This somehow seems appropriate this AM….
(HT: mgoblog.com)
And while the Mighty Gopher has once again been defeated, you can’t help
but wonder as a Michigan Fan, where and what we’re left with.
- Michigan looked much improved in their
running game and offensive line play in general. But was that because of an inept D-line
and less than stellar defense for Minnesota or did the two weeks of work
really pay off?
- Gardener’s decision were MUCH
better and he even showed some glimpses of what we saw at the end of last
year and to a certain extent earlier this year in the domer game….But
again, was that two weeks of practice or the Gopher Hole of a defense that
Michigan was playing?
- Gardener also showed that he threw
behind a lot of his receivers and it makes me wonder if he’s still not
suffering from a small lack of confidence..and can that get better over
the next couple of games?
- Funchess seems to have returned to
the Michigan Offense…At WIDE RECEIVER no less! He didn’t seem to be playing in the
Tight End spot very often…but is that good (that he’s catching passes
again) or bad (He’s not blocking anymore?)
- In the 1st quarter, the 3rd
worst offense in the league was able to put together a 10 minute, 16 play
75 yard scoring drive led by a frosh QB against what was supposed to be
Michigan’s strength, the Defense….What’s up with that?
- The kicking game wasn’t terrible,
but kicking out of bounds on any kick-off gets you a mediocre grade...and
is that fixable?
- Minnesota was playing either very
motivated or somewhat de-motivated with their head coach sitting at home recuperating
from yet another game day seizure…But which was it? Inspiration and a fired up Gopher team
or a team worried about their all-around good guy coach?
- On the bright side, Michigan did
not turn the ball over at ALL…So, where has that been all year and was
that part of the two week off fix?
And look at the good things that happen when you don’t turn the
ball over…
- Where does this leave Michigan sitting at 5-0? We should all be happy and elated, but instead we’re left to wonder when and how it might end….
I hate to sound so down about a victory and in a way I’m not…Michigan
keeps the Jug and that’s a big deal! I
know it doesn’t seem like it, but the Jug represents a lot of history – 100 years
to be exact. While history is history
and the focus of the collegiate game has shifted on a national level to teams
from the SEC, Pac12 and other areas…..It’s still the Jug.
So, where is Michigan? On a scale
of 1-10, I would right now put them at around 6.5-7 out of 10. Meaning:
If they were playing an equally ranked team, Michigan would beat that
team about 6 to 7 times out of 10. IF
they were playing a team in the top 5, Michigan’s chances drop dramatically. Probably in the 2-3 range. They still aren’t there yet, but I do think
(and want to believe) that they are improving on the margins. And they have two more opportunities for
improvement before the real test comes in November in East Lansing. And those Jolly Green Giants seem to be
clicking along on all 8 when it comes to defense and now they seemed to have
finally discovered an offense…against the #2 defense in the league down in Iowa
City. So, they got that going for them….which
is nice…
I’m not dismissing PSU and IU at this point. They will be good games and they will be
tough. But if Michigan loses one of
those….lights out and don’t let me near a computer for at least 48 hours. But, where is everyone else in the Fan
Spectrum better known as the….
5 Stages of Slappy Fan Grief
- Denial and Isolation – Domer and
Sparty, for the most part, are back up in this area. With big wins in what were supposed to
be tight games, they can each look at the remaining schedule and easily
see how they can be close to double digit victories with the opponents
they have left. However, 1 game
does not a season make. The domers
WOULD have lost to the ASU team that played USC last week. And I’m guessing that Iowa looked and
played Minnesota a little better than what they showed Sparty on
Saturday. You can add half of the
Georgia fan base to this list.
While Tennessee is improving, if you’re a Dawg fan, you can’t deny
that your Defense didn’t do its job very well on Saturday. I’m going to drop a few ohio fans in
here as well…They all saw on Saturday that they don’t have a defense….and
that some bad calls saved their collective butts…but the slappies will
never see it that way.
