- Still basking in the glow of that historic win over The Buckeyes. What an incredible win and a testament to the sport itself. Despite being an incredibly complex game, outcomes still at times come down to who is tougher. Right now we are tougher, we're the neighborhood bully in that rivalry and our past wins contribute to our present and future wins. OSU was in this place for a long time. The teams and games that flip the narrative are huge. 2001 OSU, 2021 Michigan. Was blessed to watch that game with my dad who is responsible for my Michigan fandom and ultimately degree. His line at the end was best. After watching most of the game in silence save for a few "all rights" after the game sealing Fourth Down he pointed at the screen with vigor and said "For that man to convince those kids that winning that game was even possible, let alone doing it....that's incredible coaching!!"
He was right and I thought of his line while watching OSU make Tennessee look like a JV team. What a day.
- Speaking of The Game, on re-watch a few things stand out. First, history won't speak much of our two drives that ended near the OSU end zone. One a fourth down stop at the 3 yard line, the other an interception in the end zone. Clearly down moments right? Not so fast. I couldn't believe when I looked it up that those two drives took a combined 15:40 seconds. As significant underdogs, those drives turned a 4 quarter game into a three quarter game and left OSU operating with nervous kneeds in the shadow of their own goalline. Those nervous knees gave us an interception inside their 10 setting up our only touchdown and a punt setting up our game winning field goal. Those drives were massive. Absolutely massive. Second, what a brilliant performance by Wink. A week or two before the game the only glimmer of hope I had came from a comment of his in an interview sometime in November. "I'm familiar with him." He was referring to Chip Kelly. He had planned for him in the NFL. He sounded confident. Chip likes numbers advantages. Wink baited Chip into numbers "advantages" - too bad Chip didn't adjusted for what Wink knew. Graham and Grant count as 2. Masterful. Also, I was convinced early on that Lamar Morgan was a failed hire and way over his head. Then he and Wink work all year together and we roll out a secondary of Berry, Hall, Paige, Johnson and Walker that doesn't surrender a play over 24 yards. The transition had a ton of obstacles. Wink, a guy that is known as a great developer of coaching talent, had never coached with these guys, then they practiced against our pathetic offense. Not ideal. Real world calibration started with the Longhorns and finished in Columbus. A similar late rise came with the linebackers, our crew looked well short of what it should have playing behind Graham and Grant...that changed in late November. Better late than never. I hope this staff stays in tact. They could do big things next year especially with a Rod Moore return.
-@Anison early this year responded to me and to others here with a saying that I'm thinking is going to be the basis of a successful era #letsherronecook. During the times that things look bleak, Sherrone is still cooking - to the extent Warde has to mandate he can't sleep at Schemy. The results of that cooking early on taste real good. We were 5-5 with a sure loss to OSU on the horizon in mid-November and an offense looking to go nowhere. Three days after the OSU game we have a win for the ages, Bryce Underwood and are replacing our OC to go a new and better direction. Sherrone was cooking. Guess what, Sherrone is still cooking and will continue to cook. Jim may have known something (shocking).
-Speaking of Sherrone's cooking, sometimes the critical ingredients seem like the smallest and most insignificant. Our national championship team was layered great coaches who had great support. The young Jesse Minter had his DAD in the analyst room, a long time DC and Head Coaching veteran. Our secondary tasked with slowing down OSU. Well, that had not only Clink, but Jay Harbaugh and a Mallory brother in the analyst room. Filthy abundance of riches. Along these lines a move that to me leaps out nearly as much as an Underwood land, is the hiring of our offensive line analyst to assist our young rising star Oline coach who had an uneven year. Juan Castillo, offensive line analyst. This dude spent 13 years under none other than Andy Reid, including as his offensive line coach. Then spent time with John Harbaugh and between oline gigs spent a year here under Jim as an analyst, so he's fully familiar with our culture too. If there is such a thing as a homerun analyst hire - and I contend there should be, this is it. We will see dividends here. Sherrone is cooking.
What am I still hoping to see? A Rod Moore return (would be the biggest news of the offseason he's special), a punter (wtf was with Doman's departure) and some reason to believe we are doing good things at the wide receiver position. We won a national title with meh development and deployment of receivers - under a savant hall of fame coach. We won't do that again. It's time we put ourselves back on the map with wide receiver production. Finally, the fit between Lindsey and Moore. In a lifetime of watching and to a small degree participating in football, I know fit is tenuous. Two minds and approaches respectfully trying to find a middle ground between two philosophies is a delicate, delicate art that has every bit as much potential to fail as is does succeeding. Fingers crossed that Moore and Lindsey disappear into a room and come out with a championship approach to offense and then can carry that forward when the bullets are flying and the adjustments are made. There's ZERO guarantee there.
In all, I and we remain spoiled. We begin the year with Michigan playing Alabama in a national semi-final and end the year watching us play Bama in the Outback Bowl in our rebuilding year. Every college football fan should have it so good.
Go Blue and Happy New Year to everyone.
