Badgers @ Wolverines, Post Game Discussion.

[jaadam4]

A win against a top 10 team isn't anything to sneeze at for sure but with all the recruits I'd rather it been played better

[jaadam4]

But it's still a win

[The Oracle]

God, recruits don't look at games like fans do.

[WingsFan]

I would have passed on the 3rd and 6 to salt it away, but like Kstat pointed out the D was lights out and it worked out well. After RR, Hoke and Dave B...and the misery they caused...I'll take it!

Harbaughs first win over Top Ten team for M, and first since 08

[WM Wolverine]

Wish M could win every game 63-3 but I'm glad this maggot infested monkey shit of a team can win a close game.

[Detroit Dan]

Our road game against Iowa looking more manageable.

[Kstat]

Every game not against Ohio St looks manageable.

[*JD*]

IMHO we now know that Speight is the best of the worst. Also, if it has not been apparent until now, Harbaugh needs to place more emphasis on recruiting kickers. Good grief.

They landed the top HS kicker of 2016. Apparently, he's hurt.

http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2016/10/quinn_nordin_is_out_and_michig.html

[Jeff Buchanan]

I think Harbaugh mentioned Nordin was hurt in his post game presser but I'm getting that second hand.

This game and possibly against osu, will be the only time that defenses are going to keep this offense out of the endzone, IMO. So, I don't see it as a huge deal. Kenny Allen is still a great punter thrown into a tough job as kicker.

The bigger deal is losing Grant Newsome at LT. The hit - legal by the way and not dirty - was right on his Right knee and you could see his leg hyper-extend at the knee with his cleat stuck in the turf. That's a PCL tear at worst or a meniscal tear/ligament strain at best. The second can be more easily repaired than the first and has a quicker recovery time.

Will be interesting to see how his role is filled. I thought JBB played ok. He was the guy who was responsible for the too many men in the backfield calls. He was lined up about a yard deeper than he should have been trying to give himself time to adjust to the rush. Also not sure he was as effective as GN in run blocking. Red zone run plays were there save some missed blocks. Don't know if he was responsible for those or not. Will be good to look at the UFR of M's run plays inside the red zone.

Could move Cole to LT and put Kugler in at C but my bet is they'll stay with JBB at LT.

[Detroit Dan]

Thanks, Jeff, for the informative post. Hope we can get Newsome back for Ohio State.

[Pasadena Blue]

Maybe JH can use the Brendan Gibbons approach with Kenny Allen and have him visualize beautiful girls. We should try anything at this point.
Watched this game again ... Wisky was mostly dominated.

[Jeff Buchanan]

My son Sean watched live. He said it never felt like Wisky was going to take the game. Wisky had one drive that started inside the 50 (after the INT) and its deepest penetration beside the one score was to M's 38. The rest of the time they were trapped inside their own 40.

People were on their feet most of the game, the crowd was vocal, seemed to be just waiting for a huge play followed by separation. The huge play came late but after that score it didn't feel like anyone was worried about Wisconsin scoring again to tie it.

That's not how it felt to me watching on TV.

[hodgkal]

Had a nice chat with Sean at Doug's tailgate. Wish he would resume posting. Lots of good info and observations.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Just looked at a video of some of M's plays. The Take:

Although limited numbers, maybe 10 plays, JBB looked good in pass-pro. He's got very quick feet and hands.

Still couldn't tell in run blocking but did not look like he did anything bad.

On M's last scoring threat at about the 4m mark in the fourth, Smith got the hand off, the box was stacked, safeties zero hi. He heads left, JBB opens a huge hole then Kalis whiffs on Cinchy at the second level who then nails Smith after about a 2 yard gain. Kalis makes that block and Smith scores.

We've seen a lot of that in the UFRs to date. Here's the thing. One guy out of the 11 not getting his job done will produce a fail in a running play. Much less forgiving than a pass play with regard to the OL doing their thing.

[WM Wolverine]

Live TV, I pretty much agreed with Sean. Outside of one drive, Wisconsin couldn't even get first downs. Even when given good field goal position and the playbook should've opened up, they couldn't move the chains.

Thanks to the defense, there was never a real threat for Wisconsin to win that game, always a possibility for a big play or Speight to throw the ball to the wrong team but that defense was forcing the Badgers to earn everything they got.

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Good to hear JH spoke about lightening Kenny Allen's load. He's asked to do everything which is too much; he's doing kickoffs, extra points, field goals AND punting. Just having Trice do kickoffs and/or extra points would allow Allen to focus more on just field goals and punting.