<p>Hat off to MSU, the superior football program for the foreseeable future. We might as well kiss Da'shawn Hand goodbye, and I wish him well. I am sure he wants to be part of a winning program. </p>
<p>I should revise my prediction. I initially thought a 9-3 season was in the works, give or take 1. I now think 7-5 is more likely, give or take 1. </p>
<p>Hoke stays, he has integrity and he recruits well. But our OC (Borges) and OL (Funk) coaches should be sacked. They have no idea how to coach a winning offense in the Big 10.</p>
<p>Disagree about Hand</p>
<p>Agree about Borges/Funk</p>
<p>Of course I’m happy that my Spartans won, but I didn’t want to see a game like that. I wanted a good game between two good teams. </p>
<p>After this game, I’m terrified of the OSU game. I wanted to see Michigan beat OSU so bad (not that it’s out of the question but…)</p>
<p>Sigh. Maybe next year.</p>
<p>I hope you are right about Hand ThisIsMichigan, but I would totally understand if he picked a winning program…and wish him well. He deserves better than Michigan. </p>
<p>romani, OSU is running up the score to catch up to Alabama, Oregon and FSU. They will beat Michigan by 6-7 TDs. I expect OSU to score well over 50 points while holding our offense to less than 15 points. We may have a chance against Iowa or Northwestern, but those are road games, so it is not likely. Nebraska and OSU are going in the L column. Like I said, 7-5 at best, perhaps 6-6. But the good news is, we will likely sack our OC at the end of the season. There just has been no improvement in OL play or in the running game in the last three years. Time to upgrade. We have the talent, we just need the coaches.</p>
<p>Jesus Christ Alexandre, try not to wave the white flag too much, you might hurt your wrist.</p>
<p>6-7 TDs? 50+ to <15…</p>
<p>The sky is falling the sky is falling!</p>
<p>I don’t have as pessimistic of an attitude as Alex. I think it’ll be somewhere in the neighborhood of 2-4 TDs. </p>
<p>Northwestern is kind of imploding so I definitely see Michigan beating them. Nebraska will be a good and close game.</p>
<p>ETA: What happened to Gardner? Any word?</p>
<p>I’m going to be watching the Nebraska game from a suite (hell yeah) so I hope they demolish them. We are a completely different team at home though so I think we win.</p>
<p>^You will be disappointed. The suites are as wine and cheese as it gets. People WILL look at you funny if you happen to do any of the following:
- Stand
- Stand on third down
- Make noise
- Make noise on third down
- Below 30 of age
- Don’t look the part
I am not renewing my indoor seats due to 5 out of the above 6.</p>
<p>What happened to gardner? Uh he quit. Pulled up on 3rd down right around the sticks. That’s an obvious cue of a supposed leader of the team quitting.</p>
<p>bearcats, don’t pin this on Gardner. If that kid had half an OL working for him and a RB with as much guts and heart as himself, this team would be 8-0 and he would be a leading Heisman candidate.</p>
<p>Alexandre, don’t pin this on the OL/RB. If the OL/RB had a QB with half the brain working for them and as much guts and heart with them, this team would be 8-0.</p>
<p>Guts and heart? I am not sure we are watching the same game. The guy basically quit and instead of leading when the team needs him most he was sulking on the sideline, tate forcier style. On the last drive when brady was urging him to speed up he basically worked like michigan’s winning and they are just chewing clock. That third down was absolutely ridiculous and he should be required to give up his 98 jersey for that. If we hadn’t converted the ensuing 4th down we would absolutely be talking about that all night. Somewhere in the dark Tom Harmon is rolling in his grave.</p>
<p>The OL’s biggest problem comes from gardner being an athlete playing QB, without an ounce of the IQ required at that position. You can bring in an NFL line and they aren’t going to be able to block 8 or 9 rushers every down. The opposing teams dont give a crap about gardner’s passing because he is inaccurate, incapable of reading defense and while he could make a big play throwing downfield, he could make a even bigger play the other way.</p>
<p>LOL! Yeah, right. The RBs gaining 3 yards per carry and the OL allowing the most sacks of any OL unit in the Big 10 is 100% Gardner’s fault. Gardner is a quitter. After 8 sacks last night, he quit because he was injured. It is all on Gardner. The OL should be petted and massaged and given some herbal tea. Poor OL!</p>
<p>and yea right. Defense being able to rush 8/9 guys every other down is 100% the OL’s fault. Defense being able to rush 8/9 guys every other down doesn’t contribute to the yard per carry stats. The OL giving up most sacks of all units in the B1G has nothing to do with the defense being able to rush 8/9 guys every other down or gardner being stupid holding the ball too long and running backwards like a chicken instead of making the smart play and throw the ball away. After blocking 8/9 guys all night with 6/7 on the LOS, the OL should have to have their QB quit on them. It is all on the OL. Gardner should be petted and massaged and given some herbal tea. Poor Gardner!</p>
<p>And it’s obviously our coaches agree with my assessment of gardner. Look no further than OT and especially the final OT during the PSU game. All throughout OT the coaches basically were shooting for FG.
