Michigan 31, University of Washington 10 - Post Game Discussion

[JRB]

31-10 is your final. I picked Michigan to win this game 31-30 before the season, so I'd have been delighted with this result two weeks ago. But Washington's offense is so badly broken that it was infuriating that they were even in this game in the fourth quarter. Michigan should have blown this team out in the first half. What happened to the Huskies week one doesn't get fixed in a week, as Michigan found out in 2007, but Michigan's defense made their passing game look functional in the second half, and Michigan's passing game never looked functional at all.

[lineygoblue]

I'm not upset about Michigan focusing on the run. When 98% of the time your left tackle and guard are absolutely obliterating U Dub's DL's, you don't need to pass. M's game plan was to exploit U Dub's weakness on the DL, and they did so with gusto. You don't need to drop back and fire 40 yard passes, when you're gashing the defensive front for an average of 7 yards per carry. I mean, why put the ball in the air? Just because you can? Michigan had a huge advantage, especially on that left side.

Other than that, there's still a lot to be concerned about here. Washington started gashing M's inexperienced DB's with big gainers, and future M opponents are sure to take note. Good QB/receiver combos are going to eat that up.

I'm glad any time Michigan wins, and I'll eat some crow over my earlier prediction. I never expected U Dub's defensive front to be that porus.

I'm not taking the bait. I've done that too many times. Too many games left to play, and this isn't even the tough part of the schedule yet.

Talk to me when Michigan does this to teams like Wisconsin and/or Penn State on the road.

[WM Wolverine]

Year 7 and the best QB the QB whisperer has recruited and developed is?

[lineygoblue]

I'm not sure what developing a QB had to do with Saturday's game. To me, I think this game was a QB's dream. He had a OL that was opening massive holes, and two RB's who rushed for over 300 yards. He faced a defense that was totally impotent in stopping the run. He didn't need to attempt 40 passes to lead his team to a win.

Now, will Michigan need his passing skills later on? Absolutely. And, they're going to need him to hit passes in very hostile situations. But, tonight, .. he didn't need to do that.

And I'm just as disappointed as any Michigan fan that Harbaugh has not developed a QB. He should have developed several by now.

[Cody_Russell]

M exceeded expectations again and I was wrong to doubt this game. Well done! Think I predicted M to win by 6, but expected this to be a nail-biter.
Washington’s defense was a big letdown as M’s running game destroyed them.

Positives for the game:
- Obviously the Haskins/ Corum running attack. Lethal vs a supposed tough Washington D.
- Mostly good performance by the D. I still have some concerns with the CBs. Vincent Gray in particular. Overall liked what I saw.
- Moody
- The crowd/ environment. Incredible. However, I was a little frustrated with how loud the crowd was when M was on offense. Was that actually the Washington fans? It seemed loud on TV.

Negatives for the game:
- The passing offense. M needs to figure this out soon. The WRs have me concerned right now.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Caught a few minutes of Harbaugh's post game. He had this to say about the passing game when asked what M needed to do in that phase of the game. "We had, we need to work on communication. Had some mis-communications. Guys not being where they are supposed to be."

Also, per player - think it was Hutchinson - Vastardis is fine. Was cramping.

Is this a route running issue? A bit late in the game but if Bell was the only guy who reliably ran his routes and Cade tended to count on him above others, that might explain some of what went on last night. From the stands - and I had an excellent view of the receivers running routes and how Washington defended them - it looked like (1) Washington had M's passing game play-book as coverage was like 9/10. (2) Timing between McNamara and his primary read was off. He had time to check down but I didn't see a lot of open throws,

I also think there was reluctance to throw to the middle. Washington plays a roving S deep. The guy is a head hunter that reacts very well to where the throw looks like it's going to go. I can see the fact that this was a clubbing of an opponents DL with a run game, why risk getting someone killed getting hit by an aggressive, head hunting S?

Still, these are excuses. I'm rationalizing that M had 44y passing, 33 on the the CJ catch, 1y for Henning, -1 for Sanistril. That's pretty bad. Cade had at least 3 actual option looking thing: One RPO that he threw OOB and 3? ROs that he kept. Two got positive yards. One he took a big hit from that head hunting S. Progress? Await the UFR.

