illiniblue

Mon, Oct 18, 2010 : 3:43 p.m.

First time commenter. Everyone needs to relax. Michigan lost to 2 very good teams, and we didn't help our cause with all of the mistakes (I know, and if I had wings, I could fly). Everyone needs to put the "we're Michigan, we win championships" on hold. We're not there yet, but we will be. We get 2 or 3 (at least) more victories this year, go to a decent bowl game (outcome irrelevant)and then next year the team comes back with a dynamite offense and a much improved defense (recruiting, maturing, coaching) and is a legit contender for the Big Ten title. Or we can bring in a new coach, change schemes, lose more games and be 2nd version of Notre Dame.

Sean T.

Mon, Oct 18, 2010 : 1:40 p.m.

Coldtoes, Iowa didn't play a prevent defense the whole game. (Because they have a real coach) Tate did what he did last year before he got beat up....Play well! How could he be called the second coming, when he was already our leader with Heisman hopes? An inept coach placed him on the bench because he thought he had another Pat White on his hands that's why? While spinning the media to believe that Tate was arrogant and not in shape. But RR's teams have always faded in the 4th quarter so I guess none of them are in good shape. And maybe Tate did think he should be the starter off the bat because He and Denard don't even compare in the passing department. Don't you think the offense can be effective with a QB that runs a 4.71 in the forty. Tate scored on Iowa with his feet didn't he and he did last year too. Everyone's so caught up in the "speed" of this offense but it sure doesn't show it in the game huh? I'm not sure how well Tate would do from here out but I think he deserves a chance to show what he can do because I think the Denard for president stuff did well as Ross Perot!

coldtoes

Mon, Oct 18, 2010 : 11:20 a.m.

Tate threw two interceptions and racked up yards against a prevent defense. He did not look like the second coming......people love the backup........ STANTON looked awesome! (except int/fumble). Keep your focus on the real issues........defense,tackling,penalties,special teams,COACHING (LACK THEREOF), never mind, Tate just needed more time and then we would have won! (sarcasm)

chiro19

Mon, Oct 18, 2010 : 11:15 a.m.

Its not about predicting whether they would be 5-2 so far. The issues that most people are bringing are the same from day one of RR being at michigan. That is a lack of understanding how to play good football with good fundamentals! What was the first thing that was a problem (fumbles) what is it now (tackling and penalties) what else is an issue (kick returns and field goals) what else is an issue (throwing very bad interceptions). If we where losing games that where close and respectable defensively then I think people would be talking about different things! The fact of the matter is we are seeing very few adjustments through the year on defense or even in games. We will see what things have changed through the by week. I dont think anything of significance will. I think RR has some serious personality issues and it is really hurting this team! A better question is: Does the defense have a gameplan? Do they have goals in games? I see michigan on a razors edge here. If they lose to penn state they wont win another game. If they get some continuity on defense and start getting good gameplans and win at penn state then look for them to win a couple more games.

ohnou812

Mon, Oct 18, 2010 : 11:10 a.m.

I agree with lugemachine use that two headed monster of both Tate and Denard. Mix it up what do you have to lose. Denard = Percy Harvin type guy and I think that would give DC's a nightmare...Denard can still take snaps in the game too. Lose the 3 man front BS and run a 4 man front with blitz packages and press receivers every now and then...not rocket science. They got two weeks I hope RR comes to his senses and utilizes Tate and Denard together!!!!!!

truebluefan

Mon, Oct 18, 2010 : 10:44 a.m.

Honest question: how many predicted Michigan would be better than 5-2 at this point? If you raised your hand, I'm sorry you're disappointed but next time you may need a little more insight on preseason stuff. If you didn't predict better than 5-2, please stop complaining.

lugemachine

Mon, Oct 18, 2010 : 8:53 a.m.

Tate is simply the better QB. He knows the position better. He throws with greater accuracy and, though he's not Denard fast, he is still speedy. Denard knows the entire offense, so convert him already! It's becoming very clear that he's a great running back who can throw the ball pretty well. He's not a Big Ten caliber thrower. Use the bye week to acclimate Tate and Denard to being in the same backfield. C'mon, Rich.. Give us the two-headed monster and see if Penn State can stop it. I'm betting it would shred their D. Any port in a storm.. and buddy, you're in need of a port.

CamaroDan

Mon, Oct 18, 2010 : 8:31 a.m.

P U MSU I could not agree with you more. I admit I hated losing to State. Going in Iowa was a much better team. We got the L, but made it close and moved the ball on their SENIOR led D. On certain plays we had EIGHT freshmen on D on the field at once. Give them a break. RR needs atleast one more year. If Wolfolk and DW were on the corners, would our D coaches be better coaches because the D was doing better? GO BLUE!

