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Indi1006

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I'm more interested in watching this game than any during the Kill era. We're playing a beatable Michigan team at their Big House on National TV on a Fall day that is supposed to have a high of 77 degrees with no chance of rain. It's what we wait for all year. Claeys is going to come out with a solid gameplan and we'll need it because if what is causing Gardner most of his problems is between his ears, it's likely he's going to feel better about himself this week since he's killed us twice now. He'll likely play a lot better than he has, but our D should be able to compete well and keep us in the game. That brings it down to Kill and Limegrover and what they have ready to go on offense. We have obvious concerns at QB. We have a stout run D that we're going to face. Was Nebraska last year a mirage, or can our O coaching staff rise to the occassion more consistently now and put together a plan that will enable us to win a big game even if we're maybe not able to run the ball between the tackles as well as Kill would like to? I'm skeptical, but Saturday is the day when we might just find out what we have to look forward to in the Kill era. Is he going to open things up even in the face of adversity, or is he going to always play it safe and hope for a few breaks, our D and special teams to carry the day? To me, the latter won't beat quality B1G teams. We play hard, we have good kids; we need to lay it all on the line and open things up and be creative and leave everything on the field; including whatever we have in the playbook that could keep Michigan off balance. For the love of God let's see 5-6 jet sweeps to Jones or Edwards, 3-4 screens to Cobb and 4-5 bubble screen to Edwards/Jones, et al. Maybe even surprise us with a couple of plays none of us are even expecting or calling for. I think a stubborn adherence to the "play it safe" strategy dooms us in big games most of the time. If Kill wants to muddle around with 6, 7 or 8 wins a year, keep his job and put money in his and his assistants pockets for the next three or four years he can probably do that playing offense that he's comfortable with. If he wants to start this Saturday with taking us to the next level, he's going to have to work with Limegrover to loosen things up and take some chances and put his faith in his fellas (yes even Streveler and Leidner; I think we have sucked the confidence out of our QBs the past three years) and let them play some semblance of modern day football, we might just be rewarded with a big win this weekend that could get us over the hump.
 

Nice write-up. Let's hope we don't come out and lay a turd.
 

Kill's a weasel. He has been in top secret discussions with Mouse Davis and Jack Pardee for days. Expect Rhoda to throw for 500 yards.
 


I know people want to see more jet sweeps, but beware what you wish for. We are extremely slow in getting such plays going. Maybe Streveler will be different with this, but we have been terrible with that play the last few seasons.
 


tikited said:
I know people want to see more jet sweeps, but beware what you wish for. We are extremely slow in getting such plays going. Maybe Streveler will be different with this, but we have been terrible with that play the last few seasons.
Click to expand...

Except last year.
 

if the ends up being TCU Part 2 You can almost see scenario where Claeys takes a HC offer at the end of the year.
 

tikited said:
I know people want to see more jet sweeps, but beware what you wish for. We are extremely slow in getting such plays going. Maybe Streveler will be different with this, but we have been terrible with that play the last few seasons.
Click to expand...

As long as it is not the Fruechte Jet Sweep, I am ok with it.

His stat line rushing the ball has to look like this:

5 Carries
-24 Yards
3 Fumbles
 

There's only so much Kill and Limegrover can do. When you struggle to protect the QB, struggle to throw accurate passes, and have young WR's there isn't a gameplan in the world that will get you 30 points against a good defense despite those weaknesses. Player execution is always the #1 aspect of having success. If the players aren't executing then the offensive staff still deserves criticism since they are recruiting and coaching these players, but I really don't think the gameplan is a huge issue.

I don't need to see a playbook full of gimmicks like the Nebraska game last year. Once you put a game like that on tape, it's not going to work nearly as well the next time you do it. We need to stick with what we're good at on Saturday. Run the ball heavily and hope Leidner/Streveler connect on some play-action passes to loosen up the defense. Throw in a few wrinkles to keep the defense guessing, sure, but if you get away from your identity the players won't be as confident running the offense.
 





