Attention to Detail

Note: This is not my work. I did not do the research, I did not voice the opinion, I did not tell the story or transcribe the narrative. I just happen to agree with it wholeheartedly and believe that this is the most logical, most even-keeled, and overall best representation of our present situation.

If you are a subscriber to Michigan's Rivals site, you can find this under the post titled "What was, what might have been, what is, and what could be.... (long)." I have received permission from both the poster of that topic and the actual author of the words therein to post this here in an effort to spread the message it contains, not just as an effort to sway the opinion of those who still disagree, but to articulately explain and describe our collective point of view and why we hold it.

So, without further adieu:

Subject: What was, what might have been, what is, and what could be. (Jonathan) Chait made a point recently that Rich Rodriguez inherited a "hollowed out" roster. Is this really the case? Let's look at who the starters were for the second game of the 2008 season. QB: Steve Threet RB: McGuffie/Brown/Shaw (with Minor on double-secret probation) LT: Ortmann LG: McAvoy C: Molk RG: Moosman RT: Schilling TE: Butler WR: Stonum WR: Odoms DE: Graham DT: Taylor DT: Johnson (with Martin making early contributions) DE: Jamison (with Van Bergen making contributions) WILL: Mouton MIKE: Ezeh SAM: Thompson CB: Warren CB: Trent FS: Brown SS: Harrison That offense was young. You had a redshirt freshman QB, two true freshman WR's, and three new starters on the OL. Conversely, the defense was a solid unit. Not hollow in the least! The DL should have been the Big Ten's best that year, or at least close to it. You had a senior Thompson at SAM, a returning starter in Ezeh at MIKE, and Jonas Mouton ready at WILL - and he played some good football in '08. Warren and Trent were a solid duo at corner. Harrison was a senior at safety, and Brown was a junior. What could we reasonably have expected had Lloyd or DeBord continued to coach the team? In 2008, we would have surely played the type of football that many of Michigan's faithful wanted to see go away: conservative, three-yards-in-a-cloud-of-dust, ball control football, keeping a stout defense fresh and making just enough plays throwing over the top to beat most teams. Justin Boren would have still been here in 2008 and 2009, and Manningham and/or Arrington might have been around for 2008 as well. (I am assuming Mallett and McGuffie were gone regardless.) But Steve Threet would have had a fighting chance in a passing offense behind an OL of Ortmann-Boren-Molk-Moosman-Schilling with Manningham and Arrington at WR, and Stonum and Hemingway behind them. Certainly a better shot than he did running read-option and throwing to freshmen. When you look back at 2008, think of all the games that were there to be won: Utah, Toledo, Purdue, MSU... even PSU and ND. Under Coach Mike DeBord, that team probably goes 7-5 or even 8-4 (and DeBord gets skewered by fans for doing so). Due to some recruiting misses at safety and on the offensive line (which resulted in some shaky play on the right side for the last few years of the Carr Era), and a perfect storm of Henne, Hart and Long all graduating at once, Vince Lombardi could not have done better than 8-4 in 2008. 3-9, however, was a fail under any coach. Now play the tape through. In 2009, you lose Jamison, Taylor, Johnson, Thompson, Trent and Harrison off the defense. Martin and Sagesse step in at tackle (and in hindsight, we know Martin was ready to be an impact player, with Van Bergen at DE. Fitzgerald and Demens battle it out at the SAM. Kovacs and Brown make up a shaky safety duo. But on offense, you would have had all five OL starters returning. Minor and Brown as seniors at RB. Steve Threet in his second year starting in the passing offense we have since learned he could flourish in. And you may well have had Forcier backing up Threet. Jason loved it here and only transferred for a chance to play - the old staff probably recruits Tate and lands him. Look back on the 2009 schedule. MSU, Purdue, Iowa, even OSU... there were a couple of more wins to be had there beyond the low-hanging fruit we picked up. Probably another 7 or 8 win season. Imagine the flak Mike DeBord would have been taking! There wouldn't have been a DeBord "apologist" on De Board, despite maintaining our bowl streak and winning several more games over two years than Rodriguez did. The 2010 roster gets harder to project. But we would have certainly had Molk and Schilling starting on the OL, probably with Huyge and Dorrestein. It's difficult to project the other OL's because the rest are Rodriguez recruits - and this is one area where he and his staff have done a bang-up job (better than their predecessors). It's also difficult to project who the running backs would be - but this was not a stellar year for our RB's, so you can at least assume that whoever Carr & Co. brought in would be no worse. But instead of a first year starter in Denard, you'd have had a fourth year junior Steve Threet at quarterback, now in his third year starting in a pro-style system. He'd have been throwing to a well-seasoned Stonum and Hemingway, with probably Kelvin Grady as the 3rd/slot receiver. Toney Clemons is probably still hanging around somewhere, perhaps making more rap singles with a 5th year senior Coner. On defense, we know the anchors of the line would have been Martin and Van Bergen, and we'd have had Ezeh, Mouton, and Fitzgerald/Demens together for a third straight year under the same system, and probably getting better coaching than they have under the Rodriguez regime. That may well have been a really good linebacking corps had things been different. Donovan Warren would likely still be here at corner with Floyd and Rogers and whoever else Lloyd might have recruited competing across from him. Much better than the mess we had this year. I couldn't even begin to tell you who the safeties would be. Teric Jones and one of the Gordons? Rogers or Floyd at FS? Couldn't be any worse than what we had. Had the Bo/Mo/Lloyd program continued under DeBord, it's a good bet the last three years would have averaged about 8-4, and people would be very dissatisfied with that. Gary Moeller was ostensibly fired for the Southfield incident, but in reality he was fired for losing four games in 1993 and 1994. It would have been perfectly fair to be disgruntled with the state of the program had things continued on their old course. Almost any organization, be it business, education, whatever, can get stale without new ideas coming in from the outside. And it was frustrating to be able to see the top of the mountain from where we were, only to continue coming up short. The 2004 and 2005 OSU games that LITERALLY slipped just through our hands... the calamitous starts to 1998 and 2007... the Rose Bowl losses to USC in 2003 and 2006. Some, however, cautioned that a wholesale dismantling of the program means you are throwing the baby out with the bath water. And those people who so cautioned turned out to be spot on. Almost every year, under Lloyd, we woke up the morning of the OSU game knowing that we would have a shot at at least a share of the Big Ten title. We NEVER woke up on any Saturday assuming Michigan would lose. Many if not most people took that for granted, and assumed that anyone who came from the outside and took over after Lloyd would automatically have that and just add to it. But that's not how it works (as we have very painfully discovered). By electing to completely throw away everything that Michigan was and start with a blank piece of paper, we ended an historic streak of non-losing seasons, the longest active bowl streak, and at many points over the next three years became a national joke. Now, were there people who didn't accept Rich Rodriguez from day one? Hell yes. Many fans had reservations. You had the Rosenbergs of the world. And you had some people internally. But the fact of the matter is, this is no different from transitions at any big football program - and it's not even unprecedented at Michigan. There was great resistance to Bo Schembechler when he took over for Bump Elliott. For the rest of his life Bo maintained that he never could have gotten off the ground without the support he got from Bump during the transition, and this was a "lasting lesson" that Lloyd did not take from Bo. It wasn't enough to stay out of Rich's way and resist actively undermining him. If Lloyd wanted to do what was best for Michigan, he should have been Rich's loudest, most visible fan. And behind the scenes, he should have been telling his former players who were not "all in" to man up and f*****g GET all in! Now... Rich was not blameless, either. The special joy he took in dismantling the program in order to fully rebuild it in his own image was something that would have sickened Bo. When Bo took over, there was absolutely a new sheriff in town, but he came to the job with an acute awareness of the brand he was inheriting. He had his own way of doing things, but he was not trying to fashion a "Bo Schembechler program" or recreate any past success. His job was to do the best he could with MICHIGAN - it was bigger than he was. And he knew it. Rich doesn't seem to understand that quite so well. Further... many insiders will tell you that Rich was like a bull in a china shop within the walls of Schembechler Hall. While he said the right things publicly, inside he routinely disparaged what he had been left by Lloyd and criticized Lloyd's program, apparently too dense to realize that most of the people still involved with the program were former colleagues and admirers of Carr. He established a tone from the start that all but invited the skeptics to actively undermine him, and he did little to earn the respect that he very much needed from Lloyd Carr. In short: don't portray Rich as merely a victim of a stodgy blueblood establishment. There's plenty of blame to go around for why this marriage didn't work out, and that includes Rich. He had his own "faction". And none of this political intrigue cost Michigan a single win under Rodriguez. What DID cost us wins? I agree with those who are believers in the Rodriguez offense. It works, and has the potential with an experienced, talented group to be absolutely explosive. He's an elite offensive mind. It's easy to say, "all we need to do is improve the defense a little and we'll win 10 games!" But there's a reason that fixing the two phases at which we are historically bad is not likely, and it goes deeper than X's and O's and star gazing and all the directly observable factors. Whether it's the New England Patriots, Ohio State, Google, Apple, Hyundai, GE.... some programs are able to build a culture of attention to detail. It's a common denominator in high performing organizations in sports, in business, everywhere. In a game with 22 players on the field, with that many moving parts, everyone doing their job is critical, and it's about more than just "making plays". Breakdowns in execution, breakdowns in fundamentals, breakdowns in concentration, breakdowns in ball security... when it happens week after week after week, you may not be able to pinpoint the exact cause of the pattern, but it IS a pattern that DOES have a root cause. When Denard puts the ball on the ground like clockwork EVERY WEEK, when Lewan picks up a personal foul EVERY WEEK, when Jeremy Gallon makes a bad decision or fumbles the ball EVERY WEEK, when Roy Roundtree drops passes EVERY WEEK... it all falls under the category of "attention to detail". That culture of attention to detail simply is not there under Rodriguez. Look back at the fumble stats for Rich Rodriguez teams. Fumbling has been a problem all three years here, and it was a problem on four of his teams at West Virginia. Maybe it's that his teams consistently have the ball in the hands of small players who can't absorb a hit and hold onto the football as well. Or maybe ball security isn't worked on enough (and actively enforced through the withholding of playing time). But West Virginia fumbled away a shot at the National Championship against Pitt in 2007, losing three and having one or two others kill drives. On 7 of Rich's last 10 teams - different programs, different players - fumbling has been a major problem. There is only one common denominator: Rich Rodriguez. Attention to detail. West Virginia ended up with the nation's #3 defense this year (Catseel, without Rodriguez), and Syracuse ended up #6 (Shafer, without Rodriguez). Greg Robinson, with two Super Bowl rings in his trophy case, presided over the nation's #109 defense - the bottoming out of a three year trend. The difference in competition between the Big East and Big Ten cannot account for that kind of disparity - especially when West Virginia and certainly Syracuse don't have near the level of recruited talent that Michigan does. Attention to detail. The utter cluster*** that is our kicking and return game - despite three years of recruiting ideal kick/punt returner prototypes and having a US Army All-American kicker AND punter on the roster - is another area where attention to detail (or the lack thereof) is painfully evident. Special teams is ALL about coaching and attention to detail. Ohio State and Virginia Tech have great special teams every year. Their preparation and attention to detail allows them to be better in this phase than we are. At Tulane and Clemson, Rich was only responsible for the offensive scheme and play calling - a job at which he is nothing short of exceptional. And at Glenville State and West Virginia, the level of competition allowed offensive scheme alone to carry the day - along with catching lightning in a bottle in the form of Steve Slaton and Pat White (who in addition to great speed had exceptional instincts and timing on the read option - something Denard and Tate do not possess). When he got to Michigan, Rich was not only responsible for the whole enchilada, but the weekly level of competition - on the recruiting trail and on the field - got ratcheted up a couple of notches, as did the expectations. His offensive thought leadership was no longer enough. Factors like management and leadership skills, and ATTENTION TO DETAIL, are the difference between success and failure when you graduate to the grownups' game as Rich did when he took this job. That's why it's not a random occurrence when Denard coughs up the football at the end of a long drive against Ohio State. It's what Denard does! His 10 fumbles this year are less than only Taylor Martinez (11) and Fresno State QB Ryan Colburn (12). He's fumbled as many times this month as Mike Hart fumbled in his entire career, and it's criminally negligent that the problem hasn't been coached out of him in two full seasons. Historically, it's what Rich Rodriguez teams do. Attention to detail. And a microcosm of the offense under Rich: brilliant enough to