Why did the Utah loss turn the world upside down?

Because cronyism has no place in Michigan Football. Hoke out Brandon out clean house.

of the ND and Utah games. Utah proved the ND game was no fluke. No offensive TD in 2 games. This is year 4 and we are no closer to a B1G championship than in RR year 2.

People need something to complain about.  The Utah game was crap and the coaches deserve all the blame they've received, but once the tide of Michigan fandom gets going it is hard to change the direction.  People wanted Hoke out after the last couple of years and dream of some white knight rushing in and saving the day, so any reason to move that process along quickly gets everyone up and going.

You know, sometimes I think the Civ (video game) series actually has it right. You manage the population's happiness levels, and they can sit negative for a while, then suddenly cities are revolting and half the world forms an alliance against you.

I think you present an interesting question that made me think for a second until I remembered many of the things already posted. For me, it's the consistent regression. We've gotten worse every year overall while improving defensively and bringing in talented players. At some point, we have to face the fact that Hoke can't build and coach a team capable of beating a quality opponent.

I'll admit that I wanted Rodriguez* to stay mainly because I felt like I was seeing improvement and that we'd get there, but some of those defensive performances down the stretch became a tough pill to swallow and was OK to see him go. I don't even have that bitter optimism anymore with Hoke. I don't see the dawn on the horizon because it just keeps getting darker.

EDIT: Not trying to start a RichRod should we/shouldn't we have convo. I don't care at this point. Simply using our most recent debacle as a point of reference as to why our current situation has sent me over the line.

It was a loss at home to a very meh Pac-12 team. One that we should have been able to take care of at home, where Hoke's teams are traditionally very good. It wasn't just that we lost. We looked completely outclassed, at least on the offensive side of the ball. It'd be one thing if Oregon, Stanford or UCLA came in and did that to us. This was Utah.

Not to mention that this was the second time this season that we've played a power-5 opponent, and they've completely shut us out of the red zone. That says a LOT about your team.

I think the Utah game really just laid all the cards out on the table. Notre Dame was at least away, and they've looked really good to start the season. The Utah game you can look at and definitively say we've hit a really bad rough patch. Utah is not that good, and they beat us convincingly. That's why our world is upside down right now.

Club Golf has turned on the Athletic Department:

 

http://collegespun.com/big-ten/michigan-big-ten/michigans-club-golf-tea…

 

I can understand how the Utah game was a deal breaker for many. It was a poorly played game exacerbated by the lightning delay and the QB substitution. But most were just waiting for a more glorified moment when they could go all out and yell at Hoke with as much support as they were hoping for.

I have been a Hoke supporter and my patience is wearing a bit thin, but I really don't understand the pitchfork/pile-on mentality. It's like our fan base wants to show the sports world how much we're struggling so that we get the attention we've been missing. It's an extremely childish mentality and I think it's hurting our program even more so than the losing.

I think what probably needs to happen, and likely will, is that we'll wait til the end of the season. If we continue on anywhere near a similar trajectory, Hoke will be let go and we'll bring in another moderately qualified candidate who's just as likely to be a bust as a success.

I agree with Cold War.  The fanbase is flipping out a little too much over this game.  Utah is not a bad team - its not really a shameful loss.  Yes, it was ugly and Michigan played like shit but that can be turned around.  

I'm a little shocked at how M fans are so quickly calling for a coaching change.  That is not going to change anything, it will only bring more upheaval.  At the beginning of the season - was anyone saying Hoke should be fired if he had a mediocre season?  The seat wasn't that hot to begin with but it shouldn't be this hot already.  The team has time to turn it around - Big Ten play hasn't even started yet.  

Let's all put down the torches and pitchforks for now....

We lost to UTAH @ THE BIG HOUSE!!!! This was the last straw and its a foretelling of the things to come this season and another sign of regression from this team. Prepare yourself for an 8 loss season.

