New Wojo article: somewhat surprising
Wojo's latest article makes a pretty bold statement that I didn't expect to see from him before the osu game.
http://www.detnews.com/article/20101124/OPINION03/11240324/1131/sports0…
I'm interested to see the response, since his writing is usually well-taken around here.
November 24th, 2010 at 1:36 AM ^
Everyone here can neg me to Bolivian, but if we get our asses whooped like we have against MSU, against Iowa, and against Wisconsin...I agree with Wojo that it may be time for change.
November 24th, 2010 at 1:42 AM ^
I wasn't aware that you could neg someone to South America, but i'll sure try!
I NEG YOU TO BOLIVIAN!
November 24th, 2010 at 1:52 AM ^
The thing is it seems like RR has given up on this defense. Yes, we all know we're extremely young and we all have an idea why we got there. But where's the fight? If anyone disagrees with me, why are we running out 5 DBs when Wisconsin is in 2-TE formations and running the ball 30 consecutive plays?
November 24th, 2010 at 1:58 AM ^
soon as we stacked the box, BOOM, play action.
November 24th, 2010 at 2:11 AM ^
But you at least force them to do something else. If the other team is successfully ramming the ball down our throats at 5-10 yards a pop, why would they stop?
November 24th, 2010 at 2:20 AM ^
like asking, "Would you like to die by 1,000 papercuts, or 1,000 ax blows to the body?" Either way our defense was no match for the Wisconsin meat machine. We have kids playing that months ago were trying to figure out how to get laid after prom. You expect them to be prolific in defending the play action, know all the reads, etc? You expect them to be strong enough to shake stalk blocks and take 4 quarters of pounding against the Wisconsin meatheads? I don't. Anyone in reality saw we were outmatched in that game and arguably every game while our offense has proved to be able to score on anyone.
November 24th, 2010 at 2:27 AM ^
That's exactly the apathy I'm referring to. We're young and outmatched, so who cares what we do....we're gonna lose anyway--just wait until next year!
November 24th, 2010 at 2:30 AM ^
Since when did reality=apathy?
November 24th, 2010 at 8:20 AM ^
Feeling apathetic and acknowledging reality are not contradictory.
November 24th, 2010 at 11:28 AM ^
Correct. And the members of the coaching staff are paid large sums of money to ensure that apathy does not set in, despite "acknowledging reality."
November 25th, 2010 at 6:17 AM ^
Congrats. You found the football equivalent to the infamous the Bobby Knight quote:
"If losing is inevitable, just lay back and enjoy it."
Doesn't make much sense here either.
November 24th, 2010 at 10:19 AM ^
I didn't see a lot of giving up on either side of the ball against Wiscy, I did see a lot of guys getting repeatedly run over by freight trains and throwing themselves back in the gaps (albeit to be out of position and blow a desperate arm tackle).
November 24th, 2010 at 12:45 PM ^
has not quit and will not quit. Not the players and not the coaches. They haven't yet and they are not going to.
They work too hard getting Barwisized to even think about it.
November 24th, 2010 at 2:30 AM ^
And of course, the fact that our defense is in the ruined condition that it is in is a major reason why our head coach's job might be in jeopardy. In year 1 you can talk about being shorthanded. If you're still shorthanded in year 3, you've mismanaged things.
November 24th, 2010 at 2:38 AM ^
I'll take a mismanaged defense on a still succesful team over the 3-9 abomination that occured in year three under Charlie Weis at ND. Obviously, that's an easy straw man, but things can be much much worse than 7-4 going into Columbus.
November 24th, 2010 at 9:20 AM ^
Who cares if we are 7-4 when we can't compete against the top 5 teams in the big Ten. Not one single quality win... Your probably happy as long as we keep beating Indiana and Purdue.
November 24th, 2010 at 10:25 AM ^
I see progress, and I think a young team rebuilt from the ground up is going to be competitive with the experienced and veteran squads in the top programs when they are experienced and veteran. I like Harbaugh, I think it would be awfully neat if he was the Michigan coach, but I'd rather not see this program become a Notre Dame when I see us on the way to being a midwestern Oregon.
November 24th, 2010 at 4:46 PM ^
...they stuck with a failed head coach far too long (Bob Davie who should have been fired after year 3), and in doing so did tremendous damage to the program.
