So let’s take a quick gander at the offense and I will rattle off the quick thoughts that come to mind:

QB – Denard and Devin. Yup.  Stay healthy my friends.

RB – Michael Shaw and Stephen Hopkins.  I think we know what we are going to get out of Shaw.  He’s just a skinny guy with speed and seeming potential, but he’s never really broken through.  He played well last season until he got banged up.  Between the incoming freshman (Justice Hayes and Thomas Rawls) and guys with experience (Vincent Smith, Hopkins, Shaw, Cox) – I’m hoping one or two of these guys show that they can dominate or become reliable.

WR – Odoms, Stonum, Hemingway and Roundtree. I’m a big fan of this group.  There is no real standout, but they all have shown flashes at times of becoming that standout receiver.  I wouldn’t say any of these four guys has deserved the #1 jersey on the field yet.  I really liked what I saw last season from Junior Hemingway.  He showed he can position himself for a deep ball and showed some ability to put on a quick move immediately after making a catch.  Roundtree, who was so sure handed towards the end of 2009, had an issue catching the ball late last season.  Hopefully, Roundtree is over the dropsies.  On Stonum, legal issues aside, I have this feeling we aren’t going to see him have a better 2011 than he did 2010.  Stonum is Michigan’s best kick returner and it’d be nice if he could be the catalyst in giving Al Borges a shorter field to work with.

TE – Kevin Koger, Brandin Moore. I like Koger.  Koger seems to be a guy that plays better when involved more in the passing game, which I think we’ll see this year.  In having Martell Webb sharing snaps in 2010, I don’t believe Moore saw the field enough to make some off the cuff estimations.  Hopefully Chris Barnett works out for Michigan.

OL – David Molk, Taylor Lewan, Ricky Barnum, Patrick Omameh, Mark Huyge. Another easy group to like with a lot of good experience.  Molk is a great leader and always a good interview.  Lewan thinks he’s a bad ass, which is a good thing for Michigan – as long as he’s not getting penalized.

PR – Jeremy Gallon. For lack of a better option?  Not to knock Gallon, but he needs to have less mistakes fielding the ball before I’ll feel comfortable having him back there.  Will be interesting to see if Hemingway is also in the mix for punt returns. 
The Steez?

Well, remember once upon a time, Michigan hired Rich Rodriguez.  A cat from West Virginia.  I, like many Michigan fans, held unreserved enthusiasm and excitement for the new brand of football I was going to see in the opener against Utah.  I couldn’t make the whats-the-first-play-gonna-be-this-time-joke at the outset of each offensive possession that was so easy to use under Lloyd Carr.

All that excitement and enthusiasm is back.  Largely because Denard Robinson is back, but also because it’s a new brand of football.

The steez?  You mean how good I think they will be?  On a scale of one to ten, I’d give this offense a preseason rating of 7.5.  It’s a little conservative considering the pieces and experience coming back.  After the first couple games, that rating will be between 7 and 9.

Two things will allow this offense to succeed: (1) Denard must be efficient and limit turnovers and (2) “x” running back needs play well and be reliable.

There you go folks.

Leisa Thompson | The Ann Arbor News

No kidding – I’m actually posing the question.  Will new CBS Sports Network analyst Rich Rodriguez be missed?  The easy answers is no.  The obvious answer is no.  My answer is, right now, no.  But not a real emphatic no at this point.

And you probably don’t care, he’s no longer on Michigan’s sideline, and because Michigan fans have no need to think about Rich Rod and what was, but hey it’s June.

Brady Hoke…easy to like right now.
Brady Hoke is on point right now and is absolutely layin’ it down how it’s supposed to be laid down in recruiting – he at mgoblog has more on that.  To date, Brady Hoke has done all the right things and said all the right things.  Hoke pulled in a great staff and seems very likeable.  With recruiting going the way it is, Dave Brandon’s hire is looking very solid.

My confidence in Michigan’s new direction is fairly high at this point – and I keep going back to recruiting.  Michigan, given a small sample period, is back to the old days relative to dominating the state of Michigan in recruiting against Michigan State.

Not to mention – Michigan is ’bout to be all up in and over Ohio.  Nobody knows what is going to happen in Columbus (and they once thought this guy was their “King”).  That’s a mess that will not gain clarity in the near future and certainly not until mid-August will much be learned – outside of any new allegations that is.

