Fluck

The Wolverines hadn't lost four fumbles since 1995.

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that this game was the infamous William Carr Purdue debacle.

Butler should be off the team.  That was meatheaded stupidity by a guy who should be on a short leash.

 Positive, though- at least they have a bye week to work on stuff.

Let's not forget Zoltan's rushing 1st down! He even kinda stiff-armed the guy that forced him out of bounds!

Definitely a frustrating game, but I came away encouraged. The offense looked like an actual offense with actual good players and stuff.

I must have missed the Carson Butler thing, though. He took a swing at a guy? Was it in the last four minutes? I'd had enough of watching the actual game by then.

I agree with everything said in this post except for:

• No, I don’t think Michigan was taking any particular risk by putting a
  couple freshmen back to return kicks. They returned kicks in high
  school and it’s not like there’s anything different about it in
  college. Usually a KO fumble means some crappy field position; Michigan
  just got extraordinarily unlucky to have a muff like that. 

If
we were at home, or against Miami, this would be fine.  But haven't we
watched enough Michigan-ND games to know that bad things happen in front
of TD Jesus?  I think it's absolutely ridiculous to put true freshman
back there to catch the first kickoff of this rainy game.  It killed us.

I expect ND to get more breaks just bc that is historically what has happened.  Them getting as many as they did was extremely frustrating.  But, the fact that the final score was 35-17 made it much easier to take than if it were 28-24.  The most painful loss to ND in my memory was in 05 simply bc they lost by 7 w/ ND getting a number of breaks (TD pass off Graham's(?) hand, the non-TD Henne sneak followed by a fumble the next play, 2 other non scoring red zone trips, ect).  This loss is much less painful simply bc they lost by 3 scores.

Stevie Brown stopped dead in his tracks as the receiver zipped past him on the bomb.

I've said it forever, high school success and "star-rating"means jack shit and a bag of gummy bears when you get to the college level.  I witnessed it first hand.  They are bigger, faster and stronger and some kids just can't handle the transition.  You never know what's in a kid's heart until you put him in front of 11 guys who are every bit as talented as he is, only they want to kick his ass.

Kevin Grady should play on special teams (as a blocker), collect his M ring and get back to GR.  It's been a disaster.

Coach Rodriquez took the words out of my mouth when he said he was disappointed but not discouraged.  I think we're on the edge.  Hopefully 2 weeks to prepare will do us some good.  I wonder if you can sprout mobile, dominant linemen in 2 weeks.

Let's GO Blue!

"Both sides are fraught with either uncertainty or known incompetence at
many different positions.  That's the sort of thing that will lend
itself toward a longer, flatter distribution of y/p.  The average
becomes less descriptive.  The balance of the extremes decides it."

 If you compare distributions of yards gained between plays ending in -4 yards to +10 yards (which is something pretty close to the standard deviation for most games), it's pretty clear who was better at doing the things that entail repeatable skill.  Likewise, the numbers from the primary QB and RB from each team, which normally have very clear consequences for the game's outcome, were very favorable.  The controllable, repeatable, skill-based aspects of the game went in favor of Michigan. 

So, like you say: Massive negative events have a distorting effect on game results out of proportion to their usefulness as predictors.

Or, like I said:  The balance of the extremes decides it.

JHS -- I think that the Will Carr Purdue game was in 1996.  (I was at that one.)  There was an Illinois game in AA that had an insane number of fumbles.  I thought that it was in 1992, though.

Assuming that this weekend was not an aberation, Threet has a legitimate chance to be the starting QB for at least two more years.  Look at the long line of highly successful college QBs that relied entirely on making good decisions.  Two dynasty leaders come to mind: Leinert (spl?) and Dorsey (Miami), in addition to everyone who was successful at Florida, Krenzel the NC winner at OSU.  Not to imply that for 2009 through 2011 we are only going to lose 2 games, but it doesn't appear that the weak link right now (fumbles excluded) is the QB play.

Yes, these are college athletes and they do not get paid to make us happy, but wow. Wow. Stevie Brown appears to have the tools, plays decently-if-not-underwhelmingly most of the time, but can seriously be counted on to make at least one horrible mistake per game. I was at the game, and the second Claussen threw that TD pass, Morgan Trent turned around and started yelling at... guess who... Number 3. Now, Number 3 wasn't in the end zone, mind you - he was jogging into the end zone from the 10 yard line because, even as free safety, he was eons behind the play. I don't like players yelling at eachother on the field because it shows up teammates, but if we're looking to place blame, I think that's a good indicator. Morgan Trent may get beaten to hell on occasion, but his mistakes are physical, not mental.

In addition, on the 60 yard run that broke our backs, I have never seen a more hesitant, scared, deer-in-the-headlights attempt at a tackle than what Number 3 showed us. He didn't get stiff-armed, he got smacked. He got smacked like a moth, or a little kid who was too close to the cookie jar. 

Maybe it's confidence (which this post is obviously not helping) or maybe he just doesn't have the instincts. But with crucial mistakes and tentative play in each game he's started, why do we keep subjecting ourselves to this? Maybe he's like Randy Johnson when he got shipped to the Yankees - it was the wrong place for him. Maybe he could be successful if he Mundy-ed his way somewhere else. All I know is that right before the "slap-arm" play started, I turned to the Michigan fan sitting next to me and said, "Oh no, Stevie Brown's our only safety back there, this is not going to go well."

I just hope this secures Charlie Weis as the future HC of Notre Dame for years to come. God help us if they buy out that contract, I would hate for them to get a decent coach down there.

was rated than higher than McFadden and Mendenhall - Jonathon Stewart IIRC was rated higher than Grady.  And guess what all of this guys turned out to be studs and first round draft picks.

Nice wrap up Brian......good to see you positive and in good spirits about what we saw Saturday afternoon.

Folks, I still think we have the makings of a team that can have a winning Big 10 record.......seriously, did anyone objectively feel we would be better than 1-2 right now?!?!?!

Those who follow the game knew the buzz saw in waiting with Utah......and maybe ND is 'meh' but better, more seasoned and much higher ranked UM teams have gone into South Bend against average ND teams and imploded in a loss just like we had the other day.

Question: Would you trade our roster for anyone else's right now in the Big 10? Maybe OSU's? The others are a wash at worst, and this is the most green team we've ever had.

If UM can correct those unforceable errors, a 5-3 big 10 record is more than attainable.

That was supposed to reply to Mark682.. idk why it didnt work

gimme a break - it is not like ND won this game because of Weis.  With the way UM gifted the Irish a 14-0 lead, Greg Robinson could have held on and won this game.

If Willingham was the coach ND still would have won.  This win had nothing to do with the Great Weis Whale.