Sunday, November 25, 2012

Ohio State 26, Michigan 21

Here's some Kate Upton to make you feel better.
I told you so but I wish I didn't.  Last week I railed against the usage of Denard Robinson, saying that using Denard so much last week a) set him up to get injured, b) might limit his effectiveness against OSU, and c) took away the element of surprise of using him in the backfield and at receiver.  People responded by saying that they were glad Michigan used him because it would give Urban Meyer trouble preparing for this week's game.  How did that go for you?  Denard tweaked his elbow injury last week and didn't throw even once this game.  Michigan also ran very few plays with Robinson and Devin Gardner on the field, running a very vanilla and predictable offense.  I guess all that stuff last week was just for fun.

WTF.  There's really no excuse for the play calling in the second half, and that falls on both Brady Hoke and Al Borges.  People want to fire Al Borges, but the head coach has to step in and call shenanigans on the crappy play calling.  Now I'm not suggesting that either one get fired, but you can't separate the two entities. As the head guy, Hoke is responsible for the calls that are made by his coordinators.  Michigan tried running the ball up the middle with Vincent Smith - which has been a terrible idea for years - and generally went into a shell on offense.  There was no element of surprise, and all the plays and counter plays that were opened up last week by Robinson's utility were apparently erased from this week's playbook.

Derrick Green, come on down.  Outside of Fitzgerald Toussaint, Michigan's running backs are terrible.  Thomas Rawls has no vision, lacks speed, and isn't as powerful as a short yardage back should be.  Vincent Smith is gone anyway, and while I always liked him as a third down-type back, plugging him in for short-yardage plays against OSU was a poor decision.  You simply cannot expect him to gain yardage when Michigan's interior offensive line is this bad.  He did okay running outside on the inverted veer plays, but good grief, Borges has to put him in a position to be successful.  Even fullback Stephen Hopkins comes in for some criticism here, because he missed two key blocks and generally looked like he didn't understand his job.  Michigan needs running backs in a bad way, and I don't see game-breaking ability in either DeVeon Smith or Wyatt Shallman.  The coaches need to bring in a bunch of backs and let them improve through competition.

Play action bulls***. Here's the part that perhaps irked me most about the play calling in the second half.  Borges kept calling play action passes when there was clearly no threat of running the ball.  That doesn't work against teams who aren't stupid, and the Buckeyes are a lot of things - cheaters, ugly, arrogant, etc. - but their defense is always well coached.  When Devin Gardner turns around to give play action fakes, he's diverting his attention from the coverage and sometimes he's limiting himself to throwing to half the field.  The linebackers and safeties weren't biting on play action fakes to Vincent Smith because Smith gets tackled by a stiff breeze, so there's no tactical advantage.  But again and again, Gardner wasted time by running around with his back to the defense and pretending like the Buckeyes gave a s*** about the 5'7", 175 lb. running back.  Just drop Gardner straight back or roll him out.

Carlos Hyde played well.  I actually thought Michigan's interior defense would hold Hyde down pretty well, but Michigan's defensive ends and play calls seemed so concerned with Braxton Miller that they unclogged the middle a little bit.  Hyde got downhill and broke a few tackles, but there were several occasions where he got to the second and third levels without being touched.  Greg Mattison seemed to call more 4-3 Over defensive fronts than normal.

Freshman frustration.  I do not like seeing guys like James Ross and Joe Bolden out there in games like this.  It was somewhat inevitable, I guess, because of a lack of depth, but today is an example of why you need depth at linebacker.  Bolden in particular got out of position a couple times and allowed some key gains, and Ross got caught inside on a Braxton Miller run.  Both of those guys have high upsides, but freshmen are freshmen.  Next year the Wolverines should be able to go two-deep with experienced guys at every linebacker position, so we should see even more improvement in the linebacker group.

