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Punched in the gut. I was nervous the whole game, but Michigan led most of the way. That was a heartbreaking way to lose, because just one play here or there could have sealed the game. I kept waiting for someone, anyone, to make a game-changing interception or forced fumble or catch-and-run or special teams play, and it just never came. The Wolverines were up 17-7 at one point, but they let that lead disappear. And in the fourth quarter and overtime, Ohio State had the right answers while Michigan flailed.
Obligatory comments about the refereeing. I’m of the school of thought that if teams want to win, they shouldn’t leave the game close enough to let the outcome be altered by referees. That being said, the refereeing was bad. Jim Harbaugh said he was “bitterly disappointed” with the officiating. It’s difficult for any team to go four quarters and two overtimes with only 2 penalties for 6 yards. The two penalties were a false start and an illegal hands to the face, the latter of which cost the Buckeyes only a yard due to the location on the field. Coming into Saturday, OSU was #57 in the country with an average of 6.5 penalties for 52.7 yards per game. They had at least 4 penalties in every game except Northwestern, when they had 2 penalties for 10 yards. A few of the egregious or noteworthy calls/non-calls:
- Ohio State CB Gareon Conley wrapped his right arm around WR Grant Perry for a pass breakup in the second overtime that should have been called.
- Ohio State CB Marshon Lattimore held WR Amara Darboh off the line of scrimmage and forced him to the ground in the first half. The ball was thrown to him and fell harmlessly to the turf, but no referee called defensive holding or pass interference. This came after a similar play on which Channing Stribling was called for P.I.
- Jim Harbaugh’s unsportsmanlike conduct penalty was questionable. I get that he shouldn’t have thrown his call sheet, and he probably said something that shouldn’t have been said. But he does something similar approximately once every week, and the referees let him do it. Now in the last week of the season, in The Game, they’re going to call it? Call that consistently, and he might tone it down. But when you let him get away with it for 11 weeks in a row, then you’ve basically condoned it.
- The Spot. On 4th-and-1 in the second overtime with Michigan up 27-24, Ohio State QB J.T. Barrett ran the ball. He was hit low by safety Delano Hill, his shoulder hit a blocker, and forward momentum that seemed bound to get him to the 15-yard line (which was the line to reach) was suddenly stopped when his body twirled in mid-air. Watching it initially, I thought the ball crossed the plane of the 15-yard line. (By the way, no measurement with the chains is necessary in that case, because the ball started on the 25-yard line, so you only have to cross the plane of the 15-yard line, kind of like scoring a touchdown. The 15-yard line is the measurement.) Upon replay, I wasn’t so sure. The ball was in Barrett’s right arm, which was trailing his left side. Ultimately, though, the referees needed irrefutable evidence that the ball didn’t get there, and no camera angles showed the ball. Either way, we’re talking about the difference of maybe 3 inches. It would take something very definitive to change the spot, and there was nothing. As a stand-alone play, I have no problem with this call. The frustrating or questionable thing is that it came at the end of a day when OSU seemed to be favored with numerous other advantages.
In case you’re wondering, Michigan was #25 in the country with 45.2 penalty yards per game on an average of 4.7 flags per game. On Saturday they had 7 for 59 yards. So Michigan had 2.3 more flags and 13.8 more penalty yards than average, while Ohio State had 4.5 fewer flags and 46.7 fewer penalty yards than average.
Michigan is mostly to blame, though, and a lot falls on the shoulders of Wilton Speight. Speight was Michigan’s best option (23/36, 219 yards, 2 TDs, 2 INTs). Even with a bum left shoulder, he was better than backup John O’Korn would have been. I commend Speight for playing just two weeks after what was reported as an A.C. separation. (I’ve had an A.C. separation, albeit in my throwing shoulder, and it’s not fun. Even if it had been in my non-throwing shoulder, playing football would have been tough.) Still, Speight’s the one who gave the Buckeyes most of their scoring opportunities. It started with a pick-six where De’Veon Smith missed a blitz pickup, but Speight compounded the problem by throwing in the middle of the field, where Malik Hooker – OSU’s most dangerous defensive back – was waiting. Then Speight fumbled on Ohio State’s 2-yard line when the Wolverines would have had a touchdown or at least an easy field goal. The last big mistake was an interception to sinking linebacker Jerome Baker, who may have been obscured by the umpire standing in front of him, but it gave Ohio State a short field to score. Toss in a couple errant throws that could have been first downs or touchdowns in the flat, and it was not a great day for Speight. He did make some plays, such as the 4th down touchdown throw to Darboh in the first overtime, but there weren’t enough. Take away the pick-six and the fumble, and conservatively, you’re looking at a two-score swing, even if you spot OSU a safety instead of the pick-six.
