Some Thanksgiving Thoughts

I don't have much to say about the Wisconsin game last week that I didn't already say about the Iowa game or the MSU game. It was the same damn game. Offense makes key mistakes early and doesn't get started until its too late. No defense whatsoever, with Wisconsin basically naming its score without really using half of its offense. Special teams were awful (although I was glad to see we finally started attempting some onside kicks, we should do that after every TD against OSU), there were questionable coaching decisions (why is Gallon still returning kicks?), and once again we looked like we don't belong on the same field as an upper echelon Big Ten team. I don't see how this gets better anytime soon.
-Despite the clusterfuck that was the field arrangement at Wrigley Field (make it, take it? Did the dlineman have to count to five apple?) I liked the game. The crowd was into the game and close to the action, being close to an EL station really seeemed to help the atmosphere. I hope they figure out the field configuration and make it an annual event.
-Terell Pryor might be the most talented player in the conferense, but he is probably one of the dumbest. His comments about Herbstriet being "a fake buckeye" on tweeter might be as stupid as his "everybody murders" quote from earlier this year. No one has done as much to promote the OSU program in the last ten years as Herbstreit, all the while maintaining his "impartiality". I'm guessing that Pryor will be about as successful in the NFL as another former buckeye star, Maurice Clarett.
-I'm not exactly a Nebraska fan, but I thought they got pretty screwed at Texas A&M on saturday. 17-3 penalty margin? Five personal fouls including a pretty weak roughing the passer call that kept alive A&M's winning drive? Right.
-Another year, another Virginia Tech appearance in the ACC championship game. Is there another team that has dominated their league so thoroughly and so quietlythe last five plus years?
-I know it's "just Fresno", but I found Boise's 51-0 win on Friday impressive. Fresno had been averaging almost 35 points a game (they scored 38 at Ole Miss) and Boise completely shut them down. I'm still hoping for Auburn and Oregon losses to give us a Boise / TCU national championship game.
-OSU President Gordon Gee's comments about Boise and TCU were sickening. Gee has proven in the past that he's not exactly a football expert. In 1992 he called a 13-13 tie between OSU and Michigan "the greatest victory in OSU history". While at Vanderbilt, he eliminated the athletic department and combined it with the department of student affairs. So why is this confirmed football neophyte speaking out about the worthiness of Boise and TCU's schedule? He's trying to protect his school's assets. He, like all the presidents of the power conferences, realizes that he needs to do whatever he can to protect the status quo and the economic inequity in the sport. Why are BCS conference presidents so opposed to a playoff that many say would bring in more money than the BCS? Because that money would spread out among all 11 conferences, and the power conferences would lose their huge monied advantages.
-Bowl eligibility watch: 35 bowl games, 70 teams needed to fill slots. 65 teams currently have six or more wins. 12 other teams are 5-6 or 5-5. 4 teams are 4-6 with two games remaining.

It's just a jump to the left...

Saturday's game at Purdue felt so much like something out of the mid-90s that I almost checked at halftime to make sure I had a tape in the VCR recording the game: Maddening offense that alternated between effective, and bleech; defense that looked adequate against a Purdue offense that couldn't hit water if they fell out of a boat; bad weather that chased most of the normally sparse Boilermaker crowd; a gaggle of turnovers for both teams; and just enough points to win an ugly, ugly game. It was definitely not a thing of beauty, but given the way the last three years have gone, we'll take any win we can get.
- It was nice to see the defense play well, but I'm not sure we can read anything into this game, it looked like Purdue shot itself in the foot time and time again. I'm not sure they had a QB on the roster who could throw the ball more than 20 yards. The next two(three) offenses will face will bear no resemblance to this one.
-Denard is continuing to make bad decisions in the passing game. It's funny that a guy who is such a good runner seems unwilling to tuck it and run instead of trying to force a pass.
-Had an interesting conversation with my 8-year old son during the game. After Michigan scored late to go up 11, he announced, "We can't lose this game now, we're gonna win." Being a grizzled college football I get superstitious about things like that, so I said, "I wish you hadn't said that"
"Why Not?"
"Because you could jinx us"
"But we're still going to win aren't we?"
"Well, you never know what's going to happen, so you don't announce that we're going to win until it's a sure thing"
"But I'm sure we're going to win."

I guess he's just have to suffer some sort of catastrophic loss to understand the superstition of a veteran fan.
-Weird day in the Pac Ten - Cal almost beats Oregon, ASU almost beat Stanford, and Washington State wins their first conference road game since 2007.
-There is probably gonna be a few people who will get unfairly punished in the whole Cam Newton saga. None of them are from Auburn. Based on what we've heard, I tend to think that Newton was probably bought and paid for. I don't think Miss. State would've reported any of this if they didn't feel they had to protect their interests. That suggests that some, if not all of what they are reporting is true. I don't buy the idea that Newton (or his dad, or a representative for his family) would have asked MSU for money, and not Auburn. Even if they didn't ask Auburn for money, there is no way that Auburn would have taken a kid kicked out of Florida (how bad do you have to fuck up to get kicked off a Gator team that is considering replacing their defensive coordinator with a defense counsel?) without learning absolutely everything about him. Auburn probably knew Newton was looking for a handout and knew that would make him ineligible. They probably knew about his academic cheating episodes at UF. That alone would have made him untouchable at any school where the idea of a student athlete is not a joke. They choose to take him anyway, and probably paid to do so. They and Newton deserve any punishment they get.
-Another interesting item about the Newton thing is the reports of the FBI being involved. I don't think the FBI would get involved unless there were some more serious crimes involved. The FBI was involved in the Michigan basketball thing ten years ago because the main figure in the whole affair was running an illegal numbers scam at an area Ford plant. I wonder if Auburn uber-booster / trustee Bobby Lowder is being investigated for something more serious. If so, Cam Newton's eligibility might be the least of Auburn's worries.
-Gotta admire the consistency of the Grambling Tigers. Their last five games they've scored 38, 35, 35, 35, and 34 points. Unfortunately in that last game they gave up 41 to Texas Southern, which cost them the SWAC title.
-The FCS playoffs expanded to 20 teams this year. There are 123 FCS teams, and several leagues (SWAC, Pioneer, Ivy) that don't participate in the playoffs. There are 120 FBS teams. If the NCAA were to sponsor a playoff for the top division of college football, the likelihood that it would be limited to four, eight or 12 teams seem slim. Just like the basketball tournament, it would eventually expand to the max allowable size.

Who needs defense?