Indi1006 said:
I'm more interested in watching this game than any during the Kill era. We're playing a beatable Michigan team at their Big House on National TV on a Fall day that is supposed to have a high of 77 degrees with no chance of rain. It's what we wait for all year. Claeys is going to come out with a solid gameplan and we'll need it because if what is causing Gardner most of his problems is between his ears, it's likely he's going to feel better about himself this week since he's killed us twice now. He'll likely play a lot better than he has, but our D should be able to compete well and keep us in the game. That brings it down to Kill and Limegrover and what they have ready to go on offense. We have obvious concerns at QB. We have a stout run D that we're going to face. Was Nebraska last year a mirage, or can our O coaching staff rise to the occassion more consistently now and put together a plan that will enable us to win a big game even if we're maybe not able to run the ball between the tackles as well as Kill would like to? I'm skeptical, but Saturday is the day when we might just find out what we have to look forward to in the Kill era. Is he going to open things up even in the face of adversity, or is he going to always play it safe and hope for a few breaks, our D and special teams to carry the day? To me, the latter won't beat quality B1G teams. We play hard, we have good kids; we need to lay it all on the line and open things up and be creative and leave everything on the field; including whatever we have in the playbook that could keep Michigan off balance. For the love of God let's see 5-6 jet sweeps to Jones or Edwards, 3-4 screens to Cobb and 4-5 bubble screen to Edwards/Jones, et al. Maybe even surprise us with a couple of plays none of us are even expecting or calling for. I think a stubborn adherence to the "play it safe" strategy dooms us in big games most of the time. If Kill wants to muddle around with 6, 7 or 8 wins a year, keep his job and put money in his and his assistants pockets for the next three or four years he can probably do that playing offense that he's comfortable with. If he wants to start this Saturday with taking us to the next level, he's going to have to work with Limegrover to loosen things up and take some chances and put his faith in his fellas (yes even Streveler and Leidner; I think we have sucked the confidence out of our QBs the past three years) and let them play some semblance of modern day football, we might just be rewarded with a big win this weekend that could get us over the hump.
Click to expand...

Great write up Indi. I enjoyed reading it. Go Gophers!
 

e.bigelow said:
As long as it is not the Fruechte Jet Sweep, I am ok with it.

His stat line rushing the ball has to look like this:

5 Carries
-24 Yards
3 Fumbles
Click to expand...

+1. I don't understand giving the jet sweep to IF. I don't understand giving it to anyone other than DJones. He has done well with it. However, some folks seem to be asking for the jet sweep 5+ times a game. I don't think it is that type of play. Takes time to develop. You need to run it 2-3(max) a game, but use the threat to help on other runs, IMO.
 



Indi1006 said:
... We're playing a beatable Michigan team...To me, the latter won't beat quality B1G teams...I think a stubborn adherence to the "play it safe" strategy dooms us in big games most of the time. If Kill wants to muddle around with 6, 7 or 8 wins a year, keep his job and put money in his and his assistants pockets for the next three or four years...let them play some semblance of modern day football...
Click to expand...
So, is Michigan "beatable" or "quality"? Is having a plan and building this program while consistently adhering to that philosophy a good thing? Or, perhaps we should just chuck the ball all over the yard like "modern day football" teams do? You are entitled to arm-chair quarterback as much as the next guy, but I'm more interested to see if our battered troops can go on the road and perform at a high level. I'm sure there will be a few wrinkles -- as is the case every week -- but it's less about the nuances of the game-plan and more about execution, as Jaymil so aptly pointed out.

And the ludicrous comment about JK wanting to "muddle around" and put money in the staff's pockets, shows how little you've paid attention over the last four years. smh.
 

killme said:
So, is Michigan "beatable" or "quality"? Is having a plan and building this program while consistently adhering to that philosophy a good thing? Or, perhaps we should just chuck the ball all over the yard like "modern day football" teams do? You are entitled to arm-chair quarterback as much as the next guy, but I'm more interested to see if our battered troops can go on the road and perform at a high level. I'm sure there will be a few wrinkles -- as is the case every week -- but it's less about the nuances of the game-plan and more about execution, as Jaymil so aptly pointed out.

And the ludicrous comment about JK wanting to "muddle around" and put money in the staff's pockets, shows how little you've paid attention over the last four years. smh.
Click to expand...

Two things: 1) You have very little to no capacity to deal with anything that is even mildly critical of Kill and his staff regardless of what may try and jump up and bite you in the a$$ and 2) Our O generally pi$$es me off even though I hope for better each time we play against a solid B1G team. So, we're not apt to buy each other a beer anytime soon which won't ruin my day. Michigan's O is bad, their D is I think 20th or so in the nation. They're both beatable and quality. I like Kill, but not from A to Z; I don't think he's been able to rise to the challenge in high profile games and I also think that's mostly because of what we try and do on O when we're outgunned from a talent perspective.
 

tikited said:
I know people want to see more jet sweeps, but beware what you wish for. We are extremely slow in getting such plays going. Maybe Streveler will be different with this, but we have been terrible with that play the last few seasons.
Click to expand...

It doesn't always work, but it doesn't need to go for a big gain every time to help the offense. We seem to use about 25 yards of the field width-wise. We need to attack the eges in some way -- sweeps, screens, etc. -- just to try to get the defense moving laterally at least a little and keep them from plugging up the middle on every play.
 

Spoofin said:
+1. I don't understand giving the jet sweep to IF. I don't understand giving it to anyone other than DJones. He has done well with it. However, some folks seem to be asking for the jet sweep 5+ times a game. I don't think it is that type of play. Takes time to develop. You need to run it 2-3(max) a game, but use the threat to help on other runs, IMO.
Click to expand...