The play calling was poor, as well. I know there were some people who were upset with the play calling in the Iowa game – which I still have not finished watching – but this was a poorly called offensive game as well. I don’t understand running De’Veon Smith on power on 3rd-and-7 in overtime. I don’t understand having Jabrill Peppers run a zone read on 3rd-and-goal from the 7-yard line earlier in the game. I don’t understand running play action with your bum-shouldered QB where he’s repeatedly turning his back to the defense, even after the defense has figured out that you can’t run the ball. I don’t understand why Michigan wasn’t better at executing the run/play action from shotgun. Jehu Chesson touched the ball 4 times. Chris Evans got 6 carries. Eddie McDoom had 0 touches. Ty Isaac averages 5.6 yards/carry and 21 yards/catch, and he got 0 touches. Michigan went into a shell where it was Speight throwing to Jake Butt/Amara Darboh, De’Veon Smith running the ball, and a mostly uninspiring Jabrill Peppers package.
We are who we thought we were. Ultimately, even prior to the season, the downfall of Michigan’s team was what we expected it to be. Wilton Speight – shoulder notwithstanding – was a checkdown artist who didn’t take any downfield shots. Michigan’s offensive line was unable to create running lanes against a good defense. De’Veon Smith (21 carries, 60 yards, 2.9 yards/carry) is slow. Yes, those are all limitations on the offense, because the defense was pretty darn good and should have been good enough to win the game.
The defense was outstanding. Michigan allowed 330 yards of offense, which is the second lowest output for Ohio State this year (behind what they put up against Michigan State). Furthermore, if you take away the overtime production – which was approximately 45 yards – you’re talking about giving up about 285 yards to the Buckeyes in this game, which is 208 yards lower than their average this season. There were some busts by Michigan late in the game (the 15-yard game winner by Curtis Samuel, a handful of runs by J.T. Barrett), but overall, it was an excellent performance that included 13 tackles for loss and 8 sacks. There was talk that defensive coordinator Don Brown was hired because he’s a “spread killer,” and while Michigan definitely didn’t kill the spread, it was a pretty darn good performance. Speight handed Ohio State 10 points with his two interceptions, so we’re basically talking about a defense that gave up 7 points in regulation.
A few defensive kudos. A couple guys played what I thought was probably the best game of their career, and maybe there were even more than that. Taco Charlton, leg cramps and all, made 9 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, and 2.5 sacks. Backup nose tackle Bryan Mone made 3 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, and 1 pass breakup. Both of those guys had career best days, in my opinion. In last week’s awards post, I called out Mone as someone who had been underachieving, but he really showed up on Saturday. Hopefully he can carry that over into 2017 once Ryan Glasgow graduates. I also thought Glasgow (2 tackles, 1.5 TFLs, 1 sack), Ben Gedeon (10 tackles, 2 TFLs, 1 sack), and Mike McCray (9 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sack, 1 PBU) played very well. I’ve been very critical of Channing Stribling’s tackling, but he was ready to play against OSU and finished with 4 tackles, 2 TFLs, 1 sack, and 1 very nice pass breakup.
A few defensive questions. The defense played extremely well, but as is bound to happen against Ohio State, there were some major goofs. I counted at least three times that Michigan played two defensive backs over the trips side, and all three plays resulted in completions for Barrett. The last was an inexplicably easy completion to Noah Brown in the fourth quarter, so it wasn’t something that happened early and got fixed. Michigan also had several communication issues, even when they weren’t getting beaten by tempo. A late long run by Barrett occurred when Michigan had no linebackers in the box except for Peppers, who was lazily spying about 7 yards off the ball. And on the final play, a blitz by Mike McCray seemed to open up a running lane for Curtis Samuel. I think McCray would have been in the hole to at least slow down Samuel if he hadn’t been blitzing, but no fewer than three (3!!!) defenders seemed to book it for outside contain, which made it a very easy cut for Samuel. When three guys overpursue and another guy takes himself out of the play by blitzing inside, you’ve got a pretty good shot at making something happen.
