When winter sports arrive at Michigan you can count on two things: any hope for Michigan basketball success quickly disappears and any the hockey team always manages to win, despite an inexperienced roster. And so this year has been no different, with one notable exception the sunlight for the basketball team is beginning to appear.
John Beilein’s team played one of the toughest schedules in the country, placing sixth in Jeff Sagarin’s USA Today rankings, without a full compliment of scholarship players. Sure the Wolverines lost to the likes of Harvard and its ex-Michigan coach and Central Michigan, but the difficult slate of non-conference foes, like Duke and UCLA, only help a team with eight underclassmen. And the growth toward season’s end was apparent.
There was the win over Ohio State and a road victory at Iowa, which is one of the tougher places to play if you are an opponent. The Wolverines were competing every night. They hustled for loose balls even though their shooting percentage looked closer to a batting average than anything else. The offense began to look coherent versus the early season mess when no one knew where anyone was supposed to go, which explains the reason why Michigan ranked last in the conference in shooting and next-to-last in three-point accuracy.
Beilein’s offense is not an easy one to learn and he is missing a big man who can shoot from the outside (calling Kevin Pittsnoggle) or anyone who can hit clutch baskets with the shot clock winding down. However, time is on Beilein’s side.
Think what he will be able to do now that he’s been in Ann Arbor long enough to recruit some talent. If he can get another player or two with the skill level of Manny Harris and DeShawn Sims, the Wolverines will return to the national spotlight very soon. If Beilein can crank out 20-win seasons at Canisius and West Virginia, he will do the same for Michigan.
The scene: A crowded shopping mall on Thanksgiving weekend where a restless group waits in line for someone to grant its collective wish. An older, plump gentleman appears at the front ready to have them all sit on his knee, but obviously they are too heavy for him.
He simply asks, “What are you all wishing for Christmas this year?”
The response is quick and boisterous from the maize and blue clad group: “A head football coach!”
Santa Claus, lifts his glasses slightly, rubs his beard, smiles and says, “I have one for you. He’s young, energetic, and inventive. He likes his teams to play fast. He can recruit nationally. He has his team in contention for a national title. His name is Rich Rodriguez.”
The crowd goes silent.
“No way. He’s not a Michigan man,”shouts one septugenarian.
“Neither was Bo,” retorts Santa.
“He runs the spread option,” exclaims the octagenarian next to him.
“Yes,” Santa begins, “and he is one of its innovators. Did you know coaches from across the country have come to his practices to learn it, including Urban Meyer?”
“Have you seen the Michigan quarterbacks? They aren’t very mobile,” a graying woman states.
“Neither was Chris Leak. And Florida won the national title with him running the spread , which coach Meyer learned from whom? Yes, Rich Rodriguez,” St. Nick replies. “Besides what if I told you, not only would you get Rodriguez, but also his offensive coordinator, and possibly be able to recruit the top prep quarterback in the country, who has been compared to Vince Young.”
“You been drinking too much egg nog old man,” the man with the Michigan Alumni sweatshirt on chortles. “We need Les Miles. He’s a Michigan man. He played in Ann Arbor. Coached there too. He was a lineman. He knows how to play Big Ten football.”
The affirmatives rise from the crowd again.
Slowly, Santa rises from his chair, exasperated by all this. “Enough,” he shouts. “And where has ‘playing Big Ten football’ gotten the Wolverines. One national title in 60 years! They last won a BCS game in the 2000 Orange Bowl. They have lost six of seven to Ohio State. This is the 21st century people. Even I know that and look how long I’ve been around. You people need to move forward. Besides maybe this would teach Michigan how to defend the spread.”
Several “Whatevers” eminate from the crowd. The men and women give Santa discourteous waves of the hand to return to their shopping.
Fast forward three-plus weeks later. It’s a snowy Sunday in southeastern Michigan and that man with the Michigan Alumni sweatshirt is reading the newspaper and watching television, shaking his head.
“Hey, Virginia,” he shouts to his wife, who is in her office. “Did you see this? Michigan basketball lost to Central Michigan today. Plus, we don’t have a football coach. I am embarrassed to wear this sweatshirt.”