Speaking of Ohio.  I began to like Hoke even more as I began to notice him on the sidelines of games in the ’90′s.  After Charles Woodson’s money punt return in the second quarter, there’s Brady Hoke talking and advising Chuck W. while he’s sitting on the bench.  Go to the 8:39 mark to check it…

Will, or how could Rich Rod be missed?

It’s possible, only if Al Borges and his offense don’t produce and take advantage of the natural talents of Denard Robinson.  If Denard is throwing the ball 20+ times per game and is not getting enough cracks at using his legs – then you’ll find plenty of… we have the most prolific rushing quarterback EVER to play college football!  Rich Rod’s offense would do better than this!

I can see it happening now.

That’s the only way Rich Rodriguez will be missed.  We probably won’t see another Denard Robinson behind center, but I’ll certainly enjoy two more years of him.

I have to admit – I think Rich Rod’s tendency to convey that rivalry games were generally no different than any other game – was a bigger deal that I ever would have thought before he was curbed.  He would say, in his walk through on Friday’s and pressers during the week – that the team didn’t do anything special to prepare for the rivalry game.  This is probably one of many, many smaller-ish things that Rich Rod had going against him from the get-go.  Some of that wasn’t in his control, some of it was.

Hoke’s the new guy in AA so thinking about Rich Rod means absolutely zero.  Aren’t you glad you gave this a read!

Note:  It’s always nice to see Denard Robinson on the main CFB page.  I opted to forgo reading any of ESPN’s links, but I don’t think Michigan is in any of those buckets.  Anyway.

It’s a hobby for some.  Just casual conversation for others.  For former players, it’s used to project the future for Michigan football under Brady Hoke and forget the recent past under Rich Rodriguez.  Lots of former Michigan players were in Ann Arbor this past weekend for fund-raising efforts going towards the Mott Children’s Hospital.  The collective voice of Brian Griese, Mike Hart, Morgan Trent, Leon Hall and others said that Brady Hoke is the shiz and basically the opposite for Rich Rodriguez.

It’s no secret that Morgan Trent wasn’t a fan of Rich Rod as a Senior and as small time role player in the Cincinnati Bengals’ defensive backfield – see post from Mgoblog for more on that.  Morgan Trent went this route when he was on WTKA and was addressing the current state of Michigan’s rivalry with Michigan State, on the whole dropping three straight…

“I think it’s supposed to be a big deal, in-state rivalry, but the problem is, we don’t really take them seriously,” Trent said. “Yeah, you beat us the last couple years, but who hasn’t beat us? Big whoop. Yes, they did beat us the last few years and that’s great for them. But beat us when we have a real program, which we will now that Brady Hoke is here.”

“(It was a) mad-scientist type of deal,” Trent said, when told former Michigan quarterback Scott Dreisbach referred to Rodriguez’s three seasons as an “experiment.”

“You don’t try experiments at one of the top programs in the country. That’s not the place where you experiment. … We all know what it’s like to be knocked down from our pedestal, and being below average is no fun.”

Unfortunately, this will be an overriding theme and topic of discussion for all of this offseason and much of the season.  As time passes and Hoke does his job – I think the missteps of Rich Rod and his staff will seem clearer.  A quick look at the recent recruits and you can see that Hoke is taking the program in a completely new direction.

Michigan will dominate the state of Michigan in recruiting in Brady Hoke’s tenure and Michigan won’t be too far behind Ohio State when it comes to recruiting Ohio.

The emphasis this coaching staff puts on defense is very clear via recruiting efforts to date and the obvious need to get way better on that side of the ball.

All in all, you have to be happy with what Hoke has accomplished to date.  I say we leave it at that.  No need to bang on the job that Rich Rod did here at Michigan.  Remember, all along, 2011 was the expected break out year for RR and not 2010.

Unfortunately, for DB, the media is going to run with every last rumor (see RR fired twice, back-to-back days. The poor guy) and it's beginning to pile on the negative aura that surrounds this program. Interest has been denied or squashed for whatever reason from current (at the time of inquiry) Northwestern, Missouri, Stanford, and LSU coaches. It just ain't lookin' good. Here's to hoping DB can "deliver" not only a hot slice of pie, but a coach that the Michigan fan base can make an attempt to rally around.]

———————————————–

The firing of Rich Rodriguez is one of the most interesting and strangest firings that I’ve witnessed in recent memory. Not only did RR have luck go against him over the course of his three years, but he was essentially fired twice on back-to-back days – thanks to some Detroit media folk.

