Angelique joins in: "we knew what they were going to do."
Yesterday Wojo openly criticized our coaching, today Angelique Chengalis, the mild mannered wirter that LC always gave interviews to, has a headline "Foes say they know what's coming," with a quote from Jason Ankrah of Nebraska "we knew what was coming right before they did it." This follows on the heels of Randy Gregory's comment that has already been on the board here: "whatever formation they came out in, we knew what they were going to throw out at us."
This is of value at this point only because it really confirms what critics in the blogosphere and elsewhere have said before, and when actual opposing players take that side too, it takes it beyond question into fact, that playcalling and scheme itself is the issue.
I hope that Hoke is asked today directly about his reaction to these quotes.
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20131111/SPORTS0201/311110017/Michig…
November 11th, 2013 at 12:18 PM ^
November 11th, 2013 at 12:22 PM ^
Classy move Gary.
November 11th, 2013 at 11:39 AM ^
November 11th, 2013 at 10:39 AM ^
is like that pansy "spread" stuff. Real manly Michigan Men just out-execute a defense, so they can't stop it even if they know it's coming. We will continue to out-execute our opponents even when we don't have the personnel or experience to out-execute the defense. We will exectute our execution until our exectuion out-executes our opponents.
This is Real Michigan Football, dammit. You love this, whether you realize it or not. We will execute it until you figure it out.
November 11th, 2013 at 11:04 AM ^
in God's name can they not do both? It's starting to seem like Hoke and Borges want to blindly follow a "we're going to run this, try and stop us" mindset. That's fine, if it works. With Stanford's offense, it can work. WIth our OL, it cannot.
It's asinine to think that Michigan shouldn't spread the field and force the opponent to adjust away from blitzing just because it's not their mantra. IT makes no sense. If it gets you yards, why not?
Shoot, OSU is the perfect example. Urban likes to sprea dthe field, do quick bubble screens, all that stuff. He also knows that sometimes you just need to line up and outpower the other team right up the middle. And he has had some success, particularly late in close games, using Hyde for that.
I hope Hoke isn't this stubborn.
November 11th, 2013 at 11:27 AM ^
November 11th, 2013 at 11:47 AM ^
LOL, you are one of the best blogger on here man. You truely love michigan and want what is best for this school. I am always agreeing with what you are saying. Awesome post
November 11th, 2013 at 10:18 AM ^
That's exactly our offensive philosophy.
"We are going to do this. Try to stop us."
Why anyone thinks that is a great idea is beyond me, but that's what we WANT to do. We are accomplishing our goals as an offense. That's what makes all of this so sad.
November 11th, 2013 at 10:19 AM ^
Blah Blah Manball, Blah Blah Blah Execute Better, Blah Coaching Blah Good Playcalling, Blah Blah Blah. Fluffy Kittens.
November 11th, 2013 at 10:24 AM ^
Fat Albert is just doing this so he can go to the all-you-cant-eat pizza party at the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl.
November 11th, 2013 at 10:28 AM ^
My thought is if all the blame is on the youth of the line (which is a joke), shouldn't the coaching staff have seen this coming? One thing they could have done is went and got a couple of experienced linemen from a junior college to help the transition. .
November 11th, 2013 at 10:40 AM ^
November 11th, 2013 at 10:51 AM ^
I don't think it's a policy, it's just that transferring to Michigan, even as a normal student, is pretty hard.
And since some of those JUCO schools are basically "Bump your GPA up to a 2.5 anyway possible", it's not likely any JUCO guys could make it to Michigan
November 11th, 2013 at 11:29 AM ^
why not a graduate student transfer with one year left? like wisky did with QB wilson. hoke could have made it known but didn't. we could have used an addition for this year and next.
November 11th, 2013 at 10:31 AM ^
Comments made after the Jan. 1 2007 Rose Bowl against USC:
"USC center Ryan Kalil knew Michigan's defensive front had been feared most of the season, but he said the Trojans were totally prepared for everything they saw.
November 11th, 2013 at 10:36 AM ^
November 11th, 2013 at 10:53 AM ^
There was a time, in between 2007 and 2013, when Michigan began to run a dynamic offense that, by 2010, put up Conference-leading numbers.
November 11th, 2013 at 10:56 AM ^
Too bad it went away in games not against shitty opponents.
7, 10 and 7 against ohio.
17 in 2010 against state, 28 in a 20 point loss to wisconsin, 14 in a bowl game.
It was pathetic against teams with good defenses.
November 11th, 2013 at 11:06 AM ^
November 11th, 2013 at 11:12 AM ^
As opposed to pathetic against all opponents?
November 11th, 2013 at 11:48 AM ^
I hate to say this, but I actually kind of agree with you but with two notable exceptions:
The ND offense was as good as any RR 2010 offensive output. The Indiana offense was better than any RR 2010 offense. Those games were both examples of what the offense that Borges wants to run could look like, if executed well. Perfect balance of run and pass, long and short balls, etc. Just great offensive output. By contrast, I always found the RR 2010 offense when it worked not to be that the offense worked well, but that Denard was able to run by a lot of people, either by sheer athleticism or by crappy defensive play. The 2013 Indiana / ND games were more balanced.
