What Did We Learn? - Michigan

Waldo said:
Dana’s call on 2nd & 3 from the 7 (or whatever it was) on the opening drive was criminal. If you’re leaning towards going for it on 4th, that’s the last play I’d call.
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I agree. I hated it at the time. Its basically a 50/50 prop on whether the ball is dropped in the bucket. In a game like yesterday's, can't waste downs.
 
Mavric said:
Grampa Simpson Grandpa GIF by MOODMAN
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28 going on 68.
 
I really don’t care how many yards passing Mich’s QB had. They won the game running the ball and throwing screens. We all knew they were going to run and NU couldn’t move them from their strength.
 
DR and our other skill position players as a whole are in the top half of the B1G. Our entire Defense and OL are VERY easily bottom half or maybe even bottom third of the B1G. Both are a reflection of talent and coaching as it always is.
 
I had Michigan winning by 3. Still, I can't help feeling disappointed with all the missed opportunities. I'm still salty about not taking the points on the opening drive.

The offensive line getting absolutely outclassed came as a bit of a surprise. I figured they'd at least be decent at pass blocking. I already knew they're not run blockers.

Michigan running wild didn't surprise me at all.
 
The Dude said:
I had Michigan winning by 3. Still, I can't help feeling disappointed with all the missed opportunities. I'm still salty about not taking the points on the opening drive.

The offensive line getting absolutely outclassed came as a bit of a surprise. I figured they'd at least be decent at pass blocking. I already knew they're not run blockers.

Michigan running wild didn't surprise me at all.
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Big Ten football philosophy 101 -

Always take the points, don't field punts inside your 10 yard line, don't go for it on 4th down needing 2 yards, win the field position battle with your punting game, run the ball a lot in one score games. At least half of the league does this and it often works.
 
Mavric said:
Not sure if we could compete with what Dowdell got from Kentucky. And, for my money, I don't think we wanted to.

But this is part of the issue we're in right now. We had a lot of money tied up in the bottom half of the roster. So it's taking us a bit to adjust to directing funds to Rhule's "Top 53." Not sure if they'll take stuff away from the bottom half or if they'll let them transition out, one way or the other.
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Mavric, can you expound on the bolded? How/why was a lot of money tied up in the bottom half of the roster?
 
and just
VedderHusker said:
Mavric, can you expound on the bolded? How/why was a lot of money tied up in the bottom half of the roster?
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no expert, but maybe some loyalty to existing players- particularly to guys that came in high starred recruits or might be often injured lineman

Just a guess
 
Red Five said:
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Michigan had those long TD runs because they are superior on the interior than our kids. They are superior athletes.

"If Michigan had HCU's athletes they'd have lost by 52."

Those TD runs weren't wind gusts pushing a FG wide. They were due to superior players executing calls from a better coaching staff. It's not hard to see.

We needed a taunting call to give us 3 points from an extended drive, a Hail Mary that should have been a punt had Michigan used one of their three timeouts at the end of the 2nd; we could not get two yards on a 4th and 2 on the 1st drive when we needed them. When we needed tackles on their last drive. Nebraska couldn't get it done. No YAC, no broken tackles of material consequence, no real QB pressure even with blitzes.

The best takeaway is the kids didn't quit. Everything was aligned - home game, Matt's 3rd year, undefeated, week 4 game so kinks are ironed out, tape existing from a game Michigan got exposed (OU), "buy in," it was all there. And Nebraska got beat worse than the score showed.
 
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DefenderAO said:
Michigan had those long TD runs because they are superior on the interior than our kids. They are superior athletes.

"If Michigan had HCU's athletes they'd have lose by 52."

Those TD runs weren't wind gusts pushing a FG wide. They were due to superior players executing calls from a better coaching staff. It's not hard to see.

We needed a taunting call to give us 3 points from an extended drive, a Hail Mary that should have been a punt had Michigan used one of their three timeouts at the end of the 2nd; we could not get two yards on a 4th and 2 on the 1st drive when we needed them. When we needed tackles on their last drive. Nebraska couldn't get it done. No YAC, no broken tackles of material consequence, no real QB pressure even with blitzes.

The best takeaway is the kids didn't quit. Everything was aligned - home game, Matt's 3rd year, undefeated, week 4 game so kinks are ironed out, tape existing from a game Michigan got exposed (OU), "buy in," it was all there. And Nebraska got beat worse than the score showed.
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This seems to be a theme for years. Very rarely do I see us run through or over guys. I lot of going down or tripped up at first contact. No idea how to improve or fix it. Been going on for a while. At least IMHO.

Good pot all around.
 
Red Five said:
Not sure about that. We left 10 points on the field.
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Michigan also left some points on the field. Remember the half back pass that fell 10 yards short of a wide open receiver? Saved us 4 points.

It was a one score game…but Nebraska never led. In giving up 7 sacks, I’m actually impressed that Dylan only had one turnover. Playing relatively clean kept it from being a blowout.
 
VedderHusker said:
Mavric, can you expound on the bolded? How/why was a lot of money tied up in the bottom half of the roster?
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When it was all just NIL money, we could spread money around to everyone. Basically everyone was on "scholarship." But the rev share cap changed that philosophy. Now just the Top 53 (or so, according to Rhule) will be the main ones getting significant payments. That how we attracted some of the extra recruits. And we had one of the largest rosters in CFB.

I assume - like @krc1995 said - that we don't necessarily want to yank money away from guys we've already committed to. So we're kind of stuck in an odd spot in the middle until we can get that resolved.
 
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