Nostalgia is here

Good morning, dear Michigan football fan. By now you may be cursing the sun for aggravating your hangover and thinking a world near absolute zero with no sun would be a better option - popsicles don't have headaches. Or, you greet the sun with a tear rolling down your oxygen mask because you lived to see another day. This, after clutching your left arm to the floor and your last memory being something about overtime and flashing lights.

NOSTALGIA

I am here to tell you everything old is new again. The passing of time glorifies the past where every fish you caught as a child was a state record and every Bo team was undefeated up to The Game, having rolled over the "little 8" by an average score of 55-0. I am here to tell you this is not true. Bo had a game, against this very Indiana squad, at home, that required a no time left on the clock 45 yard pass play to a guy named AC that won the game and the fans actually rushed the field in joy. Bo lost to Purdue, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana and even lost the little brown jug in a 17-20 thriller at Michigan stadium. Ufer even called these teams "the cardiac kids". This is college football.

OFFENSE

Tickets for the Rudock bandwagon are available at the box office. All of the NFL quarterbacks, NFL receivers, point-a-minute teams in the history of Michigan football never put on a show like Rudock did last night. That's a school record 6 TD passes at 33-46 for 440 yards or 13 yards per catch. Oh, he ran for 64 yards too. Indiana played the "stack the box Michigan has to beat us with the pass" all game. While this has worked in past years, now with Rudock and his receivers jelling, at team blitzing every play and playing zone against Rudock is not going to work well. Yes, when they stack Michigan against the run - we can win with the pass. Kudos to the offensive line protection all evening.

DEFENSE

Indiana scored 27, 26, 27 against OSU, MSU and Iowa. 34 against Michigan in regulation. They are a very good offense with the best OL in the Big Ten and  probably 5 NFL starters. That said, with injuries and a sub-par tackling effort, even underdogs have their day. (see Nostalgia section above). This is college football. Let's hope the D-Line and linebackers step up to fill these gaps. That said, this is the best offense we faced this year and is on par with OSU.

TAKE THE W

Take the W - these games happen in college football. OSU took the W after scraping by these guys by 7 points at home. Even in the Bo years Michigan was tested by underdogs a few times a season. Point spreads are meaningless. Feel good about the win and our passing game finally clicking. Just think - you could be an Indiana fan wondering why Wilson went with a pass in 2OT after Howard was chewing us up all game.