45.5 point favorites...

Quoting Hoke, that's 'ridiculous'.

Would Hoke even run a score up like that?

My brain is telling me to bet UMass to cover.

Based off of the IU score I would be tempted to bet on Michigan. I know ND looms and you don't want to show your hand but this team needs work. I hope the starters stay in a little longer to get their shit together.

It would be nice to not have to sweat out a UMass game again. Two years ago when they came to the big house, they were able to do this against RichRod's defense...

238 rushing yards, 222 passing yards, 26 first downs, nearly 38 minutes in time of possession and 37 total points.

If Indiana can travel to UMass and beat them as soundly as they did, we sure as heck can do the same. I want a shutout in this game. That means the defense has to wake up. If they give up over 7 points, I'm going to be livid.

LOL....I have a feeling a few of us will be pissed tomorrow. Hopefully I am wrong.

WillieMfan wrote:

LOL....I have a feeling a few of us will be pissed tomorrow. Hopefully I am wrong.

We're Michigan fans.

We expect perfection every week.

We'll 1,000% find something to bitch about lol!!!

Admin wrote:

...Would Hoke even run a score up like that? ...

That brings up a GREAT question. Remember last week when FSU was favored by 69.5? I was telling my wife, there is no way a coach with any amount of integrity would allow his team to rack up that many points. FSU was well on it's way before the weather stepped in and that seems ridiculous to me.

So the spread for this week is 45.5. How do you feel about that? How would you feel if Hoke ran it up on them like that? would you feel like Hoke has less integrity or doesn't respect gamesmanship as much as you may think he does? Would you feel ashamed in the least bit to win by 50?

The problem is that the BCS takes blowout scores into consideration. If the spread is 45.5 and even if michigan dominates all around but only wins by 21 then it's considered a failure in the eyes of the BCS. Lets say they are up 35-0 going into the fourth and Hoke decides to heavily rotate in the second string and they start scoring at will, then what?

The bottom line is that each instance has it's own set of circumstances but regardless, I can't feel right about putting up 50 points on a team that just seems helpless to stop it.

What say you?

I've always hated seeing 2nd and 3rd stringers put in during the late stages of a game and told to take it easy. Those kids work their butts off in practice and often see little to no field time. They deserve a chance to play their best too. If your 2nd and 3rd stringers are good enough to score against the other team, then I say let them get a least a couple TDs. If you are worried about looking like you're running up the score, then pull your starters sooner.

Did we run up the score in the epic 119-0 game against sparty? I know some of you may claim that was 100 years ago but what about the 2002 game against sparty? 49-3 seems just as bad, if not worse in today's game. If it's a school that you have no ill will towards I say don't run up the score. If it were sparty or ohio I'd say go for triple digits!

2ndComingOfBo wrote:

Did we run up the score in the epic 119-0 game against sparty? I know some of you may claim that was 100 years ago but what about the 2002 game against sparty? 49-3 seems just as bad, if not worse in today's game. If it's a school that you have no ill will towards I say don't run up the score. If it were sparty or ohio I'd say go for triple digits!

Everyone remembers or knows the story of Woody Hayes going for two despite their 36 point lead in the 1968 match up with the buckeyes. I tend to agree with what 2nd just said, if it's a school that you have no ill will towards then lay up, if it's ND, Sparty or OSU I say stick it to them.

I tend to agree with bluenote above.

Those 2nd and 3rd stringers bust their TAILS all season long for the betterment of THE TEAM, never really expecting to get significant/meaningful time (that's more for the 3rd stringers).

When those kids finally get a chance to get on the field, I say play as hard as you possibly can.

Now, as a coaching staff, you can be mindful of not running up the score based on the plays you call.

But in terms of telling your 2nd and 3rd string to ease up a bit, no way. Go play hard and knock someone on their ass, young man.


Go Blue!!!

2ndComingOfBo wrote:

Did we run up the score in the epic 119-0 game against sparty? I know some of you may claim that was 100 years ago but what about the 2002 game against sparty? 49-3 seems just as bad, if not worse in today's game. If it's a school that you have no ill will towards I say don't run up the score. If it were sparty or ohio I'd say go for triple digits!

Lloyd never ran up the score on opponents. He was satisfied calling off the dogs once we had scored around 35 points. That 2002 game against Sparty had an extra factor because the previous year was the "Spartan savings time game," with the convenient stoppage of clock and the blatant holding call on the game winning throw that was never called. Lloyd was blasted by Spartan fan nation when he later told the media that his players deserved better than what they got at the end of that game. I think even he wanted to stick it to them in 2002. It was a rare thing.

2006 was an example of where we could have scored 50 on Sparty but Lloyd put the breaks on once we were up 24-0 in the third quarter.

Running up the score on a rival sounds good in theory but you have to play this team every year and I don't think you want to give them any more motivation than what they already have. Woody Hayes ala 1968 isn't a great example because, well, he was Woody Hayes. He not only lost without class, he won without it too. Pretty much everything you would expect in a buckeye.

If your team is up 30-40 in the second half and your opponent does not seem like any real threat, I say put your 2nd and 3rd stringers in there and tell them to play their best. There's no shame in that.

Just because a team wins by a huge margin, you can't assume "running up the score." I was at many Michigan blow-outs in the Bo years, and he certainly didn't tun up the score. You can't stop the players from playing. You can't make the opposition stop playing bad, missing blocks, dropping the football. The guys in the game are going to play like they are coached, hopefully, and sometimes they just score a lot (at least at the games I recall).

dwoody wrote:

Just because a team wins by a huge margin, you can't assume "running up the score." I was at many Michigan blow-outs in the Bo years, and he certainly didn't tun up the score. You can't stop the players from playing. You can't make the opposition stop playing bad, missing blocks, dropping the football. The guys in the game are going to play like they are coached, hopefully, and sometimes they just score a lot (at least at the games I recall).

Indeed. There were 2 games from the Schembechler years that stand out the most when I think about this and they were the 1981 and 1986 games against Illinois. We won those games 70-21 and 69-13 and Bo hated Illinois' head coach Mike White. But he did send the second and third stringers in there. And they continued to score and score and score.

I don't believe those were because he hated Mike White.

Illinois had Hired Moeller (I think) as head coach and given him a 5 year contract. They fired him after 3 and Bo was pissed.

I'm pretty certain those were the circumstances.

THEstjoemfan wrote:

I don't believe those were because he hated Mike White.

Illinois had Hired Moeller (I think) as head coach and given him a 5 year contract. They fired him after 3 and Bo was pissed.

I'm pretty certain those were the circumstances.

It was a combination of reasons. Partly because of Illinois firing Moeller after the '79 season (Bo was livid about that) and partly because Bo knew White was a dirty coach with questionable recruiting tactics. And he had no problem making his opinion public. He was right. White had cheated at Cal and when he cheated at Illinois, he got the program on probation.

Even so, the backups did come into both of those games and kept scoring and scoring. So technically, I don't think it was running up the score. But I'm sure Bo was beaming inside.

I remember my brother, who graduated from UofM in 1978, told me even before that Illinois game that We would run it up.

Man, thoses were the days. 63 agains one team, 70 against another, 52 on a 3rd.

I miss that! lol