Mike Jones and Brandin Hawthorne exist in bad ways.  I was not a fan when Rich Rodriguez recruited Jones and Hawthorne, and they have worked their ways down the depth chart.  Jones incurred a 15-yard penalty for a late hit in this game, and Hawthorne has made similarly poor plays this season on special teams.  It's not a coincidence that Ross and Bolden passed those guys for playing time.  Hawthorne will graduate after this season, and I would not be surprised to see redshirt junior Jones depart with a year of eligibility remaining.

This was Gardner's worst game.  Gardner was visibly frustrated at a couple points, and it showed in his play.  Especially in the second half, it looked like he was trying to throw pinpoint passes instead if letting it fly.  He's always had a slightly awkward throwing motion, but he just didn't seem to be following through with his normal verve.  That's somewhat understandable for a kid playing quarterback in such a big game for the first time, which is why it would have been helpful to have Robinson ready to throw the ball.  Robinson had his best quarterbacking performance against these Buckeyes last season, so limiting him to 10 touches seems like a bad idea.  Gardner finished 11/20 for 171 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception, and he took 4 sacks despite the absence of John Simon, OSU's best defensive lineman.  There was nobody to take the pressure off of Gardner - Robinson out of the backfield, Toussaint, Borges - and thus it was left on his shoulders to try to make plays when there none to make.

The better team won.  I argued with people all week who said that Michigan was the better team but that the Wolverines played a tougher schedule.  The bottom line is that any of us would rather be 11-0 than 8-3 coming into the game, regardless of who was on the schedule.  The Buckeyes ran the ball well, threw the ball well, and played pretty solid defense except for a couple huge plays (Robinson's 67-yard touchdown, Roundtree's 75-yard TD reception).  The bottom line is that Michigan replaced David Molk, Mike Martin, and Ryan Van Bergen with Elliott Mealer, Quinton Washington, and Craig Roh, respectively, all of which are steps backward.  I fully believe that an influx of talent is coming with Hoke's recruiting classes, but right now Michigan has a deficit that will take some time to fix.

65 comments:

  1. The interior offensive line is incredibly weak. This team has been unable to pound the ball up the middle all year. What boggles my mind is why Borges would try that multiple times today!

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    1. Absolutely. Michigan could've played much better in this game, and in others. They were hamstrung. If the better team won today it's only because the other team didn't have a coach making it tough on his own guys, and easy for the other team. I'm severely disappointed because this game, and 2 of our other 3 losses this year, were easily winnable.

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    2. I can't give you a good answer. You have to try it a couple times just to keep the defense honest, but Borges picked some bad times to do it.

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    3. This is the great question. It'll be interesting what Borges says, but he'll probably skirt the issue. You have Denard, you have Devin, and you have OSU missing their starting DE. It worked when they were plowing around the end to end the 1st quarter - it seems like they didn't try it often in the second half.

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    4. I was wondering if Denard may have reinjured his arm at some point. He was playing about every other play and then suddenly was on the sidelines for our last several plays.

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  2. So all the Buckeyes got for lying and cheating was one losing season (still had 6 wins and went to a Bowl) and just a one year bowl ban. They even landed Urban Meyer as coach, going undefeated in his first season plus a top 5 recruiting class during the coaching change. Afraid to say it but, if Urban goes 12-0 with this team what will he do when he gets his own recruits?! I hope its not another Tressel era coming our way...

    Thunder, what do you think of Hoke's decision to redshirt Kalis? He had to be better than Omameh and Barnum. I mean, when you have a blue chip recruit at a position of need you have to play him!

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    1. Well, the book on Meyer is that he's not a great recruiter, so hopefully his success peters out a little bit after a few years. He kind of lucked out by getting Braxton Miller, so we'll see how guys like JT Barrett pan out.

      I don't know for certain that Kalis would have been better than two fifth-year seniors.

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    2. I think that rep for Meyer is a little weak. Washington and Spence look like pretty good players along the DL, and he beat Hoke for a number of recruits that both schools wanted. That's the problem I see with the "we'll out execute em" approach. It'll put us on the field with a chance, against OSU and other elite teams, but we'll lose more often than we'll win without some schematic advantage.

