Arizona v. BC: Advocare 100 Bowl

Submitted by newtopos on

Didn't see a thread on this.  Arizona up 21-6 at half.  Pretty impressive to see what Arizona is doing with a QB that didn't receive a single scholarship offer at any level in high school.

Also, Ken Griffey, Jr. (whose son plays for Arizona) has a very nice Nikon set-up on the sidelines.  

OysterMonkey

December 31st, 2013 at 3:42 PM ^

But this same defense just gave up 58 points in their season finale to ASU. AZ has been mediocre on defense under RR, which, whatever. I have no idea what he inherited there. I just don't think one game demonstrates much. AZ was a game better than UM in terms of W-L this year. It's not like he's about to win the NC game and we should all be pining for what might have been.

westwardwolverine

December 31st, 2013 at 3:55 PM ^

AZ has been as good or better this year with inferior talent. Why does the Brady Hoke Can Do No Wrong squad think Michigan is a mid-level PAC-12 school?

OysterMonkey

December 31st, 2013 at 8:44 PM ^

Not looking to get into a whole thing here. I already said I think he's a good coach. FEI is helpful, but isn't gospel. Maybe I didn't watch enough of their games this year to be a really good judge, but I watched a handful. And their D didn't look very good.



I just get irritated at the rabble rabble crowd who appears every time Arizona wins to rehash the same tired shit about the raw deal he got. And I think he got a raw deal and should have gotten another year. But it's almost four years ago now that he got canned, and people should just let it go.

Blue2000

January 1st, 2014 at 10:13 AM ^

"But it's almost four years ago now that he got canned, and people should just let it go."

The problem with that statement is that plenty of people on these boards, and more importantly, Dave Brandon, want to continue to blame RR for all of the Michigan football team's current woes.  And what's not helping the matter is that as we get further removed from the RR era, Michigan (especially on offense) appears to be getting worse, while RR has taken a mid-level Pac-12 team and appears to be making them better.  

bighouse22

December 31st, 2013 at 3:20 PM ^

RR was a good coach, that brought a hard nose attitude about preparation and ruffled a bunch of pampered players.

He was undermined at every turn while at Michigan by Carr, Media, Alumni and the new Administration.  He should have been allowed to implement his program to the full extent and see how it progressed.  The atmosphere was so bad, recruiting started to suffer in the end.  He never had a chance.  

To some extent Michigan really does market itself.  Hoke has had a lot of goodwill and support from everyone and you have seen recruiting bloom.  Everyone will see that if this team does not start to win more next year, the atmosphere here will deteriorate and recruiting will suffer the same way.  That really is the last pillar for Hoke.

That said with the talent brought in the last couple of years there is no reason this staff shouldn't succeed next year.  If they don't it is likely on them and not the players.

MinWhisky

December 31st, 2013 at 5:23 PM ^

...when he said "RR was undermined at every turn while at Michigan by Carr, Media, Alumni and the new Administration. "  That's one reason why I hope RR is successful at Arizona.

I also have to agree with his thought that "RR brought a hard nose attitude about preparation and ruffled a bunch of pampered players" and wonder if that may be a root cause of the current problems  with the UofM program -- adathe UofM program is seeing  -- i.e. the players are pampered.

It was certainly a problem at UofM until Bo Schembechler took over for Bump Elliott.

robpollard

December 31st, 2013 at 3:25 PM ^

I agree bowl games are (generally) stupid exhibitions that you can't read too much into, but it's not just one game. Arizona, unbelievably to me, is a better team in 2013 than Michigan. That's looking at it over the course of 13 games. They have a better record, a more impressive win (in fact, UM hasn't had anything like Arizona's win over #5 Oregon in something like 10 years), and they play in a tougher conference. And they did all that with demonstrably worse recruiting classes over the last three years.

None of this means AZ will permanently be better than UM. I hope it's a one year thing. But I think there actually ARE a good % of fans (perhaps not on this board) who think RR is/was a bad coach. Perhaps by seeing that RR had success at WVU and now looks to be having success at AZ, that it is UM and its in-bred culture that is part of the problem, not really the solution.

LSAClassOf2000

December 31st, 2013 at 2:58 PM ^

Arizona now has 437 yards of offense on the game across 57 plays, which would come to an average of 7.67 yards per offensive snap on average. They've been keep Boston College to about half of that on defense - 3.77 yards per snap allowed. B.J. Denker is 15-22 with 264 yards and 1 TD. Not a bad showing at all from Arizona. 

TheNema

December 31st, 2013 at 3:08 PM ^

It's hard to ignore that the BC offense they are shutting down is one of the few remaining MANBALL operations. Probably the successful one this season alongside Stanford.

Gee, I'm so happy that our program alums decreed that we had to "get back to our roots" over this spread stuff. Really fits with the times.

bighouse22

December 31st, 2013 at 3:25 PM ^

You can play manball, but in order to win a national championship you have to recruit all 4 and 5 star players like Alabama.  You need #1 players like Hand.  Michigan has recruited very well the first three years under Hoke, but has to keep recruiting at that rate.  The WR Campbell was a big loss, hopefully we can get him back in the fold.  He would be fantastic in the offense and he would be wise to look at what Gallon did this year with less talent.

bighouse22

December 31st, 2013 at 3:38 PM ^

It's a strategy to keep the game close by limiting the number of possessions the other team has to score.  It makes defenses look better than they really are because the score rarely gets out of hand.  The same is true of a bend but don't break defense.  You keep bleeding clock, which also makes the coaching staff look good.  You win your fair share of games but you rarely go undefeated playing that style because you ultimately allow the opponent to remain in games with a shot to win as well.   It masks the deficiencies of both sides of the ball.  Great for coach paychecks, but not for National Championships.

uminks

December 31st, 2013 at 3:05 PM ^

That win against top rated Oregon may not have been a fluke. When AZ is on they are really on! Yeah RR would have run the score way up on Michigan if they had played each other in this bowl game or the BWWB. We would always see RR laughing on the sidelines as he pours on the points against us.

