Blame GREG not RR
The defense is the issue at hand not the offense, or the recruiting. So why call for RR's head when he is doing all that he can to get this team back into shape. Gre Robinson has shown time and time again that he does not have what it takes to coach a defense! I will always stand behing the head coach because I am devoted to Michigan Football!! All we need is a defense and we are well on our way to winning the Big10 again.
FIRE GREG ROBINSON!!!
October 31st, 2010 at 12:18 AM ^
everywhere he has gone whether he's a OC or HC. His track record speak for itself.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:21 AM ^
Really? That's you're arguement? I guess the UM sucks ass, and RR is God.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:29 AM ^
dude, step away from the computer. You are emotional and not thinking.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:36 AM ^
What has RR done at Michigan? Give me some facts? This is not the BE, this is not WVU. I'm saying he's not right for Michigan.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:48 AM ^
Go to bed. you are emotional.
He has been great at michigan given the disasterous situation he was handed from absolutely divided alumni base that sabotaged him from the beginning. Especially when looking at the O when he got here, he has worked miracles. The O did all they could tonight. Rich is right for Michigan. It is too bad the Michigan fan base is too entitled and whiney they don't want to work to win.
You fire him, then you will have another exodus from the program that will set back recruiting even longer. More infighting within Schembechler. We will turn into Notre Dame.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:58 AM ^
It is too bad the Michigan fan base is too entitled and whiney they don't want to work to win.
Congrats for being that guy. Again, the guy has won 4 games, and your only arguement is that 3 years ago, Lloyd was the worst guy ever and gave poor Rich no people.
I guess we'll see what happens in the next 2 weeks. I hope Michigan wins, and I'l lose my voice at the Illinois game next week, but please wake up. RR may be awesome but he fucked up his coaching job at Michigan. Take that to the bank!
October 31st, 2010 at 1:01 AM ^
when did I ever say Lloyd was the worst guy ever. Now you are making up stuff. Go to bed you are emotional. Swearing doesn't help your cause.
October 31st, 2010 at 1:09 AM ^
October 31st, 2010 at 1:36 AM ^
A lot of people are going to owe you and Bando an apology...
October 31st, 2010 at 12:28 PM ^
team beat Georgia and Oklahoma in the BCS bowl. Your argument that WVU did it in a weak Big East fails.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:29 AM ^
Just win, baby.
October 31st, 2010 at 10:30 AM ^
13-19 so far. I am not for bailing yet, but let's not kid ourselves that his pre-Michigan record is some guarantee of success here.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:23 AM ^
Ask anyone at West Virginia if he was a good HC. They may dislike him as a person, but they respect his coaching ability. The key difference there is that he had an ace DC (Casteel). Here he's had a shackled Shafer and GERG.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:31 AM ^
is not West Virginia and the Big Ten is not the Big East. Rich's biggest fault is that he thought what worked at WVU would work at UM. It hasn't, but he doesn't know any different so he can't change his approach. It's a catch-22 that will end badly.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:50 AM ^
How has the offense not worked here? I'll take that offense over any other in the conference.
October 31st, 2010 at 1:01 AM ^
The issues with the offense seem to be inability to give the D breaks. The first drive tonight was complete crap. When the offense needs to be better than the D, it has struggled. This is the calling card of RR and they had 10 pts at the half against a crappy PSU D.
They've put stuff on the board out of pure desperation in the Big 10. The offense knows the limitations of the D and every stinking possession ought to be about finding every way possible to score on every drive. (That means no Iso's with Vincent Smith) I realize they aren't trying to not score, but they have to put points on the board all the time. Anything goes.
October 31st, 2010 at 10:39 AM ^
vincent smith experience is killing me. he is great on the perimeter but has no business doing anything between the tackles. And would it be too much to ask to put the power backs in when we need 1-2 yards and NOT the little fast guy still recovering from an ACL?
October 31st, 2010 at 11:01 AM ^
Watching Smith plow into the line on 3rd and short and get nothing is becoming old. Why in the world Hopkins isn't in there is beyond me.
October 31st, 2010 at 2:38 AM ^
Have you watched Michigan play any Big Ten games this year? The default offense (with Denard at the helm) is incapable of passing the ball down the field when the game is still in contention.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:23 AM ^
his own staff.
