andy moeller

Previously: Krushed By Stauskas (Illinois 2014), Introducing #ChaosTeam (Indiana 2009), Revenge is Terrifying (Colorado 1996), Four Games In September I (Boston College 1991), Four Games In September II (Boston College 1994), Four Games In September III (Boston College 1995), Four Games In September IV (Boston College 1996), Pac Ten After Dark Parts One and Two (UCLA 1989)

This Game: ESPN Classic abridged cut (warning: inexplicable editing decisions), no huddle every-snap, WH highlights, box score

some feared the worst heading into the '85 season opener [Daily archives]

For most of the rivalry's history, Michigan vs. Notre Dame has been an early-season matchup that threatens to dash the national title hopes of at least one of the programs. The expectations are different heading into the 1985 season.

Notre Dame coach Gerry Faust, infamously hired straight from Cincinnati Moeller High School, is on the hot seat after failing to finish better than 7-5 in any of his first four seasons. Michigan, meanwhile, is coming off Bo Schembechler's worst-ever season of 6-6, which went to hell when sophomore quarterback Jim Harbaugh broke his arm against Michigan State. The Wolverines have produced a combined three draft picks over the last two years; there'd been 14 in the previous two.

The Michigan Daily does its best to hype up the game, going so far as to give it a name that belongs elsewhere:

Usually when these two squads meet, both are in the top ten if not in the top twenty. Usually when these two teams meet, both boast a large corps of talented returners. Usually when these two tradition rich legions collide, both return from highly successful prior seasons.

Well football fans, some of this has changed.

When the Fighting Irish invade Michigan Stadium tomorrow to knock heads with the Wolverines, neither team will boast a top ten ranking, a huge number of talented returners, or a good 1984 record (Michigan was 6-6 and Notre Dame was 7-4). But still, all the importance, pressure, and rivalry is present.

It is The Game.

There's not a lot of optimism, however. This feels like a passage from Bizarroworld knowing how the 1985 season would turn out:

Today's Michigan football trivia question: When was the last year the Wolverines posted a losing record? Give up? The answer is 1967 when Bump Elliott's squad finished at 4-6.

Two years later, Bo Schembechler took over as head coach and has still not had a losing record. Last season, however, Schembechler's streak almost came to a rapid end when his team went an un-Michiganlike 6-6. Could this mean the infamous losing season is right around the corner? One can only guess.

One thing certain is that Michigan will not enter the 1985 campaign with their usual high ranking, their usual host of All-America and All-Big Ten selections or their usual chance for the Big Ten title.

The Michigan of 1985 has no spotlight-type stars-at least not yet. The team will begin with a humble billing and only winning will alter it.

And winning could be a burdensome task this season. The Wolverines face their toughest schedule in years. They play nine teams that appeared in bowl games last year. Indiana and Minnesota are the only non-bowl opponents. (Northwestern is not scheduled).

While Harbaugh is healthy, Michigan has a ton of turnover in the trenches, having lost two starters on the offensive line and five of their starting front seven on defense. The entire receiving corps is new, too, with sophomore Eric "Soup" Campbell—the future M receivers coach—starting on the outside after playing safety in 1984. It's unsure whether free safety Tony Gant will return to form because a broken leg the previous year may have caused nerve damage.

According to John Kryk's Natural Enemies, Schembechler threatens to bench Harbaugh after the first-string defense picks him off twice in the final preseason scrimmage:

"The offense couldn't do anything right," remembered Harbaugh. "We got a major chewing out from Bo. He ripped me in particular, and threatened to start Chris Zurbrugg instead."

Bo doesn't follow through on his threat, to the relief of everyone who sat through the 1984 season.

Despite Faust's middling record, Notre Dame is the favorite, entering the season ranked 13th and 11th in the polls; Michigan isn't in the top 20, which is as far as the rankings go. The Irish boast the game's Heisman candidate in senior running back Allen Pinkett, who surpassed 1,300 scrimmage yards and scored 18 touchdowns in each of the last two seasons. The Wolverines have history on their side, however: Schembechler has never lost a season opener at home.

[Hit THE JUMP for the first half, featuring Unstoppable Kick God John Carney.]

