Updated 1:09 a.m.: Turnovers cost Michigan as No. 12 Iowa hangs on for 30-28 victory

I'm still confused about denard being in there... i'm pretty sure tate had gotten the job done for the last three weeks in a row.. and why not go for two last week.. i'm no coach but i can't help but wonder..

East Lansing is "All In" for Coach Rodriguez (as I'm sure the rest of the Big 10 is).
We just dont want him to yell at us.

maybe "tate" needed a rest. Needed to chill, bring Denard in early, then let Tate do his stuff.

Rodriguez looks really professional screaming at the players for making mistakes and smacking them in the helmet.. i'm ready for carr back...

It is obvious that Denard should be the starting QB, Tate is just to full of himself, his ego is larger than his ability. Hopefully we are now entering the Denard era

redceder1
funny, but where will you be at the end of the season. Michigan will play in a better bowl game than MSU. And next year, we'll be better. We won't go backwards.

I have been trying to be a RR supporter, but tonight I am struggling. Tate had a frustrating game and Rich was on his case throughout the game. I agree with Denard having a shot and I was pleased, but surprised that he engineered a touchdown. Now with less than two minutes left, and a passing game the obvious strategy, I expected the passing QB Tate to be the man. But, not the case. That last pass was terrible and yet, Denard received a hug from coach RR. Tell me everybody, what is going on and how can I get back to wanting our coach to bring Mich. football back to the level we all want it to be.

The last series that Tate managed, no doubt that he looked like he did not have control of his game. If Coach Rod felt like he had to sit him for the next series to settle him down, so be it. And Denard certainly was able to alter the tempo and momentum of the game. But on that last series, Tate needed to be in there. He has managed the offense well all year, particularly in clutch situations, with few exceptions. And whatever his failings may have been this evening, there was plenty of blame to be spread around. Greg Matthews fumble of the punt in the second half was devastating, as was the Brandon Minor fumble at the end of the first half, when Michigan likely would have added a touchdown and instead came up empty. Ultimately, Denard's interception was the same mistake any QB would have made with so little throwing experience at the collegiate level, particularly so little experience when it's crunch time.
I hope that Rich Rod focuses on two things this week:
1) stopping the turnovers that are killing us, and
2) Repairing any damage he may have done this evening to Tate's confidence or, perhaps more importantly, their relationship.
GO BLUE!

I'm supremely disappointed that Forcier wasn't in there. Robinson proved he can run the ball, but he has yet to show he is a quarterback. He is a running thrower, whose only real QB throw was the catch by Odoms. He looked heartbroken at his INT, but he should be, and so should the coach. In the two-minute offense Forcier knows what he is doing. Odoms was there, and it sucks because DR is making the mistakes like Odoms did last year. I guess the only positive thing about DRs propensity to give the ball away is that Odoms has been extremely consistent this year -- even the reason we won some games this year. Iowa isn't that good -- solid fundamentals and a great coach, but we have double the talent-level. What a shame.

Hey Boo. They would have lost if they went for 2 last week and you'd be saying "why didn't they kick the extra point and force OT?". Really, maybe your team is just mediocre. Don't excuse it as youth b/c what B10 team isn't young? Look around. All the teams in the league have youth at key positions. Take a reality break.

Tate will be fine...he is a freshman...The people that hyped him for heisman should be ashamed, but this kid produced better than most would have thought. U should be proud to have him representing your university. I may be a buckeye, but I am becoming a tate fan....

Look at it this way. Michigan lost the games at MSUcks and Iowa. Neither one of those teams won. Michigan shot itself in the foot with freshmen and a bad defense. Wait till next year and the years after. Michigan will dominate the Big Ten and return it to its glory days. Tate should have been in there because he has instincts that D-Rob doesn't. That pick should not have been thrown. Odoms was wide fricking open and "laces" throws the ball right to Iowa. Rich Rod should be criticized for his decision but not hung.

