"I refuse to buy into this weird, Little Brother defeatist talk. "Oh no, what if MSU gets Urban Meyer." Then Michigan will stomp MSU with Urban Meyer"
Mel Tucker went 2-1 vs Michigan... Harbaugh is 4-4 vs MSU. Urban would be a big improvement over Dantonio/Tucker. Let's not pretend like A) we've been dominating the rivalry and B) this wouldn't be a big hire.
That being said, I don't think Urban to MSU is actually going to happen.
The bottom line is we're in if we beat OSU (and don't crap the bed in the B1G Championship) and most likely out if we lose. And as much as I like Michigan, I'd have a hard time putting them ahead of 1 loss Tennessee. It's not SEC bias to say a conference schedule with games vs Florida, LSU, Kentucky, Alabama and Georgia is more difficult than one with Ohio State, Penn State, Maryland, Iowa and Illinois.
I know we're tired of the SEC being labeled as being the best conference, but does anyone believe Alabama would have 2 losses if they had played Michigan's (or Ohio State's) schedule?
Agreed, I don't think you'll find many people who will argue beating Penn State is a better win than beating Alabama. And Tennessee's beat two 7 win teams. Our second best win is what, a one score victory over 3 loss Maryland? Or a road win over 4 loss Iowa?
I think we will look back and wonder what could have been... the 4th down spot in the 2016 OSU game and Maryland missing a 2 point conversion in overtime of their 2018 game vs OSU, two plays that literally cost us two Big Ten division titles and probably two Big Ten championships and two playoff appearances... how different would Michigan's trajectory have been had he managed that in his first four seasons?
Exactly... this was as bright as the future has been for Michigan in how long? Then he decided to head to the NFL and kill any momentum the program had. I understand he cannot control the timing but there's no doubt the month long saga has put the program in a tough spot with both recruiting and finding his potential replacement, plus anyone he takes with him.
So to me, that will be his legacy... one fantastic season followed by what I can't help but feel as betrayal, especially after all the "this is just the beginning" and "I'd coach for free" talk.
Rankings should definitely determine home field for playoff games. Think of this year if Georgia had to play at the Big House, that would be awesome... the opposite of awesome would be having to play at Georgia as the higher ranked team just because it was the SEC's year to host.
Seems a bit high since we have to replace half our defense but we'll see...
Also these rankings mean next to nothing, their reasoning for placing MSU at 10 is they're "losing 2nd leading rusher in FBS" and "returning most of their (FBS worst pass) defense".
There's many fans who want to dismiss the head to head result because Michigan has improved dramatically since opening the season in South Bend. However if the roles were reversed, we would be touting the head to head result as reason why we should be ranked ahead of ND. I think we would win a rematch but we had our chance and didn't take advantage.
We really need Northwestern to win out to give us another win over a ranked opponent. That may be the one hope we have to pass ND, beating two ranked opponents to capture a conference title.
I would say any time the football hits the ground, it's luck. Michigan did not "make a play" to get the football to bounce out of bounds on the Higdon fumble. The ball bounces where it wants to. The football was fumbled 5 times in the MSU-PSU game, and all 5 times MSU recovered. That is some real good luck. In a game that required a last second TD, if any one of those fumbles are recovered by PSU, that's another possession for them and MSU doesn't get their last drive. Now did MSU make some plays? Absolutely. Were some of them lucky (RB pass to the 1, underthrown ball for the winning TD)? That all depends on who you're rooting for.
Is it classless to post in a thread about someone who is possibly in their final days and making sure to point out two or three negative things to try and sway a narrative because you don't like the guy?
The problem is, say we play superb D and hold Villanova to 70 points (only twice in 39 games have they failed to score 70). Can we hit enough shots to top them? Our offense has stagnated and our shooting has gone cold for long stretches of this tournament. Texas A&M is a reminder of what we can do when we're hot, but that's appearing more and more like the outlier than the norm. Hopefully Villanova's 3pt shooting crashes back to earth and our guys can heat up a little. We need to prevent any extended runs (like Kansas starting off in a 22-4 hole), it's going to be much harder to come back from 10 points down than it was against Loyola.
I will root for other teams in the conference depending on the matchup, but I will never root for MSU or OSU. In years where more than 4 teams make it to the tournament, it's fun to see how many B1G teams advance. But it's more fun to see MSU flame out three years in a row.
