Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Michigan Tuesday: Trying to Level Set Michigan's Football Program

I hope many of you play golf so you get this example.  Have you ever had a great round and go out and shoot a 76?  Your driver is in the middle of the fairway and your irons are hitting most of the greens.  Your putter is on fire and you feel like today you have finally figured out this game.     Then you go home, turn on the TV and the PGA tour is on and wonder where you could have taken out 8-10 strokes from your round.   The game those PGA professionals are playing is a completely different then what you just did. 


The best college football program is the Alabama Crimson Tide.   What they did last night was another crushing example of where Michigan is not as a football program.  Lets start to address some of the excuses we have been using for the past 10 years. 


  • The SEC gets all the talent - Alabama gets the best of the best but Michigan recruits at the same level of Georgia or others.  There is a gap here but not to the level as an Alabama to Indiana.   Michigan needs to develop its players much better then it has.


  • Youth can't win in college football - We used that one a few times this past season, didn't we?  Look at the game last night, it was cluttered with true freshman.   We need to start expecting more from our young players.   Yes, they will make mistakes but they also might be the most talented.   The 3 QB's that played were two true freshman and a sophomore.   The WR the caught the game winner in OT was a true freshman.


  • Your dead with a back-up QB - Ohio State beat Michigan this year with a backup and now Alabama brings its back-up off the bench and wins the National Championship.  Not to mention that Jake Fromm was a back-up at the start of the year as well.


  • Play Calling - We never talk about Nick Saban's team being aggressive with its play calling.  Last night, when Tau came in, he not only turned the page of the play book, he grabbed a completely new one.   Alabama won the game by throwing the ball downfield and being aggressive.   The dink and dunk offense Michigan ran this year, was hard to watch.   You just can't run on everyone. 


Those are just 4 examples of where Michigan is lacking.  I believe in Harbaugh but this year was a head scratcher and didn't feel like a step forward but two back.  Is it coaching? Is it lack of depth? Is it a lack of talent?  The answer is probably all of the above.   Still Harbaugh and staff has to do better and get more out of the guys in Schembechler Hall.   Wisconsin does it every year, MSU was supposed to be a dumpster fire and over achieved with its talent this year.   The issue is we don't want to be in the discussion with the Wisconsin's and MSU's of the world.   We want to be in the playoff conversation and watching the game last night just showed us how far away we actually are.


Change is tough and here are two examples via the University of Arkansas:


  • Michigan made it official that Dan Enos has joined the offensive staff.  Look for Pep or Tim to take NFL jobs as those head coaching spots are filled.  Dan's role is TBD but I believe they are waiting for more staff changes to make it official. 


  • Change in the way the Wolverines will take care of their body under new S&C guy Ben Herbert:   “My overall philosophy encompasses a lot of different things,” Herbert said. “I think everything starts from a development standpoint, with how well you take care of your body, the types of foods that you eat, your meal frequency, the types of fluids that you put in your body — we place a huge emphasis on water.”  -----  “From a weight room development standpoint, the most important thing right out of the gate for our young guys when they come in is developing their lower body and developing their back,” Herbert said. “A lot of guys spend a lot of time (bench) pressing in high school. They don’t spend a lot of time pulling and they don’t spend a lot of time training their lower body. That’s where we see our biggest gains.
    “Teach guys how to eat well, teach them how to hydrate properly, teach them how to train the right way, focusing on lower body and back development, and we set them up for a great result.”   I don't know anything about S&C but I like what I'm hearing and trying a new way. 


  •  Andre Rison's son - MSU WR Hunter Rison is transferring from MSU for more playing time and a different offensive philosophy.   Hunter liked Oklahoma when he was being recruited.




from The BIG HOUSE Blog http://mbighouse.blogspot.com/2018/01/michigan-tuesday-trying-to-level-set.html

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