One friggin' win is all it will take
Look, I don't care if I'm being fucking Little Orphan Annie, Pollyanna, whatever, but this team is so fucking close to getting over the hump and I really think one decent goddamn win against a decent Big Ten team - not Indiana, not Bowling Green, not these goddamn doormats - one friggin' win is all it'll take to push this team over the hump.
They keep getting so close and having it taken away by the football gods. Oh, you think you're going to have a decent cornerback this year? Nah, let's fuck up Woolfolk's ankle. Oh, you think you get to go against a crappy quarterback for once in your life? Nah, let's send Sparty to fuck up Martin's leg so they can just hand the ball off to Royster 10,000 times. Hey, that's cute, Rich Rod laid into the defense and got them fired up and they made a stop and now you're back in the game with a touchdown. Let's just have the kick returner not have the ball so there's no way for your coverage man to see that when he hits him. FFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU
I'm pissed the fuck off and it's not at RR or GERG or Mouton even though he likes to cover the receiver that's already covered by the cornerback instead of the one in his zone. I'm pissed the fuck off because I watch other football games every week and the only goddamn one in which a team never, ever makes a mistake is the one we're playing in. And the only goddamn team where the only guy to get hurt is the one guy we need is Michigan. One game where a single fucking break goes our way would be all it takes for the ball to roll the other way. Don't care if I sound like the blind optimist.
October 30th, 2010 at 11:46 PM ^
against MSU? - NO
Against Iowa - No
Against PSU - NO
They haven't been close in three years. No offense to the kids. Obviously they are trying their hearts out.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:20 AM ^
They were kinda in the game today. Fought back to within seven and if it weren't for a cheesy late hit call on a kickoff return there's a decent chance they get the ball back with a chance to tie.
You're right about the other two though.
October 31st, 2010 at 1:09 AM ^
They were all double digit loses (and PSU took a knee to keep it closer tonight). I hear what you're saying but the games weren't that close....at least not "coin flip" games.
October 30th, 2010 at 11:49 PM ^
now, i see some of your points, but I don't think you can claim that we are the only team where the only guy to get hurt is the one guy we need, and you can't claim that the team we play is always the one that never makes a mistake.
Nonetheless, I think you have a couple tangible thoughts -- but the world isn't out to get us THAT bad.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:48 AM ^
He's not saying the one player. Hes saying we lost our 2 best defensive players. We have.
Now, I am normally not one to blame things on the refs, but 2 calls tonite literally were mind-boggling. 1st.. defensive holding on a run play. 2nd, late hit IN BOUNDS.
And in case you didnt notice, they fumbled 3 times tonight with all 3 fumbles going out of bounds or recovered by PSU. 1st drive TD (which gave them momentum) should have had a INT.
Not saying we didn't beat ourselves.. again.. but I am saying that the bounces went against us all night. We get that Royster fumble or that INT this game goes differently I think.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:58 AM ^
The two calls you mentioned were definitely poor, but we also got a comically bad no-call in our favor (the pass interference no-call on Floyd) that occurred on 3rd down and led to one of the two punts they had all day. And as bad as the late-hit penalty was, they still only had the ball around the 50. They still needed to pick up 20 yards to get into FG range, and we allowed them to.
And yeah, we could have had an INT on the first drive. But that was just about the only time we had a guy actually get in the way of a pass. When you almost never make plays on the ball, you won't get many picks.
October 31st, 2010 at 1:15 AM ^
I saw the no-call.. I get that.
But, as a confidence thing, picking off McGloins first pass in front of the 107K would have silenced that place faster than kicking a puppy at the 50. If we had followed up with the same drive we had, the mood would have been "here we go again" not "holy shit, i think we might have a possible chance"
And there were some definite non-calls on cut blocks (Blacks injury comes to mind)
October 31st, 2010 at 2:06 AM ^
Hey, I agree 100% that getting an INT there would have been big. But basically every defense drops some INTs (leading to the '"That's why they're on defense" line by the announcers). You've got to get your hands on a lot of passes if you want to pick some off. Most of the time we weren't even in the vicinity.
October 31st, 2010 at 1:28 AM ^
Both sides were holding like it was a homecoming dance tonight and the refs weren't calling any of it. I think their hands were cold and they didn't want to take them out of their pockets.
Very poor officiating. I took the bad kickoff penalty as a makeup for the no call pass interference.