Suddenly, the bottom scroll on the TV, which is displaying scores, displays “Michigan hires Rich Rodriguez as coach.”
The man throws his paper in the air and screams with delight. His wife comes out of the office, asks, “Is everything OK?”
He replies,”Yes I’m fine. And, yes, Virgina there is a Santa Claus.”
As expected Lloyd Carr announced his retirement from head coach of Michigan on Monday. This came to be as much of a surprise as finding out that there is snow at the North Pole. And very little that came from Carr was new. He still showed that he loves Michigan and everything about the university. He displayed his fiery side when asked about Les Miles. He criticized the media. He mixed in a few of his typical glares and head shakes. He was typical Lloyd Carr and that was a good thing.
For all the critiques about his record against Ohio State and conservative game strategy, Carr always did what he thought was best for the program and not himself. He never became a pitchman for some local car care store but instead raised money for the Mott Children’s Hospital with his annual car wash. He fiercely protected his players by rarely expounding on their injuries or personal issues, which frustrated fans and media alike, but Carr did not care about their feelings. His only concern was his team as a whole. And he really never seemed to care about his legacy, which to many will be his glib halftime comments to the sideline reporter who dared ask him a question while heading into the locker room.
Carr finishes his career with the third most wins of any Michigan coach. He had the seventh-highest winning percentage of active coaches. He led the Wolverines to five conference titles and one national championship. Many fans will say he did less with more than any coach at a major program despite the fact that only one team, USC, has emerged with two BCS titles. The Wolverines, with the post-season coming up, will have have played in 13 consecutive bowl games. Not bad, but was that good enough?
Depends on who you ask. Alumni and fans will say no. Current and former players will say that they should have won more but it was not the fault of Carr or the coaches. And what would Carr say about his results to those critics? Nothing, because they never changed who he was or will they ever.
What a disaster Saturday turned out to be. The Wolverines were supposed to have everything going for them: home field, bad weather, the return of Chad Henne and Mike Hart, possibly the last game for Lloyd Car, the hated arch rival across the field, a fired-up crowd, the Rose Bowl on the line, and a last chance for respect. And none of that helped.
Despite Henne trying to gut it out, his accuracy wasn’t there and it’s hard to hit your targets when your shoulder keeps falling out of place. Of course, it would have been helpful if Mario Manningham hadn’t treated the football like a lit firecracker. Hart did the best he could but the line could not hold back a ferocious Ohio State front seven. The line was so bad even Jake Long gave up a sack. Maybe keeping a tight end to chip block the Buckeye defensive ends would have been helpful and then having them run a short five yard out pattern, making Henne’s job a bit easier.
However, offensive coordinator Mike DeBord showed the creativity of a stick figure artist. Perhaps a screen pass, once the Wolverines hallmark, or a reverse, or any sort of misdirection to take advantage of Ohio State’s aggressive nature. Somehow all the wrinkles of the “pro-style” offense that has sent seven consecutive starting quarterbacks to the pros has vanished into a game of let’s see how unimaginative we can be. Throwing the ball 50 yards downfield to a receiver is not unique, especially when he is the only one out in the pattern.
If the Michigan offense had been on the field for 10 more quarters, it may have never scored a touchdown. And all the three-and-outs did several things, make Zoltan Mesko the most tired punter in America (and a 2008 pre-season candidate for the Ray Guy Award) and they exhausted the defense, which spent nearly 38 minutes on the field.
The defense, despite allowing 229 yards rushing, only allowed 279 total yards. Take out the 62 yard run by Chris Wells (I refuse to call anyone “Beanie”)and the Wolverines gave up only 217 yards. Even with that run, Ohio State averaged less than four yards per play. It was a great effort from a unit that gave up nearly 500 yards the week before in Madison.
