Denard — Mr. Clutch in final 4 minutes. Still.
Five times so far as a Michigan quarterback, Denard Robinson has been at the helm in the final four minutes of a game with Michigan either trailing or tied. When the game is not played at Iowa City he has fared, er, not too poorly in those spots:
| comp | att | pass yds | TD | INT | rushes | rush yds | rush TD | Game Outcome | |
| 2010 @ ND | 5 | 6 | 55 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 17 | 1* | Won, 28-24 |
| 2010 @ Ind | 1 | 1 | 42 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 31 | 1* | Won, 42-35 |
| 2011 vs ND (a) | 2 | 3 | 48 | 1** | 0 | 2 | 10 | 0 | NSFMF... |
| 2011 vs ND (b) | 2 | 3 | 80 | 1* | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Won, 35-31 |
| TOTALS | 10 | 13 | 225 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 58 | 2 | 3 wins, 0 losses |
*-Winning score **-Winning score NSFMF
Those are numbers and accomplishments that any QB, including Brady and Manning, would die to have. Even if against not-exactly 2011 LSU or Bama defenses. But that's not Denard's fault is it.
Now. Denard's other two times leading M in the final four minutes when trailing or tied have both occurred at Iowa against the Hawkeyes. Different passing success, different outcomes:
| comp | att | pass yds | TD | INT | rushes | rush yds | rush TD | Game Outcome | |
| 2009 @ Iowa | 1 | 2 | 17 | 0 | 1# | 1 | 7 | 0 | Lost, 30-28 |
| 2011 @ Iowa | 4 | 12 | 63 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Lost, 24-16 |
| TOTALS | 5 | 14 | 80 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 2 losses, 0 wins |
#-Ended Michigan's last chance to win
To be fair, Denard's passing numbers on the last drive this past Saturday were plenty good enough right up until Roundtree was tackled on the 3 — 4/8 for 63 yards. That's pretty good when you're starting on your own 18 with 2:15 left and only one timeout. With just a bit more time, or another timeout, would Borges have called a rollout or designed Denard run, as Rich Rodriguez instantly did in 2010 at both ND and Indiana when UM gained a first down inside the 5 with just under 30 seconds to go? One would like to think yes, but we are talking about Al Borges here. Do you think RR would have called for a Denard sweep on that 1st-and-goal on the 3 with 0:16 left and no timeouts? I wouldn't have bet against it. That's probably exactly what Iowa was fearing the most.
Adding the two charts together, in his five opportunities to pull off a Tom Brady-style comeback at the end of a game, Denard is 15/27 for 305 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT -- good for an NCAA passer rating of 167.5.
Results-based world, results-based blog -- don't throw asterisks on the Gallon play vs ND, or the jumpball to Hemingway at the end of Indiana last year. A 168 passer rating in such situations is glistening. Add to that 5 yards per rush, including two game-winning TD runs, and WTF. For a livin' fact, Denard can pass the football and lead a team at crunch time.
Uhh, just not from inside the 5-yard-line, only from the pocket.
Oh, to have had 10 more seconds on the clock or another timeout last Saturday -- or someone other than Uncle Fester calling those final damn four plays.
November 7th, 2011 at 8:14 PM ^
November 7th, 2011 at 10:32 PM ^
MSU was completely on Borges and a lot of this Iowa game was on Borges too. I don't care what he's done in the past, I care about what he's doing now and what he'll do in the future.
November 8th, 2011 at 8:18 AM ^
So Borges makes Denard throw a pick every 14 throws? Or makes receivers drop balls?
November 8th, 2011 at 8:48 AM ^
I think everyone can and needs to do better. Borges needs to find a groove for calling plays that maximize Denard's strengths, keep a rythm, and do not consistently put them in third and long chances. Denard needs to protect the ball better, work through his progressions, and make better decisions.
Recievers, Catch the Damn Ball!
November 8th, 2011 at 11:35 AM ^
he's going to throw picks. When you keep taking him in and out of the game, and keep bringing in Gardner, you're going to lose rhythm and you're going to throw picks. When you run from center and get 1 yard on 1st and 2nd down, it's going to be a lot harder to complete passes. Borges needs to put Denard and the offense in a position to succeed and he's not doing that against the good teams.
November 8th, 2011 at 12:44 PM ^
So when Denard threw 10 interceptions in the final eight games of the 2010 season, was that a case of RR/Magee "forcing him to make throws he couldn't"?
At this point I think it's time to let go of the idea that Denard is much better than what he's shown. He's been performing at the same level since week 6 of last season - under two different coaching staffs.
November 9th, 2011 at 12:08 AM ^
Word. This dude gets it.
November 9th, 2011 at 12:08 AM ^
Oh my. The blame on Borges has gone over the top. Let us not forget Denard missed a wide open Roundtree to send the game to OT. Its too convenient that everytime the players fail to exectute, fans blame Borges. Our offense lacks talent across the board, outside of Molk. Denard has the throwing ability of a high school QB. Borges doesn't have much to work with.
