Monday’s
suck after losing a Big Game. Tuesday’s
Ain’t much better…
I always try to take the first game of the season with a
grain of salt. Meaning: Nobody wins the National Championship on the
first weekend of play. I’m not even
completely sure you can lose the NC on the first weekend of play,
regardless of how bad your team looked and how great other teams looked. The key is:
Do you have a coach that can get you back on track if you lost and do
you have a coach that can keep the momentum going if you won?
First,
The Good Stuff
Aubrey
Thomas 99 Yard Kick-Off Return. That’s
it…
Now,
The Bad Stuff (and there’s LOTS):
Saturday marked the longest
losing streak (4 games) since the Rich Rod Era.
Never thought The MMQ would put Rich Rod and Harbaugh together in the same
reference, but here we are.
Not even Hoke lost 4 in a row…
I’m
just going to throw the Braylon Edward’s Tweets from Saturday out there to set
the Tone on this Tuesday Morning…
Braylon Edwards did not like what he saw from Michigan in
its season-opening loss to Notre Dame on Saturday night, particularly the play
of center Cesar Ruiz, quarterback Shea Patterson and the team’s offensive line.
So the former Wolverines standout said something about it.
“Ruiz is weak, line is weak, Shea is scared, [expletive]
Michigan offense is so predictable
(emphasis – MMQ)….Michigan football
is sadly one thing…….Trash,” he tweeted at 11:28 p.m., a message that
eventually was deleted but not before being screen grabbed by observers.
He also tweeted and then deleted a shot at Coach Jim
Harbaugh.
“Everybody had your
back. I gotta laugh because I knew this would happen. Don’t feel bad, watch the
truth,” it read.
Officials at the Big
Ten Network, where Edwards works as a college football analyst, apparently saw
the tweet before it was taken down.
On Monday, they announced,
per the Athletic’s Chris Vannini, that Edwards has been suspended indefinitely
“due to a violation of the network’s social media guidelines.”
While I don’t disagree with the BTN for taking
Braylon off the network, I kind of agree that Braylon tweeted exactly what
every Die-Hard Michigan Fan was thinking.
Never Drink and Tweet (Braylon later came out and stated he was
inebriated) You can do more damage to yourself than drinking and driving,
fergosdaskes!
So,
um, yeah…Where to from here?
Michigan’s
offensive line woes seemed to carry over from the end of last season without
missing a beat. If anything, the O-Line
looked like it got worse. Michigan couldn’t rush and pass-pro was quite
literally, a joke. Slap on a couple of early
domer scores in the 1st quarter before Michigan touched the ball for
the 2nd time and I was starting to think this was going to be a
blow-out similar to what happened to Michigan the last time it visited
South Bend. (To support Edwards statement
above: Michigan’s 1st
possession was 8 runs and 1 pass).
However, things started to balance out somewhat, but
Michigan couldn’t do anything from a rushing perspective. Granted, they were trying to run right into
the teeth of the domer defense and that once again proved to be an unwise move
by Harbaugh. Harbaugh has
admitted to calling a “conservative” game plan as part of the first game. When you take away Nico Collins 52 reception, the
Michigan offensive only averaged 3.75 YPP.
That’s
ATROCIOUS. Pat
Forde at Yahoo Agrees:
While I don’t agree with Pat (on everything), Michigan fans
are going to be deluged with this trype and sports writing for the foreseeable
future. Bottom Line: Michigan has to BEAT SOMEBODY!
The
Defense, while abysmal in the 1st half, responded in the 2nd
half and only allowed 77 total yards. But it seemed like the damage had already
pretty much been done. Michigan’s offense
continued to sputter and when down two scores, was still snapping the ball with
less than 10 seconds on the play clock, eating up valuable game time clock.
There was absolutely no sense of urgency.
The Patterson fumble near the end of the game
was the icing on the cake.
A slow start and a slow finish isn’t a recipe for winning
football.
Never was, never will be.
Indifference…Indecision…incomplete.
I hate to state what I think the tone of the rest of the
season will be based on the opening game.
Clearly, last season, after the Defensive victory over Florida, I was a
little too optimistic. Speight sputtered
in that game last year and that was about the only complaint I
had. In what was supposed to be a new
and improved offense and with all the positivity coming out of camp, I was
naively taken advantage of as a fan.
And I’m 52.
I
shouldn’t fall for the pre-season hype, but this time, it sounded
believable. Which is why I hate to base
the rest of the season off of this one game. I want to believe that the improvements have
been made and it was just a bad game. Opening game problems. Problems that can be fixed.
