January 7th, 2015 at 11:14 PM ^
With the exception of Mattison and a couple others, most of our staff were San Jose State-level coaches. This is where they belong. Do they have a head coach? The Clapper is available.
January 7th, 2015 at 11:17 PM ^
You know what? Good for him. I wish him well.
January 7th, 2015 at 11:17 PM ^
January 7th, 2015 at 11:18 PM ^
will let the Gorgeous One borrow his stuffed beaver.
January 7th, 2015 at 11:58 PM ^
That would be a kick ass mullet!
January 7th, 2015 at 11:19 PM ^
Other than Mattison, I'm thinking that Borges may have been one of the only competent coaches over the last few years. He got an unfair shake, and never really had a chance to start one of his guys at QB.
January 7th, 2015 at 11:21 PM ^
January 7th, 2015 at 11:22 PM ^
But yes, I think he was actually a competent OC. I don't think, however, that he was a stellar QB coach. Probably decidedly un-stellar.
Good luck Al!
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January 7th, 2015 at 11:39 PM ^
was his guy
January 8th, 2015 at 12:53 AM ^
...was a desperation Hail Mary thrown in the dying seconds of a transition recruiting class.
No serious person thinks Bellomy was Al Borges's ideal QB protege.
January 8th, 2015 at 12:03 AM ^
Borges regressed every year he was here and cost us multiple winnable games.
On top of that, he's never actually developed one of "his" guys as Brian demonstrated. The man was an awful QB recruiter.
A big part of the reason the offense was so terrible this year falls on him.
January 8th, 2015 at 11:02 AM ^
I watched that man run sweep plays @ Penn St. over and over and over again a couple years ago.
I know time heals and we develop a soft spot...especially for the likeable big man.
But didn't get a fair shake? Competent?
No one WANTED to fire Borges, we all loved him...unlike Rich Rod. He was a MGoLegend until his playcalling just got out of hand.
He's always been a brilliant play DESIGNER. He was an AWFUL playcaller.
That game @PSU was the worse play calling I've ever seen in my life. I thought he had a Tecmo Bowl playbook. Not even Super Tecmo Bowl. Just the original Tecmo Bowl.
...I'm sorry, but he didn't get a raw deal at all...he just sucked at calling plays. Or that's too harsh. He wasn't anything special at play caliing and had a terrible knack for calling a BAD play at the right time is a better more level-headed way of putting it.
January 7th, 2015 at 11:21 PM ^
So does this mean D Harris goes to SJSU?!!!!!!
January 7th, 2015 at 11:21 PM ^
January 8th, 2015 at 12:30 AM ^
I see lots of 49 - 45 games for SJSU
January 7th, 2015 at 11:23 PM ^
January 7th, 2015 at 11:25 PM ^
It's a shame we were never able to see what Borges could do with a competent QB.
January 7th, 2015 at 11:26 PM ^
January 7th, 2015 at 11:31 PM ^
And with a competent Head Coach.
January 7th, 2015 at 11:31 PM ^
Denard was a failure of a player who never did anything noteworthy and Devin Gardner not only nuked Michigan Stadium from orbit, but drowned puppies and stole an old lady's cane as well. Yes, I think you're onto something.
We fully understand that you absolutely hate perhaps the two people who have given the most to Michigan football over the past five years, asshole.
At some point, the old, tired bitching directed at specific players needs to become Bolivia-worthy.
January 7th, 2015 at 11:59 PM ^
Both Denard Robinson and Devin Gardner did a lot for the program, and both were poor decision makers with mediocre arms who were horrible fits for the Borges offense. I'm sorry you can't face that fact without throwing a tantrum like a toddler in Toys R Us, but that's really not my problem. Personal attacks on players have always been ban-worthy. However, this blog has never had a rule against critcizing their athletic ability. Deal with it and stop whining.
January 8th, 2015 at 12:04 AM ^
You pretending to be the voice of reason is always priceless.
January 8th, 2015 at 12:28 AM ^
It's amazing how a guy who was so poor at throwing the football managed all this:
• Fifth in total yards, just 210 yds behind third-place holder Grbac
• Fifth in yds per completion, ahead of Brady, Henne, Navarre, Grbac, Collins, Griese, and Harbaugh
• Fourth in passing TDs, ahead of Collins, Brady, Griese, and Harbaugh
• Same completion rate as Henson and higher than Navarre, Wangler, and Leach
January 8th, 2015 at 12:40 AM ^
It's actually not amazing, considering he started 47 games in his career and padded stats like hell against weak defenses under Rodriguez. Denard was a fantastic athlete, but there's a reason he was never considered a serious quarterback prospect and a reason why he struggled so much in Borges' offense.
