Some People

This message was sent to me over YouTube by this idiot:  http://www.youtube.com/user/Poole1Dan

Look at the success Miles, Coker, Petersen, Beilima, Erickson, etc had in their first season's. Michigan will go winless in 2009, and then fire Dick Fraudriguez. Yeah, that's right. WINLESS in 2009. Michigan returns all 11 starters on offense, but considering our offense sucks anyways, returning all 11 starters really doesn't mean shit. Then on defense, we only return 5 of 11 starters, and we lose 3 of 4 on the defensive line, and in the special teams, we don't have any good KR's or PR's, and Lopata graduates. Mesko might want to try out at kicker. our incoming freshmen class is stacked with little twigs like Bryce McNeal and Jeremy Gallon. i highly doubt our freshmen QB's can make an immediate impact. Hell, for all I know, they might decommit 

Now, lets look at Michigan's schedule, which isn't quite set in stone. We know who Michigan's 8 Big Ten games are against, and we know they play Notre Dame and probably an MAC team at home. the other two games? Beats me. 

Notre Dame: Golden Tate and Robert Hughes will have their way again, and with only one starter back on the d-line, ND''s o-line will dominate us again. ND wins it 28-10. 

Indiana: its Kellen Lewis's senior year. he will lead the Hoosiers to their first win over Michigan since 1987. Indy wins it 23-21 

at Michigan State: the Spartans will be rebuilding in 2009, but they'll still eke out a win over LITTLE brother. 17-14 MSU 

at Iowa: they are young this season, but with Shawn Green and everybody back next season, Iowa will be dangerous. Hawkeyes blow us out 31-7 

Penn State: 47-11 PSU. Nough said 

at Illinois: oh great. the senior year of Juice Williams at Champagne. Illini win this in a 49-21 blowout 

Purdue: hmm......I'll give Purdue the win in overtime simply because at this point Michigan's physche will be shattered 

at Wisconsin: Wisky has won two straight against us in Camp Randall. make it 3 in a row with a crushing blowout of 35-0 

Ohio State: 44-0 buckeyes. Nough said. 

Whatever. Its depressing to be a Michigan fan right now, but I'll root for them even if they go 0-12 every year. 


This is Michigan. We are the NUMBER 1 college football program of all time. To borrow a line from the Oakland Raiders, we have a "commitment to excellence." I root for the raiders, and let me tell you, Oakland has lost that commitment over the last 5 years, even though Al Davis is doing everything he can to make the Raiders a good ballclub. But his players and his ballclub don't have that commitment. on the other hand, you look at the New York Yankees, another team I root for, and everybody in that organization has a commitment to excellence (even A-Rod). Its this commitment to excellence on all levels that allowed the Yankees to go 89-73 in spite of an injury ravaged season. Yeah, they didn't make the playoffs, but they were determined to win everygame. they had the talent, and they had the coaching. They could have caved in like the Detroit Tigers did and gone 72-90, but they kept on pushing, and that's why they had yet another winning season inspite of all the injuries and adversity 

My point is this: patience ISN'T ALLOWED at a team that has a commitment to excellence. there are no off years. there's no such thing as taking a step back to take a step forward. Its WIN NOW all the time. Teams like the Yankees and Detroit Red Wings have this mentality at all levels of the team. Michigan once did, even under Lloyd Carr. They didn't take 2001 off after losing Henson, the A-Train, Terrell, and the entire offensive line. They didn't take 2004 off after losing Navarre, Heisman finalist Perry, two key o-linemen, and several stars on defense (Jeremy Lesuer, Carl Diggs, Larry Stevens, Norman Heuer, Grant Bowman). So guess what my friend: 2008 is NO EXCEPTION!!!!! this is Michigan! We have a commitment to excellence! We have a win now mentality! And now you're telling me that because a foreign coach with a foreign offense is in town, and cause he;'s throwing shitty true freshmen on the field, that I (or any other Michigan fan), should be "patient"? NO FUCKING WAY man!!! 

