Dear Diary is the Modern Stone Age Family
ppToilet’s post-game version of Monumental’s wallpaper
It’s been nearly a week and I’m not sure I’m back on a normal sleep schedule yet. I had to shake down Ace for our review copy of NCAA 14 back, change Devin’s number to 98, then go Michael Vick on computer defenses for hours because I wasn’t quite ready to stop watching that happen. This apparently is happened to bronxblue as well…aw hamburgers Brian already quoted that part. Here then’s a totally different stanza from this masterpiece:
Worst: QB Vision Cone still in experimental mode
[Funchess and Butt] are young and should improve as the season comes along (especially Butt, who appeared to drop and/or run out of position for a couple of balls), but Gardner’s passing cone seems a bit skewed toward Dileo and Gallon and that could very well catch up to him as teams adjust or, knock on wood, one of them gets hurt. For as much as I love the idea of this team’s leading receivers both being eligible for the Pomeroy Award, that would feel like a massive waste of talent at other positions on the field and, frankly, counter-productive to this team’s maturation this year and beyond.
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| Brian is like 6’2” so H2V must be a big guy. |
I disagree with both bronx and ST3 (in his weekly inside the box score) that the running game was effective at taking pressure off the passing. Brian already UFR’d what I saw: one big Gardner run that made the stats nice, and Fitz doing subtle things to screw with ND’s linebackers when they had him dead to rights. The particular brilliance of Gardner and Borges and Gallon and Dileo and Toussaint in this game was they managed to put up 41 points without the running game being something the defense had to cheat to. Borges picked his spots well because there wasn’t much to be had, Gallon hauled in catches while wearing cornerbacks who could be aggressive because there was help behind them, and Dileo threw his defender on his TD by doing a high-speed luau in the end zone.
More in ND postgame: HAIL 2 VICTORS did the Sports Power Weekends thing and wrote up his glowing review—Jared’s a client and I sat with him at the game so obvious bias here but, yeah, there’s a reason he’s our guy. Jamie Mac went through the recent history of favorites in this series. Brhino went through his favorite memories of the definitely-not-a-rivalry (why is Ismail in there?!?).
[Diarist of the Week and Best of the Board after the jump]
Recruits Per Capita
Ooh: map!
That is number of FBS recruits per capita in those states by dnak438. In the comments it was noted that FBS schools in proximity equal more FBS recruits and vice versa, e.g. a 2-star Montana recruit will be more likely to attend the local FCS school while a 2-star in Alabama could get picked up by UAB or something—it’s not Montana’s fault that small schools in the South want to sacrifice the rest of their athletic departments to pretend they’re D-IA. This is why the SEC does better than the size of their less populous states. My guess is these per-capita numbers are slowly trending down in the South and up in Midwest, because the population that is less likely to see football as its best means of success is the population that’s moving. Compare this map to a poverty map and the only difference is West Virginia and basketball states. Anyway this is great work and earns the not-at-all-coveted Diarist of the Week.
Bo-Mo-Llo-Ro-Ho
Quick read and interesting comparison by J.W. Wells Co. of the schedule difficulties, etc. between Michigan coaches since Bo. Hoke has had an easier schedule than the other guys so far; Moeller had the toughest week-in/week-out outings, but Rich Rod played 22% of his games against teams that finished in the AP Top 10. Guy couldn’t catch a break.
Analysis etc.: 1484 tries re-ranking conferences by seeing how the in-conference margin of victory versus the spread compares to out-of-conference (so for example if every SEC teams rolls over every ACC team it plays then their games are all decided by a field goal the SEC is stronger). Flaw: sample size, and other than rivalries the SEC tries to be careful about scheduling anybody they can’t demolish. Once I read Clemson beating Auburn by just 7 was a huge win for the SEC I was kinda “yeah, this isn’t working yet” but 1484 agreed. Michsportsguy is tracking how teams do against the chalk. LSA sets a Big Ten baseline.
Best of the Board
WE NEED A COUNTER GET THE SAM!
EGD has been watching Michigan run power and isn’t liking this whole “don’t worry, Funchess is too much of a pass threat for the SAM to be near the run game” thing we’ve been doing (or the Funchess can combo effectively thing, which has been similarly mostly-miss).
On the other side of the ball, CLord pointed out that Michigan’s defense didn’t have an answer for the counter gap other than “invade Kelly’s brain and make him stop using it.”
BACK TO THE PATIO FOR BIG JON
MGoPatio graciously hosted us last Friday (read also: post-event thread) and would like to do so again. Meanwhile he’s got a project underway on Kickstarter to make a perfect replica Brown Jug as a gift to Falk for his years of service.
WHO IS EVERETT COOK?
The Michigan Daily has now covered Lloyd Brady more than it has MGoBlog. No, no, it’s cool that you guys are into our memes but you’ve covered this guy a ton while I’ve yet to see even one reporter on the ground in Ohio tracking Hoke’s jersey sales. Or, you know, maybe covering either of the Daily alums who work for MGoBlog?
Anyhoo the OP wanted to know if the Daily’s Everett Cook was Brian’s brother; the answer is no, he’s Brian’s son, which becomes apparent when you see his full name: Everett Golson Puppet Cook.
HENNE TO DENARD AND OTHER FORMER WOLVERINE WEIRDNESS
Take THAT, mind!
