Until RichRod gets his QB, expect some frustration in Ann Arbor

Re:Until RichRod gets his QB, expect some frustration in Ann Arbor (Eric72GoBlue)

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 13:59:19 GMT

I say we put Threet under center occasionally and run it a few times. Im sure RR knows a few plays not related to the spread. We have a couple good recruits comming in next year at QB, so we can look forward to next ear I guess.

Re:Until RichRod gets his QB, expect some frustration in Ann Arbor (DHerrick)

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 12:49:33 GMT

After Utah, my advice to the coaching staff would have been to start Threet and give up on any QB running plays, including having the QB fake a run because no defender would believe the fake. Well, I guess there is a reason I am not on the coaching staff. I was simply amazed by how well Threet was able to run and how that opened up the running game for McGuffie et al. Too bad Threet forgot how to throw.

Re:Until RichRod gets his QB, expect some frustration in Ann Arbor (goblueinohio)

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 11:34:35 GMT

i knew this would be a difficult year at qb for us but i'm not in favor of switching them out throughout the game. i think it disrupts the flow however little it is right now too much. Either play 1 the whole game or make the change at halftime. when the conference games start we are going to have to go with 1 or the other, we will not be able to keep switching hoping to find the hot hand.

Re:Until RichRod gets his QB, expect some frustration in Ann Arbor (OC Michigan Fan)

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 11:17:47 GMT

mazebacker70

Hard core fans who understand football won't get stired.

I'd say educated football fans won't get stired. There's plenty of hard core idiots.

Re:Until RichRod gets his QB, expect some frustration in Ann Arbor (mazebacker70)

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 11:10:18 GMT

Hard core fans who understand football won't get stired.

Re:Until RichRod gets his QB, expect some frustration in Ann Arbor (msp2kids)

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 09:00:29 GMT

go_blue1970

mazebacker70

Yeah most fans who were polled before the season said itwould be a rough season. So the media can just back off.

you have to remember, it's the medias job to be controversal. They would do the same thing for any major program right now. Look at espn's college game day, Holtz and May are jokes, but they must feel this sells.

right-- thay get paid to stir the pot!!

Re:Until RichRod gets his QB, expect some frustration in Ann Arbor (go_blue1970)

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 08:32:03 GMT

mazebacker70

Yeah most fans who were polled before the season said itwould be a rough season. So the media can just back off.

you have to remember, it's the medias job to be controversal. They would do the same thing for any major program right now. Look at espn's college game day, Holtz and May are jokes, but they must feel this sells.

Re:Until RichRod gets his QB, expect some frustration in Ann Arbor (mazebacker70)

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 08:08:30 GMT

Yeah most fans who were polled before the season said itwould be a rough season. So the media can just back off.

Re:Until RichRod gets his QB, expect some frustration in Ann Arbor (victors2000)

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 07:42:28 GMT

Like he said, it is what it is; he must play a quarterback who is not particularly adept at running this offense. Honestly, even in the pro set that we employed last year these guys would be struggling; neither one of them inspires confidence that they can be 'very good'. Heck, we're still working on good.

I hope we all continue to see this as a work in progress. I can't stand the media and the damned pictures they paint about how everybody is running out of patience and what is Coach Rod going to do...'Now'. With just two games I can already see what this offense is capable of and what it will do in the future. I can hardly wait...

Until RichRod gets his QB, expect some frustration in Ann Arbor (mazebacker70)

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 05:22:05 GMT

ANN ARBOR -- Spreading Michigan's offense is proving to be some kind of chore two weeks into the Rich Rodriguez administration.
Total offensive yards for the Wolverines during Saturday's 16-6 victory slog over Miami (Ohio): 281, or about half what you would peg Rodriguez's vaunted spread to roll up at Michigan Stadium against a Mid-American Conference visitor.
Time of possession for Michigan: 24 minutes and 47 seconds, compared with 35 minutes, 13 seconds for the RedHawks.
Rodriguez can bump fists today with his defense, in particular strong safety Brandon Harrison. It was Harrison who pried Miami receiver Chris Givens' arms away from the football on what was about to become a perfect fade-pass touchdown midway through the third quarter that could have tied the score at 10.

A tie game at that point might have turned those U-M jersey collars dangerously tight a week after Michigan had opened Rodriguez's tenure with anything but a confidence-gainer in its loss to Utah.
Rodriguez and the Wolverines are 1-1 heading into Notre Dame next weekend. The true status of Michigan football, and where it is as a new system and new regime attempt to establish moorings in Ann Arbor, is a long way from convincing.
"Right now, it is what it is, whatever kind of quote that is," Rodriguez said afterward, conceding things are a bit in flux as the team prepares for its sleepover at South Bend. "You can probably tell by my answers that I'm very frustrated and exasperated."

It all starts with the QB, whoever he is

The angst might only have begun for Rodriguez.
He has a problem at quarterback, which is not exactly news. Plugging in an offensive system that requires superior skill and deftness demands a quarterback who can do quite a few more things than Steven Threet or Nick Sheridan.
The truth is that Michigan's entire offense still is playing pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey when it comes to figuring out the spread's machinations.
That the Wolverines scored 16 on Miami confirms that this is not where Rodriguez needed, or probably expected, to be two weeks into the most drastic alteration of Michigan football in the school's modern history.
He has athletes on offense but not enough at the right places, mainly quarterback. In the third quarter, just as Junior Hemingway or Darryl Stonum broke free and waited for a crisp pass from Threet that they might take down the sidelines for a touchdown, there went the ball, over their heads, as the crowd groaned and as Rodriguez probably said something naughty.
The question, of course, is whether Rodriguez's brand of football ever will be revealed in any kind of scope until he gets the triggerman he needs.
It means that the Wolverines could be relying this season on their defense to keep things afloat.
There are more athletes at the right spots on defense, although controlling the game from that side of the ball is anything but a given. The Wolverines had their problems shutting down Miami, which gained 29 fewer yards than U-M and had 16 first downs to Michigan's 15.

Beware: Construction zone

What mattered, as Rodriguez acknowledged afterward, was how solid Michigan's defense played in the fourth quarter. Miami ran out of room and out of gas. Michigan pinched down up front and in the secondary. Finally throttled by a significantly more skilled team, the RedHawks weren't going to become the first MAC school to beat Michigan, after all.
"It's like a Clint Eastwood movie -- 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,'" Rodriguez quipped, talking about the mixed bag of tricks his team put together. "We've got to be patient because they're young guys and we have to make progress each week."
Those who have stopped by Michigan Stadium the past two weekends have wended their way through the new construction that marks Michigan's $226 million stadium upgrade.
What anyone can see, even at this early juncture, is how spectacular it all will be in a couple of years when everything is finished. The brickwork, the suites, the furnishings, the utter magnificence of a project so comprehensive, should dazzle the fans when it all wraps up in 2010.
At that very point, Rodriguez will have a more-experienced quarterback running his spread offense. It could be quite a sight, the Rodriguez scoring scheme. It should be both dynamic in its execution and imposing in what it accomplishes against opposing defenses.
Of course, the difference today at Michigan Stadium, as one compares one physical process with another, is that you can see the steel and the framework of the building expansion.
The quarterback to run Rodriguez's offense, an offense that today is hitting on all of one cylinder, hasn't yet made it to campus.

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080906/OPINION03/809060443/1131