Hey everybody! It’s been a while (again). This season has been rough for content… It’s just difficult when an article has been preparing all week and is excited to go up on post day… Then a couple of sections sneak out to a frat party for some “Words with Friends.” A daily spell check comes back with a false negative… some topics have allegedly given up and are avoiding the next week’s subject all together… Next thing you know the season is almost over and several articles had caught Covid and had to cancel their posts… Well let’s make due with what time we have left. We’re a game away from the end of the “regular*” “season” which means it’s time for the <points to headline> “everybody sucks**” post. Here we go:
Everybody sucks. See you guys next year!
Ok, seriously I know I write this post every year bu… WHOA WHOA WHOA! Pump the brakes there superchief… you can’t write this article yet! First you have to write the <points to headline> THE BIG TEN IS TOUGH/ MAYBE EVERYONE IS REALLY REALLY GOOD article. No I don’t. 1. Maybe I’m learning*** 2. See the opening paragraph about articles catching Covid 3. When that theory rests on the assumption that Rutger doesn’t suck… Well let me explain Flat Earth Theory to you…
Penn State was 0-5. The Big Ten sucks.
Michigan State lost to Rutgers and I was less than disappointed in Rocky Lombardi’s performance. The Big Ten sucks
Wisconsin has had half their season cancelled, The Big Ten sucks.
The top two teams in the Big Ten West are Northwestern and Iowa. Ohio State currently isn’t eligible, Indiana is probably the best eligible team in the conference and every other team has 2 wins. The Big Ten sucks.
And now for everyone’s favorite section! www.youtube.com/watch?v=D24DhiiO33s It’s time for Michigan to make some changes. I’ve been a Don Brown defender for the past two years. The “haters” would say it’s a scheme that dominates bad team and gets destroyed by elite teams. Maybe… But it’s hard to justify changing the #2 defense in the country before it gets exposed (2018) and the defense actually gave you a shot against Alabama in 2019 (Shea and a bad offense did not). This year though? He hasn’t adjusted the scheme (ok, for some reason he blitzes less…) and hasn’t recruited the talent to even keep it viable against weaker opponents. You can’t run that scheme with slow CBs…
As for the offense… It turns out “Speed in Space” means “our QB sucks to much to throw it past the line of scrimmage.” I don’t know if Gattis is a bad play caller, if Harbaugh is not letting him call the right plays, if they have no faith in Milton to run anything with a read, or if Milton just isn’t making the reads… but it sure looks like Al Borges in a Shotgun whenever he’s in there. The playbook seemed to open up a little bit when Cade went in but 1. Rutgers and 2. his arm was murdered which kinda hurts your ability to play QB.
I’ve said for 4 years… Can’t fire a guy whose worst season is 9 wins… but 7 wins or less before a trip to Indy/Big Ten Championship/Playoff birth? Might be time to look elsewhere. Well: 2-x. Embarrassing losses to MSU, winless Penn State, and a tough game against Rutgers? This has been a pathetic season. Don’t get me wrong. There are reasons for a bad year. Ambry Thomas makes this secondary completely different. Early season ending injuries to your 2 best D-linemen plus Cam McGrone. They lost 4 starting OL in the offseason and then all but 1 starter this year is out/injured halfway through the season. Dead QB arms everywhere… There are reasons… but there also has been little if any positives since the Minnesota game. They’ve all but benched Ben Mason who was outstanding in game 1 (when you’re OL is all dead and your team looks like they don’t care, maybe play the one guy who’s always fired up and whose biggest downside is taking penalties for blocking too much). Even when Milton makes a good throw the receivers drop it… (Rent a damn pitching machine, crank it to 100MPH and practice catching bullets!). You almost lost to Rutgers… This team has been pathetic. There is talent and I wouldn’t be surprised at a 8-9+ season next year whether they keep Harbaugh or not… But you have to do something. Can’t justify 8 Million/year extension after this “performance.” Can’t do nothing unless you want to shoot your recruiting in the foot… I dunno… Maybe if he wants to take a pay cut for a 2 year extension and makes some staff changes I’d be ok with it… Otherwise I hear the Lions are looking for a new coach… When does Baseball season start?
*Not much “regular” about this season…
** Except Ohio State because whenever anything bad is about to happen to Ohio State the ghost of Woody Hayes punches that thing in the throat.
***losing the naive hope of a young adult anticipating the “return” of Rose Bowl tinted version of the 90’s/00’s he remembers
****Until the ghost of Woody Hayes punches the rule book in the throat… changing the “6” to “ehhh whatever number Ohio State has”