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    3. Schematic advantage didn't exactly help us with RR or ND with Weiss. The biggest problem we've had is our QB play. In Tressel's first year Navarre was terrible and blew the 2001 game. In 2004, we had a chance to win but Carr punted and Troy Smith beat us. Than the next few years Smith owned Henne and Denard/Forcier were no match for Pryor. OSU now has Braxton Miller and unless Gardner improves we might be in the same situation. Go back to the 90's and you will see that OSU never had such talent at the QB spot.

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    4. Washington committed before Meyer was hired, and Spence was already heavily considering OSU before Meyer was hired. This goes back to our discussion about giving Carr/Rodriguez/Hoke credit for certain kids, but Washington was already in the fold for them, at least. And while Meyer has pulled in several kids with Michigan offers, the same could be said for Hoke, and there are several kids on Ohio State's commitment list that weren't offered by Michigan.

      Michigan offer: Bosa, Burrows, Gardner, Hill, Lisle, Price, Woodard
      No Michigan offer: Barrett, Baugh, Elliott, Jacobs, Lee, Lewis, Marshall, Sprinkle, Townsend

      I guess we'll see if Meyer's decision to recruit those other guys pays off or not.

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    5. I agree completely!!!! I am so glad all the bums on our line are gone!!!! Omameh has been a cancer on ournline for years!!!!! Columbus planted that cancer on our team and thak god he is gone!!! Barnum is trash as well!!!!!

      Now the rest of the list and if you are just a blind UM fan and have man crushes sorry.... but even if they give you a spark of hope dont be fooled they are garbage!!!!

      1. Demens! You make a play from time to time but your pass coverage is HORRIBLE and for some reason the coaching staff keeps you out on the third down. BYE

      2. Roh! Concrete Feet DE enough said...... BYE

      3. Kovacs........ I know I know....... but he is the great white hope???? Excellent run stopper but terrible coverage skills....... take your blinders off people 5'9" slow white guy on thr field??? Cute story but BYE

      4. JT FLOYD GOOD FUCKING BYE!!!! YOU ARE THE WORST...... NOT A BAD TACKLER BUT YOU HAVE GAVE A NEW MEANING TO TOAST!!!!!! LET ME SAY IT AGAIN GOOD FUCKING BYE!

      5. DROB!!!! OMG!!! I cannot believe you said that?! People! He was exciting yes. His talent is nasty as I seen....... B Sanders is probably the only person with better stuff. BUT HE IS NOT A QB!!!!! I love the guy too but every play BORGES put that guy in and took out Gardner out yeaterday we were doomed. Drob shouldve played fulltime RB and audition for the pros..... we shouldve had him there from jump.

      Although our young guys made some mistakes Im pumped to see countess and taylor at cb's..... all of those great young lb's if they develop are going to be animals!!!!

      OL youngins I hope you guys watch the debacle of a line we had this year!!! Hope theg develop.

      I think our young wr's will get better and not have to deal with the offense relying on drob 90% of the time.

      Really worried about running backs..... for the love of god!!!! Can someone takr the cheeseburgers away from Hopkins and Rawls!!

      Shoutout the the senior I think with the most talent and so untargeted it is a shame! Roy Roundtree!!!! Sorry we did not throw you the ball 10-15 times a game!!!! I have no clue why but I think it is because everyone wants to use drob like they are playing madden!!!!!! Hope you go to a good team and show the tards that you could've balled out more at Michigan!!!!

      Just my take....... sure all the blind fans are going to bitch because they love kovacs and drob!!!!! LOL I do to...... but I gotta tell it like it is.

      Last note........ FU RICH ROD AND 90% OF THE KIDS YOUBRECRUITED!!!! IM GLAD YOUR PLAGUE ERA AT UM IS FJNALLY OVER.

