Wolverine Wednesday: We Not Going to Apologize for Winning

It's funny how we are influenced by social media.  The MAC conference asked the Big Ten for an explination for the 1 second, they got it and agreed with the decision.  Then social media blows up for WMU and Fox's rules guy Mike Pereira goes on a pod and says the Big Ten didn't follow protocol for the remaining 1 second and the MAC gets the idea to petition the NCAA on the outcome.  

Tread lightly here MAC, I understand your frustrated and I understand you had a historic upset in your hands.  The Big Ten spends millions of dollars with your conference and your teams.   I would be careful poking the bear or the Wolverine in this case. 

I still don't understand how putting 1 second on the clock makes one of the rarest occurrences in sports  (winning on a Hail Mary) a real strong possibility, it's just a extra opportunity.  Can we move on already?

I was watching the NFL Network and Rich Eisen of course had a few Michigan winning jokes.  The best one was a clip from Mike Tomlin former Steelers coach saying, "Were not going to apologize for winning"

I've spent a lot of time pointing out the negatives from Saturday as there was a boat load of them.   Let's start to focus on some of the good.  

• Bring me all your JJ's!  He played great and if Bryce can figure it out, Marsh and JJ are going to be a great combo at WR.
• I thought Troy Bowles played well and led the team with 12 tackles & 2 TFL's
• John Henry Daley looked good but might of got gassed at the end 
• The Fall camp buzz on Dom Nichols was real with 1.5 sacks and 2.5 TFL's
• Cam Brown averaged nearly 45 yards with 6 punts 
• I like Smith Snowden's game 
• Bracy likes contact! and had 6 solo tackles
• The defense didn't give up a TD 
• I liked the first drive 

The NFL is here and I believe it's the first Wednesday opener.  It's a Super Bowl rematch, which I don't love to start the year but I do support the former Wolverines on both teams.  Sorry Reacher, I got NFL Football tonight.  😀

Michigan Tuesday: A Bad Investment

The biggest question going through Michigan fans and rich donors is; Have we made a bad investment in Bryce Underwood?  The state of Michigan has had its unfair share of top tier QB's lately: Carr at ND, Chambliss at Ole Miss, and Moore at Oregon were all in the Wolverines backyard. 

Carr was lightly recruited by the Wolverines,  Moore didn't get the money he was looking for in Ann Arbor, and Chambliss wasn't even on their radar.  

Michigan went all in on Bryce and now there are more questions than answers.  As you might expect, I got a few texts about the game last weekend and Bryce.  Here is my take on Bryce:

Bryce has been told since probably age 7 that he is the greatest gift to football ever.  His rocket arm allowed him to dominate in high school and made him the #1 QB and recruit in the nation.  There are many problems with the above.  The first is, Bryce has not been "coached up" and never learned the proper QB mechanics.  If you look at either Carr QB, you can tell they have been coached up and neither has the talent or body design Bryce has.   In turn, this makes Bryce a walking contradiction, he has nothing but confidence in his ability because he has been told forever he is great and he also has zero confidence because he has only seen limited success at the college level and when the heat turns up he regresses to his old bad habits.  Bryce is full of too much confidence and at the same time has no confidence.  

The next question is: How long is Coach Whitt going to stay with Bryce?  After this weekend, I don't believe its going to be long.   He was using terms like, "he is the starter for now".  I don't believe Saturday was 100% on Bryce and he did throw a ball 60 yards in the air to save the game but his window at Michigan is getting smaller and smaller.  On Saturday, he looked like he was a player playing out of position.   This weekend has a high probability of being pretty ugly and that will probably be Bryce's last stand.  Even the donors that funded this experiment can't argue this was a bad investment.  

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I also want to take a minute on college football this weekend.  Saturday's games were for the most part just awful, they were pre-season games.  There needs to be at least one good game every TV window.  Most of the day it was painful to watch college football.  The games on Sunday and Monday turned out to be decent to pretty good.   Even with the power outage at FSU last night.   What a strange weekend for college football. 

Tuesday Too Early:

#10 Oklahoma Sooners

Last game: Beat UTEP 51-0

Pass: 231 yards (104th)

Run: 170 (63rd)

Mich Line: OK -5.5

That line seems strangely low after the week 1 performances.  

• I heard not only did the team practice on Sunday (a usual day off), they practiced in pads.  

The Aftermath

This is how I watched the final play:

I watched Bryce throw it out of the endzone. 

I shut off the TV 

Immediately wrote the Disaster post 

I hopped in a sad shower 

My phone rings as I'm in the shower 

My son said, that he can't believe Michigan won

I said, I saw the final play and the game was over, the WMU head coach was walking to shake hands. 

