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Michigan Post Game Thoughts

348

Game went pretty much how a reasonable person would expect. I had 27-13, so thought it would be a little closer, and it probably would have been sans the snap issue and the Bolden/Villamin mistakes.

Beaver fans waited all year for this game thinking post-Riley they’d win a big game. Well, a lot goes into winning a very tough game like this, and first and foremost is actions over words. The players can say they’re great all they want, the media can dub StS “Air Collins” all they want, the fans can buy in all they want, but at the end of the day it comes down to who goes out there and does it. The players were not great, Air Collins was a no show, and the fans again walk away tails between legs with a National TV beatdown. On top of it, we have to see embarrassing commercials with the toddler logo (imagine a recruit watching that game and seeing that? His friends would be like, “You’re seriously going to play there?”). Yet, when I wrote this post about the logo, …well…just read the comments. Awful. You now have to walk away from me with your tail between your legs, too.

Trust me, you do not want bad graphics EVER in the internet age. They will go viral, they will come back to haunt a program, and they provide fodder for all opponents. My gut reaction to that graphic was extremely negative, and now it comes back to haunt OSU. Do not ever justify crap because it’s your crap. Period.

Back to the game, Michigan played their typical style. GA was right: Beavs would leave knowing how tough a team they were. They are not very tough. Michigan is tough, big, and old/mature.

Mentally, the Beavs seemed to give moderate effort, but you could sense defeat setting in going into halftime and knew the 2nd half wouldn’t be pretty unless they got an early break. So even mentally they were not tough. Seth Collins looked mentally week on the sidelines, gave up on a play when he saw holding, and generally was not a leader with “it factor/confidence”, as the media portrayed all week. Nor was he “Air Collins”. He tried the hurdle and got killed. This was all expected (at least by me). He looked very slow versus Michigan. McMaryion looked awful. But they keep putting the guy in at the worst times. Pinned back, down 3 TDS where everyone knows he has to throw, etc. He looked phased, awful, inept, and couldn’t even execute a hand off. Collins was better, but very bad. You can’t win with a QB completing 55% of passes for 79 yards and a 2.9 ypc. Does he give the Beavs the best chance to win? Time will tell. Weber State helped his reputation to this point, and we’ll see how that changes as he goes through opponents with various skill over the next few weeks. He has the longer rope for sure. What was most disappointing in his game today was his body language and awful leadership. I wasn’t high on Collins, and after that game, I’m flat out bearish. It’s clear why the only other PAC schools to recruit him wanted him only as a WR. I’m bearish on MM based on what I saw, too, but the guy never gets into flow due to the situations they put him in.

The vaunted defense also looked awful. For whatever reason, Sitake stopped rushing the QB after a few drives, and at that point the game shifted. The botched snap sealed the deal, but it was already beginning to turn from the lack of D pressure. Michigan must have made some adjustments. I wasn’t watching that closely. But their play calling seemed to get on point and have the Beavs off balance and afraid to blitz.

Coaching in this game was bad. Incorrect personnel issues all over the place. No Paul Lucas? Michigan were consistently in good position but looked slow. Lucas was a guy who could have loosened up the middle of the field. I thought we’d see more TE involvement, but again, nothing. No Ryan Nall (mismanaged situation all around with him), no VanderVeen despite Caleb Smith continuing to under-perform, etc. No Storm Woods. I realize Brown is faster and maybe a better matchup, but Woods ran for like 6+ ypc last year, loves the game, and is a leader. I’m all for playing talent over experience, but I don’t think there is a huge gap between the two (Woods has much better career numbers and better numbers this year, fwiw). Get him involved so he can rally the guys, at the very least. Just give him a few carries. That was amazing. Chris Brown has no leadership. It’s not worth trading in a game like this, at least not at the start. There were more problems with personnel, but you all saw it.

In the final analysis, it’s not that they lost, but again how they lost. Typical things we have seen: beating themselves with penalties, execution, immaturity, stupidity, etc etc etc. Offensive execution was awful, and I’d say the #1 issue today, even trumping the botched snap and half-hearted defensive effort. With all that, it still felt different than a Riley game. Still felt more positive overall, like the problems were not as severe (they were just a hair off on so many executions), and this staff will see the problems clearly and be more able to address them.

My other feeling is a game like this can ruin team confidence. These guys bought into GA and spoke in the pre-season as if they were great due to all the work they put in, yet they just got beaten down. Imagine putting in all that extra work only to have your ass handed to you? Can’t feel good. I wonder if that lingers next week or not. At the very least, they now know they are a long way from being a great team, and that has to play on their minds. I still expect next week to be a win, but where in the past I thought San Jose State was a guarantee, I’d now put them on upset alert and expect a closer game.

348 COMMENTS

  1. Still September. normally wouldn’t make the same excuse with Riley. However, new program and young talent. Maybe I am over optimistic, but I saw a lot of positives in the game as you did. Just a missed timing and opportunities that left lots of points off the board.

    I see a 21-7 win next week.

  2. Other random things:

    Michigan fan knocked off Mageo’s helmet in the tunnel, pissed off OSU players.

    Bob DeCarolis was at the game rocking all Michigan gear.

  3. One more thing regarding that botched snap: I felt the game was over before that, and that just sealed the deal. But before that I saw (1) Bolden fumble completely changed the game (2) Villamin not stretching for the 1st down or cutting the run outside (3) Collins not diving for the sticks on a critical 3rd down (4) Sitake stopped blitzing the MI QB. All of these lost the game. They were minor plays that built up into major problems. The botched punt just sealed it. But who knows if we even see a punt in that situation if the Beavers execute those other plays (literally inches on two of them) and put up 10-14 more points? Probably don’t even see the punt there. Maybe the fans get taken out of the game, MI panics, etc. Could have been an entirely different outcome with some simple execution early when it was there for the having. Beavs didn’t take opportunity when it knocked — sign of a bad team. Good to great teams always make those 50/50 plays.

    • First two points are coaching mistakes in my opinion. Don’t line up bolden as running back and run him inside, he is too small. Second, don’t run a screen to villamin in that situation. Should be to bolden or lucas – somebody quicker and shiftier.