Spartina and Hawkeye - Go ahead and make those t-shirts and post those billboards celebrating your two wins in 8 and 9 years. That's all you have to celebrate. That's all you'll ever have. We are building for a national championship or two. Two plays and we are 6-0. We are not because we lost those two games on our own with turnovers. You did nothing to win them. GO BLUE!

Their relationship? He's the coach and prince Tate is the player. SImple. Tate's ego got him benched. There will more to come out on this. RR did the right thing. Even in with loss. Tate will learn that he is not bigger than the team. People need to get off RR's back. He will have us playing championship football next year. This year is about getting to a bowl game. People got all worked up when we started 4-0. But realistically, we are right where we should be 4-2 with winnable games against Deleware ST. Purdue and Illinois. At 7-5 we make a bowl. How many of you really thought we would be better than 7-5 before the season started.

I highly doubt U of M will be playing in a better bowl than MSU. They're improving every week. Michigan is showing more flaws and disorganization as the schedule gets tougher. MSU looked like a better team than Iowa. MSU very well could be competing for a league championship. U of M will be lucky to win 3 more games this year. I think 6-6 looks like their fate.

A better bowl? I didn't realize the Little Cesars Bowl was that big? You might want to book a hotel now in Detroit now Fighting Rich Rod's, I hear they fill up fast.

Big Ten Records:

Spartans: 2-1
Walvarines: 1-2

Enough said. . .

hey Freefallin. so to you going for two and the win a whole 2 yards is not a good idea. Instead have your team go 25 yards then bring out your amazing defense and count on them for a stop?! that seems like a great idea.. and i'm glad you know that they wouldn't have gotten it.

Relax all. This year is truly a rebuilding year. Mich is going to win the big 10 next year and a national championship the following. I'll tell you one more thing....Mich will beat OSU this year. Forget about the record this year....Mich is on their way to redemption. It's all good ya'll.

Victors Valiant----how can you realistically say U of M lost the game against MSU didn't win it? MSU is looking like a better team than U of M period point blank. They're playing like the team that was supposed to compete for the B10 championship right now. You're only setting yourself up for some major heartbreak if you can't accept the fact MSU is better than UM this year and by all indications on paper should be better next year.

dzuck....we did nothing to win the MSU game?

Ok,
Total Yards: 417-271 State
Rush Yards: 197-28 State
TOP: 39:46-20:14 State

You're right though, State didn't deserve to win that game. Another brilliant comment by a scUM fan who didn't even attend college like 90% of the fan base (or went to Eastern). I don't know why I really care, I never post this stuff, but I happen to find the rage of the maize hilarious. I love it.

Well BlueAlum,this IS NOT Michigan football!!This is the new SPREAD football that they are trying and HOPING True-Blue Wolverines will except!!Time will tell whether this "SPREAD" type of offense will work in cold weather Big-Ten football.The spread is beautiful when it works(usually in warm weather.When everything is nice and pretty and the ball is not slick.The field is nice and dry)But this Big Ten football here and it gets UGLY!!Weather turns COLD and field gets muddy/slick!!!That's why we run the ball soooo much in this conference!!!It will get tough to play in those conditions sometimes but you line up and fight with everything you got!Line up,we're running,try and stop us!!!You need HEART!!Hopefully we'll get there.Not sold on the play calling early in the gm.The Power-I formation seemed to work well.We have work to do.GO BLUE!!!

What really makes me mad is y u would put in Denard when he has thrown 3 picks and no tds. Or u could go with tate who has had 4 late drives to win or tie the game. That is when tate is in the best of his game and u dont even give him the opportunity and there was no time for denard just to run around like usual

why are all the msu fans reading the Michigan blogs?? still living in last week? live this year up.......

What's wrong Boo you guys can dish it out but you can't take it? Don't say we didn't warn you about your fraudulent 4-0 record. We did. Your team is proving it's fraudulent with every loss , talk about getting too cocky and Karma. Next year when you get a shot at us remember,it's not 1997, keep your mouths shut. Peace out.

