AP
In spite all the evils floating over Ann Arbor this season, Michigan fans entered the day with hope.
Beat Ohio State and we can end this miserable campaign on the highest of high notes.
But instead of curing the Wolverines' ills, the 105th installment of The Game further confirmed that Rich Rodriguez's first team is the worst in Michigan's 129-year history.
Ohio State earned its fifth straight win over the Wolverines with a 42-7 throttling at Ohio Stadium, and Jim Tressel improved to 7-1 against "the school up north." But with all due respect to the Buckeyes, this game was not about Ohio State's dominance. This game was about the complete ineptitude of the winningest program in college football history.
Although Ohio State easily covered the 21 1/2-point spread, this Buckeyes bunch just didn't wow me. What wowed me was Michigan's complete failure to sustain any type of offensive flow in the 12th game of the season. What wowed me was UM safety Stevie Brown looking completely lost in pass coverage and taking absurdly bad angles on runs. What wowed me was Michigan's continued inability to just TUCK ... THE ... FRIGGIN ... FOOTBALL.
So, the season mercifully ends for UM. The Wolverines finish at 3-9 and 2-6 in Big Ten play -- one win better than last-place Indiana. The obvious question is: Where does Michigan go from here?
Let's begin with the potential backlash after such a disheartening season. The most logical scapegoat is first-year defensive coordinator Scott Shafer. With a deeply talented D-line and two shutdown corners, this group was supposed to carry the Wolverines during the transitional phase. But the Wolverines came into today with the Big Ten's second-worst scoring defense and proceeded to give up countless big plays to their archrival. If there's a head to roll, it's that of Mr. Shafer.
Anyone truly calling for Rodriguez's job is misguided. After taking in all 12 of Michigan's games, it's obvious that this offensive-minded coach inherited a wholly inexperienced group on the offensive side of the ball. If Rodriguez doesn't have a QB -- which he definitely did not this season -- his spread-option offense is doomed. Plain and simple. As of right now, Rodriguez has verbal commitments from a pair of four-star signal callers -- Tate Forcier (San Diego) and Shavodrick Beaver (Wichita Falls, Texas) -- who are perfectly suited to run the spread-option. Also, one of the positive byproducts of this season is Rodriguez was able to give heavy playing time to a number of underclassmen. Therefore, the bulk of this offense returns next season. Let's see what RichRod can do with a quarterback who can actually execute the zone read and a surrounding cast with one year under its belt.
That being said, this appallingly bad season has definitely reduced Rodriguez's grace period. The Wolverines set school records for losses (9) and home losses (5), and defeats to Toledo and Purdue are simply unforgiveable. RichRod's candid demeanor through it all certainly didn't help matters, either. Although his recent "get a life" comments were blown out of proportion by the media, you just cannot tell Michiganders of all people to "look at the economy." Rodriguez's '09 team must go to a bowl game at the least. And it sure wouldn't hurt to get off to a nice start. (If Rodriguez thinks fans are overreacting now, imagine how they'll feel if Michigan has a 1-3ish start to next season.)
At the end of the day, most Michigan fans will reluctantly accept one down season in a rebuilding process. But if Rodriguez's team does not notably improve in Year 2, all bets are off.
Michigan Stadium is currently under construction. As part of the renovation, 83 luxury suites and 3,200 club seats will be unveiled for the 2010 season. Combining this historically bad season with Michigan's historically bad economy, there are still plenty of seats available.
Needless to say, the 2009 season will go a long way in defining the future of Michigan football. And after the worst season in program history, that has to be a bit disconcerting for Wolverines faithful.
Abbey Clancy
Julie Ordon
SI Cover History: March 14-20
Notable Comebacks
Comments (75) Add A Comment
You're dreaming if you think he'll have a winning team by the time those luxury suites and club seats open up! Then again, you're alumni deserves luxurious surroundings with a crappy football team and their lame coach. Enjoy!
stephraff
St. Louis, MO
Total Comments (7)
He might not be around if his future teams are going to be this bad
conesy
Springfield , VA
Total Comments (206)
Give him a few years and I guarantee they will be stomping overrated ohio state
sabian_024
Total Comments (11)
overrated ohio state OWNS you wolverweenies
spicoli
Total Comments (110)
Who let this hack write this article about his Alma Mater?
OSU didn't impress you? 42 points and all those rushing yards doesn't impress? Talk about bias ...
Pimpinnati
Cincinnati , OH
Total Comments (94)
RR has shown zero ability to adapt and I'm guessing there's a few more Michigan players wishing they had cut their losses and bailed on Michigan this year with the way they're being thrown under the bus by their coach and the media.
Ericanadian
Toronto, ON
Total Comments (379)
Joe Pa will still be coaching when RR is long gone.
lbijake
Total Comments (63)
I love how they have to label the bench so all the players know where to sit. Lets face it Ohio State just put the Rod in RichRod
BuckGuy10773
Harrison , OH
Total Comments (6)
I don't understand how anyone could think next year would be that much better. His new quarterbacks (if they don't bail on UM), however great they are in high school, will need time to develop and time to learn his spread offense. I'd say this year is a complete write off, and next year is really the first rebuilding year. And it takes an average of 2 to 3 years to put everything in place. Right now they are truly sad to watch. Next year they will not be too much better but at least somewhat competitive. Good luck to them.
