Positives
There are no positives. We just got whipped by a bad football team. Not a bad football team that just hasn't caught a break this year, but a bad football team in every statistical sense you can come up with.
I think we will be very fortunate to get a 6th win......
Maybe it would be better if we didn't win 6 games, because right now this team would get housed by the MAC champ in Detroit or any other obscure directional school you can makeup from the Sunbelt.
Our last two games of the season have the potential to be ugly ugly blowout losses. This team cannot get out of its own way and makes the same mistakes week after week. Our turnover margin is now worse than it was last year.
I am extremely disheartened by this loss.
October 31st, 2009 at 6:51 PM ^
Positive: It's over now.
October 31st, 2009 at 6:56 PM ^
Positive:
I now kinda have a better excuse as to why I will be getting fucked up on vodka tonight.
October 31st, 2009 at 7:53 PM ^
There is no better excuse than Halloween.
October 31st, 2009 at 6:59 PM ^
How can he be worse than Tate waving the ball around and coughing it up to invisible defenders? Make mine scotch.
October 31st, 2009 at 9:42 PM ^
Sheridan would have probably been intercepted on those deep balls to Roundtree and Hemingway (and a couple others for good measure).
October 31st, 2009 at 7:01 PM ^
It's clear this year's team really isn't all that much better than last year's squad.
With a defense that is completely lost (Illinois' 3rd touchdown - 2 recievers completely uncovered) they are going to be lucky to beat anyone else this season.
Maybe next season, with many starters returning, actual continuity with the defensive coordinator, this team can pick things up a bit. Here's hoping for 7-5 and a bowl game invite next season.
October 31st, 2009 at 7:04 PM ^
has shaken my faith that next year will be much better.
October 31st, 2009 at 7:16 PM ^
I have to agree here - I would not be surprised if, barring a complete turnaround this season, we have a lot of attrition in the post-season, making next year tough as well.
October 31st, 2009 at 8:13 PM ^
7-5 next season? Rich Rod will be run out of town if we finish 7-5 next season. Very, very few people will settle for less than 9 wins next year. Which is going to be hard enough as it is considering we have to travel to OSU, ND, and PSU next year and all 3 teams will be bringing back a significant amount of upperclassmen.
October 31st, 2009 at 7:02 PM ^
That's funny. But really, unless we show something in the last three games, I can't say we are a bowl-worthy team right now. We're 2-4 against BCS conference opponents; and if you can remember back to September (ah...September) those two wins were dramatic 4th quarter comebacks. I mean even if we go 2-1 in the last two games, we still have a losing record against BCS conference opponents. Last year we beat two BCS conference teams; this year we've beaten two BCS conference teams. You could argue the only difference between last year and this one is that our schedule is easier. Yikes.
October 31st, 2009 at 7:02 PM ^
I won't be nearly as disappointed when we lose to OSU again. Had we won, I might have held on to some sort of fiction that we could win.
October 31st, 2009 at 7:04 PM ^
There is no way that not making a bowl game would be better. No matter what the situation, winning is better than not winning.
Part of having a young team, no matter how talented, is having moments of extreme high and extreme low. Last week was a low, but not an unexpected one. This week, we hit rock bottom.
I want to say that this team will come out firing next week, but after coming off a bad loss to Penn St and still playing poorly, I'm not so sure about that. RR has to beat Purdue, or he will be on a short leash going into next year.
October 31st, 2009 at 7:06 PM ^
This may sound blasphemous, but is Tate really all he's been worked up to be since a few incredible comebacks at the start of the season? I think the last few games have shown some serious flaws in his game, yet I still hear some of my friends showing their utmost support and praise, and they still absolutely hate Denard. I don't think there's any doubt Tate's our best option right now, but I think we seriously should consider getting Denard some more playing time now to develop him more for the future. As a QB, not a slot receiver, or tailback, or Super Man. It just kind of upsets me that people can still think Tate is God after games like this and hate on all other options.
This game was absolutely frustrating. I'm trying my hardest to stay optimistic for the rest of the season.
October 31st, 2009 at 7:16 PM ^
Are you really blaming Tate for this loss? He had them on the doorstep to go up 20-7 and then the defense got shredded the rest of the game. There are a lot of people to blame for this embarrassing loss, but Tate is waayyy down the list.
October 31st, 2009 at 7:21 PM ^
Tate is definitely not the only reason for this loss, in fact, maybe not the reason at all. There was huge defensive meltdown in the second half. The point I'm trying to make is that Tate has shown some flaws in his game recently and maybe isn't the superstar everyone made him out to be (yet). I'm just annoyed that people still think he's God's gift to Michigan without giving it any thought. I really think Denard has some great potential, and we need to play him more to develop that.
October 31st, 2009 at 9:45 PM ^
Right now it's crunch time and we need to win games. Tate gives us a better chance to win than Denard. The time to develop Denard is in practice.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:49 PM ^
I've heard this from multiple people, but practice is not the same as real game time experience. I'm not saying Denard should have been in there when we were down 2 touchdowns, but I think he should've been in the game earlier, especially since his running may have been a big weapon against the Illinois defense.
Players can look great in practice but have trouble transferring what they learn on gameday, due to nervousness, crowd, whatever. We can say that this is not the time to play Denard, but I would honestly rather have it bite us in the ass now rather than in a year or two when we actually should be greatly improved overall. This argument seems to be getting old, and everyone has their own opinion on Denard, but he should seriously be given some consideration.
October 31st, 2009 at 7:21 PM ^
he played well until the end when he absolutely had to make a play. its not his fault the play calls were terrible on that goal line drive. its not his fault that we found ourselves down 3 scores.
he's still a freshman, and yes he made some freshman mistakes, but this loss was not his fault.
October 31st, 2009 at 8:02 PM ^
He has to hold onto the ball. Fumbling is never excusable. The loss wasn't all Tate's fault, but he definitely deserves some blame.
October 31st, 2009 at 7:09 PM ^
Positive: ONE WEEK UNTIL BASKETBALL BABY!
October 31st, 2009 at 7:12 PM ^
we are Sparty now?
October 31st, 2009 at 7:18 PM ^
Haha, no, they've been playing decent football this year! (That joke hurt me in the soul.)
I should have thrown up a /s or /joke or something like that after the last post though, my apologies.
October 31st, 2009 at 7:45 PM ^
That is a misleading title to your post . . .
October 31st, 2009 at 8:17 PM ^
a 'positives' post after every game since I registered except the Baby Seal game.
I'm sorry there just aren't any positives this week, not one.
October 31st, 2009 at 8:52 PM ^
With another mediocre performance, Donovan Warren most definitely appears to be not ready for prime time. He will most likely be projected far out of the first round and will likely come back for his senior year.
Eh? EH?!?
October 31st, 2009 at 9:29 PM ^
Positives:
Graham proved again that he has grown into a manbeast. If recruiting services could give additional stars based on college performance, he'd be a 9 star recruit, easily.
Leach wasn't constantly making me scream at the TV. Came up with a big sack.
That's really about it. I'm trying hard to come up with more but there wasn't a unit in today's game that really put out a thorough effort. Bright spots here and there surrounded by "ARG WTF"...