We've been off from three point range in 3 of the 4 tournament games. Is it a trend, or are we due for some better performances? It'd be great if we could finish the tournament hot from 3 because when we are, we can beat anybody.
Sparty's going to be upset that we're seeded the same, they'll have flashbacks to the Outback Bowl selection process. Their schedule was weak, they only played 7 Quadrant 1 games and had a losing record. We won 6 of 11 such games.
I don't know, I watched a few minutes of WISC-MSU and it looked like more of the same. Ticky-tack fouls and a charge against MSU that was called a block on WISC.
Refs were bad but to those impyling there's some conspiracy theory, we had 14 more free throw attempts than Iowa despite the Hawkeyes being in the bonus for half the game. That being said, it doesn't make it any less frustrating to watch.
Not sure what your job is, but I would say watching something requires much more focus and effort than listening. I know many companies that allow employees to listen to music or podcasts on their headphones. I do not know of many that allow them to watch Netflix.
Eight teams would be perfect. All five P5 conference champions, plus 3 at large bids. Or maybe two at large bids and the G5 champion. That would eliminate a lot of the mystery in the selection process: win your conference and you're guaranteed a spot.
Funny thing is after firing Butch Jones, he announced he wasn't going to use a search firm instead opting to conduct the search himself. One failed attempted hire and numerous other coaches declining the job and now he finds himself without a job.
I have a hard time keeping Bama out if the goal is to truly put the best 4 teams in. Assuming the conference championship games go as expected, it'll be Clemson, Auburn, Oklahoma, and either 2 loss B1G champ OSU or 1 loss non-SEC champ Alabama. I guess we should be rooting for Wisconsin then, so both OSU and Bama get left out. But my problem with Wisconsin is if Michigan played their schedule, they'd probably be an 11 win team and in the CFP discussion. I fear if they make the playoffs, it'll be another disappointing showing by the B1G (MSU in 2015, OSU in 2016).
As unpopular as this may be, Harbaugh's sideline antics probably have hurt Michigan in the sense that any 50-50 calls are not going to go our way. Refs are human and they don't like to be embarrassed. Harbaugh's had a handful of memorable (and meme-able) sideline tantrums, as well as his rant after OSU 2016. I doubt there is any B1G conspiracy; more likely we've lost any benefit of the doubt in the eyes of the refs.
Most fans think the refs are against their team, I'm sure OSU could come up with a number of plays to prove the refs favored Michigan (there were a few plays that could've been defensive holding on our DBs). However, the lack of offensive holding calls against our opponent is alarming. I count 2 holding calls against in our last 17 regular season games. I'd guess most games see at least 2-3 offensive holding calls per game, we see 2 per season. It's ridiculous.
Our schedule is brutal next year, which is why I'm a bit more skeptical of "next year will be our year".
We have:
@ Notre Dame
@ Northwestern
@ Michigan State
@ Ohio State
vs Wisconsin
vs Penn State
Compare that to Michigan State
@ Penn State
vs Northwestern
vs Michigan
vs Ohio State
or Ohio State
@ TCU
@ Penn State
@ Michigan State
vs Michigan
or Penn State
@ Michigan
vs Ohio State
vs Michigan State
vs Wisconsin
vs Iowa
We have what I would deem 6 games that are at least moderately difficult, four of which are away games. Penn State has five such games, but 4 are at home. Michigan State and Ohio State both have four. That's a brutal schedule for a supposed breakout year.
The landscape of football in Florida is not in flux. Miami is a CFP contender. Florida is coming off back to back SEC East titles, once they can get their issues on offense figured out and convince their players to stop engaging in credit card fraud they'll be okay. FSU lost their starting QB in week 1 and nothing in Jimbo Fisher's tenure suggests this is anything but a down year. UCF and USF will always be competing for the distinction of being the 4th best school in the state. Heck, FAU is getting as much publicity this year with Lane Kiffin as UCF is. So while UCF may be experiencing a period of success, their dreams of becoming a national power like UF, FSU, and Miami is just that - a dream.
Also how it goes for a Georgia recruit when Georgia is undefeated and a playoff contender while we're most likely headed for another 3rd place finish in the B1G East.
I just get tired of seeing our defensive line get blatantly held with no flags thrown, and then we get called for marginal chop blocks or ineligible man downfield or whatever penalty wiped out a TD against Florida. If the refs are watching close enough to call obscure or questionable stuff, how do they miss our DL getting held constantly. Last season, Michigan did not have an opponent called for offensive holding during the last 5 games. That is unbelievable.
