Solar

I don't see a dedicated thread for discussing the game Friday so I'm starting a new thread. I think there is broad consensus that we have to play a complete game for the first time all season to win. Our coaches need to game plan for the Indiana that played Thursday, not the Indiana that we played earlier in the year. The good news is I'm pretty sure the Rose Bowl last year taught the coaches this lesson. Also DL isn't foolish enough to believe "it's hard to beat the same team twice" having lost to UW twice in 2023. I expect full effort this week from the analysts, coordinators, and DL. It's a neutral site in the same time zone we played this week and the game time is evening and being played in a dome, so there should be little circumstantial issues for us to worry about.

NCAA.comTrack which conferences are winning the 2025-26 college f...Follow along here to track the records of conferences during the FBS bowl season. As it stands right now, the B1G is 9-4 will all 9 wins against other conferences. The SEC is 4-9 and 2 of those 4 wins are against other SEC teams. For once I'll agree with a fan base that says they beat themselves. That's pretty much all they can beat are themselves. One can dream about AP polls and coaches polls coming down to earth before next season and not ranking every SEC team with such high rankings, but I'll believe it when I see it.

They likely will be stopped simply by playing at 4:30pm instead of 9am.

Congratulations! I picked high, price is right style. I should have just bid 1 dollar for Texas Tech, but hindsight is 20:20.

The OL play was surprising. Like they had trouble waking up. Pregnon alone killed 2 drives in the 1st quarter with "what were you thinking?" missed blocks. He's literally the #1 guard in the country and he killed 2 drives. Our center who is a Remington finalist screwed up multiple snap, one that took us out of field goal range and another that blew the timing of a play for a loss of yards. He also blew quite a few blocks. Obviously there were other OL struggles just due to TTU 's amazing front seven who is likely the best front 7 in the country, better than Indiana and Iowa at least by a clear amount. Looking back at the NW game that was also at 9am we weren't as crisp. Fans that know better say the Orange Bowl at noon local time was a disaster. For those that remember, the Orange Bowl used to be the last bowl on New Year's day late into the evening with a real party like atmosphere. I think we've learned that the current playoff format does really suck, in multiple ways, and that our players can really struggle with early games (who knows that maybe it really affected Morton to play at 11am), and that our ceiling in each phase is as high as anybody, we are 14 games into the season and STILL haven't put it all together for a complete game.

DeBoer's seat get hotter with every Indiana score. Kind of feels like the 2015 Alamo Bowl against TCU with Helfrich. It was a big sign it was a relationship that is doomed. Is Finebaum going to be able to spin this SEC Trainwreck into something positive?

OC Grubb was supposed to be the secret sauce, but he went the NFL and bombed. I think this is indeed one of those situations where the players made the coach great. Jake Haener was a football god at Fresno State for DeBoer and Grubb, then Penix at UW with Peterson's recruits as others have mentioned.

You were right. The woodshed is full of crimson like a rolling tide.

The close up of the Alabama bands's faces. Oh man, they are trying to smile, but they know their goose is cooked. The game is not over, but it's over, unless Mendoza gets knocked out of the game early in the second half. Is the SEC going to end up with one out of conference victory in this year's bowl games and playoffs? Alabama isn't even competitive. I thought Notre Dame should have gotten in above Alabama. We knew the fix was in when they swapped Bama and Notre Dame on a week where nothing happened.

It's good to not to be Texas Tech fans right now. What a miserable offensive performance from their perspective. They lived on offense by short fields, deep passes down the sidelines and runs to the edges all season. We didn't give them any of those, and the 25 day break put them to sleep. The game was pretty much over after the strip takeaway. We increased our lead to 13 while injuring Morton's bicep on his throwing arm on the strip. TECH GOT WRECKED!

Morton injured his arm on the strip sack. Couldn't throw well after that.

OMG, why run to the boundary on 3rd down when you know you are going to kick a field goal?

YES!!! 16-0 with 8 minutes.

Crashed the website?! Kick the field goal Dan! 16-0 with 8 minutes left is the call.

Don't forget they no longer have to recruit Oregon players, so some amount of work being done is just a swap. Still, mental focus requires mental rest. Tests show a really tired driver can drive as bad as a drunk driver, so it's a thing.

Stands are shockingly full although I think I seeing a lot of Miami colors mixed in the the greens and reds. Black vs. white jerseys. No mental confusion on who is who.

I'm so glad we aren't playing in the Rose Bowl. I'm in San Diego and getting flash flood warning on my TV..

It's hard to beat Mami when good Carson Beck shows up and bad Carson Beck stays home. Nearly impossible with the bye week putting you in a fog for the first 25 minutes of the game. Miami won the trenches on both sides. Mario didn't screw up clock management either and seems to be letting the OC do his thing calling a really good game. They are the most dangerous team in the playoffs when they play to their ceiling like this.

I'm glad to see our list of injuries didn't get any longer with game prep (other than Evan Stewart). We've had some bad luck with that in the past.

I read an in depth article that shows TT has made their yards by deep ball boundary passes all year. Here's hoping our DBs have been getting coached on how to prevent the push offs without getting flagged. There is no question we will benefit more from refs that don't throw flags than refs that do.

The rust factor is no secret even before this first half, and how much can you do about it now? It's mental and physical and affects some more than others. There is no guarantee Tech comes out off, but it is something that could be a factor, and certainly something they have to overcome moreso than us. And seeing yet another occurrence of it makes it all the more possible it does happen to TT.

If the bye teams get boat raced in the first half again this year, the pitchforks will be out for this schedule and we will moved to a 16 team schedule with no byes.

I've been surprised by the cold reception of Whit by many pundits. Are they ignorant or just plain stupid? In coaching circles Whit has been the most respected head coach in college football for the last decade. And as mentioned, his blue collar style is a perfect match for Michigan. He'll have the resources he needs to get great players who will want to play for him. Look how good DeBoer has recruited at Alabama, despite not being able to recruit his way out of a paper bag at UW. This is a home run hire for Michigan. They will be back to their perch by 2027 at the latest.

I've had way too much time thinking about this. With the spread so close our passing advantage and a healthy Morton, I'm betting on the over as a pun, this game is going into overtime running the score up. Oregon wins 39-32 2 T/O 3 sacks 280 yards passing.

I do agree with Mike's takeaways, but then again what would TTU be saying about us if the only games they watched were Indiana Penn State and Iowa? As said above, turnovers are what create the large score differentials for TTU. Our RBs don't fumble, so it's on Dante Moore to take care of the ball and limit that occurrence. TTU coaches have had a month game plan for us. They don't normally blitz, but maybe this time they do use a scheme more similar to Indiana, bringing and simulating pressures with the LBs. I am concerned we will get out coordinated again, especially with Tosh and Stein's limited bandwidth. Although it did just occur to me that the distractions of recruiting for Oregon don't fall on their plate anymore. And DL has learned from the Rose Bowl you simply have to game plan better, including hypothetical things the other team may try on you. Also with Morton finally being 100% mobile again we have to game plan for that probability of him using that mobility that hasn't shown up on film, both in escaping pressure and designed runs. I do have confidence we will be ready to play our hardest most confident effort, especially along the OL. One of the biggest things to suffer with long layoffs is tackling, so hopefully we do try to play some old Stein ball that tries to get players in a little bit of space that puts the onus on tackling for TTU.