Props to Borges...
We all like to give praise to Mattison and Hoke for the tremendous job they've done getting our defense and overall team to over achieve in a lot of respects. Nevertheless, if one coach deserves praise for today's W, it's Gorgeous Al Borges.
In addition, I think he has really done a terrific job adjusting his play calling throughout the year, as well as staying patient with Denard and helping him grow. I haven't seen a flat footed duck from Denard in weeks, and his new ability to tuck and run is really paying dividends. I know that there are a couple of play calls we disagree with throughout the year, but that's a pretty nice complaint to have when stepping into a less than ideal personnel situation given his past experience.
I know this board likes #s, so I'd just like to point out a couple:
35.25 - points per game in conference (5 more than last season).
25 - average points per game allowed by our opponents in their 8 games of conference play (identical to last year)...I just threw this in there to show that we're not playing a bunch of swiss cheese defenses relative to 2010.
85 - points the last two weeks against two national powers. Granted OSU seems a bit wounded, but they're still a pretty damn athletic defense.
I can't wait to give this guy a whole month to prepare a scheme for the bowl game. Hail Borges!!!
November 26th, 2011 at 10:13 PM ^
Deleted and moved to proper place
November 26th, 2011 at 10:15 PM ^
Borges is now Gorges for me. I rode his ass on here, and today he called a great game. I suck and Al rocks!
November 26th, 2011 at 10:48 PM ^
The big concern was that despite evidence to the contrary Borges was going to insist putting the QB under center. It took ten games but it was nice to see total us go 90%+ shotgun. I'm still worried that Borges hubris will convince him to attempt under center again next year. This was classic spread & shread. If you replaced the UM skill players names with Oregon players you would have thought it was Oregon destroying a PAC10 defense. QB running for 100+, RB running for 100+ and high TD to pass attempts ratio is what one is gunning for. In terms of specifics the only plays that really bugged me were the DG appearances.
In regards to the defense it is clear from the UFR's presented by this sites owner, Mattison has done a great job putting his players in position to make plays. He has really leveraged our two outstanding linemen Martin and RVB. I think it is pretty clear from this game that our defense was a bit of smoke & mirrors. It is not like the defense faced very many serious passing QB's. The Big10 is also not nearly as competative as last year. I cringe to see what will happen in the bowl season. The coverage was pretty bad. I counted 2 easy TD's and a number of other easy gains lost just because Miller just blew the throw. Next year he will not do that.
Going forward to next year I believe it will be very important for the offense to carry the team. We have huge question marks at both DT positions. Can we find suitable replacements while Mattison develops the young back seven? I am not so worried about DE. I just hope Campbell can come around and spell us one more year. After that we should have more options.
I would hope that this would be proof to Borges that DR running a spread & shread can be a TD machine. We have our RB who can run the ball 25 plus times against the patsies and save DR for the toughest teams.