Under Construction
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8/30/2008 – Michigan 23, Utah 25 – 0-1
Every rational thought in your head suggests that the whole walk-on or freshman-the-coaches-are-panicked-about at quarterback, the line of baling wire and the occasional confused chicken, and freshmen everywhere at the skill positions will combine to yield an offense worthy of Yakety Sax, but until you actual see the damn thing in action you can hold out hope it will be otherwise.
We have seen it in action. It could have gone better. At least we have an incredibly direct metaphor all around us:
This program is under construction with a completion date around 2010. This is going to be a tough year. If you’re prone to hysterics you should do everyone a favor, watch something else, and annoy everyone on the Project Runway message boards with your all-caps posts. Get over it.
If you’d told me the final score before the game I would have been disappointed but not particularly surprised and wouldn’t have budged much from the preseason prediction. Unfortunately, a raft of unusual events obscured a much grimmer picture, especially in the first half. That was a near-worst case scenario. The offense was as bad as everyone feared; the defense was far worse than anyone expected in the first half. Without the latter unit’s second-half turnaround, I would be halfway to the Yukon and my new life as a gold prospector this morning. As it is, I think a bowl game is unlikely since it will probably require a 7-5 record.
But I’m here and we can talk about the game some. The best part was the warmups, and I mean that only somewhat sarcastically. Seeing the 100-some men in winged helmets go “HOO HOO HOO” whilst pivoting was a weird kind of thrill, as was the Barwis-led Circle of Death. This is not your father’s Michigan football, (TINYFMF) etc.
The second best part was Rodriguez’s inability to cope with the idea his team sucked. I also mean that only somewhat sarcastically. TINYFMF was best displayed on Michigan’s last play of the first half, when Nick Sheridan dropped back on third and long and lofted a ball on an ICBM trajectory. Everyone in the stadium knew it would be intercepted the moment it left his hand.
Lloyd Carr would have called a fullback dive and punted. Michigan would probably have escaped the first half with a manageable five-point deficit, and the defense and special teams excellence in the second half would have been enough to pull it out. The entirety of halftime that “22” for Utah rankled. That touchdown looked completely decisive.
So maybe that was a stupid call. Having your walk-on hurl a ball skyward is asking for it. But I vastly prefer the expectation your player can come through in an important situation to the fear he won’t. That tendency is probably going to hurt this year, when expecting any quarterback to do anything except soil himself is a bad bet, but when Michigan is good they’ll go through each series with a mind to score points; they should blow the doors off opponents who can’t cope. Carr’s formula was a recipe for 9-3, 9-3, 9-3, 9-3. Rodriguez will go through more swings based on how much talent he has at his disposal. Eventually, this will be a good thing.
There’s not much more to say: they kind of suck. I don’t know who any of them are. I hope they get better.
- Boy, did I hate the 4-3 Michigan started out in during the first half. That’s a guarantee of zone coverage or a hideous mismatch between first-time starters at linebacker and slot receivers. For the most part it was the former, which the first-time starters at linebacker were terrible at, and Michigan got shredded on a wide array of routes designed test the weakest part of the Michigan defense. It failed.
- Do you ever get the feeling people are prepared to criticize in a particular way even if reality conflicts with them? I’ve seen a lot of rabble rabble about “Rodriguez needs to adapt the offense to his players” in the aftermath of a game in which Michigan threw 60% of the time.
- I bet you could have gotten good odds on “boy, I wish Rodriguez had run more” as a common complaint before the game. That was perhaps the most disturbing development, as it speaks to a total lack of faith in the offensive line.
- Stevie Brown was victimized repeatedly, giving up the 50-yard pass on third and twenty that led to Utah’s first touchdown. I think he was responsible for the coverage on the score right before the half. He did jump another endzone route and bat the ball to Ezeh.
- Feagin? I mean… he couldn’t have been worse.
- The holding and pass interference penalties should be set aside in a description of Utah mistakes, as Michigan forced those errors out of the Utes with a torrent of pressure and wild hopeful downfield jump balls. One of these will serve Michigan in good stead for the rest of the season.
- This would be the point during a game coached by Carr where I would bemoan the zone-tipping, ineffective 4-3 Shafer came out in for the first half; this is considerably more difficult when you have scarcely less information about the football team than the actual coaches do. I’m not sure how you’re supposed to get a grip on whether your defense can handle a spread offense in its base set when you’re going up against that in practice every day. Or how you’re supposed to figure out what you can do on offense when everyone’s a freshman and even the folks who aren’t played in a totally different system.
