Nov

23

Off Season Bulletin Board Material

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Is there such a thing as off season bulletin board material? If so this ought to motivate the University of Michigan football players and coaches as they work at rebuilding the program. Bob Hunter in the Columbus Dispatch:

Put it this way: Ohio State-Michigan has suddenly begun masquerading as an OSU-Toledo game, a switch not without a touch of irony considering the Wolverines lost to Toledo this season.

But the rivalry is tottering not simply because Michigan has had an embarrassment or two, or because of an unprecedented five consecutive OSU wins in the series, or because Michigan has just finished the season 3-9, or even because the Buckeyes hammered their hapless rivals 42-7 yesterday in Ohio Stadium.

It is tottering because the Wolverines looked so weak yesterday that it’s hard to imagine they’re looking at a quick fix. This is a team so bad that even the rivalry couldn’t lift it up, and this is a rivalry that injects so much emotion in the game that it sometimes makes mediocre teams look pretty good.

Rich Rodriguez is a good coach, but he’s not Moses. After Michigan’s woeful performance in the Horseshoe, it seems clear that for Rodriguez to lead his team out of the Big Ten’s second division — not even one of college football’s lower-middle-class neighborhoods these days - it’s going to take more than a few top recruits.

Hunter goes on to all but predict that Ohio State wins the next two meetings. And then gets in a litte dig:

Some rivalry, eh?

If this keeps up, those little gold pants Ohio State players receive for winning the Michigan game may eventually become worthless trinkets around here. They used be rare as a gold doubloon. Now they’re like loose change. Fifth-year seniors have five pairs.

The Buckeyes fans are clearly enjoying things. But you have to think this kind of talk will serve as good motivation for Rich Rodriguez and the Wolverines as they work to regain their winning ways and the respect that comes with it.

File this away for the future.

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Nov

22

Has Michigan Football hit bottom yet?

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University of Michigan

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After the expected beatdown today that is the only question left.  Has the Michigan Wolverines football program reached the low point?

- First time ever to lose to a MAC school.

_ First losing season in four decades.

- Not going to a bowl game for the first time in over thirty years.

- First time in history Michigan has lost more than 7 games in a season.

- First time Ohio State has won five in a row against Michigan.

This “historic” season has been a cruel and unusual punishment for Michigan fans.  This was the first Ohio State Michigan game in my memory where I simply knew we were not going to win - where I was without hope.

It was a weird experience.  There was a lot less tension and anger.  It was kind of an empty feeling.

When Warren picked off that Pryor pass and then the offense proceeded to fail to score any points I knew the game was over.  I just knew the offense was not going to be able to score enough points to win.  I was hoping for something that didn’t seem embarrassing.  But even that was out of reach.  Nick Sheridan simply isn’t a capable enough player to win against a competent foe like Ohio State.

Want to talk about offensive impotence?  Out of 12 games Michigan failed to score in two or more quarters 9 times!  In two thirds of their games the offense failed to score for half of the game!

So here is the question: assuming Michigan has a Division I caliber player - even if a freshman - can Michigan return to competitive football?

Only time will tell, but I say yes.  As bad as things have been this year, with a capable QB Michigan wins 6 or 7 games in my opinion.  There are a lot of young players who got valuable experience this year both in playing and in learning the system.   I have to think these players will only get better next year.  Provided the horrendous turnovers don’t repeat themselves. I can see Michigan winning 7 games next year even with a freshman at QB.  Heck, Chad Henne had a great freshman season.

Rich Rodriguez has a history of turning programs around and I think at Michigan he can recruit the talent to get it done.

But all that is just hope.  Right now the program is ashes.  The question is whether there is a Phoenix lurking.

Michigan fans have to suffer a long off-season to find out.

From the Ashes

From the Ashes

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Nov

19

No pressure or anything, Rich Rod

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Yost coaching Michigan team in 1902

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Pat Forde notes yet another potential streak that could end in this Saturday’s Michigan Ohio State game:

In the illustrious history of Michigan football, 12 coaches have played against Ohio State. Their record in their first game in this rivalry: 10-1-1. Only Harry Kipke (24) failed to get it done, in 1929. The rundown:

(Note: attendance in 1902 when Yost’s team put that fearful beating on the Buckeyes was listed as 6,000. By the time Yost was done, he had built Michigan football into a colossus. Attendance for George Little’s first shot at Ohio State in ‘24 was 70,000.)

