Unfortunately, no. But I grew up during the OJ trials, and always had an interest in the under-aspects of that time period in LA. Would definitely love to get your thoughts on it if you finish it.
Willie Henry's. It's got #ChadTough written on the back bumper. He got a new helmet after the Indiana game due to this one being (obviously) too smashed up.
I guess the more important question - what does the consistent prediction of an L against OSU from the season outset say about this program, the fans, and coaching staff? Not trying to make any point in general, just asking the question.
Would we be happy with an 8-4 team, but a win in Columbus? Are we properly preparing for the end of the season? Are we putting hopeful championships ahead of the rivalry? How the coaching staff and fans answer these questions will continue to guide their actions - the hiring, the choice of schemes, play calls, etc.
I think my point here, as noted by another poster, is that your season lives and dies on this game, and everything you do trickles down from the emphasis on it. Therefore, everything you do must foreshadow this.
As an example, and to your point, Harbaugh did this last year. He saw the size of our players in comparison to OSU's, and hired an improved strength coach. This needs to be done in all facets of the game.
As a coach at Michigan, you can't just run a scheme because you want to expecting it to just work. You need to run one that has a high probability of beating our rival, and gatekeeper to the big ten, after you've dissected them in and out. Haskins said it himself - he watched tape, found our holes, and tore them open.
I don't get the feeling that this staff did this, as noted by many in our inability to stop passes that Indiana exploited just a week before. If our staff truly focused on this OSU team, they would have realized the validity of your points, and worked around them. Drop more if you can't pressure for example.
To connect this back to my original post, if this game and this rivalry was emphasized, these things would have been addressed and fixed well before the end of the season. We were caught sleeping because the goal was on a big ten championship, and not on winning the game. This was pointed out by Bo himself - his answer to why he had such an abysmal bowl record was that the focus, preparation, and emotional toll of The Game was just too much to keep going into the postseason.
At the very least, though, Bo understood the order of things. You can't get a championship - in any regard - without beating OSU. And you aren't Michigan until you're consistently beating OSU.
I would also add that another change needed is fan and head coach mentality; a splash of cold water to the nuts. This was one of the worst losses against our arch rival in our history, our head coach is 0-4 in his time here, and we're close to a quarter century of being dominated by them. But hey, we won 10 games.
This thought process needs to change. If Meyer had lost 2 in a row to us, not 4, he most likely would have been let go. If an OSU defensive coordinator had been routed as bad as we were yesterday, he most likely would be let go. This is the kind of savage expectations the program needs to have that trickles down to everything: it ignites assistant coaches, ignites players, and ignites fans to show up during foul weather games. Until then, we will continue to flip flop loses and wins with MSU each year, and end each season in a loss to OSU. Thoughts of a big ten championship or a national championship are just pipe dreams.
The general concern I have going forward is mentality. It was interesting to me - as the "revenge" tour ramped up, Harbaugh was quick to dismiss this, and is on record as saying he sees it more as a championship tour. That's fine - he's made it quite clear that he's focused on winning championships - great. But so was Hoke. Remember 3 losses in, Hoke saying "Michigan can still win the big ten."? The problem, as many have pointed out, is that the road to the big ten goes through OSU.
This loss has a similar feel to the loss against MSU last year. Prepare all you want, but MSU was playing with hate, and an understanding of the rivalry. I remember thinking that Michigan lacks this mentality, and sorely needs it. Enter, the Revenge tour, which was refreshing. I believe this is one area of mentality we now lack when it comes to OSU.
It's shocking to me that a former player under Schembechler doesn't seem to be instilling this in the team. Bo was able to use this mentality to defeat OSU in his first season. This lack of primal hatred for our rival is evident in Woodson saying that we need to refocus on the rivalry at the beginning of the season, Brown's heated focus on PSU but not OSU, and the players - not the coaches - cultivating a mentality needed to win the big games. At the end of the day, the lack of understanding and heat for this rivalry will continue to lead to losses: overconfidence, underestimating the opponent, bland offense, poor schemes. Is it dumb that Meyer doesn't allow the color blue in his classes, or dresses his scout team in winged helmets? Sure. But this shows a razor focus and understanding that I sadly am not seeing in this Michigan coaching regime when it comes to this rivalry.
Do I ultimately believe the program should move on from Harbaugh? No. But I do believe things need to be looked at objectively. Ready yourselves for hypotheticals - what if we lose the bowl game? What if we lose to ND in 2019? What if we lose to MSU in 2019? What if we lose OSU in 2019? Sure, at some point in the future, we will beat OSU. But what about after that? Does anyone firmly believe that we'll do so a year after, or the year after that? The "revenge" mentality will be gone next season. Has Harbaugh shown that he has the correct mindset to charge a team to compete week in and week out all the way through the end of the season to The Game? I'm not so sure.
Long time reader, first post. Felt compelled to bring up Prism Money - it's a bill aggregator where you can view and pay all of your bills, as well as budget. I'm one of the original workers at the company - if you like Mint, I think you'll love Prism Money better. We have thousands of customers writing that the app has saved their marriages, improved their credit score, and helped them out of debt. Plus, you'll get the satisfaction of knowing you're using an app worked on by a fellow Wolverine.
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Unfortunately, no. But I grew up during the OJ trials, and always had an interest in the under-aspects of that time period in LA. Would definitely love to get your thoughts on it if you finish it.
Dead. I've found the author of my tombstone.
