Michigan offense struggles in spring game

[NDinL.A.]

I just think it really says something that he was their 3rd or 4th option. Michigan claimed that they never offered any other coaches, but shortly after it came out that Miles was offered and turned it down. I've also heard that Harbaugh was offered more money than the 49ers job, but had his heart set on the pros. I think he was a good coach for the mid majors, but I am skeptical about his ability to turn Michigan back into a national power.

I do know one thing, the defense will be better.

Be careful with that. Being a 3rd choice doesn't mean he won't pan out at all. Depending on who you talk to, Brian Kelly was ND's 3rd choice (behind Meyer and Stoops, and hell, to some, even Jon Gruden). Whether that is true or not, that is the perception held by outside fans. And I'd say BK has turned out OK so far, wouldn't you say?

And Pete Carroll was SC's 4th or 5th choice (even though their AD said the exact same things the Michigan AD said), and he only turned out to be one of the greatest coaches of all-time for them.

For me, I'll withhold judgment until their 2nd year. How can anyone say he'll suck before he's even started? This is not Ty at Washington. I liked what I saw out of him on the Sportscenter clip - he's teaching fundamentals and he's teaching them the Michigan way, as it should be there. And he's hired a good staff.

As I've maintained since he was hired, Michigan shouldn't be counted on as a win b/c we haven't beaten them lately even though many predicted blowouts here. But at the same time, we SHOULD win this one handily because of the new systems they'll have in place and the fact that it's only their 2nd time running those systems.

 

[BGIF]

Be careful with that. Being a 3rd choice doesn't mean he won't pan out at all. Depending on who you talk to, Brian Kelly was ND's 3rd choice (behind Meyer and Stoops, and hell, to some, even Jon Gruden). Whether that is true or not, that is the perception held by outside fans. And I'd say BK has turned out OK so far, wouldn't you say?

And Pete Carroll was SC's 4th or 5th choice (even though their AD said the exact same things the Michigan AD said), and he only turned out to be one of the greatest coaches of all-time for them.

...

Gene Chizik was Auburn's 5th or 6th choice. Auburn fans wanted to hang the AD and the President for hiring him. Despite a National Championship some still aren't convinced.

I think the change in offensive system at Michigan after Rodriguez dismembered the previous offensive system AND changed the cuilture of the team is a bigger problem. But like Kelly, Hoke is used to not having prime time personnel and making do.

ACamp also has a point that the underdog seems to well in this series.



Until ND shows a starting QB rather than four #2s, we've got no basis to be smug. Would ND's passing game look like the B&G game if Floyd doesn't play for any reason? Add to that a serious injury to Wood guts the perceived ND rushing game.


On paper ND has a better offense. Based on both Spring Games the ND/UM game could well turn into whose Defense and Special Teams scores more points.

 

[Irish Insanity]

Lets worry about beating USF before we worry about U of M

 

[IrishMoore1]

We will lose to one of the Michigan teams. When's the last time ND beat Michigan AND Michigan State in the same season?

 

[calvegas04]

We will lose to one of the Michigan teams. When's the last time ND beat Michigan AND Michigan State in the same season?

Thats the attitude :awesomewo

 

[woolybug25]

Gene Chizik was Auburn's 5th or 6th choice. Auburn fans wanted to hang the AD and the President for hiring him. Despite a National Championship some still aren't convinced.

I would hold off a bit before crowning Chizik as a good coach. That team could have won with ACamp as their coach (i kid). They paid.. I mean had the best player in the country. I would not be suprised if we are talking about how they are getting their NC yanked by the NCAA in 5 years. That team was as crooked as any team I ever saw. Let's see how they do this year.

100 vbucks says they go 6-6 or worse.

 

[loomis41973]

We will lose to one of the Michigan teams. When's the last time ND beat Michigan AND Michigan State in the same season?

2004

...also known as Tyrone's last season

 

[BGIF]

I would hold off a bit before crowning Chizik as a good coach. That team could have won with ACamp as their coach (i kid). They paid.. I mean had the best player in the country. I would not be suprised if we are talking about how they are getting their NC yanked by the NCAA in 5 years. That team was as crooked as any team I ever saw. Let's see how they do this year.

100 vbucks says they go 6-6 or worse.

I didn't crown Chizik anything. I also clearly noted that "Despite a National Championship some still aren't convinced." I simply commented in context with NDinL.A. and FightingIrishFamily about coaches who weren't the first choice and Michigan's struggles .

If you want to open a thread about Auburn and the NCAA feel free to do so.

 

[woolybug25]

I didn't crown Chizik anything. I also clearly noted that "Despite a National Championship some still aren't convinced." I simply commented in context with NDinL.A. and FightingIrishFamily about coaches who weren't the first choice and Michigan's struggles .