So no pressure Rod, but you’d be making one more bit of horrible history this season with a loss Saturday. A 3-9 record and the first debut loss to the Buckeyes in 79 years? Not ideal.

Michigan vs. Ohio State

Year Coach Result
1897 Gustave Ferbert 34-0
1900 Biff Lea 0-0
1901 Fielding H. Yost 21-0
1924 George Little 16-6
1927 Tad Wieman 21-0
1929 Harry Kipke 0-7
1938 Fritz Crisler 18-0
1948 Bennie Oosterbahn 13-3
1959 Bump Elliott 23-14
1969 Bo Schembechler 24-12
1990 Gary Moeller 16-13
1995 Lloyd Carr 31-23

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Nov

19

Rodriguez trying to make Michigan his program

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ANN ARBOR, MI - AUGUST 30: Head coach Rich Ro...

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Interesting article in the Columbus Dispatch on Rich Rodriguez and the trials of taking over a storied program like Michigan - and struggling mightily your first year.

A couple of things stood out to me.  One was the discipline he is trying to install:

It wasn’t just the playbook that changed.

“From practices to meetings to dress codes to lifting schedules to where we eat, what we can do, where we can go, curfew — there are a lot of things that are different,” senior defensive tackle Terrance Taylor said. “You expect that, but being here, you want to hold on to something you know about.”

Michigan used to have season-long captains. This year, they were chosen on a weekly basis.

Before, Michigan players didn’t have a curfew. Taylor said Sunday night’s curfew required players to be home by 10 p.m., in bed by 11.

Rodriguez has banned players from using cell phones in the team’s building “because when we’re in the building he wants us talking to each other,” Taylor said.

Given the trouble college football players seem prone to get into when out late, the curfew seems like a good idea.  And the cell phone rule connects with a larger theme Rich Rod is trying to build:

As for changing the team’s culture, Rodriguez said he wasn’t sure how that should be defined. He said that if that meant instilling the desire to do the best they can on and off the field and put team before individual, that’s what he wants.

“Is that the culture where I’m at right now?” he said. “I don’t know. But that’s the culture that I want. If that’s the culture that our fans want, then we’re on the same page.”

I think that is a simple but worthy philosophy: the desire to be the best on and off the field and to value your team more than yourself.  I am confident Rodriguez can recruit talent.  But if he can mold a true team that has that camaraderie and commitment then Michigan can be a national contender again.

The article ends with an anecdote that shows how Rodriguez is illustrating that commitment himself:

It could very well be that all Rodriguez needs is time. That’s something he didn’t have after his hiring. Though he had the senior class over to his house more than once, some of them felt they got short shrift.

Harrison, the safety, was among them. Then last weekend on Senior Day, his parents were late getting to Michigan Stadium from Dayton because of traffic from an accident. So instead of having Harrison take the field unescorted, Rodriguez accompanied him.

“He didn’t really need to do that,” Harrison said. “I see him in a whole different way. I used to look at him as just my head coach. Now I look at him as if it’s a different type of bond.”

I don’t know about other Michigan fans, but I felt better about our coach after reading this article.  There has been a lot of debate about the so called “family values” at Michigan under Rodriguez, but the values noted above are the right ones in my opinion.

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Nov

1

An era in Michigan Wolverine football comes to an end

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I am not sure why this game got to me.  It has been a long time since I have been so frustrated with a team and a game.  Maybe I was in denial.  Maybe I just didn’t want to admit that an era in the University of Michigan’s football program has come to and end.  And to have it do so in such exasperating fashion nearly drove me over the edge.

Playing one of the worst teams in the Big Ten, 2-6 Purdue, Michigan coudln’t find a way to hold leads of 14 points two different times and a tie game with 80 seconds left.  Despite scoring 42 points on offense, the defense gave up 48 points to the Boilermakers led by a third string QB who had been playing running back.  With the game on the line the defense gave up two huge trick plays and never seemed able to slow down an heretofore anemic team (Purdue hadn’t scored a touchdown in 3 of their last 4 games).

Michigan repeatedly missed tackels, had penalties in key situations, and turned the ball over on special teams yet again.  A defense that was supposed to be the foundation of this team entering the season has become an absolute laughing stock.  They have given up five touchdowns in five games and 129 points in the last three games.

