September 14th, 2013 at 10:43 PM ^
September 14th, 2013 at 11:02 PM ^
Michigan was a 22-point favorite against App State, a 37-point favorite today despite being a weaker team than the '07 squad. App State was coming off back-to-back national championships and was on its way to a third that year; Akron hasn't won more than one game in a season since 2009. If you think the best teams in FCS aren't better than the worst teams in FBS you haven't been paying attention.
I think today would have been the second-worst loss ever, based on the spread. The worst I can find:
- Stanford over USC in 2007, winning 24-23 as a 41-point underdog,
- Oregon State over Washington in 1985, winning 21-20 as a 38 point underdog.
- Temple over Virginia Tech in 1998, winning 28-24 as a 36-point underdog
Anybody got any others?
September 14th, 2013 at 11:19 PM ^
September 14th, 2013 at 11:33 PM ^
No doubt there were a lot of ignorant fans out there that thought an FCS national champion was a pushover, but that doesn't change the fact that that was a good team, probably better than a couple of Big Ten teams of the time and a good three touchdowns better than today's Akron.
In terms of actual disparity in talent on the field, as opposed to fan perception, that loss probably wasn't in the top 100 all time. Today, on the other hand....
September 15th, 2013 at 3:12 AM ^
That App State spread was better suited to beat a Michigan team at the time than these iterations of Akron and Michigan. Without a doubt (to me), this would have been a far more improbable loss.
This was almost a perfect storm of Gardner implosion, special teams failure and Akron coming of age - I'm sure they're going to now rattle off a bunch of wins and take the MAC this year to prove me right - to upset us.
More upsetting than the lack of push from the middle of our 0-line and the non-existent QB pressure from a 4-man rush against Akron, is the apparent bad head space that Gardner has entered. Ever since the horrid INT against ND in the end-zone he has not looked himself for more than a couple plays at a time.
As Gardner goes, so does our team and he's not quite alright just now.
September 15th, 2013 at 10:21 AM ^
He's still young in experience, as is the middle of the O-Line, the TEs and much of the receiving corp, so there is the potential for great improvement.
September 15th, 2013 at 5:32 AM ^
September 15th, 2013 at 1:57 PM ^
I'm sorry but App St. was definitely the worst loss in our history. We were ramked #5 and projected to make the MNC that year and it was our home opener.
We had the #1 pick in the draft at LT, a four year starter at QB and at RB the guy who is the #1 rusher in our history and lost to an FCS team at home.
We were evenly matched against Toledo but had a far greater "talent" advantage over App St. There is no way we should have lost that game.
September 15th, 2013 at 2:57 PM ^
...I think the '81 Wisconsin loss was the worst in my lifetime. We were ranked #1 and were playing a team that had been held without a touchdown in six of 12 games the year before. They'd been shut out by Indiana two years in a row, we had three all-Americans on the OL, a first rounder at running back and Anthony Carter. I really thought that was the year (a feeling I didn't have in '07) and it was over before it began.
September 17th, 2013 at 2:22 PM ^
In that case, I'll defer...either way, losing to Toledo was in no way the same category as either of those two losses.
September 14th, 2013 at 11:23 PM ^
It's about percepetion, expectations, and embarrassment factor. The perception at the time of the Appy State game was that we were a top 5 team and national title contender. This year...maybe top 15 and conference contender. The expectations in 07 were sky high after missing the national title game the year before by a field goal. Expectations this year are to maybe get to the Big Ten title game. Losing to an FCS school added a layer of embarrassment to the loss, and we were the first college football giant to fall so hard to an unkown school. It's not just about the Vegas lines. While that attempts to quantify the difference in quality of the teams on the field, it does not necessarily take into account the level of shame that would accompany the upset. Appy State was the perfect shit storm. A loss against Akron would have been devastating, but not nearly what the Appy State game meant to this program.
September 15th, 2013 at 1:12 AM ^
UTEP was winless. BYU was the defending national champion(as we all remember) and was ranked #7. I believe the Cougars were 35 point favorites or thereabouts.
September 14th, 2013 at 11:17 PM ^
No. Any educated person knows that that App State team was a great team. akron is an awful team with a shitty program that hasn't done anything worth noting besides beating ohio in 1894.
Still shouldn't have lost to an FCS team, but it happened.
app state didn't just capitalize off of Michigan shooting themselves in the foot like akron did today, they made plays to win that game. They came in and won that.
September 14th, 2013 at 10:47 PM ^
Michigan has ELITE players? I thought that term applied to players who perform at elite levels on the field. We have precious few of those. Also, why do you act as if the upperclassman proportion of the team has somehow increased magically over the past couple of years? We ARE still young. That's just a fact. Ignoring reality makes you delusional by definition.
September 14th, 2013 at 11:10 PM ^
Are our guards, or center, or anyone on the DL "elite" players? Nope. Some young highly rated recruits but that's about it right now.
Pretty sure Michigan has one of the youngest rosters in the B1G including lots of youngins on both lines. The best teams in the Big Ten (however laughable the conference is right now) tend to have lots of upperclassmen and seniors. Sparty on D recently and O when they were good a couple years ago, Wisconsin when they've had dominating O lines, etc etc. I think Wisconsin was starting 5 5th year seniors when they went to the rosebowl a couple years ago. There is a huge difference in physical and mental development from 18-23 years old.
You should probably stop posting for a while.
September 14th, 2013 at 11:11 PM ^
You should probably keep your suggestions to yourself.
September 14th, 2013 at 11:16 PM ^
"Enough of this shit.
We're young isn't an excuse anymore. Michigan has elite players. "
LMAO. Sleep it off brah.