To be fair, "underwhelming at best" is not a stupid thing to say. A class is either underwhelming or it's not, but it can also be underwhelming or worse.
Don't forget they lost their starting QB in week 1, they're undefeated behind a backup QB who's a true freshman. His first start was their win at Notre Dame. They beat Florida and Tennessee by a combined score of 83-7. Neither of those teams is good, but there aren't many teams outside of Bama that are beating teams by that much.
Exactly. Next year is gearing up to be a big year, but our schedule is brutal with games at ND, MSU, and OSU, and we get the top of the B1G West in WIS, NEB, and NW. We've got to hope either Peters or McCaffery can overtake Speight and the O-Line can improve (will Newsome return? Can Ruiz or Filiaga earn a starting spot?). We are a handful of bad luck/bad officiating/bad plays away from a completely different narrative (3-0 vs MSU, a B1G title and CFP spot). The pressure will be on next year to see if we can take the next step.
The season would feel much different had we beaten MSU. You can live with an underperforming offense when you're winning. PSU was a bad game, but it'd be easier to swallow if we were 6-1 and still had a shot at a division title.
That's an overreaction, we have plenty of talent on offense. Harbaugh recruits who have seen meaningful playing time and produced: DPJ, Black, Higdon, Evans, McKeon, Gentry. Harbaugh recruits who come in with moderate to high expectations, but are unproven: O'Maury Samuels, Kareem Walker, Nico Collins, Oliver Martin, Brandon Peters, Dylan McCaffery. To say the offense is devoid of talent or difference makers is not accurate. Now why we choose to throw it 4 times to Khalid Hill instead of at any running back is a legitimate gripe.
Penn State is beatable, Iowa almost did it. But when was the last time a team played a big night game at home coming off their bye week and lost? I can't think of one...
I'm not confident we can score enough points (24?) to get it done. Penn State will be the best offense we face all year, if Indiana can get to 20, you'd think PSU should be able to. Hopefully we can run the ball like we did last week, get consistent pressure on McSorley, and win the turnover battle. But if we can't sustain drives or turn it over multiple times, it could be ugly.
O'Korn also had an interception overturned because of pass interference, made two or three throws that could've easily been picks, and finished with 58 yards passing. The one hope I have is that our success running the ball the past few weeks will open up more opportunities in the passing game, but I'm not confident O'Korn can take advantage.
Meh, reffing is low on the list of reasons we lost on Saturday. I'd say lady luck is #1 in my book. MSU recovered both our fumbles. Lewerke recovers a fumbled snap and lands on his lineman and rolls for a first down. How on earth did they recover that muffed punt? The returner was running full speed and got shoved right before he fielded the ball and it bounced right into his chest. That was one of the most pivotal plays of the game. At worst, we get the ball inside the 10. At best, it's a touchdown for us. But alas, it wasn't meant to be.
By Week 5 of the 1997 season there were no more doubts as to whether Michigan’s defense was elite. But the offense—and its achingly conservative playcalling—made fans wonder how it would hold up over a season. All it would take is for a particularly bad offensive showing and a few lucky breaks for a scrappy opponent to put an L on the board.
I think everyone would take that, but your example is hitting big plays on 33% of your rushing attempts and averaging over 11 yards per carry... we're nowhere close to that. Evans had one 49 yard run, and the other 37 rushing attempts by running backs averaged less than 2.9 yards per carry. My point was, we have one or two big runs a game that are making the rushing totals look decent but masking a run game that as a whole is not very good right now.
LOL okay... when you look at overall numbers it looks OK, kind of like MSU's defense. But we aren't running the ball consistently well, we just break off a big run or two every game. Michigan's RBs rushed for 155 yards against Purdue. Remove the 49 yard TD run by Evans and it's 106 yards on 37 carries, or 2.9 ypc. Against Purdue.
Recent Comments
Tucker's lawyers claim Brenda Tracy has engaged in other "consensual, personal relationships" with other married coaches.
"I refuse to buy into this weird, Little Brother defeatist talk. "Oh no, what if MSU gets Urban Meyer." Then Michigan will stomp MSU with Urban Meyer"
Mel Tucker went 2-1 vs Michigan... Harbaugh is 4-4 vs MSU. Urban would be a big improvement over Dantonio/Tucker. Let's not pretend like A) we've been dominating the rivalry and B) this wouldn't be a big hire.
