It was 2001, I had a field pass, and Michigan State got an extra second of clock time to make their miracle pass play happen to defeat the Wolverines. We parked in this beautiful wooded lot, and had a grand ol' time before the game. After the game, we did bad things...so many bad things that the lot in question no longer parks people on gamedays in East Lansing.
The flashback pictures are here:
The last couple of seasons have taken the edge off of my ability to hate. It's hard to pick on your rivals when they're beating you, it's even harder when everybody is beating you. So I went into this season focusing my efforts inward. What's wrong with my team? What does my team need to do to be relevant again? How do we get back to 8-4, so we can move forward to 13-0?
They've taken it step by step...game by game. And with each step, the doubters only added doubts. First UCONN is good, then we beat UCONN, so now UCONN sucks. Somehow our Notre Dame win (on the road) wasn't nearly as impressive as MSU's (home, overtime, fake field goal). The UMASS win was treated as a loss. The Bowling Green win was brushed off. And Indiana, despite having the #11 passing offense in the country BEFORE the Michigan game, is still considered Indiana.
But why can't the sum be greater than its parts?
I had an epiphany during the Indiana game on Saturday as I sat amongst the Michigan fans in Memorial Stadium (which was not sold out): As long as teams don't figure out a way to score more than one touchdown in a single drive, we're going to be alright. I mean, Indiana basically scored every time. They put up astronomical offensive numbers. It's impossible for it to be any worse. I guess they could have scored faster, but then we would just have gotten the ball more. Basically what I'm saying is that when it comes to offenses playing our defense, Indiana = UMASS = Florida = the 1999 St. Louis Rams. So bring it on Big Ten. You are all so lucky that our defense is super super shitty. Because if it was just shitty, we'd be polishing that crystal football in January. By my calculations, we've got two years to figure out how to put together a shitty defense, and when we do, you're all screwed.
And this just in....you might be screwed anyway.
UMASS beat Stoney Brook under the lights on Saturday night by a final score of 26-21. UMASS put up 455 yards on the Seawolves, just 16 yards more than they put up on our fair Wolverines. The Minutemen intercepted a pass with a little over a minute to go to seal the victory in front of a Lavalle Stadium capacity crowd of...wait for it...8,136.
If you are looking for a defining moment for this team, for this season, right now it's the two touchdowns Denard orchestrated in less than 30 seconds to end the first half against UMASS. It was those two quick scores that took the wind out of the Minutemen's sails. They went into the locker room down by 4, and they could have, and should have, been up by ten. They didn't get their swagger back until the interception-turned-fumble in the 4th, which they followed up with a touchdown and a blocked punt...and another touchdown. Quickly it became a case of "if you seek an unpleasant Michigan fan with hands together on top of their head in disbelief, look about you." And though it wasn't a disaster, it became the sign of an impending one.
Is it really only a matter of time?
And then Bowling Green came to town. Shoelace broke another run for you to file in your mental highlight reel. Just a little something for you to tell your kids about. Then he went down hard, living up to the predictions of all of the haters that label him as Mr. Glass. But in came Devin, followed by Tate. And nary a beat was skipped. Sure, the breakaway speed isn't there, but these kids know the offense. Denard is the kind of talent that only comes around once in a while, but Tate is no slouch. He went 12 for 12 through the air, and allowed Denard to get the day off we expected him to have last week. In the process, Tate opened up the discussion of what the limits are for this scheme, this system. Will we see Tate and Denard together in the backfield? Will Devin be there too? Is that where this is going? I can't wait. And if the defense and special teams continue to be as embarrassing as they are, maybe Rich can't wait either, as Michigan is still near the bottom (93rd in NCAA) in total defense. We give up, on average, 175 more yards per game than the Iowa Hawkeyes.
The 11th ranked passing game in the nation is waiting for the Wolverines next week in Bloomington. Disaster seems so close. And yet, so does relief. Michigan only needs to win it's next two games to get a lot of monkeys off of their backs. Bowl eligibility...check. Winning the only really vital rivalry game...check. Momentum...check.
Sanity...check.
Sagarin ratings of our four opponents through 9/25 (Michigan is 26th):
UCONN 69th
Notre Dame 64th
UMASS 84th
Bowling Green 94th
Sagarin ratings of our next four opponents through 9/25:
Indiana 85th
Michigan State 41st
Iowa 27th
Penn State 22nd
Again, Keep The Main Thing The Main Thing. Eyes Right, Mind Right , Stay Hungry and Sell Out.
Pictures from the Bacon Tailgate are right here:
I've racked my brain the last couple of days trying to figure out how the UMASS game was "OK." It hasn't been easy. I tried to tell myself that this is a game of emotion and momentum, and that the Minutemen came in fired up, had some early game success, and rode that wave into a great performance. And Michigan was disinterested in this FCS opponent, created a defensive gameplan to combat the deep ball problems of Notre Dame, and was caught off guard by a bruising, in-your-face running attack.
The problem is, while some of these things might be true, the reality of the situation is we got our ass kicked. UMASS dominated the line of scrimmage, often both on offenseand defense. The way they attacked our defense is the EXACT way the teams of the Big Ten are going to attack our defense, the difference is that MSU and Iowa aren't going to be coming at us with transfers from Hofstra. All signs point to Michigan being in some pretty deep shit. UMASS dictated our offensive gameplan, forcing Denard to the air, when we should have been able to do whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. Lucky for us, Denard was up to the challenge.
So the question remains, how long can Robinson hide all the things that are wrong with this team? Last year I thought the defense would grow as the season went on...they regressed. Why would this year be different? Also, hands down the worst set of kickers, and that includes placekicking, kicking off, and punting, that we have had at Michigan. And Jeremy Gallon must have pictures of Rich Rod shredding documents...there's no other explanation for why he continues to be the punt returner. The defensive scheme rarely put players in position to make plays, usually because they had a UMASS player driving them right off of the field. But when it did put them in a good position, they did a tremendous job of missing tackles. Everything you thought was good enough now sucks. We've been exposed. And it's just a matter of time before our weaknesses are exploited.
But....
We didn't lose.
Not losing makes this game go away, like 10-7 over Utah in 2002, 24-21 over San Diego State in 2004, or 34-26 over Ball State in 2006. And even though there's that feeling that we've been here before (because we actually HAVE been here before) maybe we'll be like Iowa...
I can point to Iowa's 2009 season, which started out with a one-point win over Northern Iowa in which the Hawkeyes were outgained and had to block two(!) field goals on consecutive plays to avoid the killer upset. Four games later Iowa survived 24-21 against Arkansas State; they ended the year by whipping Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl.
Whatever. I'm fairly certain the whole Big Ten sucks anyway, so maybe we have a chance to get that elusive 6th win. But that is looking ahead, and if Saturday taught us anything, it's that we cannot look past the team in front of us. So, ya...Bowling Green. Here's to hoping we hold them under 400 yards.
Tailgate pics here...
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