay being cut by $4.05 million. As part of that arrangement, Harbaugh’s incentives were dramatically increased from the $125,000 he had been able to receive if the Wolverines played in the Big Ten title game and the additional $125,000 he had been able to get if they won it.

 

Edited November 28, 2022 by CMRivdogs

[gehringer_2]

Interesting, though Harbaugh is being a little dismissive of this own team there. Even if OSU makes the snap for the fake, it's still no gimme that some number of M players don't combine to make a play anyway or a guy doesn't run over the back of his own blocker and fall or whatever. Sure it might have worked, but no play, esp a trick play, is ever a total guarantee.

[romad1]

19 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

Interesting, though Harbaugh is being a little dismissive of this own team there. Even if OSU makes the snap for the fake, it's still no gimme that some number of M players don't combine to make a play anyway or a guy doesn't run over the back of his own blocker and fall or whatever. Sure it might have worked, but no play, esp a trick play, is ever a total guarantee.

Ryan Day's in a box too.  If he admits his longsnapper screwed up he's calling out his player. 

[Mr.TaterSalad]

Of all the changes Harbaugh made to get Michigan back on track, finally firing Don Brown was such a huge and positive change. Can you imagine Don Brown coaching this game the last two seasons? He'd have blitzed his way into a loss. Props to Jim Harbaugh for finally recognizing that Dr. Blitz was making his defense worse and making the change. Also props to him keeping the same defensive system in place when Mike McDonald left and he brought in Jesse Minter.

[romad1]

The UFR for the offense for last year's game was f'in awesome.  I can only imagine what this year's will be like. 

[MichiganCardinal]

 

This is really well done.... if you're a Michigan fan.

[Mr.TaterSalad]

I've been reflecting a lot on this game, last year's game, what has changed for Harbaugh and why Michigan is now winning. I'm not saying anything new that hasn't already been said here or elsewhere. It's just after spending the past 3 years mercilessly criticizing Jim Harbaugh and his decisions, both on and off the field, I feel I need to air this out there somewhere in the universe. After pounding the desk for Harbaugh to be fired and replaced with Luke Fickell, I owe Harbaugh some props for making changes we all wanted to see and righting the ship at Michigan. If only to make myself feel better I want to share what I feel Harbaugh has done to turn Michigan around and be highly successful these past 2 years. These changes are obviously positive and for the better and are in no particular order of importance.

Developing a good starting QB of his own

When Jim Harbaugh first came to Michigan one of the things we were led to believe is that he was a QB whisperer. He was a guy who played the QB position in college at Michigan and in the NFL. His specialty was developing QBs as witnessed by the likes of Andrew Luck at Stanford and Colin Kapernick in the NFL. From the gate, Harbaugh seemingly abandon the idea of developing a homegrown talent and looked outside the program for his starting QB.

First it was Jake Rudock coming in from Iowa, giving him the nod over the homegrown player in Shane Morris. Then in 2016 it was the QB battle between the homegrown Wilton Speight and John O'Korn, the transfer from Houston. O'Korn gets hurt and Harbaugh has his hand forced into playing Speight, but Speight is nothing special and is part of the reason we gaged away the Iowa game, costing us the Big Ten Championship. 2017 roles around and now we have 3 guys competing for the starting QB job with O'Korn, Speight, and Brandon Peters. Harbaugh again mismanages the situation, starts all 3 at one point or another during the season, and gives no one time to truly develop and get in rhythm as the starter.

2018 starts a new season with yet another transfer QB winning the starting job, this time it's the ever inaccurate Shea Patterson. To the dismay of everyone and for reasons only known to Harbaugh himself, he passes on giving Brandon Peters or Dylan McCaffery the opportunity to develop and start and stubbornly sticks with Patterson for two straight seasons. In 2019 it's Shea Patterson again and Harbaugh has hit rock bottom at the QB position with Patterson completing only 56% of his passes that year. 

In 2020 we finally get our wish as fans and Harbaugh, from day one, starts his own recruit at QB with Joe Milton. The trouble is, Milton isn't any good at all and whatever coaching Harbaugh did with him during the offseason clearly didn't work. We got our wish to have a homegrown kid at QB and he was flat out terrible. He couldn't process the defense, never worked through progressions, looked rattled in the pocket, made poor decisions, and was wildly inaccurate.