81wolverine

Mon, Oct 18, 2010 : 8:31 a.m.

I'm much less optmistic about the rest of the season than I was a week ago. Although Michigan did some things better, they still looked poorly coached compared to Iowa. Continuing turnovers, bad penalties, specials teams players who don't know what to do, and the same defensive mistakes being commited over and over don't give you the impression of good coaching. In reality, our 1st 3 Big Ten games are eerily a mirror of last year's start. We'll need to engineer a big turn-around in the last 5 games to end up with (hopefully) 8 wins. 7 wins would be a disappointment given the way things started. For us to win games the rest of the way, we MUST virtually eliminate the turnovers. Our defense isn't good enough to overcome a short field.

Sean T.

Mon, Oct 18, 2010 : 8:21 a.m.

The "we're young" excuse is ridiculous and it is so redundant. We are not the only team that is young and in our September schedule no one even mentioned how young we are. The early schedule fooled the RR faithful and many of them are hanging on to excuses to avoid looking at the truth. How "Heisman-like" is our starting QB now? Why does our offense look more balanced with the backup in? If Tate's play against Iowa isn't a mirage from not preparing for him, why would RR have him sitting on the bench at third-string? Not only that, but why burn the red-shirt of a Freshman who hasn't touched the field since our non-conference schedule? Could it be that he isn't that good of a coach? All of our issues are coaching issues and that comes down to the head coach, no matter how you cut it. Trying to see the silver-lining in our early schedule as progress is complete denial. Everyone is blaming Greg Robinson for our poor defensive performance but fails to acknowledge that he is forced to play a crap defense by the guy who hired him...RR! Every-time we go to a 4-3 we get pressure but we keep reverting back to a 3-3-5 and we get burned. Our head Coach is a failure because he can't adjust his game-plan. MSU set the tone for what we're going to see all year and he couldn't realize that Iowa would just replicate the same game-plan? Anyone still want to argue that running Denard so much, won't get him hurt? What about that statement that Pocket QB's get hurt more because they stand still. How many Pro-style starters are still playing this year without leaving the game? (Big Ten) All of them!!!!!

P U MSU

Mon, Oct 18, 2010 : 7:49 a.m.

State and Iowa will finish #1 and #2 in the conference and you people are running around like the sky is falling. What reasonable person didn't peg this game as a lose at the beginning of the year? I refused to sit here and blame the coach for 4 turnovers. These kids need to take some of the blame. The offense put up 522 yards of offense. On the statistically best defense in the country. Most of those players on offense are sophmores. My God people wake up. Nearly the whole team returns next years. The defense has to get better. (Can't get any worse. Will have more experiance.)RR has only has two recruting classes. No coach in the country can show what they can do with two recruiting classes. Remember that RR didnt just "takeover" the Michigan team that was already here. He completely changed it. This required a total overhaul in personel. Give a year or two more. If results do not come then I will support a change. Patience. Patience Patience.

Sean T.

Mon, Oct 18, 2010 : 7:41 a.m.

There's not one for sure win on our schedule. Purdue is tied for 1st in the Big Ten and are playing pretty well. Illinois is tough and their defense is great against the run. Penn State is a little weak because they aren't talented at the WR spot plus they have a true freshman QB but their defense is still tough, so they pose a challenge. Then that leaves the OSU & Wisky games and we can pretty much guess how we'll do against them. Denard and Tate will probably both have to play to get any balance.

BlueMom

Mon, Oct 18, 2010 : 7:36 a.m.

Is the team showing improvement? No! Last year we took MSU to OT in East Lansing and we played Iowa closer in Iowa City. This year, both teams rolled over us. The difference in Saturday's game was Tate Forcier stepping in. Coach needs to coach BOTH of his QB's and use them BOTH in the game. While he is at it, he should be coaching the defense, special teams, kickers...

chiro19

Mon, Oct 18, 2010 : 7:30 a.m.

The lack of understanding on the D side of the ball is amazing! Who is teaching these guys to tackle at the shoulder lever? Thats how you end up with 5 facemask penalties in the last 2 games and thats how running backs break big plays. Why is this simple fundamental not being tought to good athletes? Put your inside shoulder just above there knees and wrap the runner up! PLAY PRESS COVERAGE!!! continue to bench Ezah and keep Demmons on the field. I think this team may have just imploded after robinson got benched but we will see. There are some really good nfl coaches out there that I think would make sense like Brian Billick. Michigan needs to take a look at Minnesota and fire Robinson! If michigan continues to play the way they are right now I dont expect to be seeing michigan in a bowl game. They wont beat pstate, wisc, osu. They are going to get beat pretty badly buy ill. again and purdue throws so I doubt michigan will stop them defensively. But hopefully I am wrong and these guys show they are men and not boys and start playing better! On a good note the Oline played great and good job by tate coming in and being prepared and focused!

coldtoes

Mon, Oct 18, 2010 : 7:29 a.m.

