Lions were leading 24-10 with 7:00 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, facing a 4th and 2 on the 49ers 28 yard line. That's a 45-yd FG.
This was their first drive of the second half, and up to that point in the game, Detroit was absolutely terrorizing the 49ers defense. EVERYTHING was working. The run game was outstanding, over 150 yards in the first half alone, and the passing game was moving the sticks consistently up and down the field. There was no reason at that point in the game to believe that they weren't picking up two yards, especially when that's what they've hung their hat on all year.
If Dan Campbell decides to kick a field goal there in the middle of the third quarter, it’s a safe bet they make it to go up by 17. 45-yard FG's are NFL chip shots, but attempting a field goal right there is not who they are. Even if they make it, it’s NOT who they are, and if they miss it, it's also NOT who they are. So they go for it, get the right look and the WR drops it. That’s not on the coach. That’s on the player. This is why people love Dan Campbell, because he’s a contrarian who KNEW that if he came to Detroit and played it straight, just like the Same Old Lions had done for Decades, they’d have no chance. No chance!
With 7:30 left in the game, facing 4th and 3 on the 49ers 30 yard line, down 27-24 with the overall feeling that Detroit was on life support at that very moment, even though they were still kind of moving the ball, was it a good choice to go for it instead of attempting to kick a 47-yard FG right there to tie the game? Probably not, to Absolutely Not. That's the one that Dan Campbell eats, and he’ll own it and wear it on his sleeve for all of time, which is exactly where Detroit Lions fans expect to see it. Right on the sleeve for for the whole world to see.
In the seven seasons prior to Jim Harbaugh (2008-14, RR & Hoke) Michigan had the 43rd most wins in college football. EIGHT Big Ten teams had more wins than Michigan during this time span.
In the first five seasons with Jim Harbaugh at Michigan (2015-19), Michigan ascended 34 spots and had the 9th most wins in college football during that span. The average movement among all other teams was +/-9.5 spots. No other team was even remotely close to the level of improvement that Jim Harbaugh brought to Michigan.
In the first five seasons, in the games leading up to the measuring stick, Ohio State, Michigan was 46-9 overall. Ohio State was 50-5 overall, a four game separation over five years. Michigan went 0-5 vs the Buckeyes, had one won in '16, playoff bound in year two, and in '17 probably should have won with arguably Harbaugh's worst team. ONE Big Ten team had more wins than Michigan during this time span, the team that also had the second most wins in all of college football over the last twenty years.
The days of losing to Illinois, Purdue, Nebraska, Minnesota, Maryland, Rutgers, Northwestern, Toledo and Sparty were done.
*Covid season 2020, the year in which all records should be officially removed from the books. The end.
Warde Manuel "made the tough and courageous decision to keep Jim Harbaugh". Seriously, Wow! This was a tough and courageous decision, because a surprisingly numb/dumb:) fanbase wasn't really paying attention and wanted Harbaugh fired? Keeping Jim Harbaugh after 2020 was one of the EASIEST decisions ever. Good Grief.
From here you could certainly argue for any of the many scenario's in play:
#1 After leading Michigan into the Top 10 in wins over his first five seasons, Jim Harbaugh, Ultimate Alpha Dog, had his pay cut in half by Warde Manual, which, based on the info presented above, was an insane, tactical error by an incredibly incompetent person, who honestly should have consulted ME in 2021 when, after browsing over the roster I predicted Michigan would be 10-1 AGAIN heading into the Ohio State game in 2021. And to be fair, my thought was that they probably weren't beating them, but they might. They did.
#2 In doing so, Manuel opened the door to the NFL for Harbaugh. They CUT HIS PAY IN HALF after he'd brought Michigan right up to the edge, with the B10 championship and the extremely difficult to achieve playoffs hanging in the balance in two of the first five years...
#3 Harbaugh, being the Ultimate Alpha Dog, responded by basically saying "hold my beer" and proceeded to flip the bird in Manuel's direction after the first one in '21, giving his bonus away and then in each of the last three offseasons, flirting with the NFL and ultimately responding with the Marcus Hall Double Bird of the Week on his way out the door yesterday, albeit with a B1G smile on his face for every single person who doubted him.
Anyone who woke up today mad that Jim Harbaugh is bailing on Michigan after a record setting run needs to go back in time three years and understand that Michigan, Warde Manual, and to a large degree, the fanbase, bailed on Jim Harbaugh. They all bailed on him because they weren't really paying attention, and because, I don't know man. I just don't know. People are stupid.
