QB rotation today
Anyone else confused by the QB substituting today? I can understand why RR would want to bench Denard for a bit (or even the remainder of the game) after he had his second "I'm comfortable in jeans; I'm comfortable in Wranglers" moment. But I don't understand why (for a while) we were literally swapping QBs on every series. While I think announcers overstate the importance of QB rhythm, M seemed intent on making sure the QBs had all the rhythm of white guys trying to Dougie. It was like a flash-back to early 2008.
November 13th, 2010 at 9:10 PM ^
Like Rich Rod said in the post-game, whenever a team replaces a quarterback everyone assumes he is being benched but when receivers, runningbacks, or linebackers go out and come right back in like Denard was doing, it's known as a "breather." Denard wasn't having his best game and Rich Rod said he wanted Denard to take a step back and see the game from the sidelines. The offense wasn't moving the ball so we threw Tate in there to see what would happen. Denard's already been named the starter for the next week so everything is fine.
November 13th, 2010 at 9:14 PM ^
November 14th, 2010 at 12:57 AM ^
imo it looked like Denard was benched for performance issues and or possibly a "breather" like RR said, but he was put back in because the team was deep on the wrong end of the field so they put denard in as an extra running threat and when the team was in a comfortable field position Tate came in.
November 14th, 2010 at 9:30 AM ^
a break or a breather. I think we have all heard the word TEMPO in RR converstations about the offense, well I think he was clearly just trying to get exactly that. But I also think that Denard turning the ball over with ribbons on it could have started the whole benching thing. You could almost say it was "Bo-ish" of RR to do, because if you fumbled the football for BO, it didn't matter if you were a heisman candidate, a senior in your last game, or a RB approching 300 yrds rushing for the day, you would get benched for atleast the next series to think about it. I applaud RR for creating that discipline in a time like that
November 13th, 2010 at 9:13 PM ^
November 13th, 2010 at 11:26 PM ^
i agree completely....it was a mess and he was trying to find something....i would've been way more pissed if he didn't do that.
November 13th, 2010 at 9:15 PM ^
to give Tate's passing skills a try.
Tate didn't play well at all, but DRob gave up 10 points on INTs.
I wouldn't expect to see that on dry turf.
November 13th, 2010 at 9:15 PM ^
In this game, it seemed RR could afford to try to find a spark...multiple times. Neither QB was impressive, so why not.
November 13th, 2010 at 9:17 PM ^
November 13th, 2010 at 9:19 PM ^
I was expecting Tate to be in for at least two series in a row, it seems like that's how RR worked it last year when he was swapping them out... seems like that would help with rythm... oh well, we won. I'm not complaining. Wahoo!
November 13th, 2010 at 9:22 PM ^
It tends to freak defenses out, so I'm okay with mixing things up. I'd like to go to something similar to 2006 Florida where they were mixing in Leak and Tebow.
November 13th, 2010 at 9:23 PM ^
November 13th, 2010 at 9:25 PM ^
What's wrong with that?
November 13th, 2010 at 9:32 PM ^
First, they do this in practice every day -- rotate the three QBs.
Second, getting Tate into the game helps him feel a part of things and keeps him motivated to stay at M.
November 13th, 2010 at 9:36 PM ^
Do you really think that making Tate feel part of the team was a major consideration in the strategy or are you simply enumerating some minor points? I could see it having a slight impact on RR's thinking, but I don't see him jeopardizing a close game (and one that guarantees a winning record) for Tate's sake. He must have felt that this gave us our best shot at winning.
November 13th, 2010 at 10:46 PM ^
I think RR does these things with one thing and only one thing in mind. Winning the game Michigan is playing.
Today he succeeded brilliantly, as he has six other times this season
November 13th, 2010 at 10:52 PM ^
What was brilliant? The way we barely beat the worst team in the Big Ten? The way we barely beat a FCS UMass team? The way we barely beat a weak Indiana team? The way we barely beat a bad Illinois team? I'm happy we won all those games. Certainly much better than losing, but be a bit realistic...We've fit ourselves nicely in the low-to-middle of the Big Ten.
November 13th, 2010 at 11:20 PM ^
Brilliant was winning...that is what you are there for and he did it...we won the game under extremely adverse conditions...that's all that matters
Enjoy your evening...I'm loving mine!
November 13th, 2010 at 11:39 PM ^
Maybe I just have different expectations. A win over a terrible Purdue team is not brilliant. It's expected. We've got problems when a game like today is called "brilliant".
