It was a huge deal to get the win last Saturday. Keeps all of our goals in front of us, and proves that we can still win in the ways we're used to. More importantly it should give the team a much needed boost of confidence. Regardless of how good USC is or isn't, it was a big game and they found a way to win. That might be a push they need to attack the rest of the season. It also showed a good amount of progress since Texas. It wasn't perfect but it has gotten much better.
But of course... there's still some major glaring issues. The obvious talking point is the pass game. Everyone wants to talk about QBs but frankly that shouldn't be the main point of contention. The key issue for the passing game is the OL. Our pass blocking is very bad, particularly with Evan Link. Link made some great blocks, but he really dropped the ball on some of the pass protection. It isn't going to matter who our QB is when opposing EDGE have basically a free rush every other dropback. I get there are some growing pains but for it to be this bad in week 4 is extremely concerning. It's also time to pick ONE center and stick with it. To my untrained eye Crippen should have this no problem.
The second biggest issue on offense is play calling. Seen a lot of "Orji makes our offense one dimensional" but truthfully its the reverse. I'm sure y'all will disagree after only 30 passing yards but ultimately Orji gives us a bigger running threat which will open up the passing game. A big part of the issue is the staff isn't/hasn't building/built around his athletic ability. I understand that poor pass blocking is going to limit our play calling but they need to be incorporating way more RPO, and rolling the pocket than what they have. I think back to the Michigan State game at home with Shea Patterson, and how he hit CJ for a 40-something yard TD late in that game on what was an easy RPO pass, there's no reason why we can't be executing plays like that with Orji.
Let's evaluate Orji as a passing threat once the play calling and OL pass pro improves.
The defense played pretty darn well but they're still making some critical mistakes. It's arguable that all 3 of Miller Moss's passing TDs should've been covered. One of them was the most egregious case of busted coverage you'll ever see, must have been a miscommunication somewhere (the one after the double fumble play). The other two probably rest on the shoulders of Makari Page. Concerning, because you wouldn't expect to see that out of a senior captain. He also missed an easy sack that resulted in a massive gain for USC setting them up for a field goal. Michigan's mistakes count for all of USC's scoring drives. A good thing because that means we're capable of playing at an even higher level and a bad thing because we aren't yet.
After 4 weeks its also safe to say there's a serious lack of discipline with this team. Michigan arguably got away with a couple of calls, like a couple of facemasks on sacks, and likely an illegal blindside block on a punt return. Not saying USC didn't get away with some either, but that needs to be cleaned up. This hasn't been the exception for Michigan this season either, dumb penalties have been in every game so far.
Ultimately it was Michigan's mistakes that kept USC in that game, either busted coverage, fumbling a fumble return, or coughing it up inside the 20. These are things that need to get cleaned up. If they do USC has virtually nothing that game, and all of a sudden maybe we have a fighting chance against teams like Oregon and Ohio
.
There was a lot of good things to takeaway, outside of a few critical blunders the defense played about as good as you could've hoped. Hill and Berry played fantastic games. Mullings had an amazing game, and while Edwards is still trying to find his grove he played great too. We were without our best player on offense in Loveland, and lost Will Johnson in the second half. All things considered the staff and players should be happy/proud. But not content. This team's potential is much higher than this, they need to keep climbing.
Thankfully it looks like they should have 2 decent games to tune up some more in Minnesota and Washington. Can't underestimate them, but these are games we should win and show improvement in.
Sorry for the long post, more or less most of this has been said already, but I needed to get this out 🤣
But of course... there's still some major glaring issues. The obvious talking point is the pass game. Everyone wants to talk about QBs but frankly that shouldn't be the main point of contention. The key issue for the passing game is the OL. Our pass blocking is very bad, particularly with Evan Link. Link made some great blocks, but he really dropped the ball on some of the pass protection. It isn't going to matter who our QB is when opposing EDGE have basically a free rush every other dropback. I get there are some growing pains but for it to be this bad in week 4 is extremely concerning. It's also time to pick ONE center and stick with it. To my untrained eye Crippen should have this no problem.
The second biggest issue on offense is play calling. Seen a lot of "Orji makes our offense one dimensional" but truthfully its the reverse. I'm sure y'all will disagree after only 30 passing yards but ultimately Orji gives us a bigger running threat which will open up the passing game. A big part of the issue is the staff isn't/hasn't building/built around his athletic ability. I understand that poor pass blocking is going to limit our play calling but they need to be incorporating way more RPO, and rolling the pocket than what they have. I think back to the Michigan State game at home with Shea Patterson, and how he hit CJ for a 40-something yard TD late in that game on what was an easy RPO pass, there's no reason why we can't be executing plays like that with Orji.
Let's evaluate Orji as a passing threat once the play calling and OL pass pro improves.
The defense played pretty darn well but they're still making some critical mistakes. It's arguable that all 3 of Miller Moss's passing TDs should've been covered. One of them was the most egregious case of busted coverage you'll ever see, must have been a miscommunication somewhere (the one after the double fumble play). The other two probably rest on the shoulders of Makari Page. Concerning, because you wouldn't expect to see that out of a senior captain. He also missed an easy sack that resulted in a massive gain for USC setting them up for a field goal. Michigan's mistakes count for all of USC's scoring drives. A good thing because that means we're capable of playing at an even higher level and a bad thing because we aren't yet.
After 4 weeks its also safe to say there's a serious lack of discipline with this team. Michigan arguably got away with a couple of calls, like a couple of facemasks on sacks, and likely an illegal blindside block on a punt return. Not saying USC didn't get away with some either, but that needs to be cleaned up. This hasn't been the exception for Michigan this season either, dumb penalties have been in every game so far.
Ultimately it was Michigan's mistakes that kept USC in that game, either busted coverage, fumbling a fumble return, or coughing it up inside the 20. These are things that need to get cleaned up. If they do USC has virtually nothing that game, and all of a sudden maybe we have a fighting chance against teams like Oregon and Ohio
.
There was a lot of good things to takeaway, outside of a few critical blunders the defense played about as good as you could've hoped. Hill and Berry played fantastic games. Mullings had an amazing game, and while Edwards is still trying to find his grove he played great too. We were without our best player on offense in Loveland, and lost Will Johnson in the second half. All things considered the staff and players should be happy/proud. But not content. This team's potential is much higher than this, they need to keep climbing.
Thankfully it looks like they should have 2 decent games to tune up some more in Minnesota and Washington. Can't underestimate them, but these are games we should win and show improvement in.
Sorry for the long post, more or less most of this has been said already, but I needed to get this out 🤣
