This is a little long, but it’s hilarious and dead on!
“You need to be reminded that they’re called special teams – not special needs teams.”
Tag: fire Rich Rodriguez
I don’t know if you’ve been able to figure out over the course of the season which team I root for when it comes to college football, but I’ll admit that it’s not Michigan. I do, however, live near thousands and thousands of Michigan fans, and most of my friends root for the Maize and Blue, so I’ve heard a lot of this lately: Fire Rich Rod!!! (Their exclamation points, not mine.)
Ohio State defeated Michigan 37-7 today in a game that really wasn’t competitive past midway through the second quarter. It’s the seventh straight loss to the Buckeyes for Michigan, and it could be the final game for Rich Rodriguez in Ann Arbor.
Let me rephrase that, it should be the last game in Ann Arbor for Rich Rodriguez. Through three years, Rodriguez has won 15 games, six of which have come in Big Ten play. One of those wins came against the top half of the conference — a crazy victory over Wisconsin in his first season — and none of them have come against Michigan’s two biggest rivals, Michigan State and Ohio State.
Those are incredibly damning statistics, and while this team is obviously better than the last two years, there is no way any Michigan fan can claim enough progress has been made over these three years to be satisfied. The defense is awful, and that doesn’t look like it’s going to change too much next year, as it will still be young and void of talent at most positions. That can partially be solved with a new defensive coordinator and scheme, but then again, it will be the third coordinator and scheme in four years, which can only cause confusion.
Then there’s the matter of the offense, which has the potential to be incredibly explosive. It also has the ability to completely sputter against good, physical defenses, like it did today against Ohio State.
The only reason to keep Rodriguez around is because of his offense, and I suppose you could make a decent argument that the Wolverines should score a lot again next year as most all of the offense is coming back. But one more year of that system, and the recruits Rodriguez is bringing in to run it will only further create a problem for the next coach, who no doubt will be in the “Michigan Man” mold, and run a power-based, play-action offense that has proven it can work in the Big Ten.
There’s also the thought that Michigan’s most prized target, Jim Harbaugh, has reached his peak at Stanford, and when Andrew Luck leaves for the NFL, Harbaugh could do the same. A Michigan offer could be the one thing to keep Harbaugh in the college ranks, as he’s an alum. But once he goes pro, he’s not coming back to the college game without being fired.
Michigan AD Dave Brandon has a big decision to make, but it also seems pretty crystal clear at this point. He has to fire Rich Rodriguez.
There’s no shame in losing to Iowa, even at home. I just want to get that out of the way right now.
There is shame, however, in winning four Big Ten games (two against Indiana) in a little more than two seasons. That’s what Rich Rodriguez and Michigan are looking at right now. Needless to say, that’s not sitting well with Michigan fans.
And it shouldn’t. Rodriguez is in his third year at Michigan, and the same problems keep coming up. He has an offense that’s explosive, but prone to turnovers and breakdowns against good teams. A big part of that is the fact he’s had a first-year starter in each of his three years. As good as Denard Robinson has been this year, I think people forget that he’s a sophomore who didn’t start until Week 1 against UConn.
The real problem, however, is the defense. Oh, the defense. Part of it’s scheme, as Michigan has recruited for, and dedicated itself to the 3-3-5. I don’t think that defense is built for the Big Ten, which features mostly teams that want to run the ball down your throat and hit you with play-action passing. But even more than that is the general lack of talent and fundamentals on the field. Sure, injuries have hurt, especially in the secondary, but that shouldn’t excuse a linebacker’s inability to tackle someone.
Today’s loss to Iowa dropped Michigan to 5-2 on the year, which isn’t bad, especially considering who the losses came to. But unless something changes quickly, the losses are going to continue to pile up. I have a hard time seeing the Wolverines beating Ohio State (which would put Rodriguez at 0-6 against the Buckeyes and Michigan State, his two biggest rivals), which is three losses. Wisconsin at home is winnable, but would you put your money on the Wolverines? How about against an improved Illinois team? Or even at Purdue, which seems to have found new life lately?
Michigan could realistically be looking at 7-5, or even 6-6. There’s no way Rodriguez survives that. The Michigan fanbase would have Dave Brandon’s head on a silver platter if he did.
At 8-4, I think there’s a clear improvement, but with losses to Wisconsin and Ohio State at the end of the year, would there be a bad enough taste in Michigan’s mouth to go elsewhere?
A couple things need to be looked at here, though, before Michigan thinks of pulling the plug. For one, Rodriguez has recruited specifically for his style, especially on offense, and if the Wolverines brought in a pro-style coach, you would expect at least one more transition year. Second, the man Michigan covets more than anyone is Jim Harbaugh. Would he be receptive to leaving Stanford for his alma mater? Would he go elsewhere if Michigan isn’t hiring this offseason? Let’s not get into the meltdown that could occur if Michigan fires Rodriguez and Harbaugh says no.
Michigan has a bye week coming up, and it couldn’t come at a better time for the Wolverines on the field. Off it, however, this will be the only topic of conversation for two weeks.
According to a report by ESPN.com, the NCAA is accusing the Michigan football program of breaking five rules violations under head coach Rich Rodriguez.
In its notice of allegations — which Michigan received Monday — the NCAA said Rodriguez “failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance within the football program.” He tracked neither what his staff was doing nor whether his players were following NCAA rules, particularly those limiting the time spent on practice and football-related activities, the report said.
It also said the athletics department failed to make sure its football program was complying with NCAA regulations. Brandon said the department “clearly made mistakes,” but “there was no charge of loss of institutional control” — an allegation that in previous cases has led to severe NCAA sanctions for other schools.
Michigan has 90 days to respond and will appear at an NCAA hearing on infractions in August. The school will see how its internal investigation matches up with the NCAA findings and will consider implementing self-imposed sanctions, a move that could reduce NCAA penalties.
The NCAA said last October that it was looking into the Wolverine program following a report in the Detroit Free Press citing anonymous football players that said Michigan exceeded NCAA limits regarding practices and workouts in 2008 and 2009.
NCAA regulations allow players to spend eight hours a week on mandatory workouts during the offseason and several Michigan players have told the media that they spent two to three times that amount on required workouts. The players also said the amount of time they spent on football activities during the season exceeded the weekly limit of 20 hours, as well as the daily limit of four hours.
It would be naïve to think that other programs aren’t exceeding these practice times as well, but it sounds like what Rodriguez was doing was excessive. He, along with the Michigan program, have a serious problem on their hands.
Rodriguez has been nothing short of a disaster so far in Ann Arbor and if the Wolverines suffer another losing season (which would be their third straight), then I don’t know how the AD can keep Rich Rod on the sidelines. They’re showing support for him in light of these compliance issues, but one more bad year of football would probably end Rodriguez’s short tenure at UM.
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