Michigan is stacked with talent EVERY SEASON. And based on his track record, we THOUGHT RR would be the coach to max out the potential of the tremendous talent we have. I can't speak for my fellow Michigan fans who called a multi-win season, but I was wrong about DickRod. You can blame a shallow talent pool for RR's failures in season one at West Virginia. But this is Michigan. If Tressell had Michigan's roster, he probably would have won another NC or two at Ohio State. Michigan has consistently outrecruited Ohio State, and yet, its the Buckeyes who have 3 straight Big ten titles and 2 straight outright conference titles. And as for the new system, its called 'adapting to your team." Why can't Michigan run the spread offense they ran in the Capital One Bowl? That's the type of spread offense that fits Michigan personnel! Keep in mind, the spread is like the prostyle: there's a million different versions of it. The spread option is just one version. But Michigan doesn't have the athletes to run RR's spread. So that means RR should ADJUST. But instead, he shoves the spread option down Michigan's throats, and the results have been disastrous. Hell, even when RR DOES get "his athletes," Michigan's offense won't be any good. I told you: stick thin twigs don't succeed unless they are uber-talented. Gallon, McNeal, T-Robinson, Roundtree, Odoms, etc, are all nice athletes, but they are too fucking small t be gamebreakers at the college level! (more on that latter). In the meantime, let me say that I like the spread just as long as its the right type of spread, and the spread option is the wrong type. RR should go with what works, not to mention what fits his personnel. he has FAILED to do both. The Capital One Bowl offense works (534 yards, 41 points). But RR doesn't use it. And the Capital One Bowl offense fits Michigan's personnel. But RR doesn't use it. RR is the culprit for Michigan's shitty offense, and that's the bottom line. 

first year head coaches have immediate success ALL THE TIME. So therefore, i have no patience with RR. But on the other hand, the only freshmen QB I know of who had immediate success was Chad Henne. Even Vince Young looked like the worst passer on the planet in his freshmen season of 2003. There were calls by Texas fans to move Young to TB or WR. But as Young gained experience, he became a gamebreaker (and a legend). I have patience with Threet because he is a redshirt freshmen. Threet is extremely talented, and when he gains experience, he will be an All Big Ten performer. he will not bow down to Forcier and Beaver. When he transferred to Michigan he said to his highschool coach "I'm going to beat out Mallet for that starting job." Threets competitiveness is second to none. And don't even question his raw talent. The guy has got a gifted right arm. With experience, he will have a deadly accurate right arm as well. he's already shown flashes of his stunning accuracy. remember that Td pass to Mathews against ND that was called back? Or that TD pass to Mathews in the last game that WASN'T called back? Yeah, Threet is missing alot of throws, but that's to be expected of a freshmen. With experience, he will be making those throws consistently, and his completion percentage will be in the mid to high 60's. You watch. 

if you think Threet is just going to bend over and give the job to Forcier or Beaver, you are dead wrong. He will fight until DickRod declares a winner, and even then, Threet will still be fighting. Threet is a warrior, and a very talented warrior at that. Plus, Threet will have the huge advantage of having a whole season of experience under his belt. 

DickRod isn't throwing those true freshmen on the field out of necessity. He's throwing them onto the field because he WANTS to! Because he's shoving this disgusting offense down Michigan's throats!! odoms is starting in the slot when it should be Toney Clemons. Stonum is starting at outside receiver when it should be Junior Hemingway. And even now that Hemingway is hurt, Clemons should be starting on the outside and James Rogers should be starting in the slot!!!! Sam McGuffie (who will be GREAT one day, but isn't ready to be the starter YET) and Michael Shaw are the featured TB's when Carlos Brown, Brandon Minor, and even Kevin Grady should be the featured TB's. But in stead, DickRod is not only throwing less experienced players on the field, but he's throwing less TALENTED players on the field! (McGuffie at tailback being the lone exception). This is a disgrace, and the fact that you and many other delusional Michigan fans are apologizing for DickRod destroying this program makes me want to puke 

Our defense is total shit. But what makes you think Shafers players will be any better? Have you seen the profiles of the defensive recruits for the class of 2009? They make Mike Hart look like Jerome Bettis!!!!! I'm trying to tell you dude: you need SIZE-on offense AND defense-to win football games. You can't have size AT THE EXPENSE of speed and athleticism, but vice versa, you can't have speed and athleticism at the expense of size!! And the later is what you and DickRod's minions advocate. I've been hearing all this great stuff about how d-lineman like Terrance Taylor and Brandon Graham have lost weight. Well, that's great, cause they have more stamina. But now they are too small to take on big, beefy lineman like Notre Dame and Wisconsin! And if decreased weight=more athleticism, where the fuck was that athleticism against Illinois offensive line, which is proportionally even in size to Michigan's defensive line? Michigan's d-line should have dominated Illinois o-line, and yet, we got zero sacks and rarely even got pressure on Juice Williams. We also got zero sacks against ND, a team that gave up 58 a year ago. Last season we sacked ND 9 times and held Juice Williams to 7 carries for 17 yards. Apparently losing all that weight wasn't such a good thing afterall. Michigan's defensive line is now TOO SMALL!!!!!! And don't even mention Brandon Graham. Take away the last two minutes of the Wisconsin game and Graham hasn't been worth a shit. Graham is a 5 star bust, as is most of the Michigan defense. 