All that said, the MSU / Nabraska / PSU games this season, as well as the Akron and Uconn games if you adjust for the fact that both of these teams unbelivably bad at playing tackle football, were worse than anything that RR put on the field. No excuses.
November 11th, 2013 at 2:38 PM ^
but "balanced" or not, the 2013 indiana offense at it's slowest tempo is 3X faster than anything Borges could muster. His lethargy is part of the problem.
November 11th, 2013 at 11:09 AM ^
Yeah, I also remember that offense. It dominated against every MAC team that it faced by 2010, and even against the lower B10 teams. How did it do against Ohio? Or MSU? Or in the Bowl game? Yeah, about as poorly as our horrible, pathetic 2013 offense.
Even with Denard, who really was a once in a decade level athlete, that dynamic offense of 2010 couldn't do shit against decent teams.
November 11th, 2013 at 12:26 PM ^
It struggled to score at willl against good defenses. that is not a criticism that sticks, IMO.
November 11th, 2013 at 11:50 AM ^
And there was this nugget from Miss State player K.J. Wright after THAT bowl game:
"I knew from watching film they were real predictable with what they were doing. I just looked at the formation and before the ball was snapped, Chris (White) and I knew what they were doing."
I'm not football-smart enough to give an answer to our issues, but there's evidence that no one scheme is the be all/end all.
November 11th, 2013 at 4:32 PM ^
I love you Wilford Brimley.
November 11th, 2013 at 2:01 PM ^
Every opponent on Michigan's schedule had one of its worst defensive days of the year in terms of total offense. With average field goal kicking, starting field position, and turnover generation rate, Denard wins the Heisman that year hands down.
November 11th, 2013 at 10:39 AM ^
Don, I can't imagine local talk radio right now. If I still lived in MI, i'd be listening to Xmas music all day.
November 11th, 2013 at 10:42 AM ^
Why do people always dismiss Thanksgiving? There is a holiday in between Halloween and Christmas, people.
November 11th, 2013 at 11:20 AM ^
But does Thanksgiving have MUSIC?
November 11th, 2013 at 11:34 AM ^
You don't know the classic, To Gut A Turkey? How about one of my favorites, Chase Your Cousins with the Gizzard?
November 11th, 2013 at 11:23 AM ^
Thanksgiving presents
November 11th, 2013 at 11:37 AM ^
I've always received Turk-Day (that's what we call it) presents. Cornicopias, traditional native american head dresses, traditional pilgrim attire to wear to school. You must be from the south.
November 11th, 2013 at 12:54 PM ^
November 11th, 2013 at 11:44 AM ^
I can't speak for anyone else...
however, I see no reason to get excited about a fake ass celebration of the fact that we lied, killed, and decieved the native people to oblivion when we arrived here...
like the great NAS said 'I call your holiday hellday'.
jdon
November 11th, 2013 at 12:04 PM ^
The real story about Thanksgiving is sickening but we've brought a different meaning to it now. It is utterly deceiving but to take the principles away from what it's supposed to represent is something everyone can benefit from. Not knowing the truth, however, is doing yourself a major disservice like Nas so eloquently stated. Every nation witnesses the atrocities. People in power try to fulfill the prophecy, or something like that.
November 11th, 2013 at 11:08 AM ^
I listen to the local AA station WTKA most mornings from 6 till 10am. They do a fantastic job covering UM sports, and the hosts are (IMHO at least) very informed, passionate, and balanced. Some others here think they're nothing but homers, but it's highly unrealistic to expect radio guys who regularly interview coaches and players in featured live-on-location events to be calling for anybody's heads on the air.
While there is your standard proportion of callers into the show who are incensed that Hoke doesn't wear a headset or say the defense is doing a terrible job or assert that Devin Gardner isn't tough, for the most part callers into the show are very upset/unhappy/bewildered but fairly rational, given the subject.
I don't bother listening to shows coming out of Detroit or other locales, though. The few times I've heard segments of other shows, it's unbearable the amount of stupid that comes out of the pie holes of people who call in.
November 11th, 2013 at 11:53 AM ^
How about by people that play Oregon or Stanford say the same thing.
Defensively, we knew exactly what MSU was going to do on defense.
The point is:
1. Teams have a system and style and rarely change that dramatically because a player gets hurt or because they face a certain team.
2. It is a bad idea to really change up play calling with college kids. They are working on fundamentals and you want them to learn a bunch of new plays every week when things don't work?
3. Opposing players are ALMOST never going to admit they didn't know what was coming.
As long as you have a diverse enough play book (and Borges proved he does over these three years), the thing you need to win is great players and great execution.
The question is how long do you give Borges to coach em up?