If you want to open a thread about Auburn and the NCAA feel free to do so.

Chillax homie. I didn't mean to get ya all wriled up. No need for another thread, It was just an observation.

I will try to figure out how to buy you a beer. That way we can be friends again.

 

[ACamp1900]

the team I coach just won a league championship and got to the quarter's of California's CIF Playoffs... a.s.s.

 

[woolybug25]

the team I coach just won a league championship and got to the quarter's of California's CIF Playoffs... I no kid.

Nice

 

[kmoose]

Au contraire... the reason why Navy smoked us is that we practiced all week for an offense that they didn't run. Instead, they went to the veer which we had 0 film on. If you don't think film and scouting reports matter... well, I question what coaches you had.

I never said that they didn't matter, just that a lack of film will not cause a superior ND team to lose to an inferior Michigan team. If Michigan beats us, it will simply be because this team is not as far along as many on this site wish it was.

 

[IrishLax]

I never said that they didn't matter, just that a lack of film will not cause a superior ND team to lose to an inferior Michigan team. If Michigan beats us, it will simply be because this team is not as far along as many on this site wish it was.

Not to nit pick too much... but there are many reasons I can think of that we would lose... and very few of them have to do with Michigan being better or our team not being "as far along" as we wish.

Film, scouting and scheme preparation matter a lot. In a lot of ways it matters a lot more than who has more talent. You see it all the time with teams that run a triple option (like GT and Navy) and do very well in the regular season and get stomped in their bowl games. It has very little to do with how 'good' the team is and everything to do with teams having weeks of time and a whole season of film to watch.

The Michigan game is by far the biggest enigma on our schedule (with South Florida being a close second because their personnel on offensive is going to be upgraded/changed in many areas) and I don't think the outcome of the game will say anything about our team. If we win by 3 TDs it will be because of the Michigan growing pains to the new systems and if we lose by 3 TDs it will be because we weren't prepared for what they threw at us... or it could be the atmosphere, the officiating, injuries, a case of food poisoning... or it could be because, as you said, our team still has a long way to go. I would just like to preemptively caution everyone against putting any stock in the result of this game being indicative of things to come.

I personally feel the Michigan State, USC, Maryland, Navy and Stanford games are all going to be much better for measuring the progress of this team.

 

[laservet]

The problem yesterday for Michigan was that their OL is only decent, and so when faced against their excellent DL they somehow managed to open some running lanes, but they really struggled to defend the pass rush, often having two or three defenders in the backfield almost immediately after the snap.

Their second team OL was atrocious. They opened no running lanes and offered absolutely zero pass protection for Devin Gardner, who was running for his life on just about every play.

Two of their starting OL were out, FWIW.

 

[Old Man Mike]

My foggy view: We will beat USF because they will not have their offense smoothed out and our defense will throttle them. We'll score at least a little [and maybe a lot] because Kelly will have installed some tricks that they don't expect.

Then we will beat Michigan because no matter how hard they decide to play, they will essentially everywhere on the field be trying to get entirely new systems into place, and will not have had either the time nor the matched players to do so. This will have nothing to do with how good a coach Hoke is. Our own coach will use the past to get the monsters sky high and will have saved several tricks from the USF game to leave UofM saying "whathehellwas that???" Plus our conditioning will separate us significantly in the final quarter.

What will happen the next week against a genuinely good team with established personnel, a hard-nosed coach, and few total surprises left in the trick bag, I don't know. But it will be up, by then, to a confident QB to run the Systemic Advantage and score a bunch for the good guys.

 

[irishtrinity]

i care for no other college football team... ND is the greatest and has been thru it all i want michigan, texas and usc to FAIL..........

michigan is getting on my nerves give us some braggin rights ND... i think hoke might help the defense, but they'll be looking for a new coach in 5 yrs at least... i hope we break robbinsons leg this yr, i want to break michigans spirit at home.....

 

[Rudy89]

I dunno bout this game. I think michigan will get us but we will get them back in 2012 in SB.

 

[pani_nasz]

i care for no other college football team... ND is the greatest and has been thru it all i want michigan, texas and usc to FAIL..........

michigan is getting on my nerves give us some braggin rights ND... i think hoke might help the defense, but they'll be looking for a new coach in 5 yrs at least... i hope we break robbinsons leg this yr, i want to break michigans spirit at home.....

I despise Michigan as much as anyone, but never hope for a player to be injured. Break their spirit, YES; break their bones, NO.

 

[Riddickulous]

I despise Michigan as much as anyone, but never hope for a player to be injured. Break their spirit, YES; break their bones, NO.