David Brandon was right when he spoke of a divided fan base. I’ve never seen so many people wish their freshly fired coach sincere luck and blessings as he gets back on his feet and becomes the successful coach that most smart people in college football believe him to be. I respected what Carr did as he stepped down, but I certainly had a ton of excitement for the next guy. I don’t have any of those feelings relative to the existing situation.

Is there or isn’t there a game plan?

I’m 95% sure David Brandon has been massaging a list of potential candidates for probably six months now, so you can only assume that after the Ohio State game David Brandon was aligning the resources, contacts, and basically kick-starting this national search as RR prepared his team for the bowl game.

Is that really the case? Don’t know. David Brandon is a smart dude, but also one that is very disciplined and most probably stubborn about doing the right thing without budging. So, I guess that means he made his first phone calls shortly after the Wednesday press conference announcing his decision. I don’t know how these things work, but you gotta believe DB had this thing rolling before his evaluation of RR.

I Disagree with David Brandon’s decision.

I assumed that because DB, per himself, has the 100% access to the program and every last dangling detail – that RR was probably safer than the general public figured. It doesn’t take a genius to know that the roster had serious problems when RR took over in 2008. So, add the roster deficiencies and a drastic schematic change and you might limp through a couple years. Ok, so Michigan limped badly for not only two, but three years. But do you fire a guy before his first recruiting class has a chance to begin their junior season? Do you fire a guy that pulled in the Big Ten Player of the Year in his first recruiting class? Do you let coach do his thing until there’s not an improvement in the wins column? Afterall, it went 3, 5, 7.

Everybody acknowledged that the defense was going to be bad based upon the rare chain of events that led to true freshman starting all over the defensive backfield. Not RR’s fault. It just isn’t. But the head coach is responsible for all, good or bad.

The players love this guy, as he is a very likable guy. Rich Rodriguez handled himself incredibly well in light of the media shit storm he always found himself and the program in. I’ve seen all the post-game pressers after touch, demoralizing losses. It takes a big man not to snap at some of those questions, particularly because they were asked over and over and over. RR doesn’t get nearly enough credit for the manner in which he handled himself over the course of the past three seasons.

I Agree with David Brandon’s decision.

3-15 in the Red Letter games that DB spoke of in his press conference following the knifing of RR. 0-6 against Ohio State and Michigan State. Worst bowl loss ever. 9 losses of over 20 points. Worst bowl loss ever – oh yea already said that.

The “Red Letter” games are notably against Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Iowa, Penn State, Michigan State, and Ohio State. It’s not that Michigan just lost some of those games, but it’s the fact that they weren’t competitive. Not being competitive is not acceptable in the third year, it’s just not. The defense didn’t improve in the least bit, and Greg Robinson never seemed to acknowledge or show face relative to what was happening on the field and why the outcome was always very poor. In the end, DB didn’t have much of a choice but to take this program in a new direction.

The Jim Harbaugh thing.

So no one knows what the hells is going to go down with this man. He’s been believed by this source and that source over the course of the past week to be coming to Michigan, then a lock for the San Francisco 49′ers, then there was the done deal with Miami, now people are saying he’s trying to work a deal out before the end of tonight (Thursday night yo) with San Fran. So is it a fluid situation? Umm, obvi. Don’t rule Michigan out until there’s a signature on some contract other than in Ann Arbor. Stranger things have happened. It’s a wait and see game, but DB doesn’t have much time. I look for a decision to be made by mid-week next week.

The Detroit Media.

So is it better to be first or better to be accurate? Well. Ahahahaha. Oh geez. Hahahahaha. Oh my. You definitely suck. Most notably the Detroit Free Press. For some other news outlets, yesterday was amateur hour. Now, in the end I suppose they might be fundamentally correct, but the firestorm of bull that was unnecessarily created is just not they way you go about reporting news stories. Sometimes it’s wise to confirm stories, just sayin’ man.

In listening to WTKA this morning – you have a lot of people calling in and saying that David Brandon has created an embarrassing circus. That’d be in large part incorrect. David Brandon had a meeting with his head coach yesterday. It was erroneous reporting from a local news media outlet that didn’t confirm their story that created the frenzied situation now being labeled as a “circus”.

The Coach.

