Crushed

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I’ve heard or read this quote many many times having grown up playing golf. I always thought it was a little cliche, but essentially true given the nature of golf and the huge mental and emotional swings (no pun intended) your game can have in just one round. If you go back through history, the best golfers are the ones that can block out all of that noise, all of the distractions, and just play their game. The level of concentration it takes to not only avoid big mistakes, but quickly recover from a bad misstep here or an errant drive there…that’s what separates great golfers from the rest of us mere mortals.

I don’t know if that precisely relates to 2019 Michigan Football, but I just feel like it does.

God what mess this game was.

Okay, first off…turnovers. I mean, cummon man! WTF is going on??!!

You can blame the CFB gods, normally that’s what I do and usually it’s a good enough explanation. However, Michigan didn’t do itself any favors putting Ben Mason back on offense all of the sudden after two games (and presumably the entire offseason) on the defensive line, and you hand off to him out of the shotgun. He didn’t look comfortable at all.

That and the blown call on the Ronnie Bell catch that killed Michigan’s second drive were a really bad 1-2 punch for a Michigan team in desperate need of a break to keep this thing competitive. Wisconsin, to their credit wasted no time going right for Michigan’s throat.

Also, I just have to say something. When Wisconsin scored their 3rd touchdown to go up 21-0, on the ensuing commercial break, Jim Harbaugh appeared in a Downy laundry detergent commercial. That was a really, really bad look, to say the least.

And speaking of bad looks…

Michigan OL alum Jake Long has seen enough…

Out of everything today, this bugged me the most. I don’t care if you’re down by 100, you don’t walk onto the field like that. Good or bad finish the game with a purpose. pic.twitter.com/WTvqCsZfaa

— Jake Long (@JakeLong77) September 22, 2019

This Michigan team has a serious problem. They’ve got enough talent all over the field to win games like this…no one will dispute that. But I think what Jake Long points out is proof of something very wrong on this team…the offensive line. They played awful all day yesterday. Runyan especially had a very rough game (see the above screen grab). At no point in the game did you see this OL really sustain a solid drive or allow Michigan to get their running game going…a running game that only got 40 yards on 19 carries (only 9 rush yards in the first half). Normally, most people don’t pay a lot of attention to the OL unless things are going really well or really bad. But yesterday, you not only saw it, you could feel it. Something is off.

IMO, that was the biggest difference in the game. I’m really at a loss for coming up with a better explanation for what we all watched yesterday. When nothing on offense is working and everything is a struggle…with both QBs and multiple running backs…I think it’s obvious. Michigan’s offense couldn’t stay on the field in the first half and it’s all because they couldn’t block Wisconsin at all.

I mean, first off, Wisconsin is good. That team is going to Indianapolis for sure and it’s only been 4 weeks of football, but it’s already clear they’re the team to beat in the B1G west…again. If you’re looking for a silver lining, at least Michigan outscored them in the second half and only held them to 7 points. Jonathan Taylor is a legit Heisman contender, and Jack Coan played a great game…thanks in large part to an outstanding offensive line. And I give Paul Chryst a ton of credit for his 4th down gambles which paid off handsomely. Talk about confidence and TRUST in your offensive line.

But for Michigan, I believe, it all comes back to the OL. It’s not like they’re not talented…far from it. They were supposed to be the strength of this offense…an offense that has been completely changed from what it was a year ago. Clearly, the switch to spread has not been a swift and painless one for the guys up front. They’re struggling…hard.

Also struggling is Shea Patterson and Dylan McCaffrey. Shea seems to get flustered easily (because he’s getting pounded all game) and Dylan runs head-first into danger, constantly putting himself in situations where he can get hurt…which he does.

I don’t know what the answer is. If the OL can get it together, I think the rest of the offense will follow suit…I really do. It’s not rocket science. The real question is can they find their grove before it’s too late? One Big Ten loss isn’t the end of the season by any stretch, but two losses is. I don’t care if they’re playing Rutgers or Ohio State next…Michigan needs to get it together in a hurry.

And I think, for the OL at least, the place to start is the five-and-a-half-inch field between the ears.