Michigan 27, Northwestern 19
via @cjzero, obviously
I can't. I just... I can't. Thank you, Northwestern, for being Northwestern.
Consider this an open thread to celebrate(!) a victory(!!) featuring multiple touchdowns!!!
(Shhhhhhh, don't ruin it by mentioning the multiple overtimes part.)
Bryan Fuller/MGoBlog
November 16th, 2013 at 9:04 PM ^
This is Northwestern the last 6 weeks:
Oct. 5th against OSU: A fumbled snap on 4th and 1 with a bad spot from the refs kills their last drive to tie the game. Lost 40-30.
Oct. 12th against Wisconsin: Dead from the start. Lifeless. Lost 35-6.
Oct. 19th against Minnesota: Two fourth quarter turnovers blow their lead which the Gophers turn into 14 points to pull out the win. Lost 20-17
Oct. 26th against Iowa: A fourth quarter comeback is cut short and they come up with no points in overtime. Lost 17-10
Nov. 2nd against Nebraska: A 3 point lead with just 6 seconds left. Nebraska's third string QB comes in and completes a miracle hail mary. Lost 27-24.
Nov. 16th against Michigan: 93 dropped interceptions, a regained fumble in OT by UM, a miracle field goal kicked in regulation with 1 second left, Al Borges, Al Borges, Al Borges, Al Borges. Lose 27-19.
That's a whole lot of suck. And bad luck.
November 16th, 2013 at 10:18 PM ^
November 16th, 2013 at 9:06 PM ^
Great catch, true FR, right?...looking forward to Funchess-Green-Butt next year.
November 16th, 2013 at 9:08 PM ^
Willie Henry had himself a ballgame. Good for him.
Team 134 plays hard. Great effort out there.
We beat America. On the road. I'll celebrate the win dammit.
November 16th, 2013 at 9:48 PM ^
November 16th, 2013 at 10:21 PM ^
November 16th, 2013 at 9:17 PM ^
November 16th, 2013 at 9:18 PM ^
Awesome jobs by the refs getting that ball set. A great special teams play, rejoice!! How long has it been since we could say that?
November 16th, 2013 at 9:40 PM ^
Got to give kudos to refs for getting ball spotted quickly. But, some of the holding going on was amazing with no calls. On separate plays, I saw C. Gordon, Bolden and Charlton either get tackled or completely turned around. Also, looked like we had a few as well. Is holding now legal?
November 16th, 2013 at 9:18 PM ^
Awesome jobs by the refs getting that ball set. A great special teams play, rejoice!! How long has it been since we could say that?
November 16th, 2013 at 9:19 PM ^
Seriously. I do not blame Devin for any of this. The kid is a keeper, despite his troubles, which I am certain stem from the offensive offensive coaching staff. (No typo. I meant to say that.) Michigan survived today despite Al Borges. Saturday evening quarterbacks lauding Hoke for going for it instead of kicking the field goal should shut their mouths now. I am typically aggressive in these situations but in a 9-6 game, going for it in the red zone when you have Michigan's offense in that moment is insanity. In this case, they won but I can't help but think that, hopefully, Hoke left Borges to his own devices in that moment as a way of letting what will be be. But now, who knows. I just hope that regardless of how this season ends, there is a complete and thorough evaluation of the coaching staff. If that happens, I am confident that Borges won't pass muster. Go Blue. Love this blog. Out.
November 17th, 2013 at 1:09 AM ^
November 17th, 2013 at 5:26 AM ^
x10000. There was a play where he essentially threw a perfectly timed out to the NW linebacker who dropped it. It's as if Devin spent his week in evanston practicing throwing balls to their linebackers.
There's no excuse for that kinda play this late in his career. We have to go with Morris at the start of next season. (Preferably now but that's a pipe dream. LIke firing Borges)
November 17th, 2013 at 3:29 PM ^
He does make some bad choices like any 1st year starter. but many of his mistakes come from the terrible protection he gets. That makes any qb look bad. Give Gardner time to throw and you get the ND game.
He is not the problem.
November 18th, 2013 at 1:11 AM ^
Been following Michigan football too well. Are you saying Devin Gardner never started a game at Michigan, as QB, before the CMU? He didn't start any games last year and he never practiced as QB before August of this year?
