November 5th, 2011 at 3:54 PM ^
I don't know, but Blake Countess is sweeeeeet!
November 5th, 2011 at 3:55 PM ^
i love how mods just throw out 'flamebait' and 'trolling' for anyone not willing to skull fuck the refs. two blown calls in a row
November 5th, 2011 at 4:10 PM ^
November 5th, 2011 at 3:58 PM ^
I wanted Hoke to have a Schembechler moment on the sideline. Just standing there with his arms folded really irked me. I thought he was gonna kiss Ferentz at the end of the game.
November 5th, 2011 at 4:55 PM ^
Throwing a hissy fit and chasing the refs off the field does nothing at that point. Would it change the outcome of the game? No. I'm happy ESPN is not replaying highlights of Hoke sprinting after the zebras with a Brian Kelly-esque skin tone. This was a shitty way to end the game...Hoke flying off the handle would've been even worse.
November 5th, 2011 at 3:59 PM ^
I wanted Hoke to have a Schembechler moment on the sideline. Just standing there with his arms folded really irked me. I thought he was gonna kiss Ferentz at the end of the game.
November 5th, 2011 at 4:03 PM ^
November 5th, 2011 at 4:11 PM ^
why the f do you try to play manball with a team that can barely do it vs a team like Iowa who thrives in manball type games.
Our offense played right into their hands, and once Iowa figured out how to shutdown the inside runs Borges had nothing until it got to be desperation time.
I know these guys want to be a big tough physical team that pounds people but we aren't there and don't have the personnel to do it yet. If we take this same approach in the next 3 games it will be 3 more losses, 1 or 2 probably really ugly.
November 5th, 2011 at 5:08 PM ^
The pre-game scouting report indicated that Iowa was giving up a ton of rushing yards against mediocre teams. They seemed especially vulnerable up the middle. I think that's why we had lots of I-formation and power runs. Fitz was making some yards up the middle before he got dinged up. He didn't bust any long ones, but was averaging 5+ YPC in the 1st half. I agree that our team isn't designed for the power running game, but we showed some good power against Purdue *and* every sane football fan knew that Iowa was weak against the run (read Brian's pre-game scouting report fergodsakes!).
Iowa somehow found a magic elixir to fix their run defense, especially in the 2nd half. We had some costly turnovers and a muffed snap on the PAT. The refs didn't seem to be watching the same game the rest of us were. Our receivers dropped easy balls. Denard Taco-pantsed wide open receivers. Borges' play-calling wasn't perfect, but we had plenty of opportunities to win this game with the offensive strategy employed.
November 5th, 2011 at 5:11 PM ^
you can still up the middle out of the gun. That way, we are attacking their strength and teasing a QB run on all plays.
November 5th, 2011 at 6:29 PM ^
100% agree. And I definitely agree that Denard is better in a spread system, and the spread principles make you account for that extra running threat (the QB). I just don't agree that the I-formation look completely lost this game for us, especially when the pre-game scouting report illustrated that mediocre running attacks have decimated Iowa's D up the gut.
November 5th, 2011 at 4:10 PM ^
A split second before the original poster's picture. The ball is barely past the line and the DB has already made contact.
November 5th, 2011 at 4:11 PM ^
The officiating was bad, but Brady Hoke blew this game the moment he hired Al Borges to run this offense. That guy has no idea what to do with the immense talent at his disposal.
November 5th, 2011 at 4:24 PM ^
Blew this game as well himself. Not prepared to play, played with no sense of urgency and if you are the head coach you tell the o coord. aftter week 1 of fall camp that we are running a spread attack with Denard plain and simple. This was my biggest fear hiring from the Lloyd tree. Completely outcoached from the kick today just like against State. Pathetic.
November 5th, 2011 at 4:30 PM ^
Agreed.
November 5th, 2011 at 5:21 PM ^
What is "sense of urgency"? Does that mean running no-huddle all of the game? How did you come to the conclusion that our players and coaches didn't have a sense of urgency in this game? From sideline demeanor (did Hoke just look too relaxed?)? From on-field actions (were Hemingway's drops due to his lack of urgency? Was Denard's pick due to his complacency in the pocket)? Our defense played damned well at crucial junctures in this game. Two consecutive 3rd and short stops against a man-beast RB in the 4th quarter. Our defense definitely played with a sense of urgency in those instances. Despite earlier crucial turnovers and horrible reffing, our offense sparked and almost made a miraculous comeback.
This is the first time I've ever mentioned RR in the past year, but would you argue that RR's spread attack last didn't play with a "sense of urgency" against MSU, PSU, Iowa, OSU, and MSU (Miss. St.) last year?
I blame this loss on DB for not finding a coach who understands "sense of urgency"!!
November 5th, 2011 at 6:04 PM ^
That was actually the argument all last year.
November 5th, 2011 at 6:36 PM ^
...that our defense didn't stop anything last year (save for the UConn game!).
