The Onion: How is this not about M fans this season?
"Sports Fan Digs Deep, Finds Something to Complain About"
Stupid Hoke, not giving Gardner enough snaps against Eastern...
http://www.onionsportsnetwork.com/articles/sports-fan-digs-deep-finds-s…
October 5th, 2011 at 5:46 PM ^
I had thought that some of the more discerning Michigan fans, with memories that go back 24 or 25 months or so, were just thinking that we had started the last two seasons 4-0 and 5-0. And so yeah, there is that.
Which naturally links us to this Onion headline:
"Insane Moron Draws Conclusion From NFL Preseason Game"
http://www.onionsportsnetwork.com/articles/insane-moron-draws-conclusion-from-nfl-preseason-g,21211/
October 5th, 2011 at 6:05 PM ^
But there's also this thing of:
Preseason - "Michigan will suck"
After Game 1:
"Omg Carder and Jordan White torched us through the air.. we were just *lucky* we didn't lose that game. ND will blow us out"
After Game 2:
"We were so lucky to beat ND, they were torching us through the ground and with Michael Floyd! Can you BELIEVE they scored 24 points on us? Jeez, we must suck. Eastern will put up a lot of points on us" (I'm not counting those last two touchdowns)
After Game 3:
"Can you BELIEVE Eastern scored 3 points on us?? We must be so terrible at defense. We can't even stop the 6th best rushing attack in the country... Ryan Lindley is an NFL caliber quarterback and the best one we'll see all year. Ronnie Hillman is in contention for the Heisman! Lindley will carve up our secondary because our front 7 suck".
After Game 4:
"SDSU was a cupcake! Lindley is one of the worst, if not the worst, quarterback we'll face all year. Also, we got really lucky... I mean, it's not like players are taught to punch out the ball. Ronnie Hillman is one of the worst RBs in the country. Minnesota has Marqueis Gray who will rush all over us and a good enough defense to stop our extremely bad passing game"
After Game 5:
"Minnesota is the worst team in the FBS, along with USC who they narrowly beat on the road. Persa is an extremely tough QB who will carve up our weak secondary and their defense will stop the run because they held Illinois to 86 yards despite giving up 400+ to Army the week prior."
These aren't exact quotes, but it's the general distillation of what people are saying/thinking about each upcoming game.
At this rate, the bottom 12 teams in the FBS according to what Michigan fans think and will think are, in no particular order: Eastern, Minnesota, Western Michigan, SDSU, ND, Northwestern, MSU, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, and OSU.
Last year, complaining about an FCS school putting up 35 points and losing by 7 was legitimate, as well as complaining about Indiana putting up 35. Complaining about 4 FBS schools hanging a combined 20 points on us and a legitimate preseason BCS contender hanging 24 on us, though, is just silly.
October 5th, 2011 at 6:17 PM ^
Dan Persa does scare the shit out of me, though. Maybe more than ND's offense did. If he's even somewhat healthy we will not face a better QB through the regular season.
October 5th, 2011 at 6:24 PM ^
You really think those made-up quotes are representative of anything? An honest "general distillation" of what members of this Board have been saying?
Anyway, with regard to MSU and OSU being suck-ass teams this year, it has already started. You don't have to make up quotes; you can select from any of these real, live quotes:
http://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/thoughts-michigan-state-and-tsio-game
Now, with MSU and OSU sucking so horribly, and with Hoke having changed the tide in the rivalry (Hell, people in Ohio are starting to believe him) there's probably no way Michigan won't go undefeated. In fact, we might even see an "exponentially better" record by the end of the year. Who predicted that? I'm trying to recall. Start the countdown clocks to 12-0.
October 5th, 2011 at 6:37 PM ^
But Minnesota actually IS the worst team in FBS. And they didn't beat USC.
It makes me smile- those f'ing Gophers are the only team in all of football I actively root against. They just make me so MAD. I wish Miami hadn't choked away that game against them. Maybe we'd finally see Minnesota demoted to 1-AA, where they belong.
October 5th, 2011 at 7:41 PM ^
What did Minnesota do to deserve the hate? They have a great history from years ago, it's just the last 40 or so that have stunk. They have only beat M 3 times in that span, what's to hate?
October 5th, 2011 at 8:42 PM ^
The way I look at it, EMU and Minn. both suck, SDSU and WMU are mediocre, and ND is an above average team (I hate the domers but still think they get 9 wins),
No one's being a Debbie Downer by wanting the team to win a few games on the road against good teams (one of which is a heated rivalry). There's a difference between being pessimistic and realistic.
Realistically, some people won't start thinking conference championship until we put NW and MSU in their place, and there's nothing wrong with that.