I’ve supported Rich Rod during his time in Ann Arbor. It’s not easy to support him anymore, but my feelings were interesting throughout the day yesterday. Upon hearing the news reports of his firing – I felt like shit. This man didn’t get a chance to develop his first recruiting class beyond their sophomore season. This man improved his team’s record each season by two games. This man, really, was never given a fair shot to turn this program around that was on it’s way down before RR even stepped foot in Ann Arbor.

That being said, it’s also tough to support the product that’s been put on the field these last few seasons. Defensively, during that bowl game, if I had to describe what I saw with one word it would be – lost. That defense had thirty-plus days to prepare for Mississippi State and they looked completely lost, slow, and weren’t too sure how to actually tackle a ball carrier.

If you can’t get Jim Harbaugh…

You keep Rich Rodriguez and gut the defensive staff. That’s my opinion on what should be done. I think it’s unlikely at this point and expect Brady Hoke to be the guy if Rich Rod is not retained.

Twitter.

Twitter is a whole lot of fun. If you aren’t on twitter because of whatever perceptions you have of it – get an account and join the Michigan circle on there. It’s great fun and the fastest way possible you will get any breaking or entertaining news from the media, coaches, players, bloggers, insiders, etc. You can find me at MGOFootball.

After yesterday’s rather demoralizing beat down at the hands of Wisconsin’s 700 pound offensive linemen, my first thought was that I am still 100% behind this team and Rich Rodriguez. I truly am. Not because I’m happy with what I’m seeing on the field, but because of, lets’ say, about three reasons.

1. Youth be all up on that field. Youth equals mistakes and it also equals potential for growth and future success.
2. I like Rich Rodriguez as a head coach. Players like him, he’s a likeable guy, and I believe that he is a good coach.
3. This team returns 19 starters next season, a record setting quarterback, and by all available accounts via the internets a bunch of guys committed to Michigan football.

Managing Expectations. If I recall, it wasn’t long ago that the majority of Michigan’s fan base viewed this season as a success and a step in the right direction with seven wins or more. So, remember what you essentially knew as this season was set to begin: Michigan would have a dynamic offense and a scary bad, inept defense. Welp! What do you know – that’s exactly what’s happened. You’ve got the most dynamic and statistically impressive quarterback in the history of dual-threat quarterbacks to make you smile, while you have the worst Michigan defense you’ve ever seen in your life to make you want to pull your hair out.

I, you, the media, everybody knows who this team is at this point in the season. The general freak out from Michigan fans about how horrendous RR and the coaching staff is just makes me shake my head. Michigan got beat by a top 5 team in the country with as many seniors starting as Michigan has freshman and sophomores starting. Literally, Wisconsin loses like 19 starters after this season is over. Is it frustrating to watch? Hell yes, it’s beyond frustrating. We are used to, we expect, we don’t understand how MICHIGAN can’t step it up at home and beat a top team. I’ll steal a line from RR in his post-game presser – this is just reality at this point.

My point, it’s extremely hard to manage our expectations regarding this team. But, in order to stay sane, you have to digest the youth, attrition, the transition, and all the injuries to understand why Michigan is not exceeding your expectations for this 2010 season. You might scream excuses, excuses, excuses. In part, they are excuses. But guess what, next season the expectations are no longer seven or eight wins. The expectations are nine, ten, or eleven wins and some impressive wins in the conference.

Gotta go here. Special teams is killing this team just as much as the defense. You HAVE TO BE ABLE TO MAKE A 30 YARD FIELD GOAL. You just have to. Upon Michigan missing that field goal – I had that sinking feeling like this was just going to be a bad day. Damn, was it ever.

Useful thoughts. Per usual, I’ll rummage through the emotions of the board at MGOBlog after a victory or a defeat. Some that I thought were worth pulling out that reflect some perspective and lack ledge-jumping indicators. This…

I have serious reservations about firing a coach after only 3 seasons, or even 4, particularly when the team has shown progress towards something special happening soon. Anyone who cannot see the potential for greatness in our offense, or realize that our D is severely hamstrung by the lack of experience, probably never liked the hire in the first place.

And for those thinking it, people like me are not happy, or even content with, a seven win regular season. We do, however, see the promise in this team, and we can place our expectations on the side of realism based on the team’s shortcomings.

And this…

God forbid our team of mostly freshmen and sophomores isn’t challenging for the Big Ten title. Yes, our defense needs to get better, and that likely means that GERG gets shown the door at the end of the season. Realistically though, how many teams with our lack of experience at so many positions would be expected to be any better than Michigan is this year. OP, you need to sit back and have a little patience. Let our young guys grow into their roles on the team. If we haven’t made progress next season, then that would be the time to bring up this subject again.

