Cheer Up - Only uphill from here.

Submitted by Wolverine90 on

Yes we’re 5-3, which is better than when we were 3-9 or 5-7, but this is the very bottom relative to expectations. Yr 1? Wrong players. Legit. Low expectations. Yr 2? Freshman QBs and new D Coordinator. Legit. Low expectations. Yr 3? Higher expectations, but still, we hoped for 8-4 and mostly expected 7-5 because of the lack of personnel on D.

So we’ll end up 6-6 this year, and go on to win a bowl game and end up 7-6. Not great. Let’s look on the bright side?

OFFENSE: RR’s offense, still youngl, is going to be a MONSTER in years to come. Add Dee Hart? Add more upper class O line? Add another year of experience for Denard? Look at the scary numbers the O is posting now, and please do not undervalue that they are doing this with a defense so porous, that the D is depriving the O about 7-8 minutes of ball time per game by it’s inability to make stops. Imagine the damage this O will do with an extra 2 possessions per game? RichRod has now installed his O system, his players, and will continue to open the playbook. I.e., the future is SCARY NICE for this offense.

DEFENSE: Honestly ask yourselves. Can this D possibly get any worse? No. This is the worst UM D we will ever witness as UM fans in our lifetimes, just as the O 2 yrs ago was the worst UM O we will see in our lifetimes.

Here is what is going to happen, so chin up. UM toughs out the rest of the year. Makes a bowl game, prepares well for it, and gets healthy, then beats their opponent, ending up 7-6. After the game, Brandon calmly takes a couple of weeks to talk with RR, and they announce a restructuring of the D staff, most likely including the departure of Gerg. They work together to make the third time the charm. RR learns from his two prior mistakes at D coordinator and hires a stud D coordinator with the record and attitude to recruit well, run a solid show. RR devotes considerably more time focusing on the D during the off season.

Next year, the UM O is explosive beyond comprehension with the addition of Dee Hart and a veteran Hopkins and Shaw. The D, still understaffed, improves and reaches a middling 70ish national rank. UM goes 8-4 or 9-3, finally beating MSU, PSU, and OSU and senior Terrell Pryor, but loses to Nebraska.

2012 brings a senior Denard, an explosive offense firing on all cylinders, and the D continues to improve, reaching a 50ish national rank. UM will have a top 3 offense, and a middling 50ish rank defense, and will go 12-1, winning the Big 10 and their bowl game, but only losing to Alabama that year.

The only X factor? The D coordinator hire, and better luck with defensive injuries. This third charm can and MUST be the charm. I still prognosticate this and remain very hopeful.

GO BLUE!

Wolverine0056

November 3rd, 2010 at 4:03 PM ^

THE_KNOWLEDGE is that you? I thought you were done the rest of the season?

I will agree with you that this is the worst D we will have at UM, for a very long time. Hopefully, this offseason some changes happen on the defensive side of the ball and good things happen next year. Time will tell.

switch26

November 3rd, 2010 at 4:05 PM ^

I can only hope we go 6-6, but if we can't beat a purdue team completely decimated severe injuries to their best players then i doubt RR will be given a chance to stick around.

Ben from SF

November 3rd, 2010 at 6:11 PM ^

A bowl win is a huge assumption at this point.  MAC champions tend to have very strong passing games.  Big 12 teams are the same way.

UMaD

November 3rd, 2010 at 4:09 PM ^

Yes.  The answer to "can X get worse?" is almost always yes.  This is the same logic that people used through the offseason.  Yes.  Yes.  Yes...it can be worse.

Now...will it be worse?  Almost certainlty not.  The defense will improve substantially next year and I haven't heard anyone who thinks otherwise.

teldar

November 3rd, 2010 at 4:10 PM ^

the d couldn't get any worse after last year too. Are how that worked out for us? We could still drop another 14 places or whatever and be significantly worse than the current d.

Zoo Blue

November 3rd, 2010 at 4:23 PM ^

Honestly, the future records still seem overly optimistic to me but its good to see some of that after the string of DOOM! posts over the last few days.

