Eloquent Incoherence

Jake over at Motown Sports Revival offers some great in-depth analysis about who the next Michigan football coach should be.

Junior defensive tackle Alan Branch announced today that he is skipping his senior season and declaring himself eligible for the NFL Draft. So much for our defense next year…

Unsurprisingly, LSU blew out Notre Dame 41-14 in the Sugar Bowl. It was a great win for LSU and coach Les Miles (even if it came over the most overrated program in college football). But how much credit does Miles deserve? He’s in his second season with LSU, and the bulk of his starters were recruited by his predecessor Nick Saban. Saban pulled in the #1 recruiting class in the nation in 2003 and the #2 recruiting class in 2004. He was also partly responsible for massive upgrades to LSU’s facilities, including the construction of a new academic center and a state-of-the-art football facility. When Saban bolted for the NFL, Miles inherited the program in pristine condition. As well as LSU has done this season, they would have underachieved had they done any worse. And a strong argument can be made that 11-2 without a conference championship is an underachievement, given the level of talent on this year’s team.

What makes this relevant to Michigan is that Miles is a Michigan man, and the top job at Michigan is likely to open up in the not-too-distant future. Miles played and coached at Michigan under Bo Schembechler, and with 62 year-old Lloyd Carr entering his 13th season as head coach, Miles’ name has been widely suggested as a candidate to replace Carr when he retires. But in my view, Miles hasn’t proven much at LSU, and his teams have exhibited the same flaws that have plagued Michigan recently. LSU lost to Auburn this year because they didn’t throw the ball enough and refused to abandon a clearly ineffective game plan (sound familiar?). Their 5-turnover, mistake-filled performance against Florida was nothing short of embarrassing. Last year, they blew a 21-point lead and lost at home to a Tennessee team that finished the season 5-6. They were blown out in the SEC Championship Game later that year by an underdog Georgia team with less talent and an inferior record. In Michigan-like fashion, Miles has tried to build LSU’s offense around its running game, despite having a talented quarterback and receiving corps but an unproven offensive line. LSU fans have often criticized Miles’ offense as too conservative and predictable, the same complaint Michigan fans have voiced about Carr.

Don’t get me wrong; a 22-4 record is nothing to scoff at, and LSU will likely never have a “bad” season under Miles. However, the similarity of his teams’ few yet significant shortcomings to those that have recently plagued Michigan is further proof that Michigan sorely needs a change in philosophy, not another coach from the same mold. The program went on auto-pilot when Bo Schembechler retired 16 years ago and has changed very little since then. Les Miles is another Schembechler disciple who would likely do little to infuse the new identity that Michigan football needs.

“They’re a traditional straight up offense. If they line up one way, if they’re in certain formations, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to pick out what they were going to do,” said USC defensive end Lawrence Jackson following his team’s 32-18 win against Michigan.

From the Michigan Daily.

Well, what can I say? USC played a great game. They adjusted after a comatose first half that ended in a 3-3 tie, and we didn’t. John David Booty and Dwayne Jarrett had career nights, and our biggest playmakers Mike Hart and Mario Manningham were both non-factors. They pounded our secondary for 397 passing yards, most of it coming in the second half. They moved the ball seemingly at will on their fourth touchdown drive, going 85 yards in 4 plays. Even our usually reliable offensive line gave up six sacks. Overall, our defense looked unprepared and overwhelmed. And our offense looked uninspired and predictable. We failed to win our final two (and biggest) games for the seventh year in a row. We’ve lost four consecutive bowl games. An immensely promising season has fallen apart in dramatic fashion.

It’s becoming painfully apparent to all but the most naive that there is something wrong with the Michigan program. Lloyd Carr is a good coach and a class act, and I’m not jumping on the “Fire Lloyd Carr” bandwagon. But four consecutive bowl losses and a 1-5 record against Ohio State since 2001 are clearly indicative of a systematic problem. The offensive playcalling in the Rose Bowl was was horrendously predictable, which seems to have been the story in each of our last four bowl games. Defensive coordinators will privately admit that Michigan is an easy team to game plan against, given a month of preparation time. Defensively, things aren’t much better. We make the same mistakes and have the same vulnerabilities (running QB’s, option-heavy offensive schemes) year in and year out. After we lost the Alamo Bowl last year, ESPN analyst and former Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz remarked, “Michigan has been running the same plays since we played them back when they wore leather helmets.”

Although the coaching staff shakeups last offseason helped alleviate our chronic inability to close out games, this latest bowl loss and our ongoing struggles in big games indicate that problems persist. I think it’s time for a change in philosophy. It may not happen as long as Lloyd Carr is coach (and again, he’s earned the right to go out on his own terms), but I think we should look outside the Michigan family for his replacement when he does decide to call it quits. I had mentioned in a previous post that I thought defensive coordinator Ron English would make a good successor to Carr, but Monday’s loss has convinced me that it’s time for a fresh perspective. Bringing in some new blood that has never been trained in the ways of Michigan football might be the best way to bring a fresh perspective to the program. Six years ago USC, another tradition-laden program, gambled on a coach who had no ties to USC and whose prior experience was almost entirely at the professional level. That coach, Pete Carroll, has since returned USC to national prominence and is regarded as among the best in college football. It’s true that the Michigan Way has yielded a remarkable pattern of consistency and stability. But in the era of spread offenses and creative playcalling, an ability to adapt, adjust, and innovate is essential to compete as a National Championship-caliber team.

(I highly recommend that every Michigan football fan read Michael Rosenberg’s two columns in the Detroit Free Press linked to above as well as Jake’s take on the issue of criticism of Lloyd Carr over at Motown Sports Revival.)

Of course Michigan is America’s team. If you root for Southern California, you’re rooting against America. It’s as simple as that, really.

America has lost an upstanding statesman, and the State and University of Michigan have lost one of their brightest sons. Former president Gerald Ford died today at age 93. He was vice president 1973-1974 and president 1974-1977. He also played center on the University of Michigan’s 1932 and 1933 national championship football teams.

RIP #38 and #48.

According to an article in today’s Detroit News, Alan Branch is still unsure about whether he’ll return to Michigan for his senior season or declare himself eligible for the NFL Draft. Branch had 23 tackles and forced 2 turnovers this past season, and was part of a defensive unit that lead the nation in rushing defense, allowing only 43 yards per game. At 6′6″, 331 lbs., he is a beast who would probably be a first- to second-round pick if he came out (and I’m sure the prospect of being a millionaire at age 21 is tempting). On the other hand, he would be the anchor of our defense if he returns and a front-runner for the Lombardi Award. With QB Chad Henne, RB Mike Hart, and OT Jake Long having already announced that they plan on returning for their senior seasons, our offense has the potential to be the best in the country in 2007. If Branch and LB Shawn Crable come back, our defense will be just as fearsome, and the National Championship will be ours to lose. Long would surely have been a first-round pick had he come out and his return was a bit of a surprise; let’s hope Crable and Branch follow in his footsteps.

Michigan defensive coordinator Ron English is Rivals.com’s defensive coordinator of the year.

The difference English has made really can’t be understated. Our defense couldn’t stop anyone in the 4th quarter last year. This year, we led the nation in rushing defense and were #6 in overall defense. Quite a turnaround, and an impressive achievement for a first-year coordinator. I really hope he’s chosen to succeed Lloyd Carr when he retires.