Can we all just take a breathe

[GoBlueNavyNuke]

Seriously.

Sure, this was a disappointing loss, but the team is still 5-1, Hoke is still 24-8 as the Michigan head coach (not to mention still 18-0 at home, best since Yost) and still in the divers seat for the Legends division. Besides, honestly who thought Michigan would go 12-0 (admittedly I had hopes)
Let's not forget Happy Valley is one of the hardest places to play in the Big Ten, they still almost won. And in fact in was some pretty phenomenal catches on the part of the Penn St. receivers that lead to that tying score. There are still things to work on (namely the O-Line) but these were to be expected.

So again, in short: DON'T GIVE UP THE SHIP!

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

Yeah, I think people do need to calm down a bit. There are some seriously concerning things that happened last night, for me specifically it's Fitz rushing 27 times for 27 yards, but we should have won against a pretty decent PSU team, @penn state with a white-out crowd. The game was poorly managed at the end and some players just didn't pull through and we lost.

With that said, we have plenty of winnable games left on our schedule and still have yet to play MSU and OSU. If we beat MSU and OSU - surely no one will be thinking of this loss.

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

But damn, 27 rushes for 27 yards. O-line is just concerning as all hell.

 

[aar000n]

seasons over, national title flushed down the toilet, only thing to play for is the big ten and rival game. Just like a loser conference like the mac. The only thing loser conferences have to play for is their token title game and rival game that no one outside of 10 miles from the campus cares about. RIP Michigan football 2013-2014

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

seasons over, national title flushed down the toilet, only thing to play for is the big ten and rival game. Just like a loser conference like the mac. The only thing loser conferences have to play for is their token title game and rival game that no one outside of 10 miles from the campus cares about. RIP Michigan football 2013-2014

lol what? The ONLY thing we have to play for is a conference title and a trip to the Rose Bowl? I'd "settle" for that any day. We lost one game, this team has flaws but we're still capable of accomplishing many things.

 

[GoBlueNavyNuke]

Yeah, I think people do need to calm down a bit. There are some seriously concerning things that happened last night, for me specifically it's Fitz rushing 27 times for 27 yards, but we should have won against a pretty decent PSU team, @penn state with a white-out crowd. The game was poorly managed at the end and some players just didn't pull through and we lost.

With that said, we have plenty of winnable games left on our schedule and still have yet to play MSU and OSU. If we beat MSU and OSU - surely no one will be thinking of this loss.

Agreed, plenty of lessons to learn from this game, including for the coaching staff. But that's the the true test really, how you respond once getting knocked down.
I think it is clear this staff knows what it wants to do, it is just still working on the building the depth/experience on the roster to do it.

 

[themuzzer]

Michigan is ok under Hoke, it's a shame all the play calling and plays went unnoticed because of Gibbons lack of FG kicking.....Lets be honest here guys, Gibbons has hit a lot of good ones but he missed 3 last nite. 4/7

I can get over that, that's not coaching or recruiting....That's a kicker having a horrible day, i get that.

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

Michigan is ok under Hoke, it's a shame all the play calling and plays went unnoticed because of Gibbons lack of FG kicking.....Lets be honest here guys, Gibbons has hit a lot of good ones but he missed 3 last nite. 4/7

I can get over that, that's not coaching or recruiting....That's a kicker having a horrible day, i get that.

Yup. Would people be talking about any of that had Gibbons hit the first 53 yard field goal? Or the 2nd? or the 3rd? We've done this to a lot of teams before, unfortunately this was our time to have it done to us.

 

[GoBlueNavyNuke]

And here's the thing with all these comments about the coaching, it almost worked! And while it is in the final stages, Michigan is still in the transition from the Rich Rod years. Had Hoke and company had the O-line the are building towards the run game would have been better and that would have made the difference.

 

[Ronnie]

Any chance that Wolverines shift to the MAC?

 

[#1BostonFan]

Yeah I agree...we need to chill. We should of won so it's not like it's from a lack of talent and game planning, we just chocked.

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

And here's the thing with all these comments about the coaching, it almost worked! And while it is in the final stages, Michigan is still in the transition from the Rich Rod years. Had Hoke and company had the O-line the are building towards the run game would have been better and that would have made the difference.

While I do think there's a lot of over reaction, I do think there is an issue with O-line coaching. I just don't think Funk is getting it done. There's no excuses for them to be THIS bad. And we've had issues rushing every year under Hoke. Denard was our primary rusher for those first two years with little RB support and now Gardner is doing the same thing.