January 8th, 2015 at 12:40 AM ^
There's a reason your posts aren't considered serious by 99% of the people who read them.
January 8th, 2015 at 5:42 AM ^
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January 8th, 2015 at 1:34 AM ^
January 8th, 2015 at 2:19 AM ^
But there has been a change in scheduling practices through the years.
From 2004-2007 Michigan played a total of three teams that were outside the top 100 at Massey: Illinois '04, EMU and Minnesota '07. EMU was the worst at #135.
From 2009-2012 Michigan played ten teams outside the top 100. Four were outside the top 200, Delaware State wasn't even in the top 300.
It hasn't gotten much better, either--there were five more >100 opponents in 2013-2014, though at least we haven't gone above 200 again.
This really shouldn't be a surprise--Brian's been rightfully grousing about the crappy home schedules for years now. And it's by choice--in the Henne era all but one of the bad opponents were conference foes that had to be scheduled. Only 2 of the 17 since '08 were in conference; the other 15 were optional.
----
This isn't peculiar to Michigan of course--it's pretty much universal among power-conference teams. I just ran the same numbers for Alabama and they're playing the same volume of crappy opponents that Michigan does. The only difference is that Alabama started doing this in '04 instead of '08 or '09.
January 8th, 2015 at 8:23 AM ^
January 8th, 2015 at 9:26 AM ^
...but I don't think that's the whole story.
For one thing, crappy opponents have gone up by nearly two per season. Playing one extra game can't be the whole reason, can it?
For another, they don't quite coincide. Michigan's first 12-game season didn't include a single truly bad team; it took three years for an AD to hit on the Delaware State solution. At Alabama it was the other way around--their first bad FCS opponents were before the extra game was added.
January 8th, 2015 at 11:42 AM ^
January 8th, 2015 at 2:35 AM ^
So you're saying that Brady, Henne, Leach, et al. DIDN'T pad their stats against weak defenses? Somehow, Bo and Carr backed off on weaker defenses, but RR didn't so Denard's stats are over-inflated? That's absurd.
January 8th, 2015 at 1:15 AM ^
January 8th, 2015 at 12:39 AM ^
Devin Gardner was the #5 QB in the nation when recruited.
You think maybe 2 position chances and 5 coaches later may have fucked him up instead!?
Troll on clown.
January 8th, 2015 at 12:57 AM ^
But he wasn't the #5 pocket QB. He fit Borges's WCO about as well as Steven Threet fit RR's spread.
To Borges's (and Gardner's) credit, he tried to find ways to make it work and sometimes succeeded. But it was always a bad fit.
January 8th, 2015 at 11:20 AM ^
January 8th, 2015 at 12:34 PM ^
https://rivals.yahoo.com/ccc/football/recruiting/player-Devin-Gardner-8…
Dual-threat quarterback
Detroit, Michigan
Inkster
And I'm not blaming Gardner either. Or Borges, or Threet, or Rodriguez. It's a natural cost of these repeated 180-degree switches in philosophy--you wind up rosters full of guys you probably wouldn't have recruited and who aren't ideal fits for what you know how to do.
January 8th, 2015 at 12:55 PM ^
+ 1 for the link. Thanks!
January 8th, 2015 at 3:04 AM ^
January 8th, 2015 at 12:37 AM ^
2,999 'this' and 'harbaugh' posts
January 8th, 2015 at 5:51 AM ^
and with enough green stamps, well, they just kind of add up. next week anyone with 4,000 points can get a toaster. me, not yet since i got disappeared. i think i can get a set of napkins. paper napkins.
January 7th, 2015 at 11:57 PM ^
Well considering Borges has never recruited a QB that panned out, that was unlikely to happen.
January 8th, 2015 at 11:31 AM ^
January 7th, 2015 at 11:27 PM ^
This all but confirms the Dougherty rumor. It looks like FootballScoop actually got something right during this coaching search.
January 8th, 2015 at 12:48 AM ^
Ironic, don't ya think? Can't seem to find much on Mr. Dougherty except he played at Missouri, coached RBs and "pass offense" at Washington and was on SDSU staff with Sir Jim. Would like alot more info!!!! He leaves San Jose and comes to UM while Big Al takes his spot...hmmmm...intriguing.
January 7th, 2015 at 11:34 PM ^
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