Edmundoluk
Ellicott City , MD
Total Comments (2)
Filice...your homer is showing!
YOU HAD AN **** QB...RichRod scared him off. He would have done a lot better with Mallet this year. But RichRod is a one trick pony and they still would have sucked. Let the team defections continue, us Buckeyes love watching the carnage!
I'll give you the first half, the O-line played terrible and Pryor got rattled, but the Barwis factor kicked in after halftime (haha) and the Bucks rolled in the second half, impressively, regardless of what your biased eyes saw.
Michigan is going to suck just as bad next year. They're going to ditch these two sad QB's and start another true freshman...a tf that ISN'T pryor. Good luck with that TSUN lovers.
GO BUCKS!
ehood
Allen , TX
Total Comments (52)
Why does everyone from Ohio have an IQ of a waterhead. If you cannot win it all you cannot talk smack
Charlie Bauman
Total Comments (1)
Sorry Charlie...everybody talks smack, including those people who can't remember anything farther back than 2 or 3 years...
Rockhound
Total Comments (433)
They'll be fine. Beaver and Forcier are both very talented(check out their highlights) and are coming into Ann Arbor in January(I believe;could be wrong), so they'll get to practice with the first team for a good 7-8 months to get their **** together. One of them could deff. be the Pat White that everybody has been talking about for Michigan. As terrible as these season has been, very young guys have gotten a huge amount of playing time. McGuffie,Shaw,Odoms,Stonum,Cissoko, ect. will have much more confidence going into next year, which will help out tremendously. As a UM fan, I'm sad that the season ends for us, yet I'm relieved to see the pain end. RichRod will have them much better next season(I'm not sure they'll be at OSU's level, but they'll be top 3 in the conference).
Go Blue!
Mgoblue2011
Total Comments (43)
Chris bauman I'd like to thank you...first of all I am not a michigan fan but in fact a Kentucky fan and an SEC fan...ohio state is an overrated team that can pound a poor michigan team but cannot even move the ball with a heisman on an SEC defense....so Big ten can't talk
sabian_024
Total Comments (11)
Michigan is going to show progress. Looks at RichRod's first season at WV. 3-8. He then followed that up with all winning seasons since then. This year was terrible from play calling to execution, but there's nowhere to go but up at this point. RichRod had two truly talented players at WV and he's going to have a lot more at UM so as long as they show progress, he's going to stay and in the next couple of years, something's bound to click and we've all seen how good OSU is at handling talented spread offenses like Florida. BTW, OSU looked piss poor in the first half. Impressive is the last word that comes to mind when it came to watching Pryor's attempt at throwing and OSU's overall first half. Also, with how much OSU fans bash UM for being bad this year, don't be too proud of yourselves that you beat the 2nd worst team in the Big Ten. Congratulations, OSU won but don't let it go to your heads.
import007
Total Comments (3)
Rodriguez will do better in the future, much faster than Weis at Notre Dame. But I think it is time to salute Ohio St for turning what started out as a miserable season into a possible BCS bowl bid. Coming back from the embarrassment at USC and the serious disappointment of the Penn St game took courage. I have a feeling that if they get a BCS bowl bid they will account for themselves well.
CharMit
Las Vegas , NM
Total Comments (1737)
Good thing they play two halves, huh?
etc_04
Total Comments (401)
What gets me about what Filice wrote is that he is taking Rodriguez out of the "blame" equation. That gets in the way of reality. First: Rod is not the first and only coach to have to coach a team with turnover. It happens all the time, and Michigan didn't have to lose 10 offensive starters, but could have lost only 5 or 6. Rod would have seemed to drive them all out.
Second: the same mistakes made in game 1 were made again in game 12, which are coaching errors (like fumbling punts, kickoffs, poor blocking by receivers and linemen). When it became clear that the line could not pass block and the QB could not throw, stop this junk of having the QB run the option and get crushed and injured--hand the ball off to a RB behind a FB and 2 TEs and get some yards the old fashioned way. Tress did that last week against Illinois and it worked marvelously. Are you meaning to tell me that Brandon Minor and Carlos Brown turned into cruddy backs in one year? They never distinguished themselves under Carr but they also backed up Hart, the all time leader at UM so they could step up now.
Rodriguez' entire coaching job was shameful and flies in the face of 129 years of Michigan football. Carr may have struggled this year, but no way would he have underachieved as Rod did, even given his poor losses through the years.
blueguy90
Total Comments (11)
Sabian_024
I assume the 24 is your IQ?
Your Kentucky record does not give you the right to put down the Buckeyes who have been to three National Championship Games in Seven Years...and yes, only winning ONE of the Three. Three of our Seven.....that's 43% in almost a decade. Wow...I'm sorry, that is a freaking near dynasty. Throw in TP...and YOU...a freaking Kentucky fan brags about your team behind the thin vail of your conference???? What a ****!
You're both weak in football and basketball and your inbriding state has no right to put down a dominant PowerHouse.
Buckeye Verrmont
Charlotte , VT
Total Comments (2)
Uh...make that Inbreeding .....Kentucky......common.
Buckeye Verrmont
Charlotte , VT
Total Comments (2)
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