A sigh of relief

[BlindRef]

I know it is only Western Michigan.

I know it is only one game.

I know there are a lot of potential losses on the schedule.

But...for the first time since before "The Horror" (App State) I enjoyed Michigan football today. I loved being in the stadium again, I loved tailgating again. I loved seeing the highlights and reading the articles and blogs. For the last two years football hasn't been that much fun...its been painful.

I can't wait until next Saturday.

Go Blue.

[M Club]

i don't know, i always thought part of the enjoyment of football was dealing with the losses so you can appreciate the wins. michigan's a bandwagon school, so it was at least nice last year to see where everyone stood.

i'll breath a real sigh of relief once dickrod stops with this nick sheridan nonsense. i hope he was just bluffing to give nd a tougher time with scouting, but fucking eh. i was joking with friends that he anticipated a blowout, thus the comments about playing three qbs today, but michigan put a nice opening drive together before dickrod sent in sheridan to do what sheridan does. please, weak-armed midget, throw to the middle of the field while rolling toward your opposite hand. also, make sure you forgo the easy pass to the dooder seven yards in front of you who had seperation on a lb in favor of the covered guy 20 yards away.

otherwise, GO BLUE MOTHERFUCKAHS!!! can't wait for the screw_mich death match next weekend.

[PSUFAN]

PSU walloped a mac team in the 2004 opener...then had a horrific season. Were I a Michigan fan, I'd be worried about the team getting ahead of themselves.

The media fellated the Wolverines disgustingly during and after this win. I'd be hoping that their heads don't get too swollen.

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

The media fellated the Wolverines disgustingly during and after this win.

Oh, just wait for this UM-ND game...it'll be the greatest college football game of ALL TIME.

[TheJON]

PSU walloped a mac team in the 2004 opener...then had a horrific season. Were I a Michigan fan, I'd be worried about the team getting ahead of themselves.

The media fellated the Wolverines disgustingly during and after this win. I'd be hoping that their heads don't get too swollen.

Yeah, let's see what they do against Notre Dame before we start to say that Michigan is back. Western Michigan is a truly horrible excuse of a football team. They couldn't even finish Top 25 in 1-AA (FCS or whatever the fuck it's called). That's not to say I wouldn't be thrilled with what I saw yesterday if I were a Michigan fan, but let's put down the Kool-Aid until they prove they can hang with a very good Notre Dame team.

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

I thought Michigan displayed a good deal of speed and athleticism, but ND looked more polished. Holding a good offensive team to 0 points was fairly impressive. I think they'll win the game.

[TheJON]

I thought Michigan displayed a good deal of speed and athleticism, but ND looked more polished. Holding a good offensive team to 0 points was fairly impressive. I think they'll win the game.

I think both Nevada and Western Michigan are absolutely pathetic football teams. But I think ND will hammer Michigan. I can't even remember, where is this played? If it's in Ann Arbor, I'll take ND by 17. In South Bend......add a touchdown.

[Van]

We won't know if either team is all that good, much less "very good," even following this game.

If ND wins, they only beat a bad Michigan team, following a win at home over a meh WAC team.

If Michigan wins, they've beaten a D1-AA team and a bad ND team, both at home.

We won't know until late in the year if this game meant anything at all, besides bragging rights.

[TheJON]

Western Michigan is a truly horrible excuse of a football team. They couldn't even finish Top 25 in 1-AA (FCS or whatever the fuck it's called).

:doh:

Right, =bitch. Says the fan who barely escaped UNI.

So? What's that got to do with Michigan? Michigan beat a horrible team, and so that doesn't prove they're a great team yet. That's all I'm saying. Like I've been saying with a lot of teams.......let's wait and see how the season progresses before we claim certain teams are destined for greatness.

Western Michigan is one of the worst teams in the country and so beating them does not prove Michigan is back. If they can beat or at least be competitive with Notre Dame next week, then I will say they're headed in the right direction. I just don't take a lot of stock in the first week especially when it was against a bad team.

And UNI would beat WMU by 30 points, by the way. You don't have more than a couple of players that could even start for them. Not that it matters.......I'm just sayin'.....

[TheJON]

But I think ND will hammer Michigan. I can't even remember, where is this played? If it's in Ann Arbor, I'll take ND by 17. In South Bend......add a touchdown.

