The Victors

(№ 24) Michigan State 29-6 Michigan (№ 23)
6-2, Big Ten 2-2

With each passing game, the valiant Wolverines under Coach Hoke look more & more like the valiant Wolverines under Coach Rodriguez. Harsh, I know, but not unduly so & no less accurate for being harsh. If today's appalling display of ineptitude & apathy was not the nadir, I shudder at the thought of reaching the nadir. We did not just lose to the dastardly Spartans today, we were dominated in every phase of the game by the dastardly Spartans. Playing the way we did today, we should consider seriously changing our nickname from Wolverines to Helots. (Don't understand the reference? The relationship of Spartans to helots? How very sad for you.) (Sorry, I'm in a mean & nasty humor.)

Next: Nebraska, & here I am finding it difficult to resist the temptation to wallow in doomsaying, so I had best quit while I am ahead. I will never give up on the valiant Wolverines, not ever, but we must not mistake Brady Hoke & his bumbling staff for those valiant Wolverines. Giving up on the man does not mean giving up on Michigan.

Saturday, 26 October 2013
The valiant Wolverines had the second of two bye weeks. In the previous Monday's poll, the victory over the wily Hoosiers, unsatisfactory though it was, was enough to catapult the valiant Wolverines back into the A.P. Top 25, at № 24. The fools!

Saturday, 19 October 2013
Michigan 63-47 Indiana
6-1, Big Ten 2-1

The valiant Wolverines prevailed, but for the third time this season their victory didn't feel like a victory, but like a game they simply managed not to lose. I was reminded of nothing else so much as the feisty Fighting Illini game in the Rich Rod era, when the valiant Wolverines prevailed by a final score of, like, 67-65 (in triple overtime time: Wayback Machine). That 2010 win over Illinois, though a victory, wasn't Michigan football, not the way any man jack of us wants to see it played; this year's sorry display against the wily Hoosiers wasn't Michigan football, not the way any man jack of us wants to see it played. I hate the feeling that sits in the pit of my stomach when I watch this year's squad of valiant Wolverines.

Go Blue!