IvyLeague

December 31st, 2013 at 3:06 PM ^

Should have never been let go after 3 years with all the Carr holdovers. Should have had at least one more year probably two and we should have payed Casteel. RRod would destroy UM right now. There's a reason why Albama wanted RRod over Saban a while back. Zona is a year away from being an elite team.

The Crootin' Crouton

December 31st, 2013 at 3:29 PM ^

Rose Bowl? I'm praying for a GOOD season now, which means solid wins against PSU, Iowa, and maybe MSU. It's been a decade since Michigan was a contender and we're trending down... Fast. RR will have a Rose Bowl win before Michigan makes it to a top five bowl.

uminks

December 31st, 2013 at 3:57 PM ^

When he was hired here, he kept saying his goal was to win B1G championships. I remember some on this blog were bummed out because he did not say National Championship. Gee I wish Hoke would have kept his goals! I'll take B1G championships any days. I just don't see Hoke ever reaching his goals. I hope I'm wrong. We'll see in the next 5 seasons.

denardogasm

December 31st, 2013 at 3:06 PM ^

You know what I just remembered while watching this game? When they had RR interview Brady Hoke about Michigan. Hahahaha all time dumbest decision by a tv network?

543Church

December 31st, 2013 at 3:14 PM ^

I used to think it would be great if Arizona and UM played in the Rose Bowl.  However, I think we are so far from ever returning that it will never happen.

 

tybert

December 31st, 2013 at 3:34 PM ^

Rich Rod is 0-2 in his home state rivarly game, including a 58-pt drubbing this year. Zona clearly has the ability to surprise and contend, but they still have clunker games (loss at home to Wash St). I think he'll peak around 9-3 or 10-2 (with USC, UCLA, and ASU in his half) but has restored pride. 

As for Brady, I'm by no means any big fan of his right now, but felt that 19-7 was pretty decent his 1st two years, given RR won 15 games in 3 years. The real question for me is will the guy bounce back and show me something that I saw from the team in 2011 - a hungry team trying to restore Michigan to some level of excellence, one that played smart in most games and pulled out a bowl win even though outgained badly. 

If the team wins 8 or fewer games next year (barring a win over MSU or OSU on the road), no amount of Brandon Blogs will be able to explain away things.

bighouse22

December 31st, 2013 at 7:15 PM ^

The program definitely needs a bounceback year to regain its footing.  One thing that I liked at the end of the year was D. Green's comments about him and D. Smith working hard in the offseason and coming back better.  I like that type of leadership.  I really hope they work as hard as they can in the offseason in the weight room, blocking and scheme.  If the Oline takes a similar approach, I am hopeful next year will be better.

The Crootin' Crouton

December 31st, 2013 at 3:26 PM ^

Logan Thomas just got trucked by a linebacker... And a penalty of course. Even a 6'6 250 lb QB gets treated like the referees daughter anymore, disgusting. Let the boys play. If you want to be doing calculus at 55, don't play football. The NFL, and now the NCAA, are making this game soft.

tybert

December 31st, 2013 at 3:23 PM ^

Losing at Illinois against a very crappy Zooker team took whatever wind out of his sails and led to no bowl game. If he had won that game, we were 6-3 and bowl bound. Would have made a big difference in his trajectory.

I think RR is a good coach in the right place and right support. It was clear he didn't have things moving forward at the very end. I was at the Wisconsin game (lost 48-28 after being down 24-0 at half). The 37-7 loss at Ohio could have been worse if Tressel hadn't called off the dogs. And Josh Groban at the banquet?

I pull for Rich these days and hope one day we do meet in the Rose Bowl.

I loved the guy's offense, but this was like a bad marriage with the in-laws doing everything they could to force a split. 

SalvatoreQuattro

December 31st, 2013 at 3:59 PM ^

Talent that convenientlty fit the offense he wanted to run. That wasn't the case for Hoke. Defensively, RR left little talent and depth for Michigan. The same for the offensive line. Save for Lewan the OL talent has been subpar for most of Hoke three seasons and that is directly attributable to RR.

 

Hoke took that RR class that went 7-6 with numerous blowout losses under RR and won a BCS bowl with wins over ND and OSU. 

 

Both programs need to improve drastically. Michigan appears to be further back at this point than Zona. I think that much can be said. 

newtopos

December 31st, 2013 at 4:38 PM ^

This narrative is not only tired, but just not accurate.  The Arizona QB literally had no offers coming out of high school.  He enrolled in Arizona last year out of junior college.  It appears he had no other offers coming out of junior college, unlike, for example, Bo Wallace or even Nick Montana.  With this zero star recruit, RR leads them to an 8-5 record and a beatdown of Oregon and BC in their bowl game.  And you attribute this to a plethora of talent left by Stoops?  If this were Michigan and Hoke, many would be saying that he needs a four/five star QB with four years under genius Al to learn to properly "execute" his perfect West Coast Offense, of which Al would not change a thing, no matter what happens in any game.  

The true freshman leading receiver for Arizona is also a three-star recruit.  How can it be that a true freshman is productive?  Is this person attiributable to the cupboard Stoops left as well?