So now that the regular season ended the way it began, with a two-game losing streak, the Wolverines are left to wonder what the season would have been like if the offensive stars had been healthy all year and the defense had matured sooner. Instead reality has set in that offensively Michigan finished the season, ranked 10th in the conference in yards per game, ninth in points per game, but third in yards allowed. But the season can be summed up much like seasons past when expectations are high: disappointment
Saturday is the final regular season game for the Wolverines and they have one final chance to show everyone what Michigan football is all about. Lloyd Carr always raves about the dedication, heart, work ethic, and courage of his players. The Ohio State game is the opportunity for those players to show all of American why their coach has been their stalwart defender.
They need to demonstrate what it means to be a Wolverine by more than just donning a maize and blue jersey that goes along with the winged helmet. For 13 seasons, Carr has been the guiding voice of Michigan football. Saturday is the chance for the players and fans to show what he has meant to them by leaving every single ounce of energy on that playing surface.
Tomorrow is the chance to make “Those who stay will be champions” a reality. Not only for the players but for a head coach, who may run under the Go Blue banner for the last time at Michigan Stadium. A win and a Big Ten title would be a nice retirement gift.
Did you ever have a Thanksgiving where you were excited to have off from school, thrilled to be feasting all day, and enjoyed spending time with your grandma only to sit in traffic for hours, have your relatives argue, and then eat a lukewarm meal? Your really glad it’s here but it’s not what you wanted it to be. That’s kind of like what the Michigan-Ohio State game is like this year.
No other game is bigger for either team but with both coming off of losses going into this game for the first time in almost 50 years, the sense of disappointment is astounding. The Wolverines were hoping a nine-game winning streak could give them momentum, and the Buckeyes were eager to have a chance to secure back-to-back BCS Championship game appearances. Thanks to Wisconsin and Illinois this is not going to happen unfortunately.
Now Michigan has to worry about ending the regular season like it began, with a two-game losing streak and the talk of Lloyd Carr’s job being on the line. Sounds like a fun week to be a Wolverine. Michigan could have used the opportunity to ruin Ohio State’s season and gain a trip to Pasadena as motivation. However, a berth in the Rose Bowl is still at stake and that’s something, supposedly. After all in the Big Ten it’s about getting to the Granddaddy of Them All, not national titles, right?
After the way this year has gone, a Rose Bowl appearance from the Wolverines would be something. But should they lose this game, their post-season fortunes could be not so pretty. Take a look at Stewart Mandel’s column at SI.com for the rundown. Let’s put it this way: Champs Sports Bowl T-shirts don’t sell.
With their bowl game destination fortunes so dicey, Michigan better use the Rose Bowl as motivation. And the Wolverines can still ruin the Buckeyes season, sending their Columbus rivals to a second-tier bowl with a home-field victory. And they can show what might have been had Chad Henne and Mike Hart been healthy all year. And they can save their head coach’s job. And the seniors can finally register a win over Ohio State. And they can finally win their final regular season game for the first time since 2003. Maybe the game is worth being excited about after all.
Some thoughts and opinions on Michigan and college football:
Nice comeback by the Wolverines on Saturday. Chad Henne took control of the game in those last eight minutes, much like he did in the fourth quarter against Illinois.
The biggest play of the game that seemed to be ignored was Mike Hart picking up Ryan Mallett’s fumble and gaining a first down. Without that play, Michigan would not have won, proving once again that Hart means more to his team than any other player in college football. On that third-down play, he entered the game because of his ability to pick up the pass rush, which it seems no other Michigan running back can do.
Michigan State Mark D’Antonio was upset about the trash talking from the Wolverines after the game, including comment from Hart about the Spartans being the little brother, and ranted about it in his Monday press conference. Nice to know that he had nothing to say about the garbage that was going on throughout the game or the idiotic personal foul penalties incurred by his team that enabled Michigan to add yards after the play was over. Maybe he should focus on his team’s ability to play disciplined football. How many times did the Spartans not line up correctly or jump offsides? Until he corrects those basic issues, he should keep the criticism to his own team. That’s not to say that any huffing and puffing after the game was needed. Simply put 28-24 should have been enough.
