Stop Arguing with Yourself and Enjoy the Ride: Michigan 45-Colorado 28

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If this post seems like an internal point-counterpoint, that's because I have two voices in my head:  One that booked hotels at all final four venues, and one that is protecting me from inevitable disappointment.

PHOTO: Barron / MGoBlog

PHOTO: Barron / MGoBlog

Our fair Wolverines, who are always "just focused on improving," seemed to take a step back each week of the non-conference portion of the schedule as the competition got tougher and tougher.  As the first quarter of the regular season comes to an end and we gear up for Big Ten play, the "eye-test" isn't making us all warm and fuzzy about being led to the promised land by our former quarterback turned head coach messiah.  But that's because we're fickle assholes that think anything less than perfection is the end of the world.  Man, I'll be damned if I'm going to sit here and bitch about winning the first three games of the season by a combined score of 159-45.  You'd be hard pressed to find a team that wouldn't switch places with us.

PHOTO: Barron / MGoBlog

PHOTO: Barron / MGoBlog

HOWEVA... It seems we're currently susceptible to the big play.  A combination of a lack of Jourdan Lewis and the fellas adjusting to the Don Brown aggressive-style defense has burned us a few times this year, and needs improvement. 

HOWEVA #2... The line isn't pushing like we would like it to.  Granted, I'm not sure it ever could after the expectation of holes bigger than Scott Frost's mom's mouth were set in the Hawaii game.   But when Wilton got his bell rung, we needed to be able to run the ball until he got his shit together, and we couldn't.

AND YET...  Colorado scored one touchdown after the first quarter, one of their touchdowns were defensive, and they only had one sustained drive all day (10 plays, 67 yards).  Michigan survived a wobbly Speight that went 3 of 12 for a stint, and still managed to Jabril the shit out of them for a 17-point victory, outscoring them 38-7 in the final three quarters.

PHOTO: Barron / MGoBlog

PHOTO: Barron / MGoBlog

AND YET #2...  Michigan averaged 4.1 yards per rush.  Sure, they did it with some jet sweeps, and with Ty Isaac finding his way out to the edge, but it's still 4.1 yards per carry.  And we held the Buffs to 1.9 YPC.

AND YET #3... Doc Lessner told me special teams wins ballgames.  Ours is so good that it shanked two field goals and still would win the best unit award for the day.  By mid-season, teams are not just going to kick punts out of bounds (when they're not blocked), they're going to kick the ball off out-of-bounds.

So we move in to the Big Ten, scoffing at arguably the most successful pre-conference results we've ever had.  We host Penn State on Saturday, who last week honored a man in their pre-game that provided safe harbor to a pedophile for the better part of 40-years.  It will be a new and (according to Vegas) slightly tougher challenge than the last, continuing the perfect step-by-step schedule put together by the ultimate schedule architect...Dave Brandon.  I got $100 that says if Michigan wins any type of championship this year, he orders himself a ring.

The Tailgate, The Tailgate, The Tailgate:  Wild Game

The rain kept the bulk of the crowd away until mid-day, but the handful of us that were there filled our bellies with Duck Confit Hash and bacon for breakfast .  It ramped up in a hurry towards the end as buffalo burgers, buffalo wings, and wild game jerkies filled the tables.

Next week is a 90's theme tailgate:  Music provided by the famous 90's DJ's: 4th Dimension DJ and Video.  Wear your 90's Wolverines gear.  Food is TBD (is there 90's food?)

The Gar, The Gar, The Gar

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This Concludes the Laughable and Unusable Portion of Your Football Schedule (Maybe)

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Rich Eisen was the honorary captain for the UCF game.  Photo: Upchurch / MGoBlog

Rich Eisen was the honorary captain for the UCF game.  Photo: Upchurch / MGoBlog

Listen man, they weren't an abomination when we scheduled them.  They beat Baylor (one of those mobile-quarterback-having, fast as hell Baylors) in the Fiesta Bowl in 2013.

At least we didn't sign up for a home at home like the Terrapins.  Seriously, have you seen Maryland's schedule?  At FIU, at UCF?  You must really enjoy FloriDUH.  Honestly, only those of us that have been to the Citrus Bowl can appreciate the disappointment of the surrounding area of America's Worst Bowl Venue.  And that area is basically UCF's campus.  Sure, they stopped playing in the Citrus Bowl in 2007...but that should tell you just how bad it is.  Basically a no name school scoffs at using a bowl venue as a home stadium.  That's Orlando...and it's not the Disneyland version you see on TV.  You are 10 times more likely to be slipped a Mickey than see Mickey Mouse.

So about the game:

“There was no lull. We outhit them in the first half, I thought we outhit them in the second half. They’ve got a lot of playmakers and they made a bunch of plays. But standing on the sideline, watching the impacts and watching the collisions and watching the line move, I thought we won that battle.””
— Scott Frost, with a straight face, 9/10/16
Photo: Upchurch / MGoBlog

Photo: Upchurch / MGoBlog

Clearly, there's no quit in the Knights of UCF. Even when their backs were against the wall, down 21-0 after the first quarter, they managed to only be outscored 30-14 the rest of the way.

All my snark aside, I was prepared to provide the Knights with a small compliment along with the check we gave them to show up that will eclipse their gate take at home for 2016. But after Frost, his mother's son, had his chest puffed out after losing by 37? Makes me want to rekindle a hatred for Nebraska that I have ignored for the better part of the last 20 years. I only wish for Frosty to pull off the amazing feat of having the team go over .500 in his tenure like the legend of resume stuffing did before him. Looking forward to watching our old defensive coordinator kick your dick in next week.

OK, architect of the Flea Kicker aside, there were some things to point at on Saturday that weren't so positive. Mind you, only in a world where the Hawaii game existed could this game be looked at as "meh," But the 5-yard wide holes seemed to be missing for Chris Evans to run through, and the defense allowed a few big plays on the ground, skewing the stat line to make it look as if UCF pounded the ball when in fact they inserted a track star as a gimmick.  Regardless, this lights a fire in the pants of the "wait until we play somebody good" crowd, and makes it disconcerting to look at the rushing stats on the scoreboard while you are trying to enjoy the game. However, it seems the strategy of UCF was not to take any middle ground. They chose to make Wilton into Tom Brady as opposed to turning Chris Evans into Walter Payton. I'll let Drew Hallett summarize:

So we've got some stuff to work on.  Or maybe we don't.  I used to use the excuse that we were hiding the playbook early in the season when we'd edge the Northern Inferior University Fighting Idiots by less than 10 points.  Turns out most of the time we just sucked.  We won by 37 on Saturday.  And I'm pretty sure we're hiding the damn playbook.

Mike McCray was defensive player of the week in the Big Ten last week.  Wilton Speight is the offensive player of the week in the Big Ten this week.  Balance baby, balance.  Injuries are healing.  Young guys are getting real game time.  Depth is building, and our schedule seems to be perfectly arranged so far in order of increasing difficulty.  This should ramp us up nicely to beat the team that beat LSU.

All of the Gars you can handle.

All of the Gars you can handle.

In tailgate news, pretty nice turnout for the tailgate considering the weather.

3:30 kick next week folks.  You think you're ready but you're not.  Pace yourselves.