So help me, we are off to Nebraska. As if Oklahoma wasn't enough.
The scriptures of good and bad, right and wrong, and truth or false compel me to predict. Those with a coach shall win.
Checks schedule. Don't know how that applies next week vs. Wisconsin.
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The game happened and the bye week and season drags on. Wisconsin used to be a tough game. Maryland could have been if you pick the right time. Washington is 3-0 with a couple of unwinnable games and the rest a cakewalk like Michigan; Big Ten power rankings I have seen don't think highly of the Huskies and Michigan is at home and a long way from Seattle. Count 'em: at USC, Michigan State, and finally Ohio State is what is left. And it'll get worse. Some people will think Michigan is a great team and Sherrone Moore is a good coach.
One thing I learned when tearing apart why the Atlanta Braves have regressed as a business and team is that others may be just as bad or worse. Take the Detroit Tigers. For a long time they were the best team in baseball. What do you expect if you start Charlie Morton and then send in Rafael Montero?
Matt Rhule does not inspire me. He is the guy who made news with the hiring of Dylan Raiola. How do you really build an upper-echelon team in the Big Ten? You do the same with a couple of 300 lb. D-linemen. Then you add the best running back on the market to go with the rest of the portfolio. Rhule doesn't have a great career wins/losses record to start with. I don't see Nebraska turning this imaginary corner.
I'm certain I have written this before: Nebraska has to compete with schools, alumni, market appeal, and just plain more money. You can hoot all you want about the way it used to be. This is the modern-day Big Ten. Even moribund UCLA is throwing money around.
I was wrong. I went with the underdog and sentimental favorite. At first I thought, this is fun--Nebraska is going right down the field! They should have been up 10-0 but instead were down 10-0. Then, seldom do you see a field goal kicker (Zvada) show power and aggression. It was not as close as the final score suggests.
Nebraska is worse than Michigan. Raiola, the whole offense who can even play baseball at the same time, was generally helpless. The Nebraska defense doesn't have the horses or jockey that Michigan does.
That is why Michigan won, depth, strength, and power on offense and swarming athletes on defense. All this plus a nasty edge that Nebraska lacks. If I were a Nebraska fan thinking "we're back" I would think again.
Luke Fickell is in even worse shape. I watched the Maryland game before I couldn't take it anymore. Football in Madison is not the place to be nor is watching the boring game. Fickell and his team look lost; his "it is what it is" pregame interview" said it all.
As for Michigan, Biff Poggi said it too. His dog could coach these guys. The whole replacement coach routine reeks of Juwan Howard and Michigan basketball.
What is left besides the three games mentioned is Wisconsin, Washington, Purdue, Northwestern, and Maryland. Money and a malleable coach post-Harbaugh for Manuel is corrupt and it is all because one man has survived everyone else, from numerous coaches--Harbaugh counts about 5X-- to the president. Sherrone Moore is the luckiest guy in Michigan. He'll probably survive but it will be a dull, drawn-out tenure; we, more accurately they are stuck with him. He would be a much better coach if he had five years of MAC coaching experience.
Odds of winning rest of schedule. Michigan has two games left with a reasonable chance of losing. No Oregon or Penn State or Indiana.
Michigan Football Enthusiasm Meter
3/10.
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