Michigan Wolverines: Minnesota — What Happened and What it Means — Part II
Sep 27, 2014; Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Michigan Wolverines quarterback Shane Morris (7) during warm ups before the game against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Michigan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
Posted at 4:00pm — 9/30/2014
Michigan Wolverines: Minnesota — What Happened and What it Means — Part II
Minnesota versus Michigan Game Wrap-up
Tough Times Continue
The fans provided good initial support and moderate energy. The negativity reported by certain vulture sites is somewhat out of proportion. Coach Hoke is now an easy target and the wolves, mostly uninformed and without any higher- level sports experience, are howling for attention to their agenda. The effort has been toxic and will be difficult to turn around. Making the effort even more problematic is a clear vendetta local media holds against the university.
Sep 27, 2014; Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Michigan Wolverines quarterback Shane Morris (7) passes the ball in the first half against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Michigan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY SportsThe specifics start with number seven, Michigan quarterback, Shane Morris. We have frequently mentioned that to the average fan the most popular guy on the roster is the second team quarterback any time something bad happens to an offense. The Shane experiment yielded fewer results than sticking with Devin Gardner, at least that is the summation herein. He throws a better spiral and has some gas on the ball. Neither really comes close to throwing a good deep ball on target, even in warm-ups. However, his accuracy is not nearly acceptable for a major college team; neither is Devin’s to be blunt.
Sep 27, 2014; Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Michigan Wolverines wide receiver Devin Funchess (1) celebrates a reception in the first half against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Michigan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY SportsShane has only had two real games under his belt; Devin has been around for a long time. Regardless of who is running the offense the passing game is insufficient and getting worse. This is compounded by the obvious fact that the running game is also insufficient. When a team is in such a situation, and the offensive options are few, the perfect storm for offensive failure brews up and rears ugly. Blaming and laying fault at a single source is pointless and flawed. The problem is historical and multi-faceted. What to do about this is still troublesome and problematical. To the chagrin of Michigan camps, there is no easy solution; there may not even be a band-aid short-term solution. However, the author would have inserted Gardner at the very least early in the third quarter, perhaps sooner. There is the matter of integrity and fairness in not swapping Shane for Devin during a trial run game. But this program must now first be consumed with finding a way to win and accessories such as feelings will need to be discarded.
The patterns that Michigan ran were long in developing. Why so? One reason is that Michigan again had to pick up yardage on third down and Minnesota was prepared. Minnesota’s defense was not fooled once the entire game. The view from the stands produced a verdict that the receivers were pretty well covered, with a noticeable exception of Shane having a man wide open on an out cut and he chose to go long for a harmless incompletion.
The defense did play hard but victimized itself with bad tackling and some weak and lazy shoulder shots that failed to take down the ball carriers. Several times Cobb broke loose from grabs and bottled areas to dip outside for a few tough yards. He, like Michigan’s Smith, will fight for every inch.
Sep 27, 2014; Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Michigan Wolverines head coach Brady Hoke during warm ups before the game against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at Michigan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY SportsThe wolves will howl and none of the noise will make much difference. To many programs, howling is a signal for automatic change as with Charlie Weis, who is now available for another coaching position. But Michigan’s new President has spoke in between the lines comments that football is too big on campus and he would like its role reduced. Such a statement is practically mandated for any modern college administrator to grab the support of the still sports challenged academia that hold tremendous and pointless bias against sports programs across the nation. This politically inspired position is another surviving remnant of the 1960’s turmoil on campuses across the nation.
So, if Brandon is not too concerned, and the academia loves the downfall of football prestige, what is to happen? Well that will be for the powers that be to decide.
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Written by GBMWolverine Staff — Doc4Blu
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