Got Punched by the Gift Horse: Oklahoma 24, Michigan 13
/
It made no sense to anyone watching that this was a one score game in the 4th quarter. Those that hung on to hope were the heart-first fans, not the football ones. Michigan didn’t look particularly good in any aspect of Saturday’s affair, but most troubling was that they were seemingly less motivated and less tough. The line of scrimmage was dominated by the Sooners. Tackles were broken. Michigan players couldn’t get off of blocks on defense, and couldn’t keep consistent blocks on offense. Bryce had very little time to make decisions, and nothing was done to mitigate that with the gameplay. While these programs seemed to be a mirror image of each other, Oklahoma did a better job of playing to their strengths (or away from their weaknesses) and took chances with their stars and with their play calling. They succeeded. At this snapshot in time, Oklahoma has built a better Michigan than Michigan. Some of that is a product of more seasoned upperclassmen that have been in that system, some of that is a product of a significantly less conservative offensive approach, and some of that is Sooner players just straight whipped Michigan’s ass. if you take away a 75-yard breakaway scamper (by the best offseason pickup RB in the country) and the countless unforced gifts Oklahoma provided, and this game was a blowout.
Bryce didn’t look great, nor did his sideline skirmish with Haynes, but with an already suspect O-Line that lost its (lone?) anchor to injury early and a gameplan that continued to force the issue as if Joe Moore was in the building, its hard to put blame on the dude who just bought his first pack of cigs last week. The troubling part is that things felt very 2024. And while we all got warm fuzzies about how 2024 ended, I’m not going to be very satisfied if there are four more losses before we “get it figured out.”
So where does Michigan go from here? A get-right game with Central is followed by a second legacy Big-12 matchup on the road, this time against a super motivated Nebraska team with a rich home tradition and a coach that thought sign stealing made a difference. I’d call it a recipe for an upset, but I’m not sure Michigan will be favored going in to that one. Anyway, that will be a test. One that Michigan will need to pass to avoid mass googling of the 2026 schedule. And to pass that test, we are going to need to popsicle stick and chewing gum the O-Line into something better or game plan around it…like let Bryce throw downfield…or let Bryce run…or do something football-coachy that I don’t even understand but that serves us well. Moving forward, a one-game-at-a-time approach is probably the ticket, so lets Eat Bacon and whip the Chips this Saturday before we decide how to defend Dylan Raiola.
A moment about the Oklahoma fan base - let me add to the pile of visitors that was absolutely charmed by the polite ladies and gentlemen of Norman. A cavalcade of well dressed, hand-shaking, well-wishing folks central casted from the people that brought you Yellowstone (the fancy city episodes). An absolute joy to be around all day and even in the stadium. An older fella next to me would exclaim “That call is bullshit” or “That was holding!” and follow it up with a calm turn and a “Where you from?” and “How was the flight?” Looking forward to hosting them next year.
Go Blue
