Dear Football God,

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Michigan
1

<p>I never really prayed to you. For that, I apologize.</p>

<p>But here I am, about to go to my last game as a student, I desperately need your help.
My time as a football fan/student has always been a huge disappointment.</p>

<p>My first ever Michigan football game was No.5 Michigan vs Appalachian State. My second ever Michigan football game was the 38-7 (i think) thumping by the ducks. To end that year with an insult, I witnessed a football game vs Ohio State where we had less than 97 yards of total offense.</p>

<p>Then just when you think everything is going to get better, I saw 3-9 (holy toledo, hook and laderal hahaha), 5-7 (with a 7 game losing streak unless you believe that delaware state is actually a football program)....</p>

<p>Please do something today. Please make it a special day. This senior class will appreciate it. </p>

<p>Best,
bearcats</p>

2

<p>Dear bearcats,</p>

<p>**** off</p>

3

<p>Dear bearcats,</p>

<p>**** off</p>

<p>Love,
Football God</p>

4

<p>“Best,
bearcats”</p>

<p>I think it would be better if your closing was “Amen”…</p>

5

<p>Boston Red Sox - curse of the Bambino</p>

<p>Chicago Cubs - curse of the billy goat</p>

<p>Michigan football - curse of bearcats</p>

6

<p>How much did you pay for your Wisconsin tickets?</p>

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<p>“Michigan football - curse of bearcats”</p>

<p>LOL</p>

8

<p>MLDWoody, right back at you. :D</p>

<p>"Michigan football - curse of bearcats "</p>

<p>I will pretend that it’s just a typo… sure you meant Curse of Rich Rodriguez</p>

9

<p>^^^^Well, that App. State loss was under Lloyd…;-)</p>

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<p>There was no reason to believe there would be improvement over a 9-4 season (w/ a bowl victory against Florida) after losing Henne, Manningham, Hart, Long, Arrington, Mallet, etc.</p>

<p>Let’s pray for the miracle of all miracles against Ohio State.</p>

11

<p>RR lost Mallett by refusing to cater his offense to him, which in turn lost Arrington and Super Mario (both had eligibility left) because they knew Mallet was gone. Then he lost Boren and Alex Mitchell who started for the 2007 OL and would made a huge impact over the atrocious OL we saw in 2008. The same idiot that decided to start Sam Mcguffie over Minor (our best back for far for the first 6 games of the year) and Carlos Brown</p>

<p>2008 was an offensive ****fest, even though they was no reason it should have been as bad as it was.</p>

<p>If RR were less stubborn and didnt run anyone worth a dime out of time with the my way or high way attitude, he would have the following offense
QB - Ryan Mallett with some experience under his belt, which would be a slight drop off if any from Henne judging from how Mallett performed his first year at Arkansas (his second year playing)</p>

<p>HB - Brandon Minor/Carlos Brown - slight drop off from Mike Hart, both were pretty decent when they played…but hey…RR loved Mcguffie because he can hurdle people</p>

<p>WR - No drop off with MM, Arrington and Greg Mathews (probably even better since everyone gained another year of experience)</p>

<p>OL - Boren, Alex Mitchell, Schilling, Molk, Mooseman, considerable drop off but not as bad as it was.</p>

<p>With the aforementioned, we would not have led the nation in 3 and outs.</p>

<p>But hey, RR apologists would be first to tell you that that’s all Carr’s fault</p>

12

<p>Q.E.D. Curse of bearcats = Michigan football has struggled as long as bearcats has been a student at U-M.</p>

13

<p>bearcats, I’m not sure how much of that is even true.</p>

<p>Mallet knew RRod was bringing in a spread system. I don’t believe RRod would have said “if you aren’t a running QB I don’t want you.” That’s stupid, he played that year with Threet and Sheridan, I’m sure he would have played with Mallet. Doesn’t it make more sense that Mallet just didn’t want to play in the system. RRod shouldn’t have to change the whole system around, but I am sure he would have switched it around to accomodate the #2 QB recruit in the nation</p>

<p>Maningham and Arrington then left because of Mallet’s choice. With him not staying, why would they? After that game vs Florida both of their draft stocks were as high as they were gonna get. They would be returning to a very depeated team</p>

<p>The 2008 team lost its QB, HB, WRs, OL, get a new Coaching staff and a new scheme… why should they have been better?</p>

<p>Boren was a prick, anyone that would bad mouth his coach openly and then transfer to OSU shouldn’t be on this team.</p>

<p>Wasn’t Minor hurt a lot that year? Maybe even Brown a little bit? McGuffie also got a few concussions that year and didn’t play a lot. When he did though, out of the healthy and active HBs, he was the best. He almost single handidly beat ND for us at the end of that game.</p>

