Monday, November 24, 2008

Michigan has become an average football program


Disgust...that is what I feel after Michigan's embarrassing performance on Saturday in Columbus against Ohio State...I was in attendance for the first game of the season when the Wolverines took on Utah...and I was there Saturday for Michigan's annual beating administered by the Buckeyes...over those 13 weeks, I saw no improvement with Michigan...

Zero...zilch...nada...

Michigan lacked the basic fundamentals of football, such as catching a punt and kick...Rich Rodriguez would state in his weekly press conference how the team is making progress in practice...but somehow that progress did not transfer to the field on Saturdays...

To think Michigan would ever finish with a 3-9 season would be unfathomable...but it is now part of our history...the 2009 football season will be the most crucial in the history of Michigan football...another poor season and a loss to Ohio State could set back the football program for years...Rodriguez MUST go at least 8-4 and beat Ohio State next season...if he cannot accomplish those two attainable goals, then the Michigan administration must swallow its pride, admit it made a mistake with Rodriguez, and move quickly to replace him as head coach...Michigan cannot sit back idly and wait as Nebraska did with former head coach Bill Callahan...

Over the last two years it is not acceptable to be losing at home to Appalachian State, Toledo, and Northwestern...it is not acceptable to lose seven of the last eight years to Ohio State...this current losing era to Ohio State is worse than when John Cooper was losing to Michigan...Cooper never lost five games in a row to Michigan...

All the blame should not be place on Rodriguez...former head coach Lloyd Carr is just as responsible for this downward spiral of Michigan football...his lack of preparation caused Michigan to lose to Appalachian State...and his lackadaisical approach to Ohio State allowed Jim Tressel to beat Carr in their match-ups...if Carr would have approached the OSU game with more emphasis, Michigan could have won at least two of their games against Tressel...over the last eight years, Tressel's aggressive approach to outrecruiting and outhustling Michigan has showed when the two teams meet...

Michigan is resting on his proud history...sure it is the winningest football program, but many of those records were set prior to World War I and II...in the BCS era, Michigan has been nothing but an above average football program who cannot win the big games...

Here are the following teams who have competed in the BCS title game since its inception during the 1998 season:
Three times
Ohio State, Florida State, Oklahoma
Two times
LSU, USC, Miami (Fla)
One time
Tennessee, Virginia Tech, Nebraska, Texas, Florida

Most of the traditional big-time football programs have competed in the title game except for Alabama, Notre Dame, Penn State, and MICHIGAN...Michigan needs to stop resting on its history from a century ago and start making a difference in today's era of ollege football...

1 comment:

Go Guins said...

The price of gas driving to "The Shoe", $50.00, the price of admission to an annual Ohio State-Michigan football game $400.00, an afternoon with your father following the team you love, PRICELESS!!