The Thousand-Yard Stare
9/18/2021 – Michigan 20, Rutgers 13 – 4-0, 1-0 Big Ten
Well, at least it took 3.5 games to get back to the same old feeling. The grim one, where you're staring grimly at the grim field where grim things are happening and then Michigan and its steamroller of a run game takes a delay of game penalty instead of attempting a fourth and one. After that there's another penalty before Michigan can finally punt. The color drains out of the world until you forget where you are and momentarily think you're at Eastern's stadium, which is now gray—not just gray, but gray-gray, ultragray—in some sort of marketing stunt turned guerilla art installation.
Say what you want about the Eastern Michigan Eagles' proficiency at football, but never slander their perspective on the fatalistic trudge we call life. Football is healthy and good to have influence your thoughts.
At times like these the man with the mustache arrives in my head.
You can find him by googling for "sad Florida State fan," and you will discover that this is now a bustling corner of the image search internet populated by folks in glitter and surrender cobras from sea to shining sea. But mustache man is still first, because he is a perfect distillation of the emptiness of a bad football game where your team gets to do the fun parts three plays, and only three plays, at a time while the opposition dunks on you.
He is also a tribute to the human ability to read nuance into facial expressions. What makes Sad Mustache Man so compelling? He merely stares ahead, stoic. His brow furrows slightly. The way he communicates the existential angst of Ole Miss punching your face in is mysterious. Blindingly clear, and somehow impossible to define. He stares into the middle distance and attempts to keep all his atoms in the same place.
--------------------------------------------
Since Michigan was playing Rutgers, "dunks on you" means "scores ten points in a half and still loses." The feeling is still the same. Michigan's second half didn't lose this game; it felt like it lost future games. At some point down the road when Michigan gets conked everyone watching will think about how the second half of Rutgers foretold this woeful fate.
Which, I guess, fine, okay, yeah. I predicted this team would go 7-5 and so did everyone else. Even after… that, a reversion to that level of pessimism is not reasonable. A reversion to the same old thing—9-3 or thereabouts, losing most of the exciting games, not being particularly competitive against Ohio State—is, and here we're in the same treadmill it seems like we've always been on.
Michigan can exceed expectations this year and still put up something entirely unsatisfying. Too good to fire, not good enough to enjoy. That's not fate, of course: maybe Greg Schiano is pretty good at this and Michigan will receive a wake-up call and actually bomb someone worth bombing on the road. One half doesn't erase the other halves.
But when you keep walking down the same road year after year it's hard to expect that something's different until it actually is. Until then, a steady stare into the middle distance is always a good option. Doesn't usually get you put on TV unless you're a perfect distillation of sadness, and even then there's usually someone just as sad but dressed more outlandishly.
AWARDS
Known Friends and Trusted Agents Of The Week
I AM DETECTING AN ILLEGALITY [Barron]
#1 Aidan Hutchinson. Didn't have a massive game statistically but is likely to check in with a monster UFR number. Had a sack, bowled over an OL on the direct snap to Pacheco, probably should have drawn multiple holding flags. Making up for meh performances otherwise.
#2 Nikhai Hill-Green. Shuffled through traffic on the second to last Rutgers drive to stick folks short of the sticks on critical plays. Led team in tackles, a fair few of which were important. Preseason hype seems not crazy.
#3 Brad Robbins. Ok he had a bad one but the one he dropped at the three that took a right turn out of bounds was important, and he limited the dangerous Cruicshank to just one punt return attempt.
Honorable mention: Josh Ross turned in a good performance with one thunderous TFL before leaving; Chris Hinton got off a block on one of the key Hill-Green stuffs to help; Dax Hill was a bit up and down but did stuff some perimeter stuff.
KFaTAotW Standings.
(points: #1: 8, #2: 5, #3: 3, HMs one each. Ties result in somewhat arbitrary assignments.)
