Nebraska 17, Michigan 13
Drive Recap: Michigan 13 - Nebraska 10 // 4Q: 8:08 pic.twitter.com/o4rwtV0sjL
— Michigan Football (@umichfootball) November 9, 2013
This was the high point, both from a football and comedic standpoint.
If this isn't rock bottom, it's damn close. Michigan faced a Nebraska rush defense that's done this...
| Opponent | Att | Yds | TD | YPC |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wyoming | 30 | 219 | 1 | 7.3 |
| UCLA | 50 | 216 | 2 | 4.3 |
| South Dakota State | 33 | 271 | 2 | 8.2 |
| Illinois | 45 | 211 | 2 | 4.7 |
| Purdue | 20 | 82 | 0 | 4.1 |
| Minnesota | 53 | 272 | 3 | 5.1 |
| Northwestern | 43 | 283 | 3 | 6.6 |
...and, with sacks removed, rushed for 22 yards on 29 attempts. Oh, and a combination of poor play-calling, poor line play, poor blitz pickup, and one understandably skittish quarterback allowed seven sacks that knocked the offense back 49 yards.
Brady Hoke's home winning streak is dead; that's not really the story. It wasn't hard to see this coming, not after the narrow escape against Akron, and certainly not after last week's debacle. When Drew Dileo dropped a fourth-down pass on Michigan's last-gasp drive, it felt depressingly fitting—of course the sure-handed receiver would let one slip through his grasp at precisely the wrong time, because that's just how this season has gone.
Bryan Fuller/MGoBlog
When Michigan attained a first down for the first time in the game, only three plays before the end of the first quarter, the Big House crowd erupted with the loudest Bronx cheer I've ever heard in this building. The sarcastic cheers turned to boos by the end of the first half, at which time the Wolverines, down 10-3, had 60 yards of offense on 29 plays.
Those boos only grew louder by the end of the game. Al Borges orchestrated a great drive to open the second half, featuring a big play for Fitz Toussaint on a slip screen, a slick pop-pass to Jake Butt against a heavy blitz, and a touchdown to a wide-open Devin Funchess on a post-curl-corner route combination.
Thus ended the offensive renaissance. That ten-play, 75-yard drive represented 43% of Michigan's total output on the afternoon, and Michigan resumed slamming their heads against stacked fronts and allowing wave after wave of pressure to hit home.
The defense did what they could, holding the Huskers to 273 yards—75 of which came on their game-winning drive—on just 4.1 yards per play despite two new starters at safety: Courtney Avery and Josh Furman, who replaced Jarrod Wilson and Thomas Gordon.* When Frank Clark lost contain and James Ross was late getting out on an option pitch (of sorts, since it went forwards) to Ameer Abdullah, who waltzed five yards into the end zone, there wasn't anger in Michigan Stadium—instead, apathy reigned, and a healthy number of fans streamed for the exits despite the Wolverines being down four with two minutes left and all their timeouts. Five plays later, those fans were proven—at least for today—to be justified in their actions.
"Well, we just didn't execute," said Brady Hoke after the game. That is 2013 Michigan Football's epitaph, and at some point it isn't going to be enough to save everyone's job.
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*According to Hoke in the post-game presser, Gordon had an unspecified ankle injury, while Wilson's absense from the lineup was an attempt to shake things up.
November 9th, 2013 at 10:29 PM ^
Any idiot can do better than Ace? Show us.
November 10th, 2013 at 9:47 AM ^
November 9th, 2013 at 10:32 PM ^
We understand that youre still butthurt from that postgame ass ramming you got from bo pellini, but taking out your frustration on a blogger who gives us great gifs and tells it like it was is stooping pretty low.
Seriously though, you might want to wiper your ass, douche.
November 9th, 2013 at 10:38 PM ^
if you all think i or anyone else with a college degree, ace's mgo-connections and a pulse couldn't produce better content, then i may as well go play in traffic.
will report back with results of said traffic-play.
November 9th, 2013 at 10:45 PM ^
Wow you must really like taking it up the butt man youre on fire
November 9th, 2013 at 8:36 PM ^
November 9th, 2013 at 9:16 PM ^
Like.
November 9th, 2013 at 10:18 PM ^
indeed i am. besides michigan i am a fan of cleveland sports teams.
however ace using brian's tweets when he considers himself an important writer of michigan happenings seems deceitful and lame.
November 9th, 2013 at 10:48 PM ^
Youre also a fan of taking it up the ass.
