Michigan (sucks!) and Notre Dame have never both had 0-2 records. But after this week there can be only one non-winner. Only one biggest loser.
Despite the vortex-like nature of Michigan (sucks!) and its fan-base, I have managed to know a few fans and/or alumni who are, eh, tolerable. One of them is our resident Michigan (sucks!) fan here at HLS, Deep Tea Kup. Mid-last week, I asked him to write up a preview of the ND/Michigan (sucks!) game from his perspective. So he did, but he reserved the rights to heavy editing if Michigan (sucks!) looked bad against Oregon. So, guess what! Now I’ve got two Michigan (sucks!) perspective previews. So I’ll present his latest and give some background info on his former work if and when he makes any references to it.
Bare with DTK. Not only is he a Michigan (sucks!) fan, he’s also a Canadian living in San Francisco, so, you know, English probably isn’t his medium.
Michigan Preview (Heavily Revised)
We learned a lot about the Michigan team last week, and from the standpoint of a diehard UM fan, most of it was the opposite of good. The hardest lesson we learned is that the game has indeed passed Lloyd Carr by. Other UM fans may disagree and say that this happened much earlier, but I truly think that Lloyd’s heart just was not into it this year. He just wanted the team to have a great season so he could appoint one of his assistants to the Head Coaching job as he rides off in to the sunset.
On to this week, the first of at least 3 matchups between the emu (Jimmy C) and the goose (Mallet, I know you guys are going with the “lurch” lurch thing but he reminds me more of a long necked goose). Let’s not kid ourselves though, based on what we have seen the first two weeks, this game will most likely not be on ESPN classic any time soon, this will be a hard game to watch if you like your football played with some level of competence.
Offense: For the first time since Drew Henson in 2000, UM is losing a QB to injury. Chad Henne will have to wait until later this year (if ever) to become UM’s all time leader in TD passes (currently tied). In his place, much hyped, very tall, rocket armed texan Ryan Mallet makes his first career start. He played one half last week and showed some flashes but it is really hard to give an accurate assessment as of yet because 1) he was probably getting 10-15% of snaps in practice 2) many players flat out gave up in the second half. One thing for sure, this kid has one of the best arms I have ever seen, whether or not he has touch remains to be seen, but he can definitely make all the throws. I seriously doubt Debord and Carr will open up the playbook for his first start but I think this kid has a pretty bright future. Not sure what to expect from Mario, looked like he was breaking off a lot of routes in the second half last week. Expect to see Mike “shut your damn mouth and act like a captain by not yelling at your O-line in the middle of the game” Hart running the ball about 40 times on Saturday, even if ND does unveil the first ever 6-2-3 defense. After which, I will be left with nothing but semi-wet dreams about who the next coach will be (Tedford, Schiano, hell even Les Miles).
Defense: Awful. Nothing really to say here. Last year was all smoke and mirrors (and Harris, Woodley, Branch, Biggs, and Hall). The supposed strength (D-line) is a joke, Tim Jamison is slower and weaker than he was as a Freshman, Terrance Taylor can’t beat a single team much less a double team, and the best LB (Crable) is playing DE (poorly). The LB’ers are worse (mainly because Crable is playing out of position) but what is even more infuriating is that it is mostly fundamentals. All fans say this in frustration, but I really do think I have seen High School teams with better tackling technique than UM’s front seven. they can (sometimes) get to the ball, they just can’t make a stop when they get there. The only bright spots have been the two starting corners (Trent and Donovan Warren), most if not all of the big passing plays have been on the safeties or the nickle back (Harrison, who if I remember right had originally committed to ND). For me, the big worry with ND is, do they have the personnel to go 4-5 wide and exploit the glaring weakness in the pass defense? I’m pretty sure JC is not going to rush for 100, but who knows, maybe DJ will start this week and do his own Vince Young impersonation against the UM defense.
Special Teams: What I said originally pretty much holds true here, I think I’ve spent more time writing about UM’s special teams than the coaches spent working with the players. Summary: good punter, FG kicking is fun to watch at least, return game sucks. (DTK said of the Special Teams after week 1: Good punter, FG blocking sucks ass, no Breaston but hopefully by ND game Carlos Brown is returning kicks and Johnny Sears is forced to go to the locker room during punts just in case he accidentally makes on to the field.)
Prediction: I guess someone has to win. I think UM backs up Hart’s guarantee, UM 21 ND 16, but no UM fan ever gets to talk trash about this game ever.
So there you have it: DTK is being talked down from the Golden Gate bridge on a daily basis. MGoBlog.com has, essentially, given up on the season and begun the coaching search for the new Michigan (sucks!) head coach, and yet we still have a prediction of a Michigan (sucks!) win. Hey, DTK is a pretty cool dude, but I never said he’s real bright.
Anyway, thanks DTK!
Pictured Here: DTK seen heading home for Boxing Day
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I still think Henne starts. I never trust anything someone from michigan says.
I see where we’re 7 point ‘dogs this weekend. If you’d asked me three weeks ago if I thought we’d be 0-2 heading into this game, I’d have thought you were crazy
gw, whatever, just don’t be shocked to see a 6’7 QB hadning off to a 5’7 RB 40 times on Saturday.
domer, you know I couldn’t come on here and predict an ND victory. Thanks for the high praise, means a lot coming from you.
Well, DTK, I guess neither of us would have predicted this mess a few weeks ago. I almost wish it weren’t going to be on TV.
DTK, I’d have been disappointed if you didn’t predict a win for Michigan (sucks!). At least now everyone knows you aren’t one of those lame fans that bounces around on other teams’ fan sites and trashes their own team.
GW, nah, I never feel that way. Life has been pretty good all in all as a UM fan. As bad as they are playing right now, I’ll still get up on Saturday with that nervous energy I always get on a gameday.
Domer, just trying to be objective.