16: The OL (#1 Wash, #1 NIU)
14: Aidan Hutchinson (HM WMU, #2 Wash, #1 Rutgers)
11: Blake Corum (#2 WMU, T3 Wash, T2 NIU)
8: Ronnie Bell (#1 WMU)
7: Hassan Haskins (HM WMU, T3 Wash, T2 NIU)
6: Nikhai Hill-Green(HM NIU, #2 Rutgers)
5: Dax Hill (#3 WMU, HM NIU, HM Rutgers)
4: AJ Henning (HM WMU, #3 NIU),
3: Donovan Edwards(T2 NIU), Josh Ross (HM Wash, HM NIU, HM Rutgers)
1: Andrew Vastardis (HM WMU),Mike Sainristil (HM WMU), Brad Robbins (HM Wash), Jake Moody (HM Wash), Mazi Smith (HM Wash), Gemon Green(HM NIU), Cornelius Johnson(HM NIU), Chris Hinton (HM Rutgers)
Who's Got It Better Than Us(?) Of The Week
Michigan's opening drive is a 17-play marathon featuring two passes, a touchdown, and the absorption of half a quarter.
Honorable mention: Hill-Green gets back to back sticks to functionally end the game; bonafide RPO gets Roman Wilson a chunk on Michigan's second efficient TD drive to start; ditto the Sainristil catch; officials ignore a blatant block in the back on Henning's return.
MARCUS HALL EPIC DOUBLE BIRD OF THE WEEK.
Can I say the entire second half? No? Okay, uh, McNamara missing three straight open receivers on one of the three-and-outs. (Sainristil could have caught the first one, yes; still low.)
Honorable mention: The rest of the second half.
[After THE JUMP: up up up up nope nope nope nope]
OFFENSE
A cliff, visualized. Via Seth:
Many people have already noted that the flattening out exactly correlates with McNamara being on the receiving end of a targeting penalty. The big jump at play ~32 is the strike to Sainristil and the ensuing ejection, and after that it was a slow drip of disaster. McNamara went from 8/9 to start to 1/7 to finish. The possibilities there:
- coincidence,
- McNamara was hurt and either nobody noticed or he successfully concealed some mild concussion symptoms, or
- McNamara wasn't hurt but was rattled.
I think coincidence is the most likely, especially because the amount of data we have on him is so limited. But we're again in a spot where we're wondering if this guy is actually the guy and glancing at the five-star freshman. One negative of the monster run game is that Michigan's called fewer passes than anyone outside of service academies, so we have a tiny amount of data.
The coaches have more and their reticence to open things up may be an indicator.
Jeremy Gallon graduated. McNamara's lone incompletion before the cliff was this:
[Barron]
That's a perfect corner route that got broken up by an excellent no-look play from the DB, but also maybe this should be someone other than Sainristil. (I saw some back and forth online about whether Sainristil should have brought this in. My opinion is no, there's really no opportunity to out-beast a guy who punches the ball the instant you touch it.)
A frustrating contrast. Rutgers does not have Michigan's talent level but stuck in this game and significantly outrushed Michigan with a bunch of janky college crap. Swing it to the flat, run the quarterback, run with some WRs, use a lot of misdirection, etc. It felt like Michigan did almost none of that. There was a significant amount of variation in the between-the-tackles ground game, but once Rutgers adjusted and started dispensing a bunch of two-yard runs Michigan did not have a plan B. Nor did they make any attempts to get janky college yards until very late.
WR screens? 0. AJ Henning touches? 0. Perimeter run plays of any description? 1, that coming on a bash play to Corum deep in the fourth quarter. QB runs? 1, which Rutgers predicted and blitzed right into.
It's mystifying. Seems like we have one out of every three games where the Speed In Space has arrived and then it goes back in the bin. Shades of the Army game from a couple years ago.
Reads: scanty. Michigan got a couple of chunks off of RPO action, which are the first of the year IIRC. Otherwise it did not feel like the QB was live in the mesh point until the very end of the game, when Rutgers correctly anticipated Michigan would go to the QB run well and shot a LB directly at McNamara:
The one time we keep, it's the wrong read. You can blame the QB but when you hardly ever run a true Zome Read, and constantly give to the RB, you're not gonna be very good at it. pic.twitter.com/uHkm8uR1pp
— Due# (@JDue51) September 26, 2021
You have to wonder how live that read is or if it's just a pull with the expectation that the LB will go after the RB. We've been through this with QB after QB after QB and I have no expectations this will change going forward.
that guy's never going to catch you [Barron]
Running back détente is always temporary. Seth's likely to have a fair number of negatives from this game for Haskins and Corum; on my rewatch I caught a number of plays where gaps did open up but RBs did not hit them, and I thought Corum in particular had at least a few opportunities for a bounce as Rutgers overplayed the interior.
