If not
now...When?
When I woke on Saturday after
a restless night of sleep, I was quietly confident. I had re-watched several of
the embarrassing performances that the osu had over the last several
weeks. I knew that Michigan’s offense,
especially the passing game, could expose the osu secondary. I thought the Defense would be ready for the #2
Offense in the country, but they would be able to contain Haskins and force the
osu into mistakes.
Those were my awakening
thoughts…and they were all wrong.
The Revenge Tour Screeches to
an Emarrassing halt. Burn those shirts
and hats. They are meaningless at this
point. Because, again,
Michigan didn’t finish. In fact, it
almost seemed like the teams were wearing each other’s uniforms based on the
way they had played all season and the way each team looked on Saturday.
Sometimes, even
after a victory, it’s hard to work up the drive, energy and chutzpah to post
something about the game on Monday. And,
as you might imagine, it can be even harder after a loss. I sat around yesterday thinking about what I
would type this AM. I didn’t have a lot of good
thoughts. In fact, it’s
becoming a grotesque chore to write about Michigan losing to The osu.
Each and every season.
It’s gotten to the point where I wonder if
there isn’t a better way to spend my Thanksgiving Saturday. Just sell the tickets when the Game is at
home. When they’re in Columbus, schedule
an outing. Ignore it. Forget the Game. Avoid the pain and embarrassment.
And make no mistake – this was
embarrassing. Two
trips into the red-zone that resulted in figgies was a big early tell that things might
not be going the Wolverines way.
Gentry dropping a TD was another bad sign. Everything from the collapse on defense to
Gentry dropping three balls that were routine catches that would have
kept the Wolverines close. I hate to
blame individuals, but sometimes, there is no other choice. I can’t blame the refs (though if I’m an osu
fan, I’d still be bitching about some of the calls). I can’t blame karma as Michigan was handed a
gift that they capitalized on right before half-time with the muffed
kick-off. Nope. Nothing to blame but the players execution
and the coach’s game plan. Both
sucked to such a high degree that it makes you think that Michigan might have already been
looking ahead to that trip to Indy.
I do not understand exactly what
the Michigan
coaching staff was thinking on Saturday or the week prior to the game. Or even
the entire season going into this game.
Brown had to KNOW that osu would be running crossing and slant
routes. HAD TO KNOW!!! Yet, Michigan seemed doomed and almost said, “Well,
yeah. We know you’re going to run some
crossing, slant routes and jet sweeps and were just gonna’ let you have those.” Why?
Why on earth would you have not game planned better for those plays? In addition, the only way the defense was
going to have ANY success was to pressure Haskins.
Don Brown had to know that going into this game, also. This was the #2 offense in the NATION and you
had to play them on their HOME FIELD. Yet
neither of the two biggest Defensive bullet points on the game plan power point
slide were addressed on Saturday. If
anything, it almost appeared like Michigan’s D had just given up. Watson could be a poster child for a
sunscreen commercial he got burned so much.
When Bush went out late in the 3rd
quarter, I think we all knew. And to add
insult to misery, a blocked punt for 6 was the straw that broke the proverbial
camel’s back. It was nauseating
to watch at that point. One team showed
up to play.
Michigan didn’t.
Offensively, I understand that
the idea was to play keep away from Haskins.
But when that failed, and it appeared to fail relatively early, when do
you execute Plan B? There has to be a
Plan B. Granted, with Gentry’s drops the
lack of confidence in Shea became clear. He was shorting every pass he threw. Nico made up for it with some spectacular
catches, but once the damn broke after the blocked punt, it was
over. Michigan should have just waved at
the opposing sideline and walked into the locker room. The offense’s game plan was nearly as bad as
the Defense. Nearly.
62 points to your arch rival
giving up 560 yards of offense? I still
can’t believe it.
Osu just poured gas on the flaming
mess that was Michigan after that punt.
