ditch the coaches not have the team prepared for the damn game?
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Michigan Iowa thread
This is all my fault.
I've had an atrocious weekend in Vegas so far -- never had such a bad streak at the tables before, and I bet on Michigan with the hopes my fortunes would change.
Everything I've touched turn this weekend has turned into herpes-infected poop. Sorry.
Need a quick score to have a pulse.
Out coached by Iowa...that stings...
What are you trying to do borgues? Go back to the flippin stone age?!
What is this newfangled QB Draw play that has Denard walking into the line of scrimmage for either no gain or 3 yards? Bring back the Rich Rod QB Draw for 7 yards per carry.
Now we're talking, Get Denard RUNNING!!!
Hey, let's run the spread and score at will!
TD Michigan but a flag
Let's go baby! Bounce back!
...unleash Denard!
Borges hurry up and put Gardner in.
Denard found a flow, let's see what Devin can do!
So Devin get 0 snaps and Denard drives us for a quick TD. Sounds about right.
next week we should play to our strengths the whole game.
Why do we wait so fucking long to run the O around denard.
Let me get this straight... A combination of designed runs by denard and short throws to the perimeter is legal?
might come back to haunt us.
THAT is a good point...
I don't get why you don't go for two? Makes no sense
you are down two scores. kick the xp and live with going for the 2pt conversion at the end, which is what UM should have been able to do but THE OFFICIALS F'CKING BLEW THE GAME!
Quick, effective, showing where the strengths of the team on O lies.
One strong, fast stop and we are right there.
Screw MsU
We should run that hurry up/jet offense at least 3-4 times per game.
JT is getting killed!
can Countess please cover nut the rest if the game? thank you
JT Floyd is bad.
I just found out that Borges missed the last drive as he was in the restroom. He is furious that Devin was left out of that drive.
Ok keep doing that!
Now stop em D! All they've done is slants and rollouts all game!
They are attacking Floyd. He's playing to far off.
we didn't kick it out of bounds
Here is the game.
Wow a defensive stop
Well looks like we can expect a pass to JT's side every time they throw.
I have noticed a pattern.
Every time Countess covers McNutt, he makes a nice play to either hold him to a minimal gain, or deflect the pass.
Every time JT Floyd "covers" McNutt, Iowa gets a first down.
GREAT STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Got to stop this fourth
LOL Take that
MOAR YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dude, you need to run spell check. It's "more."
Y U CALL TIMEOUT?
Borges just called the TO
That was the funniest Allstate commercial to date.
Not so sure about the TO. You may need those if the 2 pt conversion fails.
When is the last time we blocked a punt?
Nice pass to Hemmingway...what's that, nice call by Al Borgess??
This should be fun
So much for nice calls, I hate designed run plays for Denard, they're looking for them!!!
And they're so slow to develop.
So many bad pass interference no-calls
Spielman is saying exactly what I've been saying for the last 2 months, Denard needs to scramble off of pass play not just designed runs. It's like Borges put cement on Denard's feet. The offense is schizophrenic.
We need to force a turnover.
WTF is so hard about scrambling, screw these designed runs!
It seems Iowa is playing a lot with 2 "spies" straight up the middle. One stays closer to the line and waits for Denard runs, and another follows the deep receiver looks for the Denard overthrow.
Good stop on 3rd and 1 again!
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LET'S FUCKING GO!!!
DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDEFENSE!!!!!!!!!!!
Fucking beautiful D.
Agreed. Our D is so much better disciplined and well coached.
This is an emotional roller coaster
The ghost of Lloyd Carr* could come back to haunt Iowa.
*Even though Lloyd's not dead.
LOL Td MIchigan
come-on denard here's your chance to redeem yourself for that 2009 game.
Awesome.
NFIEGHN4WH86-4NUHUG4INREIHVB3J6B8JH54YHN-4THUWNTTIUHNT-4EOH=,Y4W5P.5G
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!HGNUR REUNGER0IUN6QQ35IKJTYRT
Are you kidding me???!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
exciting anyway
Do we even have a punt block play???
Fuck
Fuck
ONLY his elbow is down, and the player is down???
Not even 2 points of contact down. Oh well.
DENARD WHY DON'T YOU JUST FRREAKIN' RUN!!??
more touch
If you can't throw it, run it Denard!!!!!!!!
