Michigan Monday: Looks For Big Changes

The Michigan Football program has somehow gotten worse under a respected head coach.   Which is pretty much shocking to everyone that follows College Football.  I took some heat when Coach Whitt was hired because I pointed out that Utah had gently pushed him out.   He then impressed many of us with his staff, his portal additions, and his ability to keep most of the roster intact.   

This roster, this coaching staff, new discipline, and a new focus was going to lead to a successful season with a difficult schedule.  Maybe Michigan could sneak into the CFP?  Here is the problem, nothing on the offense side of the ball has worked.  Nothing.   Coach Beck a respected OC is running plays and an offense that seems foreign to everyone, even the players running it.  Michigan is losing their winnable games and guess what is going to happen when they play the big boys?

So now what?  I honestly don't know.  

Our 8 figure QB is completely broken and looks disinterested

The offensive line looks to be running blocking concepts that are new to them 

Our great RB's are getting hit at the LOS because every defensive box is overloaded 

Michigan's TE's are an afterthought 

Michigan's 2 really good WR's seem to be the only options in a terrible passing offense 

The positive is Michigan has two weeks to fix what is broken and they won't take a loss this weekend.  Michigan also has a solid defense that probably should take the week off after all the plays they ran on Saturday.  

Here is my concern:  Coach Whitt has come to Ann Arbor as a football CEO and not a hands on head football coach.  Him saying he is going to sit down with Coach Beck to figure out the unacceptable offense, seems like a meeting that's a month over due.  

Is there conflict between the donors and the new staff on Bryce? Because I see a backup QB with a legendary name and good QB mechanics sitting on the bench. 

Has Bryce mentally checked out? Is he overwhelmed?  Because he is not processing the field at all.  Many times he is making the wrong read on the option handoff to the RB's and missing wide open WR's/TE's.

Coach has a ton of explaining to do at his presser today.  But I'm not sure I will believe any of it, until I see it.  

• Etroit Lions

• Are there any good football teams in the State of Michigan right now?  Yes, there is.  1 - Ferris State defending National Champions are 5-0.  

A Clown Show

I'm almost speechless on what I saw today, but you know me, I have a lot of thoughts about the product the Wolverines put on the field today.  I'm just going to bullet for you my random thoughts, please beware this an emotional and mostly negative take on the game this afternoon. 

• Coach Whitt looks like a Deer in Headlights 
• Coach Beck has done a terrible job with this Michigan offense 
• Bryce is not ready to be Michigan's QB
• He missed a check down on 4th down to a wide-open TE 
• He missed Marsh butt naked open and throws a pick when forcing the ball to JJ
• He is a one read QB right now 
• As soon as one thing goes wrong, he loses all confidence 
• That 4th down throw looked like a FU to the Michigan program 
• Byrce is not processing the position fast enough
• To me he has regressed and not taken a step forward from last season
• This is some RR year 1 bull shit
• It's time to give Carr and that Colorado State QB a shot
• The defense played really well but you can't play football when you're on the field the entire game. 
• The defense even gave Michigan 7 points 
• I thought we had the best OL coach in college football?
• The penalties and turnovers continued
• Marsh is not a confident punt returner
• Marsh also had a big drop 
• Another terrible call by Coach Beck on 3rd an 1 early 
• You can't pay a HS senior QB all that money, you have to follow the Miami model.  Recruit both lines and skill positions and overpay for the best college QB every year. 

I will restate this: I wondered out loud if hiring Coach Whit at Michigan and Matt Campbell meant we were getting Utah and Iowa State in the Big Ten and that is exactly what we have gotten this year.   Michigan is not a good football team, they play good defense and Coach Hill has done a nice job.   The offense is completely backwards. 

I'm happy Byrce got his money, but I've seen enough to know that he is not going to be a good QB at Michigan.  I wish him well at his next stop but it's so easy to defend Michigan when Byrce is the QB. 

You double his first option and then you know he is going to run.  If you stop Michigan's run game, you win the game.  

I'm very concerned that Coach Whitt is not the right man for this job.  He seems very disconnected from the program and letting his coordinators run the show and Beck is running some system that does not fit the Michigan personnel.  I'm stunned at the play calling and lack of execution at every level on offense.   There really should be consideration if Beck is the OC on Monday.  I don't expect a change, but this level of performance is un-acceptable.

