Michigan Post-Game Thread

[notredomer23]

We'll see how this season plays out, but it's ridiculous to crown this Michigan defense "the best we'll see all year," one game into the season.

You’re right. It is ridiculous. The best defense we play will be Bama’s

 

[irishandy]

The board never ceases to amaze me. Folks don’t pick ND to win or if they did by a small margin.

I agree with this 100%

Then when we crush the spread they are upset it’s not by enough, or didn’t play well enough.

I don't think ND necessarily "crushed" the spread. I think there is room for improvement on the offensive side of the ball. I hope when Dex comes back he can show that he is the #1 back. I think we have the playmakers at WR, I've read about it prior to the season, I want to see it. I also want to see more involvement from the TE position.

Had Michigan managed the game clock better in the 4th quarter they could've easily tied this game up. Our offense was quiet in the second half...a little too quiet.

It's game #1 for the Irish, we came out with a W, and I am happy to be 1-0.

 

[NDohio]

Watch it. If you think Wimbush is anything less than a unanimous Heisman winner after that performance, be prepared to be crucified by the lunatics on here.

I guess I am one of the lunatics - even though I never mentioned BW winning the Heisman - I simply felt like he was the best offensive player on the field in the first game of the 2018 season. You seemed to disagree with that statement but refuse to say who you think was the best offensive player.

 

[dad4aa]

I don't think ND necessarily "crushed" the spread. I think there is room for improvement on the offensive side of the ball. I hope when Dex comes back he can show that he is the #1 back. I think we have the playmakers at WR, I've read about it prior to the season, I want to see it. I also want to see more involvement from the TE position.

Had Michigan managed the game clock better in the 4th quarter they could've easily tied this game up. Our offense was quiet in the second half...a little too quiet.

It's game #1 for the Irish, we came out with a W, and I am happy to be 1-0.

As mentioned by several posters, that was due to the conservative playcalling and not Michigan's defense. Don't forget, we did get a TD taken away on a great pass and catch by Boykin on a crap lineup mistake. That would have put ND up 27-10 heading into the fourth and been the nail in the coffin IMO. Add to that their only TD was the kickoff return until we started playing not to lose which padded Patterson's stats but we pretty much shut them down. Really hoping BK and Long learn not to take the foot off the gas in the future.

 

[dad4aa]

Watch it. If you think Wimbush is anything less than a unanimous Heisman winner after that performance, be prepared to be crucified by the lunatics on here.

I don't think anyone on here thinks he is close to Heisman caliber on this performance, but give credit where credit is due. He passed much better this game than he did last year. He had a TD taken away on a great fade pass and had another pass dropped. He could have easily passed for 60% or better (halftime he was at 67%).

Were there some bad passes...absolutely. Was the TD pass underthrown...yes. But the nice thing about this year is we have a group of WR that go up and fight for the ball.

This was opening game against a very strong defense and I think BW showed he can lead ND to the CFP.

 

[ThePiombino]

Did you happen to catch his name?

Playoffs or bust.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

 

[NDdomer2]

Gotta recognize the plays wimbush made with his feet throughout the game too. Limited the# of negative plays and picked us up a couple extra first downs.

 

[ThePiombino]

Big time - that 3rd and long run for a 1st had to be a huge gut punch for UM

Gotta recognize the plays wimbush made with his feet throughout the game too. Limited the# of negative plays and picked us up a couple extra first downs.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

 

[IrishLax]

This was a top 10 defense that returned 9 starters.... Insane to assume all of a sudden this defense forgot how to play football

Yeah, they’re the exact same elite defense from last year just with more development. They have 5 guys who will probably leave early for the NFL this year, and probably at least 3 that will go in the first round of the NFL draft. There are zero teams left on the schedule with their level of NFL talent, and only 1 that is even close.

 

[deise mike]

Any feedback from recruits apart from it was great. All comments on II are premium. Any chance of any commitments either for 2019 or 2020. Seems a shame if such a great night, great result and great atmosphere doesn’t lead to anything positive.

