Jake Butt gives his 2 cents on Michigan film. Says we're closer than what might appear but clearly not close enough.

Fixable mistakes. Coaches and locker room leaders need to step up.

- We are currently (edit) 2 point favorites over a Lincoln Riley USC team with a prolific offense that has hired a competent defensive coordinator and looks to have improved there. This blew me away.
- Our FEI rating (drive by drive efficiency) has us #6 nationally right now.
- SP+ another efficiency rating, has us 13th

We may be OK. Wink needs to earn his money and figure out the right level of complexity that he can role out and not slow down or screw up his kids, Newsome and Moore need film time and we need to protect the football and Warren needs to keep getting reps.

The ridiculous schedule will probably keep us out of the playoff for sure, but this team and program are likely just fine - as long as Sherrone can manage the cohesiveness and improvement effectively.

Jim Scarcelli joins the show and breaks down the film of Michigan's loss to Texas.
Breakdown
Open 00:00-4:24
Feedback 4:25-14:37
UM"s opponents 14:38-21:26
Film review 21:27-1:14:33
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Back to fundamentals for Michigan.

Start with protecting the ball. If you take away the turnovers and the resultant points it's a much more manageable situation.

Michigan's offense still put up nearly 300 yards against one of the best defenses in college football.

It wasn't pretty but there's hope to salvage this season.

Most of our opponents are inferior to Texas, some substantially inferior.

Fundamentals can get us to 9 wins this season and give us a shot at 10.

We basically need to be a version of the 2021 Cade McNamara led Wolverines.

It all starts with protecting the ball.

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Good for him.

Michigan is a 22.5 favorite against Arkansas State on Saturday.
What are the trends as Michigan looks to bounce back from its first regular season loss since 2021.
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Only 19.5 point favorites against Arkansas State....yikes

While yesterday was bad, I am not going to hang my head or just throw in the towel. I still believe in this team and I have faith that things will turn around.

Adversity builds character and I believe this will make us better in the long haul. Just have faith everyone!


Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1

God bless you!!

There are a couple of things I think can give a SLIVER of hope.

The D played much better on first and second down than they did on third down. Many times in this game, it was third and seven or more. Wink called a terrible third down D.

Davis Warren throws a nice ball, but his game hasn't slowed yet. He is rushing. A couple of times, he left the pocket early, but he was able to make something out of it. His arm isn't the problem; his accuracy isn't the problem. His reads need to improve, and he has to be able to go through his progressions. The more reps he gets, the better.

Mullings moves the chains. They HAVE to give him more opportunities.

The USC game will define our season. We are sunk unless the D can get off the field in that game, but I have hope.

The passing game isn’t going to be good unless JJ walks back in that door.

To me, the question is how do you develop the most dynamic, functional offense with the talent at hand, not how to maintain a balanced offense just for sake of balance.

The talent of UM is in the backfield and tight end. I’d make my primary unit Orji, with Mullings and Edwards in the backfield and just go heavy power spread option. Throw the ball 12-15 times a game and keep it simple—one read to Loveland or a wr occasionally, and if not there, tuck it and go. Mix in an occasional wr screen.

The logic is simple. We do nothing well on offense. We need to develop something we can do well even if the price is “balance”. Going with Orji gives us some potential for explosiveness in the running game and you just hope for marginal improvement in the passing game.

David Warren is a MAC or lower level B1G qb with no upside as a runner or passer. If this was 2003 or 2005 or even 2016, maybe you can trust him to manage the game and rely on the other guys. The other guys aren’t good enough this year. We will have no explosion with Warren in the run or pass game—Orji gives us some upside in the run game.

Moore should start over next week given the opponent. His OC is trying to pound a square peg into a round hole. We’re not taking advantage of the few areas where we have good talent on offense.

Would this change mean 10 wins? No but I think we’d get good enough running that we could get to 7, maybe 8, and maybe you steal one you’re not supposed. And Orji has some upside.

Warren at qb means a struggle every week after next week. There simply is nothing for the defense to fear in the run or pass game.

a few observations...

