Zander Diamont - O/U for total yards on Saturday
I have no doubt that Coleman will have a good day against us - he may be the first RB taken in the NFL draft.
But I think the key to UofM winning the game is limiting Diamont's damage.
He threw for 11 yards against MSU and ran for 13 (lost 25 for a net of -12)
I am thinking Diamont will throw for something like 100yrds against us and run for 25 yards on the read option keepers
Coleman will rush for nearly 200
So UofM gives up ~325 yards to IU in total
anyone think differnetly?
I think this is a winnable game, if the offense shows up and we have no turnovers
October 30th, 2014 at 10:09 AM ^
~sigh~
October 30th, 2014 at 10:29 AM ^
October 30th, 2014 at 11:28 AM ^
but hopefully Team 135 wins as many games as they can -
Also - I hope next year no one calls the squad next year team 136 ( I wouldn't mind discontinuing that tradition)
October 30th, 2014 at 11:43 AM ^
I wouldn't miss the whole "Ohio" thing going away as well. It's Ohio State. Nothing wrong with that.
October 30th, 2014 at 12:28 PM ^
1. Brandon
2. Hoke and his entire staff
3. Team ###
4. Legacy jersey numbers
5. Losing
6. A season in which I stop having a reason to check the rankings in week 2!!
October 30th, 2014 at 10:10 AM ^
Throughout the entire Richrod tenure and even until last week's beat down, I consistently chided fans here who said they they were rooting against the team for the program's best interest to force a coaching change. Sadly, given the dysfunction of our program, I think that it really is in the best interest of the program for the record to be so bad that nothing can save Hoke. He absolutely needs to go, and I fear that bc of the whole brandon fiasco, 6-6 could somehow save him, if win #6 comes against OSU I dramatic fashion.
So, with nothing left to root for this season, for the first time in my life, I am hoping for a loss. Big time. But, I cannot imagine watching the game and rooting against the winged helmets, so this weekend I will be missing my first televised minutes of Michigan football since 1994. Thanks Brandon / Hoke.
October 30th, 2014 at 10:11 AM ^
I ALWAYS want Michigan to win. ALWAYS.
October 30th, 2014 at 10:15 AM ^
October 30th, 2014 at 10:19 AM ^
The only chance for improvement is a complete change in the coaching staff. A win makes that less likelyHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Hoke is a dead man walking. The entire upper administration of Michigan would have to be utterly incompetent to keep him on for another year even if he manages to win out. Last week was it; he's done. You'd be extremely hard-pressed to convince me that the outcome of this weekend, regardless of win or loss, will affect anything at all.
October 30th, 2014 at 10:33 AM ^
Sadly, this may be the disconnect that we have on this issue (if we even have a disconnect). I agree with every word that you wrote. Hoke is a dead man walking. Only gross incompetence of those in charge could possibly save him. Barring such incompetence, winning out wouldn't even save him.
But, about that gross incompetence: the man currently responsible for firing hoke is Brandon. He is worse than incompetent - he is stubborn, petty, egomaniacal and will put his own interest ahead of the program. Also, Brandon may be in some sort of limbo in which he has been stripped of power to do anything while the particles negotiate a severance.
Now let's say that a new AD comes in, but because Pres. Schlissel is being deliberate, doesn't understand the timeframe as relates to football coaching change or just doesn't care about the time frame, it is possible that we don't have a new AD until January. Who know - that's the thing about gross incompetence - you never know what will happen.
My point is that your post assumes competence. On that assumption, I agree and would be rooting for every win possible. But, I don't think that is what we are dealing with.
October 30th, 2014 at 10:43 AM ^
Doesn't matter. It's unlikely that we even win 7 games but making a bowl game is crucial. I give the president and new AD more credit than you do I guess. I'd rather think that these guys are smart than root against us and have us miss the 15 practices to prepare us for next year. What HC is going to want to come to a 3-9 team vs. a 6-6 team.
October 30th, 2014 at 10:57 AM ^
who will see that there is only one direction a 3-9 team can go and that is up. It would be a no brainer for him.
Do not underestimate DB commitment to Hoke. If DB stays so will Hoke regardless of his record.
October 30th, 2014 at 1:42 PM ^
to that extent seems incredibly unlikely. He's done nothing to support Hoke this year, only saying the same thing he did about RR, that he'll be evaluated at the end of the season. DB is a lot of things, but he's not an idiot and he does care whether our teams are successful.
To your other point, I don't want a coach who looks at our program and thinks that a very low bar for improvement is a plus. I want someone who thinks he can turn us into a NC contender. The more distant that possibility looks, the worse for attracting those coaches.
