Tuesday, November 13, 2018

The Revenge Tour: Rutgers Should NOT Be a B1G School


I Liked Last Week’s Locale for writing the blog post A LOT BETTER!
Snow in November?  Before Thanksgiving?  There's no way I'm shoveling yet!
Rutgers Highlights
I don’t know how you get up for a team like Rutgers…
One thing that every coach will tell you is getting your team up for a “dud” of a game against an unworthy opponent can be one of the most difficult things a coach has to do.  And Rutgers qualifies under all those categories. 
At first, the 1st quarter run was a little disturbing and I think everyone watching felt that little twinge of, “Oh no.  Don’t let this be us.”  But then Michigan fell into its rhythm and everything was fine. 
But did you notice anything about Saturday’s rhythm?
It wasn’t as much Shea pulling and keeping the ball and running.  It was Shea handing off…a lot.  It was also Shea getting put into “test” mode of a few more than regular 3rd and longs.  Someone sent a note to me at some point and stated that Michigan had, and I’m paraphrasing, “Better not get into 1st quarter trouble when it matters.  These slow starts are going to be a problem against a better team!”
Well, yeah.  No excrement Sherlock.  Great observation.  OR was it?  Anyone could see that Michigan had superior athletes on the field.  It was just a matter of time.  Michigan could have CRUSHED the Rutgers defensive line and chose not to.  And, I’m being nice here, was it not PAINFULLY OBVIOUS TO anyone and everyone that Rutgers is NOT a better team?  In fact, that was one of the most vanilla offenses Michigan ran all season.  There was a REASON for this:  To test Shea Patterson and give him his first game of over 250 passing yards.  And he threw for 3 TD’s.  This game was entirely by design because Michigan was playing such an inferior opponent that it could “pick its’ poison it’s handing out” this week.  
Or are you still one of the gullibles thinking Michigan’s rush offense couldn’t move the ball on this team?  If you’re answer is yes, I really want to invite you to my home poker game. 
This game gave Shea a chance to hit some people deep.  And Develop something that he needs going into Columbus. 
CONFIDENCE.
It was an awful day for chucking the pigskin around.  High winds, moisture in the air.  The entire passing and receiving core got into the act. 
And they just may need to remember back to this game come November 24th in C-bus.  And they can look back and say, “Hey!  This isn’t the first time running this play!  We killed with this in Jersey.”
Yes, I will give a HUGE HAT TIP for the QB Whisperer who resides in Ann Arbor and coaches the Maize and Blue.  This was a chance to do things Michigan doesn’t normally do.  Get out of the Higdon and Mason Comfort Zone.  Let Shea air his wings out a little. 
If you honestly didn’t see this…well, you have a lot to learn about developing and getting to the “Next Level” when it comes to football.
In fact, it was even more ho-hum then PSU was.   If that’s possible. (Why does PSU fell like it was eons ago?  And not merely 2 weeks?)  The beauty was, Michigan was picking them apart however they wanted to. 
That’s the hallmark of a great team.   
The Rest Of the Mess
Complete Unmitigated Disasters
The B1G WEST - Special thanks to Wiscy, Purdue, the Gophers, Cornhuskers, and Iowa.  I’m leaving the Illini out because I never really had any faith in them to begin with.  I know the MMQ in the Pre-Season Preview stated that the Purple Kitties could be a dark horse.  To quote:
This will be the 8th Championship Game, and it’ll be an interesting question as to who from the West will make it.  There’s a very good chance that Michigan could potentially be in a re-match with Northwestern or Wiscy. 
I’m not entirely sure I completely believed it when I wrote it.  But here we are.  The Purple Kitties, with all of the help they could ever possibly hope to have managed to lock up the B1G West on Saturday.  A team that went 0-3 in non-conference play.  That includes losses to Akron (where the Zips scored 36 2nd half points), the domers, and a bad Duke team.  Fitzy is playing for a shot at the Rose Bowl, which Northwestern hasn’t seen since Fitzy played there in 1995!  Northwestern literally has everything on the table for themselves.   
Auburn – Had a chance to make a statement and couldn’t follow-through.  Yeah, Georgia is the better team, but still.  Malzhan has to man up somewhere along the way and the Tigers need to beat somebody.  I guess there’s still Bama.
Kentucky – I said The Cremesicles would win 2 SEC games this season and everyone laughed at me.  I said that the Vols had decent players, just not a good game coach.  That’s the Vols 2nd SEC win (Auburn and Kentucky) and they are close to being bowl eligible.  Kentucky may have just played it’s way out of a New Year’s Day Bowl with this loss. 
Iowa – You’re getting special attention because the only way the Purple Kitties could clinch on Saturday was if you clowns botched the game against the Purple Kitties.  And you did.  In crazy fashion. 
SOLNU – SOL instead of SOS.  Somehow, I think it kind of works.  In what can only be described as the “Most B1G Game of the day!”, LNU and THE STU took turns NOT moving the ball and punting for Field Position.  THE STU fired the first
“Volley of Suck” with a 4-yard net punt.  Then, once LNU had proven to everyone that THEY REALLY SUCK at this kind of game, they gave us the MOST LNU THING EVER!  (Jump to the 1:35 mark for the “snap over the cross bar!”)
Yep – a center snap over the cross bar.  I didn’t see the presser, but that would have been a question for D’ANtoins.
We Won But
The LATERS – Again, the Laters proved to just about anyone watching that they can score at will and on command.  The only problem is, even with a new D-Coordinator, they can’t stop anyone from scoring on them.  While everyone considers Oklahoma a great team, until they prove they can win a game by more than 2 scores of victory, they’re FRAUDS!!
LSU – Just like the Laters, except their problem is offense.  Can’t just beat decent teams by 1 score.  You have to go out there and take the game over. 
THE MMQ’s “I DON’T NEED A COMMITTEE!”
Is there CHAOS out there waiting for someone?  The math suggests there is.  All top 4 teams have less than a 25% chance (combined) of ALL being in that same position on Selection Sunday.  So, where does the trouble lurk? 
SEC:  Bama – Georgia Winner is IN!  Bama still has Aburn and Georgia has to deal with a fading Georgia Tech in two weeks.  This is the annual “tune up” week in the SEC where they play FCS competition before their big rivalries.  It’s hard to see CHAOS here.  The only CHAOS FACTOR:  Georgia winning the SEC Championship by a nose leaving a beaten Bama team rubbing their worry beads praying that Michigan or the domers lose somewhere along the way. 
B1G:  Michigan is IN.  The problem is, its Michigan and Michigan seems to seek out and find CHAOS.  I don’t think it will happen this weekend in Ann Arbor.  I’ll go so far as to stick my neck out and say that the Revenge Tour will play out well for the Wolverines in Columbus on November 24th.  MY BIGGEST CHAOS WORRY:  The FITZ Factor.  Beating a team twice in the same season isn’t easy.  And Northwestern doesn’t give two shits about what happens in the next two weeks.  Giving Fitzy and company 3 WHOLE WEEKS to Game Plan the Wolverines. It wouldn’t surprise me at all to see the Purple Kitties lose one of the next two games.  But look out Indianapolis.  And The Purple Kitties are statistically the worst team in the B1G West…Sheesh.  
ACC:  Clemson is IN!  Unfortunately, unlike Northwestern, there’s no one in the ACC that can do to the Tigers what the Purple Kitties could potentially do to Michigan.    
The domers:  IN.  CHAOS looms in New York with Syracuse this weekend and then in LA the following weekend in the form of USC and Clay Helton coaching for his job.  They could be the team that falters. 
Big iiX:  IN – Nobody.  Either WVU or the Laters still need a lot of help and CHAOS everywhere else.  Whoeve wins the Big iiX needs a lot of CHAOS.  Get Max on the phone!   
The Hot Seat
  ZAPPED List
We’ll keep track of who’s gone as the season progresses….