November 24th, 2010 at 10:27 AM ^
Well, I would be upset if we lost to Indiana and Purdue, so I guess that much is true...
November 24th, 2010 at 8:11 AM ^
In year 1 you can talk about being shorthanded. If you're still shorthanded in year 3, you've mismanaged things.
This point I agree with.
November 24th, 2010 at 8:45 AM ^
He has mismanaged it, and I don't think there is any reasonable or fair objection to that. Howeva, whether he should be fired is IMO a different question. You can acknowledge that he mismanaged some things without immediately concluding he should go. As for me, a new DC and new staff would be enough to convince me that one more year is warranted.
November 24th, 2010 at 2:25 AM ^
Brazil is big....just saying
November 24th, 2010 at 2:30 AM ^
Chile is cold.
November 24th, 2010 at 7:41 AM ^
And Columbia is FREAKING AWESOMESAUCE BABY!
November 24th, 2010 at 7:53 AM ^
Ura-guay
j/k
November 24th, 2010 at 10:03 AM ^
How did you know that was my real Suriname. Did you ping my IP Address?!
November 24th, 2010 at 10:25 AM ^
Guyana, go Falkland Island yourself.
November 24th, 2010 at 11:34 AM ^
Do what you want to yourself! I am going to Purus the bigten network for some M-OSU greatest games that we win.
November 24th, 2010 at 2:22 PM ^
You better Belize.
November 24th, 2010 at 9:38 AM ^
maybe because it's so skinny
November 24th, 2010 at 12:16 PM ^
That's what she said.
November 24th, 2010 at 12:53 PM ^
kinda looks like jersey is you tilt your head a little to the right.
November 24th, 2010 at 7:29 AM ^
Roh didn't see any action in the second half and I don't think Martin did either. Q's been over there for three weeks now I believe. So who are we going to put out there in a four man line and who is going to come in and spell them unless you want them to burn RS. Throw in the pictured holding that was going on regularly but was never called and Wisconsin is what it is.
Iowa didn't hand our ass to us and against MSU we left 21 points on the field in a 17 point loss. IMO, we played better against MSU this year than last when we managed to get into OT despite being dominated for for 3+ quarters. The D gave up 4 big plays that resulted in scores and the game should have been 14-0 us instead of 3-0 if not for two bad throws which resulted in a pick in th EZ and an open Stonum being overthrown in the EZ.
November 24th, 2010 at 8:18 AM ^
On the flip side of talking about games that were close and could have won, there are several games we easily could have lost: Notre Dame, Illinois, Indiana. We are pretty damn lucky to have won all of those.
November 24th, 2010 at 1:00 PM ^
but those games could have also been blow outs had it not been for a few plays. This argument can go on indefinitely. Regardless, I have my complaints about RR as everyone does but I gotta believe it would be a huge mistake to replace him or for that matter talk about replacing him with so many recruits hanging out there in the wind. Those same recruits that could be watching this board. I hope RR can pull the trigger and make the changes, staff or otherwise, if he is given the chance. If not, what is one more year really going to do?
November 24th, 2010 at 8:20 AM ^
I know quarterback in his first full season as a starter, etc....
The MSU game was like the games of old where we came in and played with confidence, and bullied them around making them make mistakes. And every once in a while they didn't make those mistakes and won the game, but usually spent the off season saying "man, if only those three turnovers were touchdowns".
Face it, this style of sloppy football in the face of good opponents, and close games in the face of average to not so good opponents is a three year trend ...
November 24th, 2010 at 9:47 AM ^
I don't think he has actually given up, but I don't think he has any idea what to do about it.
November 24th, 2010 at 1:05 PM ^
but I see it as the same as working with family. He has built up relationships, as wojo stated, with certain position coaches and is worried what his friends will think of him if he pulls the rug out from under them. Now I'm not saying that should matter cause when it comes down to your job, you better be able to make the tough decisions but with so few friends around the program, he may be trying to hold on to as many as possible. Or he is going Samurai on us and showing organizational accountability falls back on his shoulders so he wont throw his guys under the proverbial bus. If thats the case, I kinda respect him for that but for his own sake, he better make the call or DB is likely to make it for him.
November 24th, 2010 at 4:50 PM ^
...if you are worried about hurt feelings you should never be in charge of anything (as long as you hurt those feelins respectfully).