October 31st, 2010 at 1:01 AM ^
Good teams make their own luck and we're just not that good.
October 30th, 2010 at 11:49 PM ^
there should be some coach change. the special teams mistakes cost us two games in a row. the defense is painful to watch.
October 30th, 2010 at 11:49 PM ^
Yeah, can't wait for out annual battle with Purdue for the Pizza Bowl berth. JUST ONE WIN BABY!!!
October 30th, 2010 at 11:49 PM ^
PSU has had way worse injury luck than us this year.
October 30th, 2010 at 11:50 PM ^
Sorry, no. We haven't even been CLOSE in a game against a decent team in the three years that RR has been here. Every single win - and there haven't been many - has come aganist a crappy team.
One will will fix nothing.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:43 AM ^
They haven't been close in any game against a decent team? I'm going to disagree, and I'll even give you the teams I think were decent.
2008
L- Utah 25-23 (13-0 if you forgot)
W- Wisconsin 27-25 (#9 at time of game)
L- Northwestern 21-14 (9-4)
2009
W- Notre Dame (I know, but they had a damn good offense.)
L- Iowa 30-28 (finished #7 at 11-2)
2010
I would say they were close against Iowa. They are definitely a good team.
October 31st, 2010 at 9:47 AM ^
At some point we've got to win one of the close games we're in. At some point we've got to break through and take the next step. The biggest issue with the PSU game was that if not in this game, then when. Everything seemed like it was heavily stacked in our favor and it seemed like we had a great shot at winning. If with two weeks to prepare and get healthy, we can't win against a Penn State team playing a walk on qb, that's down, and that's young/injured on D, who can we expect to get the job done against.
October 31st, 2010 at 10:44 AM ^
2008 - we still had a pretty good defense which was a hold over from the previous regime
2009 - I would add Illinois until we couldn't score from the 1/2 inch line with 4 tries. And our D regressed from 2008
2010 - Our D has nosedived to the bottom of FBS schools and our O cannot score against a crappy PSU D.
Unless Denard makes another leap next year, I don't know how we win more than 7 in 2011. Depressing.
October 30th, 2010 at 11:50 PM ^
I think I should coach Michigan.
October 30th, 2010 at 11:52 PM ^
The problem is there is NO evidence to support the theory that it will. Sam and Ira will say things like, 'let the season play itself out before passing judgement' or ' injuries and youth are the problem here, the offense is fine'. REALLY! The offense scored 10 points against one of the bottom four teams in the conference in the 1st half. And as far as waiting until the year is over, well after next week, you won't have to, all the evidence will be there. Wisco and OSU are guaranteed losses and Illinois is a 90% loss. Somehow this defense will make some waterboy QB at Purdue look all-world.
I hate to be a downer, but the writing is on the wall. Hopefully Brandon has his duck in a row before T-giving.
October 31st, 2010 at 6:25 AM ^
1.) I hope I ain't responding to my dad, because if you are him then you hate UM FB as much as you love it, and you make negative comments to hide how much you love it yet are dissapointed because we don't go 12-0. Oh, you DIDN'T expect us to go 12-0? What did you expect? 7-5 like the rest of us? Where are we headed now? Stop. Breathing. Please. Your son. (hopefully not; I love my dad. Seriously. He even told...no, I won't get into that.)
/S
Tom
October 30th, 2010 at 11:52 PM ^
October 31st, 2010 at 1:01 AM ^
because mostly we don't have enough bodies to run 2 DE's and 2 DT's.
October 30th, 2010 at 11:54 PM ^
one win won't put them over the hump. Yes, it will get them bowl eligible, but I don't see any improvement happening on the defense for two years. We don't have the personnel to stop anyone, either because they are to young, or spare parts. Right now, my hope for 8-4 is gone and a serious concern about being able to go 6-6 has replace it. Ill is better than anyone wants to admit, and our home record as of late isn't intimidating. Only Purdue seems winnable now, and before this game, I thought that them and PSU were gimmes for Michigan, so I am very afraid. If this all crumbles to the same record as last year, I see no way brandon keeps Rodriguez around, if for no other reason that the money pressure from alums and booster will be more than even he can stand. God willing, I am wrong.
weary, but still and always GO BLUE!!
October 30th, 2010 at 11:54 PM ^
Todd Blackledge had it right...the D just doesn't have the players/experience.
