Magnum P.I.

October 26th, 2013 at 7:47 PM ^

 

If I need to talk to Al, which I did last week (against Indiana) regarding we needed points and we’re going to have to take every possession and try and stick it in the end zone and how we would do that, we had that discussion.

 

Please have this discussion every game from now on.

snarling wolverine

October 26th, 2013 at 7:51 PM ^

Well, there may be times when you want to methodically move it up the field, in 10-15 yard chunks, to give the defense breathing room.  Against IU in the second half we forgot about ball control and aired it out, which meant a ton of points but also not much rest for the D.  Note that in the first half, when we were more methodical and gave the D more rest time, IU's offense wasn't nearly as potent.

switch26

October 27th, 2013 at 8:04 AM ^

except you forgot how horrific ILL is..  I was calling out almost every play MSU was doing.. specially 3rd down, almost every throw was late over the middle and no ILL defender was within 5-10 yards.. what a joke.

mGrowOld

October 26th, 2013 at 7:51 PM ^

He genuinely believes "Our pass rush IS better" and there have only been three or four play calls by Borges he's disagreed with over the past three years.

Now that is a bit scary.

YouRFree

October 26th, 2013 at 10:24 PM ^

The major problem here i think is Hoke, not Borges. This year make me think about RR's era in defensive side of ball. Try to implement a phylosophy that the team is not ready for by the end of fallcamp, and try to hope that it will improve through the season, but didn't workout. The only difference is probably Hoke at least knowledge it and try to adjust now.

I think Hoke has a lot of influence in game planing before the game, (i.e. run setup pass, how many running/passing %, formation sets), but he's lack of ability to tell Borgers to adjust in game is obvious as a HC. Particularly, on all road game, Hoke and Co. are not good at winning, I don't even remember he has beaten any ranked team on the road (not nutrual site) in the past 2.5 years.

Indiana Blue

October 27th, 2013 at 3:05 PM ^

at Ball State and SDSU ?   

At Ball State, he had Nate Davis and they were a high powered offense.  They lived and died with the pass.  He was Coach of the Year in the MAC and they almost beat Michigan when they played.

I do not believe Hoke is a micro-manager.  He trusts his coaches to develop a solid game plan, but there are times when a coach doesn't perform - just like times when players fail to make a play.  Head coaches may have a offensive or defensive "specialty" (Hoke coaches the defensive line) ... but they cannot do everything.

The fact is there are times when coaches fail and FAIL miserably.  For example when Sparty lost the ND game, pucker, pucker, pucker (the Mike Valenti rant) and for Michigan it was Penn State game this year.

Go Blue!

jmblue

October 26th, 2013 at 8:53 PM ^

And the other thing is that pass rushing in general is down in college football.  QBs are better and better at getting rid of the ball quickly, and the proliferation of packaged plays, hot reads and the like make blitzing more of a gamble than ever.  

PurpleStuff

October 26th, 2013 at 10:32 PM ^

Haven't been on the site much recently, but it's nice to see a fairly bland interview with the head coach posted without comment turn into a shitshow of a thread full of mountains of idiocy.

It's like the good old days around here.  Well done, sir.

johngrdn82

October 26th, 2013 at 7:54 PM ^

How are you not concerned after reading this? He sounds like a coach without a clue whats going on. Really? the D-line has gotten better?? anybody that has watched Michigan with a pulse can see that this entire defense has regressed.

snarling wolverine

October 26th, 2013 at 8:10 PM ^

Come on, the whole team has regressed?  You think Gardner isn't a better player now than he was a month ago?  How about the WRs?  Gallon and Funchess are regressing?  The OL is harder to gauge but it's not worse than it was against Akron or UConn.  

On D, well, coming off the Indiana game they look bad, but they've had a good year overall.  I think we have a shortage of playmakers and Mattison is accordingly calling a very conservative game to protect them, but I don't think they're worse than they were in September.

Reader71

October 26th, 2013 at 10:34 PM ^

You're playing FEELINGSBALL. The pass rush HAS gotten better, and we have an increase in sacks of this time last year to show for it. I don't think he ever said we would be a top pressure team, and to expect that after having next to no pass rush at all last season was folly.

