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It's the end of the first half, but Louisville, Michigan, Stanford, and Virginia Tech have all looked pretty poor thus far. I haven't seen Stanford yet, but they're up by a touchdown against Army at the half. Louisville's offense has been mysteriously stalling against Kentucky.

I'm keeping my eye on the Michigan game here and it's hard to put into words how mediocre they have been. The turnover bug has bitten Devin Gardner pretty hard. He's forcing a lot of throws. It could be the case that, when you're not winning by how much you thought you would be, you start to press and it becomes a vicious cycle. I hope Michigan can put last week behind them and focus on beating Akron decidedly in the second half.

Eric wrote:It's the end of the first half, but Louisville, Michigan, Stanford, and Virginia Tech have all looked pretty poor thus far. I haven't seen Stanford yet, but they're up by a touchdown against Army at the half. Louisville's offense has been mysteriously stalling against Kentucky.

I'm keeping my eye on the Michigan game here and it's hard to put into words how mediocre they have been. The turnover bug has bitten Devin Gardner pretty hard. He's forcing a lot of throws. It could be the case that, when you're not winning by how much you thought you would be, you start to press and it becomes a vicious cycle. I hope Michigan can put last week behind them and focus on beating Akron decidedly in the second half.

Tressel is at Akron now. Not as a coach, but maybe he told the Akron coach how to beat Michigan. Tressel is the biggest Michigan killer of all time after all.

Must have been, Spence

That game was ridiculous. If your players don't feel the need to show up, there's not much you can do to light a fire under them. I can't blame Hoke too much for that. I think they weren't trying in the first half. They were trying hard in the second half, but they were pressing because the game was getting closer than it ever should have been.

Mattison's defensive calls have gotten more questionable as the years have gone on, so that is obnoxious. Akron has improved slightly, but they "upset" James Madison last week. They aren't even a good MAC team. It was almost the third "once-in-a-decade" upset you see at a major program in the last six years, which is insane and ridiculous and sickening and disgusting and atrocious and obscene and....You get the picture.

Sometimes teams just come out flat. They are so sure they have the game covered that they forget the other team is going to try and win.

Sometimes a weaker team can come out and play with emotion hoping for an upset....but emotion can only take you so far.

Often, the second half allows talent and depth to trump that emotion.

billybud wrote:Sometimes a weaker team can come out and play with emotion hoping for an upset....but emotion can only take you so far.

Often, the second half allows talent and depth to trump that emotion.

That's right too. Generally you are the weaker team's super bowl. That and a little over confidence can make for a let down game. Especially after a big game.

Well, nd got pushed to their limit by Purdue.

maybe we just didn't notice how not good these teams are, until the week after their game against each other.

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I think Notre Dame is average. Probably looking at an 8-4 campaign with Rees under center. Michigan I think still has the potential to be very good. Gardner needs more time to grow into the position and the defense needs to gel a little more. Their schedule is soft until November (I would count Penn State under the "soft" umbrella, even though it's in Happy Valley). There's definitely work to be done, and showing up every Saturday is a good place to start.

I agree. Michigan has lots of talent on both lines. They will get better every week. Hoke has done lots of good things since he got there. If you like that sort of thing.

And Akron, must also be really good.

RazorHawk wrote:And Akron, must also be really good.

No. Michigan is just young. They will get better as the season goes. It was a let down game for the skunkbears.