1997 The Game - my younger brother (age 21) was an usher that season, and his buddy, Big Al, was a ticket taker. The week of the game, my brother tells me that I can get into the game, all I need to do is hand Big Al a coupon, like, any coupon, Subway, Kroger, doesn't matter. Just give him something about the same size of the ticket and he'll let me in at the gate.
I’m a little skeptical about this coupon thing, and I had some spare time at work so I start messing around with the ticket I had from the Minnesota game from a few weeks prior. In ’97 there were no barcodes, and my drafting program was a perfect tool to whip up some tickets to the game. Got it “almost” exact, but had to throw a block M on it because I couldn’t recreate the helmet. Stuck a sticky back Subway coupon on the back and Bingo, four tickets to The Game.
Game Day, walking up to the gate where Big Al is supposed to be taking tickets…uh oh, Big Al nowhere to be seen. I’m also with my sister and her husband, recent OSU grads, who are decked out in Buckeye gear. 20 minutes to kickoff, we’re right there, man, and I'm starting to get all jittery. There’s just no way we can’t go to this game, right? So I just said, “well, I’m either going to the game or I’m goin’ to jail,” walked over to the gate, handed over my freshly printed ticket and the guy never even looked at it, I'm in! Hell Yes! Next up, my sister. Ticket man turns it over, gives her a quick glance, looks back down, rips off the stub, and she’s in! Last up, brother in law hands it to the man, he slowly looks down, turns the ticket over, looks back at the front, looks up at my brother in law, gives him a sideways glance, like, dude are you serious, then shakes his head as he rips the ticket in half and waves him in. We’re in!
Head straight in to section 28, student section, where they’re checking tickets AGAIN, and we’re like, no way, these aren’t gonna fly, when out of nowhere my brother appears with his usher jacket on. The red sea parts as he grabs us and proceeds to carve a path thru the entrance tunnel into the stadium and then escorts us down to our “seats” in row 15, takes off his usher jacket, stuffs it under the seat and we watch the Wolverines win 20-14 on a glorious day. Big Al was nowhere to be seen, later said he was taking a smoke break when we walked up. I've had this extra ticket stuck on my refrigerator for the last 26 years.
We have a family policy that starting Labor Day, no family functions, birthday parties, weddings, showers, etc., none of these things are allowed to happen until after Thanksgiving and/or football season has ended. With this plan in place, there is no way that 15 random wedding guests miss the bridesmaid's toast because they're out in the parking lot listening to the game on the radio.
Why not just look at it as a 20-year old setting goals to be one of the best there ever was, and be completely okay with that? Michigan Fan has been dying for years to get players of such a high caliber as Donovan Edwards, collectively whining, why can’t we land great players? Now that they're here, you can't turn it back around and say, "okay son, pipe down, shhhhhh, if you talk shit and then have a bad game, people will laugh at you." That’s total BS.
Check JJ McCarthy’s whiteboard, where it says something to the effect of, “If people don’t laugh at your goals, then you aren’t setting your goals high enough.”
Just for comparison’s sake, Forcier’s background always had him set up to be a douchey flash in the pan, you could see it coming a mile away, and it turned out to be true. Dickenson was a good, not great player, and turns out he’s kind of an asshole but big deal, he’s 21 years old. And Mike Hart was a great player, never lost to Sparty so he talked shit after a game. Then Michigan got bludgeoned for the next 7 years for reasons that have nothing to do with Mike Hart. It happens.
Michigan is now ranked #2 heading into a football season. It’s a breath of fresh air to FINALLY hear Michigan players talking about having very lofty goals, and coming at it from a place of great confidence. This is what Michigan Fan wanted, a team that walks down the tunnel and says, “Here we are. Here’s your target. Right. Here.” I don’t see this as the “Michigan Arrogance” at play. I’ll take a team that plays with confidence, attitude and lofty goals any day over a team that has players that say things like “I hope to be the best I can be.” Hope isn't a goal.
The reality is, nobody really cares if Donovan Edwards eventually becomes Walter Payton or Barry Sanders, and nobody will probably care if he doesn’t. Sweetness and Sanders never talked smack, and I loved that about them. I also love that Donovan Edwards is talking about wanting to be equal to the best RB’s to ever play. I know I’m just going to enjoy watching the dude play over the next 4 months and go from there.