There were highly unreasonable expectations for this team across the board, and now people are realizing that for the first time. That is what happened. This was a 7-6 team that was embarrassed in a bowl game showing that lacked effort or emotion, in which our coaching staff was horribly out coached. This is a team whose OL was terrible last year, with two NFL lineman in the starting lineup that graduated. Even for those who thought just changing the calendar year and adding a shiny new O Coord could fix the problems, they ignored the fact that in the Spring Game the O was horrendous from all accounts. We are fans, so blue and maize glasses abound, but I did not see why there were such optimistic opinions about the team coming in, and don't see how Hoke and Co. could have tempered expectations without hurting the psyche of this fragile team.

What I hope to see is Michigan win the conference, but even if that was to happen there will still be a ton of people bitching about Hoke. I hope he is still around next year. Sure I wish he would change some things like punting.

Because we are not even in the game. Our defense plays decent but our offense is a train wreck. I just want to see our coach demand more from the team. He's talked about the team playing consistent for two years, when does that start happening? Someone has to be accountable for getting this team to play. I thought we'd have a chip on our shoulder this year, instead were walking into a Big10 beat down.

When Scouts are going on ESPN RADIO and saying our team is full of players that are not being developed, that is a big F***ING problem. A problem that we should not be hearing of in year 4 of this failed experiment.

This was written by a spartan (obviously), but I can't deny any of it. It is extremely painful to think about what has happened since that day. The beauty of it all? Their mirage was shattered by none other than MSU Football. Last year on November 2nd they came into Spartan Stadium 6-1 and coming off a bye week after shattering every single game school offensive record in their previous game vs IU. Michigan was back baby. We put a beating on them that day so physically severe that they have been destroyed. Let's recap Michigan Football since that game. -Da"shawn Hand, a Michigan lock picks Bama. -Excrutiating close losses to Nebraska, Iowa, and Ohio State. -A blowout loss to K State in the bowl game where they looked beyond horrible and their players were laughing and joking on the sideline and Taylor Lewan was acting like a jackass on national TV. -The Brendan Gibbons case finally makes national news and it's a full blown scandal, Hoke likely played Gibbons when he knew he was in the process of being expelled. -Talyor Lewan assault charges. -Malik McDowell, a Michigan Lock commits to MSU. -Graham Glasgow gets caught drunk driving with a wasted girl hanging out of his truck. -Fireworks get shot down. -C'Sonte York shows he's a Michigan Man. -31-0 embarrassment to ND on National TV. -Brandon's brilliant remote control helicopter into a stadium idea gets shot down by the FAA. -Blown out by Utah, no redzone trips, Hoke and Mattison spat. -Mattison crying on TV when interviewed. -2 cokes gets you 2 tickets to UM-MInny. -Hoke and Brandon are now dead men walking. Now we can add Michael Taylor comes out and exposes some more things to the list.

The rain put people in a bad mood.

The way we lost to Notre Dame combined with Utah set many off. I'm hoping that this signifies a reversal of years past. We lost our games now and win the rest...

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, PUNT!!!!

I understand the question to mean why this loss was any different than say the loss at Notre Dame.

Here is why:

1. Utah did not seem to be a great team. Clearly they are a good team (having beaten us handily!) but they are not a team that will challenge Stanford, Oregon, UCLA or USC for the PAC 12 championship. Losing to a great team isn't a problem but losing to a OK team hurts more.

2. The loss occurred despite individual great efforts. Jourdan Lewis ran clear across the long diagonal of the field to save a touch down. Jake Ryan register 10+ tackles. Will Henry intercepted the ball and rumbled into the endzone for a DL pick six. These efforts usually inspire the team to greatness.

3. Self-destruction. Initially the running game seemed to work yet once across midfield the play calling seemed not to continue to try to make Utah defend the run. It started to look like the previous year's offense of trying to hit a long big play pass. This kept putting the OL and Devin Gardner into 2nd and 3rd and very long situations.