move you all the way down the field, mistake-prone enough to not finish the job against the real good defensive competition. The scheme works beautifully. The execution all too frequently derails it. On balance, there were plenty of reasons why Rich Rodriguez might not have been able to replicate his WVU level of success at Michigan. The Big East is a BCS conference in name only. WVU was Rich's alma mater, and as a favorite son the leadership challenge of getting everyone pulling in the same direction was not nearly as daunting. Morgantown is a small town that doesn't provide the media scrutiny of a big market like Detroit. Michigan is simply a bigger, tougher job than West Virginia was for him. While Rich is an offensive thought leader - unquestionably one of the top offensive minds in the game - the challenge of being the czar of this particular program appears to be beyond his management and leadership abilities. Here's the real distillation of the arguments over the relative fullness of the cupboard and what Rodriguez could have or should have accomplished: Lloyd had left us in a position where we were going to be in a football "recession" for a couple of years. But Rich came in and turned it into a full-on Great Depression. Just as economic tweaks and a New Deal were not enough on their own to lift America out of the Depression, defensive tweaks and a New Coordinator will not be enough to lift Michigan out of this quagmire. Rich Rodriguez will someday come to be viewed as the Herbert Hoover of Michigan football: a man not lacking for technical knowledge, but too much of a tinkerer and not a strong enough manager and leader to cope with the events of the day and halt a critical downward spiral. Ending the Great Depression required World War II to get everyone to work and energize the economy. Michigan football needs its own galvanizing event to end our Depression. Michigan football needs its FDR. NOW. Just as another great Michigan football player, Gerald Ford, said after a famous transition of power that "our long national nightmare is over"... when this nightmare hopefully ends in the coming days and we have our own transition of power, Michigan Nation must turn its lonely eyes to Jim Harbaugh. He resume belies the thoroughly moronic notion that Michigan fans only care about him because he played here. He was a Heisman finalist in college, and played for fourteen years under many different offensive systems in the NFL. He played for some coaching giants, starting with Bo Schembechler, and then Mike Ditka. He played for one of the most noted offensive minds in NFL history in Ted Marchibroda when he was with the Colts, and a fairly accomplished college offensive mind in Mike Riley when he was with the Chargers. Harbaugh has studied under some big time football acumen, and since his own father was a college football coach, he was probably a more keen observer of the coaching chops of his mentors than the average player. He cut his teeth as an assistant coach at Western Kentucky, serving in an unpaid capacity under his dad, Jack Harbaugh (who was Michigan's DB coach under Bo Schembechler from 1973 to 1979). Despite playing at a big time college program and starting at QB in the NFL for many years, Jim went back to school and learned his craft as a coach from an old hand - and he did it for no money in a college football backwater. He didn't have anything handed to him. He put in his time. As a head coach, he started off at the University of San Diego - a non-scholarship program in a scholarship league. He went 7-4 his first year, then 11-1 the next two, winning the Pioneer League both times. At this point, you could have made an argument that Harbaugh was an intriguing candidate for a Bret Bielema-style transition year under Lloyd. Yes, some guys like Miles and Rodriguez were more accomplished at bigger programs, but Harbaugh was by no means a "small school" guy given his Michigan and NFL experience, and Miles and Rodriguez both carried with them questions about a cultural fit - questions that were raised at the time (and turned out to be very prescient with Rich). In any case, Harbaugh took over a Stanford program that was 1-11 the year before, and was routinely recruiting classes that were not even in the top 50. They were the doormat of the Pac 10. They were Indiana. Except worse. Talk about a "hollowed out roster", Mr. Chait! In four years, he has beaten USC - the 'roided up, player-paying Darth Vader of college football - three times. In his third year, Stanford made their first bowl since 2001. This year, his fourth, he has flipped that 1-11 to 11-1 and has Stanford in position to possibly go to a BCS bowl. Their only loss was on the road at AP #1/BCS #2 Oregon. They have shut three teams out defensively and have a top 25 defense to go with a top 10 offense. This defense is nothing to sneeze at when you look at the offensive ranks of Oregon, USC, Arizona, and Steve Threet's Arizona State - all offenses in the top third of the nation. And Notre Dame, who was also on Stanford's schedule, is in the top half. They lost a Heisman finalist, Toby Gerhart, and it affected them not a bit. Finally, Stanford is about to bring in a top 20 recruiting class - their best since Rivals has been around - and if you don't think that's an accomplishment, look through the academic numbers of Harbaugh's recruits. You'll find a whole lot of them who could get into Michigan on academic merit, and I guarantee you that "we'll find out in August" are words that you will never hear uttered on the Stanford message board with regards to whether a kid will qualify. Let's look inside the numbers at exactly what Harbaugh has done to elevate Stanford's program: Scoring Defense - Improved by 13 points per game over four years (31 to 18) Scoring Offense - Improved by 29 points per game over four years (11 to 40) Ponder the enormity of this for a moment: a positive point differential of 42. Six touchdowns a game Harbaugh has added to that program! And he did it without trying to sneak academically-deficient felons through the back door. Strength of Schedule (Per Sagarin) 2007 - 10 2008 - 12 2009 - 29 2010 - 8 (YTD) This is not the Big East. In fact, Stanford has had a stronger SOS than Michigan each year. Harbaugh just went 11-1 against a top ten SOS. Recruiting Classes (per Rivals) 2007 - 51 2008 - 50 2009 - 20 2010 - 26 2011 - 11 (YTD) You cannot do a better job at either San Diego or Stanford than Jim Harbaugh has done. Given his playing pedigree, the fact that he comes from a coaching family and studied under numerous big time coaches, that he put in his time to learn the craft, then put it into practice at two different levels and was wildly successful at each, Jim Harbaugh is unquestionably the hottest coaching commodity to be ready for the big time since Urban Meyer was set to leave Utah. When you then consider that Harbaugh was a rug rat on the Michigan sidelines while his dad coached under Bo, and then starred here as a player... outside of bringing in someone who has been winning national championships elsewhere and is just ready for a change, you could not design a better candidate for the Michigan job than Jim Harbaugh. He is significantly more qualified than Rich Rodriguez was when we hired him, let alone after three years of Rodriguez failure. If Harbaugh had this same resume three years ago, Rich Rodriguez would not have even gotten a courtesy listen from Michigan. Harbaugh may have been ON the boat with Bill Martin! As it is, it's probably now or never if we want to bring Harbaugh home, and every indication is that he wants the gig. Rich has not accomplished nearly enough for us to pass on this opportunity. Now, let's address Harbaugh's controversial comments from 2007. "I would use myself as an example. I came in there, wanted to be a history major, and I was told early on in my freshman year that I shouldn't be. That it takes too much time. Too much reading. That I shouldn't be a history major and play football." Was this true? Strictly speaking, yes. But there's a major lie of omission there. Harbaugh has mild dyslexia and a reading-intensive major is a difficult choice whether you're a football player or not. This was bad, and Harbaugh would be a better man for walking that one back. It's also worth noting that Harbaugh was honored on the Big Ten All-Academic Team as a player - so there is some indication in his background that he does take academics very seriously. He had this to say on that: "Most avid college football fans, unfortunately, just think about how exciting it is to watch college players play and not think about what happens when the football comes to a screeching halt. They need to get a degree - a quality degree - and develop a skill set that helps you for the next 60-70 years." Frankly, I like the idea of someone who takes academics seriously beyond the lip service that virtually every coach pays to the classroom. The meat of Harbaugh's thoughts were this: "Michigan is a good school and I got a good education there, but the athletic department has ways to get borderline kids in, and when they're in, they steer them to courses in Sports Communications. They're adulated when they're playing, but when they get out, the people who adulated them won't hire them." This is hardly "taking a dump on the university", as many have characterized it. In fact, he made sure to delineate between the school and the football program. Michigan DOES take kids who just barely qualify, which Stanford does not. While Lloyd used to get his one or two exceptions a year for borderline kids, we take more of them under Rodriguez than we did under Carr - one more piece of evidence of a problem with cultural fit. Now, unlike SEC programs, you do have to meet those Clearinghouse requirements for real to get into Michigan, as Demar Dorsey found out. You can't fudge it at the 11th hour through correspondence courses which anyone can take for you, or senior year grades and test scores that are bizarrely inconsistent with your entire academic background. But the fact remains that most of these academically borderline kids, while some may get their sheepskin in one of the athlete-centric majors, are not going to be qualified for the types of jobs that a normal Michigan student who took a normal curriculum in college would be. When Harbaugh says these kids couldn't get hired by the people who adulated them... he's right! You probably won't see Jeremy Gallon and Mike Shaw and Jake Ryan going to work for Wall Street banks and Chicago ad agencies and Detroit auto makers if/when they graduate. (Although it does appear you can get elected to Congress in some red districts with that academic background at Michigan. The qualifications there are a bit lower.) You may not like what Harbaugh said - just as many didn't like his brashly guaranteeing a win over OSU when he played here. But just like he did then, Harbaugh backed up his arguably ill-conceived words with action and got it done, winning in a big way with a higher caliber of student than the NCAA requires. (You also won't see players fitting the profile of Gallon, Shaw and Ryan on Stanford's commitment lists.) There aren't that many schools that legitimately set a higher bar than the Clearinghouse, but Stanford is one of them, Harbaugh said he would win there... and he did, with a whole team full of players who could be academic all-americans. That's just bad ass. And let's be honest here: running your mouth, sometimes inappropriately, doesn't have to keep you from being beloved at Michigan. (See also: Hart, Mike.) But why did Harbaugh say it in the first place? "My motivation was positive. I see how it's done now at Stanford, and I see no reason it can't be the same there. I have a great love for Michigan and what it's done for me. Bo Schembechler was like a second father. Michigan is a great school and always has been, and I don't see why they can't hold themselves to a higher standard." There is no reason Harbaugh could not do at Michigan what he has done at Stanford. There is no reason, as he said, that Michigan can't hold themselves to a higher standard and still win at the level we expect. Harbaugh has already gone to a challenging conference and built a culture of toughness and attention to detail and winning football, and done it with a higher caliber of student. He has also shown he can recruit at a high level at a program known more for academics than football. Hell, he has already laid down the gauntlet for himself at Michigan- just as he did in 1986 when he guaranteed a win over OSU. "It ain't bragging if you can do it," said Dizzy Dean. There is every reason to believe Jim Harbaugh would be more successful here than Rich Rodriguez has been. This is not about what is "fair" to Rich. The team, the team, the team, right? Michigan football is bigger than Rich Rodriguez - just as Bo knew it was bigger than Bo. This is a results-oriented business, and Rodriguez has not achieved anything close to the expected results - despite attempts by many of his proponents to retroactively lower the bar. 1-13 against the top five programs in the Big Ten, 5-5 against the bottom feeders. A loss to a MAC school for the first time in school history. A defense that has gotten worse each year and has transcended "bad" into a full meltdown in many games. A kicking and return game in year three that is an embarrassment. Recruiting in decline - both in terms of average rank of player and rank of student. When Lloyd Carr went 7-5 in 2005 with an injury-ravaged team playing against the #1 or #2 toughest schedule in the nation, depending on which ranking you look at, this was considered incomprehensibly bad, and the fan base was apoplectic. Yet now 7-5 under Rich Rodriguez is considered by many to be a sign of progress? We need one more year of progress just to get back to the level that many were dissatisfied with under Carr! There is no reason to believe an overhaul of the defensive staff - after two other competent coordinators failed here - will fix the problem. The common denominator is Rich, himself, and his approach to the role of defense on a football team. Rodriguez views the defense, as Denard told us a week ago when he offered up his truly bizarre opinion that Michigan has one of the best defenses in the country, as a sparring partner for the offense. They are there to get our offense ready. Stopping other teams is the secondary objective. This will likely not change with a new set of coaches. Nor will the lack of a culture of attention to detail - the foundational deficiency of all other deficiencies. All Dave Brandon owes Rich Rodriguez is the buyout as specified in his contract - a clause which Rodriguez, as we all remember, knows about all too well from when he tried to avoid paying his after dumping WVU. Karma's a bitch, I suppose. It's time for us to move on, to bring a very successful native son home, and to let our current coach try again in a situation that better suits him.