Awesome idea! I have a couple:
I worked at the Helen Keller Foundation out of college, and published a book of quotes by her to be used for fundraising. Has some historical bits in it: https://www.amazon.com/Live-Think-Hope-Inspirational-Quotes-ebook/dp/B005UI7ONS/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=to+live+to+think+to+hope&qid=1585164929&sr=8-4
I also published one of my papers while at UofM (warning: political): https://www.amazon.com/Thin-Blue-Line-depth-Department-ebook/dp/B005S5LVLO/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&qid=1585164948&refinements=p_27%3AMatthew+B.+Gordon&s=digital-text&sr=1-4&text=Matthew+B.+Gordon
Again, awesome idea - thanks!
Willie Henry's. It's got #ChadTough written on the back bumper. He got a new helmet after the Indiana game due to this one being (obviously) too smashed up.
Was lucky enough to grab a game used helmet from the 2015 season. Thanks to the wife for letting me get it. Love how beat to hell it is.
I guess the more important question - what does the consistent prediction of an L against OSU from the season outset say about this program, the fans, and coaching staff? Not trying to make any point in general, just asking the question.
Would we be happy with an 8-4 team, but a win in Columbus? Are we properly preparing for the end of the season? Are we putting hopeful championships ahead of the rivalry? How the coaching staff and fans answer these questions will continue to guide their actions - the hiring, the choice of schemes, play calls, etc.
These fundamental questions need to be asked.
I think my point here, as noted by another poster, is that your season lives and dies on this game, and everything you do trickles down from the emphasis on it. Therefore, everything you do must foreshadow this.
As an example, and to your point, Harbaugh did this last year. He saw the size of our players in comparison to OSU's, and hired an improved strength coach. This needs to be done in all facets of the game.
As a coach at Michigan, you can't just run a scheme because you want to expecting it to just work. You need to run one that has a high probability of beating our rival, and gatekeeper to the big ten, after you've dissected them in and out. Haskins said it himself - he watched tape, found our holes, and tore them open.
I don't get the feeling that this staff did this, as noted by many in our inability to stop passes that Indiana exploited just a week before. If our staff truly focused on this OSU team, they would have realized the validity of your points, and worked around them. Drop more if you can't pressure for example.
To connect this back to my original post, if this game and this rivalry was emphasized, these things would have been addressed and fixed well before the end of the season. We were caught sleeping because the goal was on a big ten championship, and not on winning the game. This was pointed out by Bo himself - his answer to why he had such an abysmal bowl record was that the focus, preparation, and emotional toll of The Game was just too much to keep going into the postseason.
At the very least, though, Bo understood the order of things. You can't get a championship - in any regard - without beating OSU. And you aren't Michigan until you're consistently beating OSU.
I would also add that another change needed is fan and head coach mentality; a splash of cold water to the nuts. This was one of the worst losses against our arch rival in our history, our head coach is 0-4 in his time here, and we're close to a quarter century of being dominated by them. But hey, we won 10 games.
This thought process needs to change. If Meyer had lost 2 in a row to us, not 4, he most likely would have been let go. If an OSU defensive coordinator had been routed as bad as we were yesterday, he most likely would be let go. This is the kind of savage expectations the program needs to have that trickles down to everything: it ignites assistant coaches, ignites players, and ignites fans to show up during foul weather games. Until then, we will continue to flip flop loses and wins with MSU each year, and end each season in a loss to OSU. Thoughts of a big ten championship or a national championship are just pipe dreams.
The general concern I have going forward is mentality. It was interesting to me - as the "revenge" tour ramped up, Harbaugh was quick to dismiss this, and is on record as saying he sees it more as a championship tour. That's fine - he's made it quite clear that he's focused on winning championships - great. But so was Hoke. Remember 3 losses in, Hoke saying "Michigan can still win the big ten."? The problem, as many have pointed out, is that the road to the big ten goes through OSU.
This loss has a similar feel to the loss against MSU last year. Prepare all you want, but MSU was playing with hate, and an understanding of the rivalry. I remember thinking that Michigan lacks this mentality, and sorely needs it. Enter, the Revenge tour, which was refreshing. I believe this is one area of mentality we now lack when it comes to OSU.
It's shocking to me that a former player under Schembechler doesn't seem to be instilling this in the team. Bo was able to use this mentality to defeat OSU in his first season. This lack of primal hatred for our rival is evident in Woodson saying that we need to refocus on the rivalry at the beginning of the season, Brown's heated focus on PSU but not OSU, and the players - not the coaches - cultivating a mentality needed to win the big games. At the end of the day, the lack of understanding and heat for this rivalry will continue to lead to losses: overconfidence, underestimating the opponent, bland offense, poor schemes. Is it dumb that Meyer doesn't allow the color blue in his classes, or dresses his scout team in winged helmets? Sure. But this shows a razor focus and understanding that I sadly am not seeing in this Michigan coaching regime when it comes to this rivalry.
Do I ultimately believe the program should move on from Harbaugh? No. But I do believe things need to be looked at objectively. Ready yourselves for hypotheticals - what if we lose the bowl game? What if we lose to ND in 2019? What if we lose to MSU in 2019? What if we lose OSU in 2019? Sure, at some point in the future, we will beat OSU. But what about after that? Does anyone firmly believe that we'll do so a year after, or the year after that? The "revenge" mentality will be gone next season. Has Harbaugh shown that he has the correct mindset to charge a team to compete week in and week out all the way through the end of the season to The Game? I'm not so sure.
No Mello, but whipped this up just now. Headphones recommended.
Long time reader, first post. Felt compelled to bring up Prism Money - it's a bill aggregator where you can view and pay all of your bills, as well as budget. I'm one of the original workers at the company - if you like Mint, I think you'll love Prism Money better. We have thousands of customers writing that the app has saved their marriages, improved their credit score, and helped them out of debt. Plus, you'll get the satisfaction of knowing you're using an app worked on by a fellow Wolverine.