BlueinLansing

November 17th, 2013 at 12:50 AM ^

with the 4th and 2 was that the weather was awful, you were giving up a chip shot FG that at least gives you the comfort of knowing there's an OT.  NW was still going into the wind on offense if you make the kick, chances are you get the ball back and now you're going for the win and not a desperate tie.

I didn't like it given the weather conditions. 

Yeoman

November 17th, 2013 at 1:28 AM ^

I thought maybe the weather was one of the reasons for the call. NW hadn't moved the ball a lick lately and even if you fail you're giving them the ball on their five, facing a stiff wind and horizontal rain. I think the expectation was that you'd get good field position for the next drive.

You're trading twenty yards of field position and a chance at a TD for a not-quite-certain FG. It's not obvious either way, to me.

Mr. Yost

November 17th, 2013 at 9:33 AM ^

...that are SO frustrating and borderline infuriating.

HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT A FG SENDS THE GAME INTO OT?

You don't.

There was 5 minutes left in the game! NW could've EASILY drove down the field (and they started to do it)...and got a FG.

If we kick a FG there and tie the game and lose to NW on a last second FG. This whole board is burning along with Al Borges' house.

It really wasn't THAT gutsy of a call. It was the right call to go for it. It was a HORRIBLE playcall. Even if it would've worked it would've been a bad playcall. Call that on 2nd or 3rd down only.

Yeoman

November 17th, 2013 at 1:22 AM ^

One of four things happens on every play:

  1. He calls what you wanted and it fails. The players need to execute and anyway it wasn't quite what you said you wanted.
  2. He calls what you wanted and it works. Maybe he's finally getting it?
  3. He calls something different and it fails. Why didn't he call your play? It would have worked.
  4. He calls something different and it works. Your play would have worked too, probably better.

GMHW

November 17th, 2013 at 1:59 AM ^

know how Brady can win with fans?

FUCKING WIN!!!!!

BEAT MSU... right now 1-2

BEAT OSU... 1-1 but I think you have an idea what's coming...

ALSO, BEAT THE TEAMS YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BEAT!!!!!!

AND HIRE COMPETENT FUCKING PEOPLE!!!!

He is 1/2 on coordinators.  Let's see if he can make a big boy decision and fix the offensive "brain trust" this off season.

Yeoman

November 17th, 2013 at 12:21 PM ^

But imagine what that record would have been if we'd embraced 21st century concepts and kept the other guy. We'd be 34-2, or 35-1, and probably have at least one national championship by now.

That's how this works. The guy that has the job gets evaluated by actual, objective results on the field. (Well, Borges doesn't even get that courtesy because "numbers lie" but you get my drift.) Everyone else--the armchair quarterback, the prior coach, the guy we imagine we'd hire next--gets evaluated in the glow of the imagination where the offense always clicks and the play call always works and we never lose more than one or two games a year.

In reply to by GMHW

bigego150

November 17th, 2013 at 6:48 AM ^

Spot on. Hoke has done nothing during his tenure for the most part. 5 wins and 6 losses in the Big 10 on the road is horrible.

 

Hoke needs to go. Anyone have evidence as to why he deserves the UM job?

 

We are mediocre, at best, under Hoke. Hoke is a joke

BlueHills

November 17th, 2013 at 2:10 AM ^

I've done my research, and I'm going to give it to you straight:

Al Borges is obviously an animated corpse, this is why his brain is working in such strange ways, And the beating he has taken has made Devin a Zombie as well.

Remember that half that Lewan didn't play? Yeah. His forehead is falling apart after every game now. His ears fell off in that game and they had to take his helmet away to keep his head from breaking off.

That facemask twist against MSU? Yup. He was going after brains for dinner.

In fact, it's the same all along the O-line. They've had to dig guys up and put uniforms on them.

Team 134 is mostly Zombies. And you can tell by how they're playing, of course. Why do you think they didn't play Fitz today? I'll tell you why. Because they had to sew his legs back on after last week.

So here's the thing. If we're going to play Zombie Ball, why not go all the way, dig up Bo, chant a few magical spells, throw them bones, re-animate him and get him back into coaching? How is he going to do worse than Zombie Borges or Hoke (and by the way, who else but a Zombie stands in the rain in a T-shirt for hours? See what I mean? It's becoming obvious).

I don't care about Iowa. I mean, really, no one cares about Iowa, win or lose. As for Ohio State, they're all "made" vampires. Vampire Urbz has seen to that. It's why they're so fast and powerful.

Zombies have no chance against vampires.