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    6. I'm with you on DROB. Great athlete but terrible QB. Every time DROB's shoe fell off I wanted to sceam at the TV "TIE YOUR FUCKIN' SHOES!".

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    7. You've got to calm down, man. Cursing out the players who wore the winged helmet and did their best (even if they weren't the best)? Not cool.

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    8. @Anon 10:03AM

      Next time, ask mommy how to properly use a computer.

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    9. Somehow I don't think the ridicule I already posted is quite enough. I mean, really? Who types like this? And who says these things?

      Magnus, this is a comment I would hope you'd reject in the moderation phase.

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    10. Eh, I thought about deleting it...but I try not to ruin people's "freedom of speech" rights unless there's something morally reprehensible. I don't agree with it, but I can't just publish comments I agree with.

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    11. WOW people are sensitive.

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    12. Freedom of speech rights protect against government intrusion into one's right to free speech so you could eliminate his comment. That being said, allowing people to voice opinions or ideas is generally a good idea when it isn't offensive. However really mad anon, calling Omameh a cancer is completely uncalled for. You should read that article Magnus just posted from the Daily on Omameh; he has some interesting comments about fans and how they treat these college students playing football for their universities. He particularly references the Big House booing Michigan in the Wisconsin game in 2008. It is one thing to be critical or our players and to not follow other's ideas and beliefs, but it is another thing to be a dick about it. Maybe Omameh and Kovacs and everyone you mentioned above where not all-americans or even all-Big Ten, but they have been Michigan Men in each their own way. Each has sweated and bled for this university and its fans. I am glad that we have been able to have young men like them lining up in the Winged Helmet. I think they deserve more respect than your treatment.

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    13. @Anon 8:42

      When you go on a ridiculous rant and type like a 12-year-old drama queen, don't be surprised when you're treated like one. When you're ready to sit at the adults' table, I'll stop ridiculing you.

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    14. Who needs a hug?

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  3. Agreed on Hawthorne and Jones. That trio (if you add the departed Isaiah Bell) reminds me unpleasantly of the WR trio of Miller, Jackson, and Robinson. RichRod had as many bad misses as hits (Denard, Lewan, et al.).

    Also, to the best of your ability, would you mind speculating on what the staff was thinking in the second half? Did they go Lloydball on us and hope that the defense would win the game? My biggest fear (to date, not realized) with Hoke when I first got a long look at him was that he was a larger and less intelligent version of Lloyd Carr. Baby Lloyd, maybe. I thought about that during the second half.

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    1. Every coach has hits and misses, but yeah, I was not a fan of Rodriguez's recruiting overall.

      I think they went a little bit of Lloydball. I think they were hoping that the defense could carry the day and that trick plays wouldn't get the job done. You're always nervous about trick plays backfiring on you, and I wonder if that was the thinking. But regardless, you have to be more aggressive than the coaches were in the second half if you want to be successful.

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  4. How much of the crappy running back play is on Fred Jackson?

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    1. Little to none. Toussaint seemed to get slower, which is more on Toussaint and the S&C program. The other guys just aren't very good, and I've been saying that since they were recruited. Rawls and Norfleet just aren't high-quality backs.

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    2. Wait ... what? "Rawls and Norfleet just aren't high-quality backs?"

      Whose responsibility is it to serve as judge of such things during the recruiting cycle?

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    3. Rawls is definitely on Jackson. He was a big advocate of recruiting the guy. Granted, I'm not sure UM had RB's beating down their door in that 2011 recruiting class.

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    4. Norfleet is an athlete and a very good kick returner but was never recruited as a feature back. Rawls probably got an offer because it was the only back we could get so late in Hoke's first class. He was also coached by Fred Jackson's son in Flint. I never understood the whole Mark Ingram comparison. Rawls was a 3 star recruit with offers from Central, Toledo and MAC schools while Ingram was ranked #189 nationally with offers from Alabama, Tennessee, MSU and Wisconsin.