After screwing 3 FGs in a game and the offense basically moving the ball up and down the field at will before overtime started, the coaches still played it tight and would rather just have Gibbons kick the FG. They are terrified of putting the game in Gardner’s hand because they know Gardner doesn’t have the cognitive ability, decision making and accuracy to be trusted.
If our coach can see that, you think other coaches can’t? That’s why almost every teams are basically in cover-0 over half the time when they play us. Sure Gardner might punish them when the stars are aligned, but the benefit of rushing everyone outweighs all that because of Gardner’s shortcomings.
Think about it (be honest with yourself), do you seriously think Narduzzi blitzes every down if Henne is behind the line, as opposed to Gardner?</p>
<p>bearcats, the reason why they are rushing 8/9 guys is because Michigan has no running game, in part because our RB has no heart and goes down without even trying to get extra yards, and in part because our OL is not pushing at the line of scrimmage and opening holes for RBs to run through. Gardner, Gallon and Funchess are the only thing that is keeping our offense alive. Just look at what they are capable of doing when Gardner is not running for his life. Against Indiana, which has no DL whatsoever, we got a pretty good simulation of what Gardner and the WRs can do if they are given some time to throw. Of course, you need a running game to make that happen, and without a good RB or effective OL, the entire Offense because one-dimenssional and easy to control by putting 8-9 men in the box, as many good defenses have done this year.</p>
<p>“And it’s obviously our coaches agree with my assessment of gardner. Look no further than OT and especially the final OT during the PSU game. All throughout OT the coaches basically were shooting for FG.”</p>
<p>Speaking for the coaches now? The coaches went for field goals against PSU because field goals would have won the game! Both field goals were well within our kicker’s range (43 yards and 36 yards I believe), but one was blocked and one was missed. It had nothing to do with the coaches’ faith in Gardner. </p>
<p>By the way, I am not qualified to evaluate Gardner’s cognitive and decision-making ability (neither are you) because we have not yet established an OL that can allow a QB to showcase those all-important traits. Once we have an OL than plays average (I would settle for average because right now, we play suck), then we can evaluate those qualities in Gardner.</p>
<p>"bearcats, the reason why they are rushing 8/9 guys is because Michigan has no running game, in part because our RB has no heart and goes down without even trying to get extra yards, and in part because our OL is not pushing at the line of scrimmage and opening holes for RBs to run through. "</p>
<p>This shows you don’t know anything about football but I am not surprised. After all you did say the jury’s not out for brady hoke after one good season when any CFB fans with an ounce of experience would know that coaches doing well his first season and then flaming out is not exactly unheard of.</p>
<p>Anyway to the point, what kind of logic is that? When defenses rush 8/9 guys, the way to punish them is through the passing game, not the running game. The lack of running game doesn’t allow the defense to rush 8/9 guys, the lack of passing threat does. And by rushing 8/9 guys, the defense in effect shut down the run.
For a team that doesn’t have a running game and with an OL that generates no push naturally but with a good passing threat, the typical response is the opposite, play base defense or even 3-3 fronts and drop guys back into coverage.</p>
<p>The 46 bear defense, was designed to stop the run and force the QB to pass, with the additional perk of getting to the QB quicker. It is employed when the defense basically disrespects the pass and feel that they might as well also stop the running game by overwhelming the OL with sheer number of guys with the occasional benefit of sacking the QB. What teams are using against us is the 46 defense on steroids.</p>
<p>It’s pointless to discuss football with someone who doesn’t even have a grasp of this very simple concept.</p>
<p>Your indiana example was also wrong. Against indiana, which basically has no defensive backs whatsoever, we see what happens when we actually have a passing threat. Indiana was not able to keep sending 8/9 guys at us because they started needing the safety help on top, that frees up the running lanes because they are rushing less guys and our yard per carry statistics becomes more respectable.</p>
<p>I know more about football than you give me credit for bearcats. Your assumption that I do not know about the game is surprising since you know nothing about me. The reason why some teams are loading the box in our case is not because we do not have a passing game, but rather, because we only have one threat on this offense, and that’s Gardner. We have no OL and no RB. Heck, we only have two good WRs, even that is not enouygh to worry about. Teams with good CBs can go man to man and take care of them. Opposing defenses are loading the box because there is no other threat on our offense other than Gardner. </p>
<p>And I was right about the reason why the coaches went for field goals in OT against PSU. In two of the three cases, the field goal (both of them under 43 yards) would have won us the game.</p>
<p>There is no assumption, it is an evaluation based on your statements.</p>
<p>"The reason why some teams are loading the box in our case is not because we do not have a passing game, but rather, because we only have one threat on this offense, and that’s Gardner. Opposing defenses are loading the box because there is no other threat on our offense. "</p>