September 14th, 2013 at 11:39 PM ^
although for a 12pm game against an opponent like Akron, I don't necessarily buy youth as any kind of excuse.
As far as your comment # 29; if you really think the D wasn't awful today giving up over 400 yards & 24 pts. to Akron, while simultaneously allowing big plays on the secondary, you must have watched a different game. But hey at least our front 4 got all those sacks. Oh wait.
The D sucked today too, it was just overshadowded.
September 14th, 2013 at 11:50 PM ^
That said, 400 yards allowed to fucking Akron. Jesus H F Christ on a Popsicle stick that's fucking ugly.
September 15th, 2013 at 1:17 AM ^
but see my point about being overshadowed?
September 14th, 2013 at 11:57 PM ^
up. Stop being an emotional wreck and understand that we are 1-2 more top 5 recruiting classes away tfrom having the
kind of talent level we need and want. Neither Rome nor Alabama nor Oregon was built in a year or two....
September 15th, 2013 at 2:00 PM ^
Isn't this year 3 of Hoke meaning he has 2 full years of recruiting? This is a make or break year for him as a strong season keeps the momentum going but a poor season could stall his great recruiting to date.
We need one more year of 4* heavy class and then we should be ready to go.
September 14th, 2013 at 10:33 PM ^
Yeah, I agree.
Key is getting better from this point. Gotta be more consistent and less sloppy play.
September 14th, 2013 at 10:59 PM ^
September 15th, 2013 at 1:01 AM ^
September 15th, 2013 at 4:26 AM ^
teams in the division have done anything to warrant that title though. NW might be able to, but clearly CAL still sucks and Syracuse isn't very good either. Don't think either one are better than ND. Also Nebraska is a trainwreck defensively, and one decent game on offense doesn't erase the trainwreck MSU'S offense was the first two weeks.
Regardless of what happened today the rest of the division doesn't exactly have me shaking in my boots right now, those teams have their own problems.
September 14th, 2013 at 10:15 PM ^
September 14th, 2013 at 10:18 PM ^
I wonder if the game had gone differently, somewhat, had Gardner not lost that fumble in the 2nd quarter (before his 2 interceptions.) We had a nice drive going all the way to the Akron 10 when Gardner looked like he was going to do an option pitch, held on to the ball with one hand even as two Akron defenders jumped on top of him. If we score there, it's 14-3 shortly before the half and the Zips don't get 2 field goal attempts.
Still....the defense. I have no explanation for them today.
September 14th, 2013 at 10:25 PM ^
Surely. Two less turnovers this week by Devin and Michigan wins 31-17 or something. We all laugh it off and say "meh, letdown from ND." But same issues remain. Devin can simply single handidly hide a lot of them when he is on. Today was about as off as you can be. Similarly if Denard had 12 months ago kneeled on every play in the 2nd quarter rather than attempting to pass, I think UM wins that game. ;)
September 14th, 2013 at 11:21 PM ^
September 15th, 2013 at 12:08 AM ^
In the first half, it did not feel like a close game. It felt like a game we were dominating, but the scoreboard didn't show it. But when you go into halftime and it's still close, the underdog's going to start getting confident.
September 14th, 2013 at 10:26 PM ^
September 14th, 2013 at 10:27 PM ^
September 14th, 2013 at 10:58 PM ^
Win the Heisman?
September 14th, 2013 at 10:43 PM ^
September 14th, 2013 at 10:17 PM ^
September 14th, 2013 at 10:18 PM ^
I think Hoke approached this correctly on all levels - made his displeasure unmistakably plain, broke it into its components, did not call out anyone in particular and took ownership of the situation. Even in situations like the aftermath of a game where you win ugly, you can see why people want to run through walls for this man.
September 14th, 2013 at 10:41 PM ^
September 14th, 2013 at 11:14 PM ^
Today's players are a lot different than those of Bo's era. Guys who act like Bo get fired or mocked by rivals blogs and fansites as purple faced leprechuans.
September 14th, 2013 at 11:22 PM ^
This pretty much was a Bo-style speech. After a poor performance, he would not blame it all on the players. He always made sure to state that his staff had been part of the problem as well.
September 14th, 2013 at 10:18 PM ^
September 14th, 2013 at 10:27 PM ^
Speeches are overrated other than for hype videos and fans. A week ago people were drooling on themselves over his post game ND speech. Then the team went out and laid an egg. 99% of these speeches are going to be forgotten by Tuesday. The other 1% yeah they go into history and such. ;)
September 14th, 2013 at 10:51 PM ^
He also knows that the cameras are on him, too. If he goes apeshit-titdick all over this team, that's all over the internet shortly after he walks out of the locker room, and that's not good.
I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of what gets said behind closed doors, when the cameras get turned off.
September 14th, 2013 at 10:21 PM ^
September 14th, 2013 at 10:28 PM ^
Honestly, whether he thinks that or not, it may be unfortunately right on point. We just don't have elite weapons. Darbohs injury might be a bigger deal than we thought.
September 14th, 2013 at 11:11 PM ^
September 14th, 2013 at 10:33 PM ^
September 14th, 2013 at 10:25 PM ^
Uh that was giving them a piece of his mind? That was about as soft as a chew out as I have ever heard. Hell, he even said it was the coaches fault.
September 14th, 2013 at 10:27 PM ^
i can't wait until you are banned again
September 14th, 2013 at 10:46 PM ^
Well you'll be waiting a while, because I'm not going to get banned.
Also, if you really "can't wait" for me to be banned, you probably need to find some better things to do with your life.