It was not the best day for Jabrill Peppers or his coaches. I expected and hoped for more from Peppers. He is probably headed for the NFL after this season, but it’s too soon for a career retrospective with a bowl game yet to be played. Statistically, he had a decent day on his two primary focuses, defense and special teams: 7 tackles, 1 interception returned for 11 yards, 1 punt return for 5 yards, and 1 kickoff return for 44 yards. But I couldn’t help feeling like he wasn’t quite all there on Saturday. His feet seemed to be stuck in mud at times. Ohio State TE Marcus Baugh had 2 catches against Peppers, and I would be okay with that if it was because he got outmuscled or outjumped, but on both plays, it was because Peppers was just slow to react. Peppers was also spying Barrett when the QB took off late in the game, and Peppers – a high school state champion sprinter – couldn’t make up ground on the 6’2″, 222 lb. QB who many describe as not being particularly fast, but instead shifty and tough with good vision. I don’t know if he was tired or nursing some sort of injury, but he wasn’t the ball of energy I’m used to seeing. As for his coaches, I thought his offensive usage was pretty horrendous. He had 4 carries for 4 yards, and that’s with his first carry going for 6 yards (hint: his next 3 carries went for -2 yards). The best play was using him in the backfield, faking a toss sweep to him, and then bootlegging Speight for a completion to Darboh. Michigan should have used him more as a decoy, they could have used him in the slot, they could have run a reverse or a jet sweep, they could have lined him up at QB and had him fake a zone read then throw the ball, etc. Instead, his entire offensive usage was, if I remember correctly: 3 quarterback powers, 2 zone reads (including 1 handoff to De’Veon Smith), and 1 snap as a decoy at RB. You’ve got one of the most dynamic players in the country, a potential Heisman candidate, and a future 1st round pick, and that’s all you can come up with for the biggest game of the year? Additionally, as mentioned earlier, the 3rd-and-goal zone read was a terrible play call, because the defense knows he’s not going to throw the ball and he’s going to try to keep it to score a TD.
I’m more disappointed than I thought I would be. Keep in mind that I picked Michigan to lose this game in the pre-season, and I called for a 21-17 loss in the game preview (if Speight played, which obviously he did). That was a pretty damn good prediction, considering OSU was on the brink of going up 21-17 in the final seconds of regulation. I have been expecting a similar outcome for months. But I can’t help thinking Michigan let this one slip through their fingers. The Buckeyes only led in this game for 3 minutes and 58 seconds of regulation. I didn’t expect the Iowa loss and picked an 11-1 season. Even a 10-2 season isn’t bad, but it could have been so much better. The Wolverines lost to Iowa by 1 point with no time left on the clock, and they were beating Ohio State by 3 points until there was 1 second left on the clock. The Wolverines lost two games by razor-thin margins, and instead of a potential Big Ten championship and playoff seed, they’ll be waiting to hear about a pretty good bowl bid.
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Thanks for a well written summary.
Sure, like everyone else I thought the refs called a biased game. Many times I thought our receivers were hooked and no PI calls were made, but seeing Cole’s hand in the face mask in the replay was legit.
Play calling continues to be a mystery, JH has to correct this. Peppers usage on offense was IMO a waste. On defense he (and others) seemed to be out of position sometimes and both Samuels and JT showed that on this day they were his equal.
Speight could not get the job done. I honestly don’t think he was 100% but that shouldn’t be the fall back excuse for him. He is not skillful enough to bring a vertical game even when he is healthy against real competition.
For the season I expected a 10-2 record with a loss to OSU and that we would fall as the season progressed to one of Wisky or Iowa. Our defense especially made a bunch of us old timers so excited that we just knew that if we could stay in our lanes and if we could protect the edge the sky was the limit.
Most of us thought that this year with all of our seniors we would be something special. We could finally stomp the beans out of the bad play and couching we have witnessed over the recent years. You know get our Mojo back, and earn some respect from our peers. I think we did that, so on to the bowl… I love Michigan football, I’ll be here next year God willing.
A real punch in the gut I agree. We had them and that makes me just as disappointed as anyone.
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Among the problems with criticizing the play calling of this team is the system in which to my understanding, the QB is sent to the line of scrimmage with multiple plays, reads and then makes the final call. So what you get is a small palette of plays sent in from a committee, followed by a final selection made by the QB. When we ran power at 3rd and long, I said, “What the hell was Speight looking at there?” You only know what ran, as opposed to what was sent in. Still, I wouldn’t change a thing overall regarding that system.
My kid who didn’t play football, but has played in and both won and lost huge championship games, came home yesterday jacked up big time about having just seen the best game of his life. He’s 19. He remembers Michigan getting beat up in this game since he was 9. He’s right though, although his context is limited. That was a helluva football game. We have made, and will continue to make huge strides.
I’ll admit it, evil Roany is looking forward to the whiny little bitches among us who have invested nothing real into this program beyond a ticket and more likely a little electricity, as they display their profound ignorance of football. And I call on all Michigan Men to remember the words of Jimmy Dugan who once famously said, and I’m quoting here, “It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard…is what makes it great.”
Soft people never get that part.
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avoid the clap – jimmy dugan
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Does anyone know who actually makes the play calls? Is it Drevno, Fisch or does Harbaugh make final decision of possible play calls?
