Conversely, if it improves a lot, were we too easy on him?
No, because we put a significant amount of blame on him.
HI AL BORGES
But we didn't burn his house to the ground when he was fired.
is cold war. it's on!
you mean he wasn't hanged, drawn, and quartered, then yes.
Fired after Penn State and publicly shamed.
August 2nd, 2014 at 11:48 PM ^
First we should check his bank account to confirm we were too hard on him.
I have no doubt that Nuss is smart enough to not bang his head in to the wall like Borges did. So I think I'll be happy either way.
Is Nuss going to try to run play action wattles on 3rd and 20?
Waggles. Damn iPhone.
damn IHOP.
Seemed more like Wobbles when big Al called em
mmmmmm... play-action waffles.
Exactly!!!!!
emblem of our land...
The "complexity" of the [Borges] offense still doesn't excuse some of the worst play-calling I've seen out of a major program. You can use the "complexity" excuse for the line play but that's about it.
"Complexity" shouldn't be an excuse anyway. If you have a young offense with limited practice reps, you shouldn't have an overly-complex offense.
Nope.
if nussmeier does what he was supposed to do, he's going to take a bunch of first (now second) year OL and have them work on ONE scheme, and a few base plays.
If you took a bunch of college freshmen, threw advanced trigonometry and statistics courses at them, varying wildly from week to week, while having them compete against experienced upperclassmen/ grad students, they would probably fail miserably as well. I spent all of last year on "Borges Hill" as Brian put it earlier. But the fact that we looked so bad in the Nebraska game at the end of the year, after a season of what should have been progress and improvement, was unforgivable.
Spamming QB draw plays and RB's averaging 1-2 yards a carry made the offense look like they hadn't practiced all season. Total failure.
I agree with spicey wiener
Clown sauce goes well with spicy wieners?
was too hot!
Mama Bear's bowl of porridge was too cold!
But Baby Bear's bowl of porridge was just right, so Goldilocks ate it alll up!
Likewise, if Michigan's offense improves just about to where we want it to be (in other words, just right ), then that means our assessment of Borges was correct.
Will Nuss run a draw out of I formation on 3rd and long with Vincent Smith?
No?
Didn't think so.
Oh, that was the other unforgivable part about Borges - turtling and expecting his players to succeed in tight contests after opposing defenses already proved they can stop it.
I'd like to think Nuss would be clever enough to figure out that the Ohio State defense was keying in on Denard for run plays and Gardner for pass plays.
Well if the players would just execute...
/s
August 2nd, 2014 at 10:15 PM ^
Other than the fact that Vincent Smith is no longer in the program.
Borges still called the 2013 Penn State game...so the answer is NO.
I don't see much difference between the two of them. Glad they are both gone.
that was the OC for the 1997 MNC team?
That one.
August 2nd, 2014 at 10:20 PM ^
The Mike DeBord that was OC for what was probably the ~65th ranked offense in the country in 1997.
August 2nd, 2014 at 10:51 PM ^
about as young as the 2013 edition in front of a walk on QB.
You're right. Mike DeBord was fucking awesome.
August 2nd, 2014 at 11:01 PM ^
Yeah, that 1997 Michigan offense vastly underachieved, as crazy as it is to say. I mean, they basically had an NFL offense.
Their offensive line was essentially an NFL O-Line. Hutch, Jansen, Backus, Adami, Brandt, and Ziemann. Tuman and Campbell at TE, with Aaron Shea as a sort of H-Back. Griese at QB. Chris Howard, A-Train, Clarence Williams and Chris Floyd as backs. Tai Streets and Russell Shaw at wideout with Woodson double dipping at times.
Producing just the 65th best offense with that dragon's hoard of talent is vastly underachieving.
That O-line had players that would become NFL stalwarts, yeah. But at the start of the 1997 season only Jansen had ever started a game. Backus was only a sophomore, and Hutch and Ziemann were defense linemen before they had to switch because of need. Not exactly an NFL line yet.
That being said, there was definitely a lot of firepower on that team that didn't get used.
I think the Nebraska game might have been worse
He failed miserably about 75% of the time. I don't expect the offense to be much better but more competent and comfortable. Facts are that the offense will move with the OL. If still not able to move bodies I think Nuss will adapt/simplify rather than double down and blame it on lack of execution eighth players are now admitting they were given odd, conflicting assignments Al called "scheme". Nuss could fail but in no way we're we too hard on him.
I'll never forgive Borges for the second half against ohio in 2012. I can't say we should have won that game but we were definitely in control until his dumbass runs up the middle that went nowhere.
This. I seriously thought he should have been fired after that game. He had a couple other duds that season (MSU, Iowa?) that led me to conclude he was just an awful game planner/play caller.
Ohio State 2012 and Ohio State 2013. Watching the Ohio State game from last year (and I just watched it again today, at least our first two offensive drives) was like oh, so this is what our offense is capable of. Interesting.
This is a dumb question. Too many extenuating circumstances to compare apples to apples. Feel free to make any inferences you want, as I'm sure arguments could be made either way after this season.
My opinion, it was a good hire and an upgrade but I don't expect major revelations on offense.
will have fewer "wrinkles" for each play set.
...and the offense will get to the line with time to review the D and adjust.
Still thinking about play action waffles.
I guess this is where we have to revisit the idea that one year of data does not a trend make, and the differences in styles and schemes between Borges and Nussmeier make such a question extremely difficult to answer without uncomfortable stretching, to say the least. One might say that three years isn't much of trend either, but as the deed is done and Borges is gone, the first year of a new OC doesn't mean anything towards what the previous OC did or didn't do.
Let's not forget that Borges was seen as something of an offensive wizard after the 2011 season.
That said, I'm happy for the change. I think it was the right and proper move to make.