How about we break the bones of their spirits?

 

[BGIF]

I despise Michigan as much as anyone, but never hope for a player to be injured. Break their spirit, YES; break their bones, NO.

I'm with you on the bones but I do make exceptions for hamstrings.

 

[pani_nasz]

How about we break the bones of their spirits?

How does 3 interceptions, 6 sacks and a safety sound?

 

[]\/[GoBlue]

i care for no other college football team... ND is the greatest and has been thru it all i want michigan, texas and usc to FAIL..........

michigan is getting on my nerves give us some braggin rights ND... i think hoke might help the defense, but they'll be looking for a new coach in 5 yrs at least... i hope we break robbinsons leg this yr, i want to break michigans spirit at home.....

This has been your game play for the last two years, I suggest you think of a new one.

From a Michigan perspective the spring 'game' made me weep blood, not really, but I was sad. Then I read something the OC said about not needing to work on what Denard knows, spread O, and work more on the pro style. So I was grateful that the new regime is stating that they are not dropping the spread, just trying to work as much as they can in the short time they have to help Denard and Co learn a more pro style O.

But if the spring game were some kind of measuring stick, 5 wins would be great.....

 

[Old Man Mike]

To Michigan fans, Hoke has a tough task. He has to try to reverse a whole set of systems again after just three years [just long enough for the players to get the hang of them]. Also, trying to run two different offensive philosophies is extra hard, and I'll bet that Robinson's oldstyle Rodriguez stuff is relegated to a mere package aimed at just letting him go with his superior athleticism, and hope it works even though most of the week's reps have been in a different set. I don't envy either his or his coordinators' jobs. If they split their games this year, even with good speed and athleticism, Hoke must be a genius.

...and no one with any true feeling of what it means to compete on the field is wishing for Robinson to break his leg. Such sentiments are for folks who have missed the whole point of athletics.

 

[IrishBlood81]

Just saw an ESPN exclusive on Michigan...how their improving their D and everything....
We ain't got nothing to worry about. It was very encouraging. Just generic coaching and boring stuff.


also they said they were going to do Notre Dame tomorrow. So stay tuned if you can.

 

[Riddickulous]

To Michigan fans, Hoke has a tough task. He has to try to reverse a whole set of systems again after just three years [just long enough for the players to get the hang of them]. Also, trying to run two different offensive philosophies is extra hard, and I'll bet that Robinson's oldstyle Rodriguez stuff is relegated to a mere package aimed at just letting him go with his superior athleticism, and hope it works even though most of the week's reps have been in a different set. I don't envy either his or his coordinators' jobs. If they split their games this year, even with good speed and athleticism, Hoke must be a genius.

...and no one with any true feeling of what it means to compete on the field is wishing for Robinson to break his leg. Such sentiments are for folks who have missed the whole point of athletics.

Hoke has a huge uphill battle. There is a lot of trials that Hoke has to overcome to get Michigan back to elite status, including scheme changes, fixing an atrocious defense, and a brutal schedule.

In 2012, Michigan opens with Alabama at a neutral site game in Texas, and then has away games the same year at Notre Dame, Nebraska, and Ohio State. Yikes.

Just saw an ESPN exclusive on Michigan...how their improving their D and everything....
We ain't got nothing to worry about. It was very encouraging. Just generic coaching and boring stuff.


also they said they were going to do Notre Dame tomorrow. So stay tuned if you can.

I think they've already aired those.

 

[IrishBlood81]

I think they've already aired those.

Really? Gotcha... I had never seen them so I figured they were new.

 

[Riddickulous]

Really? Gotcha... I had never seen them so I figured they were new.

Are those the Urban Meyer visits that he did for spring ball?

 

[]\/[GoBlue]

yes.

 

[irishtrinity]

I despise Michigan as much as anyone, but never hope for a player to be injured. Break their spirit, YES; break their bones, NO.

your different than me, i played Texas high school football we were taught to enforce as much pain as possible.. played on the monahans lobos nose tackle 1st string, my pops broke his own qbs collarbone is practice he taught me to be mean in the pads and a gentleman out of them.. i played a game forced three fumbles and recovered one then next time out the center went straight at my knee hyperextended it bad, i played the rest of the game.. my father was watching the game and saw the coach tell the center go for the knee.. Football is football you train to hurt people..

 

[irishtrinity]

...and no one with any true feeling of what it means to compete on the field is wishing for Robinson to break his leg. Such sentiments are for folks who have missed the whole point of athletics.

played baseball for 6 yrs, football for 5 yrs 3 yrs track team also i think i know what it means to compete... sorry i have a different opinion some folks actually like to hit ppl in football and cause pain...