Care For Some Facts Or Do You Just Want To Be Hysterical?

Submitted by Enjoy Life on

Here are the facts for the defense:

    Rush Pass Total Points
UConn   138 205 343 10
ND   154 381 535 24
UMass   217 222 439 37

UMass was successful on a 4-3 that led to a TD

UMass was successful on a 4-9 that led to another TD

Hagerup fumbled the snap on a punt (that was blocked) that led to another TD

UMass was ranked #7 in the FCS with 482 YPG (224 Rushing, 258 passing).

The M offense scored quickly leaving the D on the field a long time.

The M defense was about the same as it has been all year.

MGoBoard
Football
2010 Michigan Football

MaizenBlueBP

September 18th, 2010 at 11:17 PM ^

UMass shouldn't have been successful on 4th and 3

UMass shouldn't have been successful on 4th and 9

Hagerup has no excuse for not catching a snap

UMass has no business even being in the game with this Michigan team

Our offense scored quickly but still made a lot of mistakes (Only bright spot)

Our defense is getting worse not better.

Joined: 08/03/2009

MGoPoints: -886

Magnus

September 18th, 2010 at 11:24 PM ^

There are good reasons for concern.  I don't know if "hysteria" is taking over - everybody knows we won the game. 

But how low do our expectations have to be that we shouldn't be upset that Michigan's defense allowed 37 points and 489 yards to an FCS school?  And it's not like we were beating the pants off UMass and they staged a comeback against our backups.  Our starters played the entire game - and were actually trailing!

Joined: 07/17/2008

MGoPoints: 166006

bouje

September 18th, 2010 at 11:27 PM ^

With their starters playing the whole game while being #5 in the fucking country!

 

VT lost to James Madison. 

 

It was a hang over game.  PERIOD.  Be concerned if we look like shit next week until then I'll reserver judgement.

Joined: 09/30/2008

MGoPoints: 4705

Fuzzy Dunlop

September 18th, 2010 at 11:49 PM ^

I don't get it.  Is your point that almost losing to a I-AA team is no big deal, citing "The Horror" and the VT loss as evidence?

The loss to App State is the reason that the Lloyd Carr regime was tossed out.

Beamer is likely fired at the end of this year.

Losing to a I-AA team is a big fucking deal, as the examples you cite prove.

Joined: 09/22/2009

MGoPoints: 5710

Fuzzy Dunlop

September 19th, 2010 at 12:21 AM ^

You misunderstand me.  Of course he retired.  But there's a reason that none of his assistants were elevated to head coach (as had been the case with new coaches since Bo), and that we instead went with a radical change, and all Lloyd's presumed successors were left out in the cold.  They're who I'm referring to when I say the "Lloyd Carr regime."

Joined: 09/22/2009

MGoPoints: 5710

M-Wolverine

September 19th, 2010 at 12:38 AM ^

DeBord was never going to be head coach, because people would have freaked. They didn't want him in 1998 either, and that was coming off a National Championship. After CMU tarnished him forget it; not App St. Hell, we could score on App St with half a Mike Hart. And English didn't have enough experience, or he would have gotten the job. Getting rid of Malone killed the succession, not that game. I mean, the only reason Lloyd became coach was not some grand plan, but he won enough after Moeller got pushes out to have "interim" removed. There was no plan to move away from alloys style coaching...because the coaches that were looked at before Ruch became available (Ferentz, Miles, Schiano) were all much more Lloyd like. They chose a coach, not a regime. I mean, I'm basically agreeing with what you're saying on here...but you're hurting your cred with this one.

Joined: 10/04/2009

MGoPoints: 42190

FrankMurphy

September 20th, 2010 at 2:30 PM ^

I agree that it's stupid to say Lloyd was "tossed out" because of App State, but the sentiment has a kernel of truth to it in the sense that the App State loss was the reason Bill Martin hit the reset button and hired a spread offense guru with no prior ties to the program when Lloyd retired. If we hadn't lost to App State, Martin might have hired another Bo disciple, or at least a coach from the same mold (like Ferentz or *shudder* Brady Hoke). 

Joined: 08/19/2008

MGoPoints: 31934

M-Wolverine

September 20th, 2010 at 4:11 PM ^

Martin wasn't looking for a spread guru. He was looking for the best coach available. Shown by the fact that all the other coaches he looked at before Rich weren't spread gurus. Like Ferentz.  He may have lucked out by getting the best of the bunch, that did entail a reset, but that wasn't his motivation at all. Rich just surprisingly became available.  The fact that he ran a spread had nothing to do with his hire, or some direction we wanted to go (otherwise Schiano, Miles and Ferentz wouldn't be looked at...but other spread coaches would have); it had to do with his excellent coaching credentials, and availability.