      Lets hope we get Green because outside of Fitz we have zero "All-purpose backs".

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    5. @DonAZ

      Sometimes the RBs coach isn't the only one with a say on who gets offered.

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    6. @Thunder -- yeah, I guess I kinda-sorta understood that.

      I've got nothing against Jackson personally ... I don't know the man.

      It just seems odd ... Jackson is the one coaching consistency stretching back some 20 years. There must be a reason he retained by Rodriguez, then by Hoke. Yes, we've had some good running backs over those years. Which is why today's drought seems so odd ... it's like Jackson has lost his mojo *or* he's being overruled on recruiting decisions.

      Or it could be the recruiting needs Hoke saw indicated the foundation (OL, DL, LB) needed shoring up badly, and RB wasn't first priority. But it's soon to be a priority ... unless Morris has some credible running threat his play action will be no more believed than Gardner's.

      But mostly I'm just still disappointed by the loss. We could have won that game. We could have.

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    7. I don't think Jackson has lost his mojo, necessarily. Keep in mind that Shaw, Toussaint, Hayes, etc. were recruited by a different regime with a different offensive philosophy. Drake Johnson, Rawls, and Norfleet are really the first wave of guys to be recruited in the return to a traditional, I-formation offense...and even Norfleet is a bit of a specialist. Rawls looks like a miss to me, but we'll see on Johnson, DeVeon Smith, and whoever else Michigan can recruit in the near future.

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    8. Anytime your falling in love with players and talking them up like jackson does shows you are aged and cant really keep up...... im sure he is an excellent coach because he has been the one to stay around so long but he needs to go!!!! How many guys has he talked shit about and the end up being trash? Dude is old and out of touch with todays football....... let him work in the weight room or something.

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    9. It's recruiting. Michigan has been whiffing on elite RB recruits since...Carlos Brown? There was McGuffie I guess but it's no surprise that since then, the only guy who was a legit 4-star (Toussaint) is the only guy who looked like he was capable of being a star. Otherwise, RB recruiting has been absolute garbage.

      Jackson takes some blame for that since recruiting is his calling card, but he recruits a lot of positions and delivers great recruiting success in Michigan and other regions.

      Jackson is like Soup Campbell - he has coached for a long time and by the time kids are seniors at Michigan they do all the little things very well - block, hit the right hole, pass-catch effectively. To me, Chris Perry was the classic Jackson back. He had raw skill but it took a few years of quality coaching to turn him into an elite player.

      I don't think he's to blame here. Michigan simply has to close the deal with some high caliber recruits or find a sleeper.

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  5. As hard as it is right now, there are a number of things to feel good about with regard to this program: Defensive coaching, recruiting, the kicking game, Devin Gardner and Shane Morris and another chance to get better with a bowl game.

    I'd like to see us shake up the offense. Brady needs to wear a headset more often than not just to make sure Borges isn't asleep up there. I really think he takes naps! Bring in a qb coach. Have fun. Just because we are Michigan doesn't mean that we have to play without joy. And finally, use Norfleet more. He has speed and plays with a purpose.

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    1. I don't think we need a QB coach. Denard had a QB coach a couple years ago, and he still wasn't very good. I agree that there are a lot of good things to feel good about, but I really don't think Hoke's teams will hit their stride until 2014.

      I think we'll see a lot more of Norfleet next year, a lot like we saw Vincent Smith this year and last.

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    2. Unless Toussaint recovers fully, they're going to have to use Norfleet more. He's a threat with the ball in his hands, and with Denard gone Michigan is going to need that.

      But yeah...I mean, when you have Denard Robinson on your team and only give him the ball a few times in a half when you can't score -- that tells me the coaches aren't doing a good job of getting playmakers the ball. I hope that doesn't keep happening for the next 3 years with Norfleet.

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    3. I think Borges just ran out of steam this year. It's agreed that he did not call a good game today, especially in the 2nd half. They would have been better off jet-sweeping the crap out of Denard (assuming he felt OK) and running play action off of that. The I-formation plays against OSU were abysmal.