November 13th, 2010 at 11:59 PM ^
Okay, you got me. I'll admit that using the term "brilliant" may have involved a bit of artistic license. However please keep in mind that there are only three possible outcomes to every football game:
1 - win
2 - tie
3 - lose
There is nothing higher than " 1 - win". Nothing you can possibly do on the field can get you more than "1 - win".
Therefore since what we did today could not possibly be exceeded by any other possible outcome I have decided to, liberally I admit, call today's effort BRILLIANT!!!
November 14th, 2010 at 12:25 AM ^
Not to nitpick, okay maybe a little. In major college football their are only two options win or lose.
November 13th, 2010 at 11:22 PM ^
Does it suck to be so negative? We are 7-3 and you just named off reasons why we should think twice about the teams we have beaten. Go root for another team please.
November 13th, 2010 at 11:37 PM ^
Talk to me in two weeks after we've played two solid teams who have QB's physically able to throw the ball. Then you can take a look at our team's overall performance and, hopefully, consider an honest evaluation of the program. I'll continue to root for Michigan, not just the coach. Thanks for the suggestion though.
November 14th, 2010 at 12:40 AM ^
Why stop at the coach? Why not root against anyone he has recruited and brought in to the program? Denard. Tate. Roundtree. They all like him so you are against them, too, right?
Like I said, if you don't want to root for RichRod, great. Go root for another team until he is not the coach in 20 years. You are the worst type of Michigan fan.
November 14th, 2010 at 12:55 AM ^
if you don't want to root for RichRod, great. Go root for another team
The coach, despite your longings, is not the team. The TEAM is what takes the field. The TEAM plays the games. RichRod is not the team; he's the coach. Don't make nonsense, childish accusations about someone not being a real fan when you start your rant by saying that RR is the team.
Those who deal in facts and logic understand that the season isn't done. We have big games left against teams much better than Purdue. Hopefully, we pull off an upset. Otherwise, we're still not as good as we were before your "team" got to A2.
November 14th, 2010 at 10:11 AM ^
Don't make nonsense, childish accusations about someone not being a real fan when you start your rant by saying that RR is the team.
Uh, yeah, he didn't say that. You did. Yet he's childish. Yep, makes sense to me.
FU dahblue, it must suck to be you.
November 14th, 2010 at 12:42 PM ^
Maybe you could dip into your vast reservation of kittens pics or "haters gonna hate" next time? Or, you could just read posts before posting intelligent, useful comments like "FU, it must suck to be you". All the best.
November 13th, 2010 at 11:44 PM ^
You forgot to mention ND.
November 14th, 2010 at 12:05 AM ^
You're right. That was a good win. Whether ND is bad or otherwise, we played a solid game and pulled out the victory. I don't think we've had as good a win since.
November 14th, 2010 at 12:00 AM ^
November 14th, 2010 at 12:04 AM ^
Minnesota beat Illinois today (and they didn't need three overtimes to do it). Of course we didn't play Minnesota, but if we did, it wouldn't be a gimmie.
November 14th, 2010 at 12:44 AM ^
So now, not only should we not like any of our victories this year, we should be thankful we don't have to play 2 win Minnesota because it would be a battle that we might not win? Again, just go root for another team. I hear Stanford is doing well and they have to have a coach you like. There is probably plenty of room on their bandwagon considering Harbaugh is a jerk.
November 14th, 2010 at 12:55 AM ^
you're a train wreck. How do you have over 1000 Mgopoints?
November 14th, 2010 at 1:06 AM ^
It's easy. I'm not always successful, but I try not to insult people personally, I try to use logical arguments not shaded by blinding homerism, and...I try not talk about mgopoints. I slip up at times, but it's been a while since I violated two of those three tenants in a two sentence post. Cheers.
November 14th, 2010 at 6:03 AM ^
Wait so I'm confused because Purdue beat both Minnesota and Northwestern, who just beat Iowa. So... I guess we should have no problem with Iowa since they lost to a team that lost to such an awful team.
You can't not root for the coach and still root for the team. The coach is part of the team. If you are rooting against the coach, you are rooting against the team, just as surely as if you were rooting against any player on the team. Sorry.
November 14th, 2010 at 12:38 PM ^
Yes. You're confused. I never said I root against the coach. Please don't make up things and pretend I said them. I root for the team, not just one part of it. And, if I think a part of the team is harming the overall unit, I think it's entirely fair to note that.
November 13th, 2010 at 10:01 PM ^
The only thing that bugged me about the rotation today was that every time they swapped, the first play was a hand off. I assume this was "safe" to get the adjusted to game speed, but it immediately put them in a hole on each of those four drives.
