Whatever Comment Count

Brian

11/22/2014 – Michigan 16, Maryland 23 – 5-6, 3-4 Big Ten

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[Eric Upchurch]

A version of this game happened in 2008, when a Michigan team headed for 3-9 had a dismal, rainy home finale against a bad team. That was Northwestern; Michigan blocked a punt for a touchdown but lost anyway. I spent halftime attempting to warm my hands on a pretzel heater.

It was tolerable because of its novelty. That team provided an opportunity for Michigan fans to demonstrate the vast depths they would go to in order to support their team. It wasn't fun, exactly, but it felt like a transitory period, a cost gladly borne for the promise of ass-kicking modern football to come. Merit badges were awarded to the hardy souls who stuck it out.

I don't have to tell you how that worked out.

I know I've referenced that game many times before as we've struggled to deal with Michigan's broken offense over the past couple years, but the similarities to the Maryland game are striking enough to bring it up again. While the weather wasn't nearly as bad, the slate-gray sky was highly familiar. So too the mutual Keystone Kops antics, what with receivers deciding it was that year EA's NCAA Football series decided that the way to balance their broken game was to have WRs drop half the passes they got their hands on.

So you naturally think about that game before and compare your mental state then and mental state now. The only thing I've got at the moment is relief I don't have to do that again. Humorous exclamations about how "we do this for fun!" are so 2008.

---------------------------

Michigan had built up piles of fan goodwill over their 40 year bowl streak; after Schembechler's arrival there were years Michigan wasn't great, but none in which they were actively bad unless their starting quarterback's leg broke. They started tapping that in earnest in 2007, and now it's all gone. I didn't want to go to the Maryland game even a little, but I did. I have a personal streak at stake here. And they fired Dave Brandon.

But there was no silver lining. The depths of my fandom have been tested; there's a bottom there. I'm fed up with ticket prices and the cookie-cutter inanity imposed on a Michigan Stadium experience that used to be unique.

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CAKE [Bryan Fuller]

There are bits and scraps of it left. I got bizarrely misty when they did the Blues Brothers cake, because it was a thing that was ours and still existed as what it had been since my youth. I was at Yost for the final game of whatever hockey season it was when the "Can't Turn You Loose" dancing extended from the most humorously overweight guy in the section to everybody. It was a thing that some people decided to do and they keep doing it.

Then that student section sat near-silent for the rest of the game because every space that wasn't filled with actual football was crammed with noise. It was especially jarring since the most interesting football on in the noon window was Manchester United-Arsenal, full of everything but Pitbull being piped in at deafening levels.

That's where we are right now, fighting a losing battle against the spreadsheet people. Jim Hackett may be a nice guy and vast improvement on Brandon, sure. Not much has happened to indicate that he's anything but another spreadsheet person making the columns add up and importing what passes for creativity at other places.

I don't know what's about to happen. I mean, I do: Ohio State is going to punch Michigan's delicates in and Brady Hoke's going to get fired. I don't know what happens after that.

During the last coaching search I used logic and common sense to declare that Michigan would not hire Brady Hoke because he was so transparently unqualified, so I can't do that again. Even if I was so inclined the fact that an interim AD is going to make the most important hire in the department would prevent me. Michigan is determined to do it weird in the ways they shouldn't and do it conventional in all the ways they shouldn't.

But whatever. It's over, and it ended in the way it probably had to: a sodden mess of football about as interesting as a pile of dirty laundry. Hopefully there's something to care about next year.

BULLETS

There is not going to be a UFR. I'll go back and get the relevant parts over the offseason but I am going to have a real Thanksgiving instead of one where I spend the first half of it in a bedroom putting up a post; it was just going to say the same stuff you already know anyway.

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This fourth down was on Gardner [Upchurch]

I don't know what I expected dot gif. The same pattern of ludicrous errors part XVIII. Roughing the kicker, a block in the back on a punt return touchdown, dropped passes, penalties, throws nowhere near the target, an inability to deal with tempo or mobile quarterbacks—none of it was surprising. It's not even infuriating anymore. It's just the way it is.

Cripes, Funchess. His lack of GAF has been clear for big chunks of the year—I still go back to that bubble screen that was a likely touchdown if he blocks his guy at all—and it's getting more prominent as we near the end of the year. The dropped passes are epidemic, and they don't even try to use him as a blocker anymore.