Lon Horwedl / annarbor.com


One of the reasons I enjoy having football season tickets is that even in the midst of disappointing seasons you get these moments and games that are pure magic. In the middle of our first rose bowl less season in four years, 1979, we got Wangler to Carter, the greatest play in the first 100 years of Michigan football. In the middle of the Year of Infinite Pain, 2005, we got Manningham's dagger in the heart of Penn State. Even the awful 3-9 2008 campaign produced a comeback for the ages against Wisconsin.
That's what saturday's game was. Put aside all the disappointment from the last three games, all the concerns about the defense, all the speculation of will he stay? or will he go? and just enjoy an entertaining game. It was interesting that we heard little if any booing during the game. Sure there were no shortage of sarcastic comments or cheers, including a hearty round of "Save your job, Save your job" during the first overtime, but there wasn't the booing or "We want Harbaugh" chants we heard at the iowa game. Maybe the first play TD strike to Roundtree placated the fans a little. Or maybe we've just moved past the anger and depression stages of grieving for our defense and moved on to acceptance. Illinois just scored on a 60 yard run. So what? We know our defense sucks, when's the offense coming back out on the field?
Long ago, when I was much younger and was particularly down that my plans in life didn't seem to be working out, a good friend told me, "If you can't figure out a plan for life, just figure out a plan for today." So we take this approach going forward - the big picture will take care of itself, we will focus on each game, trying to get as much enjoyment out of the four(!) remaining Michigan football games as we can and worry about the big picture items later.
Other thoughts:
-Any doubts the last three games might have created about this offense were emphatically erased by this game. The Illini were the #15 defense in the country and hadn't given up more than 26 points in any game this year, despite playing three top ten teams, Missouri, OSU, and MSU. We got that in a half. The hadn't given up more than 390 yards in any one game this year, we got 386 in the first half. There is no doubt that as long as Rich Rod stays here, we will have one of the best offenses in the country.
-Despite the massive numbers, I acutally thought there were signs of progress on defense. Craig Roh is much better as a Dlineman than a LB. Courtney Avery palyed well, and made a good open field tackle on a player that was very similar to the one against Iowa that he missed and allowed them to get their last field goal. Finally, I think Cam Gordon is a better fit at the Spur position than at safety because of his size.
-I loved the reverse on the kickoff but don't understand why Jeremy Gallon is allowed to continue to return kicks after he fumbles one. I also think that we should be onside kicking every once an a while. With our defense, the opposition can (and will) score from almost anywhere. Why not take a chance on getting the ball back? If they are going to bring in new defensive coaches, they should consider finding one or two who have experience coaching special teams.
-I hope Tate Forcier realizes how important a good backup QB is in this offense. At the start of the year, all the buzz was about Denard and how he was a one man offense. In this game (and to a lesser extent the Iowa game), Tate showed that this offense is lethal no matter who is pulling the trigger. If he comes back next year, we will have the best QB situation in the country.
-Nice to see Michael Shaw back at something approaching 100%. Vincent Smith ran a lot better because he didn't have to shoulder all (or most) of the load.
-The receivers had a very nice game (obviously). We don't have that one dominant reciever that we had in the past with Braylon or Manningham, but we might have as much depth there as we've had in a long long time.
-Hurry back Carl Grapentine. The substitute PA guy was awful.
-I think it's safe to cross Arizona off the list of teams that could possibly beat Oregon. They were dominated by Stanford and have to travel to Eugene in three weeks. After a game at Cal, who just won their first road game of the year at Washington State, this weekend, they get a bye, Arizona at home, and then must travel to Corvallis to play Oregon State. Interestingly enough, the Beavers have already played (and lost to) TCU and Boise State. The season ending tilt against the Nike Ducks might be the last chance those two teams have to reach the championship game.
-Another classic game in Baton Rouge. it's too bad they won't get a chance to play in the SEC championship game, because I think they might be the best team in the league.

Dead Coach Walking?

It's not possible to overstate just how incredibly bad the Michigan defense played the night before Halloween. A team that was averaging 109 yards rushing per game got 109 in the first half. A team that had been averaging 344 yards of total offense got 435. A team that had been out gained by 80 yards by the hapless Minnesota Golden Gophers out gained the vaunted Michigan offense. A team that had been averaging 20 points per game, scored 41 and ended the game by taking a knee inside the Michigan five-yard line. And they did this with a third-string walk-on QB and a patchwork offensive line, and without the aid of any turnovers.
This offensive explosion from a team that has one of the worst offenses in the league, when healthy, came on the heels of a series of position moves during the bye week that were eerily similar to the changes in the defense made before the Purdue game in 2008, when Michigan played a 3-3-5 for the first time all year and a backup running back turned QB torched Michigan for a bazillion yards and more points than Purdue had scored all year. Just like that game, the Michigan defenders looked lost, and constantly out of position. It was a coaching failure of the highest order. It has become clear the Rich Rod knows only slightly more about defense than I do, and doesn't have the faintest clue how to go about teaching it to young players. Which is really a shame, considering he knows more about the spread offense than anyone coaching today. We have the worst defense in the league, and the best offense.

So was this game the tipping point for Rich Rod? Depends on who you ask. Some were ready to get rid of him when he quoted the Lion King at his opening press conference. For some it was the loss to Toledo. For the first time, I think, more than 50% of the fanbase think its time for a change. For me it was the MSU loss this year, although it took until this game for me to accept it. Although I recognize the beauty of his offense and know that if he stays we will have an Oregon like offense if not next year than the year after it, I can't get past the lack of any defensive fundamentals, the poor personnel decisions (Marell Evans anyone?), and the complete tailspin they've gone in for three straight years. There is still time to turn this season around, but we've seen no evidence that Rich Rod's teams are capable of that.

Other random thoughts:
-Mark Dantonio showed his true stripes (win-at-all-costs), I'm glad the mainstream media is finally picking up on that. Hey Mark, if you want to be a father figure to these kids (your words, not mine), try acting like a father. If you tell a kid the consequences of bad behavior is a certain punishment, and then you don't follow through with the punishment when they do that bad behavior, they learn not to listen to you, or believe you when you tell them there will be dire consequences if they mess up.
-How the hell did Texas beat Nebraska?
-All of a sudden, West Virginia has fallen off the map. I wonder if they might be willing to take Rich Rod back? Maybe we could work out a sign and trade.
-That Iowa collapse against Wisconsin last week is looking like it might be the pivotal game in the Big Ten race this year. Iowa looked very good against MSU and has a decent chance of beating OSU in two weeks. But even if they run the table, if Wisconsin also runs the table, they are out of luck for the Rose Bowl.
-Tulsa? Seriously, Tulsa?!? Is this why you decided to stay an independent?
-The story about the Notre Dame student killed while filming football practice is tragic, and his tweets were especially haunting. This accident is gonna cost the university a ton of money, and I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of heat comes on Brian Kelly because of it.
-The Cal scoring streak continued, blows out teams at home, gets blown out on the road - they lost at Oregon State 35-7. They travel to Washington State, so a continuation of the trend would be quite shocking. They close the season with home games against Oregon, Stanford, and Washington.

