First of all – Happy New Year! This post is going to be a summary of the month
of December and a reflection on my mental state regarding Michigan Football,
CFB in general, The Bowls and of course, Michigan Hoops.
No, I didn’t retire!
No, I haven’t been in a coma…
No, I haven’t been ignoring everything that’s happened in
College Football and Hoops for the last month…
But I will say that after the Disaster in Columbus, I do believe
the MMQ slipped into a “Depressed Slump” as per the 5 Stages
of Slappy Fan Grief. I’ve tried
to have a personal 24-hour rule when it comes to disasters like that, but
that loss was rough on the MMQ (as it was on many, many Michigan fans). So rough that I started several posts on
different topics and then simply couldn’t finish or rather, didn’t have the
desire to finish.
I think I posted one other time after the disaster on the important
4-game stretch the hoops team was facing and then I didn’t post at all
in December. That 4-game stretch worked
out perfectly and Michigan Men’s Hoops is still undefeated going into the New
Year sitting at a perfect 13-0. Michigan
Men’s Hoops finished the Calendar Year of 2018 at 35-5. When you consider that the majority of those
wins came in the B1G last season, that’s an impressive year of hoops.
Long
Live Michigan Basketball!
Urban
Liar quit and I started a post on that, but soon lost
interest as I put together information on the Legend’s stats. It turned my stomach that Michigan never beat
him while he was in Columbus. However, Michigan under Coach Carr did beat
him while he was at Florida. That being
said, I still couldn’t muster up a post in praise of his accomplishments out of
respect as I guess I’ve lost a lot of respect for Urban and THE STU and their
handling of Urban and what transpired with Zach Smith. Urban can go rot somewhere at this
point. I’ve no respect to give.
I started a Bowl Mania Post, but I quickly lost
interest as key Michigan starters kept dropping out every other day or so. I was shocked the betting line didn’t move
with most of the defensive production (Gary and Bush) and half the offensive
production (Higdon + JBB) deciding to sit out the game. My guess is they all remembered Jake Butt getting hurt
in the 4th quarter of his last bowl game and decided that
playing an exhibition game wasn’t in their best interest(s)..
In Summary: If you
have any potential to be drafted at the next level, it’s sjmply not worth jeopardizing
a future pay-day playing a meaningless bowl game. In fact, believe it or not, the MMQ boycotted
a lot of the bowl season. While it was
difficult to turn some of the games off, I found it easier than usual this
season.
And I should have stuck to my guns when it came to the Michigan
Florida Peach Bowl. In what can only be
described as a nightmarish continuation of the Disaster in Columbus,
Michigan stubbornly refused to take advantage of their offensive assets (receivers)
and the defense was probably, scratch that, MOST DEFINITELY more stubborn
than the offense. Don Brown needs to understand
that what works against over matched opponents won’t work against teams
that have similar talent to what you’re putting on the field. Florida’s players said it best. “It’s like we knew what was coming and what
they were going to do.” That’s on
Harbaugh. I’m actually trying to
put together a separate post on Jimmy and he needs to understand that the game
is changing whether he wants to believe that or not. What worked 10 years ago at Stanford won’t
work today. The game has evolved.
As per January 1st tradition, I did watch the Rose
Bowl yesterday. But I certainly
didn’t enjoy it. Washington played great
on defense, initially. They opened up
the first defensive series in a zone and the suckeyes went 3 and out with Herbie
stating, “This isn’t Michigan!
Washington is dropping 8 men back and only rushing 3.” I almost threw up and turned the game off
there. And then we had to watch
Urban Liar after the game lie about whether or not (at age 54) he would see a
college sideline again. And of course he
said no…until someone waves $12-$15M a year on a 3-year deal under his
nose. I’m looking at you South Bend.
Speaking of which, it’s pretty clear that the domers
(JEEZ I HATE THESE GUYS!) were ill-prepared or affected by the time off more
than Clemson. I think it’s a combination
of both, but the domer faithful quickly turned on Twitter and their message boards
stating that Kelly will “never win the big one” and needs to be fired
immediately for the embarrassment that the domers suffered. While I don’t think Kelly should be canned, I
do think the domers are actually better at adapting to the changing tides of
the CFB game. It’s just that Clemson is
that much better and has been doing it longer.