If ever a coaching staff could be forgiven for flailing about with the wrong players, it was Saturday. The halftime adjustments were encouraging.
1. "I am not saying it was because of arm flailing. The arm motions cued me
in to his emotions."
You have no idea what he is saying or how he communicates with his teammates. To assume anything about his emotions from his arm motions is baseless. Under your theory, Chad Henne was either Hawaiian or a surfer given that his thumb-and-pinky audible motion was the "hang loose" hand gesture. (I don't know of many surfers from eastern PA.)
2. "Apparantly the quarterback race wasn’t really close- Rodriguez
said both guys might play but he didn’t want to put Threet in there or
he would have in the second quarter."
How do you knw what RR's QB rotation practice is? Did you meet him for lunch? Just because Carr platooned Brady and Henson for quarters 1 and 2 does not imply that RR would do the same. It is very likely that he intended on splitting the game and giving each guy a half. How do I know that?? I don't. Its baseless speculation. But to imply that the coach intended on not playing Threet because of giving each a half, even though the coach said he would play both is without merit.
Go Blue!
E-Man -- that is a pile of the most incoherent crap I have ever attempted to read.
Here is what we know aabout the QB competition. The coaching staff has indicated they are effectively equal, both will get snaps, and Sheridan was choosen to start against Utah. Everything beyond that is wild ass speculation by the fan base.
Frankly, calling a guy who was at the top of his high school class "Lenny" is f---ing insulting to him and his high school classmates. To suspect that RR & Co are choosing a QB for reasons other than they believe that particular QB is the mostly likely to produce a win, is insulting to the coaching staff.
Right now we have two VERY inexperienced QBs. And inexperienced QBs have historically been wildly inconsistent. Iimagine that until one guy finds some consistency, we will see both QBs.
Go Blue!
E-Man -- Please read your post before hitting save. To assume that RR played one QB over another due to arm motions that did not involve a football is foolish.
Regardless of the access we have had, it has been superficial. RR & Co. saw what the QBs have been doing and played who they felt would perform the best. They have also said that they intended on playing both QBs. It sorta make sense that one get the first half and the other get the second. That way both guys knew when they were going to play and didn't have to fear the Spurrier random hook after any single play.
Frankly, the Coaching staff handled the whole thing well. Outside of getting Henne back for a fifth year, what else are they supposed to do with freshmen QBs (effectively in Sheridan's case) and an OL as green as a new banana?
All of this reading the emotional tea leaves is mindless drivel. The real question is why do I read it and get pissed at the authors?!?!
Go Blue!
I am not saying it was because of arm flailing. The arm motions cued me in to his emotions. Unless when you say arm flailing you are referring to the actual passes thrown themselves by our two qb's. Sorry for the humor or lack there of. But what I am referring to I have seen in other blogs as well. First on
Honestly, I have no personal issue with you. But I've read that four times and I'm still not clear on what you are trying to say. You need to proofread or something, because I think you maybe possibly could have some good ideas buried in your manifestos somewhere but it's impossible to decipher.
Wolverine Liberation Army
I rewatched the game yesterday and some things (some of which were already mentioned) stand out.
I believe it was Donovan Warren who let that guy get free for 55 yards, but someone from the middle should have gotten him after the catch.
Threet did not play much better than Sheridan. Really. They were a wash. The fumble was McGuffie's fault as much as Sheridan. Threet had one and only one good throw, for a touchdown, which is the same as Sheridan. Threet cannot run. Sheridan cannot throw long distance. These are things we already knew. And, as said before, there were no running lanes and very little time because of our o-line. Sheridan did not pass as bad as I remembered and Threet missed Minor for a TD but he also missed on the two point conversion when he had an open man if he leads him.
Our linebackers cannot and should not have been covering slot receivers.
Our D looked better in the second half partly because Utah passed less.
With so many inexperienced players that had to play, I think it was a big mistake starting Mcguffie and Shaw over Brown and Minor. Maybe there was some injury issue, but McGuffie blew up two plays early by not know what he was doing.
RR should not have called for a bomb on third and long before the half down by five in our own territory with as bad as our offense and defense was playing.
The score if deceptive. If it weren't for Utah mistakes and Moundros, we lose by 23. Our only drive got us a field goal. Other than that, we go two fumbles and a blocked punt and even with the great field position that gave us, we needed two pass interference calls to get near the goal line and score.
I am sticking with my prediction of 6-6.
RR started Sheridan over Threet because he didn't like Threet's arm movements?