It's at Michigan.

I'll take Michigan +17 for anything you want, money, sig, you name it.

Why would I want to bet on a team I hate???

I would probably pass on this game if I were a betting man. That's right about where I think the score will be. Something like 31-14 Notre Dame.

I said all along Michigan would blowout Western Michigan. So this is no surprise to me. That's why I'm not getting too high on them.

[Van]

Careful, Jsc. It's not that difficult to win by 18. If Michigan's offense sputters and turns the ball over a couple times then a 28-10 win is not a far-fetched thing at all.

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

Hey, nobody's annointing ND or Michigan anything yet, just saying they looked good in week 1 while keeping that in perspective. Last year the opponents didn't matter because neither ND nor Michigan could execute. Yesterday both teams executed. There's marked improvement there. How good both teams are though relative to everybody else; that remains to be seen.

[TheJON]

Hey, nobody's annointing ND or Michigan anything yet

Give ESPN a chance.........

[TheJON]

Take = predict. Good enough?

I'm not betting on a fucking team I can't stand. I'm not rooting for Notre Dame to EVER win a game. If you bet on a team, you have to actually cheer for them. Like hell if I'm about to do that. I hope Michigan wins. They're a Big-10 team and they're playing Notre Dame. I just happen to think Notre Dame will handle them relatively easily.

Sorry dude, I'm not a degenerate. I don't have to get action on a game to enjoy it.

[M Club]

michigan fans, since i presume to speak on their behalf, are simply excited because:

* we have a very capable qb. i don't mean he's all-league, but he looks like he at least understands football, which is something we missed last year.
* between last year and saturday the defense learned how to wrap up during a tackle.
* stevie brown wasn't playing safety.
* punt returners held onto the ball.
* team cohesion.

like blind said, it's more about the return of competitiveness after last year's comedy of errors than thinking we're world beaters. i'll still lay down cash on your silly nd - 17.

[M Club]

We won't know if either team is all that good, much less "very good," even following this game.

If ND wins, they only beat a bad Michigan team, following a win at home over a meh WAC team.

If Michigan wins, they've beaten a D1-AA team and a bad ND team, both at home.

We won't know until late in the year if this game meant anything at all, besides bragging rights.

1. the same can be said of this game every year, especially back in the day when they played each other first.

2. when did western drop to 1-AA?

[Van]

1-Nah. For most of our lives we all knew Michigan and ND would be good, and that this was a big game. We didn't need to take a sit-back-and-wait attitude, just to see if Michigan would even be decent...much less ND, too.

2-Got my weathervanes mixed up. Now, which is the team S_M follows? Is it these guys, or one of the other weathervanes?

[M Club]

1 - the two have hardly been dominant since they began playing each other nearly every year. this used to be a special matchup played once every few years or so, but since then nd's been schitzo [spell?] and michigan has vascillated between three and four losses every year, though some years we've had to wait till osu + bowl game for the last two, so we've gotten to say we're good up until then.

2 - screw went to western. all of the directional schools in michigan are 1-A. only eastern should reconsider that. the only reason jon says wmu wouldn't crack the d1-aa top 25 is because he's bitter iowa can't beat them.

[WolverineSteve]

michigan fans, since i presume to speak on their behalf, are simply excited because:

* we have a very capable qb. i don't mean he's all-league, but he looks like he at least understands football, which is something we missed last year.
* between last year and saturday the defense learned how to wrap up during a tackle.
* stevie brown wasn't playing safety.
* punt returners held onto the ball.
* team cohesion.

like blind said, it's more about the return of competitiveness after last year's comedy of errors than thinking we're world beaters. i'll still lay down cash on your silly nd - 17.

and Scott Shafer was nowhere near Ann Arbor.

[Shoalzie]

The Wolverines are well ahead of where they were through one game this year than they were last year. The defensive system looks better and RichRod has the right type of athletes running his offense. I'd be more than happy with him allowing Forcier and Robinson to be a combo similar to what Florida did with Leak and Tebow. One is the passer, the other is the scrambler. Threatt and Sheridan had no business running that offense last year and I'm sure RichRod had hopes it was going to be Pryor being his QB from Day 1 until he bolted for Columbus. I don't think Forcier + Robinson = Pryor but it's a lot better situation than what they had last year.

