The Importance of Gary Moeller
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These days, any program with 6 Ten win seasons in 13 is pretty freakin "elite".
The past 7 years of Michigan football's decline should make us appreciate that level much more.
I think a more intriguing "what if" is what if McMillen was less concerned with cleaning house and gave Moeller a full season as Lions HC. The Lions looked better under him than they did before Ross skipped out mid-season.
I was at the loss against FSU when the Noles came in on Sept 28th, 1991, what a disaster, they had scored 14 points before we even got into the stadium from the golf course. I remember saying to my bro in law outside the stadium after the loss Mo ain't no Bo. that's a vivid memory for me that ass whupping introduction to southern football.
Well...Moeller opened up the O and climbed back in to that game. They still lost by 21, but it was the terrible start that put them i that hole. If that game had been played again, i suspect the results would have been much different. Both teams had equal levels of NFL type talent...
Most football coaches will open up the offense when they fall behind by multiple touchdowns - Carr did as well.
Mo was a good offensive mind, but I wouldn't give him too much credit for that particular game. Our top 5 team was embarassed on its home field.
You can't really say that though. When a team gets up so much the gas is let off a bit.
You guys must lose lots of sleep over ridiculous hypotheticals.
chickens? we always had a winning record against them and it would be nice to have a regular stepping stool game before B10 play.
but you are right that this is only a hypothetical. the fighting chickens did what chickens do, they fled from danger.
Ya, that bits a little played out. Glad you could rack up a lot of wins in the 1800s to take the lead. But did you know in the modern era of football (1970-) ND is 17-16 vs UM? And did you know that you guys were the ones to chicken out not only once, but twice. There was a reason there is a big break after 1909 and 1943 and it wasn't ND.
Well that was still in my decades long streak of going to every home game so I was there too, sitting in the south end zone about half way up. That sickening opening play came right my way.
The frustration I remember was that their line and their blitz was swarming into the backfield like lightning on every play, at least early on, but what we were doing was giving Wheatley the ball on these verrry deep, very sloooow developing handoff's from under center, and Wheatley was slow starting with a slow first step, his speed didn't kick in until he had a head of steam and he was getting hit as he got the ball sometimes or a step or two later and had a hard time getting back to the line of scrimmage.
On the other hand Jessie Johnson had a super quick first step and could hit the hole quickly and squirt through. But they didn't try that, at least as a change of pace to slow down that rush. No trying a shot gun that I recall. Also there was a very successful play they used to run to Desmond, I specifically remember burning State with it repeatedly, involving a very quick one step drop & immediate throw to Des split wide who would drop back a yard behind the line and catch a bullet while his defender was playing back because, Desmond. But we didn't try any of that, nothing quick hitting or quick developing. It's one thing to be out speeded and out quicked, but another to build slowness into the game plan on top of that when facing the fastest defense they ever saw.
I don't remember what we were or weren't doing on defense any more, or what we eventually did to get the offense going, I just remember what I said and feeling like we weren't ready for what we saw, didn't react to it quickly or well enough and didn't pull out all the stops we could have and should have. Plus that the whole thing was incredibly painful! It was such a big game with so much hype and the whole (cfb) world watching, it was a north/south statement game, it was a Michigan pride and Big Ten pride game, and it looked like a slaughter! We just didn't show the talent we had, we didn't show that we were a fast team too, and we didn't show that we could play with them even though we really could have. It was a disaster! It was like the Cooper Rose Bowl debacle (Blessing in disguise) in terms of not showing what we really had, though not getting blown out in that one. I was at that game too!
It's one thing to be out speeded and out quicked, but another to build slowness into the game plan on top of that when facing the fastest defense they ever saw
This! FSU was a better team, okay. But the prepration and game plan for that game were terrible. Moeller thought that he could beat FSU with the exact same playbook that he used to beat Notre Dame, and boy, was he wrong.
I think we forget that most of the players on that team were Moeller's.
We "forget it" because it's an odd point to make. Carr was Moeller's DC and secondary coach, so he personally recruited (and coached) a lot of those players.
Not really a bad off season topic.