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I believe it’s by committee. I’m reasonably sure Harbaugh reserves final call for himself. I would.
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Harbaugh has the final decision, but he has said that all the offensive staff members have input, even Jay Harbaugh. It’s mostly Fisch (passing game coordinator), Drevno (run game coordinator), and Harbaugh, though.
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– both teams played poorly most of the game, but Ohio St proved to be a mentally stronger team and executed better when the game was on the line
– Michigan still has numerous issues from the previous regime; no identity on offense, poor OL play, poor play on the road, mental breakdowns when the game is on the line… all those tales about how 4 hour workouts made Michigan a tougher team seem like a bunch crap after the Iowa debacle and this. A much younger Ohio St team showed more desire to win and executed better, which brings me to my last point…
– I can’t see Harbaugh beating Meyer ever, Ohio St’s recruiting is reaching Alabama’s level, this was a Michigan team loaded with experienced seniors from Hoke’s 2 top 10 classes while Ohio St was fielding a young team that returns almost everyone next year. Seeing Ohio St executing very poorly through most of this game and still finding a way to win against a senior laden Michigan team, the future of this games looks very bleak to me. It will take Harbaugh and his staff decisively outcoaching Meyer, and so far Meyer has been the better coach.
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We handed them a pick six, and first and goal on two picks. Then screwed ourselves out of a minimum 3 points and likely 7 fumbling on their two. That’s minimum 17 points in a double overtime football game. If anybody out coached anybody which I don’t think is the case here either way, it was Harbaugh out coaching Meyer.
Recruiting is evening out. This is going to be a great series again for a long time. I hope Meyer lasts, although I have some doubts on that one.
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Really? you saw that game and thought to yourself that Harbaugh was out coaching Meyer? I saw 2 teams playing with poor execution on offense for 3 quarters, Michigan was a bit more consistent but was making back breaking mistakes, then in the 4th Quarter Ohio St took over the game and dominated. Once the game went into overtime it was obvious that OSU would win, Harbaugh had 1 last chance to win by going for 2 in the first overtime but he chickened out.
As far as recruiting is concerned, OSU has the better athletes, Harbaugh’s trump card at Stanford was the mental and physical toughness his teams played with, but I don’t see that here, I see players that get pushed around when the game is on the line, and I see numerous mental breakdowns.
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You can’t see Harbaugh ever beating Meyer? Wow…..you really have PTSD from yesterday I guess. We just took them to 2OT on the road in a game that we had far more chances to win then they did and with our QB injured.
Here’s the thing – where Harbaugh has a huge advantage is at the QB position. When Michigan has an NFL prospect at QB they will be in a position to win this game. Unfortunately Rudock got hurt last year (and the D got gashed) and this year Speight was coming off an injury and is just a “game manager” who cost us arguably 21 points on his own.
If Michigan scores a TD instead of fumbles on the 1, they’re up two scores and forcing Barrett to pass, which he clearly sucks at.
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No I just saw a bunch of upperclassmen get worn out by a bunch of underclassmen who weren’t even executing well, so what happens when this Ohio St team comes to the Big House next year and are bolstered by a top notch recruiting class they are putting together, while Michigan loses half the team? A year after that we have to go back to the shoe and face another loaded Ohio St team… So when can we expect to win again, in 2019 maybe? Where will Harbaugh be in 2019? With how poorly Ohio St played for 75% of that game, this was the year to get it done, but we failed, and the wait for another realistic chance to beat them will be long.
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What happens? They play a football game. At Michigan Stadium. You never know what will happen. A young OSU team beat a veteran Michigan team in Ohio. It’s entirely within the realm of possibility that a young Michigan team will beat a veteran OSU team in Ann Arbor.
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It is possible that Michigan can beat Ohio St next year but it is highly unlikely, sure a million things can happen between now and then, injuries to key players… Michigan OL learning how to run block and pass protect… Michigan QB learning to not throw the ball right to a LB in a pass drop or drop the ball at a 1 yard line…or rushers avoiding roughing punters… but this was actually a year when Ohio St had a young team that wasn’t executing well during most of that game, and that won’t happen often.
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Any chance of CFP if Colorado beats Washington? Two razor thin losses on the road and a beat down of both B1G championship game participants plus the Pac 12 champion? Who knows how the CFP board looks at this, but U-M may only drop to fifth in the rankings. Hard to argue that they aren’t the best two loss team out there.
Rose Bowl at a minimum?
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I would expect them to play in the Rose Bowl, but I doubt they’ll get in the playoff unless something really wacky happens.
