OT: Borges doing his thing @ SJSU, dropped 70 lbs
Al Borges says he's lost 70-plus pounds. He's got jokez, too. "It's like tossing a lawn chair off the Titanic."
— Brandon Marcello (@bmarcello) September 30, 2015
Article about his return to his old stomping grounds, this weekend at Auburn.
Eight years removed from his final season at Auburn, Borges returns as the enemy coordinating San Jose State's offense. He's a changed man, too. He's traversed the California highways at two jobs and coached on the sidelines of Michigan. "I learned a lot of stuff about myself, but I've learned even more about the greatest game ever invented, and what might be the worst business ever invented," said Borges, who was fired at Michigan following the 2013 season.
October 2nd, 2015 at 2:32 PM ^
October 2nd, 2015 at 7:13 PM ^
If anything, Hoke's fault was that he gave Borges too much control. He had an unlimited leash and created a Frankenstein playbook that featured more formations than plays. Borges outsmarted himself.
October 2nd, 2015 at 7:24 PM ^
Hmm, I thought it was the opposite of #3 - he added new gimmicks which briefly worked, but then he kept going to the well and defenses snuffed them out.
October 2nd, 2015 at 9:48 PM ^
October 2nd, 2015 at 2:35 PM ^
70 lbs? What is he on? A weight loss program for ants!?
October 2nd, 2015 at 2:38 PM ^
but come on man, you lose 7 lbs you become invisible.
October 2nd, 2015 at 3:08 PM ^
I'm 37 & 1/2 angry lbs.
October 2nd, 2015 at 3:23 PM ^
Dyeing your hair black won't make you look any younger. Just accept the gray.
October 2nd, 2015 at 3:26 PM ^
on a rage bender, just what the world needs. couldn't you have at least worn maize and blue in your portrait?
October 2nd, 2015 at 2:40 PM ^
Great for him! That kind of weight-loss is life changing!
October 2nd, 2015 at 2:42 PM ^
I always thought this dude got a raw deal, given how our offense fell off a cliff after he was fired. Glad to see he's doing well.
October 2nd, 2015 at 2:44 PM ^
Here come the Borges truthers...
October 2nd, 2015 at 3:15 PM ^
October 2nd, 2015 at 3:19 PM ^
FEI Rankings, Offense, 2010-2014:
2nd
(ENTER BORGES)
9th
25th
42nd
(EXIT BORGES)
We may have fallen off a cliff when he left (82nd), but only because we pushed him out of the car after he cut the brakes.
October 2nd, 2015 at 3:31 PM ^
Let's try this again, with a bit larger timescale and one more set of events included:
81st
66th
(ENTER DENARD)
2nd
(ENTER BORGES)
9th
25th
(EXIT DENARD)
42nd
(EXIT BORGES)
82nd
It's even clearer when you remember that Denard was hurt for part of that last year.
October 2nd, 2015 at 3:40 PM ^
So Borges had a relatively successful but declining offense with a player he didn't recruit, the offense tanked when that player left, and this is supposed to be a point in his favor?
October 2nd, 2015 at 4:10 PM ^
The effect of Denard Robinson on an offense is much greater than the effect of any offensive coordinator. A healthy Denard meant a top-ten offense regardless of coordinator; without Denard we've been outside the top 40 every year since Carr retired (for that matter, we've been outside every year in the Fremeau database).
That not very surprising fact suffices to explain the decline in Borges's offense during his tenure; I don't see any reason to look for another cause.
The one point I'd make in Borges's favor is that his one non-Denard year was the best non-Denard offense Michigan has had, under any coordinator, in the Fremeau era. It may have been a tank relative to Denard, but it was the best we've seen in a decade otherwise.
(Until now, hopefully.)
October 2nd, 2015 at 4:36 PM ^
FEI started in 2007. If we take out the Denard years, we have 2007, 2008, and 2014 to compare to 2013.
So yes, Borges produced an offense better than the Steven Threet unit, Hoke's last unit with a new coordinator, and a team with a constantly-injured Chad Henne. That's a pretty tiny point in his favor.
Anyways, he's gone now so I guess there's no point in arguing it to death.
October 2nd, 2015 at 4:49 PM ^
You forgot the Forcier year. (Yes, I know Denard participated.)
October 2nd, 2015 at 3:49 PM ^
For all his shortcomings, I don't think it's fair to pin 2014 on him. I do think we'd have been somewhat better offensively last year with Borges as OC. There were games when he and Gardner "clicked" in a way that never happened with Nussmeier. Senior-year Gardner never came close to the level he played at in the '13 ND and OSU games.
But it's for the best. If Borges had been retained, maybe we'd have eked out seven wins in 2014 and Hoke would still be our coach.
October 2nd, 2015 at 4:40 PM ^
Yeah, I thought it was cool when Borges did things like designing passing plays that were longer than 5 yards (AKA the Nuss).
