November 9th, 2013 at 11:14 PM ^
What the hell are you smoking? Well respected coordinators don't bounce around after resigning for well documented failures. I understand it's not about panic. At the same time, it is about public perception and at a certain point, when the doner money stops coming in because Michigan sucks and something has to give, shit gets real. This is a business and has been for some time. As of now, Borges is the guy who will get the ax to save face. Is it right, I say hell yes but that is me. Some would disagree and that is fine. This is certain, the philosophy of hey we are going to do this, try and stop us, won't work this year and most likely won't work next year when losing our top two linemen.
November 10th, 2013 at 1:18 AM ^
Because UCLA started a true freshman, a true sophomore, and 2 redshirt sophomores on the line against Nebraska earlier this year, and put up 41 points and 210 rushing yards.
Just keep telling yourself Borges is blameless here though. I'm sure the difference between UCLA's young lineman and Michigan's, less than a year of experience on average, fully explains why they managed 210 rushing yards to Michigan's negative 21.
Let's hammer that one home again. EVERYONE but purdue managed over 200 rushing yards against Nebraska. Including fucking Wyoming, and Michigan had -21. Minnesota and South Dakota State broke 270!!! Michigan had negative twenty fucking one!
If you honestly think, that gigantic gap is due entirely to experience on the O-line, and has nothing to do with poor player development, poor play calling and design, and just generally a poor job by Borges and the rest of the offensive staff, you are watching a different game than me. Borges has proven himself a boneheaded playcaller before, see PSU this year, OSU last year, and he's not been able to develop players to make up for his lack of creativity and total predictability on offense. Hell, after a game one of the Nebraska defenders said they knew what plays Michigan was running when they lined up! That's not a good thing!
This defense of Borges has to stop. If he was putting together even a mediocre offense right now, or one that showed improvement from week to week then it would be a different story, and you could deal with the growing pains. This offense isn't growing though, it's been 9 games and they are arguably worse than when the season started! If the O-line hasn't improved even one little bit in 9 games, what makes you think it will get better in the offseason? Isn't a big part of improveing on the O-line getting game snaps? Well then why aren't they getting any better?
The fact is, Borges was a decent coordinator at some point, in the past. The game has passed him by, and it's time to find someone who actually knows what they are doing.
November 10th, 2013 at 7:33 AM ^
November 9th, 2013 at 10:19 PM ^
November 9th, 2013 at 10:21 PM ^
Not only has play calling cost us games, but it's compounded things with the O-line, if Borges could adapt to situations possibly we have an offensive line that is starting to develop some chemistry and gaining confidence.
November 9th, 2013 at 10:41 PM ^
His game plan is Vanilla and very predictable. He doesn't use his weapons correctly, he doesn't call plays w an "out" for the QB, his QB can't read a D and audible correctly (Borges fault), he runs a stupid run play that's the same every time, I see No sweeps, I see NO audible, I see NO screen passes, I see NO two TE sets and power the ball up someone's ass, I see a indisciplined offense that plays rec ball.
So don't sit here and say that's lazy to say fire Borgis. I can say what I like and I understand football and what I watched the last few weeks was total fucking garbage on the Offense and the offensive plan. Fitz is done and we all see that, but he is still in there when its 3rd and a tuff two and they let him try and dance instead of giving the ball to Green or damn lets Rawls run!
I bet Borgis quits on his own after the season and we loose a few recruits this year because they will not wanna sit around and wait. I wouldn't be surprised if Gresn transfers after this year and Harris says F this crap! So yes I can say its on his and its not a lazy assessment.
The coaches are to damn nice and it's starting to show!!!
November 9th, 2013 at 11:27 PM ^
1) Get rid of Borges and see if we can find someone who knows what the fuck they are doing on offense.
2) Get rid of Hoke and start over.
Since #1 is a hell of a lot easier than #2 I suggest we start there. After today's game, I'm convinced most high school coaches have a better sense of offensive football than Al Borges does. He's like Charlie Brown trying to kick the football--he's convinced that THIS time, that power run up the middle is really going to work!
November 10th, 2013 at 12:10 AM ^
They are much better at adapting to their players than Borges. Wouldn't it be great to have the next Gus Malzahn?
November 9th, 2013 at 11:29 PM ^
November 9th, 2013 at 11:36 PM ^
November 9th, 2013 at 11:39 PM ^
November 9th, 2013 at 11:42 PM ^
November 9th, 2013 at 11:50 PM ^
Normally I hate home-town booing but today I was booing from my living room. Not at the kids. At the damn coaches. They DESERVED to be booed. That was absolutely pathetic.
