Michigan Tuesday: My Case Against Big Al

Saturday was my last straw for support of Big Al Borges.   I don't understand why the offense isn't better.   The offense has digressed from last year.  I know Junior Hemmingway was good and caught a ton of "jump" balls and I know we lost Molk on the offensive line but how did the offense get this bad?

Enclosed is my case.  Brian from Mgoblog laid out his facts, why he isn't ready to throw Al under the bus.  I will use some of his post on how Al has failed us this year.  I don't think we have another 4 years with his players to find out if he can coach offense or not.

1. Denard does not fit his system.  This is like saying, "I own a Ferrari but I don't drive it because I can't drive a stick".   The system was in place when he took the job on how to use Denard effectively.   Tweak the system and go.  I hate how coaches can only coach one type of offense or defense.  RR killed a couple of years with the same reason.  BS!  Coach to the talent you have!  If you can't your not much of a coach. 
2. The Devin move to WR hasn't worked.  He is good athlete but my understanding was if Denard went down and was out for more then a couple of plays, Devin would return to QB.  He is a former 5 star QB and can run the stuff that Denard does.   He is not a good WR and has dropped a ton of balls.  He is clearly a QB and not a WR.   He is used to the pressure of playing QB in Big Ten games.
3. The backup plan - wasn't a plan.  Was there anyone on this planet that thought putting in a red shirt freshman at QB was going to win a close game with Nebraska?  Even Nebraska knew it and started blitzing.   I didn't see them blitz Denard too often.  Not having a plan B for your running QB is huge failure.  It's like running a data center with out a fail over.
4. He did well at Auburn?  That team was loaded with NFL talent and he sure didn't land any head coaching gigs after it - Per Brian at Mgoblog:  2004 Auburn had the following guys on that team: QB Jason Campbell (first round pick), RB Ronnie Brown (first round pick), RB Cadillac Williams (first round pick), OL Ben Grubbs (first round pick), OL Marcus McNeill (second round pick), Ben Obomanu (seventh round pick, still in league, had 37 catches in 2011), Devin Aromashodu (seventh round pick, still in league, had 26 catches in 2011), and Courtney Taylor (sixth round pick, now in CFL after 2008 multiple sclerosis(!) diagnosis). When you can call anything and have future NFL players on both ends of the exchange that doesn't say much either. 
5. Where are the Wide Receivers?  This falls on RR not being able to recruit (he really is not a good recruiter) any WR's at all.   Most of the guys RR recruited at WR has either transferred or haven't seen the field at all.   This also falls on Hoke and Borges, they must have known this was an issue and still turned down Devin Lucien who wanted to sign with Michigan.   Hoke knew they needed depth at LB and other defensive positions, Borges must have known they needed a deep threat.   If you attend games and watch the WR's you can tell they don't get separation from the DB's.  It was also very obvious that Stonum's status with the team was tentative at best, not to recruit the WR position non-stop is criminal!!!!
6. Since our WR's aren't fast how do we get them open?  This is college and most WR's don't run a 4.3/40.  You have to run plays that get your WR's open.  Did anyone notice the pick play that Nebraska ran for a touchdown?  Where are those plays?
7. There is Talent on the Field!  Lewan is projected as a 1st round pick, Denard is projected as a Round 2 athlete, Fitz had a great year last year and Funchess is a future star.   Mix in capable slot guys in Gallon and Dileo and a decent possession receiver in Roundtree, I ask you what's the problem?  I agree the offense line is not great opening running lanes but they have seemed to have done very well in pass protection this year.  Add a burner that can extend the field, you would seem to have a pretty good offense.   (BTW it's not our back up QB).
8. Play a Freshman! Michigan has two true freshman WR's on the bench in Darboh and Chesson.  They have already blown the red shirt on Darboh, use him.   WR is one position most experts agree a freshman can step in and contribute right away.

Here is a quote from Hoke's press conference yesterday:

“As far as where we’re at right now football-wise, we need to do a better job from the perspective of a coaching standpoint, because it starts right there. It starts with me. We need to play better football. We need to play better in the red zone from an offensive standpoint. And part of that and most of that is you have to be able to run the football in the red zone. That’s an important place because in the throw game, it shrinks down there a little bit. Your verticalness of what you can do and being able to run the football is a big part of it. We didn’t do that well obviously the other night, but that’s something that will take a front seat and center during this week as we get ready to go to Minneapolis.


Coaches like RR, Rex Ryan and Brady Hoke all would like to focus on what they do best and leave the other side of the ball to the guys they hired.  That doesn't work long term in leadership.   If you run a small Tech company and hire a bunch of people, you can't avoid HR issues.  When your the leader you have to lead everything.  It's why you make the big bucks and why the person you hired isn't a head coach.

BTW: If you think this is bad, just wait until next year.  A true freshman under center or Devin a senior QB/WR (or RS junior if he gets his redshirt) with very little experience, Lewan in the NFL and no WR's.

• Minnesota and Northwestern games will be noon starts

If you are out East, please stay safe!