In what was clearly becoming a shootout the Michigan offense once again took a big chunk of the game off.  Michigan took a 14 point lead with 5:29 to go in the first half.  They didn’t score again until there was 12:19 to go in the game.  Purdue scored 21 unanswered points to take a 35-28 lead and Michigan would never lead again.  Michigan has scored 14 points in the third quarter all year!

Despite this, and aided by a couple of big penalties by Purdue, Michigan tied the game with 1:20 left.  All the defense had to do was make a stop; or even hold them to a field goal.  Instead, Purdue marched down the field and used a perfectly executed hook and ladder play to score the winning touchdown.

I am not sure why I am surprised.  If not for critical penalty by Wisconsin, Michigan would have managed this pattern in eight straight games.

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Sep

14

Glass Half Full or Half Empty?

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SOUTH BEND, IN - SEPTEMBER 13: Head coach Cha...Getty Images via Daylife

Well, that was an incredibly frustrating game.  I was prepared to see an offense that continued to struggle and a defense that gave up points after getting tired.  I was prepared to admit that Michigan just wasn’t that good; that the change in coaching and system, when combined with a large loss of talent, would mean a real rebuilding year for the first time since I can remember.

What I was not prepared for was an offense that looked the best they have this season, who moved the ball practically at will, but a catastrophic inability to hang on to the football resulting in an ugly lopsided loss.  That Michigan would gain more first downs, more yards, and control the ball longer that ND and still lose by 18 points never really entered my mind.

As I told a friend, I would rather that Michigan had just played flat out poorly all around and then I could just write the year off.  Now I have no clear idea how good this team is (assuming they could find a way to quit self-destructing).  I know that is a big if but, with all the caveats playing ND involves, even in a downpour that looked like an offense that could actually succeed in the Big Ten.  And the defense is far from dominant, but if they are not constantly put in terrible positions, I think they can hold their own.

Unfortuneatly, we now have to wait two weeks to play Wisconsin and see just how good a team we are dealing with in Michigan.  As I said, frustrating.

Positives:

  • I thought Steven Threet played very well.  Some nice throws and generally seemed to run the offense.  Yes, there were the fumbles in a wet game, but I think he should be the sole starter from here on out.  I felt like Michigan could win the game with him as QB; he made some clutch plays under a lot of pressure (big game, on the road, bad weather, down big early, etc.).
  • Mcguffie is emerging as a real weapon.  Quick but surprisingly strong.  Dangerous in both running and passing game.

Negatives:

  • Uh, the turnovers.
  • Giving up some big plays over the top on defense makes me nervous.
  • The kick and punt returns continue to struggle.
  • I hope the injury to Threet is not serious.
  • D line didn’t seem to get a lot of pressure.  ND is far from the best O line Michigan will face and they will have to get pressure.

The other bad news is this puts a dent in Michigan’s quest to make a bowl game.  With nine Big Ten games left they would have to go 6-3 just to get to 7-5.  That is a tall task.  Assume they beat Toledo, Purdue, Minnesota, and Northwestern - no gimmies but not the top of the conference - then they have to find a way to win three games from Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan State and at Penn State and Ohio State.  The most likely scenario is to beat those first three teams at home, but even that seems like a stretch.

The good news is that Michigan has two weeks to get ready for Wisconsin.  Rich Rodriguez is going to have get this team ready to cut out the critical mistakes if he wants to make a bowl game even in a down Big Ten.  And despite the ugly result on Saturday, optimistic fans may have seen just enough to believe such a thing is possible.

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Aug

30

Back in Michigan

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University of Michigan Wolverines vs.Image via Wikipedia

I am back in my home state of Michigan and happy to be here.

Driving six hours with an eleven month old in the car is a bit of a challenge, but we made it up here safe and sound.

I thought my BlackBerry was going to catch on fire as the emails burned up the wires.  As I was was leaving Ohio McCain was heading to Dayton to announce his VP pick!  Lisa agreed to drive so I could read email.  Speculation was followed by amazement followed by debate and discussion.

Once we arrived Ella wanted to swim right away and I joined her in the water.  We then had a lovely meal and peach gobbler for desert.  Then finished out the night with a soak in the hot tub.  Ah, vacation!

Hard to believe that college football has started.  I will nervously be watching the University of Michigan Wolverines game against Utah this afternoon.  I am hoping that they can get off to a better start than they did last year!  The start of the Rich Rodriguez era will finally be under way.

Hope all of you are having a great Labor Day weekend.

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