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| Demetrius Hart goes airborne for one of his six scores |
Former S Josh Furman: Furman made 2 tackles in Oklahoma State's 49-28 loss to #6 Baylor. After starting off 5-1, the Cowboys have now lost five in a row and will be fighting for bowl eligibility next week against Oklahoma.
Former RB commit Demetrius Hart: Hart carried the ball 20 times for 230 yards and 5 touchdowns in Colorado State's 58-20 win over New Mexico. He also caught 2 passes for 42 yards and 1 touchdown. His receiving touchdown was from 20 yards out, and his rushing scores came from 76, 55, 6, 4, and 2 yards. He's now up to 1,139 yards and 16 rushing touchdowns this year on a 7.0 yard average.
Former RB Thomas Rawls: Rawls had 19 carries for 76 yards and 2 catches for 10 yards in Central Michigan's 32-20 loss to Western Michigan.
Former head coach Rich Rodriguez: Rodriguez and his Arizona Wildcats beat #20 Utah by a score of 42-10. That's the same Utah team that beat Michigan 26-10. I wonder how badly Arizona would beat Michigan right now. Anyway, running back Nick Wilson had 20 carries for 218 yards and 3 touchdowns. The team is 9-2 with a game next week against a pretty good Arizona State team.
Former S Ray Vinopal: In Pitt's 30-7 win over Syracuse, Vinopal had 5 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, 2 forced fumbles, and 1 pass breakup. Pitt will be fighting for bowl eligibility next week against Miami.
Arizona beat Michigan? Bring out your dead horses!
ReplyDelete* RichRod teams don't have good defenses. (How many points did UMich give up to Utah at home?)
* The spread is "basketball on grass."
* The spread won't work in bad weather. (Do cold temperatures and rain count as bad weather?)
* RichRod's teams crumple against "tough" opponents.
All of the above have been trotted out by his opponents at one time or another.
It's fair to say that defense seems to be "de-emphasized" in his programs, and it's still not clear that he could successfully coach at a pressure-cooker like Florida, but I think it's time for some people to admit he's not a BAD coach.
At no point have I seen anyone really argue that Rodriguez is a bad coach. However, he was a bad fit/choice for Michigan. His defenses were generally very bad, and his offense was ineffective against the Ohio States, Wisconsins, and Michigan States of the world.
DeleteAnd the UCLAs of the world. Check out the box score for this year's Arizona UCLA game.
DeleteMichigan's D is pretty good -- Arizona's is better. There is a direct comparison (Utah) and there are statistics. They say the same thing.
DeleteHe's never had a D as good as Saban or Dantonio -- neither have most other head coaches. He's not a good defensive coach -- he is reliant on his coordinator and assistants - just like most HCs are on one side of the ball or the other (that's one of the great things about Harbaugh, he can do both.)
A LOT of people argued (and still argue) Rodriguez was/is a bad head coach, including Dave Brandon.
If Michigan had hired Hoke first and Rodriguez second, we wouldn't be talking about 'bad fit'.
Michigan should hire Rich Rodriguez now...not that he'd want to come. He is at a better football program until further notice. He'll be in the BCS playoff within the next two seasons and has an outside chance of making it this year (if UCLA helps out and he beats ASU and Oregon to end the year, he'd have a case.)
He'd be a monster at Florida and it would be interesting to see him and Urban Meyer face off in the playoffs. I know who I'd root for.
I think Michigan's defense is hurt by the fact that the offense can't do anything. When the offense can't sustain drives, and when you get sent out there time after time with the game on the line, it wears you down. Other than the couple true patsies on the schedule (Appalachian State, Miami), Michigan's offense hasn't been able to put a single team away. The defense is pretty good, but EVERY DRIVE is a critical one for them.
Delete@Thunder
DeleteI never understood this - why does this hurt the D but not the O? Why isn't everydrive critical for the O AND the D. It seems like there is more rotation on D, so fatigue shouldn't really be a problem. You're just being asked to play football. You're not going to succeed every time, obviously, and the more possessions you have the more times you'll fail, but that's just sample size.
I think Michigan's actually won the time of possession battle on the season?
Anyway it seems weak to blame the offense other than the fact that it is demoralizing to have such a terrible unit on the other side. I'm not sure why this applies for the 2014 D anymore than it applied for, say, the 2010 O.
Brandon never argued that Rodriguez was a bad coach. You can't point to a single printed story where he says that. Brandon saying Rodriguez was not a good fit at Michigan does not count. Brandon saying Rodriguez did not show progress needed is not the same thing. Rodriguez will not be the next coach at Florida. He will never with a national championship. Book it.