I’m sure Michigan (38-point favorite) will look better
against Western. But what does that
mean? Michigan can beat non-power 5
little guys effectively but can’t beat Power 5 ranked teams ever? (Michigan now 0-17 in its last 17 road games
against ranked opponents).
If I just run with that stat, Michigan loses both the Sparty
and THE Sex Toy U games. Not to mention
that Wiscy and PSU now both look like very challenging games.
I dunno. I don’t
know where this team is anymore. They’re
frustrating, and they’re being led by a coach that may be more in the mold of
Schembechler and that coach needs to see the signs of the time.
Offensive
linemen aren’t developing in high school the way they used to. Spread offenses are run by a majority of high
school teams across the country. Michigan’s depth simply isn’t there to try to
create an NFL offense with the linemen you have. Time to re-think and re-tool if you want to
succeed at the college level.
I’m
rambling now and I’m gonna stop.
Tuesdays
suck after you lose…
The
Rest of the Mess
It was a fun weekend with upsets and fan bases that are now
wondering what they’re gonna get with their new Head Coaches.
CUD
– Complete, Unmitigated Disasters!!!
Texas: The FMQ called it by stating that Longhorn
Football wasn’t back yet. Well,
not only did the Longhorns prove they weren’t back, their fanbase is starting
to think it got sold a bill of goods with Herman. How quickly the tide can swing in College
football. Maryland was supposed to be in
a state of dis-array with Durkin out and probably getting fired. My guess is that Maryland is rallying around
McNair and Durkin and that’s some pretty powerful motivation.
Miami: Again,
The FMQ nailed it but more on that later…Miami looked like a disaster on
wheels and the wheels came flying off really fast. They made LSU look like a SUPER SEC team,
and I’m not sure I can go that far with LSU yet. Again, was how bad the Canes played a
reflection of how good LSU is, or vice versa?
Is LSU that improved that they made the Canes look like a middle of the
road ACC team? Or is it a little of
both? Time will tell…
LNU: In what would have been a GREAT
BET for the FMQ, LNU found a way to pull out the victory at home over Utah State. The Aggies looked great for 4 quarters of
football, but their defense couldn’t rise to the occasion and make that
last stop of the game. LNU eeked out a
nailbiter, but they were exposed for what they are. Again, time and coaching can improve any
team. D’etonieoi will have them playing
better in a couple of games…
Louisville: I really thought that Louisville could keep it within
the spread vs. Bama. But Bama is really
good and Louisville IS THE MIDDLE of the road ACC team. And that’s it.
Cremesicles: Another debuting coach in Pruitt
didn’t fare that well, either. WVU more
or less ran and passed Tennessee out of the stadium. While I though Pruitt could at least put a
lid on the embarrassing blow-outs, it seems that WVU might be better
than I thought and the Cremesicles continue a spiral into oblivion. Vol Fans are going to throw another season
away, giving the new guy a “Chance” to establish.
Arizona: After the
FMQ boldly predicted that Arizona could be a 10 win regular season team, the
Wildcats came out and dropped a big ole’ turd of a game against BYU, who didn’t
make a bowl last season. I take back every good thing I said about Sumlin and
Tate isn’t Johnny Manziel.
CBOTL
– Come Back Off the Ledge
These are losses that looked bad, but there’s no reason to
panic and sell the season duckets yet.
Michigan: I hate to put Michigan in this category, but I
will say there’s a lot of football left to be played and rivals can still be
beaten. It’s just going to require a
boatload of improvement. And I’m
not sure where it’s going to come from…
FSU: In the “What have we gotten ourselves into with this
Coach?” column, FSU fans are wondering whether or not Jimbo could have coached
the Seminoles to a victory last night.
Taggart’s debut was really, REALLY hideous and the Seminoles
were destroyed in every facet of the game.
Their offense was bad, defense blew chunks, and Beamer Ball (Special Teams)
scored points. Va-Tech had a +5
TO margin. That rarely happens, but
still. Maybe not the end of the world
for FSU – not yet.
PGL
– Pretty Good Loss
Purdue: This game was on Thursday night and I
thought Purdue was going to come back and beat the KittyCats. Unfortunately, time ran out and the game
ended on a questionable “roughing” play, but that’s football.
Washington: I don’t think ANYONE is going to hold a first
game loss in Auburn’s 2nd home field against the Huskies if they can
run the table. I’m not saying
they looked good enough to convince me that they CAN run the table, but the
loss won’t hurt them one little bit if they do run the table.
