Do you really want Borges replaced?

If they beat MSU and Ohio I'll retire from complaining on mgblog and smile until next August. If they get embarrassed again and can't score in trash tornado stadium and then lose at home to Ohio it's a whole different story.

I have no problem with the "plays" Borges calls.  My biggest problem with him is the formations in which he calls them from and the down and distance at which he calls them.  Michigan's offense has turned into under center = RB run, pistol = zone read and shotgun = pass.  It has also turned into 1st down = run from under center, 2nd down = run from under center, 3rd down = pass from the shotgun.  Besides the obvious take what the defense is giving you quick throws I wish we would change up the timing and formations of our plays.  1st down doesn't have to equal run, shotgun doesn't have to equal pass.  For one series I would love to see Michigan just run its offense out of one formation and mix it up with run/pass.  Make the defense pay by guessing wrong instead of consistently guessing right.  It's like Borges/Hoke aren't aware of the fact you can pass from under center and run the RB from the gun.  That, I think is their biggest problem. 

Can we trade Borges to Arizona for Calvin MacGee(sp)?

There is a stark difference in how this board has reacted to Mattison's successes and failures vs. Borges' success and failures. Mattison's successes are praised (2011 defensive turnaround), but his failures are ignored (final ND score in UTL 2011, Ohio's offensive explosion in The Game 2011). Borges' successes are ignored (UTL 2013, 4th quarter of UTL 2011, calling a near-perfect game against Ohio in 2011), but we're constantly reminded of his failures. Why is that?

I am frustrated by the lack of success on offense, especially after torching ND. I would be frustrated but less so if we were throwing incompletes or three yard outs on third and five, becuase that seems more fixable and jibes with my preferred style. That all said, the play calling is less of an issue to me than the ineffective offensive line, and I haven't seen anything to convince me Funk isn't doing a decent job with scraps (exhibit A being Glasgow). Borges has tried to adapt to crappy blocking but we can't seem to block even simple plays, which leaves this: --- Gordon: Oh, by the way, for what it's worth, I'm right with you on this Rostenkowski thing. Casey: Thank you. Gordon: It was a terrible call. Casey: Lost the game. Gordon: I don't know how he made that call. Any idiot knows you hand it to Jermaine, you send him up the middle. Casey: Yeah -- well, you're not gonna go up the middle against an 8-man front, but still... Gordon: Oh, still, maybe you run a play-action fake, you toss it off to the tight end out in the flat. Casey: The problem with that is that without establishing a running game first, no one's gonna bite down on the play fake. Gordon: Oh, but still. Casey: Still... Gordon: A post pattern, a slant... Casey: He'd be going against a defensive back who was second-team All-American as a true freshman. Gordon: What would you have called? Casey: Me? Gordon: Yeah. Casey: The thing is, I haven't watched film all week. I haven't seen scouting reports. I don't have an offensive coordinator talking in my ear. I don't have 80,000 fans screaming in my face. So it's easy for me -- I don't have 10 million people watching at home on TV, including a pack of rabid alumni. I've had three days to think about it. He had seven seconds. So it's a lot easier for me to make that decision than it was for him. But since you asked me what play I would have called, I'll tell you. Now that I think about it, I have no idea. --- - Sports Night, "The Head Coach, Dinner and the Morning Mail" Season One Episode Six I think that anyone you hire now will train wreck our season, and end up making us worse next year, because we still won't block anyone and have to learn a new scheme. If it wouldn't totally torpedo our shared program, I would love to see the Borges bashers get what they want just for the schadenfreude ...

I think Borges is on a short leash. If we get through Nov. with 2 losses or less he will be fine. We lose more than 2, while looking like crap on O, he'll be gone.

"Bet let's say the remaining games are more Akron/UConn/PSU than ND, and everyone's calling for his head at the end of the season.  Would there be any viable replacement?  "

 

If we're willing to continue to shell out $700K for an OC - absolutely.

 

A surprising number of folks are willing to change jobs for 2x the salary.

 

 

Really, a QB coach who only coaches the QB might be the answer.  I am not sure having Al do this and coordinate the offense is the right thing to do. Can Loeffler still be effective as a QB coach?