Bye Week This and That

In no particular order:
-Raise your hand if you wrote down Missouri, Oregon, Auburn and Michigan State at the start of the year as the last remaining unbeatens from the BCS conference. Liar.
-If there are any Rich Rod critics out there who still believe that his offense "won't work on a big stage", please note that three of those four teams run versions of his offense. That and the fact that Northwestern has run the offense successfully for ten years with less talent than just about anyone in the league. His problem ain't offense, it's everything else.
-I didn't see any of the MSU/Northwestern game, and only heard a few minutes of it on the radio as we were running errands, but it seems to me that road wins against winning conference teams where you come back from a 17-0 deficit are one of the requirements for a championship season.
-MSU can almost print their tickets for Pasadena. With Iowa's loss to Wisconsin, the spartans can afford to lose one of their remaining four games and still win the league title. Even if they lose to the Hawkeyes next week, they can still win the title if OSU beats Iowa, or if MSU, Iowa, & Wisconsin all finish with one loss. Even if you throw OSU in there and make it a four way tie, MSU still gets the Rose Bowl bid. All the Spartans have to do is beat Purdue and Minnesota at home and Penn State on the road and they get their first Rose Bowl in 23 years. It would take an epic collapse to miss out on a BCS bowl. While "epic collapse" and "Michigan State" have gone together like the Captain and Tenile for the better part of the last 40 years, that trend has reversed itself the last three years, as they have found a way to win important games down the stretch in each of Dantonio's first three years.
-Of course, if they win in Iowa City on saturday, they may miss the Rose Bowl by getting invited to the BCS championship game. They may get to play Boise State sooner than they planned.
-It seems that the best LSU QB changes from week to week, depending on who's starting, with the best player always being the guy who comes off the bench.
-What the hell has happened to Texas? I understand them having an off year (they've won ten or more since 2001, and haven't won fewer than 9 since 97), but losing to Iowa State? At home? Maybe Mack Brown has checked out, but you'd figure they have enough talent to overcome whatever is ailing them against Iowa State in Austin. They might be an underdog this week at home against Baylor. I'm pretty sure that's one of the signs of the apocalypse.
-The SEC East is starting to look like a typical year in the ACC, where all teams finish between 5-3 and 3-5 in conference. I wonder if Urban Meyer is regretting his decision to come back. Can they fire Mark Richt if he wins the SEC East at 5-3? I think Derek Dooley had more wins over SEC teams when he was at La Tech then he does at Tennessee.
-Like offense? Try watching the Cal Golden Bears. So far this year they've scored 52 against UC Davis, 52 on Colorado, given up 52 to Nevada, scored 35 on UCLA, given up 48 to USC, and just this week scored 50 on Arizona State. They're scoring 35 points per game and haven't played the two worst scoring defenses in the Pac Ten, Washington State and Oregon State. They haven't played the top two offenses, Oregon and Stanford, either.
-This weekend was about as bad as possible for us on a bye week. All five of the teams we've beaten this year were beaten this week, some in blowout fashion - IU by 30 to Illinois, Notre Dame by 18 to Navy, UConn shutout at Louisville, 26-0, BGSU losing by 24 to Kent State. Strength of schedule really doesn't matter too much to a team nowhere near the BCS, but the fact that Umass was beaten 39-13 by a 5-3 New Hampshire team really doesn't me a lot of confidence about the season going forward.

Stop me if you've heard this one before

Michigan comes out fired up, makes a defensive stop or two and takes the lead. Opponent comes right back down the field and scores and then continues to score throughout the second and third quarter. Michigan scores in the fourth quarter, but its too little to late. Michigan offense gains lots of yards, but is undone by turnovers. Michigan defense looks good in spots, but fails to make the stop at the key moments. Yes, this game looked a lot like the MSU game, and further reinforces what we have thought for several weeks now -- this team is not quite ready for prime time. The defense is still far too weak to be counted on to stop any team that is trying to score. Poor positioning, poor tackling, or just poor recognition - they simply don't have enough talent to be successful. The offense has also shown its youth in the last two weeks with costly turnovers, ridiculous penalties and an inability to make clutch plays. And special teams (other than punting) is still a weight on the offense.
Still, there were some positives:
-Tate's play (other than the two interceptions) was encouraging, and opens up the possibility of bringing him in future games as a change of pace when Denard is struggling.
-Kenny Demens looked better than horrible in place of Obi Ezeh. Hopefully his play against Iowa effectively ended Ezeh's playing time for the year.
-522 yards is a lot of yards to gain on a top ten defense. It does lend some credence that if (and that's a big if) turnovers can be cut down, this offense can duplicate some of their early season domination.
-The defensive and offensive lines played decently considering that David Molk and Mike Martin missed most of the game.
-The receivers looked good, especially in the fourth quarter. I think it's clear that most of them react better to Tate as a passer than Denard.
-Zoltan, Jr!
-Crowd was really into the game, especially during the mini-comeback in the fourth quarter. After the game, Iowa players reported troubles hearing audibles.

Of course, watching them shoot themselves in the foot for the second straight week has led to a lot of grumbling about Rich Rod and a lot of discussion about his future here. Towards the end of the game, there were chants of "We want Harbaugh" audible in the sections near us. Personally, I'm not ready to kick him to the curb just yet. There are still five games to be played, and there have been enough positive signs to suggest that a winning conference record is not far fetched. Unlikely, maybe, but not impossible. So I will reserve final judgement for at least two more weeks.

Thoughts on other games:
-The Wisconsin / OSU game was surprising so much because the Badgers, but rather for the way they won - by imposing their will on the Buckeyes and ramming the ball down their throat. I'm not surprised that the OSU offense stalled because they've looked rather pedestrian at times this year, but I didn't think Wisconsin would score over 30, when they only scored 20 against Arizona State at home.
-OSU's loss really helps MSU. If Iowa loses to Wisconsin this week, MSU has a one game margin over everyone in the conference, and can almost afford a lose in their toughest game left, in Iowa City. Of course, MSU has yet to play outside of the State of Michigan, and I wouldn't be surprised if Northwestern gives them a scare. Still, they are looking good for a New Year's day bowl, at least, if not a BCS bowl.
-I think we are heading for a TCU-Boise national championship game. The SEC undefeateds both have to play Alabama and each other. Oregon still has tough games with USC, Washington, Arizona and Oregon State. Oklahoma, Missouri and Oklahoma State all play each other, along with games against Nebraska and Texas. Finally, MSU still has to go to Iowa City. If Boise and TCU run the table, they will each be 37-1 in the last three years. Meanwhile, some other BCS bowl will feature a game that will be hyped as the "real" national championship game (Alabama/OSU in the Sugar, perhaps).

Things have changed

For the last 40+ years with Michigan football, there have been a lot that you could count on - basic offense, solid defense, 8 or 9 wins most seasons, a team that improved as the season progressed, a bowl game every year, and being the better program than Michigan State. Sure there were years that MSU beat us, but we almost always finished with a better record, and only most ardent spartan supporter would argue that MSU was gonna be the better team in any given year. All of that has changed. Not only was MSU the better team on Saturday, it's clear now that they've become the better program. They've become the team that seems to be greater than the sum of its parts, while we've become the team that can't get out of its own way.
Now the spartanistas have been telling us since the day before Lloyd Carr retired that "things had changed", but you'll have to forgive wolverine fans who had seen the sun set in the west all their life if they had a hard time believing it was going to start setting in the east. Now after watching our team get depantsed three straight years, we're starting to get it.
How did this happen? Some credit goes to Mark Dantonio who has done a decent Jim Tressel impersonation by focusing on a rivalry game, simplifying the offense, recruiting the state of ohio hard, and conveniently ignoring criminal activity from key players (I kid, I kid). But mostly this is a case of Michigan's program falling to new found depths and continuing to look unlike anything we've ever seen in the winged helmets. As time goes on, it's getting harder and harder to excuse Michigan's poor defense as an accident or as an unfortunate set of circumstances. And as time goes on without any apparent improvement it getting harder and harder to believe that all it will take for improvement is time or more in-game experience.
Where does this game leave us from a season perspective? Well, the wild dreams of a big ten title are gone. A win over a good Iowa team might revive thoughts of a New Year's Day bowl, but likely this is still a 7-5 team that will have to fight to make it to a bowl. The good news is that they might not face another offense as balanced as MSU all year. Of course, it doesn't take much offense to beat our defense to a bloody pulp, and five of the six remaining teams have defenses that are statistically better than States. The season, I think, will come down to a three game stretch - at Penn State, Illinois, at Purdue. 3-0 or 2-1 they go bowling, 1-2 or 0-3, they stay home, and the search for a new coach likely begins.

Defense?!? We don't need no stinkin' defense!

I was lucky on Saturday in that I didn't watch most of our game in Bloomington live. Due to my son's soccer game starting at 3:45, I got a few updates during the first half, saw a little bit of the start of the second half at home, and then watched the final drive at a Pizza Hut surrounded by a bunch of hungry eight year-olds. Of course I recorded the game and was able to watch it later on in the evening. I could fast forward through much of the game when we were on defense. The funny thing is that it took me longer to fast forward through the Hoosiers 98 offensive plays than it did to watch Michigan's offensive plays twice.