We need Werewolverines to beat them. Dig up Bo. He will see to it.

 

 

SDCran

November 17th, 2013 at 2:11 AM ^

News flash to some of you. It's not every time you call a play action pass that you think that the play action is important. Sometimes you just like the route combination. And it turns out that, since PA is meant to help clear space behind LBs, that your longer routes, like those you might run on 3rd and 10, often have a PA component. Please stop complaining about PA on obvious passing downs.

blueinuk

November 17th, 2013 at 5:58 AM ^

wish I could have posted this when people were on the board, but I live overseas and watched the game from BTN archive.  But can someone please respond to this?

I feel like I watched a different game.  Why not go for it on 4th and 2?  In the context of the season, it's worth the risk.  We were not playing to stay undefeated...we are playing to get more experience and try to find some positive momentum.

Also, didn't Borges call all the quick, dump it off type stuff that everyone has been screaming for?  Did we feel good about how that went?  There should have been 5 or 6 picks from those 'easy' throws!  I think Al put the team in position to succeed (perhaps with a few exceptions) but it just doesn't seem like Gardner is making great decisions.  

...and, yes, lots of reasons why he may not be making great decisions at this point.

 

 

Reader71

November 17th, 2013 at 6:30 AM ^

The offense was poor for most of regulation, but I'll bet Borges is around +10 in RPS. The play calling was pretty good. They made huge personnel changes at RB. I know the mob hates the cliche, but execution was 99% of our problem today. And I am shocked that we can't see this, as its not the "hidden" kind, in the trenches. We threw to the other team 4-6 times. We had drops. We had bad pass protection. Bosch stunk of 3-4 stretches that had potential. AND, Borges called a successful 2-minute drill with no timeouts. AND, he made successful adjustments in OT to the tune of 2 TD, a FG to save par, and a 2 pointer.

Fire Borges, but not on the basis of this game. Nebraska, sure.

chunkums

November 17th, 2013 at 10:49 AM ^

I've hated the playcalling the last couple of weeks, but thought it was good this week. There were a bunch of weather-induced drops, and a bunch of bad passes. We found ways to keep them honest enough to allow our backs to run for 100 yards, and we got the win.  It's just really hard to score points in weather like that, so I attribute this one to the climate.

uncleFred

November 17th, 2013 at 12:33 PM ^

His job was and is not in jepoardy this season. Unlike so very many of you, Brandon understands that a transition like this requires years and is highly unlikley to be a smooth process. I dislike many of the decisions that Brandon has made, but I respect his experience in creating and running successful organizations. He understood the consquences of firing RichRod and destabilzing the program a second time in only three years. Part of making that decision was the consideration of a pretty high likelihood of an ugly season or two. He may have hoped to avoid it, but this is not a price that he did not expect to pay.

If this game did anything, it reenforced to Brandon that Hoke is the man to right the program. Brandon has been quoted saying that the final reason he decided that RichRod had to go before his 4th year was the attitude of the players entering the 2nd half of the bowl game. No determination to win, no seriousness, no motivation. Compare that to the attitude, focus, and determination to come back from that sack, and get the FG kicked, and then the intensity in OT. The team may be struggling with some fundamental aspects of play, but there is zero doubt that they play as a team and leave everything they have on the field. Hoke and his staff are responsible for that change. 

So go ahead. Complain and bitch. Whine in your echo chamber. With the possible exception of Funk (and I suspect he is proabably safe as well) this coaching staff will be here next season and probably in 2015 as well.

b-diddy

November 17th, 2013 at 1:07 PM ^

i am of the mindset that 2014 is B1G championship or bust. unless we are decimated by injuries, anything less is unacceptable, and it will be time to restart. the schedule wont be favorable, but the team should have no excuses with a roster full of talented upperclassman, most of whom will be brady's recruits.

 

we will have to win at nd, sparty, and osu (how did that happen to our schedule?), but imo, falling to 1-3 to either of sparty or the buckeyes in and of itself is nearly enough for dismissal. its a tough proposition, but when this regime served up shit sandwiches back to back years it is fair.

if hoke wants borges, funk, whoever - that is fine. but it should be his job on the line.

edit: at northwestern too. wow.

Reader71

November 18th, 2013 at 2:47 AM ^

So our schedule is really hard, Hoke has a winning record, but next year is Big Ten championship or bust? Why? Because you don't want to wait?

For the record, I always want to win the B1G and see any season which doesn't end in a win as a failure. But its not a firing offense. Jesus boys, lets keep our heads on straight.