The Game: M 42 - "The" Ohio State 27 - Not Anymore. Post Game Thread.

[lineygoblue]

I'm really happy for you today, Jeff .. and all the alumni who have waited so long for a win like this. I'm especially happy for Doc Hodgeman, who I am sure was watching from his easy chair in Kalamazoo. This was for him, too.

[Jeff Buchanan]

I really hope Doc Hodgeman saw this. Just talked to Doug and then called Doc's number but he didn't answer. Last time we talked a few months ago, mid-season I think it was, he was doing well. Left a message hoping he calls back.

[Hannibal]

Yoder definitely enjoyed the win.

[THE_WIZARD_]

...it ain't easy bein" cheesy...

[Jeff Buchanan]

I've always enjoyed Inside Michigan Football. The producers do a really good job of putting that 30 minutes together. This is Brandstatter's spot. He's really good at it. His play-by-play isn't great but he's great doing that show and always has been. Thanks for posting that Linesman.

I can't tell you how much that win meant to me. There's nothing better than a come-back story like this. It's tremendously motivating. A lot of fans, including me, bailed on M football and stopped supporting Harbaugh and the team. Just too many heartbreaks over an organization - M football - that was a huge part of my life going back to my 20s. Different then as at that point in my life it was a time to party. But over time, the team, the team grew on me in important ways, it connected me and my son and continues to do that, it motivated me to improve and do my best in whatever I did no matter what part of my life I occupied. So, it was very sad to see that aspect of M football wane in the last years of LC and then never get regained under the tenure of 2 HCs and a really long time.

So, to see a guy, Jim Harbaugh, that is the epitome of a Michigan Man and all that stands for, who has struggled but as evidenced today, never gave up, never gave in, to bring this team to the point it has attained, on the precipice of winning the Big Ten Championship and playing for a NC, just makes me beyond being joyful.

A word on OSU. It's a great team and a great institution with the kind of commitment to winning and excellence that I could admire ....... if it weren't for the fact that my distaste for OSU football is as much a part of me as my love for what M football stands for. I know Talent personally if only through a one time tailgate experience in Columbus. I know he loves OSU football as much as I love M football. I know how he feels today. It sucks because I've got more experience with that feeling than he does. So, tip of the hat to OSU, the players and their coaching staff. Fuck them all the same.

[Hannibal]

I took a mental inventory this morning of everything that has gone on in my life since the last time that we won a big game like this. It's the biggest win for Michigan this century. Biggest win since 1997 against Penn State. Bigger than 2003 OSU by far (that team was essentially this year's Iowa). Before the Dark Ages, we used to get one of these types of wins maybe once every two years. I'd argue that is has been at least 18 and maybe even 24 years. That was one wife, two kids, a few jobs, and a few relocations ago for me. The last time that Michigan defeated Ohio State when it actually meant something, I had only one chin and I could run a six minute mile. I hope that you will all pardon my lack of faith in this team, which has accumulated over approximately 20 years of stupid fuckery and watching the program face plant over and over again across four coaches, four Presidents, and an endless series of promises to do better next time, all while watching even shitty programs like Purdue and Northwestern score a rare upset against OSU.

I can accept that OSU has massive natural advantages in recruiting that are going to make beating them an uphill climb, but I will never accept beating them only once a decade is the new norm. Three or four times a decade? That might be the expectation. But we should never go one for sixteen ever again. Like Auburn today vis-a-vis Alabama. They have somehow beaten The Nick a handful of times in the past 11 years. And when they don't, they frequently make 'Bama sweat it out. That needs to be our rivalry. Next year better not be back to "business as usual". This better not be our Minnesota Brown Jug win.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Appreciate your thoughts Hanni. I get it and have shared your doubts about M winning most games they have teed up the football for the last two decades myself. I just lie to myself a lot and it sure worked out on Saturday. I also share your concerns about a return to 'Business as usual." That would suck.

I do think Harbaugh has built a team that has turned a corner. Imbuing players with confidence in themselves and their coaches is a key ingredient to winning football programs. It starts now and should carry forward. Heard several players that will be back next season say that after Saturday's win v. OSU.