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Can’t see making the Rose over Wisconsin with fewer wins and only an at-home win by 7 points to make the case that they are better. Wisc took OSU to OT too and will be conference champs. The Rose is ‘supposed’ to take the Big Ten champ traditionally. Hard to override that IMO. If PSU wins the argument would be strong for UM, but the championship and beating OSU would override it IMO.
The CFP is actually more likely in my mind, but still remote longshot. If I understand correctly they are supposed to take the ‘best’, not the most deserving. That’s the argument M would fair better in. We need Clemson to lose emphatically, Colorado to beat Washington narrowly, (and Alabama and Oklahoma to Win). That gives you Alabama, Ohio State as locks, and a massive pile of 2-loss teams to sift through for the other 2 spots. In that scenario Michigan can make a case over PSU/Wisc, Colorado, and Oklahoma (by virtue of comparisons against OSU).
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Money talks. I think Michigan might end up in the Rose Bowl simply because they travel so well.
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So does Wisconsin. You’re selling out the Rose Bowl either way.
If we were talking about Western, Boise, or Wash St vs Michigan I think you have a meaningful difference but giant state schools in the Big 10 are all going to represent. That’s why you have so many Big 10 schools aligned with bowls in the first place.
I have the impression that the Rose Bowl is particularly inclined to observe tradition.
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Two things i’d like to see in College Football; true round robin conference play and an eight team tournament.
Lose the damn conference championship games.
Yeah, Yeah, that’s three things.
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Need smaller conferences to do that. But it is dumb that playing Purdue or Illinois counts the same as playing Wisconsin or Iowa.
I’m in favor of expanding the conferences to 20 teams. That’s really 2 conferences with the championship functioning as a playoff game.
4 super conferences. 80 teams. must win your conference to make the playoff unless the evidence is overwhelming that you belong (e.g., if Alabama loses to Florida, e.g., Notre Dame is undefeated against their schedule, e.g., a Boise State dominates everyone while winning a couple big ones in the offseason too).
Let the bowls function as they do outside of the separate Power 4 playoff system.
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Thunder –
Thank you for the way you summarized this. The refs were bad and once again seemed to skew toward Michigan’s opponents. The way they called pass interference was totally one sided – that was the biggest issue for me. I thought the spot and Hurst’s offsides (which sparked Harbaugh’s outrage) were both 50-50 calls. Sucks that they went against us, but it was the pass interference that made a difference.
But you pointed out the correct thing – Michigan made too many critical mistakes and thus allowed the individual ref calls to make a difference. You cited Speight and the play calling as the worst offenders, but that’s not my take exactly. I thought those two things were the only reasons Michigan was in the game on offense. Speight’s turnovers killed us for sure, but he got no help. We couldn’t run the ball at all, Butt dropped an easy 3rd down pass early, and Darboh had his hands on two difficult catches that could have helped his QB.
I do agree that the Peppers on offense stuff was useless. Hasn’t worked in weeks if it ever worked at all. Otherwise I think the playcalling was more than good enough to win the game. Michigan controlled time and field position. In the first half OSU only stopped us once – the pick 6. Michigan had a drive end due to the missed PI call and another on Butt’s drop.
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Yeah, if I were Harbaugh, I would have flipped out about the two P.I. non-calls and not Hurst’s offsides. I thought that was a 50-50 call, too. I do think Elflein flinched a bit, but it was an overreaction.
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Awesome write up Thunder. This is still the first blog i goto when i wake up in the morning. I agree with everything mentioned and I feel particularly bad for Speight because he choked now in a big game for a second time and obviously I know he if feeling a bunch of animosity right now. The silver lining is this for me….if i’m gonna be pissed off about losing THE GAME, I’m thankful that it’s with a 10-2 team versus some of the pathetic showings that we’ve had in the past. Can’t wait to see who we beat the crap out of in whatever bowl game we’re playing!
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Thanks. That’s a great compliment that this is the first blog you visit in the morning.
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I thought this game was a wasted effort. They wasted another great performance by the D. Just like the Iowa game, I thought the staff put it all on the D and you knew eventually they would buckle. OSU is too good a team with too much talent to keep in check into 2 OTs. The play calling on offense left me wanting. You can bag on Speight for the 2 interceptions and the fumble but I give him kudos for being out there with that shoulder. I’m wondering if that limited his ability to throw deep and taking the hits during the game cause of some of his errant throws.
Again the O line folded in the 2nd half, and I for one won’t miss Kyle Kalis. He maybe one of the most overrated O linemen to ever come thru AA. I commented a couple a weeks ago that I had seen enough of him in the wildcat. That was just throwing away downs as everyone had figured out it was going to be a run and most likely a run by JP. Nobody was fooled. JP never lived up to the hype which may not be his fault, but they needed to focus him on doing a few things very well instead of having line up all over the field and not really doing anything exceptional. I know I’ll get slammed for this, but I never saw him as a game changer. I think Iowa and MSU exposed his weekness (running directly at him). He wasn’t a very good cover guy and in the biggest games this season, he went MIA for the most part.