      • The missed pass and the fumble changed the feeling in the stadium. There was an oh fuck, here we go again vibe and the fumble popped that.

        Worst fucking special teams ever?

        • Not the worst. Half the penalties were questionable. The gunner on the formation penalty looked like he waved to the ref to make sure he was up… then the ref threw the flag. Decoud’s hands on the back could have been called on Michigan a good three different times… once on Henry that was not just hands but an actual push in the back. Michigan was shoving players well after the whistle. A couple flops would have been justified and valid penalties that were otherwise no calls. I got nothing for Smith hitting the guy late and on the deck. He didn’t really hit him, and the whistle hadn’t blown. But you don’t give the refs a chance to call something on such a useless move. And kicking out of bounds was the coach’s fault. They overcoached the wind. Michigan did the same but adjusted and just kicked away after that. We simply didn’t have the chance to kick away again. Punt/kick coverage was great except for Hill trying to tear the kid’s head off.

          2012 CW was by far a worse ST game. 2011 Wiscy anyone? 2009 (?) USC they lost the game.

  4. As McKalk said in the other thread, Garrettson will be the QB next year. That should improve things dramatically.

    I still think they win 5 this year.

    • I still think they go bowling. The D will be why. They got a lot of work in today, and now they know what they need to do to be better. You’re right. They didn’t appear to mentally in it. But they stayed tough no matter how bleak it was looking. A part of that mental game was playing true frosh because the regulars were just asked to do too much due to the O doing nothing. I love that Willis played and was getting to places he needed to get. But then he hesitated and got eaten because of it.

      Promising is that they were not beaten over the top or to the boundary. The big plays came against a tired/young team up the middle and weren’t more than 20 yards (except for on play where Willis hesitated).

      • I don’t see it at this point, although it’s early: San Jose State should be a win, and I believe they have shots at both Washington schools and Colorado. After that it gets dicey, where do you see a sixth win coming? Stanford’s already had their hiccup for the year. Arizona on the road? Track record’s good in Tucson, but most of the time the Beavers went in as at least a small favorite. At Utah? Utah beat Michigan and is already a better team than the Wolverines. UCLA? Don’t see that happening this year, even in Corvallis. California’s off to a roaring start, better than usual, with the most prolific returning QB in the league and we all know how hard it has been to beat Oregon.

        Don’t misunderstand me: i want the Beavers to win, but i honestly can’t find a sixth win anywhere on the schedule at this point. Not unless I see major improvements in all three phases.

  5. We are who we thought we were: a small team with no QB, no offense, and decent defense (as long as they’re not on the field all day). Special Teams being horrible is a surprise.

    When I see this and then see the quacks shoved in my face constantly, I truly wonder why I give a crap about football at all. If you want to win, you need money. End. Of. Story.

    • No, that’s stupid, but you do need efficiency.

      Beavers who are obsessed with the Ducks freak me out. Get a life, dudes. Ducks are going to kill MI State so put yourselves on suicide watch now.

      • Living in Portland the duck propaganda is EVERYWHERE. You’d think U of O was located there. Gets irritating. And this is by the PSU campus!

        Going crazy here

        • Well those people are all BIRGING and have done absolutely nothing except sit on a couch and eat potato chips, so it’s a them problem not a Scotty problem.

          The only time the Ducks piss me off is when Disney gets behind them and does the propaganda thing. Really could care less about their fans.

      • And I stand by the money. It’s not sufficient but it’s necessary. Especially with the increased commercialism and arms races in college sports. Without money, you’re stuck hoping to be that team that gets lucky and catches lightning in a bottle.

        • Yeah, they also got very lucky with hiring Chip Kelly. If you have big budgets without the great coaching you end up like Oklahoma State. Consistently pretty good with a great year if you’re lucky, but not consistently top tier.

        • I’m good with being a hoops school and being mediocre+ in football. But mediocre+ means you have to catch lightning in a bottle more than once in a lifetime. Riley never caught it and never will. Andersen can do it. I think we’re a little more than graced with someone who thinks like we do that Corvallis and OSU are a destination. I will never begrudge a coach for leaving for something bigger (NFL). But I will thank him and let him know he is not eligible for rehire like any right-minded company would do. You have proven your loyalty right there with that move.

          What is egregious is that Gill does not have a new light/sound system and a center court scoreboard. Everything else can remain the same… except I would like them to remove most of the seat-backs. Fans will come and stand all game. That place is already awesome in the old school barn kind of way. It can be perfected with sound and light… and opening concessions on the north side upper.

      • The Ducks themselves don’t piss me off, generally. By most accounts, their new coach sounds like a nice dude, and even OSU players liked Mariotta. It’s the fans that piss me off, and I’m not even in Oregon right now. Seeing their comments on the game last week… it’s like, why ya gotta be such a dick? Your program is way more successful at this point, we haven’t competed in nearly 10 years. It’s like, “Oh yeah, this is what I grew up with in the 90’s. Little shitheads on the schoolyard, except now they’re on the internet.” Fuckers.

        • The fans piss me off because they find a way to make everything about themselves and their tacky “school”. It’s amazing how much quack fan injects himself into completely unrelated conversations with his douchebag attitude. Saw it on a Texas thread last week, telling them how to be innovative LOL

          • The internet has brought out the worst in everyone. I bet psychologists have a slew of new internet related diseases diagnosed in a few years. Social media has brought out the narcissism in everyone, that’s for sure.

          • There will be no diseases. There will be conditions, dissociations and disorders. But there will be no diseases. Diseases follow a particular protocol. One of the more egregious fallacies is that addiction for this or that is a disease. It’s egregious because it misidentifies actual problems. The latter are problems. The former are an actual disease.

            But who the hell cares about any of them since the 80s unless you run a corrupt pink ribbon campaign?

  6. Offense is going to be a struggle all year. Despite experience, play on the offensive line just looks…..bad. QB play is going to be near the bottom of the conference, as expected, though we should see some progression with that over the course of the year. The receivers are a decent group, and showed on that first drive they are capable of making plays. The lack of that #1 go-to receiver (in the class of Stroughter, Rodgers, Wheaton, and Cooks) hurts, especially with the lackluster QB play in the passing game. If we break 30 points more than once or twice this year, I will be astounded. In the Pac-12, that means we aren’t going to win very many games.

