What changes do you make heading into conference play?

Let DG run.  The offense is fighting with a hand tied behind its back by not using his legs.  And his confidence might get a boost by having some success moving the ball.

sadly there is no easy fix. a switch to Shane is a bit of a double-edged sword; while it could serve as a "fresh start", it could also signal to the team that everyone is in desperation mode, and the season could really spiral out of control.

if there is a cure for this team, it's the Big Ten, esp. a team like Minnesota. Run the ball, stop the run, and get a win. Get DG back some of his mojo with lots of easy throws. Punt and hope that the two people downfield can tackle. Stuff like that. Winning the next few won't cure all, but it will make the season much more palatable.

 

My answer to all 4 questions is "I don't know, and I don't care enough to put the energy into considering options right now.".

Sigh.

Rest Funchess until he is fully healed.  He is obviously hurt and can't get the separation he normally gets.  Also, resting him may cause the other WRs to step it up.

Gardner may start but is no longer the #1 QB.  Morris should play in the first half if a change is needed.  BUT why do people think Morris showed much in the bowl game.  I was there.  We knew it would not go well, and it didn't go well.  H e is older, so that performance may be irrelevant, but don't rely on it to make Morris the starter right now.

We were undefeated in every game that the Coner threw a pass.

After rewatching most of the game yesterday, I think Ben Braden is just not ready to play tackle at this level. Too many missed assignments, causing sacks and stuffed running plays. 

 

They said Glasgow was taking snaps at RT in fall camp, and I think Kalis looked good at RG in the App St. game, so put Kalis in at RG and bump Glasgow out to RT. With his overall game experience(although not at tackle) he can't be worse than the first year starter Braden.

1) Fire Dave Brandon and see if that change in leadership has any positive effect on the program.

Re-evaluate at the end of the season.

The problem is the program needs wholesale changes.  President / Regents need to give Dave Brandon his notice and begin a search for a replacement AD immediately.

When the AD is found, make the announcement of the hire, fire Brandon.  Make sure this happens before 2015, ideally in November.  

Have the AD hit the ground running looking for a new coach on Day 1.  Announce between the Ohio State game and our bowl game (assumption made here) that Hoke is gone and the AD is looking for a new coach.  

In my opinion, those are the only realistic changes that can be made going into conference play that can salvage anything going forward (this season is lost).  

In a perfect world, where everyone can be fanticize a utopian reality?  

• Defense does nothing other than what it is doing.  Countess is your nickel.  Taylor/Lewis/Peppers split time at the starting CB spots.  
• Gardner is benched (his psyche is crushed as a QB), with the intent to move him to the other outside WR.  He competes for time, might not even start (Darboh).  
• Throw Morris out there, see what he can do.  Likely not much better than Gardner, but it would be the only hope.
• Hoke puts on a headset, starts coaching.
• Whoever is in charge of setting the tempo of our offense is removed of those duties.  We move to a hurry up.  

Of course you could always go back to spread football with Devin as your QB.  That's another thing that would work better.  

1) I think Michigan has shown they really are not likely to put together 10 & 12 play scoring drives.  So, I would have some really good plays ready for use in short-field opportunities, and hope the defense can set us up.  When starting from deep in M territory, I would be very conservative.

2) Gardner still gives M the best chance to win, so I play him and don't even think about putting in Morris unless and until DG gets hurt. 

3) The offense really needs a home-run threat.  Because they can't consistently move the ball downfield, having someone who can score from distance would really, really be key.  I know you don't want to put too much on a freshman's plate and all, but the guy does have the talent...

1. Start Smith at TB.

 

Green was running soft.  I've never seen a tail back get put on roller skates by 1 tackler before.  He seemed to want to tip-toe through the hole rather than make a decision and cut with authority.  He chose to go out of bounds rather than cut up field and hit a guy who was at least 30 lbs lighter than he was.  Brought down by arm tackles at least twice.  At least he didn't fumble. 

Peppers the ball on offence. Let him make some plays. He's not getting touches in the return game. 

Obviously you fix the things you can fix (punt team), but last year after game four was when they pulled Miller and started futzing around with the o-line. Just give these guys some time together to develop as a unit. They did pass to 10 different guys on Saturday, but they were almost all short throws. I'd mix in some deeper balls and let those taller WRs try to make plays. A long INT isn't much worse than a punt, and maybe quite a bit better than a punt considering our 18.2 net punting average on Saturday.

