Arizona v. BC: Advocare 100 Bowl
Didn't see a thread on this. Arizona up 21-6 at half. Pretty impressive to see what Arizona is doing with a QB that didn't receive a single scholarship offer at any level in high school.
Also, Ken Griffey, Jr. (whose son plays for Arizona) has a very nice Nikon set-up on the sidelines.
December 31st, 2013 at 3:42 PM ^
December 31st, 2013 at 3:54 PM ^
December 31st, 2013 at 3:55 PM ^
December 31st, 2013 at 5:07 PM ^
Arizona's defense was ranked 20th in FEI prior to the bowl game. Michigan's was 27th.
And it's freaking Arizona, fergodsakes.
December 31st, 2013 at 8:44 PM ^
I just get irritated at the rabble rabble crowd who appears every time Arizona wins to rehash the same tired shit about the raw deal he got. And I think he got a raw deal and should have gotten another year. But it's almost four years ago now that he got canned, and people should just let it go.
January 1st, 2014 at 10:13 AM ^
"But it's almost four years ago now that he got canned, and people should just let it go."
The problem with that statement is that plenty of people on these boards, and more importantly, Dave Brandon, want to continue to blame RR for all of the Michigan football team's current woes. And what's not helping the matter is that as we get further removed from the RR era, Michigan (especially on offense) appears to be getting worse, while RR has taken a mid-level Pac-12 team and appears to be making them better.
December 31st, 2013 at 3:20 PM ^
RR was a good coach, that brought a hard nose attitude about preparation and ruffled a bunch of pampered players.
He was undermined at every turn while at Michigan by Carr, Media, Alumni and the new Administration. He should have been allowed to implement his program to the full extent and see how it progressed. The atmosphere was so bad, recruiting started to suffer in the end. He never had a chance.
To some extent Michigan really does market itself. Hoke has had a lot of goodwill and support from everyone and you have seen recruiting bloom. Everyone will see that if this team does not start to win more next year, the atmosphere here will deteriorate and recruiting will suffer the same way. That really is the last pillar for Hoke.
That said with the talent brought in the last couple of years there is no reason this staff shouldn't succeed next year. If they don't it is likely on them and not the players.
December 31st, 2013 at 5:23 PM ^
...when he said "RR was undermined at every turn while at Michigan by Carr, Media, Alumni and the new Administration.
" That's one reason why I hope RR is successful at Arizona.I also have to agree with his thought that "RR brought a hard nose attitude about preparation and ruffled a bunch of pampered players" and wonder if that may be a root cause of the current problems
the UofM program is seeing -- i.e. the players are pampered.It was certainly a problem at UofM until Bo Schembechler took over for Bump Elliott.
December 31st, 2013 at 3:25 PM ^
I agree bowl games are (generally) stupid exhibitions that you can't read too much into, but it's not just one game. Arizona, unbelievably to me, is a better team in 2013 than Michigan. That's looking at it over the course of 13 games. They have a better record, a more impressive win (in fact, UM hasn't had anything like Arizona's win over #5 Oregon in something like 10 years), and they play in a tougher conference. And they did all that with demonstrably worse recruiting classes over the last three years.
None of this means AZ will permanently be better than UM. I hope it's a one year thing. But I think there actually ARE a good % of fans (perhaps not on this board) who think RR is/was a bad coach. Perhaps by seeing that RR had success at WVU and now looks to be having success at AZ, that it is UM and its in-bred culture that is part of the problem, not really the solution.
December 31st, 2013 at 2:57 PM ^
December 31st, 2013 at 2:58 PM ^
December 31st, 2013 at 3:04 PM ^
December 31st, 2013 at 3:04 PM ^
December 31st, 2013 at 2:58 PM ^
Arizona now has 437 yards of offense on the game across 57 plays, which would come to an average of 7.67 yards per offensive snap on average. They've been keep Boston College to about half of that on defense - 3.77 yards per snap allowed. B.J. Denker is 15-22 with 264 yards and 1 TD. Not a bad showing at all from Arizona.
