If Loving Michigan Football is Wrong, I don't want to be Whitt

Michigan somehow avoided an FAA national grounding of airplanes on Friday and made it to Eugene, Oregon.   That was the luckiest things that happened for them in the Air this weekend. 

Firing Beck didn't make a difference as this offense can't complete a dump off to a RB.  It's Nick Sheridan bad.  Doesn't matter who is at QB.  What about that CSU transfer guy?  Why can't he get some snaps?

What was interesting about this game was the Michigan defense decided to not make the trip and give up long TD's throws to an Oregon Ducks QB that looked like he was throwing arm punts.  Oregon scored 21 points in the first half and knew that was plenty to beat the Wolverines offense.   

As I have been stating for weeks, Michigan's defense is not that good.  They give up long drives, long runs, don't rush the passer without blitzing, and blow coverages all the time.  If they don't come to play the Wolverines have zero chance to win any games.  

This is going to be a long two weeks before the season is over and all the good head coaches sign extensions.  Thank you Warde for this wonderful situation as you drive off into the sunset. 

Cheers:

Hiter finally got loose on one run 

Tommy continues to get yards with his legs 

The Ducks dropped maybe 5 picks 

The running game had a pulse 

Jeers:

I feel so bad Devin has to work with Tim Brando, he is awful 

Snowden was not as advertised in the portal and has been bad 

Both Michigan QB's are not good 

Does Michigan run the same WR routes on every play?

Anyone else get a target or just Marsh?

Marsh catch that TD throw! 

JJ out with an injury 

Missed sacks on guys running by Raiola at full speed 

Marshall getting missed on a wide open throw and then turning his ankle on potential TD run

Kuzdzal runs hard but always has a game changing fumble 

This Utah experiment has been a complete failure, time to cut ties and start over.   Hire a god damn AD and let's move on! Sorry Ross and Ellison we need a bunch of money to move this staff out to the curb. 

BTW: Being terrible at your job should be "cause" to be fired and Michigan should not have to buy out this contracts, but they will. 

Oregon Preview

Phil Knight as a Freshman 

Time: 3:30 

Location: Autzen Stadium 

Weather: 53 Light Rain 

TV: FS1 

Line: Oregon -10.5

Want to know how important this game is? Just look at the Network covering it.  FS1 will tell you all about this game before it even kicks off.  Ducks started the year in the top 5 but stumbled, got back up and won some good games.  Michigan started in the top 20 and has played like a drunk sailor the entire year on offense.  Oregon went into Columbus last week and gave the Buckeyes their last rights, lets hope they do the same to Coach Whittingham this weekend. 

Dear Michigan Fan Base, 

Yes, clearly Coach Whitt doesn't read this blog or do much of anything actually.  So I'm done writing to him.  He clearly doesn't want to understand Michigan Tradition or anything else related to Big Ten Football, in fact I'm not sure he understands he lives in Ann Arbor now and not in Utah. 

The Ducks have talent as they have unlimited NIL funds from Grandpa Phil Knight, the word on the street is the University was struggling all up and had to close dorms, etc.  Then the Nike man sent over a $1B check.  Kick save and a beauty! 

The Ducks lost their Michigan 5-star QB to a concussion early in the Big Ten season and he is done for the year (rightfully so, that was a dirty hit).  Then they were able to go to former Nebraska 5 star QB Dylan Raiola who flamed out there but has been waiting for his turn in Eugene.  He started well, played terrible, got benched, went back in and did a nice job.  So basically he is still Dylan Raiola.   

Michigan has one shot of winning this game and its on defense.  They have to pick Dylan off like 3 times and return two of them for TD's if Michigan is going to stay in the game and maybe win it.  

I have zero faith that the OC change will do any good, its too late in the season and should've been done like 4-6 weeks ago.  The other 5-star QB from Michigan will either be watching or taking a few snaps for the Wolverines.  I'm now leaning he probably should finish the year under center, as the off season is setting up to be a disaster if a quick move is not made with the current head coach. 

I guess Oregon has an outside shot still at the playoffs but don't know how the committee would justify the Illinois loss.  They are playing better and on an upswing.   They also have injuries and have played very inconsistent this year.  If we get the inconsistent Ducks and Dylan starts throwing the ball to the white jerseys, Michigan has a chance.  

The Michigan Defense is all we got left.  

Oregon 17 Michigan 3

Michigan Thursday: That is Better!

Michigan Basketball has played 3 games this season, but with the trip to Europe and the exhibition season, it seems like we have seen them play a ton of games.   None of them have been impressive so far until last night.  Marquette was not good last year but Shaka Smart knows how to coach basketball and has rebuilt this basketball team, even though he has flamed out at a number of places.  

Michigan finally used their bigs and mixed in good 3 point shooting to put the Big East team away.  This type of balanced scoring will win the Wolverines a lot of games this season:

Estrella 18

Cadeau 17

McKenney 15

Costello 15

Thiam 9 

Gayle 7 

Michigan did better on defense and rebounding in this game.  They also stopped the dumb fouls.  Still they seem to struggle to get open shots in the half court offense and will need to work the pick and roll to Thiam better as it was still pretty shaky.  Michigan got up comfortably in the 2nd half by 20 points then gave half of it away before turning it on again and knocking out Marquette.  

I still haven't got a 30 minute performance from McKenny where his offense is consistent. Costello is a knock down shooter and I'm excited to see how his game develops.   If Michigan can get there and Gayle stops dribbling off his knee, they are going to be tough to beat and should be in every game.  

Michigan won the match-up between Jordan schools with similar colorways 84-70.

Please see the post below for the Big Ten Weekend Match-ups if your so inclined. 

Big Ten Weekend Preview Week 11

This has been a very strange year for the Big Ten, currently it only has two ranked teams in the top 10 and its #9 Indiana and #4 UCLA.   Neither team has looked unstoppable this year.   This week there are no match-ups to get excited. 

Friday Night:

Illinois @ UCLA (-10):  The Bruins who have one good win over Oregon and a lot of Purdue type wins, will face another non-descript Big Ten.   The game will be close for a half and then UCLA will pull away.  UCLA 28 Illinois 14 

Saturday:

Northwestern @ OSU (-14):  There was some hope that the Wildcats might have something this year and then they didn't.  Ohio State is not going to lose 3 games in a row.  OSU 31 NW 20 

Wisconsin (-8.5) @ Maryland:  I would like to give you a reason to watch this game.  But I got nothing.  Wisconsin 24 Maryland 10 

Nebraska (-14.5) @ Rutgers:  Will Nebraska make a Bowl Game?  Wow, what an accomplishment!  I don't know how the Cornhusker fans live with this type of football.  I'm out of my mind as a Michigan fan this year.  Nebraska 20 Rutgers 17 

USC @ IU (-10):  This is an interesting game, as Lincoln Riley fights for his career in LA and IU continues to sneak into the playoffs.  USC traditionally does not travel East well but has shown sparks this year.  IU 21 USC 20 

Washington (-3.5) @ MSU:  Sparty has had a good week.  They won their Super Bowl over the down Wolverines on Saturday and this week the Basketball team beat Duke.  Time for a let down.  Wash 31 MSU 21 

Minnesota @ Penn State (-9.5):  The Golden Gophers almost row the boat every year but it always has holes in it and sinks.  Penn State is Iowa State.  Both teams 5-4.  Penn State 13 Minnesota 10 

Purdue @ Iowa (-17.5):  This is the NBC Night Game.  What a joke.  Iowa 31 Purdue 17