Press conference questions for the coaches.
For coach Borges I'd like to ask. If you don't beleive we're tipping on hand with certain packages, how do you explain Nebraska consiatantly run blitzing where our RB hole was supposed to be. Or why Penn state would substitute their DE's for tackles on certain plays. Even if you don't see it , what are you going to do to correct it.
For Coach Hoke, If you love The University of Michigan does it hurt you physically when your offensive coaches let the players down? Do you ever want to punch Borges in the face?
For coach Mattison it's more of a statement. We're sorry and please don't join Urban meyer in Columbus when Hoke is fired.
November 10th, 2013 at 6:39 AM ^
another for borges would be. Over the past two weeks our offense has been severely disrupted by sell out blitzes. In the second half we had 2 screens that picked up good yards. Why did we not go back to them instead of trying to run fitz into blitzing 9 man fronts?
you're one of the highest paid coordinators in the Big Ten do you feel like you are earning your pay check? Is Michigan getting their moneys worth?
November 10th, 2013 at 7:02 AM ^
Has any run from the I form this year been for positive yards?
As an offensive coordinator, when a team shows a constant inability to successfully run a particular play or type of plays should you keep calling that play?
3 out the last four games our RBs have gained less than 1 yd per rush and a majority of the plays were for negative yards. Have you changed your game plan to run different plays to try to change this? What is the problem and what is the solution?
As an OC you should call plays to take advantage of your strengths and hide your weaknesses. Do you believe the runs and pass plays called does this? If your line can't block or create a pocket how do you expect Gardner to have time to allow a deep pass develop?
November 10th, 2013 at 7:52 AM ^
South Dakota friggin State is a FCS school. A 6-4 FCS team. Yet they ran for 271 yards on Nebraska. Truly astonshing when you put some of these things in perspective. Pur-friggin-due ran for 82 yards on 20 carries. Purdue would probably be lucky to go 6-4 in FCS.
November 10th, 2013 at 3:46 PM ^
at the situation . . . this carried the day.
November 10th, 2013 at 7:03 AM ^
November 10th, 2013 at 7:44 AM ^
Please phrase that in the form of a question.
November 10th, 2013 at 7:09 AM ^
November 10th, 2013 at 7:43 AM ^
November 10th, 2013 at 1:20 PM ^
That's the GPA Weird Al and Funk-a-delic have earned these last two weeks.
November 10th, 2013 at 7:40 AM ^
Hoke: "When you say we need to execute better, who needs to execute better? Do the coaches need to execute better in your game plans, play calls and player development or is it just the players not executing what they are taught?"
November 10th, 2013 at 7:43 AM ^
What is your favorite type of tea? I am thinking something classy, like Earl Grey, but who knows.
Did you recently have any Linguine? We all know a good Linguine is hard to beat.
Some say flight is not possible, as we are all "heavier than the air". What do you think?
Have you spent any time talking to Usain Bolt? He is good at running, and thus perhaps could help.
Has anyone on the coaching staff ever entered, and won, a spelling bee?
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I think these questions would actually get more interesting answers than most of the questions that get asked at a press conference. Also, they are hard to answer by saying "we need to execute better, especially on about 8 to 6 plays per game."
November 10th, 2013 at 7:56 AM ^
Agreed. Those are the type of questions that might avoid coach speak. Every other question, football related in this thread, would be answered with "we need to execute better" or "we need to coach it better".
To add to your questions I would ask what David Brandon brings to the Sunday game film sessions to eat - is he more of a chips guy or a candy guy?
November 10th, 2013 at 7:49 AM ^
I would ask: At what point does offensive play calling burden the game plan more than lack of execution on plays poorly executed in the past?
Follow up questions since it would be dodged by any coach that wants to keep their job: During the weekly preparations, do you as coaches game plan for opposing defenses exploiting your obvious weaknesses?
Ace and Brian, I think those are actually legitimate questions.
November 10th, 2013 at 8:03 AM ^
November 10th, 2013 at 8:16 AM ^
November 10th, 2013 at 8:19 AM ^
November 10th, 2013 at 8:21 AM ^
November 10th, 2013 at 8:29 AM ^
November 10th, 2013 at 8:22 AM ^
November 10th, 2013 at 8:27 AM ^
"I coach a pee wee team. Our O-line consistently gets blown up by teams with older, more experienced kids -- what kind of plays could I call to prevent other teams from tee'ing off on our major weakness?"
November 10th, 2013 at 8:47 AM ^
November 10th, 2013 at 8:31 AM ^
When you look at yourself in the Mirror, do you have the Deer in the Headlights look? Or are you thinking, " I need some Cheeseburgers Damnit!"
How or when does a Head Coach know that he has lost his team?
Once a Team is lost, what is the best way to regain their respect and faith in you? And here's a little hint, don't try telling them, "We have to get better and the players just need to execute", because that is not the right answer.
