Diaries

http://roadgames07.blogspot.com/2008/10/concerning-unspeakable-acts.html

Hello, since the internets are burning with flame wars and talks of firings, I don’t want to waste your time. This post is a recap of my Michigan Football experiences in my life and my opinion about being a student the past four years. It contains ideas on what the future holds for our team. It is also long. If you don’t want to read about this, stop now. Therefore no one will waste their time, have to tell everyone they don’t care what I think, or tell everyone that Coach Rodriguez is not the answer. I am fine with the fact that most won’t care what I think and have to say or agree with me.

It started a really long time ago, before I can remember. Fall days in Saturday either meant waking up and driving to Ann Arbor to watch football or watching the Maize and Blue on TV because we were on the road or I couldn’t go that week. Mom and Dad both went to Michigan and had season tickets so it was natural for me to cheer for them. I grew to love the Wolverines and there were some great memories over the years. Some of these included a lifetime hatred for Kordell Stewart, attending the parade after we won the National Championship, getting my picture taken with Woodson, Griese, the Heisman, and the national championship trophy, knowing that Jeff Smoker did not spike the ball in time, burning plastic gators on our January trip to Florida,triple overtime, and the 100^th game.

All of that happened and the next year was different. It was senior year of high school and I wasn’t sure if I’d get into Michigan. I had applications to a bunch of schools, but I was specifically hoping for one response. Well on November 20^th, 2004 I got a call at about 11 AM that I needed to get home as soon as possible to open a large envelope. Sure enough, I got into Michigan just in time to watch our 7^th rankedteam fall to the Buckeyes. I wore that Michigan shirt to school Monday with pride, I got ridiculed of course, but man it felt good, I was going to attend the University of Michigan.

That’s where the article above comes in. It describes the next four years as the most torturous for a fan base of any school in college football. It made me think, have my four years here been the worst four years for a University of Michigan football fan to be a student?

So I had to think back to my memories over the past four years.

Freshman Year

-       First game against MSU is at MSU, I go to the game, overtime win. Awesome.

-       #8 Penn State touchdown with 53 seconds left. Silence. 0 seconds left. Bedlam.

-       5losses. Wisconsin, scores TD with 24 ticks on the clock. Last second tie breaking field goal to Minnesota. 24 seconds left again, this time Ohio State.Nebraska debacle.

Sophomore

-       11 Straight wins, which included a visit to Notre Dame in my favorite away game. Hot Damn!

-       Seniors last home game, Balls out for Ball State (3-7), in which was the closest win of the year, unless you look solely at points (Penn State).

-       The loss of Bo. Honestly the eeriest feeling I’ve ever experienced was felt on campus that day. Candlelight vigil on the Diag.

-       1 vs. 2

-       A plundering in Pasadena

Junior

-       Watching the remake of the Longest Yard’s most infamous scene for Michigan Fans and Hot! Hot! Hot! several times. The horror. The statue of liberty.

-       8 wins, 2 more losses

-       Overcoming all the adversity, beating the speedy gators of the SEC, and watching Lloyd go out the way he deserved to go out.

-       The coaching fiasco, and excitement in a good coach, a good offense, a new sponsor, a new stadium, a new quarterback, and the departure of pretty much everything I ever knew about Michigan Football, just in time for senior year.

Senior

-       We don’t need a breakdown, as we all know what happened so far this year.

 Wisconsin was the best game I’ve ever experienced in the Big House, although the win will probably mean nothing by the end of the season. And now with two home games left in my college career, I wonder if this will be the only savior of the season. In my opinion we will win two more games. But the last three years have taught me that anything can happen. We could lose all six or we could win all six. If we don’t make a bowl and all of our streaks and records are broken, it will be a true restart for our team. 2008 will be the ultimate restart of a year. Our team that consists of mostly freshman; they will have a new coach, new offense, new defense, new sponsor, new stadium on the way, new recruiting style, new records to set, and a new outlook on Michigan Football. It is weird to be a senior right now. We could be the first class in 40 years to see a losing season and 33 years to not make it to a bowl. Plus we are the first class of only three that will have experienced the old and the new. A full system reboot will take longer than 6 games, but it will happen so everyone will have to be patient. I believe Coach Rodriguez can take us there, with the raw talent he has this year and with the upcoming recruits Coach Rod is building the kind of foundation that we will grow from. With patience in our coach and our players, Michigan will return. As you may have heard, those who stay will be champions.

