Michigan Wolverine Football: The next football coach Michigan fires in mid-season will be the first

Oct 4, 2014; Piscataway, NJ, USA; Michigan Wolverines head coach reacts after Michigan scored a touchdown during the first halfagainst Rutgers Scarlet Knights at High Points Solutions Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Noah K. Murray-USA TODAY Sports

Posted at 11:00am — 10/10/2014

Michigan Wolverine Football: The next football coach Michigan fires in mid-season will be the first

So much has been going on around Ann Arbor these days that it’s getting hard to keep up with what Michigan’s football program will do next to out-do itself. As the mob grows, ready to light its torches, storm the gates of the Big House and start the revolution, it may be worth an attempt at some perspective. However unwelcome it may be.

First, regarding the coaching situation, let’s be clear about one thing. Forget whether or not Brady Hoke has earned a premature exit. In its 135-year history the University of Michigan has hired 19 coaches, and not one was removed from his post before the close of a season. Bennie Oosterbaan was allowed to endure every miserable moment of his 1958 team’s 2-6-1 campaign. Harry Kipke’s 1934 and 1936 squads finished with 1-7 records—sharing a school record for futility that has stood for 80 years—yet even he was granted an additional year as Wolverine coach. For those who think this was just an athletic director going soft, you must know more about Fielding H. Yost than I do.

Sep 20, 2014; Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Michigan Wolverines head coach Brady Hoke before the game against the Utah Utes at Michigan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY SportsWhat some may dismiss as a foolish and incompetent move—letting a lame duck head coach fulfill his promise to a hundred student-athletes and their families—others (particularly coaches all too familiar with the fickle state of college athletics) may see as a refreshing display of loyalty that makes a future opportunity here all the more appealing. It was, and still appears to be, the Michigan Way. So if history repeats itself, which is typically the case at this institution, no one will be forcing Hoke to hang up the headset early. Assuming he actually wore one of course.

Now about the worst-team-ever talk. True, Team 135’s performance has not been easy on the eyes of the Michigan faithful. Nor is it an acceptable standard for the Wolverines. But this collection of kids may not be quite as horrific as they’ve been made out to be. Really.

Before the mob redirects its GPS to my address, consider the following: the combined record of the four teams who’ve beaten Michigan this season is 18-3. Two of them are ranked (Notre Dame at #6 and Utah at #24), and a third stands half a game out of first place in the B1G West (Minnesota). The wheels may come off the Gopher wagon, and the Utes and Irish may ultimately fall to earth. But from a mid-season vantage point, in all but one case each week’s result has been consistent with the level of competition they’ve faced.

Sep 20, 2014; Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Michigan Wolverines athletic director Dave Brandon before the game against the Utah Utes at Michigan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY SportsSaturday’s loss at Rutgers is the lone exception—but only barely, as the 2-point underdog Wolverines fell 26-24 following as difficult a week as one could imagine for a shaky team lacking confidence.
“Probable Mild Concussion” Gate dominated the mainstream media. Hoke and AD Dave Brandon took turns explaining and refuting their explanations of the handling of QB Shane Morris (who continued playing in the previous week’s loss to Minnesota despite displaying concussion-like symptoms from a monstrous helmet-to-helmet hit). Newly elected university president Mark Schlissel issued a public apology to the Morris family. Students protested in the streets demanding that Brandon step down. And a football team tried to focus on its next opponent.

Judging by their effort, these kids may have some fight in them after all. Michigan played with grit they hadn’t shown all season. Devin Gardner darted in, out, under, around and through a Scarlet Knight defense that led the nation in sacks, producing plays out of the clear New Jersey sky. One by one his weapons disappeared, from WR Devin Funchess’ re-aggrivated leg injury to leading rusher Derrick Green’s broken clavicle in the fourth quarter. Leaving the fifth-year senior to fend for himself behind an underequipped offensive line and generate all he could.

Mind you, 178 yards on 13-of-22 passing with one interception is hardly SportsCenter worthy. But on a night where Gardner was continually harassed, hurried, hit and sacked, 8.1 yards per attempt was respectable. Not to mention his two rushing TDs and a Denard-esque juke, which bent a Scarlet Knight defender in ways no body should bend.

After Michigan #82 Amara Darboh lost control of the ball as he falls out of bounds on what would have been a first down catch late in the fourth quarter, officials reviewed the call and it was upheld. Rutgers held on to defeat Michigan 26-24 in the Big Ten football game at High Point Solutions Stadium. 10/4/14 Piscataway, NJ (John Munson | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)His evening’s work may have been enough for victory were it not for a first-down reception by Amara Darboh at the Rutgers 30 with three minutes remaining that was ruled incomplete. Darboh secured Gardner’s pass and took three steps before diving out of bounds. He lost possession as the ball hit the ground, which was all the officiating crew seemed to care about while changing the call on the field and upholding it upon review. Left with fourth and long, the Wolverines attempted a 56-yard field goal which was blocked, and Rutgers ran out the clock.

So at the halfway point of the 2014 season, the Wolverines find themselves where few could have envisioned. Not one win over a major conference foe. Convincing losses against their two strongest opponents in which their offense scored a grand total of three points. But some bright spots have emerged.

Despite their staggering inefficiency when they have the ball—Michigan hasn’t had so much as a 30-yard gain from scrimmage since the third quarter in South Bend, over a third of a season ago—they are scary efficient once they move into scoring range. Michigan leads the nation in red zone offense. You read that right. They’ve only reached it 15 times, but they’ve delivered points with every trip, all but two of them resulting in touchdowns. And while interception-prone QB Gary Nova scorched Michigan’s porous and depleted secondary for 402 passing yards without a single pick, Michigan’s 12th-ranked rushing defense limited the Rutgers ground game to 83 yards on 28 carries.

With near impossible trips to East Lansing and Columbus ahead, all hopes for bowl eligibility rest in winning their other four games, three of which are at home—first Penn State this Saturday under the lights, then Indiana and, a week after traveling to Evanston, the Big House finale against Maryland.

Anything short of four more wins, and the only brightness in Ann Arbor will be a burning glow from the streets.

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Written by GBMWolverine Writer — Chris Hill

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