OL(mainly the center) discussion

http://www.mlive.com/wolverines/index.ssf/2013/09/michigans_brady_hoke_discusses.html

Interesting article. Lewan kind of puts it out there!!

Go Blue!!

I've seen pressure come in right over Miller time and time again.  I've seen players not know who they are supposed to pick up.  I've seen free rushers come in and the guards think they are handin him off and no one takes him.  It isn't strength, it is blocking techniques, I think it is communication.  Not recognizing the defense or the blitz and then making the wrong adjustments.

One idea, and it's just me blabbing:  A lot of us, even, ALL of us, seem to concur that we had too-high hopes following the OL's (like the team's overall) showing against our toughest opponent, ND. Esp. the OL, given the near-deification of ND's Nix and Truitt.

Here's my rag: Could it be that in that game, knowing we probably COULD NOT run on ND, and would have to rely on Gardner's arm (and escapes), as we did, the OL-men, esp. the interiors, were content to manage stalemates only on most plays, and content to let their guys through after 2, 3 seconds, knowing that was all Gardner, and the gameplan in place, REQUIRED of them in that game?  But against Akron and UConn, they went for broke and tried doing TOO MUCH, thinking they had to open Bama-esque holes, and when they failed, their thought processes all went to hell?

As I say, the words of a babbling know-nothing who never played any organized football, let alone on the O-line. But--comments welcome.

Going from someone who never played any organized football (mike) to someone who played very little (me) I'd guess that it is something like that. Reading your comments gave me the idea that everyone knew they probably couldn't block ND too well, therefore they had to execute expediently. Included in that would be DG stepping up in the pocket more, correct me if I'm wrong but DG did more of that in the ND game. The players knew they couldn't block ND, only delay them a little by causing them to go to the outside thus enabling DG to step-up. With Akron and UConn everyone thought that they could man-handle them so DG sat back in the pocket until he found someone to throw to. We saw what happened. I think that Michigan needs to focus on quick plays until we get this OL thing sorted out, I'm not talking WR screens but 10 yard maximum routes. Throw in a few deep balls sporadically to keep the Safety's honest. The run game well, is the run game. We're kinda screwed there until we get the OL working. Until that happens tell Fitz to bounce outside, he has shown time and time again that he can't get through the interior line due to the lack of blocking. He also has to be more decisive, stop cutting back and with the hesitation moves. That worked when we had a line, now not so much.

That's my .03 cents...

So the two people with the least football game experience have commented. How did we do?