September 27th, 2008 at 8:05 PM ^
September 27th, 2008 at 8:22 PM ^
Thankfully we will not have to witness the agony of Brian designing Emo Week redux. We need to remember games like this -- not merely because they make us proud to be fans --- but because this is going to be our season. High variance. We will jump all back on the bus, and smack will be talked. As we get deeper in the season and things get tough, we'll jump back off the bus and wonder if Coach Rod knows he's in the Big Ten.
But, make no mistake --- we're going to be a tough out. And the death butterfly is coming. And then, there will be payback for this year. Were I Weis, Dantonio, Tressel or Zook -- I'd take notes on what Bielema learned today.
And start stocking up on canned goods.
September 27th, 2008 at 8:09 PM ^
At half time, the hari-kari was out of the sheath and was being sharpened to a glistening late grey. I wandered over to the Chrisler concourse and just kind of, well, bumped into things.
I think the change in formations in the second half to force Wisky out of their 8-9 in the box may have been what saved me from a bloddy demise.
September 27th, 2008 at 8:21 PM ^
September 27th, 2008 at 8:23 PM ^
September 27th, 2008 at 8:30 PM ^
September 27th, 2008 at 8:46 PM ^
September 27th, 2008 at 9:04 PM ^
Nerd.
I watched the game in a Philadelphia Philly's bar here, the same day they happened to clinch the pennant. Got some weird looks when I went crazy after John Thompson's TD, which was between innings of the baseball game.
Rejoice!
September 27th, 2008 at 8:55 PM ^
September 27th, 2008 at 9:28 PM ^
September 27th, 2008 at 9:33 PM ^
September 27th, 2008 at 9:35 PM ^
September 28th, 2008 at 1:41 PM ^
September 27th, 2008 at 9:02 PM ^
I just wanted to give him a bonus for that roughing the passer call.
Thank You Sir
September 27th, 2008 at 9:22 PM ^
"I give all the credit in the world to Michigan to come back after hearing all the things that I heard being yelled at them at halftime."
September 27th, 2008 at 9:26 PM ^
September 27th, 2008 at 9:28 PM ^
September 27th, 2008 at 9:34 PM ^
Yeah. The fans boo'd the team at the half. I mean c'mon. They are kids. WAY out of their league. And then to get all gung ho and "we're great" crap in the second half??
bugged me.
Props to the D. Props to the kids for No Quit. Props to Chocalate Milk.
No idea how we pulled out that win.....
September 27th, 2008 at 9:56 PM ^
So, I think that booing as the team leaves at the half (after a performance like that) should actually motivate the hell out of them!
Or, is all the "WE PLAY FOR MICHIGAN" just hype.
September 28th, 2008 at 12:42 AM ^
September 28th, 2008 at 1:14 AM ^
September 28th, 2008 at 1:43 AM ^
So what you're saying is that positive reinforcement and cheering all around after a 5 turnover performance, including 2 awful INTs and 2 special teams fumbles was a good response? How about the sound of silence as the entire crowd funnels out? What were people supposed to do, cheer wildly in excitement that it was halftime and we couldn't flail uselessly on offense anymore?
Fans at a game take a "what have you done for me lately" attitude. Don't give people crap about fickleness, I'm not exactly sure what you expect out of half drunk college students after watching the 1st half offensive performance. Frankly, almost everybody thought that we had no shot at coming back in the second half, and I'm willing to bet that you at home didn't think we could pull it out either. And yet, 95% of the people stayed because damnit, we will stuck with this team to the end, and were rewarded with the best half I've seen in 4 years here.
September 28th, 2008 at 9:19 AM ^
Absolutely I had no idea that we even had a hope of winning this game after watching the first half 'performance'. Basically I felt sorry for the kids. One "boos" the LIONS. One does not "BOO" a fourth-string QB from Adrian for gosh sakes. I was one of the folks in the stands who stayed til the clock read zeros. And then I still stayed to see the celebration in the student section/endzone. And my dedication was rewarded with one of the most amazing comebacks I've seen in 20+ years of watching Michigan football.
BUT the rain of "boos" came from ALL sections, including people from behind me-- not your so-called 'drunken college students'. In fact, those students got their act together so well that they were able to form a blue block M within a sea of Maize. In the fourth quarter those same yahoos from all sections were chanting 'over-rated' at Wisconsin, like Michigan somehow became #1 in the AP polls.
I feel perfectly justified in calling out the fans who boo'd and who left (quit) early. Good thing the team didn't.
September 28th, 2008 at 11:45 AM ^
Positive reinforcement? Are we talking about a bunch of puppies that just shit on the carpet,or, you know, fully sentient human beings?
