OT: Arizona destroys Oregon, 42-16.
Happy for Rich Rod and Arizona. Kadeem Carey was a man today, and Oregon failed, as several players during the week were dismissing the possibility of the Rose Bowl because they are focused on the national title. Good for Arizona and happy to see Oregon brought down.
Edit: not trying to start any flaming, this is news and I'm happy to see big upsets, and Oregon deserved to be brought down IMO.
November 23rd, 2013 at 7:08 PM ^
And we couldn't have had any more losses in 2010? I remember a 3-OT win over Illinois, a last-second win over IU and an escape over UMass.
RichRod inherited a program that had gone to 33 straight bowl games and hadn't had a losing B1G season in 40 years. He promptly posted three straight losing B1G seasons and only went to one bowl (which we lost by 38 points). After three years of him we were worse than we'd been under Carr. That's not improving the program. We were improved only relative to his total failure in year 1.
Using your logic, Hoke should have done zero coaching in 2011 so we'd have started out 3-9, thus making the next two years look good in comparison.
November 23rd, 2013 at 7:18 PM ^
He "inherited a program" whose recruiting was floating slowly downward (this has been discussed already). He also "inherited" Nick Sheridan and Steven Threet. Boren transferred because he didn't like hustling between plays. Stop acting as if he "inherited" an Aston Martin and promptly drove it through potholes while never getting it serviced. More like a Corvette that he stripped and attempted to rebuild.
Well. Tinkered with the engine and left the brakes to GERG.
November 23rd, 2013 at 7:39 PM ^
Go back and read the archives of this site in December 2007. You won't see anyone predicting a 3-9 disaster followed by more mediocrity to come. In fact, I looked up the 2008 season preview (made after all the transfers had happened) and Brian predicted 7-5.
Rich Rod inherited Mallett, but couldn't convince him to stay. As for Boren, he was so "lazy" that he became a starter for Ohio teams that were better than us. I believe there was another linemen (Mitchell) who decided not to come back for his 5th year even though he was a starter.
Rich Rod inherited more than people claim. But he didn't understand that he needed to sell himself to the players. He fired all their old assistants while putting in totally new schemes. He didn't manage the transition well, and the players didn't buy in. The other problem with firing all the assistants was that it disrupted our recruiting connections. We had decades-old relationships with high schools that were lost when Carr's assistants were all fired.
Again, compare this to Beilein and it's night and day. Beilein went to the NCAA tournament in year two with a team he mostly didn't recruit.
November 23rd, 2013 at 7:57 PM ^
Go back and read this: http://mgoblog.com/diaries/decimated-defense
and this: http://mgoblog.com/diaries/decimated-defense-part-ii-statisticating
November 23rd, 2013 at 11:31 PM ^
November 23rd, 2013 at 7:06 PM ^
He won 6 B1G games in three years. It isn't hard to go up from a 3 win season.
Hoke matched RichRod's conference wins in EACH of his first two years. He also beat Ohio State and Michigan State.
Just remember, RichRod ended 2010 scoring 49 points in 3 games. He gave up 137 points.
November 24th, 2013 at 12:18 AM ^
And he ended that 2010 campaign with the most embarassing bowl experience in the history of Michigan bowls....
Hoke's team may be struggling this year people, but we wouldnt be any better if Rich Rod was still here. Its not like Arizona is rocking the world this year thats why the Oregon win is such a huge upset.
November 24th, 2013 at 1:51 AM ^
November 24th, 2013 at 9:23 AM ^
In fact, it would have been very difficult to fire him with an impressive showing in the bowl game.
November 23rd, 2013 at 7:08 PM ^
Oh, and lets not forget about that 42-37 thriller against UMass.
November 23rd, 2013 at 7:18 PM ^
You might want to check how his last three games ended before you say we were on the upswing.
I suppose someone could alwys become an Arizona fan if they love RichRod.
November 23rd, 2013 at 7:22 PM ^
It would appear that we have a lot of them on this blog.
November 23rd, 2013 at 9:55 PM ^
The Defense did NOT improve while he was here, but nice try.
November 23rd, 2013 at 8:08 PM ^
wanna know why RR failed here? it was a matter of $ 15,000... thats what it would have taken to bring Jeff Casteel, his DC....supposedly we wouldnt pay that extra $ 15,000 and instead went with Schaefer.... RR without Casteel was pretty bad folks... with him, and he'd still be the coach here...YEP..... thats tough to swallow, but he'd have made it.. .that offense of his combined with a decent defense, would have made it.
November 24th, 2013 at 12:21 AM ^
No, he wouldnt be. His offense was a gigantic failure against any team that was above average and not named Notre Dame.
November 24th, 2013 at 10:07 AM ^
A good head coach has built a network of coaches that he can go to if his first choice is unavailable for some reason. And he doesn't hire, twice, a guy that has no clue how to run the system he wants to run. You're telling me there isn't any other 3-3-5 guys out there who would have come to Michigan?
November 24th, 2013 at 11:44 AM ^
At this point, a thread about cats would devolve into a flame war. Personally, I'm happy that he's still being successful and proving to people that maybe UM just screwed up.
