mtzlblk

November 12th, 2011 at 1:00 PM ^

to start he was hands-off, then only got involved when he tried to replicate what Casteel had done at WVO on his own, clearly not successful at that. 

No top-flight DC would want to work for a sub-standard salary, no contract and a coach who was being undermined and shoved out by his own fans/adminnistration. That is how we ended up with GERG.... 

Joined: 01/20/2009

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MAgoBLUE

November 11th, 2011 at 2:32 PM ^

"I think it's going to be a great game," Rodriguez said. "Illinois is playing really well defensively. Michigan, defensively, they've got all the kids back and they're healthier.

 

I love RR but the reason we are better defensively isn't because the kids are back and they're healthy.  It's because we've replaced GERG with someone who has a clue.

Joined: 05/21/2010

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MAgoBLUE

November 11th, 2011 at 3:35 PM ^

You're right.  All of those things definitely help make the defense better but they aren't the main reason.  The most obvious reason for improvement is replacing GERG with Mattison and the scheme change that came with that.  It's not like I was expecting Rich Rod to admit that though.  He's gotta continue to emphasize the positives because his next job might depend on it.

Joined: 05/21/2010

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BigBlue02

November 11th, 2011 at 4:14 PM ^

I understand what you're getting at, but I don't think you can definitively say that is the main reason the defense is better. I can't believe (and this isn't directed specifically towards you, but your post made me think of it) how much returning starters is being downplayed when talking about the defense. Playing as a unit is much easier when you actually have depth at most positions and you return nearly everyone. It seems to be a reason everyone is upset with Borges (as "we returned 10 starters, we should be way better" is a popular belief) but is being downplayed as not important on the defensive side of the ball. Some other main reasons could be we haven't played 3 of the best teams in league yet, the b10 is much weaker than last year, we have only beaten 1 team (I think) that is bowl eligible right now. So I understand it is good to have a new defensive coordinator, but there are a lot of reasons our defense was going to get better this year no matter what

Joined: 06/29/2009

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Gorgeous Borges

November 11th, 2011 at 5:57 PM ^

Rich Rod had nine returning starters in 2008 and a DC, Scott Shafer, who wasn't GERG and who did very well at Syracuse after being fired. The defense was ranked 69th that year, after being ranked 25th in 2007.

Also, Brian looked into how much the team should improve based on returning starters. Based on the number of starters we returned, Michigan should have expected to improve to 82nd in total defense. We are currently 28th in total defense.

Also, the argument with Borges is not just about the number of starters that we returned, but how those starters performed last year.

I'm pretty sure that you can definitively say that the cahnge from GERG to Mattison is a huge part of the reason that this defense is better. Rich Rod is not a good defensive coach without Casteel.

Joined: 10/07/2011

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BigBlue02

November 11th, 2011 at 7:50 PM ^

You realize that the upperclassmen from that 2008 team were called out for not trying and rebelling against the coach, right? I am sure that had nothing to do with the performance.

And I never said Mattison wasn't a huge part of our defense being better. I said it is silly to proclaim this defense amazing when we haven't played 3 of the best teams we will play all year and the B10 isn't quite like last year as it sucks this year. There are quite a few reasons this defense is much better.

Joined: 06/29/2009

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LSAClassOf2000

November 11th, 2011 at 5:21 PM ^

....to see Rodriguez on the sidelines again at some point. He would likely build an  interesting team that would do pretty well, I think. If nothing else, we should thank him for recruiting one of the single most dynamic athletes in the game right now. 

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