I remember Borges making a remark along the lines of, "we want to run the offense that wins us games, not one that accumulates yards/stats."
My question, then, is: are all YPC created equally? Watching Alabama and Stanford (and, to a lesser degree, MSU), I see teams that want to get 4-7 yards every attempt, control the ball, control the clock, then slowly pillow-suffocate the other team with an elite defense. They aren't necessarily keeping opposing defenses outpaced and off-balance, or going for the home run.
I see Borges wanting to emulate the ball-control teams (obviously it's not happening yet -- they got neither enough wins nor yards this year), so yards-per-carry would seem to be not a perfect metric for the success of such an offense. Thoughts? I don't know the x/o's as well as many of you, but it does seem that different schools have different approaches to what they want their offense and running game to accomplish.
By my count, that's six seasons. Change the bar to 3 losses or less, and it's 12 out of 24 seasons. OSU has done that 15 of the past 24 (14 of the past 24 if you include a vacated 2010 season). Still not anything to brag about, but more consoling than the cherrypicked--and, more importantly, wrong--stat you put up.
that Buckeye and Spartan-based analyses keep pounding the "you're better than this; Hoke is mediocre" drum. It is certainly in their interests for us to keep tearing our program down. I also think their programs are a different breed; more open to the idea of quick fixes and mercenaries and hired guns, particularly OSU. They don't get it and they don't need to, as long as we know who we are.
What does calling a game "acceptable" or "unacceptable" do for you? What tangible difference does it make outside of your own happiness?
BTW don't have kids if you see sports as simply a sorting device to divide people into winners and losers. AJ McCarron and Nick Saban, for example, are losers, which is unacceptable.
I agree about mgoblog "mailing in" this past week. The post-Iowa podcast was an inane, self-loathing chucklefest where they sounded embarrassed to be associated with U of M. Good thing the team didn't and doesn't have the same mentality. Losing is bad, but far far better than quitting.
Incredible post. You are right about everything. Particularly the GTFO part regarding fans who want this team to be like the NFL and get whatever mercenary at whatever price.
I'm rooting for OSU, preferably in a blowout. MSU badly needs an outright B1G championship, since with division realignment (and with Narduzzi getting more and more attention elsewhere) they likely won't sniff another chance for years. OSU would go to the BCS championship game and get a nice chunk of change for B1G teams to split. Also, I kind of want OSU fans to continue to build joyless, unrealistic Saban-like expectations for Meyer, so that every time he does lose, more and more of them have an ever-unsatisfied, red-faced, cross-eyed glare (until Meyer fakes another heart attack and gets out of that hellhole).
if it's just all about W's and L's. There are losses that help build programs to be better and there are losses that tear them apart. As long as they can tune out the portion of the fanbase that can't tell the difference, I think this is an example of the former.
Maybe we should hire you to replace Hoke so you can build true men: "This is NOT a good day. NOT GOOD. Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is: never try."
in the loss today than in the win over Akron, despite the bottom line. Yet, after reading these comments, I realize this type of thinking makes me some sort of loser, and that my loser mentality somehow pervades the program and causes it to lose more, because fans of good teams say things like "losing is unacceptable."
We would all be better off if we called Gallon and Dileo and Lewan a bunch of underachieving losers for only beating OSU once, and encouraged Hoke to do the same, before we demanded he be fired for being a loser.
Recent Comments
if Nussmeier lasts more than 2 seasons here. He's a ladder climber. He'll either go up to the next step or fall off.
Shane Morris just got a multimillion dollar Xmas present...
I remember Borges making a remark along the lines of, "we want to run the offense that wins us games, not one that accumulates yards/stats."
My question, then, is: are all YPC created equally? Watching Alabama and Stanford (and, to a lesser degree, MSU), I see teams that want to get 4-7 yards every attempt, control the ball, control the clock, then slowly pillow-suffocate the other team with an elite defense. They aren't necessarily keeping opposing defenses outpaced and off-balance, or going for the home run.
I see Borges wanting to emulate the ball-control teams (obviously it's not happening yet -- they got neither enough wins nor yards this year), so yards-per-carry would seem to be not a perfect metric for the success of such an offense. Thoughts? I don't know the x/o's as well as many of you, but it does seem that different schools have different approaches to what they want their offense and running game to accomplish.
1991 -- 2 losses
1992 -- 0 losses (or, 3 ties = 1.5 losses)
1997 -- 0
1999 -- 2
2006 -- 2
2011 -- 2
By my count, that's six seasons. Change the bar to 3 losses or less, and it's 12 out of 24 seasons. OSU has done that 15 of the past 24 (14 of the past 24 if you include a vacated 2010 season). Still not anything to brag about, but more consoling than the cherrypicked--and, more importantly, wrong--stat you put up.
we saw Michigan in a December Bowl, they lost to the worst college coach of all time, Bill Callahan.
Your dad fucked you up good, didn't he?
that Buckeye and Spartan-based analyses keep pounding the "you're better than this; Hoke is mediocre" drum. It is certainly in their interests for us to keep tearing our program down. I also think their programs are a different breed; more open to the idea of quick fixes and mercenaries and hired guns, particularly OSU. They don't get it and they don't need to, as long as we know who we are.
What does calling a game "acceptable" or "unacceptable" do for you? What tangible difference does it make outside of your own happiness?
BTW don't have kids if you see sports as simply a sorting device to divide people into winners and losers. AJ McCarron and Nick Saban, for example, are losers, which is unacceptable.
I agree about mgoblog "mailing in" this past week. The post-Iowa podcast was an inane, self-loathing chucklefest where they sounded embarrassed to be associated with U of M. Good thing the team didn't and doesn't have the same mentality. Losing is bad, but far far better than quitting.
Incredible post. You are right about everything. Particularly the GTFO part regarding fans who want this team to be like the NFL and get whatever mercenary at whatever price.
I'm rooting for OSU, preferably in a blowout. MSU badly needs an outright B1G championship, since with division realignment (and with Narduzzi getting more and more attention elsewhere) they likely won't sniff another chance for years. OSU would go to the BCS championship game and get a nice chunk of change for B1G teams to split. Also, I kind of want OSU fans to continue to build joyless, unrealistic Saban-like expectations for Meyer, so that every time he does lose, more and more of them have an ever-unsatisfied, red-faced, cross-eyed glare (until Meyer fakes another heart attack and gets out of that hellhole).
if it's just all about W's and L's. There are losses that help build programs to be better and there are losses that tear them apart. As long as they can tune out the portion of the fanbase that can't tell the difference, I think this is an example of the former.
Maybe we should hire you to replace Hoke so you can build true men: "This is NOT a good day. NOT GOOD. Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is: never try."
Every team must be better than the one before it.
Bo was 6-6 in Year 16. Not acceptable, should be fired.
Mark Dantonio was 6-7 in Year 3. Not acceptable, should be fired.
Urban Meyer was 7-5 in Year 6 at Florida. Florida finds this unacceptable, makes him fake a heart attack and resign.
in the loss today than in the win over Akron, despite the bottom line. Yet, after reading these comments, I realize this type of thinking makes me some sort of loser, and that my loser mentality somehow pervades the program and causes it to lose more, because fans of good teams say things like "losing is unacceptable."
We would all be better off if we called Gallon and Dileo and Lewan a bunch of underachieving losers for only beating OSU once, and encouraged Hoke to do the same, before we demanded he be fired for being a loser.