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Michigan State lands their Al Borges in former OSU OC Jim Bollman

Michigan State is set to name much maligned former Ohio State offensive coordinator to the same role. Michigan fans are having their yucks, but given their own offensive brain trust, should they?

Solid, proven offensive mind Al Borges.
Solid, proven offensive mind Al Borges.
Getty Images

The big news of the morning almost goes without saying. In a complete and utter head scratcher, former Ohio State defensive coordinator turned Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio is set to name former much scrutinized OSU offensive coordinator Jim Bollman to be the Spartans' new offensive coordinator. Bollman had been previously named Purdue's offensive line coach under fellow former Buckeye assistant, Darrell Hazell, after a year in exile at the line coach at Boston College (who's o-line was a venerable turnstile, FYI).

Given that Bollman often under recruited the offensive line while at Ohio State and even worse, failed to develop the four/five star types he did get into viable professionals with but a few exceptions, he as a position coach hire was suspect enough. But now that Bollman is expected to step back into the role of play calling, something any Ohio State fan would tell you more often than not left you tearing at your own flesh just to feel something, anything. Well, it's certainly not a tremendous day to be a Michigan State football fan.

While the revelation is bringing plenty of "WHY GOD WHY" from both Spartan and Buckeye backers alike, it's hard not to hear the chortling originating from Ann Arbor. Potshots at the likes of John Shoop, Bollman, and Greg Davis have been heard a plenty, and deservedly so, but Auburn fans would likely be quick to point out that Al Borges isn't far removed from that class. Anyone who watched Michigan's offense in the second half of the 2012 version of The Game probably wouldn't have a hard time seeing Borges as an analog in that sense as well.

But because Michigan fans are ever the skeptics and in the interest of SCIENCE!, we decided it would only be fair to go back and take a look at the offenses Al Borges has coordinated over the years, from both a total offense ranking perspective as well as scoring offense sense.

It gets dicey making a comparison to Bollman, because there's been plenty of bizarro revisionist history about just who was calling plays for Ohio State and when (allegedly Hazell took the honors briefly when things got stale in 2008/2009 but since he's claimed that was never the case and that Bollman was the guy all along?). None the less, here's a look at how the careers of Jim Bollman and Michigan offensive coordinator Al Borges stack up, side by side:


Al-borges_medium

vs.

Jim-bollman_medium
Advantage Total Offense Ranking Year Total Offense Ranking

N/A

37th 1995 N/A (Position Coach)

N/A

42nd 1996 N/A (Position Coach)

N/A

13th 1997 N/A (Position Coach)

N/A

8th 1998 N/A (NFL)

N/A

85th 1999 N/A (NFL)

N/A

63rd 2000 N/A (NFL)
Blocko_medium 77th 2001 65th
Indiana-hoosiers_medium 69th 2002 70th
Blocko_medium 98th 2003 93rd
Auburn-tigers_medium 25th 2004 98th
Blocko_medium 37th 2005 23rd
Blocko_medium 76th 2006 26th
Blocko_medium 97th 2007 62nd

N/A

N/A (Out of football) 2008 76th
Blocko_medium 86th 2009 68th
San-diego-state-aztecs_medium 16th 2010 20th
Michigan-wolverines_medium 42nd 2011 107th

N/A

78th 2012 N/A (Position Coach)
Al-borges_medium 56th Average 64th


Al-borges_medium

vs.

Jim-bollman_medium
Advantage Scoring Offense Ranking Year Scoring Offense Ranking

N/A

39th 1995 N/A (Position Coach)

N/A

30th 1996 N/A (Position Coach)

N/A

3rd 1997 N/A (Position Coach)

N/A

5th 1998 N/A (NFL)

N/A

90th 1999 N/A (NFL)

N/A

40th 2000 N/A (NFL)
Blocko_medium 104th 2001 67th
Blocko_medium 95th 2002 41st
Blocko_medium 114th 2003 74th
Auburn-tigers_medium 18th 2004 71st
Blocko_medium 30th 2005 26th
Blocko_medium 56th 2006 8th
Blocko_medium 84th 2007 41st

N/A

N/A (Out of football) 2008 45th
Blocko_medium 85th 2009 49th
Blocko_medium 19th 2010 11th
Michigan-wolverines_medium 26th 2011 81st

N/A

57th 2012 N/A (Position Coach)
Jim-bollman_medium 53rd Average 47th

We'll leave you to draw conclusions for yourself, but at least in terms of a head-to-head comparison in many of the same years as well as from a more aggregate sense, I'm not sure the bodies are work aren't that comparable. Borges definitely did his best work in the mid-to-late 90's, and who knows, maybe Shane Morris is the next Cade McNown and Michigan can recreate the magic all over again. Either way, I think it's safe to deduce that when Michigan heads to Spartans Stadium the first Saturday in November, we're all in for a treat.