GBMWolverine: Coach's Corner -- Michigan Football -- Michigan at Michigan State -- What Happened and What It Means -- Part II

Posted at 6:00am — 10/20/2011

GBMWolverine: Coach’s Corner — Michigan Football — Michigan at Michigan State — What Happened and What It Means — Part II

And that brings us all back to the obvious, the quarterback play of Michigan. Much was made of Denard and happy feet. However, it is easy to have happy feet when defenders are in the backfield before a quarterback gets the snap. The fundamentals were awful but the duress was past significant, the pressure was boiler pitch. The kid is what he is and for that matter so is Devin, a skilled athlete who is a better passer but a player with the most limited of experience. Denard is a leader, he has great strengths and obvious limitations. All that can be done is make a change or keep working.

The view here is that talk of benching is premature. Even though Coach Borges is trying to adapt the meshing and the outcome is far from perfect: pitting the philosophy and scheme versus the skills of the quarterback. This will never be a full mesh, but that does not mean wave the flag, far from it, flush the mess down the toilet, work on the weaknesses, and do not give in an inch.

Al Borges did not have his best game. Although his options are limited by the minimal success of the passing game when under duress, not much worked. This happens and great outrage should be stuffed in a bag and thrown over a cliff. MSU had advantages and used them. Simply MSU could do what it wanted much more than Michigan could, hence the score difference and the game outcome, pure and simple, no universal mystery.

As stated early, there were spots, that while bright may be hyperbole. but still indicated clear hope and evidence of program change. The secondary did play better, the middle was controlled pretty well, there really was no quit, and Michigan saw what it would someday like to do; physically control both lines of scrimmage. Big boy, power, bully-boy football is coming back and cute and sexy is going out of style. Coach Borges got a little cute, but the inability of the quarterback to read blitzes and adjust was very troublesome.

So, what does Michigan need to do to carry on? Well the mission is dump the baggage and focus on what this team needs to do to get better. Flush the toilet and have a go at beating a good team down the road. Denard really does have a long way to go, and some of this situation is physical, but maybe more is now mental in nature, and that is not good.

This game was a moment in history, a challenge and a measuring stick. The result was not all total failure. One thing that has gone unstated is how well Michigan kept poise, with what was going on things could have got ugly. The one notable exception was the quarterback and wide-outs starting to chirp at each other, almost certainly out of frustration.

Yes, Michigan State had two weeks to prepare, but you can bet that the MSU staff had the game plan ready this summer. This is a good time for Michigan to regroup, lick some wounds, get healthy, etc. There is more football to be played and other yardsticks will pop up.

Remember the statement of weeks ago, Michigan will have to fight to win any game from here on in, so be it.

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Written by GBMWolverine Staff

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