Red Zone Debacle
Should coach Hoke start wearing the head sets when Michigan is in the red zone? Al Borges has made some questionable calls in the red zone especially on 1st and goal. I know that Vincent Smith made a bad throw, but why even take that risk when it's first down? On another 1st and goal he had Denard pass and he was sacked. I'm just wondering if coach Hoke would have over ruled some of these calls if he knew before hand. The 4th and inches call against MSU in the red zone last season was a gamble that he lost as well. It just seems to me that Borges takes to many risks when he doesn't need to. The defense was playing great and Michigan didn't need a ton of points to win this game. What do you guys think?
September 24th, 2012 at 2:39 PM ^
WTF are you talking about? I feel dumber having read this, if only because I don't understand it at all.
September 24th, 2012 at 2:50 PM ^
I'm glad I asked. This is outstanding! +100 to you, sir.
September 24th, 2012 at 3:47 PM ^
If a DE that is a foot taller than you is in your face, tuck the ball and run so you don't have to launch the thing a mile in the air.
September 24th, 2012 at 3:51 PM ^
Borges' red zone calls. I might pull a little trickery later in the game ONCE our offense fails to control the running game line of scrimmage ... but our first 2 trips to the 10 yard line saw ZERO attempts at power football. Turns out that M liine was productive against their vaunted defense. Makes me wonder if Borges doubted our O line and was reading the South Bend paper /S.
Also leads me to think that at halftime Hoke told Borges to "PLAY FOOTBALL" not gimmicks. We played a solid 2nd half offensively and Denard's fumble in the 3rd quarter was the turning point in the game ... because we had dominated that entire quarter and if we had punchd in 2 scores and taken the lead .... well whatever.
Weird that I feel better about team 133 now than before the loss.
Go Blue!
September 24th, 2012 at 5:42 PM ^
might pull a little trickery later in the game ONCE our offense fails to control the running game line of scrimmageBut trick plays aren't desperation moves. They're supposed to catch the opponent off-guard. They're probably most effective earlier in the game, when the opposing team has no particular reason to see them coming.
September 24th, 2012 at 4:38 PM ^
I'm sorry, but Borges seems blind in how to enhance the best part of the offense, which is Denard running. They averaged 5.1 minus sacks/bad snaps and that was with Notre Dame cheating and not covering the slot the whole game. I wish that when coaches said they would adjust to personnel that they would actually do it. I lose my frickin mind everytime Michigan lines up under center. Lining up under center renders the most dangerous aspect of Michigan's attack useless and when you are controlling the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball it is painful to watch. Borges is outsmarting himself.
September 24th, 2012 at 5:39 PM ^
September 24th, 2012 at 6:00 PM ^
September 24th, 2012 at 6:18 PM ^
For purposes of this discussion, Michigan's red zone efficiency since 2010:
2010: 44 of 57, 40 TDs and 4 FGs.
2011: 49 of 58, 37 TDs and 12 FGs.
2012 (through 9/22/2012): 11 of 14, 8 TDs and 3 FGs.
The 2012 stats are through 4 games, of course, but the point here is that when Denard Robinson took over the duties of starting QB in 2010, we experienced a 12% jump in red zone efficiency. When Borges took over the offense, we experienced a further improvement. The way things are shaping up in the conference, I would expect similar results or even marginally better than 2011 for our red zone efficiency. Barring Notre Dame, our experiences in the red zone have not exactly been nightmarish overall.
As for the headset, one of the great things about Hoke's management style is that he gives the coordinators great leeway to make decisions, and it is probably one of the reasons some of the best want to work for him. We can argue individual calls obviously, and sometimes rightly so, but we can't really argue with the bump in overall success. When we're humming, we're humming, and Al is also part of that as well.
September 24th, 2012 at 7:49 PM ^
You want to use numbers? You're not addressing the issues!!!!1111111111111
3 in one game dude. How's that for numbers.
September 24th, 2012 at 8:44 PM ^
Regaring "some of the best want to work for him" -- I agree that the phrase applies to Mattison, and I'm certainly glad Hoke+Brandon's newfound checkbook made that happen. But it's hard to see how some of the rest of the staff would qualify.
How did Borges fare in his stint at UCLA, especially in 1999 and 2000 (after years to implement his system)? His two years (and five wins) at Indiana? Did he develop the offense at Auburn, showing improvement year over year? When he had a senior QB at Auburn, who had started for 3 years, was he showing the hallmarks of a well-coached QB in a well-designed offense? Or was this senior completing less than 60% of his passes, with a TD-to-INT ratio of 9:13? After being let go from Auburn, he doesn't work for a year, and then ends up in the Mountain West. Hoke was the right person at the right time to unite the Michigan football community, but let's be honest about Borges.
Putting aside everything else about Saturday, do those who think Borges is doing a tremendous job at OC believe that the drive with 6 minutes left down two scores reflected a well-coached, effective up-tempo/2 minute drill type offense? Modern teams run much faster as a base, yet we could not speed up even when we needed to.
I realize that we found some amber with the 1997 UCLA offense DNA in it, and thought re-animating it would be an inexpensive, MANBALL way to get Michigan back to being Michigan, but sometimes it just pays not to fight evolution.
September 24th, 2012 at 6:41 PM ^
I hate it when coaches outthink themselves in the red zone after their standard offense mows its way down field to have first and goal.
Just keep running your stuff.
If any of the other 119 coaches in FBS had done that, i would pound them for it. Same for Gorgeous Al. Save the trick play for later. You deserve to get burned for playing it cute down there
September 24th, 2012 at 6:49 PM ^
I think we'll be ok with Al in the future. We all kinda knew it would be a little rough when these coaches first came to A2. I'm thrilled with the defensive play. Mattison sure has rallied these guys over the past few weeks and they played one of the best games I've seen Michigan D play in a long time. It's always bothered me that Hoke doesn't wear a headset. He's the only coach I see that doesn't wear one.. why is that?? It has just never made me comfortable about Brady. I love the guy but I just don't get it.. anyone else feel this way?
September 24th, 2012 at 9:10 PM ^