THE reason the D has struggled

Submitted by AceUofMer on

Sorry for another Defense post. 

But, Im tired of the finger pointing and problem solving ideas when there is one clear reason our D has struggled.

Now, Im not letting anyone off the hook.  GREG may not be the answer and maybe things will eventually have to change, But, its clear THE problem right now is depth. 

Depth plays a lot more of a role then just gameday.  One of the biggest reasons Bo was successfull was his players couldn't wait till the game, since that was the easiest part of the week.  But, its a different game today.  We can't load up on scholarship players and with Michigan right now, its in even worse shape on the D side. 

Look at this weeks presser.  They can't work on the biggest fault the last two games (tackling) because they are worried about health more.  Good tackling and the last two games look A LOT better.  Still some screwups, we are young too though.  But, Tackling stands out and on a deeper team.  They are in pads hitting till the sun goes down firday night to fix it.

So lets prioritize our frustration.  1. Get depth, we can't do this overnight and have to wait for recruiting to help out. 2. worry about other stuff afterwords.

 

PS - They are doing the right thing by keeping our best athletes healthy.  Im not for beating them up and live with the injuries, because I think thats a way of giving up on this season.  They have to take the punishment in the games, cross their fingers and learn on the job.

My rant is done

Go Blue

Brhino

September 27th, 2010 at 5:29 PM ^

No offense, but did this really need a new thread?  I submit that it did not, as it is merely a continuation of the discussion contained in several earlier threads.

BluePants

September 27th, 2010 at 9:55 PM ^

My older brother attended Syracuse during the GERG era and when Michigan hired GERG one of the first things my brother did was call me and simply say "Man, I'm sorry about this one..."  Having loosely followed 'Cuse football (as poor as it was) during that period, I couldn't help but agree.  

Of course, you can't blame him completely...I think I read somewhere on this board once that Michigan has been lacking depth on D recently?

AceUofMer

September 27th, 2010 at 7:02 PM ^

No, your right, but, its mixed in with fire Greg Robinson.  I paced around my house after the UMass game looking for something to blame that could be a quick fix and were good too. 

People can't leave it alone at depth.  And I can't find anything anyone did wrong.  People can't stop at this fact though.  I'd rather hear inteligent reasons about scheme grumbles then "Look at these stats, Greg sucks"  I feel their pain, But, it honestly starts and stops at quality depth.  Thats what I mean by not stressed.

briangoblue

September 27th, 2010 at 5:52 PM ^

when Brandon Herron and (hopefully) Carvin Johnson come back. That will give us a lot more options in personnel grouping, particularly in Herron's case. Forget about the recruits for a second- I like the young guys they have. In one possession on Saturday Vinopal picked off a pass and Marvin Robinson made a hit you could hear fifty rows up. Developing the guys already in the fold will hopefully add some extra depth in the latter half of the Big Ten season, let alone next year. I wouldn't look for next year's recruits to add too much on defense unless they get some phenom at linebacker. Whoever they bring in is going to have to be lights out to beat the now battle-tested guys coming back.

briangoblue

September 28th, 2010 at 12:21 AM ^

It was later in the fourth quarter, on a pass to the quarterback's left. One or two guys were sort of holding the receiver or back up and Robinson just came up and smoked him. It happened right in front of us and me and my buddy looked at each other like, 'whoa.' Don't know how great it'll look on a replay, but by the sound of it, it hurt.

AceUofMer

September 27th, 2010 at 7:26 PM ^

I guess I'd be better off posting a list of available Def. Cord.

I don't see a problem having a post about 1 specific part of a problem with the Michigan football team.  I'd rather people converse about this then here Greg Robinsons stats with the orangemen. 

maybe its off limits to zoom in on just one aspect...I don't know, Im new and obiously learning my role from the sounds of it.  Point me towards the its not gregs fault post and I'll comment.  Its hard to find.

Tater

September 27th, 2010 at 6:02 PM ^

...but almost everybody's defense struggles nowadays.  The spread option and its variants have tipped the scales in favor of offenses.  At least Michigan did the right thing by getting its own spread option coach. 

markusr2007

September 27th, 2010 at 6:32 PM ^

I agree with the earlier comment that offenses today have the upper hand.  Playing solid defense is a real challenge at the college level.

And on defense, man, I don't know of a truly dominant defense playing right now.  I like the way Boise State's defense flies around.  Oregon, Alabama and Arizona have looked really good at times too. But I've watched a lot of games already for last 4 weeks and every team has had their britches torched more than thrice, not just Michigan's.

I don't think you need a great total defense to win a lot of football games. But I do think you need to have a solid-to-great rushing defense and the good fortune of a good scoring defense.  Actually, I think you can get away with a crappy passing defense too (giving up hectares of real estate through the air).  But redzone defense and rushing defense - both are critical if you want a hope in hell of winning a Big Ten title IMO.

Michigan should be bowl eligible this year, but a good defensive performance to  complement this already mushroom cloud-laying offense is probably 1 or 2 years away due to the ridiculous attrition and, if we're honest, time-wasting recruiting strategy of Rodriguez and staff because they didn't adequately understand Michigan's admissions policies.