Joined: 10/04/2009

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FrankMurphy

September 20th, 2010 at 5:42 PM ^

There's a telling quote from Martin in this article: "I wasn't looking for Bo," Martin said. "Lloyd did a wonderful job for us. He won 75 percent of his games. But the game has changed."

I don't know if Martin would have allowed such a notion to influence his search, let alone publicly acknowledge it, if it hadn't been for Armanti Edwards & Co. I'm not saying that he actively sought to hire a spread offense coach who would overhaul the culture of the program, just that the App State loss made him open to the possibility whereas he otherwise might not have been.

Joined: 08/19/2008

MGoPoints: 31934

gbdub

September 19th, 2010 at 5:05 AM ^

There were plenty of things to OMG about outside of those moments (didn't they both happen in the second half?). Sure, the final score would have been more lopsided, but the troubling thing was that UMass more or less moved the ball at will against our defense, particularly on the ground, all day. At the moment, our defense is far too reliant on bad throws, penalties, and interceptions to come up with stops - outside of that they've been pretty porous. This is worrisome no matter how you look at it, and it's hardly hysterical to say as much. We need a defense good enough to keep us in the game against an opponent with enough defensive skill to slow Denard down. Right now we don't have that and our young guys have a lot of work to do for Big Ten season.

Joined: 02/16/2010

MGoPoints: 26719

Magnus

September 18th, 2010 at 11:18 PM ^

So you're saying that we should be reassured by the fact that we allowed more points than we did against UConn and Notre Dame combined . . .

. . . and that our defense can't get critical stops on 4th downs . . .

. . . and that our defense performed about the same as it did against Notre Dame, who racked up 535 yards.

Great.

Joined: 07/17/2008

MGoPoints: 166006

Sommy

September 18th, 2010 at 11:33 PM ^

Your Mary Poppins attitude is simultaneously endearing and annoying.

Just because you can rationalize a poor game doesn't mean that it's rational to do so.  This defense needs a lot of work.  No FCS team has any business playing an FBS team this closely.

Joined: 07/29/2008

MGoPoints: 1806

wolverine1987

September 19th, 2010 at 12:12 AM ^

VT it somehow isn't concerning that it almost happened again? To be clear, there is no reason for panic after a win, no matter how, yes, embarrassing, and also, M is not yet in a position where we can expect to win any game if we don't play well. All that is true. But flat out, it is ridiculous for people to smack down others that have concerns giving up 37 points to an FCS team. those that have have concern are the rational ones, those that say shut up, and enjoy the win are irrational. I guarantee you the coaching staff is concerned.

Joined: 07/07/2008

MGoPoints: 18065

bouje

September 19th, 2010 at 12:28 AM ^

and fans being concerned is the stupidest thing I've ever heard.  The coaches should be concerned because THIS IS THEIR JOB.  They are responsible for getting our boys ready to play and it is their ass on the line, so yes they should worry. 

 

What is the point in fans worrying?  What are you going to do?  How are you worrying about it going to change anything?  Oh right it's not.  Just enjoy the game for what it is:

 

A WIN. 

 

You're a fan, you do nothing to effect the outcome of the game (except for jingle keys and yell), so there is no point in worrying or over analyzing bs.  Just have fun.

Joined: 09/30/2008

MGoPoints: 4705

Fuzzy Dunlop

September 19th, 2010 at 12:34 AM ^

So since fans can't change anything by worrying, they shouldn't worry or overthink anything.  That's a relief -- I'm going to stop worrying about all my sports teams, even when they're playing, since it makes no difference anyway.  Hell, why do I waste time reading this blog, if reading Brian's analysis makes no difference?  Come to think of it, maybe Brian should shut down the blog, since his overanalysis makes no difference!  Actually, if you really think about it, caring about sports at all is entirely illogical, and my rooting certainly makes no difference.  I should cut sports out of my life entirely!

Thanks -- you've saved me so much time!  Maybe I'll write a novel . . .

Joined: 09/22/2009

MGoPoints: 5710

Fuzzy Dunlop

September 19th, 2010 at 12:47 AM ^

No, you have it all wrong.  Certain posters will jump all over and negbomb anyone who says anything critical about Michigan's performance Saturday through Monday.  Then when Brian says the same critical things, these lemmings will realize the criticisms are now "acceptable", since they've been officially sanctioned.