The most interesting thing about the game, was that I think both coaching staffs came into the game thinking they couldn't stop the other team on offense. Indiana decided that they were going to be aggressive on defense, hoping to get some big negative plays and or turnovers. They slanted their d-line a lot, had their linebackers key on Denard, and occasionally bringing a safety up to the line. That resulted in a lot of single coverage on wide receivers, and no deep run support, which led to a lot of long plays on Michigan's part. The Michigan coaches, on the other hand, decided to play soft coverage (for the most part), hoping that by forcing the Hoosiers to dink and dunk their way down the field, they would eventually make a mistake. For the most part, Indiana did not make mistakes and held the ball for an impossibly long time. In the end, neither defense did anything to suggest that they will be anything other than putrid this year.

In that sense, I think this game probably reinforced most people's ideas of what Michigan's team will be this year. Those that were convinced that this year is just like last year will point to the 500 yards passing allowed against a traditional doormat of the league and proclaim that the tougher teams in the league will run up the score. Those that see this as a new year point to a second straight road win and the continual video-game like stats of Denard Robinson as proof that even when our defense is the dregs, we can still outscore anyone. I think that both viewpoints are valid. This is probably the worst defense in the big ten, and despite its youth, I'm not sure it will make any quantum leaps this year. At the same time there's a real chance that this is the best offense in the league. Everyone talks about Denard's obvious abilities, but the offensive line is monster, the TEs are good blockers, and the receiving corps might be the best in the league, both in receiving and in blocking. What this all means is that we are likely to see more shootout, last team with the ball wins type games.

Other random thoughts:
-One thing that will help our defense is the inherent conservatism in a lot of coaches in the league--Tressel, Ferentz, Paterno, and to a lesser extent Lt. Dan and the Madison Meathead are all "run or die trying" coaches. Our run defense is not stellar by any stretch of the imagination, but our pass defense is so porus that any time spent trying to establish the run is a wasted opportunity to beat our corners deep, or catch one of our linebackers trying to cover a TE. One or two wasted opportunities might be all our offense needs to win a game.
-I don't think the all-out blitzing, throw the kitchen sink at them approach will work with this defense, but I would like to see us disguise our coverages or vary things up a little bit. Playing 20 yards off the receivers every play seems like its asking to get picked apart. Throw in an occasional four man line, or a safety blitz. I noticed they played Mike Martin at DE a little against Indiana. Maybe moving him around some more, or bringing in other big bodies (Patterson, Will Campbell) on run downs will help against the caveman offenses.
-Having Brandon Herron back this week will help the pass rush, because it will allow us to move Craig Roh to his more natural position, DE on passing downs. It will also be good to get Carvin Johnson back, because I think he may be a little more physical than Thomas Gordon, although Gordan hasn't played that badly
- I don't know why LSU fans are complaining about Les Miles. They all want to go back to the days when they had a handsome, well dressed coach who always seemed to be in full control. But who's to say that if they got rid of Miles they wouldn't end up with another coach like the guy who came before the guy they're all pinning for. Maybe the norm for LSU coaches is not Nick Saban, but rather Gerry Dinardo. At least Les keeps the games interesting, and his press conferences are certainly more entertaining that anything Dinardo does on the Big Ten network.
-Lane Kiffin is an idiot. Up two with Washington driving, already in FG range with two minutes left, he decides not to use any of his three timeouts to give his offense time to respond, instead choosing to use two of them to ice the Washington kicker Eric Folk (who beat SC last year with a late FG) before his 32 yard attempt. Rats are gonna start jumping off that ship soon, if they haven't already.
-Gambler's Lament-Another exhibit why gambling on college sports is bad for your health was the Northwestern/Minnesota game. In our weekly College Pick'em pool (no money, just bragging rights), I had the Wildcats -5.5 @ Minnesota. Late in the game, with Minnesota leading 28-20, i flipped over to another game, figuring I was gonna lose this one. I flipped back a few minutes later to find that not only had Northwestern scored a TD, they'd missed the two point conversion, gotten the ball back and kicked a field goal. Now they were leading 29-28 and Minnesota had the ball with under a minute left. This game was toast for me, NU wasn't going to cover. But with just over 30 seconds left, with no timeouts left, Minnesota's QB threw it right to a Northwestern LB in the flat who broke into the clear and headed toward a pick six. Just about the time I jumped out of my seat, excited that I might actually get this pick right, the Wildcat linebacker realized where he was, realized that they didn't need to score and slide to the ground at about the 30. Good thing I didn't have any money on the game, or I might have been really pissed.
-More Golden rankings stuff later this week, and maybe if I find the time a post about the upcoming game with little brother.

Much Better

Now that's the way games against over matched opponents are supposed to go: Offensive excellence early and often, defense getting enough stops and turnovers to keep the game out of reach, and lots of young players getting their first substantial action on both sides of the ball. In the long run this game probably means about as much as last week's game -- its a win, read more into the game at your own peril -- but it is certainly funner to discuss and to relive, so here goes:
-The media seems to be overplaying the Denard injury just a little bit. It seemed fairly clear that he was alright, based on the way he was jumping around on the sideline. I still don't get the idea that he would be any more prone to injury as a QB running the ball than a running back carrying the ball.
-Yes, patsy opponent and all, but Tate Forcier looked good. The ovation he got when he took the field was heartwarming, and his comments after the game were encouraging. I know I was ready to write him off after his comments in the immediate aftermath of the UConn win, but his subsequent walk back of those comments and behavior since then show that maybe, just maybe, he's grown up a little bit through this whole ordeal.
-Gardner also looked good, but I think if Denard were to go down for any period of time, we'd be better off with Tate at the helm, even though he doesn't bring Devin's overall athleticism. I think Tate just brings some better reads and more accuracy. Either way, we have some of the better QB backups in the country.
-I liked the new punt formation, with three returners back, Odoms, Gallon, and Dileo, to combat the rugby style roll punts from the spread formation that a lot of teams are running these days. The extra returners allowed us to return a few punts that previously had ended up bouncing 20 yards, or had turned into turnovers when Gallon tried to dive after the ball.
-Not a bad first career carry by Fitz Toussaint, huh? I'd worry more about him being caught from behind if he weren't wearing a knee brace.
-I thought the freshman Ray Vinopal showed a good nose for the ball on his late interception. Now if we could just put a few pounds on him so he doesn't cough the ball up after his interception.

Thoughts from other games:
-I wonder if Alabama's come from behind win in Arkansas was just the first of many such games for the defending champs this year. With the way their schedule is set up, with many teams getting bye weeks before they play them, they're gonna get everyone's best shot, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them fall behind against Florida, LSU, South Carolina, or Auburn. But they just seem to have that Rasputin like quality that they're never dead even after you think you've killed them.
-What the heck has happened to Georgia? Losing to Miss. State? I don't know anything about the situation on the ground in Athens, but from the outside it doesn't look good for Mark Richt -- losing record this year, losing ground in the rivalry with Florida, a new AD, and a gaggle of legal troubles for this players. His only saving grace might be that Tennessee might be worse, and the luster is coming off Paul Johnson at Georgia Tech a little bit.
-Speaking of the Vols, you gotta feel a little for UAB, miss five field goals in regulation and lose in 2OT to Tennessee. Ouch!
-I couldn't help but think in the wake of UCLA's somewhat shocking demolition of Texas that it was the Bruin's 66-3 win in Austin that effectively ended the last Longhorn coach's tenure. I don't think Mack Brown is going anywhere anytime soon, but maybe they shouldn't invite UCLA to town anymore.
-I watched a little bit of the Temple / PSU game. It's kinda a shame that the Big East kicked Temple out, since I think that if Al Golden stays there, they will outgrow the MAC real fast. If they are seriously considering adding Villanova, they should first bring Temple back. Of course, Golden's a Penn State alum, so he might be on their short list if/when Paterno finally hangs them up / kicks the bucket (whichever comes first).
-Odd Stat of the week: Every touchdown scored in Florida's 41-14 win over Kentucky was scored by #8 -- Florida's Trey Burton (who scored six touchdowns), Jeremy Brown (INT returned for a TD), and Kentucky's Chris Matthews (Two TD receptions) all wear number 8. I wonder what the odds are on three different players with the same number all scoring in the same game, let alone scoring nine touchdowns.
-Some more Golden rankings stuff later this week -- conference rankings and a look at a new rankings feature this year, looking at average points scored and allowed vs. the opponents averages.