there's no doubt that Stevie Brown and Brandon Harrison are trash, as are Morgan Trent and Donovan Warren. our secondary is HORRIBLE. I don't think the problem is speed, or instinct. I think that these guys in the secondary are probably thinking too much, cause there's no doubt they are talented, but its obvious they are slow on their feet. That's a result of poor coaching by Shafer and the defensive staff. There's no excuse for thinking instead of letting your instincts take over. That's a mentality that you've GOT to instill in your players, and Shafer has clearly failed to instill that mentality into Michigan's defense, especially the secondary. 

Threet has been a solid QB for the most part. the few mistakes are to be expected. Threet is not the reason why Michigan is 2-4 and is heading for a 2-10 season....he's not even close to being the main reason. What are you going to say next season when Forcier and Beaver are going through growing pains as well? are you going to rag on them for being bad passers who can't run the offense? If the spread option was all about the QB running, Michigan would just stick Sam McGuffie back there and be done with it. But in any offense, a QB must have the ability to pass and pass well, and the FACT is, freshmen QB's going through growing pains (often painful growing pains) as freshmen! And that's whether they are good runners or not!!!! I implore you: get of Threets ass and cut him some slack. He's not the problem. DickRod and his staff are the problem 

"And this spread offense that RR runs isn't shitty" 

Right it isn't shitty. Being ranked 110th in the nation in total offense isn't shitty. being ranked 93rd in scoring offense isn't shitty. being ranked last in the Big Ten in total offense, scoring, and running offense isn't shitty. Hell, even in his "amazing" three year stretch at WVU (2005-2007), this offense only finished 50th in the nation total yards. And they never finished higher then 30th in 2006 or 2007. So much for a great offense. This spread option is one dimensional, and it only scored 40 points a game cause WVU was playing shitty competition. The Big ten is a mediocre conference, but is much better then the Big East, and here in the Big Ten, Northwestern ran the spread option from 2000-2005 (with the same talent pool as WVU) and they only won about 5 games a year. The RIGHT kind of spread offense with TALENTED players wins you lots of football games. Just look at the hybrid spread offenses that Ohio State ran in 2005 and 2006 and that penn state ran in 2005 and is running this season. I'm not against the spread offense if its the RIGHT kind of spread. But this spread OPTION offense is just total garbage. The facts speak for themselves. Here's an excerpt from a message a buckeyes fan sent me. I originally ignored the message, but now I've realized, this guy was absolutely right: 

Defenses have begun to solve the spread option; especially a run heavy system (just like RR's) 

Really quite simple. Play a cover 1 - 1 safety covering deep ( should anybody miss a tackle), and man on the WR's. So that's 1 FS and 3 CB's. Make sure they play tight, option teams like to throw tons of screens. 

Run your traditional 4-3 or better yet, and 3-4. 

Blitz your weakside LB all the time or alternate between the weak and strong side. Sometimes both depending on the offensive formation. Then just drop your MLB right into coverage or the middle of the field should their be a slant or QB draw. 

Option QB's trust their running first and mostly have happy feet.. - WVU's opposition know that white can't deliver by stepping up into the pocket. And your going to see them exploit this more and more. 

Colorado and ECU did just this, except they didnt have to blitz because they're 4 man front applied plenty of pressure. 


This is the downfall of this system, either sacrifice the health of your 3 primary offensive weapons (QB, RB & FB) or attempt to turn your trigger man into something he's not ( a passing threat) 

And don't tell me to "stop blaming the coaches." Coaching is everything!!!!! History proves this. Very rarely does talent trump good coaching. 

Any so called "down year stretch" will be completely self-inflicted. Michigan is IMMUNE to down stretches. 

I don't give 2 shits about finishing in the top 5 a decade from now. I care about finishing in the top 5 and winning big RIGHT NOW. 

Bill Callahan's transition is a copy of RR's transition. Let me break it down for you: Callahan was a previously successful coach, just like RR. His comes in with an "innovative" offense, just like RR. he shoves it down Nebraska throats, just like RR. The results are disastrous, just like RR (Nebraska's 35 year Bowl streak comes to end in Callahan's first season in 2004). Callahan asks for time, just like RR. Callahan says he needs "his players," just like RR. Callahan gets his players, but STILL the results are disastrous, just like.......well, that part is yet to come for RR. But it will come. You watch. So you see? RR is Michigan's Bill Callahan, and that makes me nauseous! 



