Holding Steady at 42
/I met Brady Hoke once, soon after his hiring. He was a football coach in every sense of the word. Though I had dismissed Dave Brandon's choice and the process by which he made it, it was difficult to argue that this was the man for the job. I guess when they tell you that the last guy wasn't a Michigan Man, that he didn't appreciate the traditions, that he didn't understand the rivalries...and then the results are 3-9, 5-7, and 7-6, which are more losses than you've ever seen before...then the logical conclusion is that we need someone that does appreciate those things, someone that does understand. Coach Hoke preached toughness. He talked about how this was his dream job. He talked about Team 132, 42 Big Ten Championships, and Beat Ohio. But as we enter the final quarter of his 3rd season, nothing he has preached has been practiced. Sure, we narrowly beat Luke Fickell's version of Ohio, but we're no closer to Big Ten titles, and we are visibly weaker than we have ever been, mentally and physically. I find myself in the exact same place I was late in Rich Rod's second season. From November 9th, 2009...
I used to think it was difficult to be a Michigan fan. I envied those who followed lesser institutions, lesser football programs. No expectations. Every win is big. Every loss is forgotten before you get home. At the tail end of a second consecutive season that no one seems to know how to deal with, I must admit, I am getting almost comfortably numb. The part of me that used to proclaim dominance no matter what the situation, the part that would be talking about how we were going to Madison to kick some badger ass and would be preaching about 1995 and 1996 to put Ohio State on notice...I don't know where that part of me is anymore. 1995 and 1996 is a long long time ago. 1997 too. The chances of winning another game are seemingly slim and none, and slim just got shoved out of the way by Bill Martin. Since the turn of the century, since the inception of UMTailgate.com, Michigan has rarely failed to disappoint me.
And that tradition continues. We're all talk. Inside Michigan Football featured about 10 players last week, each with the same message, likely written on similar index cards that were handed to them by Bruce Madej..."we can't let Michigan State beat us twice." And yet, that's exactly what happened...and it happened on every level. I'm tired of all the talk. "This is Michigan." "This is our expectation at Michigan." "Our goal is to win Big Ten Championships." It becomes very difficult to believe any of that shit when after the Nebraska game Coach says "I like the play calling. I think we thought we could do some things and we didn’t." It's tough for me to handle him repeating so much that he needs to be a better coach when I'm not sure exactly what it is he does other than "mold men," moonlight as a motivational speaker, and coach the D-Line. And when asked about the regression of the o-line blocking on a week to week basis, he says "I’ve got to do a better job of coaching, it looks like. We’ve got to do a better job of what we’re doing and look at what we’re doing.” What? You're not looking at what you're doing. The day to do that has long passed. You are determined to shoehorn this bullshit plan and force it on to a group of guys that are not good, and in the process you are making them worse. We run about 5 different offensive plays total...10 if you count left and right, though we rarely go right. Everybody knows what we're going to do. Everybody.
Whew. Is this over? I mean, I am clinging to the hope that we can win one more game...that we can somehow split the next two before I sit in disgust as O-H-I-O echoes throughout my home stadium. So, like 7-5? Heading to a shitty December bowl, wondering what is going to happen with our recruiting classes, and thinking about how next year might be Brady Hoke's last year? Ya I know, I know...it's not his fault. It's still Rich Rod's fault, right? I got news for you all, Coach Hoke has as yet only shown the ability to win with Rich Rod's players....like Charlie Weiss in his first year at Notre Dame. With each passing year, the team has regressed...it's inadequacies masked by Denard Robinson are now in full view. Rehashing what I said last week...I guess we just have to wait and see what happens. Nobody is going anywhere. Hell, we still have a chance at the Michigan standard of 8 wins...Lloyd Carr's perennial Mendoza line of mediocrity. Maybe a bad loss like this will spark something, some kind of wake up call. Maybe Hoke has a way of getting more from these guys. Maybe this class coming in will make a difference. I don't know.
Maybe we'll lose out and Jerry Jones Brandon will fire the whole damn lot of them.
The thing is...I thought...I'm sure we all thought...that we were done with the really bad years. We made it though the Rich Rod debacle and we will be rewarded!! And after year one it seemed that we were going in the right direction. I'm surprised and disappointed in the way things have gone. And now it would be an even bigger surprise to me if this staff was able to turn it around. I hope they do.
Anyway, let's cut all the bullshit. Stop counting the teams. I never knew what team # the 1997 national champions were, or the 2003 big ten champions. I could care less that this is team 134. And I am aware that we have 42 Big Ten Championships. I am also aware that the last one was 10 years ago, so let's stop talking about it until we get to 43. And finally, it's difficult to rally behind "Beat Ohio" when you narrowly escape an Akron, Ohio game. Let's stop talking about the past. Let's stop having all of these goals. Let's dial down the coach-speak. Let's stop trying to play Michigan Football and instead get creative with what we have.
One singular goal...FIND A WAY TO WIN THE NEXT GAME.
Sad today, proud forever. Go Blue!