Going through the motions

You'll have to excuse the lackluster blogging effort this week (i.e. late) after a lackluster game on Saturday. Ugh. What a stinker.

The offense was out of sync. Robinson forced his first pass of the day resulting in an INT. He fumbled several snaps and seemed to read a couple of zone read plays wrong. The O-line missed a few assignments, and there were a few missed cuts by the RBs. Still they racked up 550 some odd yards on 56 snaps. Even when out of sorts, this is a potent offense. Offense is not the problem.

Defense is. More specifically, linebackers are. Even my untrained eye saw Ezeh and Mouton make bad read after bad read. Give Umass credit, they ran a lot of misdirection , roll outs and short passes that put the onus on the LBs to make the right read. Time and again they didn't. What is scary is that there are several Big Ten teams that play exactly this style of offense.

That being said, I'm not sure this meager effort changes the big picture. Even with the defense of death, the offense appears to be good enough to win four of the remaining nine games. If the defense improves (i.e. they discover some new linebackers), we might see more wins.

This and That:
-A lot of fans will make a big deal out of a close game with an FCS team, but this really isn't any different than a basketball win over a mid-major. UMass, Villanova, James Madison, App State, these are the football equivalents of the Butler team that came within a few points of winning the Big Dance this year. Now Umass probably isn't as good as Butler was this year, but they were chalked full of seniors. had plenty of experience, and probably won't be the worst team we play this year.
-The thing that disappointed me the most in our game is that we didn't see any backups. Obviously some new prospects on defense might provide some hope, but I was also hoping to see the backup RBs. Still not convinced Shaw and Smith are the answer.
-What a call by Dantonio in the MSU/ND game. The amazing thing was that it wasn't open when the punter first stood up. He had to wait for his receiver to come open. I found it funny that Kelly, who is know for his gambling nature passed on a fourth and one in overtime, and Dantonio, who is considered conservative took the risk.
-Hope Dantonio recovers in time for the Michigan game. We should have known that something was wrong when he smiled in the post game interview.
-Not to look to far ahead, but the State game looks like it will be a barn burner. Two potent offenses, two poor defenses. I think this game is huge for Rich Rod. If he loses that game, I don't think he comes back next year.
-Only watched a little bit of the Iowa-Arizona game before I fell asleep, but man is Mike Stoops crazy on the sidelines. If you had told me Sunday morning that a college coach had a heart attack the night before, I would have guessed Stoops.
-Bo Pelini looks to have Nebraska rounding in form just in time for their move to the Big Ten. I would love to see them win the Big 12 this year.
-I wonder if the Pac 10 is having second thoughts about Colorado. First California routs CU 52-7, then the bears get blown out by Nevada 52-31. They've added a few teams and still can't beat the Mountain West.
-A new set of Golden Rankings coming in a day or so.

Warp speed ahead!

Photo - Michigan Daily

As I watched the end of the Boise State - Virginia Tech game on Labor Day night it occurred to me that the difference between the two minute offenses of Boise State and Virginia Tech embodies the struggles that many long-time Michigan fans are having in accepting the new Michigan offense. For the longest time, we had prototypical pro-style quarterbacks who like Boise's Kellen Moore could surgically take apart any defense with his passing even when everyone knew they had to pass. Now with a system that emphasizes a quarterback's running skills and athleticism more than his passing skills, I think many Michigan fans fear that we will be unable to run an effective two minute offense, just as Virginia Tech's Tyrod Taylor was unable to do at the end of the Labor Day game.

Among the multitude of amazing things Denard Robinson did on Saturday perhaps the most significant thing was to show those Michigan fans still uncomfortable with the new offense that just because he is not 6-4 with feet of clay doesn't mean he can't deliver in crunch time when everyone knows he needs to pass the ball. With the game on the line and 75 yards away from pay dirt, he went 5-6 for 55 yards and added 17 yards rushing with a fourth and one conversion and a touchdown rushing. Any doubting that he can be a complete quarterback is either not paying attention or is looking for reasons to complain.

The offense still has things to work on: the running backs have not been productive, the down field passing is inconsistent, and the propensity for bad penalties is gonna cost them at some point. Although last year taught us not to get to far ahead of ourselves, I think it is safe to say that baring some key injuries, this offense will be fairly productive.

The Defense? We won. Can't say too much more than that. They did appear to limit the ND rushing attack a little bit, but didn't get much pressure on the ND QBs and had some significant lapses in coverage. Cam Gordon took a couple of bad angles that led to two long ND touchdowns. Missed tackles were numerous, and the two inside LBs are about 50/50 to make the right read. We don't really know how good the ND offense is, but it's probably safe to say that the defense still has a long way to go to get to adequate. We won't discuss the special teams.

So big picture, where are we? One game closer to the seven wins we need to go bowling. I'd like to say this is better than a 7-5 team, but after last year, we know things can go south really quickly when the team has serious depth issues. Looking at the schedule, based on games played so far, there appears to be four teams that we would seem to be better than: UMass, Purdue, Bowling Green, & Illinois, five teams we don't have enough evidence to judge yet based on over matched opponents: Iowa, MSU, Indiana, Wisconsin, & Penn State (a loss @ Alabama doesn't prove anything major), and one team, Ohio State that appears clearly better than us. If I had to guess now, based on last year, Iowa and Wisconsin will join OSU in that last group, and Indiana will join the first group.

