Losing brings clarity: Michigan no longer a fraud

*claps slowly*

Huh?

and it's that the new defensive coordinator should be hired by committee. i can't help but feel, with RR's personality and the failure of the past two selections, that RR really picks guys he can work with and might not be asking the right questions. having D Brandon, his entire major coaching staff and perhaps even program advisors (lookin at you Lloyd!), the team needs to be careful and weighted with their pick BECAUSE of the obvious strength on the offensive side of the ball.

If RR was able to get us to 9-3, even with a sub-par defense, then he is doing something right.  9-3 is not a fraud.  9-3 would mean we beat Purdue, Illinois, PSU and one of Iowa, MSU or Wisco.  (obviously, other combinations are possible, but this would have been the most likelt road to 9-3).  If RR did that, then there is no fraud.  Then the team was good enough to finish second or third in the B10 with a young QB and ridiculously young D.

Also, I am just curious (no snark intended), are you going to root for Michigan the next two weeks?  If the belief is that the team really is broken and that only serious change is going to help (something that I agree with, by the way), then the most likely way to get that change would be for us to finish 5-7 or 6-6.  I could never root against Michigan, though. 

I agree in part. 

In regards to being exposed, I agree that it's better than limping to a few more victories if that would lead to the AD and coaches ignoring the problem on defense.

The defensive side of the ball needs to be examined under a microscope to determine whether we've got a virus we'll have to let run it's course or cancer that needs to be removed quickly and thoroughly.  There is no way this problem is fixed with a simple "Fire GERG" action.

I like turtles.

They're a bunch of clowns, I tell ya! Clowns!

I went out on a limb and gave a very rosy 8-4 as a hopeful best case for this team.  7-5 or even 6-6 seemed very possible looking at the schedule.  The only game that has gone other than I had anticipated was the MSU game, who turned out to be a whole lot better than anybody expected this year.

I refuse to get pissed at the team for being exactly what I thought it would be in August.  I expect improvement from year to year, and overall we've gotten that.  The defense is worse, but the offense is 100x better than last year, for overall net progress.

I expect to see more progress next year.  We might be good for 9 wins then if we get lucky.  Reality is a cruel mistress.  We don't get to win just because we're Michigan.  We need talent and experience combined with good coaching.  It's a recipe that can't be rushed no matter how much you want to.

I see what you're getting at. No, I would rather win.

I was noticing a big trail off in fire Greg posts, but somehow we found another guy that thought he had an original enough thought that it couldn't be posted on Brian's posts.

I think you nailed it. Everything I heard from RR after his selection of GR was about how they can work together and Gerg was going to mesh seamlessly with his staff and so forth. I have the feeling neither RR or GR ever asked each other these questions:

• What kind of base defensive scheme do you want to run?

• Do you prefer an aggressive, blitzing attack, or are you bend-and-hopefully-don't-break?

• What will you do if I decide mid-season that you're doing it all wrong and I tell you what to do?

• What will you do if my position coaches subvert me and come whining to you?

• Do you like to recruit? If not, why not?

• Do you like to teach fundamentals of blocking, tackling, and pursuit angles?

• Do you think multiple fronts are best given our roster, or are we better off running one base defense and just doing that very well?

• Do you believe that practice is everything, or are some players more likely to shine in games?

   Now we have people advancing the notion that we should be happier to finish at 6-6 or 7-5 than if we finished 9-3.   Wow. 

of hearing just about the defense.  I think that last Saturday, the consensus become that "somebody has to be fired," and with Brian's post, that somebody has become Greg Robinson.  Please, halftime against MSU - 10 points on offense.  Halftime against Iowa - 7 points on offense.  Halftime against Penn State - 10 points.  Teams are getting massive leads on us and we are basically padding the score during garbage time.  Everybody knew the defense was young, everybody knew the defense was lacking, what nobody expected was that this team would be in shootouts and THE OFFENSE would not hold up its end of the bargain.  What is going on right now is pure scapegoating.   Listen, maybe somebody needs to be fired, maybe nobody needs to be fired, but the pouring on Greg Robinson is ridiculous.  It is only happening because the head coach has not made it clear that the buck stops with him.  Since when does a fan base pile on a f#%king defensive coordinator who is being instructed to run a certain kind of defense he doesn't have the personnel to run!?!

Enough.

This post is pretty dumb.  Routinely giving up 35 points on defense would be bad regardless of whether Michigan scores 20 or 50.  I don't see how losing more games significantly alters the equation so that Greg Robinson should be fired; he should or should not be based on the overall performance of the defense.

Also, if you don't believe RR is smart enough to figure out when he needs a new DC, you should believe that he isn't the right coach for Michigan.  Any coach who abdicates control of half of his team and can't be trusted to evaluate their performance should not be a head coach.

As it stands, I'm going to pessimistically wait.  There's only two must win games left - either one will do, probably.

can I hire the new DC? <blink, blink> 

Sorry, but this post is a fraud.