In one sense this is a testament to Corum's RB instincts. It's unusual for little fast guys to not try to Mike Shaw it a bunch, usually to their detriment. On the other hand, I mean try it a few times? Fast, you are fast.
DEFENSE
unsettling [Barron]
That was more in line with expectations. This was not a good run game—to say the least—entering the game but Michigan ended up having a lot of problems because the defensive tackles were largely a non-factor. Grinding up the middle with Vedral as Pacheco took linebacker attention outside was effective for Rutgers because Michigan's DLs could not win one on one battles and Hutchinson was being followed around by a posse of dudes*.
I don't think there's much to do about this. At certain spots you are who you are, and Michigan is pretty meh at DT.
*[One notable instance of this was on the last Rutgers drive, where they spent a slot WR to blindside him and knock him down on a pass rush.]
Endurance. Michigan rotated heavily, which on the one hand was somewhat alarming. On the podcast I suggested that if you have eight defensive tackles you don't really have any. On the other hand that did seem to come in handy late when Michigan's defense stiffened—not at all what you would expect when Rutgers is the only team staying on the field. Having eight meh defensive tackles is better than having two, I guess.
Jordan Whittley did not play, which feels like it was a bigger loss than you might expect for a guy who's only going to get a dozen snaps.
this is not going far [Campredon]
WHAT ARE WE DOING? Takes a special kind of baffling thing reoccurring repeatedly for me to start swearing in the stands at this late date, but Michigan's defense accomplished that by repeatedly offering Rutgers a free eight yards on simple hitches on the outside. Completely bizarre. You are playing Noah Vedral!
Rutgers has two long passing plays against FBS opposition this year; they were a TE seam and a five yard hitch. I find it difficult to believe that Vedral hitting a back shoulder throw on the first Rutgers third down threw Michigan's pregame planning into a tizzy. Covering the flats was a problem early against NIU, and then Michigan adjusted. It was baffling, frustrating, and inexplicable that Michigan was handing easy yardage chunks to Rutgers deep into the second half.
Vedral's other attempted shots at the sideline both went OOB. [shakes hands violently]
Slow your roll. Dax Hill had two different clean shots at Vedral on slot blitzes RU did not pick up and whiffed both. This tends to happen when really fast guys come off the corner—I am currently thinking about Brandon Harrison and his remarkable ability to get dodge by quarterbacks—and hopefully he'll be able to gear down a bit and finish those plays.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Got away with one. Entertaining sequence on the AJ Henning punt return where I saw an obvious block in the back, the officials threw a flag, then picked it up, then got to watch the stadium scoreboard demonstrate that the obvious block in the back was very very obvious. I was shocked when the next play did not have a holding call; one dollar says the extremely weak roughing the passer call a few minutes later was related to picking that flag up.
Orin Incandenza business. This ball done be remote controlled.
Look at that bounce. @UMichFootball P Brad Robbins does it #ForTheBrand. pic.twitter.com/HsOw1aoYS0
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) September 25, 2021
Robbins celebrated like he'd birthed the savior of the world and fair enough.
Noped out. Rutgers tried a couple kickoffs to Corum and while he didn't break one he was close enough that Rutgers decided pop-up kicks were the better part of valor. Michael Barrett had a nice catch and return on one of them to get out to the 35.
MISCELLANEOUS
Oh no baby. Greg Schiano's decision to go for it on fourth and ten with 29 seconds left in the half was completely bizarre. The score was 17-3, which means okay yeah scoring at the end of the half would be an important boost. But 1) fourth and ten, 2) you are Rutgers, 3) you're probably giving Michigan another possession.
The ensuing slant was both broken up and short of the sticks, and then Michigan immediately hit a big RPO to get down to the Rutgers 5. Only a post-targeting McNamara miss on to an open Schoonmaker prevented the worst case scenario.
Shortly after. Michigan elected to kick a field goal on third down with five seconds left in the half. This I'm not too ticked off about that because the thing they probably should have done—throw a goal-line fade—is not likely to convert. But it's coming down before five seconds run off the clock.
We are the premiere Crean Documenting Service in the Midwest. Puttin' a lot of weird guys on the sideline:
[Barron]
This gives me an excuse to put this here.