 

[Irishize]

We are all guilty (as is the rest of the country) of making proclamations after ONE week of football. Let’s cut all the P5 teams some slack and let a few weeks play out before crowning teams or firing coaches.

As Irish fans, we should all know by now that the win over scUM doesn’t guarantee we mow thru the next three opponents.

I’m pretty confident WF & Navy will play ND better than they played Tulane & Hawaii respetively. If not...great...but their Week 1 letdown should mean nothing to ND fans.

 

[Old Man Mike]

Can't resist....

A). O MVP: Wimbush. His greatest improvement to me, and what really won this game (vs a VERY good and violent and fast Michigan defense) was his ability to make the correct reads on his many different types of options, plus his trust in his interior three OLinemen to keep his pocket safe.
Second O MVP: the Inner Three of Mustipher, Bars, and Kraemer. They beat the Michigan DTs into submission, actually hurt a few guys, and kept the pocket clean for BW to step up. I know people don't care to watch the actual details of line play, but it tells you things that ball-watching doesn't.

B). D MVP: Gilman. All over the place, instinctive, and sure hard tackling. Would like to see Lea risk blitzing him a bit more.
Second D MVP: DLine (especially Tillery, but all good.) Consistent push vs the Michigan OLine, despite Lea being very conservative about blitzing and the QB being pretty mobile. REAL hard-working high work rate performance.

C). Overall offense: just OK. Sure we had a TD called back, but we also had a Superman catch by Finke to create yards and points that you wouldn't want to count on happening every time that sort of wing-and-prayer bomb would go up there. (and I, unlike the majority of IE commentators, really like what Finke brings to the team, so the comment is not about him just the risky 50/50 ball.) Optimism isn't about passing as much as that BW seemed much more aware and sudden about his reads on options and pocket presence.
Downside of this performance: Blocking other than the OLine was pretty poor to mediocre. Some of the complaints on here about the RBs has to do with WRs and TEs not blocking like many of our guys in past years would do. Some of that is due to the fast violence of Michigan's linebackers --- who despite comments are REALLY good. Comment that "The OLine needs a lot of work" is just false perception. The OLine needs Hainsey and Eichenberg to get a bit better at blocking speed rushing All-American outside rushers. ... and maybe a TE or RB blocking one of those types once in a while as a helper. We also weren't great at plays which required pulling for wider runs, but you can't beat those linebackers with that stuff.

D). Overall defense: Some bend/ don't break, but we made it hard for Michigan to get down the field at all. I have NO gripes about the D. Everyone gets beat once in a while as the "other guy" is pretty damm good himself.

E). Special teams --- crazy kicking. Coaches can't do much about Kickers' brains and yips. Hopefully that stops. KO return: who the He!l knows? I didn't like the lack of violence that I saw there (to close up spaces while sort of being blocked.) Maybe we need a few more Wildmen.

F). Michigan: Michigan is GOOD. Fast, athletic, talented. We're just better. There's a reason after watching the game that several commentators viewed us as a playoff threat. If we didn't hurt some of them too badly (and we DID hurt some of that defense --- all hail guys like Prime Mauler Kraemer) then they'll beat most everyone on their schedule simply by defense.

G). We could still go to WTF-land with this team, but right now we're somebody 99% of college football doesn't want to play.

Pass the Koolaid.

 

[ThePiombino]

lol

Any feedback from recruits apart from it was great. All comments on II are premium. Any chance of any commitments either for 2019 or 2020. Seems a shame if such a great night, great result and great atmosphere doesn’t lead to anything positive.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

 

[Black Irish]

This game puts me in a tough position. The practical side of my brain wants Michigan to do well in order to make this win look better and better as the season goes on. But the Koo-Aid drinking, shamrock-tinted glasses, primordial, part of my brain will just keep yelling week in, week out "MICHIGAN LOSE! HULK GLAD!"