And this…

By the time Rodriguez coached his first game at Michigan, the wheels had completely fallen off the program (and teams with no wheels go 3-9). You can blame whoever you want to for that happening, but it was a done deal. Since then we’ve seen a team get markedly better two years in a row, a team poised to improve for a third straight season with 19 starters and virtually the entire two-deep returning next season. Not to mention the team now has some legitimate star players for the first time in Rodriguez’s tenure (aside from Brandon Graham and the best punter ever).

Maybe the rebuild isn’t going as fast as you’d like, but teams that go 3-9 and lose to Toledo do need to be completely rebuilt, whether you like it or not. We’ve finally got the wheels back on the car and the doubters need to just shut up and give Rodriguez one season to drive the damn thing.

Esta aqui…

I just did some research and discovered that in Rodriguez’s entire coaching career, not just at Michigan, NOT ONCE has he beaten a team which finished the season undefeated.

OUTRAGE!!!

From Jim Brandstatter’s blog.

This team isn’t bad. They’ve improved from a year ago. After a 48-28 spanking thats hard to hear…but it’s true none the less. It’s not going to fix itself overnight, or next week. It will get fixed over time, as players mature grow into young men, get bigger and stronger and can stand up and slug with the likes of Wisconsin. Make no mistakes, this offense at Michigan scares a lot of defensive co-ordinators. The defense doesn’t, and thats the problem.

Hey, RR didn’t do anything as egregious as Bo Pelini. Point for Rich Rod! During the strange 9-6 Nebraska loss to Texas A&M – dude rails his starting quarterback and Taylor Martinez appears to not really care as evidenced by his body language.

Similar to what I said after last week’s victory over Illinois – Rich Rodriguez and this Michigan team has again shown that they are a better football team than a year ago. I’m not claiming much beyond a sliver of improvement, but hey wins are wins are wins. It’s an extremely incomplete team with a lot of weaknesses and that was some downright uggo play in West Lafayette – but improvement is what we’ve asked for as Michigan fans. And improvement is what we are getting.

So the high level, simplistic look at what’s transpired in three seasons under Rich Rodriguez…

2008 –> 3 [baseline]
2009 –> 5 [+2]
2010 –> > 7 [+2, +3, +4, or +5]

Interpretation…a three win 2008 season was a shock, was shitty. 2008 was extremely tough to swallow, but it what it is, was what it was. For RR, it was his bottom, his baseline for improvement. A five win 2009 season sucked, but there was noticeable improvement on the field. Now, in 2010, as I said, this team has tons of weaknesses but has shown further improvement. This improvement is so far reflected in the win column. And it makes me happy.

I watched the game with my father, who grew up in Bad Axe, MI and is the sole reason I’m now an obsessive fan (thanks Dad!), and after the game he echoed how enjoyable it was to see a Michigan game with a normal amount of points on the board. That was the first game in a long time where Michigan’s defense held an offense in check for an entire game. I know it rained and Purdue’s offense purdoesn’t do anything well, but still. I agreed with my father, it’s nice to win an ugly one on the road.

You can admit it, you knew when Michigan went ahead 14-0 in the first quarter that it wasn’t going to be a blow out. Not for one second did I expect Michigan to trounce Purdue. I expected many more points on the board, but knew it would be uncomfortably close for the majority of the game. And it was.

The Denard and Tate possession floppage. Didn’t bother me one bit. I think the conditions favored Denard’s skill set over Tate’s, but I think Forcier has earned a few possessions in the heart of the game. Denard was clearly struggling with his decision-making out there. About that…

Denard’s decision-making. I want to say that it’s getting worse, but it’s not like it’s bad in the first place. But there’s definitely a level of frustration relative to Denard’s interceptions and his weird tendency to not take off and run when he doesn’t find a receiver right away. I can’t tell whether it’s a lack of recognition on Denard’s part – that he could probably pull the ball down and take off or what. I think I can count on one hand how many times Denard has done exactly that. I can only wonder what he’s being told as he watches film with the coaching staff. I don’t like to see the rare Denard speed go to waste!

