I understand the appeal of the traditional in college football, but what is really traditional?
Many of the traditions I grew up with have already disappeared. Big Ten champion vs. Pac Ten champion in the Rose Bowl? Gone. New Year's Day football orgy? Gone. Out-of-conference games against other powers? Mostly gone, now we get MAC and FCS. My senior year, Michigan played Miami and Notre Dame. Now everyone is so desperate to qualify for a bowl and stay in NC contention that a real opponent is the exception. The mad bowl scramble? Gone. Now it's all bowls for everyone and conference tie-ins dictating the match ups.
Not to mention that the bowl tradition I grew up with was a change from the earlier tradition of only the Big Ten champion going to the Rose Bowl and everyone else staying home.
I personally really dislike the displacement of all of the big bowl games to beyond the holidays. In the first week of Jan. everyone is back at work. Sitting down on Thursday night of the first week back to watch the National Championship Game? Lame.
Bring me a playoff with great games throughout my holiday season and a big blowout of the semi's and some non-qualifiers on New Year's Day and the National Championship on the following Saturday.
That's a tradition that I would be happy to pass on to generations of fans to follow!
Please. Our Tim has shown a gift for getting good publicity, but don't pretend you have any idea whether he is a good person or not. You are not close enough to see. Everybody thought Tiger was a pretty good guy, too. Turns out that that is not exactly the case.
I do know that if anyone on my football teams had written biblical verses on his eye black, we would have thought he was a sanctimonious ass.
I also know that the Tebow worship on ESPN is so out of hand, that I am required to hate him, just to bring balance to the force.
Denard looks very jumpy out there to me. Some rare guys come in and the game doesn't seem too fast for them and they can just read and cut with authority. Denard just isn't there. He can make some things happen because he is fast and he has some moves. Remember also, that he is a true freshman and didn't enroll early.
My best case scenario is that he improves substantially in his passing over the spring and is a very capable backup for Tate with a package of plays for them together (that is larger than this years).
DG should redshirt to work on passing mechanics, learn the offense, and preserve his eligibility. Come 2011, I hope Tate is an awesome starter, DG gets some chances as the primary backup, and the coaches get Denard on the field somewhere (on offense).
I will say that it will be an interesting spring if DG enrolls early, because all of those three will be fighting to start at QB. Ah, I love how that sounds. How far we will have come from the legendary (and not in a good way) Sheridan-Threet battles of 2008!
Hey, I am happy with what Tate has done too, but have you watched how defenses freak out about Denard? I am definitely NOT saying that any change should be made, but you can understand why the staff likes the potential. If Denard could just improve enough in his passing to keep the defense from loading up the box, he could do a lot of damage.
Will we ever see it? I kind of doubt it, but if Tate had been more severely injured, we'd be giving it a shot. Probably Tate runs well enough and will be more dangerous with improved reads, fakes, and fitness. And DG will take over down the line.
I hope there will of plenty more highlights from Denard's Michigan career, but it's anyone's guess as to how it will all play out.
Hey, I love Minor. Who wouldn't? But, he hasn't been available at 100% all year, not even close. And Carlos, well, when he finally was healthy and had an offense that could spring him loose, he got yards, but I don't think he is that hard to replace. As has been well documented here, he is less than great after contact.
If we have a better offensive line (very likely), a QB making better reads (very likely), and talented RBs (very likely), we will get better production out of the RB position.
Personally, I'd take the over.
Our glorious 4-0 was over EMU, WMU, ND, and Indiana. They had no tape on our D and no tape on our O. We lost games from Minor, C. Brown, and Molk, Cissoko, and, oh yeah, our QB sprained his shoulder and got concussed.
Yea, results haven't been as good. Brilliant analysis. I can tell you authoritatively that any team that plays WMU and then Penn State will regress.
You posters here don't understand and acknowledge M's faults? Jeez, the people on this board are obsessive about our faults, but they seem to prefer a little rational analysis along with the despair.
Hey, I remember how I felt about Michigan in 2007. Four consecutive losses to OSU. Three straight bowl losses. The general humiliation of OSU in the BCS game after they beat us in 2006. The Horror, Oregon.
