Gonna be at least 5 years until we’re back in Madison (unless realignment!), and just want to give it its due as one of (if not THE) best city/campus combos in all the B1G. Maybe a hoops road trip is in order in the interim? Anyway, big shoutout to Adam for hosting this week! Onward!
The 3rd quarter came to a close, Michigan holding Wisconsin at arms length, and the on-screen animated section race had the attention of a media-time-out-weary crowd. In the Michigan section, we began to murmur a bit about how several Michigan players were not paying attention to a massive coach-led team huddle and instead were staring at the same big screen. We might have even got out a snarky remark or two about focus and discipline before the volume got turned up to 11 and the opening horns of Jump Around filled the stadium. A half-dead Wisconsin team, having thrown its best and only punches back when the first half expired, looked on in awe as the entire Michigan sideline erupted in a frenzy matched only by their own 2/3rds full student section. A team that has historically never shown anything other than stoicism on and off the field made a plan to cut loose and freak out their opponent. A call to arms for 4th quarters in Camp Randall was harnessed by the team in road whites (with blue pants) who took the momentum and put it into big plays, big hits and dagger turnovers.
I'm here for the calculated psychological warfare.
Cade was overall good with flashes of great and a couple of WTFs. And a JJ package gives future teams something else to think about while giving some experience and playing time to a 5-star. I think we are at a point where even the grumpiest of grumpy Michigan fans would say we are OK with both of the quarterbacks, probably for the first time ever?
Still some things to criticize: Going deep into Badger territory and settling for field goals, particularly coming off of turnovers, was frustrating. Any of those would have put away the game permanently. Route running seemed occasionally suspect. 2.5 ypc sucks.
But aside from the blip just before the half, Wisconsin never had a chance. Dax took that blip on his shoulders, and responded with a shutdown 2nd half and the cracking of some ribs.
Despite a small road contingency, Michigan fans took over Camp Randall with the early Badger exit. The 4th quarter was mostly choruses of “The Victors”, “Go Blue” and “Fuck Ohio” chants. In the end, a dominant victory for Michigan on the road in Madison that was significantly worse than the 21-point margin you read in the paper.
See you folks in Lincoln.
(Photo: Andy Manis, AP)
Well, that sucked. And this suck is becoming the norm. Michigan is 2-3 in their last 5 games, with those three losses being OSU 62-39, Florida 41-15, and Saturday’s 35-14 drubbing at the hands of the Badgers. Even the two wins in there sucked, and we chalked it up to whatever we could throw at the wall and make stick: Not showing the whole playbook, MTSU/Army are good, injuries, etc.
I’m really not certain what that was we saw Saturday. What could possibly be the reason Michigan came out so flat, so ill-prepared, so un-motivated? It was like turning back to clock to that helpless Rich Rod feeling. A team that has so much potential and talent, and it’s clearly being wasted by either lack of motivation or massive gaps in gameplan vs our opponents. Either way, the problem is at the top, where at best Jim has some scheme issues that are aggravated by injury and player turnover, and at worse he’s lost the team. The time to criticize has come, and that’s very difficult for me. It’s like stomping on the grave of Bo Schembechler. The process and the plan and the making of better men as outlined and executed with the best of intentions by Coach Harbaugh, has not worked in years 1-4 when it comes to producing championships. Early signs are that in year 5, without some kind of miraculous turn around, championships will be the least of the Wolverines problems.
I can get past the National aspirations, and understand the shortcomings associated with geography when it comes to competing at the Alabama and Clemson level. I can even recognize the head start Ohio State has had with building an elite program. What I can’t wrap my head around is getting housed by basically any other Big Ten team. So here I am, not able to wrap my head around Wisconsin looking light years ahead with a team comprised of people from basically Wisconsin.
The yearly progression of hype-to-hate maintains the fanbase’s shitty demeanor, sparking attempts to FIRE HARBAUGH and perhaps inspire the team through shitty threats and words of discouragement on twitter. And it’s tough to try to say it’s not warranted. This team has learned how to quit. You see it game after game.
In order to succeed, in order to survive, they need to learn how to come back. In a Drive. In a Quarter. In a Game. In a Season.
Michigan needs to finish.
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