It'll be interesting to see if any of this impacts his draft stock. I bet 1) it does and 2) not nearly enough to induce him to return for his senior year. This feels like a situation similar what went down with GRIII, where it might be a good idea for the guy to come back to establish himself an elite talent but the guy is clearly done with college.

The offensive line is kind of okay now. There was a period in the second half where Michigan was blowing the Maryland DTs off the ball on every single play; occasionally Maryland would get Michigan in the backfield with a blitz allowed by the fact that M really didn't want to throw but anything that ended up neutral on the RPS scale was a nice gain for Michigan. Even excluding the fake punt, Michigan went for 5.5 YPC.

That's not unusual for a putrid Maryland D, but Michigan bested MSU, OSU, and pre-Diamont Indiana. They didn't hit Wisconsin numbers or a rampant Syracuse(?), but they looked quite functional. Darrell Funk is going to get run out of town on a rail like the rest of the coaching staff but the improvement this year is real. With literally everybody back next year they could be good-ish.

Mad about carry distribution. I've seen a lot of ANGAR about the carry distribution since Johnson was picking up big chunks. That's one of the few things that I'm not incensed bitchy and eye-rolling about in the aftermath. Hayes picked up 6 YPC on his six carries and while Smith only had 2.8, he was the short yardage/goal-line guy and played much better than Johnson against Northwestern. Overall the run game was highly effective, and only the usual slate of derp and the broken Devin Gardner prevented actual offense from occurring.

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this was not tempting apparently [Upchurch]

I will be mad snarky about this. I know Funchess was dropping balls left and right but how on earth do you go an entire game with a 6'5" WR against "5-7" Will Likely and not, like, try to use that fact? Everyone got peeved at one goal line play, and I'm with you. I would like to extend that peevishness past that specific series and apply it to every damn time this inept offense didn't punt the ball to Funchess 40 yards downfield.

When is the last time they tried a plain old bomb down the sideline at Funchess? I know it can't actually be the Notre Dame game but it feels like the Notre Dame game.

Seriously though. How do you rush for 240 yards on 44 carries, plus a 52-yard fake punt, and score 16 points?

Defense. The usual: pretty good against the run, though CJ Brown's QB stuff was highly effective because Michigan still regards that as cheating (or maybe it tends to be effective), highly iffy against the pass especially in the middle of the field, late collapse.

Brown's 6.9 YPA on 24 attempts isn't great, but you have to take the fact that Maryland was down two of its top options at WR and replacement slot Jacquille Veii dropped at least four passes. If Maryland WRs actually caught the ball this could have been significantly uglier.

It's clear that opponents have IDed the slot and TEs running against M LB/S types as a major weakness and targeted it.

The demise. Grimly appropriate that Maryland should get its key play on their go-ahead drive thanks to a fake bubble screen that went over the top. The end came thanks to a concept that's been around since Rodriguez's first year that Michigan could not deal with, nor successfully replicate except once against Miami(NTM). When they tried to imitate successful offenses they did it poorly because they were bad at coaching, and then blamed the concepts.

HERE

Inside The Box Score:

Meh Teams
* How do you lose when you outgain your opponent 398 yards to 312 yards? The answer is simple. Not-so-special teams (and turnovers, and failing on fourth down twice.)
* Maryland's fourth FG attempt is not in the boxscore because Jourdan Lewis roughed the kicker. On the very next play, Jourdan Lewis failed to keep contain and Maryland scooted in for a touchdown.
* Michigan's high point on the day, a 52 yard fake punt, was more than offset by a touch in the back penalty that resulted in Michigan losing 70 yards of field position, oh, and a game-deciding touchdown.

Best And Worst:

Yes, there have been meager signs (mostly on defense, but also with the offensive line) that this program was playing better, especially given the fact that Indiana has since nearly upset PSU and held tough against OSU on the road, while Northwestern upset Notre Dame and then demolished Purdue to, improbably, set up for next week’s intra-state battle with the Illini as a battle of two teams playing for their bowl-game lives.  They weren’t dominating wins, but if you squinted you could see something faintly resembling progress and improvement, and maybe with a new QB and some healthy running backs next year Michigan might be on its way “back”.