Dr. BSD

September 27th, 2010 at 6:53 PM ^

To all of you who post comments about how post shouldn't have been made, I have a question. Why are you making those comments? That is, why do you feel dignified enough to attempt controling the content of  a website that is for everyone? People come here to follow and chat about Michigan football, something not that important. So why be intolerable about something that isn't that important? This site isn't discussing something serious such as...abolishing slavey, which is something worth being intolerant about. Am I missing something?

NateVolk

September 27th, 2010 at 7:56 PM ^

This is a chat board about Michigan football, not oral argument before the Earl Warren Supreme Court.  Let's keep perspective about posts that might seem to certain members to be repetitive. It will dissappear in an hour or two, so look away if you despise it so much. The back button and on to the next one is the way to go. Let the people who have something to add, do it without having to deal with being made to feel stupid.

Wondering if Brian likes the fact that I keep hearing from people who have visited this message board that it is full of people behaving like self-important snobs?  I doubt it.   He certainly isn't that way by any stretch.

The review that I hear a lot and the one I happen to agree with is: it is the best content site on Michigan football going thanks to Brian and his crew, but being a member/poster is often draining. Mostly because of the continued rude self-policing of what amounts to the online equivalent of jay walking.

Lutha

September 27th, 2010 at 8:19 PM ^

I'm sorry...you clearly don't get it.  The user generated content on Mgoboard is just as much a reason people come back to this site as frequently as they do as for the quality content provided by Brian, Tim, TomVH, etc.  If we don't self-police the board, the quality of content diminishes and experienced/knowledgeable posters spend less and less time here and the whole thing death spirals into mlive.

bronxblue

September 27th, 2010 at 9:31 PM ^

I really don't see any mean-spiriting policing here.  Listen, I have opinions on the team, but since they are (a) usually highlighted by other posters and, (b) are more redundant than factually-supported, I keep them to myselves.  Yeah, sometimes the community is a little mean to a new poster, but when you say that you have THE answer for the defense and it is "the guys need to try harder and play like Bo did", don't expect the warmest reception.  There are more than enough sites out there if you want to express your opinions, but some of them require you to accept some criticism.  We are all adults here, so I hope that a bunch of posters at MGoBlog questioning a poster's logic does not come as a shock.

AceUofMer

September 28th, 2010 at 1:52 AM ^

Im agreeing with you....I've been a follower for a few years without a word, just got tired of hearing the fire GERG talk.  Seems Def. Cord. don't get the same patience as Head Coaches.  But, I'd rather keep to myself again.

As far as your second point, I think you mis understood.  I don't blame the players for not playing too hard.  Just that these days, with less scholarships, you can't be as physical in practice like when Bo was around.  Bo could care less who was left standing saturday, cause it was still going to be a damn good football player.  We have to be a lot more careful in these times and then on top of it, we are thin even for todays standards.

I just don't think you can evaluate everything justly until we are at least up to a more qualified standard with players. 

Blue Cheese

September 27th, 2010 at 6:59 PM ^

There will always be people who lose perspective. Do not let it bother you.The fact becomes apparent in a public forum when certain participants attempt to use this platform as an opportunity to elevate their fragile egos. You did nothing wrong. You love the Wolverines. You are a good guy. Continue posting and ignore the nitpickers who fail to see the reason for this forum,i.e., to discuss the Big Blue and enjoy one another's insights, humor, and comeraderie.

Go Blue to all of you and 

AceUofMer

September 27th, 2010 at 8:33 PM ^

The sad thing is that I post about something and it becomes a soundboard for what is postable at the board.  If your concerned about the boards contant, add some thought rather then complain about other post.  This isn't MGoThoughtsOnAceUofMersComments blog, so talk more about the football team.  I respect some people are more well known and I see your point, however, I fail to see how my post can make anyone OMG so angry that they have to look at it. . 

I enjoy contributing, however I will go about it in a different manner from hear on out.

diehardalum

September 27th, 2010 at 8:55 PM ^

we all need to stop crticising them and start believing that they and Rich Rod will be able to turn their share of the season around in the games to come.  Lets just accept the situation for what it is, and GO BLUE!!

michiganfanforlife

September 27th, 2010 at 10:34 PM ^

the "self-police" duty that some people feel is their job needs to be squashed. This website will be better without all the negativity. Thinking that it is your job to make sure the content passes your imaginary standards for a blog (something that hasn't even been in existance for very long) is just silly. If it weren't for you making fun of people who don't support their opinions, or check for a similar post in the past, this site would be just as good. You are irrelevant to the quality of this website no matter how important you might think you are. 

As far as the discussion of the OP -   I think you really have to take some chances during the week and hit live at least 2 times. I realize this means that you risk more injury to a team that can't really afford it, but you can't run a team if all you do is worry. You have to stick to the plan all the coaches laid out to start the year, and keep working to get better. It's worse to have a healthy team that hasn't hit live all week, IMO. You have to keep practicing just to stay where you are (let alone get better)-- In football, you're either getting better or you're getting worse. There's no middle ground.

joelrodz

September 27th, 2010 at 11:12 PM ^

Umm, I am no expert but seeing Stony Brook hold UMASS to 26 points kinda makes me sad, in all sort of ways. No matter how bad we are at depth we can't say Stony Brook's defensive players are better than Michigan's. So that tells me that on some level Stony's scheme matched up better against UMASS's offense than ours. So honestly not sure what to think anymore about our D's standing.