If you're going to puff up a player at least be factual. As for "the problem", no he isn't "THE" problem, but he is "A" problem and to believe otherwise is simply simple minded no matter how much of the alphabet you have after your name.
November 17th, 2013 at 10:32 AM ^
His play can be downright disastrous at times, but he is also the biggest weapon we have. When he is put in the position to be a game manager (the last 3 games, less OT) you see how limited this team is on offense. When he just plays, you get what he did against ND and in OT. He is Michigan's biggest playmaker and the only reason they have won 7 games this year with a weak OL. His biggest issues are staring down WRs, waiting until they get open (rather than throwing to a spot), and trying to not make mistakes.
Mistakes are part of the learning process! Some of you may remember how bad Griese was the year before the NC. I was crushed that he was starter the following year and was wrong when he lead the team to an undefeated season!
November 17th, 2013 at 7:57 PM ^
I agree that he does make some funky -- alright, bad -- decisions sometimes but really, can we blame that on him entirely? Seriously, the guy was recruited to do one thing, shoehorned into doing something else at quarterback, recommissioned as a wide receiver, and then moved back to quarterback to run some hybrid deal that the offensive coordinator never really bought into in the first place. And then this year, he was probably ordered not to run, a la Denard, so as not to get hurt, and then got traumatized by some early picks. Who knows what the coaches are telling him. I have to be honest, if Borges goes all Borges over the next two weeks, I'd like to see Devin start calling audibles. The kid is an athlete. Let him do what he needs to do to win the freakin' games.
November 17th, 2013 at 7:57 PM ^
I agree that he does make some funky -- alright, bad -- decisions sometimes but really, can we blame that on him entirely? Seriously, the guy was recruited to do one thing, shoehorned into doing something else at quarterback, recommissioned as a wide receiver, and then moved back to quarterback to run some hybrid deal that the offensive coordinator never really bought into in the first place. And then this year, he was probably ordered not to run, a la Denard, so as not to get hurt, and then got traumatized by some early picks. Who knows what the coaches are telling him. I have to be honest, if Borges goes all Borges over the next two weeks, I'd like to see Devin start calling audibles. The kid is an athlete. Let him do what he needs to do to win the freakin' games.
November 16th, 2013 at 9:19 PM ^
November 16th, 2013 at 9:22 PM ^
November 16th, 2013 at 9:22 PM ^
... happy for the win. Looking at the gif though - were we set? I'm looking specifically at the top of the screen at the right most player who is on the line of scrimmage. Hard to tell from a gif, but I think we may have gotten away with one there. Nevertheless, it was an amazing effort and execution just to get M in the position to have the chance.
Go Blue!
November 16th, 2013 at 9:22 PM ^
November 16th, 2013 at 9:30 PM ^
November 16th, 2013 at 9:38 PM ^
Let's get some thing straight: I think we all are happy for the players on the team. We ALL value their commitment and hard work. Those of us that are unhappy about the coaching are thinking of the players even more than the head-in-sand fans who go around pretending that everything is fine.
The players in any football program put in roughly the same time committment. I'd rather have our Michigan players be rewarded for their efforts by giving them a coach that can teach them to win against the best in the country. We don't have that. I'm not going to sit here and say that's okay. The MIchigan Wolverines deserve a better coach, a better program, better wins, and better results.
But that's just me. If squeaking by Northwestern in 3OTs is signs of progress for you and a personal wellspring of euphoria, go in peace, brother.
November 16th, 2013 at 9:42 PM ^
November 16th, 2013 at 10:47 PM ^
November 16th, 2013 at 10:29 PM ^
November 16th, 2013 at 11:41 PM ^
Teams have bad years. It happens. Yes, this season has sucked and yes there needs to be staff changes.(looks at Funk and Borges). But even the best programs struggle sometimes.
Continuously bitching about the same shit over and over again when we all know what the issue is does nothing but irritates other people.
November 17th, 2013 at 12:23 AM ^
You're right. You should stop bitching about what other people talk about on a message board that you don't have to visit. That would probably fix at least one of your problems.