October 2nd, 2015 at 4:52 PM ^
Nussmeier was an unbelievable letdown. He seemed like a potentially game-changing hire at the time. Maybe his hands were tied by Hoke (Brandon?), but he showed us nothing, as either an OC or QB coach.
October 2nd, 2015 at 3:51 PM ^
Remember the couple of dozen runs into the line at Penn State? So much for the raw deal.
October 2nd, 2015 at 8:19 PM ^
October 2nd, 2015 at 10:52 PM ^
I basically agree with that. The odd thing is that despite his relative shortcomings in run-game design, rushing success has followed him around, probably because the vertical passing game success loosens the safeties.
October 2nd, 2015 at 7:30 PM ^
The only time his offenses ever looked good was when Denard was set loose. It was 3 years of bullcrap with Borges. He's at SJSU for a reason
October 2nd, 2015 at 2:43 PM ^
October 2nd, 2015 at 2:44 PM ^
My goal was to lose 10 lbs. during the summer. Only 15 more to go!
October 2nd, 2015 at 3:25 PM ^
Have you been cheating?
October 2nd, 2015 at 3:57 PM ^
October 2nd, 2015 at 4:47 PM ^
i ate the bones
October 2nd, 2015 at 2:45 PM ^
I always knew Borges was a badass.
October 2nd, 2015 at 2:45 PM ^
...but this is a better place for it. Last week against Fresno, San Jose's Tyler Ervin ran for a school-record 300 yards and the QB Gray was 20 of 23 for 252.
These guys were 3-9 last year; the Michigan expats are doing something right. Robinson too--they were five possessions into the game before Fresno topped ten yards in total offense.
October 2nd, 2015 at 2:46 PM ^
His wife is legit good looking.
October 2nd, 2015 at 2:49 PM ^
always somewhat indifferent on Borges. However after reading BLL and having Gardner kind of soft-toss him under the bus, I'm guessing he didn't do us many favors. I don't think he was terrible, but I suspect someone actually exploiting Gardner's running abilities properly could have done better.
Who knows how much of that is on Borges and how much is on Hoke though. Clearly Nussmeyer was even worse, and he has done fine at other stops.
October 2nd, 2015 at 3:10 PM ^
I had the opposite reaction to that--to me it felt like a small glimpse of a bad locker-room vibe that I'd suspected was ultimately responsible for a lot of the poor performance on the field the last several years. Not a reflection on Borges at all, but on a program that was off the rails and had been for the better part of a decade.
A lot of people shared responsibility for that, coaches and players and administrators alike. (Hell, fans too for that matter.) Ultimately it's on Hoke, and Rodriguez, and Brandon.
October 2nd, 2015 at 4:30 PM ^
I think you could read it a lot of way.
However for me, two things DG said stuck with me, both about the OSU game.
1) He basically said, why the f*** didn't Borges let him run like this all the time, because it was the only way he was ever effective. And like, yeah, DUH.
2) On the 2-point try, Everyone and their brother knew what was coming, and Borges didn't realize it.
I thought those two statements were pretty damning, even if they weren't total "under the bus" type statements. They certainly pointed to an OC that wasn't fully maximizing the potential of his offense.
October 2nd, 2015 at 4:35 PM ^
Borges was calling playings with tight end help for Lewan and the freakin time. Made no sense.
October 2nd, 2015 at 9:02 PM ^
That wasn't asked, or if it was, wasn't included in the book. If DG knew the play wasn't going to work before the snap, which is what he strongly implied, then why did he still throw the gift INT instead of trying to make something happen? This is an especially important question because JUB suggested to DG that we all thought he couldn't run or scramble on that play and that's why he threw the INT. However, he stated otherwise saying he'd been running all game and could have run again.
October 2nd, 2015 at 2:54 PM ^
SAN JOSE STATE SPARTANS, that is!
I will be a big fan this weekend.
Come on Al, dial up something special and embarrass Auburn!
October 2nd, 2015 at 2:55 PM ^
Hopefully he's lost his playbook as well.
October 2nd, 2015 at 2:55 PM ^
October 2nd, 2015 at 2:58 PM ^
October 2nd, 2015 at 3:04 PM ^
I bet he's been pumping iron like a maniac. That usually does the trick.
-70 lbs? Dude is 50 years old. That is freaking awesome.
SJSU has been scoring a lot of point against body bag teams. Auburn has been improving.
I wouldn't be totally shocked if SJSU eeked out a win down there. SEC!!!
October 2nd, 2015 at 3:02 PM ^
October 2nd, 2015 at 3:05 PM ^
Congrats on the weight loss, Borges. And I hope you can beat Auburn this weekend. That'd be fun to see!
October 2nd, 2015 at 3:10 PM ^
October 2nd, 2015 at 6:42 PM ^
Blame Dave Brandon for his contract. It's not like Borges forced us into a bidding war.
October 2nd, 2015 at 7:17 PM ^
October 2nd, 2015 at 3:11 PM ^
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