I feel like we could have / should have won by more. It was a more dominant performance than the final score suggests.
Michigan turned it over 4 times to Florida's 0. Being -4 in TOs (especially considering two of those were goal-line fumbles by Hart, of all things) means this objectively could have/should have been a rout. Oh well. Made for better television by going down to the wire.
Should have dropped a double nickel on 'em
to see and hear RichRod at that point in time again - I know I was sure excited for his arrival. For the team's sake and his, I sure wish it had been a better 3 years.
It's an eerie feeling knowing what's in store for the next three seasons, the Dark Ages of Michigan....
Watching that, I would never have believed that in 3 years he'd be gone. Surreal.
So here we go again . . .
Ugh, watching RR talk about getting the head coaching job just brought back every single terrible memory of his tenure...
tim tebows face after 4th down on their last possession was priceless
Me and a buddy were debating which was a better game.
2008 Capital One Bowl or the 2000 Orange Bowl vs Alabama?
was great, but the missed extra point to seal the win? Kind of a let-down, although at the time I was ecstatic.
Can't wait to have some stud recievers again....
yup.
Man, I still get a raging erection watching that game.
Too much info? Frankly, I don't give a damn.
Somethin's in my eye.
bowl game of 2007. Seeing Carr carried off at the end made me tear up like a little kid. It was such a huge win for the Big Ten and bigger for us but man after that I remembered watching Illinois getting their faces pounded in by USC. 2008 was an awesome year.
Did I just watch Morgan Trent run down Percy Harvin? How the hell did I miss that the first time? Also, how the hell did that happen?
Of course, he had the right angle of attack, which helped.
Morgan Trent was the fastest man on the team. Usually It just made him get out of position faster.
Edit: This response was to TTU Wolv.
We've been talking about that play for years. Where have you been?
this game. Love Arrington's end zone celebration where he starts the gator chomp, then waves it off. Classic, wish I knew how to post the clip.
Also, the two young Florida fans with blue hair at the end, the look on their faces is priceless.
They had coach Rod in the booth during the game and asked him several questions about the transition to the spread. His answers were very positive, saying firstly that they had to utilize the talent they had and that the spread can be run with a QB like Mallet etc.
I cant help but wonder, was that his honest intentions at the time, utilize the talent we had and slowly transition to a spread, or did he already know in his mind that he was going to blow it all up and just wreck our 2008 season?
He was in the booth when Michigans tight end(name escapes me) rambled for a 30+ yd gain and the announcer asked him "Rich, do you have use for a great big TE like that" and his response "If he can run like that, sure we do". I just can't help but say that was disengenuous on his part. He had no "use" for about 70% of the players on that team IMHO.
Funny thing is, watching that game unfold, it was not the spread em out style of offense we ran that day that killed florida. During the first half our running game was stifled and we were tied/behind most of that half. It was in the 2nd half when our too big, too fat and too slow lineman began to wear florida's interior defense down that we began to dominate the game.
I'm so glad I did not have any anticipation of the trainwreck that was to follow that great game.
You mean he had no use for Carson Butler, who was a notorious head case and lost the starting TE job to a true freshman Kevin Koger? Hmmm, how strange.
Mallett was gone, anyway.
You're rehashing a bunch of points that have been discussed over and over and over again on this site. The 2008 season was bound to be a trainwreck no matter who was at the helm, as long as Boren, Manningham, Arrington, and Mallett were going to be out the door. Those were arguably Michigan's four best offensive players with remaining eligibility (not to mention #1 overall pick Jake Long and #57 overall pick Chad Henne).
So, in a nutshell. You are saying that he was indeed being dishonest in his answers to those questions. He was indeed going to blow it up, bowl streak etc be damned. Thats what I thought as I was listening to him. He'd already, in his mind, made the decision that the "transition" was not actually going to be that. It was going to be a fire sale of the past and an immediate, full scale changover to spread and shred in its WVU form. Its a legitimate and understandable decision on his part, seeing that we were going to be losing so many talented players, but one that I believe ultimately cost him his job.
You say the 2008 season was bound to be a trainwreck no matter who was at the helm, and I might agree that by traditional Michigan standards it was. However, do you think Lloyd & co. would have gone 3-9? I would have easily seen them going 7-5 or 8-4 at best, 6-6 at worst with the team that was returning in 08 but not 3-9. Even without Mallet & Manningham I just cannot see Lloyld losing to Toledo, Purdue & Northwestern.
