Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Wolverine Wednesday: Did Coach Nuss Do A Good Job This Year?

Michigan Football: Spring Practice Grades for Early Enrollees
Tony Ding
The Michigan Football team has had trouble finding wins on the football field the last three years but they do their best to win off season.   One of the wins last off season was the hiring of a new offense coordinator Doug Nussmeier from Alabama.   I thought this was a strong hire and that Michigan's play calling, running game and development of QB's would be much better under Coach Nuss then Big Al. 

There was a nice debate in the comments field on Monday on whether he has done a good job or not.   So I thought I would give you my $.02.  Here are my grades:

Running Game:  C+
Michigan has seen some improvement in this group.  Green came in leaner then the year before and the offense line is much better then the year before.  Michigan would like to win games with this unit and they clearly have not been able to.  

Pass Game: F
This unit went about as bad as it could.   Michigan's 5th year QB made terrible decisions with the ball and when he did hit a WR there was way too many drops.   This was just awful this year. 

QB Development:  F
Devin is who he is, he has had two head coaches and three offensive coordinators.  I expected more development from him but not surprised he has struggled this year.  My biggest concern is with Shane Morris, I was hoping he would be ready to take a huge step in his development this year.   When he got playing time, he showed a couple of flashes of good, but it was mostly bad.   He so needed a redshirt year.  What a waste. 

Play Calling: C+
I feel a little bit for Coach Nuss on this one.  What are you supposed to call when you can't pass and the defense is taking away the run?  Still, Michigan seemed to miss a number of opportunities to have better play calling this year.   A great example was in the Maryland game, Michigan had just run for two first downs with Hayes and Johnson and then Coach Nuss went to three pass plays, which equaled a punt.  

I watch a lot of football and it seems most college QB's have one or two reads, take a three step drop and throw.   If it isn't open to a WR there should be a RB to dump it off to or a QB run.     Another way to take pressure off your QB is to have a great screen game.  How you don't run more plays to Jake Butt?   I would have liked to have seen more of these types of plays out of the Wolverines this year.

Offensive Line Play: C
This unit has improved this year but it's still not great.  I don't believe Coach Nuss has much to do with this unit, but it has improved. 

Overall Offensive Competence:  F
This unit has been a complete disaster this year.   QB play was very poor, too many turnovers, no passing game, and an average at best running game.   Scoring points has been a challenge all year.   I'm also not a big supporter of the theory the cupboard was bare.  Michigan has a senior QB or 5 star sophomore QB and a ton of good RB's on the roster.  With improved offensive line play, I expected about an average of  27 points a game.   Michigan has talented kids and many programs are doing much more with less.

Remember when we watched the Spring Game and the offense struggled to do anything?  We hoped that was just Michigan not showing us anything?  Well they were showing us something and it was how this unit was going to play this year. 

Michigan is 116th in the country in passing yards and 114th in scoring points.  Enough said. 

They say to play winning football at any level you need a great head coach and great QB.   Which one of these does Michigan have?

8 comments:

Scott K said...

To quote the big tuna, "If they want you to cook the dinner, at least they should let you shop for some of the groceries."

It's hard to fault Nuss for having a shitty offense, when that's what he got when he landed in A2.

Great game on the hard court last night! For such a young team, they played a hell of a game vs the preseason top team in the ACC. I felt the refs weren't kind to us late in the 3rd, but the game was lost on turnovers and misses shots. All in all, great game, great experience for a young team. With progress, that's a team that should hang with anyone.

Go Blue

Noah Spence dismissed from that team in ohio for multiple failed tests... who knew their players ever took tests? Go figure!

M go Clean said...

Agree with the offensive grades...I think Nus came to work knowing how to use tools....but, the tool box was empty, and his apprentices were drunk.

Jer89 said...

Nuss set his career back 5 years by coming to Michigan.

Unknown said...

Nuss.....right guy, wrong time.

What's the general consensus on the game Saturday. Good or bad I always watch to the bitter, but this one might be really tough. I hope I am wrong but I see 21-3 in the first quarter.

Hoke gets fired on Monday?

Scott K said...

I hope we score 3 in the first quarter, that will keep us from getting shut out.

MLive has a piece on Hackett being the guy to fire brady and hire his replacement, they believe Hackett will be around for a while, probably shedding the Interim part of his title soon.

Big35Hurt said...

Thank God someone else feels the same way I do!

Nuss has been a HUGE BUST!

dude1984 said...

I think it is hard to grade him. I won't call him great, but he isn't a bust. The position coaches have failed to do their job and the players haven't executed.

How many times have the RBs hesitate for no gain or a loss? How many times have the WRs dropped passes which would have been big gains? How many times has the OL not gotten any push or missed a block? How often has Gardner made a terrible decision and or under thrown the ball?

There is only so much he can do when he has a terrible QB, WRs with the yips, not finding an RB that plays north-south and doesn't hesitate until the Indiana game, and an improving, but still not good, OL.

He is an above average coach in a terrible situation.

Squashman said...

I don't think it Too difficult to grade him. He had 11 games to improve his unit. He clearly inherited an unpolished group but after 11 games, this offense is terrible. I give him a D minus. You can blame Hoke, the assistants, the players but he is in charge of the offense and at times they look like they should be playing junior high football. They hike the ball into a receiver in motion, frequently miss blocking assignments, botch snaps and Devin has regressed under his tutor ledge. He has been unimpressive as an offensive coordinator. Borges was better and he set the bar low! I couldn't believe people actually wanted Nuss to be the interim head coach in the middle of the year!! Based on what evidence... Seriously.