Picture Pages Grrrrrrr!!!!

Submitted by Ziff72 on

Brian you need to stop the picture pages segment.  Much like my belief in Santa Claus when I was 6 I need to believe that these coaches are the smartest men on the planet and that when their genius schemes that are so much better than anyone else are fully comprehended by the Barwis trained Ninja Bots we will regain our place at the top of the College Football World and break Oklahomas 58 game unbeaten streak.

These picture pages are creating doubt like when I started to think "how is it possible for this fat ass to reach everyone on 1 night and deliver presents"? .  Despite the fact Morgan Trent is 1 of the fastest players in college football and (see Percy Harvin tackle I hate fake 40 times)been trained for 5 years at an elite college program, I have let Gsimms convince me it is impossible for him to play press coverage aginst 2 star receivers from Pur, Tol, Miami etcc.. because the old coaches ordered pizza and read poems but somehow kept going to BCS bowls every 3rd year and yet never taught him how to play man to man coverage or how to squeeze gaps in a zone.

Logic in trying to figure out this year has gone beyond comprehension and I am just calling a 3rd down punt and hope to wake up next August with hope.  Thru much of your good work on the coaches profiles on Mgoblog and my 2 eyes I have to believe that these coaches are very good to get to this level and thru continued development and learning I have to believe that they are aware of various defensive techniques and how to teach them.  

I have always wished I could sit in a Sunday film session with  just  the coaches to understand what they were thinking with the call and what went wrong.  Many of your points,  Brian,  I have agreed with and they seem to go against basic football logic, which again I have to believe the coaches know more than us so this is what I suggest.....Have Gsimms escort you to the Michigan Football Coaches Clinic and pound these guys with as many questions as humanly possible about how illogical this defense has looked this year.  I believe in Schafer based on his track record, I believe that this defense has decent talent, but I also believe I could take my flag football teams secondary comprised of guys in their mid 30's clinging to youth by their fingernails and stop a 3rd and 18 with about 5 minutes of prep.....  trying to reconcile those 3 items in my head all year have me to the point my head may go "Scanners" at any point.  Please help....the coaches have to know right??  right ??  please be right???

2010 Big Ten Champs is my call.....still(that's down from 2010 Nat Champs)

Comments

Ziff72

November 7th, 2008 at 3:18 PM ^

I'm serious about you helping Brian along at a coaches clinic.  I think you could help him along and he could relate that to us I think it very informative.  Your MSU breakdown was great.  Like my post said it is hard to reconcile in my head that Trent is 1 of the fastest players in the country(undisputed) has technique so bad(mildly disputed) that he can't cover some garbage receiver.  I believe you when you see has slow hips, bad technique so he won't make the pros, but to say the prior regime new nothing about football or coaching press coverage and these guys are that bad in technique is a little bit over the top on protecting Schafer.  We did have the #1 defense in the country with Trent in 06 for a while. We were subsequesntly exposed by "superior athletes" in OSU and USC which I can understand at this point but the Toledos and Purdues are hard to fathom.

Joined: 07/07/2008

MGoPoints: 9823

gsimmons85

November 7th, 2008 at 3:37 PM ^

about english, and his defensive  staff.  Is that for the most part of the past couple of years, they had become "lazy" at teaching fundamentals,  becasue unlike the shafer and RR's of the world, they had become accustom to the 4 and 56 star super athletes who either already know the techniques, or no longer needed the techniques.  So when the great equalizer of the spread came to the big ten, and recruiting leveled out, and speed could be found across the country,  english and his staff, instead of refocusing onteh fundamentals, spent a lot of time trying to find the "scheme" that worked best, and worked on trying to match new formations on offense with new foramtions on defense.  (as evident by his coaching oddessy where he was looking for answers from other programs and the nfl)  The problem as i tried to show all last year, wasnt in the schemes that michigan was runnign but rather int he techniqe and fundamentals that they were trying to run it with.   YOu are still seeing that reminent left over now...

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 261

Saluki

November 7th, 2008 at 3:56 PM ^

I have not had the chance to disect any games... I'm generally lucky to get a chance to watch most of them (lucky may be a bit of a strectch). But from I've been able to watch so far, the D doesn't seem to run a lot of line stunts. By stunts, I don't mean slants that include responsibility for engaging a linemen or maintaining a gap/technique. I mean full on jail break crash gaps and get into the backfield to make something happen stunts. Now maybe the reason this seems to be the case is that M has tried but that they lack the personnel to be successful, but I'd think they have the players to work this into the scheme a little more often to potentially disrupt flow, generate a big play, and maybe be a little less predictable... Get players thinking less and playing more aggressively. Interested on whether you have noticed this, or if it is just a perception issue on my part.

Joined: 11/04/2008

MGoPoints: 42

Saluki

November 7th, 2008 at 5:01 PM ^

Funny that you mention that one (nice job with the breakdown by the way).  I actually thought that was one of the better defensive efforts, despite the score.  There were breakdowns, especially late, but they looked less "confused" for the most part.  I couldn't pin whether the D's play was more aggressive because of the scheme, or just due to the rivalry.  I've always been a fan of aggressive scheming with the front 7 to create opportunities to upset the OLine's confidence, and get them over thinking, missing assignments.

I agree with you that pinning this on Schafer is a rush to judgement.  No way anyone on the outside truly knows what is happening on the inside.

Joined: 11/04/2008

MGoPoints: 42