Wolverine Liberation Army
lol...no it's just he(steve) is so animated. When he squibbed the duck or it slipped out of his hands on that crucial 3rd or 4th down, he put both his hands on his head/helmet. When he threw the td he was overly animated and arms in the air and what not. And that whole quiet the crowd down routine near the end All of those are not needed. And if you do them, look cool as hell doing em. When you do something good everyone can see it, and when you do something bad everyone will see that too. Showing your reaction as a QB is not needed unless it can show your team spirit or pump up the crowd. Calm, cool, confidant beats overly emotional. I was reading another michigan blog and it said something like,'Obviously RR had not intended to play Threet what so ever otherwise he would have put him in the 2nd quarter." And I agree. I was wondering earlier why he did not start Threet. There is the whole better week of practice thing. But the question as to why was on my mind. During warmups they looked equal. But when I saw Sheridan composed I began to wonder if Threet was talented but not composed to the levels the coaching staffs desires. The phrase,'Coaches son," was used alot to describe Nick which I took for savvy or composed. RR is a professional and I am guessing he started the better of the two(if you believe there is a difference, I do not) He may have to start Threet saturday but I am guessing, he started Nick out of a hunch that he was less emotional and more composed.
My hunch is that he started Nick Sheridan because he played football better than Threet in practice, and played well enough he warranted a full half before getting hooked.
But then again, I didn't get a degree in long-distance mind reading and psychology from the University of Bill Simmons, so I might be wrong.
Wolverine Liberation Army
yeah I do not know either. sometimes crazy people play better in crazy situations. or practice players play better when they know its just practice. theres a lot to be said about who plays well in game situations. I've seen it in golf where the minute the actual tourney starts some people can't put it together or they fall apart. Same with the Wonderlic test. Joey Harrington I think Aced it. I think I also read Favre and maybe Marino failed it horribly. It is sort of a straw argument but it takes an emotionally detached person to play QB. Or someone completely OCD. Or they are just to stupid or unaware to see huge DE and 108000 people around them. Sometimes a lil crazy, at the QB position, is a good thing. But its not good in the theoritical world of practices.
Things that are radically different from the Carr regime. We use a LOT of players. We rolled out LB and DL more than I have ever seen. Not nly did we appear to be well conditioned, but we were keeping our players fresh by having a lot of substitutions through out the game. Seeing Will Johnson run down Brian Johson was a shock.
I would like to ask a question of someone like Gsimms regarding what changed in terms of our DL in the secnd half. We seemed to be generating a lot of pressure up front. Was it a slight modification of approach, or conditioning, or something else?
And all of this griping about the QB play really needs to realize that nothing is going to work well with the OL play. If there is little to no ability to run, it will be a very long season for who ever is behind center.
Go Blue!
This is just me, but I thought they were bringing players off the edge a bit more and stunting the DTs and DEs.
Did anybody else see 3DEs and no DTs on 3rd and long situations? I thought I saw BGraham playing DT on those situations
but it wouldn't surprise me. it seemed we went for speed rushers in those downs. if it was second and medium it appeared we went with more pressure up the middle though. i dont know if there was a pattern or not. video is too choppy due to lack of bandwidth between the external and my overloaded internal hard drives.
Really, guys. Chill. It was one game with a bunch of freshmen playing. This will take time. Tressel was 7-5 his first year, Pete Carroll was 6-6, and Bob Stoops 7-5. Of todays "best coaches" only Urban Meyer had reasonable success his first year at 9-3, but remember he inherited Zookers recruits/ Cris Leak, etc. So relax. Really.
You have to crawl before you walk....walk before you run, cliche...cliche....etc.
With Lloyd we would always be stuck at a jogging pace. Give RR some time, your patience, and support, and eventually this program will be sprinting.
BILG
Fulmer is like Lloyd, he'll keep going with what he's always been doing and finish 8-4 or 9-3 again. Rememeber that five years of steady 9-3's got Earle Bruce fired. My Point: It's a painful transition we're making but I'd still rather not be a program locked into the status quo like Tennessee. Take our lumps this year like Tressel, Carroll, and Stoops did, take our chances and break out of consistently being "fairly good."
If I'm not mistaken, Artis Chambers was responsible for that last touchdown. I thought Artis looked pretty lost the entire time he was in there.
Artis. What do I expect, I guess.
"Feagin? I mean… he couldn’t have been worse. "
I guess you mean not ready for prime time. Did he look bad in warm-ups, because we out-of-towners never saw him on TV.
wolv54 still beats up kids to take their lunch money. and i'd like to thank 2026 for taking all the time to register here today, just to leave this^^ pile of garbage he thinks is an intelligent and/or haha post.