There was a point in the game in the 4th, I believe, where RR came storming onto the field and shoved Grob aside and was yelling at the players. Not sure if that is a sign of the end of GROB but, damn it, GROB can only do so much with what he has. He can't change the problems that are in between the ears of the kids who just are completely out of position or get blown by the receivers. And is it just GROB or some of the positional coaches on the D side? Getting rid of GROB and getting someone else might be the answer but then you have to start all over again to get the trust of the kids. Unless Grob is hated by many of the players, I say give him one more year. RR has two more years.
And it was totally awesome to see Lloyd Brady at the game.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:20 AM ^
you don't load up the box when they are 2nd and 25, that was a clearly passing situation. man! i can call the paly better than Gerg! all def staff should go.
October 31st, 2010 at 10:22 AM ^
The incident you mention was not a good scene. It is clear that if RRod comes back Robinson is gone. The results are simply horrible.
October 30th, 2010 at 11:55 PM ^
Break it to you but that was a terrible psu team.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:30 AM ^
That played a perfect game.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:40 AM ^
something to do with that.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:52 AM ^
I used to use this excuse too, but so did MSU and so did Iowa. There may be a legit excuse out there but this one isn't it.
October 31st, 2010 at 8:56 AM ^
Oh and so did UMass
October 31st, 2010 at 1:11 AM ^
There has to be a reason that every damn team Michigan plays seems to play the "perfect" game. This is getting old and whether it's due to bad coaching or just that this team might be snakebit, I can't say. I can say that either one is a good reason to contemplate making a coaching change. Being snakebit sucks and I'd like to see a break go Michigan's way every now and again, unfortunately a new coach might be the only way to make it happen.
October 30th, 2010 at 11:56 PM ^
and feel your pain, but think about the argument you're making. We need ONE MORE WIN to get to a shitty bowl game and we don't know exactly where we'll get it looking at the remaining schedule. Sorry, but that's not a reasonable position to be in three years into a coaching regime at the University of Michigan.
October 30th, 2010 at 11:57 PM ^
Look, if they get that one friggin' win (probably over Purdue) then you can at least start to make a case for keeping RichRod. If they get two then I'd say they almost certainly should keep him.
But I don't want to hear any more excuses.
Michigan just lost to a football team playing it's 3rd string walkon QB, so it's not like we're the only ones to ever have injuries.
I saw PSU make mistakes, penalties, bad passes.
Coaches have taken over programs and managed to start winning by their third year.
I don't think we should make any decisions until the season is over. RichRod has four more games. I'l be pulling for him and his team to win.
But when the season is over, I'll be looking at results, not excuses. I suspect Dave Brandon will be thinking in similar terms.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:19 AM ^
by winning:
3 out of 5, RichRod has made his football case for another yr for sure
2 out of 5, RichRod has likely made his football case
1 out of 5, Rutt Roh RichRod
0 out of 5, no chance
IMO, this was the second easiest of the remaining five games. Remember, Illinois beat PSU by 20 at Happy Valley. Just don't go there, I was thinking of what it would take following a loss today. Well, we went there.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:21 AM ^
Best post on the topic of the night that I have seen.
The only thing I have issue with is actually this team got destroyed in that first half on both sides of the ball. Sorry but yards and and scores mean a lot less down 2 or 3 scores in the second half, then they do in a tight game.
This offense is Rich's baby. We all saw Brian's article this week about how he went full offense recruiting in 08 and basically just tried to hold onto what Lloyd Carr had already recruited on defense. Cool. If that is the strategy. He knows his stuff.
With that it is reasonable to expect that in the third year, the offense be a productive threat against top programs in this conference throughout the game; not just when we're down a bunch of points.
If Rich doesn't make it, it will be because the offense wasn't as powerful as promised soon enough to give David Brandon cause for more patience.
We'll see.
October 30th, 2010 at 11:58 PM ^
October 30th, 2010 at 11:58 PM ^
We did get a break when JT was flagged for PI. We were more horrible than a bad team. It wasn't any sort of gods that lost that game.