As far as "re-hashing". Only the replay of the game & the in booth commentary from our now terminated, then future head coach caused me to revisit that moment in time and look back with some different perspective. The "war" is over and the same guys that won that day(big, slow, not athletic enough players by RR standards but fine by NFL standards) will be what brings Michigan back to its former glory. To deny that it makes me happy would be dishonest on my part, however at that very moment in time I was as exited as anyone to see what might emerge from a morphing of spread & shred with big time talent. I didn't forsee the man taking the job and recruiting the same level of players he had in the big least.
No, "in a nutshell" I am not saying that at all. You're taking my words and not just twisting them, but disregarding them altogether.
You have clearly made up your mind about the topic, and I now realize that no amount of honesty or arguing on my part will change that fact. So I'm going to excuse myself from this discussion.
Are you sayiing that his words "We have to make the best use of the talent we have" and "The spread can be modified to suit different players", Referring to the host's question about Mallet. Meant what exactly??
One of these had to be the case.
A- It was coachspeak, he was then being disingenous but with good intentions not wanting to stomp on certian peoples feelings.
B-It was his honest expectation at the time, a transition using the talent to its best fit potential, modifying his "system" and at a later time he figured the best route was to blow it up and run Threet/Sheridan in a read option.
Which do you believe?
I just wonder, because none of us, including yourself almighty, can actually say we know which it was. All I know is, in the booth RichRod from his own lips said these things and then he did not follow through with them. I'm not saying he did not have legitimate reasons for that. I just wonder if he, at that point in time, already knew what he was really going to do and was placating the fan base with his commentary. IMHO that was a mistake. If he knew at that point he was going to blow it up he should have been honest about it and began preparing the fanbase for the terror to come, not placating us with words knowing his actions would not support them. Once again, I'm not saying that was the case, I admit I don't know if it was A or B, hearing him during that game just made me wonder.
No, I'm not suggesting anything. I watched and interview of our now former HC that took place 9 months before his first season started and as the words came out of his mouth I couldnt help but wonder why he said them?? Did he intend on doing as he said and then the situation/landscape changed which required a new approach? Since his actual approach was basically contridictory to everything he said in that booth wouldnt you say its reasonable to wonder why? I guess maybe one who worships the man would never apply such critical or suspicious intent to his words, however Lloyd lack of words, now thats just plain ripe for suspicion of treason huh?
Speaking of unbelievably stupid, I made the assertion that the returning 2008 team if coached by Carr, would not have gone 3-9. Are you saying that they would have?? What evidence would you trot out to support that whopper? Carrs very worst teams never even came close to that level of incompetence but you really want to hang it out there and say that's the record that they would have finished with? Or that they wouldnt make it to 6-6 and get a bowl? I'm sorry but based on a long established coaching record at Michigan with a wide variety of athletes I just cannot accept that somehow 2008 under coach Carr would have been that huge of a deviation from his previous dozen seasons. Might it have been his worst? sure, I'll buy that. But 6-6 would be his worst. I'm not seeing 3-9. You're just love blind for the man from West Virginia. "not that theres anything wrong with that"
If another Pro Style coach been hired or Coach Carr had stayed I truly doubt Arrington, Boren or Mallett would have left. Arrington would have been the main wideout and could have really opened his draft stock up, Boren wouldn't have felt "family values diminishing", and Mallett wouldn't have had to worry about running the ball and bailing because he would have been a terrible fit for a spread. That or when your new incoming coach finds it better to call his prized potential QB (Pryor) over you and that kills your major ego. All in all it probably would have played out like a 7-5 season anyways but we'll never really know.
The majority opinion suggests that Mallett was on his way out, even if Carr had stayed. We were looking at a choice of Threet/Sheridan regardless of the coach.
If we had kept a pro-style offense, that would have afforded us MAYBE one or two more wins. Whether we went 5-7, 4-8, or 3-9, it was going to be a sucky year.
I'm not sure if it's a given that Mallett would have left had Carr stayed. It may have happened, but wasn't a certainty. The two didn't always see eye to eye, but throwing transfer papers in a kid's face was one of Carr's pet motivational tactics.
I do think that once we hired RR, there wasn't much he could have done to persuade Mallett to come, though.
last year and that was despite the fact that he had to come out of a lot of games. That's a lot of pounding on someone who isn't that big.
Loved that game. Thought it was pretty selfless of Hart to risk his non-fumbler rep, deliberately coughing it up a couple times to keep it close and exciting. Always looking out for the fans, that kid. ;)