And for the record, I predicted Michigan would be 10-1 in 2021 heading into the Ohio State game, with a chance to win, and I was right. Last year I predicted Michigan would be 11-0 heading into the Ohio State game, with a chance to win, and I was right. In 2023, Michigan will be 10-1 heading into the Ohio State game, with a chance to win. The loss is going to be brutal, but at that point Michigan will be 35-4 over the last three years, rarified air in the great history of M football. I’ll take the confident talk and the target on the back any day over watching the alternative.
Over the 8 years of semifinal playoff games, the average margin of victory in those 16 games is 21 ppg. Twenty-One. That's not a typo. These are games pitting the "best teams in the country". I believe there's only been 3 games, maybe 4, where the game was decided by less than a touchdown. If I'm playing the odds, and I really don't like Michigan in these stupid "bowl" games, I just don't see them getting their doors blown off by 3 TD's, where a more likely scenario is ...... wait for it ...... close at halftime and then the boa constrictor comes out in the third quarter. Michigan wins big. Buckeyes, on the other hand, even though they're more suited to match up with GA than any of the other teams, the Buckeyes might be in trouble. If history holds true, and the real reason why these playoff games suck so bad shows once again that YOU CAN'T HOLD TEAMS HOSTAGE FOR FOUR FREAKING WEEKS BEFORE THEY PLAY THEIR NEXT GAME it'll be Michigan vs Georgia in the final, then "hey, let's wait another week and a half before we play again!" Go Blue
You mean the former Michigan ballboy who went on to become an All-Big Ten QB, Big Ten MVP, All-American QB, finished 3rd in the Heisman, guaranteed a win vs THE Ohio State University, then backed it up and beat Ohio State, at Ohio State, a legendary Alpha Dog who played 15 years in the NFL where he was a Pro Bowl QB, AFC Player of the Year, a Ring of Honor player (Colts), was an assistant coach at Western Kentucky, working with his dad for 9 years while he was still playing in the NFL, then transitioned to coaching full time where he coached in the Super Bowl as an assistant with the Raiders, then had successful coaching stops in college at San Diego and Stanford (where he took a historically awful team to the forefront of college football) before jumping back to the NFL where he immediately took another lousy team, the 49ers, to three straight NFC championship games, including the Super Bowl where he lost to his freaking older brother, before coming back to the college game to coach at his alma mater, because in the seven years prior to him coming back to UM (2008-2014), Michigan had the 43rd most wins in all of college football (46-43, .516), sandwiched right in between NC State and Mississippi, then immediately corrected the annual beatdowns Sparty was handing out (yes, the Punt), had Michigan in playoff contention in year two (The Spot), then held on tight when you all wanted him fired for not beating Ohio State (while the Buckeyes have the 2nd most wins in all of college football in the last 20 years), all the while taking irrelevant Michigan from 43rd to 9th in number of wins in his first five seasons, a remarkable improvement, dah, dah, dah Covid (I'm not counting Covid here as an actual season and if you disagree, in the words of the great Bill Burr, go fuck yourself :)...then after getting his pay cut in half because he couldn't beat Ohio State, he led a preseason unranked Michigan team to a magical season, crushed the world famous Ohio State Buckeyes, won the Big 10 championship and made the playoffs for the first time in school history, then flirted with the NFL because any man, especially an alpha male, who had his pay cut in half would be actively looking for another job, decided to stay put, then proceeded to lead the Wolverines to an unbeaten 12-0 season, beat the Buckeyes again, even worse, on their home turf, and in the process has led one of the greatest turnarounds in all of college football, where in the last seven seasons (2015-2022), has led Michigan from 43rd in number of wins to having the 6th most wins in college football (70-19, .787) during that span (only six teams have more than 70 wins), improving Michigan thirty-seven spots (where the average improvement over that time span is 9.5 games), is again playing in the Big 10 championship game and very likely headed to the playoffs for the second year in a row??
You mean Jim Harbaugh? Yep, please name another football coach who has a resume even remotely close to this. You can’t name this person because he doesn’t exist.
Don't be a hater, just for fun I actually tried to make this one sentence.
Thank you. Finally someone just comes out and says it. If Michigan had played 2017 with even slightly below average QB play, there's 2-3 wins to go with an 11-2 record. M fans should be praying that the QB is Patterson/McCaffrey in 2018, with no other QB's stepping on the field.