At least the deep balls are not under thrown
We missed a big one there.
Tacopants with the touchdown.
He can't throw long at all. Terrible.
I wish Borges didn't have such a hard on for calling fly routes.
This feels too much like X box...
I smell run
We've got to complete one of these long passes eventually...
Scramble, Denard!!!
many drops
Please Denard if there is a hole take off and run.
70% of the passes should go to Hemingway or Roundtree.
Nice gain...told you this was going to be fun
I tell you what Denard might not be scrambling but he seems on target with his passes now...
TD Michigan
WHAT
WHAT
That is a touchdown, we'll wait for you on the field...great grab!!!
Is there any way to get the replay official's take on why Hemmingway's TD wouldn't have counted? His knee was down and controlled the football. Isn't that a TD in college football? I get that the ball hit the ground, but it was still in his hands and it never moved once. Just wanted to hear why the replay guy thought it was inconclusive.
Michigan Fable wr history
3rd down for Michigan
Shotgun
Robinson
THROWS
TCAUGHT
NO NO
this is too much like X box...
Last gasp 4th and game
Shotgun
INCOMPLETE
No scrambles...
And that is a travesty
Horrible officiating
I am so embarrassed for this officiating crew.
What an unmitigated abortion.
What a blown call
Absolute great officiating. Fitting the game would end on a phantom pass interference.
How was that not a td?
fuck the refs
THAT WAS A TD. HIS KNEE HIT THE GROUND IN THE ENDZONE FIRST
As long as Denard is our QB we will never be good. If Devin is our QB we will be even worse. This is what the call a no-win situation.
Our receivers got raped the whole damn game!
Wish he could make a few comments of that officiating. PI!!!!!!!!
Fucking jobbed, sickening. I don't mind losing if we don't play well - which we didn't really. But that was bad.
Of phantom pass interference?
worst reffing job I've seen in years. pathetic. They steal a touchdown away from us then let the Iowa coverman get away with being draped all over roundtree on the final play. Complaints need to be filed for this game. Such horse shit.
Don't forget about the flag-picked-up PI call on Roundtree in the first half, and the PI on the Denard goal line int.
He has Denard Robinson and doesn't call one roll out with 4 shots from the three.
I'm not a big fan of Al Borges after this. Why are we using the Gardner sets so much? Apparently, we have to throw away some plays every game for no reason.
No rollouts on the goal line? The MSU game was a worse called game than this, but this one was still awful. Put another one in the "Borges has no idea how to maximize this personnel" column.
So disappointing.
I'm not a big fan of Al Borges after this. Why are we using the Gardner sets so much? Apparently, we have to throw away some plays every game for no reason.
No rollouts on the goal line? The MSU game was a worse called game than this, but this one was still awful. Put another one in the "Borges has no idea how to maximize this personnel" column.
So disappointing.
So embarrassed for this officiating crew. What an unmitigated abortion.
It's funny how the TV announcers can have such an impact on viewers' opinions. Because Spielman kept blabbering on about the need to call a rollout, a bunch of posters are parroting him now. I would not have called a rollout because 1) Denard doesn't throw that well on the run and 2) you can't afford to be tackled inbounds with no timeouts.
There was nothing wrong with the playcalling. The second-down play was a TD, but the officials blew the call. The third-down play should have been a TD, but Smith dropped it. The fourth-down play was clearly interference. This is on the officials. The only coaching move I'd second-guess was calling the timeout instead of spiking. If we'd saved the timeout, we could have called a running play, but OTOH, we would have lost a down.
The most dangerous player in college football, apparently, can put some pressure on the edge with only three yards to defend. Sure, they are accounting for him but if I'm covering the shallow route in the end zone, I'm left with "Oh, here comes Denard, uh, go, stay, go, stay, oh crap" defense.
It's a bit easier in "out there" but not so much in the endzone area. Also, DRob is a crappy pocket passer, and I know you can see that. So, making him make a decision to force balls into double coverage is much worse than getting him on the edge to the wide side of field with only three yards to get.
Denard's really not a great passer anywhere, if we're being honest. And I don't think the odds of him running it in were great given that he was obviously Iowa's top concern. He may have been able to get a receiver open in the endzone by rolling out, but he's had problems completing the pass in those situations.