    Defense will be fine if the offense/special teams don’t hang them out to dry and leave them out on the field for ridiculous amounts of time. Just not enough depth to go through what they did today.

    • I still love the WRs. Of course they will look bad with Seth Collins and MM throwing them inaccurate/uncatchable balls/rockets from 4 yards away, etc.

      • I am not seeing your love of the WR’s. They don’t look fast, they make poor decisions, and they don’t break tackles very well. In addition, they are not good downfield blockers and more often than not disappear.

        Bolden should not be running with the ball more than once maybe twice just keep the defense off balance. Villamin is decent, but inconsistent, makes good catches and gets beaten other times. Jarmon is inconsistent too, but given the subpar QB play its not all on them, but he still should have caught that one pass he got blasted on by coming towards the pass instead of waiting for it. Stop with the Lucas thing, nobody has seen him even run a route, so how do we know he would be better than what we have now? Its pure speculation. The other thing is no separation they get beaten with the hand fighting downfield too often.

  7. “My other feeling is a game like this can ruin team confidence. These guys bought into GA and spoke in the pre-season as if they were great due to all the work they put in, yet they just got beaten down. Imagine putting in all that extra work only to have your ass handed to you? Can’t feel good. I wonder if that lingers next week or not.”

    I hope that instead of sticking their heads in the sand, feeling sorry for themselves and getting demoralized, I hope they can study this game and learn from their mistakes. GA will hopefully use this as a learning opportunity and not let them get all mopey about it. Whereas, If Riley were at the helm he would mope along with them and drag everybody down further.

    Maybe this game was warranted, maybe they were feeling over-confident and had an inflated sense of how great they were. And now cruel reality has hit ’em hard. They better not give up now, they have a long season ahead of them.

    • 10 games left which is more reason to expect that this smaller team will end the season on a long losing streak as they get worn down week after week. Need to win the rest of September games to have a shot at postseason.

    • I don’t think Riley’s fault was that he was mopey. I think he didn’t emphasize with emotion what was wrong. And he certainly didn’t emphasize it with action. He could get a team to roll around to his way after four or five games. Then he could get them to retain that play for another four or five games. But he then just lost it.

      There was no excuse for about four of Riley’s seasons, two of them being is best record-wise.

      • Washington 2013 blowout was the team rolling around to Moody Riley’s way. I have never seen a bigger example of a team just not caring (Cooks excepted, he was still playing)

  8. I kind of thought this was a 4 win team going in and what I’ve seen so far seems to point that direction.

    This is a young team. Youngest in the Pac-12 and 9th youngest in the nation. They are implementing new schemes on offense and defense primarily with players they did not recruit. Going from pro style to spread is not easy.

    We have either a redshirt or true freshman playing QB. How any one expects us to do well in Pac-12 play is beyond me. I can see us winning vs WSU and Colorado just because they are also dumpster fires. Every other game probably has the other teams pretty heavily favored.

    Of course, this is college football so we can randomly upset a team we should lose to, a la the ASU game last year. Or we could lose to a team we should beat like WSU last year.

    • That’s all fair. I think the season will make good players out of a young team and beat out your expectations by a little bit. But it’s still fair.

  9. Going away from the aggressiveness on D and not going for the 4th and 3rd were really disappointing to me; its the opposite of what Andersen preaches.

    I don’t have duck envy. They are literally an order of magnitude away from OSu as a result of Knight’s contributions over the years; they represent what’s wrong with college football.

    But what’s absurd is the difference between their big stage and OSU’s and more importantly, how they handle it.

    OSU’s “big stage” is a pre-season beatdown. UO’s big stage are league games with something on the line, or big bowl games, where they compete at least, and often win.

    OSU goes to Alamo bowl, Riley’s out. UO goes next year, blowout victory…

    OSU travels to Michigan for a 9 am ABC telecast, UO gets ESPN GameDay (which is annoying anyway) and probably will defeat MSU.

    I thought OSU would play well today. Obviously, I thought they’d get an upset victory. But again, they didn’t play well. I can handle another team earning a victory, but flat out poor play for at least 2.5 quarters is not acceptable.

    I wonder if we’ll see Bolden or Smith demoted, and some others given a chance next week v. SJSU. Some indicator that performance matters.

    The OLine is incredibly underwhelming; and probably the most experienced unit and the unit with the most experience together. I don’t understand why the line coach isn’t getting better play from them.

    Is Baldwin going to cut in in P12 league play and competitive non-conference games? I think that’s a huge question, especially given Andersen seems so invested in him.

    I hope there’s goo attendance at SJSU, and Andersen and this team make amends. Its important for building fan support and momentum, and for the recruit(s) that will be there.

    • Oregon once sucked. Takes time to build that and it requires a great coach. They got Chip. We have Andersen. A year or two from now we’ll be in the greatest era of OSU football if things stay on course.

      OSU chokes on the big stage because that’s humans’ default state. Most people choke when they have pressure on them. Gotta coach that out of them and encourage a certain mindset (sports psychologist would help OSU), and also need to recruit players who have that trait. One thing I’ll say about Riley: he could spot under the radar talent, but many times those players were mentally soft (probably because they were under the radar recruits, who many times, by default and for obvious reasons, will have less confidence).

    • There are different kinds of L’s. Not many expected an L of this nature. The score only tells part of the pitiful story.
      This is one place where Andersen needs to show why he gets the big bucks; keep the team together and working to move forward.

  10. Did anyone catch Isaac performing like a 5 star? I did not.
    Does anyone else wonder about the lack of utilization of Ortiz or the TE group?

    Jim Wilson indicated two areas I’ll be watching:
    1-he thinks even Nick M., while not as a starter, is still a possibility at QB this season.
    2-he is pretty clear that Storm is not a clearly superior RB, especially since his first season. My take: as mentioned above, he seems to be a leader on the field and it’s worth including him in a RBbyC approach. It’s unlikely we’ll get the story on why he missed the first half.

