BlogPoll Week 3: Michigan and... Arizona?

in the polls to #21 or #22. Arizona moves into Top 25 at #23. Just my speculation.

Richar Roriguez has no D.

Fans are ridiculous.  Anything Rich Rod does in Arizona that is more successful than what happened at Michigan should not lead to us losing our shit.  Whether he admits it or not, Rodriguez had a whole year to review his mistakes and think about them.  He now has a proven DC and is in a place with very low football expectations.  Anything he accomplishes at Arizona is just gravy to a lot of their fans.  At Michigan the expectation was to win from the get go and there was little support and there was no patience to let him continue the program once the defense turned out to be an incompetent injury riddled dumpster fire and the field goal team made the defense look average.  I don't know what would have happened if Rod had gotten a fourth year and I don't give a shit anymore because Brady freakin Hoke is the coach at Michigan.  The whole Big 10 is down and is there for the taking.  We have a ton of young talent that will improve as the season goes on.  Our defense will improve against teams that aren't from the NFL or tricky military option midgets.   Let's let the season unfold and please let's pay attention to Rodriguez in our own private time and not on the mgoboard. K Thanx

God damn it, Section 1. We all know that you're not a Michigan fan anymore, that Rich Rodriguez is where your undying allegiances draw you. None of us understand how the hell this happened, but you might as well pack your bags and move to Arizona immediately, 'cause it's not getting any better.

There's got to be an Arizona blog out there somewhere we can trade Section 1 to...

#boycottsection1

Richar Roriguez is an interesting guy. I hope he does well. But since he destroyed our football team's D, I have officially removed that letter from his name. Thus it is written. Thus it shall be.

I'm not going to compare Michigan's success to Arizona's success, because you can't do it in any way. And what's the point of doing it anyway? RR is a good coach, he proved it once at West Virginia. He was a bad fit here from day 1, and blame can be spread around in many ways (some of it, yes, to RR of course). We moved on, tried to start over with Hoke et al, who need more of a transition period too to get their systems in place with their own recruits. Oh, and he still went 11-2 last year. WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT?!?

Should Arizona be ranked? Yes, absolutely. OSU is a good team that they beat, though they had lost their star QB and WR so a dropoff was to be expected (and their defense was bad anyway). But above Michigan? There's certainly an argument to be made, but we're only two freaking games into the season. Rankings don't matter, because we have two data points. So, again, what's the point, exactly?

If Arizona plays Alabama in week 1, they get cushed, I am fairly certain. If they play Air Force, I guarantee you they would too have a dogfight as we did. Because lots of good teams struggle with Air Force. But they didn't play either of those teams. 

This is the first time I've posted something about Rich Rod since the parting. Do you think he learned his lesson from the Michigan experience to keep his hands off of the D?

The better question is where will Arizona finish in the top 25?  Michigan, under RR, would start strong, make a showing in the top 25 and then get crushed by every team on the schedule that matters.  

Cool beans. I'm a fan of former Wolverines doing well. 

Happy for RR....mostly so we don't have to hear him talk about baking the cake and not getting a chance to eat it.

So RichRod struggles against MAC teams, and has an offense that looks dangerous in September against teams with no run D. Hmmmm..... Where have I heard this before.

the comment threads are going to be awesomely epic.

I've finally realized Section One isn't a person...it's many people in the section of the insanity ward for Obsessive Delusional Heterodoxy Disorder (ODHD)

RichRod is still winning games in Ann Arbor

Just wait until Denard leaves !

last night was a lot of fun to watch.  Sure, the Okie St. D may not be all that great but their offense sure looks good.  And Arizona outscored them big time.  Kudos to Rich Rod.  I hope he tears up the Pac-12 this year.

no one has mentioned the 167 (record) penalty yards against Okie St that after they were up 14 -0, 3 sudden personal fouls stopped the momentum for OK St.

Matt Scott is certainly something he never had here. I find it interesting how pass-heavy the offense is compared to what he did here, when we saw Threet and Tate get 12 carries a game. I have a feeling this is a 7-5ish team, which would be a good start for them.

Arizona beat an overrated and middling Oklahoma State team. It's still a good win--we could have used another one of these in 2008. But I wouldn't read too much into it either. This isn't a great team. 

That said, their schedule is favorable. Almost certain losses to Oregon and USC, but the rest are all winnable, given that the Pac-10 is essentially the Big 10 but with more cream at the top but with a thinner consistency in the middle. Stanford, UCLA, Washington and Oregon State will all be tough games, but none is off the table. Arizona could be as good as 10-2 or as bad as 6-6 depending on whether his team stays consistent, or sputters in conference play like our 2009 and 2010 teams did. I figure 8-4 or 7-5.