ND looked like deer in the headlights from the start. They were lethargic and 2 steps too slow and most importantly their offensive and defensive lines got manhandled all game with D-line winded in OT (which no one is talking about). They better put their big boy pants on for the rest of the season. Except for a lucky special teams play it should not have even gone to OT. Only bright spot was Kizer. It was a fun game to watch, but a disappointing and embarrassing loss for ND.
For that, I am glad.
1975 State AAU wrestling tournament, Dayton, OH...I find myself in a precarious position on my back, about to be pinned in a first round match, when I went to my go-to move and chomped down on my opponents shoulder, resulting in a stoppage of the match while they tended to the fresh bite marks. No blood, no harm, no foul. I ended up pinning the guy in the third round, much to the displeasure of that young man and his coach. Ran thru the rest of the tournament until I met my match in the final, losing 4-3. 2nd in State, 55-lb, 8-year old division.
1982 Northern Lakes League (NW Ohio) championship game, good guys (Rossford Bulldogs) down 7-6 late in the 4th quarter, with the bad guys (Anthony Wayne Generals) driving. What the?.....here comes a perfectly good football flying over the middle, a perfect spiral headed right at me with not a soul around. I can still hear the bang as it popped my shoulder pads, and I wrapped my paws around it and took off. Never one accused of having too much speed, two steps later I was down, But it was on. We took the ball, drove the length of the field, scored to go up 12-7 with 2:00 minutes left on the clock (missed the extra point because our kicker couldn't get the "toe strap" tied to his foot in time, then banged one out into the corn field at a 65-degree angle from the intended target. Yes, we should have gone for two....sigh). AW gets the kickoff, runs a reverse to my side, and I'm toast. Long return puts them in great field position. Fell for it, AGAIN, after getting burned the week before. PENALTY. For some reason there's a re-kick. AW drives down to the 5-yard line, 4th down, 30-seconds left in the game, playoff bid hanging in the balance for the winner. Pass out into the flats, our star LB reads it, runs him down, and as I'm running down the goalline chasing, the ballcarrier falls exactly 6-inches short of the endzone. First championship in 10 years and a playoff berth. Game.
1984 NLL defacto championship game, baseball, good guys down big early, went in to pitch and turned out the lights for the next 5 innings. Clawed our way back, tie game 8-8, 8th inning, nice RBI single to go ahead 9-8. Bad guys (Bowling Green Bobcats) come to bat and I grudgingly move back to center field after having now pitched 12-innings in 3 days. With 2-outs, man on second, guy hits an absolute laser to left center, no chance. Took off in hot pursuit, thinking no possible way this is caught. The ball had traveled 340+ and was "still climbing" when at the last second I reached out with a backhand and it smacked square into the palm of my hand and stuck. Game.
Trust me on this, there will be no other surprise at ANY point in your lifetime greater than the beautiful surprise sprung on you the moment you and your wife discover, at birth, whether you are now the proud parents of a boy or a girl. Do not, under any circumstance, find out beforehand if you are having a boy or a girl. Find a way to convince your wife. And your mother-in-law. There is no reason to know, and the excitement and suspense that you will create within your own small part of the world will be something you will never regret. Ever.
Request a Diaper Party for men only, poker, cards, beer, cigars, to stock up on diapers. Request various sizes on your invites, no newborn sizes. Having a 6-month plus supply of diapers is tops.
Sleep when the baby sleeps.
Do not set foot in the city of Orlando until children reach the age of 7, minimum. Optimal age 8-9. Disneyworld will SUCK with a 2-3-4 year old. Do not be convinced otherwise. You are just getting in the way, and you and your wife will most likely end up talking about how great it would be to bring the kids back when they're older, because diapers and Disneyworld don't go together.
Don't mess with a winter coat for a baby in a car seat. Get a car seat cover, where the only thing you can see is the baby's face thru the hole in the top. I wish they made these for adults.
Watch their eyelashes grow, because one minute you might be thinking how painfully long a 45-minute bottle feeding is, and 15-minutes later that baby is a freshman in high school, taller than you are, suiting up at defensive end for the football team.
Don't be a helicopter parent, especially with sports. Let them fly and let them make mistakes on their own accord. Then on the ride home, simply say, "I really love watching you play sports." TRUST ME ON THIS.