Some other thoughts:
-I'm sure you'll hear from negative nancies in the media and opposing fans how Denard won't survive the season carrying the ball 30 times a game and Michigan's offense will suffer if he goes down. While there is some truth in that, it's no more true for us than it is for any other team. Where would OSU be if Pryor went down? How's Florida doing so far without Tebow? Is a QB that carries the ball more likely to get injured than a RB who carries that much? I think that part of the negative reaction towards the amount of carries Denard gets has to do with that uncomfortableness with the offense we discussed above.
-I'm sure he got approval of the team doctors, but I wonder if Brian Kelly's decision to put Dayne Crist back in the game was a sound one. Crist's vision problems would seem to suggest a potentially serious concussion or head injury that would keep him out of the whole game. I'd hate to think that the decision to put him in was motivated by the horrible play of his backups, and you just hope that there are no lingering issues for Crist.
-Didn't see much of any of the other big ten games to draw many conclusions, other than the large white stripe on the MSU helmets looked bad and I wished we played Minnesota this year. What the heck Gophers? At least when we lost to an FCS team, we lost to the three time defending champs, not a .500 team that's only been playing Division one for four years.
-Bad day for the MAC. They went 2-5 in non conference play with two losses to FCS teams (Akron to Gardner Webb, Ball State to Liberty). The conference should really consider an en masse move to FCS.
-Almost equally bad day for the ACC, with losses to an FCS team (see below), a poor Kansas team, and big losses in marquee games by Miami and Florida State. They look to be a one bid league in terms of the BCS, yet again.
-USC looked fairly average. Pac Ten will be decided Oct 2 when Stanford visits Oregon. The amount of empty seats in Neyland Stadium midway through the fourth quarter was quite impressive.
-Biggest loser this week? Probably Boise State, whose "big" win over Virginia Tech became virtually worthless when the Hokies fell to FCS "power" James Madison. I can see another 12-0 season ending in a random BCS bowl game (but not "the" game) against TCU.
-The news on Friday that FCS power Villanova has been asked to join the Big East in football confirms what many have said for years -- the Big East doesn't deserve a BCS bid. Villanova currently plays in a 12,000 seat stadium, probably draws less per game than two other Philly area teams (Penn and Temple), and probably falls about ten spots down in the sports consciousness of the typical Philly fan. I know that UConn made a similar jump a decade ago, but they weren't really competing with anything else other than Husky basketball.
-On a final note, one of the all time greatest Wolverines, Ron Kramer, passed away on Saturday. I'd like to think he spent the afternoon watching the game with Bo, Yost, & Bob Ufer. Godspeed, # 87.

Back to the Future

It's been a pretty obvious parallel to draw the last couple of years - stadium under construction, team under construction. Holes in new structure, holes in depth chart. Unpoured concrete, unfinished tackles. So maybe it's fitting then that on a day when they opened the new bigger Big House, we got to see a team that may finally be beginning to resemble the finished product that Rich Rodriguez envisioned when he first arrived here almost three years ago.

The offense we saw on Saturday reminds me of the old Michigan offense. Not the traditional pro set we had under Carr and Moeller, but the "three yards and a cloud of dust" offense of the mid and late 70s. An offense where the rushing attack is so precise and potent that the passing attack doesn't need to be overly complex to be successful. It relies heavily on the athleticism and decision making of the quarterback. On Saturday, Denard Robinson ran it to near perfection. His reads in the Zone read play were good, his passing was accurate and on time, and his knack for finding the right hole and hitting it at top speed was outstanding. It will be hard to top this game against a team that some suggested might be the best in the Big East.

Even with the workman like effort by the offense, it was perhaps the defense that was the most pleasantly surprising. It is not a stretch to say the last two years have been the worst defenses in Michigan history. a simply mediocre defense this year will be a huge improvement, and might be enough by itself to secure a bowl bid. and that's what we got on Saturday, a simply mediocre defense. There were some bad angles taken by safeties and bad reads by linebackers, but there were few of the crushing missed open field tackles that led to long touchdowns last year. There were no sacks, and the defensive line didn't beat blocks one on one, but there was enough pressure on the QB from linebackers to make the UConn QB uncomfortable. Most importantly, the defense got a key turnover at the most opportune time, something they hadn't done for the last two years. Is this a championship level defense? No. is UConn an offensive powerhouse? No. But there was enough positive play to suggest that maybe, just maybe the defense will be good enough to get us to the winning season we've been waiting for.

Other thoughts:
-I was hoping we see more kids play, especially on defense. I'd like to see what Marvin Robinson can do at Jordan Kovacs SS/Bandit position. I'd like to see more of Will Campbell, and hope he gets his act together soon. I'd like to see Stephen Hopkins take a turn at RB to see if he can fill the runaway beer truck role that Owen Schmitt manned at West Virginia. I was hoping to see Drew Dileo at punt returner, especially after Jeremy Gallon dropped his first punt (HOLD ONTO THE DAMN BALL!)
-I'd like to see Tate Forcier stick around, just for emergency purposes, but after his disappearing act after the game, I won't be broken up if he transfers. The guys at MGoBlog, of course, were right on top of this story after the fact, talking to his dad. That interview sounded a lot like damage control, and given the family history of transfers not working out, I would guess his dad wants him to stick around. But it's clear that he's not happy, and it will be hard to convince a 20 year old kid who's been raised all his life to be a star quarterback that he should be content to be a backup with little chance to play meaningful snaps unless someone gets hurt.
-Outside of the kick block, special teams were pretty mediocre. Although I think the wind played a big factor, kicking will be an adventure all season.
- You could see David Brandon's influence all around the stadium on Saturday: The band was miked up and you could actually hear them; there was no piped in music, save for one snippet of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" at a quarter break; they announced a Slippery Rock score for the first time since the early to mid 80s (a report from some younger friends was that the students were very confused by that score and the cheers that it was met with); the band's halftime show was a salute to The Blues Brothers, complete with formations that actually matched the music (a Dodge with moving wheels, a hat and sunglasses). It could have been a show from the mid 80s. Hopefully we'll see more shows like that and less salutes to opera or boy bands like we had last year. I wonder if the annual salute to the school of animal husbandry will return.
-Some extra added food options this year look really yummy. We saw one stand selling roasted corn on the cob. Will definitely have to try that out.
-Overall a pleasant day at the corner of Stadium and Main. We now have six seats together, so my son came and brought his best friend with him (see the picture at the top of the blog). They had a grand time and even paid attention to the game most of the time. I'm not sure this game changes the overall season outlook - the goal is still to get to a bowl game, anything more is gravy.

OSU thoughts and season wrap-up

It could have been a lot worse. The defense played hard, and Tressel's conservatism played right into Michigan's hands, so despite a gaggle of turnovers, the final score looked somewhat respectable.
-There's no doubt that Tressel is a great coach, especially when it comes to defense and special teams. But much like Lloyd Carr, he couldn't game plan his way out of a paper bag. Our defense has glaring weaknesses at LB and at safety and every non-MAC team has taken advantage of them until OSU. But instead of spreading us out, running zone read plays and short out passes and play action passes, i.e. things that would have forced our LBs and DBs to make decisions and plays in space, Sweatervest decided to run primarily out of an I formation, straight up blocking, that allowed our D-line to get penetration. Now perhaps Tressel saw no reason to do anything on offense since he knew his defense would probably out score us, but I think that if you constantly ask your offense to do the bare minimum, when you really need them to do something, they won't produce. It's what has happened to them against USC and SEC team recently, and it might happen in the Rose Bowl if they have to try and outscore Oregon.
-Pryor is a great athlete, but he has horrible QB mechanics. He's their version of Denard Robinson, but bigger and probably faster. Tressel should look to hire an NFL QB coach to try and develop his pocket passing.
-As much as the Forcier interceptions killed us, I don't think we should try and shut him down next year. His strength is his ability to pull something out of his ass when he's scrambling, I don't want him to lose that.
-There were as many OSU fans at the game as I've ever seen. That's to be expected with the season we've had. With the proliferation of ticket websites, making it easier to sell or buy tickets to any game, I would expect similar situations in the future if we don't turn it around.
-Of all the seniors who played their last game on Saturday, perhaps the thing I'll miss the most is the press box. The next time we see Michigan on TV, it will be at a different camera angle.

-Despite the disappointing end to the season, I think it's pretty clear the Rich Rod isn't going to be fired anytime soon. Anyone who suggest otherwise is either an idiot or in sports talk radio (or more likely, both). We gave Tommy Amaker six years, there's no way, considering his considerable buyout that we fire Rich Rod anytime before the end of the 2011 season.
-Whether he should be fired or not is a different question. I don't think he should be, but I understand the point of those who suggest he should be. I think two years is not enough time to give a coach, and I think there are still considerable holes in the roster that would not be helped by a coaching change. But I also think that given the way the first two years have gone, it's not terribly likely that Rich Rod will last much beyond 2011. There aren't many cases in recent history of a coach doing as poorly in his first two years as Rich Rod has done and winning big in his third or fourth year.
-Although I think Rich Rod should stay, I wouldn't mind if our LB coach Jay Hobson were to leave. He was responsible of inside LBs and both of our veterans in those positions, Ezeh and Mouton seemed to have regressed this year.