He didn't come in and abandon Gardner or Shoelace. He adapted a bit. Aside from the recent swoon that coincides greatly with the OL personnel shift, the offenses have been okay. He is not what GERG was to the defense.
Give him time.
November 11th, 2013 at 10:35 AM ^
November 11th, 2013 at 10:36 AM ^
The buckeyes are going to destroy Michigan. Yet again, I'm in the mode of "I cannot wait for this season to be over so we can look forward to next season."
November 11th, 2013 at 11:27 AM ^
The game will be somewhat close in the first half, as our defense will not be too tired yet. Ohio scores maybe 2 or 3 times in the first half. Then, in the second half, after the rails have finally come off for the offense after yet another three and out or turnover, the defense will just be tired and worn out. Ohio will score every series after that, running up the score. It'll be just like the end of the MSU game where the defense just crumbled after the offense failed on their last chance to make a game of it.
Our D is decent, but they'll get tired eventually having to be on the field so long without getting any rest. OSU is going to run up the score as high as they can, in part to help them with the voters for the title game.
November 11th, 2013 at 4:21 PM ^
I can't say I disagree with anything you said, especially your comment about runnin the score up. Meyer knows that he needs to continue to annihilate his opponents and beating Michigan handily on the road where Hoke is undefeated (oops, never mind that) would be good for the voters. He's coming for blood and I have a feeling this will be like the 2010 game where Michigan is just totally outmatched in every facet. That game, if you recall, was similar to what you just described. It was 14-7 at halftime and ended 37-7.
November 11th, 2013 at 10:37 AM ^
I wasn't even watching the game after the first quarter and could have been accused of clarvoyance.
November 11th, 2013 at 10:38 AM ^
I don't even let my cats see me do the same thing twice right before I feed them, otherwise they'd blitz the food bowl.
November 11th, 2013 at 10:42 AM ^
but Brian has been TELLING us in the offensive UFR's for the past two seasons that Borges' play-calling has been tipping plays by formation. And also that the play-action is bullshit and just for show. It was only a matter of time before every d-coordinator in the league that was any good figured out the same thing.
Good grief, anyone who has played a few games of Madden knows you can just call the same play out of the same formation every time. Why would you EVER want to give your opponent information about what you are running, outside of situations where you are setting up a misdirection play later in the game?
Any offensive coach in today's game that isn't running a significant number of run/pass options out of every formation so that the defense can't possibly know what is coming at them is worthless. Today's offenses are more complex and more disguised than EVER. This isn't the early 1980's.
Borges has been a complete failure. I don't think he's been a failure on the level of our defense under Rodriguez yet, but he is getting there.
November 11th, 2013 at 11:02 AM ^
I think this is the response to all the annoying idiots that like to show how smart they are by pulling the "How much experience do you have? I think Borges knows more than you!" argument. If this stuff is obvious to a blogger/computer engineer with no real football experience, imagine what actual experience defensive coordinators think when they see it.
November 11th, 2013 at 11:09 AM ^
Borges is garbage. That is known now. The same was true of our offense under Carr, though. Do you not think that a litany of teams fall under this same problem or it's just relegated to Michigan? This was a serious problem for the Cleveland Browns. Just because an armchair coach can decifer the play doesn't mean that the person calling the play has bad plays it just means he has well known tendencies and is a creature of habit. Most humans fall into this catergory.
November 11th, 2013 at 11:33 AM ^
the same was true of our offense under Carr at times, especially when we used to motion our H-back directly to where we were going to run every time (ugh I hated that) but Carr had about a 10,000 times better offensive line to work with. When your O-Line consists of almost nothing but upperclassmen future NFL players and you have Mike Hart running the ball, you can telegraph where you are going and still get 4.5 ypc.
The problem I have is that Borges REFUSES TO ADJUST. He bashes his brain out against a brick wall, and then, like the Black Knight in Monty Python, comes back for more. 22 carries for -40 yards? Who cares!! RUN IT UP THE MIDDLE!!!!!!
Carr usually got tired of having his brains beat in by halftime and would then let his stud QB and WR's de jour put up 300 yards of passing in the second half to try and pull out the game. Drove us nuts and didn't always work, but at least he was willing to give up on his gameplan when it didn't work. Borges seems incapable of ever giving up on his gameplan, no matter how many negative rushing yards it has accumulated.
November 11th, 2013 at 11:43 AM ^
You can't show your hand because then you feel as though since it has worked against all of these teams then it will always work. Don posted somewhere about USC knowing the plays that were coming and we saw what happened with that. It works against under matched opponents but not against your equals or those superior to you.
Borges is not good. I agree. He's undefendable (is that a word? I don't think it is. I will use it to reference Borges, though). That was very frustrating with Carr but what was the worst was his last game against Florida. Brutal because you saw what the team could have been all along. This team looks like air raid might be it's only salvation. That doesn't mean go Al Davis and deep ball it every time but a passing spread looks to be the only option at the moment.