Just like it was verboten to say "Rich Rod needs to show improvement next year or he might get fired" until Brian said it, at which point it became the conventional wisdom.

 

Joined: 09/22/2009

MGoPoints: 5710

M-Wolverine

September 19th, 2010 at 1:42 AM ^

But I think the whole thing has snowballed past Brian's control. It's like he's created a cult, but when they realize Brian doesn't agree with them, they turn on him. Even though Brian's taking in new data, and coming to new conclusions, with every game.

This is not to say everyone is Lemmings. There are a lot of well thought out reasoning on either side.  And I'd probably rather people lean to supporting the coach, rather than being critical of everything. (Though the posters I admire the most can do both...be supportive, but not blind, and put out criticism and worry). So some will rationally disagree with Brian.  But it's the ones who throw out the memes of "cupboard bare" and "we're going to win every game this year" (yes, I had to point out that was silly this week), or "five years, no matter WHAT" that have become so indoctrinated that they'll see Brian as a failed leader, rather than a guy believed one thing, but sees how another can happen.

Me, I have no problem with people being critical of this stinkaroo. If anyone remembers, I was one who said "hey, enjoy it!" last week when we beat ND, because, it was ND in South Bend (tough for us no matter how good they are), and there would be tougher times ahead (oh, like this week), so enjoy it now, and worry about tomorrow tomorrow. But this really wasn't fun.  I'm not distraught. But I am concerned. (But then, I'm not really expecting this to be a real Michigan team contending for championships...I'm looking at the season as a whole, and see where we end up.  Though I will be a little tense MSU week...because I think that's going to carry a lot of weight for the season, barring the good old OSU end of the season miracle).

And let me state, we were talking in general, but I believe and know that Bouje's post is 100% true- if anyone will call out Brian for it, and not blindly agree with him, it Bouje. I may kid him about a lot of things, but I'll never doubt he believes what he believes. I may think he's drunk sometimes when he's believing it, but no one is telling HIM what to say. (Which is why he's succeeded on the site for longer than all but a few...because he may be out there at times, but it's all sincere).

Joined: 10/04/2009

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bouje

September 19th, 2010 at 1:53 AM ^

Nailed me to a tee and I agree with you on everything.
<br>
<br>If we had lost this game I would be a raging inferno. We didn't so I'm cool. I'll just RR on the full season as you said and we will see if we have improved.
<br>
<br>I think we will (and hope beyond all hope we will)

Joined: 09/30/2008

MGoPoints: 4705

BlueGoM

September 19th, 2010 at 12:51 AM ^

The Horror was inexcusable.   That same team beat Heisman winner Tebow and Florida in a bowl.   Michigan had no business allowing App State to even be in that game.  They had too much talent to allow that loss.

VT I don't know how good they are,  but The Horror shouldn't have ever happened, period.

Joined: 08/25/2009

MGoPoints: 7997

lilpenny1316

September 19th, 2010 at 12:10 PM ^

The logic about FCS-FBS close games should've been thrown out years ago.  This was going to happen.  With the number of scholarships getting cut down to 85 years ago, plus more kids playing football year round, to the ease by which kids can transfer from FBS to FCS schools without sitting out a year, makes your top FCS teams a handful.

Think about it.  If you get kicked out of an AQ FBS school, are you going to a MAC or WAC school, or will you transfer to a good FCS school where you can play without sitting out a year?

If you look at a lot of these upsets or close calls, you will see transfer after transfer from FBS schools.

Joined: 11/19/2009

MGoPoints: 61787

Magnus

September 18th, 2010 at 11:46 PM ^

With a freshman punter and a porous defense, I think you're being optimistic.

Not completely irrational, but very optimistic.

Also, there will be some teams who won't NEED to convert on 4th down . . . because they'll convert on 2nd and 3rd down.

Joined: 07/17/2008

MGoPoints: 166006

cargo

September 19th, 2010 at 4:45 AM ^

For all we know Umass's offense is better then UConn and Notre Dame.  Shit Temple who beat Uconn by almost as much as us, almost lost to Umass's conference mate and highly FCS ranked Villanova.  People need to relax cause honestly most rated FCS teams can beat most no ranked FBS and even some ranked FBS teams.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 1228

Hoken's Heroes

September 18th, 2010 at 11:21 PM ^

...the offense has gotten better over the last 3 years but the D has not. The same problems still plague the D. It's getting worrisome because there just isn't any level of consistency from the D other than it's been consistently crappy.

Joined: 04/14/2009

MGoPoints: -97672