That being said, I don't think Urban to MSU is actually going to happen.
The bottom line is we're in if we beat OSU (and don't crap the bed in the B1G Championship) and most likely out if we lose. And as much as I like Michigan, I'd have a hard time putting them ahead of 1 loss Tennessee. It's not SEC bias to say a conference schedule with games vs Florida, LSU, Kentucky, Alabama and Georgia is more difficult than one with Ohio State, Penn State, Maryland, Iowa and Illinois.
I know we're tired of the SEC being labeled as being the best conference, but does anyone believe Alabama would have 2 losses if they had played Michigan's (or Ohio State's) schedule?
Agreed, I don't think you'll find many people who will argue beating Penn State is a better win than beating Alabama. And Tennessee's beat two 7 win teams. Our second best win is what, a one score victory over 3 loss Maryland? Or a road win over 4 loss Iowa?
I think we will look back and wonder what could have been... the 4th down spot in the 2016 OSU game and Maryland missing a 2 point conversion in overtime of their 2018 game vs OSU, two plays that literally cost us two Big Ten division titles and probably two Big Ten championships and two playoff appearances... how different would Michigan's trajectory have been had he managed that in his first four seasons?
Exactly... this was as bright as the future has been for Michigan in how long? Then he decided to head to the NFL and kill any momentum the program had. I understand he cannot control the timing but there's no doubt the month long saga has put the program in a tough spot with both recruiting and finding his potential replacement, plus anyone he takes with him.
So to me, that will be his legacy... one fantastic season followed by what I can't help but feel as betrayal, especially after all the "this is just the beginning" and "I'd coach for free" talk.
Rankings should definitely determine home field for playoff games. Think of this year if Georgia had to play at the Big House, that would be awesome... the opposite of awesome would be having to play at Georgia as the higher ranked team just because it was the SEC's year to host.
Seems a bit high since we have to replace half our defense but we'll see...
Also these rankings mean next to nothing, their reasoning for placing MSU at 10 is they're "losing 2nd leading rusher in FBS" and "returning most of their (FBS worst pass) defense".
There's many fans who want to dismiss the head to head result because Michigan has improved dramatically since opening the season in South Bend. However if the roles were reversed, we would be touting the head to head result as reason why we should be ranked ahead of ND. I think we would win a rematch but we had our chance and didn't take advantage.
We really need Northwestern to win out to give us another win over a ranked opponent. That may be the one hope we have to pass ND, beating two ranked opponents to capture a conference title.
I would say any time the football hits the ground, it's luck. Michigan did not "make a play" to get the football to bounce out of bounds on the Higdon fumble. The ball bounces where it wants to. The football was fumbled 5 times in the MSU-PSU game, and all 5 times MSU recovered. That is some real good luck. In a game that required a last second TD, if any one of those fumbles are recovered by PSU, that's another possession for them and MSU doesn't get their last drive. Now did MSU make some plays? Absolutely. Were some of them lucky (RB pass to the 1, underthrown ball for the winning TD)? That all depends on who you're rooting for.
Is it classless to post in a thread about someone who is possibly in their final days and making sure to point out two or three negative things to try and sway a narrative because you don't like the guy?
The problem is, say we play superb D and hold Villanova to 70 points (only twice in 39 games have they failed to score 70). Can we hit enough shots to top them? Our offense has stagnated and our shooting has gone cold for long stretches of this tournament. Texas A&M is a reminder of what we can do when we're hot, but that's appearing more and more like the outlier than the norm. Hopefully Villanova's 3pt shooting crashes back to earth and our guys can heat up a little. We need to prevent any extended runs (like Kansas starting off in a 22-4 hole), it's going to be much harder to come back from 10 points down than it was against Loyola.
I will root for other teams in the conference depending on the matchup, but I will never root for MSU or OSU. In years where more than 4 teams make it to the tournament, it's fun to see how many B1G teams advance. But it's more fun to see MSU flame out three years in a row.
We've been off from three point range in 3 of the 4 tournament games. Is it a trend, or are we due for some better performances? It'd be great if we could finish the tournament hot from 3 because when we are, we can beat anybody.
Sparty's going to be upset that we're seeded the same, they'll have flashbacks to the Outback Bowl selection process. Their schedule was weak, they only played 7 Quadrant 1 games and had a losing record. We won 6 of 11 such games.
