Gorgeous Borges Appreciation Thread
November 17th, 2012 at 3:35 PM ^
amen to that
November 17th, 2012 at 3:35 PM ^
we trust
November 17th, 2012 at 3:37 PM ^
Iowa's defense just sucks
November 17th, 2012 at 4:30 PM ^
Iowa was ranked #29 in scoring defense heading into today's game, #60 in rush D and #50 in pass D. Not particularly stunning defensive stats, but it wasn't a cupcake to play against either.
November 17th, 2012 at 3:39 PM ^
Borges and Gardner do seem to gel quite well.
November 17th, 2012 at 3:39 PM ^
November 17th, 2012 at 3:42 PM ^
Borges has a track record of doing that actually. Remember Minnesota 2011? We came out with all these new looks against we were on the way to shutting out anyway. I think it must be that Borges just feels more comfortable test-driving his new stuff against a body bag.
November 17th, 2012 at 3:42 PM ^
November 17th, 2012 at 4:35 PM ^
Why would you want them to prepare for something if you're planning to use it? The only way this benefits you is if you don't plan to use the plays in the next game, which I guess could be the case.
November 17th, 2012 at 4:41 PM ^
November 17th, 2012 at 5:02 PM ^
November 17th, 2012 at 7:04 PM ^
I don't know, but the coaches obviously think so. Showing off new looks 7 days in advance doesn't give the enemy players a huge amount of time to learn how to handle them, but it gave our guys 3 hours practice of said looks in a real game scenario.
November 17th, 2012 at 9:53 PM ^
they have to prep for Denard vs. Devin and crazy new plays vs. zone read vs. Manball. More importantly, they have 1 or maybe 2 data points off which to make assumptions. It's easy to change the play slightly to take advantage of the overscouting by OSU.
I think it's the right move.
November 17th, 2012 at 9:42 PM ^
Perhaps Hoke should send them the film on Thursday like Ohio did to State.
November 17th, 2012 at 4:43 PM ^
November 17th, 2012 at 5:01 PM ^
I think a more plausible explanation for this is that you want to run things in actual game situations to make sure they actually work and the kids are comfortable running them.
November 17th, 2012 at 6:12 PM ^
You know we can run entirely new stuff next week as well. tOSU will spend the week adapting to handle everything we showed today, while Borges can spend the week adding new plays at his leisure. For all we know he only gave away 20% of stuff he has planned with Denard and Devin just to get a test drive in and we'll come out with the rest of it next week.
November 17th, 2012 at 7:23 PM ^
you're tiddlywinkin'.
November 17th, 2012 at 3:42 PM ^
Denard had to get on the field today; and better a real contribution than some token appearance.
November 17th, 2012 at 3:43 PM ^
Because we wanted to win? Also because we could see how it worked - looking good on offense but D will be key next week. Next stop Mattison!
November 17th, 2012 at 3:44 PM ^
November 17th, 2012 at 3:44 PM ^
What makes you think that Ohio *hasn't* been preparing for Denard at RB?
November 17th, 2012 at 3:45 PM ^
Meh.
They still have to stop it.
November 17th, 2012 at 3:46 PM ^
I'm ok with it. Now Ohio has to prepare for it. They have to prepare as if Denard is going to be the starting QB. They have to prepare for Devin as if he's going to be the starting QB. They also have to prepare as if Denard is going to play. Regardless, they'll be busy this week in practice.
November 17th, 2012 at 4:02 PM ^
November 17th, 2012 at 3:42 PM ^
And the players for executing well.
November 17th, 2012 at 3:45 PM ^
November 17th, 2012 at 3:44 PM ^
Iowa's defense is below average but we all saw some promising stuff in a little over 3 quarters. LOVED the throwback screen to Smith with Denard as the other RB. Devin was extremely accurate today and Denard showed he can help the team even when he can't throw it.
November 17th, 2012 at 4:11 PM ^
I think he might be able to throw it, but this fact has been kept under wraps in preparation for a special play next week. With the triple reverse call today, we could see how much time Denard would've had to throw and the fact that the safeties immediately attacked the ball once it was in Denard's hands, instinctively assuming that he couldn't throw.
I think the past two weeks and test-running the play today is all a setup for a triple reverse pass to be used next week. Think, when ohio is gameplanning and watching tape, they're going to all assume Denard can't throw it... until he launches a bomb over the overly-aggressive secondary to a wide open wide receiver!
Denard doesn't even have to throw it that accurately; with the masterful planning of Borges and Hoke, I guarantee you'll see Denard launch one deep early in the game next week, probably after running it a few times "because he can't thow."
November 17th, 2012 at 4:37 PM ^
November 17th, 2012 at 8:21 PM ^
Now you've spoiled the surprise!
