OT: Borges doing his thing @ SJSU, dropped 70 lbs

Submitted by carlos spicywiener on

 

 

Al Borges says he's lost 70-plus pounds. He's got jokez, too. "It's like tossing a lawn chair off the Titanic."

— Brandon Marcello (@bmarcello) September 30, 2015

Article about his return to his old stomping grounds, this weekend at Auburn.

 

 

 

Eight years removed from his final season at Auburn, Borges returns as the enemy coordinating San Jose State's offense. He's a changed man, too. He's traversed the California highways at two jobs and coached on the sidelines of Michigan. "I learned a lot of stuff about myself, but I've learned even more about the greatest game ever invented, and what might be the worst business ever invented," said Borges, who was fired at Michigan following the 2013 season.
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PopeLando

October 2nd, 2015 at 2:32 PM ^

Interviews, exclusives, jokes. The guy had intelligence, but there were three fatal flaws: 1) inability to ID or develop QB talent. 2) inability to translate the scheme in his head to the field. 3) too willing to abandon what worked to see if something which hadn't worked would work again. I won't give him complete passes, but (2) was probably a result of the incompetence around him. And (3) was definitely on Hoke as well.

Joined: 08/01/2015

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PopeLando

October 2nd, 2015 at 9:48 PM ^

The OC works under the head coach.* When Hoke came in, we saw an immediate attempt to un-Denard Denard, which went about as well as you may have predicted. My impression was that Hoke dictated an offensive style which Borges then had to work under. Sometimes they let Denard Denard people, but it was always sandwiched between silly little attempts at making him a pro QB. I think Borges' gimmicks were a desperate attempt to get something, anything, working, but always under Hoke's philosophy of a pro style offense. When Gardner first stepped in as QB, he looked like superman. At the beginning of the following season, he had regressed, then was asked to stand in a non-existent pocket only to get his ribs caved in. And that was the end of prolific Gardner, except for some maddening flashes of brilliance. Hoke's entire offensive philosophy seemed to revolve around asking people to do things which they weren't suited for, in an attempt to be what he wanted the team to be. Somebody on here said something like, "willing to lose their way rather than win some other way." That's where (3) came from. I think that every time there was a glimpse of success, Hoke said great, can you fit it into our base pro-set? And Borges would think that he could, which is where (2) comes in. * feel free to substitute Dave Brandon's name for Hoke's where appropriate.

Joined: 08/01/2015

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Yeoman

October 2nd, 2015 at 3:31 PM ^

Let's try this again, with a bit larger timescale and one more set of events included:

81st

66th

(ENTER DENARD)

2nd

(ENTER BORGES)

9th

25th

(EXIT DENARD)

42nd

(EXIT BORGES)

82nd

It's even clearer when you remember that Denard was hurt for part of that last year.

Joined: 06/08/2011

MGoPoints: 21390

Yeoman

October 2nd, 2015 at 4:10 PM ^

The effect of Denard Robinson on an offense is much greater than the effect of any offensive coordinator. A healthy Denard meant a top-ten offense regardless of coordinator; without Denard we've been outside the top 40 every year since Carr retired (for that matter, we've been outside every year in the Fremeau database).

That not very surprising fact suffices to explain the decline in Borges's offense during his tenure; I don't see any reason to look for another cause.

The one point I'd make in Borges's favor is that his one non-Denard year was the best non-Denard offense Michigan has had, under any coordinator, in the Fremeau era. It may have been a tank relative to Denard, but it was the best we've seen in a decade otherwise.

(Until now, hopefully.)

 

 

Joined: 06/08/2011

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Stu Daco

October 2nd, 2015 at 4:36 PM ^

FEI started in 2007.  If we take out the Denard years, we have 2007, 2008, and 2014 to compare to 2013. 

So yes, Borges produced an offense better than the Steven Threet unit, Hoke's last unit with a new coordinator, and a team with a constantly-injured Chad Henne.  That's a pretty tiny point in his favor.  

Anyways, he's gone now so I guess there's no point in arguing it to death.