<p>That again makes no sense, but I have already explained why. Just think about that logically. I guess you would be more correct if you said this instead, but it would still be iffy, because even if we naturally had a running game, it can’t punish a team that loads the box anyway.</p>
<p>"The reason why some teams are loading the box in our case is because we only have one threat on this offense, and that’s Gardner('s running game). Opposing defenses are loading the box because there is no other threat on our offense, (including Gardner’s passing). "</p>
<p>Because otherwise you would just punish them by having Gardner throw bombs after bombs every down. A good QB will complete at an insanely high rate regardless of pressure if it’s single or sometimes even no coverage on receivers. That’s the classic way of punishing an overaggressive defense. Almost every offensive coordinator would tell you the way to beat pressure is to throw into the vacated space.</p>
<p>Gibbon’s hit rate from beyond 40 yards is <50%. The fact that the coaches wouldn’t even consider letting Gardner throw the ball to shorten the FG distance implies that they price the “disaster” probability of Gardner in that situation at around 50% or higher. Or maybe I am giving too much credit to Brady Hoke to being able to think logically.</p>
<p>I have no idea what you are talking about bearcats. Gibbons is a reliable kicker. Maybe you are referring to the Gibbons of 2010 and 2011. He made 16 out of 18 field goals in 2012 (including a 52 yarder vs Nebraska), and was almost perfect for the season this year heading into the PSU game (I think he missed just one attempt against Akron). He connected on a 44 yard attempt against Notre Dame this year and made a 47 yard kick earlier in the game vs PSU. Gibbons was 100% on 40-52 yard attempts in his last 6 or 7 tries (dating back to October of 2012). Going for those 40 and 33 yard winning field goals was the right decision by Hoke, and had nothing to do with his faith (or lack thereof) in Gardner.</p>
<p>The fact is, opposing teams know how dangerous Gardner is if he has time to make plays. With no OL and no viable threat at RB, he is the only object that they need to focus on, and rightly so; neutralize Gardner and you win the game. We are, once again, a one-dimentional team. Until we have an OL that can effectively block and a RB that is able to pull his weight, this is going to be an easy offense to manage for any good defense.</p>
<p>This is why you use facts.</p>
<p>[Brendan</a> Gibbons Game By Game Stats and Performance - Michigan Wolverines - ESPN](<a href=“http://espn.go.com/college-football/player/gamelog/_/id/480900/brendan-gibbons]Brendan”>Brendan Gibbons Game by Game Stats and Performance | ESPN)</p>
<p>Gibbons was 50% on the year for field goals between 40-49 yards before the penn state this year. Which is also the exact same percentage he had on the year at the beginning of overtime after making one and missing one in regulation, 50%.
By the time Hoke played it safe and again settled for a 40 yard field goal in the final overtime, he was 33% on field goal between 40-49 yard for the game, and 40% on the year on field goal between 40-49 yards, none of these are blocks, but just misses.</p>
<p>Brendan was 2 of 4 for field goals between 40-49 yards in 2012, and also 2 of 4 for field goals between 40-49 yards in 2011. Both 50%.</p>
<p>He’s 0-2 between 40-49 yards in 2010 but he was horrible back then.</p>
<p>Bottom line, looking at the whole body of work he is basically a 50% or even slightly less kicker between 40-49 yards. And his % during the game was the same or below that too. Not trying to help him out by at least a good attempt to shorten the distance means you think your QB has a very high chance of doing something castastrophic.</p>
<p>The fact is, opposing teams know that by loading the box and rushing Gardner every play, they won’t be punished on a net net basis by Gardner’s consistent passing over the top because of Gardner’s inaccuracy, incapablility to read a defense, and tendancy to panick and do something stupid when pressured (see Notre Dame game worst interception by a QB ever or half the time he gets sacked 10 yards behind the line because he runs around like a chicken instead of throw the damn ball away), and by doing so, they get to effectively shut down the run. The OL might not be world beaters, but Gardner’s shortcomings in the passing game is a huge part of their woes. No lines can block 8-9 guys with 6-7 guys. That’s a fact. That’s when your QB need to help them out and CONSISTENTLY punish them over the top. Gardner is a lot of things, consistent he is not.</p>
<p>bearcats, we’ll have to disagree on that one. I think Gibbons has been sufficiently accurate in the 30-40 yard range (both PSU OT kicks he missed were in that range) in the last year or so (he made 18 of his last 20) going into the PSU OT I believe, and one of two misses was a 52 yarder against PSU. I do not believe he missed a single 30-40 yard attempt in almost a year, and certainly not since the Nebraska game of 2012, where he kicked a 52 yard FG. As far as I am concerned, going for those safe 33 and 40 yard game-winning FGs was the logical thing to do, even if we had the best QB in the country.</p>
<p>As for throwing over the top, I think Gardner’s inconsistency and lack of experience and accuracy are only part of the problem. I will not deny that he makes poor decisions. As far as I am concerned, he is a first year QB, and they will usually make mistakes. A large part of the problem, however, is the lack of pass protection and the an established running game. Our coaches have had three years to develop an effective OL and we have a senior RB with three years of starting experience. There is no excuse for this.</p>