He said, they put 1 second on the clock and Bryce hit JJ for a Hail Mary. 

I turned my TV on and YouTube TV had saved exactly where I left off and saw the final play. 

I know social media lost its mind that 1 second was put back on the clock.  I 100% agree, WMU got robbed.  The same way Michigan has gotten robbed many times over.  There was an extra play against MSU where the clock operator stopped the clock with one second to give Sparty a free play, which they won on.   They even nicknamed the fella, like one second Bob or something.   Dumb shit happens in football and this time Michigan benefited from it. 

Let's also be real about something.   Those officials and the video review booth were terrible all game.   There were at least 2 bad spots that were reviewed and up held.  One I'm pretty sure was a tackle for a loss that they gave a first down to the Broncos. 

The other point I've been seeing online is that, the fix was in by the Big Ten to protect next week's game between Michigan and OK.  Michigan had trouble all game completing a pass more than 5 yards, they had less than 1% chance of hitting that Hail Mary from 60 yards out.  It's not like they were in the red zone or goal line.  That gift was buying your broke friend a lottery ticket and saying I hope this hits and you can pay off all your loans. 

Update: The Big Ten released the audio and video from the review and it seems like a legit call with the clock synced with #18 from WMU touching the ball.  The MAC appreciated the transparency and agrees with the finding. 

I don't love rushing the field, but those fans were there all night, with nothing to cheer about.  They had 4 hours of cheering to get out of their system.   Those plays always happen against Michigan, not for Michigan.  So I get it. 

This sucks for the Broncos, I know the feeling all too well, but Michigan is nowhere near a good team right now.  They can't run, they can't block, they can't stop the run, they have a ton of problems with a top 10 team coming in next Saturday. 

Cheers:

• JJ told Sam Webb that 50/50 balls are 90/10 when thrown to him.  He is right. 
• Our punter was really good
• First drive and last play was good 

Jerers:

• New Michigan staff got a hard lesson that this place is different. 
• Team was not prepared at all 
• The play calling (outside of the first drive) was head scratching 
• I love that they want to run Bryce but he has a fumbling problem 
• Marsh has shown not to be the best Special Teams player in the past 
• Coach Whitt be aggressive in the 2nd half when the team is moving the ball, go for a 4th down 
• Turnovers and penalties are not Michigan Football and needs to be cleaned up right away
• Offensive line play was maybe the worst I've seen in 5 years 
• Beck, let's at least try to throw to a TE 

Outside the final play and the first drive, Michigan had very little to like about the game last night.  It was nice to see Michigan has a good punter.  

The late Lou Holtz used to say, "the biggest improvement jump teams get all year is between Week 1 and Week 2 of the season".   Let's hope that happens here.  Lots of long nights for the Michigan staff this week.  No Labor day BBQ for them. 

A Complete Disaster

I'm not sure I've seen anything like what I just witnessed.  I've seen Michigan not show up against App. State and RR got beat by Akron but I'm not sure what just happened tonight.  

Michigan got beat today by Western Michigan in every aspect of the game.   Coaching, execution, running, passing, special teams.  It was a complete disaster after the first drive.  

One of the things I worried about with Coach Whitt is his teams did not win big games.   Well, this team was not prepared at all.  Maybe it was the not hitting in camp, maybe they don't understand how to be Michigan Football Coaches.  For Fuck sakes, they lined up 12 guys on offense on one play.  

The play calling was awful, the penalties were excessive, there was no execution at all. 

They are scared to have Bryce throw the ball and Western sat on the run all night.  Yes, they are a good experienced team but please, that was one of the ugliest games I've ever seen.   

Michigan loses the game without giving up a TD.  What the hell did I just watch?

The offensive line was terrible 

The coaching was nowhere to be found 

The defense after a good first half, got pounded by basic high school football plays 

Got killed in the turnover margin 3-0 

Marsh struggled in the punt return 

Marshall had zero holes all night 

Huge mistake by Coach Whitt not to go for the 4th down at the start of the 2nd half. 

I'm not trying to be a prisoner of the moment but this team might not win a game all year.  They might have to make a QB change right now.  

I'm sick of night games, I'm sick of watching this program go backwards, I'm sick of coaches not understanding Michigan Football.   This program is in a fucking tailspin and it makes me sick to my stomach.  

A complete disaster and the only ones to blame is themselves.  

Edit: I thought the game was over and I'm in complete shock they won.  I might need to call a doctor. :)