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And . . . there is still the hope for Tears of Unfathomable Sadness.  If Ohio State loses yet another NC, they'll have to walk around with their tail between their legs for another decade.

They don't crow as much about beating us in the "#1 vs. #2 game" in 2006 as you would expect.  Because all you need to mention is that they got crushed in the NC.  The #1 was a myth and they know it.

The interesting thing is that while "jerk" is subjective, everyone believes these guys were jerks.  When your Jerkism crosses all cultures and timezones, it's time to go.

Whenever somebody is a "lock" but they don't actually committ for months after their other "lock" peers do . . . well they probably ain't coming. 

Our garbage time offense was the only offense we had all game.  Maybe we should have just done that the whole game. 

We've become too dependent on Stauskas' threes.  Everyone else was afraid to take one when he was shut down.

Wait until OSU plays in the NC and MSU plays in the Rose Bowl.

FML.

You sound surprised.

Same number of crashes, but now they're vertical.

Not much respect shown to Michigan or to Ace.  Just going through the motions:

In your opinion, what's the matchup that you think most favors Duke over Michigan, and vice versa?

Parker and Hood are a load. Cook can be brilliant. I'm honestly not familiar enough with Michigan this year to comment there.

And the players don't have to play school either.

They are an SEC-ethics team in the Big Ten.  The last thing I want to see is them rewarded for that.

Beat Duke . . . in football?  Not sure we can.

In basketball, no problem.

Refuses to play?  How do you do that?

This^.  You know all those NFL stadiums that have jail cells in them to process drunk/violent/destructive fans?  In Columbus all those fans don't have an NFL team to root for.  So they all become Buckeye fans.

Trajectory does matter.  We looked like there was actual improvement.  First time all year. 

I still wonder if it is Hoke forcing the stagnant Offense and not Borges.  

You can't tell me they put in all those plays we saw this week.  It's like they had them practiced and ready to go all year long, but hoke would not let them run them because it went against his "philosophy". 

When Hoke and Borges don't get caught up in their own Dogma and just try to win the F'ing game with the weapons they have, they do all right.

It took an undefeated Ohio State game to get their attention, but maybe they can keep focused.

And the crowd was into it.  We did not win, but we made a great showing.  Great envrionment  

Goodbye, thread.

It was NOT a sea of red, FTR.

Yes there are some fair weather fans.  There is a whole bunch more loyal fans who showed up and cheered their hearts out.  They made it tough on Ohio State.  They deserve full credit. 

Scored too soon.

Let him in.  Save time on the clock.

GO FOR IT!!!

Play to F-ing win.

At least we got past the 50 in the second half.

Whoo Hoo!! Victory!

Seconded.  We need everybody.

That's the difference maker right there.  If we come out and get a score, it sends the message that it's going to be a full game.  This is not last year.

2008 Capital One Bowl-esque 1st quarter.

Who are those guys?

We're undefeated when Fitz scores a TD.

Just saying.

I don't do coronations.

Don't get conservative here.

Desmond making his case strongly to remove Borges . . . indirectly by talking about Mushcamp's staff.  All the other talking heads are saying stay the course with Mushcamp and his staff.  

Except Desmond:  "The players are a reflection of the coaches".  I think it's pretty clear where Desmond stands with Borges.  And he's not exactly a radical outsider amongst the Michigan inner circle.

+1

If nothing else, go to show your support for Taylor Lewan.  

He stuck by us when he had better things to do, now stick by him even if you have something better to do.

Plus, a less than 14 point loss by a dreadful Michigan team to Ohio State pretty much knocks OSU out of the NC picture unless FSU loses.  They may even get jumped by a 1 loss SEC team if they also struggle to beat MSU.

Since we can't ruin your season by beating you, we've figured out a way to do it by losing.  That's progress I guess.

This is good news and bad news.

The bad news:  Hoke is Brandon's guy and there is no way Brandon is ever going to admit a mistake on Hoke unless he starts having losing seasons.

The good news:  Brandon cares about the bottom line a whole bunch.  A bunch of 8-4 seasons won't bring in the attendence to finance Dave's big spending plans.  So Brandon will help his guy Hoke be successful by "suggesting" changes to the coaching staff and throwing a bunch of money at whomever they pick. 

Peppers is from New Jersey.  He does not have a life long love of Michigan where he feels the need to stick with the program out of dogged loyalty because the "road ahead is looking tough".

He is just trying to do what's best for him and his future.  He has other options.  That does not make him a bad character guy.

