Michigan Offensive Breakdown with Al Borges This Week

I love Denard but he was never going to be an NFL QB, regardless of where he took the snap 

Thanks.  And I appreciate the sentence preamble, because I do find that a little tough to believe.  Make me a better passer?  I buy it.  Take me out of what makes me the most dangerous player in the game?  Harder to believe.

Source?

I've heard that Dave Brandon (who would join Hoke in the film room) was pushing for this.  

McCarthy, like lots of young QBs, locks onto a WR at times at the snap and that tends to be Wilson.  And Wilson needs to work on his routes a bit; that bad shoulder throw McCarthy made in the 3rd (?) Quarter was because Wilson broke inside instead of outside, which felt like the wrong move.

This isn't intended to knock guys other than point out that if you show a proclivity to throw to a guy regardless of whether or not he's the best option defenses will adjust.

If you buy the theory that Harbaugh is in JJ's head about being more risk-averse -- despite Coach's assertion that he is being hands-off -- then this idea fits well. By erring on the side of throwing long, the chances of an INT are lessened.

That said, I am not buying it this season quite yet:

**JJ could have been nervous in his first conference game

** JJ himself said that the overthrows were due to having 100% arm strength for the first time since the surgery -- and he did correct by completing the last long one to Bell.

** Jim has reportedly said he's hands-off with JJ's development.

The Iowa game will give us more information. I really, REALLY hope Jim is going to let JJ be JJ, mistakes be damned, or at least they will figure out some kind of middle ground. I don't think we have the ground game this season to succeed with the QB play we've had. This season, we need to take the next step in the passing game to replicate 2021 success.

I think Maryland's zone defense was really grabby and the refs didn't call it so it stymied some of the throws McCarthy would have made.  But at the same time McCarthy's internal clock maybe needs to be recalibrated a bit because he's done this a couple of times now over the 2 years where he should either get rid of the ball or make a throw but instead he runs around and tries to "make a play" that 1/2 the time works and the other half doesn't, and unfortunately as we saw in this game the time it didn't he fumbled the ball and they blew a shot at scoring in a tight game.

He's learning and I think he'll get there but I also think there's a bit of gloss being put on what was a workmanlike performance that would have gotten other QBs raked more over the coals.

I'm probably mixing up Gardner and Borges when it comes to the long bombs.  Like I said, I watched both a bit because this was the first game where McCarthy played a legitimate defense so I wanted to hear their analysis.

I think McCarthy did fine in this game and some of those deep shots are always going to be tough.  I just think on my rewatch some of those passes had a lower probability of being completed than maybe was obvious at first blush.

After listening to both Borges last year and this year, one of the things I've taken away is that given enough time, Al knows exactly how to attack most defenses and where the ball should go if the play is executed perfectly.  I think where he struggled was anticipating the team's weaknesses or adjusting in-game and potentially teaching his schemes to the players (which is a difficult and important part of college football, and the reason that many offenses in college opt for super simple schemes and reads).

If given time, he can break down any defense and tell you why and how you do something.  But that's not how playcalling works in the moment and I think that his tenure shows he maybe wasn't great at instilling his knowledge to every player on offense (something I think Harbaugh is a 1000x better at, even with his complicated run game)

Oh I’m with you on a lot of this. Even my comment to my seat mate was that JJ was throwing abnormally bad long balls but I’m still glad he threw them. I want qb1 getting after it with long attempts - and nobody gets them all. When they hit they’re huge and in the context of this game they weren’t destroying our chances for a win. JJ made the plays he needed and of course Corum won the day. Learn yes, but keep throwing. 
None of this has much to do with Borges but I still stand being my snark on him judging execution. I judge his execution as an OC!

He's also 66. It might just be that he's done with the grind of being a college coach. If I made the money he did, I certainly wouldn't still be working by my mid-60s...

"Or maybe we just forgo the goofy unfounded conspiracy in some weird attempt to constantly pin blame on the coaches for everything"

What exactly do you think I'm "blaming" the coaches for here? Calling a winning game? Keeping our QB safe?

I don't think there's anything to "blame" anybody for, that's kinda my point. I think the game could've obviously went a little better but I think we generally had favorable results given the game that was called.

I'm not the one looking for deeper meaning in this. Lol Jesus Christ man.

Speculating on a possible piece of the game plan doesn't equate to a "conspiracy theory". JJ was essentially perfect on reads for his career. Then Cade gets hurt, leaving Michigan without a viable backup. Subsequently, JJ looks a lot like Cade on zone read plays. 

Now, it's very possible that JJ was overly nervous and unable to process well in his first Big Ten game. That's why I'm not committing to saying that he was under a Harbaugh directive not to run. That being said, it's also very possible that this is the case, what with seemingly "poor decisions" in the ZR game cropping up (like last year) as well as indecisiveness in the pocket when scrambles were available.

With more data -- the Iowa game, things may become clearer.

I didn't say JJ played a perfect game, I'm not saying players didn't make mistakes, that's not the point.

The point is that the overall theme of this game was determined by the health of the roster and the quality of our opponent, not so much the individual play on the field.

Yeah, JJ could've hit another deep shot or two and the score wouldve been 50-20 or whatever but all you're really changing is the end score. And that's my point, Michigan was a few mistakes away from this being a total and complete blowout of a good team.

The overall theme of this game was "we played vanilla as shit and even gave up the lead and still lol'ed to a win".

I just think maybe we "chicken little" a little less and "yay we beat a B10 opponent" a little more. Especially when the reason we didn't absolutely dominate looks like it was kinda by choice.