Stress ball security. Whoever makes a mistake sits for a series, even if it's the QB.

Scrap the legends jersey patches so that "The Team, The Team, The Team" actually means something and isn't just words.

If they switch to Morris, it's an indication that they are giving up on this season and starting to prepare for next season. The problem with that is, Hoke won't be here next year if Morris is the QB in a developmental mode and we end up 5-7. He'll only do that if he gets an ironclad guarantee from Brandon that he's coming back. Is Brandon that much of a meddler? Yeah, I think so.

Hire Borges?

The running game looks decent with Green working the edges with his improved vision and decisions and Smith bruising for yards through the middle. Maybe Hayes should get more touches on dump passes on third down. Norfleet needs to be more involved. He looks good with the ball in his hands in positions where he has room to move. Since the offensive line struggles a bit more in pass protection than in running situations, perhaps quick-hitting passes, like the ones Notre Dame torched us with, should be in the game plan. We've expressed the desire to go deep, because we have Funch, but Nuss says--what is it?--16 to 21 yards is deep enough, so the quick hitters should work and then 98 can bail out immediately if nothing comes open. Also, we have the receivers for yards after the catch and receivers willing to block and make it happen, so those short routes can easily become longer ones. No more play action from under center! Spread punts should happen immediately! Blitz Peppers and Lewis a little more. They're fast enough to get home. Stop Hoke from watching as a spectator and clapping it up and get him to teach on the sidelines while the game is being played, just like Beilein does. If this happens, we may be alright.

My focus would be on in-game adjustments.  It seems like we begin each game with a good game plan.  We move the ball and stop the opposition.  But after a couple of series the opposition adjusts and we do not.  This is even more evident after halftime. 

The most distressing part of Hoke's postgame presser was his description of the weather delay.  He described guys relaxing and playing on their ipads.  He stated that they had a good plan for warms ups.  Were the coaches working during the break?  Did they give the guys some direction for when the game resumed?  It seems like we formulate a plan and stick with it regardless of how the opposition adjusts. 

Just a thought.

Stick with Gardner, but make him a threat to run.  I think that keeps defenses a little more honest and plays to his strengths a little more - add some more quick 3 drop throws to our slot ninjas not so scripted way out to the sidelines.  

I think this is the one thing that can help out without changing much of anything other than working faster on offense.

I'm amazed how few offensive plays we have in a game, I saw the "every offiensive play" on mgoblue and I was astounded at how few total plays we run.

I am guessing this is Hoke's direction to Nuss and I'd like it to change.  The Defense is good enough and has enough good subs to be on the field more.

Against UUU it seemed like we burned 10 minutes out of the 3rd quarter on a long run-heavy drive, getting some lucky penalties and nail biting 3rd down saver-plays, but the drive ultimately stalled and the time was completely gone.  Supposing in an alternative reality we did eventually score the time consumed would still be a liability for how far we were down.

I feel like at this point we need more plays on offense to account for the fact that some drives are going to stall or have turnovers, sticking with the same % of success on any given play we simply need more total plays to hang up some points.  Not suggesting a radical departure, give me 10-15% more plays or a mix of huddle and no-huddle to keep the opposing defense off balance.

The UUU defense did seem surprised when we jumped to the line on 4th down and dived ahead, I really liked that, and I understand that some of the surprise is going to be given up if we play no huddle at times.  But pointing out the MIKE for 8 seconds has probably run its course of effectiveness, its probably ingrained well enough by now.

 

That way the team would play with some fire.

Switch back to Nike.  

1) I say at this point, give the reins to Shane and see what he can do. I don't want to pile on Gardner so I won't. He's given us some truly heroic performances, and I appreciate everything he's done for the program. But moral victories in football are few and far between. The only thing that matters (unfortunately) is wins and losses. And Gardner is not helping us win football games. Not entirely his fault, but he's looking progressively worse each week. Give the reins to Shane, the type of QB Hoke claims he's always wanted, see if he can develop under Nuss, and hope for the best. Gardner has a good head on his shoulders, and he'll be successful no matter what he does.

2) Don't know enough about defensive X's and O's, so I can't really comment here. Defense has played pretty well, all things considered. The offense just consistently puts them in bad spots like it did most of last year. Maybe some changes need to be made, but I'm not smart enough on football to comment on what they should be.

