The Team, The Team, The Team

One of the things that they've added to the Michigan Stadium experience this year is the hype video before the players come out onto the field. While every team has these type of videos, and many are rather run of the mill, or cringe-worthy, I think some of the videos they've used this year have been ok. The one they used at the start of the IU game was particularly good. It used perhaps the most famous Bo speech, which I have previously advocated for.

This and that

Some assorted thoughts that I've been holding on to:
-Although I was kinda rooting for Central Michigan to pull off the upset over Purdue, I am glad to see the Boilers win, as it could be the only win that the Big Ten gets this bowl season. MSU, Michigan, and Illinois are huge underdogs, with Michigan and Illinois playing against top ten teams with top five talent. Ohio State and Penn State are playing virtual road games. Wisconsin is in a pick'em game, and who knows what to expect from Indiana after a 15 year bowl drought. Part of the problem for the Big Ten, apart from the travel issues (Big Ten teams always travel further than their opponents) is that Big Ten teams are often playing teams that are higher ranked in their conference. Wisconsin, 4th in the Big Ten plays the SEC runner-up Tennessee. #6 MSU plays ACC runner-up Boston College. I would like to see a revision of the bowl selection process that would rectify this problem, and would also vary the match-ups from year to year, so that teams don't go to the same bowls year in and year out. The six BCS conferences choose three bowls as the "second place" bowls (say, Capital One, Cotton, and Holiday), three as the third place bowls, three as the fourth place, etc. Each of the bowls in a particular group gets a chance to select any team in their particular slot. So for instance, the Capital One, Cotton, and Holiday would match-up the top non-BCS teams from the six BCS conferences. The Third place bowls would get the next choice, the fourth place the choice after that and so on.
-I wonder if Texas fans are more happy at their team's 7th straight 10 win season, or disappointed that they appear to underachieve once again. Looking back, there is no way they should have lost to Kansas State or Texas A&M. If they win those two, they could've been in New Orleans instead of San Diego. They are very young, and have a fairly easy schedule next year. They should make a serious push.
-Why the heck did Southern Miss can Jeff Bower? What more do they think their program should be? Bower gave them 17 years, 14 straight winning seasons, 119 wins, nine bowl games in the last ten years, three out of the four last conference championships. He is an alum who married a local beauty queen. He wasn't going anywhere, and he's gotten more out of that program than anyone else could reasonably expect. They're in freakin' Hattiesburg, do they really think there is a coach out there that can take them to the BCS? Within two years, if not sooner, they'll regret their decision.
-Speaking of traveling, the Wizard of Odds has an interesting post about the amount of miles travelled by college football teams for non-conference games in the last ten years (HT: EDSBS) While some of the results are too be expected, BCS conference teams travel less than BCS conference teams, eastern teams travel less than western teams, some of the results are surprising in their degree. We knew that SEC teams rarely traveled outside of the south, but we didn't realize it was so pronounced. In the last ten years Georgia has traveled a total of 358 miles for non-conference regular season games. Compare that to the 23 thousand miles logged by USC, or the 11 thousand Michigan has travelled. When you consider that 8 of the 10 least travelled teams are from the SEC, and only one team in the league, Alabama has averaged more than 1,000 miles a year, and you get some idea of why the SEC has accumulated the non-conference record it has. So the next time you hear someone ramble on about the superiority of the SEC, remind them that the average SEC team has traveled 350 miles per year to non conference games in the last decade, while Big Ten teams went almost 1,000 miles, while PAC Ten teams put in 1,500. And, of course, there's that whole home bowl game thing.
-Not to keep flogging a deceased equine, but I was very interested in the news that Les Miles called Rich Rodriguez to congratulate him on getting the Michigan job. According to Rich Rod's mother Miles thanked him for losing to Pitt but joked that the loss cost him his dream job. There's a little truth in all humor, right? How much do you want to bet that Miles would have given up the chance to coach in the championship game to come to Michigan? He really needs to stop thinking about the Michigan job, or he's going to get killed on the recruiting trail.
-Finally saw HBO's "The Rivalry" the other night. There are certainly some elements that are well done, but I had to agree with most of the criticism I heard from other people: it is definitely told more from the Ohio State perspective than the Michigan perspective; there should have been more about what Schembechler's passing meant to Michigan fans, than what it meant to Buckeye fans; there was no mention of Lloyd Carr, which is ridiculous; they could have included a lot more on Bob Ufer; they left out a number of interesting items from the ten year war, the buckeyes tearing down the M club banner, the Michigan fan dotting the "i", "Save Fuel, Burn Woody bumper stickers", etc. All in all a great show, but with a few tweaks could have been better.
-In all the hubub after the OSU game, Carr's retirement, etc, I forgot to send out an attaboy to our spartan brethern for their two game winning streak to end the season and their invite to the Champs Tangerine Micron PC Sports Bowl. After they lost to Michigan and Coach Dantonio got involved in a pissing match with Mike Hart, they had the look of a typical spartan team about to collapse down the stretch and blow their shot at the post season. But they pulled it together and beat two straight bowl teams to end the season on a winning streak for the first time in forever. Even if they get torched by BC in today's game, this has been a positive first season for Dantonio, and spartan fans should be very pleased with the progress. Now if he can just find a way to beat big brother ;-)