This photo with Tom Crean was posted by a Georgia recruit
— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) September 24, 2021
Not strange at all pic.twitter.com/auawYF2vlC
Thanks, Tom.
HERE
The State of our Open Threads:
So, how did we feel about as it was happening? I will just say that there were fewer fucks given than I would have actually thought - only 176 of them, to be exact. Still, when you consider that we only generated 18 of them last week, that's 9.8 times the fucks and probably a corresponding overall increase in fan stress. It's charted in comparison to "fire" here:
In the Harbaugh era, and in the Hoke era when this collection effort began, there has always been at least a mild correlation between our use of "fuck" and our wanting of heads, and while four games isn't telling, you can see they do trail each other somewhat. Normally, this relationship will solidify by the time the OSU rolls around. I can only imagine why that is.
Stephen King on the eternalness of Michigan's offense:
What is telling, to me, about these analyses is that if you change some details, they could be written about Saturday's win over Rutgers. This, despite a complete overhaul in the offensive staff in that time. We've seen the OL coach change twice, the OC change once, different attempts at WR coaches, and now a new RB coach as well. The offensive personnel is completely different as well. The only things those offenses have in common with this team is the uniforms and the head coach.
And so with every 3-and-out by the offense and every interminable odyssey by the defensive series it felt like the game was not so much slipping away as getting unnecessarily close. It’s difficult to describe and probably comes across as homer-ish, but this game never felt quite like last year’s contest in NJ, where Rutgers raced out to a big lead behind superior play. I’m not saying you should but if you so inclined, go back and re-watch even just the highlights of that game. Rutgers put up nearly 6 ypp in that game and had 486 yards of total offense while also committing 12 (!) penalties on offense for 99 (!!) yards. Their defense struggled in the second half but they were consistently getting pressure early on and Michigan barely had 100 yards of total offense before McNamara came in. Rutgers looked like the better team in that game and Michigan was lucky they were able to stay close enough. Those were two equal-ish teams in terms of talent and execution playing a defensively-challenged game of chicken, with Rutgers finally blinking in overtime. It felt not unlike a lot of Big 12 games in that respect.
September 27th, 2021 at 2:09 PM ^
:’)
I’m not crying you’re crying
September 27th, 2021 at 2:34 PM ^
For anyone who wants to cry some more.
Xavier Worthy's stats
14 receptions 246 yards 17.6 avg 4 TDs 62 long
AJ Henning's stats
3 receptions 36 yards 12.0 avg 0 TDs 24 long
CoJo's
8 receptions 198 yds 24.8 avg 1 TD 87 long
Texas QB, Casey Thompson's stats through 2 games since he started the season as the back-up
42/54 77.8 % 565 yds 10.5 avg 8 TDs 2 INTs 62 long
Cade's through 4 games as bonafide #1
33/53 62.3% 534 yds 10.1 avg 3 TDs 0 INTs 87 long
Don't worry though, at least Cade doesn't throw picks!
September 27th, 2021 at 2:40 PM ^
Hey, I get it. Worthy is crushing it, but we are ranked and Texas is not.
September 27th, 2021 at 7:32 PM ^
but we are ranked and Texas is not.
What does this even mean?
That you're (and your 28 upvoters) satisfied with what someone sitting behind a TV thinks versus the product on the field?
September 27th, 2021 at 7:54 PM ^
What that means is that despite the awesome individual performance by Worthy, we are a better team. At least for now. And I much rather be a better team.
You see, football is a team sport. Strong individual performances mean nothing if you can’t win and advance your team up the rankings.
Edit: check out Worthy’s stats in their loss to Arkansas (hint: they were not great). I say, let’s just see how the team reacts to Rutgers game, then make a call)
September 27th, 2021 at 10:08 PM ^
You see, football is a team sport. Strong individual performances mean nothing if you can’t win and advance your team up the rankings.
You see, I'm not even talking about Worthy.
You see, rankings mean nothing when your body of work is winning against middle of the road MAC, horrible MAC, a team that lost to middle of the road FCS, and squeaking out a win against Rutgers.
September 28th, 2021 at 1:12 PM ^
us being ranked won't last though
not with the way our coaches decided to play the 2nd half.
Doesn't anyone else get tired of the piss poor adjustments/lack of adjustments?
