This was a much better outcome than I predicted. I'm pleasantly surprised that Michigan kept it much closer than I thought the game would be.
35-21 IU.
No emotion here, no anger.
Michigan is rebuilding, and I find it hard to understand people who don't understand this idea.
IU has the veteran players, the developed coaching system with a staff assembled elsewhere- and the home field advantage.
Since I myself expected and predicted a 31-14 loss, last night's outcome was a pleasant surprise- Complete with emerging and improving performers.
Glad to see T.J. Guy finally having a breakout season.
Ike Iwunna is a great run defender. Cam Brandt is showing signs as a first-year end (RS freshman). Apparently, players are developing.
Earnest Hausmann has become a star LB, while Barham has improved as the coaching staff has learned where and how he's most effective.
People choose to continue to pile onto the offense, but unless a walk-on to walk-on battery of QB to WR is the FUTURE of the program, then I have no idea why, at this late point of the season to hurl more insults at an obviously talent-starved situation.
It's as if nobody saw the intense forward focus on the QB and WR position in the way Michigan has been recently recruiting- This idea that those errant passes missed by Davis Warren yesterday signals the limits of the offense we saw yesterday is pure ignorance. The usual illigic follows- Complaints about wide open WRs being missed is not an offense problem- It's a
This idea that this QB room was put together by Moore, when Jim Harbaugh personally picked his QB to a man- Carter Smith was a Harbaugh guy.
Underwood from whom multiple reports thought Harbaugh was "weird" (he is) had floated away from Michigan as a recruit before recent weeks.
We are rumored already to have a 100% improvement at QB already leaning toward Michigan in the portal months before the offseason starts.
This idea that Michigan fans can't close their eyes and see what an obvious difference a Miller Moss would've made as far as getting those wide-open passes completed, just shows how many don't understand college football, or football at all, for that matter.
Michigan fans scream about "execution" this far into the season, and complain about how it's lacking...I keep reading about how "players are making the same mistakes"...But this argument doesn't stand if the group of players changes from week-to -week, and play-to-play.
I listened to the color commentator yesterday. He was confused as to who was going to snap the ball for Michigan a play after Crippen limped off the field, explaining that the backup C (Giudice) was playing for injured G El Hadi. The idea that we had three different C's snap the ball DUE TO INJURY means
something. We all know that both starting (Gentry) and Backup (Persi) RTs are injured.
Ignorantly a play or two later, the same people wonder why this OL can't push players off the line, with it third string RT, backup G, third string backup C all on the field, it should be self-explanatory. But the "no excuses" generation wants to approach this thing as if Moore is coaching last season's line (1 injury) or the previous seasons' lines with no injuries.
Most sensible people would understand that, after losing our top 6 OL from last season the top 5 this season had to remain just as healthy to be effective. If not, and 4-5 starters get hurt, the line is playing a bunch of combinations, the talent and experience level drops, and cohesiveness (a must for OLs) suffers...
Well duh. of course it does.
Most people would understand that Davis Warren, while a good story will be nowhere near the talent of the elite portal and recruit QB signees that Michigan is currently aggressively pursuing.
He's a walk on, of course he won't be. We all know he's not going to be Stetson Bennett...or at least
sensible people know this. Coaching isn't holding back Warren's talent, and Moss and/or Underwood could fall out of the bed and complete some of the wide-open passes Warren missed on.
The same people who were super concerned with the "Jimmies and Joes" aspect are now oddly abandoning their stance on how important elite recruits are to put the blame on the coaches, and not on QB talent- The weird calls come from a place where Michigan has no answer amongst the collection of QBs Harbaugh had put together and left (too late to address in the portal) this QB room for the remaining staff.
We all know that there's no answer in the Michigan QB room. There's no "scheming up" the lack of talent at QB. Each week people act stunned a surprised at the QB play. Many of these same people have been screaming about what was then the future QB room of 2024 since January of 2023 (after signing day).
It's sad and funny at the same time as Warren HAS improved to the point where he can complete a bunch of passes without turning the ball over- But this does not make him a Miller Moss-level QB, who despite having a supposedly "bad" season, he has still thrown for 2555 yards, 18 TDs and 9 INTs, which would put Michigan passing O in a completely different light.
That said, Tiger Campbell needs to be demoted to Assistant OC/QB coach, and Michigan needs to hire an assistant head coach/OC to take over the structure of the O. With a QB that can throw a forward pass, the offense very well could look more sensible.
IMHO, screaming really loudly about a deficiency the team has before the game, followed by screaming even more loudly after the game when that deficiency unsurprisingly shows up during the game is disingenuous, and emotionally immature.
Most would be encouraged that the secondary, minus Will and Rod Moore has held up better and better as the season has continued. Perhaps the young/new players have adapted to the new defensive backs coach better than the veterans who had to adjust to a new voice/philosophy after 3 seasons of coaching under Coach clink...
Maybe slow the rush to fire Lamar Morgan?
There's a logical combination of growing pains for younger players (thus kicking out the "lack of talent" argument) and injury issues for older ones- Bad luck which reminds me of 2020- Michigan had a
roster with Blake Corum, Haskins, Hutch and Paye, and Zinter, and Keegan, and D,J, Turner, and Dax Hill, and Ronnie Bell, and David Ojabo, and Cade Mac were all on that terrible 2020 team. I won't even mention Barrett and Sainristil, because they had not yet even moved to the defensive side of the ball.
I saw poor discipline, missed tackles, turnovers, penalties, etc from that core group of 2020 players, PLUS I wasn't lost on the idea that both Paye and Hutch went down that season with injury. Turner, Cade and Ojabo had not developed yet. Keegan and Zinter weren't dominant yet. Haskins was not yet considered a lead back (he was behind Charbonnet who also was "greater later" for UCLA).
One season later- Two new coordinators and a more developed group of young players (including an elite QB recruit) turned the whole thing around...We all watched it.
Looking at the young talent emerging this season as well as the promise of the 2025 recruiting/portal class, I see another 2022/2023 level of talent and experience infusing the program and I'm encouraged about how the roster will look as soon as next season. add to that a real OC, and a non-placeholder DC - Wink was an obvious stopgap, as he isn't even trying to act as if he's trying to recruit.
These obvious and most probably
coming changes have me bullish on this team. Graham and Grant are great and will be missed, but I can't count Will as a "loss" from this season, as the secondary has held up without him and young players have improved. Colston will be missed, but TE is not a sore spot on this roster.
Besides, the passing game needs to be overhauled to the point where QB1, QB2, WR1, and WR2 are all players who aren't on this season's roster, and the offensive coordinator is someone who isn't in the program. I'm hoping that next season's offense is unrecognizable to this season's version, and through Moore's recruiting actions, it seems he feels the same way.
