Unverified Voracity Wants To Kiss You, Sam

You should have opened those dorkmode tags. I read too much before I realized where I was.

Jay Bilas said last night that a win against Purdue pretty much locks up a bid. I actually wondered if that was his attempt to placate the UM fanbase (and MGoBlog in particular).

The problem with the Woody-Bo-Carr philosophy (and don't get me wrong, those guys know/knew 1000x more about football than I do) is that, you can at least argue, their grind-out-the-clock philosophy is riskier than a more wide-open one is in the game now...It made sense not to throw the ball all over the place when your QB just wasn't a good passer. Now, though, top-level teams almost always have QBs who can pass well. The risk of passing, then, is less...The real risk now is not taking advantage of the huge talent advantage you have when you have Chad Henne, Mario Manningham, and Adrian Arrington lined up against App. St., Iowa, Minnesota, etc. The better your team the more snaps you should want in the game - the more roles of the dice in which your talent is matched up against the lesser team's talent, the better.

I was really happy when Rodriguez was hired in part b/c I watched WVU's 2008 game against UConn (66-21 in favor of WVU, I believe). I think UConn came into that game with a chance to take the lead in the Big East and they were fired up. WVU and Coach Rodriguez found weaknesses in UConn's defense and stepped on their throat w/out blinking. UConn would have needed a truly bizarre amount of lucky breaks to win that day. I don't think Michigan under Carr would have had the same mindset of "let's score as many points as we possibly can."

I'm glad that Michigan will be looking for points now instead of time off the clock (an over-simplification, to be sure). A two-play touchdown drive can only be matched with another touchdown. A six-minute drive that ends with a punt can be trumped by a single defensive breakdown that allows the opposing team's wide-outs to break one into the end zone.

Nice touch with using BBoard tags instead of actual HTML tags for your dorkmodeness.

"Instead of running half the time or getting half of your yards on the ground, you should seek to have your passing plays and running plays gain the same number of yards."

Instead of getting half of your yards on the ground, you should seek to get half your yards on the ground? Am I missing something?

Carr's mentality has always reminded me of basic strategy in Blackjack; that is, my actions will be dictated by this little card - I don't believe "gut," I don't believe a table is ever "hot" or "cold," I'm not going to try to count cards. Regardless of what the situation is, I'm putting my faith in age-old fundamentals and statistics (nevermind the fact that Carr's basic strategy sometimes conflicted with statistics).

As a basic strategy player, myself, I can empathize. Sticking to "the rules" of my game can prevent me from losing a lot of money very quickly... but it can also prevent me from making a lot of money quickly. I'm okay with that trade-off because I hate losing anything more than I like winning big. It takes emotion out of the decision-making.

Dantonio is obviously a basic strategy player. I'd put Tressel's game on the side of basic strategy, but he's also a good card-counter, and that swings the odds his way.

We never do know what short, pasty white, curly haired dudes can do....but, if you want to know what a light skinned, curly haired, Creole looking dude did at one time against Purdue, check out my latest Diary.

Shameless Plug.

Oh, and solid work as usual Brian.....thanks for the no live blog thing as well.

I know a lot of folks are freaking out about Threet's leaving. But, the only way that Threet leaving is a bad thing is if you assume that Forcier and/or Robinson are going to fail or get injured.

Otherwise, it is unlikely Threet would ever see the field and any snaps he would have taken in practice merely mean Forcier/Robinson are less prepared.

[extremedorkmode alt="If you really enjoy this joke you spent too much time at a computer in the last 10 yrs"]

Guilty as charged.

[/extremedorkmode]

That makes sense, but doesn't passing generally carry an increased risk of a turnover (between interceptions and also fumbling), such that to achieve true balance you might still want more YPP passing than running?

We've had a hundred different posts here on the Threet topic. You seem to be forwarding a rumor and not exactly giving it a ringing endorsement. I think relaying all the info you get is good, but I think we are all curious on what you believe.

I still contend RR's program is all competition based and would never discourage a player from competition so I find this rumor at the least overstated and at the worst complete hogwash. Why tell your most experienced guy in an extremely thin depth chart you are not getting much a chance?? I guess I'm so stuck on this issue because if I believe it true, I have to believe RR is a lying knucklehead which I just can't handle.

"you should seek to have your passing plays and running plays gain the same number of yards" sounds pretty silly to me.

Certain plays will (and should) have higher reward (and hence higher risk). To design all pass plays and runs gain 3-4 yards would be ridiculous- defenses would merely align all 11 players within 5 yards of the LOS.

Rather than maximizing points scored in a game, you should seek to have each offensive play gain the maximum number of yards (and minimizing losses) for that play. Expectations (and risk/rewards) for each respective play are different, and perform a different function within the game plan and weekly practice plan.

Maximizing points is often not the best strategy.

I recall a game at Michigan Stadium several years ago when Illinois give Michigan several chances to steal the game back, when all they really needed was a first down and possession of the ball.

Apart from sportsmanship issues of running up the score, scoring can remove the element of control. Generally a team of superior talent game plans around wanting to reduce the variables, increase its own time of possession and reduce the number of chances the other team has to score.

I realizing whacking Lloyd is a standard theme here. But I think you've got much of it wrong.

I will agree that both Bo and Lloyd attempted to impose Michigan's will upon the opponent. But there was quite a difference and evolution that took place.

The most common thread was the insistence on soundness in scheme and design and execution, eliminating chances of mistakes, and making the opponent play a near perfect game to beat you- which, while it is admittedly predictable, is a philosophy hardly unique to Michigan. Virtually all big (better talent) programs follow this general blueprint, depending on their own talent and situation. Did they err on the side of conservative sometimes? Sure, but not all that often. We tend to remember the cases where that MAY have been true, without knowing of course if the alternative really would have been better or worse.

Bo's schemes on offense and defense from the the 70's (and even through much of the 80's) and Lloyd Carr's offenses and defenses in the 00's were entirely different.

Bo's philosophy for much of his career: put your best athletes on defense, be tougher on both sides of the ball, and pound them; sooner or later the TB or QB will get loose on the option (and later maybe a WR on something deep) for a big play.

Mo and Lloyd's offenses were adopted from the NFL to the college game, and generally built around (NFL prospect) big play receivers and QBs who could get the ball to them if the defense dared to single cover them. The routes were usually intermediate and longer routes, although increasingly used WR screens in later years.

It was hardly "three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust" stuff. If the safeties were back, that allowed the run game to control the game. The Alex Gibbs zone run offense was based in large parts on reducing or eliminating negative yardage plays, in part with the realization that there is a big difference between 3&5 and 3&9 in what routes you can run, pass protections you need, etc. Perhaps I have digressed...