ANYONE could see the QB was either making the wrong read OR wasn't even given the opportunity to actually READ what the D was giving and our RB's kept running into stacked boxes, as a coach if you want to instill confidence in your QB then coaching NOT TO LOSE ISN'T the way to do it.
other teams come in and adjust, we act like we are just going to do what we do and we will win.
Gattis can hit the next bus out of town as far as I am concerned, I am done with that failed hire.
September 27th, 2021 at 2:45 PM ^
i'm sure i'm forgetting something, but what does casey thompson have to do with cade mcnamara?
September 27th, 2021 at 2:58 PM ^
Avg teams like Texas do more with their back up QBs than Michigan can in a season. 2021 and Michigan is hanging out with service academies when it comes to the forward pass. Smfh
September 27th, 2021 at 3:01 PM ^
thanks for answering exactly the way i thought you would, specifically "look at random, unrelated qb over there, better than our qb, i rest my case, go have a sad, like me."
September 27th, 2021 at 3:10 PM ^
Worthy is great, but has no bearing on this though.
We have and have had talented receivers, we don't give those receivers enough shots to put numbers up. Receivers have shown that talent, and Cade and JJ have flashed the ability to make those throws... we need to stop handcuffing ourselves, let those passes fly and live with the results. Hit 1 or 2 of those a game, and you open up the space for Blake and Hassan to run wild.
September 27th, 2021 at 3:53 PM ^
It seems that either Jim feels that he can beat Ohio State with a ground and pound gameplan or he WANTS to beat them with a ground and pound gameplan, to prove everyone wrong.
I cannot come up with any other reason that we continue to trot out an offense fitting of the 80's or early 90's (or earlier, really). He has proven, last year not withstanding, that the offense can destroy teams with inferior talent. The utter dominance his teams have shown in games against group of 5 and even lower level Power 5 teams is remarkable. I just cannot fathom how he thinks we are going to win big time games consistently with that gameplan.
I've gotten to the point that I'll enjoy the wins when they come, because that is what we ask of the team..."win games". If we can't enjoy the wins, then what are we even doing being fans. But I won't be surprised when the losses come due to the malfeasance of the head coach.
September 27th, 2021 at 4:12 PM ^
If this ends up being the case we may not eclipse 100 yards of offense this coming Saturday (I think unfortunately there is a reality where this happens). Saturday is going to tell is a lot about just how deeply married Jim Harbaugh is to Michigan's ground game identity. There are anecdotes we've seen in the past that suggest, his dedication to adhering to the offensive identity he wants from the team will run deeper than common sense. If that is the game plan going into Madison, then this will be a kamakazi mission. Michigan could start a fuckin' Panzer Tank at running back and still not gain100 yards rushing in this game. The scouting report and box scores suggest running between the tackles against Wisconsin is a swift and certain death.
On the ground, Michigan might be able to pick up some chunk plays on gimmicky, misdirection type stuff that will work once. They scoring plays are going to have to come from intermediate to deep passes down the field, and they should only have to hit on a couple of them. If we see Michigan run 70% of their plays into Wisconsin's brick wall and then attempt some feeble sideline throws on 3 & 8, we're gonna have a bad time. And this board is going to explode.
September 27th, 2021 at 4:49 PM ^
"Snap back to reality, oop, there goes gravity....
Eminem summed up the second half in one line.
September 27th, 2021 at 6:14 PM ^
I 100% agree with this post. At some point soon, very likely this Saturday, we are going to have to throw the ball downfield into tight coverage windows more than a handful times if we expect to win. I know it's not Harbaugh's or Gattis' comfort zone, but we need to scare Wisconsin out of the box. I know, and I think we all know, that this has to happen and if it doesn't things will go south quickly in the most daunting and important part of our schedule.
September 27th, 2021 at 7:04 PM ^
I agree with the section of the post talking about how McNamara's zone read got blown up in part because they haven't been running a true zone read all this time, so now when they actually try to do it, they're not very good at it.
By extension, Michigan can't expect to deploy a passing attack in a live game and expect to be good at it if they're not willing to run it in the easier part of their schedule.
