Michigan State 29, Michigan 6
Bryan Fuller/MGoBlog
Michigan had two weeks to prepare for Michigan State. This resulted in a record-setting day.
Michigan's -48 yards rushing is school's all-time low in a game (surpassing -46 vs Minnesota in 1962). #MSU
— Chris Mackinder (@Chris_Mackinder) November 2, 2013
Sorry, that should've said that the first half yardage is an FBS worst since Notre Dame rushed -45 yards in a first half in 2007.
— Chantel Jennings (@ChantelJennings) November 2, 2013
It takes a special kind of failure to achieve such lows: complete, utter failure from top to bottom. The gameplan from Al Borges lacked coherence, an issue that's plagued him during his entire tenure at Michigan. The play-action from under center isn't fooling anyone and still gets brought out several times a game, yet the shotgun runs somehow lack any sort of constraint or misdirection. A piecemeal offense isn't going to beat MSU's defense.
The offensive line couldn't open up holes for the running game, nor could they keep Devin Gardner upright. MSU registered nine sacks, and even with that yardage removed along with kneeldowns and a negative-20-yard bad snap, the Wolverines mustered 1.3 yards per carry.
Gardner often held the ball too long, for his part, and missed some open receivers, then capped the performance with an ugly interception when he hucked a designed back-shoulder fade three yards in front of Jeremy Gallon. By that point, however, he'd earned considerable respect simply for standing up and facing the inevitable beating.
Eric Upchurch/MGoBlog
Michigan mustered 168 yards on a meager 2.8 yards per play despite Gardner averaging nearly eight yards per pass when he could actually get one off. The defense fought valiantly, holding the Spartans to just 237 yards and 16 points through three quarters and setting up the offense with a chance to make it a game when Raymon Taylor picked off Connor Cook and returned it to the MSU 41. The Wolverines subsequently took a five-yard loss on an blown-up option followed by consecutive sacks—burning a timeout before the second one—to lose 21 yards in three plays; a Matt Wile punt, his eighth of the afternoon, opened the fourth quarter.
By the time Jeremy Langford capped the scoring with a 40-yard touchdown run, Devin Gardner's day was done—it would've been unconscionable to put him out there for another possession—and fans from both sides steadily streamed out of Spartan Stadium.
On Michigan's final offensive play of the game, Shane Morris tried to scramble on fourth-and-four, only to faceplant at the line of scrimmage. It was a fitting coda to a miserable day.
November 2nd, 2013 at 9:22 PM ^
Times have changed since 1969 when Bo came to UM. His first couple of games weren't all that easy. I remember sitting with Bo's son at the Missouri game when we got beat by about 30 points and people were shouting for Bo's head... we also lost to MSU that year...still by the end of the season we knew that that man could motivate players and had real fire. There may not be another Bo but the big problem I have is that I just don't see that fire in Hoke. That worries me for the future. The question is "Will Brady be a top 10 coach". Right now that answer is no. Sure, let him stay for 5 years...but after 2015 I see us with another coach.
November 2nd, 2013 at 9:23 PM ^
Hoke is indeed in way over his head. It is time for a new coach.
Any thoughts on who shoudl replace Hoke?
November 2nd, 2013 at 9:32 PM ^
November 3rd, 2013 at 7:10 AM ^
November 2nd, 2013 at 9:24 PM ^
How long do we have for the presser on mgoblue or mgovideo? I am really anxious to hear reactions/responses.
November 2nd, 2013 at 9:26 PM ^
We can't wait another five years. Hoke is a horrible coach. We need to make a change right now.....today before he completely destroys thsi program.
Dantonis took over a team in East Lansing with far less talent than Michigan. He has been very successful against Michigan because he is a much better coach than Hoke.
FIRE HOKE>
November 2nd, 2013 at 9:59 PM ^
November 2nd, 2013 at 9:33 PM ^
November 2nd, 2013 at 9:34 PM ^
November 2nd, 2013 at 9:39 PM ^
November 2nd, 2013 at 9:51 PM ^
Obviously, you know nothing about football.........
November 2nd, 2013 at 9:30 PM ^
November 2nd, 2013 at 9:34 PM ^
November 2nd, 2013 at 9:36 PM ^
Anyone who thinks Hoke is the right coach doesn't know anything about football. He is horrible and the Michigan program will only get worse with him at the helm.
November 3rd, 2013 at 3:02 AM ^
November 2nd, 2013 at 9:38 PM ^
November 2nd, 2013 at 9:48 PM ^
November 2nd, 2013 at 9:50 PM ^
November 3rd, 2013 at 7:07 AM ^
November 2nd, 2013 at 9:39 PM ^
This season is over. Fire Hoke now before the program collapses
November 2nd, 2013 at 11:40 PM ^
November 2nd, 2013 at 9:49 PM ^
Time to vent (but not angrily)
The offensive game plan was not totally horrible as they moved the ball decently on multiple occasions. What pisses me off is how you can have a glaringly obvious weakness (interior line) and an equally obvious strength for your opponent and answer that issue with "Block with Toussaint". There couldn't have been a delusion that keeping Fitz in the backfield would make their defense adjust to our amazing run game. Gardner's the best runner anyway so the run is not completely abandoned if Fitz isn't in. When Gardner could get the ball off (except the interception obviously) the offense moved the ball well. Then Narduzzi said, "Fuck this shit, blitz up the middle!" and the drive ended with multiple sacks.
