Anti RR sentiment revisited

Submitted by ijohnb on

OK, at the suggestion of many bloggers, I have slept it off, that is the game and the sixteen beers that lead to my original posting. Let me now rephrase - I am not fair weather, not at all, what I am is sick of getting housed. I know that was the first time of the year that we were outplayed to that extent so I may be jumping to conclusions, but why does it seem that the Rich Rod administration is very susceptible to the wheels just coming off? Come on, 42-17 last year, 42-7 to OSU, then yesterday. A loss I can live with, I just don't want debacles.... yesterday was a debacle, and they happened far to often last year and I thought M was done with that. They need to be competitive and they were not, the coaches included. Need the Illinois game BAD!

MGoObes

October 25th, 2009 at 8:29 PM ^

fumbling, missing key blocks, etc. is not coaching. you show a player all week what he's supposed to do and it's on him to go out and do it. the coach can only do so much. at a certain point you have to look at the players.

i'm also not sure why you think it's starting to look like it won't work out for him at UM. he has two true freshmen playing at QB and has no defense to speak of (the defensive players he has recruited are frosh or sophomores). this is year 2, if the same things are happening next year then you might have a legitimate beef.

basically, patience

tomhagan

October 25th, 2009 at 8:42 PM ^

It has been 20 games and these players are not developing. They can't develop a decent safety or decent LBs after 20 games and 1.5 recruiting classes? What about receivers who can get open and routinely make easy catches? How about punt returners who can play the ball and catch it?

Come on.

Just be realistic. These are 4 star players that they have to work with in most cases...and they are not developing as they should!

The top coaches like Saban, Caroll, Tressel, Mack Brown...or...dare I say it Les Miles take about a year to get rolling and then they are rolling.

How many times do you see those coaches teams "beat themselves"?

Hardly ever.

These coaches take over programs with similar talent and they do end up playing Young Players...yet they dont have these struggles after year 1. Why is that??

Now those that are negging me... fine...keep your blinders on if it makes you happy.

I am not jumping off a bandwagon...Im just saying:

Its been 20 games under RR and this team still plays SLOPPY.

Draw your own conclusions as I am from that.

I like Rich Rod and how he handles himself with the media....
I hope it works...I really do....but it is not looking that positive after 20 games. It just isn't and you know it.

jmblue

October 25th, 2009 at 9:00 PM ^

Well, RR has been here for 20 games, but Greg Robinson has only been here for eight, so it's basically Year One all over again on defense. And on offense we have a pair of true freshman quarterbacks, so it's essentially Year One there, too. I think we just have to give it more time.

los barcos

October 25th, 2009 at 11:00 PM ^

when is it coaching then? rod marinelli didnt coach orlovsky to run out the end zone last year but he still did it. no coach tells his team to fumble, throw interceptions, and get stupid penalties but they still happen and if they happen with frequency (like we've seen) that coach more likely than not gets the ax.

im not saying rr is getting fired but to say none of it is on him that all of it is on the players is being a bit myopic.

willis j

October 25th, 2009 at 8:35 PM ^

teach someone to catch the ball when it hits them in the hands so much. It ends up on them. You can teach assignments, but the players have to remember them and recognize them, AND have the ability to perform them.

Rich Rodriguez has a proven past of being able to get the job done. Weather it is at WVU or prior to that.

Im not one to criticize college kids, but I think some of the players on our team are not at the level we need to compete like we want, or they are just young and need time to develop physically and mentally.

People need to relax and be patient. Tate does not look 100% at all. He is still a freshman, you give him too much you risk overload, you dont and you risk the offense being stagnant and predictable. I also think he is hurt and RR knows that and is calling plays due to that. There were lots of guys open over the middle yesterday and either Forcier didnt see them, didnt trust his shoulder to throw it, and at times he didnt have time, at times he had plenty of time and still left the pocket.

He is still learning. Please stop the Henne comparisons.

Brady2Terrell

October 25th, 2009 at 8:16 PM ^

Gordie Bell hit the nail on the head - after Notre Dame a lot of us got our expectations up (myself included), and we should remember pre-season sentiment. 7-5 and a bowl game will be a 4-game improvement over last year, and while the turnovers/mistakes are still annoying the h*ll out of me, it's still hard to not see that it's much better than last year. That's the only standard I'm using in judging Year Two of the RichRod Era.

