#16 Michigan @ #7 Penn State

[hungry]

Nico Collins didn't travel to Illinois

 

[TheVictors]

Nico Collins didn't travel to Illinois

well no wonder! if the kid can't catch a flight, how do you expect him to catch the football?!

 

[hungry]

The problems in the passing game go beyond Patterson. Some of it is the play-calling. Some of it is errant passes. Some of it is bad reads. Some of it is wide receivers (no matter how talented they are) not getting separation. Some of it is wide receivers dropping passes. Some of that is on the QB.

Hopefully, they can get some of those ironed out by Saturday night OR maybe they'll be able to run well enough to win the game. I'll take either one or both.

 

[biggunsbob]

Psu defense is legit. I didn’t think the Psu qb was anything special verses Iowa. Maybe we can win the turnover battle. So just Don’t turn the ball over, and get the passing game going maybe we pull it out. Maybe Don’s defense can get some short fields maybe we can get a lead.

Hell no way do I want Franklin coaching at Michigan. I would like Jim’s offense in year 5 to be much better then it is. Maybe he just went into panic mode after last years beat down in Columbus. So he changes things on offense. Maybe it is just taking time for Gattis to get it going ...... Hopefully it will explode this Saturday night at Penn state!!

 

[GoBlueInAtlanta]

Also, I'm going to go on the record now, and call the upset: we're going to beat Penn State on Saturday.

I have a good feeling about it as well.

Not that I wanted it or that it was a good thing to happen, but because of the let down at Illinois when they took an easy early lead, Michigan is not getting the respect they would have had they stayed focused and blown Illinois out 56-7.

Also, the way PS played Iowa showed Michigan is right there with them.

 

[tomdalton22]

I have a good feeling about it as well.

Not that I wanted it or that it was a good thing to happen, but because of the let down at Illinois when they took an easy early lead, Michigan is not getting the respect they would have had they stayed focused and blown Illinois out 56-7.

Also, the way PS played Iowa showed Michigan is right there with them.

PSU played Iowa on the road at night vs UM playing at home. It's not about respect.

Unless UM can get their offense going PSU will win easily.

 

[Mawilli]

This team is mentally soft. They will crumble at the first sign of adversity which will most likely be in the first 5 minutes of the game.

 

[GoBlueInAtlanta]

PSU played Iowa on the road at night vs UM playing at home. It's not about respect.

Unless UM can get their offense going PSU will win easily.

"It's not about respect." ???


Why do you think they lost to App State? They didn't RESPECT them! They didn't practice as hard and were even quoted as saying some of them smoked pot that morning before the game.


Now, that was an extreme case to make the point, but it happens to varying degrees every week. Anyone who says respect has nothing to do with how a team plays just simply doesn't understand team psychology. The coach can rant and rave about how good the other team is, but if a few players are snickering and telling teammates in the background that the opponent sucks, it's like a virus.



I do, however, agree whole-heartedly with your last statement.

 

[rumseyhouse77]

I watched the replay of Iowa-PSU game last night on ESPN3. PSU didn't look like anything special on either side of the ball. Especially on defense. They looked good at stopping the run, but Iowa was able to get a huge push on the PSU D line on short yardage plays, like 3rd and 1 and Iowa got 5 with the push. Screen passes didn't work at all for Iowa, so PSU may be quick on the outside. On many plays the Iowa O line completely missed blocks allowing the PSU D to catch runners in the backfield. If not for the missed blocks the PSU D didn't look great. Michigan can definitely walk away with the win in Happy Valley.

 

[GoBlueInAtlanta]

I watched the replay of Iowa-PSU game last night on ESPN3. PSU didn't look like anything special on either side of the ball. Especially on defense. They looked good at stopping the run, but Iowa was able to get a huge push on the PSU D line on short yardage plays, like 3rd and 1 and Iowa got 5 with the push. Screen passes didn't work at all for Iowa, so PSU may be quick on the outside. On many plays the Iowa O line completely missed blocks allowing the PSU D to catch runners in the backfield. If not for the missed blocks the PSU D didn't look great. Michigan can definitely walk away with the win in Happy Valley.

During the PSU/Iowa game there were several times that Epenesa blew up plays, but, thinking back to the Mich/Iowa game, I don't remember hearing his name much. I'm going to go watch the game again focusing on the Epenesa/Runyan battle. Runyan must have shut him down. Hopefully, we won't hear Gross-Mattos name very often this Saturday.

 

[GoBlueInAtlanta]

Just went and watched the Iowa film. Runyan stoned Epenesa. There was one play where he got around Runyan, but Turner threw a shoulder into him so he was not part of the play. Great game by Runyan. Looking forward to watching him against Gross-Mattos Saturday night.

 

[Michchamp]

There was a Freep article (here) about the renewed focus on the running game, that had some interesting quotes:

The Wolverines? commitment to their ground game has been seen in their first-half play differential since the loss to Wisconsin, with the Wolverines calling 61 runs and 43 passes. It has been a marked change in approach that resulted from the coaching staff reevaluating its strategy and scrapping some of the new ideas that Gattis wanted to incorporate into the playbook.

?That?s when Coach Gattis stepped in and said we?re going to do the things we?re good at,? Eubanks explained.​

So if after the staff evaluated what wasn't working, and Gattis is the one deciding we need to focus on the run, since we can do that well (our Passing Efficiency stats are terrible; well into the bottom half of FBS teams), I guess all those unsourced rumors from "program insiders" that Harbaugh had "handcuffed Gattis" and was forcing him to call bad plays were BULLSHIT?

I thought so at the time.

 

[byco42]

How does this prove that Gattis was the sole decision-maker? Hearsay? Coach Gattis "stepping in" could simply be that he's delivering the collaborative message to the players.

 

[thewolverines24]

The good news is that we also suck at running the ball. Our yards per carry are terrible against teams that have a pulse.

Army - 2.4 YPC
Wisconsin - 2.1 YPC
Iowa - 3.8 YPC

Boy that's sure a strength we can rely on against good defenses!

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

 

[Michchamp]

How does this prove that Gattis was the sole decision-maker? Hearsay? Coach Gattis "stepping in" could simply be that he's delivering the collaborative message to the players.

Sorry, Judge.

Didn't realize the federal rules of evidence applied to message board posts and chatter.

 

[byco42]

Sorry, Judge.

Didn't realize the federal rules of evidence applied to message board posts and chatter.

Well a second-hand quote from a player is on what his coach said is ? what, exactly? Proof that you were right?

 

[tinselwolverine]

Apparently, somebody is calling this game a “White Out.”

 

[Michchamp]

Well a second-hand quote from a player is on what his coach said is ? what, exactly? Proof that you were right?

yes

 

[tinselwolverine]

I don’t know who Lara Spencer is. My wife is telling me she’s a talk show host.

 

[tinselwolverine]

PSU people are weird.

I also didn’t know who Ali Krieger is.