  11. Coaching grades:

    Sitake – C+. Offense did him no second half favors but couldn’t stop the Michigan physicality for most of the game.

    Andersen – C- Bad timeout before the punting gaff. Did not control administrative penalties today. Did not interject much confidence into players when they started to not respond well to adversity.

    Baldwin – D Besides the first drive was nothing to write home about. Seems like he will rely on Sitake all year to try to overachieve for the Beavs to be in position to win with an offense that doesn’t look like it can reliably score more than 21 points in more than a few games this year.

    Noteworthy: Lucas redshirt looks like it will be for 15-18 total touches this year. Maybe only 75 total yards. Not worth throwing away a quality year at the end for.

    • Right on Toddler! I really do not understand the Paul Lucas thing?! Fastest HS kid in America, and you flat out say he’s not redshirting, yet he’s been on the field maybe once? I’m very concerned for next season already with how badly we’re gettin’ bitched with Peko and Grimble on our D Line. Yikes!

      As far as the coaching, I completely want to buy in but you have to practice what you preach. I’m hearin’ some double talk as of right now. Don’t like it!

      Go Beavs!

  12. What I want to see with this new staff more than anything is ACCOUNTABILITY. Guys like C Smith and V Bolden should either not be playing or playing a limited role at best. Don’t tell me what you think they can do….what have they done? Committed penalties (continuously), dropping footballs, fumbling footballs, like 10 carries for 15 net yards….. Are you fucking kidding me?! What happened to production? “Potential” is a coach killer brother! Take it from a former coach. We called it “looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane”! Sooner or later you have to make a change. Neither of those guys are going to change. They are veterans who have made the same mistakes their whole career yet they still play the whole fuckin’ game! I don’t get it!?!?!??!?

    Go Beavs!

    • The problem is those two useless fucks got all of the first team reps in practice.

      Also now more than ever I’m questioning the decision to boot Vanderveen out of the QB competition.

    • Since nobody bothered to answer, I will do so. This will not be a surprise to everyone who decided not to answer your concerns.

      I agree about Bolden. Smith has been nothing but by QB. By that I mean the QB is just not looking at him. The two targets he got were both hot, low and behind. The first could have gone for 50 or more yards if thrown properly. The second was an afterthought and would have gotten Smith killed.

      And… now that I look at the rest of your post… I shouldn’t have wasted my time.

  13. I will say Mageo is a bad ass. I love his play. Saulo,peko, decoud, and Scott all played pretty damn good if you ask me. Our defense got hungout and that’s a knock on the offense, not the defense. I saw a lot of positives, but as you say I think a psychologist could help. I think if one thing goes wrong a lot of these players collapse, maybe it’s a hangover from Riley’s mentality.

    • I agree Mageo and Saulo are studs! Great players but Sitake (who I know is an amazing coach) you HAVE to re-route receivers off the LOS (even if it’s just a push) to throw off timing in the passing game. Especially in bump and run or (especially) Cover 2(coverage).

      Wow! We may be 2-11 this season. Not what I want to be but…. what could happen if the physicality does not catch up quickly!

      Go Beavz!

    • It’s not a hangover from Riley’s mentality. It’s how the hangover is treated. A former coach would have us suffer. Now is the time for action.

    • You’re a fuck for hitting enter after typing that shit. May the vastly inferior hockey team that represents UM be as bad as they are and always will be.

      And may they get some huevos and play a real team, like UND, during the season.

      Give me a break. We will make your multiple championship hoops team look like a failure this year. Then you will see that it’s a failure next year. Then you will look for another coach.

      Is this the discussion you wanted?

  14. If Bolden has already made quite a few mistakes this year but is played for speed potential then why has’nt Lucas even got 1 touch yet? Has he? Redshirt is burned and honestly I don’t know if he will see 12 touches this year. What is wrong with a couple quick slanters on different sides of the field? If he just needs 6-8 more pounds of muscle until Baldwin wants to use him then we should have redshirted him. It would make Bolden’s role easier if he got some looks. Beats seeing Bolden trying too much and being too mistake prone.

    • The double reverses of Wheaton and Cooks and simply speed on both sides worked in the Alamo Bowl year. Bolden is no Wheaton or Cooks in the open field though and nowhere near as reliable as a receiver. Still the threat of a jet sweep either direction, it potentially reversing, or Seth keeping on a fake handoff presents three real options defenses would have to contain.

      • Defenses don’t have to do anything because nobody on the roster can throw a pass, so let them reverse all they want and spike the ball into the ground ala Donovan McNabb.

        If I were on D I’d just fire up a bag of popcorn, site back, and watch the shit storm.

    • Whoa! Ted Miller is a genius!

      We must concede all our games from here on out. Ted Miller… um… Ted Miller… um… what the fuck does Ted Miller have to do with anything?

      Ted Miller…

      What was this thread about?

      I imagine there’s even a video waste about all this. Ted Miller can suck my daughter’s nuts.

      • Ted Miller would rather suck Riley’s nuts, but he doesn’t cover the Big 10, so he doesn’t get the opportunity anymore. Miller once posted one of my comments a few years back where I pointed out that Riley should be held accountable for the poor starts to most seasons because it prevented good seasons from becoming great and cost the team better bowl games and national exposure. He laughed me out of the blog with one of his snarky replies.

  15. Angry,

    I went the other way on the Andersen era today. I lost some faith. I was a strong believer (and expected today to be a loss) but I thought that the coaching showed a lot of flaws. Mental errors were way too common (may be due to being Riley players). I thought that the coaching on offense/special teams seemed inconsistent and unprepared. Even more so, I saw three guys today who continue to receive playing time yet are a detriment to this team. Bolden has not shown enough in his career. He continues to make big drops, mental errors, and fumbles too much. Caleb Smith is an absolute drive killer with his selfish penalties and is too inconsistent. Navarro was clearly overmatched (and probably scared) today. He had several bad snaps that our punter had to work to catch.

    Finally, Andersen switching QBs when he did was signaling to the team that he was quitting. Was bad for Collins and MM was in a very unfair situation. This QB management has been dreadful. I am far from quitting on this era of Beaver football. I am still hopeful about the future but a lot of ugliness that is related to coaching reared its head today. We are no means guaranteed a nice future.