Keep drinking the kool aide. What do you think the players are gonna say? Eventually when they are top heavy with upperclassman then maybe they will beat the mid tier teams. Pretty encouraging! Yeah if your Indiana/Minnesota /Purdue / northwestern.........

lawrencelaundry

Mon, Oct 18, 2010 : 12:03 a.m.

Bluebeback well said. Let's see what the next 5 games bring. You never know, but it looks scary.

heartbreakM

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 10:33 p.m.

Mr. Bigelow: the reason that you are seeing Denard repeat the story from Tate from last year is that the offense puts the QB consistently in harm's way (or better yet, linebacker's way) and they absorb hit after hit after hit. After a few hundred of them, the body begins to break down (not to mention concussions, etc). And MSU and Iowa will hit harder and with more force than Bowling Green and Umass. Pat White seemed to undergo the same thing, and so will Gardner. It's just part of the offense. As far as retroscope on these two losses: It's not just the losses, but how they lost (no defense and really dysfunctional offense). Even if Iowa and MSU are 1 and 2, you just don't expect Michigan to be that far below the conference elite. Are our athletes that much worse? That's not what the recruiting experts predicted. Is our team chemistry that much worse? NOt what the press says. Is our coaching that much worse? Hmmmmmm. And let's float the name Mike Belotti out there. I have mentioned him a few times, and he's available. Proven, wants to coach, has experience with all sorts of offense, not afraid to face anybody anywhere.

Engineer

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 10:07 p.m.

These two losses are terible. How quickly you have forgotten that Michigan is and should be part of the big 2. Losing 2 at home in a row by double digits is NOT ACCEPTABLE PERIOD. Losing to part of the little 8 just not good. RR does not get it this is Michigan. The winningest program ever!

riverraisin

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 9:23 p.m.

I have confidence that Dave Brandon will do what's right for Michigan football. I believe he is being patient and keeping his mouth shut about what he really plans on doing. Bill Martin was foolish and let leak that he was persuing Les Miles as LSU was preparing to play for the national championship. Does anyone really think he would have shown interest in the UofM job with so much on the line? When the time comes, Dave will get his ducks in a row and act. Brandon is no fool..he's a Michigan man. He will do what's right for the university. We just need to keep letting him know how we feel.

lawrencelaundry

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 9:22 p.m.

Bluebeback well said. Let's see what the next 5 games bring. You never know, but it looks scary.

blubeback

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 8 p.m.

Ok, first post ever, so hear me out. I wasn't a big fan of the Rich Rod hire; always thought Bill Martin's sports acumen ended with "port" and "starboard." RichRod didn't seem to be a good fit, and boy, did that turn out to be an understatement. But, as difficult as it has been to recognize at times, there has been some progress over the last three years. 3-9 first year, 5-7 second year, a reasonable shot at 7-5 this year. Will the program ever get back to where it was? I dunno. They have a top ten offense and a bottom ten defense. That shouldn't be a big surprise, since RichRod loaded up with offensive players in his first couple recruiting classes. And anybody paying attention could see that this defense was going to be historically bad, given the losses in the defensive secondary. The defense was mediocre at best in Lloyd's last season. Even a mediocre defense this year would put UM in the top 15, and maybe undefeated. So, where do we go from here? Will firing the head coach bring success faster than sticking with RichRod? New coach, new system, collateral recruiting damage? Who says Jim Harbaugh would leave the pretty cushy place he's in now? Who else would you bring in? Les Miles? Ron English? Those two don't look so hot right now. Personally, I'm willing to give RichRod another year if he can manage 7-5 this year. If they can hang onto the players they have, (which has turned into a major issue, given the attrition over the previous year. And why on earth did Justin Turner leave, anyway? Not enough playing time? Come on, he'd be playing every snap if he'd stayed. I'd really like to know the rest of that story.) and bring in a top 20 recruiting class, the defense has to be better next year, and as good as the offense has been at times this year, it could be better next year with another year's experience for Denard. They're 5-2 with two losses to top twenty teams, and a win against a ND team that will probably turn out pretty decent by years end. So, true blue fans, hold the vitriol until season's end. Another collapse, and RichRod's probably gone. I trust Dave Brandon to make the right call. 7-5 and a decent bowl (with an extra month's practice time), and I'd say they'd overachieved, considering where they were in August. GO BLUE!

mun

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 7:21 p.m.

