Borges/Mattison Pressers 11/12/13

Stop NE on that last game winning drive and we win 13-10. Stop an awful PSU offense from scoring the tying TD and we win that game.  The defense did step up against Akron to prevent a loss.

There is no question that the offense has let the team down and they were by far the biggest issue.  However, don't be totally blind to the issues with the defense.  They gave up 10 points early against NE, then tightened up and played great only to have a let down against a 3rd string QB when it mattered most.  

The exact same thing happened against PSU, then they started to blitz in the 2nd half and Michigan got a 10 point lead into the 4th qtr.  That should have been enough to win, but they  let a freshman QB pick them apart, once they let up on the pressure.

Against MSU they looked good early, then let up and didn't put any pressure on the first year starting QB just before the half and to start the 2nd half.  After that it was game over.  If they had played an aggressive style like MSU that is a different game.  They probably still lose, but it is not a blow out.

The defense has definitely played a role in the 3 losses.  The point is that there was no reason to let up.  It was working, stay with it.

Those halycon days at UCLA were actually 1997 and 1998.  In 1999, UCLA and Borges averaged 20.9 ppg.  

He had one year at Cal (2001), in which the team went 1-10.  The offense averaged 18.3 points per game (105th of 117).  Everyone was fired.

He then had two years at Indiana under Gerry DiNardo (2002 and 2003), in which the teams went 3-9 and 2-10.  In 2002, they averaged 21.5 points per game (95th of 117).  In 2003, they regressed, averaging 14.8 points per game (115th of 117).

Despite that, somehow he was hired by Tuberville at Auburn.  He inherited a roster with redshirt senior QB first round pick Jason Campbell, senior RB first round pick Cadillac Williams (5th pick overall in 2005), and redshirt senior RB first round pick Ronnie Brown (2nd pick overall in 2005). With those pieces in place (and those players having been developed for three to four years by others), the 2004 Auburn offense ranked 18th of 120.  With each year of Borges at the helm, it regressed: 30th in 2005, 56th in 2006, and 85th in 2007.  Borges did not make it to the bowl game in 2007.

He did not coach in 2008.  

You'll see a similar regression at Michigan: 27th in 2011, 58th in 2012.  (I expect the Iowa and Ohio State games to lower our averages this year as well.)  We are putting up 100 yards fewer per game.  Our yards per play have regressed each year: 6.8 in 2010 (under RR); 6.2 in 2011; 6.1 in 2012; 5.6 in 2013 so far.  

People who know more about football than I do can argue whether he makes the right calls, but the players keep messing things up; whether his offense would work in a perfect world, but recruiting or youth or something else is to blame; whether as someone in the field, he must be given five years at a stop to try to make things work, etc.  I simply would like people to know his actual background.  Just like when people say Hoke inherited a cratering program at Ball State and turned it around, when in truth, Ball State had gone 6-6 the prior two years under Bill Lynch, and Hoke spent four years trying to get back to .500, and went 7-6 in his fifth year.  

Anyway, typing out these statistics is my form of running Touissant up the middle 27 times.  Doubt it is having much effect, but feel compelled to do it anyway.

[Note: I see that you are saying he is not working out at Michigan, so I am not arguing with you; I would simply like more people to know more about his record.]

Not all coaches who work their way up are capable of winning at a major college program. This is where your AD has to have done his homework to pick the right guy for your program. We won't be able to judge Hoke and staff for another 3 seasons. We'll see at the end of 2016. I don't like the trend. It looks like players are not developing and he is getting out coached but that could all change once his players are seniors.

Stop using logic LSA, logic is no longer welcome around here. Internet gonna internet. 

You may be right, but unfortunately from my vantage point, the lack of improvement or, IMO, creativity offensively backs up what is said at pressers.  Whether that is just an incorrect linking of two things or the fact that Hoke is indeed on board with the offense may never truly be known.