Semi-OT: Alabama Will Play 'Anybody' in 2015 - Michigan?
Alabama apparently has a slot open for a HOME Football game in 2015. I know our last experience with Alabama in JerryWorld left a LOT to be desired. HOWEVA - most people feel like 2015 is lining up to be a special year for UM Football. DEPTH, TALENT, and EXPERIENCE will be in abundance for that team.
Questions:
(1) Would Alabama TRULY play 'Anybody'? The Alabama AD SAYS so:
“Right now we’d take anybody,” Battle said, via CBSSports.com. “We’ve called everybody we know.”
(2) Would Michigan be open to the idea of replacing a creampuff (e.g. UNLV @ Home) OR a (non-creampuff) Road-Game (@ Utah) with the Crimson Tide? Or would the loss of Home revenue or goodwill with Utah be too much to stomach?
and
(3) Would the MGoBlog community feel this would be a good idea?
I like the idea of playing top competition every year - but beat-downs make them less fun. With an experienced roster in 2015 - I'd like another shot at those f*@&!*@ers.
Alabama Story: Link
Michigan Schedule: Link
Thoughts?
***Nuss vs. Kifin Offensive Fireworks would be fun to watch as well!***
such a negative outlook? 2015 is supposed to be the year that everything lines up for a great UM Football team - why not test that theory against the best?
Everyone complains about our OOC schedules seemingly every year. If we can get a home-and-home out of Alabama, that certainly brightens up the schedule - and the resume' come bowl season.
You want to be the best, you play the best. All signs to a talented, experienced team in 2015. My point is, back up the rhetoric on the field. Most people believe 2015 will be special - let's put that to the test against the best.
Yes, you may not win - but the "best" shot at Saban appears to be in 2015.
I respectfully will never believe a team's best shot at Saban is in a year they are breaking in a first year starting QB, big-time recruit or not.
"Nextyearisouryear-itus" around herepretty much since.......well, the new millenium. I know when we will contend in the B1G, and nationally. It will be about the time we quit thinking that "next year is going to be really good because we don't play ____ " , OR, "We're winning it all next year because we get this team at home"
Good teams (speaking as fanbases) don't think that way, but we (as a fanbase) do........And ironically, not very good at the moment
best team at Bama
B1G teams can't unilaterally reschedule B1G games. But that's just a guess.
(1) Don't know.
(2) No.
(3) No.
FUck, it, sign a home and home. Worst that can happen is two repeats of Dallas in a way better place than Dallas.
As people noted, if Alabama was willing to come up North then by all means schedule them. But I see 0% gain in doing a one-off where UM has to go to Alabama and play an amped-up Crimson Tide team without a return game scheduled.
rule, and Alabama being completely bereft of future scheduled OCC opponents, the time is ripe to schedule a home and home with them.
I dont know how Utah will be in 2015 but this years game vs. Utah I think is gonna be alot harder game and I think Utah has a chance to be a 8 or 9 win team. Their QB coming back if fully healthy is one of the best dual threat QBS in college. He has great pro potential also and could be a 1st rd pick depending how his year goes. So at least this year Michigan has 2 good Non-conference foes to play.... if i aint wrong isnt one of the games vs Utah a Friday or Thursday night game or am I thinking of some other teams?
@ Salt Lake City is on a Thursday night.
I agree with you on Utah this year, they beat Stanford last year, we can't look past them.
what is going on with my points I was at 100 and now they keep going down and down. complete bs.... i have seen people get points for the stupidest shit on here that is not funny at all unless you are a dork. So what are the points about? Someone who knows what he is talking about or putting up stuff about a topic with the office space pics and saying lol and you get upvoted for that stupid shi*? can u see who downvotes you so you can go downvote their stupid comments
to have incurred the wrath of an MGoBlogger or two. Some people will not like what you have to say, and then go search out everything you've posted and downvote you.
When hovering around 100 - it's not the best time to make waves.
Good luck!