Way Back When-sday Pic of the Week
/
November 3, 2001: The group shares a toast happily before the game. Later Stephen would place a call to Jim Delaney's office, and we'd tear that parking lot down to a point where now, even 12 years later, no one is allowed to park there. Michigan 24 - Michigan State 20 (+6)
Building a Mystery
/I know I've written this post before. I know I touched on these same feelings when I said goodbye to Coach Rodriguez after his 2010 loss to MSU at the Big House. For me, this is, and always will be, about player development. I don't see it. And honestly, I've never seen it. It was the same complaint I had about Coach Carr and Coach Rodriguez, and it's same complaint I have now. Show me where things have gotten better from year to year when the staff has remained the same. Show me where we have improved in the middle of a season. Don't tell our next "amazing" recruiting class, but I'm pretty sure this is where good players go to die. Maybe that's a little harsh. It's where good players go to be the same player they were in high school. Their success here will determined by how well their personal game translates to the college level and how they react to having a few pounds of muscle tacked on to their frame in the weight room. To that end, if we played Michigan State in week one or two, we might have won. But since the start of the season, they've improved in a lot of areas. We have regressed. Their coach...better than ours...at least until he finds himself a real job.
A few bullet points of anger and randomly placed thoughts that may or may not include sarcasm:
- Unpredictable Old 98 has forced us into an offensive shell that we have no intention of coming out of. The defense is getting worse, as teams realize that we are vulnerable deep (and have been since 1991).
- We will establish this run. We will establish it, win or lose, no matter how unsuccessful.
- We will not try any other running backs, because Fitz Toussaint is a senior. A senior that has returned from an injury. Got a short yardage situation that looks like it might require the services of the young human bowling ball on the sidelines dying for a hand off? Nope. Keep that bowling ball where it is, we'll take the dancing Fitz...he's a senior...he's a leader.
- And Lewan, the man that could have (should have) left, continues to talk a good game, telling me what I want to hear heading into gameday, while playing his way from the NFL's first pick to the second round.
This is a disaster, and this is not a hiccup, it's our reality. Four games remain. None look like wins. The offensive line is not improving, and it's worse than we ever could have imagined. The season saver at the end of the year with the Buckeyes is so out of the realm of possibility at this point, that I can't even muster the courage to preach the underdog role I loved so much in '95 and '96. We used to ruin their lives you know...often. Now they barely think about us. They don't hate us like they used to.
Bring back the bullets:
- Michigan State is probably going to play Ohio State for the Big Ten title in Indianapolis.
- We are going the wrong way.
I don't have nearly the same feelings anymore. The emotional swings are gone. Numbed by the RichRod era, and yet to be rebuilt by Hoke and Friends. And that's sad. There's been nothing to be proud of for many years, nearly ten by my count. This is the biggest Big Ten title drought in my lifetime. Back then, we all thought that John Navarre would be the worst thing that ever happened to us.
Make no mistake, I'm in love with gamedays and tailgates. I will tailgate by myself if I have to...because it's about more than just the team or the game. And yes, the hair still stands up on the back of my neck when the season starts and the "band takes the field." They will be in the hunt for the national championship each and every year in my eyes until they prove me otherwise. But it's so hard to love this current iteration of Michigan. This athletic department and its NFL mindset have done something to us. Every move they make pushes away those who were there from the beginning. We have a pretty old tailgate group. Guys that can remember when Michigan Football was a hidden gem. A time when the Wolverines asked for all of your heart and a little bit of your money. They don't care anymore about your heart, but they do love your wallet. Combine this new attitude with what can only be deemed as "bad football," and you've got a recipe for indifference....and empty student sections.
Times have changed. But was hasn't changed are the goals...the football goals that is. And at least I know Brady Hoke knows what's important, or at least I think he does. Big Ten Championships, beating ND, MSU, OSU...these things are on his list. It's the reason he won't be run out of here like Rich Rod was.
And the leash is long my friends. I implore you to have patience not because he deserves it but because there is no other option. We must hope that while the staff has shown little ability to get players to improve...perhaps they themselves can. I've still got some support left in the tank for Coach Hoke. We are still very young. We are still recovering from whatever that was that happened between 2008 - 2010. We still have time because, well, all we have is time.
I read somewhere on twitter in the post game... "sad today, proud forever," and that's about right.
I guess this just turned into a hodgepodge of random thoughts about the "state of the program" or "state of a tailgater's psyche" other than a recap of a game.
Wanna talk about the game? It was miserable. It was cold. It was wet. And it was played in a stadium that has all the panache of a amphitheater in cold war Russia. Man that place is awful.
It never looked like we had a chance to win, at least from my perspective, which was near Bubba, Stephen, the Godfather, and a concrete wall. Every offensive move we made, every trick in the bag, was met by multiple Spartan defenders that seemed to know our gameplan better than we did. Other adjectives that seem to fit the outcome? Out-toughed...out-coached....bullied....beat up. Our loss to Penn State fell under the category of stupid, conservative, and "we're better than this." The loss to MSU? Not so much. Weaknesses exposed, it's time to go back to the drawing board. We are not a good football team, so we are desperately going to need a few really good gameplans to salvage a .500 record in these last four games.
Alright, enough rambling. Get your flannels out of the closet and get ready for the lumberjack tailgate...soups, stews, sausage gravy...man food. Go Blue.
Staff Predictions for Michigan Agricultural College
/Tuba says:
It's always "Sparty this!" And "Sparty that!" And "wow, their defense and criminals!" And "oooh so Sparty" and I'm like, "who cares I'm from New York" and everyone else is like "oh tuba are you serious?!"
Michigan 24
Sparty 20
Webmaster says:
You like boats, but not the ocean. You go to a lake in the summer with your family up in the mountains. There's a long wooden dock and a boathouse with boards missing from the roof, and a place you used to crawl underneath to be alone. You're a sucker for French poetry and rhinestones. You're very generous. You're kind to strangers and children, and when you stand in the snow you look like an angel.
It's gonna be cold, it's gonna be grey, and it's gonna last you for the rest of your life.
Sparty 7
Michigan 6