October 31st, 2010 at 6:48 AM ^
This is Michigan. Open the bank vault and get the best guy money can buy and give RR another year as HIS offense is solid. With his mainly hands-off approach to D, we need someone who would be something of a co-general along side RR to handle the D.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:11 AM ^
It's not Rod's fault IRREGARDLESS of what you think :)
October 31st, 2010 at 12:24 AM ^
IRREGODDAMNGARDLESS
October 31st, 2010 at 12:14 AM ^
If this is what we have to deal with for the next seven weeks, Lord help us all...
October 31st, 2010 at 12:15 AM ^
Our defense has a bunch of rad players and the coach is holding them back. All those talented upperclassmen like Woolfolk and Martin and...well at least that is two guys who played in this game. It's like these guys in the secondary have never seen the field before.
And if you haven't guessed, I think anyone who is now surprised our defense sucks is a fucking retard.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:23 AM ^
I honestly don't think anyone expects a good defense at this point. What most people should be expecting is that the defense would come out after two weeks off and playing the worst B10 offense they've seen this season to look prepared.
The tackling issues are still there.
There was never a response to the short throws.
We continue to play 3 down linemen against a power running team.
Roh is still playing as a LB. (I think that bothers me the most, not sure about the rest of you.)
Not enough was done to dial up more pressure against a terribly inexperienced QB. He wasn't making the best decisions or throws when there was pressure.
I think all of these are the complaints I've seen the most, and they all seem pretty valid. Maybe you disagree.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:27 AM ^
playing the CBs 10 yards off the LOS
October 31st, 2010 at 12:32 AM ^
The "Decimated Defense" argument rings a little hollow when it's week 9 and - coming off a bye week, no less, you get destroyed by an equally decimated offense. The progress we need to see is simply not there.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:42 AM ^
Your timeline for the progress of young players is way off base. Do you remember how David Harris played as a junior? Prescott Burgess? Our defense started 6 underclassmen and just about every backup is a freshman. Oh, and they lost their best and really only top-shelf player.
As for comparisons, that "decimated offense" still had the leading rusher in Penn State history. Who is comparable on our defense? Moye is a junior who had over 700 yards receiving last year and is on pace for more this year. They've had loads of injuries but their roster situation is nowhere near as bad as our defense's at present.
October 31st, 2010 at 1:30 AM ^
Oh, wait....nevermind.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:33 AM ^
Then why are you complaining. We blitzed a bunch in this game ("dialing up pressure"). They picked it up easily or found open receivers because, big surprise, the guys doing the jobs aren't very good yet. Making nit-picky complaints about strategy and acting like those are the cause of the defense's struggle (and not the ridiculously young roster) amounts to searching for scapegoats. It is an exercise done by people who can't accept reality and think football coaches are all-powerful beings.
And not to beat a dead horse, but young players miss tackles. There is a reason every coach in America wants a team dominated by upperclassmen. Acting like there is a coaching failure when Courtney Avery or Ray Vinopal miss a tackle is just silly.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:57 AM ^
I don't think it is too much to ask of a coaching staff to recognize the problems that are evident in their scheme and to adjust accordingly. This defense has not adjusted to defend a simple counter ever since UMass used it. It is not unfair or nit picky to expect to see improvement when coming off of a bye week against a terrible offense.
I completely understand the problems presented by the youth and depth of the defense. However, I believe it is fair to expect progress as the season goes on. You can't honestly say you have seen the defense as a unit progress this season.
Also, PSU did not pick up all, or even a majority of the blitzes. Also, if you believe that blitzing is the only way to get pressure, then we obviously have a philosophical difference in how we believe a defense can work. I'm a firm believe in using your line to apply pressure. With only 3 down lineman that becomes nearly impossible.
The coaches I'm sure knew where the talent and depth was on this defense as far back as spring. A 4-2-5 defense is relatively easy to install or adjust to from the 3-3-5 as Michigan runs it. It allows them to play the zone they feel is necessary to protect the youth in the secondary, but also plays to the strength of the defense, which is obviously the line.
October 31st, 2010 at 1:08 AM ^
So your plan is, apply more pressure without blitzing. In other words, make the defensive line play better. And that running a 4-2-5 instead of a 3-3-5 (since of course that is all this defense ever runs) will make Jonas Mouton not overrun plays. Clearly you have cracked the case.