Emotions have completely destroyed the morale of this fan base post Akron. This blog is of the SABR cloth. All objective measures say we've been pretty good in all aspects. Better than "average". It might feel like the team has regressed, but it hasn't.

The offensive line, however, is shit.

Reader71

October 27th, 2013 at 12:45 AM ^

I'd argue that the offense has improved over last years unit.

We are scoring more per game, 42.4 to 28.9.

We are gaining more yards, 446.4 to 383.1.

Everyone will agree our passing game has improved drastically. Just to give some numbers, 262 PY/G, 1.9 TD/G, 61% completion compared to 199 PY/G, 1.5 TD/G, 53% completion. This doesn't highlight receiver production, but Gallon and Funchess are both better than last year.

All this with a dreadful line. The offense, believe it or not, has progressed.

Special teams have regressed.

I'm still on the fence about the defense. Numbers show that they have regressed, but if you want to go by unit, there has been some improvement. The pass rush has produced more sacks. Interceptions are up. I think by the end of the year, when we add in the numbers from the pedestrian offenses of State and Iowa, the defense will be very comparable to last year's. We'll see.

Section 1

October 27th, 2013 at 9:42 AM ^

Are you comparing last year's offense through all of its games (including games against MSU, Nebraksa, Iowa and Ohio State) to this year's offense through the first half of the season?  You might want to revisit those stats for 2013 at the end of this year...

Eye of the Tiger

October 27th, 2013 at 11:33 AM ^

Our offensive stats are better right now than they were after 7 games last year. But last year's first 7 games included Alabama, MSU and a Notre Dame game played on the road, so take that with a grain of salt.

That said, I do think our offense is arguably better this year than last year in the ability-to-produce-yards/points production department. Unfortunately, aside from last year's Notre Dame game, our turnovers have been more destructive this year. Three games that could have been comfortable wins (ND, Akron and UCONN) were all close calls because of turnovers. Turnovers also played a huge role (14 points) in our one loss.

Reader71

October 27th, 2013 at 12:11 PM ^

Of course you are correct. But its just a quick and dirty way of seeing where we're at right now. If the offense is bad from here on out, people could have a case to say we've regressed. But as of now, they don't, because as the numbers show, we haven't.

MGlobules

October 26th, 2013 at 8:01 PM ^

put it to him pretty plainly. 

I just think M fans have to take a longer view. Hoke's not going anywhere and neither is Borges. We really won't know much until next year. Screaming now is just pissing in the wind, maybe what the internet's for but. . . 

I Like Burgers

October 26th, 2013 at 10:17 PM ^

I still don't understand why people continue to get this wrong.  Including Angelique.  If you play a single snap -- whether its the first snap of the seaon or the last snap of the season on offense, defense, or special teams, that counts as one of your four seasons you get to play.  There is no gray area, its very black and white rule.

The rules for medical redshirts are a bit murkier and are done on a case by case basis and handled by the individual conferences.  But I really doubt Morris has any sort of claim for a medial redshirt.

glewe

October 26th, 2013 at 8:10 PM ^

I'm getting tired of the deferent answers. "Oh, I dunno." "Ask someone else."

No, you're the head honcho; you're the one getting paid the most; everything comes from YOU. Answer a damn question. If you can't, you better find an answer quick. You better be damn well aware of everything going on in the program. If you aren't, then I dunno if I really want you leading it.

johngrdn82

October 26th, 2013 at 8:33 PM ^

I don't think he was saying he needs to throw someone under the bus. The problem is, not only does coach Hoke sound  like he doesn't know whats going on, but all to often he looks like it on the sideline; and furthermore, his team has looked like a team with zero answers to many times this year. I don't care if its in house or out, he better find some answers quick because if he drop this game next week it wont be pretty. like it or not all questions are answered on Saturday, everything you need to know. 

 
 

glewe

October 26th, 2013 at 8:52 PM ^

How hard is it to note how Devin has improved? Improved footwork? Mechanics maybe? Making better reads? What is it? Something technique? Intangible? O-Line protection? Lower quality defenses? Deferring does you nothing. You better know how your quarterback is progressing and be able to articulate that. Dunno what the problem is, but Hoke is making himself look like an ass by choosing not to answer.