Was there anyone paying attention who didn't think our pounding running and deep-throwing style of football was dead? We weren't even the best at it (OSU was) and they got killed by Florida in the BCS title game.
I wanted M to take the necessary risk and pay the necessary price to have a modern competitive team. We are doing that! It turns out to be a harder task than I thought it would be, but not because of any failures of RR. This team could have a better record, but they certainly weren't destined for a great year. They just don't have enough talent and experience.
Does anyone out there really think that trying to out-Tressel Tressel with Mallett and the fading M defense was gonna work out? That would have been real despair.
I think M took the risk and went for the big leap. We can get there, but it definitely won't happen if we bail out now. No way, no how.
Wailing fans of the internet, look at the offense. With a green offensive line and either green and/or not-too-special receivers we have piled up enough yards and points to be in contention for the Big Ten title. The offense will get better. Given the choice between the backs we will have next year and the little pieces of Minor and Brown we have had this year, it's pretty much a tossup. And every other position group will be better.
It all on the defense. RR certainly bears some blame here. he didn't get a long-term answer in at DC in his first year. I don't know who he tried to get or how exactly he ended up with Shafer, but that is where he ended up. That didn't work out well and here we are. God knows how GERG will work out, but it very hard to argue that anyone would have made a big success out of what he has had to work with. If we don't have vastly improved linebacker and safety play next year, then we can talk about whether GERG can do the job.
Another thing to keep in mind, all defensive stats are going to look uglier under RR. The offense goes fast, the defense faces more plays and more drives. The team will give up more points than we are used to. It just will.
If this team had a mediocre defense to go with even this rebuilding offense, we would be contending for the B10 title this year. Hopefully, we will have a built offense and an improved defense and that is where we will be next year. Not a blind RR supporter, but seeing way too many signs that things will get better to bail out now.
Another thing to note, Amaker didn't lose his job until his post-sanctions, self-recruited squad failed to deliver the year they should have. That moment is still a couple years away for RR.
Yo, our defensive players are not good enough to make the plays on skilled offensive players consistently, even when they are in the right place. It's pretty simple. When a new freshman shows up for drill, he can be in the right place with the right form, but the bigger, faster, stronger senior just runs him over. End of story.
When our defense is stronger and faster across the board, this won't happen. Until that point, hope the offense scores a lot and our couple defensive playmakers make a play or two. That's not a high-percentage game, but that is what we have.
There is no magical scheme or fundamentals drill regime that is going to allow Delaware State to beat Michigan, or a young, thin Michigan defense to consistently stop Big Ten offenses. Not gonna happen.
Let's face it, M fans are like any other fans would be after 40 years of winning. We're spoiled. We thought nothing like this could happen to us. Clearly, it can. It happened to Notre Dame, after all. If there is any fan base that thinks it is more entitled to wins than Michigan, it has to be Notre Dame.
The more I watch this team and the more I learn from reading the in-depth analysis on this blog, the more I respect the need for talent. I can't think of any reason we won the NC under Lloyd except the presence of a ton of defensive talent + the amazing Mr. Woodson + a bit of luck. It's not like Lloyd and his staff were close every year and the offense that year was nothing special. Our current talent and experience deficit is real and brutal.
RR needs time to build the talent and experience level all across the team. I am confident that Mary Sue Coleman is going to give him that time. If being 'Michigan Man' means anything at all, it should mean some fucking perseverance in the face of a challenge. You don't go wildly firing coaches with a spectacular resume after a couple tough years with a depleted talent base, barring major violations or misconduct. You just don't.
RR is going to get more time and I believe that he is going to succeed. All other paths out of here are MUCH more painful.
I played, just through high school, and in my experience no team that is losing games is going be throwing flowers at each other. It is pretty easy to get mad at the other side of the ball or even the other side of the defense, when they are constantly making ugly mistakes. Both sides of the ball have done more than enough to generate ill will. The defense has completely failed to make key stops since the first month and the offense has frequently squandered opportunities presented by the defense. It's a long list. Even on the best teams, there will be some players that don't like each other much. That's normal. Also, this team has Lloyd recruits, RR recruits, elite athletes that have never lost much, players who know they are on the worst M teams in 40 years. It's a pretty stressful, combustible mix.
This is not where to look for the problem. Losing is the problem.
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