November 7th, 2011 at 8:26 PM ^
The Uncle Fester comment ruined a great thing. Thank you for writing this, still.
November 7th, 2011 at 8:27 PM ^
Why can we edit our posts down to nothing but not delete them? (prior to replies)
November 7th, 2011 at 8:30 PM ^
"Oh, to have had 10 more seconds on the clock or another timeout last Saturday -- or someone other than Uncle Fester calling those final damn four plays." - Nonnair
You lost me there. I love the uplifting stats on Dearest QB, but really, there have been about fifty hours of being down on an OC that has been here ten months from people that seem to believe he has already been here about fifty years.....it's not just old, it's in hospice care.
November 7th, 2011 at 9:23 PM ^
But while I'm still simmering at the inexplicable playcalling by Borges in the MSU and Iowa losses, my point in that last section of the diary was to show that while Denard was only 4/12 on that drive, he was 4/8 in the "two-minute offense" portion of it. That is, in the scramble-down-the-field portion. Denard isn't ever going to be a QB who can pass a team into th end zone consistently from inside the 5. He can't throw a fade, and he's so short that it's hard for him to throw over the line to a TE or slanting slot, etc. I'm mad at Borges there because his QB has talents both running and passing, and deficiencies in passing that are exacerbated from the pocket, and he called four plays that called on Denard to succeed via the latter.
November 8th, 2011 at 12:41 PM ^
Borges's second-down playcall worked. The officials just blew the call. I have a hard time blaming him there when his playcall did what it was supposed to. It's also hard to blame him for the fourth down call when Roundtree was mugged.
November 7th, 2011 at 9:16 PM ^
i'm not criticizing your analysis, but the reason he's great in the last 4 minutes is that in the last 4 minutes we run the offense best suited to his talents. if we ran that all the time, he'd regress to the mean, obviously, but obviously he'd shine.
November 7th, 2011 at 9:38 PM ^
His post, his opinion. I tend to agree with the OP.
November 7th, 2011 at 11:04 PM ^
Remember, of those plays you're mad about in the final minutes, Denard threw 2 passes that SHOULD have been touchdowns. Refs took one, other was dropped. That's not bad at all.
November 7th, 2011 at 11:20 PM ^
Assuming Roundtree catches the last pass if blatant interference wasn't happening.
November 8th, 2011 at 12:25 AM ^
He made the right decision and threw it away rather than force a play that wasn't there on first down.
November 8th, 2011 at 4:31 AM ^
you're not clutch if you don't win the game. Stats look good on paper but its all about the wins.
November 8th, 2011 at 10:32 PM ^
Did you look at the W-L total? You can't win them all, he's still clutch.
November 8th, 2011 at 7:04 AM ^
For example, Denard was "at the helm" during the final four minutes of the Gator Bowl trailing Mississippi State by 38 points. During that last 4 minutes Denard went 1-3 / 6 yards passing, and 0 rushes for 0 yards.
Against Wisconsin 2010, Denard was at the helm during the final three minutes and fifteen seconds (with Michigan trailing by 20). Denard went 1-3 / 3 yards passing and had five rushes for 43 yards (before time ran out).
Whenever I hear the word "clutch" I grieve the loss of Fire Joe Morgan.
November 8th, 2011 at 10:21 AM ^
I think that he means "Get's the ball with 4 minutes left AND down by 1 score or less." I'm not sure if we'd have to include 2011 @MSU in that definition though when he threw that pick 6.
November 8th, 2011 at 8:47 AM ^
I'm sure "Uncle Fester" would be very impressed with your "work." I agree with a previous poster; your post was good until you ruined it with your last sentence. I'm sure Sparty and Brutus will be happy to continue what you started, though.
Thanks a lot.
November 8th, 2011 at 10:17 AM ^
Wait, what's wrong with Uncle Fester? He's the lovable but zany Uncle that always gets into mischief and outsmarts himself at times. He also has a shaved head and a large gut. Many would call him eccentric and I'd guarantee that he wouldn't talk about bubble screens either!
November 8th, 2011 at 11:14 AM ^
I keep posting this, but here it goes again. There was nothing wrong with the last four plays. We had:
1. Bad pass
2. Touchdown pass that wasn't called a touchdown (?)
3. Touchdown pass that bounced off Vincent Smith's chest
4. Touchdown pass that was prevented by very obvious PI.
November 8th, 2011 at 5:16 PM ^
if Denard would have threw the 1st 2 passes out like he was suppose to. it would have been touch downs. hemmingway beat his corner to the outside twice. but Denard threw it inside.
November 8th, 2011 at 10:34 PM ^
Not sure why this was negged. I love Denard as much as anyone, but the fade has to be thrown towards the corner (like he did in the ND game).
November 10th, 2011 at 12:36 PM ^
If clutch does not equal wins it should it at least equal points.
Since we were going to pass on all 4 plays anyway give DG one snap on second down. I like his heigth in this situation. Maybe do the fake-run jump pass that Tebow perfected. Yes, I know...DG needs to earn that goal line snap by consistent decision making when getting his early snaps but I like the idea of mixing it up. Go Blue!
Comments