October 30th, 2010 at 11:59 PM ^
Too much to drink...I mean was not flagged for PI
October 31st, 2010 at 12:15 AM ^
He mugged the guy. No confidence or ability in the secondary leads to people being out of position, which results in wide open catches or pass interference.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:16 AM ^
I don't think there will be any decisions about the coaching staff's future until the end of the season, but there are just a lot of areas that need to be address. I agree with Todd Blackledge that this U-M team is better than last year's. Still, there's a lack of talent. Maybe the reason that the defense hasn't improved is because it can't improve.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:28 AM ^
should get a serious look at being replaced. Those guys are so badly out of position, so often its really mind boggling. They are simply not getting Big Ten quality coaching and that is painfully obvious
October 31st, 2010 at 12:20 AM ^
Optimism is great, but Michigan is done. An effort like that against a very bad Penn State team, means this rebuilding/rearranging effort is done. A do or die game in which the team decisively dies like this means an era is over.
This was a chance to make a statement and the statement Michigan made is that it is nowhere near being decent.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:25 AM ^
but this team is so fucking close to getting over the hump and I really think one decent goddamn win against a decent Big Ten team - not Indiana, not Bowling Green, not these goddamn doormats - one friggin' win is all it'll take to push this team over the hump.
What fucking hump are you talking about? One win isn't going to change the fact that the defense has made no discernible improvement since the beginning of the 2008 season.
I was thrilled about the Rich Rod hire and I desperately want it to work, but there is nothing to indicate that it has thus far.
October 31st, 2010 at 12:25 AM ^
much better than last season. I wish people would remember that. It was my fear coming into this season that Michigan would be improved but it might not show in the W/L's because the league would be better, and well, here we are. 1-3 and stareing at Illinois, Purdue, Wisky and OSU. 3 of those 4 are clearly better than UM and the other Purdue has beaten us 2 years in a row and will no doubt play their best game vs UM.
The D has taken a step back, the LB play is simply atrocious and everyone who watches 2 minutes of game film see's that and game plan's for it. PSU didn't do anything remotely difficult or complex tonight. They ran very simple plays and told their Oline to be physical and win the battle up front and they did. Illinois, Purdue, Wisky and OSU will all do the same. Keep it simple and don't do anything that might lose you the game.
Its very frustrating to watch this defense, but everytime I see tackles I see guys who weren't recruited to those positions, former walkons, freshmen who weren't expected to play and should be redshirting, having to play.
October 31st, 2010 at 9:02 AM ^
Penn State is not better than last year. Purdue is not better than last year. We just lost to one of them, and we almost lost to Indiana ...
Michigan has not been able to compete in the Big Ten for three years ...
October 31st, 2010 at 1:15 AM ^
what Indiana, Purdue, Minn, and previous NW teams say every year.
October 31st, 2010 at 1:31 AM ^
i know this is attrition and transfers. Lack of recruiting from LC, but since when is okay to pray for a win over illinois or purdue? What to get to a cheesy pizza bowl. Who would you play a mac team? Sweet they can beat a Mac team. Either way RR has to regroup, and get two wins. One win just won't do it. No turnovers, and still lost by ten to PSU. Coming off a bye, my hopes were so high for this team!
October 31st, 2010 at 1:55 AM ^
You're missing the point. It's more than highly possible I wasn't clear enough about it. I'm not asking for just one more win this year, I'm saying that I really think one win will engender more. That's what I mean by get over the hump.
MSU was ugly, that wasn't close, but we made Iowa close, we made this one close. We had a turning point against Illinois where we were poised to open up a big lead and it collapsed on us. We came close against Purdue last year. I'm starting to feel like the quality of opponent no longer matters, we just end up with a bunch of games that seem to hinge on 50/50 things, none of which go our way. I can't shake the feeling that if we just get a game where something 50/50 goes our damn way for once, it'll turn the tide.
October 31st, 2010 at 1:50 AM ^
Illinois is looking much tougher than I thought they would be this season and if we cannot pass the ball they will do well against DROB running the game. I'll have to say now they will beat us in Ann Arbor. WI will win and now it is not looking pretty on the road against OSU. I guess it will be up to the AD if RR sticks around next year if he does make it to 6-6 and a pizza-pizza bowl win. The thing that gets my goat is that the team is not playing as well as it did at the beginning to the year. This team is making too many penalties. I blame the coaches for this! I don't know, this defense will not be good next season but may be an average big 10 defense in two years. Its just sucks how this season seems to be going like last season. We are one of the bottom dwellers of the b10, may be a step above Purdue and right there with MN.