Pick your metaphor

Oh yeah, I suppose I should address our game this weekend.

Sigh.

It wasn't good. The offense played hot potato with the football. The special teams were sub-par. There were many poor or questionable coaching decisions. And the defense couldn't catch a cold.

After each of our previous losses this season, I've tried to look at the big picture. Although we still have a chance to make a bowl game and show improvement this season, the overall numbers are not good, and it does seem like they will improve anytime soon. O fer October in two years. 3-10 in Big Ten play. Out gained by every BCS opponent this year.

So where do we go from here? This loss has definitely brought out the pitchforks in some places and there are plenty of people who want to jettison Rich Rod now. But if you listen to comments made by school president Mary Sue Coleman, that's not going to happen this or next year. He's here through 2011, unless he chooses to leave, which is also unlikely given that he'd owe us a big buyout if he quit.

Personally, I'm glad the people in power have some patience. As frustrating as the last two years have been, firing RR now would put the program back and would potentially extend our walk in the wilderness. While I still support the coach, I have a hard time arguing now with those who say he's a bad fit here or will never be successful here.

Other thoughts:
-It's amazing to watch all the SEC slappies in the media get all over Iowa for trailing Indiana after three quarters, or for getting some questionable calls in the game. Didn't Alabama need a last second blocked field goal to beat a mediocre Tennessee team (hello, we lost at home to UCLA), and didn't Florida get some referee gifts to beat Arkansas? Now, I'm not saying that Iowa should be ranked ahead of those teams, it's just that the vitriol pointing there way seems out of place.
-Wow, Oregon. Chip Kelly's gonna get some coach of the year consideration, which is amazing since after week one, it looked like he was in over his head. Now that's what the spread option offense is supposed to look like.
-MSU's loss at Minnesota was almost as bad as Michigan's at Illinois. Ok, maybe not that bad, but it still puts them in a bad position. They now need to beat either Penn State at home or Purdue on the road to go bowling (assuming they beat WMU). I don't understand why Keith Nichol is still getting any playing time. I also don't see how you give up 42 points to a team that has 17 penalties for over 150 yards. Dantonio's lucky that Michigan has been so bad the last two years. Otherwise the main local story this year would be about the "Same Old Spartans".
-The Pizza Pizza bowl must be licking their chops. With both Michigan and MSU looking like they won't get above six wins, if they make it that far, there's a non-zero chance that they could get one of the two local teams. With CMU still in the running for the MAC title, they have a good chance to sell out Ford Field. Anyone interested in watching CMU carve up Michigan's secondary? How about MSU-CMU II?

We knew this would happen

At the start of the season I told myself, and anyone who would listen, that this was a 7-5 team, with five probable wins, five toss-ups, and two sure losses. So far this season we are 4-0 on the probable wins, 1-2 in the tossups, and just lost our first sure loss. So why is everyone so upset?

The truth of it is part of the reason that we all make predictions at the start of the season is to counter that overly-optimistic, ten-year old kid in all of us that is dreaming of ways we can go 13-0. As much as you repeat the more realistic prediction out loud, there's still that little voice saying "If we only get some solid safety play and we get some breaks, we could win it all."
When the season starts with an electrifying win, that little voice starts to get louder. After the Notre Dame win, and even after the close losses at MSU and Iowa, we started to believe that maybe we could win this game.

But the truth is any chance we had to be competitive in this game ended five plays into the game when David Molk went down with an ankle injury. We just don't have the talent right now on the defensive side of the ball, or the experience on the offensive side of the ball to be among the top teams in the Big Ten. Somewhere that ten-year kid is in mourning.

Bullets:
-The next two games are absolute must-wins. 7-5 with a mid-level bowl is progress for the program. 6-6 and a low-level bowl, or heaven forbid, 5-7 will be epic fail.
-If I have one complaint with the offense this year (other than general inconsistency and turnovers that come with two freshman QBs) it's the lack of a downfield passing game. Clearly, developing a pocket passing game with Tate Forcier has got to be one of the priorities for the off-season.
-Jordan Kovacs would be a halfway decent safety if he were just a step or 20 steps faster. Unfortunately, he's the only one we really have.
-Ok, let's see, two weeks ago Texas Tech beats Kansas State by 52. Last week Kansas State beats Texas A&M by 48. And this week, A&M beats Tech by 22? Gotta love college football.
-The MSU / Iowa game was an absolute snore fest for the better part of three quarters but turned into a classic big ten battle at the end. We got not one, not two, but three goal line stands, some questionable playcalls, a hook and lateral!, a missed fumble call, and a last second TD to preserve a perfect season (so far). Once they get past the gut shot nature of the loss, Spartan fans have to be happy with the direct of their program. The defense is much improved over the start of the season.
-My god is EMU horrible. Four and a half games after he went out for the season with an injury, QB Andy Schmidt is still the team's leading passer.

Ride Captain Ride

News came down from on high today that Bill Martin will be hanging it up as AD by next September. Now while most of us wouldn't know what makes a good AD, I think it's pretty clear that Bill Martin has been one of the best ADs in the country for the last ten years. To recap some of his accomplishments:
-He took an athletic department that was opertaing at a loss each year and made it one of the most profitable departments in the country, even without luxury boxes.
-He dramtically improved the facilities here, including a new football practice facility, new soccer stadium, boxes at Yost, new basketball practice facility, new wrestling facility, new varsity tennis complex, new academic support center for athletes, a renovated baseball and softball complex, and of course, the new suites and press box at Michigan Stadium. It is easily the most prolific building period in the history of athletics at the university.
-He helped provide a new emphasis on women's athletics, leading to our first ever women's national championship (2oo1 in field hockey).
-Eight top five finishes in the last ten years in the Director's, or Sears Cup, the annual award given by the NCAA to the school that finishes with the best overall placements in their top 10 men's sports and top 10 women's sports. These finishes have come against a number of schools that have extraordinarily large private endowments (like Stanford), or sponsor more sports than Michigan due to climate or size of athletic department (like Texas).
-Despite some high profile misses in coaching hires (Tommy Amaker, Bob Bowman), he has made some outstanding hires -- John Beilein, Rich Maloney, Marcia Pankratz and Rich Rodriguez -- that have put a number of the athletic programs in good hands for years to come.

All in all, it's safe to say that not since Don Canham retired has Michigan had such a successful AD. Here's hoping his successor has half his business sense.

Bullets:
-Not much to talk about with the Delaware State game -- both teams got the cash they needed out of the deal, the Hornets their 500k payout, which probably paid their season expenses, and Michigan their $4 million gate, which paid for a few different non-revenue sports
-From my vantage point, the national championship pecking order looks as follows:
1) Alabama / Florida winner (assuming they are undefeated)
2) Texas
3) Iowa
4) Cinncy
5) Boise
6) TCU
7) Alabama / Florida loser (or 1-loss SEC team)

Actually if the championship game is not a rematch, I think the one loss SEC team shoots above the two mid-majors, and maybe even above an undefeated Cinncy.
-I'll be interested to see how many of the SEC slappies who cried injustice at the idea of a rematch 3 years ago will now campaign for the loser of the SEC championship game to get a second bite at the apple.
-I'm not buying this "woe-is-me" routine from the Buckeyes and their fans. No matter how awful they look and how many games they lose between now and November 21, I'll still expect Pryor to go 28-32 for 350 yards and 4 TDs against us.
-A weird line for this weekend's games: Iowa @ MSU is a pick'em. Now I know it's tough to win on the road in the Big Ten, but Iowa already won by 11 in a night game at Penn State. Do the oddsmakers really think Penn State is 11 points worse than MSU?

