Good luck PSU fans going forward, especially with your
- Thread starter Blue_J
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I wouldn't go that far. Franklin may not be a great game coach but he is no Brady Hoke. He did a nice job at Vanderbilt. I think he recruits as well as Hoke and can probably put together a better staff and motivate.
I am no Hoke fan. Not a bad guy but Franklin is competent and Hoke is well....
RM
I am no Hoke fan. Not a bad guy but Franklin is competent and Hoke is well....
RM
Thanks ----- Michigan deserved the win, but U-M didn't win because they had significantly superior talent.
But the difference in coaching was infinite.
Good offensive scheme from U-M, and that's what basically decided the game. It didn't dominate a good PSU defense but it knew where the primary PSU weak spot was (on the edge at the line of scrimmage) and the scheme was "effective enough" to control things just enough in a game where 20 points would win it.
Meanwhile, the other side (1) hasn't coached their players not to actually try to catch a fair catch inside the 10-yard-line, and (2) couldn't have scored from inside the 10-yard-line if they had 1,000,000 downs to get a TD.
In a world where Bill O'Brien was still at PSU, today would have been a well-coached football game from both sides, and a near 50-50 toss-up in terms of who made just enough plays to win it at the end.
But that's not reality.
Franklin has to deal with Urban Meyer, Jim Harbaugh, and Mark Dantonio EVERY year. EVERY year.
As they say on Sesame Street, "one of these four things does not appear to be like the other."
But the difference in coaching was infinite.
Good offensive scheme from U-M, and that's what basically decided the game. It didn't dominate a good PSU defense but it knew where the primary PSU weak spot was (on the edge at the line of scrimmage) and the scheme was "effective enough" to control things just enough in a game where 20 points would win it.
Meanwhile, the other side (1) hasn't coached their players not to actually try to catch a fair catch inside the 10-yard-line, and (2) couldn't have scored from inside the 10-yard-line if they had 1,000,000 downs to get a TD.
In a world where Bill O'Brien was still at PSU, today would have been a well-coached football game from both sides, and a near 50-50 toss-up in terms of who made just enough plays to win it at the end.
But that's not reality.
Franklin has to deal with Urban Meyer, Jim Harbaugh, and Mark Dantonio EVERY year. EVERY year.
As they say on Sesame Street, "one of these four things does not appear to be like the other."
There was one clear on field advantage and that was Michigan's defensive line versus Penn State's offense of line.
Don't even compare Franklin to Hoke...though wins and losses are what matters most, Franklin is a D-bag. He was at Vanderbilt, just as he is at Penn St.
Well, yeah, I never said each individual match-up was even. I'm not trying to take anything away from U-M, if that's what you thought I was doing.
But still --- for as bad as the PSU OL was, they were still good enough to get inside the 10-yard-line three separate times.
And only get a field goal each time.
That was some of the most hideous offensive scheming and play-calling I've ever seen on those plays inside the 10. Where is a full-back? Where is a pass to a tight end? Why the continual calling of plays to the boundary when there was limited success on lateral plays all afternoon?
Today, IMO, was a "coaching victory" vs. a "talent victory." And a credit to Harbaugh for that, he's a proven very good coach.
Bill O'Brien in the Big Ten East would have provided for some epic coaching matchups, year in and year out.
Nope, Franklin really isn't any better than Hoke. See michnittlion's post. He nails it. Poor clock management, head scratching play calls, his QB has got worse, no improvement on the o-line. Actually very, very similar coaches. Almost mirror images.