      I do still have faith in Borges, though. Trying to score points with no RB-rushing offense and without a gunslinger at QB is just too awkward for him. He probably needs at least one or the other to get in a comfort zone.

      One of the best things Hoke could do now is scour the recruiting pool and unearth an underrated RB. That position is a disaster going into 2013 and there is a good probability that a freshman will start. They need another prospect to compete with Deveon Smith. I know this is not Hoke's style, but if there were ever a time to wave the "instant starter" flag in front of a recruit's face, it would be now.

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  6. how many recruits does Michigan lose because of poor play calling?

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    1. I've never heard a recruit say "I didn't choose them because of their poor play calling."

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    2. I think it matters on the whole - what recruit saw yesterday's offensive performance and thinks, "I want to be coached by those guys"? It didnt seem like the problem was lack of talent so much as bad coaching.

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    3. You didn't think there was a lack of talent on the OL? Ohio was in the backfield all day.

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  7. I was absolutely livid at Mike Jones for that selfish, boneheaded play. What in the hell was he doing, exactly? There are personal foul penalties and then there's unexplainable, weird stuff like that. And this coming from a fourth-year scholarship athlete who has done absolutely nothing of note to help his team or program. The penalty didn't effect the outcome of the game, but let this be a lesson to all: if you're not going to help your team, at least don't drag them down in the biggest game of the season with absolutely ridiculous, strange personal foul penalties.

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  8. Don't normally call out the blog but this cry baby stuff shows no class. You say "told you so" that Denard shouldn't have played last week because he tweaked his arm and couldn't throw this week. Well there is absolutely no evidence he could have thrown this week anyway. People should act like Michigan men and have some dignity. The better team won, let's get them next year!

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    1. I don't see how saying "I told you this last week" is being crybaby-ish, but so be it.

      I agree that the better team won, which was my last bullet point.

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  9. If I tell you dragons exist and then tell you again next week, will that make it true? There is still no meaningful evidence that Denard did anything since Nebraska that has affected his ability to throw. You make a lot of good bold predictions - save your told-ya-so's for when they're appropriate. Like calling out Mike Jones from the jump.

    I've been a frequent defender of Vincent Smith's overall game, but running him on 3rd and short when you have Gardner and Robinson is stupid. still, the failings in short yardage fall on the OL and Borges stubborn insistence to play to their weakness. It was Rawls, it was Smith, it was even Denard with 10 blockers and an outside pitch option - nothing was working for Michigan in the second half. What was criminal was the Denard only touched the ball a handful of times in the second half after accounting for most of the damage in 1st.

    Agree with you on the play-action. They should have had Denard back there at RB to keep the D honest on those play-actions, even if he can't block. Otherwise, there should have been a lot more shotgunn to spread things out for Gardner, make his reads a little easier maybe, and open up some scrambling lanes. And where was all the jet-sweep stuff? Maybe OSU prepped for it, maybe they didn't - it beats running I-form with tailbacks don't have much talent with the ball in their hands.

    It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that this was Gardner's worst game - it's the first real D he has seen since MSU last year...but he did a lot better than that game at least. The turnovers were frustrating, but frankly, he could have had even more INTs. He's a good QB but he's just too raw as a passer to beat OSU without help.

    Rawls isn't good. All the people who called for him to get carries instead of Toussaint because he ran well against a defeated Illinois second string or who bought into the recruiting hype and excuse-making (e.g., he's from a small school! academic trouble makes him a sleeper!) should own up to being foolish.

    Derrick Green's not coming to Michigan. If he wanted to - he would have done it by now.

    OSU was the better team but it was pretty close. I think if they play that game 10 times on a neutral field its 5-5 or 4-6 or so.

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    1. Even if Denard couldn't throw, last week's performance sure didn't help. Having him run the ball 13 times and then leave the game holding his elbow was not a step in the right direction, whether it's expressly stated in a press conference or not.