For me this was a wasted season. They had so much experience on both sides of the ball, and will lose a lot of that to graduation/expired eligibility. Going to miss the Taco Charletons, Chris Wormleys, Ryan Glasgows, Jourdan Lewis of this team. They all really up their games the past 2 seasons and will be hard to replace.
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I don’t see how anyone who watched this game can say that the Michigan players weren’t tough enough. I thought they played their hearts out. The defense was simply gassed at the end. The one mental mistake I was most upset about was Cole’s face mask penalty where I thought they on their way to putting game away. I also think Speight bounced back well after his mistakes.
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Agreed. I don’t think toughness was the issue. We were plenty tough. We just weren’t good enough at football. There’s a difference.
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First of all – great work this season Thunder. It’s been enjoyable reading your post-game analysis.
Hugely disappointing to lose yesterday but I thought the team really came to play.
The defense was spectacular. As noted, they let OSU score just 7 points in regulation and booted them off the field time and time again. Between the refs and the offense, the defense deserves to feel like they got the short-end. 8 sacks against one of the better offenses in the country. This was a dominant performance and brilliance by Don Brown. Shame that the final score will overshadow that.
I hate complaining about refs but it’s impossible not to in such a one-sided outcome. The refs are never going to be perfect on the road you have to expect some disadvantage but this was ridiculous. I thought Thunder made all the relevant arguments here.
Speight both kept us in the game and lost it. So did Harbaugh’s playcalling. The Peppers stuff was a major dud. Wanted to see more cleverness with screens and fullbacks. OTOH Harbaugh deserves credit for getting people open even with a limited QB and little run game production.
The run-game was OK, about as expected against an excellent D. I was pleasantly surprised we were able to get yardage consistently, but the lack of big plays was important. Again, the Peppers stuff feels like a missed opportunity.
Individual Players:
Darboh and Butt dropped some balls they absolutely should have caught and Chesson didn’t do enough either. For all their fanfare the WRs and TEs were disappointments this year.
Speight threw a lot of great passes all game but the 3 turnovers are flat-out inexcusable. Speight didn’t show up against strong competition all year, but straight up handing the other team 10 points while only producing the same on legitimate drives for Michigan is awful, no matter who the competition is. Michigan had 2 drives over 40 yards the entire game and both were less than 60.
Kalis’ mistake-ridden career had an appropriately disappointing ending.
Isaac and Smith missing blocks in critical situations was something you don’t want to see from seniors. bleh.
Agree that Mone and Charlton were excellent. The entire DL was a force all year and probably played their best game yet yesterday.
McCray and Stribling really stepped up. Lewis Thomas and Hill were all very very good once again.
Peppers was not. I thought he was our worst defensive player and repeatedly made mistakes. To be fair, a lot was asked of him, but in this game he wasn’t able to handle it and didn’t do enough on offense to make up for it. Not fair to call anyone out on our defense but if one guy is to blame for the chinks in the armor it was him. That punt return was awesome though.
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If OSU and UM played again on a neutral field I believe we’d be favored. Against anyone besides Alabama I think that’d be the case. We’re clearly one of the 4 best teams in the country. And yet…ultimately not one of the 4 most deserving. Michigan can only blame themselves for not getting a shot at the title, because losing narrowly @Iowa AND @OSU were both avoidable with one or two fewer mistakes.
This year they could have lost one of those games and lived to fight for championships, but losing two of them means they are out. A great team, almost. It could have been different, but it wasn’t. Our grumbles and memories won’t mean anything to anyone because ultimately our team lost and nothing changes that.
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Thanks. And I agree with pretty much everything you wrote here.
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It felt to me that Harbaugh needed to take a risk in order to win in OT. Trading blows back and forth wasn’t going to win it. I would have liked to see him go for two in the first OT. He has to have some played drawn up for exactly that one time use.
Thoughts?
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I thought about that, too, and the general feeling is that you go for 2 on the road, and you go for 1 at home. So using that logic, Michigan should have gone for it. Still, I think Harbaugh was putting the game on his defense and counting on them to get a stop, force a turnover, etc. Then Michigan could score a TD (if possible) or kick a FG and end the game.
Truthfully, I think it’s 50-50. I wouldn’t have been mad if he went for 2, as long as he didn’t run a stupid play call like a Peppers zone read.
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Agreed. But the way that they were playing on defense in the fourth quarter didn’t inspire confidence that they wouldn’t allow TD’s in OT.
