I agree with everything you're saying, but trying to turn this into a Cold War anti-communist rah rah thing is dumb. Russia is not communist; they're also not trying to push any ideology other than "We are relevant and want to become an empire again".
Last year's team followed a similar trajectory to this point but just barely made the tournament, and also didn't have a loss to a bad MAC team to anchor the resume. Maybe it's not time to panic at the state of the program, but tournament hopes are still very much on life support
What does this say about our scholarship situation? I thought we were already at like 96 with all the portal pickups? They must be expecting additional attrition
Literally never said anything about Edwards. And I'm pretty sure there's nothing generic about saying you're a football team on a mission from God. I've never even heard that from Notre Dame. The closest thing I've heard is from someone like Dabo, and fuck him
I don't really care what any individual says, just the casting of the entire football program as a religious entity.
Now that you mention it, I'm sure part of the problem is those who have such a tiny worldview as to assume everyone in the world is either Christian or Atheist
I'm Jewish too. It doesn't make you feel any less a part of the team when he says "We're on a (Christian) Godly mission"? That this thing you're so happy about is because we're all Christian?
Imagine the coach of Michigan got up and said "This thing right here, this thing you're so happy about, this is all because we have brown hair. Our brown hair gives us powers that help us win, and brown hair is the most correct thing to have." And you don't have brown hair. Wouldn't that put a damper on rooting for them?
It's not a great analogy but the best I can think of
Hate to say this, but Harbaugh needs to be humbled a little bit. He's getting totally fucking obnoxious about this "Godly Mission" bullshit. The more he wins, the more we hear about it. I'm elated about the OSU wins and the state of the program, but like...am I allowed to be? Can I be a fan of this team if I'm not Christian? The whole thing feels rather exclusive, and seems more like a religious cult with every win.
I'm probably going to get negged to death for this but it's how I feel. Crushed that I can't feel as elated about this win as I want to be.
Those of you saying 2021 was better than 2003 are insane. Yeah in 2003 we lost some dumb games, but that team was way more talented and had a fully functional Death Star of an offense by the end of the season before they ran into the USC buzzsaw. 2021 was a really fun year to be a part of, but the talent level is just not there. Basically two elite position groups (DE and OL). This was always supposed to be a rebuilding year towards 2022 and 2023
That's not the point. You're not judging different seasons by the same standard.
For example look at Rutgers 2014. Before beating Michigan they were 4-1 with wins over Washington State (who finished 3-9), Howard, Navy, and Tulane. In a 2020-type schedule they could easily have been winless for weeks before Gary Nova found a Michigan secondary to decimate.
Excellent piece. I can't imagine all the research that went into this.
I'd like to give a shoutout to Mark Moundros at fullback. Not a scholarship guy, but a solid 2-year starter who was a captain on the 2010 team. He obviously shouldn't be the starter or even the backup, but deserves mention.
What I care about is that when you enter Michigan Stadium all it advertises is itself, and what I pity is the kind of person who would walk in and think about all the revenue they could make if they would just stop being cavemen.
The original post alludes to it, and some of the comments are flat out joyous about it. The RCMB used to have threads about how early Denard would be knocked out of the UM-MSU game, which was rightly eviscerated on this site. Let's try to be above that, shall we?
why it's okay for Michgan State to slap the floor at Crisler, but when Joe Bolden puts a stake in the ground at Spartan Stadium it becomes a national headline? I must be missing something because this seems like a giant double standard.
Just wanted to put my two cents in and then I will probably bow out. Am I the only one who thought Borges called a pretty good game in the second half? Borges saw the blitzes coming every play and did a few things to counter it:
The short passing game was working for (seemingly) the first time all year long.
The screen pass went for 40 yards.
Max protects for the downfield passing game.
Running on the outside (the jet sweep to Funchess)
The reason we couldn't move the ball downfield is because even with 7 guys on the offensive line, Gardner gets an average of 2-3 seconds of protection before he is forced out of the pocket. And when you max protect, you only have two or three routes downfield and when no one is open the quarterback is going to be hit. You could say Gardner should be getting rid of the ball more quickly but that is the least of our problems in my opinion. In my mind this loss is squarely on the offensive line. Even with a moderately coherent offensive line, Gardner would look like Gardner of the Notre Dame game and Borges would look like a genius.
Recent Comments
I agree with everything you're saying, but trying to turn this into a Cold War anti-communist rah rah thing is dumb. Russia is not communist; they're also not trying to push any ideology other than "We are relevant and want to become an empire again".