One last thing. A short time after our first son was born, my wife was finally "feelin it", and before I knew it one of her glorious 38D's was in close proximity to my mouth. The temptation was all too much to bear, and I just decided that, yes, it most certainly was put there for one reason and one reason only. The second that breast milk hit my tongue, I was finished, done, end of story. It was so amazing, I actually couldn't decide if I found the experience incredibly exciting, or I was so ashamed. I've decided that 15 years later, I'm going with exciting.
Every year I run into the same issues as the folks that set up Wrigley Field. In my backyard I'm a little short in yardage as well, so I just go straight from the 20-yard line to the 50. No big deal, and really , few people even notice because they're mesmerized by the lights. Having attended many, many games over the years, without question there are plenty of people attending the game tomorrow that wouldn't even notice if the 30 and the 40 yard lines were missing.
For the math wizards, its 1/2-scale. **Note: with 40-yards "removed" from the middle of the field, of course.
And yes, this was before the block M was painted on. My neighbors here in OH love me.
Recent Comments
I believe you have this backwards.
Lions were leading 24-10 with 7:00 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, facing a 4th and 2 on the 49ers 28 yard line. That's a 45-yd FG.
This was their first drive of the second half, and up to that point in the game, Detroit was absolutely terrorizing the 49ers defense. EVERYTHING was working. The run game was outstanding, over 150 yards in the first half alone, and the passing game was moving the sticks consistently up and down the field. There was no reason at that point in the game to believe that they weren't picking up two yards, especially when that's what they've hung their hat on all year.
If Dan Campbell decides to kick a field goal there in the middle of the third quarter, it’s a safe bet they make it to go up by 17. 45-yard FG's are NFL chip shots, but attempting a field goal right there is not who they are. Even if they make it, it’s NOT who they are, and if they miss it, it's also NOT who they are. So they go for it, get the right look and the WR drops it. That’s not on the coach. That’s on the player. This is why people love Dan Campbell, because he’s a contrarian who KNEW that if he came to Detroit and played it straight, just like the Same Old Lions had done for Decades, they’d have no chance. No chance!
With 7:30 left in the game, facing 4th and 3 on the 49ers 30 yard line, down 27-24 with the overall feeling that Detroit was on life support at that very moment, even though they were still kind of moving the ball, was it a good choice to go for it instead of attempting to kick a 47-yard FG right there to tie the game? Probably not, to Absolutely Not. That's the one that Dan Campbell eats, and he’ll own it and wear it on his sleeve for all of time, which is exactly where Detroit Lions fans expect to see it. Right on the sleeve for for the whole world to see.
In the seven seasons prior to Jim Harbaugh (2008-14, RR & Hoke) Michigan had the 43rd most wins in college football. EIGHT Big Ten teams had more wins than Michigan during this time span.
In the first five seasons with Jim Harbaugh at Michigan (2015-19), Michigan ascended 34 spots and had the 9th most wins in college football during that span. The average movement among all other teams was +/-9.5 spots. No other team was even remotely close to the level of improvement that Jim Harbaugh brought to Michigan.
In the first five seasons, in the games leading up to the measuring stick, Ohio State, Michigan was 46-9 overall. Ohio State was 50-5 overall, a four game separation over five years. Michigan went 0-5 vs the Buckeyes, had one won in '16, playoff bound in year two, and in '17 probably should have won with arguably Harbaugh's worst team. ONE Big Ten team had more wins than Michigan during this time span, the team that also had the second most wins in all of college football over the last twenty years.
The days of losing to Illinois, Purdue, Nebraska, Minnesota, Maryland, Rutgers, Northwestern, Toledo and Sparty were done.
*Covid season 2020, the year in which all records should be officially removed from the books. The end.
Warde Manuel "made the tough and courageous decision to keep Jim Harbaugh". Seriously, Wow! This was a tough and courageous decision, because a surprisingly numb/dumb:) fanbase wasn't really paying attention and wanted Harbaugh fired? Keeping Jim Harbaugh after 2020 was one of the EASIEST decisions ever. Good Grief.
From here you could certainly argue for any of the many scenario's in play:
#1 After leading Michigan into the Top 10 in wins over his first five seasons, Jim Harbaugh, Ultimate Alpha Dog, had his pay cut in half by Warde Manual, which, based on the info presented above, was an insane, tactical error by an incredibly incompetent person, who honestly should have consulted ME in 2021 when, after browsing over the roster I predicted Michigan would be 10-1 AGAIN heading into the Ohio State game in 2021. And to be fair, my thought was that they probably weren't beating them, but they might. They did.