    • Andersen is far from perfect. Just last year he lost to Northwestern and had the 59-0 loss to Ohio State.

      They say Sitake is a a good DC, but to me he’s Pac-12good, which is to say he’s just pretty good. SO far I have no big problems with him though. He’s put up pretty good performances considering the circumstances.

      Baldwin may not have the chops to be a Power 5 OC anymore. He had success at USU and CSU, but his last stint in in the Power 5 was back in 2003 – 2006. Perhaps he’d be better with a competent QB. QB is the biggest weakness, but we were told that’s why he had McGiven and his extraordinary QB coaching skills. I’d say the QB position is an F so far.

      All that said, I do think that this staff is an upgrade over the previous one.

        • I thought it started strong and got worse and worse and the game wore on. Seems like a conditioning and focus problem. The offense definitely did not help them with TOP though so it’s understandable to some degree.

          • “I thought it started strong and got worse and worse and the game wore on. Seems like a conditioning and focus problem. The offense definitely did not help them with TOP though so it’s understandable to some degree.”

            Ding ding ding. We have a winner. Defense cannot continually be effective when the offense generates TWO fucking yards of total offense after the 1st quarter.

      • “QB is the biggest weakness, but we were told that’s why he had McGiven and his extraordinary QB coaching skills. I’d say the QB position is an F so far”

        Trying to make chicken salad out of chicken shit is no easy feat.

  16. My math states that we probably have to win out in order to get to the NCAA Championship Playoffs. I still think that may happen, but this team will have to play much harder to get there. Go Beavs!

  17. This game felt alot like the trip to Madison a few years back. Wasn’t unexpected.
    No true QB
    Special teams losing yards
    Inferior size and play by our lines
    Anemic offense

    Got our asses handed to us. Good for young teams to goo through a game like this to see what it takes to be a big boy.

    Glad I had to miss the 2nd half

  18. I’m over this one already.

    If they don’t beat San Jose St there will be some justifiable outroar. I can’t see getting worked up over this one considering MI was at home and everyone on their roster is like 22+ years old with Harbaugh coaching them.

    We got the likely outcome while we were hoping for a miracle. Oh well.

    • I’m not too worried about next week. We have a REALLY young team compared to that team we just played. Holy crap, when they announced the starting lineups it was just one senior after another.

  19. It was a fun first quarter at the game. Michigan fans told me they were sweating big time after the first drive and quarter. I’m happy to have fulfilled my dream of going to the big house, but to chip in on another topic of a previous thread the stadium is definitely quiet for 110,000 people. After reading all the comments on the thread dedicated to that I had lowered expectations on the sound and energy, but still a bit disappointed. Then again o was in the visitor section that is far from the field.

    • Yeah, that insulting little sliver of Orange on the upper outer rim. With almost 110,000 seats, they should be required to have decent seats for the traveling team. Again probably a failure of our AD.

        • Negotiations my man. If you’re giving away the barn to go across the country, and not getting the home and home, then set the stage. Act like a power conference team. Just too many little admin short comings, and I understand you can’t win them all. But did we even try? Not so much.

  20. My biggest issue with the Stansbury hire is it makes it seem like the past administration of OSU Athletics was OK and the path itself was fine. Liked the Tinkle and Andersen hires because I wanted reinvention and reinvigoration of new blood and a different mindset.

    Stansbury hire makes it seem like only small enhancements are needed to turn the corner and that simply is not true. The culture and past ways are a very tangible part of the problem. Todd may be OK but I don’t expect a great ride under his leadership. The changes are not significant enough in OSU’s mentality or image to the outside.

    Winning isn’t demanded or expected at a high enough level. Steven Jackson’s essay were nice words but so much more has to be done. Today’s team still did feel like it had too much Riley left over in the program. It doesn’t feel completely its own culture that is visibly much different. Maybe because Baldwin has some Riley like qualities of being used to smaller weapons. I am not sure.

    However, when Erickson was here it was very different and those playmaking and diligent receivers and aggressive D coupled with a smart QB were so great to see at OSU. You felt Erickson’s considerable influence on the team and energy in the program took off. Andersen’s influence wasn’t great at all today. He shrunk very much like Riley in key moments and unlike Erickson feels like he is mostly overseeing his coordinators, who are making almost all the decisions, from a step back. Erickson interjected his presence and I am hoping Andersen does more of that moving forward.

    Harbaugh does it. Meyer really does it. Andersen is not quite the same type of leader in injecting an aura of confidence and showing up as fully responsible for his team winning or losing. Or hating losing for that matter. Meyer absolutely cannot stand losing.

  21. I don’t understand the Ryan Nall situation, I turned off the game at halftime- writing was on the wall. When RN was recruited he was the NBT. How many downs (at any position) has he played this year? I look for him to transfer.

    I have my doubts about San Jose State at this juncture and now think the seers might have been right with a 3-win season. And, will Peko get his desired NFL attention?

  22. After hearing about the increased level of involvement of the SpTms in practice I really expected a better result. That, along with expecting addition by the subtraction of Read, made the performance today especially disappointing.
    The saying that the long-snapper is taken for granted till he screws up is so true! Did the coaching staff take that part of the game for granted in their preparation?

  23. Your complaint about the family day cartoon is nothing compared to the REDICULOUS duck uni’s. Glitter and Donald ducks? fucking FAIL! LMAO.

  24. Why is it that whenever I go to Wal-mart in Newport, (clean shaven and nicely dressed of course) it’s full of fat Duck fans wearing gray sweatpants and dirty gravy stained Duck T-shirts? I’m serious. The place is full of trashy overweight people in Ducks gear, always at least one scooting about blocking the aisles on a Rascal.

    Fishing is good by the way…

  25. With as bad as the duck$ defense is, I’m surprised the Spartans aren’t scoring more. I suspect that MI St isn’t as good as their ranking.

  26. I had the ducks with 3 or 4 losses this year and expected a step backward, but not in this game. Thought they’d kill MI St (slow).

    Vernon Adams is not that good.
    Ducks D is more porous than usual.
    Team speed not as good overall.