Harvard: The MICHIGAN of the East
You guys just suck. You gambled away a shit load of money, and now you need some excuses. "Under Construction" implies that you have the plans in place and the tools necessary to actually build. What you have is a coach that is completely impotent without the right players. Wholly one-dimensional. And even IF you can find Pryor-quality QBs consistently enough to actually sustain your shit, what will you do when Michigan fails to send kids up to the NFL? Under construction my ass.
Let me guess... your ass-backwards basketball program is also "Under Construction" until 2010. MmK.
No one should forget that Rodriguez wasn't even the first choice. You all went hard after Schiano, another gamble, who doesn't even have a particular expertise in any offensive or defense scheme. His team just fell to Fresno State. These are not proven coaches, folks. And Rodriguez's track record suggests that he's not even a good coach. He's a one hit wonder that has capitalized on a myopic impusle buy from a deep-pocketed, bratty athletic program. There's a reason why you've been losing palyers, including a top prospect, to your arch rival.
"What you have" are offensive players that aren't right in any system.
Rich Rod still suffered a nearly catastrophic complete turnover on
offense. Graduation and NFL turnover aren't his fault. I would wager
that the Prior situation had as much to do with the previous regime and its success against OSU. Rich Rod has his preference of system and is
trying to use guys like McGuffie who will fit. That describes every
coach in the country. So what kind of system would work under this
situation? None, so it's a specious argument.
You're also stretching the truth. Rich Rod wasn't the first choice
because there was no reason to pursue him. There was really no reason
to even consider him. After the Schiano fallout he suddenly became
available. I would also like to see an argument about his track record
spelled out. An assumption is dangerous in the hands of a person who
turns belief into ideology. Frankly, I don't think there's anything
conclusive. We can go back and forth about the talent he had in the
context of who he played against and whether the OK and Georgia wins
are even enough to form an argument. There is no doubt that Rich Rod
was successful at WVU though, and we can only debate whether that will
translate to Michigan. I would say that things are under construction,
however, because he literally has nowhere to go but up. Future
improvements at QB and O-line can already be mapped out. Talent at RB
and WR is young and is only getting better. How successful Rich Rod
will be remains to be seen, but "under construction" is an apt term.
Not a “preference of system” – a reliance. I agree that he had success at West Virginia - as you say, "there is no doubt" about that. But it wasn't consistent enough or, more importantly, developed enough to prove him to be a good coach. Hell, he wasn’t even around long enough to see his stars graduate. Moreover, he was unable to do anything without the two key players in his scheme. Louisville. South Florida. South Florida. Pitt. All because he was unable to successfully implement his single-strategy offense – equally because of injuries to key players, as well as the lack of depth in his playbook. This is why you all were held to 36 yards on the ground this past weekend. That's pathetic, no matter what your scheme preference is or how young your players are.
Indeed, he was overly reliant on bringing Pryor in - both to securing his own personal legacy, as much as securing success at any school. Frankly, it shouldn't be shocking that he would walk out on his own heritage. I would go so far as to suggest that after the Pitt loss, he saw Michigan as a way to redeem credibility in Pryor's eyes. With a big name brand behind him, the loss would be played down as the clock ticked on decision time.
I don't buy the idea that Pryor turned down Michigan for any reason even remotely related to "the previous regime and its success against OSU." Not only was Pryor a perfect fit for Rodriguez - Rodriguez was a perfect fit for Pryor. It wasn't geography that put West Virginia atop Pryor's consideration list through the fall. After Rodriguez bolted for Michigan, Pryor publicly commented to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that he no longer looked at Rodriguez in the same light. And who would have? He walked out on the players that redirected the national spotlight to him – not only before they graduated, but after an emotionally charged, devastating loss. Anyone who’s played any organized sport understands how that undermines a huge factor to effectively building any program, or actually teaching your players what is and is not important about the game. If I recall correctly, your players rallied behind Lloyd Carr while your fans delivered his head to Mary Sue Coleman.
Frankly, I disagree that Rodriguez has "nowhere to go but up." Two losses to Ohio State, and he won't even be able to go to his office in Ann Arbor. Moreover, he won't be successful at Michigan because of the nature of your program and - perhaps more importantly - the nature of your fan base and boosters. WVU was thrilled to have a winning season. Like Notre Dame, you can't stomach the idea of losing. That is why your message boards are lit up with anger and disgust.
