Official "Look on the Bright Side" Thread (Monday Snowflakes)
We still control our own destiny in the Leaders.
Are MSU and Nebraska world beaters? No, and they play each other and Northwestern.
If we can sweep the Legends, there's a good chance that we'll be tied for 1st and win the head-to-head tie breaker.
Hopefully, Hoke will feel the sting and play to win from here on out.
SLIGHT MOD EDIT: Hopefully, the OP does not mind if I do this, but let's make this the Monday Snowflakes thread too. Threads about more specific aspects of the game can exist separately, I would think. - LSA
October 14th, 2013 at 12:47 AM ^
October 14th, 2013 at 12:53 AM ^
But, what the hell. We play this week to keep control of our own destiny.
It's a long season. Plenty of time left to bitch if things don't work out.
October 14th, 2013 at 12:52 AM ^
October 14th, 2013 at 12:55 AM ^
then we play for the B1G championship.
Maybe we can be a different team by then.
October 14th, 2013 at 12:56 AM ^
October 14th, 2013 at 1:25 AM ^
I agree if it's the team that showed up in the first half, last 3 minutes of regulation and the OT's. If it's the team that actually showed up for about the first 25 minutes of the second half, they've got a chance in every game (although to me there needs to be some serious improvement from this team for me to think they have a legit chance to beat OSU).
October 14th, 2013 at 9:43 AM ^
It wasn't the players that choked the game away Saturday night .... IT WAS THE COACHES!
October 14th, 2013 at 9:50 AM ^
I bet Brendan Gibbons does not feel this way.
October 14th, 2013 at 4:34 AM ^
October 14th, 2013 at 12:56 AM ^
This blog is in desperate needs of some more of this:
October 14th, 2013 at 1:07 AM ^
I would prefer Josh Groban.
October 14th, 2013 at 1:07 AM ^
October 14th, 2013 at 1:53 AM ^
October 14th, 2013 at 4:32 AM ^
October 14th, 2013 at 6:18 AM ^
October 14th, 2013 at 8:56 AM ^
That kick wouldnt have made it to the goal post if it wasn't blocked. That was a choke job, pure and simple.
October 14th, 2013 at 11:42 AM ^
Which, IMO, is a reason that people should just take a step back off the ledge and calm down. It was a choke job. It was not a RichRod era beatdown.
October 14th, 2013 at 11:49 AM ^
True. However, the wounds from 2008-2010 are reopened easily. People tend to extrapolate one performance into the future and before long they are looking for a sturdy beam about which to tie their noose.
October 14th, 2013 at 1:08 AM ^
the bright side is a far distant object smaller than Pluto right now.
October 14th, 2013 at 6:41 AM ^
IU beat them in Bloomington (and it was a close game until PSU committed a couple turnovers in the 4th quarter). In State College, at night, I doubt that'd have happened.
Watch - we'll beat IU And then everyone will joke about how weird the transitive property is in football.
October 14th, 2013 at 9:45 AM ^
Don't bet your house on a Michigan victory against Indiana. They have speed ... something we've never handled well.
October 14th, 2013 at 5:33 PM ^
I know the "cool" thing to do right now is to predict that Michigan will never win again because we lost one time, but Brady Hoke is 18-0 at home, and has never lost consecutive regular-season games. I am confident both will hold true another week.
October 14th, 2013 at 1:17 AM ^
that we won't lose to Akron or Uconn this year.
October 14th, 2013 at 2:47 PM ^
Bright Side: We are going to totally tank Ohio's Streangth of Schedule.
October 14th, 2013 at 1:28 AM ^
Maybe I'm too much of an optimist, but i gotta agree with the OP. Hope we learn from this and play more aggressive like Hoke and Mattison have in the past..
October 14th, 2013 at 1:28 AM ^
There is no bright side. THE GODDAMN PLANE HAS CRASHED INTO THE MOUNTAIN.
October 14th, 2013 at 1:54 AM ^
October 14th, 2013 at 1:29 AM ^
I realize people are trying to be positive and say we're 5-1, 1-1 and still control our own destiny. While that's true, I look at the schedule and see the meat of the schedule on the horizon. There's no more UConn's or Akron's where UM can stink up the job and come out with a win. They only decent team we played so far is ND and possibly PSU, but I see at least 4 total losses if not probably more for PSU by the time the season ends.
