Rittenberg Does Not Get the Rivalry

I agree - especially this line:

"A win Saturday would cool things down a bit."

A win Saturday would cool things down A LOT. Likely take most of the pressure off RR. I mean, you could almost stand a 1-11 season if that one win was against OSU. (I said almost)

Not to mention the effect on recruiting - having all those visiting be a part of the pandemonium when Michigan wins.

A win against OSU would make this season a success. Not a great success, but a success.

Saturday would not salvage our season?????

EFF that! A win would most definitely salvage our season. That 800 lb gorilla in the room that has gotten bigger every single week would vanish overnight. Most fans claiming this as a disaster of a season with a loss would call this a great success with reaching a bowl game, beating osu and ND in one year. This game takes this team from a minor improvement over last year to a major one. Gives the young guys a ton of confidence going into next year and would impress all the recruits. I'd beg to differ that this may be the biggest game most of these guys have played in.

A win Saturday salvages the season. You beat me to that post. Beating OSU for the first time since 2003, would/will mean so much to so many different people.

He says it would not salvage the season but then lists all the positives that would occur if we beat them. Do people at ESPN even try anymore to be good at what they do?

A win Saturday would put us in a bowl, finish us at 6-6 (in the ballpark of where most of us thought we'd finish this year anyways, most predictions were anywhere between 5-7 and 8-4), and, oh yeah, A FUCKING WIN OVER OHIO STATE FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE 2003. I'm pretty damn sure the heat disappears for the next month after a win. There will be pressure next year to improve, but a win here really shuts up a lot of the squawking in the offseason.

I agree. Normally I would say 1 win does not make or break a season. But this year? Hell yes. I think that since this is always the last game of the year (forget Hawaii that 1 year). Every year the game has a chance to make a bad season good, or a great season bad. It would be interesting to see how that changed it wasnt the last game of the year. Thank god I dont have to consider that. BEAT OHIO STATE!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

means we can all start moving forward again, and we can stop having this conversation about whether RR or Gerg or whoever is the right guy for the program. We can let RR decide all those things in the off season.

The key to this is to look at how Rittenberg's argument has evolved, not just in this one piece, but over the entire season. It's about context.

I think Rittenberg's thesis, over the last four weeks is that whatever expectations Michigan has coming in to the season had to be recalibrated with the 4-0 start, and as that has fallen apart in the last few weeks, it's made the season a disappointment, relative to the October 2009 expectation, not the August 2009 expectation. In as much as that is the case, a win would not salvage the season, under his operating thesis.

Wendyk5 has it right, a win solves a huge number of problems, it makes the season better than it is right now, and it is a nice cap to what many of us hoped for before the season starts, but it does not salvage the season relative to what things looked like after a 4-0 start. It salvages a season but it doesn't mean you would want to take this boat out sailing again without major repairs.

I guess it's a good thing he isn't our coach.

[/stupid sports cliche mentality]

If we hadn't won a game all year and beat the Bucks the year wouldn't be lost. The rivalry runs deeper than is portrayed by Rittenberg. I would be happy with "mediocre" seasons if Rich could beat OSU with regularity. After the last decade I will never take The Game for granted ever.

Beating OSU on Saturday will not make this season a success. It will just make it less of a failure.

A win this Saturday will allow me to wake up on Sunday hungover as hell and say..."FUCK YES THE SEASON ISN'T OVER AND WE BEAT THOSE PIECES OF SHIT"...Where as if they lose..."FUCK, SHIT, FUCK THERE ACTUALLY WONT BE ANYMORE MICHIGAN FOOTBALL UNTIL NEXT SEPTEMBER, THIS FUCKING BLOWS!!! SHIT, FUCK, ASS FUCK!!! I think a win does salvage this season.

Remember how everyone felt after that epic win against ND this year? All the panic and accusations went away like they were never there, all because of one game. So he's trying to say that won't happen with a win in THE GAME? For a sports columnist he's not very good at observing sports, is he?

after you read the first line there is no need to go any further.

I haven't been the most forgiving of Rich Rod on the site...but anyone with one eye and half a conception of football knows that a win this weekend would be so huge, it would cure a multitude of ills and set momentum completely in the other direction.