The defining moment for this man will be in how he handles the idea of Michigan as something bigger than his own legacy. If he gives himself, all of who he is as a person and coach to Michigan. He will be ok. What people see in him or think they see is a stubborness. The psychology of the man is being studied interview by interview. If he thinks he is bigger than Michigan Football he won't last 4 years. I do not say that as a booster or alumni. I just know how this all works. If anything, long term, people will go after the credibility of Bill Martin. They will say he had no clue whom or what he was hiring. I do not know if that is fair or not though. But I do know people see him as a money man and nothing else. I've never met him, I am just giving you the tailgate knowledge/verbage. Martin's missed call and his wife's birthday present request of,'Just find a coach," make one wonder if he just wanted to duck the bad light and hire someone. In that sense RR did us all(Michigan Fans) a HUGE FAVOR by saying yes. In that sense, he helped Bill out a lot as well. And another thing, Carr was perfect except in the transition from conservative to liberal. And I do not mean politcal. I mean when he needed to mix it up, he defaulted to the construct, which was and is painfully conservative. Which eeked out Big ten games but not the big ones. if Lloyd was just a lil bit more wild he would still be there I think. He just was Lloyd, love him or hate him. BUT RR can and usually does win those big games. So he is, from this fan bases perspective a hopeful move in the "right" direction. The fear or growing fear is that he will end up with the same results. Or he'll attain the same record while going about business from a less conservative more gambler type ways. His ego or need to win will cause bad calls. Like starting Sheridan and throwing that last pass before half and then saying,"I visualized us winning." And I think from here on it people are really going to watch that with him. Not just schmucks like me on a chat board but the media and NFL GM's and so on. I can only imagine the sheer joy on other teams chat boards at the possible ruining of tradition that this regime may have on MI.
I think some of that is kind of disingenuous. He was obviously there long enough and had a consistent enough of a run to win two BCS bowl games and compete for a national championship while winning multiple Big East titles. Was he upset a few times? Sure, but this is a world where USC loses to Stanford and Bob Stoops is questioned all the time because he can "no longer win the big game". Not that Rich Rod is either Stoops or Pete Carroll. However, I think it's true that he had the best talent in the Big East but wasn't so much better that he was infallible. And so you can make two inferences. 1) If he does lose, it's probably through an upset. 2) He won eleven games three years in a row. Regardless of how the losses came, two is still an immense positive. Let's say he replicates this at Michigan. Are fans really going gnash their teeths in horror with the real Horror still in their minds? Is this really the worst outcome when Carr dropped not only games he should have won but big games too? Is Rich Rod really a bad coach if he makes us a perennial top ten team but doesn't quite get us to a championship?
No team can sustain injuries to star players and survive. Oregon went from national title contender to middling team without Dixon. The difference between Mallet and Henne last year was extraordinary. There is a common rule in sports. Some teams don't even bother with serviceable backups because they know that once their star goes down, the season is over. The Patriots know they're done without Brady. So there's no reason to blame a coach because of a freak occurrence.
To answer your question, we were held to 36 yards on the ground because our offensive line couldn't get a good push. I mean almost the entire offensive line left, and Schilling was pretty bad last year. Any new coach would have been forced to deal with this.
I only said that OSU's dominance over Michigan played a big part in Pryor's decision, which seems reasonable. I didn't say that there weren't other reasons. However, I never underestimate people's ability to regurgitate inane talking points (as this political election illuminates). There is never a good time to leave a program, as you are always abandoning somebody. I mean Pryor uses the logic that he left once, so he could leave again. That describes nearly every coach in the country since most of them had coached some place prior. Rich Rod is a special case, but the argument against him makes no sense. There are two things you could say. 1) He loved WVU and didn't want to go through a divorce but things had been damaged beyond repair. 2) He's an opportunist, in which case he's already near the top. Where would he go? He's not an NFL guy. You can't do a whole lot better than Michigan in the college football domain. No one's going to want him after a few mediocre years. If by the incredible chance he does leave any time soon, that means he has had great success.
Pure speculation has no place in arguments. Assuming why Rich Rod left with no factual basis is about as productive as all of the crazed fanbases levying infractions and ghosts against each other with nothing behind it all. I think it's pretty proposterious anyway to claim that one of the big things that hurt his chances with Pryor he did to actually help his chances.
I think that most people expected this loss - perhaps not the way it came, but all that matters is a win or a loss, and I don't think it would be too surprising if he went 6-6 or 7-5. That tends to be standard operating procedure in these situations, and Rich Rod really got the short end of the stick. But it really doesn't matter. He's going to get several years, and if a certain standard isn't met by then, it'll be clear that it isn't quite working out. I think that people will even be able to stomach two losses to the Bucknuts because they're just so far ahead right now. Yeah a coaching turnover set us bck. But that comes with the potential that Rich Rod could be even better than Carr has been for the past seven