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I thought running Smith on 3rd down was a good ‘risk’ to take. Didn’t work but it’s going against expectation.
I thought the level of responsibility they put on Speight was risk enough. Two interceptions would argue that being more conservative might have been wiser.
Going for 1 was the right call. You trust your defense, which has stopped OSU all day, to do it one more time. That’s your best unit. Trusting an offense that has barely done anything all day to win against a top 5 D on 1 do-or-die play was unwise and played right into OSU’s hands.
I think this taking risk idea wouldn’t exist if the Barrett spot had been called correctly.
IMO the only clearly bad idea that the coaching staff had was bringing out the same Peppers package we’ve seen all year.
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This was one of those games where the lack of explosive ability came to haunt both teams. Both teams had to “stay ahead of the sticks”. Against excellent defenses they couldn’t. UM got the benefit of a major advantage in special teams and field position, yet managed to only score 3 times. OSU needed Michigan to turn the ball over to score.
I know we’re going to be be an old-school manball team with Harbaugh but they need to find a way to be more creative at times and create opportunities for big plays. OSU does it, they just didn’t have the personnel to execute it this year. Michigan needs to as well.
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I’m hoping Speight can develop his downfield throwing capabilities, and it would be nice for a true downfield threat to emerge. I don’t know if it’s McDoom or maybe someone in the 2017 class, but Michigan always had that one guy under Lloyd Carr who could take over games at times (Edwards, Terrell, Walker, etc.). I know Schembechler wasn’t as pass-happy as Carr, but it would be nice to see Harbaugh and his staff find/develop a playmaker at wideout.
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>> “I’m hoping Speight can develop his downfield throwing capabilities, and it would be nice for a true downfield threat to emerge.”
Which makes me wonder if we *might* see Brandon Peters emerge next season. Speight — good as he was in many games — never really developed the deep ball. I know it would be hard to pass up the game experience of Speight next season, but what if — I’m just speculating — but what if Peters emerges in spring and fall camp to be the guy that can give us the deep threat *and* not make big mistakes?
There’s a thought rattling around in my head that Harbaugh looked at what he had on offense this season and thought: “Be just good enough to win given the defense we have.” Hence Speight over O’Korn; hence De’Veon Smith as the primary ball carrier … hence all the true freshman playing to see if someone would emerge for this year, and at minimum prep them for the near future.
Regarding speed … I can’t believe Harbaugh doesn’t see the value of speed. But in his mind speed + mistakes might may weigh against a player, however. Again, I’m not Harbaugh, so I can’t be certain of anything. But it does not take a rocket scientist to look at the game of football and see that speed — all else equal, and that’s the key — is better than no speed.
Disappointing game outcome, to be sure. Officiating: even Dan Dierdorf, who’s normally pretty balanced in his analysis of these things, both pro and con, was livid at some of the non-calls. Clearly *something* was up with the officiating … OSU was averaging around 52 yards of penalties per game, home and away, wins and losses … and to come up with 2 penalties for 6 yards is almost statistically impossible.
* * *
I very much appreciate all the effort you’ve put into this site this year, Thunder … I get most of my “real” football insights here. Your content plus the comments from some key folks here really makes this site a go-to for Michigan football.
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I think Harbaugh will play the best player available, at least in his eyes. I mean, we might disagree on who the best player is, but he’s not going to give in to politics, seniority, etc. So I think Peters will play if Harbaugh deems him worthy. Personally, I thought Peters looked pretty rough in the spring, but that was his first semester on campus, so I wasn’t expecting much. I’m assuming he’ll have some things cleaned up by the beginning of 2017 fall camp, but will it be enough? I don’t know. I’m guessing Speight holds onto the job.
Thanks for the compliments. I’m glad you visit on a daily basis and interact regularly.
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Agreed. I’m very optimistic about our returning WR group and the potential WR recruiting haul could be great. Wheatley and Asiasi should help with their versatility too.
My concern is more related to scheme. I don’t know why Michigan can’t do some of the things that Air Raid offenses are doing more consistently. We seem to have the same stuff we had under Carr where the offense wanted to kill clock as much as score, unless they were down and the ‘scoring offense’ made an appearance. Harbaugh’s been far more creative than Carr era teams but I think some of the same conservative traditionalism is there.
Then again we had a rickety O and dominant D, so that type of strategy is more defensible.
I’m optimistic that Speight will make strides but the OL is going to be a HUGE issue for Michigan once again. Will get Cole and Bredeson back but beyond that it’s wide open and there’s a pretty good chance we are starting at least one true freshman on the OL once again. Hard to have an effective power-running offense when your big guys up front are inexperienced.
