Football schools, basketball schools, and the Michigan Zone
Why So Many College Sports Fans Feel Miserable All the Time
"Let us call it the Michigan Zone. It’s a time and place when a school’s other sport becomes much better and much more fun than its primary sport, messing with the sports fan psyche in a way no other kind of fandom does."
https://slate.com/culture/2021/03/march-madness-basketball-football-schools-michigan-indiana.html
I've only been a fan since ~2013 so as far as I'm concerned, basketball *is* our main sport.
We used to be good at football, I swear.
I remember when..... but then again, I started getting mail from the fucking AARP
Jim Harbaugh's winning percentage at Michigan (.690) is better than John Beilein's (.650).
The problem is that college football is the dumbest sport on Earth. And I say that as a college football fan. It doesn't have to be a dumb sport, but it chooses to be.
March 17th, 2021 at 10:55 PM ^
What separates basketball from football right now is not how much of a clip each wins at, but the value of those wins. Beating Gonzaga in Atlantis and getting revenge finally against Cassius and MSU last season despite a shortened season made it worthwhile. The only time I felt a "deeply" satisfying win under Harbaugh since his second year was knocking ND outta the Playoff hunt in 2019 in our final scheduled matchup for over a decade
Doubt
We used to be good at football, I swear.
Good or better than now? I sometimes question if we were ever really any better. Maybe under Bo the winning percentage was better, but that was decades ago under completely different rules and we still struggled in the Rose Bowl. But, under Carr, Moellar, & JH it's been pretty much the same minus last year (if we ignore OSU). Last year was a colossal cluster fuck. But, the rest of JH's tenure is pretty much what we've always been, minus the incessant losses to OSU. I think the only thing that has changed personally, other than OSU losses, is conference realignment and the playoffs. UM has never traditionally done any better than 10-2. They generally win 8-10 games and lose 2-4 games. 9-3 is about as typical as you can get for UM. It just used to be with an OSU win. I think what makes is feel pathetic is that not only can we no longer beat OSU, but that OSU never loses more than one or two games. We have these new super powers in Bama, Clemson, & OSU that are leaving everyone else in the dust. No one (minus maybe UGA) recruits like they do. No one else consistently is in the playoff hunt ever year for such a long period of time. They have gotten way better than they ever were. There was a time when conference rivals like Oklahoma & Texas, OSU & UM, Bama & Auburn, Florida & UGA, etc. went back and forth and kept each other in check. Now it's just a few that have taken off and no one can keep up. UM, Texas, FSU, Miami, Nebraska, Tennessee are powers of old that have not been able to keep pace with their conference foes in OSU, Oklahoma, Clemson, & Bama. CFB is a monopoly between Bama, Clemson, & OSU (and UGA with recruiting but they haven't won as much and Oklahoma with playoff births but no wins).
Yup. College football is almost entirely regionally dominated by superpowers. These programs win 95% of their games every year, and when a team virtually never loses multiple games in a season it snuffs out parity of championships and recruiting parity.
It's not changing til some head coaching changes happen, but I don't expect that to upend anything either. The coaching trees from those programs is ridiculous. Ohio State's short list would be Luke Fickell, Mike Vrabel, and Matt Campbell. Any program would be lucky to have one prospective head coach as good as those.
It's not changing til some head coaching changes happen, but I don't expect that to upend anything either. The coaching trees from those programs is ridiculous.
I think it could change. It only takes the right coach at UM, FSU, Texas, Florida, etc. to get back in contention with OSU, Clemson, Bama, & Oklahoma. Saban is old and will be gone soon. I'm not convinced everything Day does is gold. I'm skeptical he can repeat what Meyer has done for as long. Dabo could be there a while, but FSU has just as many resources and with the right coach could come back quickly. There is no reason UM can't overcome OSU with the right coach, but they need the guy. Now that Meyer is gone I'm not convinced Day is a generational talent like Meyer was. If Texas, UM, FSU, Florida, etc. ever find their Meyer they could dominate as well. OSU's run has been uncanny. Although their recruiting is phenomenal I think they will start to see kinks and how lucky they've had it. Not every DE will turn into a Bosa bros. or Chase Young, even a 5-star can't miss like Harrison. Not every QB will be like Haskins & Fields. They are beatable.
March 18th, 2021 at 10:12 AM ^
I haven't seen any reason the believe OSU will fall off under Day. He's started with back-to-back undefeated seasons and B1G champions. One was a shortened season, but look at the teams they didn't play; Maryland, Illinois, and Michigan. They weren't going to lose to any of those teams.
They won a national championship on their 3rd string QB, man. Haskins, and Fields are just a continuation of what they've been doing since Troy Smith. You think they won't be able to make Stroud or Miller or McCord into a 1st team all B1G qb? I'd be shocked if they don't.
March 18th, 2021 at 10:55 AM ^
I haven't seen any reason the believe OSU will fall off under Day. He's started with back-to-back undefeated seasons and B1G champions. One was a shortened season, but look at the teams they didn't play; Maryland, Illinois, and Michigan. They weren't going to lose to any of those teams.
