WTKA Roundtable 9/26/2024: More Fun to Experience than Break Down

MGoBlog: The MGoPodcast

Things Discussed:

• Love to Sam Webb, who's attending the funeral of his younger brother.
• USC game: They couldn't pass the ball because they couldn't protect him long enough to drop back.
• Craig: A whale came in late for Michigan in the betting markets.
• Brian: Michigan not running zone read offense much with Orji, doesn't feel like they know what to do with a running QB.
• Seth: You can play no-read, and they did some of that, but you need play-action off that and they haven't built any constraints into those plays. Harbaugh always recruited an athlete and a pro-style QB but usually the athlete becomes something else, doesn't seem like this program was prepared for the athlete.
• Brian: the big runs were more USC blowing something, now that teams have scouted Michigan's Orji offense those cracks are going to go away. Time to celebrate the win was Mon-Tues but on Thursday we have to face the grim reality that there isn't much upside because it's not what this staff wants to or knows how to run.
• Passing game? Orji got one dropback when he wasn't under pressure and he didn't see an open Marlin Klein.
• Brian's pretty down on this offense staff's ability to adjust to their personnel.
• Defense: Wink Martindale's presser pushed back against the narrative that he blitzes too much. Not a good look, not because he's wrong but because he's getting defensive—we think he was responding to Klatt not this site by the way.
• Actual Wink complaints from this site: Design of his blitzes are leaving the spot open where the pressure's coming from, which is the thing Mac and Minter were very good at taking away.
• Other issue is Wink doesn't have a feel for when to call things, IE on standard downs. Like, someone busted on the cover zero (minus-one), but why is that blitz coming from Mars, because there's no way for it to be relevant. Play before that they had Iwunnah set an edge. Big run on 3rd & 2 they slanted with Grant stunting, and two LBs taking the interior: it's a Barham-3 play, but why are we playing games? Play football.
• Not saying don't do anything weird; if you want to get weird get weird but make sure it's a passing down.
• Seth: This is all fixable. Macdonald had to make the same adjustment, he already
• Brian: Probably not fixable, since John Harbaugh let him go and New York let him go. Is he self-correcting or this being forced upon him? Because it's not a good sign that he's accusing people of not knowing how many people are crossing the line of scrimmage..
• Wink is right about one thing: If the narrative he's going to blitz it helps them. We saw this vs USC, which ran split flow to the TE in the flat three times hoping to get a nickel blitz and all they got was two zero yard plays in the red zone and the Jyaire Hill upending of a TE when Michigan sim blitzed the nickel.
• Bringing Three: Works when your coverage is great. Josaiah Stewart was great in COVERAGE too: that guy's going in the first round.
• Minnesota: If they can't run anymore they've lost who they are. If they can't tackle a running back I've got bad news for them against Michigan. Stewart has already had a great game against their star LT Aireontae Ersery.