As I sat in a friend’s basement watching the end of the game, an all
too recently familiar feeling started to wash over me as Devin threw his last
interception of the game…Michigan was about to lose again to Sparty.
The truly humiliating part to me as a fan: It wasn’t even close. I stated earlier in the season that some teams should just
accept the fact when they get beat. And
Michigan GOT BEAT BAD…This was the equivalent of…Actually, I cannot think of
many, if ANY, Michigan victories over Sparty where things got as lopsided in
the opposite direction as this one did on Saturday against Michigan. Bobby’s last game? Saban had a stinker in Ann Arbor before he
left and there were a couple of Perles gems in there as well…But I don’t think
I ever recall one game where the Sparty’s were held to negative rushing
yards. EVER. That noise you heard on Saturday was Bo
Schembechler rolling over in his grave when it became clear that Michigan would
not only finish the game negative rushing…but Michigan would also go a 2nd
year without scoring an offensive TD against Sparty.
Therefore, I guess you could say that Sparty owns the worst beat down of
Michigan ever, Alabama and Tennesse beat downs included. Great.
I’ll say that. In addition,
Sparty more or less came out and said, “Hey, Michigan, here’s what we’re going
to do on Defense. We’re going to blitz,
apply pressure, and force you to throw. And
oh, by the way, we aren’t going to let you throw back side screens or
slants. And you are more or less going
to have to beat us deep.” And that’s
exactly what they did. On offense, they
just didn’t screw up (that much). And
that’s all you need.
I am one fan that can’t wait for the next guy to screw up at some school
where Narduzzi will want to be a head coach.
Is that a B1G or an SEC team? What’s he
waiting for? I dunno…But his stock has
never been higher, that’s for sure. And
while that does offer some balm to the wounds, it still doesn’t answer all the
Michigan questions that are lurking in every Michigan Fan’s mind…
Will there ever be dominance again?
Can Michigan ever put it all together?
Why is it taking SO LONG when we watch other teams with redshirt
freshmen or sophomores gaining success so quickly? Is it the fact that the coaches are
stubbornly standing behind lesser athletes that are seniors? What are the reasons and more importantly,
what and where are the answers?
The answers coming out of Ann Arbor will sound like a lot of excuses
this week: Sparty executed better, they
wanted it more, yadda-yadda-yadda... But, again, WHY? What are the issues that are keeping Michigan
from executing? I’ve harped on the Offensive
line all year and that clearly was one of the major issues Saturday. But, the coaches had two weeks to game plan
for that. I understand now (after
re-reading my comments from PSU) as to why Michigan stubbornly stuck to that
game plan in Happy Valley. Maybe the
coaches were peeking ahead a little to the MSU game (and to a lesser extent,
Indiana) and they were aware of the fact that without a solid run game, the
season is lost…Well, there’s no run game.
Period.
So now what, Fred? I’m not on the
Fire Fred and Barney bandwagon – even though it’s filling up fast….But the bar is being
raised in this rivalry and Michigan cannot keep thinking that Sparty is a
victory on the schedule….and for the rest of the B1G…It’s time to step up or
get out of the way….
I hate to think that the season is for naught…It seems to me that some
sort of salvation can come out of the last 4 games, with two at home. But, just based on the probabilities, it
doesn’t look good.
Michigan has less than a 2% chance of going undefeated at this
point. Not that it matters as Sparty has
more or less won the division and has some fairly easy games the rest of the
way. How did I get to 2%? Simple:
Michigan vs. Nebraska
70% chance of winning (At home, should be up after loss)
Michigan vs. Northwestern:
35% Chance of winning (on the road, NWU HUNGRY for a win…)
Michigan vs. Iowa:
30% chance of winning (See NWU – but they have bowl hopes)
Michigan vs. OSU:
25% chance of winning (Hey - It is home and there’s a
chance!)
Multiply all that out:
0.70 x
0.35 x 0.30 x 0.25 = 0.01975~ 2%
chance of winning out. Even if
you take OSU out of the equation, it’s less than 10% that they can win the
other 3.