Carr really had three problems that will overshadow some of his skill. 1) Losing early in the season. 2) Losing to Tressel. 3) Losing to App State. The rest of his career was stellar especially prior to 2001.
The hypotheticals that I consider often
- Drew Henson staying another season. Would have been nice to see Tressel stumble after such a big prediction. Our staff should NEVER let another new coach of a rival talk such trash and then back it up.
- Antonio Bass getting hurt. He was such a talented athlete and outside of Denard Robinson, I absolutely enjoyed whenever he came onto the field.
- Tom Brady starting every game in 1999. Carr's excitement over Drew Henson may have cost him another National Championship.
- 2006 rematch. We ought to beat the stew out of Urban every year just for his politicking as I have little doubt it cost us the 2006 National Championship.
The rest of the hypotheticals have to do with the number of points between a couple losses and an undefeated season. Michigan has so many seasons where two touchdowns was the difference between two to three losses and zero losses. It's quite depressing going over the number of seasons that ended up like this particularly during Bo's era.
What game did Brady not start in 1999?
Starting and playing Brady the entire game when needed. Carr went to Drew Henson in the second quarter which caused Michigan to get into some big holes in a couple games. Eventually Carr started Brady and kept him in the game as the starter and Michigan did not lose again.
You're thinking of the MSU game. It wasn't the second quarter that was the problem but the third. We were down 13-10 at halftime and started Henson (who had thrown our only TD) for the third. But he threw an INT and we fell behind 27-10 when Brady returned.
In the other game we lost (Illinois) the rotation wasn't the issue so much as that both our offense (with Brady) and defense fell apart in the second half. We led 27-7 in the third quarter and lost 35-29.
Moeller would have never won that national championship. He could never get his team fired up three weeks in a row. He was an excellent OC who recruited top notch talent, did a good job of developing them,and then put them in position to win with good playcalling. But his teams came out completely flat time after time. No other Michigan coach in my lifetime -- not even Hoke -- ever had teams that gave me the sensation that we lost because the other team just wanted it more than us. Moeller's squads did that frequently. Something about the guy -- he just didn't have that magic on gameday. Especially in the '93 and '94 seasons. Those teams had national championship caliber talent and they underachieved. If Moeller had been our coach in '97, the MSU game or the Wisconsin game are perfect examples of ones where the team would have dropped a big dookie and lost. On the flip side, he would have never squandered gads of offensive talent the way that Carr did in many years.
We had a lot of talent in '94 but that season isn't as bad folks remember. The Colorado game will live in infamy, but that was an excellent Colorado team and while we can rethink the final play (rush 3 or 4) the way the ball ended up in Westbrook's hands was a fluke. The other losses included one a national championship Penn State team, Ohio State and Wisconsin. They won their bowl game. No one would complain about that season compared to recent years.
I am not sure how the players felt but that game killed the fans emotionally. I remember where I was and I remember crying over that game to this day. I have matured quite a bit but I think that game changed the course of the season.
We had a preseason top 5 team with a ton of experience. It's true that we played a difficult schedule, but to lose four games was a huge disappointment, especially when three of the losses were at home. Wisconsin and OSU, especially, were games we should not have lost. We were definitely more talented than both of them.
The Wisconsin and OSU losses were major shit shows. In both of those games, Michigan looked like they had just been awoken from a valium-induced slumber. We should have run Wisky especially off the field. They played really well in those Penn State and Colorado losses and unfortunately dropped close ones to elite teams. But they should have ended the regular season at 9-2 with a shot at Alabama in the Citrus Bowl. They had the talent to beat anyone in the country.
The year before, Michigan came out flat -- and I mean totally flat -- against Michigan State and got their asses completely kicked. In 1993 they went to Happy Valley and played an incredible game, beating a legit Top 10 Penn State team. The next week, they laid an egg of epic proporations against a 5-6 Illinois team at home. Moeller would have a few of those every year -- games where it looked like Michigan's gatorade was spiked with sedatives. It is for that reason that I don't think that he would have ever run the table.
He excelled a mediocrity. That team was all Moeller. Hell, Carr said by the end of the osu game he was hoping to hang on, punt and play defense. Fuck that attitude, his tantrum over not being able to identify his successor and his surly old man attitude