November 9th, 2013 at 8:20 PM ^
Maybe someday Michigan will be reduced to "just another elite academic institution with a good basketball team" like Duke, Harvard, etc. are.
Sports columnists say things like how Michigan is a flagship program and is the only one in the Big Ten (along with Ohio State) that can be elite. Their arguments are flawed... there is no reason that someday Michigan State cannot be elite or even Northwestern cannot be elite. Supposedly "small programs" like Baylor, Boise State, Oregon, and Stanford (those that are not traditional football powerhouses) have become great.
I guess what I'm saying is that we cannot take victory for granted: it is not guaranteed that programs such as ours will reach the heights of Alabama nor is it guaranteed that other programs like staee will not beat us up every year.
The effort to become great has to be there. A good way to start, perhaps, is to give up top dollar to get top-notch coaches.
November 9th, 2013 at 9:14 PM ^
I am all for throwing money at the problem on the condition that we use it to buy better coaches.
November 10th, 2013 at 10:12 PM ^
November 9th, 2013 at 8:22 PM ^
Tonights loss should be attributed to Mr. DG and not the OC. Every week brings a new wrinkle to the down ward trend and Coach Hoak appears to be totally ignorant to what is happening. Perhaps it his way of dealing with the preassure. Our saving grace as fans is we do not have to buy into the program and can choose to seperate our selves from all of the negative feedback. The players and staff have to deal with it on a weekly basis and I hope they get tired of hearing it soon.
November 9th, 2013 at 8:30 PM ^
or suffering from grievous head injury.
November 9th, 2013 at 10:29 PM ^
I dont think you can blame the play calling on DG. I dont even really blame the fact that he is so afraid of both getting drilled and throwing an interception that he reads the play after the snap so slow he is missing windows and can't seem to hit a receiver unless he is standing alone with a 5 yard radius around him. The OC could put him in better situations, call better plays or appeal to whatever fighting spirit DG has left by sitting him for a series or a qtr by putting Morris in the game. Something has to get DGs fight back. Its the OCs job is to make his players look good. Malzahn did it at Arkansas and Auburn during both tenures.
November 9th, 2013 at 8:22 PM ^
November 9th, 2013 at 8:29 PM ^
IT'S TIME FOR HOKE TO OPEN HIS EYES AND STOP LISTENING TO FOOTBALL
November 9th, 2013 at 8:30 PM ^
Like you said before, Ace...THAT was the stupidest fucking game I've ever seen.
November 9th, 2013 at 8:39 PM ^
But today's game had the feel of MSU going 2-0 against us in 2013. You could see it in Nebraska's defensive approach, and perhaps as importantly, you could see it in Devin Gardner's eyes. At the slightest appearance of pressure, his vision focused immediately and myopically on his immediate vicinity (as in, no longer down field). That was a gun-shy quarterback out there today, and frankly, I'm not altogether sure I blame him.
November 9th, 2013 at 8:45 PM ^
In the old days, they called it "shell-shocked." Now it's known as "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder."
And that kid has it. He looks like a shattered player.
November 9th, 2013 at 8:35 PM ^
I'm pretty shocked. 13 points and under 200 yards against this Nebraska defense, playing at home, is unbelievable. This has that 2010 PSU feel again. I won't call for Hoke's head because of his excellent recruiting - but he needs to take a page from Beilein's playbook and shake up his staff. I can't say I feel confident that the staff, in its current incarnation, can win Big Ten championships and finish in the top 10. If a Michigan staff doesn't seem capable of that, there's a problem.
November 9th, 2013 at 10:52 PM ^
Hoke's recruiting is going to get better at 6-6 than it was at 11-1?
Is recruiting important if EVERYONE knows Hoke should fire Borges but wont?
Fire Borges, funk, jackson, etc. and earn yourself a 4th year.
November 10th, 2013 at 5:24 PM ^
Recruiting isn't that closely correlated with wins and losses. We are recruiting like gangbusters right now and I don't think that will change because of a couple of losses. We may get a huge commitment in a few days.
A head coach who is a great recruiter is a huge asset. We just have to make sure he's surrounded by good X and O guys, too.
November 9th, 2013 at 8:37 PM ^
Agreed in every unfortunate sense
November 9th, 2013 at 8:43 PM ^
Apart from some miracle finishes, this is just what Hoke, et, AL are. We're an 8-4 program without hail mary's against ND, NW, and VaTech.
Hoke's a good recruiter, but until we get a real offensive coordinator that's not stuck in the stone age with his head up his ass, you should all just settle in for 8-4 every year.