So, I’m now thinking that winning two of the last 4 would be great,
leaving Michigan looking at 5th or 6th place in the B1G…a
truly sad state of affairs. I was
actually trying to find some highlights that I might have been able to throw
down here…All I can think of is that the scotch selection at the party I was at
was pretty good.
5 Stages of Slappy Fan Grief
- Denial and Isolation This stage is
thinning out considerably as fans come to realize that any early season
hopes and aspirations have more or less vanished and continue to dwindle
with each loss. There are very few
fans left up here, but some of the new fans to this category may in fact
be the OSU Suckeyes and possibly the FSU Seminoles. IF (that’s a big If) the Ducks and Bama
win out, two very good football teams are going to be left on the outside
looking in. Yeah, you could argue
that Stanford is in here, also, but they have a loss and they have to beat
Oregon. If they do that, there’s a
whole new group in this stage Quacking
that the Play-Off should have started 1 year sooner….
- ANGER - While there’s a lot of anger out there
and you can add some new faces, there’s probably no-one angrier than Michigan
Fan and possibly Purple Kitty Fan.
If you didn’t hear, the Children of the Corn managed a last second Hail
Mary at Northwestern to clinch the come from behind victory. The Purple Kitties are 0-fer in the B1G
and are going to want to spoil someone else’s party – soon. Gator Fan might also be bubbling UP to
this level from the bargaining / acceptance level due to the fact that
they are not happy with what has been happening in the 3rd year
of Will Muschamp’s tenure. Let’s
remember that Will didn’t exactly inherit a fleabag of a program, but he’s
kind of turning into one and GATORLAND is getting pissed….
- Bargaining – This is where I believe you
will find a large majority of Michigan Fans after what happened on
Saturday. Yes, they’re angry, but
after each and every poor offensive and defensive display that occurred
this season, only the truly slappy could assume that Michigan would
somehow find a way to pull off the impossible up in East Lansing. Again, 2 out of the last 4 now seems
reasonable…and the season outcome already unsuccessful as, again, the
Wolverines will not be going to Indy for the Championship. Multiple fan bases are all here as they
await the outcomes of future games and figure out which flea-bag bowl they
will attend that is not BCS affiliated.
- Depression –NWU, Georgia, Gatorland, Game
Cocks, Trojans, Wolverines, Clemson Tigers, Hurricanes, Gophers, Kansas
and Horned Frogs to name a few….
- Acceptance – Kansas
and Purdue. How incredibly bad do
you have to be to know that you don’t even have a shot at winning a
conference game for the rest of the season? Really Bad….
The chips are
falling into place…and how important it becomes to have that pre-season #1
Ranking!
|
Record
|
Rank
|
Pts
|
%
|
Rank
|
Pts
|
%
|
Avg
|
Avg
|
Last
Week
|
||
|
1.
|
8-0
|
1
|
2613
|
.9954
|
1
|
1540
|
.9935
|
.950
|
.9797
|
1
|
|
|
2.
|
8-0
|
3
|
2444
|
.9310
|
3
|
1436
|
.9265
|
1.000
|
.9525
|
3
|
|
|
3.
|
8-0
|
2
|
2491
|
.9490
|
2
|
1475
|
.9516
|
.930
|
.9435
|
2
|
|
|
4.
|
9-0
|
4
|
2317
|
.8827
|
4
|
1369
|
.8832
|
.850
|
.8720
|
4
|
|
|
5.
|
7-1
|
6
|
2102
|
.8008
|
6
|
1222
|
.7884
|
.790
|
.7930
|
5
|
|
|
6.
|
7-0
|
5
|
2167
|
.8255
|
5
|
1299
|
.8381
|
.660
|
.7745
|
6
|
|
|
7.
|
8-1
|
7
|
1890
|
.7200
|
7
|
1121
|
.7232
|
.740
|
.7277
|
8
|
|
|
8.
|
8-1
|
8
|
1725
|
.6571
|
9
|
961
|
.6200
|
.790
|
.6890
|
9
|
|
|
9.
|
8-1
|
9
|
1672
|
.6370
|
10
|
959
|
.6187
|
.750
|
.6686
|
11
|
|
|
10.
|
7-1
|
10
|
1572
|
.5989
|
8
|
971
|
.6265
|
.600
|
.6084
|
10
|
So much is
happening this weekend that it will tell a lot about where this finishes
up. It’s hard for this fan to believe (if
you’ve seen Oregon and FSU play this year) that Bama is still in the top slot –
given the obvious weakness of the SEC.