But all along, this team kept displaying the same numerous flaws that absolutely, positively shouldn’t be happening 50 games into a coach’s tenure.  The offense remains painfully predictable, to the point that pointing this out is equally reflexive.  The defense, while certainly the stronger unit during Hoke’s tenure, continues to play at a B+ level, seemingly never figuring out how to handle anything approaching tempo or a mobile QB.  Barring a Biakabutuka-esque performance against OSU, Michigan won’t have a running back break 600 yards total on the season, and for the second year in a row won’t have one even sniff 1,000 yards total.  Hell, Melvin Gordon and Tevin Coleman are going to significantly outrush this team as a whole, and that’s after dropping 292 yards rushing on Maryland in this game.  Devin Gardner went from pre-season All Big-10-ish player to a guy who’ll probably not throw for 10 TDs on the season, and one of the best runs of the year was a 52-yard run by a FB on a fake punt.  Timeouts continue to be called or saved without any regard for reality, and the team long ago ran out of feet to shoot with dumb penalties, incorrect number of players on the field, and turnovers.  Oh my gawd the turnovers, King.

ELSEWHERE

Sap's Decals nails Gardner:

DEVIN GARDNER – To me, New 98 is the LaVell Blanchard of the Michigan Football Team. Great kid. Smart kid. Face of the program for the past few years. Much like Blanchard, Gardner has been caught in the middle of a coaching change during his career. Caught in the middle of a program trying to find its way. Caught in the middle of a university trying to figure out what kind of identity they want their football team to have. Much like we do when looking back on the career of Blanchard, I’m sure we will say much the same for Gardner: “Oh, the Gardner years! Tough kid. Never quit. Never gave up. Sad that his record wasn’t better.”

Maize and Blue Nation:

So, things happened yesterday. A few of them good, some of them meh, and most of them bad. For Michigan, it was yet another in a long line of games everyone would just rather forget.

Brady Hoke knows what's coming. You can just tell. Nothing will happen before the Ohio State game, but its over. This is the end for Hoke at Michigan.

You know it's bad when newspaper folk don't edit out your uhs and ums:

A self-inflicted mess, toward the tail end of a self-inflicted disaster of a season that can't end soon enough, with a head coach who has only gotten worse every year he's been in charge.

Another game that made little sense, and more talk afterward that made even less.

"We just didn't, uh, execute at times when we had opportunities, and, uh, at times we did," Hoke said Saturday night. "We had some mistakes in the kicking game that, uh, obviously hurt us as a football team. Some of those were very aggressive mistakes and you appreciate that kind of effort and aggression. At the same point, we've got to be a little smarter.

"If that's the right word for it."

I think Zuniga is a fan of hair metal band Enuff Znuff. Alex Mitropolous-Rundus was in high school band.

Comments

bstaub32

November 24th, 2014 at 2:02 PM ^

Every situation is different, that is comparing apples to oranges.

That MSU team started 16 upperclassmen and had an NFL quarterback, which has been the formula for their success.

We have 4 seniors starting and a QB who is on his 3rd system in 5 years, who this coach didn't even recruit.

I figure people who "know football" could see the difference.

 

 

Blue Noise

November 24th, 2014 at 2:38 PM ^

This could not be a more irrelevant detail. Devin Gardner is a 5th year senior who has played 4 of his 5 years under Hoke; it hardly matters who recruited him at this point.



Not to mention that if the two exceptionally talented QBs Hoke inherited were so ill-suited to his style as to render them useless, he has had plenty of time to find another QB to supersede them and never did.

SalvatoreQuattro

November 24th, 2014 at 4:54 PM ^

with Hoke's fourth. Besides the fact that they are two different sports Hoke has an additional season on JB.

I'll remind you that in Dantonio's season they went 6-7. The next season saw a significant jump. Hoke went from 11-2 to 8-5 to 7-6 to 5-7. See a trend there?

You are really, really, bad at constructing intelligent arguments.Not only did you use a poor analogy, but you cherrypick facts(who knew that Cousins was a NFL QB in 2010? No one) and ignore inconvenient ones(UM has 13 upperclassmen)

Wendyk5

November 24th, 2014 at 1:27 PM ^

Is Brady Hoke doing the best with what he has? Is he really making the most of the talent that he himself has chosen? I think Beilein did in those first years. I think he got the most out of the players he had before he started to recruit the kind of players that he wanted, and then we all saw what he could do with those players. 

bstaub32

November 24th, 2014 at 1:50 PM ^

Hoke won a BCS bowl with what he inherited, since then he had to make the best of a bad situation with ZERO offensive line depth and a turnover prone quarterback that he didn't recruit.

