Maybe Akron Is Better Than We Thought
I've not heard from a Michigan fan yet who wasn't surprised at how Akron came so close to pulling the upset against Michigan. Most had Michigan winning (including me) in a ridiculously easy game where lots of backup players would get a chance to play. Obviously, such was not the case. Most have focused on how unprepared Michigan seemed and that while Akron played a spirited game, no way should they have been anywhere close to Michigan, let alone nearly winning the game. But perhaps we were too hasty in portraying Akron as just a push over with no chance of winning. Maybe, just maybe, Akron has some decent players, ones that are better than a MAC doormat team.
The coaching is there, without question. Terry Bowden and Chuck Amato know how to win at the top of the college ranks and have dozens of years of experience. A lot of the impression of Akron was based on their past. How many years has it been since they've won a road game? But this is only Bowden's second year there. He is not responsible for how bad the team was 3-5 years ago. And he is doing something that Bill Snyder perfected at Kansas State: building a team with transfer players.
It's common form for coaches to talk up their opposition before a game, even if it's just to be polite. But maybe Brady Hoke was onto something when he sang Akron's praises:
“When you look at Akron, I look at a team that has 22 transfers and that is coached very well,” Hoke said. “Thirteen of those transfers are playing significant snaps, (including) two offensive linemen, one transferred from Florida State and one from Pittsburgh. Those are pretty good programs. They have a couple of guys who have transferred from Ohio (State).
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130911/SPORTS0201/309110024#ixzz2f1namHmq
A quick look at their roster shows that in addition to transfers from FSU, PItt, and OSU, they also have transfers from Wisconsin, BYU, Virginia Tech, Washington State, Colorado, Colorado State, and several community colleges. They have a lot of new, experienced players this year with the talent level for success.
http://www.gozips.com/sports/fball/2013-14/roster
Yes they did lose decisively in their first game this year to UCF (who just beat Penn State) and had to struggle to beat James Madison, but they definitely seem to be a team on the rise. I'm not claiming they are going to win the MAC this year, but they probably are a much better team than most of us gave them credit for.
September 16th, 2013 at 1:04 AM ^
Res ipsa loquitur
September 16th, 2013 at 9:23 AM ^
the post. Derrr
September 16th, 2013 at 1:05 AM ^
Whatever makes you feel better...
There is no sugar coating this awful performance. Yes, they won and thats all that matters in the end, but it was one of the most embarrassing performances I have witnessed for a Michigan team in recent memory. Way, way worse than App State. Its impossible to know this for certain, but I"m convinced that App State team would have destroyed this Akron team.
I just hope the showing yesterday wakes this team up and jump starts something positive going forward.
September 16th, 2013 at 1:13 AM ^
I hope it wakes the team up too. And yes, no question Michigan did not play well, and Akron might not play that well again the rest of the year. But they do have several quality experienced transfer players on this team that were not part of the team's losing past. This is not last year's (or the year before) Akron.
September 16th, 2013 at 7:53 AM ^
No, nothing is worse that AppSt, nothing it the record books has come close...This performance was sub par it wasn't AppSt bad.
September 16th, 2013 at 8:12 AM ^
September 16th, 2013 at 8:32 AM ^
Right. I've heard this App State comparison a couple of times now. How in the hell could losing to a MAC team be worse than losing to a 1-AA team? I don't get that. That Michigan team was ranked #5 in the country.
September 16th, 2013 at 9:39 AM ^
- We are currently trying to nationally rebuild our reputation from the RR era, a loss here would've destroyed most of that progress
- App State was a multi-national FCS champion, Akron is among the (if not the) worst FBS school. I can't be certain, but that App State team would probably destroy this Akron team.
September 16th, 2013 at 10:51 AM ^
How many FCS teams have beaten FBS teams this year? 9? 10? Isn't it likely that the very best FCS teams are better than 20-30 FBS teams? If you accept that and accept that Akron is one of the 5 worst teams in FBS, then, #5 losing to the 100th best team in the country is not really worse than #12 losing to the 115th best team in the country.
September 16th, 2013 at 1:39 PM ^
Sagarin had Appy State ranked 44th at the end of 2007 not 100th. If you go by his Predictor, which is more accurate they were about 58th. I do realize this is end of reason ranking vs. ranking at the time played. However, it is a more objective view then just picking a ranking number from a hat.
Currently, Akron is 140th by Sagarin and the top ranked FCS team ND State is 50th by Predictor. The top FCS teams usually fall somewhere from mid 30s to mid 50s in his season ending rankings; So the best FCS schools are about equal to your top MAC schools.