- ANGER - Some sparties are hanging around in the
anger area and I ran into a couple on Saturday and Sunday. Frustrated that Dantonio made the stupid
decision at the end of the Domer game to pull Cook and still bitching
about pass interference calls. Some
South Carolina fans are here as well with Clowney pulling the crap he’s
pulling down in Gamecock land…NWU Kitty Kats are here as well after what
happened in the 2nd half of their game against ohio…How can you
dump a 10 point lead at home to the suckeyes when you’ve got them right
where you want them? And that 4th
down spot shouldn’t have mattered…but the refs still blew it….Tennessee
fan is also here en masse as they fight the number 6 team in the country
to OT only to lose in the most frustrating way possible…fumbling the first
possession through the end zone for a touchback….The Cremeiscle fans were
not happy….Throw some Ole Miss fans in here for good measure after losing
to Auburn….There are some Texas fans that have bounced back up into the
Anger phase out of depression simply because Thursday night’s near debacle
at ISU was as close to an embarrassment as losing to K-state is in the 40
Acres….But a majority of Texas fans are still
- Bargaining – You can also add a whole lot
of Georgia Bulldawgs and some domers here.
Season ending injuries plagued both those teams with the loss of
some very key players. Add some
Gamecocks with the Clowney issues and fans are just hoping for New Year’s
day at this point….Unfortunately, the Gophers hopes of having anything to
do with the B1G championship went down in flames Saturday, but they could
still play the role of spoiler to someone….Speaking of Spoilers
- Depression – Put the collective Spoiler fan
base here. I don’t know how you can
root for a college football team that is playing as bad as Purdon’t is
right now…Terrapins immediately jump down to this level due to the fact
that they had finally broke into the top 25 only to go down to Tallahassee
and have 63 unanswered hung on them with aplomb…And Jimbo Fisher was happy
to do it and get the style points to boot.
Did you hear that noise?
That was Gatorland sucking in it’s breath upon hearing that another
ACC school they have to play is getting better and some of the Gators are
in the depression mode as well….Not to mention WVU ‘neers are finding that
there’s not enough hooch in all of West Virginia to ease their pain…
- Acceptance – Kansas has moved to this phase of grief and the fire Charlie Weiss websites have popped up.
Idle Thoughts From Saturday
-Sparty looking like they actually know how to move a football offensively.
-Look-out: Iowa is moving it with the little out passes…
-Sparty needs to cover the outside or its going to be a long day….
-Sparty adjusts…and Iowa doesn’t…
-Ferentz has to be getting frustrated…
-And the fans are getting impatient….
-Look for Kirk to “think” about one of the big openings?
-You couldn’t see Ferentz at Texas?
-Really? I could….Not predicting it….just saying it could happen.
-Jerry Kill didn’t even make trip to Ann Arbor…
-Seizures….That’s gotta be tough…
-And he beat cancer, also…Did you know that?
-Makes you wonder what he could accomplish without the distractions…
-Hey – look at that..Michigan is running the ball effectively!
-And by that I mean they are getting 4 to 5 yards on 1st down…
-Whooda’ thunk it two weeks ago…
-Defense gets a quick TO..I like to see that.
-Can we get a stop here please?
-Jeez…How long has this drive lasted?
-And why aren’t we blitzing more?
-Finally, we’re blitzing…but it took till the 2nd half…
-What is the spread here again?
-What was the FMQ thinking?
-And that theme will repeat itself a lot in the ole noggin this Saturday…
-Injury bug hitting a lot of teams and big name players…
-Georgia beat Tennessee…but it was costly…
-Marshall gone for the season…ACL
-domers lost two with broken legs…
-Oklahoma, others losing guys also…
-ohio down early… I like that.
-But the Purple Kitties need to hang on.
-Last I knew, they didn’t know how to put their foot on their opponents neck..
-Go for the kill….
-Come on Colter…He got it!
-Wait…no? Is that the spot….really?
-Domers looking good on offense…despite Rees…
-And they look really good on Defense…
-But I’m not sure that ASU is as fired up this week as they were last week…
-FMQ should have realized that…..Idiot….
-Washington hanging tough with the Cardinal…
-This one also closer than the experts thought….
-Wow…crappy way to end that game.
-Replay is good and bad….
-But what else is new? Frustrating they just can’t get it right….