The side of the ball he is familiar with and works with is top 20 in the country year in and year out.

IncrediblySTIFF

November 24th, 2014 at 2:16 PM ^

arguing for the retention of Hoke here is a bad idea.  Regardless of whether he has seens his "first real recruiting class" make it anywhere, the expectation at Michigan is 10 wins or more every year.  Hoke is batting 25% by those standards.  He's gone, for better or worse, and the popular opinin will be "for better."

leu2500

November 24th, 2014 at 3:14 PM ^

"Variety" makes the blog better than the press, I'll ignore your advice.



As for the expectation at um is 10 wins, so? That 10 wins expectation was established before the 85 scholarship limit. Before the influx of TV money. Before bill Martin decided to hire a coach who brought in a radically different system, neglected the fundamentals, and got fired for a .405 record. The current coach has been filling in the hole left, but his .620 record isn't good enough for you. So go discarding one coach after another in search of the 0.833 holy grail, which by the way Bo didn't achieve (.785)



Which is probably very fitting, as the thought I had today reading Brian's epistle was "Peter Pan."

MileHighWolverine

November 24th, 2014 at 3:25 PM ^

Hoke has 3rd and 4th year players he recruited on this team....few of them have made ANY impact at all. At this point, his recruiting classes (all an average of 4* or better) should really be able to unseat the guys 1 year ahead of them if they are THAT much better and yet they can't.

Our defense folds against any stiff competition.....how is that not Hoke's fault? 

And do I really need to point out RRod shellacked Utah with a FR QB and FR RB but we can't find any of Hoke's recruits from the last 4 years who can perform anywhere close to that level? And what do you think the comparative recruiting rankings are between those two squads? 

How much more time would you give Hoke to figure it out? 

InterM

November 24th, 2014 at 4:49 PM ^

Absolutely!  Look at Alabama, for example.  They went through 3 coaches in ten years from 1997-2006 (not counting an interim and a guy, Mike Price, who was fired before he even coached one game), so there was no way they'd be able to make a quality hire in 2007.  Instead they had to settle for Nick Saban . . . .

Dubs

November 24th, 2014 at 2:39 PM ^

All valid points.  However, we have gotten worse in Xs and Os and Hoke's record the past 4 seasons reflects just that.  At the VERY least, show some signs of greatness with some growing pains (that can be corrected with coaching and experience).  I just don't see any of that.

JamesBondHerpesMeds

November 24th, 2014 at 1:18 PM ^

Gardner and Lavell are similar in their intelligence, passion for Michigan, and perseverance. Both of them will be exceptionally successful young men in whatever they pursue.

But Lavell was also one of the top players in the Big Ten and was Freshman of the Year. He actually played up to his lofty potential despite the tumultuous nature of the program at the time. Gardner's performance on the field has been schizophrenic, sadly.

 

DonAZ

November 24th, 2014 at 1:18 PM ^

We often see Ennui the Otter's face in this kind of situation.

But there's another word -- one, interestingly enough used in the James Bond novels to convey a sense for the mental state Bond** was often in -- accidie.

accidie - spiritual sloth; apathy; indifference

I think this gets to a deeper level of emotion than ennui does.  It gets to the very heart of what Michigan football means to many of us.  The current state of the program has wrenched us to a part of ourselves that leaves us feeling a sense of vacant disinterest ... "Whatever."

This has been a turbulent year -- cautiously lofty expectations early, dashed hopes against Notre Dame, the further crumbling of hopes against Minnesota, the whole Brandon thing, the impotent showing against Northwestern, and the last gasps of dying hope against Maryland.

Dreams do not die well.  But sometimes they do die.

** For those who have only seen the movies but never read the books, I would encourage reading the originals.  The picture of James Bond portrayed there is of a man quite different from the Sean Connery or Roger Moore versions.  The Daniel Craig version is closer. 

Bond was never a religious man.  The accidie Ian Fleming was getting at was more a spirtual apathy caused by the absence of meaning in Bond's life.  His life of espionage helped him cover up and cope.

charblue.