Yes, no doubt that Michigan is much improved from 2008. We have certainly been in every game. Also I think that Iowa and PSU are not as good as they were last year. Still 5 Big Ten games left.

I think that UM better stop playing road games. Let's be like ND and weaken the schedule every year.

CMU has a better winning percentage against MSU than MSU has against UM. I would be real careful about the comments you start spewing sparty. 67-30-5. Rod will get the job done with 86 fresh and soph on the team I think Michigan is doing pretty well this year.

GWin,Denard was in b/c Tate was having a BAD night!PERIOD!!He was off tonight.Denard came in provided a spark on the drive before the pick!!RR gambled that he could continue,maybe break a long run for TD or possible dink his way down for a field goal but,Denard is still not ready to pass the ball like that yet!!He'll get there.Just not tonight!!We(the fans)WILL learn that experience(REAL GAME EXPERIENCE)is soo valuable!!It precious.And our team is getting it everytime they play gms.like this!!!We will be better......just need PATIENCE!!!GO BLUE!!!

Dzuck, I agree with your 7-5 prediction. You should beat Purdue and Illinois. That puts you at 3-5 in the conference. Good enough to play CMU in the Pizza Bowl. State should also be 7-5 a down year yes, but 5-3 in conference so State will be at a much better bowl, probably New year's Day again. You will lose your two best defensive players, three o-line starters (I thought you had a young o-line) both running backs and a receiver or two. Tate will pull a Mallet/Threet and transfer to a West Coast School and you will have a new Freshman QB for the 4th year in a row.

wow redceder1 you really follow MICHIGAN pretty closely. None of us know MSU or care to know MSU that well. And RJ225, is the RJ for Really Jealous. The two of you spending that much time on a MICHIGAN Blog, we're still in your heads even after you beat us.
I make no excuses. We were beaten by MSU and Iowa. I'm just reminding MIchigan fans to chill out. We will go 7-5 this year as most of us reasonable fans predicted in the beginning. I still think we will end up better than MSU. You'll be lucky to go 3-3 in your final 6 games. Say hello to the Motor City Bowl where you will be embarrassed again by CMU. We'll be in the Insight or Outback if we sneak another upset.

As a msu fan,I am not here to gloat-just to set the facts straight.first to all you"true" blue fans ,you need to do one thing -when it comes to rodriguez and tate.relax!all of you thinking it is wrong for a coach to yell at his star player when he's wrong-chill out! it happens to tom brady too!I for one LOVE to see a coach discipline his players,to me it shows he cares about winning,and not just excepting defeat.I would love to see dantonio take this approach sometimes its refreshing..As for tate,I must say -I HATE michigan,but this kid and has something special about him(some kind of voo-doo moxy)he will be a great player and true leader of this program.He just wants to win ,and you know what-I wish some of msu's quarterbacks would take this approach.And last:to all you denard robinson lovers,the kid is talented yes indeed.But let me say this-he will never, I repeat he will never lead this team as a starting quarterback to where forcier is leading this program as a starter.So in one word relax...winning takes time,and I cant wait for the future msu and michigan games.GO GREEN!

come on mu fans be proud they stay in the game after 5 turnover tate is a good qb but he needs to look at hes 2nd and 3rd wr the ofline gave him time that was a good benching

I have My Motor City Bowl Tickets ready......