There’s a LOT of Auburn fans, Mizzou fans and whoever else is left on
Bama’s schedule in Oregon, Columbus and Tallahassee. Whether or not FSU can get the point it needs
with the schedule they have remaining is the big question mark. I believe Oregon controls their own destiny
and just has to keep winning. The Suckeyes?
Michigan losing hurt them A LOT……
Idle Thoughts From Saturday
-Please prove me right and show that the Sparty Defense is simply a product of its competition…
-ALL RIGHT! Long pass to start out the game..
-I hate field goals in this game…
-And they march right down and answer….How about some defense?
-We cannot let them score anymore…
-I’m not unhappy at half-time, but I’m not elated, either.
-Uh-oh….3 and outs are never good…
-Jeez…Gardner is getting absolutely no blocking up front…
-Screen is covered all day and Sparty corners are covering the deep routes…
-Maybe they are as good as advertised..
-But aren’t we good too? What gives?
-YOU HAD TWO WEEKS TO FIGURE THIS OUT!
-Minus 49 rushing yards? Where’s the Scotch…
-I guess I must have had too much…
-The crowd I was with made me don the “Mraz Safety Helmet”
-Now Officially known as the "MMQ Helmet"
-Thank God for Hot Seat Mascots....
-Why do I let myself get so wrapped up in this game?
-ITS SPARTY fergodsake!
-BEAT THESE CLOWNS!
-Great – they scored again…
-I hate these guys…maybe they have taken over this adage…Seeing as how the domers won’t be around to kick around after next year…
-Everything this season is now for naught…
-No B1G Championship Appearance..for the 3rd straight year…
-No BCS game…
-And there would have at least been a chance had they beaten PSU…
-I’m not ready to can Fred
The Hot Seat
GONE LIST:
(It’s not the EARLIEST we’ve ever had a gone list….but it’s the earliest
“in season” we’ve had a Gone List…)
- LANE KIFFIN
- Paul Pasqualoni
- Treadwell
- Hazell: Poor Purdue….what are they gonna do?
- Weiss: Can’t believe he’s still there…
- Snyder: Retiring?
- Fitzgerald – Can’t stop a Hail
Mary and no B1G wins?
- Holgorensen: Moves down a little…but had better find
a consistent offense
- Mullens – Mississippi State…gotta
be getting warmer…
- Biliema: Arkansas Nation does not like a B1G re-tread…
- DABO: no chance at national title….
- Richt – Wow…Again, injuries are tough….
I missed the FMQ last week due to work related
issues as well…I really hate it when work gets in the way of getting screwing
off stuff accomplished. But, I will
report on the last bets (It wasn’t pretty – we’re simply going to call it a “Michigan
Week”) and I will get out the FMQ tomorrow as I can foresee that I want some
action on the Oregon Stanford battle in Palo Alto.
USC @ Mizzou
(-2.5): Take Mizzou and lay the 2.5 for $40
LOSE
UCLA @ Oregon (-23):
Take Oregon and lay the 23 for $50
WIN! Bank $95
Nebraska (-10.5) @ Minnesota:
Take Nebraska and lay the 10.5 for $60
LOSE
Texas Tech (+7) @ Oklahoma:
Take Texas Tech and the 7 for $50
LOSE
MSU (-10) @ Illinois:
Take the Illini and the 10 for $50
LOSE
Starting BANK: $1,174.50
TOTAL WIN: $95
BANK: $1,269.50
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