 

[Irish#1]

The board never ceases to amaze me. Folks don’t pick ND to win or if they did by a small margin. Then when we crush the spread they are upset it’s not by enough, or didn’t play well enough.

I picked the Irish by 10-14. If it weren’t for the KO return. Lol

 

[OhioIrish31]

Can't resist....

A). O MVP: Wimbush. His greatest improvement to me, and what really won this game (vs a VERY good and violent and fast Michigan defense) was his ability to make the correct reads on his many different types of options, plus his trust in his interior three OLinemen to keep his pocket safe.
Second O MVP: the Inner Three of Mustipher, Bars, and Kraemer. They beat the Michigan DTs into submission, actually hurt a few guys, and kept the pocket clean for BW to step up. I know people don't care to watch the actual details of line play, but it tells you things that ball-watching doesn't.

B). D MVP: Gilman. All over the place, instinctive, and sure hard tackling. Would like to see Lea risk blitzing him a bit more.
Second D MVP: DLine (especially Tillery, but all good.) Consistent push vs the Michigan OLine, despite Lea being very conservative about blitzing and the QB being pretty mobile. REAL hard-working high work rate performance.

C). Overall offense: just OK. Sure we had a TD called back, but we also had a Superman catch by Finke to create yards and points that you wouldn't want to count on happening every time that sort of wing-and-prayer bomb would go up there. (and I, unlike the majority of IE commentators, really like what Finke brings to the team, so the comment is not about him just the risky 50/50 ball.) Optimism isn't about passing as much as that BW seemed much more aware and sudden about his reads on options and pocket presence.
Downside of this performance: Blocking other than the OLine was pretty poor to mediocre. Some of the complaints on here about the RBs has to do with WRs and TEs not blocking like many of our guys in past years would do. Some of that is due to the fast violence of Michigan's linebackers --- who despite comments are REALLY good. Comment that "The OLine needs a lot of work" is just false perception. The OLine needs Hainsey and Eichenberg to get a bit better at blocking speed rushing All-American outside rushers. ... and maybe a TE or RB blocking one of those types once in a while as a helper. We also weren't great at plays which required pulling for wider runs, but you can't beat those linebackers with that stuff.

D). Overall defense: Some bend/ don't break, but we made it hard for Michigan to get down the field at all. I have NO gripes about the D. Everyone gets beat once in a while as the "other guy" is pretty damm good himself.

E). Special teams --- crazy kicking. Coaches can't do much about Kickers' brains and yips. Hopefully that stops. KO return: who the He!l knows? I didn't like the lack of violence that I saw there (to close up spaces while sort of being blocked.) Maybe we need a few more Wildmen.

F). Michigan: Michigan is GOOD. Fast, athletic, talented. We're just better. There's a reason after watching the game that several commentators viewed us as a playoff threat. If we didn't hurt some of them too badly (and we DID hurt some of that defense --- all hail guys like Prime Mauler Kraemer) then they'll beat most everyone on their schedule simply by defense.

G). We could still go to WTF-land with this team, but right now we're somebody 99% of college football doesn't want to play.

Pass the Koolaid.

The thing that stuck out to me was that we held them to 58 yards rushing...front seven played very well. Think they were a little gassed in the 4th Qtr during crunch time but the offense wasn't doing them any favors at that point. Our tackling was great...yes bring me a "small cup" of Kool-Aid.

 

[GUknights75]

.

F). Michigan: Michigan is GOOD. Fast, athletic, talented. We're just better. There's a reason after watching the game that several commentators viewed us as a playoff threat. If we didn't hurt some of them too badly (and we DID hurt some of that defense --- all hail guys like Prime Mauler Kraemer) then they'll beat most everyone on their schedule simply by defense.

I see what ya did there!

 

[stlnd01]

I picked the Irish by 10-14. If it weren’t for the KO return. Lol

Or if we line up right on the Boykin TD catch. That cost us four points.

 

[Irish#1]

I think the real story from last night's game is how bad Michigan was. Harbaugh is in trouble. Michigan is going to barely scratch .500, and with a defense that has no less than 5 NFL players on it. I don't think Michigan has the best defense we'll see, but they certainly had great athletes.