I am not from Michigan, and knew little about the school before I attended it.  I chose it because it was in the top ten in the program that I was interested in.  If soemthing would have happened to the program that changed that, I would have gone somewhere else.  I had other options.  That would not have made me a bad character guy.

For the record, I think the tempest has passed and both Hoke and Peppers will be here next season.

Borges' demeanor during his presser looks like he's come to the same realization.

I did not think that Hoke and the AD would make a move on Borges, given their narrative of youth and inexperience trumping all.  But given Borges' demeanor in his presser and Brandon's carefully worded statement, I'm am beginning to think they are going to move on Borges.

Brandon is anything if not a bottom line guy.  Given the crap home schedule next year, the last thing he needs is fans staying away for yet another reason.  A new OC would inject some interest into a mundane season next year, as opposed to the old OC keeping even more fans away.

It's not because of 7-5 this year.  It's because we'll never see 12-0 in the future.  (Unless things change in ways that do not look to be happening.)

I'd invest in a 7-5 season(s) if it meant a path to 11-1 and 12-0.  But there does not appear to be any path.  

That's why the "overreaction" this year to a record many of us thought we might have anyway.

His demeanor was very different than in other pressers.  He seems to know something we don't.

Dead man walking.

Is the negativity too much to avoid?

“I just don’t read the paper. 

Somebody probably had to sit him down and explain what the internet is, and what a Blogger does.  And he still did the interview.  So props for that.

They always make you shave there before you're taken to the chair.

Yeah, they were quick to dump Woody-ball in the river.  Could it be that they are actually more evolved that us?

He's very self-aware.  

Hoke may seem just fine with everything, but Borges is not.  He knows his offense has been historically bad and that won't fly around these parts.  

Trouble is, I'm not sure he knows what to do about it.  He keeps blaming it on inexperience and execution.  That may be true, but it's his job to develop the players and come up with a game plan they can execute.  In late November, nobody is a freshman any more.

His predictable yet simultaneously erratic play calling has not helped his players.  They can never get in any kind of rhythm.  Honest to God, I believe that if they could just string 2 or 3 good drives together, they would catch fire.

Nice.

Your Offensive Line plays like cardboard, Dave.

Fickle fans are not inherently a bad thing.

When you are trying to fill a stadium that holds 100.000 people you need some fickle fans.  There aren't enough die hards that will fill it up no matter how poorly the team is doing.  You need those fans that want to follow a winning team.

It does not matter if you are Michigan or Eastern Michigan, you're not going to fill up a stadium with a program that is not winning.

I hope the focus is put on the fans that do show up, not the ones that do not.  They deserve better than to be called names.  Hoke should walk around and thank them in person.

I don't like it when Hoke and the team make statements like "this is just for us players, we don't care about anyone on the outside."  There are thousands and thousands of fans on the outside who care about you.  You should care about them.  Each one of those thousands and thousands of fans made an investment in you.

Don't write them off because 6,000 out of 100,000 sold their tickets on Stubhub.

Maybe Desmond will bring it up on Gameday.

I'm pretty sure that Brian would be at the game even if he blogged about Flourless Almond Cookies for a living.  

Out of loyalty to the team.  Just like he said.

How come Dynamic Pricing never goes down?  Shouldn't an OSU ticket from the AD be $60 now?

Meh.  They're supposed to try to score on us. It's up to us to stop them, not hope they don't actually try to beat us. 

Wow, good news in November.  Is that allowed?

And Mayor Hoke is still just hanging out at the cabana, eating peanuts and drinking beer.  No urgency to PREPARE FOR FUCKING HURRICANE!!!.

I'm a maple syrup fan.  Is that good enough?  Can I join too?

Hoke will get all five years.  Period.  

It will take that long to see for sure what he can do with his own guys fully in the system.  We won't know if we make any moves before then.

One thing is for sure though, five years is enough to know.  By 2015 Hoke's guys will be Juniors and Seniors, there will be 4*/5* depth at just about every position, Morris will have been in the system for three years, even the schedule will be favorable.  All excuses are null and void.

2015 is the clean, clear cutoff.  By the end of the 2015 season, if we are still saying wait until next year on Hoke, there should not be a next year. 

There is nothing wrong with Hoke.  He just needs to be reminded of how much he wanted to be here, and what it will take to stay here.

Brandon should make him start walking back to San Diego.  Then tell him he can turn around when he starts acting like he wants to be here.  

Hint: setting records for offensive futility with the third highest paid OC in the country and declaring everything is just fine is not acting like he wants to be here. 

Florida will make a coaching change and return to elite promptly.  Because they are Florida.