I'd also include staff stability as a key. Certainly, recruiting talent is a bed rock ingredient for success but player development may be more important than that. I don't think any fan who is paying attention would deny that the staff changes made last summer were responsible for improvements in the run game (Mike Hart) the OL play (Sherrone Moore), the defense (Mike Macdonald) and the solid performance by the WR room when Bell went down (not sure who specifically was responsible). If this group sticks around for a couple of years, M will probably be much more competitive than they have been for a long time.

[lineygoblue]

But we should never go one for sixteen ever again. Like Auburn today vis-a-vis Alabama. They have somehow beaten The Nick a handful of times in the past 11 years. And when they don't, they frequently make 'Bama sweat it out. That needs to be our rivalry. Next year better not be back to "business as usual". This better not be our Minnesota Brown Jug win.

Absolutely, 100%.

A true rivalry is exactly what Auburn v Alabama is. The game is rarely a sure thing. That's the way it should be with M v OSU. Ohio fans think a rivalry means that you beat your hated rival every year. That's not a rivalry, that's a beatdown. A real rivalry is where both teams come into the game, and they despise each other, and nobody has any idea of what the outcome is going to be. This can still happen, even though one team may have a talent edge. Again, see Auburn v Alabama. Shoot, look at what MSU does to us. There's no way they've had a talent edge every year since Harbaugh arrived, but they are what, .. 3-3 in his tenure? Like them or not, that's what happens in a real rivalry.

No way should Michigan only be winning one game in a decade. No. Way. I'm hoping that Harbaugh has finally put together a coaching staff that can get our guys ready for each game, and that these guys will stay a while to give some continuity. That will help in recruiting, and it will also keep guys away from the transfer portal.

[lineygoblue]

And let me say this also ... one of my pet peeves .. the way Michigan fans sell their tickets to OSU fans, making Michigan Stadium mostly red .. did NOT happen Saturday.

Good.

[THE_WIZARD_]

LAIR!!!

[lineygoblue]

Marty -- don't you have an appointment with your pal Lou?

[Tom W]

The tyrant has been exposed. Ohio didn’t “lose” this game. A healthy roster of 4 and 5 stars producing almost 400 yards passing with zero turnovers and no special teams miscues isn’t how you “lose” games.

No, sirs, ohio got BEATEN. There were doubts, as recently as 48 hours ago, that this was even possible. It was so bad that Michigan didn’t even have a THIRD down in the second half - so technically their conversion rate was infinity.

it was amazing- and there was nothing fluky about it.

To add to Hanni’s point- Now that it’s been shown how to beat ohio, there should be every expectation that it won’t be another decade before it happens again.

[lineygoblue]

^5 Tom

[THE_WIZARD_]

Let me know when the circle jerk is over...

[Hannibal]

The tyrant has been exposed. Ohio didn’t “lose” this game. A healthy roster of 4 and 5 stars producing almost 400 yards passing with zero turnovers and no special teams miscues isn’t how you “lose” games.

No, sirs, ohio got BEATEN. There were doubts, as recently as 48 hours ago, that this was even possible. It was so bad that Michigan didn’t even have a THIRD down in the second half - so technically their conversion rate was infinity.

it was amazing- and there was nothing fluky about it.

To add to Hanni’s point- Now that it’s been shown how to beat ohio, there should be every expectation that it won’t be another decade before it happens again.

OSU’s defense this past weekend is awfully reminiscent of those Hermann and English squads that got totally assrailed, wasn’t it? I waited an eternity for OSU to experience something like what we experienced in 2006, when David Harris, Prescott Burgess, Alan Branch, Lamar Woodley, and Leon Hall got taken to the cleaner’s and gave up 42 points because our DC couldn’t defend a spread. I expected this out of Harbaugh sooner. This is why we hired the guy. For these “winning with cruelty” type asskickings.

Excluding end of half, kneel downs, etc, our drive chart from the middle of the 2nd quarter onward went:

13 plays, touchdown
3 plays, touchdown
5 plays, touchdown
9 plays, touchdown
5 plays, touchdown