Wolverine90

November 3rd, 2010 at 4:53 PM ^

Way I see it, as HORRID as this D has been, we actually had a chance vs PSU and Iowa.  Both games were close down the stretch and needed just 1 or 2 big plays/turnovers to swing them.  As HORRIBLE as we've been on D, we still competed.  I really do like the future, it all boils down to the changes we make at the top on D.

markusr2007

November 3rd, 2010 at 4:25 PM ^

that Michigan is about to face the two worst offenses in the league (Illinois, Purdon't) followed by the two best offenses in the league (Wisconsin, OSU). 

Michigan's defense is awful, I mean FCS-level bad, but if you handed any FCS team a quarterback like Denard Robinson and this OL and caste of receivers, I don't care, you've got more than a decent chance to beat Illinois and Purdue any day of the week.

6-6. That's the final destination of this train wreck football season.

Deal.

Sparkle Motion

November 3rd, 2010 at 4:26 PM ^

when the argument is - it can't get any worse- right? - the answer to that question is yes it can always get worse, or it can stay the same which feels worse because it lingers and starts to feel "normal" 

the purdue game will be key as it was last year.  losing at home to a bad purdue team that we were leading in the second half meant 5-7 and season over instead of 6-6, 15 more practices, and a probable bowl win to go 7-6 and stop the streak at one losing season and one season without a bowl.  the year you are describing for this year should have been last year.  

but... hope is the last thing to die - i think we win 2 of 4 plus the bowl game to finish 8-5

hausoian

November 3rd, 2010 at 4:42 PM ^

Seriously, how much of what you just wrote is based on wishful thinking and not actual evidence?

Yes, we are putting up numbers, but against piss-poor teams. We have not beaten a single good team since RR has been here. That's the truth.

What makes you think that we will even finish 6-6 let alone win the bowl game? We just gave up 41 to a team with a walk-on QB! Purdue will beat us, not to mention the slaughter that will come by the hands of Illinois, Wisc, and OSU

Look at the numbers, guys. We don't put points on the board against good teams, unless it's near the end of the game to make it look close. Yeah, the defense sucks, and these personnel issues could happen with any team, but what makes you think that underneath all these issues lies a good coach? In my mind, a good coach would rise above that and maybe steal a game here and there. But no, all we've beaten are INDIANA and MINNESOTA and NOTRE DAME.

TO BE PERFECTLY HONEST, I'm not sure another year is worth it to see if this offense can becme the world-beaters that we all claim it to be. Yeah, we can break records and yeah, we put up highlights on sportscenter, but that doesn't win football games. If RR were our coach 10 years ago, then yes, we would be blowing Big Ten teams out. But the truth is that this spread offense has not evolved AT ALL from when RR was at Clemson. Look at the tape. Go read Chris Brown at SmartFootball. The passing game is extremely simple and the reads are exactly the same as they were ten years ago when the idea of even running this system was revolutionary. Call it whatever, but I call it RR's stubbornness to change his system and to change with the times. Defenses know how to defend a simple zone-read nowadays. Ask Dantonio.

Tater

November 3rd, 2010 at 6:18 PM ^

For all of Dantonio's "knowing" how to defend a zone read, Michigan moved the ball very well against them.  They fooled a sophomore QB in his sixth start into giving them at least 14 points worth of interceptions in the red zone.  That does not qualify as really "defending" it, as much as simply surviving it and taking advantage when they got good breaks. 

Wolverine90

November 3rd, 2010 at 5:16 PM ^

Dude, this blog drips of data/charts/graphs… Does EVERY poster need to go that route?  Or are we not allowed to summarize the facts we see?   OK want data?  Take a look at the yardage UM’s offense has posted against each team it has played this year, relative to how that team’s D has fared against other offenses.  Almost every single time, UM gashed that team for the most yards it has allowed all year.  This, with a QB starting just his first few games, moderate to fair running backs, and above all, a UM defense depriving the offense of a good 8 minutes/2 possessions per game given the inability to get stops or take-aways.  The offense is ranked top 5 in the country, even without all the pieces and without a D to help it get more time!  ARE YOU KIDDING ME?



