26 rushing attempts for Robinson is to many!!

[Guest]

Overall, the offense may look similar, but the D is totally different. They already have forced a lot of turnovers, they are willing to make adjustments, and they have been able to stop the ground game of Eastern and ND after being gashed early, which is not what I'm used to seeing. So, I don't think saying they look a lot like last year is a fair statement.

I meant the offense ...the D is hugely improved, causing turnovers and the play-calling is much better. Blitzes and attitude, it's totally different. And even the O is better -- plays like the screen to FB and Vinny vs ND and Koger's play all tell me that.

 

[dubbsco]

And in defense of Denard's poor throwing day, there were at least 4-5 passes that the WRs could have caught, but did not make a play. Denard did miss some easy ones, but there was one that hit Fitz right in the pads, Hemingway and Roundtree each had a drop that they should have had.

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

[align=left:r5tokcj7][/align:r5tokcj7]

Danny Diggler[/color]]
[quote="biggunsbob":r5tokcj7]All i am saying is you need better balance to be a better team.. No reason whatsoever to have DR in the game up 28-3... One we cannot afford for him to get hurt. And two we need to get Gardner some decent reps.All of you who thinks it is OK remember DR left a whole string of games last year.. I know the read option is a fantastic weapon with DR running it but we need to be better then just that..

Here's what Hoke said about Gardner..

When it was 28-3, did you think about giving Devin some snaps?

 

[dannydiggler]

[quote="MAIZEandBLUE09":bmu655d4][align=left:bmu655d4][/align:bmu655d4]
[quote="Danny Diggler":bmu655d4]

Here's what Hoke said about Gardner..

When it was 28-3, did you think about giving Devin some snaps?

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

I'm thinking its get Denard reps so he improves.[/quote]

Improves at what? Running....he does that already - I'm not sure he can improve much on running. Now if they left denard in and every down threw a pass or handed it off - I'd be fine with that. I have a problem with Denard taking it up the middle and getting creamed when Michigan is winning 28-3.

 

[lostleader]

I'm thinking its get Denard reps so he improves.

Improves at what? Running....he does that already - I'm not sure he can improve much on running. Now if they left denard in and every down threw a pass or handed it off - I'd be fine with that. I have a problem with Denard taking it up the middle and getting creamed when Michigan is winning 28-3. [/quote]

I agree 10000001% Devin should have been given the whole 4 qtr. He is one play away from taking control of this offense. I know the coaches get to see him everyday in practice, and I am not in charge of the team. But if I had a 5 star 2nd string QB as a coach I would want to see him in a game. I also would want to show him I have the confidence in him to take the ball when it on our own 9 yard line. Even if I think he would fumble, I am still up 28-3 and the other teams offense couldn't move the ball since the first half. You just got to be smart, not saying Hoke made the wrong call. But if there are no other variables that we don't know about, I bet Hoke would do things differently.

However I am sure once Robinson is rolling it would be hard to pull that plug. Kinda like NCAA 2012, you all know that one play that works almost every time and it your only play in your play book!

 

[rumseyhouse77]

I agree that DG should have been put in earlier. I was really expecting to see more of him in the 4th qt. I hope this will not turn out to be a missed opportunity to get the guy some game experience. The times he played last year and yesterday I was not very impressed with him. But to be fair he hasn't really had a chance to establish much. With TF gone we need DG to be ready to come in and play. I think once we get into the B10 schedule the games are going to be more like ND than like EMU. Although DR has been able to avoid some hits and seems more able to get out of bounds this year, as we play better teams he will probably be exposed to more hits and so we will need DG to be ready.

Also, I recall the receivers having problems catching the ball last year too. That needs to improve. But DGs passing has not been very good. Seems like they should be trying more short passes than they are attempting. Especially if DR has a sore arm or shoulder. Seems like this would be a better strategy than throwing the long ball.

But hey we are 3-0, so something is going right.

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

receivers have had dropping issues for sure, but Denard has been terrible at passing so far this year. He's had some good passes but some really, really awful ones as well. That needs to improve by big ten play or we're in trouble.

 

[Guest]

The whole "being one play away" thing is overstated. That's true about every team with star players at crucial positions.

 

[wlvrnstlr4life]

I'm thinking its get Denard reps so he improves.

Improves at what? Running....he does that already - I'm not sure he can improve much on running. Now if they left denard in and every down threw a pass or handed it off - I'd be fine with that. I have a problem with Denard taking it up the middle and getting creamed when Michigan is winning 28-3. [/quote]

Thank you!!!!!

 

[wlvrnstlr4life]

I agree bob, we ran I and did not have a problem. There is no reason to run qb option at all the rest of the 2nd half. We have runners, give them the ball.