I think Day and Meyer are different. Day may not have Meyer's yearly slip up to Purdue/Iowa, but he also doesn't have Meyer's fire to always be on top. Despite their immense talent on both sides of the ball they were not as dominant on defense once they no longer had that unblockable DE. Harrison is not Chase Young, Nick Bosa, or Joey Bosa. And, Wade was not Okaduh. They don't have a lock down CB any longer either. I also don't think any of their current QBs will be like Haskins or Fields. Just like DPJ, Patterson, Vilain, Gary, Solomon, Singleton, etc. didn't play like 5-stars OSU finally seems to be seeing that NPF, Tyreke Smith, Zach Harrison, Shaun Wade, etc. will/did not either. I also think they are going to miss Borland, Browning, Werner, Sermon, Togai, Davis, and Fields. If UM can ever figure out how to develop and retain their talent there is no reason they can't beat them. McCarthy, Edwards/Corum, Worthy, Hennings, El Hadid, Hinton, Mazi, Dax, McGregor, Keegan, Rumler Jones, Mullings, Seldon, Morant, Colson, etc. are all names that should be able to matchup with their OSU counterparts. We just need to get someone to step up at QB and stop having holes in recruiting. Time will tell, but I don't think Day is Meyer, even if he's been able to keep the ball rolling so far.
March 18th, 2021 at 11:08 AM ^
All right. Well, I think sports are a results-driven business and Day has delivered elite results in his first two years. I'll start to consider that maybe Ohio State has taken a step back when they are consistently losing multiple B1G games a season. They haven't lost one yet.
Well, I think sports are a results-driven business and Day has delivered elite results in his first two years
Agreed, just a small sample size and with the benefit of a system put in place by Meyer. Once it's all his guys and he's in year 4-5 we'll have a better picture. You can't fault him for anything so far, but watching them, 2020 was not as good as the previous two years. We'll see if that changes, but I think they'll continue to fall back a bit until/unless they find another Heisman candidate at QB, which as we know is not that easy, even with good recruiting.
Mods: Judge Smails beat me to the punch by about 30 seconds, so feel free to take this down.
Don: your link actually works...Mods: feel free to delete mine.
You two are too wholesome.
/nowkith
Wtf man. Getting people to clean up after you wherever you go? Mods delete your thread, me fixing your link. Sheesh!
/s
That's MOMS to you.
It has been about 10 years since our Football team was anywhere near as fun as our Basketball team.
One season, not long ago.... we lost 3 games, all three of them we were leading late in the 4th qtr.
Lol. Hold up. They lost 3 of their last 4 games all in heartbreaking fashion and ended up with no divisional title, no conference title, and got upset in a NY6 game. Michigan fun means walking away empty-handed, I guess.
That article said Duke and Kentucky are basketball schools...hmmmm, funny I don't see them in the tournament....hahahahaha.
Btw, we didn't lose one of those National Championship games. Results were stuck.
I thought this was going to be about the very funny, now-defunct blog, the MZone. Those were good times. Looks like blogger.com killed the site.
Reading your post and that article made me sad.
“You’re watching every game with an eye on how it is going to matter for the Ohio State game,”
Ace must still be in denial phase. I’ve come to accept that OSU is a much better team/program and watch our games solely focused on getting the win, that week.
I am splitting the difference between you two. I have accepted that, for the time being, Ohio State has the upper hand and assume that they will beat Michigan until proven otherwise. Now I watch Michigan games looking for flaws that other teams will exploit and that Ohio State will use to ruthlessly crush Michigan. It's twice as harrowing now!
At this point, I view Michigan football as trying to hang on to being a 2nd-tier B1G team. Harbaugh is 2-3 against Wisconsin and Michigan has looked utterly incompetent against them their last two meetings. Harbaugh is 3-3 against Penn State while losing our last 2 despite Penn State really not being all that great either. Harbaugh is 3-3 against MSU, 1-1 against Iowa, and 1-4 in bowl games.
Is this a 2nd tier B1G program? They're certainly not 1st-tier and they've definitely trended down in the last couple years. Feels like we're on the cusp of falling behind Wisconsin and Penn State in every context except maybe recruiting rankings.
I love basketball. But football will always be my main true love. Which is why this hurts so much.
We eventually got our shit together during the 2019 season but then the OSU game happened. And then the bowl game where Bama's backup QB threw a 75 yard TD on the first play of the game. I feel like something in my soul broke after those two games. (It's probably a miracle it didn't happen sooner) where I questioned whether we'll ever beat an elite team again.
And then last season happened and it felt like it was another ten steps backwards. Getting blown out every week by shitty teams is just horrible. When the season was originally called off because of covid, I was was probably much more happy than I should have been. I'm tired of having my heart stomped on.
I 100% expect Michigan to get completely shit on by programs like Bama and Ohio State. That's a given. Michigan just isn't in their class. Whatever.
I think what's irritating is that they don't look like they belong in the same conference as Wisconsin anymore nor can they capitalize on years where Michigan State and Penn State are bad. Michigan is getting top 15 recruiting classes and turns it into Iowa results... except Iowa has been winning bowls lately. Covid saved Michigan from further embarrassment, for sure. Did not care at all that they didn't finish the season.
This piece hit the nail on the head so hard. What's especially impressive is that the author Alex Kirshner is not a Michigan alum or even a fan, yet he perfectly articulated the prevailing sentiment of our world.
I would be more impressed if he had not near immediate access to two prominent Michigan fans who also work in the same industry (Ben Mathis-Lilley and Jane Coaston).
That's because Alex Kirshner interacts with many Michigan fans on Twitter. He's seen us at our best and at our worst.
I remember when we were an ice dancing school, circa 2009-10 or so. Those were the days
He nailed it. Blue Hoops is the joy of Found Money. Blue Football is a recurring IRS audit with the bill due every fourth Saturday in November.