This was not the poorest job of coaching by Rich since he has been here, last week still comes to mind... BUT, STILL a horrible job in coaching in general. The defense needs to be commended for their performance, and Rich needs to go back to school. He makes some of the poorest decisions I have ever seen a college coach make. He makes bad calls for sure, but I am AMAZED at his personnel decisions. He seems to blow up at the defenses inability to stop a team on 3rd downs (though they are getting FAR better in that area) but will not admit to his own poor coaching. Benching Tate for Denard on the last drive cost us the game. It was clear that we did not have the time to run the ball, and even though sending a quarterback in who is designed to run usually opens up the passing game, Denard makes the worst decision(read) you can EVER make EVERY TIME! He tries to go for the home run every time he throws it that is why he was 4 for 11 on the season with ZERO touchdowns and 2 interceptions going into the game!! I will 100% agree with anyone that he is great running, and he could be Michigan's Percy Harvin, but he CANNOT run this offense! Tate should have been in that game on the last drive if we wanted to win PERIOD! The ONLY reason that we scored on the drive before that was that he was limited to long hand offs and very short passes when throwing, and he ran most of the time. You CANNOT win a game with Denard unless he is in a different position. Wake up Rich, you are ruining our season once again. I love your offense, but I HATE your decisions running it sometimes. Move Denard to slot when Devin Gardner gets here, and then go for the two headed monster. You weren't teaching just Tate a lesson tonight, you taught me one as well... You ARE willing to lose at the expense of getting in one of your players heads, you are NOT the guy who "hates to lose". I am, and that is why I am writing this!!!

PS - Who wants to bet that Denard starts next week with a comment like "he had a really good week of practice and Tate is hurting a little bit still". I cringe up every time he sets up to throw, I always say to myself, "RUN, DON'T THROW, JUST RUN"... He is kind of like Forest Gump to me RUN DENARD RUN!!! =)

Seems like Michigan has trouble getting started in their games. They fall behind and need to play catch-up. Must be something with getting motivated or in preparation for the games...And MSU has the opposite problem. They usually jump out to a good lead and fade toward the end of games. Conditioning? Both programs need to be more consistent. The way things are going, they will probably finish with a similar record. Somewhere in the middle of the pack. A disappointment for MSU (picked to contend for the Big Ten Title this year), but an improvement for UM.

Versus MSU - a tie. Versus Iowa - 2 point loss. So the record for the Wolverines is 4 wins, 2 close losses. Considering things like 4 or 5 turnovers per game: yer lookin' at a miracle with a record that good.

I worry about just two things at this point:
Forcier looks like he's got a hand injury. Rodriguez looks like he thinks any "surprise play" will catch the opponent off guard. That was laughable - he made Iowa coaches look like mind readers. That kind of thing may work in Virgin-ya but it ain't gonna work in the Big Ten.

The hand injury could be really bad: tendonitis in the hands (I've had it and so have family members) "lasts forever" and is very painful. If it's tendonitis: Forcier's going to have to lay off throwing for a long time - at least the rest of the season.

Lets see what happens next Saturday. If any serious problems persist vs Delaware, then we'll know it's time to worry. I expect Michigan to win - I just wonder if the problems we've been seeing will persist even when going against sacrificial lambs. I do hope RR isn't still thinking his Houdini act is going to fool anyone on the rest of the Big 10 schedule. It's that kind of play calling that makes coaches like Paterno and Tressel chuckle.

RR and UM may have lost this game, but they gained a viable option at QB in DR. As for "bristling," I am glad that RR is PO'd. RR is showing the fire that has been missing at UM since Bo left. There are no "moral victories" for RR, at least not in the 24 hours following the game.
Based on their performance tonight, this team could run the table this year. They need to tighten up the turnovers, but that is an ongoing process, and part of a young team growing up. We are all complaining because UM had a chance to win it in the last minute and didn't. It really shouldn't have come down to that; the fact that it did is a credit to UM and RR, not a detriment.

Dennard Robinson's turnover performance has be an unqualified disaster all year long, so why Rodriguez put him in for the last set of downs tells us something about Rodriguez. In spite of Forcier's uncanny performances in late game situations, Rod sends in Dennard, and, imagine, he throws the ball to Iowa. Where's Rod's head? He takes out his frustration with the game and a couple of mediocre team downs on Forcier, and spoils the entire Wolverine effort. Not only did Rodriguez lose this game, he lost me too.

Denard Robinson's turnover performance has be an unqualified disaster all year long, so why Rodriguez put him in for the last set of downs tells us something about Rodriguez. In spite of Forcier's uncanny performances in late game situations, Rod sends in Dennard, and, imagine, he throws the ball to Iowa. Where's Rod's head? He takes out his frustration with the game and a couple of mediocre team downs on Forcier, and spoils the entire Wolverine effort. Not only did Rodriguez lose this game, he lost me too.

