It's May: T-Minus 119 Days and Counting...
I'm experiencing the usual, May doldrums, wherein I am anxiously awaiting the start of my favorite sport, and looking for something - anything - to assuage my angst.
Nothing like a little WolverineHistorian on YouTube to scratch that itch.
But, its Saturday night, and I'm sitting at my laptop. My wife asked me what I was watching. Now, she can hear Brent Musburger's familiar voice through the speakers, and names like, "John Navarre" and "Lloyd Carr", (2003 UM vs. ND, if you must know). Its obvious I'm not watching what the rest of the world considers porn, just Michigan Football fanatics, which I'm. So, its pretty obvious that she's more than a bit incredulous that I would be - in her view, mind you - "wasting time." Its the same look and tone of voice I get when I pop Monty Python's Holy Grail, or Caddyshack, or Animal House into the ol' DVD player.
So, naturally, my question is, Should Lloyd have gone to the option look more often, like he did against Ohio State in 2003 with Navarre, in which he scored the touchdown?
*EDIT* Almost forgot to mention ... One of the comments made during the ND game by Musburger and Danielson was about Chris Perry's "great story". Lloyd had told him earlier in his collegiate career that if he didn't shape up and start playing up to his potential, he should transfer elsewhere. Now, pray tell, does that sound like a certain other Michigan coach who's been blamed for disrupting the "family" atmosphere at The Fort? Sounds like some serious "tough love" to me.
I think he should have gone to the spread look more like he did against Florida, or kept the offense throwing more against OSU in '06 like he did on the opening drive. And speaking of announcers, I always like the way "Chad Henne" sounded when Brad Nessler said it.
Assuming we're thinking of the same play, one of my favorite football memories from my years at Michigan was watching Navarre run up the field against OSU. There was one OSU defender who dove to tackle Navarre, but misjudged how slow Navarre was and went flying by a couple years in front of him.
And I agree with exmtroj, I would have liked to see more of the play calling from the Florida game throughout the season. That game was amazing, and UofM looked so good! It was kind of frustrating that they didn't use that strategy earlier in the season. Oh well, hindsight being 20-20 and all that...
was the first time Henne was himself since before the Illinois game. I wonder if the Cap-One strategy would have worked with Mallet, and without Hart. Or whether it would have helped against Oregon.
but managed to score only 7 points out of it.
Henne & Hart were injured in the 2nd half and I think we managed around 65 yards w/ freshman Mallett seeing his first snaps.
If Carr had called plays during the last four or five years of his tenure the way he did against Florida, he would probably either still be coaching at UM or would have been allowed to name his successor. It's as if his conservative nature kept him from taking the "risks" that were neccessary to bring the team into this millenium.
At any rate, the team is now in good hands. It would be pretty funny, though, to see Carr take over at a small college as as sort of "semi-retirement job" and run spread formations and trick plays with no discernable tendencies for DC's to wait for.
Most of all, though, it would be nice if fall got here really fast and the Wolverines showed everyone that they are officially back.
I feel everyone's pain. I still have the NBA playoffs to watch at least, but after that's over in June it is a LONG wait until the team starts fall camp.
I can't help but anxiously await the fall. At least we can watch highlights on youtube and play NCAA10. Shit, think of what they had to do back in the day!
My heart be still!
+1 for your colossal picture! That's very impressive!
The summer is always so hard to get by while waiting for kickoff. I usually play ncaa football and wait for the next years release. i think this year it will be released on july 13 which is very early!!! i cant wait. As for the team does anyone know if they started to tear up the turf at michigan stadium to install the new turf??? and when does construction on the basketball training facility start????
Exciting, yet so depressing at the same time.
at this point RR needs to show that automatic wins stay that way. the days of struggling with Illinois, Indiana, and Purdue should be over.
i just hope RR beats the s___ out of Uconn, ND, and MSU. those are the very winnable statement games that IMO will lead Michigan to a likely 7+ wins if they go 3-0.
id like to see Michigan get those 3 tough wins, and play Iowa and PSU tough regardless of the score. if this team accomplishes those things then OSU becomes a very winnable game. last year Michigan had OSU on their heels at times despite 4 turnovers and the offense missing its two best players.
Absolutely agree with you on that point. If M would simply have won the annual "gimme" games against Purdue and Indiana, that would have made them bowl-eligible, (hell, just one of those two would have done it).
It'll be another year, I think, before we beat the Buckeyes, since this next year is in Columbus. I would LOVE to beat those guys, but judging from Misopogon's diary today, its probably a bridge too far, (but I can still hope, right)?
So, realistically, I think we end up at least 7-5 this, possibly at least 8-4, (including a win over MSU). That assumes we take care of business against UConn and ND. If we have hiccups there, (particularly UConn) it could be another difficult season. There will be a game, or two, where we drop one of those "gimmes", (there almost always is). Given the state of the defense, we can hope for more, but I refuse to be Exhibit A in This Week in Schadenfreude.
I can't wait for the season to get here. I have a chance to go to some big games this year for the first time in a while.. If you could choose any three games this year, which ones would you go to?
1. UConn, since that's first on the schedule, and I'm hoping to see the fruits of Another Year of Barwis and Robinson.
2. MSU, 'cause payback's a BITCH.
3. Wisconsin or Iowa, because both should be really good games.