WWB
– We Won, But…We Should Be Worried
Texas
A&M: A&M
welcomed Jimbo Fisher and went out and set a school record for total offense in
a single game. It was against nobody,
but the fanbase if feeling a lot better than teams that lost...
Ole
Miss: Went down to Texas
Tech and crushed the Red Raiders. But
the Red Raiders are NOT SEC WEST quality.
While the fan base can feel good about the upset, let’s see what happens
when they play real competition.
LSU: See the Miami CUD. Beating up a Miami team that might not have
been as good as advertised last season shouldn’t make you want to buy tickets
for the NC. Not yet. Beat Auburn and we’ll talk.
THE
Sex Toy University: Offense
took care of business vs. OSU, but THE Sex Toy U’s defense also gave up 31
points. And that was when the 1st
team was still on the field. Maybe THE
Sex Toy U’s D isn’t everything they were billed up to be. But they can always improve.
Gophers: PJ Fleck came out of the gate rowing hard and
earned a respectable victory. I saw a
lot of the game and the Gophers may give people headaches this season….
The 5
Stages of Slappy Fan Grief
- Denial and Isolation –Michigan,
Texas and Miami. It was only one
game and we’re a better team than what everyone saw on the field. After the 2nd LOSS, things
will begin to get ugly.
- ANGER –Texas and Michigan.
Both played
beatable opponents and if they had played (and called) a better game, the
outcomes might have been different.
- Bargaining –Seminoles It’s
not over, but it’s hard to see how it’s going to get better.
- Depression –Michigan So
much pre-season hype only to followed by an extremely disappointing season
debut. I’ll admit it, I’m depressed…I’ll throw Texas Tech down in
here for giggles and grins.
- Acceptance
–
Not yet! Season’s still young….
NEW! Ref Rants!
Just one – from last night’s FSU Va Tech game when FSU should
have scored a TD and the re-play was never called. I thought that all scoring plays had to be
reviewed, but this was not called a score and the runner was called down on the
2 yard line. Still, it seems
like a review should have happened.
Idle
Thoughts from Saturday (and the last 6 days).
-Gophers look solid!
-LNU is LOSING TO UTAH STATE in the 2nd half!
-Go Aggies!
-Uh-oh! This is
getting serious in East Lansing!
-Wheels could come off LNU’s cart before season gets
rolling!
-Nope, not gonna happen.
-Texas looks bad.
Defense is atrocious.
-Maryland looks surprisingly good!
-Again, is that a reflection on Texas or Maryland?
-Can never tell after one game.
-Sex Toy U having their way with OSU.
-Fitting, I guess.
-Don’t look now, but the Horror II is happening in Happy
Valley
-When are teams going to figure out you DON’T SCHEDULE APP
STATE!
-And PSU escapes…
-Kick-Off!
-Takes forever to get here.
-Jeez, Michigan looks awful
-Defense looks even worse
-I guess those confidence issues have been ironed out for
Wimbush
-Two Domer possessions.
Two Scores.
-Michigan looks like swiss cheese. At this rate, 14 points/quarter, the domers
will hang 50 on Michigan.
-I’ll take the Figgie.
Something’s better than nothing.
-The 2nd half hasn’t changed much of what I’m
seeing.
-Michigan is not a good football team at the moment.
-We waited an entire off-season for this?
-Play calling needs to improve.
-Work with what you’ve got.
-Jeez…When does Hoops Season start?
THE MMQ’s “I DON’T NEED A COMMITTEE!”
Will return when the Committee makes their first ranking!
The Hot Seat
Just
an update (again) to everyone that would like to see a return of the Hot Seat
Mascot (and voting).
The blogger platform I use got rid of the voting widget, so
voting has become impossible, unless I embed into the blog itself. I haven’t screwed around with it yet, but I’ll
investigate and see what I can do. In
the meantime, I’ll say that this week’s Hot Seat Mascot is a re-run of a prior
winner: Jenn Brown!
ZAPPED
List
We’ll keep track of who’s gone as the season progresses….
- DJ Durkin – It’s inevitable
Electric
Chair of Death Seat!
- Meyer–
Until he actually is on the sideline coaching a game, I’m leaving Urban
Legend Right here. He’ll drop
quickly enough. Or will he???
The Hot Seat
- Pruitt: Losing 1st game in embarrassing
fashion is tough…
- Taggart: See Pruitt
- Harbaugh: Beat someone for crap’s sake!