Disillusionment

Michigan State 34, Michigan 17; 5-1, 1-1

I said yesterday we'd find out a lot about this Michigan team based on the actions and events that took place during this football game.

Well, as it turns out, we did. As it also turns out, a football team takes on the personality of its head coach; and that matters. If you had to treat a football team like some sort of dish with a bunch of ingredients, the personality would be something that has to be thrown into the mix. Other things matter, like how you recruit, how fast your players are, how big and strong they are, etc. It's a very complicated process that is even harder for outsiders like us to decipher.

Today, it was simple: Michigan State takes on the personality of its head coach. Dantonio is a lot of things. He's a hypocrite, a trash talker, and way too dramatic. But he's also tough, hard-nosed, determined, and he has successfully instilled that mindset in his football team.

On the other side, Michigan's defense plays like it's an afterthought - just like their head coach treats them.

I don't pretend to have all the answers, or even any of the answers, really. If you come here looking for seer-like wisdom about what has to happen for things to be fixed, you're probably better off going elsewhere. All I can offer here is my opinion about the state of affairs and why things are the way they are. I don't pretend to have all the facts. I base what I believe off the information that becomes available to me. So if what I have to say here upsets you and you accuse me of being a "fairweather" or "fake" fan, I respectfully tell you to kiss my ass. I've been keeping this inside since the UMass game because I didn't want to be one of "those guys" that feels the need to harp on negativity when the overall outcome is still positive. Well, after today, I no longer have that obstacle, and I'm about to bust out the flamethrower. So here it is.

Rich Rodriguez is an offensive genius. It's not his fault that Denard Robinson missed Stonum in the endzone, and misjudged a pair of crossing patterns that resulted in redzone interceptions. Certain people in certain circles will use this game as more "proof" that the spread doesn't work in the Big 10. I don't buy that even a little bit. Before the game got out of hand, Michigan went up and down the field against MSU, and their sophomore QB in his 6th career game finally cracked under the weight of having the carry an entire program on his shoulders. What Rich and the offensive coaches have done is very, very impressive.

On the other hand: Rich Rodriguez is guilty of borderline criminal negligence in regard to this so-called defense. Did Lloyd Carr leave a stocked cupboard? No. But this is Year 3, and we have no direction, no goal, no ANYTHING on defense. Why? Because our head coach is a glorified offensive coordinator who pays no attention to the other side of the ball. Because Rich Rodriguez hired Scott Shafer in 2008, and then stood by as his buddies cut Shafer's balls off and ousted him as defensive coordinator. Shafer was fired after the season, rendering the entire 2008 season moot. The stench of 3-9 sticks, but any miniscule lessons any of the players learned along the way went swirling the drain when the coordinator and scheme changed.

And then, as if trying to one-up his own stubbornness, after another catatstrophic meltdown in 2009, Rich Rodriguez "recommends" the 3-3-5 defense to his second year coordinator, Greg Robinson. It's bad enough that in Year 3, we were once again headed down a new path, defensively. It's even worse that we decided to go to a scheme that takes a defensive lineman off the field and puts an extra defensive back on. I don't have an issue with the 3-3-5 in principle. With the proper personnel and proper coaching, just about any scheme can succeed. But we decide to install a scheme (with a coordinator who has never run it before) that marginalizes our defensive line, puts more strain on our worst unit, and calls on our linebackers to react quickly and fill gaps, something they have almost no capability of doing. It's asinine, it defies logic, and it'd be laughable if it wasn't so ridiculous.