November 24th, 2010 at 7:59 AM ^
It sounds like a great place to go, but I can't find the damn place on a map.
November 24th, 2010 at 2:18 PM ^
Allow me to rant on this for a sec:
It's a sports reference that you don't get. Obviously, it sounds ridiculous and, moreover, it looks ridiculous. Notice that it is capitalized. The poster surely knows that it's a demonym and a proper adjective indicating origin in the nation of Bolivia. Your post indicates not that you're a super-informed guy who knows —unlike the poster above (or me, last week when I posted it before and got a lot of the same comments) — that Bolivia is a country, but that you're simply not in on the joke. I'll explain: Mike Tyson (reportedly) answered, after losing (I think) to Lennox Lewis, that he'd probably just "fade into Bolivian" now that his career was apparently over. [Too bad it wasn't over, he went on to fight a couple more depressing times including one that I saw live. He got knocked out by some guy named Danny something and everyone in the crowd just thought it was sad. Even Mr. T, I imagine, who was there wearing a gold dinner plate, fork, and spoon hanging from his gold chain.]
It was an instant classic Tyson malapropism that many, many people (lmgtfy?) have used in mockery or homage, all of them knowing that a Bolivian is someone from Bolivia. Who knows, maybe Tyson did too and he was just adding a bit of levity to the situation, playing up once more his image as an unforgivable stupid boor monster-thing that made him millions (and got him convicted of rape)?
November 24th, 2010 at 5:25 PM ^
All I want to know is anyone negged to Bolivian play the corner?
November 24th, 2010 at 1:54 AM ^
Legit question: going into this season, did you see OSU as a must win game for RichRod? If not, what's changed between then and now?
November 24th, 2010 at 2:02 AM ^
That's the only question that should be asked at this point. I think everyone needs to go back and review their expectations coming into the season and compare to where we are.
I think we are where we expected to be. Unfortunately we lost most of our toss-up games, but with the attrition, injuries and youth, seems like we've done pretty damn good.
That said, I'm sick of the debates and articles, although I will continue to read and reply to them. All I have to say is:
GO BLUE!!! BEAT OSU!!!
November 24th, 2010 at 2:27 AM ^
I think its valid to use a bit of hindsight when discussing this season -- mostly based on things you could not have predicted in your original expectations, such as injuries and strength of opponents.
Considering our defensive two deep, and based on the unforseen relative strength of both MSU and ILL, I think our tossup games were: Uconn, ND, PSU, and ILL --- We went 3-1
OSU, WIS, IOWA, and MSU (sad face) are elite Big 10 teams this year -- and we simply are not. I'm just talking about personnel here, especially defensive -- I don't care who the coach was -- our defense would have sucked.
Here's the good news: With RR, we will be elite next year. Nobody returns as many starters, nobody has as much room to grow, both offensively and defensively.
November 24th, 2010 at 5:07 AM ^
do you really think we'll be elite next year? maybe offensively, but as a team, defense and special teams, we may be closer but not close enough.
November 24th, 2010 at 8:49 AM ^
We wont be an elite team if our kicking game is even remotely close to what it is now. If we are beyond extra point distance we go for it on fourth down, or play russian roulette with a fg attempt...
November 24th, 2010 at 10:19 AM ^
of the primary issues moving forward. Though theoretically it could be rectified, I suppose everyone will believe it when they see it.
While I think RR is going to get another year (at least), I also think that next year is an incredibly tough situation for him. While this year is beyond honeymoon period for SOME Michigan fans, I feel like zero will give leeway next year in that respect. Next year expectations will be 10-2 BCS bowl and ultimately, as you see with Iowa this year, that isn't always a matter of talent returning. Breaks have to go your way along with that talent. UM could be legitimately better next year but DR goes down, the kicking game continues to completely blow and a few tough bounces and RR is 7-5 again through no extreme faultering on his coaching. Back to the kicking, if that isn't fixed, the games that Michigan would theoretically be in vs top teams next year (that they weren't necessarily in this year) could be decided by FGs. Would you all see 7-5, 8-4 next year with closer games vs top teams as enough progress?
November 24th, 2010 at 10:34 AM ^
I don't think I would be happy with 7-5, especially with our soft early schedule. I think I would only grumble with 8-4 and close games, and would be very happy with 9-3 and a team that bounces around the upper half of the BCS rankings.