We ran fake jet sweep passes a few times last year. I agree that you don't run the play too much, but if you have early success, just threatening the jet sweep may open things up for a few other plays.
 

Gopherdrummer said:
We ran fake jet sweep passes a few times last year. I agree that you don't run the play too much, but if you have early success, just threatening the jet sweep may open things up for a few other plays.
Click to expand...

That was my point. We agree, right? Friends?
 






We've seen the coaches execute the diverse offense, that we saw in the Nebraska game. So, I find it impossible, that they just forgot how to call those plays. So the reasonable assumption is they have deliberately been showing the bare minimum, on film, they have had to.
 

Lordshawesome said:
We've seen the coaches execute the diverse offense, that we saw in the Nebraska game. So, I find it impossible, that they just forgot how to call those plays. So the reasonable assumption is they have deliberately been showing the bare minimum, on film, they have had to.
Click to expand...

Um, do teams not have access to film from last year? Plus, we ran the same playbookk against Syracuse that we did against Nebraska. Didn't work as well. Basically, SU had a better defense, and they weren't caught off-guard like NU. I'm pretty sure Michigan knows how to defend a jet sweep. So unless we see something totally new on Saturday (unlikely), I see about 16 points in our future.
 

Lordshawesome said:
We've seen the coaches execute the diverse offense, that we saw in the Nebraska game. So, I find it impossible, that they just forgot how to call those plays. So the reasonable assumption is they have deliberately been showing the bare minimum, on film, they have had to.
Click to expand...

Everyone always points back to that Nebraska game as some sign that the coaches can drastically change the offense. Thing is if you look back at that game we ran the ball 54 times and only threw it like 17 times. The offense didn't really change they just added the shifts as a surprise to confuse Nebraska and it worked great. Problem with something like that is now that it has been done there are not a lot of other surprise options to break out. The only real drastic change we could make would be to suddenly go spread and chuck it all over the place...and we all know that is not going to happen, nor should it.

Will we see some things we haven't to date against Michigan.....almost certainly. But the fundamental offense that Kill/Limegrover run is not going to change. The games we won last year we were able to run the ball, the games we lost we couldn't. I would expect 2014 to be very similar.
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
Read the ones where he tried to come up with clever little nicknames for players and coaches.
Click to expand...

hey melonhead, i do that in mockery of The Daily Gopher. Currently, TDG and myself have a running back and forth battle. i I hate all the nicknames. BTW: i'm usually right on my predictions and you know it so it eats you up.
 

wait!what? said:
hey melonhead, i do that in mockery of The Daily Gopher. Currently, TDG and myself have a running back and forth battle. i I hate all the nicknames. BTW: i'm usually right on my predictions and you know it so it eats you up.
Click to expand...
No, what eats me up is your haphazard use of capital letters.
 

Indi1006 said:
I'm more interested in watching this game than any during the Kill era. We're playing a beatable Michigan team at their Big House on National TV on a Fall day that is supposed to have a high of 77 degrees with no chance of rain. It's what we wait for all year. Claeys is going to come out with a solid gameplan and we'll need it because if what is causing Gardner most of his problems is between his ears, it's likely he's going to feel better about himself this week since he's killed us twice now. He'll likely play a lot better than he has, but our D should be able to compete well and keep us in the game. That brings it down to Kill and Limegrover and what they have ready to go on offense. We have obvious concerns at QB. We have a stout run D that we're going to face. Was Nebraska last year a mirage, or can our O coaching staff rise to the occassion more consistently now and put together a plan that will enable us to win a big game even if we're maybe not able to run the ball between the tackles as well as Kill would like to? I'm skeptical, but Saturday is the day when we might just find out what we have to look forward to in the Kill era. Is he going to open things up even in the face of adversity, or is he going to always play it safe and hope for a few breaks, our D and special teams to carry the day? To me, the latter won't beat quality B1G teams. We play hard, we have good kids; we need to lay it all on the line and open things up and be creative and leave everything on the field; including whatever we have in the playbook that could keep Michigan off balance. For the love of God let's see 5-6 jet sweeps to Jones or Edwards, 3-4 screens to Cobb and 4-5 bubble screen to Edwards/Jones, et al. Maybe even surprise us with a couple of plays none of us are even expecting or calling for. I think a stubborn adherence to the "play it safe" strategy dooms us in big games most of the time. If Kill wants to muddle around with 6, 7 or 8 wins a year, keep his job and put money in his and his assistants pockets for the next three or four years he can probably do that playing offense that he's comfortable with. If he wants to start this Saturday with taking us to the next level, he's going to have to work with Limegrover to loosen things up and take some chances and put his faith in his fellas (yes even Streveler and Leidner; I think we have sucked the confidence out of our QBs the past three years) and let them play some semblance of modern day football, we might just be rewarded with a big win this weekend that could get us over the hump.
Click to expand...
Couldn't agree more, but I doubt it will happen. I fear Kill will play it safe and lose big.
 


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