December 31st, 2013 at 3:08 PM ^
It's hard to ignore that the BC offense they are shutting down is one of the few remaining MANBALL operations. Probably the successful one this season alongside Stanford.
Gee, I'm so happy that our program alums decreed that we had to "get back to our roots" over this spread stuff. Really fits with the times.
December 31st, 2013 at 3:25 PM ^
You can play manball, but in order to win a national championship you have to recruit all 4 and 5 star players like Alabama. You need #1 players like Hand. Michigan has recruited very well the first three years under Hoke, but has to keep recruiting at that rate. The WR Campbell was a big loss, hopefully we can get him back in the fold. He would be fantastic in the offense and he would be wise to look at what Gallon did this year with less talent.
December 31st, 2013 at 3:25 PM ^
BC must not have "executed" on the field as well as they did in practice.
December 31st, 2013 at 3:02 PM ^
...but...but...Arizona is losing time of possession, 29 to 19 minutes. How are they winning?
December 31st, 2013 at 3:38 PM ^
It's a strategy to keep the game close by limiting the number of possessions the other team has to score. It makes defenses look better than they really are because the score rarely gets out of hand. The same is true of a bend but don't break defense. You keep bleeding clock, which also makes the coaching staff look good. You win your fair share of games but you rarely go undefeated playing that style because you ultimately allow the opponent to remain in games with a shot to win as well. It masks the deficiencies of both sides of the ball. Great for coach paychecks, but not for National Championships.
December 31st, 2013 at 3:05 PM ^
That win against top rated Oregon may not have been a fluke. When AZ is on they are really on! Yeah RR would have run the score way up on Michigan if they had played each other in this bowl game or the BWWB. We would always see RR laughing on the sidelines as he pours on the points against us.
December 31st, 2013 at 3:14 PM ^
They must be executing?
December 31st, 2013 at 3:17 PM ^
December 31st, 2013 at 3:06 PM ^
Should have never been let go after 3 years with all the Carr holdovers. Should have had at least one more year probably two and we should have payed Casteel. RRod would destroy UM right now. There's a reason why Albama wanted RRod over Saban a while back. Zona is a year away from being an elite team.
December 31st, 2013 at 3:19 PM ^
RR will have AZ in the rose bowl long before BH will have Michigan in the rose bowl, if BH ever takes us to the rose bowl?
December 31st, 2013 at 3:29 PM ^
December 31st, 2013 at 3:57 PM ^
When he was hired here, he kept saying his goal was to win B1G championships. I remember some on this blog were bummed out because he did not say National Championship. Gee I wish Hoke would have kept his goals! I'll take B1G championships any days. I just don't see Hoke ever reaching his goals. I hope I'm wrong. We'll see in the next 5 seasons.
December 31st, 2013 at 4:33 PM ^
We're Michigan fergodsakes, where the M (for now) stands for the mediocrity that would be a step up.
December 31st, 2013 at 3:06 PM ^
December 31st, 2013 at 3:10 PM ^
December 31st, 2013 at 3:14 PM ^
I used to think it would be great if Arizona and UM played in the Rose Bowl. However, I think we are so far from ever returning that it will never happen.
December 31st, 2013 at 3:34 PM ^
Rich Rod is 0-2 in his home state rivarly game, including a 58-pt drubbing this year. Zona clearly has the ability to surprise and contend, but they still have clunker games (loss at home to Wash St). I think he'll peak around 9-3 or 10-2 (with USC, UCLA, and ASU in his half) but has restored pride.
As for Brady, I'm by no means any big fan of his right now, but felt that 19-7 was pretty decent his 1st two years, given RR won 15 games in 3 years. The real question for me is will the guy bounce back and show me something that I saw from the team in 2011 - a hungry team trying to restore Michigan to some level of excellence, one that played smart in most games and pulled out a bowl win even though outgained badly.