And they played an additional week during their lay-off. I think there’s something to be said for that…
Ditto
Satan’s Warriors. The
Laters managed a 2nd half comeback, but in reality this game was
over in the 1st half. I
believe it was 31-10 and the Laters made a valiant attempt at a comeback, but
their lack of any kind of a defense was glaring.
The debate of 4 vs 8 vs 12 play-off teams and the argument
that Michigan, Georgia, UCF and THE STU either failing badly or barely winning
makes the argument AGAINST an 8 or 12 team play-off or the more compelling, I’ll
just state this: When you’re playing for
something, the two weeks leading up to that game are a lot different in preparation
and mentally preparing than when you’re not playing for anything. From the Michigan perspective, I frankly wasn’t
surprised at Michigan’s lack of effort at all.
4 of the team leaders quit on the team and that had to be a let-down
for everyone else that did play. Georgia
was clearly flat last night and did NOT look like the team that they
had been all season. I know the counter
argument is “Well, look at the blow-outs of the domers and the Laters!!! Do we want or need more games like that???” There’s no good answer and I’m not going to
solve the CFP’s problems or change anyone’s mind that is set one way or the
other – leave it the way it is or expand.
But I will say that meaningless bowl games are going to suffer falling
ratings and attendance figures as a result.
And we’ve already opened Pandora’s box on the Play-off. Expansion is inevitable. It’s just a matter of when.
A
Small Collection of the Rest of The Mess
Purdue
suffered one of their most embarrassing losses of
the season in their bowl game and inexplicably couldn’t find a defense or an
offense in the 1st quarter or 1st half. Then, only a few days after that debacle, the
Boiler
Train lost one of their most inspirational fans ever when Tyler Trent finally
succumbed to bone cancer yesterday, January 1st. Tyler’s story was compelling and an example
of how we should all look at life and live each and every day. We’re all on a countdown, as Tyler would
say. Make them all count!.
Though I am in hospice care and have to
wake up every morning knowing that the day might be my last, I still have a
choice to make: to make that day the best it can be. To make the most of
whomever comes to visit, texts, tweets or calls me.
Yet, isn’t that a choice we all have every day? After
all, nobody knows the amount of days we have left. Some could say we are all in
hospice to a certain degree.
So why don’t we act like it? Where is your gratitude?
With Christmas coming up, what are you thankful for?
I had to write my will
recently, and I’m just thankful I can give my family Christmas presents, maybe
even for one last time. Let’s not forget that my doctors gave me three months
to live almost two-and-a-half months ago. So why can’t we live grateful lives?
Why can’t we make every day count like it’s the last?
Speaking of meaningless bowl games: The Redbox bowl produced two very unfortunate
results: A final score of 7-6 between two of
the most inept teams that took the field this post-season and Defensive End
Willekes breaking his leg, jeopardizing his NFL career. That’s just one more example of why
meaningless bowl games might be gone sooner rather than later…
The Gophers Rowed the Boat to a nice victory
over the Ramblin’ Wreck from Georgia Tech!. Hopefully they’ll leverage that into a
successful spring and 2019 fall campaign!
And
if you’re team was successful, hey, that’s a step in the right direction! You can ride that wave into next season
hoping it produces better results in 2019.
The
Best Highlight of the 2018-19 Bowl Season
If you DIDN’T Watch the Sugar Bowl last night, you missed
a great moment when BEVO decided to show UGA X what it means to be “ready to go”
for a game! (This clip is a little
longer, but it’s the best one I found).
Yep – That’s a bad omen if you’re a Georgia fan…and a bad
omen for future Bowl Games that want to feature both living mascots. That tradition might come to an end when
someone wakes up and realizes how close they were to a really bad disaster!
2nd
Best Highlight of the 2018-19 Bowl Season
Clark
the Eagle was at the Cotton Bowl in advance to the domer vs Clemson game and
was supposed to make a lap of the stadium and return to his
handler. I guess Clark lost his copy of the
pre-game agenda and decided to make a couple of stops along the way around
AT&T Stadium! Two different
domer fans got to experience the excitement of having a Bald Eagle land on
them. As the one fan put it in his own
words (He’s obviously a fan of the Hitchcock Film Classic “The Birds”):
"I
was scared crapless,” Albert Armas told Sports Illustrated. “My family members have already been
texting me, ‘You’re famous!'"