November 24th, 2014 at 1:24 PM ^

That is what Ohio week has turned out to be, in its latest incarnation of the edge of Hoke's night while we keep a vestige watch beating the digital bushes waiting for Godot: Harbaugh, our football kingdom for a coach who values winning as a priority beyond the Michigan man message. 

Sure, we are all about the team the team, the team, Bo Schembechler, his lasting lessons and the pursuit of excellence in all aspects of Michigan sports and academic life. 

But the level of mediocrity of this program and its apparent acceptance by this team and its lack of leadership, regurgitation of empty platitudes of excellence, and failure to execute when its required just make for shallow, rote responses to uninspired direction. 

Where is the backbone of this team? Where is the fire? Where is the passion? Where is the leadership? Where is the drive to succeed no matter what, an attitude that was assumed as part of the Michigan mantle? This team 135 demonstrates none of that zeal, fear of failure, fear of not performing well enough, fear of losing, fear of not living up to a standard. 

This team seems like winning is a whatever proposition. Well, it's Ohio week. And we either get our asses kicked again in Columbus or we make a stand.

The Buckeyes don't give a shit. Hoke is a great guy and a goner.

. But his team, this team, shows no pulse for competition when it matters. Where are the leaders on this team, who will stand up and fight? Or is this just about getting by? Winning and losing is just a stat. It's either whatever in Columbus and get your ass kicked or account for this team and your sacrifice. 

User -not THAT user

November 24th, 2014 at 1:59 PM ^

...than the Drake Johnson quote near the end of the Zuniga article (and there was NOTHING wrong with Enuff Z'nuff that some make-up remover wouldn't fix...outstanding power pop band) to see all you need to confirm everything you just wrote:

"I wouldn’t say (the Ohio State game) it’s the biggest game of the year. Maybe it is.”  

This team is as soft on the field as its head coach is around the waistline.  Go forth to yon destiny, an apocalyptic pit of hellfire and excrement in C-bus, Team 135...take thine due asswhippin' and embarrass us no further, please.

IncrediblySTIFF

November 24th, 2014 at 1:27 PM ^

If the author of the blog is checked-out, why should the readers not check-out as well?  You mention a normal thanksgiving: to me that means cramming 40-50 hours of work in two or three days in order to find time to see family later in the week.

Bitching about free content, indeed.  I just hope someone else starts coming out with free content; preferably someone that doesn't act like a baby when things aren't going well and especially considering the financial aspects of are mgoblog are largely unaffected by wins and losses.

charblue.

November 24th, 2014 at 1:50 PM ^

at this point, understandable. The players haven't checked out, they just haven't checked in to what it takes to win. And we are used to that Michigan message. 

If you watched Tom Brady on Sunday, if you knew what he did while he was at Michigan just to get on the field to play, to compete, the attitude of this team would bewider you. Michigan fights to the bitte end, no matrer what the circumstances and score. This team, team 135 doesn't project that desire, connection to the past or will to win. 

This team wants to win, it's doesn't will itself to win. It doesn't hurt this team if it doesn't win. It can live with not winning. Hoke can alibi for this team's lack of apparent leadership or what happens  inside the lockerroom and practice facility. But he can't alter the cirucmstances or failures that befuddle his team and program. And so, he can't alter his future. Either his team is the product of his failed direction or its not properly motivated to value winnign at the expense of losing, where losing is a sin, and it's his death knell. 

And, I recognize that life's pursuits are mitigated by the up and downs of success and failure. But when you are part of a team, this team, the team, the team, the team, winning is everything and you account for yourself because each guy is accountable to his teammate and their individual and collective success. 

Bez

November 24th, 2014 at 1:33 PM ^

After the Norfleet call back, the team crumpled.  The total lack of moxie when faced with adversity from this team is astounding.

I saw earlier that Gardner has not thrown a single touchdown pass when the team is behind all season. UGH.

I really hope they can hang tough against OSU but if they get down even 3-0, they're toast.

Everyone Murders

November 24th, 2014 at 1:35 PM ^

I always wondered what, exactly, was "The Michigan Difference".  I understand now:

Michigan is determined to do it weird in the ways they shouldn't and do it conventional in all the ways they shouldn't.

growler4

November 24th, 2014 at 1:36 PM ^

First time poster, long time reader.