You have one top 10 draft pick and another likely NFL draft pick on the ends, and then a load of talent in the middle - young, but talented. I would understand if we weren't great because of youth but they should at least be average. They are well below average. That's a problem. I hope Hoke looks at Funk's performance and makes some changes at the end of the year or maybe even before that. With a line like that, we should not be struggling to run against teams like Akron, Uconn and a PSU defense who let Indiana run all over them. Fitz should certainly be better than 27 rushes for 27 yards. A line of 5 true freshman who are 4 and 5 stars should be able run with some success against a team like Akron. A line with two NFL lineman on it, a five star RS freshman (Kalis) and a four star RS sophomore (Bryant) should be better than this by a lot.

With all this talk about firing a coach, I think it's unfairly directed at Borges. The real issue is the line and while I agree with most of what you're saying - no need to panic - I do think some adjustments need to be made which may include who is coaching the line. If the line were doing it's job, rushing up the middle 27 times probably wouldn't be a bad thing and really only ended up being a bad thing because of how poorly the line was blocking.

 

[themuzzer]

Just out of curiousity, who are we redshirting this year?

 

[Lions=TeHsUcKs]

I don't think I'm overreacting.. Yes the defense was good.. But the playcalling on offense combined with the play of DG was awful.. If the offense is just average, it's an easy win.. That's the bottom line...

 

[GoBlueNavyNuke]

I don't think I'm overreacting.. Yes the defense was good.. But the playcalling on offense combined with the play of DG was awful.. If the offense is just average, it's an easy win.. That's the bottom line...

IMHO, you are. The offense scored 43 points, normally enough to win. It also set up the team to win the game, either by leave Penn St. under a minute to drive the nearly the length of the field with no time outs. That works 90% of the time, remember it was two phenomenal catches by Penn St. receivers that caused that to fail. Then again by getting Gibons at least a shot at a game winning field goal at the end of regulation.

Not there isn't some criticism to be had, but I think we are in the hard part of the transition. Hoke did a great job adapting to the personal he had we he got to Michigan while he recruited the personal for the system he wanted to run. Well now we are in the tricky part when the old personal are gone, but the new do not have the experience to properly execute the new system.

As for the play of Gardner, sure some bad decisions of his lead to the lead Penn St. took in the first half, but it was also his play that lead to the comeback in the second. I think it is time to accept Gardner for what he is, a slightly improved version of Denard Robinson. And that's not necessarily a bad thing, just maybe not the thing to take Michigan where it wants to go.

 

[GoBlueNavyNuke]

While I do think there's a lot of over reaction, I do think there is an issue with O-line coaching. I just don't think Funk is getting it done. There's no excuses for them to be THIS bad. And we've had issues rushing every year under Hoke. Denard was our primary rusher for those first two years with little RB support and now Gardner is doing the same thing.

You have one top 10 draft pick and another likely NFL draft pick on the ends, and then a load of talent in the middle - young, but talented. I would understand if we weren't great because of youth but they should at least be average. They are well below average. That's a problem. I hope Hoke looks at Funk's performance and makes some changes at the end of the year or maybe even before that. With a line like that, we should not be struggling to run against teams like Akron, Uconn and a PSU defense who let Indiana run all over them. Fitz should certainly be better than 27 rushes for 27 yards. A line of 5 true freshman who are 4 and 5 stars should be able run with some success against a team like Akron. A line with two NFL lineman on it, a five star RS freshman (Kalis) and a four star RS sophomore (Bryant) should be better than this by a lot.

With all this talk about firing a coach, I think it's unfairly directed at Borges. The real issue is the line and while I agree with most of what you're saying - no need to panic - I do think some adjustments need to be made which may include who is coaching the line. If the line were doing it's job, rushing up the middle 27 times probably wouldn't be a bad thing and really only ended up being a bad thing because of how poorly the line was blocking.

Agreed, were the attention clearly needs to focused is on the O-line play, and maybe that means a coaching change (though I would never promote a man getting fired without careful review by the principals). Though it did work out for Wisconsin last year, and maybe it will work for Michigan.

 

[Lions=TeHsUcKs]

Indiana torching the Wolverine's defense at the Big House.. Breathe in and breathe out.. Sigh of relief folks.. Calm down...

 

[Lions=TeHsUcKs]

Meant breath in and breath out.. Why can't I edit posts here.. Is this a joke?

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

Meant breath in and breath out.. Why can't I edit posts here.. Is this a joke?

The entire forum is set so that after 5 minutes you can't edit it, I wish I could change that. Also, I think you had it the right the first time with "breathe" and not "breath". I believe the usage is like this -- You need to take a breath and just breathe.

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

Indiana torching the Wolverine's defense at the Big House.. Breathe in and breathe out.. Sigh of relief folks.. Calm down...

Am I happy with the defense in this game? No. But it's almost certainly an anomaly given we haven't seen anything like this in the first 5 games. The offense was what needed to improve significantly and it did in a BIG way. I also think Indiana's fast paced offensive really got to our defense. Guys just couldn't get set. While that's bad that it happened like that - no other team we face runs an offense like that. Our defense shouldn't have the same issues facing offenses like MSU.