The truth is that I had been planning a more in-depth preview of tonight’s national championship game, and then stuff happened. Here it is shortly after 6:00 p.m., and I haven’t posted it yet.
ROSTER NOTES
- Alabama players recruited by Michigan: LB Chris Allen, LB Markail Benton, S Shyheim Carter, LB Ben Davis, CB Minkah Fitzpatrick, TE Miller Forristall, WR Robert Foster, DE Da’Shawn Hand, RB Damien Harris, RB Najee Harris, TE Hale Hentges, TE Kedrick James, WR Jerry Jeudy, WR Derek Kief, CB Nigel Knott, OT Alex Leatherwood, S Jared Mayden, S Xavier McKinnon, LB Joshua McMillon, LB Dylan Moses, OG Kendall Randolph, DE LaBryan Ray, RB Bo Scarbrough, WR Tyrell Shavers, TE Irv Smith Jr., TE Major Tennison, OT Jonah Williams, OT Jedrick Wills Jr., LB Mack Wilson, S Daniel Wright
- Georgia players recruited by Michigan: OG Patrick Allen, DT John Atkins, LB Robert Beal Jr., TE Jeb Blazevich, LB Lorenzo Carter, LB Reggie Carter, OG Ben Cleveland, TE Jordan Davis, QB Jacob Eason, S De’Angelo Gibbs, WR Mecole Hardman, DE Malik Herring, WR Jeremiah Holloman, RB Elijah Holyfield, LB Jaden Hunter, OG Netori Johnson, CB Richard LeCounte III, LB Nate McBride, RB Sony Michel, TE Isaac Nauta, CB William Poole, QB Brice Ramsey, LB Monty Nice, LB Roquan Smith, CB Ameer Speed, RB D’Andre Swift, OT Andrew Thomas, OT Isaiah Wilson, TE Charlie Woerner,
- Alabama RB Damien Harris was committed to Michigan at one time
- Georgia WR Jeremiah Holloman was committed to Michigan at one time
PREDICTIONS
- Georgia WR Mecole Hardman has a 70+ yard kick return
- Georgia QB Jake Fromm throws 2 interceptions
- Jalen Hurts’s feet are key in a win over Jake Fromm’s lack of mobility
- Alabama 24, Georgia 20
What’s your prediction on the game?
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I suspect it will be more along the lines of what Alabama did to Clemson.
Alabama – 28
Georgia – 10
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Yes, mobile quarterbacks tend to have it over immobile quarterbacks, unless the immobile quarterback is elite. A point worth noting.
And is it encouraging or depressing that Georgia has made it to the championship game with a true freshman at QB? Their backup QB, in fact.
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They have an elite running back and a very, very good OL.
Those two things hide a multitude of shortcomings of the QB.
See: AJ McCarron.
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We will have neither of those things in the foreseeable future. We need a quarterback without too many shortcomings.
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By the way, I agree regarding the mobility of the QB. An immobile QB better be darn, darn good. I mean, Tom Brady good. Otherwise, give me a QB that poses at least *some* threat to run.
It’s a funny thing, though: John O’Korn is that “threat to run” QB. What is a virtue is also a vice. Having the QB tuck and take off every play is not a good thing.
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John O’Korn was never a “threat to run”. He ran for his life when he absolutely had to, and once in while made a useful play out of it.
Denard Robinson, Jalen Hurts, JT Barrett, Lamar Jackson..those are threats to run and hurt you.
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Sure, Denard Robinson was a threat to run and could hurt you…and when he was forced to throw, he hurt his own team. I have a ton of respect for Denard Robinson, but I’m not longing for him to come back and play QB at Michigan. Those other guys have yet to win national championships playing QB, either, and Hurts has been replaced by Tagovailoa.
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Who, gee…just won a national championship playing quarterback. As a true freshman. Backup.