I'm not hear to debate the product on the field. It doesn't live up to Michigan standards and EVERYONE knows that. 

I think the experience attending Michigan football games is fine (forget for a moment the product on the field). The event staff is polite, friendly, and helpful and the Stadium is clean and beautiful. Even comfortable, all things considered. Yet, Brian, you seem to constantly complain about the game day experience.

What is it that you WANT? Honestly, I just don't get it and I've been attending games for over 40 years.

You don't like the music? Fine. Some do and some don't. BFD. I think the band playing Bullwinkle themed music and young/grown adults putting hands by their heads and "dancing" is strange and makes me cringe. No more or less so than listening to Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline". So what? Many seem to enjoy it. I live.

You want things that are organic... Should we scrap the new scoreboards and video screens? We weren't the first to have them. Do we have to listen to The Victors 1000 times all game long with no diversity? Anybody up for writing a new score? Must everything be original and unique? Can we not adapt ANY good ideas that may have originated elsewhere?

Yeah, ticket prices are high. Yet, if they are lowered (to a level you have not yet specified, I believe), what do we give up or do without? Fail to keep pace with facilities? Cut back on nationwide recruiting? Have fewer out of state student-athletes so as to lower tuition payments to the University? Lower coaches salaries?

I think concession prices are a lot more bothersome.

I did read in one of your recent posts that you seem to disagree with spending a lot of money on facility upgrades for non-revenue sports. Frankly, I disagree. I hope every Michigan athlete has a great experience with great facilities and coaches.

 

jmdblue

November 24th, 2014 at 1:57 PM ^

the whole point is we're not a Toledo Mudhens game.  Bullwinkle is silly and it's ours.  Go ahead and cringe, but it's a hell of a lot better than Seven Nation Army and Sweet Cherry Pie.  The Bosox have Sweet Caroline and I hate the song.  They like that I hate the song.  That's part of the fun.  Why in hell would we take that of all things?  The fact the kids sing along is testimony to how much damage they did to their kegs before the game and their genuine desire to be enthusiatic about something.  Does everything need to be organic?  Of course not.  We stole (and improved) the wave.  As you said we have a fancy new scoreboard.  This is fine.  The problem is I now feel like I'm in any other stadium around the country.  Why did this happen?  I dunno, but I'm pretty sure it has a lot to do with D. Brandon "creating value", and "hosting a mini Super Bowl every home Saturday".  What we had wasn't broken.  He broke it and in the process pissed off his customer base (present company excepted) 

I went to my first game in 1972.  By 1975 I was crazy for M football and literally crying over our once yearly odd loss or tie to Minny or Wiscy or Purdue.  Things remained more or less the same and more or less great in terms of atmosphere until very recently.  It's now far different and not nearly as much fun. 

MileHighWolverine

November 24th, 2014 at 3:09 PM ^

@growler4 - I could not disagree with you more regarding the spending on non-revenue sports.  Why should I pay astronomical prices for tickets to a sport I want to watch to pay for the facilities of a sport I care nothing about?

And what do you tell the students who are paying $45,000 a year to attend the school when the athletes of an obscure sport get ridiculous facilities regular students aren't allowed access to? They get a brand new multi million dollar rowing facility, private study facilities, free tutors, etc. and you get old facilities and none of that other stuff. . . . . why exactly?

There used to be a time when the student and student-athletes had something in common - and that time is quickly coming to an end if it hasn't already.

 

bronxblue

November 24th, 2014 at 3:36 PM ^

I don't completely disagree that some of the complaining about tradition is more subjective distaste for the music than anything fundamentally wrong with the game experience. Like with the alternate uniforms, I think some people dislike some of the overall changes in college football while others welcome them. So that sliver of your argument I get. But I think what drives many fans crazy is the fact that much of this money isn't being put back into the programs at the rate it is being collected. While I question the raw numbers, Bacon noted in an article that administrative salaries and expenses have far outpaced expected raises and the like. In other words, a decent chunk of the in creased ticket costs isn't for facilities, but for salaries and expenses of people running the AD and the teams, and I think that is where the anger is. Plus, it feels a bit like the raises are just to see if people will keep paying. And while people will, it's still shitty to feel like you are being exploited.