Michigan has two weeks to figure stuff out for the rest of the year.  If they don't there are going to be some very difficult decisions for this staff and future roster. 

Michigan and its $40M roster just lost to Iowa and Minnesota in back-to-back weeks.  If that is my money, I would want some answers.

The Little Brown Jug Preview

Time: Noon 

Location: Huntington Bank 

Weather: 60 small chance of rain 

TV: Fox 

Line: Michigan -5.5

The Little Brown Jug has plenty of history and outside one of the true rivalry games Michigan plays (MSU and OSU), this trophy is very important to the program.  It's also very important to Minnesota and they have an empty trophy case just waiting for it.  This is the Golden Gophers Super Bowl on Saturday and this trophy would probably get The Row the Boat captain an extension with a win. 

Dear Coach Whitt:

I've got to say this straight up to you and I think I speak for many Michigan Football fans.  This non-deciplined football is Bull Shit and completely unexpected.    I would've expected these type of mistakes from a Sherrone coached team, not one lead by you and your experienced coordinators. 

The Iowa loss completely washed over the narrative that your offense is getting better and Bryce had one of his best days as a Wolverine.  I think the pick was on Marsh, but clearly they weren't on the same page.  The defense struggled and Michigan didn't get as much pressure on the Iowa QB as they should've. 

Coach you were brought here to be the calm in a program that has had too many storms lately.  You have brought some of that, but what I'm watching on the field does not seem to match that.   You have to understand Michigan Football before you can be successful at it. BTW, that does not mean learning as you go, you have to figure this shit out quickly.  

The big learning this week is the Little Brown Jug.  The Minnesota program lives and dies with this trophy and we haven't played the Golden Gophers in a few years.   This is also a great test for your team on the road.  It's about time you got out of Ann Arbor and took at trip.  This team needs a mental reset and a couple day trip to play some football should be the cure.  

The Golden Gophers are feeling pretty good because they won a Big Ten After Dark game last weekend in Seattle which is not an easy place to get a W.   Coach Fleck got so happy he rubbed blood on his cheeks from one of his players after the game.   This team is hot and waiting to pull an other upset and get the prize of the Little Brown Jug. 

Play CLEAN FOOTBALL, stop the penalties and turnovers.   Rush the passer and stop the run.  On offense continue the positive progression with Bryce and lets get Marshall or Hiter over a 100 yards please!  If you haven't noticed JJ is always open, throw him the damn ball! 

Bond as a team on the road and play Michigan Football! 

Michigan 31 Minnesota 20

Big Ten Preview Week 5

There are a couple interesting conference games this weekend.  Including Ohio State traveling to Iowa.  Don't sleep on Friday's night game with Penn State at Northwestern.  Only 7 Big Ten games this weekend. 

Friday:

Penn State (-3) @ Northwestern:  I haven't watched either team this year and PSU got upset by Wisconsin last week.  I like Northwestern in this game but Penn State is probably the better team.  Northwestern 27 PSU 20

Saturday:

Ohio State (-14.5) @ Iowa: It's hard playing at Iowa and the Hawkeyes will keep this one close for maybe a half.  Then OSU will find out they can pass on this defense and score a ton of points, if they just score points in the red zone. No upset this weekend for Iowa.   OSU 28 Iowa 13

Maryland @ Nebraska (-14.5):  Nebraska continues to dominate the lower teams in the Big Ten, they could be schedule good this year.  Nebraska 31 Maryland 9

Purdue @ Illinois (-10):  Illinois looked decent at times against OSU last weekend, Purdue does not play defense.  Illinois 38 Purdue 24

Washington @ USC (-9.5):  Trojans has a tough weekend and so did the Huskies.  USC should be able to rebound from the Oregon beat down.  USC 41 Wash 31

IU (-23.5) @ Rutgers:  This is a night game?  Why?  IU 44 Rutgers 21 

Michigan and Minnesota injury report:

Marsh, Nichols, Sprague, and JHD on Questionable is not great, but last week most guys on "questionable" played.  So we got that going for us.  Yes, Michigan needs all 4 guys on Saturday.