October 30th, 2014 at 10:51 AM ^
What signs has he shown of incompetence? Even if he wasn't all that knowledgeable about the timing for hiring a new coach, he's not living in a bubble. Surely there are people letting him know that being too deliberate will be a problem.
Let's just suppose that you're right. The new president is completely incompetent, listens to know one or couldn't care less about the football program. If the new AD is hired in January, his first priority is still going to be replacing Hoke. Winning or losing a game or two isn't going to change that. Unless you're also assuming that the new AD is also going to be completely incompetent. In that case, maybe he or she will hire someone even worse than Hoke.
October 30th, 2014 at 10:34 AM ^
Going one step further, losing out does no one any good. It makes our job opening less attractive, hurts the players and makes the turnaround harder.
October 30th, 2014 at 10:12 AM ^
full stop
W/L record is just for the history books at this point
October 30th, 2014 at 10:15 AM ^
Beating Indiana, or Indiana-Northwestern-Maryland for that matter, is NOT going to save Hoke's job. Futhermore, this is not the NFL where tanking is incentivized via higher draft picks. It makes literally no sense why anyone wouldn't want us to beat a shitty IU team on our homecoming. If for nothing else, for the players.
October 30th, 2014 at 10:21 AM ^
Look, I am not criticizing your viewpoint on this. I get it. As I said, I have consistently said that rooting against Michigan is stupid. If I had your conviction that these games absolutely could not possibly save Hoke, I would be rooting for us as if this game were the Rose Bowl. But I don't. I still believe that there is a non-zero chance that hoke survives.
October 30th, 2014 at 10:12 AM ^
450 yards passing and 8 TDs
October 30th, 2014 at 10:19 AM ^
Brady Hoke isn't going to be saved by beating Indiana, NW, and Maryland. I don't want us to fall too far behind ND in all time winning percentage and the 15 bowl practices is good for the team even if the coaches are incompetent it's 15 more than 0.
October 30th, 2014 at 11:14 AM ^
Interesting question: Making a bowl means we won't fire Hoke for at least a month or so if not more after the OSU game. Would you a) prefer a bowl or b) getting the coach you want in there sooner rather than later?
October 30th, 2014 at 11:18 AM ^
also- if we hire a NFL coach it won't be until january anyway
Michigan in the past has gone with a new coach before the post-season in B-Ball
October 30th, 2014 at 11:21 AM ^
after Christmas anyway. Making a bowl doesn't change much.
Believing we're making a bowl game is very optimistic though.
October 30th, 2014 at 11:42 AM ^
I think we could make a bowl and still fire Hoke before it. We could just have an interim coach for the bowl game.
October 30th, 2014 at 12:16 PM ^
That's not necessarily true. Many schools fire their coach at the end of November and then have an interim coach for the bowl.
October 30th, 2014 at 10:24 AM ^
Our defense isn't elite, but it's still pretty good. I doubt he'll do much.
OTOH Coleman will probably make us want to die as he rushes for 220 as we try to scrape out 3 ypc against IU
October 30th, 2014 at 10:28 AM ^
Diamont has to have some serious read option keeper runs -
so maybe 25yrds passing
and like 50 rushing?
October 30th, 2014 at 10:27 AM ^
More than against MSU. For some reason, we have a nasty habit of making our opponent QBs look like Heisman contenders (see Gary Nova, for example).
October 30th, 2014 at 10:27 AM ^
His only chance at passing yards is on screens to Coleman. Hopefully we learned our lesson from the Minnesota game.
October 30th, 2014 at 10:27 AM ^
I say no.
Indiana with 355 yards
Michigan with 298
October 30th, 2014 at 10:28 AM ^
Is Diamont the converted LB? If he only had 11 yards passing against MSU's somewhat susceptable pass D, I doubt he'll throw for more than 50 against us. We'll stack the box. We're a good run D anyways.
October 30th, 2014 at 10:37 AM ^
He is out of LA and is beanpole thin (6'-1" 170 I think). Looked to have tenous grasp of the playbook v. MSU. Not a converted LB
October 30th, 2014 at 2:13 PM ^
He's a pretty small guy. Very, er, striking, but not exactly your standard-sized QB.
October 30th, 2014 at 10:30 AM ^
Keep this in mind: Gary Nova is a HORRIBLE, GOD AWFUL quarterback, and our secondary made him look like Joe Montana. I have extremely little faith in our secondary being able to stop anyone.
Do I think this kid will throw for 400 yards? No, I don't. But I also don't think he'll completely fizzle out on us. I'd say he'll be good for 150-200 yards passing. Couple that with the likely 150-200 yards Coleman is likely to gain on us, that will likely be enough to keep them in the game against us the whole way.
