2014 a CRITICAL season for Michigan football

With Penn State's amazing recovery from sanctions, currently second in the nation to Alabama for 2015 class by one measure (11 of 15 recruits are composite 4 stars), and MSU showing signs of reaping the benefits of their 12-1 Rose Bowl winning team, we are in danger of falling behind three teams (counting OSU) in our own division.

We can say 2015 is the year all we want, but it we don't show some seriously positive forward momentum this year, we are in some trouble.

'shoes

I think the talent is there to win now. Is the coaching?

We're going to need more than "This is Michigan fergodssakes" to compete both for recruits and on the field going forward. I really hope the OC change is going to provide the boost we need (that and a defense that should be pretty good this year).

'shoes

the D is going to keep us in a lot of games.

As a whole, I think the "swag" is starting to come back to UM with the experience and confidence that our young team has gotten the last couple of years. Attitude is the ingredient that can take our boys a lot further.

Our O line and the running game are going to get better. They will. If the O line could get to mediocre status by the end of the season that will help our running game tremendously and also equally as important it will set up momentum going into the following year.

This year might not be a 10 win season but even a non homer can see that the team really is knocking on the door. I sure would love to see them kick it in this year though.

First, welcome back to the USA Sandy.

Second, what makes you say that the "swag" is coming back? I am curious. I saw a very inconsistent team that followed up one of its better efforts albeit in a loss, to OSU, with a flat, uninspired performance against a mediocre K-State team.

'shoes

Good question Shoes. I haven't seen anything that gives me hope. K-state was embarrassing.

The thing about PSU that kills me is they are not only weathering the sanctions but they are also doing it with their third coach in like 4 years (roughly).

Coaching changes do not have to be a disaster if handled well.

This team is an 8-4 team unless they gets some serious lucky breaks. Still lack a solid passing game will net to play a lot of downs on defense. watch for team with 8 in the box daring them to pass.

I'm not worried about the passing game at all. Run blocking will be the problem. Gardner is a very talented QB. If you look at his season after MSU, he was great.

fishgoblue22 wrote:

I'm not worried about the passing game at all.  Run blocking will be the problem.  Gardner is a very talented QB.  If you look at his season after MSU, he was great.

Yep.

wshoes wrote:

First, welcome back to the USA Sandy.

Second, what makes you say that the "swag" is coming back? I am curious. I saw a very inconsistent team that followed up one of its better efforts albeit in a loss, to OSU, with a flat, uninspired performance against a mediocre K-State team.

'shoes

1. Jabrill (enough said)

2. Watching some of the spring clips I saw some nastiness (in attitudes) that I haven't seen in a few years. Hard to pinpoint exact things but I'll peruse through some video I've seen and try show examples

wshoes wrote:

Coaching changes do not have to be a disaster if handled well.

Amen to that, Shoes. Proof's in the pudding (see: HOKE, Brady P., Michigan football 2011).

Many fans' insanely-unrealistic expectations have been the undoing of more than one coach following
immediate success, however.

Taking a team with a three-year composite 15-22 record to 11-2, including victories over two major
rivals, ending a seven-year skid against the more-hated of the two, and producing a BCS bowl victory
were laudable achievements by any [intelligent] standard.

But then, suddenly---it was supposed to happen every year.

I don't think it was supposed to happen every year, but we sure as hell weren't supposed to fall back to this state of getting our asses handed to us 4-5 times a year.

I , unfortunately, see this as a 7-5 team. 9-3 with some very fortuitous breaks, 6-6 if we play like we did most of last season.

OSU is a better team.
MSU is a better team.
PSU is a better team.
ND will be a better team (and it's there, at night).
Northwestern could very well be a better team and will want revenge for the way we've won the last two meetings.

Oh, and we're 0-1 against Appy State. Not that anyone needed a reminder. (And not that I expect to lose that game...)

Admin wrote:

PSU is a better team.

BULLSHIT.   Contrary to media assertions, they didn't steal last year's game...we [starting with GIbbons' easy miss] gave to them free of charge.

They return less this year than we, and we get them at our place.

PSU is not a very good team at all. We let them have one. They are riding the wave of getting an SEC coach. Frankly, Franklin may flame out there. We have no idea. I think the coach they lost is a better coach. Media types love all things SEC, so they assume that because Franklin coached in the "Worlds greatest conference to ever have played football", he will dominate the "horrible, lousey, weak B1G". Not sure I buy that.

fair points fish. They are recruiting well, but we'll see.

Fish, I'll second Shoes---and emphasize that which I think to be your "fairest" point of all: the coach they just lost was the better one.  O'Brien was, is and will prove to be (with the Texans) one helluva coach in every facet of that job (coaching)...regardless of the bad blood he may have left in Happy(?) Valley with his "Paterno People" statement.

They had no friggin' right even being on that field with us last year, yet under his tutelage and guidance, even though 10 down late in the 4th, somehow pulled off the biggest theft since the Boston Heist...or since Britain's Great Train Robbery.  (Helped by us, of course).

michmike wrote:

Fish, I'll second Shoes---and emphasize that which I think to be your "fairest" point of all: the coach they just lost was the better one.  O'Brien was, is and will prove to be (with the Texans) one helluva coach in every facet of that job (coaching)...regardless of the bad blood he may have left in Happy(?) Valley with his "Paterno People" statement.

They had no friggin' right even being on that field with us last year, yet under his tutelage and guidance, even though 10 down late in the 4th, somehow pulled off the biggest theft since the Boston Heist...or since Britain's Great Train Robbery.  (Helped by us, of course).

No doubt Obrien was the best thing that could have happened to that school during their last few years.

