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Fall Fever and Talking UM Football’s Future
Hot Damn! Didn’t you think it was coming after last years win over Notre Dame!? I sure did. I thought it was coming last year after starting with season out with four straight victories. In the end, it was not to be. Michigan fell apart game after game. Even after losses against Michigan State and a close one at Iowa – it seemed as though a good season was still in order. But again, it was not to be. Lately, as a new season approaches and hopes for success remain high I’ve reflected a little bit on how great it will be once Rich Rodriguez finally turns this train around.
Fall Sweet Nothings. August is a great month of football without really having any football. It’s great because the optimism in the air and surrounding the team is all over the place and spewing out of just about everyone’s mouth. You’ll have fans, players, and even coaches talk up the team and certain position groups as if Michigan has never seen these type of guys before. Remember how Fred Jackson talked about Sam McGuffie and Michael Shaw before 2008 debacle of a season – saying they were the two best freshman he has ever seen! I fully expect more of the same coming from Fred this fall – he’s already provided a few nibbles when asked about Fitzgerald Toussaint…
“He’s as talented as anyone who walked in the door,” said Jackson, who has coached Michigan career leading rusher Michael Hart, Chris Perry, Anthony Thomas and Tyrone Wheatley, to name a few. Jackson said he had never before heard of a player breaking his shoulder blade. But before the injury, Jackson saw budding talent. “He’s got great feet, acceleration, strength, power,” Jackson said. “I can compare him to somebody — he’s like a fast Chris Perry. He’s going to be very good.”
Said hype typically provides an end result of a bunch of fans walking into the stadium on September 4th thinking about how great the team performed during the fall practice season. Don’t let me fool you, I am the biggest sucker out there for all of the daily practice reports and player features. I tune in on a daily basis. So you have to take what you see and hear during the fall practice season with a grain of salt – and realize that all 100+ major college football programs in the country are having shining fall practice reports. Well, maybe not Eastern Michigan, but just about everybody else.
We Be Fallin’ Up. Never fallin’ down… Well, Michigan football most definitely has fallen down on hard times. And it’s thoroughly documented by both local and national media outlets. I can’t remember a program and a coach more riddled with negative media scrutiny than that of Michigan football and Rich Rodriguez. Obviously, this coming season is huge, one that could impact the Michigan football program for years to come. The big question everyone wants to discuss revolves around Rich Rod’s job security – “how many wins saves his job”. Nobody truly knows what that answer is – I can confidently say that he keeps his job with seven wins – any less and I don’t know if I can really support and justify RR staying. I’m a RR supporter and always has been since he arrived in Ann Arbor.
The Fall Up Will Be Great. If the media attention is reciprocated for Michigan’s rise back to success – then cheers to that being enjoyable as hell. There are a lot of great things happening around the stadium and off the field – and perhaps some wins on the field will bring more light to what those great things are all about. I’ve never put too much stock in how momentum impacts a team’s performance, but it seems as though Michigan has really not dealt well with negative swings in momentum over the last two seasons. With so much more experience on the field this year, I expect there to be more positive swings in momentum than negative – so I expect that to snowball into better play on both sides of the ball. Will it lead to a complete resurgence of the program? Remains to be seen, but I’m hopeful because that fall fever is about to kick in and I’ll be ready to see some action in that win column!
OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST.
Here’s a decent interview with Craig Roh. He talks up the chemistry and bonding of the team this summer in the wake of the NCAA allegations.