Nothing's changed my perception that Illinois and Purdue are still looking like solid wins for us, and Wisconsin (despite being a road night game) is very winnable, as is OSU to a slightly lesser extent. 2-2 in those four gets us to 7-5, and playing up for one other gets us 8-4, which would be a phenomenal turnaround.

Let's get through this - and then next year and beyond we can go back to pre-2005 expectation levels (and higher?).

Go Blue!

mbee1

October 25th, 2009 at 8:38 PM ^

People keep mentioning how Illinois and Purdue look like wins, but being the pessimistic fan I am, I'm not putting them in the W column yet. Illinois is playing terrible right now, but a team at home just needs a few early breaks to gain some confidence. Juice tore UM's D apart last year. Plus, our Freshman QB's still have not won a game on the road. Purdue has looked tough the last couple of weeks and is playing with great confidence. To quote Brian's PSU preview, "Loss will cause me to... fret about the possibility of losing one of the next two weeks and blowing the goodwill from the Notre Dame game."

Wendyk5

October 25th, 2009 at 8:39 PM ^

Doesn't rebuilding happen piece by piece? RR's really only had one complete recruiting class. How is he supposed to fill every need and develop some depth in only one recruiting class? I don't know if he'll be the answer long term - I'm pretty hopeful, but only time will tell. But it's unrealistic to think all the pieces will be in place by his second year.

tomhagan

October 25th, 2009 at 8:45 PM ^

Wendy... I agree however the team just plays sloppy and undisciplined and has for probably 18 out of the 20 games that he has been here.

Now, Im not upset about wins or losses as much as about how they lose... continually making the same mistakes over and over again. Sloppy play.

If they were playing crisply and not making stupid mental errors, as well as dropping the balls and missing blocks, Id have more confidence...but they are just not. You cant say that this is a well coached team...when have they ever looked "well coached"??

Blueisgood

October 25th, 2009 at 9:09 PM ^

Don't really think catching the ball and missing blocks is on the coaches. Thats on the players. They're in a big time college football program, they should catch the ball. The coaches can't make them catch it. They can teach them over and over again about blocking, but its on the player to execute. IMO injuries have been the biggest reason for the loses. Forcier, Hemmingway, Brown, Minor, Willams, Molk, etc. Molk ended up being a bigger loss then I expected. Minor brings a whole new dimension to the game that the other RB's haven't shown yet. The offense goes as forcier goes and he's been banged up since indiana. Year 2 isn't the year to start judging and Year 3 probably isn't either. RR has had 1 recruiting class. The .5 year to me really doesn't count. Year 4 is the year a big ten title and a NC should be feasible. Next year maybe a big ten title. It depends on the D

Wendyk5

October 25th, 2009 at 9:17 PM ^

especially after yesterday's game. But it seems like most of the turnovers have been at the hands of the two freshman quarterbacks. In someone else's system, there would be a more seasoned quarterback at the helm, so you'd pull out the freshmen at the first sign of trouble. But since there really isn't anyone else to go to, here we are.

But yeah, yesterday was ugly and kept getting uglier. It was tough to watch a well-coached Penn State team, and almost impossible not to think ours was poorly coached in comparison.

JC3

October 25th, 2009 at 8:54 PM ^

I think it's just important for people to be patient right now. This is just as hard on all the players as it is on the fans, if not worse. Give Rodriguez and his staff time, and let the process work itself out.

This is much better than last year, I think we need to take a step back and appreciate it.

fatbastard

October 25th, 2009 at 10:13 PM ^

and it was really a trrble (Charles Barkely intonation there) game for Michigan. But for some bad turnovers and mistakes, they could have been in it. Even halfway through the third quarter, I felt like if we got a touchdown, we'd have a shot at winning the game. Then another turnover.

I am a little concerned about the propensity of this team (and last year's) to put the ball on the ground in inclement weather. Hopefully it's chance and not a lack of focus or time on holding onto the ball.

KBLOW

October 25th, 2009 at 10:19 PM ^

You never got "housed."

The team got beat by a far more experienced and talented team who has had the same coach and general football philosophy for forty years.

The "debacles" will always happen to very young teams without as much talent as the other team on the field.