Trap Games
Adam Rittenberg at ESPN has a post up about potential trap games for Big Ten teams this year. He makes brief mention of the UM vs Indiana game in Bloomington this year. Revenge will definitely be on their minds. This got me thinking, aside from the obvious one staring everyone in the face at the beginning of the season against UConn, what do you all think could be potential trap games for Michigan this year. Or, because of our horrendous record the previous two years, are there any true trap games for us? Or will UM be considered the trapper rather than the trapped this year?
i wonder if "trap games" are a real thing. do players really look ahead to the following week so much that they lose focus on the present? it'd be hard to study this because you can't assign a value to the players' thoughts. still, my guess is that "trap game" is really an explanation for something that doesn't really require one. sometimes teams lose to lesser opponents. i don't know that assigning the game a name in advance makes a loss any more or less likely.
I believe in trap games and have made a lot of money on trap games. Players do not think to themselves hey this is a trap game or let's prepare less for this game, but if you have played any competitive sports you know that there is a certain adrenaline and a certain focus that manifests in you when the lights are on or you're the underdog or it's your rival. Coaches strive to get everyone to play every down as if it is there last, but when it's Delaware St and not Ohio St you can try all you want, but sometimes you just don't have it in you even though you think you are trying as hard as you can.....I believe Florida is facing Alabama and LSU back to back and then they play Mississippi St. Mississippi St is a classic trap, letdown game.
If one really wanted to study this, couldn't they look at points in the schedule in which a team is playing a "lesser" opponent the week before a "big" opponent?
I'm not saying that anything worthwhile will come of it. I'd imagine that the whole "looking ahead leading to a loss" phenomena would be pretty random and not common enough to yield anything reliable.
I suspect that a team is more likely to come out flat against "lesser" opponents the week after a really big game than the week before, but this is something that could be tested empirically. To me a classic trap game is a road game against a "lesser" opponent the week after a really big home game. The Indiana game isn't a likely trap, because we will be coming off UMass and BG. We have a relatively big game against MSU the following week, but I think the team is more likely to be up for its first real game in 3 weeks.
The closest thing I see to a trap game on our schedule is Illinois at home, coming off Penn State. I still don't think UM will be flat for that game, as it is at home and we will be looking for some payback for the whippings they put on us the last 2 years.
I've always considered a trap game to be the one before a big game. So this year Indiana would qualify because they could be looking ahead one week and not take them seriously enough.
against Penn State. Let's hope we can reclaim our dominance against them with their suspect offense.
...meant we will be the trapper.
All this speculation at this point is pretty silly. For a game to be a trap game it requires one team to be sleeping on another and looking ahead. That requires one team to be very lightly regarded and the other to be very highly regarded.
When we play PSU, the chance that they will be highly regarded is low, IME. The preseason luster will have already been worn away.
Or did I read you wrong and you meant that Michigan would be favored going into PSU and it would be the Wolverines who would be looking past the Nittany Lions, hence Michigan as the "trapee"?
trapper is correct, I had a typo in the OP and it is now fixed.
two years nothing is a trap game to me anymore. I will never take another W for granted again
RR and the players don't either.
UConn and ND may or may not be "trap" games but they sure as hell are must win games IMO. The entire psyche of the team and fan base will be difined for the season after 2 weeks.
Nail on the head. Don't think for one second that Notre Dame doesn't have a target on our backs because of last year too. Two tough games to start the year, both very winnable. How we do in those games will set the tone for the rest of the season.
I just had this exact conversation with a buddy of mine who is a UConn fan. He seems to think that we will "shit all over them" as he put it. I sure hope so.
At least not until after RR's second NC
eh, i prefer night games
I'd say UConn is definitely a trap game, but not for UM. Given the games we've lost at home over the past 2-3 years, and with the "experts" somewhat split on their picks, there's a chance UConn comes in a bit overconfident. They have higher pre-season expectations and, from their perspective, "everybody beats UM in AA these days."
If this season starts going well for us I'll take Wisconsin. Just like in 2007, when a good UM team and a good OSU team are going to face off at the end of the year, the week before could spell a loss for both if they're looking ahead.
Also, I'd like to clarify this by saying I know Wisconsin is going to be good and most people probably consider us underdogs for that game even if we do have a good season. What I mean by picking this as a "trap" game is that I think the game is going to be even tougher to win than the rosters would indicate.
How has no one posted this yet??
The door was wide open for it wasn't it?
I thought about it, but it's just too easy.
What does the Ol' Miss mascot have to do with this?
This whole web site
is a trap game to me. It
brings only anger.
I wonder if there is any way we can add a "No-Haiku" toggle to our posts.
Need to reestablish ourselves as somebody that can be involved in a "big" game before we can actually be in a trap game situation. If Michigan wins their first 4 games, Indiana could be in that category, as the MSU game the week after will be the single most important game in RR's tenure, bar none. If we are 2-2 after our first four games, their will be no trap games, only a prolonged coaching search with RR as a lame duck-sad but true.
I reviewed Rittenberg's list and was really surprised not to see the following three games:
- Minnesota at MTSU
- N'Western at Vanderbilt
- N'Western at Rice
I am pretty confident that at least one of those games will be won by the non-Big 10 team, but it will be considered a "surprise" by the MSM.
Back on point, I have to agree with a previous poster that I really don't think UM has enough juice right now to consider UM enough of a "lock" in any game (save UMass and BG) to call any game a "trap game" for UM next season.
Man, I really miss UM being feared by most teams... (Sad Panda frown)
...defeated Maryland last year. If Minny is sleeping on them, they'll be in big trouble.
Not necessarily a trap game, but hopefully we don't lose to what should be a bad Illinois team. We've gotten killed the last 2 years.
Overconfidence is most certainly a factor and I'm shocked anyone from this fanbase might think that trap games don't exist. Ask 2007 about that.
Anyhow, this season:
Oct 2 @ Indiana - The pistol when played right can be pretty scary, and Indiana came close to scaring a lot of teams last season. This early in the season though, I don't see us getting 'trapped'
Nov 13 @ Purdue - I guess that purdue will have an ugly record by this time, so if we are rolling, this could be a dangerous one.
That being said, with the urgency this team has this season, I don't see us losing many 'trap' games.
its is the absence of confidence. The threads below are not saying that Michigan does not have any trap games because they are too good, but perhaps not good enough. You have to have something to be trapped by in order to play in a trap game, that is the point.
...only "crap" games (UMass, BG).
As we get down through the schedule, if things are going well and we have just beaten and/or played close with MSU, Iowa, and then at Penn State, and if the wheels have come off down in Champaign, the Illinois game could be a trap game. However, after the last two years against the Illini (and Purdue, for that matter) I don't see how we could not be up for that (or any) game. Honestly the only two games I see us not having motivation for are the crap games.
On the other hand, there is a reason that JoePa used to schedule the way he did when he was an independent. He liked to space out his big games (Pitt, ND, and one other) and have average to mediocre teams surrounding them. He did this b/c it is extremely difficult to be that psyched up every week.
This is what makes both the Big Ten and the SEC so difficult, especially for the marquee programs like M, O-state, 'Bama, and Florida. Everyone's coming after you no matter your record and you will face a highly motivated, quality opponent every week.
This was Lloyd's greatest quality: psychology. He was excellent at getting the players focused. However, even he had difficulty sometimes, and that's b/c of human nature, as heretofore described.
This I can guarantee: at one or two points during the season, we will not be psyched up enough and play flat. The hope is that we can still win those games. This team probably isn't good enough to do that yet, but old M teams were and next year's team will be, too.
Michigan isn't good enough to have "trap" games this year.