Completely Random Thoughts

While watching the Oregon game, a few thoughts popped into my mind:

- Chad Henne must've been out with a bruised vagina in the second half. I didn't think it was too serious, but now that he's doubtful for the Notre Dame game it must be pretty bad.

- Watching SS Jamar Adams and MLB John Thompson point fingers at each other wondering who was supposed to be covering the WR that just got wide open for a catch was amusing. I couldn't help but wonder why either one of them was supposed to have man coverage on somebody that neither could cover. Are the defensive coaches just that dumb? I mean they still can't figure out how to even slow down a spread attack. One guess what Notre Dame is going to try to do next week.

- I think Michigan's offense was walking around with two peg legs by the 2nd quarter with all the times they shot themselves in the foot. They had 215 yards of total offense less than 1 minute into the 2nd quarter and they couldn't score points to save their life.

- I was pleasantly surprised any time Oregon got less than 10 yards on a play from scrimmage.

- Why not just toss injuries on top of embarrasment with guys like Henne and Hart and Long and Brandon Graham and others all going down.

- On the plus side, I think Michigan is going to wrap up their fall from grace all into one season. No long, slow slides into mediocrity here. Let's just go 2-10 and get it over with.

- It was sort of refreshing to watch Michigan get hammered yesterday. This was no gut wrenching, agonizing defeat that Michigan fans had grown so accustomed to. 32 point margin of defeat? The horrible five loss campaign in 2005 featured losses by a combined 21 points. This was not a Lloyd Carr Michigan team. Carr's teams would get down by 21 points and then claw back to make it exciting in the final minutes before folding. I've never seen them just completely quit before. There are some serious off the field issues going on with this team.

- Mike Hart may have guaranteed a win over Notre Dame, but somebody forgot to tell him that he is the only player that even showed up against Oregon so I hope he isn't expecting too much help against the Irish.

- Thank God for the Big Ten Network so I will be spared the pain of watching much of this team. It's easy to not go to a bar to watch the game. It's hard to not watch it when it's on ABC or ESPN.

- There are some teams around the Big Ten licking their chops right now at the thought of facing this Michigan team. It's going to be like sharks with blood in the water. Minnesota, Michigan State, Indiana, Purdue, etc. have all been dying for a shot at a Wolverine team this bad. Hell, you know Penn State fans will be praying to finally end their massive losing streak regardless of how bad the Michigan team is.

- I feel sorry for Appalachian State. Their "historic" upset just doesn't look so impressive any more. You beat 2007 Michigan. Congrats. That might carry as much weight as beating Northwestern. I mean objectively, Michigan lost at home to a D1-AA team and got blown off the field at home by a middle of the road Pac Ten team. That's not very impressive.

- The first 11 games of the 2006 season are sure looking like an aberration right now. Michigan is 18-11 in their last 29 games, including those 11 wins. That's 7-11 from the 2004 OSU and 2005 Rose Bowl through the entire 7-5 campaign in 2005 and with the most recent 4 straight losses.

- Do I really want to look at how spread teams have fared over the last few years against Michigan? Probably not. It's been ugly. I think a well coached HS spread attack could score 20+ on Michigan. Ball State made it look easy enough on offense last year.

- Something I never thought of last week, but does D-1A still have that rule about only counting a win over a D-1AA opponent towards bowl eligibility once every four years? If so, Michigan still has that one in the bag for future use which is nice.

- I was really worried about how Michigan would replace Steve Breaston as punt returner this year. Fortunately, Michigan will not be returning many punts so that isn't as big of a concern as I had originally thought. Whew. Unfortunately, his talents as a kick returner are missed much more than I had anticipated.