#2 In doing so, Manuel opened the door to the NFL for Harbaugh. They CUT HIS PAY IN HALF after he'd brought Michigan right up to the edge, with the B10 championship and the extremely difficult to achieve playoffs hanging in the balance in two of the first five years...
#3 Harbaugh, being the Ultimate Alpha Dog, responded by basically saying "hold my beer" and proceeded to flip the bird in Manuel's direction after the first one in '21, giving his bonus away and then in each of the last three offseasons, flirting with the NFL and ultimately responding with the Marcus Hall Double Bird of the Week on his way out the door yesterday, albeit with a B1G smile on his face for every single person who doubted him.
Anyone who woke up today mad that Jim Harbaugh is bailing on Michigan after a record setting run needs to go back in time three years and understand that Michigan, Warde Manual, and to a large degree, the fanbase, bailed on Jim Harbaugh. They all bailed on him because they weren't really paying attention, and because, I don't know man. I just don't know. People are stupid.
Yessir, that's the ticket
1997 The Game - my younger brother (age 21) was an usher that season, and his buddy, Big Al, was a ticket taker. The week of the game, my brother tells me that I can get into the game, all I need to do is hand Big Al a coupon, like, any coupon, Subway, Kroger, doesn't matter. Just give him something about the same size of the ticket and he'll let me in at the gate.
I’m a little skeptical about this coupon thing, and I had some spare time at work so I start messing around with the ticket I had from the Minnesota game from a few weeks prior. In ’97 there were no barcodes, and my drafting program was a perfect tool to whip up some tickets to the game. Got it “almost” exact, but had to throw a block M on it because I couldn’t recreate the helmet. Stuck a sticky back Subway coupon on the back and Bingo, four tickets to The Game.
Game Day, walking up to the gate where Big Al is supposed to be taking tickets…uh oh, Big Al nowhere to be seen. I’m also with my sister and her husband, recent OSU grads, who are decked out in Buckeye gear. 20 minutes to kickoff, we’re right there, man, and I'm starting to get all jittery. There’s just no way we can’t go to this game, right? So I just said, “well, I’m either going to the game or I’m goin’ to jail,” walked over to the gate, handed over my freshly printed ticket and the guy never even looked at it, I'm in! Hell Yes! Next up, my sister. Ticket man turns it over, gives her a quick glance, looks back down, rips off the stub, and she’s in! Last up, brother in law hands it to the man, he slowly looks down, turns the ticket over, looks back at the front, looks up at my brother in law, gives him a sideways glance, like, dude are you serious, then shakes his head as he rips the ticket in half and waves him in. We’re in!
Head straight in to section 28, student section, where they’re checking tickets AGAIN, and we’re like, no way, these aren’t gonna fly, when out of nowhere my brother appears with his usher jacket on. The red sea parts as he grabs us and proceeds to carve a path thru the entrance tunnel into the stadium and then escorts us down to our “seats” in row 15, takes off his usher jacket, stuffs it under the seat and we watch the Wolverines win 20-14 on a glorious day. Big Al was nowhere to be seen, later said he was taking a smoke break when we walked up. I've had this extra ticket stuck on my refrigerator for the last 26 years.
Michigan 34-8
This is what comes with being a Big Dog.
Michigan 48-13
Michigan 42-13
Michigan 38-17
We have a family policy that starting Labor Day, no family functions, birthday parties, weddings, showers, etc., none of these things are allowed to happen until after Thanksgiving and/or football season has ended. With this plan in place, there is no way that 15 random wedding guests miss the bridesmaid's toast because they're out in the parking lot listening to the game on the radio.
Why not just look at it as a 20-year old setting goals to be one of the best there ever was, and be completely okay with that? Michigan Fan has been dying for years to get players of such a high caliber as Donovan Edwards, collectively whining, why can’t we land great players? Now that they're here, you can't turn it back around and say, "okay son, pipe down, shhhhhh, if you talk shit and then have a bad game, people will laugh at you." That’s total BS.
Check JJ McCarthy’s whiteboard, where it says something to the effect of, “If people don’t laugh at your goals, then you aren’t setting your goals high enough.”