    • Disagree with you on Adams, he’s plenty good. He’s just not Mariota. The most frustrating thing about watching Oregon the past couple of years was that Mariota simply never made any critical mistakes or ill-advised throws. Adams will make mistakes on occasion, and it will contribute to a couple of losses for them this year

    • Agreed that Adams does not look good…

      I don’t see the duck D being more porous, MSU has only scored 14 pts… they should have 28 but maybe that’s because the MSU offense just isn’t that good. They had the one long run play but other than that, the ducks have shut them down and Cook is scared.

  27. Commentators always say that the game plan for beating a certain team is to put them in a lot of ‘3rd and long’ situations. Has there ever a team where that statement WASN’T true? Seems like an unnecessary and obvious observation to make.

    • “Darn?” You’re not very angry today…. : ) Very Riley-esque cursing.

      I am curious if they fire him mid-season next year. This year would be hilarious, but that’s just too much for an AD to admit so quickly. But who to replace him with if fired mid-season? Langs?!? Not Banker…..

    • all going exactly as I said before the season started. I think they’ll run the table up to late October before their schedule gets tougher. Their next few games are against pretty weak competition

    • ESPN can’t get enough of the Ducks. Did you watch the College Gameday head gear pick today? Corso’s love-affair with the Duck is vomit-inducing.

    • That was a weird comment, one thing I miss about the BCS Championship game was that one loss usually shut up Duck fans. Now with the playoffs, it takes two losses to end “natty talk”.

  28. Question: if Oregon wins out and Michigan State only loses a close game to Ohio State, which team gets a playoff nod: 1-loss Pac 12 champion Oregon, or 1 loss MSU that beat them?

    • Portland State won again today, vs the #25 ranked team at their level. Pretty good start after beating WSU last week. I’ll call that 2-2 on the day

  29. Herbie going on and on about how the Ducks and Adams will grow from this. I disagree, I think the wheels fall off. Premadonnas shrivel with adversity, can’t handle a set back.

    But I was wrong about almost everything all week, so what do I know?

    • I have my doubts that Adams survives the season without missing time due to injuries, he is smaller than I remember from the OSU game. He’s good, but not exceptional at this level. The Ducks might do better to get Freeman the ball 30 times a game.

  30. Stanford struggling again this weekend. Leading central Florida 10-0 halfway thru the 3rd. Despite what took place today the next two games are certainly winnable

  31. “Yet, when I wrote this post about the logo, …well…just read the comments. Awful. You now have to walk away from me with your tail between your legs, too.”

    For someone who harps on and on about how terrible it is that the internet lets everyone unleash their narcissism, this seems like an incredibly narcissistic statement to make.

    Anyway, sucks we lost the game, but it was a good reality check (for me at least) of how far we have to go before we can start hanging with the best teams in the sport. Just learn from the mistakes, and move on.

    • Just wait. They’re the Mets. Harvey est kaput. And they will find a reason sit Conforto. Then all hell will break loose. You’ll see them dump their lead and wonder why the baseball gods would punish them.

      But we’ll know. It’s because you angered the Casey… or made him pay attention to you.

      • What’s cool is that some of their fans actually attribute Conforto’s call-up with their recent success. I can’t say it’s simply coincidence, because he really is that good in the clubhouse. But it is really fun to watch.

        And this is coming from a Dodger fan with many connects to Dodger greats.

        That’s another story… as is a Dodger championship.

          • I’m starting to feel like a Cubs fan. And don’t think you and 95% of Dodger fans didn’t want Scioscia way way back when…. as did he. That was fucked up. We as fans should have fired those guys before they made that decision. It’s too bad they owned the club, and we had no choice in the matter.

            But rich people just know better.

          • Until now Dodger management since the O’Malley’s sucked absolute shit. And Frank McCourt can go burn in hell as far as I am concerned. I’m not convinced Magic, Stan Kasten and Guggenheim can bring a championship either but at least they are trying. I’m not expecting it this year with a rag tag group of starters behind Kershaw and Greinke and a mostly garbage bullpen. But with 7-1/2 games on the Vagiants with 3 weeks left in the regular season they’ll at least get an opportunity to try. As long as they don’t have to play the Cardinals

          • and unless something drastically changes in these last 3 weeks (major collapse by someone) Dodgers/Mets NLDS is likely. 1/2 game separates them after Saturday games so who would have home field is up in the air. The Cespedes trade seems to have invigorated the Mets more than Conforto being called up

          • that and the Nationals having a shitty manager and being decimated by injuries. But it’s a “feel good” story so lets not let facts get in the way. Either way the Mets have won 80 games so they are doing something right and made good moves at the trade deadline

          • Ooooh! I have a great idea. What we’ll do is get the Dodgers and Mets together on an off day and have them play a softball game. And the winner of that game gets home field.

            Awesome idea! Yeah!

  32. This is pretty impressive that cal poly has had asu with a 1st and goal twice in recent possessions, and they’ve held ASU scoreless both times.

  33. Air Force wins 37-16. AFA just wore them down and rushed for over 400 yards. If the Beavs can’t beat SJSU then idk what to say other than they’d be lucky to win another game.

    • SJSU switched QBs per series, constantly trying to find an edge, failed. Swaps went back and forth through the whole game including multiple swaps in 4th qtr while only trailing 7.

      On Defense sjsu had good plays blitzing Qbs. I don’t think they can get away with that vs us. Top to bottom Beavs should look the better team and I expect to see just that. We should have good opportunity to iron out our wrinkles and correct the deficiencies. Interestingly, AF plays at MiSt next week giving for some transitive football comparison for next week. Stanford should get stomped at USC next weekend. I expect Beavs to have ship righted for beating Stanford in two weeks. Hopefully Angry renews the blog banter with Stan

  34. Mageo’s day according to Egger’s article:

    “Mageo had eight tackles, a sack, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and an interception. …” What a game. Looking forward to his play the rest of the season.

    Andersen on Barr-Woods “not ready to play” was interesting. Was B-W injured in practice and held out recently?

  35. I’m going to not comment on post after post. I’m going to gather it all up here.

    Bolden should sit. I don’t care who’s next. He should sit.