Joined: 08/23/2015

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jmblue

October 2nd, 2015 at 3:49 PM ^

For all his shortcomings, I don't think it's fair to pin 2014 on him.  I do think we'd have been somewhat better offensively last year with Borges as OC.  There were games when he and Gardner "clicked" in a way that never happened with Nussmeier.  Senior-year Gardner never came close to the level he played at in the '13 ND and OSU games.   

But it's for the best.  If Borges had been retained, maybe we'd have eked out seven wins in 2014 and Hoke would still be our coach.

 

 

Joined: 11/07/2008

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Reader71

October 2nd, 2015 at 8:19 PM ^

His offense still gave us not only a chance to win, but a late lead. Borges could draw up a pass as well as anyone. Run game, not so much. But again, I dont think anyone could have run behind that line. I don't miss Gorgeous, but he did get at least a semi-raw deal -- entire classes of missing linemen made the job very, very hard.

Joined: 08/30/2009

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Yeoman

October 2nd, 2015 at 2:45 PM ^

...but this is a better place for it. Last week against Fresno, San Jose's Tyler Ervin ran for a school-record 300 yards and the QB Gray was 20 of 23 for 252.

These guys were 3-9 last year; the Michigan expats are doing something right. Robinson too--they were five possessions into the game before Fresno topped ten yards in total offense.

 

Joined: 06/08/2011

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JamieH

October 2nd, 2015 at 2:49 PM ^

always somewhat  indifferent on Borges.  However after reading BLL and having Gardner kind of soft-toss him under the bus, I'm guessing he didn't do us many favors.  I don't think he was terrible, but I suspect someone actually exploiting Gardner's running abilities properly could have done better. 

 

Who knows how much of that is on Borges and how much is on Hoke though.   Clearly Nussmeyer was even worse, and he has done fine at other stops. 

Joined: 09/05/2009

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Yeoman

October 2nd, 2015 at 3:10 PM ^

I had the opposite reaction to that--to me it felt like a small glimpse of a bad locker-room vibe that I'd suspected was ultimately responsible for a lot of the poor performance on the field the last several years. Not a reflection on Borges at all, but on a program that was off the rails and had been for the better part of a decade.

A lot of people shared responsibility for that, coaches and players and administrators alike. (Hell, fans too for that matter.) Ultimately it's on Hoke, and Rodriguez, and Brandon.

Joined: 06/08/2011

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JamieH

October 2nd, 2015 at 4:30 PM ^

I think you could read it a lot of way.

 

However for me, two things DG said stuck with me, both about the OSU game.

 

1)  He basically said, why the f*** didn't Borges let him run like this all the time, because it was the only way he was ever effective.  And like, yeah, DUH.

2)  On the 2-point try, Everyone and their brother knew what was coming, and Borges didn't realize it.

 

I thought those two statements were pretty damning, even if they weren't total "under the bus" type statements.  They certainly pointed to an OC that wasn't fully maximizing the potential of his offense. 

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Hail Harbo

October 2nd, 2015 at 9:02 PM ^

That wasn't asked, or if it was, wasn't included in the book.  If DG knew the play wasn't going to work before the snap, which is what he strongly implied, then why did he still throw the gift INT instead of trying to make something happen?  This is an especially important question because JUB suggested to DG that we all thought he couldn't run or scramble on that play and that's why he threw the INT.  However, he stated otherwise saying he'd been running all game and could have run again.

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markusr2007

October 2nd, 2015 at 3:04 PM ^

I bet he's been pumping iron like a maniac. That usually does the trick.

-70 lbs? Dude is 50 years old.  That is freaking awesome.

SJSU has been scoring a lot of point against body bag teams. Auburn has been improving.

I wouldn't be totally shocked if SJSU eeked out a win down there. SEC!!!

Joined: 10/21/2008

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Danwillhor

October 2nd, 2015 at 3:10 PM ^

doesn't have a box for him to lounge in? I always pictured Hedonism-Bot when I pictured Al calling a game. He's dropped 70 because he had to call from the sidelines. Business? He ran off with will over a million dollars and he never had to leave town to recruit. If Hoke "stole money", WTF did Al do? Attempted murder of us? Felonious assault?

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