Call Me Tenorman

Submitted by jsquigg on

The title says it all, and if you must neg me to mgohell, so be it.  If I don't vent a little bit I'm going to take it out on my kids, and they don't deserve it.

First off, I have to give Borges a little credit for calling a good Iowa game and a good first half against Ohio.  Unfortunately that's it for the positives.

Michigan football has been frustrating for the last decade at least.  Even amidst the horrid string of losses against Ohio, even Mike Debord opened up the offense and didn't seem to call anything that had a terrible chance of succeeding on a critical down.  If I felt like Ohio played better or harder, it would suck, but at least the coaches would have given us our best chance.

To run out of the I-Form between the tackles even ONCE in The Game would have been terrible, but I could live with it on an early down, even though it has not had great success ONCE this year.  To run from the I in double tight on 3rd and 3 is fucking dumb, and it's pretty much the dumbest fucking play call I have ever fucking seen.  If only Lloyd Carr had run to the sideline after that abortion of a play to smack some sense into Hoke and get the punt team out there, but alas, Hoke wastes the timeout, and Borges follows up the previous gem of a play by fooling Ohio out of their minds by putting Denard at QB and running up the middle.

I thought The Game turned at that point even though the offense had plenty of chances.  Against our biggest rival, we see no new wrinkles, no Denard and Devin combo in the backfield, but we do see plenty of stubborness.

I know, I know.  I don't know as much football as Al has forgotten.  I don't put in the time in the video room or teaching technique or instilling toughness.  What I do know is that this team's strength isn't running power from the I-Form.  Some of the worst defenses in the nation have stymied us when we try to do it.  So with all the time Borges puts in, how come he waits for the biggest game of the season and on some of the biggest plays to run what we do worst?

To me that was just as bad as watching RichRod's abortion of a defense flail about for three years because this team was good enough to win in the worst state ever for the first time in over a decade and the coaches fucked it up.

In the next week you might here the same tiring bullshit about how "we got beat in the trenches" or how "we got out toughed" or about how "we didn't execute well enough."  I'm not buying it.  It was our gameplan and scheme that threw away a game that our defense was trying to hand us on a platter.

Great coaches do well without needing "their players."  Al Borges didn't adjust well enough.  This one will sting until next year.  Hopefully Borges either does some soul searching or GTFO.  See you on TWIS.

buddha

November 25th, 2012 at 12:16 AM ^

With all due respect for a legitimate post, I disagree. Our offense became extremely predictable, to the point that the ten fans around me knew exactly what play we were running before we ran it. The dev-nard option that - at the vet least - required the defense to be honest I the first half - was abandoned. Overall, the usage of Denard and Deci reminded me of the NY Jets this season. The offense simply couldn't get it done.

Glen Masons Hot Wife

November 25th, 2012 at 12:17 AM ^

The short yardage third down play calls were atrocious.

And as far as Devin being limited.  If the coaches had given him reps throughout the year and prepared him as a backup, he wouldn't be so limited, if that was so much the case.

I know all that hindsight 20/20 shit, but they were out of their minds for leaving nobody home prepared to fill in for an undersized, running QB.

The one thing I think Borges may have been wrongly accused of is not putting Denard at RB often enough.  I'm guessing Denard is a liability in passing plays, as he won't be able to protect Devin nearly as effectively as Vincent Smith.

ford_428cj

November 25th, 2012 at 9:00 AM ^

Great initial post & agree witha bunch more.

 

Denard runnin up the middle is what caused him to get hurt against Neb ... & fumble against ND. He cant use his speed & moves & gets hammered to much.

 

Devin & Denard pitch option in the 2nd half ... or screen pass to denard. Instead we run up the middle & keep doing play actions which threw Devin out of his timing & didnt work anyway.