They're not blindly clinging to the Florida of 40 years ago.  Because there was no Florida 40 years ago.

"Not until the health of the corporation is threatened will anything really change."

This may come sooner rather than later.  Like a teenager with a part time job, we spend the money as fast as it comes in.  We have little margin of error to absorb things like a 20% reduction in football ticket sales.

Brandon is anything if not a bottom line bean counter guy.  Hoke will not want to make any changes, but Brandon may force him if people stop showing up.  

Sports is about ego extension.  The team wins, I win.  Other than a core of die hards, the great mass of people don't want to spend much time following a team that does not win.  You can't get the kind of R.O.I. that Brandon needs with just the core die hards.  You need those general interest bandwagon fans.  Lots of 'em.

The football team is the franchise.  Brandon will protect it, because he is Brandon, even if reluctantly so.

That's why I like NCAA football.  It's closer to the wide open CFL style of play (more because of mismatches than intentional style, but whatever).

Except for the NCAA football they currently play in Ann Arbor.

Not exactly a Christian Latner shot, now was it?

Look, a night game in November.  In Canada.

Bunch of pussies, Big Ten.

You are . . . Penn State!

That probably did not help your hangover.

Holy crap, I've created a monster with the "You are . . . " stuff.

Yeah, at least I'd rather lose an Indiana-type game or Notre Dame-type game than an Iowa-type game or a Nebraska-type game.  At least it's more entertaining for the fans that show up.

And we actually won the Indiana and Notre Dame-type games, so who knows?

Single coverage on Funchess is our great hope.  Arm punt it and hope for a catch or a PI.

Death Penalty crime.

(Score: 5 Genius)

Now THAT's what I'm talking about.  Crazy and inventive.

On the old Hollywood Squares gameshow, which is just tic-tac-toe, whenever a contestant would do something bat-shit crazy, the MC would not call them out in public.  Instead he would gently say "Interesting strategy.  This could work out."

Interesting strategy, MGoNukeE.  This could work out.

Thanks.

I'll run it past Coach Hoke, er, I mean, my boss in Accounting.

You gonna eat that?

I'm not Al Borges.  No, not me.  That would be crazy.  I'd never do anything like that.  Not me.

So, um, anyway, if I was Al Borges, what would you do?  

You know, I'm just asking.  Just for fun and all.  I don't really care about your opinions on a blog.  Especially your opinions about 3rd and long.  

Maybe we can fix that on Saturday.

Indeed.

Florida is Florida.  They'll make a coaching change instead of dicking around.  They'll get an elite Urban Meyer type coach, because they are Florida, end they'll be right back in the fray.

I'm not crying for Florida.  I'm crying for Michigan for our self-inflicted wounds.   

Do you seriously think that there are any style points possible for beating a 7-4 downtrodden Michigan team this year?  

The only good thing is that we will drop Ohio State's standing in the rankings simply by showing up on the field next Saturday.  

^^^This.  

Do you think that it did not hurt Beilein to get rid of his loyal staff?  Of course it did.  But it was the right thing to do.  

He is in a leadership position.   You have to make tough decisions for the good of the program.  If you just want to be everyone's best buddy, join a bowling league, have a few beers, and call it a night.

His throwing has been scared and tentative since Notre Dame.  Now his running has become scared and tentative.  He just done as a QB this year.

He needs a good long break.  I don't know if the break until the bowl game is enough.  I'm not even sure that the break until next season is enough.  It may be time to get Morris in the system next year.  

I wouldn't trust him at checkers either.  And we know he sucks at rock, paper, scissors.

I don't know, maybe heads / tails?

on D.

17 - 0 in the 2nd half.  4 Iowa tunovers did not hurt them.  1 Michigan turnover killed us.

Gardner is a shell of his former self.

WTF???

Could you wake up Al while you're up?

After further review:  That's a pick.

Yes.  It was a vicious recruiting dog fight between Iowa and Nebraska to get him.

Fitz blocked nobody on that blitz.

Our O is back on the field.  Next room in the fun house.

Yeah, Al loves to fake stuff we don't actually do.

If he'd fake snaps over the QB's head . . . that they'd bite on.

Time for another trick pony, Al.

BTW you guys, when we got the pick-six, we set the all-time record for most games without a shutout in CFB history.  

362 games in a row without a goose egg, I believe.

Yeah, but for how our team played this year, we could also have a 2-9 record.  For real.

Just jump ball it to Funchess.

That was pretty!

Come on O.  At least get in Gibbons range.

Just arm punt it.

Careful, that was a clip.

^^^TING!!!

Just QB sneak it in.