So who's to blame? Obi Ezeh was a Lloyd recruit...and in year 3 Rodriguez has failed to find anybody to get Obi off the field. Rodriguez has failed to dedicate himself to a scheme on defense like he did on offense. Rodriguez has failed to hire the proper coaches to coach the defensive side of the ball. There are massive, massive personnel deficiencies in the defensive backfield, I understand. Rodriguez didn't tell Boubacar Cissoko to lose his mind and become a thug. He didn't tell JT Turner to be lazy and not put in any effort. He didn't break Troy Woolfolk's ankle. He didn't tell Donovan Warren to leave early and go undrafted.

But he did take a gamble on Vlad Emilien after an ACL tear; didn't work out. He chose to pursue Demar Dorsey and Adrian Witty instead of trying for other recruits with better academic prospects. He has chosen to leave Tony Gibson in charge back there, when Gibson is universally mocked as nothing more than Rodriguez's drinking buddy. This kind of nepotism had Michigan fans breathing fire at Lloyd Carr for employing Mike Debord as offensive coordinator. Rodriguez isn't exempt.

So what's the solution? I ask, because I don't know. There is not a single redeeming quality about this defense. It does nothing well. I thought they'd be able to hold their own against MSU's running game. That thought was comically extinguished when Edwin Baker was GONE the second he got past the line of scrimmage, because I knew our linebackers had blown it and our DBs weren't going to be able to stop him. In a sense, this game was lost in the first quarter just like last year, because our own ineptitude allowed MSU to dictate control of the game. Last year, it was the defense being unable to get off the field despite three (!!!) MSU personal fouls, giving up a 12-minute drive culminating in MSU's touchdown to make it 7-3. This year, in a situation where we know the defense sucks and we know the offense had to be balls to the wall...we get 3 points in two drives in the redzone. Should've been 14-0 Michigan and an entirely different complexion to the game. Instead, it was only 3-0, and MSU was allowed to get into a rhythm with their offense, and of course, our defense was entirely incapable of doing anything correctly.

This is a radical thought considering what we've seen the last two and a half years, but it really DOESN'T take an act of God to install a sense of toughness and basic fundamentals in a defense. All you need are competent coaches and the proper attention to detail. Michigan has neither. Rodriguez pays no attention to the defense and leaves them to their own devices, running a scheme they (and their coordinator) are new to. The results are predictable. Apocalyptic, but predictable.

And with that, my patience runs thin with this whole experiment. Having a glitzy, rock and roll offense only goes so far. Try to remove the maize and blue glasses and look at today's game from an objective point of view. One team was physical on both sides of the ball, more or less fundamentally sound, tackled well, played solid assignment football and executed their gameplan brilliantly. The other team failed to execute in the redzone and lacked any kind of competence, execution, or toughness on the other side of the ball. Which program looks to be in better shape going forward?

Again, this isn't a blind "Fire RR" post. I'm asking. What's the solution? If you think Greg Robinson is the problem, what coordinator is out there that can stabilize things? Who can step in and install some form of toughness? Look at how the tables have turned. In a matter of what, four years, Michigan and Michigan State have become complete opposites. Michigan has gone from the old-school "boring" offense and more or less smashmouth defense to the explosive spread offense with nothing even close to a mediocre defense, while MSU has gone from the John L spread and no D to the old Michigan look of run, run, playaction, play D. Curious how this reversal of attitudes has accompanied a reversal of game results...

I'm out of answers. Disillusionment has set in, and I now look at every game left on the schedule as one we could very well lose. What's different about Iowa that will make it a different result from today? Wisconsin and Ohio State will do the same. Penn State? On the road? At night? Even with their issues, do you expect this defense to shut them down? Illinois and Purdue? Even with their personnel losses, after all the points they've put up on us the last two years, how can they be viewed as slam dunks?

With this defense, nothing is a slam dunk. And against the first truly sturdy, competent defense they've seen, this offense stalled. How many times this scenario repeats itself will determine the future. But even then, if he survives, has Rich Rodriguez done anything to cause any sort of optimism about the defense after this year?

Sure hasn't for me. In fact just the opposite. Frankly, I'll believe a Rodriguez-coached Michigan team will field a competent defense when I see it. And the way I see it, we're light years away.

What Do You Go Home To?

Some form of judgment: Saturday, 3:30 ET

	Explosions In The Sky - What Do You Go Home To? .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

What do you go home to?

For the majority of people, folks like you and me, life is, despite the drama we make of it, largely simple. We wake up in the morning, perform the tasks we have carved out for ourselves, eat at some point, socialize with colleagues at other points, and at the end of the day, at some point or another, we find our way back home, more often than not into a safe place where the world is simple and the sweet release of sleep undoes any type of stress we accumulated during the previous day. Life is a vicious circle in that the pattern of stress and agitation repeats itself; and life is cool in that there will always be that warm, cozy bed to collapse into when the day is long past and the sun is long set, and for hours, there is no trouble, no turmoil, no trepidation.

For an unlucky portion of us, the setting of the sun on the onset of fatigue offers no quarter. The soundless hours of night reserved for sleep sometimes offer a hauntingly lonesome silence, which some of us find ourselves trapped in, knowing the issues of one day are not erased by eight hours of unconsciousness. For some, what we do on any given day stays with us, no matter how terrible, and no matter how responsible we actually are for the circumstances. It's a cruel fact of life, I suppose, that even if you're a good, decent human being, sooner or later, you will find yourself awake at 3:00 AM, staring at the ceiling, unable to escape into the land of hope and dreams, trapped in the real world where there are people who despise you for what you've done and are intent on seeing your poor circumstances worsened, no matter what.

This is a situation Rich Rodriguez has found himself in for over two years now. The debate about how responsible he is for the given situation over the past 24+ months will never end, even long after he's dead and buried. But at some point, the time for debate passes, and the time for action arrives. Rarely is an opportunity presented to someone where they have the chance to exterminate a massive portion of the cancerous monkey that occupies your back, heart, and mind 24/7.

Tomorrow around 3:30, that opportunity will present itself to Rich Rodriguez.

It's been mentioned before, and has increased in frequency this week, but it's not hyperbole: This is the biggest game of Rich Rodriguez's Michigan tenure. But it's bigger than that. This is the biggest game for the winged helmets since that fateful, wretched day in Columbus in November 2006. Everything that has plagued the Rodriguez era in Ann Arbor, it all boils to the surface tomorrow afternoon at Michigan Stadium. Back to back losses to "Little Brother." Back to back seasons without a bowl game. A mythical perception of in-state dominance being lost, both in recruiting and in the eyes and minds of the public. The equally mythical perception that Rodriguez's offense is "finesse" and cannot succeed against physical Big Ten teams.

All of the above can be doused in gasoline and set ablaze in front of 110,000+ people tomorrow under the Ann Arbor sun. It will be difficult. It will be nerve-wracking, physically draining, and heart attack-inducing. With the defense being what it is, nothing is assured, no matter what. A shootout seems likely. And if I could pick only one coach in America to coach my team through an offensive explosion, I would pick Rich Rodriguez.

The moment he arrived in East Lansing as Michigan State head coach, Mark Dantonio had one priority in mind: Make the Michigan-Michigan State game matter again. Under John L, the game became a farce because MSU was so woefully coached. They could always be counted on to make the critical mistake and were just generally outclassed in essentially every aspect. It became an afterthought on Michigan's schedule. Dantonio vowed to change that, to make the Spartans tougher, to make them matter to everyone of the maize and blue persuasion; players, coaches, and fans alike.

Congratulations, Mark. You have our complete attention.

There will be no more underestimating. No more overlooking. No more dismissive waves from Michigan fans who can't be bothered to invest any time worrying about State. Since he opened his stupid, childish, hypocritical mouth three years ago, I've wanted to see Mark Dantonio suffer. He's made it abundantly clear how important this game is to him, black mark on the soul, all that theatrical nonsense like he's some kind of character in a dramatic football movie. When he had his heart attack last month, all that was set aside. That's not the kind of fate I wish upon the man. I want him to live a long and very healthy life. The kind of suffering I have in mind for that miserable wretch is the kind that Michigan can inflict on him tomorrow. I'd prefer to see 60 points and 700 yards and Sam the Eagle (Google it) trudging off the field with that same hateful look on his face like he just watched his dog get plowed by the mailman's truck in slow motion. Those extravagant numbers aren't realistic, so I'll settle for a small victory. One point more is all that's needed. A one point differential is all that's needed to extinguish the Big Lie, to push the mute button on the noise, to put the kids back in the crib.

I alluded to it last summer. The doomsday clock is ticking down once again. Around 6:30, 7:00 tomorrow evening, it will strike 0 for somebody. When that happens, what will we go home to?

A Quick Public Service Announcement for Michigan Fans

Real life interfered today, so the Run Chart won't be out until late tonight. My apologies, and I will do my best to make sure it's out much earlier than this from here on out.

Now, with that aside...

10 years ago, before Rivals and Scout and all that, recruits were, aside from the true diehards who had access to the limited recruiting services that were out there, anonymous to fans and flew way under the radar until they arrived on campus at their colleges of choice. As the recruiting services have come to prominence and become mainstream, though, nobody's anonymous anymore. Fans know who just about everybody is now, and most of the time, this is a big advantage, because these recruits are still 16, 17, 18 year old kids, and they love the limelight, and having complete strangers shouting their names and praising them makes them feel like rockstars and paints the school in a positive light.