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Great writeup Thunder
Sucks to have lost, and I for one do not blame the refs. Did they blow a few calls? Sure… Did we make even bigger mistakes? Absolutely
Still, as disappointed as I am in getting so close, I am optimistic about the future. Without great talent on O, JH and staff carried the team to a playoff run, falling just short despite what most believe: bad OL, slow RBS, limited QB and no deep threat WR. These young men played their butts off, and Harbaugh will do even more with their replacements
GO BLUE
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Thanks!
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Speights a 3rd year QB who, if all goes to plan, will be in the NFL.
Smith’s not fast but like Gearhart and Hart he is an effective college back who will get a shot in the NFL.
Chesson’s a deep threat who may still get drafted despite the disappointing year. Darboh’s a poor man’s Avant and will get an NFL shot too, though I doubt he will be drafted.
Magnuson will get drafted. Braden might. Cole’s probably going to get drafted too.
Butt’s going to go in the first 3 rounds. Peppers in the first.
You look back in 5 years and there’s probably double digit NFL players on this offense.
I’m not sure how you argue talent is a problem here. Other than OSU Michigan has far more talent on O than anyone they played. The OL wasn’t deep enough, Speight wasn’t good enough, the play-calling was suboptimal, and the receivers didn’t step up when called upon. Talent’s there tho and it produced a top 20 offense on the season.
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I’m proud of our guys, but that doesn’t change my opinion
Bad OL=unable toimpose their will on an above average D
Slow RB=can this be disputed? I appreciate smith, but he’s still slow
No deep threat=we had it last year, but chesson didn’t show up for 2016. Best of luck in the leaugue, I’ll be cheering for him
Limited QB: each time speight got hit, colorado/iowa/ohio, he looked subpar. I think he’ll improve and get to the league, but THIS year I think it’s fair to say he was limited
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I usually forget through the year, but my family and I will definitely do our Christmas shopping through your link. Thanks for the blog, and happy holidays to my Blue brothers
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Great! I really appreciate it. And happy holidays to you, too.
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Thanks for all your hard work thunder, I don’t post often but I do check the site often and really enjoy it.
I was surprised a team coached by Harbaugh, was not a team I had confidence in during the 4th quarter, I am not sure the team had that confidence either. I didn’t really have confidence in him either. I am not sure why, I desperately wanted UM to win, but I had little confidence they would.
It might be an offensive line that was simply average. Sometimes the worst situation you can be in is “good enough”, you have to wonder if Kalias should have been replaced last year or earlier this year to develop a player. It pains me to see David Dawson not worthy of even slightly below average play after 4 years in the program and 2 years with this coaching staff. The Newsome injury hurt a lot, but they just played a young and inexperienced D line and were not able to impart their will, in fact the opposite happened. I had the opposite feeling I generally have when watching MSU play (the last couple of years anyway). I am hoping this team develops the ability to win in the 4th quarter, it is imperative.
The team as a whole doesn’t seem to have that killer instinct or ability to impart their will when the game is on the line against good competition. They don’t get key first downs on 3rd and 2 in tight games in the 4th quarter.
The quality of the referees was poor and one sided, but UM has no excuses. It simply did not execute and it was poor when it was time to impart their will and win. I am hoping this is not a culture that is pushed down from the coaching staff, but something learned and to be developed.
I am looking forward to bowl season and the end of recruiting for 2017. One thing I love about our recruiting is that a lot of the players seem to be really good athletes. It used to pain me to see how unathletic the classes were overall years back.
I do think Speight will be a very good quarterback. Once he starts to more consistently hit those 15+ yard passes this will be a very dynamic offense.
Enjoy recruiting everyone.
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Thanks for reading (and posting occasionally).
I agree with you on the killer instinct. In tight games (Wisconsin, Iowa, Ohio State), they’ve been unable to get that extra score or first down that would put the game away.
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I hope WCB didn’t off himself. Poor guy.
…Or maybe with all his dreams coming true he’s too happy to post.
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Good write up! I don’t often comment but I visit daily to get your perspective.
I think the team was a bit better than most folks here. I think the program is a lot closer to parity with OSU’s than most folks here. Having watched Michigan football since the early 60s, my perspective is over a much longer period than a few years or the next season, and from my point of view the future looks very bright.
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Thanks, UncleFred.
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” Furthermore, if you take away the overtime production – which was approximately 45 yards – you’re talking about giving up about 285 yards to the Buckeyes in this game”
Didn’t they gain exactly 50 yards of offense in the overtimes? They scored two touchdowns from the 25-yard-line. Or am I missing something?
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I thought there might have been a 5-yard penalty in there, but maybe not.
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