Also no doubt IMO that BOB is a far superior coach than Franklin will  prove to be. Even if Franklin wins them a National Championship I'd still probably hold to my statement given the conditions BOB coached in and the short amount of time he was there.


Regarding the bad blood with PSU fans, I've talked with a few "casual" PSU fans about his statements. The key word is "casual" so TIFWIW but they actually didn't mind that at all. Of course they wanted to keep Vanderlinden but they understood why he needed to go and why BOB made the decision he made. They likened the situation to UM fans holding to their BO lineage or UM fans touting their "Michigan Man" standards.

The only thing my PSU buddy did say was that he was a bit irked that BOB said something to the effect of, "If they keep it up they'll be looking for a new coach next month." I don't remember exactly what he said but I remember reading it and it was close to that. I'll try to find the exact quote.

Anyway the few PSU fans that I talked to seemed to be extremely thankful of BOB's service given the extremely volatile situation they were in. If you think about it, PSU could quite literally be one of the worst programs in the nation right now had things not gone the way they did. Their program's implosion could very well be right up there with the likes of SMU's in the 80s.

Not only did BOB weather the storm, but he also righted the ship and he did so under a virtually impossible situation. Most any level headed PSU fan would agree that BOB will deserve a Christmas card from the program for years to come.



***EDIT***

Here is an article explaining BOB's "paterno people" statements.

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/01/bill-obrien-joe-paterno-penn-state-rant


Also... his exact words about them finding a new coach...

“That’s why, in probably about a month, they’re gonna be [expletive] looking for a new coach.”

WHOA!!  I never (till just now) read that article, Sandy, but it says a Godzilla-sized mouthful, I say.  And given that there must be at least some degree of truth to BOB's statement about the "pressure" he felt from the "Paterno" faction, and how it will no doubt continue (esp. with a new coach from the never-ever-loses-at-football SEC), Franklin might not last long enough to see any of those hyped-up recruits of his ever see the field...

I could be exaggerating, I could be spot-on, I could be somewhere in between on Franklin...but I never knew the relationship between BOB and the "P.P." to be that volatile...

Franklin is in a great position of being the guy that replaced the guy that replaced JoePa. It's always tough being the guy that replaces a legend. I don't think he will ever have the pressure that BOB had placed on him from the Peterno People.

Some forgettable names:

Ray Perkins
Bob Davie
Lane Kiffen
Frank Solich

Word has it that Franklin is all show. Mind you it's coming from Sam Webb but it came from him THROUGH a beat reporter.

The guy only does something if there is something in it for him. Period.

Case in point, This reporter asked him for an interview. Not only did Franklin decline but he did so with an answer telling the reporter that Franklin didn't think much of this reporter. 10 minutes later this reporter was interviewing Dantonio. The human hemorrhoid was actually being jovial with the reporter. So when he was done Franklin sent one of his "guys" to tell the reporter that Franklin was ready to be interviewed.

This is just one point. Apparently this guy recruits just like they do in the SEC. All smoke, mirrors and, dare I say it, RichRodish. He really rubs some recruits the wrong way a lot of the time.

Some pundits say he's knocking it out of the park in recruiting. I think he's gotten a couple but wouldn't say he's hitting home runs. We'll see. He seems very RR'ish to me.

Richrodish? really? In what way? What about that anecdote calls anything to mind about RR? If anything he was open and accommodating to reporters to his detriment.

wshoes wrote:

Richrodish? really? In what way? What about that anecdote calls anything to mind about RR? If anything he was open and accommodating to reporters to his detriment.

I think he meant RichRodish in terms of how others view him. A snake oil salesman.

Franklin will most likely have 3 Roy Roundtree scenarios in his first recruiting class.


I think it's funny that some are calling Franklin an "All sizzle no steak" kind of guy though. I saw what he did at Vandy and you have to admit, while he wasn't the king of the SEC, he made that team into a contender or at the very least a team that could no longer be counted as a sure fire win.

Personally I thought he was impressive at Vandy.

eggo correctly describes what I meant.

And he did pretty well at Vandy. But that was still the SEC where talent falls off of trees if you just might be willing to ease up to get those kids to commit and play.

I'm going by what I am hearing from people I listen to most.

And 'shoes, RR's recruiting is STILL killing us.

Franklin did a terrific job at Vandy. Living in Nashville, I follow them a little bit.

RichRod was an outstanding coach before UM and has been very good after UM. He had and has his flaws but the ability to coach isn't one of them. He recruited better than I thought he would given the whisper campaign against him by Michigan's own while he was here.

'shoes

He pulled highly rated recruits.

Very few even stayed 4 years.

For example,

who are the senior studs from last year?

who are the senior studs for this year?

Those are RR's last 2 recruiting classes.

Senior studs from last year included Devin Gardner, Taylor Lewan, Michael Schofield and Jeremy Gallon, not too shabby. This year is Jake Ryan's 4th year. Sammy Watkins was in line to come to UM before RR was fired, he turned out pretty well. My point was that because Michigan insiders were pulling for him to lose and advising HS coaches that he would soon be gone, it's amazing he recruited as well as he did. In an absolute sense it was not good.

In what world is Penn St. better than Michigan?

Quit being so mopey.

wshoes wrote:

Senior studs from last year included Devin Gardner, Taylor Lewan, Michael Schofield and Jeremy Gallon, not too shabby. This year is Jake Ryan's 4th year. Sammy Watkins was in line to come to UM before RR was fired, he turned out pretty well. My point was that because Michigan insiders were pulling for him to lose and advising HS coaches that he would soon be gone, it's amazing he recruited as well as he did. In an absolute sense it was not good.

After those 4 there's nothin'.

4 solid guys per class won't cut it.

All right you win. He was lucky before UM and has been lucky afterwards. UM was the true barometer of his coaching talent.