Hoke: Nebraska players "wrong" about offense predictability
November 11th, 2013 at 6:27 PM ^
November 11th, 2013 at 7:53 PM ^
I bet that took you all night.
November 11th, 2013 at 6:43 PM ^
November 11th, 2013 at 7:05 PM ^
is that Hoke could easily say something like this:
"Anytime you have opponents claiming they know what's coming, that's concerning. If that's true, that's something that the coaching staff has to fix, so we're going to take a good look at that to make sure it isn't true or that it gets fixed."
There. Problem solved without throwing Borges under the bus and without the utter bullshit of "The playcalling was good".
November 11th, 2013 at 7:04 PM ^
What else can one make of Hokes comments!
November 11th, 2013 at 7:15 PM ^
Brady Hoke is an embarassment to this academically elite University. Hoke's not an alum. I get that. But to have somebody who thinks in this way, who speaks this way to the media, who communicates with vague catchphrases such as "we didn't do some things" and spews such absurd garbage is an insult to the the people who have worked hard to build up the integrity of the institution.
It's enough already. I don't mind having a non-alum coach. I do mind having a (purposely or otherwise) mentally incapacitated one.
November 11th, 2013 at 7:28 PM ^
The WRONG part is/was MICH continuing to run up the middle when they were getting stuffed. God, that is thoughtless.
If you are getting stuffed OR see 8 men in the box, you go into the SPREAD and/or you PASS around. Quick shots. That is the counter.
Now if you also have a QB getting KILLED then you ROLL THE QB OUT. That is what you do. You do not put the QB under center make him turn around then get creamed again.
If Borges does this again this week, he needs to go. Funk needs to go as it is. RB coach gone too.
I think Hoke's brain is getting frozen with no jacket on. That is stupid too. Is it smart?
November 11th, 2013 at 7:30 PM ^
Let me add, while BORGES would like to do PLAY ACTION, you cannot do PLAY ACTION if the other team is getting in your backfield from the first second of the play. It only works if you are getting some protection to begin with! geeez
Also stupid is MICH snapping everytime the center puts his head up.
November 11th, 2013 at 9:21 PM ^
Everyone is coming down on Borges play calling... and most of it is BS. Desperate attempts to find "blame" in what has become a terrible offense.
The reasons for the crappy offense are:
1) interior 3 OL are horrible (no matter who they put in there), and young... Hopefully that area can get better with experience. There was little depth left there from the RR regime, but it is still comically horrible regardless.
2) the QB is incredibly inconsistent and is not a good fit for any system other than a RR type spread.... Borges is a West Coast Offense Coordinator. The past 2 QBs at Michigan are anything but West Coast QBs. Do you ever see Devin do a 3 step drop, plant and put the ball on timing to a slanting WR? no.
3) RB depth and talent is at an all time low for the program. Fitz is coming back from a tough injury and is not the same. Green is young, not in shape, has little burst and goes down easy on contact. None of them are good pass protecters. Little did we know how much we may miss Drake Johnson. At least he has speed.
4) WRs are not fast. Gallon is a great WR, but he does not stretch the field. Maybe Chesson can some day, but not yet.
5) Overall the offense is slow
6) Overall the offense is not crisp and does not play together well. They lack sync and tempo that all good offenses have.
Fault Borges for a little bit of any of these 6. Its on him to get this straight.....but his play calling is the least thing that is affecting the offense. He doesnt have much to work with, and he and his staff are simply failing in coaching them up.
November 11th, 2013 at 10:24 PM ^
South Dakota State put up 465 yards on the Huskers. Are you telling me we have less talent than SDSU?
November 11th, 2013 at 11:14 PM ^
Borges understands our deficiencies better then anyone (or at least he should). There are many things he could do to put this team in a better spot to move the sticks and score points.
1- Quicker passing from the gun featuring slants / quick outs / hitches / curls / ins / drags / option / and rub routes would help us slow down the pass rush and get the ball out of Devin's hands quickly. Force the defense to creep up to stop the quick pass game and that's when you break out the four verticals / the smash routes / the post patterns etc. Fitz should chip the end and immediately leak out. Why Al insists on continuing to call pass plays that take forever to develop is beyond me. Especially when they are of the play action variety with no established running game while behind the chains...
2- the running game is awful.. Instead of continuing the same atrocious run plays we need to break tendency and become innovative in the running game. Even though our depth at QB is limited I would like to see the QB power brought back bc it gets you an extra blocker and puts one of our best athletes in space. Misdirection and some trickery along with some personnel / formation tendency breakers would keep the defense guessing.
3- Devin is a spread option type QB. I don't doubt that he can be successful in any offense but in terms of experience he is way more spread. He has pretty much been a RB that throws since a child and now for 12 months he's been asked to become the opposite. So the LAST thing you do is put him under center with a bad interior line and continue to ask him to take 5 and 7 step drops.. Borges could do SO many things offensively to help Devin but he doesn't because Al runs what Al wants to see and not what our players can execute.
4- our offense is not slow at all. Fitz and Devin are both pretty fast as are Funchess, Chesson, Dileo, and Norfleet. There are ways to utilize those guys and MANBALL isn't it. Brady and this team would be so much more successful
If Al and the offense would adapt to the players as they did year 1. Each year we have seen more of a push toward pro style and each year we have gotten worse. There is no excuse for a guy like Borges who has been an OC for almost 30 years that has zero innovation and is as stubborn as he is. The drive after nebraskas muffed punt is case in point. We get incredible field position but Al decided with -3572784 yards rushing that back to back MANBALLS leaving us in 3rd and long was the best course of action there.
How you or anyone at this point can defend Al Borges is beyond me. You should want a coordinator that is pissed if his offense doesn't score at least 30 points. You want a guy that will put his players in the best position to win week in / week out. You want a guy that is ingrained in the nuances of modern offense and is good at the teaching of said offense.
You do not want Al Borges.
November 11th, 2013 at 9:23 PM ^
Arnold Rothstein has gotten to Borges and half the Michigan offense. Watch Schofield at the 1:11 mark of the BTN highlights video. THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO HMMMMMMMM.
November 11th, 2013 at 9:57 PM ^
November 11th, 2013 at 11:09 PM ^
A new coach would be stacked, because we have all seen that Hoke can recruit. Everyone is questioning whether he can coach or not!
He gets a year to show some improvement in my opinion. If the team shows progress next year, then he gets another year. More regression next year and anything is possible.
November 11th, 2013 at 11:34 PM ^
November 12th, 2013 at 3:47 AM ^
People heard a Nebraska player say the offense was predictable, and with -21 rushing yards, who were we to question him?
Then Hoke just says "He's wrong" when asked about it?
Well, Brady, you managed 13 points and less than 200 yards against a team that pretty much everyone else has bombed for 450 plus and 40. You're gonna have to give us a little more than "he's wrong" or we're gonna assume you're blowing smoke up our asses.