September 16th, 2013 at 7:16 PM ^
yeah....but see...we didn't lose
September 16th, 2013 at 1:07 AM ^
They got their assed kicked by UCF, who granted is an underrated team. They almost lost to James Madison who is a FCS team. Do you really want to rationalize the win on a team that won 3 games in the past 3 seasons?!?! The one that have not beaten a FBS team since 2010-2011 season when they beat a terrible Buffalo team?
2007-2008 Appy State would destroy this season Akron.
September 16th, 2013 at 1:44 AM ^
I don't actually disagree about Akron but I'm a little weary of the "X is an FCS team so they suck" argument. It was, what, three years ago that James Madison beat Virginia Tech? The same VaTech that won their next eleven games and went to a BCS bowl?
I'd take NDSU over just about half the B1G and UNI is the best team in Iowa. There's a lot of overlap between FBS and FCS these days.
September 16th, 2013 at 9:26 AM ^
Last year, they lost to Morgan State who is not ranked in FCS. 2 years ago, they lost to VMI who is also not ranked in FCS. Take a look at their records....
VMI (2011): 2-9
Morgan State (2012): 4-7
Yeah, both team sucked hardcore and Akron can't even beat them?!?! Fact is Akron sucked, plain and simple. It's one thing to lose to NDSU, but another thing to lose to a shitty FCS teams.....
September 16th, 2013 at 6:30 PM ^
I was at the game last year. Akron beat (yes, a miserable FCS team) Morgan State 66-6. ESPN is your friend... Akron beat VMI in 2011 36-13. You have to go back to 2010 to find the last Akron loss to an FCS team, Gardner-Webb, 38-37 in OT (they beat Buffalo for their one win that year).
September 16th, 2013 at 8:38 PM ^
Meant to say win over 2 bad FCS teams, not loss to them. I was typing in anger, whoops. Thanks for the correction!!
September 16th, 2013 at 1:07 AM ^
Please stop. Akron is awful, as their performances in their first two games demonstrated. Had we lost, this would have been the worst in program history.
September 16th, 2013 at 1:11 AM ^
No, nothing beats the original horror. I don't care how good App St was, we were a top 2 (!) ranked team going into the season with many national championship predictions. This game would have been up there, but not the worst IMO.
September 16th, 2013 at 1:16 AM ^
September 16th, 2013 at 1:18 AM ^
September 16th, 2013 at 1:18 AM ^
We were not ranked in the top 2. Also, I don't understand why you don't care how good App State was. Doesn't the skill of your opponent directly correlate to the scale of the upset?
September 16th, 2013 at 1:20 AM ^
September 16th, 2013 at 1:37 AM ^
A preseason poll and $2 will get you a cup of coffee.
After the season was done (including our Florida win), Sagarin had us at #21, FCS Appy St at #44, and MSU #47 (remember the come-from-behind win in East Lansing). Against, Appy, we had 5 fourth quarter trips into their territory, and managed to score 6 points. And Stevie Brown gave away 14 on D. Still #21 losing to #44 isn't a shocker.
September 16th, 2013 at 2:30 AM ^
September 16th, 2013 at 8:17 AM ^
No matter how ugly it is.
September 16th, 2013 at 8:14 AM ^
September 16th, 2013 at 1:10 AM ^
September 16th, 2013 at 1:12 AM ^
September 16th, 2013 at 7:25 PM ^
in 10 years when we are the first to reach 1000+ wins, will you be saying to yourself "that terrible Akron win doesnt count"?...no....you likely will think nothing of it.
we won
we have a few correctable issues...ask Va Tech in recent years
move on
'
September 16th, 2013 at 1:14 AM ^
and I'm glad it was against Akron rather than tOSU or any other team.
I'd say that any other team would have won by over 2 scores with our abysmal performance. The fact that they couldn't win this game proves they are exactly the team we thought they were.
September 16th, 2013 at 1:12 AM ^
They had bad tackling, dropped passes, turnovers and missed field goals. Yet they still managed to take us to the wire.
September 16th, 2013 at 1:15 AM ^
I really hope this doesn't become an excuse for the more fickle in the Michigan fanbase to start whining about coaches. Akron played in inspired game, and both Bowden and Amato know a bit about successful gameplanning. Two weeks ago, 8 FBS teams lost to FCS teams. This was a great game, and will give Brady Hoke and friends a lot of great film to help motivate players.
My take: it was a combination of Michigan giving it all last week against ND and not having a lot of energy or intensity this week, Michigan underrating Akron, and Akron both coaching and playing a great game against the Maize and Blue.
My prediction: Michigan is going to take this out on UConn, and will enter the game in November against Sparty undefeated.
September 16th, 2013 at 1:23 AM ^
I want to disagree, but that kitty on the guitar is just so damn cute!