So are the past four years the most torturous for any college fan base? Depends on how you look at it. For me, 3 wins over MSU so far, Mario in the Penn State game, winning 11 straight games, being on campus to say goodbye to Bo, the Florida win and what it meant for Lloyd, and watching the beginning of the new era with the Wisconsin win have been plenty of ups to the many number of downs that I have experienced. Am I setting my standards too low, you may think so, I don’t, although beating Ohio State would be nice. Being a part of the University of Michigan and optimistically supporting every aspect of their football team is enough for me. Do the same if you can, support Rich Rodriguez, support Nick Sheridan, support Morgan Trent.

PS. The last four years were not a picnic, so here are few favors (last wishes as a student) I ask,           

1. Try the best you can to not sell your tickets to MSU fans. Be as loud as possible during this game. Wear maize.
2. Don’t be a Negative Nancy. Don’t leave the game early. Don’t ever think like the guy that posted the above article. Asking if it is time to switch to soccer is not a joke, as that is not funny. Never give up on Michigan Football.
3. Cut the student section a little slack. We got flamed for the wave last time because somehow a group of kids in the 30^th row got it started. I hope we get to do it all the way through one last time for the seniors regardless of the score of the Northwestern game, plus the freshman still need to learn the correct thing all the way through. We will at least do it in the third quarter.
4. I’d love to see someone organize something for the seniors. Whether it be the one time return of hot dog man, marshmallows, the 1,2,3 HIT HIM IN THE FACE on the kickoff cheer, etc. or something else. Ideas are appreciated.

This Michigan team reminds me of a team on which I played my senior year of college.  The circumstances were a little different.  It was our coaches fourth year, and had already produced an undefeated regular season and a trip to the Div 3 national quarter finals.  However, the senior class that led us to that point in my sophomore year was one of the most talented group in the history of the program.  The junior class was also very good, but by the time I was a senior there were only 13 players left in my class.  Of those 13, only about half saw significant playing time.  We started 5-0 against some weak competition.  We played the eventual conference champion in week 6 and lost 33-31 after we missed a 40 yard field goal on the last play of the game.  This is where the comparison really starts.  The rest of the year we really struggled.  Everything was a grind.  We thought we had put bad moments behind us, but they obviously lingered.  I do not remember having a bad week of practice, but we just could not seem to get it going in games. Our QB was inconsistent and struggled with his confidence.  Over the last 5 games, we went 1-4.  Occasionally, I think about that season and try to figure out what happened, because we had the players to win the conference.  I think it came down to two things:

• We never got over the missed field goal.  I think it lingered with many of our younger players, and we just could not pull ourselves out of it.  We would have good weeks of practice, but when games came around, there was just couldn't put together any consistency especially on offense.
• We did not have many seniors on the field.  It has been my experience that seniors play with a sense of urgency that younger players sometimes lack.  When there are a good number of seniors on the field, this rubs off on everybody else. 

I think Michigan is in a similar spot right now.  They are in a grind offensively, and are struggling to find a rhythm.  Threet has been inconsistent, and at least to me, does not look like he is throwing the ball with confidence right now.  In fact, the whole offense lacks confidence right now.  There seems to be indecision from the O-Line on who to block on zone plays, Threet doesn't seem to pull the trigger quick enough, and the backs don't seem to be finding the hole.  I actually think the D has been ok.

  The point of the story is that the juniors, sophomores, and freshmen from my senior went on to win or share the next 3 conference titles.  The QB who struggled that year was Gagliardi Trophy finalist his senior year. (Div 3 Heisman)  Those underclassmen did not give up on the system, they only became more determined.  Was it bad coaching that led to that one bad season?  I don't think so.  Should those underclassmen have given up on our coach?  Obviously not.  All these things that look wrong on Saturdays are being drilled every day in practice.  They are running the zone over and over again, because its what they practice.  The coaches, who all have a track record of success, believe its what will work on Saturdays.  Eventually, it will start working.  It may not be this year.  I think the offense will probably look good in spurts the way it has most of the season.  But every time you think about the struggles of this Michigan team, you think about those young players that are getting experience, and not ever wanting to go through a Toledo loss ever again in their Michigan football career. 

I hope some people find my experience relevant.  I'd like to finish the post with a passage from Bo's Lasting Lessons.

"Hey.  You can take any coach you want - I don't care if it's Woody Hayes or Ara Parseghian or Joe Paterno, all giants - and you can pick apart their career and find that, sure, they lost some games, probably a few they shouldn't have.  Every one of those three guys won a national title, but every one of them had losing seasons, too - usually when I was on their staff, it occurs to me!  And these are some of the best coaches the game has ever seen.  What does that mean?

