Slate piece analyzes The Horror II [ED:BiSB]

Submitted by Gopherine on

[ED:BiSB - The OP was not... good... but the article is worth a read. It discusses the financial trends of college football and the market forces that lead teams to make unpopular and/or dumb-ass scheduling decisions. MGoBlog is cited, as is John U. Bacon]

 

"You’d think that Michigan would want to eradicate every reminder that this game ever happened. Instead, at noon this Saturday on ESPN2, the Wolverines will give the world an occasion to remember that day of epic shame. Per a scheduling decision made by their athletic director, Dave Brandon, three years ago—which is to say, a decision made voluntarily rather than as a contractual obligation related to the original 2007 game—Michigan will once again open its season against the Appalachian State Mountaineers."

http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2014/08/michigan_appala…

Everyone Murders

August 26th, 2014 at 6:47 PM ^

If this sort of thing is going to jar or otherwise upset you, you might want to disconnect from TV and the internet this week.  Because there's going to be a busload of it wherever you look in the sports world.

On the plus side, they spelled Michigan's name correctly.

Wolverine Devotee

August 26th, 2014 at 6:48 PM ^

Might as well get over it. We're historically tied to them forever. 

A loss to Akron last year would've been 1000x worse because Akron was AWFUL. That team Michigan played in 2007 was a good team. 

bigbrother

August 26th, 2014 at 8:32 PM ^

Yes we are historically tied to Appalachian State. UM has a football legend for better and for worse and our record against the Mountaineers is part of the worse. Incidentally this also makes the loss to Toledo more regrettable - you already lost the upset of the century, don't lose to the bad MAC team.

If Dave Brandon really has balls he will schedule the rubber match in Boone.

UMfan21

August 26th, 2014 at 6:49 PM ^

So tired of the whiny, emo, dramatic fanbase regarding this matchup.



The horror occurred seven years ago now. To everyone outside our fanbase it's nearly forgotten. It is basically nothing but a sports trivia fact.



The only people who have not gotten over it seven years later are our own fans that self-wallow in pessimism.



Time to move on folks. I mean that about the Freep crap too. It's been long enough. Let's start enjoying Michigan football again.



True Blue Grit

August 26th, 2014 at 6:59 PM ^

Dwelling on the past and continually expecting and hoping the "glory days" results to continue is a prescription for unhappiness.   I've been a big fan of U-M football since the mid-70's and although the last 6 years have been very unfulfilling for the most part, it's far better to focus on the bright future.

saveferris

August 27th, 2014 at 7:28 AM ^

The only people who still really care about this game are the haters who like to rub our nose in it, our own fanbase who still want to whine about it, and media-talking heads who like to play the first two off each to generate buzz from it.

Disagree wholeheartedly on your final point regarding the Freep.  I'll never forgive that 2nd rate rag for their hatchet job against my beloved alma mater.  The day I'm able to piss on the smoldering ruins of that periodical will be a happy day.

Quail2theVict0r

August 26th, 2014 at 6:52 PM ^

I don't care who the opponent is at this point. Less than a week from now I will be sitting in Michigan Stadium watching Michigan play. Football, even losses, is better than no football.

pearlw

August 26th, 2014 at 6:59 PM ^

I agree that there isnt much upside..but look at the alternative when ESPN and App St approached UM about another game. He could have said No and then there would have been 100 articles about how Michigan was too chicken to play App St a second time. That alternative. doesnt sound so great also. In conclusion, the game is happening and stop your complaining and let's worry about the 2014 game not the 2007 one.

mgobleu

August 26th, 2014 at 7:12 PM ^

complaining; I was just pointing out that the writer basically called it a total dumbass move without actually saying it. I'm with most of you; I didn't like the idea in the first place but it is what it is now. Let's stomp 'em and take their gold and women.

grumbler

August 27th, 2014 at 1:49 PM ^

You actually READ a piece from Slate?  Wow.  You are more self-loathing than the usual self-loathing fan.