I don't know, I watched a few minutes of WISC-MSU and it looked like more of the same. Ticky-tack fouls and a charge against MSU that was called a block on WISC.
Refs were bad but to those impyling there's some conspiracy theory, we had 14 more free throw attempts than Iowa despite the Hawkeyes being in the bonus for half the game. That being said, it doesn't make it any less frustrating to watch.
Not sure what your job is, but I would say watching something requires much more focus and effort than listening. I know many companies that allow employees to listen to music or podcasts on their headphones. I do not know of many that allow them to watch Netflix.
If you answered yes, I suggest trying Blue Steel.
Eight teams would be perfect. All five P5 conference champions, plus 3 at large bids. Or maybe two at large bids and the G5 champion. That would eliminate a lot of the mystery in the selection process: win your conference and you're guaranteed a spot.
Funny thing is after firing Butch Jones, he announced he wasn't going to use a search firm instead opting to conduct the search himself. One failed attempted hire and numerous other coaches declining the job and now he finds himself without a job.
I have a hard time keeping Bama out if the goal is to truly put the best 4 teams in. Assuming the conference championship games go as expected, it'll be Clemson, Auburn, Oklahoma, and either 2 loss B1G champ OSU or 1 loss non-SEC champ Alabama. I guess we should be rooting for Wisconsin then, so both OSU and Bama get left out. But my problem with Wisconsin is if Michigan played their schedule, they'd probably be an 11 win team and in the CFP discussion. I fear if they make the playoffs, it'll be another disappointing showing by the B1G (MSU in 2015, OSU in 2016).
As unpopular as this may be, Harbaugh's sideline antics probably have hurt Michigan in the sense that any 50-50 calls are not going to go our way. Refs are human and they don't like to be embarrassed. Harbaugh's had a handful of memorable (and meme-able) sideline tantrums, as well as his rant after OSU 2016. I doubt there is any B1G conspiracy; more likely we've lost any benefit of the doubt in the eyes of the refs.
Most fans think the refs are against their team, I'm sure OSU could come up with a number of plays to prove the refs favored Michigan (there were a few plays that could've been defensive holding on our DBs). However, the lack of offensive holding calls against our opponent is alarming. I count 2 holding calls against in our last 17 regular season games. I'd guess most games see at least 2-3 offensive holding calls per game, we see 2 per season. It's ridiculous.
Our schedule is brutal next year, which is why I'm a bit more skeptical of "next year will be our year".
We have:
@ Notre Dame
@ Northwestern
@ Michigan State
@ Ohio State
vs Wisconsin
vs Penn State
Compare that to Michigan State
@ Penn State
vs Northwestern
vs Michigan
vs Ohio State
or Ohio State
@ TCU
@ Penn State
@ Michigan State
vs Michigan
or Penn State
@ Michigan
vs Ohio State
vs Michigan State
vs Wisconsin
vs Iowa
We have what I would deem 6 games that are at least moderately difficult, four of which are away games. Penn State has five such games, but 4 are at home. Michigan State and Ohio State both have four. That's a brutal schedule for a supposed breakout year.
The landscape of football in Florida is not in flux. Miami is a CFP contender. Florida is coming off back to back SEC East titles, once they can get their issues on offense figured out and convince their players to stop engaging in credit card fraud they'll be okay. FSU lost their starting QB in week 1 and nothing in Jimbo Fisher's tenure suggests this is anything but a down year. UCF and USF will always be competing for the distinction of being the 4th best school in the state. Heck, FAU is getting as much publicity this year with Lane Kiffin as UCF is. So while UCF may be experiencing a period of success, their dreams of becoming a national power like UF, FSU, and Miami is just that - a dream.
But are Gainesville and Tallahassee increasingly pleasant and fairly liberal cities?
Under Armour turned Notre Dame's pants brown.
I found WD
Also how it goes for a Georgia recruit when Georgia is undefeated and a playoff contender while we're most likely headed for another 3rd place finish in the B1G East.
Don't be so quick to jump to conclusions here, all we have is the number. It could be Rashan Gary. Or Wilton Speight.
I just get tired of seeing our defensive line get blatantly held with no flags thrown, and then we get called for marginal chop blocks or ineligible man downfield or whatever penalty wiped out a TD against Florida. If the refs are watching close enough to call obscure or questionable stuff, how do they miss our DL getting held constantly. Last season, Michigan did not have an opponent called for offensive holding during the last 5 games. That is unbelievable.