On the other hand, it opens the door to all kinds of jackassery. So I'll be blunt and right to the point, no whimsical musing here.

If you are the person who verbally attacked Anthony Zettel after Saturday's game because he hasn't committed to Michigan yet, or if you're the tool who flipped off James Ross and his father because they wore red and white ST. MARY'S PREP SWEATSHIRTS to the game, you're a piece of shit, and I'm embarrassed to cheer for the same team as you. Go jump off a cliff.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

Waiting on a Friend

Michigan 30, UConn 10; 1-0

	The Rolling Stones - Waiting on a Friend
	Found at skreemr.org

60 minutes into the 2010 season, and I'm wondering if Rich Rodriguez is intent on driving me batshit crazy by running the ball 50-60 times a game and making my Run Charting obscenely extensive.

This was actually a tangible thought that popped into my head, I think it was sometime during the third quarter, as Denard Robinson wiggled and darted for another first down. As the kid called Shoelace burst through the line with his EA Sports NCAA 11 99-rated acceleration, I actually thought that he was making my hobby as an amateur blogger more difficult. The fact that this thought occurred to me means that I wasn't being crushed by the sense of impending doom that has lingered over this program for the better part of two years. It means that through the tempest, there was what alcoholics refer to as a moment of clarity. Clarity in the form of Rich Rodriguez's offense showing signs of what kept Big East defensive coordinators awake at night years ago.

It's why when I see tweets like this...

I hate the spread offense. Hate it. It isn't practical to getting kids ready for the next level. And it can get your QB killed.

...I get a little ticked off. Not once during Denard's slicing and dicing of Connecticut did Rich Eisen tweet anything like, "Wow, look at this kid" or "Holy cow, he's fast." He didn't say anything. Completely silent until Denard got dinged in the 3rd quarter and Devin Gardner had to go in (more on that in a bit). If you've followed Rich Eisen on Twitter for a while (since say, last season) like I have, you'll know his issue is not with an offense failing to prepare quarterbacks for the NFL or exposing them to injury. His issue is with a coach he doesn't like coaching at his alma mater running an offense he doesn't like.

Putting aside the fact that Chad Henne was in pieces by the time the 2007 regular season ended and the fact that there was some neat little research done by an astute reader over at MGoBlog debunking the myth that spread QBs are injured more than pro-style QBs - link escapes me, help would be appreciated - this is a bigger issue. (UPDATE: MGoBlog user MGoShoe has provided me with links to fellow MGoBlog user MCalibur's QB Fragility series: One, two, and three.) An issue that there remain people who will be selectively critical, conveniently shutting up when things are peachy but have no problem running their mouths when the sky is anything but sunny. There is a poster at a Michigan message board that I shall leave anonymous for now who actually has the gall to argue that Denard didn't do anything on Saturday that any of our running backs or wide receivers couldn't do if they were taking direct snaps, that his sparkling passing performance is overblown because it was a bunch of dink and dunk passes, and that there's no way he can hold up carrying the ball 29 times a game. Of those three points, I agree with the last, but have an overwhelming urge to drop an anvil on this person's head from about three stories up for the first two. And it's not like the point I agree with is incredibly insightful or anything. Gee, he won't stay healthy if we run him 348 times this season? Ya think? FYI: that would be the most carries in a single season in the history of Michigan football. Get a clue.

That asinine argument was/is made in the course of defending the need to keep Tate Forcier on the roster - something I also agree with. Which brings me to the great debate about who should be the #2 quarterback and the other great debate about somebody sulking on the bench like a sourpuss.

A year ago, I was in the camp that Devin Gardner should definitely redshirt when he arrives at Michigan since Tate and Denard were only a year ahead of him. I held this opinion even when I was told by people who would know that Michigan's coaches recruited him with the specific intent of having him ready to contribute in 2010. My opinion on the matter changed when I saw him in person around Halloween night 2009. Aside from going absolutely insane during the actual game, just utterly imposing his will on the other team, I spoke with a coach shortly after the game, and he told me essentially, "The kid has 'it' more than any other QB I've seen. Everything comes naturally to him." I returned home that night convinced that Devin would play in 2010. The only hitch in that plan was when it appeared for a brief time that he wasn't going to be able to graduate from Inkster early and enroll at UofM in the winter and be able to participate in the spring. Once that hurdle was cleared, there wasn't even a debate - neither in my mind nor in the minds of those in Schembechler Hall - Devin wasn't going to redshirt, and that mindset was 100% justified when he lived up to his billing in the spring and fall. He's a sponge, absorbing everything the coaches teach him. Beyond that, he has the fire in his heart and gut that you lust for in a QB, that undying passion to get better in order to win. There's a reason Devin was the most important recruit in last year's class, and a reason the Michigan coaches targeted him over Robert Bolden (who they would've had if they had shown him the attention they showed Devin). He is well ahead of the curve, both mentally and physically. To the point where there are some (not all, but some) close to the program who believe that by the end of the 2010 season, Devin Gardner will be the best quarterback on the roster and could unseat Denard in 2011.

So for the people holding the now-obsolete pro-redshirt point of view, and more importantly for the people confused, bewildered and agitated about Devin getting the call when Denard got dinged on Saturday - stop acting surprised.

Which brings me to Tate Forcier, and the quarterback situation as a whole. To preface, I, along with any self-respecting Michigan fan/blogger/whatever, try to avoid insulting or bashing a player on the team at any cost. There's a difference between criticizing a player for his on-the-field play (even when that criticism is poignant) and personally attacking a college kid. So I'm not going to say Tate Forcier is a terrible person or a piece of crap or any such nonsense like that. But sometimes, good, even great people lose their way. We live in a world where recruiting is king, and recruiting rankings are gospel and those with stars next to their name often get stars in their eyes as a result of dozens of people around them blowing sunshine up their asses 24/7. Tate has a very unique background. He's been groomed to be a big-time quarterback from the time he could walk, essentially. If you're familiar with the Forcier family (or their website), you'll know they are...intense, in a word. They are not unlike so many other football families around the country. At the same game I attended last October to see Gardner play, I stood next to the mother of one of the random players in the game, and she used language and had a demeanor that would make the reddest of redneck Ohio State fans blush. She summed up her entire act in one colorful sentence: "I ain't no sissy and I didn't raise no pussy."

So...yeah. There are people out there who literally eat, breathe and sleep football, and when you groom your child almost from birth to be a major quarterback and recruiting services sing his praises and elite college coaches fawn all over him to try and get him to come to their school...that kind of attention goes to your head. And when you enter college and you have the expectation of savior planted on your shoulders from day one, and when you suddenly defy the odds and look the part of savior after a couple weeks...you might start to think that you are God's gift to the gridiron, that all the glory heaped in your lap from years of preparation is for real and you have reached the pinnacle, the apex of your position.

Given the circumstances, it would take a much more advanced lifeform to not lose their way. And Tate Forcier lost his way. The propaganda machine that is the Forcier family website would have you believe that all of Tate's struggles as last season slowly derailed were due to his numerous injuries. They're correct, but not complete. There is no doubt that Tate has a warrior's heart, that lesser souls would've been shelved well before the final seconds ticked away in last year's Ohio State game. Tate was beyond hurt, he was playing injured, and if there were better circumstances, he would've been out long before that, but there weren't, so he wasn't, and he toughed it out to the bitter end. But at the same time, he also strayed off the field. Conveniently (not), it started around the same time his big brother left Ann Arbor after being denied admission to grad school. He lost the stabilizing force that kept him grounded, and without it, things went a little haywire.

And as that happened, Denard Robinson kept putting in endless amounts of work in the weight room and the film room and the practice field, biding his time, honing his skills so he could one day maybe get a shot. As people on websites and message boards mused about when he would move to running back or receiver, Denard kept plugging away at this quarterback thing. And when Devin Gardner arrived in January, he too relentlessly took to the weights and the tapes and the practice field. And when the eye of the NCAA compelled Michigan to internally tighten up the coaches' access to off-season workouts and practices, which in turn compelled the seniors of the team to take charge and make sure work continued, some players chose to relax. The result? Denard Robinson taking the first snaps in the Spring Game. Some players starting fall camp with blue helmets, having to earn their wings back. When Troy Woolfolk aired the dirty laundry about Forcier last month, it came as surprising news to many. I wasn't surprised, and neither were many others. Many chastised Woolfolk for not keeping things internal. The truth is, things were kept internal from last winter until just before fall practice, and the message wasn't getting through. And as the practice reports from numerous sites indicate, the light finally did get through during camp, and Tate earned his wings back and was by all accounts impressive. But the fact is, the damage was done. Tate's not 3rd on the depth chart because of some punishment or message sending by Rodriguez. Not entirely, anyway. He's 3rd on the depth chart because he got passed by Gardner.

If it's anything, it's an ongoing lesson being taught that few will be able to grasp. It's a lesson that Brian Griese learned before 1997, and a lesson that Ryan Mallett never got. As one observer put it, Tate sulking on the bench as Saturday's game wound to a close is the equivalent of Mallett sitting as the team sung the Victors on a cold Saturday night in Champaign as the senior Henne returned to relieve Mallett and lead a comeback victory. It's a lesson in maturity, hard work, and at times, self-sacrifice. And while Mike Rothstein was incredibly premature with his column stating that Tate seems to be on his way out, it is an ominous cloud looming overhead. Because the fact remains, despite all the criticism I just laid out, this team still needs Tate Forcier. If the light that went on in fall camp stays on and he stays healthy, he is still immeasurably important to the success of this team. It only takes one stray shot, one awkward bend for Denard to be sidelined, and while the only advantage Tate has on Devin is experience, that is a very valuable advantage to have.