It is only uphill from here.     Have faith.  In Rod We Must All Trust this off season that he learns from his mistakes, and makes the final right move, and gets the right D staff in, and the future is finally all uphill for our beloved Wolverines.

BlueTimesTwo

November 3rd, 2010 at 7:10 PM ^

"Defenses know how to defend a simple zone-read nowadays. Ask Dantonio."

Bullshit.  I doubt Dantonio's defense intentionally left the receiver open on the first interception, assuming that Denard would instead throw the ball right to the trailing defender.  And I am sure that later he intentionally let Stonum run 10 yards past the coverage because he knew Denard would overthrow him, right?  That cost us 11 points in that game (I think we did get a field goal after the Stonum play).  Denard also threw another pick near the goal-line on an ill-advised throw later.  These were bad decisions by a young QB, not some sign of defensive genius.  Also, there were a half-dozen shoestring tackles in the first half that prevented big plays from occurring.  Some of that may be good defense, but just as much is luck.  Keep in mind that we were also without our two most explosive RBs.

Our "simple zone-read" offense fared far better against Iowa than MSU's pro-style offense.  It is not that the scheme cannot work, as much as we need to become more consistent, which will come with time and experience.  We also need to get healthy.

I guess what I am saying is - bullshit.

Wolverine90

November 4th, 2010 at 11:01 AM ^

Or perhaps there was a third option my patronizing friend who prefers banging up fellow UM fans than Sparty or Buckie - a computer glitch not allowing the paragraph return option to reflect when I saved the post.  It works today.   Happy Sunshine?

BornInAA

November 3rd, 2010 at 7:06 PM ^



When Denard is a Junior in the House

And Jupiter aligns against AMHG

Then GERG will not guide the defense

And the D will stop a drive



This is the dawning of the age of Rodriguez

The age of Rodriguez

Rodriguez!

Rodriguez!



Healthy and undefeated

Yards and touchdowns abounding

No more losses in big ten division

Golden living dreams of Roses

Mystic crystal BCS Trophy

And the O's true liberation

Rodriguez!

Rodriguez!



When Denard is a Junior in the House

And Jupiter aligns against AMHG

Then GERG will not guide the defense

And the D will stop a drive



This is the dawning of the age of Rodriguez

The age of Rodriguez

Rodriguez!

Rodriguez!



expatriate

November 3rd, 2010 at 7:18 PM ^

it can always get worse.  As someone who has attended every home game of the Rich Rod era, it can always get worse from here.  For instance, Michigan could lose out the rest of the season and again finish 5-7.  Denard could regress badly or be badly injured.  We could burn all the redshirts in a vain effort to "try something that works."

I am optimistic about the future if Rich Rod wins a couple more games this season and gets a new defensive coordinator who has some power and latitude to run his own show.  However, this is not rock bottom.  Rock bottom would be losing out, firing Rich Rod, whiffing on the top 5 coaching candidates, losing the whole recruiting class, and becoming Notre Dame.  And even then...

Wolverine90

November 4th, 2010 at 11:02 AM ^

It's OK.  I guess I can understand that you're so frustrated at the state of the program that you're reduced to blindly lashing out at anyone and everyone - even fellow UM fans like me, instead of devoting your aggression elsewhere.

mGrowOld

November 3rd, 2010 at 10:10 PM ^

Your post reminds me of something that happened to me early in my business career.  I was a District Manager for a car rental company and went with the Regional Manager to one of our remote locations.  It was an absolute wreck and I couldn't believe what a mess everything was.  I turned to the RM and said to him at least "things can't get any worse".  He quickly corrected me and said "things can ALWAYS get worse."

I, like all the true Michigan fans on the board pray that this is the bottom defensively.  But.....I thought that last year too and unfortunately.....it kinda did.

jmblue

November 4th, 2010 at 4:37 PM ^

Yes we’re 5-3, which is better than when we were 3-9 or 5-7,

Actually, given that we had this exact same record last season at this time, it's not better.  It's up to the team to determine whether it gets better.