October 5th, 2011 at 8:51 PM ^
Wat? Who said any of those things? I recall nervousness about ND's offense after Carder did pretty much whatever he wanted when Jordan Kovacs's facemask wasn't embedded in his larynx. But other than that...
October 5th, 2011 at 8:59 PM ^
Someone said that Lindley would carve us up and Hillman would run all over us the night before the game. The next night, they said that SDSU was one more cupcake that we beat... Oh how short some people's memory banks are.
October 6th, 2011 at 9:14 AM ^
I still don't get your overall point. Are you saying that it is always wrong to express trepidation over the skills of the other team's likely NFL draft choices? Or that among the literally thousands of MGoBlog readers, a few of them pushed the panic button too early?
October 6th, 2011 at 11:31 AM ^
Yeah, ok... "a few" of them.
October 5th, 2011 at 9:39 PM ^
The Games 1, 2 and 4 ones are pretty accurate, but the Game 3 one should be like this:
"Can you believe EMU (of all teams) ran for 150 yards? How many are we going to give up to Hillman next week? And WTF is Borges doing? Most of his pass plays fail miserably, and the few that work are unsustainable. By week 3, Denard should have gotten the offense down pat. Clearly, his success last year was all on the staff. If only our head coach weren't fat. America needs to fight obesity."
October 5th, 2011 at 6:11 PM ^
It's called self-protection. We say these things so that if (a big if) it happens, our disappointment won't crush us. We were expecting it, and we have the facts and statistics to prove it.
October 5th, 2011 at 7:29 PM ^
I get this...
It still comes across as a little pathetic IMO.
October 5th, 2011 at 8:47 PM ^
but pushed clear through into hate mode.
October 5th, 2011 at 7:16 PM ^
the quick, yet steady decline of progress (after each non-conference schedule) that Michigan fans endured over the course of the last three seasons, I believe many are a little "gun-shy" and don't want to believe what they see too much.
Until this team takes care of business on the road and then destroys Sparty in two weeks, I think there will remain many fans that are not 100% convinced that the culture has changed back to Michigan Football!
October 5th, 2011 at 7:33 PM ^
all about the next two weeks....and I believe we will be 7-0...but the games must be played
October 5th, 2011 at 7:58 PM ^
All about the next two weeks? No. We have a game on November 26 that will really tell the tale.
October 5th, 2011 at 8:36 PM ^
but this year our Head Coach has already began his game preparations for 11/26. This Michigan team will be well prepared for the visiting team.
Go Blue!
October 5th, 2011 at 7:07 PM ^
Since the first game of 2007 ended in the HORROR, I am always pessimistic on gameday.
October 5th, 2011 at 7:34 PM ^
Notre Dame scored 31. Therefore everything else you said must be BS.
October 5th, 2011 at 8:02 PM ^
To me, the rationality of these concerns depend on what people would consider a good outcome for this team.
If you think the 2011 Wolverines are competing for a (mythical) national championship and you will be crushed if they lose a single game, then I think you sell this team short because your expectations are unrealistic.
If you think the 2011 Wolverines are competing for a BIG title and you will be disappointed if they fail to achieve it--even if that means winning the Legends Division but losing to a stacked Wisconsin team in Indy, then I can understand where you are coming from but still think you should lighten up a tad.
If you think this team is just trying to put up 9-10 regular season wins, beat our traditional rivals, maybe win the Legends Division and get into a respectable bowl game, then I think your expectations are about right. But in all seriousness, if this team fails to achieve those goals, then it's almost certainly going to be because we have a couple bad games or get a couple bad breaks--not because Michigan isn't "back."
If you're afraid of another second-half collapse resembling 2009 or 2010, then you might just be paranoid.
October 5th, 2011 at 8:26 PM ^
I'm not quite willing to think we might win big games here with a new staff. There is no historical precedent for anything like that ever happening, right?
October 5th, 2011 at 8:36 PM ^
If you jump in a pool that is fridged four times, it is natural instinct to dip your toes the fifth time. Unless you have a pool heater, then you are tsio.
October 5th, 2011 at 10:04 PM ^
Welcome home Mr. Hackney!
October 5th, 2011 at 10:08 PM ^
Thanks! I hope to post more, but the American Public Education System and all the work that goes with it is limiting my time. Thank god teaching is so easy....
October 5th, 2011 at 9:17 PM ^
Another relevant to Michigan football: http://www.onionsportsnetwork.com/articles/terrelle-pryor,21223/
October 5th, 2011 at 11:42 PM ^
October 6th, 2011 at 12:42 AM ^
After reading the article, it definitely reminded me more about a Packers fan.