If the team wins 8 or fewer games next year (barring a win over MSU or OSU on the road), no amount of Brandon Blogs will be able to explain away things.
December 31st, 2013 at 4:04 PM ^
This program is in dire need of a bounce back season. The chemistry issues need to be addressed as do the well-discussedd offensive and defensive problems. Dominance along the lines needs to start becoming evident.
December 31st, 2013 at 7:15 PM ^
The program definitely needs a bounceback year to regain its footing. One thing that I liked at the end of the year was D. Green's comments about him and D. Smith working hard in the offseason and coming back better. I like that type of leadership. I really hope they work as hard as they can in the offseason in the weight room, blocking and scheme. If the Oline takes a similar approach, I am hopeful next year will be better.
January 1st, 2014 at 10:18 AM ^
The chemistry issues need to be addressed as do the well-discussed offensive and defensive problems.
So basically everything about the team other than the actual exectution on special teams needs to be addressed. Yeah, three full years in, we're in great hands with the current coaching staff.
December 31st, 2013 at 3:16 PM ^
December 31st, 2013 at 3:26 PM ^
December 31st, 2013 at 3:30 PM ^
December 31st, 2013 at 3:20 PM ^
The announcer sounds exactly like the Michigan announcer.
December 31st, 2013 at 3:23 PM ^
Losing at Illinois against a very crappy Zooker team took whatever wind out of his sails and led to no bowl game. If he had won that game, we were 6-3 and bowl bound. Would have made a big difference in his trajectory.
I think RR is a good coach in the right place and right support. It was clear he didn't have things moving forward at the very end. I was at the Wisconsin game (lost 48-28 after being down 24-0 at half). The 37-7 loss at Ohio could have been worse if Tressel hadn't called off the dogs. And Josh Groban at the banquet?
I pull for Rich these days and hope one day we do meet in the Rose Bowl.
I loved the guy's offense, but this was like a bad marriage with the in-laws doing everything they could to force a split.
December 31st, 2013 at 3:39 PM ^
I was thinking about that yesterday. One yard. If Roundtree had gotten that last yard to get in the endzone, we might not be where we are right now.
December 31st, 2013 at 3:58 PM ^
Great analogy.
December 31st, 2013 at 3:23 PM ^
The UA Wildcat is wearing a shirt with no pants. Disturbing.
December 31st, 2013 at 3:30 PM ^
Like the man, hate him, or in between Rich deserves this vindication. Hope he enjoys the next couple of months.
December 31st, 2013 at 3:51 PM ^
December 31st, 2013 at 3:59 PM ^
Talent that convenientlty fit the offense he wanted to run. That wasn't the case for Hoke. Defensively, RR left little talent and depth for Michigan. The same for the offensive line. Save for Lewan the OL talent has been subpar for most of Hoke three seasons and that is directly attributable to RR.
Hoke took that RR class that went 7-6 with numerous blowout losses under RR and won a BCS bowl with wins over ND and OSU.
Both programs need to improve drastically. Michigan appears to be further back at this point than Zona. I think that much can be said.
December 31st, 2013 at 4:20 PM ^
December 31st, 2013 at 4:32 PM ^
December 31st, 2013 at 4:38 PM ^
This narrative is not only tired, but just not accurate. The Arizona QB literally had no offers coming out of high school. He enrolled in Arizona last year out of junior college. It appears he had no other offers coming out of junior college, unlike, for example, Bo Wallace or even Nick Montana. With this zero star recruit, RR leads them to an 8-5 record and a beatdown of Oregon and BC in their bowl game. And you attribute this to a plethora of talent left by Stoops? If this were Michigan and Hoke, many would be saying that he needs a four/five star QB with four years under genius Al to learn to properly "execute" his perfect West Coast Offense, of which Al would not change a thing, no matter what happens in any game.
The true freshman leading receiver for Arizona is also a three-star recruit. How can it be that a true freshman is productive? Is this person attiributable to the cupboard Stoops left as well?