Michigan @ Wisconsin, Noon, 11/18, Fox/Stream FoxGo

[maxreturn]

stupid

Harbaugh has recruited as well as any school other than oLIEo or Alabama with M

Need a QB to step up and some O linemen to pan out.

If he's such a great recruiter than there's something else lacking...namely coaching.

[Fraquar]

If he's such a great recruiter than there's something else lacking...namely coaching.

No, it's that the Pac 10 led itself to being vulnerable to being bullied (Stanford). You aren't coming in and instantly bullying the Big 10 - ain't happening.

[whodean]

Put Andrew Luck on this or last year's M team and they are playoff bound.

[Kstat]

Put Andrew Luck on this or last year's M team and they are playoff bound.

Put Chad Henne on last year?s team and they are playoff bound.

[Detroit Dan]

Not a bad effort. Wisconsin seems to do well in the latter part of games. They deserved to win.

Michigan's youth really stood out, in addition to the Badgers' stamina / adjustment. Nothing to be ashamed of, IMO. Great effort -- just need to regroup and learn from the experience.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Ahhhh ..... this is when I appreciate you most, DD.

On reflection, I'll offer these hot takes:

M has been severely limited by OL play esp. in the passing game. Run blocking has been ok to very good. I think an argument can be made that a failure to pick up stunts is a coaching issue. I watched several late games, most notably USC/UCLA. QB protection was very good by both teams. There were plenty of edge rushers that got effectively neutralized. Delayed blitzes off stunts were picked up. That M's OL has, throughout the season, gotten killed by these remains a mystery to me. Just a fan but to me Pep's passing game has contributed as much to the problem as has OL coaching on seeing stunts and picking them up.

The D is young. We're going to see on the UFR that gap discipline was lacking in the run game. DB play, for the most part was very good. A couple of misses by young guys (JKP) so Hill was missed. That was an unfortunate loss of a key player

Hornibrook made some unexpected NFL throws and he got a ton of help from his receivers. Those were big catches.

Peters also made some good throws but you can tell he's a Freshman. He still ran the O well. It's just a shame that he went down, once again, from a delayed LB blitz. I'll have to see that on Video but he probably held the ball too long. Is that play design or is it his reads? I noticed Rosen, of UCLA, made deep throws under 5 seconds and had the ball out under 3 with pin point accuracy putting the ball right were it needed to be to optimize the play. Peters puts it up nicely but it's rarely in that tight window it needs to be to optimize the play. I don't know if this is Peters or the failure of Hamilton to teach him to do this. I'm trending toward the later. Guess who is coaching Rosen? Yep, Jedd Fisch, the guy that got a previously very average and probably poorly coached Ruddock into the NFL.

Wisky is very beatable. I like osu's chances in the CCG. It's still not going to be easy as the Badger LB play under DC Jim Leonhart may be the best in the nation. I trust ufm to scheme plays to neutralize that and have every confidence jtb will execute them.

[Rocky Bleier]

Obviously not the beating I expected. Nice effort by the team in the first half. Have to give credit to Paul Chryst for being equally conservative as Harbaugh. Reminded me of The Ten Year War when you knew neither Bo nor Woody were going to deviate from the script much. Manball! Wisconsin is eminently beatable. Definitely not a team that deserves to be in the College Football Playoff. They'll get hammered by OSU, and the B1G will be shutout of the CFP picture. All we have is schadenfreude...

When was the last time Michigan had good safeties? #14 and #23 are killing them, and #16 didn't impress either.

[Cody_Russell]

Just a fan but to me Pep's passing game has contributed as much to the problem as has OL coaching on seeing stunts and picking them up.

What a coincidence that a Pep Hamilton offense in Indianapolis got Andrew Luck hurt behind that o-line in 2015. Part of the reason the Colts were desperate to draft Ryan Kelly (or wanted Taylor Decker).

Andrew Luck's injury history, a timeline

https://www.sbnation.com/2017/10/16/16469416/andrew-luck-shoulder-injury-history-timeline-colts-return

[iam416]

There have been multiple times this season where OSU is in press coverage irrespective of the down and distance. I get it -- you're not going to really deviate. You're going to bring tons of pressure, force the quick release and not give the WR time to separate. But, man, when it's 3rd and 17 or 3rd and long in a goal-line situation, I'm a much bigger fan of rushing 3 or 4 -- relying on your stud DL to get ENOUGH pressure and keeping everything in front of you. That's the NFL way.

That prevents the infernal back shoulder throw and catch in really tight coverage. Wisconsin was entirely dead in the water until that first back shoulder completion and then the TD on 3rd and long. I guess they eventually wore down the M defense in the 4th and were able to move the ball much better, so maybe it doesn't matter. But, those types of plays really annoy me. Schiano has started to go with more down and distance appropriate calls, so there's that.

[Rocky Bleier]

Couldn't agree more about the coverage on that TD. But I also think the M defense lost some energy when they saw Peters go down. The effect was immediate. Not that Peters was a world-beater, but they knew it meant the return of O'Korn. Game over.

[Rocky Bleier]

Special teams mistake for Wisconsin's first score and Peters' fumble really hurt.

And DPJ's catch was a TD:

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUAnlLH_ebw"]Michigan Football vs Wisconsin Highlights, Instant Reaction, and Brandon Peters Injury - YouTube[/ame]

[Jeff Buchanan]

Reading around........

There is a 5% lunatic fringe. They can be ignored.

The quality and fact based analysis usually available at mgoblog gets drowned out by the inane lunatic fringe after an M loss. This one may be the worst.

There is consensus on the OL play being fundamental to M's struggles. The cause is uncertain but it shades to coaching.

Why is Wisconsin better at manball with 3 star recruits and walk-ons than M with much better talent? Because they have been recruiting to a system for 30 years.

M needs a receivers coach and an experienced RB's coach that has played those positions. Loosing Jedd Fish and T. Wheatley were big deals. Having them replaced by Pep Hamilton and ? was bad.

M needs an OC that makes the calls and knows what he is doing in a manball offense that Harbaugh wants. Some good comments on JH may be too tied to Drevno. If Harbaugh is serious about meritocracy and accountability, he'll make some changes to the offensive staff this off season.

[froot loops]

Something is up with the coaching in that you keep on getting unblocked guys creaming the QB. It isn't always the OL though, Peters got crunched early in the game because the RB didn't check for the Blitzer before running out on a route.

[paul daugherity]

The offense also needs a dedicated WR coach.

[iam416]

The obvious reality is that HARBAUGH!!!! is (1) a very good coach; (2) the best HC M can hire; and (3) not the infallible supergenius savior of all things *some* M fans thought he'd be.

I think (3) drives some of the the 5% nonsense in they are dealing with failed expectations. The only thing that really matters in the above is (2).

There are plenty of knucklehead message board idiots that talk shit about UFM. Not to say he doesn't deserve criticism from time to time, but some of it is preposterous. There was a lengthy thread after the Iowa debacle at 11W about how UFM should recruit more Ohio kids because they'll play harder for Ohio State. I can think of a number of things that UFM has done less than perfectly -- recruiting would be pretty fucking far down on that list. Asshattery.

So, when you hire a big gun, the expectations are such that you're going to get asshattery. And CFB message boards tend to magnify that.

The reality for both M and OSU is that their current HC situation will not improve when either leaves. There are things to improve, but replacing either of them isn't going to do it.