In 2021 and 2022 though, something finally sticks and Harbaugh gets it right. We get the best combination of having a homegrown kid with real talent, good in-game decision making, and great coaching from Harbaugh and company coming together. First with Cade McNamara and then with JJ McCarthy. Jim Harbaugh's commitment to stick both of these guys for full seasons each was huge. Yes, JJ got limited playing time in 2021, on scheme-specific plays. But for the most part, Jim Harbaugh trusted Cade McNamara, stuck with him and allowed him to develop throughout the season. The same can be said this year for JJ.

Firing Don Brown and changing defensive schemes

This cannot be understated. Don Brown, Dr. Blitz, was almost singlehandedly killing this team and putting us in a position to lose with his blitz at all costs approach to defensive coaching. Michigan became famous for getting eaten alive over the middle of the field and getting destroyed with crossing routes. It became comical against Ohio State with Brown's defenses surrendering 118 points in two seasons, between 2018 and 2019. I'm all for being aggressive and dialing up blitz packages, but Brown was putting his players in bad positions, having them overrun the play, be out of place on coverage, or have offensive players left wide open because of his commitment to blitzing. And when things got ugly as they did against Ohio State, Penn State, or Michigan State, Brown never made in-game adjustments. Blitzing at all costs can work when you are beating up on teams that aren't as good as you are or those with poor offensive lines. Unfortunately for Brown and Harbaugh, that wasn't Ohio State, Michigan State, or Penn State and it cost them dearly in important games. Under Brown's watch you saw talented 5* and 4* players underachieve as well, like Rashan Gary and Aubrey Solomon. Look at the defensive line play and productivity with Hutch and Ojabo versus the likes of Gary and Solomon.

When Harbaugh finally recognized that Don Brown was the problem he fired him and went to his brother John Harbaugh for help. John essentially loaned him Mike McDonald for a season and things, with largely the same personnel, immediately improved. McDonald brought a new scheme, less reliant on blitzing, and more about making adjustments based on who your opponent is to put your kids in the best position to succeed. And what happened, outside of one game with Kenneth Walker going crazy, Michigan's defense looked great for the entire season. This was most especially true during the Ohio State game at season's end. When Mike McDonald left, Harbaugh replaced him with Jesse Minter and things picked right up from where McDonald had left them.

Sticking with an offensive system and developing an offensive identity

Another important aspect of Harbaugh's coaching decisions was his decision to finally build and stick with an offensive identity. We went threw several Offensive Coordinators from Tim Drevno to Pep Hamilton and changes in scheme with each. Gone are the days of the Spread Offense, Spread Option, and the Wildcat. Instead, Harbaugh has finally created an identity with Josh Gattis/Matt Weiss/Sharone Moore and recruited the right players to fit with the scheme. We became a slower paced, ball control, physical, dominate at the line of scrimmage and in between the tackles type of offense. We committed to running the ball which grinds the game out, wears down the opposing defense, and eats up the clock more. We started playing bully ball and used the run to then setup the pass, lots of play action, and now bootlegs with JJ when we do throw it. Building an identity around the running game and becoming a more physical offense with our offensive line has really been to Michigan's benefit in big game situations against Ohio State these past two years. Even when Josh Gattis left, the offensive system largely stayed the same and we adjusted to skillset of JJ.

Better in-game coaching decisions

We've all witnessed the baffling in-game decisions from Jim Harbaugh. From having Wilton Speight throw it out of the back of his own end zone to not being in max protect on a punt to our head coach generally looking lost in space during a game. Harbaugh has apparently adjusted his mindset and approach to the way he coaches in game and has cut down on the number of coaching mishaps and head scratching mistakes. He has seemingly gotten his head in a clearer space while coaching in-game.

Recruiting better running backs and offensive lineman

This is another part of Harbaugh's offensive change that has elevated this team. Hassan Haskins, Blake Corum, and Donavan Edwards are simply better than the guys that came before them. Harbaugh has recruited and coached up better backs, running behind better olines. Michigan has developed their physical, ball control offense and now has the talent on the line and in the backfield to execute what they want to do.

Cutting down on the goofy behavior

Trips to Europe during the offseason and sleeping over at recruits homes were just some of the examples of the eccentric behavior displayed by Jim Harbaugh during his first several years at Michigan. Most of that appears to be done and he is back to the basics. He appears more focused on better game planning and game management. He is allowing his programs record and standing on the field to speak for itself more on the recruiting trail.

Edited December 1, 2022 by Mr.TaterSalad