[Obi-Jon]

M's passing game will get some "work" against a high school defense next week. Northern Illinois High will stick 7-8 in the box all day long, trying to stop the run (they won't). We'll see bubble screens and swing passes instead of slants and posts. Harbaugh commented that vs UW the lack of passing was by design. The run game was working and UW has some quality cornerbacks, plus a decent safety. They passed only enough to keep the corners honest so run run run.

Maybe Rutgers will show Air Michigan. They better because Wisky has an actual defense, unlike M's opponents so far and on the immediate horizon. The schedule actually benefits M, imo. 4 tame teams in a row before an actual test gives them time to get into a rhythm and work out kinks. (Forever the optimist.)

[Cody_Russell]

Agree, McNamara has some things to work on.
Seems like this problem is more on the WRs than McNamara. I'm interested to find out if the WRs are getting open. Sure someone will review the tape to find out.
A WR core of Corn Johnson, Roman Wilson, and Mike Sainristil. Outside of Corn Johnson's one play, this WR core hasn't shown much.
The next game vs Northern Illinois will be a good opportunity to work in this weakness.

We will find out more about this situation as the season goes on. Unlike Speight, O'Korn, and Milton... I'm not upset at McNamara/ the QB situation right now. This opinion could change later in the season.

[Da Geezer]

Lots of big-time recruits on hand for last night's game. If you were an offensive lineman (and there was a 5-star UW lean attending the game), you probably liked the line play. The crowd was fantastic. Michigan's game-day "experience" is a selling point.

https://247sports.com/Article/Michigan-football-recruiting-Washington-Jim-Harbaugh-Walter-Nolen--170782258/

[Tom W]

- The crowd/ environment. Incredible. However, I was a little frustrated with how loud the crowd was when M was on offense. Was that actually the Washington fans? It seemed loud on TV.

One cool thing about scheduling inter-regional games against upper shelf P5 trams is that their fans travel well. There was a sizable contingency of UW fans in the top 10 rows of the South end zone last night (and there looked to be a lot of Ducks fans in the Sesspool. I suspect a few might have even made it to both games). Among them was a sort of pep band that had a tendency to play some rancid version of "Tequila" every time the Huskies did something positive. They weren't very good, but they were loud.

[Dr. Strangelove]

There were more Duck fans around Columbus than any visiting team I remember since Oklahoma was here 4 years ago. Then again, their colors really make them jump out of a crowd and it may make them seem more numerous.

[lineygoblue]

I'm among the most pessimistic M fans here, but I am having a hard time being critical of the passing game when the runnning game was able to run at will. They're certainly going to need to find some balance, and soon, because even Rutgers is liable to provide more competition than U Dub did. But for last night, things worked out well.

Corum said in a post game interview that some U-W linebacker said during the week that Michigan was not going to run on them. I didn't see that quote, but that may explain some of what happened. Michigan was absolutely feasting on the left side. U-W had no answers.

But, all that being said, we've seen this before, and we've seen M go into the toilet after promising wins. A couple years back a good ND team came into AA and Michigan whipped their behinds, only to go on and give up 63 to you-know-who. In the grand scheme of things, they haven't done anything yet. They beat a WMU team like they should have, and they beat a UW team that can't stop the run. Its better than two losses, but if this program wants to turn a corner and become respectful again, they'll have to do what they did last night in places like Happy Valley and Madison. And a repeat performance in East Landfill wouldn't be bad either.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Reading post game comments today - and some are from posters who have a clue about football at mgoboard - there's some things worth thinking about.

You saw a run heavy JH signature Stanford offense last night minus any passing game because (1), that was by design (2) such design prompted by Washington's strength at D that featured a 2-Hi scheme that matched up well v. M's receivers minus Bell.

Fans complained about the lack of a passing game and what that might foretell. It probably foretells little. Coaches had a game plan that produced a solid win based on what the opponent O and D had shown and was showing in game. There were noticeable adjustments on both O and D in game..

It's been pointed out that this might mark a departure from M trying to dictate play by the opponent by what M does instead of react and adjust to what the opponent does.

It's a decent take that needs more data points.

[froot loops]

In a vacuum, those things make sense. But with Harbaugh's history at Michigan it is certainly within bounds to criticize the offense. Sure they got the win but you shouldn't begrudge any fan for criticizing a turgid looking offense, even if that can doesn't frequent the vaunted MoGoboard.

[Hannibal]

McNamara was 7 of 15 for 44 yards. 33 of those yards came on one play. He was really really bad. He was Nick Sheridan bad. The passing game, as a whole, was 2008 RichRod bad.