The date was October 9th of 2021...
Iowa had a huge home game vs the undefeated Nittany Lions while the University of Michigan was facing a night game in Lincoln, Nebraska which was at that point essentially a Super Bowl for Scott Frost.
We all know how that 1st half went in Iowa City. Clifford and the Lions were dominant in almost every way. This was a mismatch many of us had capped incorrectly. Well, then QB1 gets injured and the 2h was a great comeback for the Hawkeyes versus basically a team with no QB...
Meanwhile, later that night also in the plains...a Michigan program who had won a very rare game in a tough environment at Wisconsin set out to do it again in front of a night-time crowd that was as good as any we saw all year. This was a game where they blew a lead and had to come back and show toughness on the road in order to win a conference game. They did, on a late FG and defensive stop.
Now, nearly two months later these two teams will meet for a Championship in Indy. I doubt anyone saw this matchup coming after October 9th. Michigan, albeit with a few good road wins, was showing some issues with tempo and a versatile QB. Iowa frankly won a game they had no business being in. Yet, here we are. This just shows you how long a season is and how many twists and turns can be taken.
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Back to last week....
The Snow Bowl up in East Lansing was a blast on TV. I said in via the thread last week I leaned Michigan State but obviously didn't touch with the injuries/flu issues. Sure enough, they win and cover with relative ease (game wasn't as close as score imo). Good win for them and likely a New Years Day Bowl. Penn State just extended Franklin and I guess in the climate we see now he's almost cheap but he definitely needs a patented 10 win season quickly after these last two.
I didn't see the Minnesota and Wisconsin game but big credit to the Gophers for really hanging in all season long and getting better as it went. Things looked bleak back in September, no doubt. On the other hand, Wisky got better and better...seemingly once they got Berger off the team they were back to playing Wisconsin ball (I am sure plenty of reasons including injuries). And yes, that is a strategic note for your capping next year.
Nothing else was of much interest other than The Game...
This can be summed up pretty easily. A few things happened for Michigan this season...
-They got a very cohesive staff together. This includes former players like Bellamy and Hart. They got rid of Don Brown who definitely was awful in the Ohio State games.
-They got rid of a lot of bad apples. There is a fine line in recruiting when it comes to football players and 'starz'. This is a delicate balance. Look at the Harbaugh 2018 class that was his weakest of his tenure and look at who was the best players on the field on Saturday. Interesting, eh?
-Jim bet on himself. It may seem corny, but he did it and proved it. He took a paycut, and will likely get most if not all of his incentive bonuses. Tonight, he announced he is giving all those bonuses to workers in the AD that took cuts in 2020 due to the pandemic. Classy (shocking, right?).
-More than anything though, they finally took The Game seriously for more than a few weeks a year. Credit Ohio State, because they have taken this way more seriously despite a dominant stretch during their best run of football in their history. Jim started in on this game back in January and they have been practicing every day all season for this game.
So, as far as this game... couple of points...
-Stroud is great with no pressure. He needs some seasoning with hands in the face. He'll be a very good college QB but amount to little in the pros at this point.
-Henderson will be a Heisman candidate the next two years, we knew how good he was a year ago, and that may have been an understatement.
-Obviously all 3 WR's are great -- all future NFL guys
-The offense has aa lot of talent, but a lot of finesse talent. That showed a bit on Saturday
-The Michigan gameplan on both sides was terrific. They knew they would give up yards on defense but wanted to limit big plays and win the redzone. The OSU line of all these decorated guys got just dominated by Michigan. Other than the 2nd drive, there was nowhere to run. And we know what Hutch did along with Ojabo.
-On offense, they simply just kept mixing things up and had things dialed in well except for drive #3. That was a point I thought they had countered perfectly. Gattis and company adjusted. The offensive line was outstanding and really started bullying the Bucks guys around in the 2h.
Did you know that Michigan had 4 official passes in the 2h? Yup, this was manball but with some twists. One team was simply much tougher and wanted it more.
I watched the video from the tunnel; after the game and honestly that was the summation... Ohio State wanted no part of that(really odd to me)...
I keep seeing posts on OSU boards make it over and calling themselves the new age Texas Tech. That's funny, but also something they obviously will address. They gotta be tougher...Oregon and Michigan games showed them to be a bit soft...
Anyways, that one is over... onto the next..
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Harbaugh's 2nd year was 2016 and that was his best team. They were a powerful defense with some excellent WR's and Hunt's favorite QB at the helm. We all know how that regular season ended, but the other one that hurt like hell was the loss as a huge favorite in Iowa City. There was controversy at the end of the game (shocking) and Iowa won on a last 2nd FG. They have played each other since, but not with anything on the line like this Saturday. This would be a nice little booked to that season...
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Line is 11-43.5 as I type this...
Yes, that is a very aggressive number. I know many expect a letdown and that could be natural. Or, they could ride that high into Indianapolis and roll the Hawkeyes. This is not a good matchup for Iowa, but you know they will make everything tough on Michigan and vice-versa. Michigan should feast on Petras and they should run the ball pretty well against them. I'm excited for @tee*dub take on this one, no doubt.
UM vs SGU in the 'Ship of the conference.... who would have thought?
