A point of view on some of the Rich talk
So I left the Big House disappointed again today. But one thing popped into my head again and basically got confirmed by the play on the field more than it has been all year. This isn't Rich Rodriguez's fault.
This teams perception in relation to RR is distorted. BIG TIME. A million intelligent opinion pieces, Chart & graphs can't explain to those who don't want to hear the truth exactly what the truth is, so its almost impossible and completely exhausting after all these months trying to do so. The most frustrating part after today is how so many cannot see the big picture just by common sense!!?
Michigan Wolverine Football just put 36 points on the board today. AAAAAAND they did it against Purdue. Not a power house. When you put up 36 on a team like Purdue you should win. In college football 36 points, especially in the Big 10 is a win a large majority of the time. But it wasn't. And it wasn't in the Iowa game at Iowa when we put up 30 (that could've been almost 50), And it barely was against Indiana when we put up another 36. Hell we were about to roll on sorry ass Illinois until the goal line stop and subsequent easy Illini TD that changed the game immediately after. . . What I am getting at is that this defense is as bad as everyone with a football brain has been telling you that it is, but most of you won't listen.
I don't give a motherphuck if you dreamers who are making little wishes either out loud or to yourself on the side of your beds at night could get Kelly or even Meyer to leave Florida for christ sakes, NOBODY, absolutely NOBODY is going to win with a D as bad as this. And if you would open your eyes, you would see this isn't anywhere near the team of last year on offense. RR is getting this program headed to where he said he would offensively. Yeah they shit the bed in a couple games this year bad, but they are VERY VERY young AND run by a teenage kid who is one of only 5 true freshman starting at this level in 2009. As far as I am concerned we need to really just use common sense and realize that the problem isn't Rich, its what he has on the field on D. Has he made a few mistakes? Yes, all great coaches do. Has he done a good job? I don't see how you can argue truthfully. Because if you put a semi-decent secondary in we are seriously 3-4 wins better right now. We beat MSU. We beat probably beat Iowa. We definitely beat Purdue & Illinois last week.
A friend of mine sent me a text after the game today & it said- "2 words Bryan Kelly" - SERIOUSLY????!!!! Ok then lets say we get Kelly. Unless hes a 5 star safety or can be in 3 places at the same time then whats he going to do?? How is he going to coach walk ons and depleted talent levels to wins? Hes not. He won't. He can't.
November 7th, 2009 at 9:18 PM ^
For better or worse RR is attempting to build a program.
You don't plant your garden in May and cry like a little bitch when your tomatoes have not come to fruition on June 1st.
November 8th, 2009 at 8:57 AM ^
You go and rip out your garden in June, replant, complain in July of "no results" and repeat several times.
By fall your garden is Baylor.
November 7th, 2009 at 9:39 PM ^
My biggest concern quite frankly is the improvement of the team.
Our record so far is 5 wins, not counting Delaware State, 4 wins.
Our legitimate wins are Notre Dame and Indiana by the skin of our teeth.
The defense in particular doesn't seem to have improved at all.
That having been said, I'm still hopeful. I think that some improved quarterback play that will come through experience as well as a few more bodies in the secondary will be huge. I guess I'm just hoping Warren won't leave for the bright lights of the NFL. Losing BG will be bad enough.
November 7th, 2009 at 9:49 PM ^
I'm not saying that the defense doesn't lack players, because as has been pointed out millions of times on this blog and elsewhere, they clearly do. However, do we think Cincinnati's defensive players are All-Americans? How many of them were Michigan offers? Do they have anyone as good as BG and DW on their D?
I'm not advocating that Rich Rod be fired and Brian Kelly be hired, but I'm just saying that we'll find out sooner or later whether it really is all a complete lack of talent (aside from D. Warren and BG of course) or if there truly is something wrong with our defensive scheme.
November 8th, 2009 at 12:11 AM ^
I'm guessing every starter on Cincinnati's defense is either on scholarship or beat out somebody who is. Most, if not all of them probably aren't freshmen. They also probably have a backup. Our defense has 16 scholarship guys who aren't freshmen. A true freshman is starting at DE. A walk-on is starting at safety because we have one scholarship guy at the position who isn't a freshman. Williams and Kovacs didn't beat anybody for their spots, they are just the only guys we have. Same goes for Ezeh and Mouton (who still got benched in favor of a sophomore and another walk-on). One weak link (no matter how good guys like Graham and Warren are) can ruin a defense. We have a fistful of weak links on D.