November 17th, 2012 at 3:46 PM ^
Borges > Fickell
November 17th, 2012 at 3:58 PM ^
But let's wait until next week to grade everyone. Iowa isn't a good team. This is what Michigan was expected to do to a piss poor Iowa team. And it won't help that Fitz will be out with his injury. God speed in his recovery.
Ohio will be playing their bowl game next Saturday. Hoke and staff are going to have a hell of a week making sure this team is ready for war and prepared to beat the snot out of those Buckeyes.
A Michigan loss next week will make MGOBLOG's servers crash and burn.
November 17th, 2012 at 4:03 PM ^
They showed way too much today. In the 2nd qtr when it was apparent this game was over they could have saved the screen pass and the rest.
Where was this all year?
Awesome day all around but frustrating as well.
November 17th, 2012 at 4:04 PM ^
think that was the point. Could potentially give Ohio far to much to game plan for. I'm worried about our D being able to handle them more than our O being able to score points anyway.
November 17th, 2012 at 4:03 PM ^
didn't like the end around that required 47 pitches but other than that....sweetness!!
November 17th, 2012 at 4:04 PM ^
on his game today.
RE: Fitz - no word on what it is but apparently he's in surgery right now, according to SB Nation.
November 17th, 2012 at 4:14 PM ^
Did you see the picture? Someone posted it earlier, but it looks like his ankle/lower calf area was bent at a 90 degree angle as he was being taken down. Doesn't look good for the rest of the year, just hope he can make a full recovery.
Random aside, is there possibly something to do with the way that Iowa plays that causes a lot of injuries to RBs? I mean, I'm looking for some reason to explain the rash of injuries to their own stable and along with this/any other RB injuries to other teams. I'd suspect teams that cut block a lot have a ton of lower-leg injuries, so is there any reason that Iowa seems to injure a lot of running backs?
November 17th, 2012 at 4:16 PM ^
November 17th, 2012 at 4:25 PM ^
That looked every bit as gruesome as Marcus Lattimore's injury.
November 17th, 2012 at 4:05 PM ^
Let less need to bitch about Borges' inability to run a humming offense with a QB who can't make throws in game time when Devin's in.
November 17th, 2012 at 4:13 PM ^
my only qualm is that Denard ended up taking a ton of hits. Hopefully we didn't reaggrivate anything
November 17th, 2012 at 4:24 PM ^
One of the things that I think people miss is is that we still do average 383.3 yards of total offense per game this year to date, and while that is 8th in the conference, it is actually only a 5.3% drop in average total offense per game from last year, which is at all tragic.
I would totally agree with others and say that this was perhaps his best, most cratively called game this season - and we burned Iowa for 513 yards as a result. I think this might be one of the first times it really looked like a West Coast offense through nearly the whole game, using passing plays to stretch out the defense and then setting up for either some beuatiful bombs or some nice runs.
Still, with Denard Robinson even able to take limited snaps, you make a team plan for two different schools of thought on offense, and even with Denard able to serve as a TB or RB, you have a situation where the defense still is forced to wonder about Denard as well. Borges has an excellent problem that many OCs would like to have, I would think. It certainly fooled Iowa anyway.
Under Borges, this offense is going to do some awesome things in the coming years - I think you can see the genesis of it now.
November 17th, 2012 at 4:22 PM ^
AWWW YEAH!!! I got my own appreciation thread on MGoBlog! MY LIFE IS COMPLETE
November 17th, 2012 at 4:23 PM ^
I've been saying since Borges was hired that he's the best man for the job going forward. I'm not saying 'I told you so', but... I don't know how to finish that sentence.
November 17th, 2012 at 4:36 PM ^
I think Borges likes to try new/gimmicky stuff against patsies because against good teams he tends to not actually use that stuff. The benefit of it is therefore to make the good team(s) think they will have to defend it, rather than actually making them defend it. We saw very little of the crazy Minnesota 2011 offense against anyone else, and I doubt we see much of the new elements introduced today against OSU or in the bowl.
One problem with this hypothesis is that we don't know how many of Denard's RB carries were actually planned versus how many resulted from Fitz's injury. If it turns out that Borges is as unimpressed with his other RBs as he seems, it might be that he keeps and even expands on some of the Denard-as-decoy or Denard-as-throwing-threat trickeration simply because Denard will be on the field most of the game and he might as well.
November 17th, 2012 at 4:37 PM ^
Borges is our own Big Papi
November 17th, 2012 at 4:38 PM ^
He called a tremendous game, no question. He clearly (rightly) had no respect for the Iowa secondary. They got embarrassed badly out there
November 17th, 2012 at 5:19 PM ^
He shouldn't have any respect for OSUs secondary next week with how Gardner is slinging it. Wisconsin had a few throws deep that should've been caught but the WR couldn't keep it in.
November 17th, 2012 at 4:46 PM ^