.jpg)
Michigan Smokes Southwestern Minnesota Tech
Michigan 58 – Southwestern Minnesota Tech 0
Those uniforms looked a lot like Minnesota’s out there on Saturday, but man, they sure didn’t play like Minnesota. Don’t take that the wrong way either – I’m not saying Minnesota is anything halfway special, but wow, that was a poor showing. And that score suggests two things right out the gate (1) Minnesota is a really, really terrible B1G team, and (2) Michigan’s coaching staff is doing a really good job with this team and has them playing well. Michigan plays and demolishes a Minnesota team that looked every bit like a directional school from some state other than Michigan. Western Michigan would get down to business on this Minnesota team and I think Eastern Michigan would give them a nice run for their money.
Similarly to a season ago, Michigan is back in a situation where they’ve started the season on a roll. The non-conference slate is over and done with and one B1G game is in the win column. Would a list help this argument out? Every one wants to talk about this Michigan team as either different or exactly the same from a season ago – and really, two seasons ago. So here we go …
- 58-0 is not 42-35 or 36-33.
- Ranked #4 in the country in Scoring Defense at 10.25 points/game.
- Greg Mattison can coach and let people know he demands perfection vs. Greg Robinson performing poorly, not talking about it, and spending his Wisconsin-week time buying stuffed-animal badgers on eBay.
- The defense has a pulse. Things like three and outs, turnovers, and the opposing team not scoring ACTUALLY happens this season.
- It’s time.
I totally said the same thing last season. So dammit. But perception is reality, and this Michigan team is nearly ranked in the top ten!! Can you believe that?! Wow, I never thought that this team, regardless of how well they played, could be ranked #11/#12 after five games. This weekend saw eight teams ranked in front of Michigan lose. So there’s your seven to eight spot spike in both polls. I’ll take it. Thanks everybody. I agree with Yonkers over at mgoblog …
Everyone quit complaining about ranking, this is like getting a 90% on a test you didnt study for and being mad because you thought you deserved a worse grade. Take the A- and enjoy it.
I agree. What the hell, I’ll take that ranking all day long.
This is a hard game to take a lot of X and O stuff away from. You acknowledge the execution and success of what worked and find some things to talk about that still need improvement. You get the sense that this coaching staff is very influential and persuasive in getting these players to buy in. Hoke and Co. definitely focus on where the mental state should be at all times – and in doing so, players buy in to little, but meaningful, things like keeping the throwback numbers on their helmets for the remainder of the B1G season. The psyche of a team, as Hoke has eluded to, can be a powerful thing.
Next week is milestone game for this team. How do you come out and react on the road, at night, against a team with a pulse. It’s a great environment to have as a first road game. Michigan alumni love heading to Evanston for this game – so expect to see a lot of Maize and Blue if you’re watching on TV next weekend. Yours truly, is going to be incessantly refreshing his phone app to follow the play-by-play as much as possible. Yup, the wedding is in Atlanta Saturday night if you were wondering.
HELL of a 3:30 Game.
Well, just for those that prefer A2 on fall Saturdays. That’s one way to open B1G play. I was on my way out of Ann Arbor for the majority of the first half of that game, but I saw a decent amount of the second half. It was almost a perfect game to watch as a Michigan fan. Ohio State (someone tell me if it’s a Michigan-fan requirement now to refer to that team as Ohio, and Ohio only) barely got points on the board and Michigan State’s offense looked rather pedestrian throughout the course of the game.
All in all it was a great game to watch after Michigan’s dismantling of Minnesota.
Of Interest.
:: From Brandon Hawthorne’s twitter account during last night’s Baltimore Ravens game.
I look at the ravens Defense and know every play and know what each Linebacker suppose to do……..#StudentOfTheGame #BelieveThat
:: We be in demands? Michigan is listed as the most expensive “weekly average home game ticket price in the secondary markets”
:: Preview John U Bacon’s soon to be released “Three and Out”. One day. One day this will be waiting for me in my mailbox …
I would read a book like that about Nebraska or Georgia Tech or Montana State.
As it happens, Bacon wandered into what turned out to be a fascinating drama and cultural clash, far more gripping than even an look into an ordinary college program would be. And when it’s your program – when the characters are Denard Robinson and Justin Boren and Rich Rodriguez and Michael Rosenberg – well, that makes it a must-read for a Michigan fan.
As I said, fans are going to debate this. The kids, in general, come off extremely well, the exceptions generally being those who have departed. (I can think of one former player who won’t be plowing through this book.) The adults, on the other hand, are all complicated and flawed, but interestingly so. There are no cartoon characters here. You have a clash between people with deeply-held values, all trying to do what they think is best, which frequently sets them against each other. At the same time, the effort, dedication and idealism of the players is frequently inspiring and will defy the cynics. I feel like I know many of the players better, and this makes me want Michigan to win not just for myself, as a fan, but for them.
Anyway, I can’t recommend it strongly enough. Even a reader who doesn’t care a whit about sports would get a lot out of this story. If you’re a college football fan, it’s must-read. And if you’re a Michigan fan, you’d have to be out of your mind not to want to read it.
__
Photo credit :: Detroit News
