The Victors

(№ 6) Ohio State 42-28 Michigan
5-7, B1G 3-5

Brady Hoke must be fired. If the valiant Wolverines had played all season long like they did today, I might not be calling for Hoke's head. As in last year's 42-41 defeat to the hated Buckeyes, we played against Ohio State with an intensity & a competence evinced in no other game. We can score twenty-eight points against Ohio State (11-1), but only ten against Northwestern (5-7)? I'm more furious at Hoke than I would be if we'd been dominated completely, say 42-7. This sorry state of affairs is not simply unacceptable, it is intolerable. Why is it that our receivers couldn't catch a pass to save their lives until today? Why is it that our offensive line is still so bad at pass protection, after playing together all fall? Why is is that Brady Hoke is incapable of developing raw high school recruits into skilled collegiate athletes? Why are so many of Devin Gardner's passes so wildly off-target?

Forgive me, right now all there is is mind-killing anguish & inarticulate fury. I made all the cogent arguments I'm capable of making in this morning's post. Brady Hoke must be fired. If possible, he must be tarred & feathered, driven to Ypsi-Arbor (pronounced "Ipsy-Arbor," the border between Ann Arbor & neighboring Ypsilanti), & tossed out of a slowly moving van. I don't want the man permanently injured, merely publicly shamed. Would it be possible to imprison him in stocks set up on the Diag? Just for a few hours after the press conference announcing his termination?

Brady Hoke must be fired. The valiant Wolverines will return to glory. Bo's immortal words are as true today as they were in 1969: "Those who stay will be champions."

Go Blue!