The rest of the season and how we finish

is critical. Because that great recruiting class we have coming in will likely be impacted by a collapse. Signing day is a long way off.

Yesterday was hard to take, not because we lost (sadly, I expected it) but the way we lost. I'm getting tired of all of the platitudes and bravado. Would have walked to Ann Arbor, we will play tough, Michigan football etc. To me Michigan football is winning football period. I don't give a damn what style of offense we run- I want it to be efficient and productive.

Remember when Coach said 2011 was unacceptable because we did not win a BT title? That sounds ridiculous today. Talk is cheap. What I want to see is onfield improvement within the context of the talent available over the course of a season. That has been lacking the last two years.

The offensive line is dreadful and youth and inexperience is an excuse but far from a complete excuse. We have two experienced and talented seniors and three guys who our staff evaluated as talented. How does our talent/experience combo compare to Akron or UConn?

Losing to MSU the way we did only confirms what our eyes saw in the first 7 games on the whole and what a fairly easy schedule had masked by a win loss record that looked good but was a mirage to some extent.

We have 4 games left, two home and two road, we can change the momentum by winning 3 of them. Win 2 and we will be disappointed but not crushed. Lose 3 and we are in deep trouble IMO and will lose credibility with many of the recruits we covet and with a fan base that has little patience.

Which way will it go? I don't know but I'll be watching and pulling hard for a good finish.

'shoes

O-line is in shambles and Lewan has regressed to his early bad attitude problems. Funk needs to be replaced.

Is Kalis really as bad as he's looked? What happened?

dwoody wrote:

Is Kalis really as bad as he's looked? What happened?

He is, but a lot of it appears to be mental issues, he misses assignments A LOT. It's possible the light just hasn't gone on for him yet. Lewan also struggled as a redshirt freshman, but clearly not to this extent.

fishgoblue22 wrote:

O-line is in shambles and Lewan has regressed to his early bad attitude problems. Funk needs to be replaced.

IMHO Taylor was trying to simply get under the skin of sparty by trash-talking/minor thuggery, this is not Michigan Football but that's the way he was trying to win. While I do not approve of this tactic (nor do I think he cares what I think) he was trying to win. He knew that Michigan was over-matched so he tried that angle. It didn't work, I actually give praise to sparty for keeping their composure and you know how much that pains me.

I absolutely HATE to even suggest this but this might be the kick in the butt that this team needs. Will it fix itself this year? Maybe but I'm guessing no. I'm trying to equate this to Michigan Hockey last year. There was a cancer in the locker-room last year which affected everyone. That player left the team plus many of our leaders graduated therefore Michigan has a team with TEN Freshmen om it (most of whom are forced to play significant minutes). Last year Michigan missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 23 years, the Hockey team is 6-1-1 with impressive wins (both home and road) against high quality opposition so far. They are currently ranked #4 in the nation but could jump up to #2 tomorrow. Hopefully this football experience is similar. Football is young too, not quite as young but Freshmen can't dominate in football as size/strength/experience are a much larger factor. As much as I hate to say it, that makes what Johnny Football did last year all the more impressive.

Michigan Football will be back, just don't jump on the "Fore Hoke bandwagon" too fast. That is not to say that you cannot be critical, people improve over receiving criticism. Coach Hoke has to get older players, and that goes for Borges too (although I wouldn't be heart-broken to see him go)