I understand that this could be an argument for the #1
Highlight, but two mascots potentially going at each other is pretty tough to
beat!
The 5
Stages of Slappy Fan Grief
- Denial and Isolation –Hmmmm. Anyone that won a bowl game that wasn’t
played on New Year’s or didn’t finish the season with double digit wins. You’re probably not that great.
- ANGER –Michigan, domers,
Laters. All those fans expect more and get less
and less every season.
- Bargaining –UCF fans...We
were supposed to lose but look how close we kept to the team that throttled
Georgia! I’ll throw PSU
fans in here as well when they saw their comeback against Kentucky
fall JUST SHORT!
- Depression –Michigan, …
- Acceptance
–
Not yet! Season’s still young….
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.
McEntire – Colorado. 2 seasons after playing in the Pac12 Title
Game, Jim gets the ax. Another good
coach that probably should have been given the benefit of the doubt. Mac will
get $10.3M as a result of his ouster.
6.
Meyer – THE STU!!! Urban Liar decides to call it quits after the
Rose Bowl, leaving THE STU without a loss to Michigan.
7.
Mark Richt – Miami.
Retires and cites no reasons for doing so.
8.
Larry Fedora – unc. Whatever.
9.
Terry Bowden – Akron.
Kind of tough to fire a proven guy when you’re Akron
10. Mike Jinks – Bowling Green.
11. John Bonamego – Central Michigan
12. Scottie Montgomery – East Carolina
13. Paul Johnson – Georgia Tech
14. Bill
Snyder – Kansas State Retired.
There might be more….
Electric Chair of Death
Seat!
No one as of right now…
The Hot Seat
The Hot Seat for the 2019 Season Kick-Off.
- Smith – Oregon State.
Yeah,
they’ve had a couple close games…but the seat is hot
- Ash – Rutgers
- Kiffin – FAU
- Malzhan - Auburn
HIRED!
1.
Les Miles – KANSAS. I’m
not entirely sure what to think about this yet, but Jeff Long made a good hire
here, at least on paper. Les will need
to recruit his ass off, but maybe there’s a chance he can get some decent kids
to attend Kansas. Biggest issue the MMQ
sees: Miles was a grind it out on
offense and build a stellar defense. The
Big iiX doesn’t play that way and to compete, Miles may have to get a “spread”
OC and a decent DC in order to just compete.
2. Manny Diaz – TWICE! Temple offered and
hired Diaz as their head coach about 19 days ago. After Mark Richt quit Miami, Diaz jumped ship
after signing 17 players during the early signing period and went to Miami, his
dream job.
3. Rich Rodriguez – OC Ole Miss. Don’t
be surprised when Rich Rod turns that offense around and finds a QB that can
make his spread work. I really wish
Harbaugh would have looked that way…
4. Holgerson – Houston. This makes a lot
of sense as WVU was tired of Dana and Dana has ties to Houston.
5. Matt Wells – Texas Tech.
Too soon to tell if this was a good move…
6. Ryan Day – THE STU. Again, he was
the premiere coach in waiting for a lot of potential jobs at the college and
NFL level. We’ll see.
7. Mack Brown – unc. Round
2. Unbelievable. Again, when a guy should just say
enough. But each party was willing, I
guess…
8. Scott Satterfield – Louisville.
Scott was the App State coach that proved himself extremely successful
at App State. Time will tell…
9. Geoff Collins – Georgia Tech.
Probably be a welcome change to fans that are tired of the triple
option.
10. Mel
Tucker – Colorado. Georgia DC and this will be his first HC
job. Time will tell.
11. Jim McElwain – Central Michigan. I think all Michigan fans knew that McElwain
was an interim coach at best. We’ll see
what happens at Central.
12. Scott Loeffler – Bowling Green.
Still riding on the fact that he was Brady’s QB Coach at Michigan.
13. Chris Klieman – K-State.
AD knew Chris. Was successful at
ND State. If you’re K-State, who else
you gonna get?
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