As sickening as it was, in a
way, it was kind of fitting. I
think the arrogance, stubbornness and sheer stupidity of the coaching staff was
exposed. In spades. There was not a facet of the game that
Michigan excelled in. Michigan got beat
just about everywhere. I’ve
defended James Harbaugh a lot in this blog as the other arm chair QB’s that
text and e-mail me call him out for his conservative nature. Well, you all were right on Saturday. Everything that Michigan has failed at in
the past was exposed for all to see. Michigan
was not ready and they were playing as poorly as I’ve ever seen the team
play. That has to be on the
coaches.
Will Harbaugh treat it as such and
re-invent his offense like Satan did?
Will he at least understand the power of a pass attack that can open up
the run game? Will he learn from Urban
Legend or stubbornly stay the course and chalk it up to poor
execution?
Time will tell. This is still a coach that turned a Stanford
program around to the success it is today and got a relatively weak 49er’s team
to the Super Bowl. So, I know he knows
how to coach. But there are systemic problems
in Ann Arbor. And someone needs to
figure those out. And soon.
Other than another loss to
osu, where does this leave Michigan?
Michigan loses a boatload of seniors that had the experience, hunger and
hatred of losing this game for 3 years running. That should have been enough. It really should have been enough. Instead, Michigan and Harbaugh remain winless
against their arch rival.
And this fan is getting to the
point where I can’t do it anymore. I can’t
have this feeling of misery in the back of my mind whenever someone brings up
College Football. I
would like to be able to go somewhere in the world where it doesn’t
matter.
But it does. I just want it to stop. Let me off the ride.
One smart ass that on social
media that was laughing at the Wolverine fans misery posed a question: “Would it make you feel better if Michigan
was 2-10 with wins over the osu and domers?”
That’s not the point.
And no, that wouldn’t make anyone
feel better. Not in the least.
It would mean there’s way
bigger systemic problems in Ann Arbor, that’s all. And it would appear that the systemic problems
are bigger than anyone thought.
In miserable conclusion, off Michigan goes to a flea-bag New-Year’s
day bowl game with no trip to Indy.
Whoopee…
Links
To Misery…
Wojo
sums it up:
Baumgardner
calls out Harbaugh
Angel
Blames Everyone and Everything…
The
Rest of the Mess
CUD-
Complete Unmitigated Disasters – There Were Several
LSU: LSU and the Aggies played in a record tying 7
OT game. The
beautiful irony is that with 30 seconds to go in regulation, LSU doused Orgeron
with Gatorade and the Aggies made them regret it. 7 OT’s later, Fisher got his “Big W” for the
2018 season. And LSU fans are wondering
the same thing as Michigan fans: Where
to from here?
WVU: The Laters proved to be the better team on
Friday night, but a complete and utter lack of defense on
either side of the ball in this game made it almost unwatchable. I get that the Big iiX has good offenses, but
the defense in this league is atrocious.
As soon as someone learns how to play defense, they’ll dominate.
WSU: Much like Michigan, the table was set and the
Wazoo’s simply needed to finish. They
couldn’t and they lost to a mediocre Washington team that will play for the Pac
12 title.
Pitt: a 7-5 team is playing for the ACC Title. How Narduzzi loses to a pathetic – PATHETIC Miami
team this season is beyond me.
Again, do coaches really look at film and figure out ways to beat teams
or do they just figure it’s not necessary and we’ll just do our thing?
Wiscy: This is a team that everyone thought would
finish in the Top 10 or maybe even have a CFP shot. The badgers were boat-raced by Flecker’s
Gophers who qualify for a bowl game.
Speaking of the Gophers…
We Won But…We Should Be
Worried
The Gophers: Tell me Gopher Fans, is this program headed
in the right direction? I get that a W
over Wiscy is a big deal, but the up and down nature of this team is
aggravating. Next
season is pivotal for the Gophers. Win
the bowl game and start the off-season march.
The Laters: How do you win a game and feel good about it
after giving up 700 yards of offense to the other team?
