My thoughts....
lifted from my website at gsimmons85.blogspot.com you can check it out to see where im going with this...
about 6 years ago, I was coaching basketball, and with another coach we decided we need to find a defense to help us compete with athletes that were bigger faster, and stronger than we were. Well we decided to start running a type of 1-3-1 that we had heard a guy talking about froma Highschool coach in Wisconsin. So we go ahead and start ordering a couple of tapes from him, and really liked the defense. After we got really into it, we decided to give the guy a call, and we ended up having some great conversations with him. The following is a story from one of those converstions that i think will give you a little insight into the role of schemes.
Im talking to Wisconsin coach about matchup problems etc. these are his words to me...
"coach i was talking to this guy one time and he keeps telling me about the team that he is about to play. Well they got a great inside scorer, he said. Well ok then i would do this, and this and this. Then he says to me, well ok coach i could do that, but they also have a couple of guys that can really stroke it from the outside, so i repond with some other ideas, well ok then i would do this, and this, and this. He responds by saying, well coach the problem is they have a great penetrating guard as well so what do you think coach? I said well bud, I hate to say it but I think you are going to lose."
Matchups and and players, matchups and players...
We did a much better job this week against ISO and Power plays GSimmons...but were you surprised that Wisconsin didn't spread us out a little more and then run iso at us?
To me, we seemed to overwhelm the run game with numbers..alot of safety help near the LOS. Your thoughts?
wisconsin just felt like they could just keep pounding on the rock untill it broke, it just never broke, and we didnt wear down...
www.gsimmons85.blogspot.com
It isn't all Jimmies and Joes though, and I feel that at this time in collegiate football, coaching is more important than ever.
Having great players makes it easier, but it isn't always easy to get a super-talented guy to play defense the way he should..or to get some stud WR to block for his teammates.
It is also very important to FIND those matchup problems and exploit them.
you'll read the entire post, on the site, you will see what im saying...
thats why i say matchups and players... schemes effect the matchups
the teams that everyone talks about, with its great coaching, the usc's ok's lsu's also have better athletes then most of the teams they line up against every week, at every position... soe of the best coaches, are the ones that win 7 games a year and nobody knows their names, because they dont have the players..
www.gsimmons85.blogspot.com
Gsimmons, or someone else who knows:
John Thompson, I think, was called for an offsides which gave WI the first down when the Badgers were about to punt early in the first.
If you remember the play, the Badgers seemed to be set, then when the upback came under center, the Oline went down, very suddenly- after which, the Michigan player vaulted over the line. Can somebody make it clear why the penalty went to the defence when it was obviously an offensive movement that drew him offsides? I mean, I've even seen a QB penalized for a pronounced head bob- What is the rule?
a snap down. Very common way of trying to make people jump on punts, and field goals.. as long as your hand is not in the ground, you are not set. thats why tightends can get up and shift till they put their hand down. thats why in the spread, offensive lineman can look up and look to the sideline, lots of teams never put their tackles hands in the ground, so he can move a little to get a check etc. once the hand goes down, you are locked in that spot... hope that helps..
www.gsimmons85.blogspot.com
Based on what you wrote, do you believe that Michigan is doing the most it can with what it has? Michingan's talent level overall is still probably higher than every team we've played against thus far. The important players just haven't had enough time to be coached as they're all so young, and likewise, the coaches haven't had the opportunity to coach them up.
Michigan's offense is going to get better exponentially as they will develop both physically and mentally through workouts and practice. That makes me think that this is our rock bottom, we're not going down from here, and the Wisconsin game makes it look like we may have already bottomed out and started climbing back up. It is very encouraging and exciting to think about how strong not only this particular team, but also this program can get.
you make some good points. but i dont think tallent level wide you look at michigan overall but rather break it down matchup by matchup... a lot of times this year we have had sever matchup problems. Too me that is the important thing, we can have the most tallented WR in the world, and have 20 of them. But there is only one ball, and someone has to get it to them, and someone has to give them time to get it to them. And the other team might have only 2 great players but they are a de that cant be blocked, and a corner that can shut down the field. know all of a sudden you have a problem... Matchups...
www.gsimmons85.blogspot.com
I agree with that. This season we don't have any truly favorable offensive matchups that we can exploit. Defensively, it will vary from game to game. Even so, the only way we sink lower than the first 3 games of the season is with further injuries. Otherwise, I think we've turned the corner and the rest is just a matter of time, practice, and development.
A great man once told me:
"Jimmies and Joes, not X's and O's"
Don't know who he was, I think he was a hobo on the street. But he was still wise.
www.wolverineliberationarmy.blogspot.com