To be fair, "underwhelming at best" is not a stupid thing to say. A class is either underwhelming or it's not, but it can also be underwhelming or worse.
Don't forget they lost their starting QB in week 1, they're undefeated behind a backup QB who's a true freshman. His first start was their win at Notre Dame. They beat Florida and Tennessee by a combined score of 83-7. Neither of those teams is good, but there aren't many teams outside of Bama that are beating teams by that much.
But what if all he wanted was to be crowned a Champion of Life? That ain't happening if Butch gets canned.
Doesn't Maryland know toe meets leather at 12pm???
Doesn't Maryland know toe meets leather at 12pm???
Exactly. Next year is gearing up to be a big year, but our schedule is brutal with games at ND, MSU, and OSU, and we get the top of the B1G West in WIS, NEB, and NW. We've got to hope either Peters or McCaffery can overtake Speight and the O-Line can improve (will Newsome return? Can Ruiz or Filiaga earn a starting spot?). We are a handful of bad luck/bad officiating/bad plays away from a completely different narrative (3-0 vs MSU, a B1G title and CFP spot). The pressure will be on next year to see if we can take the next step.
The season would feel much different had we beaten MSU. You can live with an underperforming offense when you're winning. PSU was a bad game, but it'd be easier to swallow if we were 6-1 and still had a shot at a division title.
Rich Rod
I wouldn't care about this except that we're 2 for 2 in embarrassing ourselves in front of a national TV audience under the lights this season.
That's an overreaction, we have plenty of talent on offense. Harbaugh recruits who have seen meaningful playing time and produced: DPJ, Black, Higdon, Evans, McKeon, Gentry. Harbaugh recruits who come in with moderate to high expectations, but are unproven: O'Maury Samuels, Kareem Walker, Nico Collins, Oliver Martin, Brandon Peters, Dylan McCaffery. To say the offense is devoid of talent or difference makers is not accurate. Now why we choose to throw it 4 times to Khalid Hill instead of at any running back is a legitimate gripe.
Penn State is beatable, Iowa almost did it. But when was the last time a team played a big night game at home coming off their bye week and lost? I can't think of one...
I'm not confident we can score enough points (24?) to get it done. Penn State will be the best offense we face all year, if Indiana can get to 20, you'd think PSU should be able to. Hopefully we can run the ball like we did last week, get consistent pressure on McSorley, and win the turnover battle. But if we can't sustain drives or turn it over multiple times, it could be ugly.
O'Korn also had an interception overturned because of pass interference, made two or three throws that could've easily been picks, and finished with 58 yards passing. The one hope I have is that our success running the ball the past few weeks will open up more opportunities in the passing game, but I'm not confident O'Korn can take advantage.
Yeah, but what do you really think about it?
Night game @ Utah - L
Night game @ Iowa - L
Orange Bowl vs Florida St - L
Night game vs MSU - L
Meh, reffing is low on the list of reasons we lost on Saturday. I'd say lady luck is #1 in my book. MSU recovered both our fumbles. Lewerke recovers a fumbled snap and lands on his lineman and rolls for a first down. How on earth did they recover that muffed punt? The returner was running full speed and got shoved right before he fielded the ball and it bounced right into his chest. That was one of the most pivotal plays of the game. At worst, we get the ball inside the 10. At best, it's a touchdown for us. But alas, it wasn't meant to be.
By Week 5 of the 1997 season there were no more doubts as to whether Michigan’s defense was elite. But the offense—and its achingly conservative playcalling—made fans wonder how it would hold up over a season. All it would take is for a particularly bad offensive showing and a few lucky breaks for a scrappy opponent to put an L on the board.
Not true. Peters played in the Spring Game. So clearly he's not a Spring Game Breaker type.
I think everyone would take that, but your example is hitting big plays on 33% of your rushing attempts and averaging over 11 yards per carry... we're nowhere close to that. Evans had one 49 yard run, and the other 37 rushing attempts by running backs averaged less than 2.9 yards per carry. My point was, we have one or two big runs a game that are making the rushing totals look decent but masking a run game that as a whole is not very good right now.
LOL okay... when you look at overall numbers it looks OK, kind of like MSU's defense. But we aren't running the ball consistently well, we just break off a big run or two every game. Michigan's RBs rushed for 155 yards against Purdue. Remove the 49 yard TD run by Evans and it's 106 yards on 37 carries, or 2.9 ypc. Against Purdue.