I don't think the team relies on experts such as yourself to realize that performances like the first half are abysmal and to be avoided.
Booing college kids sucks, unless you're booing someone for a late hit or something. I used to try to boo the coaches when they did something unbelievably stupid (RON WHY IS THERE A LINEBACKER COVERING A SLOT RECEIVER AGAIN?), but then I realized that it would still sound like I was booing the players, so I stopped.
September 27th, 2008 at 9:32 PM ^
I realize that RR runs a fast paced offense. BUT, there are times that either the coaches or the QB needs to look at waiting until there is ony 4-5 seconds on the clock to run the play.
M was hiking the ball with 12-14 seconds on the clock when they had the lead in the 4th quarter and it almost cost us the game!
Same at the end of the half!
September 27th, 2008 at 9:36 PM ^
September 27th, 2008 at 9:43 PM ^
Greg Mathews knows better than to carry the ball in his inside arm...I mean isn't that a skill you learn in grade school??? ball in the outside arm.
that's what was so baffling to me about the first half---piss poor play vs. bad coaching? or both.
perserverance. impressive.
September 27th, 2008 at 9:46 PM ^
September 27th, 2008 at 9:51 PM ^
the mind over-rides the automaticity.
what do you tell them to calm them down tho? as a follow-up: how come the intensity of the fourth quarter comeback doesn't mess up the automaticity but enhances it??
September 27th, 2008 at 9:57 PM ^
September 27th, 2008 at 10:01 PM ^
September 27th, 2008 at 9:52 PM ^
Clock management should be the coaches responsibility. When Threet looks over for the call, the coaches just give him a sign to RUN THE CLOCK!!!
How hard could that be??
September 27th, 2008 at 10:00 PM ^
September 27th, 2008 at 10:27 PM ^
September 27th, 2008 at 10:40 PM ^
September 27th, 2008 at 10:41 PM ^
September 27th, 2008 at 11:00 PM ^
September 27th, 2008 at 10:51 PM ^
September 27th, 2008 at 10:55 PM ^
September 27th, 2008 at 11:04 PM ^
Last year M virtually never hiked the ball with more than 6-8 seconds. They barely broke the huddle with 12-14 seconds on the clock.
Looks like PSU will beat Illini.
Nite, nite.
September 27th, 2008 at 11:19 PM ^
September 27th, 2008 at 9:52 PM ^
i watched espnews for a whole fricken hour before they even showed a highlight of the game. did you see holtz and may laughing at half time and barely said anything after the game. what a bias show. if mich would have continued to get blown out, i would have seen it every 2 minutes just like after the restore the glory game. anyways, GO BLUE!!!!!!!! hope we can do it again next week!!!!
September 28th, 2008 at 9:08 AM ^
September 28th, 2008 at 3:03 PM ^
One of the ESPN commentators at halftime said something in passing about Michigan being down 19-0 at home and having negative-whatever yards total offense, and then said verbatim, "They STINK!" and laughed.
I mean, I guess that wasn't uncalled for, but you know his foot's in his mouth now.
September 28th, 2008 at 3:27 PM ^
September 27th, 2008 at 10:09 PM ^
September 28th, 2008 at 12:11 AM ^
We all saw that up in our section.
Weak no call.....but, hey, at least the refs proved vigilant on that 2-point play.
It was a good call there, just glad they saw they saw the covered end, so I will forgive them for not seeing that clip.....but, man, it was obvious.
September 27th, 2008 at 10:41 PM ^
With so many freshman and sophomores being put into critical situations mistakes are expected. That's why it was so exciting to see them calm down and make some plays in the 2nd half.
That said, the defense today was outstanding and this is the unit most of us optimists were expecting to carry the team this year, regardless of how bad the offense was. They made critical stand after critical stand after being put in bad spots by the offfense and special teams all day. Hat's off to the defensive coaches and players. I thought (on first glance) that the linebacker play was much improved this week. Ezeh seemed a step quicker to get up into the hole, and the d-line was pushing the los back on most plays.
The return game is almost comically bad at this point, guys are just pressing so hard back there and forgetting basic rules of ball security. I hope that with experience they will just "play" and stop thinking so much about trying to make a big play when a solid one will do just fine.
September 28th, 2008 at 12:46 AM ^
:(
pps GO BLUE WOOOOO MUPPETS
September 28th, 2008 at 2:46 PM ^
I've been avoiding SSS and all Chicago media. It's funny, despite how comically bad they've been the past month they are still 1/2 game back and even in the loss column.
Minny is on the verge of being swept by KC and the Sox are on the verge of being swept by Cleveland -- what a race...
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