#141 Indiana at #17 Michigan in a football game

[romad1]

Indiana, known for its very fine journalism program as I am told.  I recall Ernie Pyle school of Journalism.  You could not have a better historic alumn than he.  Read his column "The Death of Captain Waskow" and appreciate. 

https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/the-death-of-captain-waskow/#:~:text=“The Death of Captain Waskow” captured the human,18%2C 1945%2C four months before the war ended.

The miniseries "The Pacific" riffed this column for their portray of the Death of "Ack Ack" on Peleliu.

And Michigan known for losing to MSU and space. 

[romad1]

if harbaugh does not win out…we can do better 

[Mr.TaterSalad]

2 hours ago, romad1 said:

if harbaugh does not win out…we can do better 

He has a zero 0% chance of winning out because he will get punked by Ryan Day and Ohio State. The guy should be relieved of his job tomorrow but I doubt that happens.

[romad1]

4 minutes ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

He has a zero 0% chance of winning out because he will get punked by Ryan Day and Ohio State. The guy should be relieved of his job tomorrow but I doubt that happens.

The OSU game could have one-sided officiating…we might win if we are on the positive side of that

[gehringer_2]

24 minutes ago, romad1 said:

The OSU game could have one-sided officiating…we might win if we are on the positive side of that

 

2 hours ago, romad1 said:

if harbaugh does not win out…we can do better 

trap game next week - could be a big let-down after this one. I heard Cade stepped up and put the loss on himself. Did his coach make a point of contradicting him (I guess we don't find out until at least tomorrow....) or will his coach let him  get more or less thrown under the bus for a game when the D gave up 37?

[romad1]

11 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

 

trap game next week - could be a big let-down after this one. I heard Cade stepped up and put the loss on himself. Did his coach make a point of contradicting him (I guess we don't find out until at least tomorrow....) or will his coach let him  get more or less thrown under the bus for a game when the D gave up 37?

Are you calling it?    Indiana outright wins?  Michigan spins off into the dark and fandom are returned to the "bottomless pit of negative expectations" (tm MGOBLOG)?

 

[romad1]

Why the frak is this a 7:30pm start?

[Motor City Sonics]

1 hour ago, romad1 said:

Why the frak is this a 7:30pm start?

Because they want the wheels to come off in PRIME time.  

[gehringer_2]

15 hours ago, romad1 said:

Are you calling it?    Indiana outright wins?  Michigan spins off into the dark and fandom are returned to the "bottomless pit of negative expectations" (tm MGOBLOG)?

 

Of course they have a lot more room for error against Indiana. TBH, the MSU game was more about MSU than UM. M played as well against MSU as they have against anyone this season. The story is what Tucker has accomplished at MSU. M fan has been able to assume that even if beating OSU was a bridge too far, just getting back to being a middling program would allow them to start beating an MSU program that threatened to remain in disarray after the D'antonio's flame out. Tucker upset those plans. 

Edited November 2, 2021 by gehringer_2

[AlaskanTigersFan]

1 hour ago, gehringer_2 said:

Of course they have a lot more room for error against Indiana. TBH, the MSU game was more about MSU than UM. M played as well against MSU as they have against anyone this season. The story is what Tucker has accomplished at MSU. M fan has been able to assume that even if beating OSU was a bridge too far, just getting back to being a middling program would allow them to start beating an MSU program that threatened to remain in disarray after the D'antonio's flame out. Tucker upset those plans. 

That was the Walker show.... He literally beat UofM by himself. W/o him, MSU is a 3 win team if that...... 

[gehringer_2]

18 minutes ago, AlaskanTigersFan said:

That was the Walker show.... He literally beat UofM by himself. W/o him, MSU is a 3 win team if that...... 

True. And 2020 the Patriots were 7-9 without Brady. But a good team is good because they have good players and MSU has one.

[romad1]

8 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

Of course they have a lot more room for error against Indiana. TBH, the MSU game was more about MSU than UM. M played as well against MSU as they have against anyone this season. The story is what Tucker has accomplished at MSU. M fan has been able to assume that even if beating OSU was a bridge too far, just getting back to being a middling program would allow them to start beating an MSU program that threatened to remain in disarray after the D'antonio's flame out. Tucker upset those plans. 

Give some credit to Tucker's gamesmanship catching our rookie D coordinator napping.

[romad1]

I'm told that the evening game is a lot about recruiting.  The potential recruitees are more able to make the late game after playing in their own games on Friday nights.  Mayhaps.

[Motor City Sonics]

Great catch by Luke Schoonmaker (what a name!).   Too bad it was out of bounds. 

[RandyMarsh]

This isn't just a Harbaugh criticism because this is a pet peeve of mind that seemingly all coaches do. It was 4th and 1 there and they were trying to draw them offsides, fine try it but if it doesn't work just take the 5 yard delay of game penalty vs. using a timeout. A 2nd half timeout is way more valuable than potentially 5 yards of field position. 

[gehringer_2]

5 minutes ago, RandyMarsh said:

This isn't just a Harbaugh criticism because this is a pet peeve of mind that seemingly all coaches do. It was 4th and 1 there and they were trying to draw them offsides, fine try it but if it doesn't work just take the 5 yard delay of game penalty vs. using a timeout. A 2nd half timeout is way more valuable than potentially 5 yards of field position. 

I"m not sure the staff was even all on the same page on the TO call. Typical M sideline chaos under JH.

[gehringer_2]

??

Edited November 7, 2021 by gehringer_2

[romad1]

How are y’all gonna spin this one into a defeat?