I want someone that has the principals hoke is looking for with the Bama / Stanford offenses but run them in a more modern way a la the teams I just mentioned. Bama and Stanford both have built in sight adjustments and are also not afraid to find something that works and stick with it til the other team stops it.

Offense has changed drastically over the past decade. Spread up tempo teams employ attacks with built in run pass options on the same play they could run, pass, or QB run, or WR bubble, or stick. So many things for a defense to stop and think about...

And then there is our offense. We have no sight adjustments, can't ry audible out of a play bc we get out of the huddle at 12 seconds. The defense adjusts to our stupid unbalanced formation and then we get slammed for a negative play which we almost lead the country in.

Al refuses to make in game adjustments and it has reared its head several times in his tenure here. It's like after the first 8-10 times it doesn't work he thinks to himself "they'll crack soon were too physical".

In reality defenses find it easier to defend us and in a recent post that was correlated. Out of the gun we averaged like 9 yards a play yet under center it was atrocious at best. Of course any person in their right mind that watched Indiana put up 44 pts and shred them from the spread coupled with our spread success during the year you'd think Al may think of calling some spread stuff....... Nope. Not Al.


Idk who is want coming in but anyone is honestly better then AL. Me. funk has gotta go too.

Get rid of Borges and look to Stanford's coordinators. If Shaw leaves for the NFL as many predict, he's got some staff that might be looking for a new home. Wouldn't mind looking to more pass-happy spread offenses like Oklahoma State or Texas Tech for coordinators either. Key is the new OC has to be aggressive and adaptive, two traits I don't really see in Borges.

Yes, I REALLY want Borges gone. Going after Cam Cameron is the best option in my opinion. I think as a second option I'd go after Scot Loeffler with all of his Michigan ties, and he'd be the best pure QB coach, and Borges is really lacking as a QB coach, where he's supposed to be some sort of God. So many other options that'd be better than Borges; Tom Herman, Rhett Lashlee, Chad Morris etc. As I've said before, I'd even take half of the Big Ten's offensive coordinators over Borges. He's just not a good offensive coordinator, besides his success at Boise State and Auburn, he's been near awful at everywhere he's gone (except SDSU, but they're in the MWC so it's a moot point.)

Yes

Yes, fire him after the season is over. This gives him the opportunity to right the ship and it gives us time to find a suitable replacement.

 

YES

I find it rather amusing how many people are so certain that Borges sucks! and if there were just a different OC things would be peachy.  Maybe that's the case, but I certainly think there are people who know a lot more about football than most of the posters here, and also know a lot more about what is going on with the Michigan offense. Hoke is not going to fire Borges midseason.  Why? Because A) Hoke also recognizes the problems with the OLine and guess what, there is no magical offensive scheme that works well with an Oline struggling to both pass and run block effectively,  B) I'm pretty sure Hoke wanted to bleed the clock at the end of the game and force Penn State into a long field with very little time.

No. Do not fire Borges. He and Funk are easy scapegoats, but this team has issues all over the field, both on offense and defense.  Both Akron and Penn State were able to march down the field with very little time left on the clock.  Fire Mattison!

Yes, there are better more open minded options out there. Not a stubborn man that won't utilize the talent that he has.

bye-bye gorgeous

Since Borges has been at Michigan, the only game I was truly impressed with him was 2012 vs. Iowa. Pretty much every other game, win or lose, I've been dumbfounded by his playcalling. If players were failing to execute, then that's one thing. Borges hasn't shown the ability to adapt in games. He seems very stubborn.

If Hoke wants him as the OC, then hopefully Borges and Hoke will improve the team through 2015. But after the 2015 season we are still having problems with the offense and we keep loosing 5 to 4 games per season, then it may be time to show Hoke the door. I'm sure Greg will get fed up with not winning and will retire after 2015.

When Hoke was in the MAC there were some powerful offenses, like record settings offenses.  Central Michigan, Bowling Green, Toledo, Miami, etc.  CMU set all kinds of records in the LeFevour days.  Bowling Green was top 5 in offense in 03 and 04.  Toledo had some receivers and a QB drafted and some success in the NFL.  Miami had some QB who was pretty good.  I bet he remembers some great OCs from those days, some of which have gone on to success elsewhere.  If he wanted to make a switch, wouldn't surprise me if he goes that route.