Teams don't visibly progress throughout a season, because as it turns out the other team is practicing and getting better too. The idea that they do or that "he's not a freshman anymore" is just cliche-speak from talking heads and armchair quarterbacks.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:17 AM ^
atleast next year we'll likely go 6-0 before blowing the season
October 31st, 2010 at 12:18 AM ^
Even though it does nothing to change our record - what does this game look like if Woolfolk is playing and Martin is healthy? If we had even one corner that we could trust, I think that opens the door for a lot more defensively. The defense is driving me nuts too, but when you don't have a good horse, it doesn't matter how good your jockey is.
I would hate to throw away another year of great offense on another terrible defense if Gerg is not the guy, but at the same time, maybe some of our young athletes can step up (MRob, Furman, etc.) and we can get healthy and see what Gerg can do with more talent.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:24 AM ^
You are missing the point. What if PSU didn't have like 15 injured players and a walk on QB? We suck on D, and our O is telling Denard to create magic.
October 31st, 2010 at 1:50 AM ^
No, I get the point. I agree that our defense sucks, I am just wondering what kind of scheme would work with this secondary. I am as concerned as anybody that we have not seen much progress out of the defense, but I don't know at this point how much is scheme/coaching and how much is lack of talent. That being said, if we can find a stud DC by throwing a HC-level salary at him, I would support it.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:21 AM ^
....all of his assistants on the defense where his picks. They are not. The problem is that RR isn't allowing his DC to pick his own guys.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:37 AM ^
maybe RR can fire Gerg and promote his buddy Gibson to DC, then also fire him by the end of the season.
Gibson's special team cost how many games so far? missed FG, penalties, kick off out of bound...
October 31st, 2010 at 12:38 AM ^
Gerg took over the LB's this season, and lots of people thought that this was a good idea, but it seems to me that the LB play has gotten worse.
October 31st, 2010 at 1:11 AM ^
The LBs actually have improved: Mouton went from bad last year to OK this year. Demens is an upgrade over Obi. The problem is that going from bad to OK isn't enough of an upgrade, but I do think GR gets credit for this improvement.
October 31st, 2010 at 1:19 AM ^
They weren't OK tonight. Misdirection, once again, left them out of the play time and again.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:21 AM ^
PSU gained about 400 yards on 3 plays - passes to the flat on 3rd down, screens, and Royster runs up the middle. Any coord that cannot adjust to that in 4 quarter of play needs to go.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:38 AM ^
This is a very simple take, but it's dead on.
Michigan lost to what was, in effect, a offensive playbook which was less complicated than a Tecmo Super Bowl Play book.
It was pathetic.
October 31st, 2010 at 1:31 AM ^
The Giants Flea Flicker was awesome!
October 31st, 2010 at 1:14 AM ^
What really got me was that practically every pass play was a rollout to his right, but it never seemed to occur to us to try to send pressure from that side.
October 31st, 2010 at 11:07 AM ^
i'm as patient as anyone and completely understand the personnel issues. but after watching this total abortion of a D the past 2 years, the lack of adjustments completely befuddle me. as stated above psu was torching the D on basically the same plays. yet, we continue to play the soft zone.
why not change it up? bring 9-10 guys in or near the box? that would prevent the short stuff from gaining anything, or at least give the opportunity to make some no gainers. if there was a team to do this against, it is psu with an inexperienced walk on QB. make HIM beat you. hell, i can step on the field now and dump a little screen pass. make him beat you deep. ya, there may make a few big plays, buy dying the slow death game after game after game is completely insane.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:24 AM ^
I somewhat agree. RR is responsible to a degree since he hired Gerg, but at the sametime during the 3rd quarter RR sprinted over to the D during a timeout yelling like a mad-man trying to get them fired up, and what happened after that? They went out and got a stop and we pulled within 14pts (might've been 7, can't remember for sure). Point is, most head coaches spend most of their time with whatever their specialty is (Meyer spends his time with the O, so does Spurrier, etc.) and leave most of the coaching for the other side of the ball to the coordinator. It seems to me that RR is realizing (finally?) that Gerg just can't get the guys to play with that hard edge he talks about, and he took it upon himself to do something about it, as he should. Is it youth, or is it coaching? I don't think we can know for sure, but there are many signs that the defensive coaching staff (save for maybe Bruce Tall) just isn't very good. I wish we could get Casteel so that the transition to the scheme would be minimal, but really I think we need a somewhat young yet proven coordinator that has that killer instinct, take no prisoners attitude to come in and bring some of their own assistants. The assistants I think are just as much the issue as the coordinator.