jblaze

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.

Joined: 08/29/2008

MGoPoints: 19239

M-Wolverine

November 17th, 2012 at 4:43 PM ^

And there are a limited number of hours to prepare. So if you're doing one thing you're either not spending the time preparing for something else (maybe your bread and butter), or only half preparing for everything, and none of it very well.

Joined: 10/04/2009

MGoPoints: 42190

Jeff09

November 17th, 2012 at 5:01 PM ^

You get a much bigger benefit in my view if you unfurl a complete surprise. Much more likely to get a defensive bust and game-breaking play.

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.

Joined: 06/25/2011

MGoPoints: 8460

CRex

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.  

Joined: 09/28/2009

MGoPoints: 9010

Plegerize

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.

Joined: 03/26/2009

MGoPoints: 1807

corundum

November 17th, 2012 at 3:45 PM ^

I wonder if we will see some sort of wildcat package in future years since the inverted veer has been so effective. Great gameplan today and I think it was appropriate to unveil it today giving our team game day experience with execution and forcing the buckeye defense to prep for all sorts of new wrinkles. Go Blue!

Joined: 05/10/2012

MGoPoints: 47323

yoopergoblue

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.  

Joined: 02/11/2010

MGoPoints: 2437

UMRecruitingFannatic

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."

Joined: 11/12/2012

MGoPoints: 140

Shakey Jake

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.

Joined: 05/12/2012

MGoPoints: 1218

Ziff72

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.

Joined: 07/07/2008

MGoPoints: 9823

UMRecruitingFannatic

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? 

Joined: 11/12/2012

MGoPoints: 140

LSAClassOf2000

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. 

 

Joined: 01/07/2011

MGoPoints: 130561

FrankMurphy

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. 

Joined: 08/19/2008

MGoPoints: 31916

Profwoot

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.

Joined: 10/12/2010

MGoPoints: 155

Jeff09

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

Joined: 06/25/2011

MGoPoints: 8460