Bowl games...

[tarun262]

A few thoughts given the bowl announcements:

1. Is there a way both teams could lose in a Bowl Game? That is what I want when OSU and Notre Dame play each other.
2. Michigan State - wow this might be their year. Kirby Smart is going to be the HC at Georgia and he will coach Bama in the game...not sure that is a good idea. Does he want to really "show" his best stuff when he knows he is headed out to a competitor. Why would he want Bama to have any success. MSU might just pull off an upset here and I think they can handle either Clemson or Oklahoma.
3. Michigan - Florida. Florida's defense is very tough especially their corners. This game will boil down to Rudock-Butt, if we can get that moving and going, we will have a chance otherwise we may not score a single point because their corners are top notch in the country. On defense, we should have some success against given their QB can't really throw that well, however, I would not be surprised if they run the option and up-tempo offense just to throw us off. Any word on Rudock? Hopefully it was nothing serious and fortunately he will have a good 5 weeks to recover from whatever ailed him. Go Blue!!!

 

[GoBlueJagaloon]

On MSU, if they're in the playoff then Im probably rooting for them to win it.
As far as Michigan goes Im fine with rekindling our little rivalry with Florida. They are a solid SEC team and would make a nice statement win for Harbaughs 10 win season.

 

[Code Blue]

A few thoughts given the bowl announcements:

1. Is there a way both teams could lose in a Bowl Game? That is what I want when OSU and Notre Dame play each other.
2. Michigan State - wow this might be their year. Kirby Smart is going to be the HC at Georgia and he will coach Bama in the game...not sure that is a good idea. Does he want to really "show" his best stuff when he knows he is headed out to a competitor. Why would he want Bama to have any success. MSU might just pull off an upset here and I think they can handle either Clemson or Oklahoma.
3. Michigan - Florida. Florida's defense is very tough especially their corners. This game will boil down to Rudock-Butt, if we can get that moving and going, we will have a chance otherwise we may not score a single point because their corners are top notch in the country. On defense, we should have some success against given their QB can't really throw that well, however, I would not be surprised if they run the option and up-tempo offense just to throw us off. Any word on Rudock? Hopefully it was nothing serious and fortunately he will have a good 5 weeks to recover from whatever ailed him. Go Blue!!!

Call me Mr. Pessimistic, but I hate this matchup in this location. Might as well play it in Gainesville. Yeah, I know we've beaten them in Fla. before, but this is not that team. Expect the blowout bowl beatings from the SEC to continue for us this year. How is Florida not in the Sugar Bowl??? Ole' Miss??? Puhleez!

 

[anon_sg4bgyiuileo1]

Call me Mr. Pessimistic, but I hate this matchup in this location. Might as well play it in Gainesville. Yeah, I know we've beaten them in Fla. before, but this is not that team. Expect the blowout bowl beatings from the SEC to continue for us this year. How is Florida not in the Sugar Bowl??? Ole' Miss??? Puhleez!

Uhhh, yeah. That Florida team was the defending NC lead by Meyer, Tebow and Harvin. They're not "that team" either.

 

[tarun262]

The Mattison defense has a tendency to make every QB look like a Heisman winner (remember Rutgers & Maryland last year where their QBs looked all-world against us) so that part still freaks me out and since we can't create any turnovers Rudock will have to manage the game properly. This will come down to Special Teams potentially.

 

[ChicagoBlueFan]

The Mattison defense has a tendency to make every QB look like a Heisman winner (remember Rutgers & Maryland last year where their QBs looked all-world against us) so that part still freaks me out and since we can't create any turnovers Rudock will have to manage the game properly. This will come down to Special Teams potentially.

AGP. Rutgers fans hated their QB-"26 seconds" Mattison held him to 400 yds and 0 INTs. He seems philosophically opposed to both a pass rush and creating turnovers, for some reason.

 

[scfanblue]

Mattison leading the D to me is not good news.

 

[ChicagoBlueFan]

Mattison leading the D to me is not good news.

We can only hope if we have a lead, UF gets the ball with less than 26 seconds left.

 

[57varieties]

They arent going to change the defense completely back in only a few weeks theylll leave it and hell just.call plays

 

[scfanblue]

It is not Mattison's X's and O's ability. He is excellent at that. It is his conservative, soft zone coverage with no pass rush philosophy and play calling that cost Michigan tremendously under Hoke. Our pass rush was worse than a high school team. A good QB picked us apart easily and the underneath crossing patterns were always open because of soft zone coverage. The ILB's that he recruited and personally coached were and are sloooow!!!! he did a great job at cleaning up Dick Rod's mess defensively but Michigan never got better and especially the pass rush and 3rd downs. UM had the same athletes in their secondary that have been exceptional this year. Mattison is a sound DC, but he is as old as his defensive philosophy. I was glad that he was retained for continuity purposes but as a position coach. He is horrible against mobile quarterbacks even more and Florida's can run. Mattison is fine for the bowl, however, I hope Harbaugh brings in a modern coach before 2016 because Michigan has a chance to be really good.

 

[blue-boy]

It is not Mattison's X's and O's ability. He is excellent at that. It is his conservative, soft zone coverage with no pass rush philosophy and play calling that cost Michigan tremendously under Hoke. Our pass rush was worse than a high school team. A good QB picked us apart easily and the underneath crossing patterns were always open because of soft zone coverage. The ILB's that he recruited and personally coached were and are sloooow!!!! he did a great job at cleaning up Dick Rod's mess defensively but Michigan never got better and especially the pass rush and 3rd downs. UM had the same athletes in their secondary that have been exceptional this year. Mattison is a sound DC, but he is as old as his defensive philosophy. I was glad that he was retained for continuity purposes but as a position coach. He is horrible against mobile quarterbacks even more and Florida's can run. Mattison is fine for the bowl, however, I hope Harbaugh brings in a modern coach before 2016 because Michigan has a chance to be really good.