LNU: Needed a 4th quarter TD in order
to beat it’s biggest rival Rutgers. It’s not even fun making fun of LNU right now…
The
5 Stages of Slappy Fan Grief
- Denial and Isolation –Michigan. The only two teams we lost to are in the
CFP top 6!
- ANGER – Michigan. What else is there at this point??
- Bargaining –Michigan. Two wins away from Perfection.
- Depression –Michigan. 14-1 in the last 15 against the osu?
- Acceptance
– Michigan. It would seem the fate of the Wolverines
is to be the osu bitch…
THE MMQ’s “I DON’T NEED A COMMITTEE!”
Well, some CHAOS for a
change.
SEC: Bama – Beat Georgia and they’re
in. And Georgia will be the best team
left out of the CFP.
B1G: The osu. They will need a little help from Bama in
that they need Bama to beat Georgia to insure that a 4th spot is
open. Then the argument over who gets
the 4th spot to be fodder for the Bama shredder can begin between
the Laters and the osu, assuming each wins it’s title games.
ACC: Clemson is the biggest no
brainer this season.
The domers: IN. This is a piece of the puzzle that will help
Play-Off expansion happen. And if
Georgia manages the upset, look out.
Big iiX: IN – Nobody. The Laters need to destroy Texas in the
re-match and prove that they can play defense.
Oklahoma has given up 40 or more points 5 times this season. They gave up 700 yards of offense to WVU on
Friday. The committee will look at that
and the osu and puke and probably play rock-paper-scissors as to who they let
in. If I had to guess, it’s the osu
today.
The Hot Seat
ZAPPED List
We’ll keep track of
who’s gone as the season progresses….
1.
Durkin
– Maryland
2.
Mike
Jinks – Bowling Green.
3.
Beatty – KANSAS.
4.
Petrino
– Louisville. .
5.
McEntire – Colorado.
6.
Klinsbury – Texas Tech. To me, this doesn’t make
sense. He was your Harbaugh and could at
least recruit to Lubbock. I would have
held on and tried new coordinators before letting Kliff go.
7.
Fedora – UNC. This was pretty obvious from the start of the
season.
8.
Sanford – WKU. Again, took a successful
program and ran it into the ground…
Electric Chair of Death
Seat!
Smith – Illinois extended him but he’s gonna be next if
he can’t straighten the mess in Champaign out.
The Hot Seat
The Hot Seat Traditionally heats up in November,
and this season is no different. As fans
stop showing up and donations from alumni dry up, AD’s all over the country are
evaluating their Head Coach and what can be done about him.
- Snyder – K State.
The
Octogenarian needs to go. I would
point to institutions like PSU and FSU that hold on to old guys way too
long. Probably should have already
happened, but the stadium is named after the guy.
- Smith – Oregon State.
Yeah,
they’ve had a couple close games…but the seat is hot
- Interim Canada – Maryland. I don’t expect Maryland to keep Canada as he’s
part of the “culture” that was a problem under Durkin.
- Ash – Rutgers: Off the ECOD simply because if they haven’t fired
him yet, they probably aren’t going to.
- Kiffin – FAU Lane has
been out of the news lately because he’s LOSING. Not saying FAU will pull the trigger,
but Lane’s potential days are number if he has another lousy season.
- Ruhle – Baylor. Again, took over a heaping
pile of warm dog-doo-doo after Briles left. Will probably get another 2 years before
job is really threatened.
- Malzhan – Losing to Tennessee is a fireable offense in
Auburn. Not being competitive
against Georgia and eventually Alabama will become an issue as well
- Helton – USC. Swan
is sticking with his man for another season after he went 5-7.
HIRED!
1.
Les Miles – KANSAS.
2.
Brown, Mack – UNC. Brown is almost 70 years old and should be
thinking about laying on a beach sipping mai-tais vs. going back to UNC as a
re-tread. Strange hire indeed.
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