I said earlier in the weak that if NU showed up and played its game, it would come down to Thorson vs. Rudock and that I liked our chances. Well it did not come down to those two because NU didn't show up and that was obvious from the opening kickoff. We were mentally and physically unprepared to compete today and I put that on the coaching staff. Michigan outplayed and outcoached us in every phase of the game and won the game by beating us on both lines of scrimmage, something that had not happened to us all year. I thought Thorson played pretty well considering the circumstances he was facing. We played from behind all day, had horrible field position, our OL got their asses kicked, and our WRs acted liked the football was radioactive. Rudock is exactly who I thought he was. He is being asked to be a game manager and is being protected by Harbaugh. If a team can get a jump on Michigan and force them to play from behind, I think Rudock will be exposed. Unfortunately it was obvious from the opening kickoff that we were not prepared to be that team today and I am thoroughly disgusted by it.
It Did Not Come Down To Thorson vs. Rudock
- Thread starter corbi296
- Start date
I agree completely about coaching losing the game today. It's like every so often our coaching staff takes a snooze, and I sure hope they snap out of this one soon! No way do we again want to descend into the hell that has been the past two years. If we do not win the west division I will be very disappointed, since this team is quite capable of doing that if we don't squander it away with piss poor game plans. That first kickoff run back was beyond amateurish on NU's part. That is lack of preparation.
Honestly...I'm glad we lost this way - ugly with no excuses. No Fitz saying the ball didn't bounce our way, or it coming down to just one play. The question is...what happens behind closed doors? Is it awwe shucks we'll get em next time? (when we play them again several years from now)
Same weaknesses we've seen for years now. Bad special teams play, specifically bad kick coverage, bad KOs, and bad punting. Bad OL play. Bad WR play. They spiraled into disaster because nothing else worked all that well, but they're trouble every week. Will changes ever be made???
No. They will not. Fitz made a point of telling us that over the offseason when he gave all the fans the finger and said his staff was perfect and needed no changes or improvement.
The plan on the first kickoff was to kick the ball to the right side of the field and shift the KO team over to that quadrant. So the receiver, knowing what they did, took a beeline quickly to the other side. After one block ....it was over. Brown and the others who had containment, lost their bearings and were so far removed from position that he ran untouched.
I got the answer....let mitchell kick into the endzone. I know fitz likes mirrucis lofts but really? Put the ball out of the endzone since we are capable.
I don't recall the comment on the staff being perfect. The coaching today was poor, very poor. However, I am not sure Vince Lombardi could have came back from the dead and made up for the mismatches of their D versus our O. Fitz has already called out Cushing publicly for a lack of substitutions. Let's have the season play out and then see what happens with accountability. How we come out next week will tell us much more.
I noticed that MI consistently lined up 7 on the LOS and successfully ran and protected the QB. With 2 healthy SBs and some extra healthy OL, would that have helped? Removing some stone handed WRs could not have hurt.
Throwing in a lot of GD and Vita along with using his brother, double back sets, etc with CJ and one other WR might make sense. The SBs have better hands and can block and anything is better than our WR corp.
Well, as a fan, he certainly didn't give ME the finger, since I believe that, in terms of coaching continuity, be careful what you wish for. Jerry Kill is an excellent coach partially BECAUSE he has attained his assistants for so long. And he is far from the only example.
Interesting observation. I think that it might have helped a little, but not nearly enough to turn this lopsided a loss into a win...
Um, until this game our special teams play has been excellent. Arguably, it won us the Duke game (with KO return TD and fumbled punt recovery) and great punt by Niswander followed by Shuler's punt return broke open the Minnesota game. We hadn't given up much at all on field position with kickoffs all year and the strategic high punts have prevented opponent returns (esp in Stanford game vs. McCaffery). But don't let facts stand in the way of your rant.
And the guy kicking off still can't kick it into the end zone. Seem to remember a guy, who is still on the roster kicking balls into and out of the end zone last season. Maybe Fitz can find him this week.
So after repeatedly dismissing all those things when it came to a certain former NU QB, now those things matter and can't just put all the blame on the loss on the QB?
Yep, same ol', same ol', but you forget bad game plan and playcalling.
Thorson didn't look great but he got little to no help; considering the circumstances, thought he played pretty well and better than the Duke or Ball St. games.
But what's the point of having a dual-threat QB if the OC isn't going to utilize half the threat (aside from on piss-poor speed option plays).
Maybe wouldn't have changed things much, but how do you know if you don't try it?
I think KaTNap summed it up best. Same vulnerabilities and flaws showing up again.
Let's take a step back and figure out what Harbaugh did to expose NU: 1. Clogged the running lanes for Jackson and dare our WRs to get open and make plays consistently. UM's secondary did not allow separation and when they did our WRs dropped the balls and when they caught the ball were not physical enough to prevent the ball from being ripped from them and returned for a pick 6; 2. our offensive line was not getting a push and most of the time got pushed back; 3. on defense, Harbaugh said we would chip or double Lowry and let others make plays. Gibson took advantage of the situation with 2.5 sacks and he was a bright spot. But no positive plays from the DTs who could not maintain gap integrity and allowed UM's bread and butter interior run game to give 5-7 yards a crack on early downs. Prater did get sucked in and disappeared in the interior of the line instead of keeping or staying his lane; 4. Harbaugh knew we would not be able to guard UM's talented TE corp and they could always fall back on that; and 5. special teams were very poor from the opening kick. Tough matchup from the get go v. UM and NU better clean up the mess or Iowa will expose the same flaws. I have faith in NU to correct some of these weaknesses, but NU's WRs better get over the case of the dropsies next Saturday or we will again struggle to score 10 or more.
Let's take a step back and figure out what Harbaugh did to expose NU: 1. Clogged the running lanes for Jackson and dare our WRs to get open and make plays consistently. UM's secondary did not allow separation and when they did our WRs dropped the balls and when they caught the ball were not physical enough to prevent the ball from being ripped from them and returned for a pick 6; 2. our offensive line was not getting a push and most of the time got pushed back; 3. on defense, Harbaugh said we would chip or double Lowry and let others make plays. Gibson took advantage of the situation with 2.5 sacks and he was a bright spot. But no positive plays from the DTs who could not maintain gap integrity and allowed UM's bread and butter interior run game to give 5-7 yards a crack on early downs. Prater did get sucked in and disappeared in the interior of the line instead of keeping or staying his lane; 4. Harbaugh knew we would not be able to guard UM's talented TE corp and they could always fall back on that; and 5. special teams were very poor from the opening kick. Tough matchup from the get go v. UM and NU better clean up the mess or Iowa will expose the same flaws. I have faith in NU to correct some of these weaknesses, but NU's WRs better get over the case of the dropsies next Saturday or we will again struggle to score 10 or more.
I'll grant that it has been better through the first five games this year. But it I'm going back a bit further than that; it's been a weakness going back years. Once upon a time, we had a dedicated special teams coach and excellent ST play. It made a big difference.
And there is evidence they have been good for his program. And while Cushing has been a pretty good recruiter, the OL has under performed, he does at least have the recruiting thing going for him. But our WR have also under performed and I have not seen evidence that our WR coach is anything special as a recruiter. People complain about McCall and a lack of originality but could that be a function of OL and WR performance? When you have two question marks coaches and both are on the same side of the ball, sort of handcuffs the OC.
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