      I have no idea where all the jet sweep stuff was. Everyone was excited about all the permutations of that package for OSU, and then it almost completely disappeared. That was a complete failure on Hoke/Borges's parts.

      I don't think Green is coming to Michigan, either, and I've said that for a while. "Come on down" was more of a plea than an expectation.

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    2. Lol to "plea more than an expectation". I hear ya. It's kind of how I feel about Treadwell though, because I don't think any back is going to have much success running behind our OL next year and we're going to need Devin and whatever playmakers they can string together to keep things afloat. That assumes of course that Borges will get those guys the ball.

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    3. Based on that logic Green isn't going to school anywhere.

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    4. @galahad

      Disagree - the things that Michigan offers aren't changing. Michigan's a strong traditional/academic program and an ideal fit for him on the field. He's obviously looking for something different off the field, which is fine. Some of the southern programs he's looking at are going through upheaval. He'll have a better idea of what his um...options... are with those schools closer to signing day.

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  10. On a more positive note there were 4 plays I really loved from this game:

    Roundtree's long TD - great to see him end his career strongly on a personal level, after being so roundly criticized by Michigan fans (perhaps deservedly) after an awful junior season.

    Denard's 7 or 8 yard run int he first half - after he got popped by one of the OSU punks they trash talked him, he popped up and gave them a big smile. Not a friendly smile, but one that let them know he wasn't intimidated at all.

    Clark's big sack. Wasn't a great difficulty play given no one blocked him, but Clark hit Miller HARD and it was satisfying as it gets.

    Denard's long TD run to end the 1st half - it wasn't actually a great play because the two guys hitting him from each side kept him up - but it was good balance. Great to see one last Big Ten highlight-reel run from Denard and it came off an old-school RR-type run where he gets 10 blockers and just weaves his way to space.

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  11. Taking the ball out of Gardner and Denard's hands and repeatedly putting it into Smith's and Rawls' on the most critical third downs is inexcusable. It's a shame, because Borges has really done well on third down, often creating run/pass options for Denard and Gardner.
    I thought often times of that John L. Smith quote "The players are playing their butts off and the coaches are screwing it all up."
    OSU may have been the better team, but I disagree about there being a huge gap. I think you can make a strong argument that Michigan wins this game if it's played in Ann Arbor. With the talent coming in at offensive line, Gardner's emergence, and big-play tight ends in Butt and Funchess (hopefully this will mitigate the lack of Megatrons at WR), Michigan's offense has plenty. And now that Mattison finally has some real cornerbacks and depth in the front seven, the defense should improve from "treading water" to truly lockdown.

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    1. I don't think anyone said there was a huge gap between the teams.

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  12. Great season for OSU....and who did they beat?....signature win?? No soup for you! Hopefully Brandon took notes on how to schedule, we'd be 10-2 now. Ohio has to be the worst undefeated team in NCAA history. Cupcake non conference, and wow, undefeated in one of the weakest conferences in the country. I would be surprised if the B1G wins one bowl game this year.

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    1. What is our signature win? Northwestern? A team that had us beat if not for the hailmary catch by Roundtree. We could have easily lost the MSU game as well. I agree that this OSU team might be the worst undefeated team in NCAA history but overall we did not get the job done in any of our big games.

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    2. They ended up having a cupcake schedule in the non-conference, but they still beat everyone on their schedule in the Big Ten - including Nebraska and Michigan. And while Cal had a down year, you never know what you'll get from Jeff Tedford. Sometimes he has dangerous teams, and sometimes he has teams that will get him fired. When it was scheduled, it had a chance to be a good game.

      And yeah, Michigan didn't have a signature win, either. Northwestern was the best victory, and then...um...6-6 Air Force? 6-6 Michigan State?

