With Every Passing Week, I Know Less

We all have expectations.  The problem with them is that they are ever changing.  Week to week...even game to game.  At halftime of the Wisconsin game, you expected Michigan Football to fold up shop for the rest of that game...and perhaps the remainder of the season.  At the end of the Wisconsin game, and moving into this week against Illinois, you had us improving our way through this transitional season, and sneaking ourselves into a Big Ten title chase like we snuck our way through that second half.  On the heels of the Illini's 42-6 run in the final three quarters of Saturday's game, expectations have changed again.  Admit it, you are worried about Toledo.  Ya, me too.

It's difficult to decide what is real, what is growth and improvement, from what is an aberration.  Was that ass-kicking we just endured the real 2008 Wolverines...or was that the product of a bad day, bad scheme, or over-confidence?  Was the amazing poise and fortitude we showed against Wisconsin the result of luck and circumstance?  If Wisconsin gave Ohio State its biggest scare outside of the Colosseum, can we make a game of it in Columbus?  Or with Juice racking up 431 yards in our house, can we expect Pryor to break an NCAA record in the Horseshoe?

We've played 20 quarters of football this season...maybe 5 of them could be considered complete or successful, but not quite completely successful.  That's 25% good, 75% bad based on my rough estimates.  Not exactly a bolstering of my confidence.

But if I told you we went toe to toe with an undefeated Utah team that is the second best flavor of the month in college football behind their neighbors in Salt Lake City and has clawed their way to a #14 ranking, and knocked off a team from Madison that was ranked #9 and by all indications was a challenger for the Big Ten title...maybe that would help.  Until Saturday (and thru most of Saturday) we found ourselves competing in every game.  And while we might be bringing a knife to these gun fights, we still are managing to get some good stabs in along the way.  I think we can play with anybody.  Unfortunately, I think anybody can play with us as well.  Someday, hopefully sooner than later, we will find ourselves with the defense we saw keep us in the Wisconsin game exist symbiotically with the offense from the first quarter of Illinois game and the turnover margin from, well, some other season.

This is still worth waiting for.

UMTailgate Carnival...Brought to You By Cholula

A reminder to everyone that this week's theme is the UMTailgate Carnival.  Elephant ears, cheesesteaks, and assorted carnival fare are on the menu.  The fryer(s) will also be in action with assorted delights.  In addition, hotsauce mavins Cholula are sponsoring our tailgate, and we will be distributing Cholula (we've got a lot of it) and Cholula cookbooks to our guests, passers-by, and neighboring tailgates.

On top of all of that, the Detroit Free Press will also be in attendance, taking pictures for an upcoming article on tailgating.

See you there!

Aftermath

​How many times is too many when it comes to watching M v. UW 2008?  I think the line should be drawn at once per day, though I have watched the game in its entirety and chased it with a replay of the second half, but don't tell anybody.  It's been fun.  But the truth is that despite the amazing game that featured an amazing comeback, and the media's coining of this as a signature win for the program, there is still A LOT of things wrong.  There are still A LOT of questions.  We are four games in, and you don't know much about the 2008 Wolverines aside from that you shouldn't leave a game early that features a Barwis-trained team no matter what the score is.  In short, the heart is there.  The conditioning is there.  The passion is there.  These kids want to play for THIS coach, which is significant at this early stage in RichRod's tenure.  But none of that manifests talent where talent is lacking.  Threet is learning and improving...but he will never be Pat White.  The line is leaning and improving...but they will never be last year's left side.

The truth?  We stole that game.  Beating the #9 (overrated) Badgers was big, and unlikely.  And make no mistake, beating Illinois would be just as big, and is just as unlikely.  While everything you saw looked and felt like turning the corner on to the highway of Big Ten championships, it was really just a u-turn.  On Saturday, we have to go back and do it all over again.  That's the hard truth.  The easy truth?  Looks like it might be fun to watch, which is a far cry from what you thought it was going to be after 6 quarters and 11 turnovers.