I think Borges called those plays with two big concerns in mind:
1. Being able to run all four plays, if necessary
2. Not losing yardage.
Throwing from the pocket right after the snap accomplishes both of those. We threw the ball to receivers who were isolated on a defender. You can't really complain about that.
There were other moments where I think Borges made poor decisions (the Gardner packages come to mind), but I think he did fine at the end of the game.
It was one of the few series Borges got right. We had one TD, one dropped TD, and one CLEAR PI which should have extended it.
Add in the other red zone PI/INT and even without playing very well, we are in position to steal this.
Work in progress (admittedly that is not what I said at the end of the game..)
Home-field advantage is truly nothing more than the psychology of refereeing. Refs are more likely to give the home team the benefit of the doubt in order to please the fans.
Anyone else read that Sports Illustrated article from last winter that talked about this? It's actually been studied statisically by several independent groups, and most come to the same conclusion.
I would add that Home Field in Football is more than just the Referree's which I agree with. It is also the crowd noise. Perfect example is MSU this year when we couldn't change our silent snap count because they can't hear on the field.
It also is psychology of the players, having a routine that is normal, not traveling.
All these elements can be overcome, but it is a disadvantage. The statisticians put homefield advantage as a +3 advantage to the home team, but that is really +6 when you consider the swing from the comparison between playing at home versus away.
I can't say that I'm too disappointed in Borges, I hate that the animals come out to attack him when things don't go as planned. There are a lot of variables in the play calling and the people second guessing are arm-chair quarterbacks who of course are always right.
We were Smith's one elbow down away from an amazing score. We were Hemingway's catch away from a TD and chance to go to overtime with successful 2point conversion. We had pass interference that wasn't called, but those would not result in a guaranteed touch down.
All told, we had to score twice, and then get to overtime, and get the win in overtime, so we were a long shot away from winning that game.
What is most disturbing is how unpredictable this all is. We trounced Minnesota who beat Iowa. On paper, it doesn't even appear we should have been close with Iowa. It just goes to show that Any Given Saturday, the players and coaches must come to play and execute, there are going to be unpredicatable bounces of the ball and turns of events.
There is really no explanation for the Big 10 wins and losses this year. Looks like anything can happen, which we already know far too well from our loss to Appalacian State. Sh-T happens, Deal with it, and then time to show what we are made of.
We should have called a rollout run/pass option on the 4th down however. I totally agree with before, since you can't afford to have the clock run out.
The officials were terrible this game, but let's be honest. Our offensive play-calling didn't work in our favor. Edge running wasn't working, drop back passing wasn't working, only running up the tackles where they were weaker was. We got away from that and had shitty production. Then we switch back to the spread option (which this offensive skillset is built around) and have two ~80 yard drives at the end when its basically too late.
I get the need for Borges to transition, but why don't we wait till we have the personnel?
I hate being that "IT WAS THE REFS" guy but, goddammit, It was the refs.
The refs absolutely need to be reprimanded for their poor performance today but that does not excuse us from the mountain of mistakes, poor decisions and bad play calls. I thought the defense played pretty well today but the offense was ineffective, out of rhythm most of the day and the play calling was suspect at best.
The coaches claim to want to utilize the skills of their current players, then why not use the spread shotgun formation early and often to get Denard rolling with some sure throws / read option plays? Once our QB has some confidence, positive momentum and the defense on their heels we can start to work in the lead draws (I personally don't think lead draws will be very successful against good Big Ten defenses with our current personnel), play action and power game.
Borges has fallen in love with the Devin formations and it hurt us today. Denard has earned the opportunity to lead this team, time to get out of the way and put him in more positions to be succesfful using his current skill sets from the QB position.
Ps. I would have loved to see a run / pass option on 4th & game.
I know Gardner has not played very well, but I think it might be worth a shot to start Gardner over Denard.
Hear me out.
1) We need to establish the pass early.
- Denard simply cannot pass well. Gardner has a better arm and has a better chance of completing passes.
2) By playing Gardner, the defense will not know if Denard is going to throw or run.
- If you use Denard as a runningback/quarterback/ widereciever, BUT stiil continue to give him some passing opportunites, it might be a better attack
3) Establish Ftiz and STOP RUNNING VINCENT SMITH UP THE MIDDLE
- Fitz is our best back period. Stick with him, and hit V.Smith on the slants or dumps, thats the best use for him
Just some thoughts.
Go Blue!