And Deshaun Watson, another QB of the same type, DID win the NC last year. And Jalen Hurts has gone 25-2 as a starter and gotten Alabama to the NC game as a true freshman and a true sophomore. If Wilton Speight had that for us, would you be holding the fact that he wasn’t the winning starter in either game against him? Oh, and did we forget Cardale Jones winning the NC as a freshman? Backup. Third string.
Time to stop making “youth” excuses for our lack of depth and development at QB.
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*sigh* I know it’s your thing to be angry about everything related to Michigan, but I haven’t seen any/many people saying “Well, we’re good except our QBs are young.” Tagovailoa and Fromm did what they did last night because they’re good, yes, but also because of their offensive lines and running backs. On the game-winning TD throw, Peters would have had a guy planting his facemask in his chest, while Tagovailoa had a pretty clean pocket. Chubb, Michel, Scarbrough, Damien Harris, Najee Harris, D’Andre Swift, etc. are all either 5-star running backs or close to it. Our top RB this past season was a 3-star poached from Iowa.
It’s almost like it’s a “team game” and there are lots of interconnected parts. Hmmm…
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What, you’re saying talent actually matters? That can’t be. Every time someone questions why we offer and sign some run-of-the-mill 3 star recruit with a mediocre offer list, we get shouted down by the cult of “I trust the coaches, stars don’t matter!”
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Wow…now BOTH teams in the NC game are playing true freshmen QBs. And they actually are managing to look, like, really good. Without having to play a vanilla offense for 2 or 3 years.
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Yep…and both of them have good offensive lines and a stable of elite running backs.
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Which doesn’t change the fact that both are making throws that no one on our roster this year could even have dreamed of.
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I don’t agree with that.
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Tagovailoa threw more TD passes last night than John O’Korn did in 10 games. As a group, our QBs threw fewer TD passes than we did in 2008. Yes, that’s right. Read it again.
Nuf sed.
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You act as if you’re providing new information. I’m well aware.
P.S. I don’t know what your point is. Michigan sucked at passing the ball this year. Everybody knows it. You’re just restating the obvious.
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You disagreed with my point, so you must know what it is.
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I’m talking about your overall point. You seem to be arguing that Michigan is not good at passing the ball, but nobody’s arguing that point. I could sit here and post over and over again that “Maurice Hurst is good, you guys! No, really! For all you haters out there, Hurst is actually good!” There wouldn’t be an actual point to doing that, however, because everyone agrees.
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Well that game puts to rest that somehow a qb is only as good as his OL and running game. It was the frosh qb who made the difference. Yes, Harris and others were important but in most of these big games against high level competition, he who has the better qb wins.
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Hey Thunder … step back, put your objectivity glasses on, and tell me this — with the dust now settled, did the committee get it right? Were the best four teams in the playoff?
Or put another way, if they had put OSU in as #4, do you think they would have survived to the NC?
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I think the committee got it right.
I think Ohio State MIGHT have beaten Clemson, depending on which Kelly Bryant showed up for the game. But I don’t think they would have survived Georgia or Alabama. Those teams are too physical on both sides of the ball. And OSU already lost to Oklahoma once this year.
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Thanks.
I was thinking about what teams not in the playoffs might have been a viable contender. Some way UCF, but I think their win over Auburn in the bowl was because Auburn’s heart wasn’t in the game. I can’t see a single Pac 12 team playing at the same level as Georgia or Alabama. And when I look at the Big 12 and the ACC, I see OU and Clemson and nobody else.
Things change over time, of course. But sometimes I wonder if we’re starting to settle into a handful of teams that will sniff the playoffs year after year, and everybody else will be settling on lesser bowls as their consolation.
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OK – this is my chuckle for the morning.
Someone asking for someone’s subjective opinion only if it can be objective regarding ‘a committee’s’ subjective opinion……….
…….and then the objectively subjective response! (Tho I would have lafft even more if it was subtley hidden behind a veil of sarcasm (maybe it is?))
………..like trying to prove Empiricism using an A Priori arguement – this made my day!………..INTJohn
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I’m here all week … don’t forget to tip the waitresses.
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