They had a "modern coach" in RichRod (offensively) and that new-world 3-3-5 defense...it was so great that nobody knew how to run it. Enough of all this modern shit...get me back to the "old world" Michigan way of doing things....

 

[scfanblue]

My argument has ZERO to do with Rich Rod. Remember the "Michigan way of doing things" also brought Brady Hoke back as head coach. Offensively, football has changed since 1975. When an offense spreads you out by formation, you have to have the speed to counter that. OSU has won 12-out of 13 now by spreading us out while running and throwing. Not pressuring a QB who can really throw places extreme pressure on your secondary as does ILB's who run 5.2 40's.

 

[anon_sg4bgyiuileo1]

They had a "modern coach" in RichRod (offensively) and that new-world 3-3-5 defense...it was so great that nobody knew how to run it. Enough of all this modern shit...get me back to the "old world" Michigan way of doing things....

3-3-5 was used because RR thought all he could get here were WVU type recruits.

 

[scfanblue]

The 3-3-5 scheme sucks period. MOST teams against today's spread type offenses play either a 4-2/hybrid 4-3 scheme OR a 3-4. The 3-3-5 sucks against the run. Look at Arizona even with Casteel. It is a gimmicky defense. Even Herbstreit cracked on Rich Rod not coaching defense this past weekend. I have been running a 4-2 for years in high school. I coached for a DC many years ago who ran the 3-3-5 and we got destroyed because we slanted and blitzed every play. We won 3 games I think.

 

[blue-boy]

My argument has ZERO to do with Rich Rod. Remember the "Michigan way of doing things" also brought Brady Hoke back as head coach. Offensively, football has changed since 1975. When an offense spreads you out by formation, you have to have the speed to counter that. OSU has won 12-out of 13 now by spreading us out while running and throwing. Not pressuring a QB who can really throw places extreme pressure on your secondary as does ILB's who run 5.2 40's.

Not debating your argument re: spread offenses and the pressure they put on the defense but that's all I heard from a number of people when we brought in RR...this guy runs the masterful (my word) spread offense and he'll have us right up to snuff with the other great Offensive machines in CFB...don't care how good your spread offense is, if you can't play defense, you're going to suck. As great as Oregon has been offensively over the years...their defense leaves a lot to be desired. Of course, they seem to win at least 11 games a year but can't win the BIG one. Lol... I want a fast, physical defense that puts great pressure on the QB, w/ LBers who can stuff the hole and make the tackle (be totally disruptive to the offense) and DB's that can run "press" defense and tackle. Not asking for too much, am I?

 

[scfanblue]

Your asking for good recruiting and that's all. I can't stand Rich Rid and his style of football so I will drop that subject.

 

[blue-boy]

Your asking for good recruiting and that's all. I can't stand Rich Rid and his style of football so I will drop that subject.

I didn't like RR either...his time here just solidified the thought. Just glad we have Harbaugh...

 

[tarun262]

Believe it or not, I think Hoke did more damage to this program that Rich Rod. Rich Rod kids ended up in the NFL - Omameh, Robinson, Kovacs, Lewan, Schofeild, etc - can't say that about virtually any Hoke players. With Rich Rod, kids knew it was a different system and were more forgiving. Hoke wanted the typical Michigan type players and he made them all regress basically showing the world that Michigan is where star players come to become worse. Both were bad coaches for Michigan.

In a nutshell though, programs are not fixed overnight. Gus Malzahn did well in his first year only to completely regress the next 3. Saban went 6-5 at MSU his first year, 8-4 at LSU, 2-6 at Bama or something like that. Harbaugh won 3-4 games at Stanford. Dantonio was terrible for 3 years as well. Urban is the exception because at Ohio State he inherited a completely stacked team left over by Tressel for the most part.

I think Michigan will be very good next year - better then in 2015. I think they will slightly regress in 2017 but I see them becoming great in the years after...assuming JH stays.

 

[ChicagoBlueFan]

The 3-3-5 scheme sucks period. MOST teams against today's spread type offenses play either a 4-2/hybrid 4-3 scheme OR a 3-4. The 3-3-5 sucks against the run. Look at Arizona even with Casteel. It is a gimmicky defense. Even Herbstreit cracked on Rich Rod not coaching defense this past weekend. I have been running a 4-2 for years in high school. I coached for a DC many years ago who ran the 3-3-5 and we got destroyed because we slanted and blitzed every play. We won 3 games I think.

AGP. 3-3-5 is complete and utter crap. Even more crazy was RR's idiotic insistence on forcing it down the throat of DCs who had no familiarity with it. Greg Robinson sucked hard as a DC, but it didn't help forcing him to run a defense he knew 0 about. Let him at least be awful doing what he knows.

 

[ArrowheadBlue]

Regression in17. I don't see it. McKorn will be a senior (remember he threw for 3,000 as a freshman), the OL will have 3 years of good coaching; the WRs should be developed. Hopefully a RB discovered. DL should be cooking and the DBs will have good coaching,as well. Again hopefully a trio of LBers wil be developed.