We haven't lost to Indiana in the Big House in a long, long time. I don't think we've lost to them, period, since 1987. This is one of those games where I sit there and say if we lose, I'd refuse to wait until the end of the season to let Hoke go. He'd be cleaning out his office come Monday morning. I know it might be detrimental to the morale of the team, but even they have to realize that the likeliness of their coach being around come January is slim to nil.
October 30th, 2014 at 10:35 AM ^
1987 was the last win
1967 was the last win in ann arbor
i guess it was a good game to schedule as homecoming - they pretty much are always HC along with Minny
October 30th, 2014 at 11:05 AM ^
in passing yards and YPA.
October 30th, 2014 at 12:04 PM ^
Gary Nova is not a HORRIBLE, GOD AWFUL quarterback. He is a quarterback generally known as a turnover machine. He can pass for a ton of yards but generally always throws a few picks.
Its damning that we got no picks and made him look awesome, but he aint Nick Sheridan
October 30th, 2014 at 10:31 AM ^
He'll gain about 180 yards. We will play a soft defense with two deep safeties the whole game instead of crowding the box to stop Coleman, because our coaches are that stupid.
October 30th, 2014 at 10:32 AM ^
Rooting against Michigan is utterly stupid. What makes you want to think that the new AD won't get rid of Hoke. He'd have empty seats, decommitting recruits, less money coming in from donors etc. if he kept him. You could return your HC after a 7-6 year in year 3 but you'd be brain dead if you did it in year 4.
October 30th, 2014 at 10:34 AM ^
I have seen too much insanity to take Hoke's firing for granted.
October 30th, 2014 at 12:30 PM ^
October 30th, 2014 at 10:34 AM ^
Well, if you went strictly by averages going into the game, per TeamRankings anyway, we allow 68 snaps per game and Indiana gains an average 6.1 yards per play, so the baseline expectation is about 415 yards, but I would think that we can hold them something a little less than that. A nice round figure of 350 yards seems reasonable and something in the range of 24-28 points for Indiana.
It's definitely a winnable game - if you look at efficiency comparisons on offense, we have advantages in 3rd down conversion percentage, red zone scoring (when we are fortunate enough to be in the RZ), and a few other areas (not that many). On defense, we essentially outclass Indiana on paper.
October 30th, 2014 at 10:38 AM ^
wouldn't that naturally slow the game down and allow for less snaps?
in order for UofM to win they have to be efficient on O and shut IU down on 3rd down
I think coleman is going to hit a few home runs (long runs)
What does IU look like on D? (trash fire?)
October 30th, 2014 at 12:49 PM ^
It likely would slow it down a little bit, and really, I see a very controlled passing game from Diamont - Indiana averages about 170 yards per game in the air this season, I believe, and even that's going down a bit as Diamont gets more time. Long story short, I have to think the basic mission of the defense this weekend will be to stop Tevin Coleman.
Strangely enough, Indiana is dead last in the conference in converting third downs - 35.6% at the last compiling of the numbers, which makes me worry more about the big plays than anything else. If we can make them plod down the field, which is not an Indiana thing, we're doing OK.
Indiana on defense? At least in terms of average yards allowed, they are 12th at 451.3 yards per game. Only Maryland and Illinois are worse. Indiana averages 168 rushing yards allowed and 170 passing yards allowed, but more intriguing is that they are second-to-last in the conference in pass efficiency defense - QBs rate 135.5 against them. Gardner could very well have a decent day.
October 30th, 2014 at 10:35 AM ^
I live in Indiana. I pray we beat them. I can't stomach listening to IU fans talk trash to me about football and basketball (they talk less about basketball as of late for some odd reason).
October 30th, 2014 at 2:19 PM ^
So what if they win ... it seals the deal on Hoke! (omg - did I just type this ????)
Go Blue!
October 30th, 2014 at 10:46 AM ^
Does Nuss rain Armageddon on Indiana completely outta left field like Borges did last year?
October 30th, 2014 at 10:55 AM ^
It wouldn't surprise me. Every bad offense that we have ever had has had at least one or two inexplicable outliers where the offense explodes for a bunch of points. Maybe it will be this weekend for us.
October 30th, 2014 at 12:19 PM ^
Scoring a lot of points on Indiana isn't unexpected. They're terrible defensively. Now OSU last year, that was out of left field.
October 30th, 2014 at 10:52 AM ^
Another milestone will be breached as IU celebrates in Michigan Stadium for the first time since I was a kid.
It's a tire fire, fergodsakes.