Iowa had a huge home game vs the undefeated Nittany Lions while the University of Michigan was facing a night game in Lincoln, Nebraska which was at that point essentially a Super Bowl for Scott Frost.
We all know how that 1st half went in Iowa City. Clifford and the Lions were dominant in almost every way. This was a mismatch many of us had capped incorrectly. Well, then QB1 gets injured and the 2h was a great comeback for the Hawkeyes versus basically a team with no QB...
Meanwhile, later that night also in the plains...a Michigan program who had won a very rare game in a tough environment at Wisconsin set out to do it again in front of a night-time crowd that was as good as any we saw all year. This was a game where they blew a lead and had to come back and show toughness on the road in order to win a conference game. They did, on a late FG and defensive stop.
Now, nearly two months later these two teams will meet for a Championship in Indy. I doubt anyone saw this matchup coming after October 9th. Michigan, albeit with a few good road wins, was showing some issues with tempo and a versatile QB. Iowa frankly won a game they had no business being in. Yet, here we are. This just shows you how long a season is and how many twists and turns can be taken.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Back to last week....
The Snow Bowl up in East Lansing was a blast on TV. I said in via the thread last week I leaned Michigan State but obviously didn't touch with the injuries/flu issues. Sure enough, they win and cover with relative ease (game wasn't as close as score imo). Good win for them and likely a New Years Day Bowl. Penn State just extended Franklin and I guess in the climate we see now he's almost cheap but he definitely needs a patented 10 win season quickly after these last two.
I didn't see the Minnesota and Wisconsin game but big credit to the Gophers for really hanging in all season long and getting better as it went. Things looked bleak back in September, no doubt. On the other hand, Wisky got better and better...seemingly once they got Berger off the team they were back to playing Wisconsin ball (I am sure plenty of reasons including injuries). And yes, that is a strategic note for your capping next year.
Nothing else was of much interest other than The Game...
This can be summed up pretty easily. A few things happened for Michigan this season...
-They got a very cohesive staff together. This includes former players like Bellamy and Hart. They got rid of Don Brown who definitely was awful in the Ohio State games.
-They got rid of a lot of bad apples. There is a fine line in recruiting when it comes to football players and 'starz'. This is a delicate balance. Look at the Harbaugh 2018 class that was his weakest of his tenure and look at who was the best players on the field on Saturday. Interesting, eh?
-Jim bet on himself. It may seem corny, but he did it and proved it. He took a paycut, and will likely get most if not all of his incentive bonuses. Tonight, he announced he is giving all those bonuses to workers in the AD that took cuts in 2020 due to the pandemic. Classy (shocking, right?).
-More than anything though, they finally took The Game seriously for more than a few weeks a year. Credit Ohio State, because they have taken this way more seriously despite a dominant stretch during their best run of football in their history. Jim started in on this game back in January and they have been practicing every day all season for this game.
So, as far as this game... couple of points...
-Stroud is great with no pressure. He needs some seasoning with hands in the face. He'll be a very good college QB but amount to little in the pros at this point.
-Henderson will be a Heisman candidate the next two years, we knew how good he was a year ago, and that may have been an understatement.
-Obviously all 3 WR's are great -- all future NFL guys
-The offense has aa lot of talent, but a lot of finesse talent. That showed a bit on Saturday
-The Michigan gameplan on both sides was terrific. They knew they would give up yards on defense but wanted to limit big plays and win the redzone. The OSU line of all these decorated guys got just dominated by Michigan. Other than the 2nd drive, there was nowhere to run. And we know what Hutch did along with Ojabo.
-On offense, they simply just kept mixing things up and had things dialed in well except for drive #3. That was a point I thought they had countered perfectly. Gattis and company adjusted. The offensive line was outstanding and really started bullying the Bucks guys around in the 2h.
Did you know that Michigan had 4 official passes in the 2h? Yup, this was manball but with some twists. One team was simply much tougher and wanted it more.
I watched the video from the tunnel; after the game and honestly that was the summation... Ohio State wanted no part of that(really odd to me)...
I keep seeing posts on OSU boards make it over and calling themselves the new age Texas Tech. That's funny, but also something they obviously will address. They gotta be tougher...Oregon and Michigan games showed them to be a bit soft...
Anyways, that one is over... onto the next..
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Harbaugh's 2nd year was 2016 and that was his best team. They were a powerful defense with some excellent WR's and Hunt's favorite QB at the helm. We all know how that regular season ended, but the other one that hurt like hell was the loss as a huge favorite in Iowa City. There was controversy at the end of the game (shocking) and Iowa won on a last 2nd FG. They have played each other since, but not with anything on the line like this Saturday. This would be a nice little booked to that season...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Line is 11-43.5 as I type this...
Yes, that is a very aggressive number. I know many expect a letdown and that could be natural. Or, they could ride that high into Indianapolis and roll the Hawkeyes. This is not a good matchup for Iowa, but you know they will make everything tough on Michigan and vice-versa. Michigan should feast on Petras and they should run the ball pretty well against them. I'm excited for @tee*dub take on this one, no doubt.
UM vs SGU in the 'Ship of the conference.... who would have thought?
