Ron Utah

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Date	Title	Body
12 hours 35 min ago	Thanks	fixed in Part IV, I will look at Part III. EDIT: I called him the HC in Part I.  Also fixed.  Thanks.
1 day 18 hours ago	Rothstein Article	I would posbang that thing to death if he put it on MGoBlog.  Amazing article.
1 day 19 hours ago	Thanks	EDITED.  Thank you. I appreciate you helping me find these errors.  The more data I have in front of me, the more likely I am to mistype something. Please let me know if you see anything else I messed-up.
1 day 19 hours ago	Funny, then...	At first, the idea of D1 football coaches doing such a thing cracked me up.  As did RR in costume.  But then...it just....kept...........going....................
1 day 20 hours ago	Part IV	Great question.  The answer is long, but will be discussed more in Part IV of the series. A quick response: If Borges was our Head of Recruiting, I'd be worried.  I don't think that's his strongsuit.  I'd also point out that most of the QB's he's coached have NOT gone onto success in the NFL, which may indicate that they were not as talented as he made them appear. But you also bring up a good point about longevity: at the D1-A level, Borges has never stayed anywhere longer than five years.  UCLA appeared to be on the upswing offensively when he left.  At Portland State, however, his final two years (years six and seven) were the team's best offensively. So yeah, inconclusive is probably an accurate summary.
1 day 20 hours ago	Classmate	Of Tyroil Smoochie-Wallace. I loved that name, too.  Thanks for noticing.
1 day 20 hours ago	Boise State	BSU has a 72.4% all-time winning percentage and is a historically strong football program.  They've never had terrible talent. They also don't play in the B1G.  Chris Peterson is 84-8 as their HC but lost to MSU last year. They're successful relative to their competition.  I think they would be middle-of-the-pack in the B1G. All that said, I agree that Borges is not the type of coach who can take sub-par talent to success.  He's a methodical, traditional coach and doesn't rely as much on scheme or trickery to defeat opponents, favoring fundamentals and execution. Of course, he's also kicked butt at lower levels of football, including at Boise State.
1 day 20 hours ago	Hoke, not Borges	I think Hoke decided Denard would stay at QB, and the simple fact that he was really, really good. But yes, you are right, keeping Denard as the starter was the right decision.
1 day 20 hours ago	What I don't get about this	If you're going to call him an idiot for his second-half playcalling, don't you have to call him a genius for his first-half playcalling? And doesn't it seem highly unlikely that the guy went from genius to idiot at halftime? Could it be that player execution was part of the problem?
3 days 10 hours ago	I'm a bit lost here	He had two amazing seasons at Auburn.  He had two amazing seasons at UCLA.  He had some good, average, and bad seasons too.  He's not a guy who can make chicken salad out of chicken sh*t, but not many can. And he's coached some downright unstoppable running attacks...I'm just not sure which stats you're referring to. Borges isn't a world-beater, IMO.  But when he's had the right tools, he's had some amazing success.
3 days 20 hours ago	Boller and Green-Ellis	Boller wasn't much better statistically for Tedford; he was still only a 53.5% passer.  And Green-Ellis played for Indiana...you can't be a successful RB without good blocking. That said, I don't think Borges is a guy that can take sub-par talent and win a national championship...but who can?
3 days 20 hours ago	THIS	This diary is not a judgment of Borges, it's just a look at what's he done, where he's been, and some of the influences on his style. In Part III, I'll try to connect some of the dots that relate to Borges' patterns, successes, and failures, but I'm really just trying to let readers draw their own conclusions when they see the data.
3 days 20 hours ago	I'm not going to bow to the	I'm not going to bow to the SEC god, but it is undeniable that they are currently the best football conference.  Who is better?  A higher level of competition makes it harder to be successful, which I do believe skews the SOS a bit.  I'm not saying all the SEC teams have the toughest schedules in the country, but they do, in general, have the toughest conference schedules. If I'm wrong, please tell me which conference is tougher.
3 days 20 hours ago	Connect the dots	The day Speight committed, Cornwell tweeted that he had learned not to get caught up in the recruiting process, and to commit when he found a staff and school he liked. I think Michigan, the day before Speight committed, asked Cornwell to commit, and he said he wasn't ready.  So Michigan went to option #2. You don't have to be a detective to figure this one out.  Cornwell appears to be the better prospect, and we know Michigan had been pursuing him.  But this staff's QB policy is not to offer until the kid is ready to accept.  So when Cornwell said he wasn't ready to commit, we offered Speight, who jumped on it.