But I totally see your point. RR's teams rallied in spurts to make some games close - just like we did w/ Iowa today - so my claim that this year's late rally tells us something about this team is kind of shallow. I guess I'm just confused about what "sense of urgency" means and how you can tangibly define it (i.e., does running a spread automatically imply an offensive "sense or urgency" versus an offense that huddles?)
November 5th, 2011 at 4:22 PM ^
The refs really had a bad day, or a good day depending on which team you're rooting for. It's sad that football games have to end like this where there's obvious bias in your playcalling. If we don't get our shit together then all of the sports writers will be right, that we really are non-competitive in November.
November 5th, 2011 at 4:33 PM ^
...pass interference, but M had 4 cracks from short range and couldn't get it done. Plus, you go -2 in turnovers on the road and you usually lose. Like the direction the program is headed, don't love the way Denard is being used, but let's be rational. Things are looking up long-term. Tough loss though.
November 5th, 2011 at 4:56 PM ^
M had 4 cracks from short range and couldn't get it done.
Except the time we did get it done (2nd down) - and the time we didn't get a fair crack at it because of pass interference (4th down).
November 5th, 2011 at 5:18 PM ^
That was extremely blatent. You make it sound like there was little contact and it could have gone either way. He literally bear hugged him.
Not to mention they did get one in the endzone, Hemingway's catch was clearly a td. They executed on the last play as well. Roundtree ran a good route, Denard threw a good ball, and Roundtree got inside position on the db. The contact was the only thing that keep from that pass from being completed. To claim they didn't execute on those 4 cracks isn't correct.
November 5th, 2011 at 4:39 PM ^
All I'm saying is that Hoke should've brought in a spread guy to run this offense. If I recall correctly, last year (as a first year starter), Denard Robinson set Michigan and NCAA records running and throwing. In one offseason, Borges turned our legit Heisman candidate into "uhh, let's see what Devin can do."
Our offense, lead by a second-year Denard Robinson would've been any (spread-minded) o-coordinator's wet dream. Instead we are stuck in what appears to be Brady Hoke's confused wet manball dream, and I don't like it.
November 5th, 2011 at 5:03 PM ^
aaaaarrrrrggghhhh!!!!
November 5th, 2011 at 5:19 PM ^
but, still you win some, you lose some. Team has to recover from this by the time they get back from Iowa as they have a short week before traveling again to face another stingy defense on the road. Let's hope they can...
November 5th, 2011 at 5:19 PM ^
I think we may have gotten jobbed on the time clock on the last drive too. If I'm not mistaken, in the last two minutes of a half, when play ends with the player going out of bounds, the clock is not restarted until the next snap. With about 1:04 left, our receiver was tackled out of bounds and the official at the sideline stopped the clock. However, the official in charge of the game clock started the clock again as soon as the ball was set at the line of scrimmage. About 19 seconds went off the clock before snapped the ball on the next play. That play turned out to be an incomplete pass. The next play resulted in us getting the ball down to the 3 yard line with 16 seconds left. If I'm correct, we should have had around 35 seconds left. We at least would have had enough time to try running Denard on one play instead of just throwing 4 passes into the end zone. Nevertheless, we did score but it didn't count.
November 5th, 2011 at 5:44 PM ^
The announcers said Gallon was OB but apparently he was not and the time out was for the first down. You could not see where he went down on TV so if ruled down in bounds the clock would start when the ball was marked - as it was. Perhaps the refs actually got one thing correct in that miserable last series.
November 5th, 2011 at 6:03 PM ^
It was I'm front of the Iowa bench. Of course he wasn't ruled out of bounds. No wonder why no one can win on the road in the Big 10. The officiating is so lopsided.
November 5th, 2011 at 5:20 PM ^
I fully expect the pain of this loss to be made even worse when an ESPN sidebar shows up on Tuesday that says "Big Ten Apologizes to Michigan for Incorrect Call"
November 5th, 2011 at 6:01 PM ^
For MGoFuckSakes, that picture says it all.
November 5th, 2011 at 6:07 PM ^
MGoUgh. Of the three Roundtree gropes (deep ball where flag was picked up, Denard's INT, final play) this one was by far the most PI-worthy yet it was totally blown. I don't even feel like watching LSU-Bama now.
November 5th, 2011 at 6:16 PM ^
Have the ability to play above shitty refs.....just sayin were not quit there yet, give it time
November 5th, 2011 at 6:37 PM ^
I only agree with this if shitty refs don't take points off the board. They took several off of ours. Good teams struggle at times. Good teams win close games at times. This can't happen if they score points that don't count.
November 5th, 2011 at 6:28 PM ^
Oh well it's not the reason we lost, but man we got some tough breaks.
November 5th, 2011 at 6:44 PM ^
Two weeks of prep for the coaches to do that? Were they recruiting the whole time?
November 5th, 2011 at 7:23 PM ^
On the incomplete to Vince Smith, take a look at the bottom of the screen. Denard's first look was to Roundtree on the slant, but he was flat out tackled and brought to the ground. It should have been a holding call. Denard went to option 2 or 3, Smith. If a defense can hold and interfere on the goal line it becomes very difficult to score via the air. They should have called a pass run option on fourth down.