While I'm unhappy with Rich Rod, just remember who hired him site unseen.

coldtoes

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 6:59 p.m.

I would also like to make history....... I suggest that we start a movement to impeach Bill Martin. I know he is retired but maybe if we impeached his memory, sort of like how they did the FAB FIVE it would bring some peace to my bitter soul.

Macabre Sunset

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 6:57 p.m.

This is Michigan. We don't talk about expected losses or acceptable losses. We expect to be competitive in every game. Three years into this new regime, and we can't say that any more.

coldtoes

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 6:55 p.m.

rally behind AND take our lumps with.......... sorry Im typing to fast for my angry brain.

coldtoes

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 6:51 p.m.

And besides even if we do win one or two more games, are we suppose to be jacked up for going to the POLLUN WEED EATER HOLIDAY GMAC MOTORCITY INSIGHT MUSIC CITY BOWL,,,,,,,,,NO sorry I wont. To all the fans that say this is progress are you going to be happy if we win 3 games in the big ten next year?????? What is your timeline to fix this nightmare 5 more years?????? Its over. I say we get a coach in here that we can be proud of, rally behind a take our lumps with. RR is not that man and he never will be.

coldtoes

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 6:44 p.m.

They will be lucky to win one more game. I am not a doom and gloom fan, but there are too many weak spots. Penn state at night will be rocking, extremely hard place to play. Purdue on the road (spread offense) against our defense.... a toss up at best. Illinois at home might be our best shot and it will probably be a nail biter. Wisconsin and Ohio state,,,,not a chance. I really think its time to put the cornbread down and face the facts........ we stink.

Jon Saalberg

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 6:42 p.m.

You know it's a bad weekend, football-wise, when UM doesn't win their football game - and EMU does.

azwolverine

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 6:27 p.m.

As sloppy as Michigan has been on offense, and as poor as they have been on defense, PSU, Illinois, and Purdue are not good teams (although Illinois appears to be improving with their new coordinators). Unless the bottom completely falls out, those three games are totally winnable. Now the last two...

lawrencelaundry

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 6:26 p.m.

Its hard to gauge anything right now. But rr has some decisions to make. Tate played a good passing game and we put up crap loads of yrds on a elite defense. But at the same time, how long does blue nation have to wait. Let's all wait to see what the rest of the season brings. If we happen to win 3 more games then I guess it warrants him another yr with a new Defensive coaching staff. 10 quarters without a forced turnover is another element the D coordinator can't coach. Unacceptable. RR does not help any ramming down the 3-3-5 down Gergs and shafer throat. A 4-3 would work in my opinion in this run heavy conference.

saginaw

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 6:05 p.m.

We have to believe that David Brandon has an incredible list of coaching candidates for Michigan -- this is one of the best jobs in the country. We can recruit nationally, have the very best stadium and the largest paying fan base anywhere (I am not counting the subway alumni at Notre Dame).

BillMK

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 4:51 p.m.

George: "well Ms. coleman it is time to fire rich rod " George, George, George: Believe it or not, President Coleman has more to think about than athletics, supervising a multi-billion dollar institution! The Athletic Department is financially independent from the University, and largely autonomous. Direct your opinions to David Brandon - I suspect he is already pondering the matter.

george

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 4:36 p.m.

well Ms. coleman it is time to fire rich rod he just killed Michigan football the whole coaching staff needs replaced the team sucks i don't see anymore wins this season fire him now don't wait he need to be run out of michigan not just ann arbor

Macabre Sunset

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 4:15 p.m.

I don't see why anyone is bewildered by the turnovers. The MSU and Iowa teams represented by far the biggest challenges to date, game-planned to stop Robinson's feet (which is why Forcier was able to throw for so much when the game was out of reach) and so Michigan took more chances. Would three more Big Ten wins represent a turnaround? No. That would still mean a third consecutive.500 or below Big Ten finish - after 40 consecutive winning Big Ten seasons. Three wins is the absolute minimum Rodriguez needs to keep his job. If I were deciding, I'd say four, including at least a very competitive game in Columbus. But I think one or maybe two is more realistic given what Rodriguez has accomplished on defense.

michboy40

Sun, Oct 17, 2010 : 4:15 p.m.

I see two sure fire losses on our schedule (Wisky and OSU) I see one likely loss(PSU, they are not playing great, but Happy Valley at night?) I see one toss up in the Illini, and I see one that we "should" win in Purdue. That puts us at 6-6, maybe 7-5. The disturbing thing to me is that we are not even cometitive on defense.I am supporting RR and the team, and praying they improve drastically, but I don't see this turning out well for any of us. If the NCAA throws down the hammer, then RR is gone.