Questions and Observations

[buckeyeabroad]

Ok. the wake is over. Two days have passed. We Buckeyes had our laugh. For me, I admit, it was a laugh, but not a hugely enjoyable one.

You guys piss me off. Why? Because when you're good and lose, well that's just good fun (unless it's to Notre Dame). When you're bad and lose, I am quite conflicted. But enough about me.

I want to know, and try to keep things in perspective please- no chest thumping- how do feel about this transition? Do you want to abandon smash-mouth football for what people seem to think is a spreading new wave? Are you just a little reluctant?

How do you feel about this guy, RR? Personally I do not see him as what you folks love to call a "_ichigan Man". Do you? For me, The Vest seems to share more values with this hypothetical "_ichigan Man" than this cat, RR.

So speak up. I for one promise not to use what you say against you later. Those of you who have been around here for a few months or more have shown yourselves to be honorable and worth listening to. I genuinely want to hear.

There's a big pink elephant in the corner of The Game world. Phuk SC. All I care about is The Game and a B10 Championship. So, tell us, tell me what you really think. Lines are open. Callers are waiting.

[championoftheworld]

[quote author=buckeyeabroad board=ttungeneral thread=8419 post=89539 time=1220381884]Ok. the wake is over. Two days have passed. We Buckeyes had our laugh. For me, I admit, it was a laugh, but not a hugely enjoyable one.

You guys piss me off. Why? Because when you're good and lose, well that's just good fun (unless it's to Notre Dame). When you're bad and lose, I am quite conflicted. But enough about me.

I want to know, and try to keep things in perspective please- no chest thumping- how do feel about this transition? Do you want to abandon smash-mouth football for what people seem to think is a spreading new wave? Are you just a little reluctant?

How do you feel about this guy, RR? Personally I do not see him as what you folks love to call a "_ichigan Man". Do you? For me, The Vest seems to share more values with this hypothetical "_ichigan Man" than this cat, RR.

So speak up. I for one promise not to use what you say against you later. Those of you who have been around here for a few months or more have shown yourselves to be honorable and worth listening to. I genuinely want to hear.

There's a big pink elephant in the corner of The Game world. Phuk SC. All I care about is The Game and a B10 Championship. So, tell us, tell me what you really think. Lines are open. Callers are waiting.[/quote]

I have been reluctant, but I also think we needed a change. Was RR the right man for the job? I don't know, but I am willing to let him work his system until he can get the results we think he can bring to Michigan. That doesn't mean forever, to me it should be a reasonable amount of time (2-4) years. I don't really care for his type of football with the spread option (gimmicky) type offense where the quarterback is constantly on the run. It may have worked at WVU because they needed to do that to compete. The pro-style offense that we ran in the past was good, but Lloyd just wasn't utilizing the players. If we could meet half way with both types of offense, if that's possible then I would be more satisfied than to just use the spread option. Like in the Capital One Bowl against Florida.

As far as the transition period goes, I think it's going to a tough year for Michigan. As I was at the game the offense looked way worse live than on T.V. There's something about watching it live that makes it look uglier. I believe they have learned a great deal from this game and will proceed to get better as the year progresses. Hopefully by Nov. 22nd we will have the cohesion on offense to have a great game.

[byco42]

Tressel was 6-6 his first year as the Bucky-coach, so the M-Nation should not keel-haul RR just yet. The spread is ... thin ... everywhere ... experience, people, execution. I'm counting on it being better as the season progresses and as RR gets his players in the scheme. It's not something I'm used to yet, after years of options, counter treys and lead draws as the foundation of the offense. RR has to get players from everywhere ... "locking up the state of Michigan" does him no good.

The defense has to brunt this team this season, or it will be 2-5 in a hurry.

[buckeyeabroad]

That's the kind of non-chest-thumping description I sought. You guys are more than welcomed, you're valued here when you talk like this. I'm not trying to speak for anyone else. However for me, thanks- great commentary. I would probably feel the same if I were in your shoes.

The only difference in the Tress-RR first year that I see, when Cooper was obviously on the way out, I hoped they would try Tress because of:
-his success at Youngstown
-his hunger,
-his penchant for developing QBs, and
-his knowledge of Ohio schools.

It's interesting that RR has most of those in a different guise. Can he develop a relationship with Midwest schools? A big unknown...

[columbusbengal]

Sept 2, 2008 14:40:35 GMT -5 @buckeyeabroad said:

It's interesting that RR has most of those in a different guise. Can he develop a relationship with Midwest schools? A big unknown...

I don't think the kind of player R2 wants is as common in the Midwest as it is in the south and west. He is starting to make inroads there already (he probably had some access already when he was at WVU). I will be the first to say I was worried about the hiring of R2 (if you can find my posts back then on the UM board, you would know - I'm not computer savy enough to find them and post a link).

Basically, I'm not sure this offense will work in the Big Ten. There are too many huge linemen (not just from UOS and UM - check NFL rosters). I realize the spread option allows smaller quicker players to get away from the slower huge guys, but it scares me that the occasional hit (more than occasional in the case of really great players like UOS recruits) will be good enough to injure our smaller guys.

I am definitely concerned about R2's recruiting. I liked UM being one of the "minor league teams" for the NFL. I am going to be disappointed when Chad Henne turns out to be the last UM QB starter for an NFL team. I liked having one of the top five or ten recruiting classes every year. I don't care if R2 could win at WVU with 3* players. He was playing other teams with 3* players, too. The way UOS is recruiting, we better get our share of 4* and 5* players every year. I don't care what scheme you play, a team with lots more talent is usually going to beat a team with less talent. So far, R2 is getting 4* offensive skill players, but not many 4* defensive players or O-linemen. We have one 5* defensive lineman but he was recruited by Lloyd and he is a Michigan high school star.

I'm not sure I like R2's character either, although as I get to find out more about him, the more I think he has some good characteristics, too (one of them is the greatly expanded access he allows the press). He also has a dry sense of humor.

I really wanted Les Miles as our next coach because he had all the things I was looking for:

1. He was a Michigan man all the way (I still to this day believe he was almost as disappointed not to get the job as I was that he didn't get the job).

2. He had recruiting ties to the south and the midwest and he could recruit the speed we needed (we needed more speed from DBs and LBs - and probably a couple of slot receivers).

3. I think his offense at LSU would have been perfect for UM. In addition, to me the main thing we needed to improve was our DEFENSE against the spread offenses - uh, for example against Appalachian State and Oregon
I'm quite sure that LSU plays enough spread offenses that Les could have improved our defense in that area. At no time did I ever think we should adopt the spread offense ourselves (except, as one of the posters above me said, to modify some of our plays as we did against Florida).

4. Best of all, Les would have given us a psychological advantage over UOS. Even if he wasn't the last coach to beat the Sweater Vest, the mere fact that he would have come from the SEC might have made the Buckeyes a little bit worried