This season has been as eye opening as any prime time Bachelor/Bachelorette episode...
...nah, I don't watch that crap.
But Prime Time drama has been the operating phrase for this season, one where play has been overstated, hype has been overrated, and people with only a casual knowlege of football can be carried down the primrose path by outlandishly ridiculos football takes.
Prime Time being on GMA after beating CSU in OT...Yes, the same CSU people (including many Michigan fans) criticized Michigan for having on the scheule in 2022. But somehow, GMA hosted the HC of a program that I, even after the "impressive" win over Nebraska (are you kidding?) knew wasn't going to beat any legit teams.
Football fans knew that the team wasn't good, casual observers didn't, yet mny football fans actually threw out everything they knew to follow ABC's corronation of Neon, and his "Heisman Contender" son.
Before the season, and after Jim Harbaugh publicly pushed his repeated calls for TV revenue sharing for players, Jim was suspended for, once again, something that didn't seem serious, but, after stonewalling and taking the 3 game suspension, the NCAA and B1G continued to attack.
The sports media then employed a smear campaign against Jim- Leaking inside information to distract and damage the program. Drip, drip, drip of unverified rumors dovetailing into the genral internet crap feast of fake BS. But never has such unverified information been dropped in such a way during a football season.
We're all a witness to what happened, but many have falling victim to the titlilation: Any and every unverified rumor or tweet needs to be deconstructed and broken down, regardless of whether they lack logic, thought, or merit.
For some reason, there's a contingent of our fanbase primed to believe the worst, wherever it comes from. People who complain about, and disparage ESPN, or Comp, or Feinbaum, or Steven A. Smith come running to this board as if they have been speaking "The Gospel" when they come with an anti-Michigan spin.
I laughed at Gus pregame this past Saturday when he gravely stated, with the utmost theatrics and gravity "In...Person..Scouting"...It sounded bad, but still based on all former football players on ESPN, and everyone who actually knows about football scouting, it was nothing.
No matter how many of these talking heads TRY to make ot seem like this is felonius, it's basically jaywalking: Crossing the street is not illegal, being on the other side of the street is not a crime, but it's how you cross the street that matters- in other words scouting games and getting signs is fine, it's how you do it, which shoud warrant a ticket and not jail time.
Yet talk has led the B1G to overreact, and many in our fanbase have sadly fallen for the okey doke and follewd suit with the panick, despite no REAL information even being released- Once again only rumors.
An earlier thread regarding "Stal Bombs", multiple Michigan fans on this board dismissed the validity of the information, yet run here with negative Twitter posts as if they are fact. As Michigan fans, we need to stop falling into traps set by others.
As usual there's never, ever been a more negativly focused fanbase.
It's the ease of which outsiders and their information, much of it fed by rival programs. A supposed Michigan fan breathlessly posted an Urban meyer interview about how we're never going to get to a BCS bowl on TOS, and I was amazed to see how many guys took this as gospel...As if Urban Meyer is some type of unbiased observer.
They're all entertainers- It almost seems as if some of these guys put entertainment above actual sports realities, such as : Colorado isn't good enough to make the playoffs, regardless of the fact that they have the only college HC to make a regular season appearance on GMC in years.
TV hype didn't and won't save Colorado and Deon, just like it didn't and won't affect Michigan and what goes on between the white lines.
Media rankings have never affected game play, and regardless of how people may want to spin it, UGA, OSU, and Bama are not the only good team in the nation. Regardless of the class rankings, Michigan (average 4 years cass ranking of 12th nationally) has probably the 2nd most talented roster in the nation.
We have had an average consensus class ranking over the last 4 years of 11.75...But the path is much different for building this roster: The return of seniors and 5h-year guys is the focus of our NIL, and it pays off when seeing an OL full fo 4th, 5th year, and 6th players, a DL group led by Jenkins and Harrell, as well as senior team leaders like Roman, Keegan, Zinter, Sainristil, CoJo, Mike Barrett (back for season 6), plus some really good grad transfers (Henderson, Wallace, Stewart, Barnhart, Goode, and Nugent) and voila - Michigan has another great team.
Interesting fact that none of these "studs" were even top 100 ranked players, which seems to be some invisible line whicjh automatically makes some on our base dismiss a sub top 250 recruit as "a guy who will need 3 years to produce".