[romad1]

New York Times Pitch Bot would work equally well for the Michigan fanbase

[romad1]

The game was blissfully boring.  I knew MSU would steal that game last week.  So, When they called the first penalty against Indiana’s OL i knew Michigan had the game

Edited November 7, 2021 by romad1

[buddha]

8-1 and a top 5ish team going into penn state.

and everything sucks because we know ohio state will beat us by 40.  welcome to being a michigan fan.

[gehringer_2]

28 minutes ago, buddha said:

8-1 and a top 5ish team going into penn state.

and everything sucks because we know ohio state will beat us by 40.  welcome to being a michigan fan.

10-2 or even 9-3 is a wildly successful season given what the program looked like that the end of last season. That said - it's perfectly fair for its fans to despair over a team that can't beat its traditional rivals. TBH - I don't really care if UM is great football power or not, it doesn't bother me if UM doesn't play in the same playground with the SEC, but it would be more fun to be a fan of a 2nd tier program if they could pull the occasional upset than to get to 10 wins with half being against East Cupcake. 🤷‍♂️

Of course, if they don't figure a competitive NIL system, this year's success, such as it is, may be short lived!

Edited November 7, 2021 by gehringer_2

[MichiganCardinal]

3 hours ago, buddha said:

8-1 and a top 5ish team going into penn state.

and everything sucks because we know ohio state will beat us by 40.  welcome to being a michigan fan.

I've largely left college football fandom. I would still call myself a Michigan and Stanford football fan if asked, but truth be told I haven't watched a single snap of college football live this year. I'll likely watch Big Game (Stanford/Cal) and The Game, so long as nothing more important in the real world comes up. It's funny the way you put it (and not all that inaccurate), but I think the reasons everything sucks is more systematic than M's failure to beat a rival.

The way the CFP overlords setup their system was to create a system where there is massive disparity. When only four teams of 130 playing FBS football (or realistically four of 65 in the Power 5) make the playoff, only those top echelon of teams (Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, and a few others here and there) are going to have a realistic shot at reaching it, because that's where the 5*+ athletes who want to have a realistic chance at winning something playing football while in college are going to go.

Michigan getting their ass kicked year-in and year-out by Ohio State should not, in and of itself, be the reason Michigan never has the opportunity for a National Championship. As traditionally important as that game is, it is still only one game. In the last ten years, Michigan has finished with a top 15ish team (so top 20-25% of Power 5) on four occasions - 2011, 2015, 2016, and 2018. Yet they have nothing to show for it, not because any of those teams sucked or underperformed, but because that is the way it's setup.

Beyond that, even when a team not destined for the CFP manages to squeeze into it, they are destined to get smacked into place by the team that is supposed to (see: MSU in 2016). It's really hard for me to get motivated behind either Stanford or Michigan football, when I know that we have little chance of being a top-four team now or in the near future, and even if luck rolls our way and we chance into a four-seed on an off-year, we'll then need to beat a team cherry-picked to win a championship to actually win anything.

When the playoff inevitably expands and talent disperses over the subsequent years to 20-25 teams instead of 4-8, I may come back, but for now I'd rather watch NFL football, where a team like the Browns or Bills (or...... maybe one day....) can realistically win a championship no matter their past ineptitude. Sorry, this got long-winded.

[romad1]

14 minutes ago, MichiganCardinal said:

I've largely left college football fandom. I would still call myself a Michigan and Stanford football fan if asked, but truth be told I haven't watched a single snap of college football live this year. I'll likely watch Big Game (Stanford/Cal) and The Game, so long as nothing more important in the real world comes up. It's funny the way you put it (and not all that inaccurate), but I think the reasons everything sucks is more systematic than M's failure to beat a rival.

The way the CFP overlords setup their system was to create a system where there is massive disparity. When only four teams of 130 playing FBS football (or realistically four of 65 in the Power 5) make the playoff, only those top echelon of teams (Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, and a few others here and there) are going to have a realistic shot at reaching it, because that's where the 5*+ athletes who want to have a realistic chance at winning something playing football while in college are going to go.

Michigan getting their ass kicked year-in and year-out by Ohio State should not, in and of itself, be the reason Michigan never has the opportunity for a National Championship. As traditionally important as that game is, it is still only one game. In the last ten years, Michigan has finished with a top 15ish team (so top 20-25% of Power 5) on four occasions - 2011, 2015, 2016, and 2018. Yet they have nothing to show for it, not because any of those teams sucked or underperformed, but because that is the way it's setup.

Beyond that, even when a team not destined for the CFP manages to squeeze into it, they are destined to get smacked into place by the team that is supposed to (see: MSU in 2016). It's really hard for me to get motivated behind either Stanford or Michigan football, when I know that we have little chance of being a top-four team now or in the near future, and even if luck rolls our way and we chance into a four-seed on an off-year, we'll then need to beat a team cherry-picked to win a championship to actually win anything.

When the playoff inevitably expands and talent disperses over the subsequent years to 20-25 teams instead of 4-8, I may come back, but for now I'd rather watch NFL football, where a team like the Browns or Bills (or...... maybe one day....) can realistically win a championship no matter their past ineptitude. Sorry, this got long-winded.

Notice you didn't say the Lions can realistically win a championship.

[gehringer_2]

33 minutes ago, MichiganCardinal said:

When the playoff inevitably expands

so someone persuade me that we are better off now with this massive imbalance and scores of bowl games played to empty seats and probably terrible TV ratings, than with the old system where conference winners could all end the year happy and you had bowl games that played to  established inter-conference rivalries and actually generated regional fan interest?