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.