Alabama shut out LSU last year.  LSU beat North Texas by by the exact same score.  LSU is ranked lower than Alabama this season.  Ergo, Michigan is worse than North Texas.  Expect us to go winless in the conference.

OK, seriously.  I don't think OSU's ineptitude against the SEC some years ago is all that relevant, and extrapolation goes both ways.  Alabama isn't some unbeatable force of nature that spanked Michigan around like it's an FCS team.  People are saying that because they didn't watch the game and just looked at the box score.

I saw a sloppy Michigan team NOT play its best game on a day they needed their best game to win.  It's no wonder the coaches were openly worried about consistency.  The DL got pushed around but that's no surprise.  It's a problem but we're gonna be dealing with that all year.  Fact is, the back 7 gave up too many big plays (NINE plays of 15+ yards).  A lot of those missed tackles would've stopped or at least strung out the drives more, and you KNOW this team is better than that.  The running game was non-existent but Saban was so keyed in on it that Alabama gave up two big plays of their own.  Denard gave Alabama two freebies.  If Michigan plays better. . . well, they still lose, but they were very much exposed as a transitional team.  My point is, if you just look at the score (and extrapolate like the world is gonna end) you'd conclude Michigan is worse than North Texas.  That's all the media's gonna talk about from here, but to hell with them.  I look at the plays and see Michigan having its usual depth issues and first-game jitters against a team that feasts on inexperience.  Tell you what -- no way BWC sacks the QB the way he was last year.  The talent's there with lots of room for improvement and I guarantee this staff won't leave that room unfilled.

Of all these issues I think Denard's is the most worrisome; he's simply out of time to figure out how to avoid throwing interceptions.  But tackling?  I wouldn't be surprised if Hoke had the team practicing technique on the plane ride home.

Thumbs up for wearing it

Hoke's bringing in quality recruits precisely because of his approach.  I don't have much respect for those who envy scum for their shortcuts.

This year's team was thin going in and we all knew it.  Second, it's kind of hard to win a tough game if you throw three picks.  Without the freebies the damage isn't nearly as bad.

If we didn't play the game the right way, the team might be doing better, but then I wouldn't be a Michigan fan.  Not that my opinion counts for anything, but there are plenty of dirty teams to root for if that's what you want.

/ Edit:  Uprating your post.  The hell, guys; you can't see a very obvious venting when it's right in front of you?

I think this was basically a post to tell everyone about your gameday t-shirt. So, I'll say it... Awesome job! Congrats! Ok... back to kittens

I think Brian has provided enough of his own material for TWIS this week.

Not special teams. THey wish they had our punting, kicking, and return game.

. . . and I can't verify it, but I was told the spread was adopted by smaller schools in the south to somehow compete with the powerhouses, considering Alabama-Michigan is an outlier.  If you're Savannah State or Jacksonville State and your AD wants to book a date with a powerhouse basically just to humiliate you in public for some cash, what do you do?

The spread option (the concept, not the formation) was built for "inferior" talent; i.e., what do you do with a bunch of unpolished, small fast guys because Big U took all the NFL talent.  At its most basic level, in the spread you make the fastest player -- not the best thrower -- your QB.  The danger of the option -- a run with nothing to key on, no handoff, no setup -- forces the defense to overplay the run, allowing your inferior throwing "QB" to make easy tosses into what would otherwise be an overmatched secondary.  The spread IS "QB oh noes".  Spread the field to isolate the individual talents so you can create a mismatch, especially in the secondary.  Throw to the open man or utilize a mobile QB to scramble for yards.  Michigan's rush:pass ratio was 29:27; this was most likely a mistake against an elite defense keyed in against the run.  Not that adding to Denard's freebies is what I want, but Michigan's chances of winning always hinged  on playing mistake-free football.  Alabama has LOTS of experience defending against the spread; they knew exactly what to do.  They shut down the run with serious contain and dared Michigan to go against their strengths and unfortunately it worked.  If there was ever a day I longed for the second coming of Tom Brady wearing maize & blue, this was it.

Drew Dileo should be getting more throws his way?  The guy has great hands and gets open. 

I understand the sentiment; you're basically thinking like a patient fan, right?  Our expectations for this crew may have been too high.  It's unrealistic to expect Hoke and this crew to play with essentially an NFL farm team.  Give 'em another couple of years and we'll see where we're at.

I get that, but Denard and the other seniors don't have those couple of years to wait like we do.  This was their only chance to beat Alabama.  Next year's incoming freshman class doesn't have anything to do with THIS team, and this is where I respect Hoke the most.  He's already recruiting for 2014, but he's putting all his coaching effort into THIS team.  We know full well these guys aren't the most talented in Michigan history (far from it, really), but Hoke is about THIS Michigan team.  He is going to try to win every game with THESE guys.  And damn if he didn't get closer than I thought.  Honestly.  I'm still waiting for someone to call me out and say I'm crazy for thinking Michigan had a chance, but re-watching the same ugly everyone else saw, I can't help but think what could've been.  I remember hearing all week the coaches saying consistency is an issue and the kids are trying hard.  I don't expect Denard to thread needles the way Tom Brady did, but he could've at least avoided not throwing the ball RIGHT AT a defender.  I don't expect the linebackers to bring the ball carrier down at the LoS every play, but seeing them constantly miss arm tackles was frustrating.  Expecting them to play perfectly in Week 1 may have been too much to ask, but it's easier to ask someone to be perfect for an hour than to ask them to simply be more talented.

I didn't expect or ask for a Michigan win; I had a pretty good idea what they were up against.  What I wanted was a memorable game.  The last thing I wanted was sloppy play reducing Michigan to just another stop along the way.  The good news is that "sloppy" can be fixed, so there's no need to wait another couple years to see this team do special things.  Moments like Devin's TD catch or BWC's sack. . . these guys didn't own us, sodamn wouldn't it have been nice to make 'em sweat.

These guys were never in the talk for the national title.  Nor am I really thinking about the Big Telewelve championship, to be honest.  I'm just looking forward to seeing what these kids do, and believe me when I say that'd be the case even if they were title contenders.  I want them to win every game, but it's really about seeing them grow every down.  If I wanted to watch flawless execution and worldly talent I'd watch the NFL.  They're not the most talented team, but they're Michigan.