Butterfield has begun doing updates on the Michigan players in the NFL. Diary this, man. Highlight is Henne will be JAX’s starter after an injury to Gabbert; between him and Denard I am suddenly rooting for Jacksonville, a franchise I previously loathed. Weird world, this.
BOARD ETC. I like the weekly MGoCoach threads—good answer for all the snowflakey stuff it replaces. Stop screwing up the Wave students.
Your Moment of Zen:
LSUfreek (click the pic to play)
Yabba dabba doo.
Bonus Double Moment of Zen:
Touching the banner through the eyes of Swieca.
September 13th, 2013 at 10:58 AM ^
I also like the idea of these threads and I am tinkering with the idea of perhaps making this essentially the pre-game version of the snowflake thread pending the approval of the idea from the powers that be as well as fellow mods. Does anyone else on the board have an opinion on this? I am curious.
September 13th, 2013 at 11:06 AM ^
Granted, I don't have any understanding of where/when/how and only have the vaguest clue of who/why, but it's a hard veto nonetheless. Sorry buddy.
[this post overdosed on about 10,000mg sarcasm]
September 13th, 2013 at 11:15 AM ^
September 13th, 2013 at 11:55 AM ^
You're right really. I suppose I was fishing for a way to make the other end of the cycle as easily managed, but it might not be so easy. I do like that the thread does attract a fair number of those thoughts that might otherwise be numerous separate threads, so it may be a structural issue but still doable. We shall see, I suppose.
Trying to apply Continuous Improvement principles to the MGoBoard is an odd thought exercise, to say the least.
September 13th, 2013 at 11:22 AM ^
Re: dnak438 diary
Check out population trends, and you may adjust your theory. General speaking people are leaving the midwest for the South (except Florida) and to a much smaller degree the Northeast, extreme West. Michigan, for example, is one of VERY few states who have not gained in population. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_population_growth_rate
Would it not be more accurate just to say "most people are headed to the Southeast, and they have higher birth rates anyway". And unlike the Northeast and West, the Southern States = FOOTBAWWWW without many other sports to spread attention.
September 13th, 2013 at 11:26 AM ^
Forgive my ignorance - who besides Heiko wrote for the daily?
September 13th, 2013 at 12:14 PM ^
Seth was on the Editorial board for the Daily.
September 13th, 2013 at 11:29 AM ^
September 13th, 2013 at 11:33 AM ^
...perhaps this is simplistic, but maybe if RichRod's teams had won more games than they did, some of their opponents may not have been ranked as highly as they were. Obverse for Bo. Strength of schedule is not as simple as team x played good (or bad) teams.
September 13th, 2013 at 11:41 AM ^
I had a similar thought but am too lazy to work through the details.
Suffice it to say that if you win more games fewer of your opponents will end up in the top 10. Since Michigan played both teams that ended up in the national championship game and another undefeated team last year, I don't feel like they've had it easy under Hoke. Although Hoke has yet to face Wisconsin or PSU yet. OTOH, RichRod never faced Nebraska.
It wasn't like it took a top 10 team to beat RichRod's teams. I'm sure someone knows the exact number--how many teams did RichRod beat that ended up in the top 25? Maybe UConn? Possible ND?
September 14th, 2013 at 12:25 AM ^
September 14th, 2013 at 9:49 AM ^
...I note the comment that the OP made about RichRod's record:
RichRod’s schedules became brutal when you look at the number of teams he faced that finished in the Top 10. But again, if you lose games, the teams you play look better in the final standings. And of course it’s a small sample size; if RR manages to beat Utah in 2008, Penn State in 2009, Iowa in 2009, or Wisconsin in 2010, those numbers look different.
So, I'll amend my comment from above and say that this observation, while made, probably deserves more examination.
September 13th, 2013 at 11:47 AM ^
...but he writes like he's 6' 2 1/2" ...
September 13th, 2013 at 11:56 AM ^
I've read the counter didn't work with Lewan pulling, so why not use Schofield instead? He's very mobile for a tackle and even played guard before.
September 13th, 2013 at 1:14 PM ^
for this and similar threads that get under the hood and explain some of the more subtle aspects of how Al and Greg approached the ND game.
I've watched games in the Big House for many a moon, but I can't remember one I enjoyed more than UTL II. I had the glasses on Frank Clark much of the game and yeah, I could see he almost got to Rees a few times, but Rees still completed passes. What I saw was ND marching down the field. I wasn't knowledgeable enough to know that what Greg saw was that Clark was doing fine: "That's OK --- you made Reese hurry the throw, the pass only went for 6 yards, and that's our game plan." I mean, who knew?
It was only later, after reading all the stuff on here, that I realized Greg knew he wouldn't get a heavy rush on Rees because 1) ND often held in an extra blocker, and 2) the experienced Rees could check down and get the ball away quickly. So let's try and pressure him as much as we can with our up-front folks, keep the safeties back, and restrict completions to short gains. Above all else, let's not give up the big play. Now I see why these guys earn the big bucks.
Thanks again, Brian & Co for providing all your keen insight.
September 14th, 2013 at 11:18 PM ^
One Hoke over the line, sweet Jesus. Nice guy, but way outcoached. I can't see many other coaches, least of all Urban Myer, not being able to get the team up for the game. And he should have taken Gardiner out of the game after the INT TD. Maize and blue has become lazy and blue. How long, Lord, how long?
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