Our O-line played about how I thought they would. Hainsey was not impressive; let's hope he gets settled in. Both tackles were getting beat on the edges, but Michigan has the luxury of crashing down because their LBs can cover the soft spots.

D was good. Love Alohi. Someone made a spot-on comment that he's mini-Manti. Bilal played well, too. A little disappointed that we couldn't get more pressure with the base d-line, but it is what it is. The tackling was very good, considering this was the first game. That rolling donut seems to be doing its work.

Did anyone notice that there's a really really ridiculously good-looking team manager?

Or maybe the defense they faced made them look pedestrian.

 

[Huntr]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Big Ten Network suspends former Michigan receiver and Browns draft pick Braylon Edwards for profane tweet critical of Wolverines' offense <a href="https://t.co/QB2jQBvYyu">https://t.co/QB2jQBvYyu</a></p>— Bill Landis (@BillLandis25) <a href="https://twitter.com/BillLandis25/status/1036674803275579392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 3, 2018</a></blockquote>


Baaahahahaha f michigan

 

[NDohio]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Brandon Wimbush went 12-of-22 last night, good for 54.5 percent.<br>QBs to do that against Michigan with a minimum of 16 pass attempts last regular season?<br>Trace McSorley of Penn St., 17-of-26, 65.4 percent.<br>That's it. That's the list.</p>— Douglas Farmer (@D_Farmer) <a href="https://twitter.com/D_Farmer/status/1036305251832348675?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 2, 2018</a></blockquote>
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[Dizzyphil]

NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, ESPN, 247Sports, Las Vegas, Atlantic City and 99% of Michigan had the Irish falling at home......


85 young men proved them all wrong.....

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">There's nothing better than taking down your rival and opening up the season with a victory!<br><br>Icon: Michigan<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoIrish?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GoIrish</a> ☘️ <a href="https://t.co/ZeT1YnTKHI">pic.twitter.com/ZeT1YnTKHI</a></p>— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) <a href="https://twitter.com/NDFootball/status/1036793384533278720?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2018</a></blockquote>
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GO IRISH!!!!!!!

 

[DONTH8]

The only thing that I would add to everything else that has been said, is that it's too bad we didnt do anymore speed options after that one that went for 10+ yards. That could be such a weapon with our QB. especially if the OL can get that LB like he did on the play in this game.

 

[Sea Turtle]

NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, ESPN, 247Sports, Las Vegas, Atlantic City and 99% of Michigan had the Irish falling at home......


85 young men proved them all wrong.....

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">There's nothing better than taking down your rival and opening up the season with a victory!<br><br>Icon: Michigan<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GoIrish?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#GoIrish</a> ☘️ <a href="https://t.co/ZeT1YnTKHI">pic.twitter.com/ZeT1YnTKHI</a></p>— Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) <a href="https://twitter.com/NDFootball/status/1036793384533278720?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 4, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>




GO IRISH!!!!!!!

Awesome! Thanks for posting this!

 

[Irish#1]

Bottom line...........Irish broke Michigan. Ara is smiling.

 

[Rack Em]

Bottom line...........Irish broke Michigan. Ara is smiling.

Knute is tapdancing all over Fielding Yost's grave.

 

[Some Irish Bloke]

Boy oh boy...We sure did break the spirits of Skunkbears all over the state of Michigan. I've been listening to our local sports station, FM 97.1 (the same station that's home to the infamous Mike Valenti Spartan Rant after 2006 in EL) all weeked, and you'd think the Wolverines just lost to BGSU or the like. Just nothing but negativity.

But then again, when you let the media prop you up to hyper-inflation levels due to a transfer from a player who has never played well against quality opponents, especially on the road, you are in for an epic let-down.

No one is talking about the possibility that the Wolverines got beat by a quality opponent. It's literally just meltdown mode in Ann Arbor.