I'm not surprised that you keep losing points. Also your post earlier about the Bama TE did you no favors whatsoever. You seem to like to stir the pot, which isn't ideal when you are concerned about something silly like points.
I too grow tired of 'neutral site' games in which a northern team travels 2000+ miles and the southern team travels less than 500. Come up here you chickens. Go play in Autzen or the Shoe or Camp Randall
Someone may have mentioned this already, but who exactly is expecting 2015 to be "a special year for Michigan football?" I, for one, don't expect a special year in 2015 when we are breaking in a new QB, probably a new top WR, and a new LB corp?
I hope the OP realizes that replacing virtually a 3rd year starter and 3000 yard passer (who accomplished that behind the worst OL I've ever seen) is not going to be so easy.
and thanks for the support.
There are quite a few forum posts and main page articles which point to 2015 as being a potentially great year for UM. You should be able to find support for my OP pretty readily.
I agree replacing Gardner will be difficult, but Morris was a 5*, the O-Line will be huge, experienced, and have depth, and the defense has the capacity to be dominant (really only losing JMFR, Morgan, and Clark).
Let me voice this: I do think 2015 could potentiallly be a great season. I am hesitant to say that, because I really thought the 2013 edition of Michigan football was talented enough to make a Rose Bowl run.
Lastly, I sat as a senior in college in August of 2012 and mapped out the 2014 roster. I thought it had the potential to be a 1997-like defense and above average offense. Now, after 2013, I'm just hoping we can win a bowl game this year.
I don't know about offense but I think we could have an elite 1997/2006 defense.
But hey that's what a blog is for. Stacked at WR implies that we have another WR that can get open and catch a pass outside of Devin Funchess, and right now we don't have that. Jehu Chesson's lone highlight in a Michigan uniform is of him blocking a ND defender.
We have no idea what Darboh will do. The 2013 WR group had MAC level offers. The 2014 group appears to be better, but we won't know until the lights come on in the fall. If Funchess returns for his senior season, it's probably a bad thing for the 2014 Michigan Wolverines.
There's no reason he shouldn't amass 70 catches and 1000 yards. With those numbers and his size, the Detroit Lions will pick him at #10 whether it's a need or not.
2012 guys in their 4th year, 2013 in 3rd year. Gardner will be tough to lose, but the rest of the O would return.
Losing JMFR, Morgan, Taylor, Clark and Beyer would hurt, but the D will have a lot of upper class talent as well.
If Shane gets some decent snaps this year, I like the look of 2015.
No...do not want Bama. There's already an interesting OOC schedule.
Nope. I'm not ashamed to admit that I don't want any piece of a Saban-led Bama team again.
get those b-holes up to Michigan and I think we should. 2015 is the year everyone is saying we are ready for that push to National contender, would be fun to see.
We're losing Ryan, Morgan, Clark, and Beyer on defense and only Gardner and Funchess possibly on offense. That's pretty good. I also think we can be a good team this year if we can just get a little more on offense.
Even though we will have talent, experience, depth, the most important part of any great team is the ability of its head coach, and ours is still in the "yet-to-be-determined" status. If this question is answered favorably this season, then reason no. 2 becomes instantly and abundantly clear. With all of the aforementioned positives you listed above, it then stands to reason that we would not only be in the hunt, but more likely the favorites to win the BIG and in line for far more favorable possibilities come post season. With such being the case, it would be an illogical move by our AD to schedule a more-than-probable loss given the venue of the contest. We would simply lose far more than a football game under such circumstances. ^With the four team play-off and the computer now being instrumental in who plays the final game of the season, gone are the days where the Bear said, "If you are going to lose a game, do it early." At the time he said it, it was true. Your performances after an early season toe stub were often lost to memory if you steamrolled the remainder of your competition because both the coaches and honest writers normally voted for the team they actually thought the best at season's end, despite the early miscue. Under the current system, one loss would make it almost impossible to be a player in the final poll.