<p>I tried to give Borges the benefit of the doubt as long as possible, but there were just too many questionable play calls in crucial situations, too much going back to the well on plays that clearly weren’t working, and too much lack of player and position group development as the season progressed. The lack of development was most obvious on the OL, but really it’s true of all parts of the offense. At WR Jeremy Gallon had a great year, building on some great work last year, but Devin Funchess, while he had a few moments, didn’t really progress much from last year, and none of the other WRs stepped up. Jake Butt emerged late in the season at TE but it was too little, too late. At RB they stuck with Fitz Toussaint long after it was apparent he wasn’t the same player we had seen in 2011, without the strength to break tackles and without the burst to get to the outside and to avoid tackles. I thought they stuck with Fitz in part because the freshman RBs looked completely lost picking up blitzing defenders in passing situations, but that’s a player development issue, too–and Fitz didn’t do all that much better pass-blocking, as he could identify the guy to block but rarely blocked him. At QB, Devin Gardner had his moments. Unfortunately there were almost as many horrendous moments as great ones, but on the whole I thought he actually regressed from last season when he came on strong as a back-up for an injured Denard Robinson. Gardner came nowhere near living up to his extremely high upside potential. Too many errant throws off the back foot (reminiscent of DR in that regard), too many moments of panic in the pocket. It didn’t help, of course, that he was under constant duress from the offense’s inability to defend against the pass rush, and that he was badly beat-up from too many sacks and too many QB hits. But it’s not all the OL; even accounting for poor protection, the QB play was at best erratic. I think Gardner has tremendous talent and I hope he’ll be back for his final year of eligibility, but this season was a huge disappointment at the QB position.</p>
<p>In the end I fault Borges more for the lack of player and unit development than for the scheme or the play-calling. (Some of the play-calling was shockingly dull, predictable, and predictably ineffective, but I thought the same thing of Bo). This offense was young and inexperienced at many positions. You can cut youth some slack, but if the players, the position groups, and the offense as a whole aren’t getting better as the season progresses, you need to question the coaching. Some of the fault might lie with the position coaches, but it’s the OC’s responsibility to see that the whole thing is progressing, and it just didn’t. My impression is that Borges is more of an X’s and O’s guy than a player development guy. If that’s the case, he just wasn’t what Michigan’s offense needed in 2013, and he wouldn’t be what they will need in 2014. Nussmeier at least has a track record of developing QBs. Let’s hope he and Devin Gardner recreate that magic, and the other uncertain pieces on offense start to shape up as well.</p>