1) Mike Locksley seemed to have lost some weight since last season.
2) Bret Bielema seems to have found it.
3) Kind of glad Illinois' coaching staff wore blue when the team was in all orange. If the coaches wore orange, I think we'd have a Great Pumpkin sighting. Charlie Brown, where are you?
4) While M did not play well, there seems to be issues on other campuses, right Oregon, ND, and dare I even say PSU. Bama even looked like it was sleep walking for 3 quarters.
5) Beside the Loss the second worst thing coming out of the M/Texas game was that it made Rick Neuheisel look smart.
6) Was it just me of did Texas' OL look massive. tough to get around guys like that who can pass block and have the QB play they did. We should be thankful Ewers left OSu, although I still feel Day would not have utilized him as good as Sark has.
7) Say waht you will about MSU and Chiles, Marsh at WR is the real deal and given time they are a good combination. Never saw that game being close. Chiles is still turnover prone.
8) some of the teams ranked 15-25 in the polls really seem to have a lot of fleas in their own right. Could be why they will be in and out of those numbers all season. Right Iowa?
9) don't look know, but that Nebraska vs OSU game in a few weeks could be a lot more interesting than I thought at the start of the season. Clearly the Huskers seem to be on an uptrend. They won't win the conference, but this is not your Scott Frost Nebraska team.
10) Oklahoma is one of those 15-25 ranked teams which is overrated IMO. They'll come down to earth soon.

Let's be thankful for another week of football and a team we should beat. We have too many players on this team to assume what we've seen to date is what we are going to get all year. Remember it's going to take some time. We've all watched college football too long to know that some teams stumble out of the gate before getting their footing, which should be an expectation this year with losing 13 players to the draft and our head coach. This doesn't mean we are losing our culture, but an acknowledgement of the amount of change that has occurred to get back to the performance we expect.

Oh, and stop running Edwards between the tackles, that's what Mullings is for. That is all, have a great Monday!

GO BLUE!!!!

Michigan lost its first regular season game since Saturday, 2021, against Texas.
And for the first time since starting that season unranked, the Wolverines are outside the AP Top 10.
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I never post in a game day post for obvious reasons. Can get too emotional and people tend to attack young kids. Even Tuttle can e lumped in there. Coaches on the other hand are fair game because they're getting paid the big bucks.

1. Kirk Campbell should know his players strengths but I'm not seeing evidence of that. I'll start with the Orji keeper. He got stuffed on the first one, no big deal except they ran the same play again and got the same defensive call the second time. What did he do to counter that move? Nothing and there in lies one problem.

2, There appeared to be few route trees that ran past 15 yards and when they did run them there appeared to be a window to make a significant gain if executed properly. Ron Bellamy is WR coach and he has to take some of the blame. JMO but I like Davis under center rather than shotgun. One less thing for Davis to worry about and one less thing for a new starter at center to worry about.

3. Speaking of Davis he looked like a deer in the headlights. Right now he needs a full time QB coach and not a guy also trying to be an offensive coordinator. Campbell needs to be at his side every minute the NCAA allows us to practice and should be sitting at his side for every second Davis is watching film. If I disagree with anything Moore has done as HC the decision of Campbell as OC in at the top of my list. Moore knew coming into this season the QB room needed a FULL time coach. No Harbs to back anyone up.

4. Never thought for a second that we could repeat as NC but a great season to set us up for 26 & 27.

5. Speaking of 26 and 27. We've been recruiting well down south but I think we're giving Texas, Bama and Georgia an opportunity to swoop in and take our top talent.

who with any talent wants to come and play at Michigan?

Honest Question...

My point of view.

We had a historic run, from 2021, due to one of the greatest coaches in football being allowed to stay, and historic players.

We got a Natty!

We got used to winning. Which is fine.

Lost half of our starting roster. Generational QB, great RB, OL, best nickel CB in Michigan history, great leader on DL, and great leader LB.

Lost almost all our coaches, including a great head coach.

We drew probably the best team in the nation for our second game. New OL, new QB, new WR, new LB, secondary mostly new.

We will re-cock for next week.

Many forget the early losses to Miami, ND, and FSU, in the 80’s and 90’s; but UM had good seasons.

I have faith…but even if we lose a few more, my butt will be in the stands, cheering them on until 0:00 on the clock. (I never leave early. In 2019, OSU, I stayed, until 0:00.)

You may not like it, but trust the process. If your not willing to go for the ride during the tough times, then don’t ride with us during good times.

(You can be mad, frustrated, etc. I don’t like losing, but don’t give up after one loss.)

Just my two cents.

Try to go at least 8-4.

beat msu.

First, a lot of this board has lost its collective mind right now.

Michigan was going to have to play a near perfect game to win against a legitimate NC contender. Fact is, Michigan is going to have to develop, in every aspect. They were outclassed and outcoached. Usually when you play a better football team, you're going to get beat.