Semaj Morgan is a great example. As was Rod Moore. As was Kenneth Grant. As was Roman. As was Mike Mo, Ojabo, and D.J. Turner...There has been a a continuous and what should be obvious pattern of sub top 250 recruits playing college foootball at an exceptional level.
But where are all of the five stars needed to win? Will Johnson is great, but he wasn't a part of the 2021 team. JJ was much more of a runner, and not the fulcrum of the O in 2022. Edwards has struggled this entire season, but this team has still been winning at the same clip. So it's not only on the 5-stars, as noted in 2021.
For those who buy into the "we won't be good in the future" BS, keep in mind, NOT ONE of those folks picked Michigan to win in 2021, or 2022...
Even me- "Mr. Positive Spin", didn't pick Michigan to bet OSU and win the B1G either of the last two seasons: Why? Because like many other I was mooning over JT Tumoloau, and the multitude of 5-star defenders, WRs and weapons OSU could march out there...But the second time I discoverd I was wrong, I decided to put the recruitng rankings aside and see the games fror what they really were: Drubbings
In addition they put up "empty calorie stats": Stroud averaged 371.5 Yards per game in his two games vs Michigan, and no less than 4 different WRs surpassed the 100 yards mark in the 2021, 2022 games. Marvin Harrison, who has everyone spooked, did so last season. The other 3 were Egubuka, Wilson, and JSN with Olave kincking in 88 yards...In other words Michigan DID NOT shut down oSu's passing game at all and still crushed...All of OSU's stud WRs played like studs- But we now some are petrified to face Harrison?
What new weapon is OSU bringing to the table this game? I can easily say the the biggest addition to this game must be Blake, who was not able to go last season. For those pissing down their legs about Trey Henderson, he played and was healthy in 2021, and haskins outdueled him.
Why are some so afraid?
Perhaps because they rank programs solely based on recruiting. A&M for that reason, as well as Miami, and UF consistently show up in the preseason rankings.
While many Michigan players have stayed during this run, the team has already made a huge transition from 2021 to the present day- Our 2021 team was dependent on their DE play on D, and their OL/RB play on O. Michigan beat OSU senseless with a running game (Haskins) and pressure from Hutch and Ojabo, and a starting QB who passed for 159 yards and an INT (while gaining 9 rushing yards).
2022- J.J. came out of nowhere to play great and dominnate the first half, and Edwards' 2 big runs made the game a blowout. Amazing how so many Michigan fans are going with Mark Ingram's uninformed (as well as Urban's obviously BS) take that JJ can't possibly throw the ball vs OSU if he either didn't or couldn't vs Maryland and PSU.
False.
A season ago, JJ's key games leading up to playing IN COLUMBUS:
PSU (at home) 17-24, 145 yards and an INT.
Followed by MSU (167 yards) , Rutgers, (151 yards), Nebraska (129 yards) and Illinois (208 yards). JJ completed only 56% of his passes in the 5 games leading up to OSU as well.
Despite this he went to CBus and blew them out. This is called 'a precedent"- had JJ ever played wel vs OSU before saturday's game? You wouldn't know that the answer is a definitive "Yes " because they are too wrapped up in wat Urban Meyer is saying.
We all watched it, yet some in our fanbase are so ready to dismiss what they've seen with their own two eyes in leiu of some media personality telling them how they should feel anbout this team. To me, fans like this who want to belive the worst are only fans of their own twisted, negative way of thinking, and would rather be right about the team being bad and OSU being so "scary", than to take into account that YES Michigan football is good and can play wiht anyone.
An old football fan like me can remeber the non-hype, young players coming in with humility vs demands, hard workers, underachievers, and late bloomers (Sainristil/Haskins).
An old football fan like me understands hype over substance...Hype is "Signing With The Stars" and back to back top 5 classes for Michigan in 2016 2017. Substance is classes ranked 8th, 9th, 17th, 13th, and 22nd building individul improvements and performances to couliminte in a great team that yes, does the one thing than many recruitniks diminish in importance: Winning.
Others are into the 24 hour news cycle, the shiny QBs like Quin Ewers, or Caleb Williams, and only recruiting rankings...Not wins and losses. So while some wish to trumpet future failures, these worries don't align with the fact that Michigan has not changed the way they are building and the types of players they are getting.
michigan.rivals.com
michigan.rivals.com