3) If you stick with Gardner, potentially abandon the running game and potentially air it out 80-90% of the game. We've certainly shown some potential in the passing game, but someone other than Funchess has to step up for that to happen. Beyond that, I can't say what we should do. The run game is getting slightly better, as is the O-Line, but not enough where I can say we should start leaning on that.

4) Aside from benching Gardner for Shane, I don't really think so. I think defensively, the guys are playing as well as they can. Not going to get much better than what we've got with Green and Smith, and the same goes for the wideouts. More OL lineup changes are just going to create more setbacks in my opinion. And while this is just me, I would not start giving Peppers offensive reps just yet. Yeah yeah yeah he's an explosive playmaker, but I want him to lock down and know his own position first before giving him more playbooks to deal with. The kid is still only a freshman.

More Butt, less butt.

I'd start with making sure we have 11 guys on the field during key plays.  Then I'd also make sure we had 11 guys on the field for the subsequent extra points after key plays.  I know, I know, but I'm old school like that, just happen to think you have a better chance of covering a punt with 11 guys versus 10 guys, that's just me though.

Would like to see Gardner run the ball more.  Dial up more disguised blitzes on defense. There realy isn't a whole lot you can change at this point, this team is what it is, they just have to play better.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I really have no ideas. I will say that, just like I said last season, this OL is making the OCs job really hard. The line is improved, but it still can't consistently get 3-4 yards on the ground. This leads to us being in 3rd and long too often, and then Gardner has not been as good as we all expected.

But it's not only Gardner. Pass protection is still an adventure. The OC is trying to hide it, but like Borges's slide protections, it ain't working. Nuss has run a bunch of play action protections with pulling guards to slow up the rush, but the guys haven't blocked it well and he's used them in obvious passing downs. We all went nuts on Borges for calling PA on 3rd and 10, but in this game Nuss did the exact same thing. Watch how many times Mags pulls right on a pass. I recall 3 and one instance of Glasgow pulling left.

So, OL still not there, but improving. Gardner has really taken a step back (any QB coach arguments?). And Morris looks just as bad, maybe even worse.

I don't really see a light at the end of this tunnel, as any prediction I had for this offense assumed good QB play from our 5th year senior.

Defense looks good, though. This defense is a conference winning defense if the offense is OK. Special teams have been bad. This is no secret. Its the one thing I have been critical of Hoke on from the jump. Spread the damn punt team out. And for Christ's sake, we can't afford to play with 11 men.

1) Stick with Gardner but run more zone-read, inverted veer, pistol sets.  Run the Vince Young passing scheme when passing at all--one read, not open?, then run.

2) When Ray Taylor comes back, start him at boundary corner.  Lewis is field CB.  Countess in the slot.  That means Jabrill . . .

3) I agree with jaggs, put Jabrill in the offensive backfield.  In a zone blocking scheme, whether inside/outside or a spread, I just don't see Green and Smith making the moves and cuts necessary to be consistently effective.  Get Jabrill the ball as a RB.

4) Move Glasgow to center and put Kalis in at RG.  I might even put David Dawson in at RT.

1) Gardner, but expect to play Morris some reps with the first team in practice

2) Depends on the team, but press/man should work well for most foes other than maybe Penn State

3) Here's the dilemma Michigan is in: they will not be able to run the ball effectively until they can open up lanes by throwing the ball downfield, but they do not have a QB who can do so consistently and/or accurately.  Teams will continue to pack the box to stuff the run, etc.  Scheme-wise, Michigan has tried to counter this by shorter throws, mixing in stabs downfield, but it's a matter of execution at this point.  That being said, Darboh and Chesson seem massively under-utlized.  Why not use Funchess as a decoy and carve up cheating defenses? 

I am not sure if what is happening is part of the process for adjusting to yet another scheme, or if there are serious flaws with existing personnel that cannot be overcome. 

4) Giving Morris some reps with the first team will prepare the receivers for his delivery.  The competition could be healthy.  QB is the obvious place where replacement could help the team, but rather than looking at it that way, I think opening up competition is the way to go because, frankly, Gardner has played better than Morris in his limited time as QB. 

The zone read is why were getting killed, line up in a split back or I formation every once and awhile and throw and run from those formations, great idea huh! I hate that zone read BS on every fucking play

1 down run

2 down run

3 down long pass incomplete

 

No one can succeed in this system.  Its so predictable.  Give DG a chance

Does anyone have a breakdown of his passing #s by down?  I bet if you take out the 3rd and longs b/c of bad play calls he doesn't look as bad