DeleteRR biggest problem by far was his terrible defenses here. At AZ he has a very good to great Offense and a decent to good Defense. That is why he beat Oregon and will finish the season with 10 or 11 wins.
DeleteHe still deserved to be fired and so does Hoke
@Anon 2:59
DeleteHe made his feeling very obvious in last year's statement around this time of year. Credited Hoke for coaching up the "underperforming" Carr kids and asked for our patience while the Rodriguez guys clear out of campus.
@Anon 8:54
Yeah, his defenses were bad here in 3 years. They were good everywhere else he's coached. So, logically...
Every coach deserves 4 or 5 years unless they do something unethical. Rodriguez's TEAMs got better every year.
"He will never (win) a national championship." Wow, strong take. Bo didn't win one, and he competed in a much less competitive era. Was he a bad coach?
ReplyDeleteFact is, Arizona would beat UM right now by 2 TDs. That stinks. Hell, AZ had to play its backup QB for the second half against Utah and he did exactly what you want a backup to do -- make a few plays, don't turn the ball over. Think about UM's current QB situation -- as poorly as Devin has played at times, he's easily the best option -- if we had to play Morris or Bellomy for any stretch of time, our offense would likely literally go from bad to worse.
RR is far from a perfect coach and did some dumb things in A2, but he succeeded at WVU and now at traditional second-tier AZ, but didn't at UM -- that says more about UM and its divisive, hidebound culture than it does about him. Hopefully the new coach can come in here and set a path that works for 21st century football.
You need to take logic lessons. My saying Rodriguez will not win a national championship is not the same thing as saying he is a bad coach. I never said Rodriguez is a bad coach. Brandon didn't say that either. Thunder didn't say that. You and others keep thinking people are saying that, but nobody is really saying that. Better than Hoke yes.
Delete"... nobody is really saying that."
DeleteNo one official ... but, you can find hundreds of people (in the aggregate, if not in single threads) saying that at MGoBlog.
I'll bet there are thousands of UM fans who believe so.
There are simple-minded fans all over the RichRod spectrum. Most of the ones who think he's a bad coach know one thing: He presided over the first losing and bowl-free season in close to forty years. @#$% context and whatnot -- it was ALL his fault. Simple.
Yeah. Nothing you said above is really worth debating but here come the Anons with reality denial...
DeleteHarbaugh is the obvious #1 choice to replace Hoke, but nobody really knows whether he really wants to come here or stay in the NFL. McElwain at Colorado State would be an intriguing off-the-radar candidate if it weren't for his ridiculous $7.5 million buyout. — Don
ReplyDeleteI think I'd rather grab a young up-and-coming assistant than McElwain, but that buyout makes it a moot point.
DeleteDearest lanknows , what problem do you have with people posting with anon profiles? It's like you think their opinion is wrong because they don't pick a screen name. This shows your stupidity. To get a screen name, you must log in to your Google account or whatever and it's just a lot easier to post as anon. It doesn't make their opinions on things wrong. As a matter of fact, it makes me not want to use a screen name just to hear you cry some more. I appreciate thunder putting the anon option there to make it easier for the sites visitors. Maybe your just mad because most people disagree with your opinion so your going to label them "anons" get over it. And get over your love of RR. If you like him so much that you have to continually post about him on here, stop rooting for Michigan and start rooting for Arizona! I'll support Brady Hoke until there is a new coach and then I will support him. Because I love Michigan football. Not RR. Signed, ANON
ReplyDeleteANON:
DeleteYou can argue with someone without calling them stupid. I'm not a big fan of ad hominem attacks around here, so let's keep that stuff out of it. Otherwise, I'll usually not approve the comment, and it will be a waste of all of our time.
@Anon
DeleteThe majority of Anon posts are dumb, but more importantly, they are indistinguishable so it's hard to know who to ignore and or file into "not worth it".
I sign my posts so that people who think I'm an idiot can go ahead and skip right past them. It facilitates having a dialogue, which is why I'm here.
I'll get over my love of RR as soon as Michigan has a better head coach and the volume of spoiled, entitled, and misinformed fans that ran him out of town are quieted. When I go to games, I cheer and clap like anyone else. I don't think being supportive or critical in the comments of a blog makes one iota of difference. I'm also not going to follow and support everything Hoke does just because he his the head coach.
I do root for Arizona and have since RR got here. I like Rodriguez and I think he got screwed over here. If Hoke ever coaches at the college level elsewhere, I'll probably root for him too, though I'll make a wager of any size you want that he's never anywhere close to being as successful as RR.
Hoke is a bad fit for Michigan. Because he's not that good of a football coach.