Getting back to all the extra pushing and shoving during the game–it is simply bs. The macho acting in this game was laughable. It was almost as if the players individually were trying to be over-the-top tough. You could see Lloyd Carr getting furious with his players after each episode of “intimidation.” If you want to intimidate, don’t cost your team yards. Do it by blocking your man, executing to perfection, tackling harder, and putting points on the board. Shut up and play.
As the Wolverines inch their way up the BCS standings, it’s nice to know that the blowout loss to Oregon doesn’t look as bad now as it did two months ago. Every time the Ducks win, Michigan’s strength of schedule goes up in the computer rankings. Additionally, Michigan can take credit for helping Dennis Dixon on his way to a possible Heisman trophy.
Does anyone want to see Hawaii in a BCS game? Please no. The Warriors are nowhere as good as Boise State from a year ago, despite the skills of Colt Brennan. They can’t even get any points from the computer polls because their strength of schedule is so bad. Pray that Fresno State, Nevada, Boise State, or Washington beats Hawaii in this last month of the season. By the way isn’t it a bit odd that Hawaii still has four games left in the season and every team from the Big Ten only has two?
Are college football games too long? Try recording one via your DVR without changing the ending time and see what happens. You will only get to the beginning of the fourth quarter. DirecTV only slots three hours for a game when it is shown on one of the ESPN networks or ABC? When was the last time a televised college football game ended in less than 3 1/2 hours this season?
Remember when this Thursday nights game between West Virginia and Louisville was supposed to be the Big East game of the year? That actually might come down to UConn vs. the Mountaineers the last game of the season. The Huskies are the most overrated football team in the last five years. Their schedule almost makes Hawaii’s look respectable. Also competing for the case of overrated South Florida, Rutgers, South Carolina, Virginia, Tennesse, California, Texas Tech, and LSU, which keeps escaping every week.
Underrated (despite their record): Colorado–a young team that has faced a tough schedule and managed to stay in most games (except against Missouri), West Virginia–lost one game on the road with its starting quarterback out for a good portion of the game, Alabama–yes they too have lost three games but one was in OT, another in the last two minutes, and the third at “neutral” Jacksonville against Florida State.
No Michigan fan wants to see Ohio State in the BCS championship game again, but who would not want to see Oregon play West Virginia. That would be a matchup that could produce one of those offensive displays for the ages. If LSU should make it to the championship game, that would be the biggest home field advantage in post-season history. Even if tickets are split evenly among schools, the local community, sponsors and buisnesses that take up the rest are clearly going to be rooting for the Tigers, turning the Superdome into Baton Rouge East. Just look what happened when LSU split the national title a couple of years ago–BCS championship in New Orleans. Some of those players on the losing Oklahoma team probably still can’t hear.
This should be the week. No not the one where Lloyd Carr gives the halftime television reporter a hug. This should be the week when the Wolverines are absolutely dominant. Minnesota is one of the 10 worst teams in major college football. The school must be wondering why it ever fired Glenn Mason and hired Tim Brewster, but the Gophers opponents have been happy about the decision.
Minnesota has allowed 300 points in eight games. That’s over 37 points per game, while allowing an astonishing 533-plus yards per contest. In nearly ever single defensive category the Gophers rank last or next to last in the Big Ten. So this has to be the moment when the Wolverine offense becomes the roaring force it was projected to be.
Chad Henne doesn’t need to play for this to happen. Ryan Mallett should be be able to manage a game like this just fine. However, this is the game Mike Hart needs to play in if he wants to win and the team wants to help him win the Heisman trophy. He was on his way to a spectacular day against Purdue before the ankle injury ended his day. Another day on the bench and the award is gone. Hart is listed at the top of the depth chart but that could change at game time. If he plays and the ankle is sound, he has a shot at not just 200 but close to 300 yards by the time the day is done.
This game is going to look like much like the games of decades past when Michigan just pounded its opponents into submission by physically dominating up front and running the ball on almost every down. This will be a victory and score for Michigan that will start erasing even more of the doubts that showed up after the 0-2 start.
