2019 Michigan Wolverines | Speed in Space

[rdnk]

Re: 2019 Michigan Wolverines | Speed in Space

They looked decent in the second half, but they mailed in the first half. I want to believe that this is the TSN turning point of the season where Michigan's offense starts dropping 50 burgers on everyone, but I'm more inclined to believe the second half surge was due to PSU getting lax and some good halftime adjustments by Michigan.

I'm not expecting the second coming of the 2007 Stanford at USC kind of victory from Harbaugh, but throw us a bone once in awhile. The locals are getting restless, but as stated above there are opportunities on the board to quell any sort of rebellion.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: 2019 Michigan Wolverines | Speed in Space

FIRE HARBAUGH!!!!

[ImTellinTim]

Re: 2019 Michigan Wolverines | Speed in Space

A complete game against a good team. Yay!

The entire rest of the season now should be focused on beating MSU and OSU.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: 2019 Michigan Wolverines | Speed in Space

A complete game against a good team. Yay!

The entire rest of the season now should be focused on beating MSU and OSU.

MSU should be a boatrace with the good guys in the speed boat for a change. MSU will have more of their team in the transfer portal than on the field. It's just a really, really bad offense coupled with Mario Dantini's coaching tenure winding to a close.

OSU is clearly the superior team, but I hold out some hope just with the fact that Michigan is a totally different team at home. With possibly spoiling an OSU trip to the CFP on the line, it'll be a spectacle for sure. Maybe we even get an officiating crew of all Michigan-born guys this time?

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: 2019 Michigan Wolverines | Speed in Space

I'm watching old Michigan games on YouTube and man some of those 1990s teams were LOADED. Right now, I'm watching the 1995 season opener against UVa.

The Wolverines had Biakabutuka, Clarence Williams, Chris Howard, Chris Floyd, Jay Riemersma, Amani Toomer, Mercury Hayes, Tai Streets, Jon Runyan, Jon Jansen, Rod Payne, and Brian Griese. Scott Driesbach never really amounted to a whole lot, more of a placeholder between the Todd Collins and Brian Griese "eras." On defense, William Carr, Jarrett Irons, and Jason Horn were collegiate stars that never really did anything in the NFL. Sam Sword and David Bowens also on that team along with a freshman Charles Woodson.

Too bad Ty Law had graduated the year before. Also fun to see Trevor Pryce (later on the Denver Broncos etc) and Jon Ritchie (later on the Raiders) getting their starts at Michigan before transferring.

That UVa team wasn't awful either (Tiki Barber, Ronde Barber, James Farrior, Jamie Sharper, Germaine Crowell).

[rdnk]

Re: 2019 Michigan Wolverines | Speed in Space

Anyone think we have much of a chance next week? The team has played reasonable well since the second half of the PSU game, but I get the feeling we're going to get boat raced like last year.

[TheShizNo1]

Re: 2019 Michigan Wolverines | Speed in Space

I don't see us getting steamrolled like last year. Don Brown has done a great job at mixing **** up and using more zone this year.

If we had a dynamic QB, I'd say we can play spoiler. I've never been a fan of Patterson so maybe this is my bias showing but I don't see him as a guy that can lead us to an upset over OSU.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk

[Sportsbuck]

Re: 2019 Michigan Wolverines | Speed in Space

I really don’t know what to expect this weekend. The weather is projected to be pretty crappy (snow/freezing rain) so that could certainly impact offensive game plans on both sides of the ball.

Some really good matchups in this one though. In particular I’m excited to see Black, Collins, and DPJ against Okudah, Arnette, Wade, and Fuller. That’s a lot of NFL talent going up against each other. Hopefully the weather doesn’t take the passing game out of the equation.

Going up to Ann Arbor always has me nervous. I’m also concerned about OSU looking ahead and getting distracted, because the general consensus is that they could lose to Michigan (as long as it’s not a blowout), and still make the CFP as long as they win the B10. With 18-22 year old kids, those distractions can be tough to get past. And Michigan will definitely be motivated.

Big test for Ryan Day this week. And an unbelievably huge game for Jim Harbaugh as well. I’m excited.

Also, I hope at least one day in my lifetime I get to see OSU/Michigan play in prime time under the lights.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: 2019 Michigan Wolverines | Speed in Space

I'm cautiously optimistic. As I tend to be for these games.

Let's hope the Ryan Day era goes a bit more like the John Cooper era than the Tressel/Meyer ones.

To me, this has all the makings of one of those classic UM-OSU matchups where one team is heavily favored with everything on the line. And the other team comes out, summons a yeoman effort, and steals the game.

OSU is the superior team with superior talent. No getting around that. But, 2/4 of the UM-OSU matches in the Harbaugh era have been super close (J.T.-was-short gate in 2016, almost won in spite of O'Korn in 2017). Even the ones that turned into beat downs (2015, 2018) were really competitive for a half, with some weird special teams stuff drastically changing the momentum.

It's also nice to know that even if Michigan loses again, they'll still be 2-1 against rivals in 2019. People would POUND the 0-5 thing, but, to me, taking care of MSU/ND is a sign of progress considering Michigan had been trash against ANY rivals for quite some time.

[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: 2019 Michigan Wolverines | Speed in Space

Wow, no posts in here since before The Game.

Recapping my thoughts on the team after 9-4 with losses @ WISC, @ PSU, vs OSU, and vs BAMA...

