What problems can be fixed and how?

I quit reading after your first point. The fault were not the officials.

Weren't the refs B1G refs? Either way it doesn't matter cause the coaching is atrocious.

The one that has the theoretical best chance of being fixed but won't be becauase our CB coach isn't a fucking corner or someone with secondary experience is for the corners to actually stress the WRs at the line when playing press.  If you're at the line of scrimmage but just trying to run with the receivers, then slant and go routes will murder you all day.  Which was a bit of a problem, obviously.

Also maybe identifying and blocking Sheldon Day would have maybe been a good idea.  The moment I gave up on the coaching staff was the back to back plays he was simply unblocked and came in on Gardner free.

until the first bye week after Penn State.  

A horrible game but it's still too early in a new O and D scheme to completely panic and change things up.The only thing I would change is to get Shane more snaps - I think getting at least a quarter's worth of playing time over the next 4 games would be ideal.

During the bye, if it's clear that we won't have a shot at winning the division I would want to start prepping for 2015 and start Shane over Devin vs. trying to eek out a few wins over the rest of this year.

 

 

 

 

Yup, it was all the officials' fault. That's the ticket

RB is about vision and instinct.  This is the reason I wanted Ty Isaac to get his waiver instead of worrying about separating the three a year.  IMO, Issaac is the best of the three as he can do it all.  Green doesn't seem to run like a power back despite his size and doesn't have the greatest vision.  Smith has better vision and runs mad but is slow.  Neither is all that instinctual.  Isaac can run with power, has breakaway speed, and can catch the ball.

that the coaches were probably right about initially moving Gardner to WR.  Great kid, but the improvement just isn't there.  I'd be much more willing to go through growing pains with a Morris

For people wondering why we played soft zone last year, I think this game showed why. We didn't really have the personnel and this year the guys that now can are still few. Countess and Hollowell just couldn't do it. I know it's hard to back off "we're going to be aggressive" After you talked about it all of season, but until we get Taylor and Peppers back, it needs to be at least an option, depending on QB and WR talent of our opponents.

Our receiving corp frankly looked bad. Funchess had size but isn't particularly fast. Ditto for darboh, but to a worse extent. Chesson is fast but change of direction isn't great. We had a lot of plays last night where the ND corners were coming out of the breaks faster than our guys which made Gardner hold the ball too long. Whatever is keeping Canteen off the field needs to be resolved because we desparately need a quick guy that can get open early as a safety valve for Gardner. 

I thought OL looked ok early but regressed to bad habits in the second half. Seemed like fatigue crept in and ruined their concentration. Miller looked like a different player first half to second half especially. If Kalis is healthy I'd like to see Glasgow slide to center. Overall, it seems like they focused to much on learning scheme at the expense of fundamentals. Developing those habit into muscle memory will help late in games when guys get tired. 

The only coaching change I'd like to see at this point is Funk. I don't know if he's the problem but at this point it doesn't really matter. He coaches the position group that's been this teams biggest weakness for far too long. 

 

Problem: Soft unphysical team.

Solution: Fire the head coach.

Jake Ryan has regressed.  Blake Countess has regressed.  I have no idea what to do with Blake - he just has not improved from that standout freshman year.  As for Jake Ryan I refuse to believe this man who was f***** incredible 2 years ago can be this much of a non factor now.  I'd move him to OLB immediately and since Morgan is hurt take my chances with Gedeon at MLB.  I am not a football coach but this is our ONE playmaker on the defense and he looks lost.  He lives off aggression - he seems to now be thinking and reading... rather than reacting.  Put him in a position where all he does is react so we can get 2012 Jake Ryan back. Plz.

Number 3. The o-line did better with run blocking than last year, true enough, but they still can't control the line of scrimmage as much as they block to a stalemate against decent d-linemen. I didn't think they were horrible against a normal pass rush, either, at least compared to last year. They struggled when Notre Dame sent all the dogs at once, and their defensive coordinator understood that about our o-line. That's why they kept overloading on the blitzes. We have one lineman who's "strong enough for a man, but pH balanced for a woman," and that's Miller. He's in there because he excels at identifying targets, but that's the end of his excellence. He can't block. God, he tries, but he just can't do it, and Hoke keeps sending him out there to get hit in the mouth. Move Glasgow back to center, bring in Kalis, and let Miller bulk up some more. I don't know what else will help...

Frank Clark is just average deserves its own number. He's Clowney when he ain't blocked, but when he's blocked, he tends to stay blocked...

too many times the receivers were allowed to run their routes unimpeded, putting the DB's at a disadvantage.

I have a hard time judging all the other coaches when the head coach believes that he can simply hire on assistants and then act unengaged and uninspiring on the sidelines. We need a head coach that is more than simply about coaching the defensive line and then treating the rest of his staff like some kind of leadership team where everyone has autonomy to do what they will. In the end, assistant and position coaches are certainly indispensible to a football team but they work for someone who, if it's a good coach, pulls them together into a cohesive unit, analyzes how the offense and defense are working together and makes changes accordingly, on a regular basis. That coach is also able to intervene when needed but more importantly that coach will understand every aspect of the game in a practical sense and mold the team over time.

The worst indicator of how bad things are is player development. As has been said elsewhere, I would imagine that any number of coaches would love to have the roster that Michigan has. The folks that I feel the worst for are the players in all of this.