Why the hell did Borges continue using the Pistol formation? Why not full shotgun. Fitz had to go around Gardner to find blitzers and Gardner is closer to the line of scrimmage.
The defense allowed us to hang around for awhile, even with the horrible field position in the 1st half. Mattison was too predictable with blitzes and man coverage. How do you allow a horrible QB to become comfortable? Don't disguise your coverages and blitzes. Man coverage is easy as shit to beat unless you have lock down corners. MSU gameplan: whenever UM runs man coverage lob it over the top or run a crossing route.
Good coaches are supposed to maximize a teams talents while minimizing its weaknesses while also exploiting your opponents weaknesses and minimizing their strengths. How about using our mobile QB and moving the pocket more often? No? A little hurry up to throw them slightly off balance? Please? No? Our staff doesn't do that at all. There seems to be an arrogant belief that UM is a team that it clearly is not. So proper adjustments are not made. Boo. Bad coaching.
edit: Also I can't say for sure how bad the preparation is regarding players being coached well b/c I'm never at a UofM football practice. I know we'd like to think that kids at this level will absorb what a coach instructs them to do with proper drills, prep etc. But, it's not that simple. There are some schemes some players can't execute. Recruiting? Most of this staffs players are still pretty young. Not an excuse though as there's plenty enough talent to have won every game they have lost (except Alabama).
November 2nd, 2013 at 9:54 PM ^
November 2nd, 2013 at 9:46 PM ^
Hoke needs to be fired..........
November 3rd, 2013 at 7:06 AM ^
November 2nd, 2013 at 9:51 PM ^
November 2nd, 2013 at 10:29 PM ^
November 2nd, 2013 at 9:58 PM ^
TA DAH!
November 2nd, 2013 at 10:36 PM ^
Funny, I was just saying to my husband that we can now open up our New Year's travel plans since we will not be going to whatever crappy bowl we end up in. I'm not spending thousands of dollars to see them in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl.
November 2nd, 2013 at 9:59 PM ^
Save the future, Fire Hoke today...........
November 2nd, 2013 at 9:59 PM ^
The team is regressing badly. Funk must go now and Borges should go at the end of the year (but probably won't). As we've discussed too many times - he is "loyal" to his guys no matter how badly they perfom and it looks to me like it's about to sink this program.
We will probably lose to both Iowa & Northwestern (road games) and Ohio State is going to beat us by 40 points or more. Then a who-gives-a-shit bowl game in December for a chance to win our 8th game and not go 7-6. Woop de fucking do.
Then next year all the hard games are on the road which means even more disaster. This isn't much fun anymore.
November 2nd, 2013 at 10:55 PM ^
November 3rd, 2013 at 1:57 AM ^
November 3rd, 2013 at 1:28 PM ^
Not challenging your comment, but I've seen a few posters mention players questioning Borges. Do you have an article or something I could read about it? Just curious...
November 2nd, 2013 at 10:03 PM ^
Hoke is finished at Michigan. The brass who donate millions has had enough of him. He is a .500 coach on the road and has a losing record against MSU and OSU. This does not sit well with the Wolverine nation.
A press Dave Brandon conference will soon be scheduled.
November 2nd, 2013 at 10:05 PM ^
November 2nd, 2013 at 10:05 PM ^
November 2nd, 2013 at 10:07 PM ^
November 2nd, 2013 at 10:05 PM ^
November 2nd, 2013 at 10:10 PM ^
November 2nd, 2013 at 10:06 PM ^
November 2nd, 2013 at 10:09 PM ^
Its ok. We can laugh now. Ha ha, it didnt even matter.
November 2nd, 2013 at 10:09 PM ^
Michigan could end up 7-5 or maybe even 6-6. Gardner is not a QB. Michigan needs to start Shane Morris and move to the future. If Gardner committed himself, he could become a great wide recevier.
Let Morris learn the rest of the season so he will come out sharp next year. Losing today was embarassing. It was a joke.
HOKE MUST GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
FIRE HOKE
November 2nd, 2013 at 10:29 PM ^
Oy vey. Go to bed.
(it seems the comment to which I was responding was deleted)
November 2nd, 2013 at 10:12 PM ^
November 2nd, 2013 at 10:19 PM ^
November 2nd, 2013 at 10:32 PM ^
We will even have a younger less experience OL next season. The defense is far from dominating may be several years away. I see at least 3 losses next season. May be by 2015 but then we will be playing OSU in Columbus and we'll be starting a new QB. May be 2016 at the earliest. I just don't think Hoke is going to be a coach to make us an elite team. I think we will rise to be the 2nd best team in our new division, may be the enter B1G by 2016? Lots of big questions and Hoke may not be the coach to get this team to an elite level! I think LC level with out some of the big years he had will be about it.
November 2nd, 2013 at 11:18 PM ^
I think we have better receivers. But yeah, we don't have the talent advantage over them we should.
November 3rd, 2013 at 12:26 AM ^
UM is superior at the offensive skills positions, but you wouldn't know it because of how bad UM's offensive line.
MSU is superior at every position on defense and the offensive line.
November 3rd, 2013 at 1:47 AM ^
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