Just one last note, in the last six games, the Michigan defense is giving up an average of only 14.1 points per game. Look for that average to get a bit better this week.
After three-plus years of consistent but mostly average performances, Chad Henne showed why he was one of the top quarterback recruits coming out of Pennsylvania in 2004. His showing on Saturday night at Illinois was one that makes up for all the passes knocked down at the line of scrimmage and the silly throws into double coverages. Much like his winning pass against Penn State in 2005, Henne displayed the guts (never use the word courage–that’s for guys in the military who face death in the face every day) and leadership that would make former Wolverine quarterbacks proud. Without his effort, Michigan would not have won this game.
Ryan Mallett is certainly the quarterback of the future, but his inexperience was on full, shining display Saturday. The offensive playbook shrank during his paying time, with the Wolverines rarely doing anything but going run-run-pass on their first three downs of each posession. Look what happened when he took a sack in the third quarter when he could have easily just thrown the ball away. Coach Lloyd Carr ripped into Mallett on the sideline and just as the freshman seemed to dismiss the criticism, Carr, rightfully grabbed Mallett by the jersey and gave him another earful. Luckily for Mallett, Mike Hart gave him a pep talk afterward to reassure the young quarterback that everything was going to be fine.
Yet, Henne needed to come back into the game for the Maize and Blue to have any chance of winning. He led the Wolverines to 10 fourth quarter points. He completed over 60 percent of his passes for the second week in a row. He threw two touchdowns. But more than any statistics, he truly inspired the team, much like his injured backfield mate, Hart, normally does.
The defense held Illinois to under 50 yards in the fourth quarter. The Wolverines converted two Illini turnovers into 10 points. They played with more intensity than they had all game.
If anyone wanted to know what an experienced quarterback means to a team, look no further than what Henne did Saturday. Teammates wondered how he could throw the ball. His coaches praised his effort. And what did Henne receive for his efforts? A huge road victory that keeps his team in line for a chance at the conference title, much needed love from the Wolverine faithful, and his arm in a sling as he boarded the team bus.
Whether Henne plays against Minnesota is unknown at this point? But what matters was that he played against Illinois.
Something needs to be done about the Big Ten and its scheduling policies. The league does not allow its football teams to play games in December and rarely does anyone play a game after Thanksgiving (except when playing at Hawaii). This hurts the conference. Every other major conference plays until the end of November, and some, even those without a conference championship game, such as the Big East and Pac-10 play games in December. While detractors say that the season is already too long, any emphasis on academics is taken away, etc, they ignore one thing: the health of the players.
Playing football is not the best thing for your body, at any age. The older, bigger, and stronger you get the more impact the hits have. In the NFL teams, only four teams will play more than 12 weeks in a row (not including the pre-season) and those players cause more destruction to their bodies than anyone. No one in the professional ranks is completely healthy by the end of the season. Should anyone think that college players are any different. By allowing teams one bye week during the year, the Big Ten will allow it’s players to recover mentally and physically from the grind of balancing football and (hopefully) studying. The only national champion in the past 10 seasons to not have a week off during the campaign was the 1997 Michigan team. And that was during an 11-game regular season and before the BCS came into effect.
Since that shared title a decade ago, only one Big Ten team has played in a BCS title game–Ohio State. The Buckeyes are 1-1 in those games. However, the voters in the Harris poll and the coaches poll tend to be a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately bunch. Two weeks pass from the end of the Big Ten season until the BCS title game match up is set. With the madness that is the 2007 season, do you think that might become an issue this time around? It was last year when Michigan had a shot at being in the title game with one loss but was passed over for a one-loss Florida team (rightly so as it turned out), which played the night before and had a chance to impress the voters.
Just think what one more week of rest could do for these players and essentially the universities. After all each of the big five BCS games is worth $17 million to the conference, but should one conference team make the championship game and another qualify for one of the other BCS games, then that second team would bring home only $4.5 million instead of $17 million, which is more than gets paid out in the traditional second place game, the Capital One Bowl. And isn’t the money generated from the bowl system one of the reasons there is no playoff?