So while Tate may not be on the way out the door as Rothstein's irresponsible column suggested, it's not difficult to connect some dots here. Nobody blames Tate for being disappointed that he was on the sideline all day Saturday. Just a year ago he was on the receiving end of all the praise Denard is getting. It's a humbling thing to see what you once had in your grasp in the hands of another. It's a bitter pill to swallow. But some wise man once said, "The Team, The Team, The Team." Eventually, possibly sooner than any of us expect, Tate will face a crossroads, at which point he will have the ultimate decision to make. Will he follow the path that he almost seems genetically programmed to follow and leave, opting for a fresh start? Or will he decide to double down and bust his ass off like those who have surpassed him did, waiting for the moment where his number is called again?

In the meantime though, this is Denard's limo. We learned a lot about him on Saturday. This upcoming Saturday, we'll learn more. As visions of Pat White dance through our maize and blue brains, one has to wonder if Denard even grasps what lies ahead. As long as he stays unbroken, the future is in his hands. At the risk of being hyperbolic, the fate of the program is on his shoulders, tangled up somewhere in his dreadlocks. He will carry that burden with that toothy grin on his face. He will sprint to daylight with the burden. He will drag this program, this team, and this coach with him on his legs of dilithium until he can run no more.

The Battle of Michigan: The PSL

The final part of a three-part series. Part 1: The Numbers. Part 2: The War of Perception.

Sorry this is so late, I got sidetracked with real life, and then other Michigan-related happenings gave me pause as I considered shelving this for the timebeing and putting a different piece out, but that will come closer to the start of the season.

Also, much of what is said here will be rehashed and won't be new if you've been paying attention. Some people still aren't grasping the message though, so rehashing is sometimes necessary.

And, as I mentioned in Part 2, this is where I delve into the editorializing. Spartan fans, proceed with caution.

The trendy axiom in Michigan high school football goes something like, "The great teams play on the west side. The great players play on the east side." Meaning that teams like Muskegon, East Grand Rapids, Rockford and Lowell, while rarely having the elite prospects that draw attention from major colleges (players like Ronald Johnson, Terrance Taylor, and the Gradys being exceptions), the sum of their parts is greater than the teams on the east side of the state, where college recruiters routinely visit to scout the talent in the Catholic League and the Detroit Public Schools League. This is illustrated specifically by Inkster the last two years. The last two seasons, Inkster - currently an independent located just outside Detroit - has sent two elite prospects to the college ranks (Cameron Gordon and Devin Gardner) while also featuring an assortment of MAC-level talent. In terms of sheer talent, Inkster was clearly one of the best teams in the state in each of the past two years, evidenced by their 21-6 record. The catch? Two of those six losses came in the two state championship games they went to - 43-24 against East Grand Rapids in 2008 and 27-6 against Lowell last year. Neither game was particularly competitive, and yet neither EGR nor Lowell had a superstar on their roster that attracted the attention of either Michigan or Michigan State, while both schools vigorously pursued Gordon and Gardner from Inkster.

The point? For college coaches looking to pluck talent in the state of Michigan, the east side is where it's at. The debate about how much emphasis must be put on the in-state talent has been argued ad nauseum among Michigan fans since Rich Rodriguez arrived - even if the numbers show that nothing has changed on our end. Nobody's going to argue that the talent in this state is on level with California, Texas, Florida, Ohio, Louisiana, Georgia, etc. But at the same time, nobody will argue that each year, the mitten is good for producing one or two cream of the crop super-elite prospects that everyone in the country will want, along with a handful of very sturdy prospects who absolutely have a place on a BCS team's roster. At the heart of this is the Detroit Public Schools League, or PSL. In this league are teams many of us are familiar with, like Cass Tech, Southeastern, and Renaissance. Those three schools have been the focus of the major high-end talent in recent years, along with some particularly colorful situations (therein lies the rehashing ahead). Other schools include Crockett Tech (Brandon Graham's alma mater) and Martin Luther King High (Nick Perry). In regards to the in-state debate, my personal opinion: Ultimately it doesn't mean a thing where you get the kids from, you simply get the best players you can get...but, unless you're trying to build a powerhouse in Montana or the Dakotas or Rhode Island somewhere, you still need to protect your own backyard, and that's something, to an extent, and for very different reasons, both Lloyd Carr and Rich Rodriguez failed to do.

The 2007 Rivals.com rankings for the state of Michigan are horrifying to look at:

1. Ronald Johnson, 5* WR, Muskegon - USC
2. Dionte Allen, 4* CB, Orchard Lake St. Mary's - Florida State
3. Joseph Barksdale, 4* DT, Detroit Cass Tech - LSU
4. Keith Nichol, 4* QB, Lowell - Oklahoma
5. Darris Sawtelle, 4* OL, Birmingham Brother Rice - Tennessee
6. Chris Colasanti, 4* LB, Birmingham Brother Rice - Penn State
7. Mark Dell, 4* WR, Farmington Hills Harrison - Michigan State
8. Cedric Everson, 4* ATH, Detroit Denby - Iowa
9. Steven Threet, 4* QB, Adrian - Georgia Tech
10. Ryan Van Bergen, 4* DE, Whitehall - Michigan
11. Taurian Washington, 4* WR, Orchard Lake St. Mary's - Ohio State
12. Martell Webb, 4* WR/TE, Pontiac Northern - Michigan

The passage of time has given some leeway into the epic fail the above represents: Allen and Washington have been major disappointments, Sawtelle quit football, Colsanti is just now getting on the field, Dell has been average at best, Everson was arrested, Nichol is now a Michigan State wide receiver (and wasn't recruited out of high school by Michigan), and there were some...special circumstances with Rojo and Barksdale. But the fact remains, Michigan offered the majority of these 12 kids when they were in high school (8 of 12), and landed only two of them. This shows the beginning of a slow erosion of in-state relationships between Michigan's coaching staff and high school coaches throughout the state - an erosion that was kicked into overdrive when Lloyd Carr exited and Rich Rodriguez entered.

Let's defeat one notion flat out right off the bat: Rich Rodriguez does not ignore or neglect the city of Detroit, the PSL, or the state of Michigan. There is a myth going around that players like William Gholston and Lawrence Thomas would've come to Michigan in the past had Rich Rodriguez not come in and destroyed everything that had been established. This is inherently false, and I honestly can't believe these lies have generally been accepted. Price of living in an age where the media isn't interested in actual facts anymore, I suppose.

So, let's play Mythbusters. Let's pull back the curtain on some of what's gone on in the past three years. Oh, and a disclaimer to some who selectively live in a black and white world: If you're going to doubt or dismiss what I say here because I don't "provide links" as evidence, so be it. In that same vein, I could provide you with links that show how Rich Rodriguez is a renegade coach trampling the practice rules set forth by the NCAA. Point is, just because something is written by a "respected" journalist through a "respectable" news outlet doesn't mean it's true, just as something is not automatically false if it's not written about in a newspaper. If you don't believe what I have to say because it's not "supported" by the Detroit Free Press or the Detroit News or whatever, fine. If you've listened to Sam Webb on the radio long enough and read the words of people who have proven to be reliable in the past enough, you'll know I'm not just making this up as part of some elaborate fantasy. I am piecing together the words of people I trust. It's your perogative to doubt or question the validity. But don't fill up my comment section with nonsense about how I shouldn't be saying things without proof. I've received all the backing I need behind closed doors.

So, without further adieu, I just rehash what has happened at two particular schools in Detroit over the past three years or so. I repeat, rehash. I have discussed all of this in the past, so if it's not new to you, feel free to skim.

Renaissance High School (Chris Norman, Lawrence Thomas, Antonio Watts)

1. Chris Norman. The situation at Renaissance is more a case of some people being stupid and some people seizing the opportunity than a case of people being sinister. Chris Norman was, for the most part, a casualty of the coaching transition at Michigan. While Rich Rodriguez was scrambling to keep together the class that Lloyd Carr had assembled in addition to spending six weeks pursuing kids in the current class (Michael Shaw, Terrelle Pryor, Roy Roundtree, etc), other schools - MSU included - were starting to move on to the next class, and MSU closed ranks on Norman quickly. He would've been at the top of Michigan's board for the 2009 class, being a highly regarded player at a position of need. So while it definitely hurts that he's not at Michigan, for the most part, nobody in Michigan circles goes crazy about this one.

2. Lawrence Thomas. This one is slightly more annoying, as Thomas is another freakishly freaky freak of a recruit in Michigan's backyard who claimed to be a fan of Michigan as a kid but won't be playing for Michigan in college. I don't regard him as a positional loss, because like Gholston, he's going to be way too big to play linebacker. 6'4, 240 pounds before his senior year of high school? This kid's not going to be playing MIKE linebacker in college, he's going to be a defensive end. And his commitment to State is a direct result of Chris Norman (and to a lesser extent, Mylan Hicks and Dana Dixon). Thomas regards Norman as his best friend, to the point where he calls him a "big brother."