Another corollary to that is Michigan can't expect to recruit elite WR talent if they aren't giving their current WRs opportunities to make highlight reel plays and pad their stats. Yes, the academic bullshit contributed to Xavier Worthy going to Texas, but the academic bullshit just opened the door for people like Sarkisian to plant whispers about underutilization of talent like Nico Collins and DPJ.
September 27th, 2021 at 9:42 PM ^
Weeeeeeelllll according to the coaching actions we can expect to run into a stacked box and still win. SMH
September 27th, 2021 at 6:41 PM ^
Excellent summary, though I don't see any world where we wouldn't put up at least 100 yards of offense
September 27th, 2021 at 6:05 PM ^
Ohio State has averaged 44 points per game against Harbaugh.
Given the time “ground & pound” consumes, how does Harbaugh figure Michigan will have enough possessions to score 45 points?
September 27th, 2021 at 8:52 PM ^
Bingo. It is an obstinacy born of pride and misplaced priorities. Today's game is not a character-measuring contest lifted straight out of Teddy Roosevelt's muscular Christianity doctrine about importance of marshal sports like football to save young men from emasculation. It is about winning games and championships.
It seems like Harbaugh is pursuing his way just to prove a point while sticking a flag at the top of the football manliness mountain, wins and losses be damned. Come what may, it may lead to his coaching demise.
September 27th, 2021 at 4:14 PM ^
This is the answer. I would add that it appears our qbs do look lost whenever they are asked to not hand the ball off or not throw to their first read. A pattern that goes back past Shea. We have had talented qbs that are obviously not being developed.
September 27th, 2021 at 3:56 PM ^
cherry picking stats aside, Xavier Worthy is obviously a good player, but whatever he is producing at Texas does not in anyway directly translate to the production he would be having at Michigan. He would be plugged into the offense that Harbaugh and Gattis are running and would probably look something similar to what Henning is currently producing.
We all know Xavier Worthy is good. We all know how he ended up at Texas. Suggesting that we're missing out on approximately 300 yards receiving and 4 TD's does not hold water due to the passing constraints of Michigan's offense. Just say Michigan's passing game has been underwhelming through four games, which is true. Trying to compare his statistical production to the receivers at Michigan is just a thinly veiled attempt at concern trolling.
September 27th, 2021 at 5:51 PM ^
How are Brandon Peters and Dylan McCaffrey doing at Illinois and Directional Colorado, btw?
September 27th, 2021 at 5:58 PM ^
Who was the idiot that either:
A) recruited sub-par talent to Michigan
B) was fooled into thinking they had more talent
C) "broke" multiple talented QBs and ruined their careers.
Don't forget about the 12 other QBs that were recruited and fizzled over the past 7 years.
September 27th, 2021 at 7:36 PM ^
DCaff's last game:
25/40 62.5% 199yds 5.0 average 2 TDs 0 INTs 120.8 rating.
September 27th, 2021 at 6:00 PM ^
And what is Texas's record?
Did they lose to Alabama? Georgia?
And what is Michigan's record?
Who have they lost to?
September 27th, 2021 at 7:38 PM ^
And what is Michigan's record?
Who have they lost to?
Michigan is 4-0 beating up:
- middle of the road MAC;
- horrible MAC;
- a team that lost to middle of the road FCS;
- squeaking out a win against Rutgers.
Enjoy your moral victory. Michigan regresses to the mean next weekend. A luxury Michigan didn't have in 2020 on account of no OOC to pad the record.
September 27th, 2021 at 8:20 PM ^
Man, I want to replace our wins with stats that would look good on my EA NCAA2012 dynasty……
/s
September 27th, 2021 at 9:55 PM ^
Xavier Worthy would be a game changer with Bell out.
...all there is to it.
September 28th, 2021 at 6:03 AM ^
September 27th, 2021 at 2:12 PM ^
Ah, full-on BPONE Brian is back. Can't say I missed him.
September 27th, 2021 at 2:24 PM ^
He's not the only one. It was eerie how familiar the feeling that sunk in in that 2nd half was, especially not expecting it at all after the 1st half.
September 27th, 2021 at 2:32 PM ^
Yes, I know he has infected a significant portion of the fanbase. I didn't miss you guys either.
September 27th, 2021 at 2:58 PM ^
I wouldn't character Brian as patient zero. He just coined the term to describe the condition.