Hope you all don't mind a hawkeye fan eavesdropping. From the perspective of a Hawk fan, we are very lucky to have won - and we did win bye the way.(VictorsValient). I agree that it may be a while before it happens again. Michigan has a great team and a bright future. My question is with Michigan needing two scores to win late in the fourth quarter, they put Robinson in and drive the ball with all but one running plays. If they conserved the clock by passing they may have had enough time to do better than desperation passes. As a hawkfan, I was somewhat relieved that Tate was out.

If I'm thinking about going to U of M to pay football seeing coach RR screaming and hitting his players helmets is a real turn off! I'm not sure if it's a lack of class or not but Bobby Knight retired didn't he?

Can't anyone else see it? Finally, after a full season of frustration, Michigan fans have a team that has improved to the point that we have expectations. We fully expect our team to be even more than competitive - we expect our team to win.
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Pretty nice to be back to this kind of position. Soon - real soon- we'll be back to the position of not sneaking up on anybody...........
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Thanks RR - you've taken us a long way. With regards to RR's temper with the players, I have two observations: First, he usually ends the discipline with a positive - a tap on the helmet, etc..... Second, please correct me if I'm wrong but didn't Bo have just a tiny bit of a temper? So please, when you ask for Lloyd Carr back, remember that the outcry during the hiring process was to bring in someone with Bo's passion. Can you imagine what Bo would've said to Matthews after the muffed punt?
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Finally, the sideline reporter last night said something that made sense (surprisingly?). She reported that when Tate came off the field for the last time in the 4th quarter that he told RR, "I don't know what you want me to do". If Tate as a fresham is that confused, time to go to Denard.

Shaw and Minor turned the ball over. They're not freshmen, they're Seniors. This turnover trend is KILLING us. We continue to give up big plays on defense and hand the ball over to the other team (two years worth is a trend, imo). I'm glad they were still in it, but Michigan football is not about moral victories, it's about victories. 7 in a year and a half is insufficient. Championship teams win the turnover battle and play stifling defense, just ask Pete Carrol, Urban Meyer, Jim Tressel, and Les Miles. I don't care what scheme we run on O, if we can't hold onto the ball and play outstanding defense, we won't win championships. Period. We will score a lot of points and be fun to watch...like Texas Tech. I don't think Michigan fans dream of being like Texas Tech. Our goals are more in the realm of USC, Florida, OSU, Oklahoma, and...the Michigan of recent past.
I'm in, and I want RR to prove he's in and is capable of building a champion. I haven't seen proof yet.

Most everybody isn't recognizing that the five turnovers cost UofM the victory last night. Iowa didn't stop UofM, we stopped ourselves. Football is a game of execution and not making mistakes. Realistically, UofM was only a mistake away from beating State last week too, although State played better against UofM than Iowa did. Heck, State should've won 50-0, but State is a team that isn't capable of beating teams they play by that much. Some people are such hypocrits too because we are right on schedule to make a bowl game this year, but people are complaining because we are not perfect right now. And Coach Rod is the man in charge, he has every right to get on his players. This isn't a country club where players are coddled and fed twinkies and ho-hos. UofM is doing fine.

Focier has got a big heart and a ton of talent, but hes got tiny little baby hands.
He looks like that guy in the BK commercials who doesnt want to eat a Whopper because his hands are so small.
Ill bet he wears a size small ladies isotoner gloves.
hes going to have trouble holding onto the ball every time the weathers not dry and warm.

Did anybody catch the Arkansas game?
They have a big Manly Man QB.

All of you over zealous maize and blue fans. Tater was hurt plain and simple and to have him in that last series may have cost the U more in the long run. Shoelace need to be given more playing time and you will see that he is more than a running QB. Shoelace can pass.

The story of the game was not the Michigan QB's. Obviously the turnovers were critical.

But the real story of the game was Michigan's defense not even trying to gard Tony Moeaki.