Conditioning and depth. Those are the two biggest problems that I see with this team. I like Holgorsen, and he was out coached, but coaching is a lot easier when you have a surplus of well conditioned athletes. They were absolutely gassed in the second half. Guys were throwing up on the sideline. Scheduling 4 games in 19 days was ridiculous, but I’m not sure you can blame it all on that. They need better depth, but more than that, they need to get in better football shape. Strength and conditioning look suspect as hell.
Harbaugh flipped Michigan his first season. He may have inherited better talent, but he's playing against better talent too.
Last night was one of the most depressing losses in Cougar football history. The program is clearly in "Levine" territory. Holgerson may not have been the "answer." But, what do we do now? You can't recruit off of disasters like last night. Some things are obvious: the team played their hearts out, they didn't quit. That's good. But, they can't tackle which is disturbing. The defense was getting blown off the line. King can't pass downfield. The running game is improved. The Cougars have speed. They don't seem on the same page, a lot of confusion and rushed time outs. I don't see much light at the end of the tunnel.
I wasn't expecting a national championship but I didn't expect them to get embarrassed by Tulane and see the defense allow two touchdowns to a double A school in a charity game. The program looks to have taken a huge step backwards
Coming into the game, UH was one of the worst defenses in the nation. Tulane was rated as a top 25. It wasn’t out of the blue. This team came in with 0 depth. 4 games in less than 3 weeks. 1 being a national championship contender. Another top 25. Yeah I’m not surprised you have guys damn near throwing up on the sidelines. Doesn’t really matter if some of y’all think the program went backwards. It’s more like yalls expectations need to be checked. The quality of players on this team is minimal And there wasn’t even a significant recruiting class to come in to help. He already had questions about this team from day 1
1. The Coogs get a gift with about a minute left with that roughing call. 2. Coog receiver drops TD pass that was perfectly thrown. 3. Coogs fall for trick play. 4. Tulane completes TD pass as three Coog defenders crash into each other. Still can't believe the Coogs lost. What a train wreck.
Even at their worst Michigan still pulls in top 15 classes every year. Thats a lot different than the 4th and 5th rated classes in the AAC.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/spor...ad-morris-michigan-south-carolina/2411581001/ Houston: As long as Tilman Fertitta is the sugar daddy for Houston’s athletic program, he’ll never live down a quote from December 2016 when he declared that his new coaching hire Major Applewhite needed to win at least nine, 10, 11 games to keep his job because anything less was unacceptable at a program like Houston. “We did get rid of a coach that won eight games three years ago,” Fertitta said. “Don’t ever forget that.” True to his word, Houston fired Applewhite after going 7-5 and 8-5 in his two seasons so that Fertitta could make Dana Holgorsen the highest-paid coach in the Group of Five conferences at $4 million a year. What does an uber-booster with an uncontrollable ego and unrealistic expectations think he's getting for that kind of contract? Surely something better than losses to Tulane. Houston is now 1-3 under Holgorsen after losing 38-31 to the Green Wave, blowing a 28-7 lead and allowing a two-play, 71-yard touchdown drive to end the game after Houston tied it up on a field goal with 21 seconds remaining. It was an ugly loss for the Cougars in what looks like an ugly season with a defense that isn't very good and more losses coming in an American Athletic Conference that Houston thinks it’s too good to be part of in the first place. Maybe, eventually, Fertitta will understand those 8-4 seasons that got his coaches fired aren’t so bad after all.
