THIS ARTICLE HAS A SPONSOR: When I need advice with planning my finances I use Nick Hopwood, our MGoFinancial Planner from Peak Wealth Management. Then he sends me breakdowns of what he learned from going to hear one of Michigan’s coaches speak.
That’s not how our deal is supposed to work. Our deal is Nick is the guy I go to for financial strategies, and he gets to ask us Michigan questions on your behalf. Anytime it’s a Nick question, we’ll let you know. Anytime you’ve got a financial question, let Nick know. And while you’re at it, if you also have Michigan question you’d like to be given the full MGoBlog treatment, well, Nick’s buying!
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Nick’s Question:
Biggest change you hope comes through during the bye week?
Brian: All of these answers are going to be about the offense because the defense doesn't need to improve. It can only go down.
BiSB: I can say a defense thing if we really need one.
Seth: More blood? They should turn the blood code on.
Brian: No need.
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Brian: Anyway, mine is Hello Donovan Peoples-Jones. With Black out and Crawford scuffling Michigan turned to Grant Perry and Nate Schoenle as outside targets two weeks ago, and this was fine. Both guys got open underneath for some catch-and-runs; both were reliable targets with good hands.
Neither really threatens to blow the top off a defense, and that's where DPJ comes in. If Michigan is going to get safeties out of the box they're going to have to be more reliable at getting behind them when they get more aggressive, and DPJ is their best bet in that department. He's got everything except the precision, and even that lack of precision is manageable on fly routes. Put the fear of God in the opponent and underneath stuff will open up, like magic. No time like the present for DPJ against MSU's questionable secondary and aggressive safeties.
[The rest of our Wish List after the jump]
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Seth: I think we all want to see them learn how to run inside zone correctly consistently. We've seen a ton of zone so far this year--like it's now their base running play. And we've seen it get very close to being executed correctly, but with too many easily fixable mistakes, e.g. Onwenu leaving for the next level while Ulizio still needs help.
The counters to zone already work well: they're not a bad Power team now that opponents aren't squaring off on it, Duo is a Harbaugh specialty, and the crack sweep game is a fleshed out package unto itself. Just get the base play down and we're in business.
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David: I would like to see better Pass Pro.
The most frustrating part of the whole experience is that it has been hard to pinpoint the fulcrum of this problem. While there are definitely have been issues on the right side of the line, Kugler, Bredeson, and even 4th year starter Mason Cole have all had issues at one time or another. While its been somewhat expected that the tight ends -sans Wheatley- would struggle blocking, watching the RBs misidentify blitzers has also been both frustrating and puzzling. Evans is still rather young and slight of build, but both Isaac and Higdon have had a couple of years in this system (and watching De'Veon Smith). Perhaps communication has been the issue or the protection schemes have changed, either way there have been too many free runs into the backfield. Michigan has already lost a starting quarterback for a significant portion of time. They do not need to get down to Brandon Peters. Because he's the worst.
Hopefully, an extra week of practice and more devoted time to some fundamentals will shore up some of the issues. If not, M could be in for a tough road on offense when the schedule picks up in a couple weeks.
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Seth: Okay I looked online and if Bush does the following pre-snap motion: Down, Up, Left, Left, A-gap, Right, Down, we get this screen:
But I can’t find Blood Mode on it.
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BiSB: Right now, it feels like the only things that is working reliably in the passing game are mesh, waggles, and John O'Korn Running In Circles Until Something Happens. I don't know how to fix that, but I'd like to see more of the *Promised Pep Hamilton Passing Revolution*. We were expecting to see the backs get much more involved in the passing game this year, and to see more 4- and 5-wide and empty formations. However, if anything, Michigan's backs are *less* involved in the passing game, at least as receivers. Last year Michigan's backs averaged about 4 receptions and 4.8 targets per game. This year, those number are 1.5 catches and 2.5 targets per game. This is especially glaring given how mediocre the backs have been in pass protection. keeping DeVeon Smith in to block made some sense. Ty Isaac might help a bit more lined up in the slot.
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Adam: I'd like to see an improved kickoff return unit. There were some blocking issues the first couple of weeks that left the returners with few choices once they had secured the ball, and now that the returners have more time they're making questionable-to-bad decisions that have cost Michigan at least 30 yards of field position.
Crawford's performance against Cincinnati was fine, but he followed that with an Air Force game in which he made a bad decision to take it out of the end zone and a bad open-field read of his blocking. They trotted him out to field touchbacks in the first half against Purdue before trying Ambry Thomas on the opening kick of the second half, and he promptly fielded, hesitated, and carried the ball out with six Purdue players inside the 20-yard line. There's some reason for optimism since "don't carry it out when you're six yards deep in the end zone and can clearly make out the uniform manufacturer's logo on the opponents' jerseys" seems very teachable, but it's a lesson all of Michigan's returners could use.
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Seth: Okay I figured it out. During the first quarter you need to get TFLs from gaps in the following sequence: A-B-A-C-A-B-B.
That turns on blood mode.