2019 Recap/2020 Outlook: If you want quality losses, we've got them. Not that the team played with quality in those games--usually played good for only one half or so in each game--but losses came against T15 quality teams nonetheless. Road losses in 2 of the toughest road environments in college sport. A loss to a Bama team that was hungrier than usual and a coach with satellite-camp-run-up-the-score vengeance on his mind. A loss to maybe the best OSU team since...2014, 2002, 1995, 1973, 1969, ever? No losses to bad teams, which continues the Harbaugh trend of beating everyone Michigan is supposed to beat. But, the troubling trend of losing to almost everyone we'd like to beat (save for ND and MSU) continued as well. The team looked pretty disjointed early on with a new OC and Shea Patterson playing hurt/missing a bunch of give/pull reads. But, for the most part things got much better after getting run out of Camp Randall Stadium by the Badgers. This past season will be remembered mostly for a bad 1st half against PSU before a frantic comeback capped by a stunning Ronnie Bell drop, a bad 2nd half against a banged-up but still nuclear powered Alabama team, and a bad entire game against arch-enemy Ohio State. Playing both PSU and WISC at home next year probably flips them to the 'W' category. Playing MSU and OSU on the road doesn't really move the needle because MSU leans to 'W' no matter what at this point and OSU has been an auto-loss regardless of where it's been played. Minnesota's quality season and bowl win over Auburn makes the Little Brown Jug game more interesting than it's been in recent memory, barring a goal line stand to end the game. The wild card for 2020 will be starting fast in a hostile environment at Husky Stadium...or not doing that.

Personnel losses: QB Shea Patterson, LT Jon Runyan Jr, LG Ben Bredeson, C Cesar Ruiz (just declared for NFL today), RG Michael Onwenu, TE Sean McKeon, EDGE Josh Uche, VIPER Khaleke Hudson, LB/DT Jordan Glasgow, CB Lavert Hill, S Josh Metellus, K Quinn Nordin, DE Michael Danna, OL Stephen Spanellis (transfer), WR Tarik Black (transfer), DB J'Marick Woods (transfer), LB Jordan Anthony (transfer), TE Mustapha Muhammad (transfer), with likely a few more transfers to come.

Potentially draftable players staying: DE Kwity Paye, TE Nick Eubanks, DL Carlo Kemp (?), DL Michael Dwumfour (?)

Draftable players undecided: WR Nico Collins, WR Donovan Peoples-Jones, DB Ambry Thomas

Outlook on offense for 2020: After a series of hit-and-miss transfer QBs and offensive coordinator/position coach shuffling, the offense figures to settle down a bit in Harbaugh's 6th year in Ann Arbor. Yes, losing Patterson and 4/5 of the best Michigan OL we have seen since Lloyd Carr's teams perhaps 20 years ago will hurt. But, the heir apparent at QB has been in the program for a good while now and whichever one loses the depth chart battle figures to serve as luxurious depth. Pending a transfer, of course. They are both tall enough to see over the OL without bugging out. Finding new bodies for the OL should not be difficult as this is one area where Michigan has recruited both quality and quantity recently. The line won't be as talented or experienced as this year's group, but it's reasonable to expect that Warinner can produce a respectable unit out of these guys. The WR corps could be anywhere from fine to best-in-conference depending on what Nico Collins and Donovan Peoples-Jones decide to do. Even if they both go pro, Bell/Johnson/Sainristil/Jackson/Eubanks should give the new QB and Gattis plenty to work with. The RB room figures to be the best and deepest since Carr era teams as well. Both Haskins and Charbonnet can be bell cows; old head Chris Evans and new recruit Blake Corum figure to add some more speed and shiftiness to the rotation. There won't be enough carries for all these guys much like it was with A Train, Clarence Williams, Chris's Floyd and Howard back in the day.

Outlook on defense for 2020: Most of the defensive front returns (minus Uche and Glasgow; Uche being a situational rush end). A year of development for Mazi Smith/Chris Hinton and scuttlebutt about a possible grad transfer DT (from Stanford?) should shore up the defense's biggest weakness in the middle. Players like David Ojabo and a finally healthy Luiji Vilain could replace a good portion of Uche's pass rush. It would be hard to imagine a Don Brown defense not getting to the QB somehow. Hutchinson and Paye will give Michigan a quality pair of ends that rank with Gary/Winovich and Charlton/Wormley in recent memory. The linebackers should be serviceable at minimum with Cam McGrone and Josh Ross in line to get the lion's share of playing time. Devin Gil has become a special teamer/afterthought, but he and young buck Anthony Solomon could also factor in. Michael Barrett is getting buzz as the next-in-line at VIPER. Another year of Daxton Hill's development figures to add athleticism to the defense not seen since Jabrill Peppers. If Ambry Thomas returns, the secondary should be able to survive the loss of Lavert Hill, who had a great career at UM. The defensive unit has a chance to be better than the 2019 version despite losing Uche/Glasgow/Metellus/Hill/Hudson. If Ambry Thomas leaves along with Vert, then it's anyone's guess how the defense will cover anybody. Somebody out of the Green twins, Hunter Reynolds, Vincent Gray, DJ Turner, Jalen Perry, Sammy Faustin, Quinten Johnson group will have to emerge. Although Brad Hawkins and Dax Hill should be decent at safety.