Just for comparison’s sake, Forcier’s background always had him set up to be a douchey flash in the pan, you could see it coming a mile away, and it turned out to be true. Dickenson was a good, not great player, and turns out he’s kind of an asshole but big deal, he’s 21 years old. And Mike Hart was a great player, never lost to Sparty so he talked shit after a game. Then Michigan got bludgeoned for the next 7 years for reasons that have nothing to do with Mike Hart. It happens.
Michigan is now ranked #2 heading into a football season. It’s a breath of fresh air to FINALLY hear Michigan players talking about having very lofty goals, and coming at it from a place of great confidence. This is what Michigan Fan wanted, a team that walks down the tunnel and says, “Here we are. Here’s your target. Right. Here.” I don’t see this as the “Michigan Arrogance” at play. I’ll take a team that plays with confidence, attitude and lofty goals any day over a team that has players that say things like “I hope to be the best I can be.” Hope isn't a goal.
The reality is, nobody really cares if Donovan Edwards eventually becomes Walter Payton or Barry Sanders, and nobody will probably care if he doesn’t. Sweetness and Sanders never talked smack, and I loved that about them. I also love that Donovan Edwards is talking about wanting to be equal to the best RB’s to ever play. I know I’m just going to enjoy watching the dude play over the next 4 months and go from there.
And for the record, I predicted Michigan would be 10-1 in 2021 heading into the Ohio State game, with a chance to win, and I was right. Last year I predicted Michigan would be 11-0 heading into the Ohio State game, with a chance to win, and I was right. In 2023, Michigan will be 10-1 heading into the Ohio State game, with a chance to win. The loss is going to be brutal, but at that point Michigan will be 35-4 over the last three years, rarified air in the great history of M football. I’ll take the confident talk and the target on the back any day over watching the alternative.
Over the 8 years of semifinal playoff games, the average margin of victory in those 16 games is 21 ppg. Twenty-One. That's not a typo. These are games pitting the "best teams in the country". I believe there's only been 3 games, maybe 4, where the game was decided by less than a touchdown. If I'm playing the odds, and I really don't like Michigan in these stupid "bowl" games, I just don't see them getting their doors blown off by 3 TD's, where a more likely scenario is ...... wait for it ...... close at halftime and then the boa constrictor comes out in the third quarter. Michigan wins big. Buckeyes, on the other hand, even though they're more suited to match up with GA than any of the other teams, the Buckeyes might be in trouble. If history holds true, and the real reason why these playoff games suck so bad shows once again that YOU CAN'T HOLD TEAMS HOSTAGE FOR FOUR FREAKING WEEKS BEFORE THEY PLAY THEIR NEXT GAME it'll be Michigan vs Georgia in the final, then "hey, let's wait another week and a half before we play again!" Go Blue
You mean the former Michigan ballboy who went on to become an All-Big Ten QB, Big Ten MVP, All-American QB, finished 3rd in the Heisman, guaranteed a win vs THE Ohio State University, then backed it up and beat Ohio State, at Ohio State, a legendary Alpha Dog who played 15 years in the NFL where he was a Pro Bowl QB, AFC Player of the Year, a Ring of Honor player (Colts), was an assistant coach at Western Kentucky, working with his dad for 9 years while he was still playing in the NFL, then transitioned to coaching full time where he coached in the Super Bowl as an assistant with the Raiders, then had successful coaching stops in college at San Diego and Stanford (where he took a historically awful team to the forefront of college football) before jumping back to the NFL where he immediately took another lousy team, the 49ers, to three straight NFC championship games, including the Super Bowl where he lost to his freaking older brother, before coming back to the college game to coach at his alma mater, because in the seven years prior to him coming back to UM (2008-2014), Michigan had the 43rd most wins in all of college football (46-43, .516), sandwiched right in between NC State and Mississippi, then immediately corrected the annual beatdowns Sparty was handing out (yes, the Punt), had Michigan in playoff contention in year two (The Spot), then held on tight when you all wanted him fired for not beating Ohio State (while the Buckeyes have the 2nd most wins in all of college football in the last 20 years), all the while taking irrelevant Michigan from 43rd to 9th in number of wins in his first five seasons, a remarkable improvement, dah, dah, dah Covid (I'm not counting Covid here as an actual season and if you disagree, in the words of the great Bill Burr, go fuck yourself :)...then after getting his pay cut in half because he couldn't beat Ohio State, he led a preseason unranked Michigan team to a magical season, crushed the world famous Ohio State Buckeyes, won the Big 10 championship and made the playoffs for the first time in school history, then flirted with the NFL because any man, especially an alpha male, who had his pay cut in half would be actively looking for another job, decided to stay put, then proceeded to lead the Wolverines to an unbeaten 12-0 season, beat the Buckeyes again, even worse, on their home turf, and in the process has led one of the greatest turnarounds in all of college football, where in the last seven seasons (2015-2022), has led Michigan from 43rd in number of wins to having the 6th most wins in college football (70-19, .787) during that span (only six teams have more than 70 wins), improving Michigan thirty-seven spots (where the average improvement over that time span is 9.5 games), is again playing in the Big 10 championship game and very likely headed to the playoffs for the second year in a row??
