How soon till Hockey season starts?

Well, it's official, the App game was no fluke, and the Schembechler era is over.

Just about anything that could go wrong, went wrong. The offense moved the ball but couldn't put any points on the board (four red zone trip in the first four possessions resulted in one TD). The defense got beat every possible way. The tackling was horrible. The D line got no pass rush. The linebackers were constantly out of position. The defensive backs got torched repeatedly. Oregon scored 39, and probably left 20 points on the field. Michigan's three stars on offense, Mike Hart, Jake Long and Chad Henne all were injured. Henne didn't play the entire second half, left the locker room on crutches, and is doubtful for next week's game against the Fighting Leprechauns. His replacement, super freshman Ryan Mallet had his moments, but also looked very much like a freshman at other points.

So the high hopes of the season are gone, and a reassessment of priorities for the team and the coaching staff is in order:
-Priority number one is getting six wins and keeping the nation's longest bowl streak intact, even if it's a trip to the Insight or Motor City bowl. Where those wins are going to come from is any body's guess. If yesterday is any indication, a Ryan Mallet led offense will be extremely limited, especially if the opponent can limit the effectiveness of the running game. The defense is not likely to be good enough to win games on its own, even though there aren't any spread teams left on the schedule as dangerous as Oregon.
-Priority number two is a win this saturday. The last thing you want to do is be the one that gets Notre Dame healthy. Much has been said about the historically bad levels of these two teams. It is the ultimate pillow fight, the offense that couldn't move across the street, against a matador defense that would do any Spaniard proud. But no matter who the coach is next year, they will have to recruit against the little tuna, and a win in this game will help keep his bluster to a minimum. In a sense this might be priority number one, because I don't see how they will get to a bowl if they don't beat the Irish.
-Priority number three is a win up at East Lansing. While they might be able to get to six wins without a win there, a win by the State will be marketed by the Sparties as proof that the balance of power is switching in the state
-Priority number four is a win over Ohio State. Normally this would be the top priority, but as it seems highly unlikely, and Tressel's record against Carr will be irrelevant with a new coach coming in, I put it down the list. If a bowl game is secure by this point, this game will be all about sending Carr out on a high note, and helping the heal the psyche of the fan base. If I'm Carr, I'm thinking of announcing my retirement the Monday before the game, and turning all the negative energy that's pointed my way right now into positive, gratitude type vibe. If they get to six wins, and Carr announces before that game, he will get a huge standing ovation before the game. For as much as he is being reviled right now, there is still a lot of love for one the classiest coaches in the land, who has represented the school and the team with the greatest honor in the last dozen years.

Meanwhile, the task at hand for Bill Martin and the AD's office is as follows:
-Say nothing about Coach Carr that is not positive until he makes his retirement announcement. Something similar to the quote you made about you and Amaker being joined at the hip.
-Prepare your list of candidates. I would suggest starting with Tedford, Rodriguez, Schiano and Ferentz. Each candidate should have head coaching experience at the BCS level, should be a good Xs and Os guy, and should understand that their job is as much media relations as it is football coach.
-Quietly send out feelers to each person on your list to see if they might be interested. Make sure that none of these feelers can be discovered. It is better to not contact someone than it is to risk them being put in the awkward positions of having to deny their interest, or you being put in a position where it looks like you are pushing Carr out the door.
-Once Carr announces, near or at the end of the season, begin your negotiations in earnest. Ideally you should be down to two or three candidates within a week after he announces. Remember that any coach who is going to play games in the media about the position is probably not worth hiring.
-Set a goal of announcing your new coach by the time the national championship game is over. This gives the new coach time to shore up the recruiting class.

If Carr handles the team with class and the team rededicates itself to improvement, I think they can get to six wins. If Martin handles the football search like he did the basketball search, we'll be in good shape.
But of course, what do I know, I thought they'd beat Appalachian State

Through the looking glass

Ok, so the plan was to leave town directly from the game on Saturday and head over the shores of Lake Michigan away from internet, the tv, and any media. There would be plenty of time to recap the game online on Monday evening. After all, this was just a tune-up, there really wasn't much analysis needed. Oops.
The following was written the old fashioned way (pencil and paper)late Saturday night as I was still trying to digest what I witnessed.

