ESPN U. 2000 M vs Bama thoughts
Slow day today, with stock market closed. So I watched this game which just finished on ESPN U... some minor observations.
1) love the old uniforms of the Carr era, with the see through mesh in the chest..was carryforward from Mo and Bo, and ended with Martin's deal with Adidas. This uniform change did alot of damage psychologically...you have years of great consistent play and then change the uniforms enough and with early bad play and the identity is lost. Those Adidas just sucked. Same thing happened to the Pistons when having great history with the bad boy uniforms to teal..the last was cut in a way and edge was lost...same with the Rams with Warner. And the highlight yellow around the numbers just look better than now. Here is to hoping we return to these exact uniforms..they look great and we would unite with the past a bit...and I don't like Harbaughs weird numerals. Bring back the mesh !
2) Carr had so much poise and awareness on the sideline, along with the team and staff that mimicked Carr's calm. Team seemed so loose. Contrast with today and Harbaugh looks ultra nervous and uncomfortable, as does the team. I was taken aback by this.
Anyway, enjoy your extended weekend and Happy Easter to all....
April 10th, 2020 at 10:25 AM ^
Brady Hoke was wearing a headset...
the Tom Brady guy looked like a nice QB. Maybe he has a future in the NFL.
Ehhh, not athletic enough. Late round pick at best.
April 10th, 2020 at 10:25 AM ^
That 90s style jersey will never return, but they do look pretty cool. I prefer the modern look, though.
April 10th, 2020 at 10:29 AM ^
All of football went away from those jerseys. It wasn't a result of our Adidas deal.
April 10th, 2020 at 10:04 PM ^
Too bad it was psychologically damaging only for Michigan.
April 10th, 2020 at 10:33 AM ^
I watched a chunk of the game last night. It was fun to listen to my boys talk about it. “Isn’t there a Hutchinson on the current team, too?” “Isn’t that Clemson’s coach?”
I think these games would be even better if they snuck in some fake audio from the TV analyst. Make it seem like he could see into the future.
April 10th, 2020 at 10:36 AM ^
We were at that game!!!! It was a great game and we came back from 14 points down twice. Could not believe that they missed the extra point. We did't get out of the Stadium until after 1 in the morning. The only bowl game that I attended that was better was the January 1 1998 Rose Bowl. All great memories. GO BLUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
April 10th, 2020 at 10:37 AM ^
Brady exploited the 1-on-1 coverage Bama had on the receivers, specifically Terrell. That was one of the key factors in the game in my opinion.
April 10th, 2020 at 11:01 AM ^
I loved it when Lynn Swann is talking to Lloyd before the second half and one of our players accidentally made significant contact with Lloyd and he didn’t even miss a beat during the interview.
April 10th, 2020 at 11:02 AM ^
I always wonder why David Terrell didnt do anything in the NFL.
April 10th, 2020 at 11:08 AM ^
Off field issues and playing with horrible QBs the entirety of his career in Chicago.
April 10th, 2020 at 11:05 AM ^
Last time Michigan finished ranked in the top 5 of the final poll.
Just thought I'd bring that ray of sunshine.
April 10th, 2020 at 11:11 AM ^
David Terrell was a beast, and of course Brady.
April 10th, 2020 at 11:37 AM ^
Carr was very conservative. It took being down 14 in the 2nd half to let Brady throw more than screens.
Bama's QB's weren't that great. Shaun Alexander was a very good college RB.
Bama's defense was gassed towards the end of the game. Michigan's was slowing too. If the Bama kicker made that OT extra point, the game may have went 4 OT's.
April 10th, 2020 at 12:09 PM ^
You summed up Carr's tenure as coach regarding the offense. Rarely did he open it up from the outset. Imo cost several games. That season alone 2 losses that should have been bigtime wins for a team that could have played for the natty. Far too many games where Carr just wanted to control the LOS running the ball. Rarely kept defenses honest.
Fsu wasn't a great natty champion and vatech had a fantastic defense and vick on offense, that was it.
I'm so sure I'm right I want to reply without verifying this, but I believe we gave up right around 40 pts in each of our 2 Ls in Brady's senior season. I remember Brady passing a ton vs both msu & Illinois, but the D getting shredded.
I don't know how you blame conservative game plans on offense for that?!
Ok, too anal, had to look it up - it was 35 each L, not 40. We scored 30. I gotta say D has to shoulder most of the blame there. Those games were pretty much exactly like the Orange Bowl, come to think of it- except the legend TB10 bailed us out on New Years Day!
But I'll certainly agree Lloyd was maddeningly conservative many times over the years! Just not in '99.
I was at the home loss to Illinois and Lloyd went conservative on the lead, didn't try to extend it when we had the wind in the 3rd quarter and the wind was significant that day. Then we get blitzed in the 4th Q when Illinois had the wind.
April 10th, 2020 at 12:48 PM ^
This uniform change did [sic] alot of damage psychologically
Huh?
That team was stacked and if not for the Henson-Brady QB rotation (MSU loss) and a Carr letdown game (Illinois loss) they play for the N.C. Brady, A-Train, Backus, Hutchinson, Terrell, Shea, Foote, Dhani, Gold, June just to name a few players.
I named my wife at the time's cat Cato after Cato June, haha.
I tried to name one of my kids Cato and the discussion did not go far.
The Illinois game....the defense really let down and blew a big lead. Brady had a great game and threw for over 350 yards. He was leading the team back under 1 minute when the snap went over his head and lost 15 yards on the play. They would have been in FG position to win if not for that bad snap.
Henson never did much when they forced him in the 2nd quarter of games. Carr was late to the party in recognizing how good Brady was...and the team always responded with TB in there, and did not respond to when Henson was in there. That is one of the hallmarks of a great QB which is overlooked....the team responds to great QBs and their level of play rises. Brady had and has that quality.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/illinois-stuns-no-9-michigan/
I guess by "Carr letdown game" I meant that I always remember losing to at least one team we had no business losing to every season of his tenure (except for one). Defense imploding, bad play calling, lethargic team, whatever. I think Illinois would qualify.
That game spoilt me. That year spoilt me. Never seen football before. So when I saw Michigan play pretty good and win most of the games handily with a lanky quarterback who seemed well prepared, well, I thought that's the floor.
Damn you TB10.