EDIT:

Okay, I retract my statement, since BiSB says it is worth reading.  I read it.  I think BiSB is wrong; it's not an article that tells us anything we didn't already know, other than telling us (falsely) that Colorado didn't play at Michigan in 1997.  Michigan fans who have a chance to write for something better than Slate should probably not just make up the facts they want to use.  In writing for Slate, I think a healthy imagination is no hindrance.

LSAClassOf2000

August 26th, 2014 at 8:04 PM ^

This will probably coincide more or less with the O/U on thread deletions as we're quickly getting to a point where the grumbling about why and how this game came to be should realistically be usurped by our need to, at the very least, win the game. Now that we are within about four days of the game, there is indeed little use in reliving the past. 

charblue.

August 26th, 2014 at 7:50 PM ^

I'm sure no one on this site can claim, I can tell two things about this team, one, when Michigan first played it, it was a dynamic team with huge confidence and success and it ran the spread which Michigan historically sucked at defending. And this was apparent long before this matchup when Michigan gave up 50 points in a game to Northwestern and lost even when it should have won despite that historically ridiculous number because it fumbled the ball away.

So, guess what,. Michigan lost with Henson and A-Train and a vast superior team to Northwestern and then it lost years later to an accomplished spread team in App State which won a pair of national championships in three tries going into the game. In Charlotte back then, people didn't think that this was such a mismatch, that it was a game Michigan shoud win, no doubt, but that App State could compete. 

So, if you want to think that sucked, then remember what Oregon did to Michigan the following week using essentially the same formula in a premonition of what Oregon is now, and Michigan fans were all aghast. And then, on the final day of his career, Lloyd Carr used a modified spread gameplan to beat Florida and Urban Meyer, speeding up their offensive tempo, and challenging their defense,which only a year prior had throttled Ohio State under the defensive gameplanning of Greg Mattison and Charlie Strong. 

So, bring on App State in its current form and Michigan lite or however you want to perceive the Wolverines. Things will be different Saturday than they were when these two teams first met. And the outcome will be stikingly different, I guarantee it. 

 

 

Tater

August 26th, 2014 at 7:58 PM ^

My opinion on DB is well-documented here, but I am glad he scheduled this game.  Does anyone really want Appy State to say that they are undefeated against the University of Michigan?  I sure don't.  The taint of The Horror will never go away, but evening up the score against ASU will work just fine.  

I am hoping for Michigan 72, ASU 0.

grumbler

August 27th, 2014 at 12:28 PM ^

Michigan right now has the same record afainst ASU (NTASU) as it does against ASU (YTASU), BYU, Chicago A.A., Chicago AC, Cleveland AC, Kansas State, Mississippi State, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Toledo, and Wesleyan.  There's nothing special about a team that Michigan has played only once, and lost to.  

If you want to avenge actual meaningful losses, then schedule Army (5-4 against M), Cornell (not really possible, I don't think, but  12-6), North Carolina (2-1), South Carolina (2-1) or Southern Cal (6-4).  You can't get many of them as a one-and-done deal, but you could get Army that way, and maybe North Carolina.  That is, of course, if  "revenge scheduling" is a real thing.  

Lots of folks can say that michigan has never beaten them.  Not many can say that they lead a series against Michigan.  The latter is real, the former is almost meaningless.

ppToilet

August 26th, 2014 at 8:03 PM ^

For it to be the "Horror 2", wouldn't we need to lose?

Personally, I'm in the 'meh' crowd. I had a great view when Kordell Stewart lofted that hail mary pass that beat us. That really stank and is still replayed. I was there when Donovan McNabb made us look ridiculous, much like Oregon did later on. It was a bad loss to Appy State, but I'm much more bothered to losses to OSU and MSU. And don't get me started on Bo's Rose Bowl record...

goblue81

August 26th, 2014 at 8:07 PM ^

I'm torn about this game since as varoius folks have pointed out there really is no "win" situation for Michigan.  However, I do think a little reminder/humility can go a long way.  A lot of us (myself included) get on our high horse and think we have that "mightier than thou" mentality.  Just look at the ND, MSU, & OSU hate/shame/flame bait that goes on here.  

We should swallow our pride this weekend and take care of business.  That's the "win" scenario for Team 135.