I agree completely with this. I guess the standard for the spread option zone read QB is Pat White at WVU. They're similar in size, but White in 4 years never had over 200 carries in a season. White had a Steve Slaton with him (and Slaton isn't much over 200 if at all, and HIS high in rushing attempts was 248, and Denard had 256 last year) and we'd love to see DR get one of those, whether it be Fitz, Shaw, Smith, Hop, Rawls, hell, Kovacs!

Hoke/Borges did some good things yesterday and made some good adjustments. But they messed up in one giant area. Denard should not have been running the ball in the second half yesterday. Period.

If you keep giving the ball to the backs, then they get into a rhythm. It's like passing the ball for short gains and getting the qb his confidence. We should have ran I-formation all second half long. Fuking EMU would not have stopped it and it would have given everybody serious reps with that formation.

 

[dubbsco]

So they get Gardner in there for the last 5-10 minutes, where he probably has 2 possessions of handing it off to kill the clock. That improves him how?

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

So they get Gardner in there for the last 5-10 minutes, where he probably has 2 possessions of handing it off to kill the clock. That improves him how?

Who cares if it improves him as long as our starting QB which is essentially all of our offense isn't running directly into guys purposely trying to injure him.

 

[dubbsco]

I may be looking at the stats wrong, but Denard carried the ball three times in the 4th quarter. I think people are just flipping out because of the overall total. Before Eastern, he carried it a total of 24 times. That is substantially less than under the old regime. I'm fine with it. It's football. He can get injured at any damn time. If Michigan wants to play scared and put him on the shelf, so be it, but they have a game plan, and are a lot smarter than us couch coaches.

 

[gobluebigjon]

I have no problem with running Denard. Injuries can happen anytime but when that is your best option on offense you should probably stick with it.

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

Every team is playing with fire every game. If you want to play scared, and shelve D Rob because you are scared he's going to get hurt, then Hoke needs to be in a different industry.

What? That makes no sense. We're up 28-3 in the 4th. It's not playing scared it's not playing stupid. If Robinson were to go down in the last 10 minutes of a game where we're blowing out Eastern Michigan our season would be ruined - and for what...Making sure Eastern doesn't score 25 points in 10 minutes? Sorry, doesn't make sense.

 

[jever4321]

Every team is playing with fire every game. If you want to play scared, and shelve D Rob because you are scared he's going to get hurt, then Hoke needs to be in a different industry.

What? That makes no sense. We're up 28-3 in the 4th. It's not playing scared it's not playing stupid. If Robinson were to go down in the last 10 minutes of a game where we're blowing out Eastern Michigan our season would be ruined - and for what...Making sure Eastern doesn't score 25 points in 10 minutes? Sorry, doesn't make sense.

I agree MB09, I wanted Devin to get in there in the 4th Q. The camera panned over to him a couple of times, and I wound up feeling bad for him that he didn't get a couple of drives. I think he got 3 plays...

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

I may be looking at the stats wrong, but Denard carried the ball three times in the 4th quarter. I think people are just flipping out because of the overall total. Before Eastern, he carried it a total of 24 times. That is substantially less than under the old regime. I'm fine with it. It's football. He can get injured at any damn time. If Michigan wants to play scared and put him on the shelf, so be it, but they have a game plan, and are a lot smarter than us couch coaches.

No you're looking at it right but Michigan only had two drives in the 4th. I have a problem with that drive. It was completely unnecessary to run Denard at all.

I had a problem with the overall total as well - but I can see if that's all we can do, that's all we can do. But when the game is out of hand and we're beating EMU 28-3 there is NO reason to run Denard let alone keep him in the game.

 

[MAIZEandBLUE09]

I have no problem with running Denard. Injuries can happen anytime but when that is your best option on offense you should probably stick with it.

Running Denard is one thing - Running him up by 25 in the 4th quarter against EMU is another. Maybe if this was an OSU game or an MSU game I could see a situation where you wouldn't want to even let up a little bit....but it's eastern and injuring our QB in the 4th against EMU would ruin our season.

 

[KAWDUP]

I'll say three things:

1) MB09 - you are over-reacting. Even if if he gets hurt, our season is not "over". Although over is not defined, players would have to step up - this is Michigan after all. My overall win prediction would probably only go down by 1, maybe 2 if they get some other bad breaks. Are you thinking we somehow had the Big Ten in our hip pocket?
2) Would have been nice to have them not take chances on injuries, but I'm more inclined to say two of the three runs in the 4th were due to DR scrambling. I am leaning toward agreeing with Dubbs on this one.
3) Any chance Hoke was leaving him in to better pad his stats for Heismann consideration, even if that is probably a long shot?

Anyway, scream about it all you want, but it is over, and isn't going to change as Hoke and Borges doesn't listen to anyone here.