I'll tell you what it means: Nothing!

Everyone's got critics.  And if you're in charge, you're going to have more than the people working for you.  Well, I had 101,001 critics every Saturday, and millions more watching on TV - screaming at me to pass more, to blitz more, to go for it on fourth-and-one more from our own 40-yard line.  Let me tell you something:  I fundamentally did not give a damn what the press, the administration or the alumni thought about my coaching.  Fritz Crisler said it best. "If you're winning," he said, "you don't need them.  And if you're losing, they can't help you."

So, you block them out!"

Over the last few weeks, I’ve spoken to a number of people
who’ve been wanting to place blame on the success – or lack thereof – of Michigan’s football team
this season. Those who are casual football fans or network pundits blame Rich
Rodriguez – his spread offense is too big of a change for a pro-style team.
Those who know a bit more about Michigan football blame Lloyd Carr – he left
the cabinet dry with only two starters returning on offense and plenty of
out-of-shape players. But who is really to
blame? To take a logical look at the situation, let’s start from a novel place.
Check who exactly makes up the Michigan
offense, and then let’s start looking at blame.

Capital One Bowl Starting Line-Up:

Skilled Positions: Mario Manningham(jr); Carson
Butler(jr); Chad Henne(sr); Mike Hart(sr); Mike
Massey(sr*); Adrian Arrington(sr*)

Line: Jake Long(sr); Adam Kraus(sr); Justin Boren(so); Steve
Schilling(so); Alex Mitchell(sr*)

* Still had remaining eligibility

Initial 2008 Starting Line-Up Before Transfers and Early
Departures (accounting for 3-receiver set):

Skilled Positions: Mario Manningham(sr); Carson
Butler(sr); Ryan Mallett(so); Brandon Minor(jr); Greg Matthews(jr); Adrian
Arrington (sr)

Line: Jeremy Ciulla(sr); Mark Ortmann(sr*); Justin
Boren(jr); Steven Schilling(jr); Alex Mitchell(sr)

Actual Starting Line-Up For Toledo (Using 3-receiver set):

Skilled Positions: Greg Matthews(jr); Kevin Koger(fr);
Steven Threet(fr); Sam McGuffie(fr); Toney Clemons(so); LaTerryal Savoy(jr)

Line: Perry Dorrestein(so); Mark Ortmann(sr*); David
Molk(fr); David Moosman(jr); Steve Schilling(so).

Okay. So screw “returning starters” – of which we only
started one. Let’s look at “projected starters” – players who were in the
pipeline to start but never ended up starting. Three. Three. That’s it. Yes, those who aren’t here all have their
reasons, but the fact of the matter is that we had one returning starter on offense in the Toledo game, and three people starting who would have started the day after the
Capital One bowl.

So who's to blame? You can't fault Rodriguez and his staff for coming into a program which has a roster looking like that of a low-tier Mountain West team. He's doing his best with what he has - which, as we can see, isn't much. You can't fault Lloyd Carr because although we wouldn't have had the Hart, Henne, and Longs of the world returning, we would have had a blue chip QB, a decent (read: non-sieve) offensive line, and some legit playmakers at the skilled positions. It would have been a down-ish year anyway. You can't fault the players - they didn't ask to get put in a starting position without the experience, skill, or surrounding talent to succeed. They're getting their asses busted by Barwis as the toll to merely strap on the winged helmet.

So who's to blame? Blame yourself. If you're looking to place blame here, blame yourself for taking your school's football prowess for granted, for having out-of-this-world expectations for the first year of a regime change, and for not studying your team enough to know that your expectations were out-of-this-world. We have a starting quarterback who backed up Reggie Ball at Georgia Tech (who had a 44% completion percentage in his senior year). Half of our skilled players were playing in their high school homecoming games at this time last year.Our line... it's porous at best, filled with inexperience and a lack of top-notch skill.

I've quoted Bo before in this space, but I'll do it again, "When your team is winning, be ready to be tough, because winning can make you soft. On the other hand, when your team is losing, stick by them. Keep believing." Stop being soft. Take some lumps. Keep wearing your Michigan apparel. Keep loving our tradition, our University, and our team. If you want to jump ship, I'll pack your bags for you, but don't come back when this team - and this program - rights itself. Don't boo this week when you were cheering after the Wisconsin game. 