kzoomgr

November 24th, 2014 at 1:52 PM ^

Despite the overall offensive ineptitude, I'm not sure how much of that to put on Nuss.  With Borges, the biggest frustration was playcalling - boring, predictable, not utilizing your weapons, etc.  I don't have a problem with Nuss's playcalling.  He mixes things up, uses personnel, and importantly, there seem to be holes for the RB's to get to and WR's have been open enough often enough to move the ball.  But Gardner has lost all of his confidence, can't make reads and hit guys on the run, and the RB's up until the past few games seem to hit the wrong spot the majority of the time.  So at least from a playcalling angle, I can't fault Nuss too much; he's doing the best he can with the hand he was dealt.

dragonchild

November 24th, 2014 at 2:16 PM ^

I could be delusional but I think Nuss is OK.  I honestly thing DG injured his shoulder during the ND game and Nuss spent the whole season trying to hide it. By the end of the season the O-line is blocking pretty well and they play well in spurts.  Borges could win games here and there by scheming but Nuss is actually building something and made progress in year one.

He's had to deal with unmotivated players, an injured QB, no QB depth, a lazy playmaker and a disaster of an O-line.  DG's ankle was injured so QB runs were out.  His shoulder was injured (just look at the throws -- probably a torn labrum) so long throws were out and even his short throws are erratic.  His receivers were green so short routes are ineffective and the only guy who can take over a game -- Funchess -- doesn't give a shit.  Meanwhile the O-line and RBs spent the whole season learning IZ.  I mean, what the hell do you do at that point?  It would be tempting for him to go the Borges route and rely on gimmicks to win a few games but he sacrificed short-term success to leave the team in better shape.

If my opinion of him has changed at all, it's that I think Nuss' ceiling is similar to Mattison's in that he's probably a B+ coordinator at best.  I'd like to see what he could do here with several years to work with, but he might take an unfair share of the blame for this season's failure.

GoBLUinTX

November 24th, 2014 at 4:42 PM ^

Gardner has an injured shoulder, those damn floaty passes?  Two of the three TD passes to Funchess during the Appy St game were of the floaty type.

Player motivation.  For players on offense, if it isn't the OC that is responsible for player motivation, exactly to whom does it belong?  Injuries, all teams have injuries.  DR was oft injured, DG played on a broken foot against OSU, Tai Streets played, and caught passes, with two broken fingers during the 1997 season.  David Molk played the Sugar Bowl on a broken foot.  **it happens, OCs have to deal with **it all the time.

Michigan had a five year run with a scoring average of 30.5 points per game, with a low of 27 and a high of 33 ppg.  If Michigan just scored the low average of 27 ppg, they have three more wins this year.  If the average remains at the five year average Michigan likey is sitting at 10-1 right now.  That's the Nussmeier difference.  All Hail Nussmeier.

YoOoBoMoLloRoHo

November 24th, 2014 at 5:47 PM ^

It's a fascinating diagnosis. I've suspected the throwing issues were related to the ankle and discomfort transferring weight in the throwing motion. But his ankle was better on Sat and yet the throws were problematic.

The lack of downfield shots, altered throwing motion and silence from the coaches would certainly match a shoulder injury.

All the more reason to question Morris' readiness if an injured DG is our best/only hope.

jmblue

November 24th, 2014 at 3:44 PM ^

He mixes things up, uses personnel, and importantly, there seem to be holes for the RB's to get to and WR's have been open enough often enough to move the ball.

Sounds like confirmation bias.

How are we mixing things up? From my vantage point I see very little variation in our gameplans from week to week, let alone from drive to drive. We don't stretch the field vertically and only occasionally do horizontally. Our OL is beginning to open up holes but I'd hardly say that's due to innovative play-calling.

IMO, Nussmeier is a major disappointment. To average 20 ppg with a senior QB is astonishing. You can blame it on Gardner, and he's certainly had a bad year, but Nussmeier is also responsible for Gardner as his position coach.

kzoomgr

November 24th, 2014 at 4:20 PM ^

I can't argue with the fact that DG and others have regressed or not developed under this coaching staff.  And Nuss is the QB coach along with the OC, so he has to live with that.  It's just uncanny how uniformly crappy nearly the entire team has developed this year.  I'd give the O line props for their improvement, coming off last year and losing 2 NFL OL, but beyond that you'd have thought that at least one position group would meet their potential.