4. Perceptions and expectations. The perception was that this team was not great but good. The expectations were that they would not beat the best teams but is "above average". Both were clearly wrong and the truth hurts. This is probably the most painful because the loss to Utah showed that as a team they were not that good. As individual players they are probably superior to Utah but as a unit the coaching and play just isn't there. And fans who endured the past seven years with only one good season really had to face the facts - this team is back to square one. That is why people overreacted even by internet standards.

This weekend's game may decide whethere we plunge into the abyss. Minnesota is clearly a less talented squad but they also clearly buy into Jerry Kill's program. If the Gophers upset Michigan then the team just has given up on the staff and losing out become a legitimate possibility.

Last game before B1G play.   Mid to lower tier Pac12 opponent.  Didn't reach the redzone.  1 game is a fluke (@ND)  2 games is a trend.  If you gave me an over/under 3.5 B1G wins right now I'd take the under.

 

Maybe Hoke should be the special teams coordinator so he can have a direct impact on a phase of the game. 

It was the culmination of a string of disappointments and the most tangible proof yet that this team has not gotten any better over the last two years--maybe even regressed.

Neither was 2008 Toledo.

Neither was 2014 Notre Dame nor 2014 Utah.

There's probably another Top 5 "hits" yet to come on this how-low-can-you-go shit show of a football season.

I just name the next three opponents in my head, and I can somehow visualize some really horrible outcomes that  no longer seem impossible, like losses.

vs. Minnesota

at Rutgers

vs Penn State

Michigan is more talented than all three of these opponents. Yet by now we know how OL consistency issues will crop up and put us behind the stcks, just in time for the H.S. Hero Ball and Weekend Interception Festival that we've been watching in recent games.

Things are circling the drain, and all we can do is suffer through it together.

 

The Utah game showed that Michigan is on the path to what, at the beginning of the season, seemed to be the worst case scenario.  But it may actual be worse than that.  Michigan looks like a team that will struggle to make the Heart of Dallas Bowl, and by that I mean if they improve on several fronts they will make the Heart of Dallas Bowl.  That is difficult to accept, with a talented roster, two outstanding coordinators, and a head coach with three years plus under his belt.  All of this is exacerbated by a series of moves that, at the same time, gouge season ticket holders and make our beloved univeristy look like McMichigan. 

In other words, it's a perfect storm. 

I still say whomever inherits this team next year has the potential to look like a damn genius.

Im going to lump Hoke's #2 and #3 into some combination of this year's ND game asa whole, the last minute of the miami first half, and this past Saturday. I dont recall one minute of football losing me as much as that end of half debacle against miami. Delay of game coming out of a TO just extinguished the very last piece of hope I had that Hoke could be our guy.

It's in conjuction with the ND game.  If we were 3-1 having beaten ND, this game would be viewed as an aberration or a simply a bad game against a surprisingly decent opponent.  The outlook on the season would be drastically different.

 

 

There is one thing and one thing alone that can singlehandedly change the narrative.

Win these next two games and above all beat MSU. If we win that game that is Hoke's turning point. The thing that will get us all to believe.

Barring that unlikely outcome it's just a lot of unfounded, frustating hope.

this encapsulates everything wrong with the program right now. even their shoes won't execute.

 

It's not that they lost to Utah. It's HOW they lost. Same thing with Notre Dame. Take away the punt return TD, and take away Henry's romp into the end zone (if you take away one, you have to take away the other) and we have been outscored in our two non-body bag games by a total of 50-3, with 0 red zone trips. 

It would be different if we had lost either game by dramatic fashion, such as a 31-30 loss where the kicker hits a 58 yarder as time expired. That, obviously, is not what happened here. Against quality competition, we've shown the college football our ass for about 8 quarters now. And there's no signs of getting better. 

Mix this with the 27-for-27, the losses to Nebraska and Iowa espcially, and the drubbing we received against Kansas State last year, along with the issues we had last year with the OL and the entire offense sputtering this season, and you likely have the witch's brew currently set before us that will likely cost Hoke and maybe Brandon their jobs. 

We scored less points against Utah than Idaho State man. Let that sink in your brain.