November 13th, 2010 at 10:05 PM ^
neither guy was really doing much to move the offense. It made total sense to alternate possessions with each Qb. Maybe one of them gets hot? This is what you can do when you have quality depth at QB. it's a total luxury.
granted, neither was really doing much until the last TD drive. I think it was a good coaching decision. At this point, I would barely flinch if tate came in on the 2nd drive. Denard definitely has more big-play potential, but I trust Tate more in the pass game. I'm still at the point where my heart double clutches whenever Denard double clutches. He's vastly improved, but he's still got a ways to go with the whole passing thing.
I wouldn't read into this at all. I think the coaches made a decision to batten things down, playcalling-wise, given (1) Weather, (2) Turnovers & (3) Purdue's ineptitude offensively. Either QB can hand off to V Smith and execute a simple dump-off to tight ends or backs.
Win or Lose, I would expect a much better offensive performance against the badgers.
The main takeaway from this game is a little defensive confidence boost. They did well today. Much needed.
November 13th, 2010 at 10:08 PM ^
Denard made a series of pretty bad mistakes. It made sense for Tate to get a shot. He did a few good things and loosened up their D a bit. Denard came back when we needed him running again.
I thought it was very effective.
November 13th, 2010 at 10:16 PM ^
He did the same thing with Pat White and some other guy during White's first year. Not a big deal. I think it's meant to provide an opportunity to teach the Qb that isn't in at the time.
November 13th, 2010 at 10:20 PM ^
The only positive today was that Purdue is a worse football team than UM. I felt like I was watching a bloopers reel out there today. Rodriguez's qb moves were desperate as I've ever seen. The only difference between this year and last year are that Illinois and Purdue are much worse this year. This UM team is awful, the spread is a gimmick offense, Offensive gurus don't have a long lifespan (Martz, John L. Smith) Sooner or later all of you RR sympathizers are going to realize that this guy and his entire philosophy is not a good fit for UM or the Big Ten. I hope David Brandon realizes how bad this team is and brings home Jim Harbaugh to return UM back to the top. I can gaurantee that if RR makes it through this year that next year, all of you are going to keep on makeing excuses that the D is too young, that the qb is hurt all the time, etc. Spread offenses in the Rain, and Snow don't work so well do they? Imagine that. At least I'm so numb to the pain of watching this team that today I didnt even get angry, I just laughed at how with 3 minutes left Purdue still had a chance to win this game! It wasnt that our D made strides today, its that Purdue's offense sucks, really really sucks, their offense decimated by injuries sucks. Did you see how many of their guys were wide open and that awful qb missed them. They ran the same wheelroute as last week, three times in a row today and each time the guy was wide open, and each time that awful qb missed him. All this win did was extend the horror that is the RR era at Michigan. Bump Elliot's family must be relieved!
November 13th, 2010 at 10:33 PM ^
you had one point. I hope you enjoyed it. I'd say maybe that was your first post, but more likely you just got back above zero from some deep hole. Prepare to return to the abyss.
I agree Purdue is HORRIBLE, but don't agree the spread won't work in the B10 BUT we must clean up the turnovers and play D. Michigan's good teams all played tough defense, and it hurts to watch right now. Today was better but indeed Purdue sucks.
"They're the suckiest bunch of sucks that ever sucked." Homer Simpson
November 13th, 2010 at 11:03 PM ^
Saying the spread won't work in the Big Ten is just ignorant. Give me a break.
November 14th, 2010 at 12:30 AM ^
What does work is scoring more points than your opponent. Personally, I don't care how its done, but watching the spread is fun.
November 14th, 2010 at 12:30 AM ^
What does work is scoring more points than your opponent. Personally, I don't care how its done, but watching the spread is fun.
November 14th, 2010 at 12:07 AM ^
The Horror happened Pre-Rich Rod.
otherwise, my response to you is... a sigh.
November 14th, 2010 at 12:52 AM ^
just go back to freep.com....please? Speaking of fitting in, you fit in great there. Or, you can go pound sand.
November 13th, 2010 at 10:41 PM ^
We looked like a JV team out there today. The QB rotation made zero sense. I also don't understand why RR gave Hopkins so many carries today. In other weeks, Smith was struggling and Hopkins saw little action. Why give him the carries on the day when it isn't needed?
November 13th, 2010 at 11:21 PM ^
Are you just trying to find shit to complain about? Hopkins definitely had an off day, but he was 5 for 45 and a TD last week against Illinois, so I'm assuming that had something to do with it.
November 13th, 2010 at 11:34 PM ^
On a day when the QB was flipping QBs to get try for some momentum, it made no sense to keep pulling the part of our offense that was working best.