Colorado @ Michigan, Post Game Discussion.

[*JD*]

Michigan has to improve a lot to beat last year's performance. Hopefully, Speight will continue on the Rudock-track of Improvement and be ready by the time tougher opponents face them. Also, get well soon Jourdan & Taco and let's find a punter!

[Rocky Bleier]

If you want to watch the game again:

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-KpNblOcqc"]Michigan Wolverines vs Colorado Buffaloes NCAA Football Full Game 09/17/16 - YouTube[/ame]

[Jeff Buchanan]

Watch the game again? No thanks. Here's the thing. I too want to see how the Ss reacted as a play developed. Rarely can you see this on TV.

Brown does this 1 high, 2 high and Ss up tight just behind the LBs thing (oversimplified but it will make the point). Pretty sure two things happened with the Ss that hurt M. Because they were coached this way during practice week prepping for CU, Ss were concerned about Liufau breaking contain running the ball. Take a moment of hesitation or a couple of steps forward overreacting to the fake at the mesh or a roll out threatening a run and the slot, X, crossing wide receiver running a good route is going to get separation. CU (Liufau did this as good as any option QB I've seen) was running this really well early hitting receivers in stride for big gains.

The second thing was the LBs, including peppers, we're hitting the gaps hard leaving short zone routes open. Again, Liufau picked up on this and when he saw 2 hI Ss with over penetration by LBs, who then got sealed, he went to the run option leaving his RB to pick the open gap between the tackles.

I'm guessing Brown backed off a bit on this but kept players (Ss & LBs) aggressive but mindful of their roles in gap integrity. Takes a lot of discipline. Hard to say. Brian might pick up on this. Whatever he did, it worked.

[whodean]

Agree with the above. Too many holes/lack of elite talent. As of right now, OSU looks head and shoulders above UM and will roll UM in Columbus.

No prayer in CumBus

[The Oracle]

1st Q wasn't one of Brown's best. CU checked into play after play that gashed us after us showing our hand too early.

Overall, interested to see how CU does the rest of the year. They've got some good units.

[WM Wolverine]

Without their starting QB, they are poop. They have some very good pieces but some clear weaknesses too, stand behind they are a .500 B1G/Pac 12 team.

[Detroit Dan]

O'Korn can run, but he chooses that option way too early.

I doubt this. O'Korn wants very much to play and, if the coaches say he is running too much, will take his chances down field or eating the ball.

[Detroit Dan]

I am sure about the poor OL play on the Left side that involves LT Grant Newsome and LG Ben Braden.

But many of our long TDs were to the left side:

• Chesson end around for TD
• Darboh wide receiver screen for TD
• Smith jet sweep for TD

[The Oracle]

None of those plays count.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I can match that list with biffs. It's late. I'll wait until Brian at mgoblog does his UFR of the offense. I could be wrong but lets see how Newsome and Braden grade out. If they come out on the positive side of the ledger, I'll gladly admit my mistake.

[Detroit Dan]

To me, the key to the season for Michigan lies with Harbaugh coaching up the passing game. I'm a bit concerned after yesterday's performance, but in retrospect, we adjusted well to the fact that we couldn't hit Darboh or Chesson downfield. If Butt is open, then take advantage of that, and we did.

To state the obvious, Michigan's offense isn't good enough to impose its will regardless of the defensive scheme. This was also the case last year, and we had a good enough season to start the 2016 as a top 5 team. Even Hannibal will agree with this. So how far can we go with an offense that adjusts as necessary? Last year, we moved well against just about everybody if not totally imposing our will on OSU and MSU. We shut down the offense against MSU thinking we had the game in hand, and that was almost correct. Against OSU, it was our defense that was outclassed. That remains the primary concern IMO, as the OSU offense looks to be awesome once again.

I'm not convinced that Speight is in the same class as Rudock. But Harbaugh can seemingly work wonders. Drevno and Fisch also seem to be top notch. They've got the tools -- a few more than last year -- even if Speight is no Rudock.

[WM Wolverine]

I saw pretty much what Jeff did in regards to the left side being weak against run and missed blitz pick-ups. Like Jeff, I'll wait until UFR to be overly harsh...

Ditto for Speight who didn't have a good game statistically and made a few really bad throws that should've been caught by the wrong team. I didn't think he received much help from his receivers getting open or OL or RB's at giving him time to throw.

Really want Jourdan Lewis back soon and wish Jarrod Wilson had a 5th year, JW would've cleaned up a few of those huge gains by UCF, Colorado.

[hack]

1. Great to see Peppers finally break one. I LOVE how he returns punts: up the field as soon as possible.

2. I agree with the comment that the outcome was clear by midway through the second. Michigan took too long to figure it out, but it figured it out. Great job keeping contain in the last three quarters. But the game proves that this team has a long way to go.

3. I don't expect to see that dominant run game until Harbaugh has his recruits. Frustrating, but is what it is. That said, I wanted to see them try it more. At least three 2nd/5-7 type of downs where they passed.

4. Speight was really careless today, but I like the feet. I hope it doesn't take an interception that costs us a game for him to learn a lesson he needs to.

[The Oracle]

Getting healthy will be a big thing for this team.

[Hannibal]

We have no between-the-tackles running game. In the past two games pretty much all of our yardage has come:

1. On the edges -- almost all with end-arounds except for Smith's one 42-yard run.
2. After an unblocked defender either whiffs on a tackle, takes a terrible angle, etc.

We very much have a Mike Debordian offense right now. We have no bread-and-butter that works outside of Jake Butt. Our power running game -- our raison d'?tre for our whole offense -- doesn't work. Our offense right now consists of stuffed running plays and a handful of successful constraint plays that work maybe a few times per game. They stop working once the defense catches on. Our scheme doesn't stress a defense. It doesn't make them play tentatively or keep them on their heels like OSU's. I watched the OSU-OU game and it's a night-and-day difference.

This isn't a new thing. This is a pattern that existed almost uninterrupted last year and shows no signs of getting turned around. We're outside the Top 50 in rushing ypg without having played a good defense. Stanford -- the closest analogy for us, is ranked #50.