 

[ndcoltsfan2010]

Boy oh boy...We sure did break the spirits of Skunkbears all over the state of Michigan. I've been listening to our local sports station, FM 97.1 (the same station that's home to the infamous Mike Valenti Spartan Rant after 2006 in EL) all weeked, and you'd think the Wolverines just lost to BGSU or the like. Just nothing but negativity.

But then again, when you let the media prop you up to hyper-inflation levels due to a transfer from a player who has never played well against quality opponents, especially on the road, you are in for an epic let-down.

No one is talking about the possibility that the Wolverines got beat by a quality opponent. It's literally just meltdown mode in Ann Arbor.

This is great stuff!!!! We were better than Michigan, period! The ignorance of some Michigan fans is truly something.

 

[IrishLion]

Way late postgame thoughts:

1. White shoes with the home uni = dope

2. The OL needs work, but they got through a game against two of the best DE's in the country without looking like a total lost cause... I'm happy with that. Especially with how they were able to do just enough to ride Gary/Winovich past the pocket and let Brandon step up.

3. Chip Long and Clark Lea need to split a game ball. Long coached circles around Don Brown's D in the first half when ND was on-script, and Lea coached circles around scUM's $4M/yr offensive coaching staff all night.

4. Chip Long also deserves separate credit for building/calling a game that plays to Wimbush's strengths and weaknesses. We saw basically the same Wimbush from last year... the difference is that they know what they need to do to balance that with playcalling. I said in a few places that if Wimbush completes 55% of his passes, they win 10+, and if he somehow gets to 60%, they win 12+. Wimbush was around 55% against scUM, but not because he improved on his accuracy dramatically... it was because Long was smart, and did what we all essentially asked for, letting the WR's win 50/50 balls against man coverage. That resulted in a couple of extra contested catches that wouldn't have happened last year (props to the WR's).

5. Honestly surprised they didn't try to target Boykin or Claypool for a 50/50 ball a few more times... it worked early, and it's not like those are plays that you tuck in your back pocket and wait for the right time.

6. Alohi Gilman is the truth.

7. The DL is one of the best in the country. Hopefully Jayson is ready to take MTA's reps without much dropoff. If so, they won't miss a beat.

8. The only liability I saw on defense was Love's speed trying to cover a burner on a go-route, which is not unexpected with how physical he is as a corner. He needs to be ready for that over the course of the year, so hopefully the safeties keep playing even just average football and can help out over the top.

9. Good to see Alize Mack dialed in and having earned the trust of the coaching staff. He had what appeared to be a bad drop, but I think the defender's body was actually shielding his eyes from the ball. It hit him right in the numbers before he saw it, after having dropped in over the defender's shoulder.

10. The game isn't close if not for a kick-return for TD. It's also not close if not for an alignment issue.

11. The story seems to be Wimbush regressing in the second half, and/or Long & BK not adjusting like scUM did. I don't think that's true. They decided that scUM's offense wasn't going to score 3 times against ND's defense, so they went ultra-conservative in the last 20+ mins of the game by design. And I know that's a 100% fact, because BK is usually itching to throw a needless pass late in a game, when the right call is to run the ball and burn the extra 40 seconds or to make the opposition use a timeout. The fact that they didn't take that chance shows: (a) extreme confidence in Lea's defense and (b) Long is calling the plays with BK's full trust, because BK wouldn't have been able to keep himself from calling an ill-advised pass play at some point.

12. Fvck scUM and Fvck Shae Patterson's overrated ass lol

 

[BleedBlueGold]

Few things from me:

1) I don't want to take this game for granted. ND broke UM on Saturday. It was clear from the beginning that ND was the better team.

2) This is what sustained success feels like. ND's defense picked up where they left off last year and I love that. Credit to the guys and Clark Lea.

3) Michigan has only scored two TDs in ND Stadium since 2010; a busted ST play that went for a TD and a garbage 4th Q TD when the defense was playing off the ball. Muck Fichigan.

4) I absolutely despise our broadcast team.