October 14th, 2013 at 1:55 AM ^
October 14th, 2013 at 8:42 AM ^
you want us to bring back GERG to start the resurgence?
October 14th, 2013 at 1:59 AM ^
The bright side is that Borges has been holding everything back all year for the MSU game, which is why we've looked so terrible. But it's all a ruse. He is going to unleash the Kraken on November 2.
October 14th, 2013 at 2:04 AM ^
if history is any indication he's going to unleash it on Indiana and call none of it against MSU. See Iowa and OSU last year.
October 14th, 2013 at 2:11 AM ^
have a kraken, but your point still hilariously stands.
October 14th, 2013 at 4:37 AM ^
October 14th, 2013 at 5:19 AM ^
October 14th, 2013 at 5:46 AM ^
Devin Gardner is going to return for this final year at Michigan next year!
No, that is not a bad thing - begone with you from our bright side thread!
DG next year will really help this team. I'm excited to see how he matures.
October 14th, 2013 at 6:00 AM ^
Wisconsin 48-28, Ohio 37-7, Miss State 52-14. Those scores sound familiar? The last three losses of the train wreck this staff inherited. The first season was fabulous and the ball bounced our way so many times. Unrealisitc expectations have been haunting us since. I don't think there's a lot to be concerned about when you look at the big picture and trajectory of the program. 9-3 or 8-4 is about where I'd expect us to be this year - when Hoke's first full recruiting class are just redshirt freshmen and sophomores. If this program is going to be rebuilt and rebuilt correctly, we're maybe halfway there.
October 14th, 2013 at 8:43 AM ^
2 1/2 years in and we are not improving, big picture that says a lot about members of this staff.
We have an OC who in 2 1/2 years has massively failed 7 times, that is utterly pathetic.
I would give a free pass on growing pains if we saw some of the things we suck at improving, but they are not. There are members of this staff that are doing a bad job and at crucial times the team really seems lost and that falls in one place.
October 14th, 2013 at 12:38 PM ^
October 14th, 2013 at 6:33 AM ^
Our fight song is boss
No alternative jerseys so far
Blog is still free
Miss Rita's nachos kick ass (sorry-wrong bright side thread)
October 14th, 2013 at 6:35 AM ^
Looking at the Sagarin ratings, which are now updated to games played on October 12th per the site, we still maintain the following with our #34 rating:
OPPONENT | RATING DIFF. | PRED. LINE |
Indiana | 4.05 | 7.74 |
Michigan St. | -2.21 | -5.9 |
Nebraska | 0 | 3.69 |
Northwestern | 4.52 | 0.83 |
Iowa | 3.11 | -0.58 |
Ohio State | -8.03 | -4.34 |
Even with games where we wouldn't be favored, there's nothing that looks insurmountable based on the model.
October 14th, 2013 at 8:06 AM ^
October 14th, 2013 at 8:09 AM ^
October 14th, 2013 at 8:10 AM ^
If anyone expected this team to go undefeated, then sure this sucks. But I always thought this was an 8-9 win team, and so I'm not bothered by the proceedings save for the way the team lost that first game.
October 14th, 2013 at 8:11 AM ^
October 14th, 2013 at 8:16 AM ^
We've had some really great weather this summer and fall. This whole global climate change thing has really turned out well for us in east-central North America!
October 14th, 2013 at 8:37 AM ^
Our coaching staff was afraid of a team that was blown out by UCF and Indiana.
Also, why is it that we are never ready to play????????
October 14th, 2013 at 8:40 AM ^
OP, are you insane? 'We still control our own destiny' is the same load of crap that people were saying after the Akron and UConn games ('a win is a win'). Think for just a second how the team that you have seen post-ND could have any chance in the world of playing for the B1G title this year.
The only positive thing is football season is half over, and soon enough we will have basketball to look forward to. You know, a team with five-star talent that actually lives up their billing with a real coaching staff.
October 14th, 2013 at 10:44 AM ^
Thank you
At this point, you're more rational than the sunshine pumpers