To sum things up, I turn to Mike Hart on how it feels to represent a team during tough times: 

"I don't regret anything at all. I'm glad I'm on this team. This is my team. I'm the leader of this team. It's crazy to say, but deep down at the end of the [Oregon]
game, I was telling myself, 'I wouldn't rather be on any team right
now. I wouldn't rather be getting paid.' It's going to test me as a
person, a player and a leader. I've never been a part of something like this in my life. It's going to test me, and it's going to make me a better
person. I know we can turn this around. At the end of the season,
when I look back and we come out with a great record, I'm going to say, 'Don't ever quit."'

Mike Hart is the leading rusher in Michigan football history. This is quite an achievement considering how storied a program Michigan is. In his career, Hart rushed 1,015 times for 5,040 yards. In 2004, he set a record for most yards ever by a Freshman with 1,455 yards. These are rediculous numbers. Mike Hart is and will always be an icon to Michigan Football. This season has been hard for Michigan, expecially coming off a stunning upset loss to Toledo. Who? What? It is at times like this the Mike Hart must be rememberd. A day after Michigan got beat by Toledo, Mike Hart got his second touch as an NFL football player (first touch since week 1) on the Indianapolis Colts. Be it that it only went for 2 yards and he actually fumbled on the play, it was still a large step in Mike Harts profesional football career. Don’t worry about the fumble the Colts recovered. The Colts went on to crush the Baltimore Ravens 31–3. I have been following Mike Hart on his journy from the college ranks to the NFL. I have been reading his blog. He has been fighting hard on special teams for 5 weeks now and it is good to see him get another touch, no matter the situation it was in (being that Jo Addai went down). He is still searching for his first special teams tackle. I know Michigan fans take pride in their history and their players and Mike Hart is certaintly someone worth taking pride in. So, on this weekend when Michigan is down in the dumps because they lost to some team from Toledo, lets give a shout out to Mike Hart. I am encouraging all of you to give him a shout out on his blog and tell him how much you appreicated his time at Michigan and that on weekends like this he is missed. Here is to Mike! Cheers!

http://www.jocklife.com/blog/categories.cfm?catid=48&flcache=5910553&entercat=y

So I have two things that I really need to say something about:

 #1:  I sit in Section 16 at Michigan Stadium for every home game.  I have a buddy that likes to paint his body/face for the games and when necessary he gets really into the game and tries to help the team.  At the beginning of the Toledo game he stood up for one play in a primarily sitting section and an old guy 2 rows back told him to sit down.  He wanted to yell at the guy but I told him to just sit down and not say anything back.  I told him why pick a fight in the Toledo game when maybe during the MSU game in a couple weeks he could turn around and say, "I sat down for you the entire Toledo game so maybe you can stand up for this game."  My buddy agreed and sat down.  Then in the 4th quarter when we were trying to come back the section starting at field level began to stand and so my buddy stood up again for one play and at this point the stadium was getting as loud as it could for Toledo and the old man then yelled to sit down again.  So my friend now turned around and told him we were at a football game and not a polo or croquet match.  I kind of laughed and then my buddy sat down and said, "sorry but I had to say something."  I told him he was in the right there.  I always knew why we were a quiet stadium but I got to experience first hand the problem. 

 #2:  Ok this has more to do with play calling.  In the Illinois game we had the ball on the 1 yard line and McGuffie was left in to try to run the ball in and we lost yards.  Then we gained a couple back on the next play with Threet keeping the ball on a shotgun snap but he didnt get in after the replay.  So then I am thinking either put Kevin Grady in or QB sneak the ball.  What do we do?  A halfback sweep with McGuffie and get stopped.  And then on 4th and half a yard we had to throw the ball to score the TD.  I couldn't believe we didn't do a QB sneak but I just figured it was a one time problem.  But then during the Toledo game we needed one yard and instead of doing a QB sneak we hand the ball off 4 yards behind the line of scrimmage and get stopped.  Now I do not claim to know as much as the coaches and I still really like the off season hire but can anyone tell me the reason we do not QB sneak when we need a yard or less?  To me it makes no sense to run backwards 3-5 yards after the snap to hand the ball off especially when our line is not that great.  It just makes more sense to take the snap and more or less fall forward.  One friend of mine told me that we didn't QB sneak because we don't want our QB to get hurt but I don't buy that because we run an offense where the QB gets alot of carries. 

If anyone has any insight into the QB sneak thing please let me know because I would like other points of views because that is driving me crazy.