4 days 15 hours ago	wrong	We didn't pass on him. He didn't commit and we moved on.
4 days 18 hours ago	Good call	Will edit. But there is no arguing about Boise State--they were NOT D1-A yet.  Still AA.
4 days 19 hours ago	THIS	Unless there is a culture change, Detroit will never be great again.  Most of the residents are jaded by years of crime, corruption, and apathy, and you can't get a city going without a productive population. Detroit needs a large infusion of new residents (highly unlikely) or years (maybe decades) for its current population base to grow out of the malaise that brought the city down in the first place.
5 days 34 min ago	Awesome work	Great stuff.  I love the statistical analysis.  Also--I completely agree with your prediction for DG at 225/360 (62.5%), 2900 yds (I'd actually guess closer to 3000), and 23/10 as a REALISTIC expectation. My diary was not meant to indicated that we should EXPECT a record-setting season from DG, but to look at the data and say, "You know what?  A record-setting season is a very, very reasonable possibility." Believe me, I've got $0 bet on DG putting up 3400 yards and 33 TDs.
5 days 11 hours ago	Hard to say	I'll be sharing some of the patterns and possible conclusions from the data I've gathered in Part III.  It's hard to say it's all Al's fault for not having a more talented O-line, but there is no doubt that the UCLA recruiting was not getting them the players they needed to be successful.  That said, I don't think it's the OC's job to make sure recruiting goes well.  Sure, it's a piece of his job, but that responsibility really falls on the HC and Recruiting Coordinator. Don't get me wrong--Borges needs to make sure he has players that can make his system work and he needs to recruit--but I don't think all the blame can be laid at his feet for UCLA's O-line struggles. EDIT: As to why things went downhill at UCLA, the answer seems pretty obvious: lack of talent.  The recruiting wasn't good enough.  The O-line and QB weren't good enough.  And the coaching wasn't good enough.  Again, more on this in Part III.
5 days 18 hours ago	Fun Fact	The MICHIGAN marching band was the first to do the script Ohio in 1932.  LINK.
6 days 24 min ago	How bad did his QBs have to	How bad did his QBs have to be for him to believe that Rex Grossman was some kind of wonderful?  Yikes.  That's like a Michigan player saying, "Man, Scott Shafer was such a good defensive coordinator, but when Greg Robinson came in, it got really bad."
6 days 32 min ago	No matter how it goes	This a kid that we want, and I wish him the best no matter where he goes.
6 days 21 hours ago	Harvard, BUT	While Harvard for undergrad is the gold standard, if she plans on getting an advanced degree, I believe that choice is far more important.  That said, Harvard can certainly help her get into the best institutions for advanced degrees (places like, well, Harvard). Also, some of this depends on her desired career/major.  If she wants to be attorney or politician, finishing at Harvard Law is tought to beat.  Same goes for medical. But for business?  An undergrad at Michigan with an MBA from Harvard, IMO, is more powerful than an undergrad from Harvard with a Michigan MBA.  Of course, if your daughter is in either of those situations, she's going to be more than fine.  And yes, the Harvard undergrad + Harvard MBA is probably the best, but not significantly better than U-M undergrad + Harvard MBA. Also, it's not like Michigan is chopped liver.  We are top ten in virtually every major category, and our grad programs provide plenty of open doors...but not as many as Harvard.
1 week 19 min ago	Trying not to be excited and	Trying not to be excited and failing miserably.  If we land Hand, already having Peppers on board, we are talking about an historic class in terms of its top layer.  Just WOW.
1 week 32 min ago	I want to be your friend	Seriously.  Awesome post, and I would give just about anything to have been with you on those trips.
1 week 17 hours ago	Thank You!	Your best post ever.  Please let it come true.
1 week 17 hours ago	Panera	Is good if you have money and time to waste.
1 week 17 hours ago	Dude, no	You're ordering the wrong sandwiches.  JJ's italian is delicious, as is their avocado spread.  Subway is absolutely the last option in the sub world.  JJ's is faster and better. Also, if you don't want mayo, just say so.  Not hard.
1 week 18 hours ago	ummm...why?	Can you tell us then?  Or link us?  That'd be great.
1 week 1 day ago	1:48 on the INT video	Very brief shot of an angry Greg Mattison.

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