Will we be happy going back to "the way things used to be?"

I really won't be happy until we win the Big Ten and the MNC. If it were a perfect world, we would keep RR and his offense and have a big and punishing D. 

For some reason, I absolutely love watching RR type offenses opposed to the "boring" grind it out Wisconsin style offense. I literally would be less interested in a team because of a boring offense like that. RR's offensive style makes watching football very exciting and interesting, at least to me. 

You have to have the defense to go along with that though, which is the missing piece to this puzzle sans the special teams (field goals specifically).

So, in short, I would not be satisfied with "going back to the way it was". I love Michigan and its history, but I really want to keep this offense. Just please God find us a way to improve this defense. It literally depresses me. 

"Is that now good enough?"

No it's not. Your scenario would, however, be way better than what we have now (obviously). But we would always strive for perfection. That is why our current situation is so difficult. Perfection is nowhere in sight, and seems quite unattainable in the years to come.  At least in your scenario, perfection is in sight, and will seem, with a tweak hear and there, attainable year in and year out. And chances are, we would get there.  

I was anti-Lloyd for many years.  I thought our offense lacked imagination and did not take advantage of our talents at WR and TE.  I thought we played too conservatively and did not possess the killer instinct to close out top games.  I thought we had national championship talent but a 8 win coaching strategy.

Then the Rich Rodriguez experience occurred.

I am happy with spacing 8 wins seasons with one 10+ win season.  I have come to appreciate Lloyd's conservatism on offense and defense.  I have come to appreciate our ability to shut down inferior opponents with our size and execution under Lloyd.

As much as I love Denard's athleticism and the beauty of the spread option, I am ok with 8 wins.  I miss the Woodleys, the David Harrises, the Rob Reneses, and the Jon Jansens...  blue collar instate kids who worked, executed, and led with rage and passion. 

In summary, I want a coach who led like Bo, recruited like Mo, and taught like Lloyd.

we needed to make a change so we can win National Championships again.

Even with a stellar defense, you still have to put lots of points on the board to win against an Oregon, TCU, Auburn or BS-(not that kind of bs, KNOWLEDGE). That means new schemes, dual threat QB's, different tempo on offense (no huddle) and new approaches to TOP. We were slow in understanding this, the Horror and Oregon helped to clarify that for us.

 So...no. As painful as it has been, and I didn't forsee it being this bitter of a pill, a change  was something Michigan needed to do one way or another. (unless it's ok to simply drive for conference champs and get blown out in a NC game, no rival reference necessary)

In the short term, I believe that most Michigan fans would be happy/appreciative. However, unless there is a MNC/several BCS wins sprinkled in with that ocassionally, it would fizzle quickly. Michigan fans are spoiled. We would quickly yearn for more.

Rich Rod is like a raw recruit showing flashes of potential brilliance. He could take us to the top, build a dynasty, and win several championships. I much prefer the high risk/high reward route over the low risk/mediocre reward.

Hell, I would even repeat the experiment with the same variables. Maybe freak accidents don't happen. Where would we be?

Ever stand outside in the cold for a long time, just to go inside and feel the incredible warmth? Is it worth it? Is the feeling of walking back into the warmth greater than the negative feeling of suffering through the cold?

Probably not, but it certainly helps negate it. Once Rich Rod wins, we will all be like caffienated pre-teens on sugar highs. It will be like a full on tantric orgasm. Be patient, grasshoppers.

This is a great question. I say yes. College football saturdays watching Michigan was my favorite time of year growing up. They beat up on the little guys and it was a dogfight against the big boys. They would blow a game here or there but THE GAME was pretty fucking awesome every year. Now I dread it and pray some miracle happens. It would be nice to have more of a perennial top 5 team but very few can claim that. A chance at a MNC once per decade would be sufficient for me at this point (Not that this has ever been the case). Rose Bowls every couple years is looking real, real good.

"We transition back to a pro-style offense with rocket armed QBs, massive O-Lines, feature RBs, big WRs and a traditional tough, physical Big 10 defense."

Please give me your definition of pro-style offense.  (Aside: To quite a few people, the presence of pro in the name automatically makes it good.  Much better, ha, than a "college" offense.)  Denard has a fine arm.  So, too, does Devin (perhaps even better).  Aside from Henne, who really had a *rocket* arm in the long list of BoMoCarr QBs?

Our current O-line is massive.  Do you want to go back to the waddlers of a few years ago?  Those are the ones that the Buckeye D-linemen ran around like traffic cones.

Are Stonum and Hemingway not sufficiently big wide receivers?

Have you ever met a coach that has claimed to have a sucky defense as part of his style?  Of *course* we'd like to have a better defense.  Oh, and what does the Big Ten have to do with that?

"We are 9-4 or 10-3 on most years."

Can that be done only with a "pro-style" offense?  The W-L record doesn't seem logically tied to the type of offense.

"Is that now good enough for our fans?"

@#$% no ... they want to go back to the days of the Ten Year War when (provincial) life was good.

This is my biggest fear. I fucking HATED watching us have more talent and lose because we never did anything even approaching offensive innovation. I do hate losing. I just don't want to see us go back to "run middle, run middle, throw fade, punt" football. I like the offense and really I think the defense will get there with time. We have had shitty linebackers, one good lineman, and a bunch of 17 years olds on the defense for a few years in a row now and I just can't see that happening again. Watch us keep RR and then Denard tears an ACL in practice before the season next year... it's basically got to happen right?

I think the main complaint about Carr was a lack of creativity in play calling...that he didn't maximize the talents of his many weapons.  Think about the game against Tebow's Florida, when Carr unleashed the weapons for a great victory.

Did we need to start over?  I say no.  We just needed to use a few more pages of the play book.  Further, going back to traditional football at this point can quickly build us a deadly team.  Look at all the schools moving to different versions of the spread...where does that leave stud pro-style recruits?  Those kids still exist in huge numbers and are being gobbled up by programs like Stanford who now have less recruiting competition.  It's time to return to a more traditional style; we just need to add a couple pages to the play book.

Imagine Devin Gardner with Dee Hart in the backfield...long bombs to Sammy Watkins and DeAnthony Arnett...We can be great again, and can do it quickly.