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.

Go Beavs!

I know some, like Jerry Pettibone, are not digging the audio thread. So, general thread until game day.

I found this article interesting.

Sounds like the NFL might have to start their own developmental league after all…

Some interesting info on “the big house”…many say it is not loud, despite the size.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dc-sports-bog/wp/2014/08/27/randy-edsall-says-michigans-football-crowds-are-big-but-not-loud/

http://hokesmadmagicians.blogspot.com/2012/03/hot-topics-is-big-house-loud.html

As some who read this blog carefully might know, I’m a self-taught audio engineer. I don’t claim to be an expert, so let’s that get out of the way. A few things I know (or think I know…again, self-taught through books and experience/listening, so feel free to correct me if I’m wrong):

1. Bass waves travel further than treble waves.
2. Low frequencies move through barriers (e.g. why you hear bass emanating from a car, but not treble).
3. Treble waves reflect off surfaces. Engineers go through great measures to prevent this, and it’s why most studios have diffusion or padding on walls. Bass waves more through surfaces (think how you can hear bass but not treble through your neighbor’s walls).
4. I’d consider sub bass anything below 40hz. These frequencies are only audible on systems with sub woofers and tend to be powerful, boomy, etc. Bass frequency I’d say is 50 to 200hz, and treble 1khz and above (up to 2okhz, where we can no longer hear frequencies, but some claim we can “feel” them as “air”. These are somewhat subjective ranges but generally agreeable. Low midrange would make up the difference, 200hz to -1khz. We are fairly sensitive to low midrange, and it has properties of both bass and treble waves.
5. The ear is most sensitive in the high mid range, so 2khz to 6khz. Above and below that fades off quickly. This happens to be the frequency most voices fall into (evolution is genius, right?).

Given all this, I think the theory that “the big house” is quiet for its size makes a lot of sense.

1. It doesn’t have a lot of reflective surfaces for the treble waves to bounce off of.
2. The fans who are far away would be better off chanting in a low, deep voice, else their treble waves will get lost while moving through air. Simply, they are too far away to be heard, so tens of thousands of them (the ones far away) won’t have any effect unless they can chant in a very low, booming frequency. This likely rules out the women.
3. The Beavs will be hearing a lot of 1khz to 6khz frequencies — the speaking/screaming voices. These frequencies are weak and tail off quickly, as they simply do not travel well through medium like air (again, think of a car stereo where you hear bass and no treble if you’re outside it).

A better stadium design, if loudness is the goal, would probably be a small stadium with highly reflective surfaces and noise/frequencies in the 2kz to 6khz range (so, screaming fans, audio speakers with little low end, etc). Think about this: playing an electric guitar outside versus playing an electric guitar in a basement with concrete walls. Which is going to be more raucous? Obviously the basement — you have reflections from every direction bombarding your ear, whereas outdoors those will fade into the medium (air).

Now if we look at a photo of “the big house”, we see it is open, the fans on the outer ring are far away and their treble ridden screams will not be heard, and there are few reflective surfaces. I don’t see noise being a huge problem. Honestly, I have probably watched only a few Michigan games in my life, and I never had this in mind, so maybe I’m wrong and it’s excessively loud? But that would defy basic audio principles. I’m expecting moderate loudness and only the fans closer to the field to have an impact dB levels.

I think Gary Andersen summed this game up best, when he said the Beavers will leave Michigan knowing exactly how physical a team they are, and each player will know how physical they are, too. He said something like, “put your pants on or get run out of the stadium.” lol. Michigan is an old, mature team and they’re at home. This is some David and Goliath shit right here.

The defensive side of the ball looked physical last week, so I expect them to be fine, provided the Beav’s offense doesn’t put them in a bind. The offensive line needs to get more push. Period. Isaac’s mulligan card has been played. He has to go all out or sit. Josh Mitchell has a lot of Riley left in him, and he needs an exorcism, statim. The wide receivers need to do a better job blocking on the edge, too. Left some big plays out there last week on sweeps and wide plays because of soft blocking. Again, remnants of Riley. If the Beavs leave plays on the field this week they will lose.

The offense had a one step forward, two steps back rhythm last week. That’s an easy way to put your QB in a bind, which won’t end well on the road. Beavs can’t kill themselves with sloppy play and procedural and holding penalties. It’s probably the #1 factor in winning this game. #2 would be, as GA said, being extremely physical.

From the Beavs perspective, I think they need to put their corners on an island and use the other parts to cause as much disruption as possible. Based on what we saw of the MI QB last week, if he beats OSU’s corners 1 on 1, so be it, tip your hat, but he was a weakness, and the Beavs have to force him to win the game. Andersen beat this QB twice while at Wisconsin (last year he threw for 300 yards and 2TDs).

Andersen said he expects Michigan to try trick plays, double moves, and a physical run game. He seems to know this QB and knows what Harbaugh wants to do.

Keys to the game:

• Can the Beavs get a ground game going between the tackles?
• Force MI QB to win the game.
• Eliminate the ghost of Riley (procedural penalties, holding calls, soft play).
• Hit the big plays when they are there (this will be a test for Collins).
• Baldwin needs to call a better game — can’t call a screen in your endzone. The play calling was rough, but I think that was to (a) give MI nothing and (b) baby Collins/MM. I expect a wide open playbook and more exciting offense this week, with more big play opportunity and more TE involvement.
• When adversity strikes, which will probably  happen early in this game, they  have to be mentally tough and overcome it.

Regarding Collins and MM, I don’t want to get into that each week. For now it’s Collins, and that’s just the way it is. If he can throw the ball to the WRs at an acceptable clip, I’ll gladly back the guy and hope he leads OSU to victory. He definitely has the confidence (ignorance is bliss?) to win a game like this. I’d label him a wildcard in this game. I’m expecting a bad game passing, several INTs, but hoping for the best. But, Collins can go nuts for all I know and put up 400-500 total yards. Just don’t know enough at this point. Incomplete data set.

In summary, Michigan isn’t vintage, but they’re experienced, physical, and have Harbaugh. It’s going to be a battle, possibly a blood bath. My gut tells me: the Beavs have a shot if all goes perfectly and they hit every big play, have no penalties, mentally and physically are “up” for the game, etc, but realistically Michigan has everything in their favor.

27-13, Michigan