Does this performance against Ohio save Borges and Funk?

Submitted by KAYSHIN15 on

I know Borges has taken serious heat from all of us this year, but the O looked phenomenal today. I think we all agree that the team that played today beats every other team in the B1G. I thought the Oline was really good considering the competition and the skilled players produced the below numbers:

Devin-32/45-451 yds 4TD

Gallon- 9/175yds 1TD

Butt- 5/60yds 1TD

RBs-24/137yds 1TD I

thought Borges called a great game and we were one phantom Frank Clark unsportsmanlike penalty and one bad throw away from beating Ohio.

My question to the board is, does the potential of seeing more performances like this make you tolerate the idea of seeing Borges and Funk stay around one more year?

Schembo

November 30th, 2013 at 5:23 PM ^

I haven't really been on the fire Borges bandwagon but I've kind of been leaning towards us needing to make a change after the season but I wanted to see the season play out first before making a final judgement.  I was still on the fence about RR right before his last bowl game here, and after that game I was ready for a change.  I think that's the same stance I'm taking with Borges.  I do think the more our line gets settled in and the other backs get more comfortable in the system then games like this will become more of the norm than what we've seen previously this year.

Michigan Moonman

November 30th, 2013 at 9:12 PM ^

I live on Lansing. Last year, the MSU fans were fed-up with their team. And again this year, when I went to an early season MSU game the fans were down on the team (booing, calling radio shows, etc.). They are obviously happy now!
Last year, MSU averaged 19 pts on offense and gave up an average of 16 pts. on defense. They were 6-6 going into a bowl game. Michigan, by comparison in 2013 is averaging 34 points on offense and giving up 32 points on defense. We have a 7-5 record. We are actually a better offensive team and a worse defensive team than MSU. But all the fuss has been about the offense!
Clearly, consistency in coaching on both sides of the ball can make a difference as MSU has shown by developing lower rated talent.

Our future talent is great, but we We have been an INCONSISTENT TEAM this year. I hope another year of consistent coaching helps us to grow our talent and become a much improved team next year!

M-Dog

November 30th, 2013 at 9:49 PM ^

I still wonder if it is Hoke forcing the stagnant Offense and not Borges.  

You can't tell me they put in all those plays we saw this week.  It's like they had them practiced and ready to go all year long, but hoke would not let them run them because it went against his "philosophy". 

Schembo

November 30th, 2013 at 10:02 PM ^

I thought that during the Minnesota and PSU stretch of games.  Something about the Minnesota game was very uncharacteristic of a Borges offense, and because it worked they carried it over to the PSU game and it killed us.  We've been digging out of hole ever since.

Yeoman

November 30th, 2013 at 8:23 PM ^

This was the best offensive performance in 100 years against OSU...and that was your expectation all the time? You thought this was the best offense in Michigan history? We were going to get 600 yards against good teams, presumably more against bad teams, maybe break the all-time record for yards in a season by an FBS team?

dnak438

December 1st, 2013 at 12:48 AM ^

But there was a lot of hype around Devin Gardner, and people were legitimately worried that he would do so well that he would go pro at the end of this year. His 2012 numbers projected over a whole season were lights out. And he was amazing in the Notre Dame game, so we were expecting a high level of production from him and the offense this year even if the OL had some problems.

I mean, this was Brian's recap from the season preview:

So: I believe in Gardner, and Toussaint, and that the overall blocking will be improved not only by the new guys on the line but also the maturation of the new generation of blocky/catchy guys. I think Al Borges will be much better equipped to take advantage of Gardner's skills than Denard's, and I can't really find a spot on the offense that I think will be meaningfully worse than last year

 

PrincetonBlue

November 30th, 2013 at 4:36 PM ^

I think this is comparable to DeBord 2007.  At this point, Borges has had a revelation and gets it now.  The O-line looked solid (keeping it simple worked!), and the offense was clicking.  

Of course, we will have to wait until the bowl game to see; Funk and Borges have one more evaluation to go through.

maizeonblueaction

November 30th, 2013 at 4:37 PM ^

performance today actually underscored how bad the rest of the year was. If the offense could perform this well, why did it not do so the rest of the year against worse teams? This to me shows that Borges only shows up when he knows his job is on the line, which is a bad sign.

Yeoman

November 30th, 2013 at 8:18 PM ^

But the numbers are an even bigger problem than the average quality of the recruits. The official roster at mgoblue.com:

  • 16 seniors
  • 16 juniors
  • 23 sophomores
  • 59 freshmen (23 are redshirts)

How does that happen? It's like a neutron bomb went off on the upperclass end of the roster. Or maybe we self-imposed a 15-scholarship penalty on ourselves three years ago.

Yeoman

December 1st, 2013 at 9:06 AM ^

I went back through the recruting lists to refresh my memory. There wasn't the immediate attrition, but a lot of guys left when they were passed on the depth chart by younger players, sometimes even by walkons, and they realized they'd never see the field here and decided to transfer.

There's always a little of that but it's not usually half of a recruiting class.

So I take back what I said--except for the offensive line, it really was quality and not quantity.

turd ferguson

November 30th, 2013 at 5:41 PM ^

For some reason when people hear "execution" they lose it, but that was obviously the difference.  You can't develop talent in a week, and while I preferred our play-calling this week, it wasn't as different as some people are implying.  For whatever reason, our offense executed much better this week than in recent weeks.  That's true of Gardner, the O line, the non-OL blocking, and on and on.

To me, what to think about Borges (and Fuck, Jackson, etc.) depends on how you attribute the very uneven offensive execution throughout the season.  In general, I think getting guys to execute is a big part of coaches' jobs.  I also think that young players play like young players at times, and that's really hard to avoid. 

I'm genuinely undecided at this point.  With the talent that we have growing up and coming in, I don't have any doubt that our offense will improve markedly if we keep the same coaches.  I also think there are better coaches out there than some of the guys we have.  I'm interested to see what happens in the bowl game, and I don't think I'll be too upset no matter what happens.

Real Tackles Wear 77

November 30th, 2013 at 4:37 PM ^

It might....

this was supposed to be the best defense we played all year (it wasn't, in fact it was one of the worst) and yet we played like we needed to to win. Especially with a bowl win, I wouldn;t be surprised if  both are back next year. And, if the team plays like they did today, that would be a good thing (ducks)

Pit2047

November 30th, 2013 at 5:42 PM ^

Iowa had a MUCH better front 7 than Ohio and while I think the Bucks have a better secondary, I think Iowa is still the better overall unit. Also ND has a better units in every phase of the Defense. Ohio is a good team that knows how to grit out a football game, they are very beatable.

MGoStrength

November 30th, 2013 at 4:38 PM ^

One game does erase the many poor games.  Our offense, our QB, and our o-line regressed much of the year.  Borges has to answer to that.  We are better off without him.  Please bring in a new coordinator!