Wisconsin. I’m involved in a business plan competition and I have to present next Saturday at Noon. Not cool. Not cool at all. Maybe I can avoid all things sports and people and fire up the DVR when I get home, but chances are that I’ll be nervously hitting the refresh button on my scores app before and after I present. Whatevs. It’s a game Michigan can win, but it’s going to take some breaks and some solid execution from Michigan’s offense.

Team unity. Winning helps. Player exposure via twitter and other media access helps someone like me feel this way, but this team just feels like they are really All in for Michigan. I don’t sense that any player, from Tate to Junior to Obi to any other play, cares about anything other than winning for the team. This is already a special group of kids – and the team is so young that this all in team dynamic is only going to improve in the next couple years. This is something Dave Brandon knows, feels, and understands goes out the window if Rich Rodriguez leaves Michigan. I’m 99% sure RR is back next year. Regardless of what happens from now until the end of the season – this is going to be a very unified team entering the 2011 season.

[Photo credit: Det. News.]

1. So, who’s getting the nod for starting quarterback this week?

   Doesn’t seem certain in any direction yet. Most likely, we’ll see a combination of Sean Robinson and Rob Henry. In Danny Hope’s weekly press conference he continues saying he’s not yet sure and that both will prepare.

2. I saw earlier this week – a different Purdue blogger guaranteeing a Purdue victory this weekend based upon how well Purdue played for the majority of last week’s Wisconsin game – do you feel the same way?
   

   Someone guaranteed a Purdue victory? That seems ballsy. That said, Danny Hope is 2-0 against Michigan and we feel UM’s defense is suspect (not breaking news there, I realize). Purdue needs two wins to become bowl-eligible and this game at home is now a must win for the Boilermakers. As you noted, Purdue played some inspired football against Wisky last week but in the end just didn’t have the horses. We don’t think Michigan is in Wisconsin’s class right now, so yes, we think this is a winnable game. To be frank, though, I’d still have Michigan favored by at least a TD.

3. Purdue isn’t scoring a lot of points – 23 in the last three Big Ten contests combined. Given Michigan’s defensive deficiencies that are well-documented at this point in the season, how do you see Purdue’s offense performing as a whole against this porous Michigan defense?
   

   Purdue’s offense has been decimated by injuries this year and while we don’t accept that as a crutch to explain away horrible performances, it has been a factor. When the Boilers had a bye week to prepare Rob Henry to replace Robert Marve, the Boilers then came out and handled Northwestern on the road and Minnesota at home. Then Henry had his fingernail ripped off his index finger on his throwing hand against OSU and the Boilers had to go to their fourth QB on the depth chart, true frosh Sean Robinson. We didn’t think anyone would even know Robinson’s name for at least two more years. Yet here he is probably starting.

   Sean Robinson, by comparison, did not have a bye week to get prepared and then had to play on the road at a decent Illinois team (where most of the defense seemingly mailed it in) and at home against a very good Wisconsin team. With the experience he now has, and more snaps with the first team, we think Sean will begin to show more of what he’s capable of, and the UM defense could be a good elixir.

4. Denard Robinson has experienced success both through the air and on the ground – at times dictated by how defenses line up against him. Based on your knowledge of Purdue’s defensive strengths and weaknesses – how do you expect Purdue to defend Denard?
   

   Denard is a beast and we’ve been impressed with him all season. The only reason we’re not completely quaking in our boots about him is that this Purdue defense – led by Ryan Kerrigan – has typically handled running QBs fairly well. Juice Williams never did well against Purdue, the Boilers manhandled Terrelle Pryor last year, etc. None of this is to say they’ll also handle Denard, but you see my point. Purdue seems to game plan well for mobile quarterbacks. Usually that game plan consists of Ryan Kerrigan hitting said quarterback again and again and again…until he gets happy feet or maybe rushes some passes. That’s our hope for slowing down Denard.

5. How do you see this game playing out? What’s your prediction?
   

   Rodriguez-Hope matchups between these teams have been shootouts with the defenses seemingly staying on the sidelines. We would expect more of the same. This, of course, concerns us a bit since Purdue’s offense right now is its meekest in years. As such, Purdue will need the defense to show the way they did for much of the Wisconsin game to have a chance. If Michigan moves the ball with ease, this one goes to the Wolverines without much trouble. If Kerrigan, Short, et al can get to Denard, then we like the Boilers’ chances. How’s that for a non-answer?

6. Does a rainy day hurt or help Purdue’s chances?
   

   Since Purdue doesn’t pass much anymore – or have receivers who can catch the ball in dry weather – I don’t think rain does much to the black and gold offense. I would assume it could hurt Denard Robinson a bit. But overall I’m not sure it changes much.