      Complaining about the difference in schedules is just kind of whiny. They beat everyone on their schedule, including Michigan. We lost 4 games. I think it's pretty clear that they would lose to a national championship-caliber team like Alabama, Notre Dame, Oregon, etc., but because they cheated, they won't even get the chance. They'll always be a flawed team, and that flaw is the fact that they're cheaters.

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  13. I don't know what to think about the offensive play calling. Everyone in the Michigan fan base knew that this interior offensive line couldn't handle Ohio State, yet Borges continually called on them to win the game. Last week's offensive game plan was beautiful; I just wish they had used it for this week. Borges is definitely the weak link the coaching staff, from what we know today.

    What about the defense next year? I REALLY like how things are looking with Countess as the #1 CB and Ryan with another year of experience. Roh and Campbell step out, but I'm hopeful that Pipkins and whoever takes over SDE will be able to pull their weight. If Michigan gets to the point where they can just Alabama their way to titles, well, that will be just fine.

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    1. OSU's defense has been erratic by their standards this year (especially tackling), but they are significantly more talented as individuals than Iowa's. Gardner had all day to throw against Iowa's terrible DB's, and Iowa had a soft edge for running outside. And much of the damage against Iowa was done using the same play action out of the I-formation that did not work against OSU. Frankly, Gardner has been getting away with throwing balls off the mark or late the last couple weeks, but OSU's DB's were in much better position to capitalize.

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    2. I think the defense will be pretty good next year. They return Taylor, Gordon, Ryan, Morgan, Washington, Beyer, and Countess (sort of) as starters. And that doesn't include frequent participants like Avery, Clark, Ross, Bolden, Pipkins, Heitzman, Gordon, etc. Whoever steps in at safety will likely be a downgrade from Kovacs, but Demens, Roh, Floyd, and Campbell are replaceable.

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    3. Magnus, you don't think Jarrod Wilson will be somewhat capable of filling the void left by Kovacs. Honestly, I don't know how well a guy like Marvin Robinson is going to do next year.

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    4. I haven't really seen anything out of Wilson this year. I do know that Robinson can make tackles in the box, though his coverage is suspect. I think Wilson will be good down the road, but he would have benefited from a redshirt this year.

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    5. @Thunder

      If Wilson is to step in as starter next year, which many believe to be the case, don't you think he'll be better prepared having seen some game-action in 2012?

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    6. I think game action is slightly overrated. The advantages of playing him this year are pretty negligible in the long run. For example, Jake Ryan and Taylor Lewan were both pretty good as redshirt freshmen; they didn't need game action to get them ready.

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    7. In general, I agree with you - practice is the main thing. But some positions like QB, Safety, and LB - it helps to have the on-field exposure IMO. Obviously, some guys are exceptions, but those are positions where physical development is a little bit less important than decision-making. Plus Wilson was an EE. It'd be nice to have him around for a 5th year potentially, sure, but they're going to need him next year so I don't think that's a decision that deserves too much criticism. Besides, once Countess went down they lacked secondary depth and needed some people they could trust. Wilson may be a freshman but it seems like they preferred he saw the field than Robinson, Furman, or one of the small corner.

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  14. I like Big Al a lot in an interview, but today was some not great play calling. We didn't waste a damn thing last week in the way of any potential element of surprise, as to my untrained eye, we didn't run much out of last weeks game plan anyway. I was starting to think last week was a diversion and that it was Al's plan to cause them drowsiness through boredom by way of repetitive play calling. It sure worked on me.

    And so much for Big Will finally showing up and being a terror, but the fact is that mostly we got beat by a team full of superior athletes as both of our lines were exposed.

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  15. Worst OLine in the 40+ years I've watched UM football. Strange 3rd & short calls by Borges. He had a reverse set up all day, but never used it. Everyone saw the same tentativeness in Gardner's throws in the 2nd half.
    Disappointing at best. The defense held them in the game and the offense sputtered the 2nd half.

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  16. I feel better now. Thanks Kate!

    Simon says, touch the sky...

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