Wow. So this is what it feels like to be a Spartan football fan. You know, the part about inexplicable losses. Hopefully there will be some unexpected wins to go with it. Actually that's not fair to State fans. They've never done anything so unbelievably inept. Hours after the game, I still can't believe what I saw. The word "upset" just doesn't do it justice. It is so surreal, I am wondering if it was a dream. I keep repeating it to myself to see if it sets in: We lost to Appalachian State. What? We lost to Appalachian State. Huh? We lost to Appalachian State? In what? Women's Basketball? It is an outcome so unbelievable that if it happened in a video game, you return the game to the store, claiming the game play wasn't realistic enough. Strike that, Appalachian State is even included in most college football games. For the first time in my life, I was ashamed to wear my Michigan hat when I walked around this small Lake Michigan town.

So what happened, and what does it mean? Let's break it down a little, realty vs perception.

Realty: The team we lost to is better than at least half the teams in I-A. They returned 17 starters, and have won 15 straight games since barely losing at NC State a year ago.
Perception: We lost to a community college. In this case, it's the perception that matters. This is a potential program changing loss. It's the type of thing that will be used by opposing coaches in recruiting against us for years. It's something that shouldn't happen to "elite" programs.

Perception: This was a fluke win for the Mountaineers, if they played the game again, Michigan would win.
Realty: I'm not so sure. Michigan never really stopped them. App State only slowed down in the second half because they got conservative. They turned the ball over three times in the second half, two of which were totally unforced errors, and that led directly to 10 Michigan points. Appalachian State was the better team.

Perception: Michigan lost because of a number of mental mistakes or execution errors.
Realty: Well, yes and no. True, if they don't miss an assignment on the final play of the game, they kick a field goal and win 35-34. But there is no way this game should have been this close. It was clear from the beginning that coaches and players didn't take this game very seriously. The offense and defensive play calling was very vanilla. No blitzing, no stunts, no reverses, nothing that was any different than what Appalachian State saw on film. We treated this game like a scrimmage.

Perception: This loss means that Michigan won't win the Big Ten this year.
Realty: I don't think this loss changes the Big Ten race at all, other than to make painfully obvious to everyone where the holes are in Michigan's defense. But anyone who watched the last two games last year should have been able to figure that out. Michigan still has enough offensive talent, when Mike Hart is healthy, to score on anyone. They still have too many defensive holes to shut anyone out. They'll be in the race, along with OSU, PSU, and Wisconsin, and maybe MSU, Iowa and Purdue.

Perception: Lloyd Carr is on the hot seat.
Realty: He is not on the hot seat, but only because it is universally believed around these parts that this was going to be his last season regardless of the season outcome. What this loss does do is guarantee that this will be his last season, and eliminate the chance that any of his assistants (i.e Mike Deboard or Ron English) get the job. Bill Martin should begin the search (i.e. call Rich Rodriguez and Jeff Tedford) now.

Perception: Things can't get any worse.
Realty: Oh yes they can. How teams on the schedule will play some sort of spread now? Lose to Oregon, Notre Dame and Penn State, and things will be a lot worse. Give first year MSU coach Mark Dantonio some life by losing to State, things will be worse. Finish the season by losing to OSU, again, things will be unbearable. Miss a bowl game...

Finally, we realized on the sad, slow drive across the state that we are now 0-3 since Bo died and we have showed none of the defensive fire (104 points) that characterized Bo, and Bo's teams. It occurred to us that there is a very real chance that we have reached the end of the Schembechler era. For the last 40 years, Michigan has been one of the preeminent football programs in the country: 38 of 40 years finishing in AP top 20. 24 of 40 years in AP top 10. Every major power has suffered a down turn of some length in that time period: USC, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Alabama, OSU, PSU, Miami, Texas all have gone through bowl-less losing seasons. Perhaps this is our turn. We also realized that there was no moment of silence or mention of Bo at the game today, despite this being the first home game since his passing. Coincidence? Karma?

I've been lucky in my life, I've never really lost anyone close to me, other than some cherished pets. I've never really suffered any great tragedies. So I can honestly say that today was one of the worst days in my life. I'm guessing it will get worse before it gets better.