When we have an actual depth chart full of scholarship players with more than a year or two in the program (target date for this is 2011), then we will probably have a pretty good defense. Until then, expecting more than we're getting shows a fundamental misunderstanding of college football.
EDIT: That Bearcat D also just gave up 450 yards and 45 points to UCONN (a season high for them against teams not named Rhode Island) at home.
November 7th, 2009 at 10:16 PM ^
seriously these obscenely pro-rr posts need to stop.
November 7th, 2009 at 11:25 PM ^
Its a "chill the 8888 out post for those rushing to judgment to fix a problem. Because most don't get it & also want a change that in my opinion will bite them in the ass in many many ways if we don't give what we have in place time.
November 8th, 2009 at 4:02 AM ^
this has become ubiquitous on the blog, the "thank god we have richrod at the helm" . people who want him fired dont see the big picture, but people who are actually happy with the hire are incredibly, incredibly, myopic, or severely mentally handicapped.
so yes, this is as much pro-rr as my previous post was anti rr (and thus the negbang)
November 7th, 2009 at 10:30 PM ^
I watched the postgame presser and it was clear that RR was deflated and knew there were long term problems that could not be fixed overnight. He did not say so expressly, but he referenced the defense several times.
So far, RR has improved the offense. It is by no means complete and the long term issue of not have an option QB (Forcier is not an option QB), must be addressed through creative adaptation or more of D. Rob. Fortunately, with the stable of backs, good O-Line run blocking for the most part and a stable of receivers with different abilities, I think the offense going forward will be okay. It won't be as explosive without a pure option QB (unless D. Rob. emerges), but sufficient and a decided improvement from the past.
That said, none of those slow, tangible gains means anything unless there is a huge overhaul on defense. Yes, the defensive players missed assignments, cannot read player properly, overpursue and are just plain lost, but ultimately that's the head coach's responsibility. These are not bad players. Most of these defensive players have tangible physical strengths, which is why they were highly rated to begin with. The problem is their inability to read basic play and execute basic assignments. The problem is mental right now, which is good because at least the physical is there.
My sense is that RR has simply given up on the defense. He's done all that he can do. That defeatist mentality is going to get him in serious trouble. He doesn't know defense as much as his offense. I get that. But the defense is still his responsibility. If you've tried everything, yet the effort is there and the physical capabilities are also there for the most part, who's responsible? It's the coaches on the other side of the ball. My take on the best case scenario now is to quietly show Hopson and Gibson the door a la Jim Hermann and allow GERG to hire two assistants to fill those vacancies. I see no reason to get rid of Tall, as he's been okay, but if GERG wants a new D-Line coach, give him one. If you are giving the defense to GERG, give him the assistants he wants. If not, get rid of the entire staff and go with a new DC, but give that DC his assistants. I've never been a fan of mixed cultures and here's a great example. Since hiring a new DC would cause even more confusion, I think the wise move is to give GERG's wealth of experience the benefit of the doubt and give him the assistants he wants. Then, maybe we'll have a better defense and the players won't have a deer in the headlights mentality.
November 7th, 2009 at 11:16 PM ^
"...the defensive players missed assignments, cannot read player properly, overpursue and are just plain lost..."
"These are not bad players."
What are you talking about? Highly recruited? Two of the starters today were not recruited at all. This team has absolutely zero depth and barely enough talent to field a team, much less have a competitive defense in a BCS conference. Ezeh and Mouton have been awful but had played all year because there is nobody behind them who isn't completely inexperienced (and they still got benched in favor of a sophomore and a walk-on). There are three scholarship DB's who aren't freshmen. Three guys for four spots. You have four massive weak links right in the heart of the defense, not to mention a true freshman starting on the d-line for the second year in a row. That is not a talented team by any stretch of the imagination.
Acting like this defense's struggles have anything to do with coaching when the depth chart is such a disaster shows a complete ignorance of how successful college football programs are built.
November 7th, 2009 at 10:38 PM ^
ND will be first in line for Kelly. Weis pretty much punched his ticket here in SB imo.
November 7th, 2009 at 11:41 PM ^
I'm on board with RR getting two more years to turn this around. No question the talent he inherited was bad on both sides of the ball. However, I'm concerned with our defensive recruiting so far this year. No real impact players besides possibly MRob. We'll see how the rest of this year's class pans out, but I sure hope the rest of the class is filled with capable defenders.