September 16th, 2013 at 1:23 AM ^
September 16th, 2013 at 1:20 AM ^
September 16th, 2013 at 1:23 AM ^
September 16th, 2013 at 8:15 AM ^
September 16th, 2013 at 9:18 AM ^
Their loss to UCF looks a little better considering UCF just beat Penn State.
September 16th, 2013 at 1:26 AM ^
September 16th, 2013 at 2:48 AM ^
September 16th, 2013 at 6:44 AM ^
Actually, yes, every fan should "chill" a bit and "relax." When you start using phrases like "makes me sick" you have lost all hope of ever knowing what the word "perspective" means. You're right, if we'd lost, I wouldn't be "ok, calm, or indifferent." BUT WE DIDN'T.
Maybe you don't have any faith in the coaching staff. Maybe you don't have any faith in the players. I don't know what your deal (or a lot of people's deal) is.
Seeing little kids with cancer makes me sick. Seeing nice old men get beaten up, shot, and robbed by animalistic thugs makes me sick. Seeing Michigan beat Akron does not make me sick. If it sounds like I'm taking out on you a little frustration over what I've been reading the past few days from a lot of people, I kind of am, but don't worry, you're not alone in your galactic lack of perspective. Rich Rod used to say you get 24 hours to stew or 24 hours to celebrate and then it's back to work, and that was for the players, so you as a fan have no excuse to still be "sick."
September 16th, 2013 at 9:16 AM ^
Totally agree. My 12 year old son and I were watching the game together. He began to melt down as Akron went ahead in the first half. I put my hand on his shoulder and said, "You're not going to be one of those fans whose self-esteem is wrapped up in a team, and if you are, you're not going to watch the games with me. So get a hold of yourself. It is a GAME. It is entertainment. It means nothing." He snapped out of it pretty quickly. I have a few friends I will not watch games with because they get so emotional over a loss, then are miserable to deal with for the rest of the weekend. Enjoy the win people.
September 16th, 2013 at 7:33 PM ^
i will admit during games i can be a mess calling out all my frustrations...especially if i am watching alone....but after about 30 minutes, after either a win or loss, my mind assorts itself and reality reminds me it's just a game and about 99% of the world doesn't care and my being an obnoxious mess for 3 hours had nothing to do with the outcome...
that being said...
i love watching UM, especially when they win
September 16th, 2013 at 11:03 AM ^
First, we didn't lose, so fortunately we don't have to figure out how to deal with such an embarrassing defeat, because it didn't happen. Dealing with losing to Akron would've been depressing and tough, good thing we don't have to try. #silverlining
Second, maintaining a competitive edge all the time is hard. When you have a cupcake game, it's easy to get sloppy. Especially with players the age of college kids. They learned a valuable lesson and fortunately for them, it doesn't come with carrying a humiliating defeat around with them for the rest of the season. You can get all, "RARRR, no excuses" if you want, but it's not very realistic and you're setting yourself up for a lot of frustration in the future. Michigan's past 20 years is littered with games where the team's performance didn't live up to expectations. It's going to happen again in the future. Accept it.
Your one cogent point is the line play, and it's a valid one. Right now it's clear Michigan is missing Jake Ryan and our preseason hopes that somebody else would step up to fill his production does not seems to be coming to fruition. Interior offensive line play has been uninspiring. Defensive pressure has been uninspiring. I'm no longer 100% confident that we will find answers for these problems sometime this season, and it could cost us our goal of winning the conference title. Hopefully, I'm wrong and the team will improve more than expected by the time we hit our November grind.
It is what it is, but we're still 3-0 and ranked in the Top 15. Lots of other teams would be happy to be in our shoes. Relax.
September 16th, 2013 at 7:07 PM ^
Plus, freaking out serves no purpose. I wish they'd played better, but wringing my hands and stressing over things I have no control of is just pointless.
September 16th, 2013 at 1:29 AM ^
Obviously Akron is worse than these teams, but last year's OSU team had the following results en route to a 12-0 season: 35-28 over Cal (3-9), 29-15 over UAB (3-9), 17-16 over MSU (7-6), 52-49 over Indiana (4-8), 29-22OT over Purdue (6-7)
Just saying..it could be a fluke. That said, I'll be upset if we don't beat UCONN by 30+..or at the very least, I better see some run blocking and QB pressure.
September 16th, 2013 at 11:32 AM ^
post I've seen post-Akron.
September 16th, 2013 at 1:39 AM ^
But they were able to take advantage of some shortcomings of our defense that ND exposed, and I think that'll put us in a lot of trouble against more talented teams. Spreading the field and forcing us into the nickel stops us from defending the run adequately, and puts our CBs in a position where they have to be able to defend 1-on-1. Any team with tall enough WRs (like Akron's multiple 6'5" outside guys, who Taylor could keep up with but not actually defend) is going to be able to hurt us.
September 16th, 2013 at 1:43 AM ^