3. Antonio Watts. This is where things at Renaissance get cast in a negative light. The video of Ren's head coach, Antonio Watts, bashing Michigan for treating his former players (Carson Butler and Andre Criswell) unfairly has been well circulated at this point. I was informed on the message board at MGoBlog a couple months ago that the link to the video that I have posted a couple times here in the past was setting off all sort of virus alarms, so I removed the links and won't be linking it here. If a brave soul wants to scavenge and find the link to check and see if it's still troublesome, best of luck.

Anyway, Watts acting like a fool and blaming Michigan/Rich Rodriguez for Carson Butler being a thug and Andre Criswell not being talented enough to get on the field has a lot of Michigan fans questioning if Michigan ever got a fair shake with Norman, Hicks and Thomas. Personally, I don't think he was much of a factor. Now, is it possible that as UM made the switch to Rodriguez, Watts got in Chris Norman's ear and told him he'd be much better off at Michigan State? Sure, I guess. But I've never heard anything like that from any source - including the source who mentioned that Thomas was not swayed by his coach's feelings about Michigan; he's going to State because of Norman and because of the gigantic turd Michigan's put on the field the last two days. Combine that with the fact that the main contact at Renaissance when it comes to recruiting is assistant coach Antoine Edwards and not Watts, I tend to just tip my cap to MSU for establishing a sturdy pipeline.

On the other hand...

Southeastern High School (Fred Smith, William Gholston, Johnathan Hankins, Archie Collins)

1. Fred Smith. Fred Smith's senior year at Southeastern High School was 2007-2008. This was the time period in which Mark Dantonio was just arriving at Michigan State and trying to establish an identity, and Lloyd Carr's career at Michigan was winding to a close and was just coming off an 11-2 2006 season. As the 2006/2007 recruiting cycle wound to a close and the 2007/2008 cycle shifted into the primary position, it was already clear that the in-state dynamics were changing. Dantonio arrived at MSU in late November of 2006, and in the few short months before signing day in February of 2007, he made very serious pushes at two of the state's top prospects - Ronald Johnson and Joseph Barksdale. Both of them went out of state in the end, but it was immediately clear that Dantonio was bringing a renewed focus on the state of Michigan - a focus that was almost completely destroyed under John L. Smith. So as the recruiting class of 2008 came into the spotlight, the renewed MSU focus came with it.

Michigan rode the momentum of an 11-2 Rose Bowl season into early commitments from two of the state's best prospects (Boubacar Cissoko and Dann O'Neill), but after that, the battles began, with one coming to the forefront - Southeastern wide receiver Fred Smith. A 4-star player ranked in the top 200 on Rivals, Smith grew up a Michigan fan in a family of Michigan fans. In normal situations, this would be a slamdunk. Both UM and MSU offered Smith, and his recruitment quickly narrowed down to the two in-state schools, with a summer decision on the horizon. On Thursday, August 2nd, 2007, MSU's Rivals site put out a final article on Smith in which they predicted that Smith's commitment at the end of the weekend would be for Michigan.

Three days later, Smith committed to Michigan State instead of Michigan. As it turns out, in the three days between that final article and the commitment at Southeastern High School, Smith had been out of contact, to the point where not even his family could find out where he was. Someone had managed to whisk him away during the weekend and take him to East Lansing for a special meeting with Mark Dantonio and Tom Izzo, during which Dantonio sold him on the idea of being the face of MSU's return to prominence, with a completely hollow assist from Izzo, who told him he could play basketball for the Spartans too.

In the two years he's been at Michigan State, Fred Smith has one catch, one arrest, one position move to fullback, and exactly zero seconds spent in a Michigan State basketball uniform.

2. William Gholston. Around the same time Dantonio was arriving at Michigan State, one of the state's most freakish of underclassmen was conveniently in the process of transferring from Mumford High School (also in Detroit) to Southeastern. Quite the coincidence I'm sure, but nevertheless, William Gholston was #1 on Mark Dantonio's wishlist from the moment he set foot in East Lansing, and a curious set of circumstances made sure that the feeling was mutual.

From the time before Gholston's junior year at Southeastern in the summer of 2008 and the time he committed to Michigan State in summer 2009, he visited Michigan around 2-3 times. He visited for Michigan's basketball game against Duke in December 2008. He made an impromptu visit to Michigan for a practice in March 2009, and made a quick visit on the day of Michigan's Spring Game in April 2009 - though he didn't stay for the actual game because of a basketball practice...

During this same time period, he made over a dozen visits to Michigan State, either for games in the fall, unofficial visits in the winter, or camps/practices in the spring before ultimately committing to MSU in June of last year. All throughout the process, and after he committed to MSU, he cited his desire to play linebacker in college.

You'll understand why I, along with many others, found this amusing yesterday:

EAST LANSING -- Top Michigan State freshman recruit William Gholston has decided he wants to play only defensive end, and has been granted his wish by coach Mark Dantonio. "That was his decision," Dantonio said. "If he made that move I wanted it to be his decision. We never planted a seed. I think as he continued to rush the passer he saw himself as a guy that could help a little more in that area."

Putting aside Dantonio's bizarre need to mention that the MSU coaches never planted a seed and let Gholston make the decision himself (guilty conscience?)...the entire situation is laughable. Everybody knew that Gholston's future in college would be on the defensive line. The kid was 6'6/6'7, 250 pounds as a high school senior. You're not going to play linebacker in college when you're that big in high school, and any college coach that told Gholston otherwise flat out lied to him.

Another curious note: Every time Gholston visited Michigan (yes, all three times), it was a brief, abbreviated visit with only token tours of the weight room and other superficial things taking place. He was never able to sit down one-on-one with any coach on Michigan's staff, never had any in-depth conversations with anyone at UM, and was always gone after a short period of time. Why? Because someone was always serving as his chaperone, making sure things went a certain way, preventing certain people from getting too close...

3. Johnathan Hankins. This kid remains a touchy subject, actually. He came up again yesterday on the premium message boards at Rivals and Scout, with some angry Michigan fans blaming Rich Rodriguez for losing Hankins (in light of the news of Hankins being a disruptive force for Ohio State in fall camp). I couldn't help but shake my head at the stunning naivete because these select people a) don't understand how things work, and b) don't have even the slightest clue as to what happened with Hankins behind the scenes.

So, once again, and read this slowly if you don't understand yet: Michigan did nothing wrong in their recruitment of Johnathan Hankins. NOTHING.

The notion that UM lost Hankins by offering him late is asinine, and the people who continue to promote it are either mind-numbingly stupid or peddling their own agenda. Either way, they need to wise up. Rich Rodriguez and UM did NOTHING out of the ordinary with their approach to Hankins last summer. They asked him to show up to camp and earn the scholarship offer that he wanted so badly. When he failed to do so (he showed up to UM's camp with a bum ankle significant conditioning issues - he bailed from the practice field because he couldn't finish the drills for god's sake), UM told him they would keep in touch with him and check his senior film. And yet some people (MICHIGAN fans!) have an issue with this for some reason? Some people really think Rodriguez should've offered a kid who couldn't even finish the drills they asked him to do, the drills he KNEW he was going to have to do in order to get an offer.

But above all else, some people fail to see that even if UM had offered Hankins and he had committed during the summer, it would've all been moot. Michigan was not going to be the school for Hankins ever. It was pre-determined because of the high school he attended. In late November, after the season had ended, Michigan reviewed Hankins' senior tape as they had said they would, and they liked what they saw. They saw the explosion and disruptive force in the middle that they had expected to see at their camp in the summer. So they offered. And immediately, a visit was set up for the first weekend in December. During this visit, Michigan's coaches put to rest any issues Hankins and his family had with UM's later-than-expected offer. They tried to nudge Hankins toward canceling his Ohio State visit scheduled for the next weekend, but failed to do so. Even then, after Hankins' OSU visit, the "insiders" - people I trust implicitly - said that while it was close, the feeling was that the recruitment was trending in Michigan's direction. It was around this time that, out of nowhere, Alabama appeared on the radar as another possible visit destination for Hankins. Then, around Christmas time, rumors hit the internet about William Gholston suddenly waffling on his Michigan State commitment and now being bound for Tuscaloosa as well. Once that rumor was effectively squashed, Hankins was never mentioned in connection with Alabama again, and shortly after the new year, he committed to Ohio State at Southeastern High.

So what happened? Even with the word from insiders that his recruitment was trending in UM's direction and the news that UM had effectively dealt with any issues the Hankins family had with offering late, is it possible that the late offer had indeed soured Hankins on Michigan, driving him to Ohio State? That's certainly an effective cover story, and one that would satisfy a lot of people - a lot of people who would also be unaware of the man behind the curtain at Southeastern High School.

4. Archie Collins

That character - positioned squarely in front of Will Gholston at last year's Under Armour All-American Game - is the aforementioned man behind the curtain at Southeastern High School, one Archie Collins, former defensive coordinator. He played safety for Michigan State in the late 1990s under Head Coach Nick Saban and Defensive Backs Coach Mark Dantonio. He is the man who whisked Fred Smith away to East Lansing and helped turn him. He's the man who served as Will Gholston's guardian (literally, the kid lived with him) and ran interference during all of Gholston's visits to Michigan while also escorting him to MSU over a dozen times. He's the one who stepped in when it appeared that John Hankins was headed to Michigan. He planted Alabama in Hankins' mind (Saban connection), and I'm sure it was a coincidence that Alabama fell off the radar when the Gholston-to-Bama rumor flared up. And when the rubber met the road for Hankins, when it boiled down to decision time, when Michigan scheduled one final in-home visit with the family, it was Mr. Collins who stepped in and convinced both the kid and his family that Michigan was toying with Hankins and didn't really want him, and if they did, they would've offered him long before they did.

