Michigan Monday: Concerns About Coaching and Too Early Look at The Golden Gophers

Cignetti and Dusty May ruined coaching for every college football and basketball coach.  They took two programs and won National Championships in year 2 by leveraging the Transfer Portal and finding the perfect fits.  I know this statement is my favorite broken record but the Michigan job is not like any other job in College Football.  There are very strict expectations and most coaches can't handle them.   Moeller couldn't, Rich Rod couldn't, Brady Hoke couldn't, Sherrone couldn't, and it even took Harbaugh years to figure it out.  

So it's not fair what I'm going to say right now because "the cake isn't baked yet this year" and Coach Whitt and staff are still figuring things out in Ann Arbor but,  Coach Whitt and staff are not meeting expectations currently.  There are two things I expected out of Michigan this year at a minimum, clean and discipline football and we've seen very little of either through 4 games.  

You can not coach Michigan like Utah or BYU or any other school out there, because Ann Arbor is different.  Before you take the job in Ann Arbor, every head coach needs to understand that.  

Case in point, I love being aggressive against certain teams. Go for 4th downs and throw to the end zone, but not against Iowa.   Why?  Because when you play Iowa every point is like 7 points.   If Michigan had a different strategy on Saturday, they would've been up 9 or more points the entire game.  On my group chat at half-time, I said Michigan is playing its best game of the year but they are playing right into Iowa's hands.  

The penalties and dumb plays are on the coaches.  I thought Coach Combs was probably doing the best job on the staff until Saturday's kick off return.   That last drive the Michigan defense was gassed and out of position for the final play.  How a WR has a 1 on 1 coverage with two seconds left and zero threat of a running game is beyond me.  The Sunday night NFL game last night had the exact same scenario and Denver had a large amount of the defense standing on the goal line and picked off Stafford to end the game.  

I would love to point tp the Oklahoma game as a success but Georgia just rolled them like they were not even on the field and Boise shut out Western in Kalamazoo.    Michigan has yet to beat a good team and this year might continue to be a struggle if they can't turn things around and play smarter football.   They have the talent but do they have the mindset plus the skill and will to play better football?

Going on the road, might be what this team needs.  Get away from Ann Arbor, get away from school, and get away from distractions.   Michigan has a trophy game on Saturday and its Minnesota's Super Bowl.  The Wolverines need to be prepared for a Golden Gopher team that just upset UW late night on Saturday in Seattle, which is no easy task.   Someone better prepare Coach Whitt and staff what to expect on Saturday.  

Minnesota 3-1 

Best Win: UW last week 

Loss: Miss St

Pass: 258.8 per (65th)

Run: 119 (116th) 

Score: 35 (46th) 

Give up: 19 (40th)

Minnesota likes to the row the boat and run the football but this year they seem to favor the pass with QB Drake Lindsey.  Should be an interesting one and and a noon kick.   Michigan is currently -8.5 favorite. 

• Michigan Pro's had a good Sunday: Mason Graham had 2 sacks, Roman Wilson caught a long TD pass from Rogers, and Wallace has a pick for the Rams. 

Stupid Football Never Wins

Michigan might have played its best game on Saturday and lost.  The reason they lost, they play stupid football.   Let me count the ways

• Zeke Berry doing that is just incredibly stupid 
• Michigan turned the ball over in red zone 2 times.  Michigan should of had a comfortable 9 point lead the entire game. 
• A huge mistake on the kick off return 
• Why wasn't the entire defense in the end zone on that play?
• Michigan dominated the entire game and at the same time was playing Iowa's game 
• I think the Bryce INT was on Marsh 
• I think that hands to the face by Trey Pierce was the wrong call (so I don't consider that a stupid play)

My only concern about hiring Coach Whitt was just this.  His Utah teams were good but never great and he always lost big games.  There are very few head coaches that can take a team to great.  I sure hope Coach Whitt has one career run left in him.  Because this was a comedy of errors today and probably Bryce's best game as a Michigan QB.  

I truly can't process that last sentence.  

If you are a Michigan fan, you knew the Wolverines were in trouble when the out of bounds tip play happened.   You knew this was going to be some type of Iowa strange win and it was.  

Somedays you get beat by a better team and some days you beat yourself.  Michigan clearly beat itself today.   Many we say this win by Iowa is Karma and maybe it was.  I just know this team continues to do stupid things at the worst moments. 

BTW: Oklahoma and WMU got blown out today.

Iowa Preview

Time: 3:30
Location: Big House
Weather: 71 No Rain
TV: CBS

Line: Michigan -5.5

Historically, Iowa has had a great defense and poor offense.  The offense is better and the defense is still really good.  Michigan has a really good defense this season and the offense has struggled at times.  Both teams are 3-0 with close wins over instate teams.   Everyone thinks this will be a low scoring game where a turnover might be the difference.  

Dear Coach Whitt:

I know you understand what "Clean" football is. It's when your team doesn't receive penalties or turns the  the ball over.  Michigan is struggling with both offense and penalties on defense.   You can not make those mistakes against Iowa because they will capitalize on everyone of those.  In fact, their game plan includes them. 

If you're looking for a comp, your Utah teams were sort of the Iowa of the West.   By now you know what it means to be the Michigan head coach and winning in the Big House is paramount to having a good season.  So this is a big game for two reasons, it's your first conference game and its Iowa in the Big House. 

Now to the team, we can't have another first half like the team put on the field against UTEP.  That is unacceptable and you know iit.   The defense needs to play with aggression and the offense can't run into a loaded box over and over.  Every defense is going to make Bryce beat them through the air, I would've assumed you and your staff understood that before the season started.  If not, you do know now. 

Get Savion involved in the passing game and continue to leverage JJ and Marsh.  I do believe we have TE's that are great for getting first downs.  I love running the ball but you can't do that when the box has every defender in it.  On the goal line, UTEP didn't even cover JJ on one play last week.  

We need more creativity on offense and that doesn't mean running Bryce non-stop.  Yes, he needs to get his running plays in, but his ball security concerns me. 

This game should be sponsored by Tide Pods, because the team that plays the "cleanest" will win.   Michigan has to limit the mistakes because  Iowa wants to "hang around" and win late on a field goal.  I hope Michigan's injuries have healed this week and we get Berry, Sprague, and Marshall off the list.  

It's hard to win on the road in the Big Ten and Michigan needs to protect the Big House.  Play clean and play with aggression!  

Michigan 24 Iowa 14

Michigan - Iowa Availability Report

Sprague and Berry Questionable is interesting.  Dom being on the list is not great. 

Micah Ka'apana has been injured his entire Michigan career it seems