Terrance Robinson=5'9, 170 
Michael Shaw=6'0, 185 
Martavious Odoms=5'9, 164 
Roy Roundtree=6'0, 154 
Ricky Barnum (the star offensive lineman of the class of 2008; the guy DickRod stole from Florida)=6'2, 246 
Teric Jones=5'8, 186 
Vincent Smith=5'6, 159 
Dewayne Peace=6'0, 177 
Michael Shofield (the star o-lineman in the class of 2009)=6'6, 272 
Anthony LeLota=(a 4 star defensive end)=6'6, 260 
Craig Roh ( also 4 star defensive end)=6'5, 230 
DeQuinta Jones (a 4 star defensive tackle)=6'2, 265 
Brandin Hawthorne (a supposed "linebacker")=6'0, 181 
Jeremy Gallon=5'8, 165 

And these guys are supposed to be "football players?" What, did RR just decide to recruit a bunch of malnourished kids from Africa? This is pathetic! These little guys won't be remotely close to being effective playmakers on offense or defense!!!!! This is a fact of football: you need brawn if you expect to win lots of games. Unless these guys run 2.90 forty yard dashes (which they don't), its not worth sacrificing all this brawn for an increase in speed!! Give me a Chris Perry, Anthony Thomas, David Terrell, Braylon Edwards, and Jason Avant over any of these skeletons!!! The only way you can succeed when you are tiny is if you are a talent from Mars. Percy Harvin, Noel devine, and Sam McGuffie are all uber-talents. But the fact is, the FAR MAJORITY of these small sticks are NOT uber-talented!!!! They do NOT make for gamebreakers at the college level!!! At my highschool, we had this starting QB named Jake Goodin. he started on the varsity team for three years (2003, 2004, and 2005). And let me tell you, Jake was an AMAZING athlete. I wish someone from the MHS football program would put up a highlight video of him on youtube, cause his moves in the open field were sick. If you look at how he performed on the field, you would have though major colleges like Michigan and Ohio State would be all over him. But they weren't. why? Well, for one thing, his 40 yard dash (4.61) wasn't the best, but his agility more then makes up for his lack of top line speed. So whats gives? Heres' what: Jake was only 5'11, 175. On the other hand, we had this slot receiver/tailback named Mike Petrucci who also started on the varsity team for three years (2004, 2005, 2006). Petrucci was a good athlete, but he wasn't HALF the athlete that Goodin was. Goodin was our Vince Young, where as Petrucci was our Laurence Maroney. Goodin had better speed then Petrucci (4.61 vs. 4.85). And yet, Petrucci got a fullride scholarship to play at Central Michigan, whereas Goodin only got a fullride scholarship from Division 2 Saginaw Valley state. Petrucci was 6'2, 215. So you see: size matters in football, and bigger players MOST OF THE TIME are better players. RR is bringing in really small players all over the team, and that will bite Michigan in the ass BADLY. ):):):): 

I only have patience if its logical for me to have patience. Its logical for me to have patience with a freshmen QB. Its logical for me to have patience when a great head coach (John Beilin) is trying to revive a moribund program (Michigan basketball). Its logical for me to have patience with a team that's sucked for the better of 5 seasons but is always looking to get better (my Oakland Raiders). And its logical for me to have patience when everybody is injured (as was the case with the 2008 New York Yankees). But there is NO LOGICAL reason for me to have patience with DickRod and his staff. NONE. 

"we aren't goin to be that national championship team till most likely the year of 2010" 

Fuck 2010. This is 2008. And besides, we will be shit in 2010 as well. 




Okay, thats the end of the message. Now, here's how i see the rest of the 2008 season going: 


at Penn State: 55-0 Nittney Lions (I think Michigan should forfeit this game. Penn State looks like an NC contendor right now) 


Michigan State: 45-3 Spartans (Dantonio is out for revenge, and Dell and Cunningham will probably have a field day on our secondary. Not to mention MSU has a knack for causing turnovers) 


at Purdue: 42-14 Boilmakers (once again, Purdue is overrated, but their offense is no fluke) 


at Minnesota: 58-21 Golden Gophers (Weber and that spread offesne will find their ways against Michigans overrated defense) 


Northwestern: 45-10 Wildcats (the wildcats are my sleeper team in the big ten, and with a 5-0 start, they are vindicating me faith in them. I'll bet you C.J bacher is going to look like Peyton Manning out there against us) 


at Ohio State: 66-0 Buckeyes (Tressell goes for two late in the game to solidify Ohio States OWNAGE of Michigan) 

Michigan will finish 2-10. The 27-25 win over Wisconsin was the last win of the Dick Fraudriguez era