The end results: Fred Smith commits to Michigan State, causing his pro-Michigan brother to leave the press conference in tears. William Gholston commits to Michigan State and accuses Michigan of dropping the ball in his recruitment. Johnathan Hankins commits to Ohio State and says Michigan offered him too late.

Oh, and today, as the rest of the Southeastern coaching staff looks for work after being the latest casualities in the mess that is Detroit Public Schools, Archie Collins now serves as the distinguished video intern at Jenison Fieldhouse in East Lansing, a de jure employee of the school of which he served as de facto recruiter for three years. All just a coincidence, I'm sure.

Now, to the naysayers:

1. When Sam Webb openly discussed the Southeastern situation on the radio a month or two back, a Michigan State....individual called in and said something to the effect of, "Oh, so when Michigan recruits to the end with Roy Roundtree, it's okay, but when Michigan State recruits to the end with Fred Smith, something dirty has to be going on?" Well, if you can't see the difference here, I don't know what to say. One situation has a school that had previously shown no interest (Michigan) in a prospect (Roundtree) and offering him a much better place than his previous school (Purdue). Were there stories of Trotwood Madison's coach stuffing Roundtree into the back seat of his car and driving him to Michigan? Any whispers whatsoever of his high school coach strong-arming him to Michigan over Purdue? No. None.

2. This is not a byproduct of 8-16 and all the negativity surrounding Rich Rodriguez. Has that made things easier? I'm sure it has. But Fred Smith was turned on the heels of Michigan going 11-2 and being a preseason top 5 team. The issue here existed before Rodriguez was a twinkle in Bill Martin's eye.

3. The Cass Tech comparisons are null and void. MSU fans often try to rationalize the situation at Southeastern by saying "Wilcher does the same thing at Cass Tech." Well...you might have a point. In a parallel universe where Vernon Gholston is a Michigan grad, Joseph Barksdale is entering his 4th year as a starter at Michigan, and Dior Mathis is contending for playing at at Michigan. It's a pretty safe bet that Cass Tech's head coach, U-M grad and former player Thomas Wilcher, puts in a good word for Michigan when discussing recruiting with his prospects. But Vernon Gholston and Joseph Barksdale both had Michigan offers and went elsewhere. Thomas Gordon would've gone to Michigan State if Michigan had not offered. Dior Mathis had Michigan State at the top with Oregon for months, and he picked the Ducks. Wilcher has never run interference against MSU with any of his players. Dior could've gone to MSU if he wanted. Same with Gordon and Cissoko and Campbell. When you find something substantial, like a Cass Tech kid being out of contact with his family and then suddenly committing to Michigan instead of the presumed favorite MSU, or a Cass Tech kid without a Michigan offer being driven away from Michigan State, or anything even remotely close to what I've described above at Southeastern, let me know.

What's the point? You claim ownership over the city of Detroit and the state of Michigan while simultaneously claiming that Rich Rodriguez doesn't care about the kids here and recruits Florida harder. You can't "own" something if you're not competing with someone for something, can you? And you can't "own" something when the playing field is tilted so ridiculously in your favor like it was at a certain high school. At the end of the day, all that matters in recruiting is getting the players, and in a couple particular cases, you succeeded at that where we failed. So kudos.

Meanwhile, the clock is still ticking. What I said 13 months ago still applies. Don't say I didn't warn you.

History Will Be Made

Unless Jim Joyce is overseeing things.

Yeah, he deserves credit for owning up to his mistake. He's a classy guy for seeking Galarraga out and apologizing.

Doesn't change what he did. He took away history. He took away one of the rarest occurrences in sports. Baseball's been around for what, 140 years? And there have been 20 perfect games. Thousands upon thousands upon thousands of games through decades and decades of baseball...and 20 have been perfect. And it should've been 21, except for one of the most egregiously wrong calls in the history of sports.

There was no gray area here. No "bang-bang" play at first. Galarraga got there, his foot on the base, and he caught the ball. And Jim Joyce said he thought the runner beat him.

An abomination, that no apology can fix.

A Picture Is Worth 1000 Words

Sharks 4, Red Wings 3; Western Semifinals, 0-2

Honestly, you couldn't find a better picture to sum up what took place in San Jose tonight. While the Red Wings skated, the Sharks were on the ice, often drawing phantom penalties, which eventually piled up to the point they were able to seize momentum in a game they trailed 3-2. And they rode that momentum to a 4-3 win.

You know, I used to respect Todd McLellan. When he was an assistant in Detroit two years ago, the Wings were aces in the faceoff circles, and their special teams were dynamic. He has successfully instilled those qualities into the Sharks since taking over as their head coach after winning the Stanley Cup with Detroit in 2008.

But apparently the years of postseason gagging have caught up to the Sharks, and McLellan decided to teach them another attribute: the art of the flop.

Feel a stick near your feet? Throw your legs out from under you.

Feel a nudge in the back? Propel yourself face first onto the ice.

Feel a stick near your wrists? Lose control of the puck and then slide down to the ice.

All of the above will goad the (as usual) braindead mouth breathers masquarading as NHL referees into calling ten penalties on the team who committed the second fewest amount of infractions in the league this season. TEN power plays for San Jose tonight. Back to back five-on-threes.

After witnessing that abomination (no surprise either that one of the refs tonight was also on hand for a previous abomination), what more can you say? I love hockey. I love the Red Wings as much as I love Michigan football. But after yet another clusterfuck courtesy of Gary Bettman's refs and the NHL's World Cup representatives, how much more emotion can one invest? How can I continue to put so much into something so blatantly broken?

In the interest of full disclosure, I expected the Sharks to win the series. Despite dispatching Phoenix with brutal efficiency in Game 7, I saw enough problems with the Wings against the Coyotes and knew they wouldn't get away with such mistakes against a foe like San Jose. The first two games have reinforced those feelings, and I have a hard time envisioning the Red Wings beating the Sharks four out of five times.

But to have the Sharks flop and dive all over the ice like a bunch of pussies - that's embarrassing, and they shouldn't have to resort to such cowardly tactics. They're supposed to be better than that. But I guess they're not, so if they went to flop their way into the conference finals, so be it. I'm about at my wit's end with the NHL and its incompetence as it is.

See No Evil

Sharks 4, Red Wings 3; Western Semifinals, 0-1

Some very quick thoughts, because I'm getting tired of this same tired ass script playing out:

1. The Sharks better pray the Red Wings don't find their legs, because outside of one 70 second flurry and a 5-on-3 powerplay goal, they were outplayed on their home ice against a team playing on zero extra rest.

2. Howard...should have stopped Pavelski's second goal.

3. Sometimes I really wish we had a true GOON on this team. Joe Thornton snows Howard in the first period - Stuart and Kronwall give him the what for. I would've preferred it if we had somebody to smash his teeth down his throat. That was a piece of crap move by a giant pussy trying to find his balls.

4. The top-heavy argument comes into play again, but honestly...if you're Mike Babcock, you have to at least consider putting Datsyuk and Zetterberg on the top line together. Monstrous.

5. Power play...sigh. Credit to the Sharks, or more specifically, Todd McLellan. We loved the guy when he was here because his penalty kill was a tenacious unit and the Red Wings destroyed their opponents in the faceoff circles. Well, we were on the receiving end of it tonight. Nevertheless, the PP has to be better. It's excruciating seeing them try to skate in, get stood up at the blueline, and have the puck get dumped down the ice.

6. The whole energy thing. While I do think the Wings played a pretty good game outside of those 70 seconds (how did you enjoy the play, Mrs. Lincoln?), they still looked a little rough around the edges to me. Some sloppy passes, losing battles in the corners, etc. All characteristics of a team that was operating at less than 100%. Hopefully Babcock is keen to this and gives them some R&R for the next two days.

7. Last but not least...the picture above. I mean...what a fucking joke, already. How much blood do the Red Wings have to lose before they get a goddamn high sticking call? There are no shades of grey here, no "judgment call" necessary. Lidstrom was busted open by an opponent's stick in Game 1 in Phoenix. Franzen was busted open by an opponent's stick in Game 1 in San Jose. There is no ambiguity. It's a four minute penalty, and that's twice now it hasn't been called. The next penalty on Filppula was the right call (even though Setoguchi still deserves an Academy Award for flopping to the ice like he'd been shot, only to spring up to his feet three seconds later), but it's a penalty that doesn't occur (and by extension, the winning goal on the ensuing 5-on-3) if the fucking refs make the right fucking call in the first FUCKING place. Outsiders say they're tired of me (and Red Wings fans in general) bitching about the refs. Well guess what? We're even more tired of the mind-numbing incompetence that seems to take place every single night. Yes, there is a human element involved, and with the human element comes human error. But there's a difference between making a dubious hooking call and completely ignoring a blatant high stick, as blood flows from the face of someone who just got jabbed in the face.

It's like Jeremy Roenick joked about a few years ago - do you think the players are out there cutting themselves with razor blades like professional wrestlers? I guess that would be fitting, since Gary Bettman seems hellbent on turning this from "sports" into "sports entertainment."