What's terribly frustrating about this is that people will see the five turnovers and say well, without mistakes, we win. No. Until MSU went into a shell because of the weather, field position and the growing realization that our offense sucks, they kicked our asses, turnovers or not. We weren't going to score enough to win if O'Korn didn't throw the ball to them repeatedly in the second half. Yeah, a good QB, an OL, receivers who could get separation, a great TB, etc. might have allowed us to win if we didn't turn it over, but we don't have any of those, at least not now. And youth seems a paltry excuse against a very young MSU team.
And let's be clear here--the staff steps front and center for this debacle. Yeah, we're missing things on offense, but in those circumstances, you have to call plays to highlight what your guys can do, and minimize what they can't. What we called for the players we have was head scratching. We stopped ourselves on the first drive in the red zone by throwing fades on second and third downs with a QB who lacks the touch and accuracy to throw them, and young WRs who lack the size and/or experience to use their bodies to shield on those plays. We all but abandoned the run in the first half after the Issac fumble (15 pass plays called in the next 17 snaps) with an offense which, to that point, was averaging 4.5 per running play. We didn't highlight our TEs down the seam. at least while the ball was dry in the first half. We didn't run waggles or bootlegs or read options to get O'Korn out in open space where he can be effective--instead, we stuck him in the pocket, locked onto primary receivers, and only got him into open space if the play we called broke down and he had to scramble. We ran one reverse with Peoples-Jones which gained five yards, and could have been a home run but for a great play by a Michigan State defender, and never went back to it (or even faked it) again. We never ran a jet sweep, despite the fact that we were doing pretty well on plays to the edge. I have no real idea of what we thought we could establish. I haven't felt like that since I watched Al Borges coach our offense.
We had two weeks to prepare for this game. It didn't show in terms of scheme or intensity. That's inexcusable. I think Jim Harbaugh is a very good football coach, just as I think John Beilein is a very good basketball coach, but tonight, as was the case with our hoops team against OSU last February, the head coach takes the blame. Please don't blame this on Tim Drevno or Pep Hamilton or Greg Frey (just as our crappy defense early last basketball season wasn't on Billy Donlon)--if Jim didn't like what was going on, he's the guy with the last word (otherwise, he might as well do a Brady Hoke and take off his headset).
Losing to MSU sucks--in some ways, it's worse than losing to OSU, which at least has great talent. Losing because they were more intense and prepared than we were--I can't even begin to fathom that.
And let's be clear here--the staff steps front and center for this debacle. Yeah, we're missing things on offense, but in those circumstances, you have to call plays to highlight what your guys can do, and minimize what they can't. What we called for the players we have was head scratching. We stopped ourselves on the first drive in the red zone by throwing fades on second and third downs with a QB who lacks the touch and accuracy to throw them, and young WRs who lack the size and/or experience to use their bodies to shield on those plays. We all but abandoned the run in the first half after the Issac fumble (15 pass plays called in the next 17 snaps) with an offense which, to that point, was averaging 4.5 per running play. We didn't highlight our TEs down the seam. at least while the ball was dry in the first half. We didn't run waggles or bootlegs or read options to get O'Korn out in open space where he can be effective--instead, we stuck him in the pocket, locked onto primary receivers, and only got him into open space if the play we called broke down and he had to scramble. We ran one reverse with Peoples-Jones which gained five yards, and could have been a home run but for a great play by a Michigan State defender, and never went back to it (or even faked it) again. We never ran a jet sweep, despite the fact that we were doing pretty well on plays to the edge. I have no real idea of what we thought we could establish. I haven't felt like that since I watched Al Borges coach our offense.
We had two weeks to prepare for this game. It didn't show in terms of scheme or intensity. That's inexcusable. I think Jim Harbaugh is a very good football coach, just as I think John Beilein is a very good basketball coach, but tonight, as was the case with our hoops team against OSU last February, the head coach takes the blame. Please don't blame this on Tim Drevno or Pep Hamilton or Greg Frey (just as our crappy defense early last basketball season wasn't on Billy Donlon)--if Jim didn't like what was going on, he's the guy with the last word (otherwise, he might as well do a Brady Hoke and take off his headset).
Losing to MSU sucks--in some ways, it's worse than losing to OSU, which at least has great talent. Losing because they were more intense and prepared than we were--I can't even begin to fathom that.
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