Monday, January 1, 2018

The Victors: Team 138, Game 13 — Outback Bowl

Monday, 1 January 2018 @ (Naming Rights) Stadium [a neutral site]
South Carolina 26-19 Michigan
8-5, B1G 5-4

Late in the third quarter, the valiant Wolverines led the gamey Gamecocks 19-3. South Carolina outscored Michigan 23-0 in the last seventeen minutes of the game. This was the second game of the year in which Team 138 committed five turnovers, including two that prevented Michigan scores & two that enabled South Carolina scores. The valiant Wolverines had one competent offensive drive, & otherwise struggled throughout, even before the epidemic of turnovers. That was an disgraceful a exhibition as anything in the Rich Rod or Hoke the Joke years.

I posted the following to my FaceSpace "wall":
Tim Drevno, Pep Hamilton, & all of Michigan Football's offense staff needs to be fired, & Jim Harbaugh must accept an immediate 80% pay cut. If he will will not, then Harbaugh must be fired.

This was the second game of the year in which the valiant Wolverines committed five turnovers. Peoples-Jones had muffed punt returns before; so, why was he allowed to do so again? The coaching staff are unpardonably arrogant & do not learn from their mistakes. This is unacceptable for Michigan Football. Harbaugh must accept the conditions outlined above, or Harbaugh must be fired.

#GoBlue!
Freshman Donovan Peoples-Jones, a wide receiver & kick returner, had muffed punt returns before & been pulled from games for muffing punt returns. yet there he was in the bowl game, returning punts. He muffed a punt, allowing the ball to bounce off his face mask, resulting in a South Carolina possession deep in Michigan territory, & immediately thereafter another gamey Gamecocks field goal to go up a full touchdown over the valiant Wolverines. Peoples-Jones, a talented but very, very raw player, has a history of muffing or otherwise mishandling punt returns; so, in a critical situation, why was he put in a position to do so yet again?

Redshirt freshman quarterback Brandon Peters was a disaster throughout, throwing the ball way over the heads of his receivers, or bouncing it off the turf at their feet, rarely ever giving anyone the chance to make a catch. On the rare occasions that he threw an accurate pass that hit his receivers in the hands, they, including Peoples-Jones, dropped it. At the end of the game, Peters threw the ball around so recklessly (including throwing two interceptions) that he looked worse than John O'Korn against Michigan Agricultural.

Michigan has personnel (player) problems, that much is clear. But we also have a plainly deficient coaching staff, who make boned-headed & inexplicable play calls with startling regularity. On one particularly ill-conceived play, Michigan used a tight end, Sean McKeon, as a running back, & he predictably fumbled the ball; why was a tight end used on that play instead of a running back? MGoBlog reports that Coach Harbaugh admits Michigan "had the wrong personnel in" on the McKeon fumble play: MGoBlog-link. Yes, the players failed to execute even basic plays, but the coaches also called plays that hadn't a snowball's chance in an inferno of working. We cannot "recruit" & "develop players" our way out of bad coaching, such as inserting a tight end in as a running back & not calling timeout to sort out whom should & whom should not be on the field before said tight end fumbles the hand off. Changes need to be made on the sideline. If Coach Jim Harbaugh is unwilling to fire overpaid assistants who are clearly incompetent, then he himself needs to go. No one individual is bigger than the team, & that includes the head coach. "The team. The team. The team."

Again, today's total collapse in the Outback Bowl was as disgraceful, disheartening, & just plain unacceptable as any embarrassment of the Rich Rodriguez or Brady Hoke years. Harbaugh is paid No Fun League-type money. For what? To go 8-5 for the year, 1-5 in three years against Ohio State & M.A.C.? Also, for the second time in Harbaugh's three-year tenure, the valiant Wolverines finished the season by losing three of their last four games.

The Wayback Machine Tour of The Victors: Team 138 (8-5, B1G 5-4)
September 2017
Game 1: Florida
Game 2: Cincinnati
Game 3: Air Force
Game 4: Purdue

October 2017
Game 5: M.A.C.
Game 6: Indiana
Game 7: Penn State
Game 8: Rutgers

November 2017
Game 9: Minnesota
Game 10: Maryland
Game 11: Wisconsin
Game 12: Ohio State

Go Blue!

Our Bowling League
In additional to being disgraceful, disheartening, & unacceptable, today's embarrassing loss also ruined the B1G's chance to go undefeated in the 2017-2018 college football bowl season. After starting 7-0, the B1G finishes 7-1. The "Fighting Harbaughs" found yet another way to make today's loss that much more painful. Sorry, gang.

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