We're from the Erik Campbell branch

From 1995 to 2007 Michigan had a Hall of Fame head coach who embodied the ideals of ethics and education within a championship-caliber football program, the thing we're actually referring to when we venerate "Michigan." It won a national championship, usually beat its rivals, took a lot of trips to Pasadena and Orlando, won a share of the Big Ten as often as not, and put more players on NFL rosters than any team save Miami (YTM).

But in two (soon to be three) coaching searches hence, there has been a remarkable lack of suitable head coaching candidates from that 13 season span, and it's all due to the single biggest flaw of its last successful head coach: Lloyd Carr was too loyal to mediocre assistants.

A baseline. I'll start with what I consider normal. A coaching staff will typically go through a lot of dudes. On the whole it's more common for an assistant to get a better job than be fired from their current one, with the caveat that a new head coach most often cleans out the old assistants. One or two new guys per year is normal for a successful coaching staff.

You want fresh blood and fresh ideas coming in, but also a core stability, especially from the guys you lean on for recruiting, and that's why a mix is important. The group is usually a mix of the head coach's best bud, a few lifetime position coaches who are loyal and great fundamental teachers but not coordinator/HC material, and a few up-and-comers who are. Have one spot for a young guy who's loyal to your program and can relate well to the players. In coordinators, unless one of them is your best bud, you optimally expect a pair of strategic operatives who'll be around for three seasons or so before their success gets them a head coaching job. You replace those guys with other up-and-comers, or promote one of yours if you think they're ready.

The head coach can take on one of those roles, since in himself he probably has one of the best possible position coaches or coordinators in the country. You see why Mattison is so valuable to Hoke then, because he's good at his job, and good at recruiting, and doesn't want to leave it. That's the kind of rare luxury who can make a staff extraordinary.

For Lloyd's guys, I'll break it up by group.

Offense

Primary complaint was offense so I'll start there. Number is parentheses is the guy's current age.

Lloyd's first OC, Fred Jackson (64), was promoted more for loyalty than any supposed grasp of the offense. The fan consensus at the time was that Jackson was in over his head, and wasting all of that air-the-ball talent that Moeller had so carefully constructed. The latter half of '96 was brutal (except for OSU), and Jackson was demoted back to RBs coach, where he will remain until the end of eternity.

The reason we thought Lloyd Carr would only be an interim head coach at first was he made Fred Jackson his first offensive coordinator, i.e. he replaced GARY EFFING MOELLER with a lifetime running backs coach/program glue guy. [photo: Fuller]

At that point, rather than find a real OC, Lloyd promoted OL coach Mike DeBord (58). It's likely that had the defense not been enough to win a championship with just mediocre offense, DeBord would not have become as entrenched. Nevertheless Michigan spent half of its championship season doinking Chris Howard into stacked lines for two plays then passing on third down, succeeding just enough thanks to a couple of really shining young guys on the offensive line, and spot offensive duty by Woodson.

The DeBord who ran zone left all damn day in 2007 had been a wonderful offensive line coach before that. Prior to 1992 Michigan had Bo's de facto associate HC Jerry Hanlon as OL coach, and then Les Miles, except for a year Bobby Morrison (more on him later) coached it. Moeller hired DeBord after watching Northwestern's theretofore crap OL suddenly not suck in one year, and found a resume of just-as-quick turnarounds at Fort Hays State, Eastern Illinois, Ball State, and Colorado State in a matter of 10 years. From Runyan and Payne to Hutchinson and Backus, DeBord's OL were ready to insert after a year in the system, and usually ready for the NFL after three.

The problem was he approached offense coordination the same way: repetition, execution, toughness. Carr recommended DeBord to CMU as a training ground for eventually taking over Michigan, and when DeBord proved bad even by directional school standards (this was the disaster Brian Kelly remediated), Lloyd made room for him as special teams coach and recruiting guy. The loyalty to DeBord was the biggest complaint we had about Lloyd's tenure, and the caveman-style football they championed survives as a cancerous ideology within the program. As Carr's handpicked successor, DeBord is the personification of this complaint.

Michigan found a spot for him coordinating various non-revenue sports. This seemed nice and natural because dude did dedicate his life to Michigan, but something about DeBord being around now gives me the willies.

[After the jump: the rest of the staffs]