    Think about it. Collins doesn’t make any receiver worth anything. It’s obvious. Opposing coaches only have to defend eight people… five of them being O-linemen. What are you going to do? Are you going to beat me passing the ball?

    Do you think I’m that stupid?

  36. I will note that Collins made plays up to a point. I think the quick hitch to Bolden in the 2nd was his last completion. I think everything was scripted up to and a little beyond that. And he did fairly well adhering to the script.

    Then it all fell apart. I don’t think he completed another pass beyond that hitch… except maybe a worthless dump to whatever RB was in during the 2nd half when he just dumped it. I think there was a “screen” late. It wasn’t… but it was.

    I’m thinking we had zero completions after scripted plays. That’s not a knock. That at least tells me there is a progression. Today it was halfway through the 2nd. Next week it will be halfway through the fourth.

    Knock on wood… fingers crossed… imaginary overhead non-alien beings please meditate for us.

  37. I don’t buy Ftf because they showed up out of nowhere and majorly dissed by Mimi on KRQR overnight… for no reason other than she just hated on them.

    They’re kinda tight. I love the bass. Kit is tight but method. Gitar, vocals and lyrics are meh at best.

    It sounds like polished Cheap Trick when Cheap Trick really hated who they were.

    • I do have to admit that I just love Bad Brains for no reason whatsoever. Their music sucks on all levels… and I still just love it. Therefore, I suck.

      Slurpies on me boys!

  38. Now that I’ve had a little time, few points moving on:

    *One of the things I completely understand is making call in a game and standing by most of them (95%) because at that moment you (as the coach) have your reason for doing it, I wasn’t questioning any of the pay calling, whether I agreed with all of the calls or not?! I know how that goes and anyone can look in hindsight but I trust this staff with why they make the calls that they do in games.

    *I have already mentioned this but moving forward, I really hope that GA and staff really start to keep kids out of the game that are consistently creating mental errors and/or not producing.If we have to have a second or third string player in at a position because the “first string” player isn’t getting it done or being penalized too much (because of bad decisions), so be it. That’s the only way these kids are going to “respect the process”. Otherwise it’s just all talk.

    *Our DL got absolutely driven! That is not a good sign. Once Michigan realized they had a major advantage by just straight running the football, it was over. Chris Spielman was right, they were driving us of the ball so badly that the RB wasn’t even getting touched until he at least gained 2 yards. The sloppy angles and arm tackles started before complete physical fatigue started. That to me was more of a mental let down. And towards the end of the game, it was both a mental and physical let down. Yes the defense was on the field too long but they did not play that well for about 2 and a half quarters.

    *The offensive line is a major let down. The most experience as a unit and they have not played very well the last two games. When Seth had time and sets his feet, he actually delivered some good throws, one for a TD. It doesn’t matter who you’re QB is if you cannot protect and/or open holes in the running game, your offense will struggle. Also, some of our receivers are struggling (again) to create separation.Even Villamin has been struggling there. He tries to use his height and hops as an advantage but against good defenders, he comes up empty handed. The receivers were covered almost all game long after the first quarter. And it’s like last season, the same three WRs are seeing all of the action. McMaryion should stay on the bench unless we need him (if Seth goes down). Not just putting him in, to put him in.

    *I still think this team has talent and there are many players that haven’t had many opportunities that could be very productive, especially at WR (Guyton, Dockery, Hawkins, Lucas). But against a tough team, guys like Ryan Nall and Ricky Ortiz are two good guys to get on the field (they’re strong, tough, hard nosed players). Haskins is a guy that could be a force in short yardage. Again, I hope the Beavs get on the right track again by doing what they said they were going to do; rotate many backs and receivers. I think if they rotate some of these guys in, we’ll see some surprises.

    On to SJSU! Hopefully we come out and kick their asses from start to finish!

    Go Beavs!

    • *I have already mentioned this but moving forward, I really hope that GA and staff really start to keep kids out of the game that are consistently creating mental errors and/or not producing.If we have to have a second or third string player in at a position because the “first string” player isn’t getting it done or being penalized too much (because of bad decisions), so be it. That’s the only way these kids are going to “respect the process”. Otherwise it’s just all talk.

      I think we all share this concern. And i was thinking about the fine line that needs to be walked. For example, 3M was yanked after the int last week with Weber. And there we all were saying he deserves more chances. I want to see those players get some reps as well, and so we had better handle sjsu easily and be able to try some change ups

    • How do you know the receivers weren’t getting separation? There were only three balls thrown past 10 yards, and two of them were poorly thrown fades where Villamin had to stop and try to jump over the defender for the ball. Of course he’s not getting separation there. If he did, the ball would be ten yards behind him.

      ?

      I also saw receivers wide open as the ball sailed way over their heads and five yards behind them… landing in no-man’s land. So don’t tell me they weren’t getting separation when you have zero video which supports that statement and some that directly counters it.

      • Sitting down in a zone defense and having the ball sail over your head, doesn’t mean that you are separating from a one-on-one fight with a defender.

  39. I’m becoming even more concerned than I already was about the talent (?) level of the OL.

    And while it’s way too early for concern I’m beginning to have a bit of an uneasy feeling about the competence level of the OC.

    Lastly, I’m not as certain as others that Riley left a talented team behind. Some talent yes, but not nearly enough to be competitive at this level.

      • You aren’t the only one with that feeling. Pretty sure Isaac wants to play at the next level, so it is hard to believe he is slacking because of his dad.
        Was he overrated coming in? Well, since he is playing like a 2-3 star I’d say that’s not a factor, yet.

        I’ve said for some time that I doubted he was 100%. By that I include mentally as well as physically (read stamina, confidence, and focus). While his foot may be structurally sound, that is only part of returning to form at this level.

        OL=probably the least expected disappointment so far, and such a key part of the game.

        • I doubt it has anything to do with his dad. He probably is still hurt or afraid to go all out/re-injure it. We’ve seen him play at a high (4 star) level in the past, so he’s not overrated. He’s also played C and T in the past, so G is a new position (at the college level) + new blocking scheme. I’d say give him another game, and if he underperforms or can’t perform due to injury, replace him.

