While Michigan's loss to App St. was definitely the most embarassing of the weekend, Notre Dame's loss to GaTech might actually have been worse. For a school that just lost all of its offensive skill players, the lines need to dominate games if ND is going to have a chance this year against a tough schedule. Almost 200 yards of rushing to Tashard Choice and 8 sacks later, I think it's clear that ND is in for a tough year. ND will likely enter the Michigan game this year winless rather than undefeated, after losing at Penn St., while Michigan should bounce back against Oregon.
National respect for ACC football continues to decline. Embarassing losses by Virginia (at Wyoming) and NC State (vs. UCF) highlighted the weakness this weekend. Next weekend, Riley Skinner's shoulder injury will dampen hopes for a Wake Forest victory over Nebraska, and VT will be noticeably overmatched at LSU. Good times when the nation already wasn't impressed with the GT-WF matchup in the championship game last year, punctuated by the stellar performances of both offenses leading to a 9-6 shootout. A rematch this year is not out of the question. A Thursday night matchup between the two Tech's will likely determine which of them wins that division unless Miami steps up.
Maryland may have a chance at a good year if Steffy stays healthy. While he might not have been my #1 choice as mentioned last week, nothing improves my opinion more than a strong performance, bolstered by the ineptitude of Chris Turner who managed to throw 2 INTs and fumble once in about a quarter of play. Maybe if he cut his hair, he could see the DBs. Portis, who I expected to start, has an "academic issue" and may not see the field this year. Criminal Justice 101 must have been a little too tough.
In other college football news and notes, Cal's offense embarassed the Tennessee defense and a matchup between Cal and USC in November with both undefeated is likely, with the national championship game on the line.
September 4, 2007
ND - Michigan Matchup Loses Its Luster
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Two posts in a week!? Did you drop out of grad school, or did it just get easier?
ND-Michigan
First off, props to you for picking GT in that game. That said, I think your hatred of the Irish has colored your views of the two losses. Michigan was ranked #5 in the nation and was thought to have a legit shot at a national championship. They lost at home to a I-AA team. Notre Dame was unranked and widely believed to be in a rebuilding year. They lost to last year's ACC runner-ups.
One of those was one of the biggest upsets in college football, ever. The other wouldn't be a major upset (except, possibly, for the lopsided score) on any given weekend this year.
Admittedly, the Irish loss hurts them, but it's not particularly surprising (the line was ND by 3, I believe). The Michigan loss will haunt the program for years, and should lead to Lloyd Carr being fired this week (I read somewhere that the App-Mich game was off the boards in Vegas).
Maryland
I thought Steffy looked pretty good in the opener, but without a doubt the standout performance came from Keon Lattimore. He looks like a beast, but we'll see how he does against a team ranked in the top half of Division I.
I'm starting to sour on Portis. I'll have a post later tonight with my thoughts.
I didn't get to see the game so it's great that Lattimore looked that good. Fridge's offense doesn't seem to go anywhere if we can't establish the run. On the other hand, I expect 5 yards a carry against the likes of Villanova and FIU.
Since I just got back to Atlanta, class isn't bad and they haven't given me any responsibility for my research team (yet).
Thanks for bringing this blog into my wheelhouse.
I could go on forver about Michigan, but I'll try to keep it short:
1) This loss will not haunt Michigan for years. OSU and MSU fans won't let it go for years, but that's different. It will only bother fans who let it bother them. Me, I'm moving on.
2) The loss confirmed the defense is horrible and they will lose a few games (see 2000). It confirmed Hart has to be healthy them to win anything (see 2005). It confirmed Henne isn't very good, and now he's pressing and making mistakes he never made before. Oregon is a good team. A rebound here is not a lock by any means.
3) I'm really sick of the Lloyd bashing. The man has kept the program at a high level. He's not perfect, but Pete Carroll isn't exactly available. Let him retire when he's good and ready. I promise you he is not getting fired, or even asked to resign.
4) The season is not over, the expectations are simply lowered. It hurts them this year only. They can still have a good year, just not as good a year as people thought.
Portis
Never mind about the full post, based on Portis' Mom's comments on Heather Dinich's blog, it looks like he cheated on a pop quiz. I was just going to post about how the suspension was obviously due to a cheating/plagiarism violation and not due to grades (based on the wording of the press release). That's apparently been discussed other places.
Michigan
I'll leave it to Michigan's fans to determine whether Carr should go or stay, but after several seasons of failing to live up to expectations, it might be time for a change.
If you don't think this loss will hang over Michigan's head for a while, you need to compare it to the most direct parallel, the UVA loss to Chaminade (which was AT Chaminade, BTW). That's always brought up in discussions of the biggest upset ever, and Appalachian St. will be the same way.
This is not a 1-year thing. First, you have to think about how the loss demoralizes the team. Second, it's going to hurt recruiting in the near term because no high school senior wants to be on the wrong side of historic upsets.
Keep trying to spin this loss as a small setback.
Michigan is the winningest football program in history. One loss at the start of the year does not undo 100+ years of a winning tradition.
And there are a lot of Michigan fans who want Carr out. I'm sick of them, too.
If Carr is ready to go, great. If he's not, that's fine with me, too.
When Michigan finally doesn't make a bowl game (it's been about 30 years) then it will be time for a change.
Carr's been a decent coach, but he's never brought the team to the level that the students and boosters expect them to be. One split national championship since he took over just isn't good enough at the winningest school in college football.