September 27th, 2021 at 4:43 PM ^
This is such an unbelievably douchey comment lmao
September 27th, 2021 at 4:57 PM ^
I said what I said. This board is an absolute cesspool. There are many times more reasons to be optimistic than pessimistic about the way the season has unfolded so far and yet you'd think the team was 0-4.
No, I don't think we shouldn't have 'concerns' but holy hell this place dials the 'concern' up to 11 while completely ignoring that we are 4-0, highly ranked according to advanced stats, favored in most of our remaining games, and haven't been behind in a game all season.
September 27th, 2021 at 5:32 PM ^
It's because we've all seen Michigan teams that look good in September or October with obvious flaws and year after year, the obvious flaws get exposed later. You'll have to forgive me because I haven't totally blacked out the previous 6 years of Jim Harbaugh
September 27th, 2021 at 5:35 PM ^
I haven't either which is why I remember being a literal inch from the CCG, and going into week 12 with our destiny in our own hands multiple times. Yeah, those years didn't end up how we wanted. I prefer to think they might if we get there again.
September 27th, 2021 at 6:05 PM ^
I too have doubts due to the recent (last 20 years) of Michigan football and specifically Jim Harbaugh. Every year we do well in September, maybe even into October and then boom, the hammer is dropped sometimes as late as the last game of the season but nevertheless it is dropped.
During the BCS era, UM made 5 appearances which wasn't bad, but not one championship appearance. Since the CFP began we have not made one appearance, nor have we played for a Big Ten CCG since it began in 2011. That one yard we were short might as well have been the moon. We are used to starting off well only to be letdown and letdown hard. No more. The doubt remains until they prove us wrong, at least it is for me. I had just started buying back in but now I'm cautious once again about how well this team will play the remainder of the season.
September 27th, 2021 at 7:48 PM ^
If you only define success as "did Michigan beat OSU", then the last 20 years look bad. There's no way around that... but it also doesn't require a bunch of existential griping, just look at the record.
"I am going to be miserable until we beat OSU" would be the honest way to put it - everything else is just trying to justify that reaction.
September 27th, 2021 at 7:17 PM ^
Yes but that's exactly why I'm not going to get pissy about it now before it even happens. And then if it does happen, I'll be a little frustrated and move on with my day. If it doesn't, it will have been a waste.
September 27th, 2021 at 7:40 PM ^
it's because we've all seen Michigan teams that look good in September or October with obvious flaws and year after year
This person gets it.
But it's MGoBlog so the people with the maize and blue worldview are going to insult the people who have seen this movie before.
September 27th, 2021 at 7:52 PM ^
A "cesspool?" I think most of us have reasoned concerns and I think that being stuck in purgatory is worse then a terrible season that prompts change. Next week is the first test of whether it's Groundhog Day or if things are "different."
September 27th, 2021 at 9:00 PM ^
To quote George Steinbrenner when he signed Dave Winfield to replace Reggie Jackson:
"I paid for Mr. October but I got Mr. May instead"
Michigan is definitely Mr. May. Starts great and limps into the finish line. It's not pessimistic, it is literally what our record shows over much of the past two decades. If anything, it is the constant cheering from the "look on the bright side" crowd that is naive.
It's not that the doubters are sinister and wish ill on the program. Like Scully and Mulder from X Files, we want to believe. We just don't have any evidence. That's the definition of an agnostic, not a cynic.
September 28th, 2021 at 12:41 AM ^
You said what you said.... and what you said is unbelievably douchey. Imagine acting like people who are rightfully pessimistic about this program are the toxic ones lmao. You don't see me calling you a kool-aid drinking moron for not being pessimistic. Oops, guess you do now.
September 28th, 2021 at 6:16 AM ^
And I'm the one being toxic, nice.
I just said I didn't miss the mopers.
September 27th, 2021 at 6:28 PM ^
Some of us watched the 1979 Rose Bowl during our formative years; no infection necessary.
September 27th, 2021 at 6:44 PM ^
Harbaugh is trying to develop the inside run, knowing they'd stack box. He was thinking the game was out of reach so he would prep. That's all it is. He hasn't been able to do so vs Browns tiny DLs over the years.
September 27th, 2021 at 3:24 PM ^
I can understand disappointment. But, c'mon. I don't think anyone thought we were winning the natty regardless of how you were valuing the 4-0 start.
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