Last year's team followed a similar trajectory to this point but just barely made the tournament, and also didn't have a loss to a bad MAC team to anchor the resume. Maybe it's not time to panic at the state of the program, but tournament hopes are still very much on life support
What does this say about our scholarship situation? I thought we were already at like 96 with all the portal pickups? They must be expecting additional attrition
How should I think about the Godly Mission? Did they just pray harder than we did or what
Literally never said anything about Edwards. And I'm pretty sure there's nothing generic about saying you're a football team on a mission from God. I've never even heard that from Notre Dame. The closest thing I've heard is from someone like Dabo, and fuck him
He doesn't day he does. He says "We do".
I mean yeah, good point
I don't really care what any individual says, just the casting of the entire football program as a religious entity.
Now that you mention it, I'm sure part of the problem is those who have such a tiny worldview as to assume everyone in the world is either Christian or Atheist
It's not "cheering for religious people" that bothers me. It's "cheering for a religious entity/institution"
Not looking for a religious awakening, just a football team, but thanks
I'm Jewish too. It doesn't make you feel any less a part of the team when he says "We're on a (Christian) Godly mission"? That this thing you're so happy about is because we're all Christian?
Imagine the coach of Michigan got up and said "This thing right here, this thing you're so happy about, this is all because we have brown hair. Our brown hair gives us powers that help us win, and brown hair is the most correct thing to have." And you don't have brown hair. Wouldn't that put a damper on rooting for them?
It's not a great analogy but the best I can think of
Yeah...doing nothing to dispel the belief that this is a religious cult
Hate to say this, but Harbaugh needs to be humbled a little bit. He's getting totally fucking obnoxious about this "Godly Mission" bullshit. The more he wins, the more we hear about it. I'm elated about the OSU wins and the state of the program, but like...am I allowed to be? Can I be a fan of this team if I'm not Christian? The whole thing feels rather exclusive, and seems more like a religious cult with every win.
I'm probably going to get negged to death for this but it's how I feel. Crushed that I can't feel as elated about this win as I want to be.
Uche as a DE? I don't remember really seeing him line up on the line of scrimmage much? Maybe I'm mistaken...I thought he was more of a LB
My all-time favorite thing ever written on this site was this deep dive by Seth after the 2012 Notre Dame debacle:
https://mgoblog.com/content/hokepoints-day-atonement
Based on how good I felt the team actually was:
1997, 2003, 2006, 2016, 2018, 2021, 1999, 2000, 2015
Based on actual season results:
1997, 2003, 2021, 1999, 2000, 2015, 2016, 2006, 2018
Those of you saying 2021 was better than 2003 are insane. Yeah in 2003 we lost some dumb games, but that team was way more talented and had a fully functional Death Star of an offense by the end of the season before they ran into the USC buzzsaw. 2021 was a really fun year to be a part of, but the talent level is just not there. Basically two elite position groups (DE and OL). This was always supposed to be a rebuilding year towards 2022 and 2023
To be fair, Jake Butt is probably the best tight end product anyone's ever had in school history
That's not the point. You're not judging different seasons by the same standard.
For example look at Rutgers 2014. Before beating Michigan they were 4-1 with wins over Washington State (who finished 3-9), Howard, Navy, and Tulane. In a 2020-type schedule they could easily have been winless for weeks before Gary Nova found a Michigan secondary to decimate.
Excellent piece. I can't imagine all the research that went into this.
I'd like to give a shoutout to Mark Moundros at fullback. Not a scholarship guy, but a solid 2-year starter who was a captain on the 2010 team. He obviously shouldn't be the starter or even the backup, but deserves mention.
Can someone explain why the game ended? Mercy rule for an 8-run lead?
From the Litmus Lloyd piece:
What I care about is that when you enter Michigan Stadium all it advertises is itself, and what I pity is the kind of person who would walk in and think about all the revenue they could make if they would just stop being cavemen.
It's almost as if Brian knew what was coming...
why it's okay for Michgan State to slap the floor at Crisler, but when Joe Bolden puts a stake in the ground at Spartan Stadium it becomes a national headline? I must be missing something because this seems like a giant double standard.
Just wanted to put my two cents in and then I will probably bow out. Am I the only one who thought Borges called a pretty good game in the second half? Borges saw the blitzes coming every play and did a few things to counter it:
The short passing game was working for (seemingly) the first time all year long.
The screen pass went for 40 yards.
Max protects for the downfield passing game.
Running on the outside (the jet sweep to Funchess)
The reason we couldn't move the ball downfield is because even with 7 guys on the offensive line, Gardner gets an average of 2-3 seconds of protection before he is forced out of the pocket. And when you max protect, you only have two or three routes downfield and when no one is open the quarterback is going to be hit. You could say Gardner should be getting rid of the ball more quickly but that is the least of our problems in my opinion. In my mind this loss is squarely on the offensive line. Even with a moderately coherent offensive line, Gardner would look like Gardner of the Notre Dame game and Borges would look like a genius.