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7 Comments

  • snoopblue

    November 27, 2010 at 4:57 pm

    Hey. I love this blog. Always great historical facts and things I never knew about Michigan football. Greg, as someone who clearly knows his stuff in regards to Michigan Football history, do you think Rich Rodriguez will be looked back on as a Bump Elliot type coach? One who came in, whose teams underperformed, and was eased out by Canham. Just curious about your opinions.

  • Fire Rich Rod

    November 28, 2010 at 12:39 am

    Fire Rich Rod. How the hell can the winningest football program in history be so bad in special teams? Literally not having a field goal kicker has killed us for so long. Its pathetic.

  • brewonsouthu

    November 28, 2010 at 8:34 am

    WHY RR HAS TO GO
    1. OSU LET UP against UM: Tressel took it easy on RR and UM, by shutting down his offense in the second half. (Yes, UM was treated like a MAC opponent used to be treated by the Big Ten.) If that had been Brett Bielma coaching OSU, the score might have been 59 to 7, and the outcry to get rid of RR a lot worse. You're thinking Tressel laid off bec he is a gentlemen, which is true. But he's also smart. He loves having RR at UM. He knows RR is a lousy coach, and that UM will not succeed with him — and that Tressel's future recruiting succeeds as a result.
    2. UM is always worn out in the 4th Quarter: This is one of RR's main defects. His players are exhausted toward the end of almost every game. (If you listen to some of the backscatter, they are also exhausted mentally; RR is relentless, and not loved or even respected by his players.)
    3. The main reason RR has to go is character. His comments to the press are full of high-school type excuses, self-pity, and smart-ass. He lied repeatedly to the NCAA, in a way that made his players and staff giggle (even though the NCAA bought it.) He's generated four NCAA violations already.
    4. It is going to get worse: the NCAA will, within two months, likely find RR guilty of the SAME violations at WVU (and there's already a statement in the WVU charge showing that RR KNEW what he was doing was wrong, which suggests RR will have new sanctions applied to him.)
    5. I thought the OSU game showed a new, now glaring factor: UM looked dispirited, lost. Chaos on a number of fronts: special teams, at both kicking and kick return; receivers looked spooked. Defense LINING UP in a confused manner. VERY disconcerting to watch. Something's wrong with the entire program, and it's the head coach.

  • brewonsouthu

    November 28, 2010 at 8:47 am

    Also, Bump won the Big Ten and went to the Rose Bowl, something RR's never been able to do. Also note that, when Bo started out in '69 — his first team — when they upset OSU 24-12, in one of the best UM/OSU games ever, Bo was using all players recruited by Bump. That was, in many ways, Bump's team, and Bo acknowledged that. Here's the other reason that the comparison doesn't fit: in contrast to RR's consistent shadiness, Bump Elliott was one of the finest characters anybody ever met. Bar none. The best. Ask anyone. An extraordinary leader, and man of mettle and character. (There's a good story, which might be apocryphal, about Bump travelling to Beaver Falls PA to recruit Joe Namath. He didn't find Namath at home, searched around town for him, and finally someone pointed him out, sitting atop the hood of a car, drinking a beer in public. As the story goes, Bump never bothered to introduce himself — just turned around and went home.)

  • WolvieMike

    November 28, 2010 at 1:46 pm

    "Twice the officials penalized the Buckeyes with reactionary celebration penalties, forcing Ohio State to kick off from its 20. Against a good team, that sort of field-position slippage would be crippling. Against Michigan, it was amusing. It created a situation like the one in the third quarter, when the field-position game — the only game Michigan was going to win — saw the Buckeyes backed up to their 2. "

    This pretty much sums up why Dick Rod should be gone ASAP