November 9th, 2013 at 8:52 PM ^
November 9th, 2013 at 9:07 PM ^
Michigan was fortunate to beat Akron and UConn, also. I think Hoke is a much classier dude than RichRod ever was, but I haven't heard Hoke sing Josh Groban. Yet.
November 9th, 2013 at 9:07 PM ^
You're an optimist. I don't see us winning two more games.
And just think, we needed a last minute touchdown against Akron (3-7) and a fourth quarter field goal against UConn (0-8) to not be 4-5 and looking at a 4-8 season which is only one better than RR's first season. Pathetic. Borges needs to go and if Hoke won't do it then they should replace Hoke as well.
November 9th, 2013 at 9:24 PM ^
Of course, we could have won today and against PSU, too. We're 2-2 in close games, which is about how most teams do in them.
November 9th, 2013 at 8:46 PM ^
The quarterback is not allowed to audible or is not capable of reading a defense. The line could not move a sofa, our rb can't stop a charging kitten, spread the field out and make the audibles from the sideline. I don't understand this staff, look around football today, the spread is an equallizer for average athletes, especially with a Qb like Gardner. When Shane is ready, the line and Rb's may also be ready. I am losing faith in Home quickly. This isn't Ball State, he can't afford this type of season. This is going to start affecting recruiting, if I'm DHand, I'm going to Alabama and playing for titles. At this point, I ask S.Ross for enough cash to hire Saban.
November 9th, 2013 at 9:58 PM ^
you waited two and a half years to make that post, and it was totally elite and worth it. well done
November 9th, 2013 at 8:53 PM ^
November 9th, 2013 at 8:59 PM ^
November 9th, 2013 at 9:02 PM ^
November 9th, 2013 at 9:06 PM ^
November 9th, 2013 at 9:07 PM ^
This all started with Brandon. He was the one who wanted to do the year-end review of RR at the end of year 3 despite the common perception that any new coach would have a 4 year honeymoon. It was Brandon who hired Hoke, who in turn, hired Borges, Funk, et al. It was Brandon who instituted GA for the student section so when you look at the stadium and see great areas of empty seats, it is Brandon you can thank.
Despite this, Brandon will ask me for my PSD again to secure my seats for next year. Michigan Football is the crown jewel of Michigan athletics. it generates milions of dollars a year and provides funding for non-revenue sports at the University.
Our team is playing scared. They are the butt of jokes and just look pathetic on national TV for the last two weeks. There are probably 50 running backs in the nation who gain more yards per game than our entire rushing offense! OSU will happily shred us in the Big House and pile on style points to boot. This is nothing but an ugly season.
If I didn't love the program so much I wouldn't renew my tickets. The problem is that I love the program and my seats, I just hate the product that I am buying. As I said, it's all Brandon's fault. Do you think Les Miles would think about an offer to come home to momma?
November 9th, 2013 at 9:13 PM ^
Les Miles will be 60 tomorrow. That ship has sailed.
November 9th, 2013 at 9:19 PM ^
how old is mattison?
oh yeah, 63. seems like he can coach.
November 9th, 2013 at 10:04 PM ^
can he?
because he seems to be the one that's getting a free pass, yet giving up 26 points/game isn't exactly 1997.
November 9th, 2013 at 10:25 PM ^
Because not only are you laughably oversimplifying the performance of the defense given the ineptitude of the offense, turnovers, and defensive touchdowns both ways, but you seem to think that you actually have some support in your inane "FIRE ACE" bullshit.
I recommend fucking off.
November 10th, 2013 at 3:38 AM ^
is almost 55, what is 5 years!
November 9th, 2013 at 9:07 PM ^
What if I told you that this guy sucks?
November 9th, 2013 at 9:08 PM ^
faceplant is not a good look
November 9th, 2013 at 9:10 PM ^
Who is the QB Coach again?
November 9th, 2013 at 9:12 PM ^
Oh yes it's Borges......When I watch practices the QB's aren't getting coached at all. Don't think that's true on other teams.
November 9th, 2013 at 9:14 PM ^
This staff reminds me a lot of Mr. Mandelbaum. Tough talk, but absolutely no grasp on reality and completely unfamiliar with modern athletics.
November 9th, 2013 at 9:20 PM ^
November 9th, 2013 at 9:15 PM ^
As a girl who likes to be clean....Obviously!.....I think that the QB Coach, OL line coach, and what about the strengh and conditioning coach given how bad the lines are. Aren't they all guys from the WAC that don't even belong in a major program? WAC them OFF!
November 9th, 2013 at 9:19 PM ^
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