<p>And if that last shot at RRod is for saying he can’t fix the defense, well what is he supposed to do? Top CB left for the draft, next got hurt, next transfered, next was a recruit that didn’t get in because of academics. You really think he wants to be playing all the true freshman and other youth on this defense right now? His comments may not have been made perfectly and they may have been blown out of proportion by some, but he can’t teach experience. Experience comes with playing time. </p>

<p>Getting rid of RRod right now is one of the worst things we could do. We just spent 3 years working in a whole system and scheme, recruiting players that fit this style. Dumping that all right now because we haven’t had instant success would be foolish. Our offense is fine. There is still a decent amount of youth on it and it is already the most explosive in the Big Ten if not the nation. It is just inconsistent at times but again, that will come with experience. As I am sure you’ve realized our defense is the problem right now, but I’ve already addressed the issue, youth. The defense will continue to improve and once we have a solid D behind are explosive O, we’ll be right at the top of the Big Ten again. If you want to fire anyone, fire Greg Robinson. He is more in charge of the D than RRod is. But then again, Robinson has had success before and he is dealing with a depleated front.</p>

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<p>Part of being a good coach is being able to adjust your style with the players you have, and slowly integrate your own style with the recruits that you get. This is what Harbaugh will be able to bring to Michigan: work with the players he has, until he is able to get the players he wants. Michigan, at the time, definetly had to talent to at least give RRod a .500 winning percentage. Instead, RRod’s stubborn POS came in with what bearcats said, “my way or the high way” attitude that lost him all of his players and won him one of the worst records in Michigan history.</p>

<p>Mallet didn’t leave just because RRod was bringing in a spread offense; he left because RRod was calling Pryor down in Ohio State to try to get him to transfer. Why would a QB want to stay if the incoming coach was already recruiting for a new QB before he even go there? That, with the fact that RRod was bringing the spread offense was enough for Mallet to want to ■■■■… not to mention go to Arkansas to be a Heisman candidate. </p>

<p>How the offense performed this season is nothing to be wowed about. Yeah, Denard was an offensive player of the year, but part of what the spread offense needs is a QB like Denard. Without him, this offense is nothing, not to mention having “quick” yet tiny linemen isn’t going to do you any good in the Big 10, as evident in the Wisconsin game. If obtaining a 7-5 record comes from beating cupcake teams (like Bowling Green) and barely beating some of the worst teams in the Big 10, then we are far from what we used to be and what Michigan Football is all about. If we can’t compete against the top teams in the Big 10, then we need a change. I’d understand if Michigan was able to score 30+ points against teams like OSU, but that wasn’t the case; it isn’t just the defense that needs change, it’s the entire system. The answer is Harbaugh… what he did with Stanford is all the proof we should all need in order to bring him back. There is no doubt in my mind that he can restore Michigan’s status as one of the best football teams in the country. Besides, I don’t want a coach that sings “You Raise Me Up” at a banquent like some desperate hick from the south. What a loser…</p>

15

<p>I don’t mean to be offensive, but I hear these views a lot, and I don’t agree.</p>

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<p>This doesn’t assure us of success though. The years we’ve invested into the scheme are a sunk cost. We should make the best decision for the long term - and I don’t believe that continuing with Rich Rod as coach is that decision.</p>

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<p>This is a huge, huge stretch. The offense is OK - awesome at putting up lots of yards against bad defenses. It’s also pretty damn terrible when it comes to converting those yards to actual points. It’s awful in the red zone, and against teams that play reasonably good defense, we’re also terrible. The offense would be more aptly described by turnover-prone than by explosive.</p>

<p>We scored a total of 24 points versus MSU and OSU. And in terms of “national” competition, Wisconsin averaged over 43 points per game this year with their more “conservative” offense. We were somewhere around 34. In other words, we’re not even the best offense in the B10, never mind the nation.</p>

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<p>Problem is, how much is it going to improve? Defenses aren’t just about youth, they’re also about talent and coaching, and those things don’t automatically improve with age. Right now we’re around last in the nation in defense. If we become the 80th ranked defense next year, that’s significant improvement, but it won’t be nearly enough for us to be competitive against good teams. </p>

<p>For us to truly be good, the defensive improvement has to be astronomical. Nothing so far in RR’s tenure indicates that he’s capable of such improvement on this end.</p>

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<p>Robinson’s also had some colossal failures in his coaching career. That said, it’s not GRob who picked our defensive system - it’s RR who insists on it. And the defensive coaches are RR’s guys, not Robinson’s. Ultimately though, the head coach is responsile for the entire team’s performance.</p>

<p>Just out of curiosity, what do you expect our record to be next year? And what would you consider an acceptable record?</p>

<p>I’ll throw out my guesses - we’ll go 7-5 again in the regular season, including losses against OSU, MSU, and Nebraska (and 2 more - I won’t speculate which, since we’re inconsistent enough to lose against just about anybody.)</p>