You mean Jim Harbaugh? Yep, please name another football coach who has a resume even remotely close to this. You can’t name this person because he doesn’t exist.
Don't be a hater, just for fun I actually tried to make this one sentence.
Thank you. Finally someone just comes out and says it. If Michigan had played 2017 with even slightly below average QB play, there's 2-3 wins to go with an 11-2 record. M fans should be praying that the QB is Patterson/McCaffrey in 2018, with no other QB's stepping on the field.
This should be required reading for all Michigan Football "fans". I love it when I discover rational people actually exist in the world. Well Done.
27-26 Michigan
45-6 Michigan
1975 State AAU wrestling tournament, Dayton, OH...I find myself in a precarious position on my back, about to be pinned in a first round match, when I went to my go-to move and chomped down on my opponents shoulder, resulting in a stoppage of the match while they tended to the fresh bite marks. No blood, no harm, no foul. I ended up pinning the guy in the third round, much to the displeasure of that young man and his coach. Ran thru the rest of the tournament until I met my match in the final, losing 4-3. 2nd in State, 55-lb, 8-year old division.
1982 Northern Lakes League (NW Ohio) championship game, good guys (Rossford Bulldogs) down 7-6 late in the 4th quarter, with the bad guys (Anthony Wayne Generals) driving. What the?.....here comes a perfectly good football flying over the middle, a perfect spiral headed right at me with not a soul around. I can still hear the bang as it popped my shoulder pads, and I wrapped my paws around it and took off. Never one accused of having too much speed, two steps later I was down, But it was on. We took the ball, drove the length of the field, scored to go up 12-7 with 2:00 minutes left on the clock (missed the extra point because our kicker couldn't get the "toe strap" tied to his foot in time, then banged one out into the corn field at a 65-degree angle from the intended target. Yes, we should have gone for two....sigh). AW gets the kickoff, runs a reverse to my side, and I'm toast. Long return puts them in great field position. Fell for it, AGAIN, after getting burned the week before. PENALTY. For some reason there's a re-kick. AW drives down to the 5-yard line, 4th down, 30-seconds left in the game, playoff bid hanging in the balance for the winner. Pass out into the flats, our star LB reads it, runs him down, and as I'm running down the goalline chasing, the ballcarrier falls exactly 6-inches short of the endzone. First championship in 10 years and a playoff berth. Game.
1984 NLL defacto championship game, baseball, good guys down big early, went in to pitch and turned out the lights for the next 5 innings. Clawed our way back, tie game 8-8, 8th inning, nice RBI single to go ahead 9-8. Bad guys (Bowling Green Bobcats) come to bat and I grudgingly move back to center field after having now pitched 12-innings in 3 days. With 2-outs, man on second, guy hits an absolute laser to left center, no chance. Took off in hot pursuit, thinking no possible way this is caught. The ball had traveled 340+ and was "still climbing" when at the last second I reached out with a backhand and it smacked square into the palm of my hand and stuck. Game.
Trust me
Michigan snapped the ball with 28 seconds on the play clock?
Is this heaven?
Every year I run into the same issues as the folks that set up Wrigley Field. In my backyard I'm a little short in yardage as well, so I just go straight from the 20-yard line to the 50. No big deal, and really , few people even notice because they're mesmerized by the lights. Having attended many, many games over the years, without question there are plenty of people attending the game tomorrow that wouldn't even notice if the 30 and the 40 yard lines were missing.
For the math wizards, its 1/2-scale. **Note: with 40-yards "removed" from the middle of the field, of course.
And yes, this was before the block M was painted on. My neighbors here in OH love me.