1.      Durkin – I know I didn’t comment on this last week, but when it looked like Durkin was going to remain the HC of Maryland, I was ready to begin ignoring college sports altogether.  Thanks to the Prez for making things right. 
2.     Mike Jinks – Bowling Green.  I guess starting out 1-6 in the MAC gets you canned now…
3.     Beatty – KANSAS.  Kansas has been bad at football so long that I really don’t know how you even begin to fix it at this point.  They’ll hire someone and all he’ll be is the next guy to get the hook.
4.     Petrino – Louisville.  I really didn’t think Louisville could afford to part ways with Petrino with everything else that’s been going on.  I guess dumping the other Italian’s contract, Pitino, is helping with the $14M buy-out of Petrino.
5.      

Electric Chair of Death Seat!

Fedora – North Carolina.  Fewer wins in each season he’s been at UNC

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.

  1. Ash – Rutgers:   Off the ECOD simply because if they haven’t fired him yet, they probably aren’t going to.
  2. . 
  3. Helton – USC.  Clay Helton was not Lynn Swann’s choice, but he did give Clay the extension to 2023. 
  4. 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.
  5. Smith – Oregon State.  Yeah, they’ve had a couple close games…but the seat is hot
  6. Interim Canada – Maryland.  I don’t expect Maryland to keep Canada as he’s part of the “culture” that was a problem under Durkin. 
  7. Sanford – WKU   Sanford took a very successful program and literally flew it into the ground.  I would be surprised if he’s still around come January. 
  8. 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. 
  9. 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.
  10. Malzhan – Losing to Tennessee is a fireable offense in Auburn.  Not being competitive against Georgia and eventually Alabama will become an issue as well. 

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