Well that game was one for the ages... I don't care who say otherwise. It actually lived up to the hype, two heavyweight college football programs standing toe to toe slugging it out for the full 60 minutes. It was a great display of leadership, determination, and the refusal to give up even when things looked like they were going south.
Despite a solid victory of their arch-rivals there are now several other questions for Ohio State. First who are they going to play on Jan 8th. How good is this team, granted they have gone 12-0 so far, and that alone is an impressive stat, the question of how good is more of, if they win their bowl game where will they rank among all the previous national champions. How good is Troy Smith, he has been a fantastic leader and quarterback over the past 3 years and I will not deny that he has had Michigan's number, the question is how well will he do at the next level? I for one think he will be a successful QB provided he is drafted by a team that understands that he is neither Vince Young nor Michael Vick. Kirk Hierbstreet said it best he is more like Drew Brees, simply a very good quarterback who knows how to lead and win, which are more important skills than anything that he brings to the table athletically.
Now on to the game. I was correct in my assumption that it would be the role players on the team that would make the most difference. Yes Ted Ginn had a touchdown, but it was the fact that Smith completed more passes to his 3rd, 4th and 5th receivers than Ginn and Gonzales, and the fact that the first big play of the game was made by a freshman reserve running back. Am I sad that Michigan lost, yes, but the fact that they did not lose the game, OSU won it by making the big plays, and doing the little things that they needed to do to win, like converting 4 3rd downs on the their FIRST Drive of the game. Michigan came into the game allowing only 25% 3rd down conversion rate, OSU converted on over 60% of them. OSU was able to keep Michigan from scoring more than 10 points off of their 3 turnovers, and OSU had more plays of over 20 yards, including 3 touchdowns of 40+ yards. That alone is enough to win most games.
I am proud of this Michigan team more than any other I have followed for the simple reason, over the course of this year they have played hard, played smart, and have proven that the 7-5 season of last year was not what is to be expected of Michigan football. They overcame injuries to a couple of key players during the season, but had others step up and make contributions in their absence. Then on top of that hearing about the death of Bo Schembechler, less than 24 hours before kick off. The worst thing that can happen now is Michigan goes to the Rose Bowl, Not a ban consolation prize after playing one of the best games in College football in the past 20 years.
So for all of those who thought Lloyd Carr was done, and thought that he could not coach, I say shut up and go support Sparty where they have more problems than just not having a coach.
GO BLUE I am proud of you
No comments:
Post a Comment