I'm tempering my excitement about the win over Western until I see them play a better team like Notre Dame. The Irish are coming around finally and Claussen and his receivers are going to be a much tougher test for the Michigan secondary than Hiller was this weekend. I'm also curious to see how much better the Notre Dame defense is under Tenuta. Weis has done well with recruiting offensive weapons but I want to see if that defense is up to snuff. A win over Notre Dame on Saturday would definitely get the excitement back with me. I was willing to be patient with RichRod but he also had to deliver at some point. Credit to him on getting off to a nice start this year.

[TheJON]

the only reason jon says wmu wouldn't crack the d1-aa top 25 is because he's bitter iowa can't beat them.

Yes, because WMU is so tough they beat 2 of our worst teams we've had since 1980. Rack them??

[M Club]

The Wolverines are well ahead of where they were through 12 games last year.

oh, hey, look, we agree.

i didn't watch the osu game. has pryor developed an ability to throw yet? it's only one game in, but i'm willing to bet by the end of the year forcier + robinson > pryor. you know, if we're talking about skill sets. obviously pryor > forcier and pryor > drob.

i think this game has bought dickrod a bunch more patience. the issue last year was whether this offense would take hold. it was hard to buy into the idea last year with threetsheridan, but now we can all at least visualize where this is headed.

[TheJON]

forcier + robinson > pryor. you know, if we're talking about skill sets. obviously pryor > forcier and pryor > drob.

I dunno about that. I think Pryor is and always will be an average at best QB but I'm not sure I'd agree that if Forcier and Robinson combined are better than Pryor but Forcier or Robinson alone are NOT better than him. Can only have 1 QB on the field and I don't think Michigan is going to end up being better off using a 2 QB system. I'm not a big fan of those. QB = team leader. You need consistency at that position. So I think DickRod will have to spend some extra time looking at game film trying to figure out who his full-time QB will be and less time having sex with that crackwhore he calls a wife.

[M Club]

forcier + robinson > pryor. you know, if we're talking about skill sets. obviously pryor > forcier and pryor > drob.

....but Forcier or Robinson alone are NOT better than him...

is it tough to sell insurance to people once they realize you can't read?

[TheJON]

forcier + robinson > pryor. you know, if we're talking about skill sets. obviously pryor > forcier and pryor > drob.

....but Forcier or Robinson alone are NOT better than him...

is it tough to sell insurance to people once they realize you can't read?

Is it tough for you to convince starving ethiopians to go to college when they realize you can't read entire sentences??

I'm not sure I'd agree that if Forcier and Robinson combined are better than Pryor but Forcier or Robinson alone are NOT better than him.

Though I would concede that was a poorly written sentence.

[M Club]

Sigh, I guess i'll break down your jonsense here as well.

MClub: 4CA + DRob, combined, might have a more complete skill set than Pryor [We'll call this Point A]. Obviously, Pryor is better than any either of those two on their own [Point B].

Jon: I'm not sure if I agree with Point A but I'll disagree with your point B by agreeing with it.


As far as the two combined, obviously just a hypothetical, though UM does have the luxury of lining a capable QB up in the slot or backfield alongside 4CA. I base my claim about skill sets on the fact DRob is a fast motherfucker and Forcier tends not to throw bounce passes to his receivers.

[TheJON]

Jeebus, M Club........bust my frickin' balls, why don't ya....

Like I said........I worded it poorly.

Here's what I meant.......

Assuming you're correct in that Forcier + Robinson > Pryor then I would disagree that either Forcier or Robinson alone are NOT better than Pryor because I don't believe a 2 QB system beats 1 QB when those individual QB's are not better than said QB. 2 QB's are rarely a good thing and I think Michigan needs to settle on 1.

[M Club]

my statement about forcier + drob was tenuous at best and said tongue-in-cheek. that you've latched onto it means i have to sit here defending it like i meant it in the first place when it was actually a shot at pryor's ability to throw. that said, in the very next sentence i said pryor is obviously better than either one individually, so i don't see what you disagree with considering we agree.

that said, i do think forcier's upside is comparable to pryor's. not so much athletically, but as far as the ability to access all parts of the offense.