Unreal

I thought I was done being surprised by Michigan Football.  It's almost an impossibility when you are constantly expecting the unexpected.  I'm arrogant enough (being a typical Michigan fan) to think that I have seen it all.  In short, I lived through the Navarre years.  However, on Saturday, they managed to floor me twice.

To say that the first half was abysmal would be a huge compliment to the performance on the field.  The turnover problem that plagued us at Notre Dame was not solved by two weeks of practice surrounding the bye, in fact, it somehow got worse.  5 turnovers...20 plays....20 yards.....negative passing yards.  The announcers came back from the half and explained that they would like to show a graphic of Threet's first half performance but they couldn't because their software can't process negative passing yards.  We had a pretty lengthy discussion in section 30 about how difficult it is to have negative passing yards.  The result of the discussion?  Pretty goddamn difficult.

You, like me, have had several conversations about this game with friends and co-workers, and from the box score reader or casual fan, you might have fielded the question "Wow, what do you think Rich Rod said to them at halftime to get them fired up?"  Well, I don't have time for the debate on the overrated effectiveness of speeches, but I can tell you two things...#1 Rich Rod told the reporter in the postgame that he didn't say much....#2 We still sucked big time for a large portion of the third quarter.  So...what did it?  What flipped the switch on a group of young men that got booed off the field by their home crowd louder than they were booed upon their field entrance AT Notre Dame?  (P.S. shame on you assholes that booed)

I don't know.

That first touchdown was only a medium spark.  In fact, at 19-7, I remember being pissed as a fan that they were going to drag me into caring again, when I was CERTAIN that we didn't have the horses for this race.  But then that second touchdown came, and it was a one possession game.  It was at this point that I awakened from the offensive funk just long enough to realize what the defense had done to that point.  I had spent so much time with my head up my ass thinking about how we were never going to win another game with this offense, that I didn't realize that we were owning theirs.  And we were getting stronger.  Penetration was increasing, receivers were covered, PJ Hill wasn't worth a shit against our front.

Enter confidence, which spread like wildfire thru the Maize-clad faithful and down to the sideline, where they wondered what took us so long to believe.

The defense then picked a perfect time to score, letting the offense know that they would do it themselves if they had to, and after a failed 2-point conversion, it was 20-19...Michigan leads.  It all happened so fast.  Then Threet gave us a repeat rendition of his magic trick, leaving Brandon Minor to be sawed in half as he scurried on borrowed legs for 58 yards...the longest play of the RichRod era.  McGuffie, who shined a bit less without the help of the porous defense of the golden domers, still managed to pound it in, giving the Wolverines an 8-point lead.

The Badgers would not go quietly, getting an 11-play, 63 yard drive followed by a 6-play, 64-yard drive in their last 2 possessions.  The first of which ended with a Brandon Graham forced fumble, the second ended with a touchdown.  But a mysterious (to those at the game) inelligible receiver penalty forced a re-try of the two-point conversion.  The pass sailed high.  Wisconsin, who if they had reviewed our game films should have realized that booting it deep is a viable way to recover a football from our special teams, instead opted for the onside kick.  Not ten yards...out of bounds...pandemonium.

On this day of the 500th contest on the field that Yost dug, a group of boys wearing Maize and Blue made you impatient for the future...then reminded you not to forget about the present.

Michigan wins 27-25.

Theme Alert: German

The second season starts on Saturday as the Badgers make their way into town to open the Big Ten slate.  The Wolverines are touchdown dogs at home for the first time since, well, ever...I think.  Join us as we welcome the Badgers with German cuisine and boots of beer, Essen Haus style, and attempt to maintain our 22 game Big Ten home opener streak.  Preliminary menu includes...

• German apple pancakes and bacon


• Potato pancakes with chicken paprikash


• Brats


• Bratchos


• Cheesy potatoes


• Sauerkraut cookies


• Sauerkraut lasagna


• Beer Beer and more beer

See you there, and GO BLUE!!!!!!