Bo and Woody

Bo and Woody will forever be linked in every one's mind because they were at center of the best rivalry in sports at perhaps its most intense era. For ten years they ruled the league, winning ten big ten titles, and going a combined 184-35-6. The ten games between them were epic, with only two real blowouts in the ten years, and Michigan holding the slimmest of margins, 5-4-1. It is only natural that when you think of one, you think of their rivalry with the other.

But I have a real problem with people who try and equate the two and say that they were similar people, of similar character. Last year all you heard from Buckeye fans was how the two were one and the same. The truth is that Woody wasn't half the man that Bo was. Woody was a classless bully who would push his own mother in the mud if she put on a blue sweater. Yes Bo had a temper, yes he yelled at referees, and was grumpy with the media. But he never punched an opposing player. He never slugged a sideline camera man. He never tore up sideline markers, or attempted to start a fight with opposing team's marching band. He would never purposely denigrate an opposing team's traditions. Woody was pathological in his hatred of "That team up north", and acted like a spoiled child when he lost to them. He was Bobby Knight without the soft underbelly.
It was Woody's erratic behavior that formed the basis of the general tenor of the OSU fan base towards this rivalry. If Woody wouldn't even acknowledge the name of his chief rival, it's ok for the fans to act like third graders. Respect? Woody never respected the game or his rival enough to control his behavior so why should the typical fan show any restraint in dealing with opposing fans? It's the reason why Michigan fans fear for their safety when they go to Columbus. It's why the former president of OSU refered to "drunken orgies" on football Saturdays.
So when you are watching the game Saturday, and you here them talking about Bo and Woody, remember that though the are forever intertwined in our memories, they are not together watching the game. Bo is in heaven, Woody, well...

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.

Godspeed Bo

June 19, 2008 Note: This is a post that originally appeared on Golden's Football Rankings and is reproduced here for posterity.

I sat in my office and cried for about an hour this afternoon.

I am generally a cynic. As a student and teacher of history, I long ago taught myself to think of things in shades of gray, not black and white. There are always two sides to every story; there are no heroes or villains, just differing points of view. When I was young, like all kids, I had plenty of heroes, from comic books, to movie stars, to sports figures. As I grew older, they faded away, as I realized that they weren’t the idealized people I’d made them out to be. All except one. All except Bo Schembechler.

Growing up in Ann Arbor, Bo was larger than life. He wasn’t just a football coach, he was the best coach in the land. He wasn’t just a coach, he was a symbol for everything that made my hometown a special place unlike any other. I can remember when he was offered twice his salary here to take over at Texas A&M. For a weekend, the entire town was on edge while he decided if he wanted take the job. When he finally emerged, and announced that Michigan was more important to him than money, the crowd of reporters that were waiting broke into a round of applause, and the rest of us breathed a huge sigh of relief. When he came to speak at a pep rally at my high school, they lined up outside the school to hear him speak.

I’ve been lucky to coach middle school and high school students for the better part of twenty years now. I have always tried to pattern myself after Bo. I felt if I could be half the coach he was, I would be successful. I aimed to teach the same lessons he did, even though our games couldn’t be more difficult: Hard work and dedication should be rewarded as much as possible; Each student is taught to believe in themselves and trust in their teammates; Give of yourself, and much will be given to you; The only limits on our successes are the artificial ones we put on ourselves; What the mind can conceive, the mind can achieve; Every player should be treated the same, from the superstar down to the last man on the team; No player, no coach is bigger than the team; Students, coaches, the entire community, is part of team, a program that is greater than the sum of its parts, a program that was there before they got there, and will exist after they are gone.

I’m not sure that I really care about the game tomorrow as much anymore. No matter what happens, this weekend will always be touched with sadness for me. The Godfather of Michigan football, the greatest single tradition in the history of college athletics, is gone. My last childhood hero has passed.

Godspeed, Bo.