How would you rate your Head Coaching performance this year on a scale of 1 to 10. And don't take 5 minutes to bend the question and re-define Head Coach or anything like that, just give me a number right now and be honest.
November 10th, 2013 at 8:34 AM ^
Every week you guys (the coaches) take the blame, saying "we need to coach better." Well when is that going to start happening? What are some of the things you as a coach thing you can do better?
November 10th, 2013 at 8:51 AM ^
Michigan is ranked 123 of 123 teams in tackles allowed for a loss. How do you explain it and how do you fix it?
hat tip: mvictors.
November 10th, 2013 at 8:53 AM ^
November 10th, 2013 at 8:47 AM ^
knows that he will say the same old things at the presser, just like the coaches will call the same old stuff on offense and get slammed in the next three games.
November 10th, 2013 at 9:01 AM ^
November 10th, 2013 at 9:02 AM ^
November 10th, 2013 at 9:02 AM ^
November 10th, 2013 at 9:05 AM ^
think it will be until Michigan stadium is as empty as Florida's was yesterday?
November 10th, 2013 at 9:08 AM ^
November 10th, 2013 at 9:16 AM ^
is both snarky and creative. Bravo!
November 10th, 2013 at 9:08 AM ^
and ever say to Al, "Wow, that play stinks, lets not run that again?"
During the game, my wife noticed that the Nebraska players seemed to have issues with their pants not fitting correctly. She said she had not seen so much crack since driving down a sidestreet in Detroit. So, do you spend all week making sure that our players pants fit correctly?
When you watch game film, do you say to yourself, "Pretty colors......"
Has anyone mentioned to you that you are coaching the Michigan football team, not the rugby team and that scrums in your offensive backfield are not a good winning strategy for American football?
November 10th, 2013 at 9:12 AM ^
As the OP's questions probably have zero chance of ever being asked (for good reason, in several cases, which leads me to believe they were speaking from emotion), here are some more constructive ones that are also in the same boat.
I would be curious as to whether or not they are aware that - based on present data - the approximate likelihood of a game with negative rushing yards has nearly doubled from a max of 1.69% at the end of last season to a max of 3.28% now, assuming the max is normalized for a hypothetical game in which we get -1 yards rushing. Still unlikely to have such a game, but the jump is troubling. Also, I would like to know how they believe a rushing attack gets less productive but also more variable and what they might do to fix that inconsistency.
November 10th, 2013 at 9:31 AM ^
Here are mine:
"Coach - talk a bit about the game. What did you like what did you think you need to improve on?"
"Tough loss yesterday - how do you get the team to focus on Northwestern next week"
"Jake Ryan"
Oh wait a minute....those questions were actually asked. My bad!
November 10th, 2013 at 9:34 AM ^
Do you know that Michigan cannot run the ball up the middle?
If so, wy do you drop the QB straight back when the defense is coming straight up the middle every time?
Have you ever thought of rolling the QB out to move the pocket away from the middle of the O Line?
Do you actually watch game film?
Have you thought about retirement? If not, you should.
For Hoke:
Every week you talk about how the gameplan is not succeeding and that is on the coaches and that ends up being on you. Please explain with specifics what YOU are doing about this mess.
Does it hurt you emotionally that you and your staff have put Michigan in a position to end with negative rush yards two weeks in a row?
Do you ever yell at someone? There are a couple of people you need to yell at.
Is your seat getting warm?
November 10th, 2013 at 9:38 AM ^
November 10th, 2013 at 9:38 AM ^
"Weeelllll, ummmm, ya know. I was disappointed with the result but we just need to get back out there on the ummmm practice field and improve our technique. We were right there in the game the whole way but we just needed to execute better. We are going to work on our physicalness in practice for ummmmm Northwestern and ummmm ya know just try to improve every day."
November 10th, 2013 at 9:40 AM ^
November 10th, 2013 at 9:51 AM ^
would have been fired weeks ago, you are the CEO of this program, how can you continue to let Funk and Borges fail epically every Saturday and keep their jobs? Anyone else aside from weathermen would get fired for being wrong 90% of the time.
November 10th, 2013 at 9:55 AM ^
Hoke:
Can we get a timeframe or window of when this supposed execution will take place?
Are you capable of calling plays for an entire game for either the offense or defense?
When you look at film do you understand it?
Have you ever watched yourself on film and thought how you could execute better?
Do you like 1080p or 35 mm film?
Do you place toilet paper on the holder with underhand or overhand dispense method?
November 10th, 2013 at 9:58 AM ^
November 10th, 2013 at 12:06 PM ^
atleast Florida has a lot of key injuries
November 10th, 2013 at 9:59 AM ^
Coach when will the McRib be back?
November 10th, 2013 at 10:02 AM ^
November 10th, 2013 at 10:09 AM ^
I would just love to ask Borges: "Al, I don't know how familiar you are with math, but wondered if you knew that 9 > both 6 and 7??"
November 10th, 2013 at 10:13 AM ^