The Hot Seat
Irina Shayk
holds serve and will be in the Hot Seat Mascot finals! With the largest vote to date, also! Glad to see the collective is out their
voting and making it count! This week’s
mascot stays in the SI Swimsuit Theme and I do wanna thank SI for that Okie
State story…I hadn’t really poked around on their website too much in the past…but
golly, I may have to add a link based on what you can find out there with
respect to swimsuits alone! What a
display! And the Hot Seat Mascot for
Week #6 is: Brooklyn Decker! I was going to save Brooklyn for later…but I
figured I’d keep the SI models together….maybe that was wrong..but I could get
used to looking at Brooklyn…I wonder if she goes by “Brook?”
GONE
LIST:
- LANE
KIFFIN: And this is bad because he
doesn’t have the BS personality you need to do TV. In fact, he doesn’t
have any personality…at least not one anyone can locate. Now that USC has shown the world how to
do it, it kind of makes you wonder who’ll be next….
- Paul Pasqualoni:
I’m surprised UConn made this move when they made it….seems like
they could have waited…but maybe they are worried their guy will be gone
if they didn’t act now…
- Treadwell – Miami (OH). With the big boys firing coaches early, I didn’t think it would take long to trickle down to the FBS mid majors….Once a guy is ineffective (or has a bad season), it’s over….
Hot Seat Rank
- Mack Brown: Didn’t move himself out of the 1 seat
after the debacle in Ames when he needed the ref’s help to win the game…
- Holgorensen: Blanked to Maryland…who was just blanked
by Miami…then BEAT Okie State…and then get embarrassed by Baylor…not
looking too good for Dana….
- Hazell: I know it’s his first year…but Purdue is
really, really bad…
- Gundy: Again…needed until the last few minutes
to pull his fat out of the fryer…It’s warming up at Okie State…
- Weiss: Why not? This week…there’s a reason…..
- Ferentz: He’s not threat to be fired, just a hot seat….Losing to Sparty at home makes that happen....
- Fire Richt Websites will be
buzzing because he let half his squad get injured…like that’s his fault…
- Mullens – Mississippi State…When
was the last time he won a big game?
- Spurrier: Not saying he’s getting canned or anything..but not being able to keep Clowney in check will not reflect well on him at all….
FMQ Betting Results:
Crap….That’s really all I can say here. Seems like everything was going according to
plan and now we get a setback week. I
should have thought a little harder about a couple of these bets, but now that
we’re in conference…well, spreads can be a little tougher to cover…..I have to
remember it’s a marathon, not a sprint and we’re going to be a little more
diligent next week.
Washington @
Stanford (-7): Take
Stanford and lay the 7 for $70…OOPS….I just figured that Stanford in
revenge mode at Home would be too much for the Huskies….And while the Cardinal
won…they covered…
LOSE…
WVU @ Baylor (-28): Take Baylor and lay the 28 for $40 Baylor comes through…should have played
this one as a favorite..
WON! Bank $76
ASU (-5) @ Domers
(Neutral Site Game - Dallas): Take
ASU and lay the 5 for $60 Should
have thought about this game and what was at stake for the domers not to
mention the inevitable let down of beating USC and getting the coach canned…
LOSE…Ducks (-38) @ Colorado: Take the Quack Attack and lay the 38 for $60 At least the Ducks are still managing to get it done against the spread…
WIN! Bank $114
Maryland (+15) @
FSU: ..Take Maryland and the 15 for $40 Was
this possibly the worst whiff on the board this week? Year?
I think so….
LOSE…
Louisville (-34) @
Temple: Take Louisville and lay the 34 for $70 Another whiff and miss….but I have a
feeling Charlie took his foot off the pedal in this game…
LOSE….
Sparty @ Iowa
(-1.5): O/U – 42: Take
the 42 - UNDER for $40 And this was
a squeaker….right to the end…
WIN! Bank $76
Minnesota @
Michigan (-19.5): Take
Michigan and lay the 19.5 for $40 Thanks
for that last second pick 6 that made this game look like more of a blowout
than it was…
WIN! Bank $76
PARLAY!
Stanford – Ducks -
Louisville $20 - LOSE
Starting BANK: $971.50TOTAL WIN: $342
BANK: $1,313.50
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