The university and fans have given him enough chances to get over the hump, and he's never gotten there. The hallmark of Michigan's play since Carr took over has been its unpreparedness, especially in big games, and an inability to adapt rapidly. Look at the response to Ohio State's spread offense last season. It took three quarters to figure out and stop. How about Texas' semi-option with Vince Young before he got really good?
It's time to see what some fresh blood in the coaching staff can do with some of the most talented players in the country.
Okay, I can only do this one last time, and then you all can have the last word.
The knocks on Carr are fair. In recent years, they have lost big games, they have lost too many OSU games, and they have lost too many bowl games.
However this does not mean the man has to be fired. I don't know how else to put it, but you don't HAVE to fire someone because they failed to go undefeated a second time.
By the way, one "split" title (as though Michigan should be ashamed that Nebraska also managed to go undefeated?) is one title more than Bo ever won. Bo had a terrible bowl record with only 2 Rose Bowl wins. So clearly, Bo should have been fired within his first five years.
And to say that losing to Texas on a last second field goal (basically the team that won the next year's title over SC) is somehow evidence of how bad they are makes very little sense.
And this, of course, leads to the next point which is if Texas listened to you and everyone else calling for his head, Mack Brown would have been fired before he even had his two Rose Bowls and national title.
Three points:
1. The line in the ND/GT game was ND -2.5. I would know, I bet $50 on Tech to win. What is this, a free money giveaway?
2. Ben said "When Michigan finally doesn't make a bowl game (it's been about 30 years) then it will be time for a change." While straight up national championships arent necessarily the litmus test, neither is this. You can go 7-5 (like Mich did in 2005) until the cows come home and you still suck. The reason Carr needs to go is not because he has only won 1 split title, its because he is a surly old carmudgeon whose teams dont get better through the season, and who couldn't recruit himself out of an outhouse.
3. Mack Brown is an interesting study. For years he was a "bum". He lost to Oklahoma by 50 points TWICE. Then he magically lured Vince Young to Austin, and didnt even start him until the middle of his sophomore year...because he was too busy platooning with Chance Mock. Remember him? Didnt think so. Mock hurts a shoulder, so VY has to start full time, and a year and a half (and a couple lucky breaks against USC) later, he is a national champion and a genuis with an 8 year extension. Funny how things work sometimes.
Ben said: Michigan is the winningest football program in history.
Wasn't Army the ultimate football program for about 50 years? How did that work out? Notre Dame was great for a while too.
18 year olds in Denton, Texas don't care about history.
What are you talking about, J-Red?
Look at how relevant Michigan is...
anybody, i know you guys are all about the east coast, but anybody who has lived in the midwest during the past 25-30 years knows the sun rises and sets on Michigan's ass. Especially, back in the day when bo was crown prince of the team. every year, they would manage to haggle their way into the rose bowl to embarass us in front of the nation with their half-assed plays and we would throw our hands in the air and wondered why god blessed us,(choke), with this coach. we talk shit about michigan's team and the coaches but we all know they will be in a bowl game come new year's day even if we have to invent new bowl to accomodate the team.
Well said. You represent the midwest, well, Mr. Anonymous.
I've taken a lot of crap over the "relevant" comment (in relation to the Orioles 30-3 loss a couple weeks back), but you really can't take it out of context like that.
In a sport where a single loss, especially one to a I-AA, eliminates your team from title contention, becoming "relevant" is not consoling. In a sport where a team plays 162 games and gets virtually no national attention (Orioles and Nationals, for example), losing a game in such a way so as to become relevant can be a good thing. Ideally, you don't lose nine straight after becoming relevant.
And Ben, when Maryland goes to FIU this weekend and loses (which is entirely possible. WTF were we thinking?), you can come back and shove it in our faces. The national media won't (see Virginia and NC State this past weekend), but you can.
Regarding Lloyd Carr's future at Michigan, I am forced to point to the very relevant example of Frank Solich. Where did 58-19 and 2 Big-12 coach of the year awards get him? A cozy spot at Ohio U. It's all about expectations. John Cooper was an ok coach at Ohio St. He had two seasons when they went 11-1, but his 2-10-1 record against Michigan is almost certainly what got him fired. I think Michigan fans spend a lot of time thinking about the Cooper/Tressel switch and wishing that would happen for them.
That is not to say that I think Carr should be fired, but if they finish worse than 9-3, he'll be gone. And he really needs to fix that record against Ohio St.
since none of you live or breath in the midwest, let tell you that the fact Michigan lost their opening game was big news....head line news. It was recapped several times that day on every news station and it was the running story in all the local newspapers. it was a big deal...it was like someone sucked the air out of the state. U of M is big money in ann arbor and the state of Michigan...it is what most people live and breath for...hense the reason why a stadium that holds 100,000 plus fans sells out each and every game. this new boy coach doesn't bring in a winning team they will have him on a rack at the end of the year tail gating party...something to keep in mind.+
I like to breath in the maize and gold atmosphere whenever I'm in Michigan.
And East Lansing rules. Ann Arbor sucks.
j-red...those would be fighting words here. Everyone knows that ann arbor is the place to be for football fans...east lansing...poor man's school. and i am not a fan of either team...friends are made and lost depending on what team you cheer for.
J-Red, if you have actually ever been to E.L. and AA, you would at least have to acknowledge that A2 has better food.
Also, I hope the Maize and Gold thing was a joke. It's Maize and Blue. Maize and Gold would be A LOT of yellow.
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