November 23rd, 2013 at 6:47 PM ^
November 23rd, 2013 at 6:48 PM ^
This was a surprising win, and they way they did it was even more surprising (coming from an RR team): Arizona was more physical than Oregon.
November 23rd, 2013 at 6:52 PM ^
He's a running game coach. I think only the academies ran the ball more than he did while he was at WVU.
November 23rd, 2013 at 6:58 PM ^
You have to be physical to run the ball successfully in any offense. Not sure what is with the misnomer that spread teams don't have to play physically in the trenches.
Clearly Arizona is a very good running team, there is a reason Kadeem Carey has put up the stats he has and is considered a potential high draft pick.
November 23rd, 2013 at 7:14 PM ^
It's surprising because it was a flaw of each one of his Michigan teams, especially the last two years. I wasn't just talking about the offense. The defense played very, very well.
November 23rd, 2013 at 6:48 PM ^
But I don't see it as flaming Michigan fans...even though it is. This is a big story like UF losing.
Plus Oregon was talking smack about the Rose Bowl so this makes it even more relevant.
November 23rd, 2013 at 6:48 PM ^
...RichRod... how do you spell relief?
V-I-N-D-I-C-A-T-I-O-N.
November 23rd, 2013 at 6:49 PM ^
Cactus trumps bird.
the hidden bauer will always prevail.
but the joker has not let the water run.
eat, eat little pelican
let the sun shine through your wings
November 23rd, 2013 at 6:50 PM ^
...and Arizona still has the same record as we do.
November 23rd, 2013 at 6:52 PM ^
And their best win is Oregon.
November 23rd, 2013 at 7:01 PM ^
PAC 12, at worst, is the second best conference this year. UM would easily have a couple more losses in the PAC- 12.
Also UM has no win that compares to hammering the #5 ranked team.
November 23rd, 2013 at 9:45 PM ^
Maybe we can fix that on Saturday.
November 24th, 2013 at 4:08 AM ^
When the #3 team goes down!
November 23rd, 2013 at 7:01 PM ^
We're damn lucky to have the record we do. Akron, UConn, and NW all could have easily been losses. Arizona beat their cupcakes like a real team does.
November 24th, 2013 at 4:10 AM ^
could have been wins! I don't see how you can count the close wins but not the close loses?
November 24th, 2013 at 5:35 AM ^
Trolls don't do that. Haters gonna hate.
November 23rd, 2013 at 7:02 PM ^
And they're ARIZONA, not Michigan, and they're rebuilding from a far lower point than we are.
November 23rd, 2013 at 7:12 PM ^
November 23rd, 2013 at 7:31 PM ^
Or are we still rebuilding from Carr's last few years?
November 23rd, 2013 at 7:35 PM ^
Good lord, these kids were in middle school the last time Lloyd coached a game at Michigan.
November 23rd, 2013 at 7:44 PM ^
November 23rd, 2013 at 7:35 PM ^
November 23rd, 2013 at 8:00 PM ^
November 23rd, 2013 at 8:23 PM ^
That's a middle school comment and a lame one at that. What's next, a momma joke? Give me a break.
November 23rd, 2013 at 9:17 PM ^
November 25th, 2013 at 10:16 AM ^
And have delusionally made up things that never happened. That's your thing. That I'm avoiding people who have nothing but insults like you and get bent out of shape when someone fights back is more a sign how badly this site has deteriorated. Hateful people like you aren't worth my time.
But I'd hardly talk about posting trends when you disappeared for a year when things were going well then crawled back out from under your rock right when we started losing.
And learn what "literally" mean....
November 25th, 2013 at 10:36 AM ^
In my darkest hour I look to both your posts and Section 1's and come to understand that life could be much, much worse. For, I could have the warped mentality, immaturity, or obsessive compulsiveness that the two of you have. And then I feel better. I see that there is some light in this life. I come out of the dark. Literally.
November 23rd, 2013 at 8:18 PM ^
2008 vs 2011. Which team was in a better postion to win immediately. If you say 2008 you're either lying, or delusional.
November 24th, 2013 at 4:14 AM ^
Not winning with his own players. But it does help to get wins to attract better players. Hopefully the former coach doesn't have a couple of dud recruiting classes in between or RR may face the same Hoke problem. Too much youth and a lack of upper class-men!
November 23rd, 2013 at 6:50 PM ^
Officially "gray area" as it's a college football post.
November 23rd, 2013 at 6:51 PM ^
My bad. It was informative from the standpoint of a major loss/upset, but I guess we're all a little on edge right now.
November 23rd, 2013 at 7:13 PM ^
Making up a guideline off the top of my head, if there's any way it has any meaningful effect on Michigan (both the U and AD as well as the fanbase) or the immediate vicinity of campus (basically Ann Arbor proper) it doesn't need an OT tag.
A Pac-12 game coached by RR and involving the number five team qualifies as "potentially having an effect on Michigan". A post about cute dogs does not, and needs an OT tag.