Texas' gameplan. Wow. Hats off to Sark on this one. He managed to take Michigan's 3 best defensive players totally out of the game. G&G in the game, sling the ball quick to Hill's side or attack the perimeter with the run. G&G out of the game, run inside and test Michigan's depth players. This wasn't helped at all by Wink's game plan. They managed to get Texas in more third and long than I care to count and he drops back to play coverage. Even if the front flushed Ewers, the back end can't cover those receivers that long. They're too talented and that TE is a total mismatch vs damn near anyone. They didn't give Johnson a chance to affect the game at all and by the late second quarter, it was obvious Michigan was going to need a play from the defense to stay in it.

I think Wink overthought this game. Gus and Klatt were talking about how he was going to change up the game plan completely at half. I mean, seriously? The game of football isn't that complicated conceptually. It is, however, very difficult to execute and a poor plan can overexpose your team to unnecessary risks. By the end of the first drive, it was evident the only thing that was going to stop Ewers was to get him on the ground before he could get the ball out because he was deadly accurate. What does Wink do? Third and a mile after third and a mile, rush 4, rush 3 and Ewers ate them alive. In the second quarter, Michigan's defense had been on the field over 40 plays. Most starters last season averaged about 30 in a game on the line. The game was really summed up on a play in the second half where Wink brought pressure from Ewers right side and as he rolled out, 3 Mich players all ran into each other instead of getting what should've been a sack but at worst a throwaway.

Offensively, may have been one of the worst game plans I've seen in 4 years out of Michigan football. I don't care who the QB is, you can't allow the defense to only have to defend within 10 yards of the LOS. Michigan's best drive was easily their second which ended in a FG. They actually showed some creativity and threw the ball downfield with a flea flicker to a wide open receiver. Later on, Semaj was wide open on a layered route that Warren overthrew (a throw we've been spoiled to see JJ make time and again the last 2 years). The last TD was a downfield throw where Semaj eventually beat his man after Warren bought some time. Beyond those few plays, Michigan's offense didn't test the depth of Texas' defense. Perhaps this is Campbell not wanting to expose Warren to risks downfield but hell, no one is expecting you to win this game so what's the problem? It even looked as if the team responded better when they tried to attack the defense vertically. The line blocked better. Receivers got open. Warren threw the ball confidently, even if off target. This is on Campbell to find out just what kind of team he has and what they do well. He may need to adapt his philosophy a bit.

Davis Warren...

Some of you may not want to hear this but you're going to have to deal, Warren is their best chance to win and it's not even a question. No good football team is going to be afraid of the Alex Orji package. Michigan is completely one dimensional when he is in the game and Texas was all over this. There was only one play he ran where he even had a seam but the pulling lineman got ran into and couldn't get to his block to get the play started. Other teams, even less talented ones, will key on this. People have to keep in mind, with the exception of last week, Warren hasn't played meaningful snaps in this decade. Gus and Klatt even mentioned it. He did show flashes that he can be a pretty good QB. The 4th down where he rolled to the right, didn't give up on the play, stopped short of the sideline and threw a very tight window throw to Loveland was an outstanding football play. He repeated this same thing two more times, one went for a first down and the other for a TD. You know he has the chops and head space to play the position. He is going to have growing pains, though. Is he JJ? No. Will he become JJ? Probably not, few QBs will ever be. If those flashes become the norm instead of just flashes, can he be good and lead this team to some wins? I think so. But there is no question he's the best QB on the roster and he has some talent. This isn't a Cade/JJ situation. He's not O'Korn who probably would've given up on a few of those plays, particularly late in the game. Warren needs reps, a lot of them.

Finally, this is where Moore is going to have to cut his teeth a bit. Michigan hasn't lost a regular season game since 2021. I did like to see Warren fight for that drive at the end. I liked seeing Morgan fight for that TD. I liked seeing the defense get a few stops in the second half despite the fact they were exhausted. This was easily the worst game Michigan has played since 2020. Seriously, your best player and All American TE simply dropped the ball on a play that would've gone for a first down when they still had a chance. If they score on that drive, despite how the game looked, they could've gone into halftime only down 7. Instead, Texas gets the ball on Michigan's 30 and scores themselves right before half. Moore is going to have to regroup these guys and learn from this.

In every facet of the game, Michigan is going to have to play better than this and they are a much better football team than what was displayed yesterday. On to next week. Go Blue.

We are now 7 pt dogs. At home. As defending champs. With what is widely considered one of top 2 or 3 defenses in nation. With a 29 game regular season win streak. Wow. That is really some lack of respect Put it on the bulletin board. Prove them all wrong. Again. LFG

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