Missed Opportunities

I must admit that when it happened, I was livid. How could you not put the golden child, Tate Forcier, back in the game? After all, hadn't he already led three fourth quarter drives to win or tie games this year? We only had 1:40 on the clock, no timeouts, and we had to go about 60 yards to get into reasonable field goal range. Surely this was the perfect setup for more heroics.
But no, Denard Robinson came back out on the field. Maybe Tate was injured, we had seen him shaking his hand like he had hit it on something earlier in the quarter. But we saw him start to run on the field, as if to say, "I'm ready to go" only to be told to sit down by Rich Rod. This was clearly a decision by Rich Rod to go with Robinson.

After the game, I stewed for a while, thinking about the missed opportunity to steal a game on the road against a top ten team when you commit five turnovers. As disappointed as I was that the game slipped away, I began to mellow a bit, thinking about how good the team had played in certain segments, and realizing that we were a nine point dog in this game and nearly won it.

As I poked around on various message boards, and saw discussions of the game, and of Rich Rod's decision to bench Forcier, I came across a comparison that seem particularly apt to me.
Late in the Big Ten basketball season, with the Michigan hoops fighting for their first NCAA bid in ten years, Michigan was playing on the road against a poor Iowa team. With tough games still to play against Purdue and Minnesota, most people felt this was a must win for our tournament chances. After blowing a large lead late, John Beilein benched his best player, Manny Harris for the overtime period, and we ended up loosing. At the time, many people were upset that the loss had cost us our chance at an NCAA bid. But Manny came out fired up a few days later and we beat Purdue, and then beat Minnesota, and he was the best player on the court in our big dance win against Clemson. In the end, Beilein's decision to bench Manny against Iowa probably cost us that game, but might have been the move that saved our season. We can only hope that Rich Rod's bizarre decision to bench Forcier will have the same consequences.

Bullets:
-Big picture, I'm very pleased with where we are. A year after finishing 3-9 (and being somewhat lucky to get one of those wins), we are 4-2 with two narrow losses, and most of our remaining tough games at home. 8-4 is a real possibility now, and that would be a huge one year improvement
-Boy did our line play look great. I think we beat Iowa on both sides of the ball, and they were supposed to have the best D-line in the league outside of Columbus.
-I love seeing Brandon Minor run downhill. We really need to get him more carries against the big boys. I would love to see him repeat the success he had in the first half against PSU last year against the Knitknees this year.
-I was very impressed with Denard Robinson in the next to the last drive. Everyone in the stadium knew he was going to run the ball, and they still couldn't stop him. I wish he had come in the game earlier. I hope he gets significant snaps in the scrimmage against Delaware State.
-Jordan Kovacs has turned into a serviceable safety. Now if we could only bring Mike Williams along, we might be ok (meaning average) in the secondary.
-Woolfolk also look good. I would guess he's our starting CB the rest of the year, regardless of what happens with Cissoko's suspension.
-Other than Zoltan, our special teams were quite poor. Why can't we find a decent punt returner. Isn't that something that slot ninjas are supposed to be good at?
-If I were the Illinois AD, I'd start raising money for Ron Zook's buyout and would get Brian Kelly on speed dial. The Illini look like they've quit on Zook.
-The Big Ten looks like OSU's to lose. Iowa is good, but not good enough to win in Columbus. While the Buckeyes might trip up once, I don't see them losing twice, and no one else in the league is good enough to run the table. I would put Iowa, PSU, and Wisconsin in the group behind OSU, with Michigan, MSU, and maybe Minnesota a step lower than them.
-Has anybody else in the country played as many exciting games as Washington? (Perhaps us)
-The post game interview with Bobby Bowden was painful to watch. They asked him what went wrong with the game, why they lost, and he couldn't offer much more than cliches. It's pretty clear that he doesn't have the slightest clue what's going on out there. I don't envy the FSU fans or decision makers. It's pretty hard to deal with the fact that the person that basically created your program is now like an anchor around its ankle.

Can't Win Them All

For 55 minutes on Saturday, it looked we had gone back to last year: receivers dropping balls, lineman and running blocks missing blocks, defense giving up big plays on third down, players looking like they didn't know their assignments, and the team generally sleepwalking through a game.
And then Tate Forcier reminded us why it isn't last year. The coaches basically gave up trying to run the ball, MSU abandoned what had been working on offense, and Forcier led not one by two long drives down the field in a driving rain without using so much as a timeout to tie the game. A scramble one way, a scramble another way, a pass to a receiver just past the first down line, a bullet on a slant catching safeties flat-footed. All of this while quite visibly in pain, wincing with every hit and every glancing blow. It was quite a sight to behold, and you could almost here spartans across the state cursing to themselves, "Oh No, we can't lose like this again"
But for once, the bounces didn't go our way in overtime, and we lost for the second time in a row in this rivalry for the first time in our lifetime. Forcier tried to make one pass too many, Troy Woolfolk missed one last tackle, and Larry Caper scampered into the end zone bringing joy to most of Spartan Stadium.
This loss hurts because this was probably our most winnable road game, with the probable exception of Illinois. And State was trying real hard for a while to give us this game: personal foul penalties (although the last one they got was a bad call), bad turnovers, trying to much to run the ball when they could've just passed us into oblivion, etc. And we just couldn't, or wouldn't take it.
But in the big picture, this is not a horrible loss. An overtime loss on the road in a rivalry game, while painful, is not something that will torpedo the season. Despite the good start, anyone who told you they expected us to win the Big Ten this year is either lying, or 12 years old. This is probably a 7-5, maybe 8-4 team. Not sure this loss changes that.

Bullets:
-For the second straight year I think Dantonio out coached Rich Rod. I thought they looked like they made a decision to kick away from Stonum on kickoffs, and they ran a little toss sweep off the three receiver set that was quite effective. Obviously the fake punt call, whether it was the coaches' call or Mesko's read was horrible. And I would have liked to have seen Robinson in earlier, but as a slot or a RB, in with Forcier. There were rumors this week they were working on 2 QB sets in practice, but we didn't see any of that.
-One thing that Dantonio did screw up, IMO, is putting Keith Nichols in. Perhaps Cousins was hurt, but if he wasn't, there was no good reason to bring Nichols in. Unlike Robinson for us, Nichols doesn't really provide any new look that Cousins doesn't.
-The receivers really did not help Forcier much at all during the game. Koger dropped a couple, as did Kelvin Grady.
-We miss David Molk something fierce. Hope he's back for Penn State.
-Considering the day didn't appear to have many great match ups when it started, there were some great finishes. our course our game went to overtime, Notre Dame beat Washington in OT, and LSU and Georgia played a classic where they scored 13 points in the first 57 minutes of the game, and 20 in the last three. LSU has enough talent to make that Florida game interesting, if they can find a way to be more consistent on offense. You can bet that Tebow will take more than a coupld of hits. I wouldn't try and run him too much, I wouldn't want to give one of those LSU safeties a chance for a kill shot on the Savior.
-In that game there were a pair of celebration penalties that were just ridiculous. It seems like every five years or so, the NCAA decides to try and legislate out the emotion of the game, and we get these stupid calls deciding games.