November 9th, 2013 at 11:49 PM ^
November 9th, 2013 at 11:49 PM ^
FYI, the marquee win against ND.... shot. They just lost to Pitt. ND will be 8-4 AT BEST at the end of the year. Although I guess that still may be a good thing considering I don't see M winning anything except for possibly beating Northwestern. I stress possibly. At least we won't be playing an SEC team this bowl season!
November 9th, 2013 at 11:53 PM ^
Count me in as a member of the Fire Borges Club. I was willing to give him a pass until this b.s. today. As another poster pointed out, the simple way to beat this defense, given M's craptacular o-line, was a quick passing game--short drops and passes to the flat with screens or crossing routes mixed in. When we tried that we scored a td. Great, but then what do we do? Back to running up the middle against a stacked box, and long developing routes which relied on our 200lb running back blocking a monster de--things our offense has proven it cannot do. And youth is NOT an excuse anymore for a line that god-awful after 9 games. And to say, again, "They didn't execute" is nonsense. You have to put your people in a position to succeed, not fail. And calling for long-developing routes, time and again, when you know the line can't block that long, and your rb can't block at all, is putting players in a position to fail. The final straw for me was the 2nd turnover--running twice in a row, when they haven't been able to run the ball all damn day. Fire him and start over.
November 10th, 2013 at 12:09 AM ^
Pathetic. I've never felt lower about Michigan football. I see no light at the end of the tunnel. We have fallen into a dark abyss. Our coach is a mentally challenged version of Fred Flintstone. We suck.
November 10th, 2013 at 12:10 AM ^
November 10th, 2013 at 12:40 AM ^
This makes me wonder... could he be on the take?
November 10th, 2013 at 12:23 AM ^
I had a conversation with my wife after the game today. She asked how Michigan did. I laughed and she understood but still wanted to know how the game went. I jogged her memory of the -48 garbage game we turned off at halftime. She laughed. I only had to say -21 this time. She laughed before asking how much "the guy who says the plays" makes. I stated his $250,0000 plus incetives salary. Her reaction: "Why is he still employed? If I were to try an excercise over and over and over and it not work I would be fired. How is he different?" Yeah... my wife is a teacher. Consider me not laid. FUCK YOU BORGES.
November 10th, 2013 at 12:47 AM ^
November 10th, 2013 at 7:26 AM ^
November 10th, 2013 at 1:20 AM ^
November 10th, 2013 at 1:27 AM ^
At least our team is so irrelevant right now that our failures don't make the front page of the sports sites. So . . . yay?
November 10th, 2013 at 5:07 AM ^
November 10th, 2013 at 8:23 AM ^
Have been very supportive of Hoke and his staff throughout his tenure. In fact, before this year, I predicted 9-3 and was willing to give Funk and the offensive line a pass considering what they were working with inside. Neither of these things concerned me much. I would not say I was a diehard Borges supporter considering how much the OSU game infuriated me last season, but I definitely was a long way from calling for his job.
Today was the tipping point for me. I was sitting there watching the game with my girlfriend. Wouldn't say she's Vince Lombardi, but she at least knows the basics of the game. She sat there saying exactly what plays Michigan would run. This offense is completely predictable, does not play to its strengths, and perhaps the most frightening, has had virtually no growth whatsoever. If these linemen are just young and talented, they should have gotten at least a little better by now, right?
I realize teams get tape, etc., but the offensive regression has been pathetic. I thought we would lose to MSU a few weeks back, but I honestly thought we would beat Nebraska. Michigan gave away that game and the sad thing is that it isn't even the first game this year I have felt Michigan has given away. I mean, honestly, every year with Borges have had games where the offense can't even get out of its own way. Even in 2011, we had ND, MSU, Iowa, and VT where the offense looked terrible (at least for large segments). Elite teams may struggle here or there, but they don't drop off the face of the map for multiple games each season. I am struggling to find the growth this year. Honestly, the only offensive growth I can see is moving Funchess to wide receiver, but this move seems to have more to do with the lack of quality wide receivers than being made just to help Devin, which doesn't increase my confidence in Borges much.
People have been criticizing the fans for turning on Borges and the staff and that it could "set Michigan back a few years" or "hurt recruiting". Aren't you a little more concerned with the fact that Michigan fans are HOPING for 0 yards rushing than a possible change in the offensive staff? Teams change assistans all the time and it helps. Last year, Wiconsin changed their offensive line coach and the unit took off. Last year, MSU changed offensive coordinators and guess what, the offense looks much better. Can even the strongest Borges supporters argue that Michigan's offense is growing? The only thing you can say is that the offense is young. I agree, but youth should get better over time, not worse. Plus, this isn't just a few years bad, this is historically bad. No youth or inexperience arguments can explain the ineptitude of this offense. It's time for change.
November 10th, 2013 at 10:01 AM ^
Last week I started the fire borges thread....I took some heat from some,glad to see more arewith this, the longer borges is oc, the worse michigan will be long term.....