November 17th, 2013 at 11:04 AM ^
"If squeaking by Northwestern in 3OTs is signs of progress for you and a personal wellspring of euphoria, go in peace, brother."
This.
The only difference between the NW win and the wins over Akron and UConn is three losses in between. It's hard to feel especially good about this result because of the nature of the opponent and the flukish nature of the win. It doesn't give any indication that Michigan is progressing as a team in as much as they finally managed to play a team that sucks worse than them.
Honestly, I'm ready for this year to be over...I can't remember ever feeling this way about Michigan football, even during RichRod's first year. Even then I was optimistic that things would get better. But with this staff I just don't see anything better than a three-loss season regardless of whether they have "their players" or "their system" in effect. They just don't have the imagination to bring out the players' abilities beyond that.
And it sucks, too...when Ohio State wants a good coach, they go out and get a good coach. They are rewarded for firing Jim Tressel with a single 6-7 season purgatory and then they hire Urban Meyer, who hasn't lost since the 2009 SEC Championship game. Michigan hires, then fires one of the finest offensive minds in all of football and gets...Hoke and Change. From Sugar Bowl champions in 2011 to re-living RichRod's third season in 2013.
And I'm not even saying Michigan has a birth rite to compete for the MNC every year...I'd just like for them to compete for the B1G and beat OSU on a regular if not constant basis. For the University of Michgan to go ten years without winning its conference is just...well, it's never happened in my lifetime, but admittedly I'm only 46. Maybe it happened during the Eisenhower administration, but I'd hate to think we've regressed that badly. But as someone else pointed out with the Parcells quote, "you are what your record says you are", and except for the 2012 MNC run, Michigan is Notre Dame.
November 17th, 2013 at 8:27 PM ^
wah wah wah. The team is stocked with young talent (much of which being blooded this year) and more on the way. Is that an indicator of progress? Wait you want Michigan to win the B10 and beat OSU? What a novel position to take.
The fine offensive mind that was fired put up nice numbers against the Umass's and Illinois of the world, then got shutdown against OSU and MSU. As this fine mind went out the door, so too did one of the most embarrassing defensive minds in college football and in came one of the finest defensive minds in the NFL. RR won 15 games total in 3 years. Hoke won his 15th game around week 6 of his second year, while bringing in top 10 recruiting classes each year.
So I guess I'm not following you, but sorry this season is displeasing.
November 18th, 2013 at 9:31 AM ^
November 18th, 2013 at 2:28 PM ^
But we did score "a" TD vs. Nebraska.
November 16th, 2013 at 9:45 PM ^
But offense still needs work and most importantly DG needs some good coaching
November 16th, 2013 at 9:53 PM ^
November 16th, 2013 at 10:03 PM ^
November 16th, 2013 at 10:17 PM ^
November 16th, 2013 at 9:50 PM ^
There was one sack from the 3-stack formation in which there were no receivers within 15 yards of the line of scrimmage on 3rd down. That is absolutely unacceptable.
What happened to jarrod Wilson?
November 16th, 2013 at 10:00 PM ^
November 17th, 2013 at 8:39 AM ^
November 16th, 2013 at 10:03 PM ^
November 16th, 2013 at 10:20 PM ^
November 16th, 2013 at 10:09 PM ^
Optimism is great. I just didn't see an improvement. Had it been against a team with a pulse, sure. Northwestern is not a team with a pulse, they find ways to lose and they kept handing Michigan th game til Al finally decided to take it.
November 16th, 2013 at 11:20 PM ^
November 16th, 2013 at 10:11 PM ^
November 17th, 2013 at 11:25 AM ^
were involved in leading you to that conclusion. The rest of us could benefit from your insight when we evaluate recruits in the future.
November 16th, 2013 at 10:13 PM ^
November 16th, 2013 at 10:33 PM ^
November 16th, 2013 at 10:39 PM ^
November 16th, 2013 at 10:41 PM ^
Glad we won and everything, but we barely beat an 0-6 B1G team, after they could have had any number of interceptions. A win, but a very ugly win.
Only sign of real improvement was some good push on the OL and some actual rushing yards. But then we were playing NW... so... yeah.
Comments