This Is All A Bit Premature

Listen, I don't want to put a negative spin on Saturday's win. But I think it's important to put it in perspective, to learn from our recent past, and to wait just a little while (like November) before anointing this team as "back." UCONN was touted...yet unranked. Notre Dame is unranked, and beat Purdue, which means that they too have accomplished very little.

Half of the AP pollsters must have a vested interest in NBC sports, because it seems they did everything they could to get Michigan, a team that received no preseason recognition whatsoever, into the top 25 after just one game. Michigan is first in line in the "others receiving votes" category, nipping at the heals of Jim Harbaugh's Cardinal.  MVictors broke down the voters...dude from the Plain Dealer has us at #8?!?

On Saturday, the hype of one team rests entirely in the performance of a quarterbackthat has started just one game...the hype of the other team rests entirely in the performance of a coach that was at Grand Valley State a few years ago. The reality is that the only thing that Michigan and Notre Dame have really accomplished is avoiding embarrassing themselves. But the media wants us both to be back. We are the powerhouses of the powerhouses. College football is most certainly better when Michigan and Notre Dame don't suck. And when the game ends on Saturday, the impact will be overblown, with the winner prematurely entering the top 25, and the loser falling back off of the college football landscape.

That being said, I think it's important to enjoy victories. Saturday was an emotional roller coaster filled with hope and history, capped off by one of the single greatest performances by an individual wearing a Michigan uniform. I loved every minute of it. And I still appreciate the win over Indiana last year, even though the Hoosiers ending up sucking just as bad as we did. I will always remember the 2008 Threet and Sheridan show knocking off then #9 Wisconsin, and Sheridan single-handedly dismantling the Golden Gophers in our last visit to the Metrodome.

But I am grounded, you see, because the last three games I just mentioned were the only three games we've won against the Big Ten since Rich Rodriguez arrived. Try to embrace the euphoria without getting drunk on it. Put simply, the lower you keep your expectations, the happier you are going to be with this team.

Now that I've made that clear, know this...we are going to kick the living shit out of Notre Dame...and Sparty...you're next.

Returning to the Echoes, Waking the Glory, and the Early Bird Gathers No Moss

Perhaps we hate them so much because we fear that we are headed down the same path...or perhaps that's why it's so tough to hate them.  They have been an afterthought in the college football world for several years now, but beyond those several years, they hold a place in college football history that is unparalleled.

Today however, they are coming very close to losing a generation.  Those in their teens and early twenties only know of the legend of Notre Dame, they have not seen it in practice.  They know Bob Davie, Tyrone Willingham, and Charlie Weis.  They only know Lou Holtz as the weird old guy on ESPN with the lisp.  They don't know this rivalry, which finds its roots at the turn of the last century, and its fervor in the 80's and early 90's.

If you happen to be traveling to the Indiana border town this weekend, there are some things you should know.  As you enter the world that is South Bend, you find that it is a city not unlike Ann Arbor.  A campus entrenched in the city limits, built on traditions of exemplary education and football.

Then you park your car and open your door to a world where everyone is convinced that they were born with a golden domed pot to piss in.  There's an episode of South Park that exemplifies this world perfectly. A world of the smug where people enjoy the smell of their own farts.  That's Notre Dame.

It's the only place where a Michigan fan can find people looking down their noses at them.  We are the trash.  We are Michigan State to them.  They will wash their hands after shaking yours.  They will play classical music at their tailgate and recite poetry.  And while many a Michigan fan has been accused of clinging to the past, you will find that the Notre Dame fan doesn't cling to it, but lives it...because that is all they've got.  They've returned to glory and awakened the echoes so many times that it no longer has meaning.  Rebuilding isn't a process in South Bend, it's a way of life.  Every win is THE turning point, every loss is but a hiccup on their way back to dominance.  By the time the losses pile up enough to give up on the present, they find themselves ready for the next season, ready to rebuild again.  It's a cyclical process...they're working on it, they promise.

As this edition of the Michigan Wolverines enters the stadium this Saturday, they find themselves in Notre Dame's shoes...somewhat.  All indications are that this is that year we've all been dreading.  While we are seemingly optomisitc about the future, we are out to defeat that which we don't want to become.  We are playing, essentially, ourselves.  Perhaps our patience for a bright future belittles the importance of the rivalry on this day.  No doubt that ND needs this win much more than we do.  But on the field, we will be looking to prove one thing:  we can still win while we wait for perfection.  While we adjust, while we endure, we can never return to glory.  Because glory is something that we have never put to rest.  Our world, our record, our dominance, and our tradition...continues.

To hell with Notre Dame.