7. Is the Purdue fan base happy with Danny Hope? He went 5-7 last season and has a team decimated by injuries this season….
   

   There is growing anti-Hope sentiment, especially after some of the more embarrassing losses earlier this season. With the injury situation, if he can guide this team to a bowl, he’ll have job security for a while we think, because Purdue just doesn’t make changes like that quickly or in a knee-jerk way. And as long as Purdue keeps hammering IU, the old alumni are happy.

8. As an outsider, what’s your perception of Rich Rodriguez – and do you think he has Michigan’s program headed in the right direction?
   

   We liked Rich when he first came to UM – we even called it a terrific hire. But he’s come across as a bit of a whiner and finger-pointer at times. Hope clearly doesn’t like him, either, so that makes this game more fun.

   As for the direction of the program, we think it’s pretty simple. He finally has his guys in there on offense and his offense is humming. However, the defense, as discussed, is atrocious. He needs to get someone in there who can make that defense even marginally good and you’re looking at 9-10 win seasons again. The questions is if Rich can/will do that. If he doesn’t, he may not be long for UM. But you’d know better than we would.

]]> http://mgofootball.com/2010/11/11/q-a-with-a-boilermaker/feed/ 0 http://mgofootball.com/2010/11/08/improved/ http://mgofootball.com/2010/11/08/improved/#comments Mon, 08 Nov 2010 15:51:40 +0000 Mike P. http://mgofootball.com/?p=2972

Michigan is 6-3, bowl eligible, and touting some mind blowing numbers on both sides of the ball. Football and the success of your head coach eventually comes down to wins and losses, and how it happens, while important, ultimately takes a back seat to how many notches you get in the win column.

With three games to go – Michigan has an opportunity to continue the trend of improvement under Rich Rodriguez. You did just read that correctly. I promise. One more time, with three games to go in the 2010 season, Michigan has an opportunity to continue the trend of improvement under head coach, Rich Rodriguez. Haven’t seen too many headlines like that over the past few years. So many times in the recent past of Michigan football, there are positive things happening that get overlooked because a negative thing is singled out and publicized.

I have no problem pulling out the fact that Rich Rodriguez is 2 for 2 when it comes to beating his record from the previous year. Sounds good to me – can’t wait to see him try and make it 3 for 3 in 2011.

To say that you saw an improved defense out there and one that made some key stops sounds ludicrous – because they gave up the most points ever allowed by a defense in the history of Michigan football! They allowed 65 freaking points! Damn. But, that was an improved defense out there. I think Courtney Avery, Ray Vinopal, Cam Gordan, Kenny Demens, and Craig Roh all had some really great moments out there on Saturday.

Now Michigan has some momentum. Momentum is an intangible thing that arguably impacts teams one way or another. But it almost feels tangible at this point – and it started mid-week last week. Mid-week – Michigan fans were all of a sudden faced with three things that had the potential to be rather negative. First, there was word of an issue with super recruit Dee Hart and that his commitment might be wavering for one reason or another.

Then there was the NCAA ruling. Michigan gets a win. RR gets a win. Shortly after, Michigan finds out that Dee Hart had worked out his complication and on track to arrive in Ann Arbor this January. Then this game against Illinois loomed – and loomed large. Michigan’s wins off the field would be out of sight and out of mind if Illinois walked into the Big House to further implicate Rich Rodriguez for not being able to get wins in conference.

I felt it. Others felt it. The worry that was prevalent going into the Penn State game seemed to flip for the Illinois game. Was it some good news during the week that gave this program some momentum? For sure. That mattered for this team going into Saturday. And it’s not like Michigan won handily – you could argue that Michigan was lucky to win this game – and they kind of were. But some things went Michigan’s way. Not all day, but Hemingway’s slant catch on 3rd and 9 in double OT made up for losing Denard and some bounces that didn’t go Michigan’s way.

As fans, we have short memories. The media is even worse. (Ir)Regardless, this past week could prove to be a huge turning point for Rich Rodriguez and the entire Michigan football program. This week might be remembered, not only for the wild display that was witnessed Saturday, but as the turning point for an entire program. You can’t say enough about the fight in this team – and I think you can say the same thing about Michigan’s head football coach, Rich Rodriguez.



[Photos from the Det. News.]

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