          • afraid to go all out/re-injure it. , that is what I was getting at by mentioning confidence. You said it better.

            BTW, what did ya think of MI State’s O line shifts? Seems like with Isaac’s experience, along with a veteran line, that could have been tried here. Not a practical consideration though, these guys have shown they’ve got plenty on their plate w/o adding anything else.

    • I have not been able to look closely at the OL, hard to when I watch it live, I have to watch replay of it and concentrate on it. But I was nervous when we lost Gavin Andrews for Medical Redshirt. With him we would be much better and without I wasn’t buying in on the media saying it was still strong enough to replace him.

      So I agree the talent level is not real high there, but it is better than what it has been.

  40. Part of me wants to go gloom and doom but then I consider these things:

    1) This is a Riley recruited team under Anderson who came in and is trying to put the wheels back on after they flew off last year.

    2) 9th youngest team in the nation.

    3) Coaching that knew before the game that physicality was going to be a big issue and called it out before it happened.

    4) Coaching that takes responsibility and doesn’t lay it out on these young kids… Quote:

    “Not a lot to say. We got it taken to us pretty good there. As soon as we flipped the other way in the second half, we couldn’t get anything going on offense, couldn’t really get anything going on defense. It turned into a very, very physical run game. We knew it had the potential possibility to be able to do that, and we flat couldn’t handle it. When I say ‘we,’ I thought the kids played extremely hard. They battled. They gave it all they had. I need to do a better job coaching them.” – Andersen.

    I will take a losing Anderson over a losing Riley any day of the week.

    My 80 year old dad who has season tickets to the Beavs said he could see a difference in the team from the Riley era.

    As long as Anderson doesn’t lose heart the team will build and be better then Riley. It is a touchy time for sure as losses do not help Anderson in recruiting. But I have HOPE for the first time in a while that change can happen and we can compete better under this staff.

  41. Who fucked the NFL uniforms up? There are some truly terrible designs out there. I don’t know what Jax or Cleveland are thinking… other than, “Hey! We live in Jax/Cleveland. You expect taste? You’re lucky we don’t wear track suits and bingo bling.”

    And I hope Chicago is only wearing their sorta throwback unis for one game. They make you not wonder why they don’t wear them anymore.

      • Nike must have giggled at them and said, “Okay, you can be the Oregon (State) of the NFL. We’ll even throw in some ASU for good measure.”

        I’m also not sure why Manziel is still in the league, let alone starting. Hell, I don’t know why he was drafted.

  42. One of the visitors at our next game is Isaiah Hodgins. I think he will be one of the most important players for the Beavs 2017 class. He’s a WR with size and huge hands which allow him to make some unreal catches, especially for a high schooler. Also has NFL bloodlines, and really high on OSU. Has been all year.

    I’m just worried our passing game is going to scare him off. Do the Beavs go pass heavy this week to showcase their receivers?

  43. Can anyone confirm 100% that Paul Lucas has played two downs this year like I believe I read somewhere in the O or Barometer? He isn’t getting more than 15 touches this year the way this is headed so I would be ecstatic if we could redshirt him and the rumor is wrong that he has been in for a couple plays already.

    Whoever can confirm whether his redshirt is burned already or not gets AngryBeavs member of the month. Thanks!!!

  44. Watched the short GA interview on Pac 12 Now. He basically said there were one or two team members who needed to some “growing up” and decide if they wanted to be part of this adventure or not. I wonder what that’s all about.

  45. off topic (not sure if already posted)

    Dodgers traded Darwin Barney to the Blue Jays today. Good luck Darwin. Hopefully he gets some PT up there.

  46. Did anyone notice Peko or Grimble in the game? The type of power rush attack Michigan runs, I had hoped to see those two provide more of a stout presence inside and against that type of deliberate run scheme.

    They were both credited with 5 tackles (some assisted) but none for loss. Change the colors of the jerseys, and Saturday looked a lot like the 2010 game at Stanford, 0-38.

    Lots of football left to play and some of this locker room stuff will work itself out. Tough spot for Andersen with the QB’s. Realistically nothing should be expected from either of the top 2 kids at their age and talent level, but they’ve still got to go out there at the D1 level.

    Also, playing both of them in a seemingly random pattern rarely does a team much good. The indecisiveness can divide a locker room.

    The Collins kid comes across as one that players will really either respect or hate. There were lots of unflattering camera gazes at him towards the end of the game. Bad body language sitting alone on the bench.

    The kid will grow, but the coach needs to in my opinion pick one and ride it out for the rest of the season. Doesn’t really seem that either of them jump out as a clear leader and more talented player, so you would almost want to go with the experience player. Even if that experience was a redshirt season.

    • I’m no defensive expert, but the 3-4 seems more geared to stopping spread offenses. Simple math tells me 3 big fuckers vs 4 big fuckers is bad odds. Add in a big bruising back that’s the size of the linebackers that are supposed to be helping the outnumbered big fuckers and that looks like a recipe for disaster, manifesting itself as 7 yards per carry.

      • IMO Our big fuckers were doing pretty good against there big fuckers until our offense and special teams screwed the pooch and gifted them a lead. And then multiple 3 and outs so they had to spend 13 of 15 minutes on the field. We don’t have enough big fuckers to make up for a shit offense, not many teams do. They probably keep it close with a mediocre offense. But with a shit offense there fucked.

        And I aggree we’re better built to stop the spread.

      • The key to stopping the power run with a 3-4 is penetration. I know that is true of any offense but especially so against the power (with a 3-4 that is). You really need a nose who can either absorb 2-3 offensive lineman and hold his ground (rare, think Wilfork) or the penetration to force runner to make first cut before LOS and allow help tacklers to arrive.

      • GA said they’d use a 4-3 at times. I didn’t see any of that.

        I think this MI game was a test to see where they were at. GA probably wanted to see who can play physical, what he needs to recruit, etc. A “Laevinic defeat”, if you will.

  47. Off topic, does anyone know where to get the “patriotic Beaver hats”? After watching a replay of the Weber State game. I feel like MM has a better arm.

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